Chapter 10
Vitros was busy in his study, he was going to attempt to locate the thief again and then this time he himself was going to make the attempt to recover the stolen artifact. It was time to put an end to this madness, so here he was staring into the pool of water that he had poured into the basin, he then caste one of his most powerful spells and the water began to glow with a soft golden sheen, his spell was working! Soon a picture started to form in water basin, he saw the little thief, but who was that she was with?
“I’m not sure who you have as an ally little thief, but it doesn’t really matter now.” Vitros thought to himself. Vitros the mage stared deeper into the picture that had formed within the basin, a minotaur and who was that other one there, there was something about that one? So he concentrated a little harder, then it seemed as he continued to stare that the person looked up and stared back! Then a word was spoken and as quickly as it had begun his concentration broke and the image was gone! Vitros sat back and rubbed his eyes.
“Hmm, very interesting thief, it seems you have someone very powerful assisting you now!” Vitros said to himself. He then got up from the chair he had been in and went to get his staff. It seemed that this would prove to be a challenging day after all!
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Taithmar jerked her head around quickly! What was that? Someone was spying on them? She quickly discovered the source.
“Rashad!” Taithmar spoke the ancient word of power and the spy was gone in an instant!
“What was that Taithmar?” Lizzy looked over at the woman with her eye brows raised.
“Oh nothing really, but we need to move quickly Lizzy if we want to escape from the city and take the artifact to the King!” Taithmar said in response. With that Taithmar moved to the door and then paused before she went out. “Met me down by the docks this afternoon, be prepared for a fast departure.” And with that she slipped out the door and went straight to her home in the merchant district.
“What was that all about?” Vekao said to Lizzy after Taithmar had left. “It seemed she was in an awful hurry all of a sudden. Seemed like she got spooked by something?”
“Yes I would agree, but we do need to move, the day is quickly fading.” Lizzy said in response to the minotaur. With that Lizzy grabbed her bag and both Vekao and her went through the door and out to the street. Soon they found their way back to the Roaring Sea Lion and seated themselves, this being very close to the docks they felt like it would be the best place to wait for Taithmar. After ordering their drinks they relaxed a little and Vekao pulled out some bones and they rolled a few rounds to amuse themselves, Lizzy won most of the rounds of course and soon Vekao was shoving a few silver coins in her direction. Before long they could tell the sun was starting to set so they paid their tab, got up and left through the front entrance, on their way to the docks to find and meet up with Taithmar.
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Vitros hurried through the place he called home to find his friend and master Zhuerelm. He had to tell him what he had discovered, so when he found him he was relieved and explained the situation to him quickly. Soon they had assembled a group, including Vitros, to leave in pursuit of the thief and her companions. Vitros was confident that with this group they could recover the stolen artifact and thus make their position with the dark dwarves better.
They exited the building and started making their way towards the Dock district, Vitros in the lead with his staff of power. Following him were three elite members of the house guard, the hulking warrior Talos, the petite but deadly Kyra, and the evil assassin simply called Blackhawk.
Together they worked their way through the crowds moving ever closer to the docks and their hunt for Lizzy and her group, with every intention of killing them all and recovering the stolen artifact.
“We will soon come to the Dock district Blackhawk. You scout ahead and see if you can spot the elven thief and her companions.” Vitros said to the assassin.
With that the assassin moved off by himself through the busy city streets. He kept mostly in the shadows and was good at it, so if asked most of the people on the street would not even remember his passing through. Soon the docks came into view up ahead, so he slowed and started his search, going from one side of the street to the other, peering in this tavern there, and then that business over here. Slowing he worked his way down the street, hoping to spot them soon so that he could go and lead the others straight to the attack.
Soon he came to the street that had a tavern called the Roaring Sea Lion, he cautiously continued along the street, making sure there were no city watchmen around. He turned a corner and there in front of him walked the elven thief and her minotaur friend. It wasn’t hard to spot them since you hardly see that combination of races patronizing each other on a regular basis. He quickly turned back and started to make his way back to Vitro and the others. This was going to be amusing he thought to himself as he made his way back up the street.
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As they continued on towards the docks Vekao began to feel uneasy, it was as if someone was watching them he thought to himself. He leaned over to Lizzy and whispered into her ear, “I feel eyes on us Lizzy, it might be nothing, but keep alert just in case.”
