Into the Storm Read online

  I studied the magic that had been used against you, and I believe that I can nullify it with how little remains inside your friends’ minds.

  I nodded and did as the scepter explained, using small taps against each of them with my mana to scour the general’s spell out of their minds. It took all of my focus, but each one only cost me 100 MP. I guessed I’d been down long enough for my mana to fully recover, which wasn’t long. They could still be in the area, but finding them would mean having to split up, and that wouldn’t do.

  I got to Balmur, his left eye bleeding a bit, and tapped him. As he came to, he immediately groaned. “My eye.”

  He lifted out his jar of eyes and lifted one toward it, the spectral mouth lashed out, grazing his fingers as it devoured the orb hungrily, then disappeared.

  “What the hell was with that?” I asked Balmur as his body was racked with spasms of agony. Watching what happened to the victim of the eye he stole was part of his price, the price to use the eye.

  I paid experience one time, a whole level’s worth, and I had a maintenance fee of the majority of my mana every morning to get my metal arm to act as a normal arm. I was used to it by now, but I didn’t think I could ever get used to what he was going through.

  “The eye starts to consume whatever is around it if the sacrifice isn’t made on time.” Balmur rubbed his eyes and spat angrily. I cast Void’s Respite on him too, and he calmed greatly. “Thank you, man. And listen, I’m sorry I wasn’t much help against that demon.”

  “Think nothing of it.” I clapped him on the shoulder and rested my hand there. “You know, you saw a lot more shit than we did there, and you came out of it swinging for the fences. I can understand not wanting to face your tormentors just yet, but we’re here for you too, buddy. You can lean on us.”

  “Just don’t lean on me too much if you’re bleeding like that.” Muu punched the dwarf lightly with a wink. “I only want my scales dirtied by the blood of my enemies.”

  Balmur brightened up immediately, and then we all began moving through the lower area. I took Hubris over to the walls to have it look over the runes that had been used.

  Cold and concealment. Looks like they meant to keep the demon and its ward concealed from scrying, magical detection, and the corpses from rotting overly much, as well.

  “Come to think of it, how did I know that demon’s type?” I glared at the wall, trying to discern what I could, touching it didn’t do anything, and I was beginning to grow a little tired of that.

  I shared that knowledge with you. If I have seen a creature while in the care of another master, I will share with you. As I will these runes.

  I frowned in appreciation. “That’s dope! But what do you get out of this?”

  I serve you, I get that, and I gather more knowledge as we both go on. I crave knowledge, and so long as I can learn, I will be content to serve you.

  “I see.” I made to dismiss him, but stopped. “Where do you go when I dismiss you?”

  I follow you in a pocket dimension, once you summon me, I reappear where I am needed.

  “Very well, you may go.” The scepter left my hand and vanished as it would, and I looked to my friends.

  Yohsuke sighed. “Well, we lost her this time, you guys all have weird dreams, too?” We nodded and frowned. “Which one of you called her a bitch?”

  I grinned, and raised my hand and so did the others. I looked over and even saw Calmyra slowly raising his clawed hand.

  “I don’t know who you are, but I like you.” Yohsuke smiled. “I called her a bitch, too. Said that she was beginning to hate the word.”

  “That was a caretaker demon,” Balmur explained. “They watch over powerful creatures, children, and other things. Protectors, if you will. And he was protecting the general.”

  “Do we know where they’re going?” James looked around, and I shook my head.

  “Across the sea,” Jaken suggested with a thoughtful look on his face. “It looked like a ship in the background of my vision. I was the last to go under, and it looked like he was projecting images to all of us.”

  “Trees and a house,” I stated.

  “I was here,” Balmur added.

  Yohsuke had been near a large blackened dome of some kind, James near a cliffside overlooking a large amount of water. Muu had been outside a large house with animals everywhere.

  “Bokaj is saying that he didn’t see anything because he wasn’t affected,” Balmur relayed for us. “He’s saying that his tails have disappeared after he followed them to the docks.”

  “He see the ships they’re in?” I asked hopefully, but he shook his head.

  “Okay, let’s get back to the inn and recover from this.” Yohsuke led us out of the building, I found the guards dead, their bodies husks on the ground up against the walls.

  Jaken held up his hands. “I just knocked them out.”

  I shook my head, and turned at the rasp of a throat clearing behind us. We looked at Calmyra, who motioned to the building. “The syndicate will take over investigating here. Fear no reprisal from us or our fine city—we will see that witnesses remain quiet and that your stay here has no more hiccups than it has. Balmur, I will be in touch, and the rest of you have my gratitude for attempting to help me avenge my sisters.”

  I stepped forward and pulled him into a brief hug, him stiffening up against me. “I’m sorry we couldn’t do more, Cal. We’ll find those two and make them pay.”

  I didn’t swear to it, but the words seemed to go a long way toward making the man feel better. He nodded his head. “Quite, thank you.”

  He turned and walked back inside alone, and we stayed for a moment in silence, watching his outline lean over and then kneel by his family’s remains.

  How many more would suffer at these monsters’ hands? Hopefully, fewer and fewer as we grew stronger. I could hope.

