Chapter 29: Bane of the Bluehound Gang

Chase waited until the gang member was soundly snoring before climbing down the rope. It was a good twenty feet from the broken window and the floor and Thomas counted his hearts beats as he watched his leader slide down the rope. He had no idea when Charlie Boils would return but he hoped it would not be for sometime.

His feet touched the ground with barely a sound. Thomas stared at him wide eyed like he was some hero come from a story book.

This is so cool, he thought. Chase pressed his finger to his lips again for Thomas to remain quiet. The guard snorted in his sleep and Chase quickly drew his knife.

Holding his breath, Chase lightly stepped behind the guard. Thomas couldn’t see his face but Thomas was sure that there was some serous deja vu going on between home and the sleeping man. Just as he raised his arm, blade ready to stab the NPC, he awoke.

“Huh?” The NPC smacked his lips and muttered like a man slipping in and out of a dream. “Thought I heard…nah…Prolly nuffin’.”

With all his might he plunged the knife into the top of the mans head.

“Gah!” The man cried, and then nothing.

With a single, long tug Chase pulled the knife out of the guards head and he slumped onto the table, dead, and blood finally poured out of the mortal wound to cover the table and drip upon the floor.

“That was amazing!” Cried Thomas. “Now get me out before they come back.”

“Way ahead of you,” said Chase. He snagged a loop of keys from around the jailers belt. “It’s gotta be one of these.”

There were maybe a dozen keys around the ring and Chase failed to open the cage with half of them before the door opened behind them.

“Something’s going on, I can’t find Tilka or Black Dan. Maybe—.” Charlie Boils froze in the door way.

“What’s wrong, Charlie?” Said a scratchy voiced woman behind him, trying to peer over his shoulder.

“Uh oh,” said Thomas.

Chase tossed the keys into the cell, likely hoping that Thomas would get the hint and continue trying each key until he found the one which matched the lock. He stood up then and pulled the knife out of his belt, bearing it in front of himself.

“Incredible,” said Charlie. He spit on the ground and allowed the women to enter the room. She shut the door behind her and drew a long dirk from her sleeve. “This idiot had one job. And he got did in the same way he did all those years ago. I think when he respawns I may just kill him again.”

“First he leaves the cage open and now he allowed a player in here to rescue his friend,” said the woman. She licked the dirk she was holding and grinned evilly. “You really should have paid us, player. This won’t end well for you.”

“You think so?” Said Chase. “I already killed three of you. What’s two more?”

“You killed Black Dan and Tilka?” Said Charlie. His mouth twisted in a frown and his eyes narrowed.

“Easily,” said Chase with a smile. “You NPCs never change, do you? They were in the same hiding positions they were the last time I was here.”

“Liar—.” Began the woman with a snarl.

“Black Dan was following me to the bank,” said Chase. Thomas could hear the confidence in his voice and he sounded like he was telling the truth. “I cut his throat and dumped his body into the river. The other one—Tilka, I assume—thought he would be safe accosting me in an alley when he saw what I did.”

“And how did you kill him?” Said Charlie. He was fuming. “Tilka isn’t one to be taken with a puny knife from the training island.”

Like a snake striking a rodent Chase hurled the knife faster than the eye could see. Charlie ducked out of the way but his friend wasn’t so lucky. The knife planted itself directly in her forehead, her expression of disbelief frozen upon her face. She fell to the ground with a muffled drop and didn’t move. Blood began to pool around her face and Thomas felt an involuntary need to look away.

“Like that,” said Chase. He wiped his hands together as though brushing off dirt. “I guess some things you don’t unlearn,” he added under his breath to Thomas.

“Fool,” seethed Charlie, getting to his feet. He didn’t spare a glance for his friend, but kept his gaze focused on Chase. “Now you’ve thrown away your weapon.”

“I don’t need one for you,” said Chase.

“You think so?” Charlie drew a long dagger from his belt. It was notched and rusty.

“I don’t plan on killing you, Charlie,” said Chase. His voice had changed and now Thomas had a vision of some avenging angel turning into a demon. “But might break your arms along with your legs this time.”

“Guess some stories never die,” spat Charlie. “I bet someone told you to say that to me if we ever met.”

“You think so?” Said Chase and he shrugged. “Could be. But then who told me that you were the one who left the cage unlocked that night all those years ago?”

The eyes of the gang boss widened and for a moment he was speechless.

“Never told anyone, eh? Allowed your stupid minions to take the blame for allowing a child to get the best of you. Well, I killed you all once and I’ll do it again.”

“Impossible,” said Charlie, shaking his head. For the first time he was beginning to look scared. “Spade is dead, you can’t be him. I read the papers.”

Why are you telling him this, thought Thomas in confusion. Just kill him and be done with it, Chase.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Chase, taking a step forward. “By the end of this you’ll have to reset yourself and by the time you and your gang are back none of you will have any memories of me or my guild.”

