19

Rufi spat out the lump of Chaaraam he had been chewing on. Tonight the package was laced with a lump of Como Powder, a desiccated flower bud that spiked the user’s focus and energy levels. Rufi felt like he could literally see in the dark. He had been lying on the opposite riverbank from the breaker’s yard for almost two hours as his Goblins slowly took up their positions. Rufi was dressed from head to toe in black, his weapons smeared in ash to ensure no glints of light would alert the sentries. It had rained on and off ever since Rufi had taken up position, and despite being cold and soaking wet, that worked in his favour. The sentries huddled together under any cover they could find, sharing smokes, and not paying much attention to the small dock at the back of the breaker’s yard. A bulky figure slithered into cover next to him, similarly dressed in black.

“Chuch’s boys are almost in position,” Pauli said to him as he settled down. “How many have you counted?”

“At least a dozen,” Rufi replied. “Last boat came in an hour ago. They packed everything up, so I don’t think they’re expecting another one.”

“We good then?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you hear back from Tiko?”

“Yep, looks like he sold nearly a third of the shipment to Cameron.”

“A third?” Pauli said. “Where the hell would a low level dealer like him get that much coin from?”

“I dunno,” Rufi said. “But it’s all in there for the taking. If we pull this off, we can eliminate a massive chunk of the market in one night. Another week or two and it should all be gone.”

“You think the Kings will stop asking where it came from in the first place?”

“That’s the plan.”

Rufi rolled onto his back and began checking his weaponry. He had a short, single bladed sword strapped to his thigh, a steel hatchet on the opposite hip, two oneshots, a thick club across his back, and a medley of knives strapped around his body. He took a deep breath and felt oddly calm. This was a world Rufi understood. No more subterfuge, no more clever words, no more underhanded backroom deals, just clear cut violence.

“Once we’re in there, stick close to me,” Rufi said to Pauli. “Keep your head down and don’t get too involved.”

Pauli nodded and licked at his thick lips nervously.

“You’ll be fine, just stay by me.” Rufi patted his broad back and could feel the nervous heat coming off him.

That was to be expected. Pauli, for all his brilliance, was no fighter. He could definitely throw hands and get involved, but this was a different level of violence. He hadn’t served. He wasn’t in the Deep Forest with Rufi and Chuch. It made him softer. More liable to panic.

There was a slight hissing sound to his left, and a figure appeared in the darkness next to them.

“Fuck Chuch! I nearly shanked you!” Rufi growled at him, his hand loosening from his blade.

“You should have heard me way before then,” Chuch replied. “You’re getting sloppy.”

“What are you doing here?” Rufi said to him.

“You think I’m letting you kick in the back door with just him next to you?” Chuch said, nodding his head at Pauli.

“That was supposed to be the plan,” Rufi growled. He loved Chuch, but he could be a fucking arsehole sometimes. “Whatever, you’re here now. Are your boys in place?”

“Yep. We should be lighting up in a few minutes,” Chuch said, his voice as placid and emotionless as ever.

“Alright, let’s go.”

They pulled their black balaclavas down over their faces and stole down the bank of the river. A small boat was waiting for them. The river was only two hundred meters wide here. They could row across in a few minutes as long as the guards were distracted. Rufi hopped in the boat while Chuch and Pauli pushed it out. They jumped in, and here Pauli proved his worth to the mission. Pauli was abominably strong in his shoulders and backs. He grabbed the oars and began to row them across without so much as a splash, the boat skimming the surface of the sluggish river. Rufi watched the warehouse for any sign of movement.

Then the chaos began.

A fire erupted somewhere on the other side of the warehouse, and he heard men shouting and running. Then there were a few screams.

“Let’s go. Come on!” Chuch growled, a blade in his hands, willing the boat on.

They reached the opposite bank just as another fire erupted to their left. They stole from the boat and up the bank in silence. Two guards remained standing at the back entrance, but their attention was fully on the fires on the opposite side of the building. They never heard the near six hundred pounds of Goblin steal up behind them. Rufi thumped one across the back of his head with his club, and Chuch brained the other one with the pommel of his machete. They laid the guards down and then entered the warehouse in single file.

