The Elf Thief

by Hans Bezdek

  The Elf Thief (Book 1)

  The Arcane Staff Series

  by Hans Bezdek

  Copyright © 2018 Herrin Enterprises LLC

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The Arcane Staff Series:

  The Elf Thief (Book 1)

  Released April 2018

  Lost Citadel (Book 2)

  Releasing May 2018

  The Half Dragon of Yaerna Series:

  Tumbler Short

  The Ilkas Diamond Job (Book 0)

  Released February 2018

  The Gathering Arc

  The Shattered Sword (Book 1)

  Released December 2017

  The Time Shield (Book 2)

  Released January 2018

  Grimkell's Mace (Book 3)

  Released January 2018

  The Heralding Arc

  Durnskeep (Book 4)

  Released March 2018

  Ravendale (Book 5)

  Releasing April 2018

  For a FREE copy of the prequel novella The Half Dragon of Yaerna: The Ilkas Diamond, come subscribe to my mailing list http://eepurl.com/dqpHW5

  Feel free to reach out to me with questions or comments at hans.bezdek@gmail.com

  Chapter 1

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Zeke shouted as he sprinted through the forest.

  He was afraid to look back but knew that he should. Finding a clear path through the trees, he decided to risk it and glanced over his shoulder. There was nothing to see through the mist that had settled in among the trees. Dumber elves would probably think they were safe by now, but he knew better.

  The elf shook his head at his own stupidity. He shouldn’t have gone out to the Forbidden Oaks. If something was given a scary name like ‘Forbidden’, it was probably for a good reason. He assumed it was just his town’s way of trying to keep its people from venturing too far thanks to something that happened centuries earlier. He had convinced himself there was nothing more to it than some old superstitions by the time he had made it to the outskirts of the Oaks. Unfortunately, he found out pretty quickly that wasn’t the case when he stumbled upon three demons stalking about.

  As if they could read his thoughts, he saw two black figures run through the trees off to his far left and far right. That wasn’t ideal. He’d encountered a demon here and there over his twenty-odd years of life, but he was always quick to slip away before being seen. It looked like he was followed after all, and now they were spreading out to trap him.

  He was still a few hours east of Re’Lus… they’d catch him way before he got to safety. His best option was to find somewhere to hide and hope they went off on their own.

  Looking around for somewhere to disappear, he saw a tight cluster of trees a few dozen yards ahead to his left. If he could get there without any of them seeing him, he’d be able to wait there for a few minutes until he was sure they passed. He could then take the long way back home and not have to risk bumping into the lot again. Yes, that sounded like the best choice.

  Dashing as quickly as he could, he leaped into the cluster of trees, finagling himself into the middle. Most of the trees here were very thin, but they had grown so close together that they’d provide great cover. He picked a tree that was a foot or so thick and crouched down with his back to it.

  Digging around in his bag, he pulled out his dark green cloak. The grass wasn’t quite this dark, but he didn’t know how colorblind demons were. He should find that out sometime. Who would know something like that? Zeke assumed that probably wasn’t something people found out until after being eaten by a demon thanks to their dumb dark green cloak giving their position away.

  Deciding to give it a shot anyway, Zeke threw the cloak over him and went back to his bag. He didn’t bring much on his little excursion, thinking he’d only be gone for a day at the max. He had half a loaf of bread, a small map of the known area… oh, and Lucky!

  The elf pulled out his dagger, breathing a sigh of relief. He completely forgot he had it. It wasn’t much, but maybe Lucky would help him out if he needed it. Daggers could hurt demons, right?

  Zeke had found the dagger back in Re’Lus, working for Moya as a low-level caterer. One of his co-workers, an elven baker named Arl… or Garl… was it Carl? Regardless, one of the bakers had received a dagger as a birthday present a few days before the 'incident'. The day of the 'incident', the baker went to deliver a set of wedding cakes. Right before he made it inside, he slipped.

  It was one of the most depressing things Zeke had ever come across. Cakes went everywhere, all of them completely ruined. It was truly heartbreaking. Never had he seen so many baked goods destroyed for no good reason…

  Anyway, the dagger had managed to come loose as the elf tripped. It unexpectedly landed pointing straight up, and when the baker spun and fell, it punctured his stomach. He howled like nothing Zeke had ever heard, and the town’s priests arrived almost immediately. They picked him up to take him back to their temple for healing, with the baker yanking the dagger out of himself as he was in the air. He shouted some obscenities about the dagger, going on and on about how it was cursed or some other nonsense, and then chucked it away. The dagger landed right next to Zeke.

  The silly elf didn’t know what he was talking about. Zeke couldn’t see how it was cursed at all, at least for him. Not only did Zeke get a new dagger from the incident, but he had enough ground cake to eat for the next three days! It was a no-brainer to name the dagger Lucky.

  Crack.

  A twig snapped behind Zeke. He held his breath as a few other twigs snapped under the weight of the demons circling around the cluster of trees. Had they seen him run in here?

