Cade had to admit, he wasn’t expecting so much blood.
Sure, he hadn’t exactly asked Gavin about the conditions of his ‘place where no one will find us.’
But this...
...this was a bit much.
“I felt like it went without saying that a butcher’s cabin out in the woods isn’t really a place that screams ’safety,’ Gavin,” Cade remarked as he stepped over a pile of blood-soaked feathers.
“Trust me,” Gavin answered without looking at him. “No one will find us here. Most of the locals think this clifftop is haunted.”
“This is clearly haunted,” Elena commented with a wrinkled nose.
Cade took short breaths, careful not to let the foul stench of sun-dried meat and yellow bones, along with a ridiculous collection of feathers, sneak into his nostrils.
Gavin had promised a spot where no one would find them.
Check.
In his mind, he replayed their frantic journey here to make sure he could remember how to get back if need be.
Gavin had guided them back into the Twisted Oak, of all places, while the staff and patrons fled from Helga and that crazy winter elf lady. The two of them had duked it out with something that could hardly be called restraint.
Through chilling mist and black smoke, Gavin had led them into the tavern’s back entrance, through the kitchens, and to a charred black wall adjacent to the neglected ovens. Gavin had pressed a knot in the blackened wood, and in a stomach-churning blur, they’d fallen into complete darkness.
They’d trudged through the winding shadows for what felt like hours before the tunnel ended at an old iron door. After a steep climb over dirt stairs for another few minutes, they made it to Gavin’s hideout—a cabin set atop a cliff overlooking Elysia, and absolutely doused in aged death for their enjoyment.
Cade noted the scorched cauldron over a charcoal fire pit, and yet more feathers clumped beneath bushes and weeds. Bunny jumped off his shoulder and wandered around in the grass. The little dragonling’s nose flared as he picked up all the woodland scents, and he made adorable little chuffing noises as he paused to inspect certain smells. He chuckled at the little cloudrift dragonling’s antics.
“Did it come like this?” Nora asked under her breath. “Or is this your doing?”
“Heh,” Gavin said with an awkward chuckle. “I’d rather not answer that one.”
“This is your doing, then,” Nora said with a huff. “Good to know.”
“Gavin, dear.” Elena’s words were honey-tipped venom. “What in Decay’s creepy gaze happened here?”
“I have to agree with Elena on this one, Gavin,” Cade said with a barely restrained grimace. “Was there a chicken massacre here? Is that how you got this place on the cheap?”
“Something like that,” Gavin admitted. “I did Greta a... favor a while ago, and got this place in return.”
“What was the favor?” Evie asked dreamily. “Did you rescue her from villains, or save her daughter from a fire?”
Cade coughed on his laughter when he saw the deep blush spread along the handsome man’s cheeks.
“... Something like that,” Gavin repeated as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Despite the—decorations—this place seems secure.” Orro turned to Cade with arms folded over his muscular chest. “No one will find us here. And there’s a nearly impenetrable wall of thorns and ivy around this section of the cliff. The only way in and out is the entrance we came in.”
“Alright, then. We should be safe here for now.” Cade tapped his foot on the mushy ground, unwilling to check the source of its squishiness beneath his boot.
The pair of them stood outside the cabin, reluctantly accepting their new base of operations. Cade’s team spread out. Some kicked errant bones into the underbrush, while others gathered some firewood. The breeze picked up, and some loose feathers swirled about the clearing in a silent dance to the fowl who lost their lives here.
Chicken massacre indeed.
“This is great, but we can’t stay here,” Cade said, and everyone paused to look at him. He met their gazes evenly. “Whoever that winter elf was, she was after me—us, more likely. Given that she went toe to toe with Helga without breaking a sweat, and because this couldn’t possibly be about the class Orro and I took together without paying for it, I can only assume it’s about the... apricot.”
“This again?” Nora demanded.
Cade might’ve imagined it, but the shadows of the late afternoon seemed to condense slightly around her.
“You keeping us in the dark is getting really old, really fast,” Nora snapped. “You’re being hunted by Scorn’s acolyte and a winter elf who looks like she could cleave a castle in two. The orc evidently knows what this apricot thing is, when you won’t even tell your own team.” She gestured wildly between her, Evie, and Gavin. “What else are you hiding from us, Stormhollow?”
“Watch your tone,” Orro replied and stepped between them, hand on his hilt.
