by Ben Hale
“Well done,” Jack said.
“How many did you kill?” Rista said from the classroom door, her features contorted with loathing.
“None,” Ursana said acidly. “We’re thieves, not killers. Except for Inna, of course.”
Inna laughed. “I only kill those who deserve it.”
“Good luck, Gordon,” Jack called, already turning down the path Sirani had made for them.
Ursana avoided Gordon’s gaze as she shouldered her crossbow and darted after Jack. Throwing Gordon an apologetic look, Inna joined them. Jack took the steps four at a time as he raced to the academy’s arena, but was forced to pick his way through the groaning men. Some had sought to flee, but the rampaging rock troll had knocked them all to the stones without shedding a drop of blood.
They reached the arena to find Sirani fighting another group of soldiers. Evidently more prepared than the first command, the soldiers in the lead held an anti-magic shield, blocking the furious blasts of wind while his companions edged closer.
“Professor Sirani!” the captain pleaded. “Listen to reason. He’s the Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild—a criminal! You are a respected professor!”
“I’ve resigned,” Sirani said. “I’ve been teaching for too long.”
Jack leapt the last steps and darted to the soldiers, who turned in his direction. Using his momentum as a weapon, Jack wrapped his arm around a soldier’s arm and twisted, coming to a halt and hurling the man into his companions. Then he drew his dagger and blocked a hasty strike.
“He’s here!” someone shouted.
“Surround him!” the captain shouted, turning away from Sirani.
Jack swirled his cloak, using the distraction to approach another soldier. Deflecting her attack, he kicked her in the stomach and knocked her sprawling. Another soldier appeared and Jack stepped inside his guard, smashing his forehead into the man’s skull. As he crumpled, Jack stepped over him and engaged the captain.
Inna dove into the battle, putting the vaunted swordcraft of Talinorian soldiers to shame as she decimated their attempts to disarm her. They cried out in dismay as their weapons tumbled from numb fingers. Still on the stairs, Ursana aimed her crossbow with punishing precision, sending bolts deep into legs and shoulders.
“We’ve wanted the Thieves Guild for ages,” the captain snarled, striking at Jack. “I’m not about to let you escape my grasp.”
“You’re not here for the bounty?” Jack asked, parrying and striking back with his dagger.
“I don’t care about the coin,” the captain said. “You have pillaged without justice for far too long.”
“Killing me won’t stop the guild,” Jack said, leaping into a flip over his flashing blade.
“But a hanging will discourage others from joining you.”
Jack laughed and deflected the captain’s strike. “I’d love to escape your prison, but I don’t have time to humble you.”
“Arrogant little thief,” the man snarled. “Don’t you see you’re already caught?”
The captain retreated from the duel to join those of his men still standing. Jack looked up to see soldiers lining the arena, blocking off every exit. At their captain’s order they drew their swords but kept their distance. Several mages were prominent, and they drew on the dirt of the arena to cast golems that lined up with the soldiers. Ursana vacated the steps and joined Jack, and soldiers closed off the steps to the white tower.
Students lined the balconies above, whispering and shouting to the men below. Professors struggled to quiet them and usher them inside but their efforts were in vain. Surrounded and alone, Jack smiled at the captain.
“So many soldiers just for me?” Jack smirked. “I’m flattered.”
“You should have retained the high ground,” the captain said with a triumphant sneer. “You allowed yourself to be surrounded.”
“On the contrary,” Jack said and sheathed his dagger. “I gave my new friend space to work her magic. Sirani, I’ve always wanted to fly. Think you can indulge me?”
Sirani issued a cackling laugh and the sky abruptly began to darken. The soldiers shifted nervously as the wind picked up, howling into the arena. The captain’s shouts were lost in the rising shriek as wind tightened into four funnels. Compressing and shrieking, the wind wrapped around them until Jack could hardly see the soldiers. The captain stared at him with disbelief marring his features. Their eyes met and Jack raised his hand in salute.
The soldiers struggled to draw close but the gale was too much. They raised their hands to shield their faces, their boots sliding across the stones. One went down and the wind rolled him across the arena floor, slamming him into a turret wall. In the center of a forming tornado, Sirani released a mad laugh and clenched her fists. Jack’s clothing sucked upward, his cloak billowing above his head. The tornado wailed. . .
And his boots lifted off the stones.
He grinned as he came free, and climbed into the rapidly intensifying cyclone. Through the churning black wind he watched soldiers fight to keep themselves on the ground, with several clinging to the benches to avoid tumbling away. Huddling behind a soldier with an anti-magic shield, the captain glared up at him.
“BLASTED THIEVES!” he roared.
Jack’s smile widened as the tornado ripped him from the arena and launched him skyward. Sirani’s tornado carried her through a gap between the towers and into the Griffin Wedge, the other three cyclones following close behind. Laughing in sheer pleasure, Jack relished the sensation of weightlessness and turned his gaze skyward. Then Sirani flipped, and the tornado followed suit. The giant cyclone rolled over, bringing her feet toward the ground at the base of the cliff. Jack’s tornado did the same, flipping him over and bringing him to the ground in an explosion of dust. Used to agile maneuvers, Jack landed in a crouch and rose to his feet as his tornado dissipated.
