63. War: Tabitha

Wiremu went away for a month. That is good, because this has gotten ugly. The alchemy lab we found in Llawr’s space turned out to be a sham. I should have guessed. He had the bloody Charlatan Class. They specialise in selling fake goods and remedies. The trouble is the person he was scamming was Jern’s one and only Drug Lord, Haarkon. Haarkon is now out for blood and it doesn’t seem to matter whose. I can’t hand Llawr over to him because all that is left is an unrecognisable dried up husk. Nyx is well fed for a long time.

I doubt Haarkon would be happy with that anyway. His reputation has been severely tarnished. He is after the death of our Guild and it doesn’t matter who is now in charge of it. Actually it does matter who is in charge of it, as this leader is putting up a much stronger defence and counter attack than the previous fattso would even dream of. I have been out hunting most nights in the last month, either defending our assets and personal, or organising attacks. I am coordinating with Modrica and Vesle mostly. Pedar is coordinating the street gangs to run interference and distractions for our operations. Or he was until he got targeted. His replacement is not nearly so good. Nijel has been given the task of the defence of our legitimate businesses and has been quite successful. .

The mansion was fire bombed two weeks ago and the top two floors gutted. They would call that a victory. They don’t know that I couldn’t care less about it. I was more concerned with the three fighters we lost there. Axill got out but it is going to take three months to get his arm regrown. The Guild is footing the considerable cost of that. This war is going to come down to personnel not property. We are on top of the butcher's bill tally. Modrica has lost seven very good fighters, in addition to the ones at the mansion, and two more who are maimed out of action. She also has a new scar to add to her collection. We have lost eleven non fighters to Haarkon action and a number of street kids. I personally have accounted for twenty three of his fighters and three of his leaders, and that is on top of Modrica and her fighters who have accounted for at least the same. The trouble is we don’t know how big Haarkon’s operation is. We think he is at least twice as large as we are. Hopefully he is getting thin on personnel, or at least the good ones.

My Racketeering and Shadow Predator classes have both levelled twice and I had almost every Skill go up in the past month since Wiremu left. I used to never use Rampage before and now I can’t track how many times it has saved my butt. I am careful with it as the slump afterwards is crippling but it is shortened by energy transferred from Nyx. The boost to the attributes now that it is mid-Apprentice has been literally a lifesaver.

Black has really made a name for herself and the War Knife symbol gets plastered on the walls near our attacks so they know it was the Shadow Guild. The symbol has been changed slightly to have blood dripping off the tip. I am not sure whose idea that was, probably one of the street kids as they are our symbol painters.

However, we are now in the end game. This is certainly the end for me. Haarkon has made a deal with Ingvar of the Dwarven Rouges who were our counterpart across town. Vasle discovered Haarkon’s major supply centre for the distribution of the drugs. When I went in I saw they made some of the drugs there too with several alchemy labs present. Real ones, I checked. This was a full on operation for us, all hands on deck and outside our normal operations area. We paid the Dwarven Rogues to have the night off, but apparently Haarkon offered them more. Probably our territory. I was kind of expecting this but I was really hoping we could stall it until Wiremu gets back, as I really need him.

We had fought our way in and now we were fighting a losing battle back out. The flames of the warehouse behind me were at least some consolation that it has cost them dearly. Maybe it is that that made Haarkon so desperate. It has cost us dearly. We probably only have half our fighting force left and I am pretty sure I saw Modrica just go down, although I am a bit busy to pay too much attention to anything other than my survival right now. They are not letting me out of their sight, with constant attacks and ranged people on the roof. Nyx is confusing them but not enough. They have seen enough of my tricks to be on to them now. I had given the signal to scatter as soon as we got close to our territory. I will probably never know how many made it.

I have seen Haarkon and Ingvar on the street personally with their bodyguards. This is all or nothing for all of us. It is also why we are losing so badly. Haarkon and Ingvar and their elites are all focusing on me. They want Black dead. I am trying to make it to the building where I first took over the Guild as it is the nearest Guild House to where I am. We have fortified it. Engulfing Shadows is on full strength with billowing clouds of shadows to distract, and this is allowing Nyx to syphon energy. Shadows Embrace is also on full so I hopefully look like just another billowing shadow cloud. Unfortunately there are two people chasing me with the skills to penetrate the Shadows. They are being used as spotters. Nyx injured one of them but she is not good at direct damage and it only slowed them down. One of the archers on the roof is also a key danger. She must have an advanced archery skill as she can fire one arrow and a rain of arrows blankets a two metre radius. She is targeting shadow clouds and being directed by a spotter. Needless to say my armour is looking like rags and I am leaking blood, which is leaving a trail for their dogs to follow. I am not sure I am going to make it out of this one.

