Chapter 8

For the sneering leader of their group, Liriel's reaction time was a blur. It wasn't just the dagger that pierced the darkness but the rogue herself, bounding fearlessly down the tunnel behind her flying weapon. Before any of them could react to, much less comprehend their reversal of fortune, the flying weapon embedded itself into their leader's armor directly above his heart. Fortunately for him, the thick leather did its job, stopping the blade with barely a nick to his chest. He looked up, smiling at his fortune...

...just in time to see the bottom of Liriel's boot coming for him. Her flying kick drove her dagger to the hilt, introducing the smooth, cold steel into his heart. Collapsing into the disgusting water at his feet, he had just enough time to contemplate repentance before the catastrophic blood loss took first his consciousness and then his life. The half-elf landed lightly on her feet, reset her stance, and switched her offhand weapon to her main hand. She smirked at her stunned audience, ready to continue the violence.

"Next?" She asked.

A thickly bearded thug to her left recovered his senses first. This man was the one holding the torch and his wide eyes soon narrowed at his friend's killer.

"Fucking bi-" His eloquent retort died with him, accompanied by the faint whistle of Elara's arrow embedding itself in his eye until coming to a stop at the back of his skull. His hand went limp, dropping the light source, which Liriel deftly spun and caught. A rhythmic clomping sound then echoed from the dead end tunnel. A skinny, rat-faced human turned his eyes from Liriel in time to catch the flash of Kael's armor emerging from the darkness.

From her crouched catching position, Liriel lightly tossed the torch back into the air. When the flash of red and silver that was Kael Illyrian passed her, he plucked it from the top of its arc and slammed into his hapless target. Ratface bounced off of the warrior's lowered shoulder and impacted the tunnel wall behind him. Now stunned, he was unable to dodge when Kael's momentum carried him through to the wall as well, crushing his foe with a sickening, wet crunch.

The nine remaining attempted killers finally caught up to what was happening and jumped into action. Kael drew his sword and dual-wielded it with the torch, quickly establishing a circle of space around himself. Liriel dove under a clumsy swipe to roll away and pull her dagger from the dead man. Elara emerged silently from the darkness with her machete and billhook bared. She slipped between the attackers encircling Kael, taking position at his back and brandishing her weapons in warning.

Eya and Theron arrived last and flanked the entrance to the dead end tunnel. With a mutual nod of understanding, each chose their own targets. The wizard dipped his hand into one of the pouches on his bandolier and produced an opaque, drab green crystal. Reaching to the wall on his left and pointing down the tunnel they had come from on his right, he dragged the stone in a circle. Sparks showered from the brick and a wall of flame sprang to life under the feet of three attackers. They recoiled from the conjured barrier in pain and tried to douse their clothes, only to find that they were trapped in a flaming circle. Theron smirked at having successfully evened the odds.

"Kill the mage!" A shout rang out from one of the two foes engaged with Liriel. His facial tattoos were distorted with rage as he tried and failed to land a blow against the rogue. At his signal, one of the four that had surrounded Kael and Elara turned around and charged up the slick curved bricks. Brandishing an ugly spiked truncheon, he advanced on Theron with an unsettling glee that exposed a single gold tooth to the flickering torchlight.

On his third step, he was struck on the side of the head by a bolt of flaming, golden energy. Disoriented and singed, he lost his footing and slid back into the cold water at the center of the tunnel.

"Hands off!" Eya shouted at him.

His companions grew frustrated and closed in on the paired ranger and warrior. The first was parried by Kael but another took an overhead swing at Elara with his short sword. She blocked the strike with her machete and the hulking man continued to press down, hoping to overpower her. He was so intent on dominating the smaller woman that he failed to notice her bring her left hand across her body and swipe up. Her billhook took his weapon and his hand along with it, severing it at the wrist.

Her attacker had hardly enough time to register the pain though. Elara took the momentum of her swing and carried through, spinning on one heel for a full rotation to drive her machete into his gut, edge up and below the bottom of his armor. She then reversed her grip on the billhook, snagged the machete in its crook, and yanked upward. The paired weapons did not stop until they hit his sternum and the wet splashing that could be heard above the din of combat was enough to sicken anyone paying attention.

Goldtooth, already frustrated at his embarrassing slip, was enraged at the sight of his friend's pieces spilling onto his legs. He looked up, glaring at Eya, and immediately charged the apparently softer target. Three steps in however, he was struck from the opposite side when a Magic Missile barrage buried itself in his face. Rolling down into the nauseating water again, he stood up and howled with rage. His unintelligible stream of invectives was met by a chuckle from Theron.