Heavily armed men were running back and forth along the gangways and the warehouse floor. There were a lot more than twelve of them. Cameron must have been hiding these ones in the warehouse. Rufi calmly assessed the situation. There was no way they would be able to steal nearly two hundred kilos of Burn and get out without being seen now. Rufi looked at Chuch and he nodded in understanding.

“Stay here,” Rufi whispered to Pauli. “Guard our exit.”

Pauli nodded and gripped his club tighter. Rufi and Chuch stole from the shadows of the back entrance and worked their way around large stacks of broken down machinery. The warehouse space was big but not big enough that they didn’t have a clear eyeline to the other side. There had to be at least twenty men, all armed, running towards the main entrance where Chuch’s Goblins were trying to break in the front door. They would be there a while. The door was heavily reinforced with massive metal beams. Men were in the upper tiers taking pot shots down at the Goblins with heavy crossbows. This wasn’t good. They couldn't afford for this to become an extended siege.

Just as Rufi was calculating another plan, four Humans rounded a corner. They were running with a barrel full of arrows to take to the men on the gangways. They stopped dead when they saw the two black garbed intruders. One opened his mouth to yell, and Chuch took him through the throat with a throwing knife. His cry turned into a bloody gurgle as he slumped to the floor. Rufi covered the space between them into two bounding steps. He brought his heavy, iron studded, club down on one of the men. The unfortunate man dropped the barrel and raised his arm to protect himself. The club snapped his forearm in two and then brained him anyway. The man at the back of the group turned and ran. Rufi took off after him while Chuch dealt with the remaining Human. Rufi leapt at the fleeing man and gored him around the waist. As the hapless thug tried to scream for help, Rufi slammed his face into the floor. Once. Twice. Three times, and his body went limp.

Taking deep breaths, Rufi pulled himself to his feet and looked behind to see Chuch following him. They slunk back into the shadows and watched the continued chaos in the warehouse. The door was under heavy attack now. There were booming blows shaking the whole side of the warehouse as the Goblins outside tried to break their way in. More men flooded into the warehouse carrying more arrows and more crossbows.

“This fuckers got an army,” Chuch growled, his golden eyes glinting in the darkness.

“Where is he?” Rufi said.

“Who? Cameron?”

“Yeah. He’s not out here directing traffic.” Rufi’s eyes roamed around the warehouse until he saw an office on the third floor with yellow frosted windows. He saw a shape hovering in front of the window. “There he is.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Cut the head off the snake?” Chuch asked.

“Yeah. It’s three flights, and once we’re on the second, we’ll be exposed. We gotta move quick and hard before they have a chance to rally. Don’t engage, just move ‘em out of the way.”

Chuch nodded. Now Rufi was glad to have him by his side. If you ever found yourself outnumbered fifteen to one, Chuch would be the Goblin you would want at your side. He was unflappable and could keep a clear head no matter the odds.

“Stairs are over there,” Chuch said, nodding his head at a flight of metal steps. They were in the middle of the warehouse floor.

“Alright. We go, and we go hard. Now!”

They tore from their cover and sprinted towards the steps. A man stepped accidentally in front of them and had a chunk sliced off his face for his troubles. He fell to the floor screaming. Rufi and Chuch were already on the second tier by the time anyone noticed. The next flight of stairs was halfway around the tier. They ran anticlockwise. Three Humans, taking potshots at the Goblins outside, turned to see them. One got a shot off and hit a glancing blow on Chuch's leg. His steps never faltered. He brought his machete down and hacked the shooter through the chest. Rufi barreled straight through the other two, knocking one over the railing onto the warehouse floor below and sending the other flying through the window. Now more Humans had seen them. They screamed and turned with their crossbows raised.

“Shit!” Rufi growled.

