Hell to Pay (Ascend Online Book 2)

by Luke Chmilenko

  “We’ll catch Edith,” I said, glancing over at Quinn and Molly, who nodded in agreement. “And we’ll find out who killed Fairfax, too.”

  “This is our family,” Molly added softly, capturing exactly how I had come to feel in the last day. “There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for our family.”

  “It warms my heart to hear that,” Isabella replied sincerely. “The meeting with the Thief Lords is a few hours away, so we still have time before we must depart. Take some time to rest and clean up. If the meeting goes as well as I hope it will, then this will likely be our last chance to rest for a while. Because once we find out what really happened to Fairfax, there will be hell to pay.”

  Chapter 15

  “Now this is more like what I thought being a criminal would be like,” Quinn said with an eager smile, his voice echoing all around us as we walked. “Skulking around the sewers and going to a secret meeting underground.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Molly replied with a strangled cough. “This place smells awful. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  “The smell will only get worse the deeper we get,” Isabella commented. “We have a quite a bit further to go until we reach the meeting place, but in the meantime, keep your voices down. Echoes carry far here, and I rather not attract any caimans by being careless.”

  “Wait, there’s caimans down here?!” I saw Quinn’s smile fade off his face as he spoke.

  “And more.” Isabella gave Quinn a grim smile as she looked over her shoulder towards him, then motioned to the river of fetid water that filled the massive channel in the center of the sewer. “They enjoy hiding in the water, and prey on other creatures in the sewer.”

  “Ah,” Quinn replied nervously, his head swiveling to follow Isabella’s hand. “Okay, I can’t wait to get out of here either now.”

  Chuckling softly to myself at Quinn’s sudden change of heart, I decided to listen to Isabella’s advice and scanned the slow-moving river of dirty water as it slowly filtered itself through the ancient sewer. In contrast to the rest of the Nafarrian ruins in the city, the sewers that survived them were in near perfect condition, having been protected from the centuries of exposure that the surface ruins of the city had been forced to endure.

  Set with a walkway on both sides of the channel, the four of us easily traveled through the sewers, happy that we did not have to wade through the endless filth that flowed out of the city. Isabella hadn’t mentioned to us how far we needed to travel to the meeting place where the Thief Lords traditionally held their meetings, only that it would take us nearly an hour to wind our way through the convoluted tunnels of the sewer system and take us into the deepest levels that normally went untraveled.

  Keeping an eye on the waters as we walked, I found my mind wandering from the boredom of watching the relatively placid waters and replaying the events of the last few hours.

  After being dismissed by Isabella, the three of us had enjoyed the opportunity to catch our breaths and clean ourselves up after our short but violent excursion out into the city. However, as we rested, more word had gradually filtered in about the attack on the Noble heirs, none of it filling us with any cheer. True to the news that Isabella had received earlier, the one wounded heir belonging to House Wynbrandt had ended up succumbing to her wounds quicker than anticipated, leaving the House pointing angry fingers at both Crawridge and Amberwain, condemning both Houses for being caught in the middle of their feud. The last that we had heard before setting out to the meeting was that each of the Houses had mobilized their house guards and were taking aggressive precautions to fortify their residences should events spiral out into open conflict.

  To make matters worse, there had been no word from the palace since the attack occurred, despite watchers for the guild spotting at least three messengers, one from each of the affected Noble Houses, going to notify the king. I had no idea what he found to be more important than running his kingdom, but it seemed that the king had no interest in the conflict that was brewing between all the Nobles.

  The city might just collapse into civil war, I thought to myself grimly as I continued to scan the waters below us, keeping a wary eye out for any of the caimans that Isabella had mentioned. And with nearly everyone in the city having military training of some sort, any civil war is bound to get bloody fast.

  “The Nafarr must have been really advanced,” I heard Molly whisper, bringing me back to the present as Isabella led us down a passage that began to gradually slope downward. “This whole sewer looks like it could have supported hundreds of thousands of inhabitants easily.”

