There were several steps in our plan. The first part was simple enough. We had to figure out exactly where they would begin the sacrifice. The temple was in ruins after our raid and was not going to be rebuilt in a few short days. For this mission, I selected Cao Tzu to spy on the worshipers. Her mission was to simply blend in and become just another face in the crowd. After giving her some robes that Straden and Mil’Tuk “liberated” from a priestess of Ys’Tar, she was sent to where the faithful were the most numerous. Even that was not as easy as we would have liked it. With only one temple in the city, where was a priest to go?
While Cao Tzu was trying to uncover that particular mystery, Straden and Mil’Tuk were tasked with the second part of the operation. Mapping out the sewers while Octavian and I needed to kill two birds with one stone. First was getting a map of Akari, that was easy enough. With a map of the city we would align it with the sewer map and pinpoint any location we desired. Straden and Mil’Tuk had their work cut out for them. The sewers were a labyrinthian nightmare that had the added bonus of having a smell that would wake the dead. I pitied them. Yes I did send them in there in the first place, but it brought no joy to me. We all make sacrifices.
Once Octavian and I were done, then came the real hard work, and far more dangerous than wandering around in the sewer. I went to learn everything I could about alchemy. I was searching for something potent. In my homeland, one of our weapons of war was an ingenious concoction that made for a power that was often mistaken for the wrath of the Gods or the shock and awe of thunder roaring in the heavens. Thus it was given the name “Roharim Thunder.” I wanted to replicate the explosive, yet that was easier said than done. It was one thing to use that power to blow apart a ship and reduce it to rubble, but it was something else entirely to actually make the concoction.
Even more so when you consider that I had no previous knowledge in making said explosive. Naturally I couldn’t simply walk into a store and ask the merchant with the same naive candidness one would ask a fishmonger if they had halibut. Even if I could simply ask, I’d have no idea how to properly mix it. All I knew for sure is that when personal experience fails, gold can buy you just about anything. Octavian and I searched high and low for someone who knew what they were doing and were willing to take a risk and create this dangerous concoction. Fortunately, we found just the individual.
We heard stories about him through the small —less than savory— communities within the alchemical world. There is an almost invisible line between genius and insanity. This man crossed that line on a daily basis. They called him Vatrez. No one who told us about him knew where he came from or what he did before he came to the blasted lands. All anybody ever truly knew was that he was a type of mad genius. If you needed something built, Vatrez was said to be your man.
He lived in one of the more run down parts of the city. The type of place that was dangerous to be in. I had no qualms about going into the slums of Akari, for Octavian and I could handle ourselves well enough. The issue would have been getting Vatrez to aid us in our little project. From what they told us of him, he was resistant against authority. Eventually we tracked him down to his lair outside of Akari. We bought ourselves some horses and rode out. We found his home nestled in a canyon wall to avoid other people. It was a bizarre structure that I had never encountered before.
It was as if someone jammed the foundation of the building deep within the rock face and kept it from falling down as if to spite gravity itself. I couldn’t see any way to climb up the cliff without some tools that we were lacking. We hadn’t expected to come across anything in this nature. I looked over to my right side and found a type of platform. I inspected it and examined it. As I knelt down to brush my fingers along the platform, I heard a voice call out to me.
“Who are you?”
I whirled around and tried to find the source of the voice, instinctively pulling my sword out and getting ready for a surprise attack.
“Over here, dumbass…”
I turned to find what looked like some type of box with a funnel sticking out of it. I stepped forward and tapped it. The voice came from the box, sounding annoyed the longer I inspected the strange creation.
“Yes, that's where my voice is coming from. What do you want?”
Momentarily in awe over the pure genius of this invention, I spoke into the funnel after a short pause after searching for my words.
“Hello. I am looking for Vatrez.”
“Speaking…”
I would have asked how he was able to speak without even being there, but I didn’t want to waste his time or mine. I leaned into the funnel closely and spoke clearly.
“I heard that you are a brilliant man. I need to speak to you about a project I need help with. Something I need your expertise on.”
