Curselock

Chapter 51: Escape

Simon screeched as the woman toppled over him, shoving him to the ground and bashing his head into the marble floor. He hastily threw up his hands to guard, missing the first punch by mere seconds. Suddenly his face flooded with blood and the floor was speckled with red. He managed to block the next punch, but by then the woman had a thin silver sword jutting from her neck.

Her lifeless body fell over when Boor ripped his rapier back to his side. Soon the pristine throne room was buzzing with intrigue and grotesque grunts. The small crowd had moved closer a few steps, watching the attempted murder with deafening stares.

“My point exactly,” Boor said. “Those with grudges are the ones most likely to accept the Sightless King. Which just so happens to be—”

“Pretty much everyone in the Guild,” Big Boss finished before looking down to Simon. “Oh get up, fool. All she did was hit you.”

“She broke my nose!” the kingpin retorted. “How did she break my nose! She’s weaker than a child!”

“That’s what the Sightless King’s power does. A small boost to strength and a significant one to confidence,” Leland said.

An attendant ran a handkerchief to Simon who then patted his nose and upper lip. He glared at the room and dead body, scoffing in disgust.

Leland and Jude internally scoffed back, repulsed by the Witch’s attitude towards attempted murder. Having to work with a branded Witch cut into both of them, only the thought of finding Glenny easing their ever churning stomachs.

“So,” Boor stately impassively. “you will invade the sewers?”

Big Boss took a careful moment to eye the red power draining from the woman’s eyes like the blood that flowed from the hole in her neck.

“Yes,” she eventually said. “But only with that map of yours. What else can you tell us?”

Leland took the initiative. “Sigils cover the walls of the sewers. The fog makes it possible that you can walk through, but I wouldn’t leave it to chance. I suggest long spears to score the ground, ceiling, and walls as you go. Also be ready with chalk and restraints for people afflicted. Maybe a copy of Brix’s Guide to Defending Magic if your magic users don’t know the pattern by heart.”

Big Boss raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that all?”

“You should also check your men you send to the sewers for the Sightless King beforehand,” Leland continued. “Just one agent could ruin everything for everyone.”

“I take it you three are just messengers in this war,” she said. “Not fighters?”

Boor answered before Leland could. “Our side is weakened. Our party used to be nine, but the sigils have taken one and the others were wounded by the cult’s leader.”

“Aha!” Simon suddenly shouted. “A lie! I can spot these things from a mile away, Boor! You know that!”

“Is this true?” Big Boss asked, her single eye narrowing.

Boor let out a long sigh. “More like partially true,” he said. “The one who was affected by the sigils had been purged but still went missing.”

Simon’s great smile sputtered. “He speaks the truth.”

Big Boss then stood, stepping around the dead woman and to Boor. “It was good to see you again, old friend. I miss our time—"

A scratching sound suddenly appeared from Simon. He dragged a thick needle across the marble floor, casting lines of blood in odd runic patterns. “Before you go, Boor. I was recently robbed. Do you know anything about that?”

Boor hesitated. “No,” he lied, keeping his face as still as possible.

The kingpin smirked, pressing his hand into the rune. Suddenly the walls turned thick with a blue gooey substance. Big Boss yelled something but her anger was outshined by the screeching crowd. The Guild’s high ranking members quickly ran out of the throne room, not before some fell victim to Simon’s attack.

The goo latched onto their clothing and legs, sticking them in place like a fly on glue. Those affected cursed at theirSimon, some even saying “Not again!”

Not wanting to stick around, Boor pushed Leland and Jude out of the room as fast as possible. At some point the boys had drawn their weapons but no fighters came to intervene. They simply exited like everyone else, eventually reaching the bridges leading out of the area.

Showing the way, the butler quickly found safe passage through the shadows and towards one of the underbelly’s many entrances/exits. He kept checking over his shoulder, finding nothing out of the ordinary.

“That was something,” Jude finally said once they began their ascent up the stairs back to the city proper.

“How did Simon know you were lying?” Leland asked. “Legacy ability?”

“No,” Boor said. “That man is a world-class manipulator. He may not seem like it, but he rose up the ranks of the Smugglers Guild by simply talking, blackmailing, and extortion. He can read anyone he talks to with a high probability of being right.”

