"Tovian Argentum" | Tovian, Grondeep, Aeglis

Written by Anonymous User

Perched on the roof of south-eastern tower, I studied the patrol. I was as close to the cages as I could get without causing any commotion. This was the center of black market trade west of Torria. I broke the twenty food fall with the shock absorption gained from the skeletal form of a grown man’s back. I found that using a knife on the patrol was not necessary when I checked to make sure that the corps was lifeless. By the looks of the weather beaten clothing and the brand on the back of his neck, he appeared to be a patrol of one of the rogue Torrian captains. I hadn’t expected to see them here, for even among crime organizations there weren’t many who would accept traitors. I ducked behind an archway to let a guard pass after lowering the other to the ground on the other side of the wall. It was a quiet, moonlit knight. It was still, apart from the slight uneasiness that pricked my neck. Even here at the opening to the nest of villains, I could sense my unwelcome.
I contemplated my next move when the loud, grinding bark of a friend reached my ears through the silence. The bark was followed my men yelling and a whimper. I gritted my teeth and lept across a three stride gap to the roof of a building adjacent the fortress wall. I dropped to the ground after seeing the hulking mass of a troll walking up the street. My momentum from running caused me to slide far too close for comfort to the edge of the roof. I quickly drew my boot knife and stuck it into the roof. By the time the knife had stopped the momentum of my weight, I found the majority of my body hanging off the side of the roof. What stopped my progression of climbing back up was when I noticed the troll had stopped and walked into the ally way that I hung over. Without looking up, the troll seemed determined to find what made the noise. My dagger had not sunk very deep into the hard wood shingles and was pulling out of the roof. I dropped to the ground once the troll had his back turned and embedded a dagger into his leg. He grunted, examined the dagger, turned around, examined me, examined his large bladed mace, and smiled. With one hand he raised the mace above his head and aimed for me. In mid swing his arm sagged and he dropped the mace onto his foot. The troll’s eyes closed and his mountainous form fell into the spiked pommel of his large weapon. The pommel emerged from his back soaked in blood . I had not expected or necessarily wanted the troll to die, but I was thankful that I wasn’t his dinner tonight.
Once on the roof again, I cleaned the troll blood off of my dagger and inserted a new knockout potion cartridge. The problem with a missing troll is that they don’t go unnoticed. I slipped over the next rooftop when I thought nobody was watching.
Following a main road, I soon came to the corner of the block where the road was too wide to valt across. I was near my destination, deep in the heart of the black market. All around me were black market trappers, slave traders, bounty hunters, villains, assassin, and ancient foes. I had to cross the busy moonlit road on foot. I had no choice. I dropped to the ground behind a building and strode across the path among these treacherous figures . I was unrecognised by the time I reached the other side of the road. I lay in the shadows before I regained my position on the roof tops. Right before my assent, an arrow pinned my cloak to the exterior of the building. I took a couple of seconds to admire the bowman's skill. Just as I spied the archer on the lookout tower, a figure appeared at the entrance to the alleyway.
“There he is! This one killed Mr. Big Blow a block and a half down. He killed him with his own club!” He yelled, pointing at me.
Numerous armored men appeared behind him and rushed down the alleyway at me.
I quickly sprung to the top of the building, determined to lose them before I drew any more attention. I ran among deserted alleyways and houses, zigzagging for the effect of confusion. I concluded the detour in the shadow of a watch tower. I eventually realized that this was the very tower that had pinned my cloak earlier. At the base of the tower, I was in need of a better view. I unraveled a rope that I carried and after tying it to a rock, I securely hoisted it around a protruding beam above my head. In the cover of the tower’s shadow, I laboriously climbed the tower. Once I reached the beam, I used the same technique to reach the tower’s platform. I peered over the edge and found the watch's back turned. I took care of him with the pommel of my short sword and an injection of sleep. After examining his neck, I found the brand of a fowl beast hunter. I was getting closer. I looked up to find the cavernous building of a man, whose name made the leviathans of the deep cower, three buildings down. That was where I was headed.
I used one of the supply cables to loop my short sword around and sail through the air. Once on the roof of the targeted building, I waited to confirm that my location was still unknown. Then I searched for the best way into the beast hunter’s lair.
