by Logan Jacobs
“This is new,” she said with a sweet, gentle smile. “I was thinking about what might be useful for a mage. Try it.”
I uncorked the bottle and tipped the contents into my mouth. I was surprised by the taste, which was sweet and sort of sharp at the same time, but the moment I drank the potion, my head felt clearer, and I wasn’t as weary as I’d been just seconds before.
“How do you feel?” Lena asked.
“Much better,” I told her as I gave her back the empty vial. “It’s a health potion?”
“Not exactly,” the alchemist replied. “It restores your mana, at least partially. So you think it worked?”
I realized she wouldn’t have been able to tell and nodded. “I think so, thank you, Lena.”
The elven woman smiled at me, and I reached up to tuck a lock of her honey-blonde hair behind her ear, then drew her in for a kiss. When we broke apart, a soft blush tinged Lena’s cheeks.
“We’d better go help the others look for loot,” she said, and she twined her fingers through mine as we joined Aerin, Lavinia, Maruk, Emeline, and Yvaine in the room where Cygne had been speaking with his guards.
“Find anything?” I asked.
Lavinia was seated in the chair before a vanity table with an enormous mirror where Cygne had been, and she was reading a stack of papers with a wide grin.
“That idiot kept the report about his escape and a copy of his death certificate with all of his notes about which nobles he wanted to rob and which bandit gangs to try to recruit. There are a bunch of drawings and paintings here too, all of him in different ridiculous costumes. The bastard was obsessed with himself.” The ranger cackled as she passed me the papers.
I looked them over and saw that Lavinia hadn’t exaggerated at all in her description of the drawings, and the notes about the heist would be more than enough evidence to prove that Cygne was Lucius Previn. I grinned as I realized that he’d even mentioned Lord Adler by name. For all his talk about the carelessness and stupidity of the bandits he’d gotten to work with him, his own monumental arrogance had blinded him to the fact that he might be discovered for himself.
“It turns out that all of the houses he wanted to hit belonged to the council members who were going to convict him in the embezzlement case,” Yvaine said.
“Woah,” Maruk breathed, and we all turned to where the orc stood before a closet that spanned the entire length of the wall. “Would you look at all of this?”
There were more costumes, but it turned out that Cygne had had a practical side as well. About half of the contents of the closet were made up of various pieces of armor and other useful gear. It was all designed for someone closer to Cygne’s size, but Maruk didn’t seem to care as he headed for a collection of shining silver belt buckles.
“There are weapons over here, too,” Aerin called, and the healer popped her head out from behind another door. “They’re all on display, I don’t think he ever used them, but it’s a huge collection.”
We all rifled through the remainder of Cygne’s belongings and in the end, each of us walked away with something. Maruk took most of the belt buckles, but he let Aerin have the rest to sell. Lavinia got a new bow and arrows from Cygne’s weapons display, and Yvaine took two swords and a new scabbard. Lena found a lot of potions and raw ingredients in the mage’s medicine cabinet to use for her alchemy, and Emeline took several items from Cygne’s jewelry collection in addition to a cloak from his closet that was enchanted to be flame-proof. As for me, I would have been happy enough with just the proof of Cygne’s identity and his plans for the heist, but I found a new pair of boots that I liked and an enchanted vest that could repel some magical attacks.
I also found books.
A quick glance through them gave me a few hints about his darkness magic, so I put them in my pack to study. Maybe I couldn’t use the magic exactly, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about it.
Aerin made certain that we didn’t leave without anything too valuable, and she gathered up the last of the jewelry and a few fancy daggers to sell.
When we returned to the ballroom, Dehn had his arms full of his own loot, which was almost exclusively weapons, though I noticed that he’d also taken Cygne’s mask.
“Another trophy?” I asked the halfling with a grin.
“Of course,” he replied. “This one is going to go down in the history books. Lucius Previn... the one that got away. Until he didn’t.”