Jude laughed at that. “Not that it helped him with his servant though. Maybe you should have let her kill him.”

“Believe me, I wish Simon dead more than anyone. But there are some things you just can’t mess with. The people in power during a time of need is one of them. But you are right about him. He’s a narcissist and frankly doesn’t care about the peons around him. I doubt he gave that woman a second glance.”

“What did he do to become a Witch?” Leland asked, his voice distant.

“Besides cold blooded murder?” Boor asked. “Simon is a Legacy of Alchemy – or something close to it. He created an alchemical plague back when he was becoming famous. Holds the threat of using it over everyone to stay in power. Big Boss is the undisputed leader of the Guild but everyone puts up with Simon because they have to.”

“And this plague he created isn’t enough of a reason to involve the Inquisitors?”

Boor shrugged, pushing open the door to the surface. “Not really. Most don’t believe he actually ever created it. The threat of it is still there, of course, so no one wants to call him on it.”

Jude stretched. “When do you think they will go through the sewers?”

“As soon as the quest for cultist heads is activated. Those in the streets will be the first to go, then the information about the sewers will come next. I wouldn’t doubt that the sewers will be cleared by morning.”

“Then we are staying,” Leland said. “We have to make sure Glenny isn’t killed accidentally.”

Jude agreed right away but Boor took a long hard look at the young mage before him. “Fine,” he eventually said.

It took a few hours but eventually most of the underbelly’s combatants, at least the ones pressed for gold, were in Shoutwell’s sewers. They used small push carts pulled by stout four legged beasts to pass through the fog while destroying the sigils. With spears cutting into the sewer walls like oars cutting into a calm lake, the cart rode down the dark passages.

At least it did, until cultists started appearing. They didn’t last a moment, pouring from a small room and instantly being torn to shreds. Like lambs to a slaughter they walked directly into a hail of arrows, magical spells, and blades. Not a single one lived, and those who did such killings argued for who dealt the final blow.

Money, money, money, Leland thought to himself. Always about money. Just do some normal quests. Slay some monsters, gather some herbs.

Despite being cultists, he saw the slaughter and grimaced. These people were normal citizens not that long ago. Was it really their fault for succumbing to temptation and promise of power? Leland didn’t know, only he didn’t like seeing rooms of people killed without a chance of fighting back.

His eyes grew cold as each room was emptied out.

No Glenny.

No woman in white.

No sign of anyone other than low-ranking cultists.

In the most centralized room of the sewers, something peculiar was found. A device, magical in nature but also oddly mechanical. It spewed fog like a humidifier pumping vapors into the air. Leland and the others didn’t get a chance to break it themselves, Big Boss ordered its destruction almost instantly.

Soon the fog plaguing Shoutwell would be cleared, but for some reason Leland and Jude felt the city’s coverage deepen. They walked slowly with Boor back to the small village just outside of town, each silently brooding.

“Look boys,” Boor said, only to be interrupted by Leland.

“We know,” he said. “It was unlikely the cultists let him live. We were just trying to remain hopeful.”

Boor suddenly felt his spine go still. “That’s— That’s not what I was going to—”

“You were going to say there is still hope,” Jude laughed, his voice quivering like the wet shimmer in his eyes. “That Glenny is somewhere else, right? That the sewers weren’t their main base, and that they took him there instead.”

“Well, yes—”

“Why would they do that? Why would the cultists randomly take a captive? Have they done that with anyone else?”

Boor didn’t respond.

“We are young,” Leland said. “Not dumb. We knew the moment Glenny disappeared.”

Boor did have something to say to that. “Disappeared, exactly. You two said he was acting strange. That the cultists were whispering in his ear. Maybe they didn’t kidnap him but rather he simply wandered off.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Leland said reservedly, like he didn’t believe his own words.

“Yeah, maybe,” Jude said a moment later, echoing his friend’s tone and thought process.

Suddenly a screeching noise resonated against the cold wet air. The group quickly spun, finding a red beam blasting out from the slowly defogging city. They watched with horror as the beam slowly faded, redoubling the crazed sound.

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