“Forgot that was a problem for people,” Mab whispers with a smirk. She yelps when a hand runs under her skirt and her money pouch appears in the halfling’s palm. “You have one minute to give that back or I’ll take it. Along with the hand and whatever else I can tear off the rest of your gang before you run away.”
“We don’t want any trouble,” Clyde states, tossing his own money pouch on the table. He runs his finger along the wooden surface to gather a few crumbs on his finger, which he pops into his mouth. “My friend and I were hoping to stay here, but it looks like you made that impossible. Another night under the stars for us. Tell all those orphaned widows that we hope they find solace in the food and coins.”
The halfling drops to the floor and nods for his people to leave the tavern while he backs away. “I’ll let them know. Thanks for making this easy and not causing a scene. Wouldn’t want this place to get damaged. Best desserts in town, but I can see that you and your friend already learned that. Have a safe journey.”
“What the hell was that about?” Mab snaps as soon as the thieves are outside. Digging her claws into the table, she tries to lift it, but finds that Clyde is keeping the furniture pressed to the floor. “That was our money and food. I earned all of that. How can you say that stealing sounds like a good idea then hand everything we have to those maggots? They even took my jacket, which took me a year to make. It isn’t like hydras give their scales away if you ask nicely. Say something or I’ll make that time I flayed you for cheating seem like a loving embrace.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“Then imagine it was and get my point.”
“Bet enough time has passed, so let’s go.”
“What?”
Clyde grins and heads for the door while saying, “Where there are thieves, there’s a treasure horde. Ready to flex your fangs?”
With a squeal of joy that she has not made in decades, Mab happily skips behind her friend and drools at the thought of stealing treasure. She abruptly stops by the door when she notices a woman wearing clothes that are similar to those she lost during to her transformation. Sinking into a nearby shadow, the burglar’s hands return to swiftly strip the mortal at a speed that leaves the startled victim spinning. Before the chair stops, Mab slaps the brown dress over the mortals’ head and leaves the stunned patrons staring in disbelief at the disheveled figure.
*****
Buried beneath the streets of Rodillen, a network of forgotten roads has been turned into tunnels leading to the only remaining chamber of an old castle. Torches are placed on every pillar, which has created a thick cloud of smoke near the ceiling. A single ventilation shaft does little to clear the air, which is why a pair of gnomes are busy making more. The twins are braced between two stalactites and use disintegration gloves to emit gentle beams that gradually make deep slits in the thick bedrock. Another group of thieves is busy trying to follow the designs to a set of furnaces that will create more light and warmth for the frigid chamber. Communicating through a series of belches instead of words, a fur-wearing dwarf alternates between waving a club at his team and drinking from an enchanted decanter. Other guild members move about setting up furniture that is not nearly enough for their growing numbers, which is a constant argument between those left in charge. The activity and tension only stop when a hidden door opens and their leader’s raiding party comes out of the shadows with satisfied grins on their faces.
“Another great score, boss,” a bare-chested orc says while emptying a sack of coins onto the floor. He snarls at the thieves who rush to grab his loot, his pronounced lower jaw sticking out further than normal. “Nothing like the feast you got off those two cowards. What do you think we should hit tomorrow, Aldy?”
“The twins need more tools, so we should raid whatever it is those gnomes are building on the hill,” the guild leader states while handing the food bag over to a barely clothed elf. The halfling watches as she takes out every dish as carefully as she can, the desserts and meats having already been mixed together. “I don’t want to hear any complaints since we haven’t had a decent meal in over a week. Everything ends up in the same place anyway. Any word from the pickpocket and burglar teams, Mondur? I didn’t see much activity.”
