by Travis Bughi
In short, she hated gargoyles.
“Gavin?” Emily asked, attempting to shift her thoughts.
“Yes, Emily?”
“Tell me how you became a knight.”
He finally took his eyes off the bank and looked at Emily, but she didn’t look back. It was her turn to stare off into the distance, and Gavin returned to his vigil shortly.
“I suppose I did promise you,” he replied. “I would rather tell this tale with a mug of ale in my hand and a tavern hearth at my feet, but I guess this will have to do.
“First, I’ll start by saying that I didn’t always have honor in my heart. I don’t remember my parents, and I’m not even sure I had any. The only thing I can remember is having an empty stomach that left a void where my heart should have been. Although Madam Sweeney took me off the streets at a young age, it still didn’t stop my appetite for finding food where it could be taken. Apples were my favorite. They were easy to pocket, at least in comparison to other things, and tasty, too. I coveted them, hoping to fill the emptiness that my daily allotment of bread and water could not. I wasn’t too bad at it either, always seeming to be in the right place at the right time with the right excuse. Then, I stole a strip of meat off a viking’s plate, and he saw it.
“As you can imagine, an angry viking is a terrible punishment to befall anyone. I took off and should have been able to outrun him easily enough. I wasn’t much younger than your younger brother at this time, so I couldn’t really hide from him, but he was a viking with big muscles, a heavy fur coat, and a burly axe. At easily half his weight, I could slip through the crowds more readily than he ever dreamed. He didn’t even get a good look at me so I should have been completely in the clear.”
“So what happened?”
“I ran into Duncan, literally,” Gavin flashed a smirk at Emily. “He was on his way to the knights’ quarters to meet his father there. You see, Duncan’s parents were once wealthy merchants, but a series of bad investments left them just as common as the rest of us. His father had just enough reputation, though, and he was going to put what little he had to good use by giving his son a career that would never leave him wanting.
“So, the viking neared me, I neared Duncan, Duncan neared his father, and we all neared two knights who were traveling towards their quarters. As I slammed into Duncan, he caught the stolen food I dropped like the gentleman his father raised him to be, and I took off running like the scoundrel I’d learned to be. I rounded the corner before the viking could see me, and instead he saw Duncan. At first, I thought I was in luck. The viking looked at Duncan with fury in his eyes, and it became apparent to me that he’d never gotten a good look at me. He thought Duncan was the thief, and things only escalated from there. The viking snatched the meat back and gave Duncan one rough fist to his stomach, which knocked him to the ground and the air from his lungs.
“The viking shouted to the patrolling knights next, and Duncan gasped in his bewildered attempts to proclaim innocence. From a distance, Mr. Macalister approached and watched in horror as his son’s life was slowly brought to a shattering stop. It was tragic for everyone involved really—except for me as I watched in complete and total safety.
“I should have turned away then. Everything I remember about myself tells me I should have run, but I didn’t. My long dormant conscience was awake that day, and I realized what I had done. As I looked at Duncan, I saw a good natured man who was my own age but had everything I never did. He had a life, a future, a chance, and I was taking it all away from him. What did I have to lose from admitting to thievery? A night in jail? All my life, I’d robbed from people who could afford to lose it, or at least that’s what I told myself. I had a completely different mentality then, but I understood basic fairness enough not to rob a blind man of the only food he had to keep himself alive. So, as I looked at Duncan’s crumbling future, I decided that I could not go on living with that guilt. My life was not worthy enough.
“I turned myself in right then and there, shocking all parties involved, including myself. I took a rough punch from the viking, which I swear to this day I can still feel. You laugh, but I tell you those men could wrestle ogres for sport. They pull their ships through the water with big oars, I tell you! Oh, never mind.”
Emily cut her chuckles short but kept the smile on her face as she said, “So what happened next? The knights thought they were lacking a few good thieves in their ranks?”
“Perhaps,” Gavin said sarcastically, but then mulled over the suggestion. “But no, actually this is where Duncan and I began the awkward relationship that we affectionately refer to as friendship. It turns out that Duncan’s father was so relieved at my admitting to the deed that he entirely forgot I had caused the trouble in the first place. The only thing he saw was a great act of selflessness, and he extended an offer to vouch on my behalf to join the knights alongside his son.”
“Hm,” Emily blinked, “I’m surprised you said yes. Everything you’ve told me about the younger you indicates that you would have said no.”
“And you’d be right,” Gavin said, “but I was smart enough to ask what a knight’s wages were, and that information served to sway my troubled mind that this would be worth a try.”
“So what changed your heart?” Adelpha asked.
Emily and Gavin turned around, both surprised to see the big girl not only listening intently but also getting involved.
“You’re obviously not half the rogue you once were,” Adelpha said. “So what changed it?”
“What do you think?” Gavin replied, keeping eye contact with her. “The angels.”
Emily nodded slightly. No further explanation was needed.
The trio turned back toward the bank in silence, letting the glory of the angels’ lingering aura wash over them. Emily wondered briefly where Ephron was at this moment. She was glad he wasn’t around to watch her rob this leprechaun. Her purpose may be righteous, but her manner of carrying out the deed was most unsavory.
