Curselock

Chapter 38: Hidden Threats

The group didn’t stick around the Smuggler’s Guild for long. With Poppy’s information freshly on their minds, they quickly found an exit. Boor led them to an elevator, one the four of them had to squeeze to fit into. It moved slow and rough, like an old train riding across handmade tracks.

Glenny broke the silence, “I think this is the time for you to explain who you are, Boor.”

The butler sighed. “Not much to tell. I’m old, I’ve lived. I suspect that you three will have similar stories about your lives as time passes.”

“Not good enough.”

Boor sighed. “I suppose it's not. Simple truth of my life is that I used to be a pirate.”

Jude frowned. “Like scourge of the high seas or plunderer of lost treasure?”

“The second one. Those that robbed ships were captured and killed over the centuries. The Royal Navy does not take kindly to such things.”

That didn’t make sense to Leland. “Why call yourself a pirate if you only searched for treasure? Why not archaeologist or explorer or something like that?”

“Ah,” Boor sighed. “Because those don’t kill each other to try to get better scores. My crew battled against other crews constantly all in the name of riches and fame. At first we didn’t call ourselves pirates, no, but there came a time when we were no different.”

Boor’s eyes fell. “My crew rose in strength and power. We fought for dominance with others, eventually winning the crown of the Guild. Others tried to threaten our seats but they were all handled the same way. We had everything we could ever want, but I still wasn’t happy.

“My unhappiness led to fighting in battles we could have avoided. My men trusted me, and I pushed them into pointless death. I thought someone somewhere may have the single piece of treasure I would need to be happy. I was wrong, and most of my men died because of it. Those who survived left my crew and joined my competitors, eventually turning on me.”

Jude asked, “Does Lady Onryo know all of this?”

“Of course she does. It was, after all, her grandfather who found me at death’s door,” Boor answered, a fleeting smile finding his lips. “I was still rather young at that point, at least for people of my skill and power. Master Onryo took me in and gave me purpose. At first it was a simple mercenary position, one that was more than expendable.

“But our friendship grew over the years. Eventually he died and his son succeeded. I watched this young man grow, marry, have a child, and die untimely – his wife falling not long after. He was the first person I truly called a friend, and from that point, I dedicated my life to the Onryos.”

“Then why did that Witch say you were with the Icewillows?” Leland asked.

Boor took a deep breath. “Lady Onryo was young when she took over the House. Her inexperience brought the worst kind of people to Shoutwell, including the Icewillows. I could protect her from the assassins or invaders but not the political enemies. House Onryo lost most of its prestige in the following years, all the while the Icewillows drained the city dry—"

The elevator suddenly opened to a white marble room. A blown glass chandelier hung from the ceiling and reflected against the shiny stone work floor. Men and women in suits and fancy dresses shuffled around, passing large bank notes around like apples at the market.

A squirrely man stood before the elevator looking confused. He pushed his glasses up and said, “I’ll get the next one.”

Boor grunted and slapped the elevator’s control dial. Once the group was moving again, he continued, “Lady Onryo tasked me with infiltrating the Icewillows and uncovering their evil deeds. I did, but not after failing her eldest son. Darwin Onryo already had an addiction at that point. His intentions were well praised, however. He simply fell to the Lucky Blue. I couldn’t help him, not without losing my cover with the Icewillows.”

“For a few years I watched Darwin from the shadows. I tried to clean the underbelly’s streets, I tried to rid the city of Lucky Blue. But we are a Guild of smugglers. There was no way to block the drug’s entry to the city. Eventually I collected enough information for the Inquisitors, but by then it was too late. Darwin had taken his last breath, his last breath of Mana Dust.”

Leland looked to his friends. “We know the rest, thank you for trusting us with your story.”

Boor gave him a gentle smile. “And now, the city we fought for, has a new invader. The Sightless may not have set their talons into the underbelly but once they do, they’ll have the largest smuggling operation this far East at their fingertips.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Jude replied. “The Inquisitors are on their way and they’ve vanquished the cult before.”

“That they have,” Boor agreed before his face turned dark. “But if what Poppy told us is true, then we don’t have the luxury of time. Their ‘Lord’ is going to be born long before that.”

They fell silent with that, only the sound of the elevator’s slow climb filling the air. The next stop was theirs, and they all exited. They exited into a dusty room full of cobwebs and the odd scrap of wood or foul smelling puddle of liquid.

Boor didn’t waste time, quickly showing the boys the way out. Soon enough the group was back on the streets of Shoutwell, venturing through the thick fog that spilled from the city’s sewers. Despite being early morning at this point, the streets were deserted. They quickly sped through what was once a lively corner market, only finding the occasional rotting piece of fruit.

Glenny paused, however, stopping the group. Something was whispering, something deep within his mind and body. Hairs stuck straight up on the back of his neck, forcing him to draw his weapons as an only safeguard.

“What is it?” Jude asked, pulling his axe from his hand tattoo.

“That wall,” Glenny answered, sticking his daggers out as if to ward off a frontal assault. “Don’t look at it.”

Leland complied , but not before scanning the edges of the carvings in the wooden wall. A simple glyph arc was enough for him to identify the problem. “It’s a sigil.”

“What do we do?” asked Jude. “We can’t just leave it here.”

Boor took the young berserker’s words to heart and stepped forward. Rapier now in hand and with his eyes closed, the butler slashed the wall until he heard the wood fall apart. Carefully, he checked his work, finding a haphazardly butchered pile of broken planks of wood.

“Is that enough?” he asked Leland.

“Honestly? I have no idea.”

“It is,” Glenny answered. “I can’t feel it anymore.”

That caused three frowns to sprout. “You can feel what exactly?” Jude asked.

“The Sightless King.”

“What!?” Leland shouted.

Glenny only shook his head, bottling up his fear. “I don’t know. I hadn’t felt its presence since you destroyed the sigil inside of me. But just now, until Boor destroyed the wall, I could hear whispering.”

“That’s not good, Glenny. That’s really not good,” Leland’s breath quickened. “Sigils can’t remain! They either get burned away by Brix’s Counter Sigil or they overpower the purification flames. Are you saying the sigil is still there?”

“No,” the rogue confidently said. “No. It's gone. I know it is.”

Leland’s breath hitched. “But how are you still feeling the Sightless King?”

Glenny shook his head. “Could it have left a piece of itself inside me?”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. In fact, that shouldn’t be possible. Not unless—”

“Unless what?” Jude asked, his own confidence fleeting.

Leland swallowed. “Just what is the Sightless King? How do we know it even uses the same basis of magic as us? Mana abled monsters breath fire or send magical blasts in completely unique ways! What if the Sightless King isn’t so much a person or ‘Lord,” but rather a monster? One that is sentient enough to compel his whims on those who he deems usable?”

The group stood silently in the abandoned market, the fog slowly drifting around them.

Jude gave his friends a smirk. “Other Inquisitors will be here soon, we just need to pester the Sightless until they do.”

Boor added, “We need to report to Lady Onryo about our conversation with Poppy. She needs to make decisions before the guard’s morning meeting.”

Everyone nodded to that, even Leland whose eyes were slowly unsticking from being set open wide. They fell back into walking through the city, eventually entering the gated residence of House Onryo.

The smell of smoke met them with open arms. Boor cursed, rushing ahead and disappearing into the white mist.

That’s when four hooded figures stepped through the fog to meet them, weapons already drawn and the stains of fresh blood dripping from their obscured faces.