So much so an easy walk to the safe zone, Davren thought

The party finally, exhaustively exits the tall grass as the light dimmed to dawn. Even Jada kept her complaining to a minimum only mumbling a few times “who does he think he is” under her breath. Standing at the clearing the group realizes again that it is bigger than what it initially seemed. The wide open space was bright white with sand that was harder and tightly packed, unlike natural sand. Taking a tentative step onto the area Davren freezes as twenty four red eyes appear and a collective growl reverberates through the group's bones.

Shifting his eyes Davren recognizes the outline of twelve growling wolves. The largest reached the size of his knees. Their miniature stature doing nothing to remove the menace they oozed. Not having had an opportunity to read his bestiary this entire trip Davren had no idea what they were. Activating his analysis ability he blew out a breath of relief at the white glow overlaid each of the wolves body. A second look at them collectively showed a blue overlay causing him to check his internal health.

Above the wolves and to the left a bar appears showing a green bar which is a quarter empty. Davren hadn’t realized he was so exhausted, so much so that it had begun affecting his health. If this is happening to him he knew he needed to get this over with quickly before another of this team drops.

“Jada” he says, this is where trust comes in. Javen and I will be taking this pack on, you need to protect these two.

Laying down the rogue he turns to the healer pointing to the ground and says

“Sit!”

The healer sits without a peep bringing a grin to Davren’s face. Taking her position Jada stands with a focused expression surprising Davren. He looks at his brother who has the same look. Thinking back he goes over the fights they have been in and his eyes widen. They both have battle focus he mouths, mostly for himself. Outside of a fight it is clear that neither one is useful but battle focus is something that only happens to those on the true path to a battle build. This ability subconsciously uses essence to sharpen focus and a person's senses. These two likely don’t even know it's happening. If he could just mold them into shape this party just might be able to survive this nightmare. Well if not all of them then certainly he and his brother, maybe Jada also as Javen would never let him hear the end of it if she died.

“Immolate”

Davren says as the lead wolf explodes. He had noticed the shifting of the sands and growls grow louder signaling the approach of the lead wolf. Javen sliced the next one with a three swing combo jumping back as his opponent fell. Using his analysis ability again Davren waves his brother to him concerned. He had hoped for an easy battle but now his ability revealed a complication. The individual glow of two of the wolves have turned blue as if they seemingly received the experience of the two they dispatched.

Jada!!

He yells, seeing the wolves readying to spring forward. A concussive blast immediately follows blowing the pack back. At the same time Javen does a quick combo again taking out another one. Checking his ability again it reveals that out of the nine that are remaining now three have a blue glow.

Javen, fall back, he says, this is a little tricky I need to take them out in one shot.

Pulling out the Growler shield he plants it hard into the ground at the same time he reequips his sovereign shield.

“MID WIND”,

He punctuates as his body strains from the item draining another chunk of his reserves. Eight of the nine wolves were utterly destroyed leaving one panting but now glowing yellow. Watching as his sovereign shield breaks with a crash with him having no energy to maintain it. Where there was previously a cute tiny wolf now stood one at least five feet tall with spiked fur. It no longer had white fur instead it was gray, its eyes an emerald green but flashing with power. Moving at battering speed it crashed into the growler shield knocking Davren off his feet sending him tumbling. Exhausted he picked himself up as Javen jumped over him to engage the wolf. His wild swings didn’t have the same effect on the stronger, faster and seemingly smarter beast.

“Immolate”

Davren said, checking the system to see his reserves tick down to almost nonexistent. His eyes grow hazy as the wolf falls to the ground not dead but hurt badly. With unnatural resilience it stands moving with a limp holding its back left leg close to its body clearly damaged. Unbelievably it darts towards him faster than it should have been able to. The last image Davren sees is the yellow tinge of the floor of the clearing highlighting this wolf's jump in rank. Unable to avoid it any longer he falls face first into the clearing, his last thought being

“Mother is going to kill me”

Verion Kingdom - Throne Room - Former Queen Eylise (deceased)

Breathe Swain, breathe,

Swain thought to herself. A dragon killed the Queen. You are standing in a destroyed throne room. The rafters you are hiding in will likely fall any moment. You got this, you will not die, she mumbled to herself. Removing a thin rope from around her waist, Swain secured it to the nearest column. Without a second thought she leapt off the landing slowly lowering herself to the ground.

