CHAPTER III
THE PATRIOTS' STORY
"You're the leader of the Patriots?" Merri couldn't hide her shock.
"Yes. It's a long story. Do you want to hear it now, or can we go
somewhere a little more comfortable?"
"It can wait for a little while, I suppose. But not long." Agnon
smiled.
"In truth, I'm rather eager to tell it. Come, it isn't far."
Agnon led her through a well-concealed door, down a confusing maze
of twisting tunnels, and into a sparsely furnished room. He motioned for
her to take one of the three available chairs, then took one for himself.
"I'm sorry I must be a bad host, but I'm afraid I have no refreshment
to offer you. With the occupation, everything is in short supply." Agnon
explained.
"The only refreshment I need is a satisfaction of my curiosity." The
theif nodded.
"Suppose I start when we arrived. I could tell right away that
something had gone wrong, so I slipped away to a spot where I could see
without being observed. The cleric collapsed, and he and Kiaphas were
taken off by a couple of priests, who explained that the city had been
taken by the Republic. When I heard this, I knew that the others were
sure to be captured, so I just watched while the Guard came and captured
them. After the Guardsmen left, I waited for a while and slipped out to
find help. I came here, to the Guild Headquarters, and found that the
higher-ups, the First, Second, and Third Ranks, had fled when the Republic
came in. The lower orders, though, were still here, and many of them were
using this place as a hideaway. You may have guessed this already, but I
am a fairly high ranking thief in the Guild myself... In fact, I was one
of the Fourth Rank. I saw that I had an opportunity to put a thorn in
the Republic's foot, and to be honest, the thought of them daring to set
foot in my city infuriates me. So I started bringing the organization
back together, secretly. It was surprisingly easy to find those I could
trust. We may be theives, but..." Merri smiled.
"But you're Patriotic thieves." She finished. Agnon nodded.
"Yes. People think that we have no honor, but those of the Guild do
follow a Code. It just doesn't fit with what others see as honor. And
once we started making ourselves known, by making a few raids and tripping
up a few patrols, people flocked to us to join. It is a strange thing to
see honest men begging for the privelege of joining a society of thieves,
but they did. We've got all kinds working for us now, from dock-workers
and chandlers to goblin cut-throats and elven pick-pockets." Merri heard
this with some dismay, as it confirmed one of her suspicions.
"Then I'm afraid I've seen some of your troops. We were waylaid by
goblins..."
"I know."
"You know?"
"How did you think I knew you'd be coming? Those few who escaped came
back and told us what had happened. Remind me to compliment Felin the
next time I see her." Agnon grinned, "I've never seen anyone put such terror
into a goblin before. Of course, that could be because they didn't recognize
her as a dwarf, without her beard." Merri was puzzled by Agnon's good humor.
"You seem so..."
"So much nicer? Less dark and secretive? Of course. I'm back where
I want to be, doing what I want to do. Tagging along on your quest was
really starting to get on my nerves, but there was that blasted guilt I
kept feeling."
"You've stopped feeling guilty?" Agnon nodded.
"Well, I'm still doing good work, still redeeming myself."
"True. But now, what can you tell me about Firemane and Diana?"
"All business again, eh? All right. They're both being held here in
the city."
"Where?"
"The Republicans found an old black-mask hole, and have converted it
to their own purposes." Merri's eyes widened at the mention of the black-
masks, a secret sect of assassins and professional torturers. Agnon saw
this and nodded. "I'm afraid so. From what I've been able to find out,
they're both undergoing a subtle kind of mind-torture. The Republic hopes
to break them, and use them as examples."
"Can you help us get them out?" Agnon nodded.
"I will send a few of my most trusted men with you. They have studied
the dungeons and they know their way in and out." Merri stood.
"We should hurry, then. How soon can you have your men together? It
will take me a little while to get the others..." She broke off as she saw
Agnon shaking his head. "Is there a problem?"
"You can't take them with you. They will have to wait. Besides, what
good could they do you? Neither of the mages can use their spells, and as
for Felin..."
"Ok, so you have a point." Merri admitted reluctantly, "I suppose the
safest place for them is the Temple."
"My men are waiting for you outside even as we speak. The brown haired
fellow is named Pedro, while the blond is Falstan. Good luck."
The two were waiting right outside the door, and with a nod, they
led Merri through the twisting tunnels to what she first mistook for a
dead end. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that there was a ladder
set into the far wall, which the dim light of their torches helped to
hide. They climbed up the ladder, through a locked grate, and the
torchlight revealed the interior of a wharehouse.
"We're right next to where your friends are being held." Falstan
said, dropping his use of the Talk for Merri's convenience, "The Masks
used a scribner's as their front. There is a way in through the roof,
which the Republicans don't know about." Merri raised an eyebrow
quizically. Falstan shrugged. "The Masks were useful sometimes. We were
on good terms with them." Merri nodded her understanding. The thieves led
her to the roof of the wharehouse.