  “They certainly built this to last,” Quinn agreed, his eyes darting around as he admired the construction. “I would have never known something like this was under the city. Have you two been down here before?”

  “Not this deep,” I answered softly, scanning ahead to see if I could figure out where Isabella was taking us.

  “Same,” Molly replied as she let out a small cough, the stench of the sewers still affecting her.

  Moving without any hesitation, Isabella gradually began to pick up her pace as we entered the deepest levels of the sewer. Looking at her posture and how quickly her eyes scanned the area, I sensed that the urgency was due to the creatures that she had referred to earlier. Given the way that our day had played out so far, the last thing we needed was to be ambushed at this point in time.

  Though a fight might help Isabella relax, I said to myself, unable to help but notice how high-strung Isabella was at the moment. Multiple crises had been dropped into her lap within the span of two days, and NPC or not, that was bound to put someone on edge. I hoped that after meeting the other Thief Lords, we would get a chance to catch our breaths and start to restore some semblance of balance within the city.

  For the next twenty minutes, Isabella’s pace continued to increase as she led us into the deepest parts of Eberia’s sewer system until we were nearly jogging, speed becoming more important than stealth the further we went. We wound through countless tunnels, eventually leaving me feeling completely lost as any sense of direction I had vanished. Staring directly at the back of Isabella’s head, I began to resign myself to the fact that it would be easier to die and respawn back at the guild headquarters than it would be to find my own way out of the sewer. Judging from the lost expressions that I saw on both Molly’s and Quinn’s faces, I didn’t think that they felt any different.

  “We’re here,” Isabella whispered finally as we turned into an abrupt dead end, causing all of us to stare at her numbly.

  “They’re going to meet us here?” I asked, looking around the small platform we were standing on. “There’s barely enough room for the four of us on here, let alone the other Thief Lords and their retainers!”

  “Not here.” Isabella shook her head at me with an ominous smile as she reached into her pocket and pulled something out. “This is just the entrance—our entrance.”

  “Our entrance?” Molly echoed as she tried to look around me.

  “This is the Grim Shadows’ entrance into the Council of Thieves,” Isabella explained as she held up a familiar coin. “Each of the Guilds have their own entrance to the Council, and each entrance will only open to a specific key.

  “That’s the coin I found on Fairfax!” I hissed in surprise, seeing my old mentor’s face still emblazoned on the side of it.

  “It is.” Isabella nodded at me with a smile. “It is the most important thing that the guild possesses, and without it, we would be barred from entering the Council or having a say in how the other guilds conduct business in Eberia.”

  I looked at Isabella with a stupefied expression on my face. Had I not gone back to search Fairfax’s body in the Undertaker chamber, the guild would have been rendered completely impotent, losing its place in the city’s criminal hierarchy until it was found.

  If it was found.

  “How does it work?” I asked, looking towards the featureless wall behind Isabella and wondering where the en
trance was. “I don’t see anything on this wall…”

  “This isn’t a wall,” Isabella replied, her smiling widening as she turned around and held the coin up in the air. “At least not one made of brick and mortar.”

  Before any of us could ask Isabella what she meant, the coin pulsed with a gentle flash of white light, causing the entire sewer wall in front of us to dissolve as if it were never there, revealing an ominous tunnel leading to the dark.

  “Oh,” I gasped, my brain completely caught my surprise, hearing both Molly and Quinn have similar reactions.

  “It is partly an illusion combined in with a host of other magics I do not understand,” Isabella explained as she motioned for us to follow her. “Regardless, it will reseal itself within a few moments, come quickly.”

  “How did you even create something like this?” Quinn asked, completely dumbfounded as the four of us hurried down the tunnel.

  “The king made it for us,” Isabella whispered. “As part of his deal long ago.”

  “Hold on,” Quinn gasped, not knowing the true story of the guild’s origin. “The king?!”

