The sage symbol carriage came to a stop in front of the Goddess' Lair, as the White Scale Viper gang stared. The giant red panda pulling it lied on its rotund belly and immediately took a nap on arrival. The gang focused on the vehicle’s door, expecting it to open.

Instead, from atop the carriage, arrows of light shot downward, causing the gang members to hastily retreat.

“I missed on purpose,” the same voice bellowed. A man with dark skin flipped off from atop the carriage and landed like a cat on his feet before the gangsters, his glistening white teeth exposed in a full smile. “Next time, I won’t miss.”

The man with the dark skin wore a forest green tunic, hose, and reinforced leather armor, each piece of which was engraved with a glowing sage symbol. In his hand was a golden bow, and at his back was a quiver of golden arrows. Apart from his white smile, the shadow of a hood hid the rest of his features.

“Jack’s the name,” he introduced himself, still smiling, “I hope you lot came with a pair of extra trousers because you’re going to need them after I’m done with you.”

"My, oh my," a soft voice sounded. The carriage finally opened, and out of it stumbled a blind woman dressed in mage robes and wearing a drooping pointy hat too large for her head. She caught herself when she managed to run into the dark-skinned man, Jack. Her hands groped his buttocks, to which she squealed embarrassingly, "Oh my! I didn’t mean to."

Jack pushed the blind woman away and muttered under his breath, “Blind pervert…”

“Jack, how could you push a helpless blind person?” the blind woman pouted, feigning hurt.

Boss Harvul frowned deeply as he acknowledged the newcomers. He looked to the hooded man wielding a bow and said, “Jack of Spades.” Jack gave a flourish with his hand and bowed. Boss Harvul turned to the blind woman, “The Blind Witch, Joker.”

The blind woman, Joker, stuck out her tongue and replied, “That’s me!”

"What are two of the Royal Suit—" before he could finish, the sound of heavy impact came from above as if something had just landed there. Nearby, atop a roof, they spotted a man without pupils in his eyes who stared down at them like a stone gargoyle. Two immense wooden clubs were strapped to his back. He had a bald head and his mouth was covered by dark fabric. The rest of his body was encased in black metal armor. He uttered no words as he stood hunched over on the neighboring rooftop, silently staring at the happenings below.

Boss Harvul recognized the man, “Bulder Bole, otherwise known as the Ace of Clubs.” He looked at each new face, “Three are accounted for. Now, where’s your leader…?”

The neighing of a horse caught their attention. A white steed that almost seemed to glow trotted up to them. Atop the majestic beast was a man in white armor, holding a lance that exuded power and distorted the air around it as it moved. Droplets of rain seemed to be unable to get past the aura of the horse and rider.

The knight in white armor flipped open his helmet’s visor and exposed a face of fair skin along with a pair of pale green eyes. He called out, “By leader, you must mean me.” He raised his lance, distorting the air around him more. “I am Sir Jon Toler, often referred to as the King of Diamonds.”

Boss Harvul grew grim seeing such famous Hunters gathered together here. He instantly turned to the Big Boss, “Big Boss! We have company!” Big Boss threw a glance his way and frowned.

“You and the other mid-bosses handle my little brother, but don’t engage too seriously,” Big Boss commanded and then warned, “You might end up dead if you lot commit fully to a fight.”

“Yes, sir!” Boss Harvul replied. He rallied his fellow mid-bosses and charged forward to keep the young swordsman occupied. Without his family sword, Van wouldn’t be as threatening as he usually was. As long as they fought defensively, the bosses should be alright, or at least they hoped.

Big Boss straightened out his clothes as he walked to stand in front of the newcomers and said, “What are Hunters doing here at a respectable business such as this?”

Sir Jon Toler laughed mockingly, “You little snakes can sell your oil to someone else, criminal. You know better than to try and pretend in front of Hunters like us.”

Big Boss knew these four Hunters spelled trouble. At best, he could only take on half of them in a fight while the remaining two could perhaps be kept at bay by the remainder of his gang. He cast a quick glance upon his men and saw some were injured, while quite a few had died from his brother’s sword.

Of all the times that damned father of mine had to send Van to me, he thought begrudgingly. Thinking of his younger brother, he felt the scales tip against him. His White Scale Viper gang could fight well enough with the Hunters, but if his brother joined in against his gang, they would all surely perish.

The gift from the Grand Starseeker, perhaps we could use that…No, no. That would bring about too much trouble. The time is not yet right.

“I always wanted to eliminate you group of white worms,” Sir Jon Toler mocked, his green eyes unmoving as he stared at Big Boss.

Big Boss’ face contorted in confusion but let up after realizing the reasoning behind the knight’s taunts. He sneered, “Oh, that’s right. There used to be five Hunters apart of the group known as the Royal Suit.”

The four Hunters of the Royal Suit became rigid.

