“Magnus? You there?” came a shaky voice from just outside of my tent.

“I’m here. What is it, Davis?” I sighed and set down my book.

It was the latest in a series of trashy romance novels I occasionally read to take my mind off things. The story had just been getting juicy, but it would have to wait. For now, I slid it under my desk.

“Just something I need to report, boss. Should I come in?”

I looked around my tent to see if it was in good enough condition for a visitor. Predictably enough, it wasn’t. Books, maps and crumpled papers were strewn about, as were the remains of my last meal.

It turned out I had been so preoccupied with the fictional story of “Sir Magnus Heartblade” and his numerous romantic conquests that I had neglected most of my boiled chicken, and it had ended up going to my pets instead.

In my defence, the story was pretty engrossing once you got over how trashy it was, and I couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that the main character and I shared a first name.

“No. Give me a second and I’ll join you outside.” I sighed and stood up from my cramped desk, taking a second to check myself over in the mirror.

Davis sounded nervous, but it probably wasn’t anything too urgent. I had to make sure I was presentable for him and the other outlaws who would be performing their duties around camp.

They were, after all, my new crew. Magnus McMorrison, great gentleman thief turned Obsidian Enforcer, would never willingly disappoint his crew. Of that I could be sure.

As it was even in the days before I joined the Obsidian Order, my wardrobe consisted of a dark black suit, complete with bow tie, cloak and a wide-brimmed hat to help hide my features. I knew some people thought it was a little over the top for a desert, especially when you added the dark crystal mask I was supposed to be wearing at all times, but I loved my outfit too much to ever change it.

It reminded me of my many exciting nights back in Zhomir, that great stone fortress of a city to the east of the Scorch. I had terrorised the noble population with my daring displays of thievery, making quite a name for myself.

That is, right up until I had gotten a tad too bold and accidentally revealed my identity in the midst of a heist. I was having so much fun taunting the authorities, I got a bit too cheeky with my calling card and they tracked me down within a day.

I shamefully fled the city, my name and face exposed to all, and started anew in the Scorch. For a while I was bored, robbing settlers and towns without any trouble, but then I met the man with the crystal arm, and things got exciting again.

I thought my life would be over, but here I was, heading my own crew. The Obsidian Outlaws had a long way to go, but I was excited to lead them to wealth and glory.

“Magnus? You there?” Davis called again.

“Yes yes Davis, be patient. You can’t rush perfection!”

Despite what I just said, I hurriedly adjusted my suit, brushed my definitely not greying hair aside and pulled on the black crystal mask that had been resting atop my desk. Strictly speaking I wasn’t really supposed to take it off, except to shower and sleep, but it made reading such a pain so I usually slipped mine off in the privacy of my tent.

As always, a strange cold sensation flooded through my body as the dark obsidian touched my pale skin. It felt like my whole body had been submerged in freezing water, then just as quickly as the sensation started, it stopped.

“Maybe I should just leave this stupid thing on…” I shuddered.

Making my way over to the entrance of my tent, I stopped briefly to bend down and pet the two large crystal creatures positioned on either side.

The two massive crystal-covered lizards, each easily as large as the tall bookcase I had insisted we bring with us, were currently using their razor-sharp teeth to tear apart the remaining chunks of boiled chicken from my dinner.

Like all other crystal creatures of the Scorch they didn’t need to eat but they seemed to enjoy playing with food. They had enthusiastically shredded the chicken, bones and all.

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I carefully ran my bare hands over their backs as they did so, careful not to cut myself on the many clear crystalline spikes that jutted out from their armoured forms.

The diamond salamanders had been a gift from my boss that came with my latest assignment, and I adored them both deeply. I hadn’t gotten the chance to try commanding them in battle yet, and riding them was sadly out of the question due to the spikes, but I still loved the pair and took them everywhere with me.

“Alright Shimmer and Sparkle, let’s go say hello to uncle Davis!”

As I spoke, I mentally sent the command “Follow” to the two salamanders. They both rose immediately, looking at me expectantly with their softly glowing red eyes. I strolled out of the tent and they followed close behind.

Davis was a young man, but extremely capable from what I had seen. He had just gotten back from an undercover mission and his reward had been a crystal mask like my own. He was wearing it now, shuffling about nervously.