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Charlie raised his dagger and growled. There was the table with Bill’s dead body between them and he took a couple steps around the side, stepping in the blood of his other fallen comrade.

“C’mon then, player,” snarled Charlie. “Let’s see what you can do. I think after this I’ll go to the Inn and kill the rest of your guild, too.”

“Thomas,” said Chase, keeping his eyes on Charlie. “Get that cage unlocked already. Once you are free, run as fast as you can back to the inn and get the others. I should be able to give you plenty of time to get there.”

“I’m not leaving you, Chase,” cried Thomas. He began to sort through the keys. He didn’t know which ones Chase had already tried and so just stuck the first one into the hole. No luck.

“That’s not a suggestion, Thomas. It’s an order. You will free yourself and then you will go back to the others. Understood?”

But Thomas didn’t get a chance to respond. Charlie Boils leaped over the table with an agility which belied his age, dagger raised high to stab Chase. Chase sidestepped and kicked him in the belly which doubled over the older man and knocked the wind out of him.

“Oof,” grunted Charlie. Chase tried to grab the knife but Charlie swiped blindly to his side and sliced a long, red cut into Chase’s forearm.

Ignoring the injury Chase went for the NPC’s arm which bore the dagger but in the process off balanced himself. Charlie punched him with his free arm and sent him to the ground, flat on his back, and next to the cage. Thomas realized that the blood from Chase’s injury had dripped onto his hand and made finding a sure grip difficult for his leader. He tried to stop Charlie from straddling his stomach but his fingers slipped from his grip as he pawed at the mans arm. Charlie easily punched Chase again, this time in the chin, and Chase’s head hit the floor, momentarily stunning him.

“This is it, boy,” said Charlie with a manic glee. “Watch me gouge his eyes out. You’re right after him.”

Thomas’ hand was shaking, causing the keys to rattle in his grip. He looked down and saw that Chase was slowly coming to, blinking and beginning to raise his arms to shield himself.

“Hey, Charlie,” said Thomas, sticking his arm out the cage. “Is this the right key?”

Charlie paused for just a split second, but it was all Thomas needed to plunge a rusty key into the gang leaders right eye.

“Wha—GAAAH!” Charlie shrieked in pain, jerking his head back. Despite the obvious pain he never dropped the dagger, but it was all the time Chase needed to sit up and punch Charlie in the throat.

Half blind and now choking, Charlie Boils fell back. Chase now was able to wrest the dagger from his hand which he did easily and then preceded to kick the gagging man in the side. Charlie toppled over, writhing in pain, and Chase stood over him, weighing the dagger in one hand.

“It’s true, Charlie,” said Chase, breathing heavily. “I really am Spade. And this is the second time I’ve had the pleasure to put and end to you and your twisted schlub gang of cretins. I think I might make it a habit to come back here every year just to kill you all over again.”

“You-y-y-y-y bastar—.”

Chase stabbed him right in the heart with an over head thrust which sounded like a spear piercing a thick leather hide. The man gasped once, arms and legs raising almost comically. Thomas imagined a cockroach flat on its back breathing its final sigh goodbye. As the life left his body his undamaged eye seemed to fix itself upon the cage, and Thomas within.

“And that is that,” said Chase. He left the dagger in Charlie, but plucked the key ring from the man’s eye. It made a wet plop as it came free. He shook the keys free of some of the blood and gore and then selected once which looked a bit more used than the others. “Next time, if you want to know which key is likely to be used to open a cage like this, look for the scratches on the sides. It mean’s its used more than the others, so likely to be the one we want.”

The lock made a click and then swung open, Thomas ran out and hugged Chase around the middle.

“That was amazing, Chase! Thank you so much. I promise never to get kidnapped again. I swear!”

Chase paused and then slowly Thomas felt his leaders arm fall and he patted his back a couple times.

“It’s exactly what any of us should be willing to do for another. Just be more careful wandering off by yourself, got it?”

“Yes sir!”

“Good.” Chase looked around at the carnage. “Before we leave you have a job to do.”

“Anything,” said Thomas. He looked at Chase’s arm. “You really need Amelie to take a look at that wound.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” Chase pointed at Charlie. “You need to go through their pockets and take anything of value.”

Thomas blinked.

“Why would I do that?”

“Do I really need to spell it out for you?” Chase sighed and looked toward the ceiling. “You’re a thief. Pilfering dead bodies is what you do. The experience from these three should get you to the next level.”

Not wanting to complain to Chase after what he had just gone through, Thomas obediently bent over Charlie’s body and patted the dead mans pockets. There was a small purse in one of them.

“Seven coins in this one,” said Thomas after he had opened and counted its contents.

“Broke loser,” muttered Chase. He had dragged himself to a chair and was beginning to wrap his arm with a bit of cloth he had torn from his training shirt. “Check the other two.”