“Hey, killer,” Lavinia said as she walked up to us. “Got you this.” She dropped one of the ornate daggers from Cygne’s collection in among the pile in Dehn’s arms.
The halfling’s eyes glittered as he took in the dagger. “Oh, that’s sharp.”
“Sharpest I could find,” Lavinia replied. “Thought you’d like it.”
“If I didn’t know any better, Lavinia, I’d think you were being friendly,” Maruk said with a grin.
“The little bastard’s grown on me,” the ranger replied with a shrug, and Dehn looked proud of himself.
“Let’s get back to the city,” I said with a smile. “We’ve got another reward to collect.”
Chapter 17
By the time we had climbed the stairs back to the surface and emerged from the cave, the sky was tinged pink and purple with the light of early dawn, though a few stars were still visible, and the songbirds had begun to wake up and call to one another in the trees. The cool, tranquil autumn morning was a stark contrast to the bloody and chaotic night we’d just had, and I was grateful for the change.
We had no way of calling for a carriage, but since the costumes Madame Delafose had loaned to us were pretty much ruined anyway, I figured the walk back to the city couldn’t make them much worse. At least we’d have plenty of reward money to pay her back with.
As we started down the forest path back toward the main road, the mood among the guild was good. Lavinia and Dehn joked and recounted the battle while Yvaine and Aerin discussed the value of the items that we’d taken from Cygne’s palace. Emeline and Lena speculated about the reception we would have when we presented our evidence to the council who they were sure would be shocked by the news about Lucius Previn. Only Maruk was quiet, and I hung back to check on the orc while the others set the pace ahead.
“Everything alright?” I asked him.
“I suppose I should be glad we were successful,” Maruk replied. “I mean, I am glad, I just wish...” He trailed off and picked at the torn lapel of his suit with a solemn sigh. “It was such a nice suit.”
“Madame Delafose did ask us to model her designs,” I reminded him. “I’m sure she’ll have plenty of others for you.”
“Do you think so?” Maruk asked hopefully. “I thought she would be upset about the mess we got into with these.”
“We’ll pay her back,” I assured him. “And she did say she wanted her designs to be represented by a real adventuring guild. This just makes them look, you know, more authentic.”
Maruk laughed. “I suppose you have a point. I wonder if I could get her to use any of those new belt buckles I got from Cygne’s collection. They’re really quite unique. I think I’ll ask her when we get back.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
It only took us about an hour and a half to reach the gates, and when we arrived, the city was already waking up for the day. Farmers with carts full of fresh fruits and vegetables passed us on the main road on their way to the market, and children laughed and chased after each other through the side streets as we made our way toward the city center and the clock tower that stood above the city hall.
“Do you think the councilors will even be there yet?” Emeline asked.
“If they’re not, we’ll go and knock on their doors,” Lavinia threatened. “I’m fucking exhausted, I want to get our money and then go home to sleep.”
“Hear, hear,” Aerin agreed. “They can get out of bed for this since they couldn’t be bothered to pay any attention to us beforehand. After all, it’s because of
us that they weren’t all robbed last night.”
As it happened, the city hall was open when we arrived. The clerk at the desk had his chin in his hand and appeared to be nodding off until he caught sight of us, and then he gave such a start that he nearly fell out of his chair. I supposed we did look a little alarming, all of dressed in bloody and torn costumes, and of course, there was Lavinia’s tired face. The ladona woman had mastered the art of looking like she was ready to murder someone with the subtlest of expressions, and the effect was definitely enhanced when she’d been up fighting thieves the whole night.
“C-Can I, uh, can I help you?” the clerk asked nervously as we approached the desk.
“We need to speak to the council,” I told him, but that only seemed to make him even more nervous.
“Oh, I, uh, don’t think they’re meeting until later this week,” he replied. “Perhaps you and your... friends could come back another time?”
“They’ll want to see us,” I assured him. “They are all here, aren’t they?”
“Well, yes,” the clerk replied, “but the thing is, they don’t particularly like to be disturbed--”
“We know what really happened to Lucius Previn,” I interrupted, and I let some of my impatience leak into my tone. “Tell them that.”
