Dreamer's Throne

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Ryn asked, her voice muffled as she bounced along on the shoulder of one of the Black Raven assassins. “Maybe we should have taken a right back there.”

Shooting a glare back at her, Patolov heard Cruxis, the leader of the Third Wing, speaking harshly from behind the group.

“If someone doesn’t shut her up, I’m going to cut her tongue out.”

With her hands bound, it wasn’t possible for Ryn to make a mouth zipping motion, but she closed her lips together tightly, and didn’t speak, even when she was passed roughly to another assassin. Twelve assassins and one tied up young woman passed quietly through the sewers, leaving no sign of their passage. At the front of the group, Patolov glanced at the woman next to him, an unasked question on his lips. Katrin was the First Claw of the First Wing, the undisputed best of the assassins under the Black Raven, and her leadership had already been proven time and again on this mission.

“Speak.”

“How do we know that this group is legitimate?”

“We don’t,” came the terse reply, “but if they are lying to us, then we’ll deal with them as we deal with everyone who deals falsely with us, by killing them.”

“Are we not going to kill them after they get us out of the city?”

A slight smirk filtered across Katrin’s face as she shrugged.

“Of course we will. But first, we need to get out. The guards are starting to close in on us and the shrouding artifact won’t last much longer.”

“We should have known that they were going to turn on us,” Patolov growled, his expression darkening.

“We did, and we planned for it. We just didn’t think they would leave the city locked down for this long. Even their opening up of the gates is a trap to see if they can catch us. But I am confident that this group should be able to get us out of the city. They have been using the tunnels under the city to move goods for years.”

“But aren’t they the ones who she has been hanging around?” Patolov whispered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Ryn.

“Doesn’t matter. They won’t know that it's her until it's too late. Besides, we only really need them to show us the entrance to the tunnel system. Once we know where it is, we can leave ourselves.”

Nodding, Patolov fell silent and the group continued to move toward the meeting spot where they would join up with the guide. It took them almost four hours to pass through the tunnels, and twice they had to fight off monsters that tried to ambush them, nearly losing one of their men to an oversized scorpion hiding on the ceiling. Finally, they saw a glimmering light ahead and they covered their own lights, gathering up. The First and Second Wings each had five members still, but only Cruxis and one of his men had survived from the Third Wing, so they stayed back and let the Second Wing take the lead.

Flattening along the wall, Patolov crept forward, his form blurring against the rough surface. A small mirror whose face had been clouded appeared in his hand and he slipped it around the corner, using it to check the room before retreating. With hand signals, he indicated that the room was empty save for a single person. For a moment, Katrin thought about it and then nodded, signing that he should go out. Making sure that his short sword was loose in its sheath, Patolov walked around the corner, his eyes scanning the room for anything he missed.

There were three large steel cages sitting against the wall with wooden planks set on the bottom to provide a stable floor, and more wooden planks covering the walls and ceiling. Thick metal rollers sat under the boxes, allowing them to roll, and a heavy chain linked them together. The steel cage on the end had four chains that disappeared into the dark tunnel that stood opposite Patolov. Each of the cages had a heavy metal door that looked like it latched on the outside to create a tight box that could be sealed up. In the center of the room stood a red masked man in a black robe that appeared to merge with the shadow under his feet. Torchlight from four bright torches caused the shadows in the room to sway and buckle this way and that, but despite searching the room twice over, Patolov couldn’t see anything else.

“Are you our guide?”

“Depends, are you the ones looking for a ride out to the swamp?”

Hesitating only for a moment, Patolov took a closer look at the masked man and nodded.

“We are.”

“Then I’m your man. Viper’s the name. Where are your companions?”

“They’re coming. Are you alone?”

Shaking his head, Viper gestured to the large tunnel behind him that was big enough for the boxes to slide through.

“No. But my crew is on the other side, getting ready to pull us out. It's a pretty treacherous path, and the safest way is in those cages.”

“You expect us to get into sealed boxes?” Patolov said, his eyes narrowing into a murderous glare as pressure began to build around him.

If Viper was affected by the pressure, he didn’t let it show as he nodded.

“Yes. I’ll be in there with you, so you won’t need to worry about it being a trap. When will your companions arrive? We have a time table to keep.”

A moment later, Katrin led the rest of the assassins out of the tunnels, her expression hard. She looked at the boxes for a moment and then looked back at Viper, shaking her head.

“There is no way.”

“Then find your own way out,” Viper replied, shrugging. “Look, I know it's not your preference, but you can check them for traps if it makes you feel better. The first one is set up to carry people, and can be locked from the inside, while the other two are locked from the outside. They’re designed to seal and be water tight because some of the tunnels we’re going through are submerged, so I don’t know what to tell you. You either get on, or you leave. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“You said that you’ll be coming with us?” Katrin asked, looking at the cages again.

“Yes. I’ll be in the lead cage. Look, we’re losing a full run by agreeing to take you, so if you’re going to make trouble, you can bugger off. We’re already losing out in this deal and the only reason we’ve agreed is that we owe someone a favor.”

Taking a deep breath, Katrin considered it for a moment and then nodded.

“Fine. Me and my team will ride with you in the first cage. Patolov, your team will be in the second, with your cargo. Cruxis, you will be in the third. Let’s go.”

Once the decision was made, the assassins moved quickly, loading up into their vehicles. Katrin stayed close to Viper as he closed and sealed the second and third cages, and then entered the first one. Only the first one had a place to sit, and it was only a rough bench against the back wall. After everyone had entered, Viper closed the door and turned a large lever, locking off the door and plunging the cage into darkness. A small stone lit up at his waist, slowly growing brighter until it cast a ghostly glow over everyone. Crouched over, he walked back to the bench and jerked his thumb at one of the assassins sitting on it.

