Kitty was almost purring with delight when she watched the cut-purse enter the ship cabin, carrying the object of her desire in his arms.

The box looked worse for wear. Someone had pried off the exterior jewels, and the lock had been broken, but the protective shell around the inner box was still intact.

Omar studied the man intently, and the common thug appeared to wither under the pirate captain’s gaze. Kitty remained hidden and watched her schemes develop themselves with relish.

“I brought what you asked for, Ser- er- Captain. Someone's taken off the jewels already – I swear it wasn’t me, Ser Captain – but I’m certain this is the same box you put the bounty on.”

Omar nodded. “It looks like it, sure enough. It’s not the exterior that matters to me, but the contents. How did you find it?”

“I spotted two country girls lost in the slums this morning. I intended to just rob them, and maybe have a bit of fun… when I saw that they had the box. I couldn’t believe it, but I contacted one of your crew right away. I don’t know how the girls got it.”

“And have these two women been… dealt with?”

“Oh yes, Ser Captain. They won’t trouble you.”

The robber was lying. Kitty didn’t need her magic to see that, although the spells she had worked into the cabin did confirm it.

He was obviously suffering a concussion from a recent blow to the head. The women must have fought him off somehow, and he fled with the box. She noticed that he was missing a dagger on his belt.

“Have you told anyone else what you found?” Omar asked.

“No, Ser Captain.”

“Excellent.” Omar smiled broadly. “One of my crew has already taken a bank note into the city to retrieve your payment. The money will arrive here within the hour. Why don’t we have a drink to celebrate each of our good fortunes in the meantime?”

Omar stood up and began pouring wine for each of them without waiting for an answer. The robber had no choice but to accept.

Omar emptied his own glass with a single massive gulp. “Ah! That’s fine stuff. My shipmates and I liberated this from a vessel in the treasure fleet of the King of Lusitan.” Omar stared at the mugger, until social pressure forced him to take an uncomfortable sip.

From that moment, it was only half a minute until the poison had stopped the highwayman’s heart.

Kitty emerged from her hiding spot and kissed Omar’s cheek. “Wonderfully done, my captain.”

“Well, you’ve got the thing now.” Omar poured himself another glass of wine. “Now what do you want to do with it?”

“Nothing. For the moment. I think it would be better if the box was simply removed from view for a time. Take the box, and this one’s body, out to sea. Dump the body, and then just sail for a time. Whitegate is intolerable during the summer months anyway. I’ll use the time to keep the other pursuers busy with one another. Then you can return to the city in autumn, when things have cooled down.”

“What exactly is inside this thing that’s got everybody so riled up?”

“Those are two separate questions. The thing that has everyone so ‘riled up’, as you put it, is greed. Pure and simple. What’s inside the box is much worse than that. And even more dangerous, if that can be believed. That’s why it’s so important that we make certain no one ever opens it.”

Vincent slept soundly on the bed to her side. Catherine had kept him as a lover since they met at the beginning of summer.

She was looking forward to Omar’s return.

Vincent possessed deft hands for a thief, but they were unpracticed in other matters. The swarthy pirate was more to her liking. She had also sunk her hooks more deeply into Omar, making him more eager to please with her.

She still intended to keep them both for the time being though.

Vincent’s eyes fluttered open.

“Did I wake you, my heart?” Kitty leaned forward to kiss him.

“Mmn? No.” He stretched. “Is it time to go?”

“Almost.”

They shared a late evening meal in bed together before leaving for the docks.

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

The night air was actually rather chill. The changing of the season was a welcome one, at least in Kitty’s mind. They watched Omar’s ship come in from dockside. The harbor master had already been paid the appropriate bribes to guarantee them privacy.

Omar came down the gangplank with a broad grin and kissed her at once. “Catherine, aren’t you a sight for weary eyes. I haven’t seen a woman in months. Who’s this?”

“Vincent,” Kitty answered. “He’s my latest acquisition.”

“At least your bed didn’t grow cold while I was away.”

“Jealousy, Omar? You should know that nothing grows cold here in the summer.”

“Hold it right there!” For the first time in very many years, Kitty was startled.

They had been surrounded by a small company of men-at-arms. They bore the emblem of Shadowtree on their tabards. Their leader was a distinguished looking knight, and it was he who had issued the command for them to halt.

With the soldiers was a woman in a dark cloak, whom Kitty recognized at once. “Nightingale, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You shouldn’t have murdered my son.” Her voice had hard steel in it.

Kitty was relieved to see the Omar’s crew had begun to gather. At least they wouldn’t be so outnumbered. “My condolences for your son, but I took no hand in the deed. According to my friends, he was last seen gathering information on the box for the vampire Gaius. I presumed that he was doing so on your behalf.”