“Don’t you dare…!” Sir Jon Toler threatened.

“Oh, that’s right. The Queen of Hearts,” Big Boss laughed. He hated being threatened. “Whatever happened to her?”

The white knight launched himself off his steed and through the air, positioning his lance to land on Big Boss’ head. Big Boss drew a defensive sage symbol in the air, blocking the sudden attack with magic, causing sparks to fly.

“You know damn well what happened to her, you snake,” Sir Jon Toler growled from behind the sage symbol blocking him. “Scum like you killed her!”

The rest of the Royal Suit prepared to launch their own attacks. Big Boss knew that he would lose half his forces today if this particular fight played out. Luckily, a gang in Soalde could only be successful with help from those in power, and he so happened to have cultivated a relationship with a few significant forces.

On time, a group of guards marched toward them through the rain, their wet armor glistening under the numerous red lights of the Red Fox district.

Sir Jon Toler ignored the approaching guard as he tried to pierce through Big Boss’ sage symbol. A smirk grew on Big Boss’ face which only enraged the knight further.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Halt!” yelled a man at the head of the white-armored Soalde guard. Sir Jon Toler didn’t acknowledge anyone had spoken and continued fighting. His companions, however, became wary and began to stand down. The man leading the guards yelled again, “In the name of the City Lord, I say halt!”

The title of the City Lord brought pause to Sir Jon Toler’s actions. The Hunter’s Guild had been scrutinized by the City Lord lately as a force that acted too independently within the city’s borders. The Guild Master had put out a message to all Hunters to keep a lower profile when in the city, and by all means to try and not get tangled up with the City Guard.

“I am the captain of the guard,” the man leading the guards began, but had to quiet seeing as someone was still fighting. Big Boss’ eyes widened seeing his little brother disregard the Guard Captain’s orders. “Heed me, citizen,” the Guard Captain barked.

Van kicked away the bosses who were starting to submit to the City Guard’s orders. After seeing that he had won, Van marched up his big brother, still ignoring the Guard Captain. “My sword,” Van demanded.

Big Boss had no choice but to hand over the weapon. If he didn’t, Van would go as far as to fight the City Guard. Big Boss vowed to leave Van in a cage for good after this.

“Hmph,” Van huffed, indignant, “You aren’t worthy to touch this blade, brother, and you know it.” Big Boss’ eyes became veined again as he stared furiously at Van.

The Guard Captain coughed before introducing himself again, “I am the captain of the guard, Galder Lorsen. What seems to be the trouble here?”

Before Van could be the first to answer, Boss Harvul quickly replied, “Hunters have intruded on our property, sir. They’ve damaged our building and assaulted our people.”

Guard Captain Golder narrowed his eyes and said to the Hunters apart of the Royal Suit, “Can any of you Hunters explain this?”

“We just got here,” Jack argued.

“You look handsome, Guard Captain,” Joker laughed, her blind eyes staring at the wrong person.

“Not now, Joker,” Jack chastised gruffly.

Sir Jon Toler wanted nothing more than to massacre these gang members, but he kept his peace and remained silent. Ace of Clubes, Bulder, had disappeared from the rooftop he had been perched upon earlier.

“Why are you Hunters here causing trouble here?” Golder demanded to know.

“We’re merely answering the emergency summons of a fellow Hunter’s badge,” Jack answered honestly.

Dwindle chose this time to speak up while holding up his blinking Hunter’s badge, “It was me. I sent out the emergency signal.”

Guard Captain Golder watched the dwarf step forward and scoffed, “I hope you have a proper excuse as to why you would start trouble here, dwarf.”

“These men,” Dwindle said loudly, gesturing to the gang members surrounding them, “Kidnapped my friend!”

“Bastards like these deserve death,” Sir Jon Toler spat, clear signs of bloodlust in his pale green eyes. Jack gestured with his hands for the knight to calm down. Joker giggled, but only to hide the bloodlust that had entered her own eyes. An old member of the Royal Suit, the Queen of Hearts, had been her best friend, and she had died in the hands of gang members such as these.

The gang members began to heckle the dwarf, demanding proof or evidence of such an audacious claim.

“Yes,” Golder agreed with the gangsters shouting, “Dwarf, you need proof before you can lay such heavy claims against businessmen such as these.”

Dwindle’s round eyes narrowed at the Guard Captain but nonetheless continued, “I have a witness,” and pointed to Van.

“You’ve seen this kidnapping?” Golder asked Van.

“Yes,” Van responded, “My brother’s men kidnapped a cheater named ‘Red’, a comrade of this sir dwarf here.”

The gang members suddenly became silent. Did the Big Boss’ brother just sell them out?

“Lies!” Big Boss said hurriedly as his eyes held venom for his little brother, “I’ve never seen this young man in my life!”