Just as she felt a tickle of apprehension, the gargoyles began swooping down towards the bank. Emily turned towards the east and saw the rays of light sprouting over the ocean. As the gargoyles took their places around the building, the sun peeked over the horizon, and their skin slowly took on the grey color of stone until they moved no more.
Finally, the time had come, and Emily no longer felt cold as the wind brushed over her.
* * *
The pegasus whinnied again, and Gavin calmed it with a gentle pat on its nose.
“Keep that thing quiet,” Adelpha snapped. “If it decides to move just once, those hoofed feat will alert anyone inside when they clop on the roof.”
“This thing is our only ticket out of here,” Gavin bit back.
“Quiet,” Emily shushed.
The tension between the three increased another step, and the pegasus whipped its tail again. It was none too happy about being coerced to remain still on yet another rooftop. Either that or it could sense the unsettling aura of worried anticipation among the humans, its rider included. Gavin was constantly running a hand down its mane and along its side to keep it calm. On one hand, Emily knew it wasn’t the beast’s fault, and on the other, she knew it was going to get them killed.
“Can’t you give it something to eat?” Emily whispered.
“It would only munch loudly with its teeth then.” Gavin shook his head, rubbing his mount between the ears. “He just hates being still for so long.”
“Fine.” Emily sighed and looked over at Adelpha.
The two women were lying on their stomachs around the open hole at the top of the bank. Around each of their waists was tied a rope, which was anchored around a stone gargoyle. Emily had nearly hurled her breakfast as she tied herself to one of the creatures, but there were no other options. She shuddered at their hideous features and then caught Adelpha’s eye. The amazon gave her an aggravated look before looking back down into the bank, focusing her eyes on the big door of the vault. Emily lo
oked at it, too—happy to shift focus away from her nervous stomach—and marveled at the vault once more.
Directly across from the bank’s entrance stood the vault. It was a big door, round, too, like a gnome’s hovel, but no taller than a minotaur. Glimmering metal reflected the morning sunlight and shined down on the surrounding polished marble floor. Emily wondered how a leprechaun could even open such a door, or why they’d have such a large door in the first place. Then, she looked at the massive bank once more and realized that maybe leprechauns were just trying to compensate for something.
Emily pulled her head away from the hole to look around again. She was relieved that the bank’s dome was a rather shallow one, hiding the trio from view from the market square. Still, a curious look from out a high-reaching window or a far off gaze from a watchful soul on his way to the market might reveal their presence. Emily couldn’t help but grip the stone rim tightly as she peered down once more.
“How much longer will this damned leprechaun keep us waiting?” Adelpha asked.
“I don’t know,” Gavin replied.
“You don’t know anything.”
“Quiet,” Emily repeated, nearly biting her tongue as she tried to speak through clenched teeth. “Listen.”
Gavin swallowed his counter insult and stopped rubbing his mount’s head. The creature sighed deeply and then went mercifully silent. From down below, Emily heard the faint click-click of moving mechanical parts. It was quickly followed by the creak of a large door, and everyone held their breath.
“No! Stay outside,” came Borgan’s voice from the front of the bank. “Watch the entrance.”
The bank’s front door slammed shut.
“Damn, dirty ogres,” muttered the leprechaun. “Like I’m going to let one of them look over my shoulder. Not over my money, hmmf!”
Borgan’s voice bounced off the harsh stone interior and echoed clearly up to the robbers. Fearing his eyes would follow, Emily and Adelpha quickly ducked down below the rim of the dome’s hole. Light was pouring through it and illuminating the inside of the bank, and the two women realized that Borgan might not take kindly to the shadowy outlines of their heads on his polished marble floor.
The sounds of tiny feat in new-stiff shoes percolated out to Emily’s ears. The opening was like a conduit for sound.
“Stupid, smelly ogres,” the leprechaun spat. “Not worth half the coin they charge, I say! Hideous brutes, every one of them. Better than knights, sure, but what isn’t? Ha!”
The leprechaun laughed at his own joke and then continued to fume as he scooted across the bank. His muttering went low, then, and his words became almost unintelligible. His own words seemed to be infuriating him, and every once in a while, Borgan would speak up again.
“And Drowin! Like I want to split the profits with him. No, no, not like he’s sacrificed anything.”
Suddenly the shuffling noise of the leprechaun’s feet stopped.
“Disastrous idea, that’s what,” the leprechaun shouted. “And the angels! Ugh, no, no, don’t even get yourself started, Jack. Don’t even get yourself started.”
He trailed off, and a loud click and the clank of metal breaking free from metal shuddered up through the hole, and Emily knew the vault had been opened.
“There’s my money!” Borgan shouted in a uniquely happy note.
“There’s my cue,” Gavin whispered.
In a swift motion, the knight slung himself onto his pegasus and pressed his heels to its sides. The creature responded, happily opening its wings and then diving up before plunging through the hole into the bank with Gavin clenched tightly to its back.
The next thing Emily heard was Borgan scream.
Chapter 12
The leprechaun screamed again.
Emily and Adelpha grabbed the ends of their ropes and rappelled down through the hole. Adelpha slid down with ease, having done this before, while Emily kicked and flailed about. The short verbal lesson Adelpha had given her was proving to be vastly ineffective.