"The lady said 'Hands off!' ya daft git!" His taunting only enraged Goldtooth further. He decided his first instinct was correct and charged the wizard again, club held high. This time, he leapt up the short slope and swung the second he was in range. His weapon stopped short with an echoing boooong when it encountered a shimmering, golden shield. Incredulous at being stymied again, he turned to look at the cleric behind him. She just stuck her tongue out. Goldtooth swung about and took a menacing step toward her.

"Oh I'm gonna cave that red head in you aggravating cu-" Alas, the world was deprived of yet another articulate retort when he was struck between the eyes by a radiant, floating quarterstaff. Eya's Spiritual Weapon hovered in place while he collapsed and his unconscious body was carried back into the intersection by the current.

"Language!" She called after him, spurring a fresh bout of laughter from Theron.

"Whenever you two are done with the comedy routine!?" Liriel's voice rang out from a few feet away. She was gritting her teeth to keep face-tattoo's sword away from herself with both daggers. Adding to the spectacle, she had another assailant pinned to the far wall with her boot at his throat. "NO FUCKING RUSH THOUGH!"

"Ooh shit..." Theron muttered, loud enough for Eya to hear. "She's no' gonna let us live tha' down." He looked about at the detritus around his feet and his eyes shot open. "Oh, lovely!" The dwarf bent down and picked up a grimy piece of scrap iron from the sludge at the water's edge. After a moment's consideration, he grinned and shrugged. "Straight enough!" He pointed it at Liriel's sword-wielding, tattooed attacker, muttered a few words under his breath, and jerked the rod upward.

The man froze, his joints locked up and he threw his head back. Unable to scream or move, he keeled over rigidly into the water. Liriel shot Theron a withering sneer then dropped her outstretched leg, spun around, and drove her dagger into the other man's side.

While successful, Theron's intervention had the side effect of dropping his concentration on the wall of fire. The flames immediately died down and revealed what was left of the three trapped men. Two were still standing, the third was best described as 'well done'. The healthier of the two, a thin, dark-haired, and disheveled man, realized that he was no longer being cooked alive and stood up. He angrily readied his weapon, uncoiling an ugly looking whip from his belt. The sound of clinking chains echoed down to the intersection followed by a sharp, metallic crack when it was lashed at the rogue.

Caught mid-kick while trying to finish off her opponent, Liriel's leg was yanked violently back toward the shadowed tunnel. The rusty, dark iron chain whip dug into her thigh with vicious spikes when pulled taut, sending her crashing into the water with a shout of pain. Her yell alerted Kael, who turned from his sickle-wielding target. No longer trying to employ his sword with finesse, he bashed his opponent across the face with the torch and moved to sever the chain. Even though he was a good fifteen feet away, he planted one foot and primed himself to make the dash. He was stopped in his tracks by Sickle, who recovered from the burn and buried his weapon beneath the aasimar's chest plate in his side.

Elara's machete quickly relieved him of his hand as well, but the damage was done. She ignored the screaming of the maimed man and immediately went to help Kael to the side wall. As he looked up into her concerned face, his eyes went wide. She barely had time to react when he shoved her aside with his forearm, extending his sword arm behind her.

The opponent that she had ignored to save him then impaled himself on the blessed blade. As he too sank to his knees in the bloody stream, Elara whipped around and buried her machete next to Kael's sword.

While the ranger and warrior were engaged with their own problems, Eya leapt toward Liriel. She immediately grabbed hold of the chain and pulled it toward her teammate to give her some slack. Its wielder responded by yanking it back again, drawing a cry of pain from both women. Eya gritted her teeth and pulled once more.

They both tumbled backward when the chain snapped. Dazed and disoriented, Liriel looked at the cleric, confusion written across her face. Eya's relieved smirk immediately dissolved into worry and Liriel whipped around to look. Her tattooed opponent was rising from the water, having shaken off Theron's control. She kipped up with conditional success and put weight on her uninjured leg.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Take a hint you ugly fuck." She growled and resumed their fight.

Eya barely had time to watch their showdown when the other survivor of Theron's flame wall reached her. Using the collar of her armor, he threw her against the tunnel wall and dove on her. His fury and pain from being burnt were channeled into his hands and he grabbed her robes, pulling her back up.

"You're gonna pay for his little trick!" He shouted, and slammed her back against the wall. An old injury flared to life in her ribs, shocking her awake. He drew her up again, close enough that she could smell the charred skin on his face and neck. "And then when I'm done with him..." he sneered. Her eyes went wide.