The belching dwarf wanders over and nearly knocks his boss out with an exhale that reeks of cheap booze. “The market workers came back an hour ago, but they didn’t have much luck. I think something has the guards spooked and we’ve seen more holy warriors around. Specifically, Duragians are patrolling the city and forests. Thought it was because the Day of Darkness was so bad, but they wouldn’t normally stick around for so long after. Rumors have it that there was a massacre two days north of here, but we don’t have the network to confirm. On the plus side, the burglars are still out and we’ve gotten word that they are having a good night. Tell him about the new idea you had, Dia.”
“It isn’t so much an idea as an opportunity,” the female elf coos while licking barbeque sauce off her fingers. Moving to let the other thieves get to the food, she stays at the edge of the crowd to snatch whatever morsels catch her interest. “I was at the bar near the docks and the new mayor turned up. Old guy got pretty drunk, so I took him upstairs. Shared a lot of information with me about the future of Rodillen and I think we can use most of it to gain some political power. I put the notes in the secret compartment, so you can take a look. I’m only good at getting the information. After that, it isn’t really fun anymore.”
“I was hoping to find a way into that world,” Aldy whispers, his attention stolen by a sudden change to their lair. It takes him a minute to realize that he no longer hears the low whine of the disintegration gauntlets, but the gnomes are not at the dinner table. “Where could the twins have gone? Not like them to-”
With a blood-curdling scream, one of the gnomes tries to scramble out from beneath the table. The other thieves run away from their shrieking friend, who claws at the stones until he is yanked back into the darkness. As if they have been drowned, the twins gradually float to the top of the shadows and bob face down in what should be solid stone. Mondur pushes through the crowd to get a closer look at the bodies, his rapid belching betraying his anxiety. Sliding his foot closer to one of the corpses, he is confused when it does not sink. Holding up his hand for silence, he experimentally taps on the floor before taking a full step towards the table. Bending down to get a better look at the gnomes, he is distracted by a flicker of movement to his left. The dwarf turns to examine a shadow that is swirling like an eddy and nearly screams when Mab’s face rises to the surface.
“Come meet my new friends,” the vampire says with a wicked smile.
The gnomes sink while Mab grabs Mondur by the beard and pulls him into the shadows, his limbs flailing wildly. A blast of blood erupts from beneath the table and hits with enough force to smash it into the ceiling. Stepping out of the gore, Clyde cracks his knuckles and transforms into an ogre that has extra horns on its head. He beats his greasy, hairless chest as two more thieves disappear into the shadows beneath their feet. Determined not to die, one of the orcs rushes at the snarling monster that was once Clyde and takes a swing at its head with a rusty axe. The weapon harmlessly passes through the ogre’s head, which looks down at the shorter creature and chuckles. A fist bursts from the illusion’s torso to strike the orc in the stomach. Feeling his pulverized insides leak out of his body, the thief falls to the side and tumbles into another shadow.
Aldy is about to scream for his people to attack when the guild explodes into chaos and everyone tries to escape. Dia is the first to reach the shadows at the edge of the lit chamber and is immediately grabbed by clawed hands. The elf shrieks as the dagger-like nails slice into her shoulders and she is lifted high into the air before slowly getting pulled into the darkness. An echoing crunch stops the others from running for the exit, so they gather into a tight group with their weapons drawn. With Mab still hiding, the only threat they can see is Clyde, who takes his time approaching Aldy. A
rrows, bolts, and daggers fly at the vampire in an attempt to drive him away from their leader. Many of the projectiles are batted out of the air and those that strike are casually pulled out like they are nothing more than irritating thorns. The thieves are about to rush Clyde when all of them suddenly fall into their shadows and Mab rises in their place. She reaches down to pat the darkness like it is a pet, an eerie shifting beneath her feet occurring in response to her touch.
“My necklace please,” Clyde says while grabbing the stunned halfling. Taking the jewelry from Aldy, he throws the thief towards the ceiling where he is impaled on a stalactite. “We should probably clean up in case there are some members we missed. Don’t want anyone thinking there are terrifying killers around. I’m surprised you were staying in the shadows for so long. What happened with those monsters you mentioned?”
