City of Daggers (The Iron Teeth Book 2)

by Scott Straughan

  Blacknail walked into the pitch-black interior and headed up the stairs to the room on the second floor. He was careful not to make any noise, because he didn’t know what to expect. Also, creeping around all sneaky-like was more fun.

  When the hobgoblin got to the top of stairs, he saw a dark figure looking out a window through a doorway. He froze for a second but soon realized it was Saeter. Before he started moving again, an idea occurred to him. His master didn’t appear to know that Blacknail was here… so wouldn’t it be fun to surprise him! Blacknail grinned gleefully to himself. This was going to be so much fun! As he stepped through the doorway, he felt something tug gently on his ankle and then heard a faint clattering noise. He looked down to see what it was and realized he’d stumbled over a piece of string that had been tied to a pile of sticks.

  How had that gotten there? Well, hopefully it hadn’t ruined his surprise. Blacknail looked back up to see something shiny. It was Saeter’s unsheathed sword point, and it was less than an inch from his face. The surprised hobgoblin went very still as his eyes widened in alarm. Yep, the surprise was ruined, and this had definitely been a bad idea.

  “The Deep Green has yet to spit out a beast that can sneak up on me, hobgoblin, and that includes the likes of you,” Saeter whispered threateningly before relaxing and dropping his blade.

  “I was just having fun. I wasn’t going to do anything bad,” Blacknail whined.

  “If I thought you were, I’d have already skewered you. Missions aren’t the time to be having fun. That’s how people get hurt,” Saeter replied gruffly.

  Blacknail nodded enthusiastically in agreement. He’d certainly almost been hurt. His master grunted, and his hard expression softened. The hobgoblin thought he detected a slight smile on the man’s lips.

  “How’d the mission go; did you get Galive?” Saeter asked.

  “Of course. I started a fight, crept through the shadows, went in and out some windows, and murdered the sleeping human. There was nothing to eat,” Blacknail explained cheerfully.

  The old scout rolled his eyes in an exasperated manner after the hobgoblin finished speaking. Blacknail frowned at his master’s response. What was wrong with his answer? It covered all the important bits.

  “You can tell Herad the details. Did that Elixir of Mahedium’s come in handy?” Saeter inquired.

  Blacknail mouth fell open slightly as the question caught him off guard. He had kind of forgotten he’d had it. There were definitely a few times a boost of speed and strength would have been useful though…

  “It was too easy. I didn’t need it,” Blacknail bragged. Saeter gave him a suspicious glance but didn’t bother to question the hobgoblin.

  “Come on, let’s get back to base. Winter’s approaching, and it’s getting bloody cold out.” Saeter walked past him and headed downstairs.

  The hobgoblin sighed regretfully as he followed the old scout. His master probably shouldn’t have waited out in the cold for him; he was going to catch the sniffles. Obviously, he’d been worried Blacknail was going to mess things up, so he’d stuck around. Why couldn’t his master have just trusted him? He was very trustworthy!

  After several minutes of walking through the nearly pitch-black street, Blacknail was starting to wonder where they were going. They weren’t headed anywhere near Herad’s base. Saeter soon turned around and scowled at Blacknail.

  “Why don’t you lead the way? Waiting around for you so long has left my legs sore,” he told the hobgoblin. Blacknail wasn’t sure why that mattered. Wouldn’t he have to walk the same distance anyway? Well, whatever…

  “We’re going back to the lair?” he asked, just to make sure.

  “Of course we bloody are. Where else would we be headed?” Saeter huffed indignantly.

  “Nowhere-ss, sorry,” the hobgoblin replied and quickly took the lead.

  He took a second to decide on the fastest route, and within minutes they were approaching Herad’s stronghold. The guards out front simply nodded in greeting when they recognized Saeter, and Blacknail gave them a friendly nod back. The pair then walked through the front entrance and into the room on the other side. As usual, there were several bandits sitting around the table there playing a game of cards. This time, however, Khita was one of them. Judging by the pile of coins in front of her, and the dissatisfied looks on several of her opponents’ faces, she appeared to be winning.