I waited for a large muscular guard to walk past before dropping behind the building to search for a better way in. I had spent close to two hours searching the monstrous cave like building and had ended up at the back. Here I found a barred window half way up the wall with a hefty lock on it. It was clear that the building’s owner didn’t want any intruders. The window was hard to get to, but I managed to tie my rope to the roof and hang on it while I picked the lock. After a few tries and several guard patrols, I managed to free the window. After failing to force the window open, I stuck my knife between the sill and the window and pried. The window finally gave and ground open. I was just able to slip through into what appeared to be a storage room. Empty cages, spears, nets, dart guns, and other items lined the walls of the room. After remembering seeing this room from a window in the roof, I regained my sense of direction and headed for the door to my left. Traveling through room after room and sneaking past guard after guard, I finally spied a set of heavy double doors guarded by two well armored knights. After seeing that they weren't going anywhere, I decided to negotiate. I strode towards the door without high expectations.
“Who are you? Nobody is supposed to use this door.” Said the first knight.
“Orders are that if anyone that we don’t recognise is seen here, they are to be bound and taken to the Master himself. The last two ended up as drake food. I’m afraid that is going to be you to.” The second guard added.
“I’m afraid not.” I said under my breath, unsheathing swords.
The one on my right ruished me with a sword, while the other crept to my left in a flank. I decided to commit to the right to give the flanking guard to much space to surprise me. The first guard had decent sword skills and managed to nick me in the shoulder before being disarmed. His only weapon landed at my feet and I slid it away while simultaneously blocking and countering the flank’s attack. I was able to deal an upwards slice to his bicep rendering his arm useless. The next blow removed his sword arm and as he stared at his bleeding sump, I stomped out his knee and decapitated him. Once that guard was dead, I noticed that the first knight had managed to cross the room and was picking up his sword. I thought about letting him live, but he was too loyal. The first thing that he would do would be to raise the alarm. The man approached me cautiously. I heard footsteps in a hall nearby. Other guards were coming. I breached the knights guard, locked him in an arm bar, threw him on his face, then killed him with a gash to the back of the thigh and a cut to his neck. The footsteps grew louder and men soon appeared rounding the corner at the far end of the hall. I checked the dead knight’s brand to find an unfamiliar symbol, something new and evil. Seeing the men approaching, I rushed through the double doors and barred them from the inside.
I found myself in a low lit casm. Every scuff could be heard echoing through the belly of this fortress. It took my eyes a minute to adjust to the even lower lighting in this room. I couldn’t see the top of the room, just a vast foggy blackness. Several guards walked among what appeared to be cages. As I snuck around the low lit edges of the room, I saw every sort of beast and animal. Beasts with three and four sets of legs. They snarled and clawed at the metal bars of their confinement. As I reached the end of the hall opposite my entry, I stopped. Before me was placed the largest cage in the room; and in it, muzzled and bound, lay a fully grown adult drake. It had been a century and a half since the last time I had seen one. I could have gazed at the fire leviathan's majetic scaled form for far longer, but a heart wrenching sight pulled my eyes away. Across the room was another cage, but this one contained my lost friend. The midnight alfa caragore stood still in her cage, staring back at me. I crept through the shadows to that side of the room. Up close I noticed that her black fur on her back leg was matted with blood. By now all of the patrols had trickled out of the room. I took this opportunity to rush out into the open to the locked cage door. But just as I stuck my lock picks in and heard that satisfying click, the cold feel of sharp steel pressed against my neck.
“So this is the one who was sneaking about. My guards told me about you. They said you were one of the great assassins of Torria.” Spoke the voice behind me in a rasping,wet voice.
“I see you have come for the caragore. She will sell for a pretty price. She arrived here not two days ago. I have been withholding her food so that she can fight all the harder in the arena tomorrow. I think the spectators will enjoy such a beautiful animal fight so hard. But the fight will be in vain. You see, I was planning on having her fight a couple of our prisoners. She will defeat them and then I will have the drake torch all of that beautiful fur off of her before eating what’s left.”
He withdrew the knife to give me space to turn around. As I did so, I saw that the man was a tall, thick man with a giant fraim and a hulking body. The only armor he wore was a chest plate and bracers. Half of his face was covered with a formed piece of metal. It appeared that hidden behind the half mask was an injury that mutated his face. The mask gave him a crazy, yet emotionless character. His curved, hooklike swords were covered in spikes and nails. His body was adorned with teeth, claws and scales in the form of earrings, necklaces and bracelets.
