KNOCK! KNOCK!

  The closet all quieted. Witches, wizards, gnome, and furniture all alike. The loud wooden sound came from the door. The secret door, who nobody should know about, except the people inside. It could of course be Rum, but the wizard had been gone for two days now and would never knock to enter. Then there was the elf who’d made the door, but nobody thought about the elf in that moment. Instead, imaginations everywhere ran wild, minds conjuring up all sorts of terrifying possibilities. Faces drained of color, and all eyes stared at the door.

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  The door swung open, and revealed...

  “Amez!” Bresh exclaimed. She glanced around to the others. “It’s the brother!”

  Amez stepped inside, only to be halted by what he saw. His eyes widened, his mouth opened, and his gaze simply panned across the deep dark horizon, and its endless vanishing dimensions. He was awe-struck, and the people in front of him went almost entirely unnoticed as he took an unconscious step, his eyes continuing to wander the space.

  “What brother?” asked Axel The Chest.

  “Rum’s brother!” Bresh replied. “The younger one. You didn’t know he had a brother? As far as I have understood things, this whole closet is inside this brother’s shop” she gestured at Amez.

  “Oh” Axel replied, “that brother.” The chest’s eyes stared at the smooth-faced man, who was still not quite done taking in his surroundings. As Amez’ eyes glanced over everyone, and eventually came to Axel, the furniture’s enchanted voice shouted out for him. “Hey! Rum’s brother!” Amez’ eyes snapped over, and his whole body rotated ever so slightly, taking a single step in the chest’s direction. “Hey!” Axel continued. “Nice to meet you! My name’s Axel! What’s yours, human friend?”

  “Eeeh. Amez.” He took another step.

  “Hi Amez. What can we help you with?”

  It turned out, to everyone’s surprise and delight, especially Electroblade who’d been bleeding personal funds like crazy, that Amez had come to deliver on his promise to his brother to feed the people. Furniture excluded of course, least they should develop a sudden appetite for fiber. However, the furniture could and did happily participate as items for an improvised dining setup, even if none them – not since Eleganto’s departure – had been created for that purpose.

  Amez brought potato stew with vegetables for dinner, and bread and spread for later meals, carrying the food into the closet on several trips from his workshop.

  “You should stay inside here” he said when they’d all sat down to eat. He looked a little tired as he began to pour himself soup. “Rum has been taken prisoner by The Iron City authorities. They don’t know about you, but if they were to find out who you are” Amez shook his head at the mere thought. “They told me he’s being kept on suspicion of working for the dungeon lords. As an agent. They think he’s organized some sort of uprising in Gnomiture, among things.”

  “Oh, that wasn’t him” Axel said, as Bresh and Farklend used him for a table. “No, he just helped us escape.” Axel used his eyes to quickly look around at the other furniture. “And he freed us from the mind-binding spells that stopped us from thinking freely. And that was how we found out we needed to break free.”

  Amez dropped his spoon. It fell to the floor, full of wet soup. “You – say Rum was actually involved?” Amez’ mouth gaped.

  “Of course. We have The Great Liberator to thank for our elevation of consciousness, and we are forever thankful. The tragedy at Gnomiture cost many of our kinship their lives.” Axel grew solemn. “But without it, we’d have no life. Nothing but eternal servitude, in enthrallment. Such is the price for freedom.”

  “You know” Electroblade said from her position around what resembled an oblong seating arrangement centered on the pot of stew, “I was never actually told this. But now that I think about it, it makes so much sense. I mean, he just happens to have 30 pieces of sentient furniture in a magic closet?” She shook her head, took a spoonful of stew, slurped it up, then leaned her chin on her spoon-holding fist, apparently thinking. “So I’ve been working for a criminal this whole time, huh? Not the career I had in mind, but I suppose it could’ve been worse. I can’t believe he’s an agent of the dungeon lords though. Not Rum.” She frowned at the idea. “That is... ridiculous.”

  “He ain’t no dungeon lord agent” Larkoff stated with a frown. “His personality is completely incompatible with the very notion. We’ve all seen enough to know the very idea is laughable. The man doesn’t have it in him.”

  “I know my brother" Amez leaned down to pick up the spoon, "I’m sure some day it will be very laughable. But right now I can’t help but just worry. I’ve cleared my schedule for the next three weeks, his fate is all I can think of. And now you tell me he’s actually guilty? If he’s guilty of just some of what they say, there’s no way they won’t assume he’s also an agent. Doesn’t matter how laughable it is to us. For my brother it’s the rest of his life that’s at stake!” Amez took two long, heavy breaths, suddenly no longer able to eat the bowl in his lap. He put it away on a nearby commode. “What will I do” he looked into the floor, his eyes bordering on tears. “What can any of us do, against The Iron City?”