  Chapter Nine

  Breakfast that following morning turned out to be a more somber affair as we still hadn’t heard from Scar about our passage to the Continent of Beasts.

  “Fiery one,” Katja called as we finished our food, Balmur standing as she made her way over to him to speak in hushed tones.

  He grunted and cursed. “No fucking way. Seriously?”

  Katja nodded once and turned around to walk to the end of the bar and raised a bell, its chime rang out three times, and all the bodies in the bar stilled.

  “Those of you affiliated and my guests may stay, everyone else must leave.” When no one seemed to be moving quickly enough for her taste, she raised her voice and bellowed, “By order of the Wraith, move!”

  A large crowd stood and made their way toward the exit as swiftly as possible. Some of the more normal-looking patrons stayed seated, but their demeanor changed, and one in particular stood and grasped at his neck. His flesh relinquished his shirt, and up and over his head came the mask that Calmyra had been wearing. “Pleasantly surprised to see all of you here like this, though I wish the circumstances were better.”

  “What the fuck is going on here?” I growled as the other people in the room moved to stand closer to the cat-man than I was comfortable with. Almost like we had been deliberately sold out. “I thought you would still be mourning the loss of your sisters?”

  “I am, and I likely will forever, but there is a larger issue at hand, and I wanted to offer you all a spot at the table.” His scowl deepened as he turned to Katja. He spoke in a language that I had no idea what it was, and she replied with a nod before closing all the slatted wooden blinds to the room around us and securing the door. “Thank you, Katja.”

  “It is no problem.” She folded her arms behind the bar and watched all of us in the now-darker room.

  “Well, spit it up, then, kitty.” Muu stood and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s got the cat’s tongue?”

  “I despise you and the shapeshifter so much.” He bared his fangs, and hissed at the two of us, his men snorting and chuckling to themselves quietly. “I came to see i
f you would be interested in assisting us with a slight… issue.”

  “The navy decided to make a move?” Balmur raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms under his flaming beard. Calmyra stared at him in open surprise, and the rogue just grinned. “I followed a group of naval grunts last night from the warehouse and figured that after their investigation, they may have decided to do something. I just don’t know exactly what.”

  “Very astute,” Calmyra said, then grunted, his tail flicking behind him. “They want to out the syndicate and kill us all. They’ll call it ‘fair trials,’ but they’ll execute us and anyone else that they possibly can if they think they’re connected to us.”

  “Isn’t protecting your people something that you’ll take pride in doing?” Jaken cocked his head to the side, waiting to see what the answer would be.

  “Of course, but we aren’t exactly the stand in the streets and brawl kind of organization.”

  “I fail to see how this is our problem.” James snorted and shook his head.

  “The syndicate here directly maintains and oversees the criminal element in every major, middling, and minor city, village, and town on the continent,” Balmur explained quickly. “These guys fall, a power vacuum opens up and there will likely be blood in the streets everywhere. Believe it or not, they keep things civil with their laws, knowledge of who is corruptible, bribable, and who can be blackmailed into supporting their cause. If we let this city fall, the kingdom falls into chaos.”

  “...And that makes it our problem.” Bokaj stood up and glanced at the rest of us. “We can’t screw over that many people.”

  “No, we can’t, and since we’re getting ready for some kind of brawl, we’re going to need something in return.” Balmur looked the cat-man in the eyes and the syndicate rep raised an eyebrow. “We have a group of friends who are going to be in Lindyburg; the Braves of the Thorn and the royalty from the capital. They’ll be there rooting out the former governor’s wife and her people. I want you to make sure that the seedier folks in the city assist them however they can.”

  “I can’t promise that, but let me ask around.” Calmyra stepped into a corner with a clawed hand up to his right ear, he spoke softly for a few minutes. Finally, he nodded once and returned. “The Wraith has given consent in exchange for your services with the protection of the citizenry, to include protection from the navy and their goons by whatever means necessary.”

  Balmur turned to look at us. “We in?”

  “Pretty sure if we don’t help, Jaken will beat our asses.” Yohsuke sighed heavily. “But after this? It’s straight to our destination. We can’t keep doing this wild, off into nowhere bullshit. We have goals, and the longer we wait, the more likely things are to go wrong. That cool?”

  All of us nodded our assent, and Yoh turned to Calmyra. “One more question: how do we know that fucking with the navy here won’t screw us over with the capital?”

  “The naval higher-ups here send doctored missives and reports to the capitol so that they can maintain a vast majority of freedom from their control. They take bribes from us to stay out of our way, and they get to keep their front.”

  Couldn’t we simply message the king and tell him what’s up? Jaken sighed, and ran his hands through his hair before retying his ponytail.

  And admit we have ties to one of the largest threats to the kingdom’s organized rule? Balmur interjected before I could answer. He would send forces here to try and subjugate all of them and us for knowing things. We should handle this quietly and ask for forgiveness over permission and risking our progress.

  “So then, what changed?” I glanced over to see Katja pulling out a bow, several long daggers, some small knives, some bandoliers, and setting them on her counter.