“I am leaving here with Aeglis.” I said sternly.
“No you ain’t.” He smirked. “I wouldn't be opposed to you trading places with her, but not both of you leaving.”
He stared at me in deep thought, his face emotionless. Then he grinned and shoved my over. I backrolled onto my feet.
“Who do you work for?”
I said, recognising the emblem that I had seen on the backs of the guards necks, painted on his chest plate. I could tell from the emblem that he was still just a high ranking servant, not the elite master.
“Don’t you wish that you knew?” He chuckled. “You see, I’m not really one for talking, so if you don’t accept my offer of being in the arena tomorrow, I am going to have to have your head.”
At that, I threw a dagger at him, aiming for his throat. The throw was off and slashed his shoulder instead. His face grew angry and he charged. I dove to my right to avoid his slashing hooks. For the moment I was behind him I dealt a wound to his unprotected lower thigh. He swung around and threw me against an empty cage with the back of his fist. I attempted to dive behind the cage to regain my breath, but he wouldn’t allow it. From his back he unslung what appeared to be a large gun. He quickly aimed the cylindrical barrel at me and fired. A three pronged grapple spun towards me, latching onto my back. The pronged ends sank into my shoulder, hip, and side. The grapple quickly reeled me in. I was pulled back to him where he held me by the neck with one of his blades to my throat once more. Pain from the wrought iron grapples locked into my flesh caused my vision to blur in and out. As I hung in his grasp, he seemed to be intent on telling me something. I couldn’t make out what he was saying over the throbbing pulse of blood surging through my head. I waited for one of his wide, theatrical gestures for the knife at my throat to be removed, to pull a knife out from my boot and stab him in his unprotected groin. He instantaneously released me from his grasp and fell backwards with a loud groaning. As I met the floor, the force ripped the prongs out of my back. Forcing myself to stay conscious, I stood up and stumbled to Aeglis’s cage. I pulled on the heavy steel door with the little strength left in me. The rusted barrs wouldn’t budge. My heart sank when my ears caught the determined voice of the savage behind me.
“Your not going to get away with that.” He spit through his teeth. “I’m going to kill you and mount you head over the door to this hall. After that I'm going to feed your body to the beasts.” He laughed a mad laughter riddled with pain.
Then once again he pointed his mechanical grapple toward my spent form. I stood for a moment watching his face, contorted with pain and triumphant anger, grinned at me as his finger slowly applied pressure to the trigger. I fell to the ground in front of the oncoming metal claw. As it traveled over my body, I watched it latch onto the cage door. Once the gun pulled the chain of the grapple taught, the door was pulled open. Aeglis leaped over me to sink her kanines into her captors arm. He fell back, dropping his weapons. By the time I had called Aeglis off and stumbled to the gasping body that lay in the center of the floor, blood had pooled around his torn limbs. I pressed the tip if my sword to his chest.
“Whom do you serve.” I spoke through the searing pain from my back. “Ha! Ha ha ha. I’ll never tell. I go to my grave with that secret!” He sputtered from a mouth filling with blood.
“No! You fool!” I said, not accepting defeat.
I suddenly reached for his head, grabbing onto his metal mask. I pulled, slowly wrenching it from his face. He roared his body writhing in pain. Then he reached out to stop my arm. Next he pulled me close and spoke words that echoed through my head.
“I am Grondeep the beastmaster, and I serve and will die serving Bronus the trickster, lord of illusion.” With that, his body his body stiffened and his life left him.
I walked away from his chorps where Aeglis waited and helped me onto her back. I reached into my belt and drained a vile of a medicinal fluid. The beasts had quieted in their cages. I rode around the room, releasing the animals from their confinement. There was a sense of respect that stopped them from fighting each other or fleeing. I unlocked the drake last. He blasted the maid doors to splinters and I led them out into the new morning. We cut a path through the fortress city, causing chaos behind us and killing whoever opposes us. Once we cleared the outer walls, I led the creatures far enough away from their captors and they dispersed into the wild. The drake flew toward the rising sun in the direction of the snowy peaks.
Aeglis carried my blood soaked body toward the closest Torrian outpost. My fingers gripped onto her thick black fur, hanging onto life.