“Get off. That’s my seat.”

Taken aback by the causal disregard for danger that Viper was exhibiting, Katrin assessed Viper once more. The assassin was just as stunned, and his hand slowly trailed to his sword’s handle as he looked at Katrin for permission to attack.

“Get up,” she said, shaking her head.

Taking the vacated seat, Viper leaned his head back, as if he was planning on resting while the trip was underway, and a moment later the cage jerked and a rumble filled it. The metal rollers caused the entire cage to vibrate, and it was loud enough that it became difficult to talk, so everyone sat in silence as they traveled. Occasionally, the cage would jerk and shift directions, sometimes going to the right, sometimes to the left, sometimes up, and sometimes down. At one point, the rumble stopped, causing the hush to swell in the absence of the heavy noise the rollers had created, and the cage was plunged into a dreadful silence.

It was in this silence that Katrin looked over and saw something that she had not noticed before. Hovering above the glowing stone that sat in Viper’s lap was a small five petaled flower, its colorful petals waving slightly, as if there was a gentle breeze. Blinking, she peered closer, feeling a sense of deep connection with the flower. It was beautiful, more beautiful than anything that she had ever seen, and a desire to possess it began to swell in her heart. She turned to look at Viper and saw a similar flower on his mask, causing her to stop and blink.

Next to her, one of the other assassins was also eyeing the flower, and when Katrin saw him stealthily moving forward, her hand fell to her dagger, anger flaring in her heart. It was the sudden impulse to draw her weapon and bury it into his neck that alerted her that something was wrong, and she tried to clear her head. Before she could, the cage jerked and the grinding sound of the rollers returned. The jerk shook Viper’s hand and the stone tumbled out of his grip, carrying the beautiful flower with it as it fell toward the other corner of the cage.

One of the assassins reached for it, grabbing the stone just before it hit the floor, his eyes filled with greed as he stared at it. For a second, everyone froze, but before the assassin could scramble up, a yell of rage burst from one of the other assassin’s lips and he lunged forward, his short sword stabbing into the first assassin’s chest. Too preoccupied with the dream flower, the first assassin only realized he was about to die as the sharp blade slid into his body, punching through the chain armor he wore and piercing his heart.

Chaos broke loose in the cage as the assassins went crazy, each trying to take possession of the glowing stone and the flower it held. Only Katrin was able to keep hold of her senses, and even then, it was just barely. Despite her best efforts, her attention kept straying to the flower, even as she tried to face Viper. Almost unhurried, Viper left the bench in a blur and opened the door with a twist of the large lever, slipping out of the opening door right before Katrin’s sword hit him. The force of her attack clanged off the door, but rather than wake up the assassins, it just drove them into a greater frenzy, and they fought all the harder, using every one of their tricks to kill their companions.

Seeing Viper fleeing into the darkness, Katrin was too muddled to think about it, and chased after him, only to find her feet sinking into the mud. Too late she realized that the cages were still rolling, and dozens of shadowy figures were swarming into the now open cage. As the last cage rumbled past, she saw that the door was open and the inside of the cage was empty. Water still dribbled from the plank floor, telling a terrifying story.

With her clarity returning, Katrin tried to wrench herself free of the mud, but her thrashing only caused her to sink even deeper and a slithering along her leg allowed her to realize that there was something actively pulling her down. The strange figures that had swarmed into the first cage flashed through her mind and she exploded with all the force her soul spark could muster. Stabbing her sword into the ground in front of her, she let out a shout, causing an explosion that sent mud flying as she blasted the earth apart. That freed her bleeding legs, but it didn’t solve her problem as long clawed arms began to reach out to grab her.

Coughing up mud that had gotten into her mouth and throat, she threw herself to the side, choosing to land on the hard ground where the rollers had passed. A lifetime of training kicked in as she bounced to her feet, her blade cutting off the petals of a lunging flower ghoul as she retreated, hoping to find a wall she could brace against. When a flower ghoul burst from the ground behind her, she decided that was a bad idea, and her sword flashed, stabbing through the monster’s head, even as its petals snapped shut on her hand.

Abandoning her sword without hesitation, she grabbed for her waist, drawing her daggers and launching herself forward with explosive speed to try and chase down the disappearing cages, but before she could get more than two steps, a crimson mask floated out of the darkness and a silver line cut the air in front of her, forcing her to stop in place. The shock radiated through her daggers, but she held on tight and tried to bully her way forward.

Viper danced just out of reach, the tip of his sword cutting elegant shapes in the darkness as he prevented Katrin from following the carts. Behind her, the flower ghouls continued to close in, the petals of their strange heads creating a slight glow that prevented the tunnel from being completely lightless. Moving so fast their limbs were nothing but a blur, the two awakened fought back and forth across the passage, tearing up chunks of dirt from the floor as the rumble of the carts grew fainter and fainter.

The steely determination that normally allowed Katrin to keep a level head no matter the situation was starting to waver as the passage grew quieter, the only sound the hiss and clang of their blades. And when even that stopped, Katrin found her heart shaken even more. The flower ghouls had spread out, forming a perimeter around the fight, and now Viper disengaged, his blade vanishing under his dark cloak as he retreated behind the ghouls. He looked like nothing but a ghostly red mask bobbing in the darkness, adding to her growing fear. Little by little the light began to vanish as the flower ghouls closed their petals together, like torches being doused one after the other. Unable to stand the idea of being left with a pitch black tunnel, surrounded by ghouls, Katrin, whose mind and spirit had been shaken badly, took a step forward, calling out loudly in the growing darkness.

“Wait! Wait! Let’s… let’s make a deal!”