  He watched the three black figures circle around the trees, unable to see the red glow from their eyes. Zeke couldn’t get a good view of them but could hear their labored breathing. Two of the black shapes became smaller as they walked away, eventually disappearing completely from view. The third one remained for a while longer, occasionally pausing and quieting its own breathing.

  Zeke stayed completely still, trapped in this prison of trees that he chose for himself. Afraid that the demon could somehow sense his gaze on it, he kept the creature in his peripherals and instead kept his eyes locked on the ground. This wouldn’t be a great place to die. The others wouldn’t find him for days or weeks, if they bothered searching for him at all. That was also assuming the demons didn’t devour him completely.

  Randomly, the demon let out a disgruntled sound and then moved away.

  Zeke let out a sigh of relief. He had done it. He had successfully dodged the demons.

  He couldn’t decide if he wanted to tell everyone back at Re’Lus what had happened or not. On the one hand, successfully escaping from three demons was no small feat. On the other, he hadn’t exactly accomplished anything.

  He came to the Forbidden Oaks in hopes of exploring the unexplored, and to maybe bring back some rare goods or interesting finds. He had tried to do the same a handful of times before but always came back empty handed. The town thought of him as a joke, and he knew it.

  “Every village has an idiot, and for us that’s you.”

  Moya and the others were always telling him that, and it drove him insane. Sure, he had a tendency to mess up on occasion, but who didn’t? So he had accidentally burned down the kitchen two or four times… Moya had insurance for a reason, right?

  Zeke shook his head as he took off the cloak and shoved it back into his bag. It wasn’t just his work, either. The elders and nearly all of his old schoolmates looked down on h
im. He wasn’t fit enough to be a warrior and didn’t seem to have any magic capabilities for combat or healing. His apathy towards the town’s politics kept him from pursuing any office, and a few of the fire-related incidents had caused other employers to view him as a 'risky hire', whatever that meant.

  He wondered if there was any point to him even staying in Re’Lus anymore.

  Zeke went to put Lucky in his bag when the dagger slipped from his fingers. Instinctively, he moved his foot to try and stop the dagger from hitting the floor. Lucky dropped blade down, slicing through his boot and into the top of his foot.

  “Eeeee!” screeched Zeke, in a pitch higher than he wanted to admit to himself.

  The elf covered his mouth with one hand as he pulled Lucky out of his foot with the other. Why didn’t he just let the dagger fall to the ground? It’s not like it would’ve made any noise!

  He looked around for a black shape, but none appeared. Did the demons really not hear him? He figured at least the last one would’ve been close enough to hear his less-than-manly squeal of pain. Instead, there was no sign of it. It was completely quiet.

  Actually… it was really quiet.

  The sound of wind passing through the treetops had completely subsided, and the normal racket of wildlife had disappeared as well. The loudest thing he could hear was his own breathing.

  Deciding to risk it, Zeke stuck his head out of the cluster of trees and looked around. He couldn’t see anything but trees. The mist had started to dissipate, and there was still no sign of anything. It looked like he had lucked out again.

  Until he heard the labored breathing behind him.

  Turning ever so slowly, the elf looked back into the red glowing eyes of a demon. The creature stood about seven feet tall, but was hunched over with its clawed hands hanging limply in front of it. The demon was entirely pitch black, aside from its red eyes and yellowish teeth. Very sharp yellowish teeth, that is.

  Zeke had never been this close to one before, and could now say with certainty that he was not a fan of the smell of demons. He couldn’t quite place it, but it was a mix between soured milk and overcooked eggs.

  He was bummed that it would be the last thing he’d ever smell. There was no hope of escape now, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to kill it before it killed him. He was resigned to his fate, but still had something he had to know before his life was snuffed out.

  “Um…” said Zeke, clearing his throat. “ Are… are you guys colorblind?”

  The demon screeched at him, nearly making him deaf. The demon bared its teeth a little wider now.

  “So that’s a no on answering me, or a no you're not colorblind?” Zeke clarified

  The demon opened its mouth completely this time, slowly leaning in to begin its elven feast. Zeke wanted to close his eyes but decided in his last minute to have a shred of dignity.

  And then an arrow shot through the side of the demon’s head.

  Chapter 2

  The demon fell over to its right, its body twitching slightly before it completely died.

  Zeke stared down at it with open eyes for a few seconds, unsure of what was happening. When he finally realized he wasn’t going to die to the demon, he relaxed.

  And then he threw up.

  Everything hit him at once. The rancid smell coupled with how close he came to death was too much for him. So much for his dignity.

  “You, ah, okay there?” came a woman’s voice.

  Zeke turned and found a human woman standing a few yards away, bow in hand. She had her black hair up in a ponytail and had an athletic build. Zeke wasn’t great at guessing human’s ages, but she didn’t look particularly old and wasn’t a teenager.

  “Was that you who killed the demon?” asked Zeke, wiping his mouth.

  She nodded. “I’m sorry if you wanted the kill, but I wasn’t sure if you had it under control and I didn’t want to risk it.”

  “Wanted the kill?” he laughed. When she didn’t smile, he realized she wasn’t joking. She must have really badly misread what was happening. “No, I appreciate the assist.”

