Freelance Heroics (29 page)

“What the hell?” Mazik rapped his knuckles on the door. On the other side, what sounded like metal fasteners clanked into place.

Gavi examined the door. It had been hidden in the ceiling, she realized, where it could be released when they went past. None of them had looked up.

“We’re trapped,” said Hectre. “What do we do now?”

Raedren sniffed. “Does anyone smell that?”

That’s when the hallway burst into flames.

“What the fuck?” Mazik sputtered as jets of fire poured out of holes in either side of the corridor.

Gavi sniffed as well. “It’s burning oil!”

“Move forward!” Shava yelled over the rising chatter. The group lurched into motion again.

Gavi swore, swiping sweat off her forehead as she slapped at the fire clinging to her legs. She could feel Mazik close behind her; he was swearing as well, about how his robes kept trying to light on fire. Gavi ducked down to squeeze through a narrow section—and found herself in a larger room.

Finally able to stand straight, Gavi and the others fanned out around the exit from the burning corridor. Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren took the right, while the trio from Twilight Sound took the left. For the first time since they left Parnl earlier, they found themselves not alone. Three children stood in front of them.

The children looked to be around fourteen years old. One was a large boy wearing a badly fitting leather vest and a bandana around his forehead stained rust red. His hair was cut close to his scalp, he carried a club and a shield, and he had multiple iron loop earrings on both ears. The second was a girl, though she was nearly as big as the first. She wore a round bucket helmet with no faceplate, and carried a mace and a larger shield. The third was hardly visible, hunkered so low behind his huge kite shield that all Gavi could tell was that his eyebrows had been burned off at some point. All three of them wore leather pads on their knees and elbows, and crouched behind a tattered barricade of rotting wood draped with old rags.

“Stop where you are!” shouted Shava, her voice reverberating both inside her helmet and the enclosed room. “We’re not here to hurt you. We’re only here for your leader, the bandit Ungerr.”

The first boy, the one with the bandana, pointed his club at them. “Fire.”

Suddenly, the air was filled with arrows.
Filled
with them. Gavi ducked as barriers flashed into existence, but she still took an arrow to the leg and chest, while Raedren, who had focused on shielding others first, took several. Gavi winced as the arrows nicked her armor, but failed to penetrate her MPB. She held her club in front of her face and looked for the source.

“Where the hell are these arrows coming from?” asked Hectre from behind his buckler.

Gavi pointed at the wall. “There! They drilled holes in the walls. They must be on the other side.”

“Doesn’t matter,” growled Shava. “Ignore them. They’re not our targets. Move forward!” Arrows bounced off her armor as she advanced. As more barriers came up, the group struggled forward, toward the barricades.

The
smoldering
barricades, Gavi realized.

Gavi cried out as the barricades erupted into flame. She stumbled back as the first rush of heat washed over her—and then gasped, her head swimming. Smoke from the two fires was beginning to sting her eyes and burn her throat—and eat away at the precious air they needed to survive, she realized. Gavi grabbed Mazik and Raedren and dragged them to the ground. On the other side of the barricades, the three children scurried deeper into the mines.

“Come back here, you little bastards!” Mazik snarled.

Gavi yanked him down again. “Put out the fires first!” she hissed. She watched as the rags—soaked in oil, she now realized—fell off the old wood like skin sloughing off a dead animal. Sparks scattered as the rotten wood fell apart.

“Right.” Mazik slapped Raedren on the shoulder. He gestured, pressing his hands downward like he was flattening out a mattress. Raedren nodded.

The two men raised their hands, an aura of blue around Mazik’s palms, green around Raedren’s. They swept their hands downward, and force magick crashed into the smoldering barricades as they tried to smother the flames.

Gavi didn’t get a chance to tell them how stupid this idea was.

The flames belched higher as the air fed them. Gavi tackled Mazik as Uard yanked Raedren backward. Gavi could dimly hear Shava shouting over the roar.

Gavi gasped again, her head spinning as the lack of air began to get to her. She rolled off Mazik, but stayed on her hands and knees, her chest heaving as her vision began to fog over.

“This way, come on come on,” Hectre took Gavi by the arm and tugged her to her feet. “We can’t go back, and these flames will smother us if we go forward. Shava found a side tunnel. Come on!”