So both Vekao and Lizzy continued on in the general direction of the docks, occasionally glancing back and forth and of course over their shoulders to see if they could spot anyone. Not seeing anyone looking suspicious they soon made their way to the docks and they both began to earnestly look out for Taithmar for she said she would met them here. Not yet spotting her they walked slowly along the docks trying to look casual and to blend in with the crowd. Soon Lizzy tensed and she grab Vekao’s arm.
“Vekao, look over there! It is someone I recognize, it is Zhuerelm’s house wizard and he seems to be coming straight for us! I fear the worse!” Lizzy said excitedly to Vekao as she peered back along the street where they had come.
Vekao quickly glanced back behind them, yes there to the left walked an older man who to Vekao’s trained eyes was obviously a mage of some kind, and there seemed to be three others with him, a hulking human male wearing a chainmail shirt, a smaller gracefully moving woman obviously a seasoned warrior and an evil dark looking man dressed in gray leathers. Vekao turned to Lizzy and motioned for her to follow and Vekao started winding his way through the crowds, as only a minotaur can, to try and put some distance between them and their pursuers.
“Lizzy listen to me they must be here to recover the stolen artifact. I don’t know how but they have tracked you down. But I’m not sure we can stand and fight them on our own, especially since they have the wizard!” Vekao said to Lizzy as they hurried along the street.
“We can take them if we can find a place to ambush them!” Lizzy replied back to Vekao with a wild look in her eyes.
Vekao just shook his massive bovine head and motioned her to follow him. After a few more moments of looking for an escape path Vekao turned to Lizzy and said, “Lizzy, you’ve lived here for awhile, is there anywhere we can make a stand without them circling us from behind?”
Lizzy thought for a moment and then responded excitedly, “Yes I believe so, follow me!”
She darted along the street, steering away from the docks and soon came to an alleyway. She paused there long enough to look back and saw that the wizard and the three hirelings were still on their tail, so she motioned for Vekao to follow and ducked into the alley. She quickly motioned for Vekao to take up a position close by the entrance, while she went a few feet further in and found a spot to take a stand, she ducked down behind some barrels and they waited.
They didn’t have long to wait for within moments a shadow appeared in the alleyway. It was the big human warrior he stood for a minute and scanned the alley, then ducked back behind the corner of the building where he came. Vekao, stayed motionless having squatted down behind some crates near the entrance, while Lizzy was a little further in hiding behind the barrels, Vekao could just barely spot her and used a hand signal to be ready. Soon another shadow came into view, but this time it was the wizard, he held his staff in front of him and moved cautiously down the alley.
“Come out little thief.” He called, “Come out so we can talk.”
“What is there to talk about old man?” Lizzy cried in response, and at the same time popped out of her hiding place and threw her dagger at the wizard Vitros.
But the wizard was ready for such a trick, and with a mumbled word the dagger struck an invisible barrier and clattered harmlessly to the ground. The wizard smiled and then raised the staff towards Lizzy, but just before he could do anymore, Vekao came rushing at him from behind the crates close by and with a thud his battleaxe hit the invisible shield around the wizard and Vekao nearly lost his grip on his weapon as his hands went numb for an instant!
Vitros smiled at the minotaur and raised the staff in his direction, with a loud whump a force hit the minotaur in the chest and sent him hurtling back into the crates behind him! Vekao was shaken, he felt like some ribs were broken, yet he began to drag himself back up to face the wizard again. Lizzy just screamed and came around the barrels at the wizard with her sword drawn. It was at this time the rest of their adversaries came around the corner to join in the fight, Vekao soon found himself facing the large human warrior who had drawn his equally large sword!
The battle was on now and all the participants were clustered in the narrow alleyway. Vekao brought his battleaxe up to block the warrior’s sword thrust, meanwhile the wizard turned his attention to the charging Lizzy, he raised his staff again and with the same motion as he used on Vekao he sent Lizzy flying backwards down the alley. She hit the ground hard and lay motionless.
Vekao didn’t waste anytime with the large human, for he knew he didn’t have time to waste, he simply took his battleaxe, turned aside a mad slash from the human warrior and stopping the momentum of his axe with superior strength brought it back around for a backhanded hack towards the warrior’s chest. With a wet thud he felt it bite through his chainmail shirt and dig into the warrior’s flesh beneath. The warrior’s eyes went wide and then he fell back, hitting the ground with a moan.
It was just at that time though that the woman appeared from out of nowhere and began hacking wildly at the minotaur with a longsword, Vekao was back pedaling fast trying to stay out of her reach and yet keep from being pushed up against the wall. Then the assassin with the gray leather jumped into the fray, and he too brought his sword to bear. Vekao bellowed his frustration with the situation!
