by Rick Brown
The waitress came around the table, this time her breasts were pressed firmly against my shoulder. “More wine?”
I looked up and smiled at her, “ Yes please.” Funny how much easier the flirting came when drinking. “Well, the bulldog made up for his disobedience many times over in battle.” I recounted some of Barad’s heroics on the Plains of Alynon. It was easy considering how much he did.
Lenux leaned back after I finished. “Well damns, a real live war hero right here at my table. That deserves a drink.” He held up his empty wine glass until the waitress spotted it. With a smile, she returned to our table with another pitcher.
“So which guild are you lot from,” She asked me.
“Are we so obvious,” I replied looking hurt. “Could we not be some rich nobles on the scout for beautiful waitresses to have our way with?”
She gave me a big grin playing along. “Very well, my Lord. Just ask for Lisel when you are ready to pillage.”
Brianna rolled her eyes. “We’re with the Fox Guild.”
Lisel ignored that the answer came from Bri. “Oh, that’s a good guild. Some of the others take on anyone. It’s obvious to this group that you are VERY talented.” She said staring right at me. Luckily another customer pulled her away.
We spent the night laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Slowly the room emptied. We paid our tab and left a generous tip for Lisel and started heading for the door. Lisel stepped up and grabbed my hand as I was stumbling to the exit. “My Lord,” she teased, “You haven’t yet ravished any waitress!” She started pulling me upstairs to a room as I turned back with a big smile and waved goodbye to my friends.
Chapter 7
(Lee)
In the morning I left a sleeping Lisel in her room and returned to the temple. I took my time walking back to mentally prepare myself for the heckling to come. I was not disappointed.
“Well if it isn’t handsome!” Brianna started with a smile as I entered the dining hall. “My Lord, would you demean yourself to sit with some peasants this morning.” Yep. Here it comes.
“He is a might dreamy isn’t he,” Barad joined in. “You shouldn’t get used to it Lee, the monks aren’t as easy to flatter as they serve up the eggs.” Lenux sat back and laughed at my embarrassment. This couldn’t get worse.
“What’s this about?” Yagen asked. So I guess could get worse.
“Dreamy eyes here was captured by a barmaid last night," Lenux told him helpfully.
“Oh ho! I hope you did Alynon proud!” The priest responded, slapping me on the back. I could only lay my head on the table and hope it would all go away.
Brianna Stood up with her Coffee held in front of her. “To Lee!”
Everyone stood with their coffee out. “To Lee!” they toasted and then sipped their coffee.
After the embarrassment of breakfast was over, I went in search of Father Pild. I enjoyed his tutelage yesterday and was seeking some more. I found him in the temple library. As impressive as the training yard was, it didn't compare to the library. There were thousands of books lining the shelves in the room. The center of the room had tables and chairs for reading. Father Pild sat at one of the tables looking through a massive tome. "Good morning Father," I said as I sat.
“Lee, I heard about your mission yesterday, very impressive. Maybe soon the four of you will be in these books,” waving his hand around the room.
I grinned back at him. “Where did the temple get so many books,” I asked.
The priest's expression turned somber. "As Alsselya fell the priests of that time gathered up every book they could and retreated with them. When Vaelin offered our order this temple, they brought all the books with them. They couldn't be left to the Dommerians. Their kingdom intentionally keeps their people ignorant. No one there can read. Any book they find is burnt," the last he said with disgust on his face. "Here lies the history of our kingdom. You should read of it while you are here. The descriptions of it sound beautiful, though I have never seen it, of course. It was a place of great innovation and art. I hope one day it shall rise again."
“Well with that in mind,” I said with a smile. “Could we continue our lessons from yesterday? In the interest of rebuilding Alsselya, of course.”
He smiled back. "Of course, but let me recommend something to you while we are here." He rose from his seat and started searching through the bookshelves. "Here it is, ‘The Sword Art of Alsselya.' It was written by a man named Cornelius Seins. He was the Sword Master for the Alsselyian court. Its knights followed his practice. It is actually reading this book that I learned those moves myself. Drop the book off in your room. Maybe you could read it later. Then meet me in the training yard.”