The guards felt awkward seeing how closely Big Boss and Van resembled one another. The two men were clearly brothers, almost twins.

“I believe you!” Golder nearly shouted.

Everyone stared at Golder as if he was dimwitted. The gang members recovered quickly and began agreeing with the Guard Captain.

“That’s right,” a gang member said, “They look nothing alike!”

“Young Mister Van is clearly lying!” another added.

“I don’t know Young Mister Van nor have I ever met him,” a different gang member said right after.

The guards had to look away from such terrible, boldfaced lying. Big Boss felt depressed hearing how lame brained his underlings were.

Silence is golden, he promised himself to drill that lesson into their heads later.

The Hunters and the dwarfs knew one thing for sure in seeing this display: the Guard Captain was in the pocket of gang members. He was as crooked as any man here that wore a white diamond emblem on their chest. The only problem was that they could do nothing about it.

“Do you have no shame?” Sir Jon Toler asked sincerely to the Guard Captain.

“Watch yourself,” Golder spat, eyeing the knight up and down, “We’re the law in this city, not you Hunters.”

“The world doesn’t know the Soalde Guard, captain. But they know who we are.” The white knight walked up and pointed at the Guard Captain’s chest, “A city guard that will be forgotten.” He then pointed to himself, “A torchbearer for the heroes that came before me.” His armored hands spread out in a questioning gesture, “Can you spot the difference between us?”

The guards reddened from hearing the Hunter’s words.

“How dare you disrespect the City Guard?!” Boss Harvul said with as much indignation as he could muster.

The guards reacted strongly to Boss Harvul’s words and started to shout down the Hunter. “Get back, citizen,” one of the guards barked, making sure to emphasize “citizen” to show who had the authority here.

“The City Lord will hear of this,” Golder promised, his eyes locked onto Sir Jon Toler.

The King of Diamonds scoffed and walked back to his steed to wait out this farce. The remaining Royal Suit also took on positions of comfort to let these crooked political games play out to completion. Dwindle was the only one who refused to let things go as they were.

“They also have contraband and captives on the bottom floor of this building,” Dwindle said loudly, bringing all to a halt. Big Boss' gaze darted to one of the mid-bosses, who corroborated the dwarf's words with an expression. “They also have what seem to be magical beasts that are illegal to be kept here within the city’s borders!”

The Guard Captain exchanged glances with the Big Boss before saying, "Ah, is that so, sir dwarf?"

“Yes, it’s true!” Dwindle said, “I’ve seen it.” He turned to Van, “Isn’t that right, swordsman?”

“My brother has been dealing in illegal activities for quite a while now,” Van concurred.

The gang members nearly stumbled over Van's words. Did Van not care about his brother or his brother’s gang? Would it hurt him to at least remain quiet?

The Guard Captain coughed awkwardly, “Well, that’s enough for today, sir dwarf. I think it’s about time for everyone to disperse.”

Dwindle retorted, “Aren’t you going to search this building in case I’m speaking truthful?”

“Um, that’s what I was about to do! But you Hunters need to leave these matters to us.”

“Little good that would do,” Sir Jon Toler scoffed. The knight was ignored by the guard.

With seemingly no success at bringing the White Scale Vipers to justice, at least Dwindle and his fellow dwarfs escaped with their lives.

“Sir dwarf,” Jack of Spades called out. Dwindle turned to him. “Would you and your companions like to ride with us?”

Dwindle and the other dwarfs were thankful and loaded into the carriage along with Van. The young swordsman pointed out where to go to where the carriage carrying Red should be headed. Dwindle implored his fellow Hunters to hurry.

As they began to exit the Red Fox district, Dwindle asked, “Is there any way we can mobilize more Hunters?”

Jack of Spades shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, sir Dwarf. You know as well as I do that the Hunter’s Guild won’t move too quickly for the branch guild in the slums. My sympathies, friend. My bow skill is available, if you'll have it.”

Joker sat next to him and shook her head as well and remarked sadly, “Even our friend who was captured by gang members could not be saved on time.” She turned her blind eyes upward and lamented, “This city is sick and those that rule it are sick. If only they let us Hunters have more freedom to act…”

“Don’t say that,” Jack warned, “You know how strained our guild’s relationship with the city is now. There are whispers that we are planning to overthrow the king.”

“What?” Dwindle sputtered in disbelief, “That isn’t true, is it?”

“Of course not. The ruling power here just uses such baseless rumors to keep us in check. As Hunters, we hold favor with the masses. They see us as heroes. That favor threatens the ruling power, whether we mean for it to or not.”

Silence grew within the carriage besides the constant tinkering of the dwarfs that sat around busily repairing their damaged gear.

“I hope you find your friend, sir dwarf,” Joker said sincerely to Dwindle, her blind eyes somehow finding him.

“…yea, I hope so too,” Dwindle replied as their carriage entered the Golden Turtle district.