It started with the rain.
Suliel didn’t think anything of it. Rain was not an unusual occurrence in Bures, or anywhere in Zamarra for that matter. It wasn’t a storm; there was no lightning or dangerous winds to go with it. Just heavy rain that weighed down on everything.
Suliel had known that Seraphina’s garden party would be cancelled long before she received word. Much of the business and politics of the city continued, of course, but no one wanted to go outside any more than they had to. Meetings went on, sheltered from the rain, but many smaller matters could be delayed and were.
That left Suliel with some correspondence to respond to, but otherwise, she had the day to herself. Normally, her mood would have been brought down by the oppressive weather, but today, she was brimming with barely repressed excitement. She joked with Syon and Delir over breakfast, she changed her mind three times when the maids were dressing her.
Anton would be arriving soon. Perhaps today, but most likely tomorrow. Kelsey had not been able to provide a more precise estimate. She had bemoaned the lack of good information on currents, channel depths or even the actual length of the river. As she had explained to Suliel at great length, all she had was a line on a map. It was unlikely that the river ran such a straight course, so the distance they had yet to travel would be unknown until they arrived.
Suliel wasn’t able to help with her own resources. Trade and trips to the capital had always been overland for her family. She had offered to see if better maps were available in the city, only for Kelsey to offer some biting comments about the cartography skills of “this backward kingdom of pig farmers”.
Suliel let the second-hand insults go. Despite her rough and ready ways, Kelsey was a perfectionist, and she was never more annoyed than when she had to guess at something she felt she should know.
Suliel didn’t mind. What did it matter if Anton arrived today or tomorrow? The important part was that he was coming. Kelsey had kept her promise and kept him safe. The fact that he’d succeeded in his quest was good, too. It would cement the affection that the townsfolk had for him and be an impressive achievement to present to the King.
Suliel had already written to the Court about her husband’s imminent arrival. He wouldn’t have to wait as long as her to see the King.
The day passed uneventfully, the gloomy weather doing its best to wear Suliel down and failing. Kelsey relived the boredom with the occasional acerbic comment about the many failings in Zamarra’s understanding of what constituted a ‘navigable’ river.
As night approached, Kelsey decided to accept that they weren’t going to make the trip in one day.
Filled with a sense of anticipation, with just the tiniest twinge of disappointment, Suliel went and had dinner. She read until it was time for bed.
She woke in the middle of the night. It was dark; the curtains were drawn. She could hear something… struggling? She reached for the lightstone beside the bed, uncovered it.
The first thing she saw was one of the Lazybones. Its sword was drawn, but its other hand was covering its mouth with a single finger… the gesture for silence? It wasn’t looking at Suliel, the command for silence must have been meant for the other one.
Suliel looked over and saw the other lazybones struggling with a man dressed in black leather with a mask covering his face. Struggling might be the wrong word. The Lazybone’s sword had been pushed through the man’s torso, and while he was still moving, Suliel doubted he was long for this world. The animated skeleton seemed to be holding the dying man up, preventing him from falling.
Suliel screamed. That was the job of the lady of the house when faced with intruders. She had to be the focus of the defense, so her first duty was to let her defenders know where she was and that she was in distress.
There was a sudden crash from outside the window. The unencumbered Lazybone quickly went to investigate, poking its head through the gap inthe curtains.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
She heard a loud shout from somewhere in the house.
Suliel tried to calm down enough to send a coherent response, but events were still moving around her. The injured Lazybone stumbled out from behind the curtain, its glowing eyesockets fixed on its missing bone. The other skeleton approached the window, holding the dying man up in front of it. When it pushed the man past the curtain, there was a muffled impact of another arrow strike. The man screamed in pain, but he was quiet when the next two hit.
There was a scraping sound, followed by a muffled thud from outside. When the skeleton emerged from the curtain, he wasn’t carrying a body any more.
The uninjured Lazybone went over to the injured one, who was ineffectually tugging at the arrow with one arm. Between them, they managed to pry it free and release the scapula. Suliel watched as they reattached it.
Suliel looked at the skeletons and thought about what they needed. The skeletons looked at each other and then returned to the window. This time, they approached from the sides, sliding under the curtains. A few moments later, Suliel heard the shutters clack shut.
“Do they still lock?” Suliel asked aloud. That wasn’t the sort of detail she could get through feedback, so she pushed the curtains aside to look. The locking mechanism was still attached, and the Lazybones had just latched in place.
Suliel looked at it doubtfully. The shutters had been in place when she went to sleep, so she was unsure of how long they’d stop those outside.
“Let’s go,” she said to her skeletons.