Her lungs seizing up as she tried to expel the cloying smoke, Gavi scuttled after him. She left her blackened club behind as she grabbed Mazik’s sleeve and tugged him along. They fled around the corner, slipping and stumbling on loose gravel and rocks as arrows continued to fire after them.

It was evening before the six adventurers stumbled back into the Tiger’s Tooth Inn. Several people snickered at their disheveled appearance.

“If anybody’s wondering why we look like death warmed over, you better not frickin’ ask until I’ve got a beer in me.” Mazik fell onto a barstool like his legs had given out. “Preferably several.”

While the others claimed a table, Raedren sat next to Mazik and signaled the bartender. The woman finished drying her hands on a dirty dishrag and leaned against her side of the bar, both hands spread wide. “What’ll it be?”

“Beer. Something strong. For six.” Raedren pointed at their table.

The bartender nodded. “I’ll bring it to you.”

“But I want my beer nooooow—oof,” said Mazik. Raedren tugged on his arm again, hauling his friend off his barstool. Mazik mewled like a disappointed child and reached for the kegs behind the bar as Raedren calmly dragged him away.

“Oof,” Mazik repeated, without feeling, as he let Raedren deposit him in a chair between Gavi and Shava. No one said anything until their beers arrived. They broke their silence only long enough to order food. It wasn’t until their first drinks were nearly finished that anyone spoke.

“So, should we discuss what went wrong?” asked Hectre.

Mazik growled. “We haven’t had our beers for a minute yet. Let me enjoy it more.”

“Yours is already empty,” Raedren pointed out.

“Not my fault you drink slowly.”

Raedren finished the rest of his drink in one slug.

“Yeah, let’s talk about it.” Shava shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. She was still wearing most of her armor, having been too tired to go upstairs and change. “Our entrance wasn’t bad, all things considered. We underestimated them, clearly, but we were still careful going in. They just got the jump on us.”

“The screaming and running away afterwards was less good,” said Mazik. “Also, that time I tripped that rope trap and crashed into everyone. Sorry about that.”

Gavi rubbed her swollen nose. Her voice came out stuffy. “Yer forgiben.”

“Getting lost wasn’t helpful either,” said Hectre. “Were those tunnels not on the map?”

Shava waggled her hand. “Some of them were, but they weren’t supposed to be that extensive.”

“I just wish we hadn’t accidentally ended up back where we’d fled from.” Mazik brushed at his dark gray robes. They were significantly darker now; scorched was the appropriate word. “I didn’t enjoy getting set on fire twice. Or three times? Whatever.”

“At least the main tunnel was open by then,” said Raedren. “And we blocked that door in the ceiling, so hopefully they won’t be able to trap us like that again.”

Uard nodded. “And we plugged up the holes in that corridor too, so they might not be able to pour burning oil on us next time.”

Mazik rested his chin on his arms. “They probably just wanted us out of there by that point.”

Raedren didn’t blame his friend for being down. All of them had come out of the mines worse for the wear. While none of them had sustained any serious injuries, they had all been burned, bruised, and roundly beaten by a bunch of kids. Their flesh was battered and their gear had seen better days, but it was largely their pride that had suffered.

“How can they keep lighting things on fire, anyway?” Hectre sloshed his beer around in his mug. “Wouldn’t that fill the mines with smoke and make it harder for
them
to breathe?”

“I think that’s what these are for.” Shava tapped the map in several places. “These shafts. It says they’re for ventilation.”

“Can we use those to get in next time, bypass all their traps?”

“Not unless you lose a lot of weight.” Shava shook her head. “They’re too small. Most of those kids couldn’t even fit.”

They lapsed into silence again. Raedren looked at the others, trying to think of how he could help. Nothing came to mind. He settled for signaling a waiter and ordering another round.
More beer always helps, until it doesn’t.

Raedren’s introspection was interrupted by laughter behind them. He turned around to find an old man slapping his knee, doubled over in mirth. His wife didn’t seem to be privy to the joke, though she seemed happy enough that he was happy.

The old man sat down at the table behind them. He took a deep breath as his laughter petered off. “So, you lot are the latest ones to go into those mines, eh?”