“No.”
That was all there was. Just a flat “no” without so much as an explanation. I spoke again.
“What do you mean ‘no?’”
“I mean I’m not interested in working for you, or any one of Lak’Ashara’s goons. Go find someone else to be your lackey. Oh, and if you try to force me, then there are plenty of defenses here that can put you six feet under.”
I glanced at Octavian and he crossed his arms, clearly annoyed by the man. I tried to keep a level head.
“I think there's a misunderstanding. I don’t work for Lak’Ashara. I serve myself.”
“And I care, because?” He trailed off for a moment, expecting my reply.
“I can tell that you don’t like Lak'Ashara very much. Can I assume that you’re not too fond of this Ys’Tar goddess she worships?”
“You’d be correct. What's your point?”
“Well, I believe we have a common enemy. There is supposed to be a mass sacrifice in Akari. I want to stop it.
There was a long, painful silence that grew louder with each passing second. Finally, we heard a noise. A large man sized box descended from a rope onto the platform. As I made my way to step inside, Octavian grabbed my shoulder.
“My Lord, please reconsider. This man may be…unhinged.”
I stared at Octavian for a moment before I gently took his hand off my shoulder.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“What other choice do I have?”
I stepped into the box and was elevated up, leaving Octavian down below to watch for anyone coming our direction. I suspected that there were eyes following our every movement. Whether they were the violet eyes that lingered in my mind or a set of new eyes, I had no idea.
The box arrived at its destination. I looked down and saw Octavian far below the cliff side. I held onto the railing tightly, lest I fall to my death from the height. It would take a madman just as crazy as Vatrez to attempt to scale the cliff face, and that man had better be endowed with a luck that only a gambling addict could only dream of.
I found the front door and ventured beyond its threshold. Inside I found a workshop full of strange items and artifacts. Inventions that Vatrez made. To my mind, these objects were as alien to me as if a man who couldn’t speak your language was attempting to tell you the nature of the universe. Even if you could understand the words, your mind couldn’t comprehend all facets of that knowledge.
“Watch where you step.”
I spun on my heel to the direction of the voice and saw a man working on something on a table. I looked down and saw that there were still strange items on the floor. I carefully made my way to the man, assuming that it was Vatrez. I was correct in that. Vatrez was wearing some type of eyewear to magnify his view. He appeared to have a sharp tan, though it was not the sun’s light that had given it to him. It was more of the type of darkening one would get from diligently working at a forge and alchemical works. I could see his blonde hair and face stubble from where I stood as Vatrez peered at the object he was tinkering with. I couldn’t quite tell what exactly he was working on, nor do I think I’d have been able to know if he explained it to me.
“You can stop staring and get to the point.”
Vatrez snapped me out of my stupor and I cleared my throat accordingly.
“Ahem, yes.”
“So you said you weren’t with Lak’Ashara and her cult?”
He didn’t even glance up at me for a moment as he was focused on his work.
“No. Far from it, actually.” I stepped closer to get a better look at what he was doing. Still no response from him.
“So what do you want?”
“You clearly are not friendly with the cult of Ys’Tar. They don’t know my name, but I made them my enemy. They are planning on conducting a mass sacrifice, and we need your help.”
“My help? You still haven’t answered my question. What exactly do you want from me?”
“I have been told that you are very skilled in creating things. Especially in creating alchemical concoctions. I need something to disrupt that sacrifice.”
For the first time since I arrived, he looked up at me through those large goggles on his face that magnified his eyes.
“What, like some poison?”
I gave him a coy little smile and stroked my goatee.
“Actually, I was thinking something along the lines of…shock and awe.”
Vatrez gave me a mischievous little smile and took his spectacles off and set them aside.
“Well, I’d say I’d like your style. But what exactly is in it for me?”
I shrugged, thinking of some reward for him.
“I have plenty of gold I liberated from some coffers.”
Vatrez thought for a moment and stood up to pace back and forth.