Inna dropped to the earth, clinging to the soil as her cyclone disintegrated. Ursana stumbled and fell, vomiting into the street. As they recovered, Jack turned to Sirani with a broad smile on his face.
“You have my gratitude for the flight,” he said.
She grinned wildly, but her features were drawn and weak, suggesting she’d used much of her magic. Jack stepped to Ursana and helped her up. As she stood, Ursana pointed up the cliff, where the Griffin bounty hunters had begun to descend toward them.
“We are not free yet,” she said, wiping her mouth.
“Inna?” Jack asked.
“I’m alright,” the assassin said, stumbling to her feet. “Just don’t do that again.”
“I shouldn’t have done that in the first place,” Sirani said with a sheepish giggle. “One mistake and my magic would have ripped you to pieces.”
“You should have said that before you tried it!” Inna growled.
Jack helped Ursana toward the road, where a crowd of onlookers had gathered. “Are you mad?” he asked. “That was more exhilarating than stealing the godship.”
“Not if it gets you killed.”
Jack laughed as they slipped through the crowd. “That’s what makes it fun.”
Chapter 22: The Exiled
Jack hurried his companions through the city, but word of their presence traveled faster. Shouts came from all directions, and soldiers appeared in the distance at the Griffin fort. Jack’s features tightened in irritation and he picked up the pace. Then he noticed that Ursana was limping and struggling to keep up. She had an arm around Inna’s shoulders but they maintained Jack’s pace. Sirani ambled along, listing to the side like a sinking ship. The sheen of sweat on her features made it clear that her magic had cost her dearly.
Abruptly Jack shifted directions, turning away from the city exit and threading his way deeper into the Griffin Wedge. As they crossed a city square he tossed an object into the bushes and kept walking. Townsfolk retreated from them and doors slammed shut.
“Where are we going?” Inna asked, her voice strained. “All the exits are back that way.”
“Wouldn’t matter,” Jack said. “Even if we left the city, we wouldn’t be able to stay ahead of pursuit.”
“Then where can we go?”
“A refuge,” Jack said.
He darted down an alley and hurried to the end. Bound by walls on three sides, the alley afforded no place of egress. Jack leapt to the grate on the end and lifted it, ushering them into the sewers below. Inna helped Ursana inside, but Sirani eyed the opening skeptically.
“This pig won’t fit through that porthole.”
Jack laughed and climbed in. “Suit yourself. But I thought you wanted adventure.”
“Your cleverness is not appreciated,” she said, sniffing as she climbed into the gap and squeezed through the opening. Jack was quick to follow, and used the ladder to join them below. As he gingerly shut the grate a thudding of footsteps echoed from above. The distinct echo of shouted orders resounded in the street, swelling and then fading as soldiers rushed by.
Jack grinned and turned to the others, motioning them down the sewer tunnel. “This will take us to the river,” he murmured. “We can cross to the Barbarian Wedge from there.”
“You couldn’t pick a better smelling exit?” Inna asked, flashing a pained smile.
“I will next time,” Jack said, stifling a laugh.
He stepped into the lead and guided them down the tunnel. Like much of Griffin construction the tunnel was old, and many of the ceiling stones had fallen. Roots protruded from the gaps, the gnarled wood clinging to the underside of the ceiling.
Foul liquid trickled down the base of the drain, but Jack used the fallen stones to keep his fine boots from getting stained. A grunt and a curse caused him to turn and find the hulking rock troll rubbing her head. Muttering more curses, she crouched lower and struggled to keep up.
Several times they heard muffled yells, the sounds filtering through the occasional grates they passed. He grinned at their urgency and frustration, but he did not slow. The soldiers were bound to think of the sewers eventually, and he wanted to be gone when they did.
They came to a junction and Jack chose the southern tunnel. The air grew fetid as they descended closer to the river, the liquid filling the base of the sewer. Then the tunnel came to an abrupt end above the river’s surface.
Jack came to a halt at the edge of shadow. The river stretched for a hundred feet before rising on the opposite bank, where a sprawling collection of buildings represented the Barbarian Wedge of the city.
Inna leaned Ursana against the wall of the tunnel and peered out. “There are hundreds of homes that can see the river. How do we get across without being spotted?”
Jack peeked around the edge of the tunnel and saw her words were true. Women cleaned laundry in the river upstream, and children splashed in the shallows. Despite the sewers, the river was remarkably clean, and Jack spotted fish in the depths.
“With a distraction,” Jack said.
“Who’s going to distract the entire city?” she asked.
He turned to Ursana. “Can you make it across?’
She bobbed her head. “I can swim.”
Jack pulled his crossbow into view and aimed it toward the sky. “Then get ready,” he said, and fired.
The bolt streaked upward, before banking to the side and aiming for a spot further up in the city. Drawn to the beacon rune Jack had dropped into the bushes, the bolt dug into the rune—detonating the banshee curse.
The piercing wail exploded throughout the city, rising to a deafening shriek. Jack clamped his hands over his ears and saw Ursana’s mouth moving as if she was shouting at him. He laughed and dove into the river away from the dark liquid below the sewer. Plunging beneath the surface brought a welcome relief from the wail and he struck out for the opposite shore.