Merri looked up at the dark night sky, and wondered how much time had
passed since she started out. There seemed to be a storm brewing, to judge
from the feel of the air and the gathering thunder-heads. Pedro located an
increadibly thin thread, and began drawing it in. Merri was amazed. The
thread extended to the roof of an ajoining building, but she could make it
out, even from as close as she was. The other end of the thread quickly
came into view, attached to the end of a much thicker length of rope, which
reassured Merri. She was beginning to fear that the theives intended to walk
over on that little razor's edge of wire.
When the rope was secured, Pedro made his way across, dangling upside
down and inching forward with his hands and knees. Once he was safely to
the other side, Falstan motioned for her to cross. Merri smiled, and simply
walked across like a circus performer, much to the thieves' surprise. What
they didn't know was that Merri was using the mind-touch to maintain her
balance the entire time. When she reached the other side, however, she
berrated herself for showing off and wasting her strength, when she could
just as easily have crossed the same way Pedro had, and as Falstan was now
doing.
When they all three stood on the scribner's roof, Falstan opened a well-
concealed panel, and they slipped down into a dark storeroom. Pedro leaned
slightly against the door a listened for a moment before motioning for them
to proceed. The door opened onto a short hallway, which terminated on either
end with doorways. The door from which they had just emerged was right in
the middle of the hallway, with three doors facing them on the other wall.
These Falstan ignored, however, choosing instead a smaller door on the same
wall as the storeroom, which looked to be nothing more than a rather cramped
closet. Once again, a panel was removed from the floor, allowed them to
descend down a long shaft. Merri noticed that after a short while, the
wood and brick of the scribner's shop gave way to earthen walls, and then
to stone. Eventually Pedro reached the bottom, and pressed his ear once
again against the door, listening to make certain that it was safe to emerge.
He looked up to Falstan, and held up two fingers. Falstan nodded, and
Pedro opened the door and lept out. There came the sounds of a brief
scuffle, then Pedro reappeared, and gave Falstan a nod. When they had all
finished the descent, Pedro silently dragged the limp forms of two guards
into the shaft, and propped them against the wall. They closed the door
behind them, and followed Falstan deeper into the dungeon.
The dungeons seemed strangely deserted. Merri thought back to Felin's
description of the Republican prison she had helped to free, and wondered if
some similar force was at work here. They encountered two more guards and
once they ran into a black-robed priest, but these encounters were brief and
strangely quiet, as Falstan and Pedro quickly dealt death to the Republicans.
They passed row after row of cells, some empty, others occupied by varied
and strange creatures. Merri was surprised that none of the prisoners seemed
to take note of their passage, even though some stared right at them. They
finally came to a halt before a small wooden door, which seemed quite out of
place in the midst of all the barred cells. Pedro deftly picked the lock, a
task which occupied some scant seconds, and pushed the door open.
If Merri thought that the door was out of place, it was nothing compared
to the inside. The room could have passed for a ladies' bedroom in any of
the finest homes in Hurshtown. The room's only occupant, reclining on a
canopy bed that Merri would bet anything was stuffed with feathers and down,
was a young woman, whom Merri judged was likely no more than 15, if that.
Falstan addressed her.
"Nieka, we are here to rescue you." The girl nodded, as though this
were completely expected, and not at all exciting.
"I was wondering when you'd get here." Was all she said, and her words
carried no hint of recrimination.
"Who is this? I thought we were here to rescue Firemane and Diana?"
"We are," Falstan said, "But we had to rescue the girl first. Boss's
orders." Merri knew that there wasn't any time to argue, so she just
nodded.
The girl remained quiet as they passed through the dungeons, down
a set of stairs to another floor full of cells. When they stopped again,
the stood in front of a cell who's occupant Merri recognized.
"Diana!" Merri couldn't help calling out, while Pedro picked the lock.
The vixen, however, seemed oblivious. When the door swung open, however,
Diana noticed them, her ears perking up and swinging forward.
"Merri!" She exclaimed, "I have to admit I wasn't expecting YOU to
rescue me. Is Firemane with you?"
"No, he's being kept elsewhere in the prison. But don't worry, he's
our next goal." Merri, in her excitement, forgot about concealing her
abilities, and used the mind-touch to undo Diana's bonds. Diana looked at
her with surprise, but didn't say anything. "You don't look too bad, for
having been subjected to torture." Merri noted, curious. Diana smiled, a
bit wearily.
"They tried a few times. But I got over it." It was Merri's turn to
look surprised, but she, too, said nothing as the followed Falstan down
another seemingly endless stretch of cells.
"Why don't you hear me, when I called to you?" Merri asked quietly.
"My guess is that all of the cells have some sort of enchantment on
them, preventing the prisoners from seeing or hearing anything outside."