“I have no interest in gold, but what I do want is just as precious. I want revenge.”
I gave a nonchalant nod and rolled my shoulders.
“Name the target. Who do I need to kill?”
“Oh, it's nothing like that, my friend. Our targets are the same people. The High Priest of Ys’Tar will be conducting the sacrifice himself, yes? I want you to promise me that no matter what, his blood will be spilt. Do you understand?”
I bowed my head in understanding.
“Consider it done. Now, will you help me?”
Vatrez quickly went over to an alchemical table and began to work.
“I’ll have it ready for you before tomorrow. Just tell me when you want it and how much you want.”
I grinned wickedly and looked at Vatrez right in his eyes as I leaned forward on his table.
“Enough to blow a hole through the sewer walls. As for when, I’ll contact you when we find the right place.”
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for that revelation. A few days after I arrived back in Akari, Cao Tzu returned with information. The priests were going to the market square to begin their lottery. The citizens would be forced to put their names in a great urn. The urn would then be mixed up and the names pulled out. Those unfortunate enough to have their names pulled would immediately be sacrificed to Ys’Tar.
All we had to do was wait. The time to strike arrived, and Vatrez had delivered the payload. In the dead of night, we snuck several barrels into the sewer, each barrel filled with the concoction. If all went according to plan, then the crowd that would gather could see a different execution.
We waited for the right opportunity to strike. The day of the sacrifice, a crowd was forced to gather into the market square. We all hid in the sewers, waiting for our chance to shine. The barrels of explosives were placed in the correct areas. Cao Tzu poked her head out of the sewer entrance on the ground and watched as everything fell into place. The crowd was large, the sacrifices would be many. The old priest from the previous announcement had arrived, and began with his black sermon.
“Good people of Akari! Ys’Tar’s wrath is great and terrible, but we can avoid it! Some of you may not approve of what we do here today, but this is for the betterment of all of you! What we do today will be as sweet as a summer's breeze compared to what great and mighty Ys’Tar will do to us if we do not appease her!”
Cao Tzu climbed down the sewer ladder and signaled us to begin the operation. Octavian nodded and was the first to take a torch. We had tied cloth to the barrels as a fuse. We lit it on fire and the cloth burned with added speed thanks to the oil we dipped the cloth in. Topside, the sermon continued.
“We have been blessed this day, and we will appease our lady and her chosen priestess! Now, brothers and sisters, we will begin!”
The priest pulled out the first name from the urn and looked carefully at it. It was the name of a young girl. She was picked to be the first sacrifice. Thankfully, before the guards were able to apprehend her, our bomb was set off. There was a loud rumble in the ground that shook the surface. From our perspective, we were nearly deafened by the explosion as we scurried out. The bombs were placed in a way that wouldn’t cause an explosion topside. Rather, the area where the sacrifice was to take place would cave in and create a large sinkhole. By the time the ground began to dip, it was too late. The crowd panicked and the cultits were sucked into the abyss and then crushed to death by the rubble. We made it to where those that died were of the cult, and the civilians were unharmed.
It was an immense victory for us, and one of my proudest moments. That night, we celebrated with a round of drinks and good will. Even Octavian was in good spirits.
Then, when morning came we were all hungover from the night of revelry. The once cheerful bar was not filled with people too intoxicated to move and too hurt to do anything. That's why we were so easily found by the city guards. To our misfortune, someone had witnessed us carrying barrels into the sewer. The witness had waited until after the deed was done to alert the guards. Even now I’m kicking myself over how easily we were caught.
When they came, I tried to pull my sword out, but dropped it and began to clutch my head in agony. One of the rare times I allowed myself to drink that much. An important lesson to be sure. Even mighty Brutus was unable to fight thanks to his night spent drinking and whoring. Not that he was arrested of course. While the commotion at the bar was going on, he was sound asleep with several women wrapped around his arms. This was one of my more embarrassing moments…
Thankfully, this was not the end of the story. In fact, this turned into a blessing. For when my hangover finally lifted, I was to meet a queen.