He put his head down and sprinted for the stairs, bolts clanging and flying all around him. He hit the stairs and took them two at a time. He heard Chuch on the steps behind him. They hit the upper tier and kept running. A crossbow bolt hit Rufi in the side of the shoulder. It was a ricochet and only dug a few inches deep, but the pain seared across his upper body. He yanked the bolt out and then ducked behind a barrel of arrows as the men on the third tier loosed bolts at them. Chuch skidded to a halt behind him, breathing heavily.

“You good?” Rufi shouted at him.

“Yeah,” Chuch said with a grimace of pain. He had lost his machete and now had a pair of daggers in each hand.

Rufi heard more coming up the stairs behind them.

“They’re gonna surround us,” Rufi growled. “You try and keep them from swarming up the stairs, I’ll draw the fire of the ones up here. I’ll clear the landing and head straight for the office. You follow up behind. Okay?”

“Understood,” Chuch said.

He patted Rufi on the back and then ran towards the stairs. A man was just cresting the stairs when Chuch’s boot caught him in the mouth. He flashed his blades, slashing at the men, forcing them back down the stairs. Rufi broke cover and sprinted the opposite way at the same time. There were only four men on this tier, and like fools, they had all loosed their crossbow bolts at the same time. As they tried to winch in another bolt, Rufi fell on them in a violent frenzy. He smashed one man across the mouth with his club and then hurled it at another, knocking him over the railing and sending him plummeting down to the warehouse floor. He pulled out his hatchet as the third man grabbed him around the waist. Rufi brought the hatchet down on his back, chopping at any bit of meat he could reach. He looked up just time to the handle of a crossbow coming down on his face. He turned his head away at the last moment and took a nasty blow around the ear. He stumbled as the final thug brought the crossbow down again. Rufi raised his arm and took the blow on his forearm. With visceral snarl, he brought his hatchet around and caved in the man’s skull. He flopped lifelessly over the railing and fell. Rufi stumbled forward, feeling the hot, sticky wetness of blood spreading across his balaclava.

He was sucking wind hard as he reached the office. Rufi raised his leg to kick the door in. Just as his boot made contact with the door, some generational battle instinct that had kept his people alive for thousands of years kicked in. He threw himself to one side as the door flew open and a bolt flew right by where the middle of his chest had just been. Rufi snarled and thundered into the office, flying across the desk and grabbing up the sandy haired Human that was trying to grab for another oneshot. He was slight, even for a Human, and looked like he was barely out of his teenage years. He was wearing some sort of ridiculous furlined long coat and a single golden tooth in his mouth. He fought against Rufi, but only for a moment, before the Goblin overpowered him and slammed him into the wall.

“Cameron Haney?” Rufi growled as the youth tried to stand.

“You’ve fucked up big time, pal.” Cameron said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. “Do you know who I am?”

“Cameron Haney?” Rufi said again, slightly non-plussed.

“That’s fuckin’ right! And I’ll have your head on a…”

He didn’t get any further as Rufi boxed him square in the forehead, stunning him. Rufi grabbed him, wrapped a thick arm around his throat, and placed a knife under his chin.

“Now you’re gonna hand over all your Burn, and if you comply and don’t annoy me any further, I might let you live this night.”

“Oi! Come out with yore ‘ands up! We’ve got yore mate!”

Rufi looked up, and Cameron chuckled through bloodied teeth.

“What was that?” Cameron said.

“Shut up,” Rufi growled, squeezing tight enough to cut off Cameron’s air.

He dragged the youth, gasping and wheezing, to the door and thrust him out in front of him as a meat shield. Rufi peaked over Cameron’s shoulder and saw a dozen men surrounding a bloody Chuch, holding him down, with as many crossbows pointed at him. He snarled and snapped at them but there was a bolt buried in his thigh and it was bleeding badly. The Goblin’s assaulting the front door had apparently given up as the warehouse had fallen silent. A baldheaded thug with half an ear missing and an ugly zigzag scar across his forehead levelled a crossbow at Rufi from across the tier.

“Let ‘im go!” he shouted.

“Fuck off!” Rufi snarled back.

“We’ll kill yore mate!”