“They don’t really bother me if I’m passing through since I’ve been leaving snacks. I think we’re friends now,” Mab explains as she jumps to the ceiling. Cutting the body away, she tries to have it drop into the shadows, but it splats against the floor instead. “Looks like my power depends on touch or has a limited range. Nice job hiding in an illusion. You should have had it move with you to keep the trick going for a while. Now, let’s find all the pretty sparklies and act like thieves again. I believe I saw them put some sacks in that corner.”
Clyde picks a cookie off the floor and lets it crumble between his fingers, the thick jam inside sticking to his skin. “Wish they didn’t ruin the food, but my entrance didn’t help. At least we had fun and got to cause some mayhem instead of being on a strict mission. Been feeling too much like a soldier recently. You should have checked the thieves for bottomless bags because we can’t carry all of the money with us. It would look suspicious.”
“No, no, no, no,” mutters Mab as she runs across the room. Jamming her head into a shadow, she stomps her foot hard enough to dent the floor. “The bags in the corner were filled with garbage. Not actual trash, but decorations and supplies for their lair. All of the money was on the thieves who have probably been eaten. So close to a successful heist and I screw up by tossing the loot into a world of monsters. Maybe I can find some of it if I start gutting the ones that are near the entrance. Oh no, what if one of them was wearing my jacket?”
“Let it go, Mab, because we need to leave.”
“But now we’re broke!”
“And who’s fault is that?”
“You’re the one who gave them our money in the first place!”
“For the love of all that is unholy, this is that treasury heist with the moat monsters again.”
“I didn’t expect a freshwater squid.”
“Yeah, I’m sure alligators normally had tentacles back in those days.”
Mab storms over to Clyde with her claws extended and reaches up to angrily jab him in the chest. She stops when he dangles her hydra-skin jacket in front of her, the unique piece of clothing more valuable to her than any amount of coins. With mumbled thanks, the burglar takes the offering and swings it onto her shoulders. Something hits her in the thighs and she reaches into her pockets to find that both of their money pouches are inside. The bags are more bloated than before, which makes her smile and jog to catch up to Clyde. Mab nearly takes him by the arm as they walk away, but she turns the motion into a stretch and settles for falling in step next to her old partner.
8
Titus moves about the bodies in the forest, which have been mercilessly attacked by scavengers. He tries to imagine what the scene looked like before the animals took advantage of the large feast. Picking up a paladin’s chest plate, the warrior runs his finger around a fist-shaped dent. There is a blood splatter on the inside and a few strips of rotten flesh remain stuck to a layer of padding. Unable to get a clear idea of the fight, Titus throws the armor away and heads for the nearby castle. The cloudy sky helps to hide his presence even though the few mortals guarding the area have already been dispatched. Coming to one of the fresh bodies, the heavily scarred vampire’s eyes turn red and details appear with a few blinks. Ripping an emblem off the man’s chest, he examines the unfamiliar symbol, which looks like a crude sun combined with the leathery wings of a demon. Tucking it into his pocket, he hurries through the trees and keeps his senses alert in case there are more enemies nearby. Remembering Luther’s report that the castle is being considered an unholy site helps put his mind at ease, but he cannot shake the feeling that there is danger in the area.
Coming out of the woods, Titus groans at the site of Bob burrowing into the dirt with giant mole claws. The vampiric elf is naked to avoid making a mess of his dusty armor and soil-caked pants. Before the tall warrior can ask what is going on, he hears someone clear their throat and turns to find Decker standing next to what he thinks is a large bush. When Titus gets closer, he realizes that the plant is really a tree that has been driven into the ground. The dwarf ignores the quizzical look and nods his head at a pile of dead horses that Bob has begun putting into the gaping hole. The dirt-covered vampire strokes the mane of each corpse, which show signs of being killed by blades and arrows instead of fangs.
