Caged: Book 2 Of the King's Hand Series

by B. A. Monaghan

  “Well, Hazel. I think I’ve learned more in the last few minutes about how this town works listening to you than I have the whole time I’ve been in this town. You should keep me informed about what’s going on. I appreciate the insights you have.” This was working out well for Roland.

  “You do know that if you ever want to get your charisma up over 10 you will have to talk with someone besides a 14-year-old girl or a mountain wolf.”

  Roland stopped by the guild late that evening. Imala was at the desk but she was getting ready to leave. “Hey, Imala, how are you doing today? I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

  “Roland. It is good to see you, too. I’m just finishing up for today. I don’t have messages for you.”

  “That was what I needed to check on. Those messages are important. I appreciate you getting them to me.” He flipped a silver to her. “Just keep them coming.”

  “Roland, you don’t have to pay me for getting the messages to you. It is part of my job.”

  “I know. But they are important to me and I just wanted to let you know that my appreciation is more than just a thank you. As long as you keep delivering them, I’ll keep tipping you.”

  “Thank you, Roland. I appreciate the sentiment.” She turned to go with a large smile on her face.

  That night, Roland and Shadow were much more careful about watching anyone following them. Amelia obviously knew they had been to Gnorbit’s home. The odds of her knowing what was in the house, or whose house it was, was high. She might have just come across them accidentally. Roland really didn’t believe in coincidences.

  He made it to Gnorbit’s shop without incident. Gnorbit looked just as irritated as ever. They started with booby trapped locks. Roland had no idea anyone could booby trap a lock. The one he started with had a needle shoot out of the key hole. Roland barely kept from getting pricked by the thing. The needle had a green tint to it. It was poisoned!

  “Gnorbit, this needle is poisoned. Did you know that?”

  “Ha, ha, ha. Yes, I did know that. Did it get you?”

  “No, but it was a close thing.”

  “Phewy. You’re no fun. It isn’t a deadly poison. It just makes you wish you had died. It lasts about two hours, but in those two hours you feel like your insides have been turned inside out.” Gnorbit was looking happy talking about the bad reaction of the poison.

  “When people know that there is a penalty for making mistakes they become more cautious and normally make less mistakes. You have been lucky. One of these days you will trip one of my traps and you’ll not escape it.” Gnorbit was enjoying this way too much.

  Roland took this as a challenge. When Gnorbit wasn’t looking, he took one of the needles with the poison on it. He would find out what kind of poison it was and make an antidote. He was done for the evening and he went out to find Shadow waiting for him.

  “Anyone around?” Roland asked Shadow.

  “No, it has been quiet.”

  “Let’s go see if we can figure out where the Thieves Guild is located.”

  “Why?” This made no sense to Shadow.

  “Well if what Hazel said was true, they trade information. It might be a good place to get information someday.”

  Two shadows crossed the streets of the slums. One shadow on the roofs and the other on the street. They stayed out of everyone’s sight and followed the obvious thieves. The thieves ended up at two taverns where Roland and Shadow had chased thieves into before.

  The first tavern the thieves entered, they only stayed for a few minutes and left. The second tavern they entered, but they never seemed to exit. Roland cast invisibility on Shadow. He entered the tavern and quickly assessed that the individuals who had entered the tavern were no longer there. Shadow could smell that they had taken a set of stairs down below the tavern.

  Shadow stayed in the stairwell. The invisibility had worn off but he was concealed where he was. Roland cast invisibility on himself and hurried through the tavern to where Shadow waited. The door at the bottom of the stairs was locked. They quickly unlocked it and entered a tunnel.

  The tunnel had a dirt floor. The walls and ceiling were braced over every ten feet with large wooden beams. Oil lamps were hung every so often. If Roland didn’t have eyes like a wolf, it would have been hard to navigate. There were passages that went off to the left and the right. It was like having streets below the streets.

  They had traveled about a quarter of a mile when they came to a door where the thieves had entered. Again, having a nose like a wolf came in handy when tracking. They could hear talking behind the door. It sounded like four voices behind the door. Roland thought it was best to cast navigate to determine where they were.

  No one knew they had found the tunnels. Roland didn’t want anyone to know yet that someone was watching them. The more information he obtained, the better a negotiation in the future. They back tracked to the main part of the tavern. Roland cast invisibility on the two of them and they exited.

  Roland and Shadow tracked the navigation spell a few blocks away. There was a pawn shop above the point where they had heard the voices. They would come back another night to investigate this shop.

  The next day Roland went to the local scribe’s shop. He purchased a map of the capitol. The map was quite good. It was also quite expensive. He should have brought Hazel to haggle for him. But she was in school. He also purchased some paper, ink, and a ledger for Hazel. He also purchased some paper called onion skinned paper, which was fairly transparent and hoped it would be useful.

  They took the map home and began to draw the tunnels they had located under the city. If they were careful, they might be able to map the whole tunnel system without anyone knowing they had done it. They would have to be careful and keep invisibility ready to cast when the need arose.