She let the skeletons lead. They didn’t need the light from the stone she was carrying and she trusted them to follow her desire and not attack any of the house staff. Their first encounter was not an unfortunate servant coming upstairs to see what was going on, but something altogether more sinister.
As Suliel rounded the corner, a step or two behind her skeletal guards, the light from her stone did more than relieve the darkness. For an instant, a knot of shadows seemed to resist the light, gathering darkness into itself. Then it burst, and a man appeared out of nowhere.
He snarled a curse and started to run, but the lazybones overcame their surprise at his appearance and were quickly on to him. Suliel made haste to use Nobility’s Privilege while he was still a valid target.
Kiran Falke, Level 18, Unmarried, no family, Loyal to: The Grey Oaths, Human, Wayward Scout
Suliel looked away as her skeletons dealt with the intruder. She stared at where he’d appeared from. It was close to the door to Syon’s room. Holding her light high, she opened it.
To her relief, the room wasn’t awash with blood. The windows were open, the curtains moving gently in the wind, and a figure was lying on the bed, struggling to get up.
There were still shouts coming from somewhere else on this floor. By a process of elimination, she assumed it was coming from Delir’s room. But she still needed to check what had happened here. Checking to make sure the Lazybones had finished, she directed them to enter the room.
One of them closed the shutters, taking care to avoid being shot, while the other guarded Suliel as she approached the bed. It was Syon. He’d been tied and gagged.
The skeleton grinned as he made short work of the binding. Syon gasped for air when the gag was removed.
“I’m sorry, my lady, I couldn’t fight him!”
“You’re my chamberlain, not a soldier,” Suliel said. “Did he say anything?”
“He put a knife to my throat and threatened to kill me if I made a sound,” Syon said, shuddering at the memory. “I’m sure he was after you, my lady, but he said nothing of his plans.”
“All right. Gather yourself as soon as you can and join us. No, wait.”
Suliel paused for a moment, as a thought struck her. “Stay on this level, and uncover all the light stones. Leave the doors to the rooms open so we can see if any have gone dark.”
“I—I can do that, my lady. Just give me a moment to compose myself.”
“That’s fine,” Suleil said. “Scream and run if you see anyone that isn’t staff.”
She turned and moved towards Delir’s room. The sounds of a struggle were still going on, so she let the Lazybones go first. They rushed in, swords raised and… paused.
Their grins never wavered, but they managed to look uncertain as they stood there. Suliel entered the room and took a look for herself.
Delir was wrestling with another intruder. They were rolling around on the floor exchanging blows. The intruder seemed to be trying to disengage and reach the dagger that had been flung into a corner, while Delir seemed to be mostly concerned with keeping his opponent on the ground while landing as many punches as possible.
“Think you can… write me off… cause I’ve got one leg? I’ll show you, you punk!”
“Take him alive, please,” Suliel said. She checked Nobility’s Privilege.
Corvin Thale, Level 14, Unmarried, one sister, Loyal to: The Grey Oaths, Human, Rootop Infiltrator
Both of the combatants froze at her voice, but Delir recovered quicker. He snuck a furious punch past Corvin’s guard into his stomach.
“Take that, you stray mongrel! You weren’t good enough to sign up for the guild, don’t go thinking you can beat an ex-adventurer!”
The Lazybones put their swords away and just grabbed Corvin’s arms, pulling him up as he tried to retch. Delir lay on the floor and took deep breaths.
“Delir,” Suliel said. She stepped over to the small table beside the bed.
“My lady,” Delir said. “I’m sorry, you’ve caught me at an inopportune moment.”
“That’s quite all right,” Suliel said. She grabbed the guildmaster’s leg and handed it to him. “Get that on. We need to see to the rest of the house.”
“As you say, my lady.” He started strapping the artificial leg onto his stump. “What do you want done with that?” he asked, nodding at the captured infiltrator.
“Can you tie him up? If he didn’t bring ropes with him, there are some in Syon’s room.” Suliel looked consideringly at the Lazybones. “I don’t think knots are one of their skills.”
“Certainly, my lady,” Delir said, hauling himself to his feet. “May I ask what the situation is?”
“Three men came in through the locked windows,” Suliel said. “There are archers covering at least this side of the house. And I haven’t seen any sign of the two guards that were supposed to be on duty tonight.”
“Ah,” Delir said, his face falling. “They were good lads. I’ll be mighty sad if they haven’t made it.”
He braced himself and sent another blow into the stomach of the defenceless Corvin.
“Not as sorry as this scurvy piece of scum is going to be, though,” he said. “You can let him drop now, boys,” he said. “Let Uncle Delir show you how to hogtie a sow for the slaughter.”