Theron saw her trouble and pointed the iron rod at her burned assailant. Muttering the words again, he jerked the rod upward. The man did not stop, he was still up close in the cleric's face, his rage deflecting the magical Hold attempt harmlessly. The wizard momentarily panicked, searching his memory for a spell that would injure the thug without harming Eya. On the verge of desperation, he prepared another barrage of Magic Missiles when a curious thing happened.

He saw Eya say something, almost a whisper in the chaos of battle. The man's eyes immediately went wider than hers. He dropped her and scrabbled away, losing his footing on the slick floor but still frantically clawing to get away. A scream finally escaped his lips as he bolted past Kael and Elara and down the tunnel opposite the way they had arrived.

"You have GOT to be shitting me!" A booming voice emerged from the dark ahead of the fleeing thug. More torches lit, revealing another dozen silhouettes. The figure at the center of the mob raised one arm and swung an oddly shaped blade toward the running man. The sword, which started straight, ended in a shallow curve capped by a sharp gut hook. It resembled a narrow question mark and was perfectly suited for its task. It's efficiency was apparent when it took the retreating thug's head with hardly a sound. The speaker stepped forward, his imposing features becoming menacing in the dim light. His dusky skin and bald head contrasted with his dark black goatee and styled eyebrows. Old scars crisscrossed his face and long-aged tattoos obscured his neck, climbing toward his ears.

"Maruk!" Liriel's opponent shouted. "They're-" He was cut off when the rogue's blade opened his throat. She shoved his draining body into the water and sneered toward the dimly-lit additions. She beckoned them with an exhausted sigh, trying to catch her breath.

"C'mon needle-dicks, two lines, no waiting. Stabbings on the left, beatings on the right."

Maruk chuckled darkly and raised his khopesh, pointing the gut-hooked end at Liriel. "Any man that goes home without blood on his blade gets to explain himself to Estera!" The crowd behind him roared to life, but just as they began to surge forward, Theron's compact frame emerged and stood in front of Elara and the injured Kael.

"Oi! Horse's arse!" He shouted and held out a small, pointed obsidian arrowhead. The leader of the gang smirked with sadistic glee.

"Last words dwarf? I've heard better." A chorus of sycophantic laughter rumbled out from behind him.

"Nah," the wizard replied, "jus' a question. Don' ya hate it when you're livin' down here, mindin' yer own crappy business...and rocks fall?" Maruk's eyes went wide and he bellowed at his minions.

"Kill the wizard!" They erupted forward, but Theron inverted the pointed stone and jerked it downward. A rumbling preceded the eruption of the earth and stone at the tunnel's roof by only a moment. The advancing horde got no warning as the tunnel collapsed on them, burying many of the would-be assailants. Behind the wounded CKG, the chain-whip wielder turned and ran.

With a self-satisfied smirk, Theron hitched up his pants under his robe. "And ev-"

"Shit...everybody died?" Liriel interrupted with a groan and slumped down in pain. Theron turned to her with an exasperated grumble.

"Oh come on, I was about to say tha'!" A grunt from Kael pulled him back to reality. Elara was in the process of trying to pull him up to standing while he concentrated on keeping their torch out of the water. "Here," he said, "let me give you a hand there." He cast a Light cantrip on his fingertip, took the torch, and doused it. Moving to help Elara, they were able to get the wounded fighter to his feet.

"Let's get out of here," Kael wheezed through pained breaths, "don't bother trying to retrace our route." The sounds of groaning and shouting emerged from the rubble behind them. Elara nodded in agreement and moved under his shoulder to support him.

"Agreed, just go. We'll head up the first chance we get." Theron moved to assist her, despite being so much shorter than Kael.

Eya offered her shoulder to Liriel, who refused at first. Two steps in though, her right leg buckled and she angrily removed the biting length of hooked chain that still clung to her thigh.

"Come on, we need to move." Eya said, holding out her hand again. Liriel rolled her eyes and begrudgingly accepted the support.

•••

The bedraggled team emerged from another drainage grate into the faint light of dawn ten minutes later. They managed to get Kael and Liriel out with the help of a large, ephemeral hand conjured by Theron. Finding themselves in another alley that was nicer than the last, Kael collapsed against an adjoining home while the others took a breather. The drizzling mist of the early hours had turned into a steady, light rain that washed their blood into the street. Elara immediately set about looking at Kael's injury, but she stopped when Eya shoved a healing potion into her hands.

"Give this to Liriel, I'll work here." Her words and movements were mechanical, almost detached, and Elara moved away to do as instructed. She dashed over to where the rogue sat and uncorked the bottle. Liriel pulled out a hip flask first and took a slug from it, then accepted the bottle. Through a grimace, she looked up at the ranger.