  “We think that they may be acting in connection with the Children of Brindolla, and they’re trying to pin the demon summoning gear on us,” Calmyra explained, pulling out a small tube with papers inside. “This is a report to the crown stating that they will be acting against a mass summoning of demons orchestrated by the syndicate in an attempt to take this city and eventually the continent.”

  I whistled long and low. “So they meant to take this city from you as a possible base for themselves?”

  “Potentially, but we think that there is an element of attempting to cut into our business as well.” His explanation made sense to me. Greedy and corrupt people in power always attempted to gather more for themselves. Made sense to cut in on the local racket in an attempt to wrest control of the criminal element of this entire land.

  “What do you need for us to do?” Yohsuke said, then growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

  “I need you to be visible while we move unseen.” Calmyra snapped his fingers, and the men and women behind him filed toward the back of the building and down a secret entrance. “I know that they have their people moving throughout the city while they pull the strings. We mean to go after the leaders as you all take on their men in your own ways.”

  “If it doesn’t matter how it goes, I have an idea.” Balmur grinned at us. “I say we go full-on with this thing.”

  “I’m listening.” Muu smiled at the shorter man.

  “Jaken, James, Muu, and Vrawn are going to be our bait.” Balmur clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

  “I hate this shit already.” Muu harrumphed, and the rest of us grinned.

  My breathing reverberated against the interior of the mask I wore, a long canine inspired thing that hid my vulpine features from the world. I watched from the roof as my friends crossed beneath me.

  Eyes on the peanut butter, I joked to the other overwatches.

  Seriously? Peanut butter? Jaken sounded uncertain as he said it.

  Balmur grunted at us. We’re trying to attract the mice while the syndicate goes after the rats. Mice like peanut butter, so that’s the code. Focus up!

  I hate you all so damned much, Yohsuke’s laughter echoed in my head. Sucks that they want us to leave these assholes alive if we can.

  It does, but it is what it is. Bokaj stalked along the rooftops across from me with his bow in hand.

  As the peanut butter group moved along the ground toward the center of the city, we noted more and more white sailor uniforms belonging to the navy.

  I listened as we went by, careful to stay out of sight until I was needed. The people in the street who had normally just ignored the navy’s people eyed them warily and avoided them as they loitered in main areas. The more I listened, the less I liked what I heard.

  “Yeah, that’s what they said, Milfy, I swear it.” One of the human sailors beneath me grunted to another as he eyed some of the stalls that had been set up further down the road. “The sun hits noon, we’re to start the operation. Anyone we think has ties to the syndicate, we take ‘em down.”

  Party starts at noon, guys. My warning made the bait group twitch except for Vrawn. She just looked around unabashedly at the city and smiled at people here and there.

  You all know what to do when you get there get it started and be very careful to pay attention to what’s going on immediately around you. Balmur’s voice echoed to all of us, but the group below would have the critical role in this charade.

  Muu and Jaken walked into the market area first with Vrawn in the center of the group as if she were a noble lady out on the town in her finer than normal clothes, a dress of bright and vivid red that made her arms look even beefier with her curves. James brought up the rear of the group at a slight distance as if he were watching her back for thieves or cutpurses.

  As if on cue, one of the sailors in the shadows saw something he thought stood out and stepped closer to investigate. As soon as he was away from his friends, one of them stepped out closer to the street trailing behind his friend who walked from the shadows, I dropped silently into the shadows near the loner and put him in a headlock with my forearm over his mouth to mute his muttered cries of distress.

  Naval Sailor Lvl 20

  He passed o
ut from lack of blood to the brain in seconds, and my next target began to turn toward me as I laid his friend down. I surged forward, my right hand flung forward to strike his chin as my left hand swiped forward to push on his right hip. I yanked his head toward my body, his balance completely lost, and since I controlled his head, I dragged him back to the other guard and knocked him out, too.

  Mine are out. I broadcasted to the others and saw motion across the street where Balmur brutally clobbered one of the sailors there with his fist and slammed his head into the wall with a silent snarl. His gaze caught mine, and a little of his humanity returned before he nodded to me and melded into the shadows.

  Sailors on the way to the market have been taken care of, Yohsuke informed us, then he added. Bokaj is in position, and the distraction is on point. Fan out and get the closest ones like we discussed.

  The syndicate cleaners are here to take the ones we knock out with them to holding, let them do their jobs. Balmur’s orders in this were as good as gold, and I hopped up a set of boxes onto the roof of the next house as a set of men entered the alley from the opposite side of the street to collect my work.

  I dropped on the next set of sailors and smacked their heads together with thuds that may have attracted attention, so I called the shadows around me to block the view from the street and deepen accordingly. Sure enough, a curious man in a white shirt wearing old khaki-colored breeches came into the alley to investigate. I waited until he was close enough and reached through the shadows to grab him and pull him through the wall. I slammed my hand against his mouth before he cried out.

  “Are you with the navy?” My voice had deepened to near beastly levels as I shifted into my hulking werewolf form. He shook his head wildly, and I sniffed near his face. The mask still covered my features, but my jaws were plainly visible from where he watched in horror. “Good. I’m going to move my hand, and you’re going to listen carefully and quickly. You scream, and you’ll end up like the two men at your feet. Do you understand?”