  The young redhead glanced their way as Saeter and Blacknail entered and smiled cheerfully at them. She seemed to having fun. Blacknail didn’t like that.

  “You’re back! How did your top secret mission for the boss go? I know she sent you out to do something, all hush-hush,” she asked.

  “If you know that, then you shouldn’t be asking,” interjected a large male bandit that was sitting across from her.

  “Bah, you’re just upset that you’re losing,” Khita responded as she beamed at Blacknail. The bandit scowled angrily at her, and one of his eyebrows started twitching.

  “No, you’re lucky the boss likes you so much,” the man muttered angrily.

  Blacknail agreed with him, but he found himself giving the man a steady disapproving glare. If anyone was going to kill Khita, it was going to be him! The bandit met his stare for a second but hurriedly looked away.

  “Where’s Herad?” Saeter asked Khita.

  “She was in that big room down the hall to the left, the one with all the couches, the last time I checked,” Khita replied.

  Saeter grunted his acknowledgement and unceremoniously left the room. After one quick glance back at the man who had challenged him, Blacknail followed his master out. It only took a few seconds for them to reach the room Khita had mentioned, and Herad was indeed there. She was sprawled comfortably over the edge of one of the couches. A platter of food and drink had been set on a side table in front of her, and several of her usual guards were also there. Most of them were standing around the room, but two had seats of their own. Herad smiled eagerly when she saw Saeter and Blacknail and pulled herself up into more of a sitting position.

  “Clear the room,” she announced.

  With a quick nod of acknowledgement, the guards got up and left the room. There was a quiet thud as they closed the doors behind them.

  “Since you’re both back, I take it that Galive is dead?” the chieftain asked them.

  “So the hobgoblin tells me,” Saeter replied.

  “I totally killed him. I cut his neck deep as he slept, and he bled everywhere!” Blacknail answered cheerfully. Herad ignored Blacknail and raised an eyebrow dubiously at Saeter.

  “You think he’s lying?” she asked curiously.

  “Ha, no. He went in, and he came out alive. That means Galive is dead,” Saeter huffed.

  “You never know. Maybe they found out about your hob’s secret weakness for sweet cakes and bribed him,” she replied with a chuckle and a grin.

  Blacknail scowled in annoyance. That was just insulting. He would never betray his tribe for a sweet cake! There weren’t enough cakes in the whole world for that. Of course, the world wasn’t that big and mostly seemed to be made up of trees.

  Herad saw the hobgoblin’s look, but instead of growing angry, she smirked. She then reached out and grabbed one of the pastries from the platter and tossed it up into the air toward Blacknail. Instantly, the hobgoblin caught it and shoved it into his mouth.

  “Thank-ss you so much, mistress,” he told her happily as he chewed. All his previous feelings of irritation had been completely forgotten.

  “If only all men were so easy to please,” Herad remarked with a look toward Saeter.

  “You mean control,” Saeter replied dryly.

  “That too,” Herad added with another smug grin. “Saeter, I’ll have you get a report from Blacknail and give it to me tomorrow. His full reports are… different.”

  “They certainly are,” Saeter agreed.

  Herad then turned to the hobgoblin. “For now, just tell me about anything important or unexpe
cted that happened, and this time leave out any details about how things tasted or smelled. I don’t need to know about that,” Herad asked, as she grimaced in disgust.

  Blackail sighed in disappointment. Those were usually the most interesting parts though! He took a moment to recall everything that had happened on his mission. He’d walked there with Saeter, there’d been some humans, he’d eaten the chicken, he’d tricked some more humans, bleh bleh, and then he’d killed Galive and ran away. Oh wait, there had been one thing.

  “There was a man, an assassin. He was there to protect Galive, but he sucked at it,” Blacknail told his chieftain.

  “That’s interesting. You overheard them talking?” Herad asked.

  “Yes, he was sent by a Zelena human.”

  “See, Saeter? I knew they were working together. Galive swore he was a neutral party, but I wasn’t fooled! That bastard lied like a village peddler; for all that, he was supposed to be a priest,” Herad exclaimed excitedly.

  “I didn’t disagree with you about that,” Saeter pointed out.