I did as he requested, thumbing through the book as I went. I recognized many of the moves we went through yesterday as well as some we haven’t tried yet. In the text, there was more information than just about the move. It described muscles and tendons. What each exercise would develop and strengthen. How the movement could be used in battle. All too soon I realized I was at my room. I reluctantly placed the book on my bed and hurried off to the training yard.
Father Pild was already waiting. He even had my sword out for me. We started through the exercises, and as I did, I could feel the muscles described in the book. While I knew I had strength, I had never thought much about where it came from. As I extended my arm, I could feel the.. triceps? I would need more study to remember the names. We continued through the movements as they became more familiar to me. I had lost track of time and was shocked to see how far the sun had moved while we worked. We agreed to meet again tomorrow.
This started a pattern for me. We had downtime while waiting for our next task. I spent my time practicing swords in the morning and in the afternoon I read in the library. Sometimes Barad would join us for our morning routines. He found the time in the library boring. Lenux and Brianna were busy finding our next target.
After a week of reading through the collection of warrior books, I found one on an ancient people that had specialized in combat with their hands and feet. Barad found this much more to his taste, and the two of us added this to our practice. It was more than just punching someone. It used balance and momentum as much as strength. He seemed way too excited with the idea of using my own size against me as we sparred. We continued this way for a month on the generosity of the monks. Finally, the sneaks came up with another job.
Lenux and Brianna found us in the training yard. Barad and I were practicing with our shirts off when they arrived. As they walked in, I swung my sword at the unarmed Barad. Instead of it striking him he stepped into the swing and caught my wrist. With a twist of my arm, I was driven to one knee. Driving his thumb into my wrist and turning it so that I could no longer hold my weapon, and it clattered to the ground. Still holding my arm, he swung his foot around making contact with my face. He pulled the hit some, but I sure felt it all the same.
“What was that?” Brianna asked astonished. I could see Barad’s thinking. This was an opportunity he wasn’t going to miss.
“Oh, just a little something I’ve been working on. I could show you if you like.”
“Absolutely,” she said grinning then realized she was talking to Barad and stiffened up. “But after our new job.”
“A job? Finally, something to do!” Barad reacted Enthusiastically.
“Relax, we just need some muscle to cover our escape. This is a sneak job. We’ve been following the red-haired man I saw on the docks. His name is Pelen, by the way. The best we can tell he is in charge of Dommeran’s interests here in Coneer. He has a ledger that he has been documenting everything they do here. We want to steal that ledger. They’re working out of a brothel down by the docks, a real seedy place. The two of you will hang out in the bar downstairs and pretend to look over the merchandise. Don’t hire any girls!” She said with a meaningful glance at Barad. “You two are our safety net if something goes wrong. I want your swords at ready and not on the floor ne
xt to your pants.”
“I have eyes for no other,” Barad said with a smile. Brianna just sighed and shook her head.
"The room with the ledger is on the third floor. It can be seen from across the alley. Lenux and I will try to access it from the window. If all goes well, Lenux will come down and signal you the mission is complete, but if you see me running like an army is at my heels, you'd better be ready to face it."
I nodded back to her. “We’ll be ready. When do we do this?”
"I like tonight," Lenux said, and Brianna nodded in agreement. "We know where the book is now, but there's no guarantee it won't be moved. We talked with Yagen, and he feels it may be very important."
We went for supper in the dining hall making sure we all knew our roles. Brianna had come up with a simple plan. Break in and grab the book, then get out. I liked it.
Barad and I took a few sips of wine and splashed a little on our shirts. We needed to fit the role of two drunken lechers out on the town. We left the temple and followed Lenux and Brianna from a distance, so we weren't seen together. As we traveled towards the docks, we started seeing more of the seedier element to our city. Drunkards stumbled down the street and prostitutes well past their prime attempted to be alluring to passer-byes.
