The last of the chests and boxes have been loaded by the drow that Shaddar brought with him from the underground palace. It is time to leave.
“Hawke? Walk with me. I’m sure you have much more to tell me of my time while I was away. We can speak on these matters as we travel to our new base of operations.”
“Of course, Boss,” Hawke replies somewhat uncertainly. He is still a bit hesitant to live in a home built by the palehairs, but will do as he is ordered to by Shaddar. Good.
“Before we begin, I have an additional task for you to give to your network.”
“Oh?”
Shaddar’s tentacles writhe as he continues, “Yes. I want you to find Helmnald. He is my captain of grand larceny, as you know, and we will need his services soon. With our last meeting place destroyed and the rumors of our deaths floating freely, I fear he will be unable to find us again. So. Seek him out and bring him to me once he is found.”
“Yes, Boss. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Good. And now, why don’t you give me your full report of what events transpired and what rumors you have heard while I was away?”
Hawke grins and begins to talk as they follow the line of drow who carry their heavy burdens.
“First of all, I found out the best way to escape the revenge of the Lords for the insults and other activities that may have offended them,” the human says with evident relief.
“Really? Besides a direct war of genocide on either part?”
“Yes. Apparently it’s a part of the original charter of Big City that the two Guildmasters, Hero and Villain, can never be punished for what they say or do in the city. It’s a sort of power that they have in order to always be able to tell the Lords how it really is. But in our case you can use the law to avoid any punishment at all!”
“Interesting,” Shaddar murmurs. His thoughts continue, “Not that I need such legal protection – so much easier to just exterminate all of my enemies, but it might be a useful loophole.” He raises a clawed finger and asks, “And what kinds of ‘other activities’ do you think I need protection from? What else have you heard?”
“The constables have been finding bodies all over town, Boss. Thrown away like refuse. Unheard of it is. One of the worst was some headless bodies they found outside a butcher shop. Caused quite a stir – that did!”
Shaddar chuckles at the image. “I can imagine.”
Hawke is disturbed by Shaddar’s sense of humor, but manfully pushes on with his report. “The constables tried to cover that one up and they did a fair job of it, too. But it was only two days later that one of the missing heads was found; in such a way that couldn’t be covered up. A child found it inside the bucket she had just drawn up from one of the public wells. Oh! What a din that caused! Why there must’ve been two thousand people who claimed that they had been poisoned by ‘tainted well-water’ and you wouldn’t believe the mobs that flocked to clerics and healers for cures and restoratives.”
Shaddar controls his mirth in order to not upset the flow of information his minion is giving him and asks, “Yes, I can see how that would be a bit of a problem.”
“A bit?” Hawke snorts, “People still refuse to drink water or even soup that’s made with well-water. Some folks have begun carting in spring water from outside the city and making a fair coin from it. It’s that or rainwater, ale, wine, and beer. It’s caused quite a shortage of brews from what I’ve heard and caused many an accident from drunken behavior, as well.”
“As a meadhall proprietor, you would certainly be in a position to judge,” Shaddar says with a slight nod.
“Former meadhall proprietor,” Hawke growls, throwing an angry glance at Cutt, who ducks back behind Toothsnatcher at the venomous glare. Hawke glances over at the stumbling form of Vicacili and snorts.
“Vicacili has been the topic of many a whispered conversation of Guild members,” Hawke says as he turns back to face Shaddar. “He can still see a little bit of dark and light, but his punishment is good enough for me.”
“Excellent! Excellent. And his absence has been noticed by the Guild of Villains, you say?”
“More than just noticed, Boss. He was the special troubleshooter used by the Guildmaster himself to handle serious problems and everyone knows it. The word got to the general membership somehow that he never came back from one of his missions and it’s generated a lot of talk. A lot of agitation.”
“A lot of fear?” Shaddar guesses.
“Yeah,” Hawke says with a satisfied smirk. “My spies have caught snatches of conversation at all levels of the Guild leadership talking about it. Nobody has a clue as to what happened to him. And that’s grand.”
Hawke snaps his fingers. “Speaking of my spies, do you want to meet with any of them?”
“No,” Shaddar answers. “It is better to lead from the shadows – just as the current Guildmaster of the Guild of Villains does.”
Hawke nods and returns to the topic of conversation. “I really don’t think anyone has a clue as to what is really going on. Well, except for Constable Snook, maybe, but the man has cracked a bit if you ask me.”
“How so?” Shaddar questions.
“He was one of the few survivors from the explosion at my meadhall. He got burned really badly, but some healers fixed him up. On the outside. Inside I think he’s still damaged – he’s acting like a man possessed from all accounts. The only homicide constable in Big City, with more deaths to investigate than we’ve had in a score of years put together, and what is he doing? He’s obsessing with finding you, Boss. Cutt’s blast might have convinced the rest of the town that we’re all dead, but not him.”
“He will be an easy problem to fix should the need arise,” Shaddar says with contempt. “We will let him consume himself with his newfound madness until he makes a nuisance of himself.”
“The Boss sure is confident of his abilities,” Hawke thinks and Shaddar eavesdrops on the flow of thoughts, “I guess he’s earned that right with all the trouble he’s handled already, but I’m worried that he’s too confident. I’ll keep an eye on that – I don’t want anything to go wrong with our plans. So I really should bring up one more thing, but I don’t know…”
“Anything else, Hawke,” Shaddar probes, “Anything at all? Out with it at once, my man!”
Hawke nods reluctantly. “One more thing that I’ve been thinking about, Boss. Jorin and Bort?”
“What of them?”
“I’m a bit concerned about the message that it sends to others in the Guild of Swashbuckling Rogues – just leaving them hanging out to dry like you want us to.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t get me wrong, Boss. I know that neither one of them is worth much to the organization–“
“Indeed!” Shaddar interrupts with a jerk of his tentacles.
Hawke presses on to his point. “But they are useful indirectly as a symbol. A symbol of the kind of upwards mobility that you make possible in our new Guild.”
“Ah?” Shaddar is intrigued. Humans are so strange in what they see in the smallest of actions. Hawke provides him with a view into their narrow and short-sighted little world. He continues to listen to Hawke’s explanation.
“Rescuing them would send a powerful message to the rest of our members. It would be a useful story for me to be able to tell those I’m trying to recruit, too.”
Shaddar sighs heavily. “I suppose you are right, Hawke. And who knows what they may have learned from the questions that the constables asked them.”
“I hadn’t thought of that, but yeah, that’d be useful,” Hawke agrees.
“Very well. Find out what has happened to them and see if we can rescue them from whatever holding facility they are in. If possible, see if Jorin can fall victim to… an unfortunate accident during the escape. I only need one of them as a symbol and to tell me what they both know. This will send the right message… and the right message. I will not suffer fools…”
“I’ll see what we can find out, Boss. And I understand you perfectly.”
Chapter 1 < Chapter 50 Chapter 52 >
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