Nightingale was buying none of it. “No more clever evasions from you, harlot. That leech is dancing to your tune. The body of mugger you killed washed up on shore weeks ago, your pirate was careless. His name was Alonzo, and he was the last man seen with the box as he fled the dwarven quarter. When I learned Omar the Red was coming back into port, I realized you had the box this entire time. You’ve had all of us at each other’s throats to clear the field for yourself.”

“So, you’ve made an alliance of convenience with the Baroness? Do your new allies know that you’re a witch?”

Several men on either side of the confrontation became unnerved at Kitty’s pronouncement.

Nightingale tried to defuse the accusation by laughing. “Do you think the She-wolf of Shadowtree cares who I am? She wishes the box open for the power contained within, and I am the only one who can open it for her.”

Kitty saw uncertainty in the faces of some knights of Shadowtree. There was an older knight and his squire who looked especially squirrelly. She focused on her most nervous adversaries, and the leader of the knights.

“That box this witch wishes to open holds nothing except pathways into ten thousand hells. That son she speaks of so lovingly, was a mutant.”

“Shut up! Ser Birch, kill her!” Nightingale issued orders, but no one moved to respond.

“You heard tales about the freak they found, didn’t you?” Kitty had a hook in them, she began to flash her eyes and put power behind her voice. “They needed to bring the abomination outside the walls to burn it. The Doge sponsored sacrifices at every temple in the city to cleanse the taint. That was her son.”

“I demand that you kill her now!”

“She offered her body to the Fiend, and it was he that gave her that monstrosity she birthed. Now she wants to open this box to kill all of us, your Baroness included.”

“Enough! The witch allowed the malignancy of her presence to be felt.

The primal parts of their minds began producing dread; Kitty could feel it spreading all through her. Hideous wriggling monsters, born from a hundred unholy unions began to emerge from every shadowed corner. The demonic aberrations fell on all of them with equal abandon, both Omar’s crew and the knights of Shadowtree.

Kitty hadn’t expected trouble, she had no spell components prepared. She sliced open her palm with a knife to ready blood for sacrifice, and stayed near Omar to protect the box. She took Vincent with her and let the others handle the fighting.

Nightingale ignored the others and came directly for them.

Kitty chanted and worked the signs to ignite her own blood, she threw it over the witch. Nightingale laughed and ignored the flames, even as they blistered her skin and disfigured her flesh.

There was a blast of lightning, and both Kitty and her two companions were sent flying.

She felt sharp pain.

Her left leg had a clean break. It hung at an unnatural angle which twisted Kitty's stomach in horror to look at.

She tore her eyes away and began to pray. What else could she do?

Omar was unconscious and could put up no resistance when Nightingale took the box from him.

She turned to Kitty. “You continue to vex me. Impressive for a glorified shrine prostitute. I hoped Stirba would provide a safe location for me to work this thing open. Now I’ll need to find somewhere else to hide. Once I open it though, there will be nowhere on this sphere where that vampire and his sorceress can hide from me. It’s a shame that you won’t be alive to see it.”

Kitty continued to pray. The sounds of her holy verses ate away at the witch’s demonic power, but it wasn’t enough.

“Your god won’t help you now.” Nightingale put her boot over Kitty’s throat.

Ser Birch planted his feet before them and swung his sword with all his might directly at the witch’s neck.

She merely raised a hand, and the knight's sword exploded into fragments. Shrapnel was hurled with enough force to pierce his armor in several places. Nightingale was unharmed.

But the witch took too much delight in her victory.

Vincent, and the cowardly looking knight, each approached her from behind unseen. Kitty prayed with all her might to pry open the black aura which protected the witch. Both men buried their weapon’s deep into her back.

Nightingale screamed, and leapt into the sea, but she did not die.

Yet, there was nothing Kitty could do to follow. Not in her current state.

Some priestess, too impressed with your own cleverness. And you paid for it, she thought bitterly.

The pack of gibbering atrocities which Nightingale had brought into the world were all put to the sword. Kitty shuddered to think what kind of a brood mare the witch must have been to create so many. Fortunately, while all appeared terrifying, many were actually quite wretched things. Just quivering jellied meat.

Although both the knights and sailors had taken many casualties from the more fearsome monsters, horrible amalgamations of claws and teeth.

Ser Birch was among the dying. Several shards of metal had pierced his lungs, and he was soon dead.

Omar and Vincent helped Kitty up.

“Who’s in charge of you lot now?” she asked the knights.

They looked among themselves, until the squire she had noticed spoke up. “Ser Alphonse is.”

“Well, Ser Alphonse. If we return to my establishment, I shall have surgeons brought for all of us. We’ll arrange litters for those of us unable to walk.”

Ser Alphonse considered his position, then nodded. “We would be most grateful.”

“And you and I have much to discuss about what happened here tonight, Ser Alphonse.”