Barad and I, staying in character, flirted with the women as we walked along. The heat of summer was in the air, giving the night a muggy feel. Lenux and Brianna paused a moment in front of a brothel. Barad and I caught the signal.
We went up to the front of the building that had a sign reading ‘The Flower Garden,' but by all appearances, it has been a while since anyone here had seen a flower. There was a wooden porch and swinging saloon style doors. Barad and I entered into a cloud of smoke. The place had old wooden floors that were covered in dirt. There were tables and chairs set up in a customary tavern fashion. The room only has a few candles lit giving it a gloomy appearance. Men sat around puffing their pipes as they drank. On the other side of the room from the bar, there were some couches and chairs set up where the whores lounged waiting for business. If these were the flowers of the garden, they needed to be pruned. Their soiled clothes did little to hide their wares. Many appeared to be missing teeth, and most were already drunk. They laughed and giggled with the men that shared their seats.
My eye's found the stairs that brought us here tonight. The main room had a ceiling two stories high. The stairs led up to a second story balcony that ringed the room. Doors going to private rooms opened into a narrow hall overlooking the bar. You could see another set of stairs leading to a third floor. That must be where the offices were located. Barad and I made our way over to the bar, ordered some ale, and waited.
Chapter 8
(Brianna)
Lenux and I watched as the boys entered the house. Despite myself, I felt a little jealous of the attention Barad would receive from the whores. Luckily the plan didn't involve more than talking to them. I nodded to Lenux, and we moved to the building next door. We had already broken the lock on the door. Though it appeared to work, it was easy for us to open. A shipping company that did business here at the docks owned the building. At this time of night, the building was empty. Lenux and I have been coming here every night for two weeks as we watched the building next door.
We passed their front entryway and passed the clerk's desk. There were stairs taking us to the second story where the company stored merchandise to be shipped. In the corner, there was a ladder and hatch for accessing the roof for maintenance. We quickly climbed the ladder. There was a chimney on the roof that we could sit in the shadow of and watch the building next door without fear of being seen. The room across the alley from us was dark, and its shutters closed. In the time we've been watching the red-haired Dommerian named Pelen he has kept his schedule very unpredictable. We sat and watched the room looking for any sign of movement.
“So,” Lenux whispered. “Is it my imagination or are you warming to Barad?”
“Shut up,” I said, rolling my eyes. We were not going to sit on this roof discussing my love life.
“I’m just saying, you often sit next to each other, and you seemed a little jealous when you told him to avoid the whores.”
Fine. Let’s do this. “It’s just that I didn’t trust him to stick to the job, that’s all. I mean there’s nothing wrong with Barad. He’s kind of cute actually, but I’m here to work.”
“Don’t see why you can’t do both. You’ve already proven that the two of you can work together while at each other’s throats. If it doesn’t work then you can always go back to that,” He said with a grin.
“Oh, shut up.” She responded in frustration. Ok, maybe now is not the time to be thinking about Barad. We went back to being quiet and looking for activity.
Finally, I could see no more reason to wait. Lenux and I had prepared in advance for our raid tonight. Our supplies consisted of a grappling hook, rope, and a bow with a quiver of arrows. I also had my bag of burglary supplies.
I took the grappling hook and walked over to the side of the building. There was one drunkard relieving himself in the alley. I sighed and waited until he left. Are the privies in these places really that bad? I wondered. Once he left, I started swinging the grappling hook over my head. Though this was something we practiced at the guild, there was still a lot of luck involved. In this case, the roof on the other side was above my eye line so I couldn't pick out anything to aim for. I released the rope, and the hook soared across the alley onto the roof on the other side. There was a clank on impact, and I froze listening for a reaction. A nearby dog started barking, but I didn't see anything from the building across the way.
