Chapter Twenty-Four

Jay flowed out of the hall and into the street, storming towards the docks. He had to catch the slavers off guard and keep them on the defensive before they discovered their operation had been uncovered and could flee.

Not ten minutes later a group of seven, including Katie and led by Denos, came piling out of the guild, fire and fury in their eyes as they raced to catch up. Rike may have been a shitty, backwater city, but that didn’t mean its people didn’t have a bond to draw upon when foreign assholes showed up and started kidnapping their fellow citizens.

Jay had reached the docks and discovered his quarry perched at one of the farther, more discreet ends, not overly far from the warehouse he had just liberated. The ship itself was dark, barring a pair of sputtering torches bobbing across the deck from a patrolling night watch. Such problems were easily remedied however. The gangplank was already stowed for the night, or perhaps had yet to be put out to move the next group of cargo, therefore Jay was forced to scale the mooring lines keeping the ship attached to the dock.

The rain had picked up, masking his approach in the downpour as he crept aboard, stealthily assassinating the two patrolling guards and lowering the gangplank for the reinforcements he had spotted charging down the docks. He had maybe two or three minutes to eliminate as many enemies as possible before the cavalry woke the entire ship, so he slipped below deck. Finding his sea legs as quickly as he could from the excessive rocking of the storm. Jay skulked through the lower decks, slicing the throats of four men before the pounding of feet and yells of combat reached below.

Five more men woke, tumbling from hammocks and cots as Jay fled the confines of the room to return to the surface. Above he found Katie, Denos, and the five others fighting four sailors while a fifth man stood somewhat detached from the group, observing the struggle with an obvious disinterest. Distaste colored his face as his clothes rapidly became soaked and scowl stole its way over his features as Jay came bursting onto the scene temporarily halting the melee.

“Five left below, finish this quick!” Was the callout as he jammed the door with a spare dagger.

A visible sign of irritation, gritted teeth and a throbbing vein on the forehead of who Jay assumed to be Bendleweiss signaled the continuation of the fight. Two sailors were cut down in quick order before a raging shout sounded out above the storm.

“That is ENOUGH!”

A flash of light followed by clap of thunder was all anyone heard or saw before vision went dark.

~ ~ ~

Jay awoke what felt like moments later in immense pain, his body wracked by a searing pulse as he blinked water, tears, and blood out of his blurred vision. He was dragged and set on his knees, a dagger placed at his throat. His vision cleared to find four charred bodies off to his left, Denos, Katie, and the one surviving adventurer were all in similar positions, now kneeling before what Jay knew to be Tirious Bendleweiss, lightning mage, and for the first time in many years, Jay felt a whisper of fear. There was no escape. Nobody expected a mage. Especially one setting up a smuggling and trafficking ring in a foreign country. It was so far beneath a mage’s purview that the possibility hadn’t even crossed anyone’s minds.

Yet here he stood before them. With a startling realization, Jay’s mind finally cleared the last of the shock away and discovered they had left the harbor, and that the four of them had their hands firmly bound behind their backs. A very pissed off Tirious stared down at them as he surveyed their expressions.

“So you are the ones who have destroyed the entirety of my plans in this land. Or rather,” Tirious’ attention focused on Jay, “I should say, it’s you specifically that has brought me to ruin.” There was nothing but the sound of rain to be heard as the lightning mage ground his teeth.

“As much as I would take great pleasure in killing you, there are alternative uses to be had. More profitable ones,” he added as he finally reigned his temper back in. His attention returned to Jay’s companions.

“Your friends however, are useless to me. Kill the men, use the woman as you wish.”

It was this order that broke him. He watched as the blood spilled from two sliced throats. The panic, fear, anger, then acceptance, that flashed through his lover’s eyes.

And then he watched the resolve as she slammed her neck onto the knife that held her.

He watched the love she had for him as she tumbled to the deck, his breath caught in his throat, eyes wide in surprise and grief.

He watched the love fade as her life spilled from her neck.

He watched the light in her eyes dim and go out.

He watched as a piece of his soul died with her.

And all he heard was the rain.