The Apocalypse Thief
Chapter Two
“Chain him,” the Captain snapped, guards approached, holding
heavy shackles in their hands. Gareth unsheathed his knife, waving in front of
the guards.
“Stay back,” he warned. “It’s enchanted to explode on my
mark.” A complete bluff, of course. The guards hesitated for a second, all he
needed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small toy, a little bronze
rat with wings and chips of diamonds for eyes. His last hope. His only hope. He
threw it into the river, where it disappeared with a splash.
Hurry, he thought.
If you really want to help me, now would
be a good time.
“It’s not enchanted,” the mage called. “It’s just an
ordinary dagger!”
“Then seize him!”
Guards slapped heavy manacles on his wrist.
“What did you throw overboard?” the Captain’s face was
inches from him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gareth said
coolly. “If I did throw something,
I’m reasonably confident you won’t find it now, not in the dark and not if it
didn’t want to be found.” The Captain looked irritated.
“They told me all about your tricks,” he snapped.
“Not all of them,” Gareth said. “There’s one you haven’t
heard about yet.” the Captain’s eyes narrowed. “See, if I have this friend…”
At that moment, the river promptly exploded, an enormous
wave of water sending the ship crashing into the riverbanks. Wood splintered,
guards yelled, he heard the sound of crossbow bolts whizzing through the air.
He risked a glance backwards and saw a giant mechanical river snake, rising from
the water, its teeth whirring like drills, schematic diagrams drawn on its
eyes.
“Kill it!” the Captain yelled, and then grabbed Gareth by
the shirt. “You think your little snake changes anything, Mr. Calistone? It
doesn’t. Not by a long shot.”
“Not my snake,”
Gareth corrected. “A friend’s. Give credit where credit is due. And by the way?
You’ve been eating way too much garlic. Your breath stinks.”
He pushed the Captain away, into the shallows and started
scrambling up the riverbank and to the city. As if on cue, the mechanical
serpent bellowed, and the two jets of high pressure water fired from cannons
hidden in the creature’s nostrils, forcing the guards back. There was a
commotion now, people running out in astonishment at the giant metal serpent,
which promptly leapt into the air, its sleek body curled into an O-shape, and
then it disappeared back into the water with a loud splash. Ragged cheers and
shouts rang up from the commoners and sightseers who had come out to watch all
of the commotion.
Dan had always been a showman. The guards were now mostly
unconscious. The patrol boat laid a splintered wreck at the bottom. That had
been a bit too close for comfort. And they had a mystery on their hands: who
had set him up like that? The why he
could guess – he’d irritated enough of the noble families in the area, but the
who eluded him.
Another mystery for another day.
He swung by the keysmith’s shop, closed and dark now, and
hammered on the door. A heavyset man answered it, a cranky look on his face.
“Gareth?” he asked, and then saw the shackles. “Oh. A night
of fun, then?”
“Got out of hand,” Gareth said. “Can you get these off?”
“Come in, then. Anything for a friend.” Gareth stepped
inside, and sat down, holding his wrists up while, the keysmith began tinkering
with the lock.
“You been keeping up with the war?” the smith asked, while
he tinkered with the locks on the manacles.
“Not really, no. I lost track after we took Vargaze. I’m not
much into politics.”
“Oh, I do. I debate it all the time at the inn. You should
too. People should know about what’s going on.”
“Well, enlighten me while you get those off.”
“Hmm. Nothing specific since Vargaze – lots of skirmishes.
Our boys are dying, those Kaldonians aren’t giving up.”
“Mmm.”
“If you ask me, the best thing the Kaldonians could do is
admit they’re part of Drynghelm now and get on with their lives. Kaldonia’s
been conquered for what – ten years? Fifteen years? They’re just making things
miserable on themselves and on us.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Gareth said. “I make things pretty
miserable on myself – and the government – doing what I do best.”
“Oh – right,” the keysmith said. “They decided they’d had
enough of you, then?”
Gareth laughed. “I guess. It’s only thanks to Dan I got away.”
One of the shackles fell open. He rubbed his wrist, already red from where it
had been pushed into his flesh.
“They won’t give up,” the keysmith warned, unlocking the
second shackle and pulling the whole thing away from Gareth. “That new Captain
of theirs is determined to reign in what he sees as rampant immorality and
detractors from the war effort.”
“And of course he goes after the most famous thief in the
city.”
“And the fact you’ve been stealing magical artifacts,” the
keysmith noted dryly.
“Oh, please. I doubt anything called ‘the Pendent of Seven
Lovers’ is going to help anybody in the war effort,” Gareth snorted. “Or anyone else for that matter. Thanks for the warning, though.”
He turned to go. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too. Don’t let the guards capture you.” The keysmith
said. Gareth stepped into the cool night air, and headed down the street,
making his way back to the river and across a different bridge. The news would
be all over the city by morning – how Gareth had been captured and then
escaped. He’d be better off keeping a low profile for a few days.
He reached the riverbanks – a different part this time – and
then headed down a short flight of steps into a large apartment: a neat
rectangle of water jutted into the middle of the floor, where the mechanical
serpent from earlier now rose from the water, its head opened and a man
muttering to himself while examining various bits and pieces. The mechanical
rat he’d thrown into the river sat on a table. A balcony circled the top of the
room, with several doors.
“Thanks, Dan,” he called. “You got to me awful fast.” Dan
looked up, a heavyset man with black hair and a two day old beard.
“You realize they’re going to find us,” he grumbled. “And
those guards banged up the serpent pretty bad. It took me two years to get the
inner workings right. Two years! It’ll be months before it’s ready to use
again.”
“Then I’m just lucky you had it ready to use now. And relax. They’ve never found us before.
What’s the worst that can happen?”
“They catch us and cut off our heads and then take apart my
machines,” Dan said promptly. “No, wait. They cut off our heads and then draft
my machines for use in the war effort. That’s
the worst that could happen.”
“Way to be optimistic,” Gareth said, sitting down in a chair
and fiddling with the rat. “I’m glad you thought of taking that rat tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah. You were captured by the King’s soldiers,
nearly dragged to prison, etc. etc. Typical for you, right?”
“Not really,” Gareth said. “They tricked me. The guy I was
supposed to get the artifact for was in league with the government, I think.
Anyway, the artifact was a fake – a magical item designed to catch thieves.”
“Like you,” Dan said.
“I can’t help that there’s a market for pretentiously named
artifacts,” Gareth said, in the most dignified voice he could muster. He could
see Dan smile slightly and shake his head.
“So, anyway,” he said. “I’m thinking I’m going to lay low
for a while, maybe disguise myself. And do some detective work.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Dan grunted, and then turned his
attention back to the river serpent. “I still think we should find somewhere
else to hide, though. I’m telling you, they’re going to be all over this place.
The new Captain –”
“We’ve met,” Gareth said ruefully.
“Well, he’s a piece of work. He’s not going to stop.”
“We can move if you want,” Gareth said, shrugging. “But
we’ve put every warding and hiding spell on this place we can afford. Besides
that, it’s not like I’ve never been chased by guards before now. And even if
they get through all those, there are still all of your defenses on top of
that. We’re good here.”
“I reckon you’re right,” Dan said, now looking at the brains
of the sea serpent. “I just get paranoid.”
“Paranoid does
keep you alive. But we’ve been doing this for now long how?” Gareth clapped him
on the back.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll find another enchantment to
throw on here. I’m going to bed. I need to think about how to approach this
anyway.”
Dan had pulled a pair of goggles over his head. “Good
night.” He had already set to work again on the sea serpent’s brain.