  Roland sat at his table and began to draw on the onion skin paper over the map of the city. The spell “navigate” was incredibly useful. When he was a kid living in Alondale Forest, he really never used the spell very often because he knew where he was almost all the time. When he was underground and had no reference points, that spell gave him pinpoint accuracy as to where he was at all times. His maps were spot on.

  When Hazel arrived home, he put away his maps. All she saw was the map of the city. “You didn’t have to buy a map Roland. I could tell you where everything is in this city. You probably paid way too much as well.”

  “You’re right. I could have used your haggling skills. The map is useful for me. I want to know this city like the back of my hand. To change the subject though, how was your day in class?”

  “Roland, it was great. I’m beginning to read sentences well, and I’m writing too. My teacher says my English skills will need to get better. My numbers are doing well. I’ve always been good with counting. Adding and subtracting is easy. MS Saint told me I should be doing my multiplication tables soon.”

  “I’m glad to hear you’re progressing well. I do have something for you. It is a ledger. You will be able to enter the amount of money you have coming in and how much money is going out. I’m going to give you some silvers. You will put that amount in this column. When you purchase an item, I want you to put the name of the item in this column, and next to it, how much you paid for it. This way, you can tell how you spent your money, and it also will help you to remember how much you paid in the past for the items you’re buying. I am expecting you to purchase all our food for us as well as whatever else we might need.”

  “Oh, thank you Roland. I will keep a good ledger. I will also save you on whatever we buy. The way you haggle, I’ll make back the money you’ve spent on me in the next year.”

  “I thought I was saving you. Now I’m not so sure you’re saving me from myself.” Roland said joking, but not really.

  Roland spent the rest of the afternoon determining what type of poison was on the needle. It ended up being a weak poison of nightshade. He went down to an herb vendor with Hazel and she purchased several
herbs for him.

  When they returned, he made an elixir that would be a remedy for the nightshade poison. He also mixed up a few other elixirs that might be useful. Hazel was watching his every move.

  “What are you doing Roland?”

  “My mother is an herbalist. She taught me to make elixirs for different things. These aren’t potions like the alchemists make. All the elixirs and poultices I make are made from herbs, or on a few occasions, minerals and a few animal parts. The alchemists use magical beasts and they distil the magic they get from them. Potions work instantly and my elixirs work over time. An herbalist is different than an alchemist. The Alchemist Guild would come after me if they thought I was making potions. So, don’t go tell anyone I’m making a potion.”

  “Can you teach me how to be an herbalist? I could sell elixirs and poultices. That would be my way to become a merchant.” Hazel was almost giddy.

  “This weekend, if I’m not needed for anything, we can go into the woods and I can teach you what I know.”

  Before he knew it, he had to be going. Gnorbit was waiting on him. He was even more irritated than normal. “How do you get up and down my stairs?” Without waiting for a reply, Gnorbit picked up an oil lantern and walked into his stairwell that Roland was sure was filled with traps on the steps.

  When the light hit the stairs, Roland could tell that every step was trapped. Gnorbit looked up at him and glared. “I’ve been adding a new trap every night. Last night I trapped every stair knowing I would catch you. So, can you fly?”

  “Gnorbit, I will never tell you what my skills are. But this one time I’ll tell you what I can’t do. I can’t fly. I haven’t discovered that skill yet. If someone would teach me to fly, I wouldn’t turn down the teaching.”

  “How do you get down and up my stairs then?”

  “Gnorbit, remember I told you that if you set a trap for me and I sprung the trap I would kill you. Now do you really think it was a good idea to trap the stairs?”

  “You aren’t going to kill Gnorbit. I’m the one who is teaching you new skills. No one kills someone who is teaching them skills which are this uncommon.”

  “Well Gnorbit, I appreciate you teaching me the skills you’ve taught me. I’ve even found a use for them. But it wouldn’t affect me one way or another if I didn’t learn one more thing from you. Do you really want to find out if I would kill you or not?” Roland cast an illusion on his face that made himself look deranged.

  Gnorbit was taken aback. He reached down and pulled a string along the baseboard. There were eight steps. Roland heard 7 clicks. Gnorbit looked up at him. “The stairs are safe. If you pull the string up top on the left side they are disabled. If you pull the string on the right side, you enable the traps.”

  “Gnorbit, there is one problem. I see eight traps on eight steps. When you disabled them only seven were disabled.”

  “Listen to me, Mr. High and Mighty! These are my traps and I know when my traps are disabled.” To make his point he walked up the steps and not a one of the steps sprung the trap. That is until he got to the top step. When he put pressure down on it, the trap sprung. A needle shot out and stuck him in the calf.

  “Aaaugghh!”

  “Is that by chance a needle with nightshade poison?” Roland was almost laughing.

  “Who are you? Who knows things like that and who gets through my traps and knows when it isn’t safe?”

  “Well Gnorbit, just be glad I’m here.” Roland pulled out a vial of elixir. “Drink this before you start crying.”

  “What is this?”

  “It is an antidote for the poison you’re using.”