Not knowing how long it would be until someone came to check on the Queen's body. Scampering tentatively to the body lying prone in the former ornate throne room. Her legs covered in blood and lay at the foot of the stairs while her chewed upper half lay in a disjointed mess feet away. Swain had been sure that the dragon had swallowed her whole.

Swain had seen dead bodies before, stabbed, strangled, pummeled, diseased and the list goes on and on. Living on the street gave her a great education on death. Even having seen all she had, Swain was not prepared for the mangled mess that was former Queen Eylise. Her face was unrecognizable, her hair was in clumps entirely caked with blood and saliva. Her head was folded in on itself and her body was what was expected from a beast attack, twisted, chewed and missing pieces.

On her chest lay a golden necklace with a round pendant inlay with emerald stones. Swain thought this piece was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen. It glimmered, calling to her with its mesmerizing shine. It took her precious moments to come back to herself; she moved as quickly as she could, having realized where she was . Every second she wasted could end with her being caught or killed if that dragon returned. She carefully made her way to the necklace and as quickly as possible removed it from the Queen's body. The mangled flesh began to shrivel immediately after the emerald jewel was gone. The final visage was that of an old sickly mangled woman. Her crown dropped to the ground next to her without healthy young flesh to hold it in place.

Swain stood swiftly to find cover as faraway voices began to echo in the throne room. Hiding behind a nearby broken wall she pulls out a brown and battered pouch from in a hidden pocket secure inside her shirt. This flat bag was normally overlooked anytime she had been waylaid by bandits and gangs. Her young face, patched clothes and unkempt appearance normally kept her from being killed but did less for robbery and beatings when she didn’t cooperate. Because of the patches in her clothes not even a pat down revealed this treasure.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

This bag was gifted to her during her first job at seven years old. As she ran her thumb over the pouch she remembered fondly the face of her mentor, “the greatest thief ever” he called himself. “Sorath the untamed" was another name he went by due to his refusal to align with anyone, especially those who didn’t follow “the rules”. This way of operating was drilled into her for the four years he trained her. Those were the best years of her young life even though they lived literally in a hole in a wall. They “nested” as Sorath called it in between the walls of a house of an adventurer.

Since Gorath the Brave was rarely home we had it to ourselves most of the year, she thought, checking to see if the coast was clear.

She thought of the “trips” to nearby towns when Gorath’s magician friend stayed over. For some reason Sorath was always uncomfortable with the raven haired beauty. Swain could tell they knew each other from times they met on the street or shops but he never seemed to meet her eyes. Afterwards he would always drill Swain on the rules for hours.

She absentmindedly recited them to herself as she remembered her mentor and waited for her time to move.

Never take from the poor - those in a pit have a tougher climb to the top.

Never take more than is needed. - Greed has a way of destroying the soul and creating grudges

Always show respect to the healers - When you are hurt they come in handy

Stay memorable enough to gain an alibi but forgettable enough that you never stand out

Never start a battle you have no way to end - or if you do, make sure it’s for a worthwhile cause

Before you have a plan have an exit strategy

Never forget where you came from - if nothing else it gives you a crowd to hide behind

Never get attached to anything you would fear losing or leaving

Breaking that last one is what got Sorath killed and in an ironic twist would likely get her killed also. Swain shook her head, clearing the visions of her past before they had a chance to compromise her position.

Hearing the voices grow louder she moves to place the necklace into the pouch. Her face contorts in frustration as it refuses to enter it even as she attempted to force the pendant to comply. This had never happened, this pouch given to her by Sorath for a job well done has always seemed bottomless. This was a pouch of holding and a good one at that if what she overheard from various conversations was true. Most bags of holding had limited spots to hold items unless it cost a ton of gold. Also since she was currently formless she was unable to remove anything from it. This was her big secret, there were always questions about how she was so effective at big jobs, how did she transport goods? The real answer was this bottomless bag, no matter what she loaded in it the pouch never fully filled. She had the healer unload the goods for her and split the money when she was compensated. No one ever suspected the healer, if they did they never expected that a street kid to have a pouch of holding.