Despite his success, he still seemed to have trouble dealing with me directly. To be fair, Shimmer and Sparkle did tend to have that effect on people.

The fact I was in a position of power and reported directly to the boss of our whole organisation probably didn’t help either. If Davis upset me or stepped out of line, I could theoretically report him to the man with the crystal arm.

“What’s going on Davis? Any update on the Sean situation?”

“Not yet boss. Our people should be there now, so our lookouts are keeping an eye out for their return.”

“Bloody mess the whole thing…” I sighed.

“Boss?”

“I mean really, why ever did the others actually let Sean go off on his own to try and bring the girl in?”

“I’m not sure boss. I was with the Rooks at the time…”

“Yes and you did a fine job Davis. These other layabouts could really take a page out of your book!” I purposefully spoke up, drawing the attention of several other masked figures who were milling around the camp.

Our small crew had only set it up a few weeks ago, but as an outpost it had everything we could ask for. We had set up everything in a deep rocky ravine that split off into a few directions, so we had multiple easily defensible escape routes if anyone ever got past the crystal creatures guarding us. The high stone walls around us provided plenty of shade, and we had enough tents that we weren’t too cramped for room.

For food, we had enough canned supplies that we wouldn’t have to worry too much, but also a pen of chickens for eggs and the occasional roast to celebrate.

We even had a basic manawell. It was a device that drew in the ambient magical energy, or mana, in the air to produce potable water. Most towns had better models or more than one to support their populations, but we had less than twenty here so one was enough.

Cities had much more powerful manawells with multiple functions like purification and actually chilling the water, but those additional functions required too much magic to work out here. The best we could get out in the Scorch was lukewarm water.

We couldn’t really complain. At least we wouldn’t die of thirst.

“Anyway boss, we have a bit of a problem…” Davis rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“Another chicken escaped?”

“No, we patched the fence so they shouldn’t be able to do that again…”

“Then what? Did our patrols spot something?” I was getting a little impatient with Davis, and it bled into my tone.

In truth, despite always wanting a thieving crew of my own, I wasn’t used to leading people. This was my first assignment with the Order that didn’t involve just stealing things solo. It was a chance to show the boss I could be so much more.

“S-some of the crew lost control of one of the scorpions in the west ravine, boss. They were trying to give it new orders, but they must have slipped up because it went wild and attacked them…” Davis gulped and shivered, staring at the ground as if he was a child telling his father he had broken an expensive vase.

“I see… any casualties?” I winced.

“Sam was petrified and Petra nearly lost her arm, but nobody died.”

“And the scorpion?”

“In one piece and under control again. For now we’ve moved Sam into the storage tent, and I bandaged up Petra the best I could.”

“Alright, good work Davis. I’ll go and check on the scorpion.” I started to march toward the western ravine, but Davis called after me.

“What are we going to do about Sam and Petra, boss?”

“We should have a team arriving in a few days, supposed to be coming for the girl. They can go back with them. Petra will need better treatment than we can provide here, and Sam will need to taken to my boss to be cured.”

“Y-you mean…”

“The Sovereign.”

“Will he even see Sam? He’s not exactly as high ranking as you are, boss.”

“I’ll request it myself. All of you are part of the Obsidian Outlaws, Davis. I take full responsibility keeping you safe until the job is done.”

“T-thank you, boss.”

“Don’t mention it.” I forced a smile, promising myself that I would try to be better to my subordinates.

If any more incidents happened, I didn’t want them too afraid to tell me. I marched toward the ravine with Shimmer and Sparkle in tow, trying to give friendly waves and smiles to all those I passed going about their daily chores. Most of them went pale and set about working even harder in my wake.

“Going to have to work on that…” I sighed, making my way into the rocky narrow ravine and passing by a guard armed with a simple rifle.

I just hoped to hell the scorpion positioned there really was in one piece. The Sovereign had assigned several of his favourite pets to our squad to ensure our success, and while I hadn’t known him long, I did know that he wouldn’t be happy if I ended up losing more of them.

I was already dreading telling him about the scorpion that had been blown to bits by that blasted crystal gunslinger. I couldn’t afford for anything else to go wrong.