“Lucius Previn?” the clerk repeated. His eyes went wide.
“Call the council,” I ordered. “We’ll be waiting.”
The clerk nearly fell as he scrambled out of his chair and bobbed his head in a nod.
“Yes, of course,” he said as he practically ran out of the lobby toward the councilors’ offices. “I’ll go get them. Er - who should I say is, um, calling?”
“The Shadow Foxes,” I answered, and as the clerk darted away, I turned back to the others.
“Hey,” Lavinia said with a grin as she elbowed Aerin in the ribs. “How much do you want to bet that Adler guy tries to climb out of his office window when he hears we know about his partner in crime?”
“He’s not going to run,” the healer responded with a roll of her eyes. “He doesn’t know that we know he was still connected to Lucius... or Cygne... or whoever.” Then Aerin’s mouth turned up in a mischievous sort of smile. “Fifty gold?”
“Fifty gold?” Lavinia scoffed. “I don’t have that kind of money!” Suddenly her eyes narrowed. “You know you have to bet your own money, not the guild’s, right?”
“I know,” Aerin replied. “I can make it thirty if you’d prefer. You’re the one who wanted a bet.”
“Forty,” Lavinia said, unwilling as ever to back down from what was obviously a challenge.
“Deal.” Aerin grinned.
Just then, the clerk returned, looking no less anxious than before.
“The council is waiting for you, Shadow Foxes,” he told us. “They’re just through that door on your right, down this hall.” He didn’t wait for us to say anything before he slipped back behind the safety of his desk and began to shuffle papers around in an effort to look busy.
“Thanks,” I replied, and I led the way down the hall and into the room the clerk had told us about. It was nothing fancy, just a long, empty table surrounded by wooden chairs where Ovrista’s eight council members sat. Adler was there as well, and either he had the best poker face I’d ever seen or Aerin was right and he didn’t suspect that we knew about his involvement in the heist. I heard Lavinia click her tongue in disappointment when she caught sight of Adler as well, and I knew Aerin must be grinning from ear to ear.
“Welcome, Shadow Foxes,” greeted one of the older councilors. I recognized him as one of the men that Eamon Maderel had been arguing with when we’d first brought the news of the heist to them. If I remembered correctly, his name was Outen. “You say you have news of Lucius Previn?”
I was surprised that he didn’t ask about the heist. He also, notably, didn’t invite us to sit, and I guessed that was because he wanted to get us out of here quickly. Maybe we’d gotten his attention by mentioning Lucius, but that didn’t mean his interest would last. Annoyed by his rudeness, especially given the fact that he’d refused to help us before, I decided to sit down, just to spite him. The rest of my guild followed suit, and the councilors eyed us warily.
“We do,” I said as I took out the stack of papers that we’d recovered from Cygne’s room. I glanced to Adler, who was still sitting as calmly as could be. He must have suspected something. After all, if the heist had gone through, he would have heard about it by now. Perhaps he just thought he was in a good position to deny any claims we made against him. “We also have news about the heist that we warned you about. We stopped it, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I beg your pardon?” Outen’s ears turned pink, and he blinked, shocked by my gall.
Before I could respond, however, another voice came from the doorway. “It’s far too late to plug up your ears now, Outen,” Eamon Maderel said as he strode into the room. He smiled at me as he took the last free chair, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. Even though he was defending us, I couldn’t shake the feeling I always got around him, namely, that he was an immediate danger to me.
“Maderel,” Outen greeted through gritted teeth. “We weren’t expecting you.”
“No?” Maderel replied with an amused smirk. “I wonder if that’s because you told your clerk not to inform me of the Shadow Foxes’ return, though I seem to recall specifically requesting to be notified.”
If Outen had looked upset before, that was nothing compared to now. Still, I couldn’t help but enjoy the councilor’s discomfort. The guy was an asshole.