  “Good,” she smiled, looking around.

  “Don’t worry, the other demons were further off,” said Zeke. “You don’t need to keep your eyes peeled for them unless you head further west.”

  “I’m not looking for demons, I’m looking for the woman who screamed,” she explained, pushing through and into the cluster of trees.

  “Woman?” Zeke asked.

  “Yes,” said the human. “I was passing through here when I heard a woman cry out. I was afraid something happened to her and hurried over as fast as I could. I assumed it was bandits, but then I saw the demon. Did you see her?”

  Zeke realized the scream she heard was from his accident with Lucky, but figured it would be better to skip over that little fact.

  “Uh, yeah. I saw her,” he lied, putting pressure on his injured foot to see how bad it was. It stung a bit, but wouldn’t stop hinder him from walking or running. “I heard that, too, and came over to save her. I distracted the demon while she ran off.”

  “Should we go after her and make sure she’s safe?” asked the woman, stepping further away from the vomit.

  “You know what? I’m pretty sure that won’t be necessary,” said Zeke, also taking a few steps away from his puke. “There’s nothing else too dangerous in this part of the woods. Those demons came from the Forbidden Oaks. Well, that’s the name my people gave that area, anyway.”

  “No, the Forbidden Oaks is widely known,” shrugged the woman. “It’s very dangerous. I’m not surprised at all to hear some demons decided to make their way out of there. It’s even deadly for those creatures.”

  Even demons should be afraid of the place? Zeke made a mental note to never go to somewhere with the title ‘Forbidden’ ever again.

  “I’m Zeke, by the way,” he said, reaching his hand out. “Zeke Northwood of the town of Re’Lus.”

  “Zeke Northwood? Isn’t Re’Lus a town in the eastern woods?” she asked.

  “It is.”

  The two stared at each other silently for a beat.

  He got that a lot.

  “Okay, we’ll I’m Sloane Corekeep,” she said, shaking his hand. “I hail from… from…”

  The woman closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Zeke didn’t know what was going on, but suddenly wished she would let go of his hand in case he needed to run.

  “I’m sorry,” she chuckled, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “I’m from the city of Goldsworth. Or rather, what’s left of it. I’m sure you know the story.”

  Zeke nodded to be polite, having no idea what she was talking about. It wasn’t that the elves in Re’Lus didn’t get news or rumors from other cities, he just wasn’t one for paying much attention to it. Exciting tales from other places just made him depressed with his current place in life, and the rest of it he just found a tad boring. He was sorry to hear that something bad happened to Sloane’s city, but didn’t want to bring up bad memories.

  “Where are you headed to, Sloane from Goldsworth?” he asked.

  “It’s not important,” she shrugged.

  “Come on, maybe I can help point you in the right direction,” smiled Zeke. “Even though, as you said, I had that demon handled, I still owe you for helping me out.”

  “I don’t think you’ll know about this one,” she said.

  “Try me,” said Zeke. He always appreciated a challenge.

  “I’m searching for the Lost Citadel,” she said.

  Dang it, she won.

  “Never heard of it.”

  “Really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s pretty famous.”

  “What’s so famous about it?” he asked.

  “It’s a fortress that people have lost the location to over the ages,” she explained. “The rumors are that the halls are filled with gold, treasure, and powerful weapons.”

  “How much gold are we talking?” asked Zeke.

  “
More than all of the southern lands combined,” she said.

  Zeke whistled. That was quite the sum.

  “Is it rumored to be around here?” he asked. He hoped the answer was yes. He’d love to go and find this place, then come back and rub it in everyone’s faces. Who’d be the idiot then? Granted, being rich didn’t necessarily make him not an idiot… but everyone would have to be nice to him then!

  “It’s not,” she said. “It’s out further west. I don’t know the particular location, but I’ve got a few leads that are pointing me in the right direction.”

  “Oh,” he said, shoulders dropping slightly. Well, it was nice to dream for a minute. “Why are you in this part of Rundland, then?”

  “I had hoped to go out further to the west, but all the major roads were being guarded by Lord Kutarm’s forces,” she sighed. “They’re always hassling travelers, and I just don’t want to deal with that.”

  Even for someone that actively avoided news of the outside, it was hard to not know who Lord Kutarm was. The man was a ruler out in the western lands, initially over a small kingdom. Something had changed when Zeke was young, however, and Kutarm started taking over the surrounding territories. His reach was ever expanding over the last decade, even getting close to the eastern and southern lands. By all accounts, Kutarm had no plans of stopping anytime soon.

  Most of Kutarm’s army was human, although a handful of the other races were sprinkled in. He had a bad habit of completely torching cities and towns that put up a fight, and the ones that surrendered had heavy taxes to worry about. While these things had happened in previous times, most rulers looked down on those practices nowadays.

  Zeke hadn’t worried too much about Kutarm until recently. Re’Lus was far from him, even after the expansion. Still, the harsh man was beginning to move further east, and some darker rumors were beginning to surface. Some said he had struck an alliance with some fae and demon lords. Most didn’t believe this, but it did worry Zeke when he thought about it.