He would have liked to use his boots and stride across the river but the townsfolk were bound to notice him walking on water. When his lungs burned he came up for air, wincing as the wail pierced his ears. He looked back and spotted his friends in the water, with Sirani using a flicker of wind to coast across the surface.
Children that had been running along the bank of the river sat huddled, their eyes clenched shut as they covered their ears. Women held their laundry around their heads, desperately trying to shut out the wail. No one had eyes on the river.
He reached the opposite bank as the wail diminished, leaving a ringing in Jack’s ears. He waited for Ursana and helped her from the water, Inna catching Ursana’s other arm. Together, they threaded into the trees. A moment later Sirani stumbled out of the water and joined them, disappearing from sight as the people in Griffin Wedge recovered and looked about.
“How much did that bit of magic cost you?” Inna asked.
Jack barely heard the question through the ringing. He put a finger to his ear and pressed in a vain effort to ease the sound.
“Too much,” Jack said loudly. “But it was worth it.”
“Not if it gets us killed,” Ursana shouted.
Jack followed her gaze, and turned to find a quartet of blades extended toward them. Evidently drawn to the sound, the barbarians glowered at them, except for the one in the center. The barbarian was a veritable giant, and carried an enormous double-bladed axe on his back. Although his stature was imposing, his smile was warm.
“Jack Myst,” he said. “It’s good to see you again.”
“You know him?” Ursana asked.
“This is Golic,” Jack said with a smile, “Beauty’s brother.”
“We should get out of sight,” one of the barbarians said, and they lowered their swords. “The humans will be seeking retribution.”
“Come,” Golic said. “You can join us at our camp.”
Ursana limped a step forward but a barbarian youth reached down and scooped her up. She squeaked in surprise and drew a knife, putting it to his throat. The barbarian merely looked down and smiled at her.
“So little yet so strong,” he said. “And so beautiful.”
She turned pink but kept her knife at his throat. “Put. Me. Down.”
“But you are injured.”
“You can carry me when I’m dead.”
He laughed and gingerly placed her on the ground. She turned away from him and limped to Jack’s side, ignoring the barbarian as they wound their way through the trees. Jack leaned down as they turned a corner and murmured to her.
“He’s Golic’s friend, Balor,” he said.
“You say that like I should care.”
He shrugged. “I thought you’d like to know his name before you fall for him.”
Ursana scowled but Jack merely laughed and sped up to Golic. “The soldiers may come for us.”
“They won’t,” Golic said. “They fear our kind.”
“I thought the Barbarian Wedge didn’t have a chief.”
“No chief claims this land as his own,” Golic said. “But those who call this village home stand together in times of strife. The humans cross the river to trade, but soldiers are not welcome.”
They reached the village and Jack gazed about in interest. He’d traveled through Wedge a number of times, but never had cause to visit the barbarian section. The settlement did not resemble a village and had no order to its streets and buildings. Forges were as abundant as homes, with blacksmiths busy crafting weapons and armor.
The buildings were a ramshackle collection of structures, appearing like trees sprouting up at random places. Built of rough-hewn logs and covered in thatch, they were simple but clean. Without exception, the barbarians in the street wore armor and carried weapons, and even the children wielded blades. Many of the youths—both girls and boys—fought in clearings under the watchful eyes of trainers.
“Why are you here?” Jack asked. “Shouldn’t you be with your tribe in the high mountains?”
Golic cast him a look but did not respond. Instead he motioned to Balor. “Find them a place to stay and have a healer visit them. I’d like to speak to the guildmaster alone.”
“As you order,
” Balor said, and guided the others away.
Inna exchanged an uncertain look with Jack before departing. Jack remained in place until they entered a tavern. Then Golic motioned Jack to follow him, and turned toward the hill that ascended beyond the village.
As they strode through the streets the other barbarians nodded to Golic, their eyes tinged with respect, almost reverence. Jack noted the expressions, his curiosity rising. When they left the village and had risen above it, Jack spoke.
“What’s going on?”
Golic came to a halt on a ledge overlooking the village, and spread his hand to it. “This place has been a trading outpost for centuries,” he said.
Jack looked to the village and saw an abundance of homes, many of which were under construction. The sound of axes striking wood resounded through the trees, and saws bit into the fresh logs.
“It’s not a trading post anymore,” Jack said.
“The barbarian clans have waged war for longer than recorded history,” he said, “but in recent generations it has taken a turn for the ruthless. Chieftains lead their armies to war while their people starve.”
“So what brought so many of your people here?” Jack asked, sweeping a hand to the budding village.
“They stood up against the chieftains in defiance of tradition,” Golic said. “Some were killed but many were cast out. They belong to no tribe now.”
“Except yours,” Jack said. “I saw the way they looked at you. By name or deed, they look to you for leadership.”
Golic sighed and grasped the handle of his axe. “I tried to speak wisdom to my father but he refused to listen. Now I too have been cast out.”
“You don’t have to stay in these mountains,” Jack said with a shrug. “The world has many wonders to see.”