The real question was what is going on now. She tried placing a loose piece of wall in the bag and it disappeared from her hand just like many other items before. Giving up she placed the necklace around her neck taking care to ensure it was hidden underneath her clothing. Checking her exit, a crack in the wall just big enough for her to squeeze through leading back to the courtyard, she took off in a run.

Swain's heart was beating so hard she was afraid the guards would hear it. This was a job she never would have taken before. This had too much risk and not enough of a reward. Stealing from a minor criminal group, no problem, it was more of a headache for them to search for who did the deed than to just shake down another business owner. She never took so much that it would have been missed. Swain was careful to know her limits, she watched others get themselves killed for being too greedy. The only ones to remember them were their friends but never for long as this life kept coming.

Swain sneakily navigated every wall opening, hidden crawlspace and side hallway she had previously mapped until she was at the servants entrance of the huge castle. She joined a small crowd of children begging for scraps just in time to be chased off by the guards. These children squeezed through an opening in the wall that was not yet repaired. Swain noticed those guards were far from the brightest when it came to kids. When she was looking for a way in she watched as two of them would lead the guards away by causing them to have to chase them while others would beg for food the servants were more than happy to give.

Outside of the wall she ran with the other youth until they began to spill out into the main street. Sneaking behind the businesses and buildings she made her way to meet Trival. The shift in tone as she passed through the wealthy and safer areas to the less safe but still acceptable more seedy area would have been jarring for visitors to the capital. This shift started with the noticeable decrease in guard presence which led to a change in the types of businesses. The fancy inn’s gave way to inn’s hosting a rougher crowd. The wealthier people do not dare to exit their carriages until arriving at their destination or unless they have powerful looking guards. No leisurely strolls to peruse the wares of the shops here.

An invisible but silently agreed upon line divided the wealthy “safe” zones from even this “acceptable” area. Algrath town, as it was called, was located far from the castle and a few miles away from the real influential subjects of this kingdom. The buildings, while not shiny and new, were still well maintained. Both the wealthy and poor, if they could scrape up six months worth of wages, frequented Algrath to gamble, brawl, drink, find comfort and whatever else they could imagine.

Exiting the shadows provided by the night sky and the alleys Swain gasped as she found herself facing large sharp teeth revealed through the stretched maw of a white tiger with black stripes. A deep growl signaled for her to move no closer as its master stepped forward. The next thing Swain saw were stars as Trival’s backhanded slap caused her to stumble back into the alley.

Is this how you reward my generosity? He sneered. I gave you a generous deadline that made even my employees jealous. What am I supposed to tell them if I let a thief ignore those parameters?

Swain looked at the seven foot underboss with confusion. There was never an agreed upon deadline, she would have never trapped herself that way especially when she was sneaking into the capital.

Ignoring her silent thoughts Trival continued;

I had a deal lined up and now I will be down a few gold because of you.

Trival held his right hand in a threatening motion, the little bit of light there was gleaming off of the gold rings. Seeming to think better of it he straightened his yellow outfit and held out his hand expectedly instead. Seeing her chance Swain blurted out the first thing on her mind.

This clears Arn right? That was the agreement, no more beatings and his five year work clock begins now.

Yes,yes, I gave my word did I not? He works for me five more years and he goes free unless he can find a legendary haul and he goes free immediately. Now hand it over, Trival demanded

With one weary eye on the tiger Swain loosened her coat around her neck reaching for the necklace she hid for this handoff.

What?? She blurts out perplexed.

Patting the thin shirt she wore panic grips her as her bare neck revealed the missing jewelry.

Wait! Swain shrieked,

Trivals bloodthirsty black eyes had shifted making his face seem serene and calm. That was never good, Trival was known for his ruthlessness. The tiger was always with him but personal grudges were dealt with by his own hands. Swain readied herself to run but before she could force her legs to follow her command a sharp pain burst came from her left side. She dropped to the ground sliding off of the large jagged blade held in the hand of Trival.

That is the second time you’ve stolen something from me. Your friend will pay your debt as it is no longer your worry.

Trival takes a yellow handkerchief from his jacket, shakes it out, and cleans the blade as he and the tiger turn walking away. Swains vision grows fuzzy as her eyes close weakly.

“Insufficient life detected”

Swain hears from a monotone voice as consciousness eludes her.