In the meantime, the wizard was approaching Lizzy as she lay on the ground after his attack, he slowly walked up to her and was just bending over her when she opened her eyes and with the speed only one like herself could command, she swept her leg around and kicked the wizard hard in the knee!
“Aaaaiiieeeee!” the wizard cried and went down in a heap. He glared over at Lizzy, but she was already on the move and running to Vekao’s aid! She moved with grace and quickness and soon had added her sword to the chaos surrounding the minotaur. She engaged herself with the woman and soon had her backing down the alley, barely keeping up with Lizzy’s desperate blows! The wizard though was less than happy, he gathered himself and stood back up, with a determined look on his face he limped back towards the fighting. As he closed on the combatants he raised his staff towards them and spoke a word of power, springing from the staff an arrow speed forth and hit Vekao squarely in the back! He roared his rage and grabbed futilely at the spot on his back, but being a magical dart it was not there. But there was a wound and there was blood!
Keeping an eye on the assassin facing him, Vekao called back towards the wizard Vitros and shouted at him, “I will make you pay for that coward of a wizard!” But this only seemed to amuse Vitros that much more.
“I don’t think so minotaur, for I am about to end this debacle!” and with that he pointed the staff at Lizzy and with just a word she was frozen in place like a statue! Vekao bellowed and gave a massive shove of his axe at the assassin, pushing him hard against the wall! Vekao then jumped over in front of Lizzy and swatted away the sword of the woman that was directed at Lizzy’s now frozen form.
“Oh give it up minotaur! The fight is not yours. All we want is the stolen property of our master, Zhuerelm.” Vitros called out to Vekao with a sneer.
“Yeah like you will just walk away with it and let us go about our merry way! This fight is far from over as long as I draw breath and I don’t intend to abandon my friend!” Vekao snorted out to the wizard.
“We shall see about that you big over grown cow!” and with that the wizard brought his staff up in front of him.
“Yes we shall!” cried a voice back towards the entrance to the alleyway and everyone glanced quickly back that way to see Taithmar standing there with a staff of her own pointing towards Vitros! With an angry look on her face, she spoke a word and instantly a shadow of a spear darted out and flashed towards the wizard!
“N-o-o-o-o-o!” was all the wizard could respond with before the thing struck him and he went flying back with the blow only stopping when he ended up hitting the barrels that Lizzy had originally hidden behind. He didn’t move, and just as quickly Lizzy was free and acted accordingly, she took a vicious cut at the woman in front of her! The woman warrior dodged backwards and countered the blow. Lizzy reacting to her defensive position changed her style slightly and came in with a low feint, the woman fell for this and as soon as she went to block it she saw her mistake! Lizzy did a quick reverse and brought her blade up underneath and sliced through the woman’s intestines opening her up to the world, the woman named Kyra, dropped like a brick clutching at her spilling guts. The next instant Vekao and the assassin Blackhawk took up their fight again, but it was over quickly as Vekao out muscled him, shoving him off balance with his axe and then almost cutting him in half with the force of his next blow. Vekao had to use his foot to push the assassin off the blade of his battleaxe!
The group stared at the carnage in the alley. The large male warrior was still down, the blood flowing freely from the wound that Vekao gave him, as was the lithe woman, who was now slowly crawling along the alley, groaning in pain. It wasn’t pretty and since it was still just late afternoon, they knew that before too long the city watch would happen by and they would have to answer a lot of questions. So before they could say so much as ‘hello’, Taithmar gestured for them all to follow her and they ran out of the alley and down the street. They soon came to a ship that was docked close by and Taithmar lead them up the gang plank, now being safely on board the vessel she stopped and turned to her companions, “Well that was rather exciting don’t you think? Do you mind telling me what that was about?” she said towards Lizzy and Vekao both with a small smile upon he face.
Lizzy and Vekao just looked at her dumbfounded and then both started talking at the same time. Soon they had explained to Taithmar what had happened as they came looking for her. She just shook her head and smiled when they asked her about the staff and what she had done to Vitros the wizard back in the alleyway.
“Yes I’m also a mage.” she said to them both and smiled brightly, then added, “I thought I had told you that before.”
“No you never mentioned it.” Lizzy said to her, “and I’ve know you for almost two years now!”
“Sorry Lizzy, some things are best kept a secret.” She said with a smile and a slight wink and left it at that.