  Nobody had any answers for him. A few of them actually had more questions than answers, such as “What exactly is The Iron City?”, which came from the mouth of Farklend, who’s rural origins in Agadeya had him largely in the blind. He was subsequently educated by Meti and Larkoff both, the city natives.

  Amez stayed for several hours, getting to know his closet’s inhabitants better, though his brother largely remained on his mind. That was just as well however, because the mages too were interested in talking about Rum.

  “But why didn’t you also study magic?” Bun suddenly asked him.

  Amez looked at her, and seemed to think for a moment. He shook his head. “Not my thing, really. I’m not a bookish person, not even the slightest. Rum was always the bookish one. I... I always wanted to do things with my hands. And I liked drawing. Eventually I just came across an opportunity to apprentice with someone. Some uncle of some friend of mine. And when I discovered I was good at tattoos. Drawing them, putting them on people’s skin. That’s when I knew this was what I needed to pursue.” He tilted his head. “I got to learn magic too. But, it was different for me. It was always about the art, and the clients. I often know my clients quite well. The magic was always less important. Just a thing to add at the end. Say a few words over someone’s body, and channel the magic like I was taught to.”

  As the evening came, Amez left to go home and think and sleep at his own place. The mages and Electroblade stayed up a few more hours after that, before the gnome was the first to say goodbye, and hop away on her leg, out of the closet, and jump into the bed, where she embraced its comforts with deep satisfaction.

  White Rose stayed in the room with her, having little interest in mingling with the mages. After all, ze had other people on zes mind that night. Another group ze was looking forward to seeing again.

  In the midst of nighttime, hours later in another part of Southwall, three wild gnomes and a tall slim figure stealthily crept through a silent alley, over and towards a shuttered window. Outside it, one of the gnomes gestured a finger repeatedly at the shutters, prompting the tall figure to step up to it and raise a thin gentle hand. KNOCK, KNOCK.

  The four waited. After some time, the gnome repeated the gesture, flinging a finger once at the shutters. The tall figure knocked again, a bit louder this time. KNOCK! KNOCK! They waited. Abruptly the shutters opened up with a small CREEEAK, and inside standing on a stool was a little boy some seven years old. He looked at the tall person, his expression cautious and maybe a bit afraid, but then he leaned over the window frame and found familiar wild gnomes below.

  “It’s fine. They are with us.” The gnome gestured at White Rose.

  The boy looked back at the disguised skeleton, staring longer, not used to engaging with strangers besides wild gnomes in such contexts. The silent alley waited for him. Eventually, the boy overcame his hesistance. He grabbed the window frame to climb up on it. As he stood there, he looked down, readying to jump. But then he glanced sideways. White Rose was offering up two skinny hands towards him. He stared at them, unsure. Hesistant again. After a briefer pause, he made a sideways step over, and White Rose grabbed him gently, lifting him out of the window, and lowering him to the ground.

  Four became five, and together they disappeared from the alley quickly, crossing a couple of streets before finally coming to a pair of bushes behind a house. They hid in the foliage, with White Rose sitting on both knees, as the others merely knelt. Everyone ready to run at the first signal. They all faced each other in a basic circle. A child in pyjamas, an incognito skeleton in black disguise, and a set of plump, round-cheeked figures, with friendly faces and shortcut, silky thin, yet also unruly hair. The gnomes all wore dark green pants and shirts, with green hats, on whose end along a green string, dangled a green pom-pom. The hats should’ve been all red, White Rose had learned that recently, but in these circumstances where stealth was paramount, tradition gave way to practicality. So ze’d been taught just the day before on zes recruitment briefing, which’d taken place under a tree in The City Forest.

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  Among the plump figures, one of them stood out with her ability to grasp attention and command the initiative. This person was Ena, Action Coordinator, and their leader in the field, who now oriented herself towards the child with a small friendly smile.

  “Hi” she spoke softly, “good to see you again. How is your friend?”

  The boy looked back shyly as all eyes (and magic eye sockets) focused upon him. He looked especially shy and hesitant about the presence of White Rose, glancing around at every face present, but glancing most at the skeleton. “Mumi is fine” he mumbled, before bringing a hand to his eye, rubbing it sleepily.

  “Yeah?” Ena said. “Fine how? How’s it been for you two, since last we spoke.”

  The boy continued rubbing his eyes tiredly, taking time to formulate a response. “She lays eggs. We have many eggs.”

  “So she’s healthy?” the gnome prodded, letting her elbow come to rest on her knee, before her cheek rested against her palm.

  “Yes” the boy nodded, “but” and his eyes glanced briefly to White Rose again.

  “But what?” said their leader, ignoring the attention given to White Rose.

  “But she’s been losing feathers. And, and – she might lose all.”

  The gnome woman met the boy’s eyes with compassion. “You are afraid for her?”

  The boy nodded.