“Er. Yes sir, we are,” said Raedren.

“Didn’t go well for you, did it?” The old man had a twinkle in his eye. He started laughing again, the low chortle bubbling up from his gut.

“What do you mean, the latest ones?” asked Mazik, his voice muffled by his arms. He lifted his head. “How many others have tried to put down those stupid kids?”

Gavi shot Mazik a look. He didn’t appear to notice.

“Hmmm, how many has it been now?” The old man turned to his wife. “How many do you think, hon?”

“Three or four groups, at least. Three that we’ve seen.” The old woman lifted her big mug with her thin, frail arms, and took a drink. “This is the largest group yet, though. Most of the others only had two or three people.”

“You’re at least the fourth,” the old man decided. He grinned as he looked them over. “Like I said, I take it that it didn’t go well?”

Shava’s chair scraped the floor as she turned to face the old couple, her elbows on her knees, her expression serious. “Sir, ser.” She bowed to them both. “Would you mind if we ask a few questions? I feel like our quest briefing may have been lacking.”

The old man chuckled, his nearly absent hair wafting to and fro on his dark scalp. “That depends. Buy my lovely wife and I another round, and tell us the story of how you got in this awful state, and we’ll be more than happy to tell you what we know. It’s not much, though, I’m afraid.”

“Deal.” Mazik said immediately. He stood up. “I’ll go get your drinks. Anything to get more information, so we can kick this bandit leader in the nuts.” He lowered his voice as he headed for the bar. “And so I don’t have to relive that failure quite so soon . . .”

“Don’t worry, we’ll wait until you’re back to tell the story,” said Raedren. Mazik groaned as he walked away.

But by the time Mazik returned, Hectre was nearly finished relaying the tale of their humiliating defeat. The old man seemed to find it immeasurably funny, while his wife shook her head and clucked her tongue.

“You six were put through the wringer. And you say you’ve been adventurers for how long now?” she asked.

“Er—well, it depends,” said Hectre, clearly uncomfortable. “I’ve been doing quests for several years. But we all have experience, and—”

The old woman flashed a wicked smile and patted Hectre’s hand. “I was just teasing, son. That’s not a story you’re going to want to tell to woo the young ladies, let me tell you.”

Hectre did an admirable job of taking this in stride. “Failure is what teaches you how to win, ser.”

“A good attitude.” The old woman settled back. “So. What can we tell you all?”

“We were told a dangerous bandit named Ungerr took over the mines with the help of some of the former miners. Is that true?” asked Gavi.

“It’s true,” said the old man. “Or, it is as far as we know. A lot of those boys and girls who handed you your asses today certainly worked in those mines, though not all of them.”

“Who are the rest?” asked Gavi. “Bandits as well?”

“Perhaps, but that’s not who I was talking about.” The old man took a sip from his drink, and smacked his lips. “Mmm, that’s good.”

“Glad you like it,” said Mazik.

“The ones I was talking about were the other kids,” explained the old man. “The Di’Culot couple told you this Ungerr guy was dangerous, correct?”

They all nodded.

“Well, he is, but not to everybody equally. Word is that this bandit treats everyone under his command well. That he lets ’em do more or less what they want, as long as they defend the mines and do their part to dig up more of the ore.” The old man tapped his forehead. “The way I figure it, when he took over those mines, and when word got around about how he treated those who helped him, that got some other kids in the area thinking. They thought, maybe this would be better than what I’m doing right now. For a certain kind of kid, ones who haven’t been afforded some of the good luck which you or I have been blessed with, this must have sounded pretty nice.”

“What my long-winded husband is trying to say is, when the first attempt to retake Flatrock failed, more children flocked there.”

“Personally, I think it’s stupid.” The old man shook his head sadly. “All these impressionable young lads. And the young girls—what might a dangerous bandit be doing to the girls?” He shuddered, and for the first time his mirth seemed to melt away.

“But whatever the case, they went. There are probably more children in the Flatrock Mines today than there were when the Di’Culot family ran it, and they’re a lot meaner than they were, as you learned.”

“Is that why the miners went along with the takeover?” asked Gavi. “To try to improve their lot in life?”