  “How is it you are so young and know so much?” He grabbed the vile and chugged down the antidote. “That is horrid. You didn’t poison me, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t poison you. It should start to work just as your poison starts working. You will feel some discomfort, but in about five minutes you should be fine.”

  The rest of the evening, Gnorbit was in a better mood and showing Roland how to detect traps and how to disable them. He even gave Roland a spell. It was a spell of detect trap. It was part of the Security Skills. When Roland cast the spell the first time, he was notified he had a new skill.

  Security - Beginner Level 1

  You seek to avoid traps and you overcome locks. Nothing is hidden from you.

  Passive Abilities

  Detect Traps +25%

  Active Abilities

  Detect Traps/Spell 25 Mana

  This should be helpful. “How often do you cast this detect trap, Gnorbit?”

  “I haven’t cast it in quite a while. I am the one who installs the traps. Old Gnorbit is the one everyone calls upon to protect their secrets and their valuables. If I put in the security, I don’t steal from them. I’m the best thief there ever was. If they want to keep me out, then they hire me. Sort of works out for me these days. I’m getting old and getting a chunk of gold to make it hard for others to steal makes my life easier. You, on the other hand, might be more dangerous than I was.” Gnorbit started laughing.

  “We better get to work. When I hear about my security systems being defeated, at least I know who is doing the defeating.” The next several hours were nothing but traps, detecting, and defeating.

  After Roland had completed his training for the night with Gnorbit, he and Shadow headed toward the tavern where they had found the stair well. Shadow went in first again. He wasn’t inside for a moment when he came back out. “The stairwell is gone. I can smell the tunnel but there was a wall in front of where the stairwell had been.”

  Roland cast invisibility on himself and went back quickly. He cast an illusion, making it look like the wall he was standing in front of but he gave himself just enough space to stand between the real wall and his illusion of that same wall.

  Roland began to study the wall in front of him. On the floor, he could see where the wall had been dragged and nailed into place. The wall was removable, and by the look of it had been replaced several times. Maybe it was time to look into the pawn shop.

  Roland and Shadow headed toward the pawn shop. Shadow, they must change the entrance points to avoid people like us finding them. The problem they have now is we know they are there.

  The pawn shop only had one obvious entrance. It was dark and the moon had already set. It didn’t take a moment before the door opened for them. Just to be on the safe side, Roland cast detect traps. Nothing showed up. No one was in the shop. They found a hidden trap door in the floor of a storage room located in the back of the store.

  They listened closely, but neither heard any sound nor did they smell anyone. They opened up the door, then closed it quietly behind them. They located a lantern on a table in the tunnel by touch. Roland lit the lantern and they found themselves in a nice room. There was a table and several chairs. There were couches around three of the walls. A large number of people could meet in here comfortably.

  They opened the door to the tunnels. Roland cast navigate at the door. They headed down a corridor they hadn’t gone into before. Roland was casting detect traps every so often, more to practice the spell, than to detect a trap. They hadn’t located a trap yet, but in a thieves’ den, one never knew when one would be detected.

  They found the other tavern where they had seen thieves enter. The stairwell up to the tavern had a wooden wall too. They found two gambling dens and an alchemist shop. When they came upon the alchemist shop, they decided it was time to head back. They needed some sleep. The alchemist shop had a back door, as well as a front door, so they easily departed out the back.

  By the time they arrived home, Roland’s mana levels were low because he had cast detect traps so often. He was trying to level up his security skills as fast as he could. He found that just a night of casting detects trap had gained him 3 levels. He was now a level 4. He thought because they were traveling through a dangerous area, his leveling was increasing more quickly. He ingested some elixir to build up his mana w
hile he slept.

  The next night they went to Gnorbit’s, where Roland’s education continued. He was much more pleasant and he seemed to enjoy teaching Roland. Roland still didn’t trust the gnome, continuing to jump down, and back up, over the steps. He wasn’t ever going to put pressure on those steps. Roland and Shadow went straight home that night because Roland would be taking Hazel into the woods the next day. He had promised her he would teach her some herbalism.

  Roland showed Hazel the next day where to find particular plants, and what they were good for. He had her write the information down and illustrate the plant as best she could. He identified for her the plants most readily found in the area.

  After they arrived home, they mixed up several batches of the most commonly needed elixirs. Hazel spent a long time writing down the recipes for these. Roland had warned her about the need to be accurate. Too much of some herbs, instead of being helpful, could be deadly. They agreed she wouldn’t mix any elixirs without him being present. At least until he was sure she was able to do it herself without making mistakes. When they had finished, he added some mana to the elixirs.

  Roland was happy for the fact that he could have someone pick the herbs he needed. Hazel was happy because she had something she could sell at the market. This would be her first attempt at an honest wage. She would continue to work on the elixirs and try to build up an inventory so that when she did start selling, she wouldn’t have to go out immediately to collect more herbs.

  Chapter 2

  Thieves and Pirates

  Roland stopped by the Adventures Guild to check on messages. Imala had a message for him. He tipped her a silver. It was probably way too large of a tip, but he always wanted to keep those who worked with him happy.