She chuckled darkly. “As much as I’d love a workout, Orro, I was talking to Cade.”
At first, no one spoke. No one moved. Hells, barely anyone even breathed in the silence that followed. Even the winds somehow knew not to interfere with the tension that arose around them.
“I know what your daggers are, Orro,” she warned. “I’ve studied everything about you that I can glean. I know where those knives are from, and I know more about you than you realize. So, if you make another damned comment about apricots, I am going to split you open with my shiny new sword, is that clear?”
“Fine,” Cade cut in, standing in front of his seething friend. “But secrets are currency, Nora. Mind explaining why a paladin has no armor or sword to her name? A paladin without a god to serve isn’t exactly common.”
She flinched, as though his words struck her like a blow to the face.
“What are you?” Cade demanded. “I mean, what are you really? You don’t seriously expect us to believe you’re the first paladin in history to desert their god, do you?”
Her grip on the greatsword’s handle tightened dangerously. The leather beneath her strong fingers creaked under the pressure, but he refused to back down. They glared at each other, the tension worse than ever, but it was Nora who looked away first.
“Fair point,” she admitted begrudgingly.
“Exactly,” Cade said. “To earn a secret from us, you’ve got to pay with a secret of your own. Now, I’m fine with keeping these things to ourselves for now. You had your reasons for joining us. I didn’t pry into your life, and you didn’t ask anything about us.” He gestured to his original crew. “We have a lot to do in this city before the tournament is over, alright? We’re stuck in this bloodbath until the end, but that seems to be it with you. If you want to be friends, you’re going to have to make that first step. We already made ours.”
Nora was silent for a long, painful, moment.
Evie looked between the paladin and Cade. The singer’s doe eyes were wide and pleading, but she didn’t say anything.
Then, with a huff, Nora simply walked away.
“Keep your secrets, Stormhollow,” Nora said flatly.
Cade’s throat tightened at her tone, and he watched as Nora disappeared into the woods. Evie’s rich green eyes watered, and then she rushed off to follow her friend.
Cade let out a defeated sigh. He looked over those remaining, their dark expressions ranging from dismissive to downright enraged.
Orro released his grip on his sword and shot Cade a sidelong glance. “Should I go get them?”
Cade shook his head. “Give them space. They’ll be back.”
“Are you sure about that?” Rayka asked skeptically.
No. No, he wasn’t.
Instead of answering, he cleared his throat and refocused their conversation on the task ahead. “Now, I can’t imagine Hugh is here, in the tournament, unless he also knows about the... “ Cade trailed off when he looked at Gavin. “Is our contract still in play? You’re willing to help us with the tournament as well as other projects?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Yes! Just tell me what you need and where.” Gavin answered a bit too quickly.
Hmm.
Time for a test, then. Technically, Gavin had already paid them a secret, since he’d shown them this secluded safehouse, so Cade could take a calculated risk here and return the favor, so to speak.
“Alright, Gavin,” Cade answered, though his gaze lingered on the gentleman for a moment longer than necessary. “We’re here in the tournament to steal a Remnant.”
He waited for the revelation to sink in, and sure enough, Gavin’s face went from eager to shocked, and then outright horrified.
“You… you mean... “ the telepath stammered.
“Yep,” Jer confirmed. “The stuff the gods hoard for their private collections and hells know what else,”
“Don’t those things kill mortals on contact, though?” Gavin asked while he tugged anxiously on his ascot.
“The fates seem to be in a bit of a stalemate when it comes to the answer to that particular question,” Cade answered with a tight smile. “Suffice it to say, we’re pretty sure we can procure it without instantly dying.”
“Pretty sure?” Gavin demanded in an octave higher than just a moment before.
“We’ve done it before,” Elena added as she played with the belt-blade affectionately.
She met his gaze, her confidence calming the man. Cade raised a quick prayer to the god of deception for giving him a friend like her.
“We need to get into the arena’s underbelly. Know a way?” Cade asked and placed a friendly hand on the gentleman’s shoulder.
He hesitated again, looking up into the sky.
“Yes,” he said at last, but then met Cade’s gaze. “But I can’t come with you.”
“What?!” Elena demanded. “So you can go snitch to whatever thieving guild you came from about our prize? Is that it?”