“And I’ll open up this cunt from ear to ear!” Rufi shouted back.

Rufi dug the tip of his knife into Cameron’s throat, making him thrash and kick uselessly.

“You do that, and we’ll kill the lot of you!” the thug shouted back.

“Well then, I guess it’s a matter of who wants to die less,” Rufi said, his voice steely calm, even though his heart was thudding in his chest. “What do you say Chuchy, you ready to meet your ancestors as their equals?” Rufi shouted.

“I’m ready to die right here and feast in the Halls of Warriors!” Chuch shouted back, maniacal laughter in his voice.

“Fuckin’ Goblins,” the bald headed thug spat. “Fuckin’ tapped the lot of you!”

“Hey Cameron,” Rufi said, shaking the youth. “You ready to die, mate? I dunno where the fuck you pigskin fuckers end up once your dead, but are you ready to find out?”

Cameron fought against Rufi's grip and then screamed when Rufi dug the blade into his cheek.

“I’m guessing Cameron here is paying you decent coin if you’re willing to do all this for him. Is he up to date with all his payments? Coz if I off this cunt and then you kill me, you’ll be out of a wage, and you’ll be hunted from here to the Mountains.”

The thug hesitated and looked at Cameron.

“Alright! Alright!” Cameron gargled. “Stop! Nobody has to die!”

“You hear that?” Rufi shouted to the thug. “You let my man go there, and you pack up all the Burn you got and give it to my man waiting at the back. Once he’s got that and we’re all safe and sound I’ll let your boy go.”

The thug looked at Cameron, who gave him a reluctant nod.

“Do as he says!”

The thug turned to his men and rapped out a few quick orders. Chuch was let up but the crossbows were still trained on him. He stood up and spat blood from his mouth. After a few more tense minutes, twenty three bricks of Burn, tied with red string, were stacked up and piled into two big duffel bags.

“Where’s the rest?” Rufi growled in Cameron’s ear.

“That’s it! That’s what I got left. I sold the rest!”

“You better not be fuckin’ lying to me,” Rufi snarled in his ear.

“I’m not! That’s all of it!”

Rufi nodded to Chuch, who was walked down the steps with crossbows still trained on him. Pauli came out of the shadows and shouldered the two heavy bags and then walked slowly backwards to the rear exit with Chuch limping behind him.

“Right, the rest of you fuck off to that side of the warehouse. Leave your crossbows.”

The men dropped their crossbows and crossed the warehouse floor.

“Turn around!” Rufi barked at them. “Face the wall!”

They did as instructed.

Rufi dragged the still struggling Cameron down two flights of stairs and then walked through the back exit. Pauli and Chuch were already in the boat with the Burn. They pushed the boat out to the water. Men had gathered by the backdoor, watching them cautiously. Rufi backed up with Cameron all the way to the water’s edge.

“I’ll be seeing you around Cam,” Rufi growled in his ear.

He kicked Cameron in the back, sending him flying into the gathered men, turned, and leapt in the water after the boat. He heard the twang of crossbows just before he hit the freezing water. Gasping for air, he swam as fast as he could. Chuch and Pauli dragged him into the boat and began rowing furiously. One more bolt sailed through the air and landed short.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill you!” Cameron screamed from the dock. “When I catch you, I’ll fuckin’ burn you alive!”

In response, Rufi stood up and stuck both his middle fingers up at Cameron. Cameron’s men had regrouped enough to launch their own boat into the river to pursue them. They only made it a third of the way across before they suddenly bailed as their boat went down.

“I put holes in all their boats,” Pauli wheezed as he pumped the oars back and forth.

“Good thinking,” Rufi said, slumping down in the boat.

He patted Chuch on the shoulder.

“You alright?”

In response, Chuch began chuckling. Then laughing. Then he roared triumphantly.

“You’re fucked Chuch,” Rufi said, laughing along with him. “Dump the Burn in the river and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“I’m hungry,” Chuch said as he heaved the duffle bags into the water.

"You're bleeding," Rufi said.

"Still hungry."