Bill’s face was frozen in surprise and the blood had matted his hair. Thomas found found a similar purse on a string around his neck but it was empty. The woman —Tabitha, Thomas remembered—was tricky as the blood had pooled around her entire body and made reaching her pockets difficult. Thomas sighed as he resigned himself to getting her blood on his boots and throughly checked her pockets.

“Nothing,” said Thomas, looking back at Chase. “These guys are more poor than a family of house mice.”

“Well, check everywhere,” said Chase, motioning around the building. “They are bandits, basically. They will definitely have some money stored away somewhere. I’ll help you in a minute,” he added, tightening the cloth around his arm. The bleeding had stopped but was slowly seeping through the makeshift bandage.

Suddenly Thomas remembered when Charlie came in for a drink. The cabinet with the alcohol was pushed into a corner and Thomas had to push a chair with broken arms in front of it to reach the doors. They came open easily and before him were half a dozen bottles, some plates and bowls, and a small box shoved against the side.

“I think I’ve got something,” said Thomas excitedly. He lifted the box from the cabinet and carefully brought it over to the table, being careful not to let it touch Bill’s blood.

“Open it up, Tommy.”

The box looked ancient, and someone had drawn different animals upon it with colored pencils. The drawings were of animals and appeared to have be drawn by a child. Thomas opened the lid and gasped. Inside was enough gold to nearly reach the top.

“We’re rich!” Exclaimed Thomas. “Chase, look at all this!”

“Good,” said Chase. “Place it all in your inventory. Looks like well over 500 gold there. I bet tomorrow morning your journal will say you passed not one but two levels.”

“My journal?”

“Haven’t you opened that thing you you signed your contract?”

“Um…”

“I am sure Ghelion told you in his office,” said Chase dryly. “I am sure you just forgot. You’re journal will automatically record your progress after each level. In the morning you can check it and see what level you got to.”

“Yeah, of course, I know that,” said Thomas. He opened up his bag and the mouth grew to fit the box. He placed it and Charlie’s purse inside and it disappeared. Thomas then cinched the bag shut and it returned to it’s normal size.

“Good to hear,” said Chase, coming to his feet. “Now let’s get out of here. I am sure the others are going apoplectic with worry.”

“‘Oh, Tommy,’” said Thomas, mimicking Amelie. “‘Where ever are you and Chase? Whatever will we do without our dear leader and our thief?’”

Chase chuckled.

“That’s not a bad impression,” he said. “Maybe you can sign for the actor job in a few years.”

“There’s an actor job?”

“There’s a job for just about anything you can imagine, and many more you can’t,” said Chase. He slowly walked to the door. The fight more than the wound itself seemed to have taken a lot more out of him than Thomas had realized. “You just have to make it past your third contract and then you will have a bit more freedom to choose.”

Thomas and Chase left the building with the dead bodies and came out into the alley way. The light over head was all but extinguished and Thomas figured it must be well past dinner time.

“Hello.”

The pair froze. They looked around but didn’t see a soul, Chase place his uninjured arm before Thomas and tried to shield him from a possible attack.

“Down here,” came the voice again. It sounded like a child.

Thomas peered around Chase and saw three familiar faces. It was the children who had witnessed the guild fight and kill Belek that morning.

“Hi,” said Chase. He seemed to relax but didn’t drop his arm before Thomas.

“We saw what you did to the Bluehound gang,” said the oldest one. He was a boy and appeared to be the leader. “That was really amazing. Wasn’t it guys?”

His two little friends nodded their heads with an enthusiasm that still didn’t reach their eyes. Thomas shuddered involuntarily.

“You all saw that, eh?” Chase sighed. “Did you see all of it, then?”

“Pretty much,” said the boy, shrugging. “Is it true that you were Spade?”

Thomas felt a chill go up his spine, and Chase tensed in front of him.

“Of course not,” said Chase. He laughed but Thomas could tell it was forced. He hoped that the little NPCs wouldn’t know the difference. “I was just trying to scare him.”

“Doesn’t seem to me that a player who can kill an entire gang by himself would need to lie to scare Charlie Boils,” said the boy.

“It was the heat of the moment,” said Chase. “I just read about the guy in the papers same as everyone else and thought it would made a good story. Anyway, we need to be getting back.”

The kids looked unconvinced but didn’t say a word as they watched Thomas and Chase leave the alley. When Thomas looked back before they were out of sight he saw them still standing there.

“Those kids really freak me out,” said Thomas when they were a distance away.

“You and me both,” said Chase. “Let’s just hope they believed me.”

I am sure they did, thought Thomas. But it wasn’t the lie which convinced them, he was sure. Thomas and Chase didn’t say a word on their way back to the inn. When they arrived there was great noise coming from behind the door, and what sounded like an argument. Chase flung the door open wide and light flood their faces.

“Duck!” Shouted Chase.

He pushed Thomas aside, sending him crashing to the pavement.