  “I guess you didn’t, for once,” Herad commented with a roll of her eyes.

  “If that’s everything, then I’d like to get some sleep. I also wouldn’t mind a hot cup of tea,” Saeter told her.

  “Fine, I’d hate to keep you up past your bedtime. You two can go rest,” Herad answered dismissively.

  “It’s not my bedtime. I’m going to go out and find some food,” Blacknail interjected.

  “You’re coming with me. Now is not the time to be wandering around,” Saeter replied as he gave the hobgoblin a stern glance.

  “But I’m still hungry,” Blacknail whined.

  “Grab something from the kitchen,” Saeter told him and gave him a light push toward the door.

  “Fine, but I’m eating whatever I want,” the hobgoblin replied as he opened the door.

  “Go ahead, just keep out of trouble,” his master said when they passed by the guards from earlier.

  After almost an hour of ransacking the kitchen and terrorizing the chef, Blacknail had stuffed himself enough that he began to grow sleepy. Saeter had already left, so the hobgoblin yawned and headed for his room. Once there, he disrobed and began rearranging his blankets for maximum comfort. The hobgoblin then curled up on his bed and almost immediately went to sleep. He’d earned his rest.

  It wasn’t to be as long a rest as he’d hoped though. Several hours later, he twitched in his sleep as an unexpected rhythm penetrated his subconscious. When the quiet sound repeated itself, the hobgoblin stirred and frowned in annoyance. He opened one eye slightly and saw it was still dark outside. He didn’t like being awakened like this, so hopefully whatever the annoying thing was, it would soon stop or die horribly. It sounded like footsteps. In fact, it sounded like several people were trying to move quietly, and it was coming from the roof...

  The hobgoblin growled softly as he pulled himself completely awake. His tribe was under attack!

  Chapter 22

  Blacknail immediately pulled himself up from the tangle of sheets around him and growled menacingly. The sound of his anger echoed throughout his small room as he shot to his feet. Someone was trying to be sneaky and invade his tribe’s lair!

  “Enemies,” he hissed to himself. The hobgoblin felt his drowsiness burn away under the relentless waves of his rage. His lips rose to reveal his teeth as he snarled. Whoever these people were, they were about to get a very nasty surprise. He was going to stab them, a lot.

  Blacknail didn’t waste any time. He quickly began throwing on his clothes and arming himself as he carefully listened in on the enemies' progress. The footsteps were slowly but steadily crossing the roof. At first the hobgoblin assumed they were coming to attack him, but he realized that was unlikely. No one knew who he was or where he’d stashed his cheese.

  That meant they must be after Herad! They were assassins and aiming to murder Blacknail’s chieftain the same way the hobgoblin had killed the other chiefs. Well, it wouldn’t work, because they were much worse at it than Blacknail. The hobgoblin had already discovered them, and not being detected before reaching the target was the most important bit.

  Blacknail pulled on his mask, slipped quietly through his door, and stalked quickly forward down the hallway toward Herad’s room. The hallway was dark except for a single candle set on a small table, and there was a sleepy-looking guard leaning against the wall beside it. Blacknail growled as he noticed the man’s eyes were closed. What kind of pathetic warrior went to sleep in the middle of a job?

  The man was apparently a light sleeper though, because the hobgoblin’s outraged growl woke him. He blinked and turned to see what was going on and jumped in alarm when he saw the masked and cloaked hobgoblin descending upon him.

  “Shh, quiet.” Blacknail raised a finger to his mouth. “There are-ss people on the roof.”

  “What?” the man whispered in confusion. He began to recognize Blacknail and started calming down.

  “Assassins on the roof!” Blacknail whispered back. Why did he always have to repeat himself? Human hearing wasn’t that bad, even if they had tiny pink ears.

  Herad’s guard flinched as the hobgoblin’s words finally sank in. He threw a quick glance upward, as if he expected to see something. Blacknail sighed in frustration; he wasn’t impressed.

  “We need to raise the alarm,” the man said a few seconds later.

