Curselock

Chapter 51: Escape

Chapter 51: Escape

Simon screeched as the woman toppled over him, shoving him to the ground and bashing his head into the marble floor. He hastily threw up his hands to guard, missing the first punch by mere seconds. Suddenly his face flooded with blood and the floor was speckled with red. He managed to block the next punch, but by then the woman had a thin silver sword jutting from her neck.

Her lifeless body fell over when Boor ripped his rapier back to his side. Soon the pristine throne room was buzzing with intrigue and grotesque grunts. The small crowd had moved closer a few steps, watching the attempted murder with deafening stares.

“My point exactly,” Boor said. “Those with grudges are the ones most likely to accept the Sightless King. Which just so happens to be—”

“Pretty much everyone in the Guild,” Big Boss finished before looking down to Simon. “Oh get up, fool. All she did was hit you.”

“She broke my nose!” the kingpin retorted. “How did she break my nose! She’s weaker than a child!”

“That’s what the Sightless King’s power does. A small boost to strength and a significant one to confidence,” Leland said.

An attendant ran a handkerchief to Simon who then patted his nose and upper lip. He glared at the room and dead body, scoffing in disgust.

Leland and Jude internally scoffed back, repulsed by the Witch’s attitude towards attempted murder. Having to work with a branded Witch cut into both of them, only the thought of finding Glenny easing their ever churning stomachs.

“So,” Boor stately impassively. “you will invade the sewers?”

Big Boss took a careful moment to eye the red power draining from the woman’s eyes like the blood that flowed from the hole in her neck.

“Yes,” she eventually said. “But only with that map of yours. What else can you tell us?”

Leland took the initiative. “Sigils cover the walls of the sewers. The fog makes it possible that you can walk through, but I wouldn’t leave it to chance. I suggest long spears to score the ground, ceiling, and walls as you go. Also be ready with chalk and restraints for people afflicted. Maybe a copy of Brix’s Guide to Defending Magic if your magic users don’t know the pattern by heart.”

Big Boss raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that all?”

“You should also check your men you send to the sewers for the Sightless King beforehand,” Leland continued. “Just one agent could ruin everything for everyone.”

“I take it you three are just messengers in this war,” she said. “Not fighters?”

Boor answered before Leland could. “Our side is weakened. Our party used to be nine, but the sigils have taken one and the others were wounded by the cult’s leader.”

“Aha!” Simon suddenly shouted. “A lie! I can spot these things from a mile away, Boor! You know that!”

“Is this true?” Big Boss asked, her single eye narrowing.

Boor let out a long sigh. “More like partially true,” he said. “The one who was affected by the sigils had been purged but still went missing.”

Simon’s great smile sputtered. “He speaks the truth.”

Big Boss then stood, stepping around the dead woman and to Boor. “It was good to see you again, old friend. I miss our time—"

Money, money, money, Leland thought to himself. Always about money. Just do some normal quests. Slay some monsters, gather some herbs.

Despite being cultists, he saw the slaughter and grimaced. These people were normal citizens not that long ago. Was it really their fault for succumbing to temptation and promise of power? Leland didn’t know, only he didn’t like seeing rooms of people killed without a chance of fighting back.

His eyes grew cold as each room was emptied out.

No Glenny.

No woman in white.

No sign of anyone other than low-ranking cultists.

In the most centralized room of the sewers, something peculiar was found. A device, magical in nature but also oddly mechanical. It spewed fog like a humidifier pumping vapors into the air. Leland and the others didn’t get a chance to break it themselves, Big Boss ordered its destruction almost instantly.

Soon the fog plaguing Shoutwell would be cleared, but for some reason Leland and Jude felt the city’s coverage deepen. They walked slowly with Boor back to the small village just outside of town, each silently brooding.

“Look boys,” Boor said, only to be interrupted by Leland.

“We know,” he said. “It was unlikely the cultists let him live. We were just trying to remain hopeful.”

Boor suddenly felt his spine go still. “That’s— That’s not what I was going to—”

“You were going to say there is still hope,” Jude laughed, his voice quivering like the wet shimmer in his eyes. “That Glenny is somewhere else, right? That the sewers weren’t their main base, and that they took him there instead.”

“Well, yes—”

“Why would they do that? Why would the cultists randomly take a captive? Have they done that with anyone else?”

Boor didn’t respond.

“We are young,” Leland said. “Not dumb. We knew the moment Glenny disappeared.”

Boor did have something to say to that. “Disappeared, exactly. You two said he was acting strange. That the cultists were whispering in his ear. Maybe they didn’t kidnap him but rather he simply wandered off.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Leland said reservedly, like he didn’t believe his own words.

“Yeah, maybe,” Jude said a moment later, echoing his friend’s tone and thought process.

Suddenly a screeching noise resonated against the cold wet air. The group quickly spun, finding a red beam blasting out from the slowly defogging city. They watched with horror as the beam slowly faded, redoubling the crazed sound.