They all watched her from behind their hideous masks as she passed them. Men in silver and bronze armour. Spiked gauntlets, katanas, daggers and shurikens adorned around their belts. These were her halls. How dare they take them from her.

The Queen of Thieves strode up the stairways with a fury upon her, Dudley trailing behind. None of her thieves could be seen. Whether they fled at the sight of Inferno or were done away with in some other manner remained to be seen. Only assassins now occupied Haytham Cutter’s castle. Before she burst through the doors into what was once their throne room, she felt Dudley’s gloved hand grasp her shoulder. He pulled her back. Behind his raccoon bandanna, his eyes seemed concerned, afraid even. “Darling, we should think this through before speaking with them.”

Victoria frowned behind her domino mask. “They took our bloody castle, Dudley!”

“Which they initially gifted to us,” he pointed out diplomatically. “We should have expected this after abandoning them at the harbour. They must be particularly vexed after all the carnage the Night Fang caused there.”

Victoria was not placated by her King’s affirmations. She remained seething, indignant, and utterly hopeless. They were outnumbered. Their thieves were nowhere to be found. She was still furious. She kicked the doors asunder and stormed through.

The Velociraptor’s assassins had ransacked their throne room. The suits of knight armour were toppled over, metal plates sprawled across the crimson carpets which had also been ripped to shreds by spears. The glass cases around their jewels and gems had been smashed, their trinkets seized. It did not feel pleasant to be on the receiving end of theft. The Velociraptor’s goons were in the midst of ripping down their portraits. He was standing by her makeshift throne, the white raptor skull tainted with dirt and blood. His servile witch was standing by his side, her red eyepatch flashing by the sconces as she observed the surrounding chaos. The raptor skull crookedly turned towards the Queen.

“My King and Queenliness,” he greeted, raising his clawed hand. “I do love what you have done with the castle.” The bottomless eye sockets veered to the pack of assassins that were ripping apart the portrait of a prongdeer. “Sorry that my men got a bit carried away observing your finery.”

Victoria felt the rage burning brighter within her. To attack him here in front of all these mystical life-takers would be suicide… but she was still bloody tempted. Before she could act on her thoughts, something caught her eye. The ominous crate that she and Dudley were tasked to protect was being hauled away by two assassins. The painted ram’s face snarled at her as it passed. We should have thrown in it in the river while we had the chance…. She could not say for certain what the vials were to be used for. She knew for a certainty that it would be something unpleasant. Enough to frighten her and Dudley into severing their ties with the Inferno altogether.

“Thanks for looking after our cargo,” the Velociraptor said with a cruel inflection in his voice. “Although I am rather hurt to see that you peaked.” The raptor skull slowly shook from side to side in disappointment as he tutted.

“What are those vials being used for?” the King of Thieves demanded, stepping ahead of Victoria.

“Nothing to concern yourself with,” Sonya Greyheart said, a dark eyebrow narrowing above her eyepatch. “Because the Inferno are merciful, we will allow you to keep Lord Cutter’s castle. However, we will be taking back our crate and some of your loot.” Her ruby red lips curled into an unpleasant smirk. “I recall someone saying that it is fair game to steal that which is already stolen.”

“You’re not leaving until you answer, Dudley,” Victoria said venomously. She felt her grip tighten on her magpie cane. She imagined hitting the red-eyed witch with it, coating blood over the wretched woman’s lipstick. You wouldn’t be so smiley then, would you, Greyheart?

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The Velociraptor waved his clawed hand dismissively. “Sonya, after Sigismund’s burning, our little secret is not so secret anymore.” The black sockets of darkness creaked towards Victoria’s direction. “If Rosamund Greenfire is not delivered to us by the time I light the beacon at Lucious Church, then the Shards are going to come down with a rather nasty bug. The rest of the city shall fall with it too.” His clawed hand pointed at the crate. With his other hand, he raised a red vial that glowed harshly. “Red Plague in some jam jars! The wonders of alchemy never cease to amaze me!”

Victoria felt her chest tighten. She would shed no tear for a rich monarch getting what’s theirs, but to learn what she and Dudley had been harbouring. So much disease and death, the potential collapse of a city… And she had it tucked away near her throne for days. She felt queasy at the thought of it. It made her skin turn cold. “You told us we could rule the Shards,” she sneered. “You didn’t tell us that you intended to destroy it!”

The Velociraptor merely shrugged. “Didn’t I? Perhaps assassins and thieves shouldn’t work together. There is such a lack of communication between them.”

Dudley charged forward. “You bastard!” he yelled as he swung his crowned raccoon cane down on the skull-faced figure. None of the other assassins so much as lifted a finger. Lady Greyheart simply stepped away with her hands behind her back, observing curiously. None of them needed to intervene. The Velociraptor deflected the cane away with his clawed hand. Victoria began to see that the man’s name was earned. His movements were faster than Dudley’s. It was almost supernatural. He blocked the Thief King’s fists deftly, as if he were dancing, before grasping Dudley’s arm and twisting it. He raised his clawed hand.

No…

He plunged the gleaming claw into Dudley’s shoulder. The King of Thieves grunted in pain. The Velociraptor pulled him in closer. His voice was like burning iron screeching under the furnace. “I am the Thane of the Inferno Clan!” he yelled ferociously, his japes away with the wind. “You are a pickpocket in a fancy costume! How did you think that was going to work out for you?”

He pulled out the claw and kicked the King of Thieves away. He rolled across the carpet, coughing violently. “Dudley!” the Queen of Thieves heard herself shriek before running over to him. She was immediately stopped by an icy feeling coming down her neck. The tip of an assassin’s katana. She watched hopelessly as her King writhed around on the floor, grunting in agony.

The Velociraptor waved his clawed hand. “Let them leave. I have now decided that we shall keep Lord Cutter’s castle for ourselves. The current occupants are far too rude and undeserving of it.”

The blade was lowered from her throat. She ran over to Dudley and lifted his arm over her shoulder. She could smell the pungent venom wafting from his wound. It smelt of acid and burning flesh. As Victoria held him close, she could see the veins down his neck glowing a lime green. Dudley…

She carried him away from the masked assassins. From their snickering and cruel japes. They had to leave before the Velociraptor changed his mind and gave them a crueller fate. “You might want to stay clear of the Shards,” she heard Greyheart call out from behind her, much to the amusement of all the assassins that laughed and howled from behind their grotesque masks. “Assuming we do not have to resort to damning the city to plague, then you shall have to pay a hefty sum to enter our borough henceforth.” She waved a scarlet handkerchief at them as the disgraced Thief Queen hauled Dudley away. “Farewell, my noble queen!” she called out mockingly. The Inferno clan’s laughter boomed down the halls.

Victoria rested her beloved King down in a nearby alleyway. It was raining. Dudley began to shiver. He started kicking onto the wet cobblestones and hissing in discomfort. Victoria unfastened her cloak and wrapped it around him. He spoke no words.

Only grunts and the occasional yelp of anguish. Her thieves had been frightened away, her King lay dying in the rain, and soon her home would succumb to disease and collapse. She thought of the words that the Night Fang spoke before she kicked him out of the Gargoyle’s tower. The Inferno Clan are demons….

Dudley began to scream again. The thrashes and kicks were more desperate. His green veins throbbed, and he clenched his stomach tightly the way men do when there was a parasite crawling inside them. “It will be ok,” she told him. She heard screams in the distance and saw a fire erupting from the nearby tavern at the end of the alleyway. A circle of figures surrounded it, holding batons and rakes. “It will be ok,” she repeated as she heard the City Watch bells ringing.