  “No, then-ss they would run. Give me a door key and go raise the alarm silently. Herad would-ss want us to warn her and then trap them so they end up dead,” Blacknail argued. There was no way Herad would want to pass up an opportunity to kill some of her enemies. She was pretty consistent that way.

  The guard seemed to agree with Blacknail’s judgment of Herad’s character, because he nodded reluctantly in agreement and handed Blacknail the key.

  “I’ll be right back. You wake the boss then. Better you than me anyway; she’s not a morning person,” the man told the hobgoblin. He then quickly disappeared into a side room, and several seconds later, the hobgoblin could hear him begin whispering to someone else.

  Blacknail was tense and nervous as he unlocked the door and walked through it. Not because of the assassins, but rather because he was pretty sure the guard was right about how Herad wouldn’t like being disturbed. She would, however, like not being informed of the assassins even less, which meant there really weren’t any good options.

  The chieftain’s room was dark, except for the slivers of moonlight that squeezed through the cracks of the one small, shuttered window and the light of the candle in the hallway that shone out from under the closed door behind Blacknail. It was more than enough light for the hobgoblin’s sensitive eyes. He could make out most the details of the room, including the bed Herad was sleeping on. The bandit chieftain was curled up under her sheets, and her sleeping face was pointed his way.

  As he approached Herad, Blacknail very carefully calculated a minimum safe distance that was out of reach of a sword. He didn’t believe for a second she didn’t have one shoved somewhere around the bed or that she wouldn’t use it on him if he angered her.

  Once he had gotten as close as he dared, Blacknail took a second to study Herad. She looked different somehow, but the hobgoblin couldn’t immediately figure out why. Then he realized her eyes weren’t as shadowed and menacing as usual. Did Herad wear makeup? No wait, that was silly. Of course it was actually war paint. That made much more sense.

  The creaking of wooden supports from above brought Blacknail back to reality. He knew he needed to wake his chief up before the assassins arrived, but he couldn’t figure out how to do it safely. Yelling was out of the question, and so was touching her. Maybe he could poke her with a long stick? Blacknail looked her over again. She actually didn’t seem all that dangerous at the moment. In fact, she seemed kind of vulnerable, so he should probably just go shake her awake. That would be the quietest way to do it after all. He took a tentative step forward…

  “I can think
of three reasons a hobgoblin would be creeping around in my bedroom after dark, and you’ll only survive one of them,” Herad told him as she lay unmoving in bed with her eyes closed.

  Blacknail instantly froze, and he felt a cold shiver work its way through him. His eyes widened as he realized he’d almost gotten himself killed. Good thing he was a coward.

  “There are bad assassins on the roof! When I—your ever-loyal servant—heard them, I told your guards. Then I came in here to tell you,” Blacknail whispered to her nervously. The bandit chieftain grunted and opened her eyes. Her cold gaze bore into him as she studied his face. She was still scary, even without war paint.

  “Good, because you’re not my type, and it'd be a shame to have to kill you for being too ambitious,” she told him as she sat up. Her movement caused her blankets to shift and slip off her shoulders. Underneath that, she was wearing a loose, plain white shirt and long dark pants.

  “How many?” she asked as she stood up and pulled on a leather jacket that had been lying beside her bed.

  “Five or six,” Blacknail replied uncertainly. He was just grateful his answer had apparently been the right one. What had the other two been?

  “They’re coming for me?” Herad pulled a sheathed sword and hilt out from under her pillow.

  “Sounds like,” Blacknail whispered back.

  There was suddenly a slight creaking noise from the roof above, and both of them looked up. Herad narrowed her eyes and turned to the window. It was the only way in other than the door. There was then a creaking noise from behind them as the door swung open slightly. Both Herad and Blacknail tensed and reached for their weapons. However, it was only several of Herad’s guards. When they saw their boss up and about, they stopped and waited for orders. Herad studied them for a second before motioning silently for them to back off. The man in front nodded, took a step back out of the room, and then carefully shut the door behind him. The bandit chieftain moved over to her bed and pulled several pillows out from underneath it. She stuffed them under her blanket, so it looked like someone was still sleeping there. With that done, she crouched down beside the bed out of sight of the window.