Maderel turned to me then. “So, your mission was a success. I’m very glad to hear that. I dare say your guild is the most capable in all of Ovrista.” He smiled that slow smile of his.
“Thank you, sir,” I replied.
“Now, what’s this about Lucius Previn?” Maderel asked. “It was my understanding, well, it was common knowledge anyway, that he died several years ago.”
“He faked his death,” I answered. “Then he returned to Ovrista in disguise and assumed a new identity. He was the mastermind behind the heist.”
“Oh, please,” Outen scoffed. “This is preposterous!”
“It’s the truth,” I shot back. “We have proof. These were all in his possession.” I slid the collection of documents and notes that we’d recovered from Cygne’s room across the table.
Lord Outen seemed reluctant even to touch them, and his lip curled as he picked them up and began to go through them. As he did, however, his face changed. His sneer disappeared, and he grew very pale. “Where did you get these?” he demanded in a voice barely above a whisper.
“I told you, we found them among the heist leader’s things,” I replied. I cut a glance to Adler, and it seemed that he was sitting up a little straighter, though his expression was still unreadable.
“I can confirm Lucius’ identity as well,” Yvaine said, and I saw the marchioness look across the table to Adler as well. He didn’t meet her eyes. “I knew him. He was the man responsible for organizing the heist.”
“Well, well, isn’t that a development,” Maderel said. The archmage seemed all too pleased to learn that Lucius had been behind the heist, and I wondered if he just liked watching Outen and the other councilors squirm or if this had anything to do with the argument he’d had with Outen earlier in the week.
“There’s something else,” I said, with another glance to Adler. “Lucius had help from someone inside the city. You’ll notice that among his plans, he mentions Lord Adler.”
One of the councilors gasped, and all eyes turned to Adler to see how he would receive such an accusation. He was obviously trying to stay composed, but it was clear that he knew the trouble he was in. His posture was rigid, and when he tried to smile, his lip twitched.
“There must be some mistake,” he insisted with a forced laugh. “I haven’t seen Lucius since the last night he was in the city, years ago. I believed that he was dead, drown
ed at sea, as did all of you.”
“He’s lying,” Aerin said immediately, and the councilors all looked at her. “I can sense auras,” the healer explained. “He wasn’t mentioned in those plans by chance. He knew Lucius was alive, and he was helping him the whole time.”
“Oh, dear,” Maderel intoned. “This is quite serious, councilors.” The mage’s expression was serious, but his steely eyes glinted as though he’d just been handed a gift that he’d wanted for a very long time.
Outen shuffled through the papers furiously as he looked for the notes that I’d told him about, and when he came to the pages with the heist plans and saw Adler’s name mentioned there as clear as day, he looked ill. It took him a moment to compose himself, but then he addressed another of the councilors in a breathy voice. “Barnet, would you please go get the city guard?”
Barnet nodded and stood, and he threw a solemn glance to Adler before he left.
“You can’t possibly--” Adler started, then cut off and drew himself up. “I mean, come now, we haven’t even confirmed that the man these... Shadow Foxes found was even Lucius. You’re really going to arrest me?”
“It’s all here, Adler,” Outen responded. “It’s Lucius’ handwriting. He mentions you by name.”
Adler began to look truly worried then, and he gripped the edge of the table as though he might fall over if he didn’t. I was tense as I watched him, prepared to jump up and stop him if he tried to run, but with all of us gathered there, he clearly thought better of it. After all, if he waited for the guards, he would only go to prison. If he tried to run now, he wouldn’t make it two steps before he got one of Lavinia’s arrows through his skull. He slumped back into his chair.
“So, Lucius is dead, then?” Maderel asked as he turned to me, one brow raised. Whatever crisis Adler was having now, the archmage had no sympathy for him.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Good,” Maderel said. “I believe I promised your guild five hundred gold for your service to this fine city. I’m sure you’ll want to go home and rest after everything you’ve been through, but you’re welcome to stop by the University at your leisure to collect your reward.”
