ARTIFACT ABILITIES

Dampening

While stealth abilities are active, all Rebirth and NPCs within 100 yards have their awareness reduced by 66%.

Peacock’s finally calm heart jumped back into his throat. Holy hell, no wonder that orb was worth so much.

The orb had vanished from his inventory on use, but the ability he’d got from it made it all worthwhile, especially since it was probably the reason he got out of the city in the first place.

Peacock tried to recall what Aisha had said when he’d picked up the orb. Something about syncing? Maybe that was why he’d got such an impressively useful ability from it. Peacock closed his screen. It looked like he needed to find more artifact orbs.

He stalked unseen back to his cave, his mind whirring with the possibilities trapped in glowing orbs. He was so enamored with his daydreams, he didn’t stop to consider how he was going to explain it all to Cormac until he stepped into the cave.

Cormac was on him in a flash. “What the hell did you do, Shade?”

Peacock suppressed a smirk. With his hunched shoulders, clenched fists, and red face, Cormac looked like a seven-foot-tall toddler throwing a tantrum. “My name’s Peacock.”

In yet another thing Cormac had decided in his all-knowing arrogance, he’d given him and Ferret new ‘codenames’ to throw off anyone who might have heard of them in the past. If Cormac wanted fake names with his secret sources, more power to him, but he’d also insisted on using their codenames at all times.

Cormac’s face grew a deeper shade of crimson. “After your stunt, you won’t be Peacock or Shade! We’ll be lucky if the entire city doesn’t descend on the jungle, looking for the thief with thirty-three thousand gold on their head! Thank all that’s holy nobody knows you're a dragon, or the entire jungle would already be on fire!”

Peacock flinched. The memory of the Beastfolk he’d run into filled his limbs with ice.

Cormac took his reaction as submission and doubled down, approaching Peacock until he could see the veins popping up on his forehead with disturbing clarity. “How are we supposed to conduct business if you’re worth more than nearly everything in the city? What was so damn important, you couldn’t leave it alone and stick to the plan?”

Peacock gathered himself up, locked eyes with Cormac, and lied. “I don’t know, okay? The warriors had a staff they were going to give the healer. They’d left it on one of the beds. I was curious.”

“Curious? After all the time I apparently wasted teaching you how to steal, you got curious?” Cormac’s voice grew deeper with every word. “Show me this staff.”

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“I… dropped it as soon as the bounty message popped up. I hoped if I put it back, the guards would leave me alone.”

Cormac uttered a sound halfway between a roar and a screech. He threw his hands up in the air and stomped off further into the cave.

“A dragon after my heart.” Ferret appeared from behind a rock, twirling a coin between his fingers. He stuck his tongue out in the direction Cormac had retreated. “Thinks he can come in here and force us to follow his ridiculous rules. Thieving should be by gut instinct. Leave it to a Faefolk to suck the fun out of illegal activities.”

Peacock stifled a chuckle. Ferret’s rule-free creed probably had something to do with his inability to live inside the city. “I can’t say I dislike all of Cormac’s rules, as much as I hate him. He could try pulling that stick out his rear end every once in a while, though, and allow a little improvisation.”

Peacock walked further into the cave, Ferret at his side.

“Perhaps a little less creative than stealing tens of thousands of gold worth of things,” Ferret said.

“One item, Ferret. One. Plus, it was pretty shiny. I don’t think you’d have left it alone, either.”

“Absolutely not. That’s why Cormac doesn’t send me to get things that need a delicate touch.”

A shred of guilt wormed its way into Peacock’s conscious. In a way, he had broken Cormac’s trust. Then again, Cormac still held the truth of his existence for ransom. For now. Peacock grimaced. “Hey, Ferret.”

“Yeah?”

“Do thieves share info with each other, like with different competing groups?”

“Not usually. Info is the most valuable currency, after all. A big score shared means less for all.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Ferret laughed. “Cormac’s ‘cut’ is well above what real thief families expect. Families run by contribution and need, with a big emphasis on what each member wants to share. Cormac just runs on greed. But you add in different families and things get messy, fast.” He eyed Peacock. “Why? You plan on recruiting another family, or afraid someone saw your shiny object?”

Peacock grinned nervously. “Uh, more the latter.” Less an object, and more a big, shiny dragon, but whatever.

“Eh, I’d leave it. Trust me, those high-priced items are real tempting, but they’re nothing but trouble. I say let’s focus on figuring out how to get Lord Iron Fist out of our hair, then go back to pickpocketing.”

“Right. Good idea.” Not that he had any intention of doing that. After a taste of an Artifact Orb’s power, all he wanted was more. A couple more, and Cormac wouldn’t be an issue.

Peacock collapsed atop his nest; only mildly surprised Cormac wasn’t there. The paltry set of coins Cormac allowed him to have lay under him, smooth and comforting. Even if coins didn’t make dragons stronger, they certainly made excellent bedding material.

Ferret moved over to his bed, a makeshift wooden frame covered in furs, and promptly rolled himself up in a fuzzy skin like a burrito.

Peacock stared at the Ferret cocoon. “Hey, Ferret?”

“Yeah?”

“How bad is it to have a big bounty on your head?”

“Depends. Real bad if you walk around for the world to see. But it’s not like you’ll be doing that soon. As long as you don’t get seen, the bounty doesn’t matter. Just business as usual for us, right?”

“Right.”

The memory of the warriors and healer rose unbidden. It brought with it a surprising melancholy he couldn’t quite place. Was he lonely? That made little sense. Even if he hated Cormac, Ferret was fun to be around, so why did the idea of never having a conversation in town make him feel sad? Being isolated was better, safer.

Peacock sighed and curled into a ball. It made little sense, and frankly, he was done thinking about it.

“Oh, Peacock?”

“What is it?”

“You going to molt?”

Peacock’s head shot up. With everything else that happened, he’d forgotten. “Yeah!”

Ferret laughed. “That’s the spirit! Maybe you’ll get big enough to swallow Cormac whole!”

Peacock chuckled. “Maybe.”

As he triggered the molt and initiated sleep, all went black.