  The space went quiet for half a second. Ena pointed at one of the other gnomes, a young man by the looks of it. “Go check on Mumi. Find out if it’s serious.” The gnome man gave a quick firm nod, got up, and sprang back towards the house. Ena moved her eyes back on the boy. “All chickens lose feathers. It’s like when we lose bits of hair. Except chickens lose lots of them every year. But like my hair” she slid a few fingers into her neck-long flat hair, “it’s only a worry if I lose a lot at a time, and they don’t grow back.” She gave the boy a comforting smile, making the most of her rosy round cheeks. He looked at her hair, and meeting her eyes gave a very slight nod. “So that’s all that’s happened? Nothing else? Mumi is having a good life?”

  The boy, about to nod once again, stopped midway in his motion. His eyes lit up with memory. “There was – dad was going to feed Mumi” his finger came up to his lips, and lingered there as he continued, “but then Mumi was in the way inside the coop, and he...” the boy looked away, as if caught in a memory, his voice becoming quiet, “he kicked Mumi.” On his face one could see that, although he wasn’t tearing up, the recollection clearly sadened him.

  White Rose leaned in at the words, and unbeknownst to zeself, clenched zes fists.

  A few minutes later and the other gnome came back. "I inspected Mumi” he reported, “and it does not appear that the hen has any abnormal losses." He smiled over at the boy. "There should be little cause for concern." The corner of the boy's lips drew a slight smile, that subsequently rubbed away as his hand came up to deal with sleepy eyes again.

  With their intelligence updated, the group all helped sneak their informant back to his house. Arriving there outside in the alley, White Rose first opened the window, before lifting the boy up to the frame. He climbed down to the stool from there, and as he turned, White Rose gently helped close the window from the outside. With the informant back in his house, the group went back to their hiding spot.

  "Okay" opened their Action Coordinator, "this appears to be a slight offense. We wouldn't want to overreact" she glanced meaningfully at White Rose's intense stare, then down at zes clenched fist. White Rose looked much like ze was prepared for war. Ena raised a finger at ze. "No punching. Besides that, I'm open to suggestions" she glanced around at the others. "What's an appropriate response in this situation? We need to keep the boy's feelings in mind too. Wouldn't want to lose our informant to concerns for his father."

  "What about a couple of pranks?" said the third gnome among them, the androgynous sibling of the one that’d first discovered White Rose the day before.

  Ena nodded carefully. "I'm all ears. What kind?"

  Dawn arrived in Ermos City, and a man with a face full of beard and a small flat leathery hat, pushed open his backyard door to greet the sun with a yawn. The bright rays of sunshine shone down on him with intensity, and as he so yawned with the delightful pleasures that befits such an action in the morning, the sun warmed his old shirt up nicely, providing a welcoming respite from the cold autumn air. Readily yawned-up, he took single step outside.

  WHACK! The man stumbled back into his house, managed just to grab at a nearby door handle before he could fall to the floor. With an amount of effort his sleepy face was not really ready for, he tried and was able to steady himself up on his feet, before straightening his back for good measure. He looked out of the door to see what’d hit him, and found he’d stepped on a hoe, it having sprung up to hit him squarely the face. He looked down at the hoe, confused.

  “What in the... when did I last use you for anything?” He scratched at his beard in thought, before shaking his head and walking back out again, picking the tool up. “You belong inside the house.” He stepped back inside and pulled at the same door handle that’d saved him, opening it to reveal a storage closet. He placed it along the wall along with other tools, before turning and walking out again.

  Standing in his yard with the sun beaming down on his body, the man stretched his arms and chest out, unwilling to let a simple misplaced hoe ruin his morning.

  “Ahhhh” he sighed with the pleasure of stretching and warm sunrays, and turned over to the side of his house, where a trough of water waited. He walked over to it, and, standing over it, threw his headed into the water for a quick morning face bath. He began rubbing at his cheeks, and chin, and eyes, moving over to massage his own scalp, when his eyes began to itch. He ignored it at first. Then the itching grew stronger, and stronger, and stronger. He threw his head up out of the water. “My eyeees!” He grabbed at them, and turned, trying to walk away from the offending bath.

  THUD! A tremendous force of a boot flew from below and up into his testicles, lifting his whole body off the ground and up several centimeters. His mind blanked at the sudden extreme sensations, and as gravity caught on, he fell the several centimeters back down onto his feet. There, the man stood still, unable to move, not even to stratch at his eyes.

  “Noooo!” a cry came from somewhere ahead of him. “You were supposed to kick him in the butt! So he’d go end up back into the water. Oh by the gods.”

  White Rose looked behind zeself at the wild gnomes, who all stared with pained grimaces at the result of zes action. Ena shaking her head.