Diana replied. "They're trying to foster a feeling of being completely
alone and without any hope." She smiled, bitterly, "I've been alone and
hopeless before. Besides, I knew someone would come for me, though I
admit, I was expecting it to be Firemane." Merri wondered where such
certainty came from, but held her tounge. As they walked, the became
aware of a distant rumbling, which would occasionaly elevate into a somewhat
louder booming.
"That sounds like thunder." Merri said. Falstan shook his head.
"That can't be. We wouldn't be able to hear thunder, this far down."
"I don't know..." Merri began to grow worried. She could feel forces
gathering, dark, powerful forces, and she didn't like it one bit. "I don't
like this..." Diana shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. We aren't leaving without Firemane."
"Of course not." Merri agreed. "But something strange is going on."
The rumbling sound grew louder, as did Merri's sense of unease. The dark
gathering she'd sensed was growing stronger, more concentrated, the farther
they went. By the time they reached my cell, the air seemed to drip with
menace.
They picked the lock on my cell, and entered. I, however, remained
oblivious to them, even when they were past the enchantment.
"My gods," Diana said in a choked whisper, "What have they done to him?"
At the sound of her voice, I looked up, and my eyes seemed to focus on her
for a moment.
"So be it." I said, mysteriously, and as they watched, my body became
awash with an angry red glow. My eyes refocused, and a grin, an evil,
malevalent, cruel thing, spread across my face.
"I... am.... FREE!" My body cried, but the voice was not my own. My
bonds fell off, and melted into white-hot puddles.
"Firemane...!" Diana shouted, but the being that stood before them was
no longer me.
"Firemane no more, I assure you." The thing in my body said, "I am
Ser-Chup, the StormSinger! And now, all this world shall know my wrath!"
"Firemane, wait.." Merri began, trying to reach out to him/me with her
mind, a task made rather difficult by the distracting sensation from her
hand, which was glowing a fierce white. Fire blazed back across the link,
and Merri screamed as she felt her own mind invaded by a dark and insidious
presence. Pedro caught her as she fell to the ground, her mind slipping into
a welcome numb darkness to escape the agony of StormSinger's touch.
StormSinger laughed as he rose off the floor, unconciously mimicing Merri as
he raised both hands above his head and smashed his way upward to the
surface.
"No!!" Diana screamed, falling to her knees, "You can't leave me!" She
said something else, but her sobbing made it incomprehensible.
"Well, so much for trying to be quiet." Falstan said. "Time to go.
Pedro, you grab one dame, I'll grab the other. Neika, stay behind us. This
could get rough." Neika nodded, and Falstan pulled Diana out of the room
as gently as he could, while Pedro slung Merri over his shoulder and
followed. After a little while, Diana stopped struggling and allowed
herself to be led.
Their exit was unexpectedly hindered, not by the Republicans, but by
the prisoners. It seemed that upon fleeing, StormSinger had managed to
unlock every single cell in the dungeon. The halls were immediately filled
with all manner of desparate creatures, from blood-starved vampires to
fey elves, and many creatures that none of them could recognize.
"Wonderful." Falstan groused, trying to protect Neika as much as he
could from the pandemoneum around them, "Feeding time in the magic misfits
ward." They pushed their way through, though only with great effort, and
acended to the next level, where things were a little better. The prisoners
on this level were all human, at least. The prisoners were milling around,
and it was not very difficult to push their way through.
As they made their way toward the shaft that would lead them out of
the dungeons, they ran into a contingent of guardsmen. Falstan tightened
his grip on Diana, and shook her a little.
"We got these three already. You'd better hurry, they all went that
way!" He pointed back the way they'd come. The head guardsman gave him a
curt not, and they ran off down the hall. Falstan snorted. "Idiots."
They made their way up the shaft with little difficulty, though hauling
Merri up was quite a burden. They quickly retraced their steps into the
storeroom, then back onto the roof, where a fierce storm was raging.
Transporting Merri became an obstacle, as they could think of no way to get
her unconcious form to the roof of the wharehouse. Neika and Falstan argued
for a few minutes about how this feat was to be accomplished, but Diana
silenced them both by slinging Merri over her shoulder and walking across,
repeating Merri's earlier trick without the assistance of the mind-touch
and in the midst of swirling rain and gusting winds. The others followed,
and Falstan returned the rope to the other roof, leaving only the near-
invisible thread hanging in the empty space between the two buildings.
Falstan led them back down into the wharehouse, through the sewer-
grate, and through the twisting maze of tunnels. Merri was just beginning
to show signs of waking up when they entered the audience chamber where
Merri had awakened, only a few hours before. Merri opened her eyes a few
minutes later, and looked around groggily as a shadowy figure stepped into
the light.
"Father!" Neika cried, and ran into Agnon's open arms.
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