  “I’ll tell you later, Quinn,” I whispered to the man as I spotted the mouth of the tunnel in the distance. “It’s a long story.”

  “No fucking shit!” Quinn muttered under his breath.

  Walking down the tunnel in silence, the four of us entered into a massive, five-spoked chamber that I could only describe as the Nafarrian equivalent of a sewer hub. Reaching nearly forty feet into the air, the huge room made me realize just how deep we had traveled underground.

  “Damn, everyone is waiting,” Isabella said as she pointed to a large circular platform ahead of us, suspended a few feet over a massive basin. Looking in the distance, I could see several figures waiting, each of them standing far apart from one another. “We’re the last ones to arrive; we’d best hurry.”

  Moving with purpose, Isabella led the way, stepping out onto a metal walkway that bridged the gap between the tunnel and the central platform. Following close behind, I couldn’t help but look down as we walked, feeling uncomfortable as I gazed into the black, foul-smelling water that filled the basin a few short feet below us. As we crossed the walkway, I noticed occasional ladders built into the side it, reaching down into the water.

  Maybe to help people get out of the water? I mused as my eye followed the ladders downward, spotting something ripple beneath the surface. Eyes widening, I blinked them furiously as I tried to make sense of what I had seen. No sooner had I reopened them than did I see a tentacle poke free of the water and immediately vanish.

  “Isabella, there’s something in the water,” I whispered, suddenly feeling exposed as I saw another tentacle appear a short distance away.

  “I know,” the woman whispered back to me with a raised eyebrow. “Where did you think all the garbage in the city went? It’s constantly being eaten by a colony of Otyugh.”

  “Oty-what?” I heard Quinn gasp behind me the same moment I felt Molly grab my back.

  “Are they dangerous to us?” I hissed, vaguely remembering the three-legged and three-tentacled creatures from other games I had played.

  Isabella cocked her head at me as if I were stupid. “Of course they are, but only if you fall into the water.”

  “Right,” I said slowly as Isabella turned around and continued walking towards the platform, causing us to follow closely while keeping an eye on the water below us.

  Glancing ahead as we approached the center of the hub, I saw four figures standing on the edge of the platform, each of them watching us silently as we approached.

  The Thief Lords are all here. I felt my heart beat in excitement as we began to ascend up the platform, allowing me to spot several pairs of retainers, waiting an arm’s length behind each Thief Lord. And they all brought people too. But is it because they don’t trust one another, or is it because the sewers are that dangerous?

  “It’s about time you all showed up,” a harsh voice called out towards the four of us as we all stopped at the very edge of the platform. “Being late to your own meeting is bad enough, but—wait.” The voice paused for a moment. “Where is Fairfax? Why isn’t he with you?”

  Looking towards the voice that had just spoken, I saw a tall, wiry Eberian man completely covered in dark leather armor, watching the four of us intently as his bright blue eyes searched for our old Thief Lord.

  “That is why I called this meeting, Dorian,” Isabella replied. “Fairfax is dead. Murdered, we believe. I’ve come to claim his spot on the Council and inform everyone of what we’ve learned surrounding his death. We believe that it is linked to all the chaos consuming the city.”

  There was a moment of silence as Isabella’s words were processed, followed by murmurs throughout the assembled Thief Lords and retainers.

  “Two nights ago, after we received word of the incident between the Royal Guard and the military, Fairfax departed to the palace, fearing that the Geas was still in effect,” Isabella wasted no time in continuing, the whispering voices ceasing the moment that Isabella mentioned the old king’s binding. “The following morning, his body was discovered by one of my guild members, cut, burned, and beaten.”

  “It has long been determined that the Geas is no longer in effect,” Dorian answered Isabella derisively. “If it were, all of us here would have felt its consequences, yet none of us have.”

  “Or have none of us felt its consequences because Fairfax went in our stead?” a feminine voice asked, as an orange-robed Thief Lord slowly walked towards the center of the platform.