He raised his hands in a placating motion as Elena stepped forward, hand on the hilt of her whip blade. Jer cracked his knuckles to his right.
Gavin’s face went pale. “What? Gods no! It’s just... You’ll have to go after dark, and I said I can’t do any night jobs. No exceptions.”
Orro raised one skeptical eyebrow.
“I really do know a way in there!” Gavin promised. “I’ll get you a map of the tunnel system that runs beneath the city. Just be sure to hide any bodies of other thieves you might run into down there. It’s rare, but they do use those tunnels on occasion, and it’s just accepted that you can get away with anything down there as long as you’re not caught in the act.”
Cade grimaced at the thought of killing anyone else, but he ultimately nodded. He ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair, suddenly feeling drained.
“Fine. Get us a map.” Cade turned to his friends. “Crew? Be ready to go as soon as our friend’s done.”
They dispersed, but Cade set one hand on Gavin’s shoulder. He leaned in, doing his best not to spook the clearly rattled man.
“As it’s beginning to impact the safety of my team, I’ll need to know more about your no-nights policy soon. Otherwise, we might have to renegotiate certain aspects of our contract. Is that understood?” Cade met those warm eyes with a flinty gaze of his own.
Something dark and bitter passed over Gavin’s face, but it was gone in an instant.
“Fine,” the telepath stated hoarsely. “Now, let me get you that map.”
To Cade’s surprise, it didn’t take Gavin very long to draw the map that would lead them through the labyrinth below the arena. Once everyone had been able to take a short break and enjoy the sunshine after their latest brush with death in Life’s arena, Cade signaled for everyone to pack up.
As they left, he glanced around Gavin’s safehouse one last time. He somehow caught sight of more bloody chicken feathers every time he scanned the man’s homestead, and he shook his head as he wondered what the hell Gavin O’Rourke was up to.
Time would tell.
With the map securely tucked into his belt, Cade—without Gavin, of course, but with his original team—headed towards the dark tunnel back to the Twisted Oak. Bunny would hop from shoulder to shoulder on occasion, bringing a tight smile to Cade’s face. The little guy was doing his best to ease the unspoken thread of tension bubbling under the surface for everyone else.
Gods, he was so lucky to have Bunny with him.
No one spoke as they moved in a tight formation, eyes scanning the shadows for any signs of trouble. The weight of what they were about to face hung heavy in the air, and their collective anxiety thrummed through each of them.
A flood of mischief washed through him as they defied detection. This was his element—stealing his way through areas where he shouldn’t be, heading for someplace he shouldn’t go.
Focused as Cade was on studying Gavin’s map, their stealth mission blurred by. He noted each landmark in the city’s secret passages. Sure, secret passages weren’t one of Cade’s favorite things, but at least this time he had a map to guide them out if something went wrong.
No, when.
Based on their luck lately, it was more about when something went wrong, not if.
“This is it,” Cade whispered as he pointed to an iron ladder set into the stony wall to their right.
Everyone around him looked up.
Above the slick metal rungs was a dilapidated wooden trapdoor with enough rot across its beams to let the light of a torch spill into the tunnel. Orro lifted his new orb and focused.
“How does that thing even work?” Jer asked as he petted Bunny underneath his chin.
The dragonling purred softly from the affection, and Cade smiled at the sight. In all the tumult of the past few days, he had hardly been able to give his companion the time he deserved, and he silently promised to make up for it once this was all over.
“We’re about to find out,” Orro replied bluntly.
He raised the orb at the torchlight above. After several seconds where nothing occurred, a thin stream of orange light began to stream through the cracks of the trapdoor and toward the orb. The sphere ate it up hungrily and after a few moments, the light was completely gone, throwing them into darkness.
“Please never do that again,” Rayka requested with a tiny squeak.
Orro chuckled somewhere in the darkness, and Cade grinned at their antics. Soon, the soft swish of cloth against stone could be heard and the young thief could barely make out Orro’s form as he ascended the iron ladder.
He followed right behind the assassin. Jer, Elena, and Rayka trailed in his wake while Bunny simply climbed the stone wall like it was just another road.
“Show-off,” Cade muttered playfully at his draconic friend.
Orro rummaged with the trapdoor for a moment, and then they were up and out, the assassin hoisting them through the opening with a gloved hand. Cade dusted off his tunic and cloak while he listened for any noise above them. After nearly a full minute of stillness, Orro reactivated his orb, and light spilled back through the cellar.