"Not bad as a chaser..." She grunted.

Eya laid her hands over Kael's abdominal wound, shoving her small fingers under his armor without trying to remove it. He grunted in pain and squeezed his eyes shut, but she continued to work.

Focusing through the warm rain, Eya summoned her reserves and channeled the Everlight's power into the fallen warrior. The effort was visible on her face as she carefully modulated her own breathing and concentrated hard. Kael's squinting eyes finally opened again and his knitted brow eased when the wound closed, allowing her to exhale and smile. She handed him another healing potion and collapsed, happy and winded, against the wall next to him.

Through slowly relaxing breaths, Kael drained the red liquid and sighed. He looked over at the healer and squinted into the rain. "Just tack them on our bill." He said with a good-natured affect. She chuckled and her smile broadened.

"On the house." He laughed and elbowed her lightly.

"First one's always free eh?" Their amusement was interrupted when Elara cleared her throat.

"I don't think this is working." She stated with a flat tone that raised goosebumps on Eya's skin. She immediately jumped up to crouch beside Liriel as well.

The rogue shook her head. "No, I can feel it working, but these aren't closing." She gestured toward the puncture wounds on her thigh, nasty remnants of the chain-whip. Eya leaned in close and studied one of the bleeding wounds. Through the rain she was able to detect a whiff of something familiar. Bolting upright, she looked down at her own hands with wide eyes.

The ugly gash in her right palm from that same chain looked unnaturally blackened and flecked with rust. She raised it to her nose and sniffed again. Sulfur. Her left hand began shaking and she clenched it closed.

"The whip was...cursed." She said, and placed her trembling left hand over Liriel's leg. Concentrating again, she worked on restoring the flesh instead of just healing it. This took considerable effort and her tremors worsened until she finally opened her eyes and released her held breath. When she removed her hand, they all sighed collectively in relief at the sight. Liriel's pale thigh was visible and dirty, but healed.

"Theron!" She shouted. "Need a mending job on these pants tonight." He grumbled a wordlessly exhausted response from where he sat. When Eya went to stand again on shaking legs, Liriel yanked her back down. "Hey. I'm not ungrateful, but about that 'cursed whip'...?"

Eya looked at her questioningly and shrugged. "Weird right? I wonder where they got it." The rogue shook her head and her wavy hair sprayed some rain about.

"Yeah, yeah. Bad guys get their mitts on bad toys, not news. You snapped it. With one hand." When Eya looked at her blankly, she pressed further. "How?" The healer held up her wounded right hand and pointed to the dirty red-brown streaks.

"Rust, see?" Liriel looked at her incredulously.

"In the thick of the fight and with next to no lighting...you spotted the weak link on that nasty piece of work?" Eya shrugged again.

"I'm lucky, I guess?" She guffawed, then reached into her satchel again and pulled out a strip of cloth. "Actually no, you're the lucky one." They watched her gingerly wrap her injured hand.

"You're not going to heal that too?" Elara asked. Eya shook her head and tucked the end of the bandage into one of its layers.

"I'm tapped. I'll clean it out and deal with it after I get some rest." She slapped her knees, winced at the pain in her hand, and smiled brightly at them. "So, back to the Lodge?"

Kael walked over and offered his hands to each of them in turn, pulling them all to standing. "Yeah, back to the Lodge, we need to get off the streets. Where are we?" Eya looked around to get her bearings.

"Residential district. One of the nicer ones, where ships' officers usually stay. 10 minutes to the Ebontide if we move quick." Kael nodded and helped Theron up.

"Lead on."

•••

When they dragged themselves through the red door of the Ebontide they were hit by the warmth of the hearth and the smell of breakfast wafting from the kitchen. The bedraggled group stood in a gaggle, dripping on the floor until their ranger took charge.

"I'm starving." Elara said as she dropped into a chair and claimed one of the tables. It wasn't a question for the group but most of them moved to take seats as well.

"I'm beat. Wake me up later though, when you're ready." Eya moved toward the stairs but was stopped by Cora clearing her throat, loudly. She looked over to the bar and saw the proprietor with her hand out. Her shoulders slumped and she began digging into her coin purse for her daily rent.

She was caught by surprise when Liriel shoved her toward the stairs and walked over to the bar. The rogue put a gold coin in Cora's hand and grumbled at her. "Make it two days." When she went to return to their table and saw Eya still standing there in shock, she rolled her eyes and kept walking. "Go get some shut-eye. The fun's just getting started."

Eya stuttered and tried to offer her own coin in return, but Liriel pointed toward the stairs without looking back.

"Fuck's sake, Cherry. GO!"