  “We have been ignored for over a year,” Dorian exclaimed tiredly, clearly having had this argument before. “We have felt nothing from the Geas in all that time because it is gone.”

  “Regardless, the death of one of our own is most serious, especially so if it wasn’t compelled by the Geas that has hung over us,” the orange-robed woman stated aloud, before directing a question towards Isabella. “Do you have proof of Fairfax’s death, beyond the key that allowed you here?”

  Feeling a sense of unease shoot through me as I glanced at the Thief Lord’s face, I found myself gazing directly into a featureless jade mask that had been polished completely smooth. Stopping directly in the center of the platform, I was close enough to see our reflections in the Thief Lord’s mask as she regarded us impassively.

  This must be Smiling Jade, I told myself, remembering the little that I had heard about the enigmatic leader of The Faceless Ones, a guild of thieves who all wore masks to hide their identity, even amongst themselves.

  “I do,” Isabella stated confidently, as she inclined her head towards me. “This is the guild member who found Fairfax’s body; he was the one responsible for recovering Fairfax’s key. Without him, we would have never known of Fairfax’s death.”

  “Indeed?” The masked Thief Lord’s voice sounded curious as I somehow felt her gaze shift onto me. “We have heard your name before, Adventurer. However, formalities must be observed. Introduce yourself to the Council.”

  They know me? I thought to myself, suddenly feeling nervous. I glanced at Isabella, who nodded at me curtly and motioned for me to answer the question.

  “My name is Lazarus Cain,” I replied as I took a step forward towards Smiling Jade.

  “The Council recognizes you, Lazarus.” Smiling Jade nodded to me as she swept her hand to indicate the other Thief Lords circling the platform. “I presume you are aware of the other Lords who share this Council with me?”

  “Only by reputation,” I answered, looking towards the two other Thief Lords who had yet to say anything since our arrival.

  “But of course.” Smiling Jade inclined her head in understanding. “You are new to the Underworld, fresh as a babe torn from the womb. Perhaps introductions are in order before you are put to the question.”

  I felt my stomach churn at the Thief Lord’s choice of words, but I slowly nodded in agreement, feeling it was wiser to remain silent for the time being.
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br />   “You have already been introduced to Dorian, the leader of The Damned, his warm greetings notwithstanding.” Smiling Jade shifted her body towards the dark-haired Eberian that had greeted Isabella earlier, only to have the man scowl at me as his name was mentioned.

  “Next we have Stroud.” Smiling Jade then motioned towards a hulking mountain of a man who inclined his head towards me at the sound of his name. “The leader of The Dead Eyes.”

  Taller than even I was, it was clear that Stroud shared the same half-giant ancestry as I did, though with a human half instead of my elven. Clad in a mix of chainmail and leather, the Thief Lord’s face was the only bit of flesh that was visible on the massive man’s body, and even then it was covered by a thick brown beard. Holding a massive two-handed axe on his shoulder, the Thief Lord regarded me with a blank expression, his eyes completely devoid of emotion.

  “And then there is Kiera,” the orange-robed Thief Lord finished, sweeping her hand to indicate a Tul’Shar bearing a fur pattern resembling a tiger. “The leader of The Crimson Rats.”

  “It is always exciting to have fresh meat in our circle,” Kiera purred as she appraised me, her yellow eyes causing a chill to descend down my spine. “Perhaps this one may yet survive long enough to be entertaining.”

  In great contrast to Stroud, the feline Thief Lord hardly wore any armor at all, choosing to wear a scandalous array of leather straps across her body that just barely managed to cover everything important—leaving plenty of skin, or in her case, fur, exposed for all to see. Hanging from her waist, I saw a pair of scabbarded shortswords shifting from side to side as she swung her hips.

  “And I am Smiling Jade.” The masked Thief Lord stopped moving and I felt her focus her faceless gaze onto me once again. “I represent The Faceless Ones.”