True to his word, Gavin’s map had stated that this led into an unused cellar of a shop just one block from one of the arena’s many service tunnels. Cobwebs and a thick plume of dust coated nearly every shelf and jar shoved haphazardly into this place. And set into the side of the cramped room, a short set of stairs and then an angled exit of boarded wood stretched up to the street above.
Without preamble, Elena went over, pulled several long pins from her hair she kept just for this sort of thing, and had the door unlocked in seconds.
Cade loved his team.
Jer patted his sister on the shoulder, and Cade gave her a thumbs-up before he strode through the cellar door and into a shaded alley. The steady rumble of a crowd eager to find dinner echoed through the two buildings towering on either side of them, and Cade motioned for them to blend into the pedestrians. They fanned out into the street, each doing their best to not attract attention.
Bunny hopped into Cade’s hood and nestled in. He gave the dragonling a playful tap on the nose, then made his way to the service tunnel closest to them.
Elena and Jer had beaten him there, with Rayka and Orro close behind. The red-haired lockpick easily opened the way for them yet again, grinning as she broke the law twice in as many minutes. Into the arena, they all sauntered in like they owned the place.
“Okay,” Cade whispered as the warm illumination of a nearby glowflake cast his team in its amber light. “We know the Remnant is here. Be quick, and don’t get caught.”
“Okay, mom,” Rayka moaned, and Orro choked on his laugh.
Cade gave them both a dry look, but his sister only smiled wider at him.
“Just flash your contestant tattoos if any of the guards give you trouble,” Cade continued in a nullified tone. “But we really don’t want it known that we’re snooping about after hours, is that understood? My guess is that the Remnant is either in that Lifekeeper vault they mentioned today, or some other well-secured spot.”
He gave them all a no-nonsense glare, and Rayka put a hand over her mouth to stop from laughing at it.
“This is just for recon. No grabs-and-dashes today, okay?” He insisted.
Cade gave Elena and Jer long looks.
“What?” They both demanded at the same time.
He raised a single eyebrow, and they both wilted.
“Fiiiine,” they answered again in perfect unison, then gave each other a venomous stare.
They all dispersed yet again, each taking a different tunnel. As there were over a dozen in their immediate vicinity, it wasn’t hard.
Cade instinctively chose the ninth from the right, taking the stairs downward two at a time as he flew through the long corridor. His breathing came heavier as he reached the bottom of the long staircase, and he looked back at the way he came with a curse.
“I am not looking forward to going back up those,” he admitted to Bunny before he continued onward.
The hallway he was now in held richly decorated sconces at regular intervals along the twenty-foot wall. Long drag marks were etched into thick grooves along this stretch of the tunnel. He followed them, his curiosity piqued.
His gut squirmed.
For the second time that day, his core seemed to react to his surroundings. It was as if the very air was charged with energy that it yearned for. It was odd, and it unsettled him more than he cared to admit. Still, whatever the strange premonition meant for his sanity, he couldn’t shake the feeling he was getting close to—something.
Footsteps that weren’t his own echoed through the long corridor from one of its many intersections. Cade’s mind raced. He looked for any means of escape, and a lone door to his right had a thin crack that spilled light from it. He dashed for it, Bunny squeaking softly inside his cloak from the sudden motion. The footsteps grew louder, and he saw the face of the first person to turn the corner.
Bazz.
Cade cursed and reached the door, shoving himself inside right as the Lifekeeper started to look up from the strange scroll he held. The thief leaned against the back of the thick oak door, eyes clenched as he counted the footsteps approaching. There had to be at least four or five guards.
They got closer.
Cade held his breath, cold sweat dripping down his spine as he listened to the quiet conversation intermixed with the shuffle of shoes across stone. They stopped by his closed door, and he was certain then and there that he had been caught. Then he heard muffled noises, and the group moved on.
He waited, unwilling to give up the ruse on the off chance they were baiting him to relax.
Thus, it was an incredible shock when a tired old woman missing most of her teeth stabbed a wet mop at his face and demanded, “Who in Life’s rotund bosom are you?”
Barely restrained power coiled around the mop’s head, inches away from gouging Cade through his face.
He’d been caught.
HOW WILL CADE EXPLAIN HIMSELF TO THE DEADLY MOP LADY? 🧹