I waited until I was confident no one was coming to investigate. I slowly started reeling the rope back in. As the hook scratched across the roof, it would catch on the tiles, but it didn't hook onto anything substantial. As it reached the edge, it started to fall. I quickly pulled it back in before it could drop and alert anyone below. I looked to Lenux, and he blew out a sigh of relief. I tossed the hook again throwing further this time. Once again there was a clank on the roof across the way. We sat and watched nervously. This time a light appeared in the room next to the office as someone checked the room. We sat holding our breaths waiting for the rope to be spotted, but the room's shutters were never opened, and soon the light went back out.
This was not a moment to rush. We sat on the roof and counted as ten minutes crawled by. I looked to Lenux, and he nodded back. Once again I started slowly reeling the rope in. This time I felt a hard snag. Leaning back hard on the rope it didn't budge. I handed the rope to Lenux who put his weight on it, and it still held firm. We took the rope and tied it to the chimney.
Grabbing my bag of tools and strapping it to my back, I took the rope in my hands and hooked my leg over it. Slowly I inched my way across the rope to the roof on the other side and pulled myself up. Lenux untied the rope on his side and let it drop to the side of my building. Now I could lower myself down to the window. If all went well, I could climb down with the ledger far enough to drop to the alley below. With one last check of the alley, I swung myself over the side of the building and climbed the rope down to the window below. Using my dagger, I slipped it between the two shutters and lifted the latch. Putting my knife back in my belt, I swung the shutters open then quickly climbed into the window. The room inside was pitch black. I took off of my bag and found a small candle I had packed with a flint and steel. I sparked the flint until the candle lit and looked around the room.
The only things in the room were a desk and a cot. I didn't see anything personal in the place at all. The only thing on the desk was a candle. I used my candle to light it and blew my candle out and stashed it back in the bag. I tried the desk drawers and found them locked. Reaching back into my bag I pulled out my lock pick set. The first drawer opened easily, but it was just a quill and ink. I opened the second drawer and found a bag of coins. Not the riches we scored on the wagon, but I figured any dent in their resources wa
s a win for us. I dropped the coins into my bag.
I frowned. That was it. Only two drawers? Could he have moved the ledger already? I leaned back, despondent at my failure. This was my plan, and it failed. I stared at the desk and noticed some scratches on the facing. I felt under the desk and could feel some runners. Aha! A hidden drawer. I moved my fingers along the edge of the desk, pushing on the decorative molding. I came to a spot that felt raised and pressed, but nothing happened. I looked to the opposite side of the desk and found a similarly raised spot. Pressing both the drawer popped open. I smiled at my own genius in figuring it out. Inside the drawer, I found the ledger. I glanced inside and saw columns of names, dates, and monies. Elated I put the ledger in my bag.
Before I could move, I heard movement outside the door, and it suddenly opened. In stepped Pelen. With him the ugly dark-haired wagon driver and another man I didn't know. Pelen looked from me to his open desk drawer. "What the Hells is this?" He screamed. His face turning red.
“I’ve seen her before,” said ugly. “She helped take the wagons!”
“Get her!” Yelled Pelen.
The third man looked like the muscle. He pulled out a dagger and started towards me. As he reached for me, an arrow flew through the window and into his shoulder. Thank you Lenux, I thought. I used the distraction to burst between the two men and out into the hall. I could hear feet running behind me. I thought I had made it as I reached the second landing. I spotted Barad and Lee at the bar below. Just as I started for the stairs that would take me down pain exploded as a dagger struck me from behind. It dug deep into my back flipping me over the rails to the floor below. My vision blurred as I heard Barad screaming my name, then all went black.
Chapter 9
(Lee)
Barad and I sat at the bar with our ale. “Gods, this taste like piss,” Barad said after a sip. I nodded in agreement. It would be easy to avoid getting drunk on this stuff. Even fake drinking it will be a challenge. Two of the whores stood and made their way over to us. At least they were some of the prettier ones, but that was not saying much considering their competition. The taller one came by with a fake smile plastered on her face.