“He believes the Duragians slaughtered all the horses because they were owned by Lord Shallis. I think it was the hunters,” Decker whispers while pulling Titus away. He mutters a curse when Bob breaks into a wailing cry and begins ranting about the evils of mortal-kind. “Poor guy isn’t going to be much help here until the grave is done. He even sent Luther to search for flowers. Not that it matters because we’re not finding anything. I don’t know what happened, but I can say for sure that Clyde and Mab didn’t die in the castle.”
“Same thing with that clearing,” Titus says as they walk through a hole in the wall. Flies meet them and the stench of rotting meat ruins what little appetite the vampires have. “I know we’re undead, but this is disgusting even for us. They must be waiting for enough high priests to gather before purging this place with holy fire. Saw that a few years back when the Duragians lost a couple hundred people taking down Lady Hedra. She was still hiding in her bedroom when those sun-kissing bastards burned the entire place to the ground. Could our friends have been incinerated by such a spell?”
“I doubt it since there are no massive burn marks in the castle or a big chunk of the forest would have been turned to ash,” the dwarf replies, his hands running along a piece of debris. The rough surface tells him nothing, so he lifts it to see if there is anything underneath. “For a few minutes, I considered that they killed all of those enemies in the forest then returned to hide and heal in that broken tower. After that, something destroyed this part of the fortifications. No evidence of this and they wouldn’t be foolish enough to come back. If we contacted Lord Tempest-”
Titus scowls at the suggestion and states, “I want to do this on our own. Nothing against Xavier, but this is gang business. Like I said before, you can head back to Nyte if you’re not comfortable with all of this. We’ve always known that your loyalty is split between us and your maker.”
“That almost sounds like an insult.”
“Merely a fact, General Decker.”
“One you are too eager to mention, Mr. Winthrop.”
“Sorry, but I’m not my sister, so I don’t mind the old surname.”
A high-pitched whistle brings their attention to the top of the fortification wall, the sound coming close to mimicking an owl. Waving from the battlements, Luther has his back to the inner courtyard while he argues with Bob, who is still outside the castle. By the time Titus and Decker climb up to the cloaked figure, the forest tracker is holding a chunk of stone over his head and aiming for the vampire below. Glancing over the edge, they can see the elf meticulously putting a flower on the pile of dirt. He takes a minute to get it perfectly set before going to a sack for another decoration. Knowing that they cannot stop Bob, Titus takes the turret out of Luther’s hands and tosses it into the castle. The three vampires jump down and immediately put up their hands when their naked friend sna
rls, his fangs long enough to scratch his chin.
“We’re here to help if you need us,” Titus tells Bob, who bows his head. The warrior does not complain when he is handed the sack and moved a step to his right. “Going back to our conversation, Decker, I’m not saying we go rogue, but that we do our own investigation. It’s not like Xavier is an enemy. More that I think this is our business and we can solve it easier alone than with his help. You know he’d make us bring Kai along and Luther is the only one of us that pompous jerk tolerates. Well, the two of you, but I think you simply scare that sniveler into his rightful place.”
“Leave a mouthy vampire dangling in the sun for three days and he’ll behave,” the dwarf declares with a smirk. Turning around, he finds that Luther’s eyes are gold, which causes him to scowl. “Why are you searching for magic? That’s usually only done when you think there’s a trap or someone is spying.”
“Sorry, but I’ve had a hunch ever since we left Nyte,” the forest tracker states while drawing his sickles. He spins them at his sides while checking the area, his body relaxing once he has turned in a full circle. “All of us were here and, in my opinion, escaped too easily. So, I wanted to see if we had any scrying magic placed on us. There was a dormant spell on our necks that showed no signs of ever being activated, but I got rid of it anyway. We should be more careful and not let our fears bring us into danger. For all we know, the Duragians are hunting for our friends and left the spells in the wreckage to bond with a vampire. Then it’s a simple tracking . . . do not start over with the flowers!”
Loyalty Page 14