Mercifully, Borgan’s screams were cut short after Gavin brought his mount out of its dive. The pegasus was as trained in combat as its rider, and a proper jerk of the reins was all the command the creature needed to put a powerful hoof square into the leprechaun’s chest. The huge burst of force sent the tiny creature flying and knocked the air clean from his lungs. His head smacked hard against the open vault door, and Borgan’s eyes swirled around for the briefest of moments before he collapsed into total silence.
As Gavin dismounted, his pegasus snorted.
Adelpha’s feet touched the marble a moment later. She untied the rope from her waist and looked directly at the unconscious leprechaun. Her face twisted into the perfect blend of malice and disgust, and then she pulled out her hunting knife and took a step towards the leprechaun.
“No!” Gavin said, sliding in her way with his hands held out.
“And why in the world not?” Adelpha demanded but stopped advancing. “He tried to have me killed. And Emily. I’d even wager my bow he’s plotting your death, too!”
“We’re thieves, not murderers,” Gavin said, then pointed at Borgan. “He’s just a citizen trying to abuse existing rules to advance his wealth and harm others. It’s nothing we knights haven’t dealt with from the first moment of our existence. For that, he deserves a wake-up call and a prison sentence, but not death.”
Adelpha’s lips curled back, but Gavin’s determination to save Borgan’s life seemed to have blunted her own. She sheathed her knife and stood up straight, looking him dead in the eyes.
“There’s no fairness in war, knight,” she said. “Trust me, before this story ends, I’ll see you kill in cold blood.”
“Not on my honor,” he replied through gritted teeth.
Emily’s feet finally touched the marble. She jerked the rope off of her and tapped her bow for comfort. With haste, she looked back to make sure the door had not opened and then sprinted towards her comrades.
“Would you two knock it off for five seconds,” she scolded, “or did you forget we have two hundred crowns to steal?”
A moment of burning silence passed between them.
“You’re right, Miss Stout,” Gavin said, never breaking eye contact with Adelpha. “I apologize.”
A tense moment passed before he stepped away towards the vault. Adelpha kept looking at Gavin with contempt, and so Emily gave her a rough shove followed by a meaningful glare.
“Since when did you become so ruthless?” Emily asked.
“Try the day my sister killed my mother and my aunt,” Adelpha replied, turning to Emily. “Or did you forget the entire reason we came to this city?”
Emily stuttered and then paused. When she came up with a reply, she tried her best to sound confident.
“The sooner we disrupt their plans, the better chance we have of shaking Heliena out of hiding,” Emily said. “I want justice as much as you, but we need allies to make it happen. Gavin says he lives, so we’ll let him live.”
“Really?” Adelpha accused. “You’re really just going to let that leprechaun live? Did you forget he put a bounty on your head?”
Emily looked at the leprechaun. His slick suit was scrunched around his tiny little figure as he lay crumpled on the floor. His mouth lay open while his eyes were closed, and the only thing Emily could think about was just how much pain and suffering could be avoided by removing this leprechaun from power.
Then she turned back to Adelpha.
“Watch the door,” Emily commanded.
Adelpha looked about ready to defy the order, but gave up halfway through the thought, turned and stalked away to stand under the hole in the ceiling. With the ropes close at hand, she crossed her arms in a display of aggravation.
Emily ran over to the vault with Gavin. Just two steps shy of the door, she could see inside, and it stopped both her feet and her breath in the same moment.
The vault was filled on every wall with jewels, coins, and gleaming metal of in
describable beauty—great metal shelves stacked high as a minotaur, each one full of something undeniably valuable. On one shelf, golden coins were stacked with prideful care from top to bottom and left to right. On another, jewels had been meticulously sorted by color and strung long ways from front to back, a rainbow of wealth spanning the wall. Beneath that shelf was another with color-coded jewels cascading down. Only these were bigger, much bigger, and Emily held up her hand as she realized the biggest of these were the size of her fist.
Emily’s jaw dropped open, and she blinked several times, certain she was dreaming. Gavin had already entered the vault and was looking at a stack of coins. He seemed immune to the awe that had struck Emily, and she shook her head as he waved at her.
“I need the bag off my pegasus,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” she replied. “Of course.”
Elated, she hurried over to the mount and grabbed a leather sack that had been tucked into the harness. She skipped back over to Gavin quickly and handed it to him.
“These crowns are stacked into piles of fifty,” he explained, taking the bag. “It’s Borgan’s wealth, I’m sure of it. So we’ll just take four stacks and be on our way.”
“How do you know it’s his?”
“I’m guessing,” he shrugged. “All the other coins would need a ladder for a leprechaun to reach. But these are stacked mighty carefully and are just the right height for him.”
Gavin reached out a hand and knocked four stacks of gold coins into the bag. The heavy, metal weight clanked loudly, and Emily marveled at the wealth Gavin now held. I could feed my family for a decade and a half on that amount of money, she thought. It seemed so great an amount, but as she looked at the shelf full of coins, she realized Gavin’s pillage hadn’t made even a slight impression in the vault.