  “Oufh” she moaned with sympathy, staring at the man, who was at least partially blinded, but still not able to move. He plainly stood there, almost like a statue, his mind momentarily broken by the impact, and his eyes not even trying to focus. “Alright, alright” Ena hastily breathed in, and out, trying to stay calm. “It is what it is.” The gnome took several steps towards White Rose, before grabbing zes hand. “Time for us to get away.” She looked up into White Rose’s veil meaningfully, before turning to the incapacitated man. “Sorry about that. We didn’t mean quite as much. But either way, this is justice for Mumi! Now you know not to mess with those who cannot defend themselves!” The gnome tried to sound angry at the end, but didn’t quite have it in her, as she hurriedly dragged the disguised skeleton away, before the man could come to any of his senses.

  “Really White Rose? Really?” she whispered the comment in exasparation as they disappeared off the premises. The group moved across several streets, passed houses, shops, alleys, and gardens, until they came upon a shed surrounded by bushes. There their Action Coordinator halted them all. She turned, and signalled for them all to sit down. “Okay, this unfortunate event has to be dealt with” she announced, turning to the skeleton. “We told you” she pointed accusatively, “we can’t go so hard at it. Don’t you know you don’t beat a man down there, unless you really mean it!” White Rose tilted zes head to the side for a couple of seconds, then grabbed for a blackboard and chalk inside a sachel at zes side. Ze began writing immediately. Several seconds of scribbling passed, before the board was flipped, and every gnome leaned in to read. “But. I. Did. Mean. It.” Ena’s head dropped, and she facepalmed looking into the grassy ground. When she glanced up at White Rose again, it was through a fence of fingers. “Okay. What I mean is...” her fingers dropped, and her eyes went up into the blue as if trying to find something in her head. “Actually, what do I mean?” She looked at the others for aid.

  “What she means to say is” began the androgynous gnome, “you gotta control your emotions. We are here for justice, not to let our emotions decide. Otherwise, we’d go too far, and one day, they might start coming after us for retribution. For real. If our justice seem completely unjust to them” the gnome gestured back whence they’d come, “then the city is going to hate us for it. But if our justice is measured, they won’t bother getting all organized. Not just to hit back over a mere animal abuser.”

  “Well” their Action Coordinator said, “the nobles can get a bit self-righteous when we go after them. But that’s different, they think they’re above everyone and everything. Confrontations with them are inevitable. Remember that time they put a bounty out for any wild gnome in traditional attire?” Her pom-pom dangled over to her cheek as if to illustrate, and she frowned at the memory.

  Her comrade waited a moment for whether she would continue, then nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

  “Declaring everyone who traded with them a target was a smart move” Ena continued. “My brother still has caches of rare wine lying around for when we targeted the lady’s favorite winery. But we could only get out of that mess because, first of all, they don’t dare enter The City Forest. Second, she was a committed alcoholic who could not function sober, and third, her family pretty much runs on expensive pastries and wine. Which is to say, it could’ve been a lot more serious and difficult if this had been one of those hard-headed lords. You know, one of those enganged with the war in the south. Yet, STILL!” She raised a finger. “Justice is only justice if it is for everyone. So while we cannot ignore the actions of someone on the mere grounds that they’d fight back, it is still true, that in such circumstances, we cannot afford to overdo.” She met eye to eye socket with White Rose, her words clearly aimed.

  The skeleton’s return stare was as innocent as one can be under a veil, and as stubborn as any undead. Ena became the first among them to break their mutual stare.

  White Rose glanced up at the blue sky, at the white clouds. Why is Ena acting so concerned with details? Ze thought. The butt and the front of people were really close, practically the same place. In fact, they were practically the same thing! Ze’d seen Electroblade undress. Ze knew what flesh-people were hiding there. The front was practically just a miniature version of the butt, that was obvious. Maybe it had a few extra details, now that ze recalled the image, but still, a crack is a crack. If one of them was smaller or bigger than the other, so what? Ze didn’t understand the need for such redundancy. Maybe one was for small poops and the other for big poops? Either way, ze’d kicked one crack – or wait, that was a man wasn’t he? And he had something else... testicles? White Rose didn’t know what testicles were, maybe they were different. But what would be the point of that? Did men have special poop? Nah, they’re probably just something mildly different again. Like Electroblade’s front butt. Ena is so concerned with details. All the gnomes looked at White Rose as ze thought and silently shook zes head, a motion which none of them could understand the meaning of. Ze didn’t notice their confusions though. Instead, ze drifted zes gaze over at the sun. Eye sockets stared at it, for longer than was safe for any flesh kin with biologically constrained eyes. But ze wasn’t bothered. It was beautiful. Intense, but beautiful. A bit bright though. Ze preferred the nights more. Ze looked down again, and flipped the board. Ze grabbed a cloth from out of the satchel, and began to wipe. Ze scribbled, only a few characters this time. Before long, the board was flipped once more, and a message displayed for everyone.

  “Must. Go. Home.”