I am trying to judge when I can trigger Rampage. Too soon and I am dead, but things are getting desperate. They are trying to get people ahead of me and I am trying to not be obvious about where I am headed so it is a zigzag route. I have already surprised two who were sent forward. One lost his head to the War Knife and the other was blinded by Nyx. I at least had some warning from Spatial Awareness, they didn’t. Actually, I hope they weren't just randoms out for an evening stroll? No, they were too well armed for that and it is three in the morning. I hope they weren't Guardsmen. Can’t stop now.

I am two blocks over from the house and moving parallel when I trigger Rampage and dart right towards the house. A rain of arrows falls where I would have been if I had carried on down the street. I drop a vial of pepper to upset the dogs, just because I am feeling vindictive. They are all right behind me and I am not going to lose them now. I am losing a lot of blood. I also think one of the knives that scratched me might have been poisoned. The house and anybody who is in it is not going to be enough to hold off this lot.

I made a mad dash across the street and dived through a window taking the glass with me. My Shadow Manipulation had disarmed the trap as soon as it came into my Spatial Awareness. I rearmed it as I rolled across the floor to the trap door to the safe room below. I dropped the knife, but I didn’t have time to stop now as I heard the trap trigger and a meaty thud. I slammed the trap door shut behind me and threw the bolts. Rampage had about a minute to go as I crouched waiting. My Shadow manipulation was poised. I heard boots thudding above me and orders being shouted. I could tell when they found the knife. Just as Rampage finished, Shadow Manipulation triggered the trap and I collapsed in a heap as the ground shook around me.

Way back when I first set out from Yelets, Branik from the Mothers Tusks instructed Wiremu to teach me Trapping. The Skill has lingered at level 1 ever since because trapping was not my thing. When I triggered this trap the Skill jumped to level 5 Apprentice. We had not used traps as a weapon in this war. We had the normal traps on our buildings and that was it. However, I did have the Skill and I had watched Wiremu use traps very effectively for our entire time together. I had learned a thing or two. I also knew a friendly Explosives Engineer. Our Guild actually owned this entire block and the adjacent buildings were empty on purpose. The other tenants were warned at the start of the war to vacate, so if they were here, that was on them. Yes, I took out the entire block in the hope of getting all the leaders. I was only expecting Haakon, but if I got Ingvar as well that was a bonus.

I was huddled in a ball suffering Rampage withdrawal and hoping the walls wouldn’t cave in on me. I would need rescuing to get out. That was Nijel’s job if I was alive. If we were successful in taking out Haakon then Black could stay dead and Nijel would take over as Boss. Blacks career as a Crime Lord would have lasted less than two extremely violent months and came to an equally violent end. I am sure there is a lesson there somewhere.

Nijel wouldn’t be far away with the fighters he had to protect the legitimate businesses. The explosion would attract the Guard so he may have to wait before digging me out. I don’t think he would leave me here to die. He better not.

When I came out of my withdrawal, I triggered Shadows Embrace to hide myself from the Guards who would be going through the rubble looking for survivors. The Guards knew there was a Crime Lord war on, but with the goblin threat they had limited resources and restricted themselves to trying to protect the innocent. Hopefully it will be over now, but I wouldn’t know until I got out, if I got out.

I bound my leaks and waited in the dark. Darksight was Master Level now so the dark didn’t matter.

It was the following night and I was bored out of my brain, hungry, thirsty and thinking I should start digging myself out, when I heard noises above. I might have lost the War Knife, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have any knives. I armed myself and waited.

The trapdoor wasn’t opened but rather it was smashed in. Nijel’s face appeared and smiled. He helped me up. There was only one other cloaked person with him.

“All is good,” he said. “I will explain when we get safe. Your place?”

I knew he meant my and Wiremu’s cottage as I was supposed to be dead. “What about them?” I nodded to his helper.

“She also wants to stay dead, and to work for you rather than the Guild.”

I looked at her and she pulled the hood back. Modrica had lost a tusk and had half her head bandaged which included an eye. She obviously also had other injuries. I nodded, “Good, lets go.”

At the cottage I lit the fire and put water on to boil. I realised I hadn’t been here for over a week. I showed Modrica the spare room and she dumped her small bag there. We then sat in the kitchen and Nijel explained what happened from his perspective.

“I saw you go into the building. At least I assumed it was you, as the shadow everybody was chasing disappeared through a window without triggering the trap. Well done on baiting Ingvar out. He and his goons followed you in, I think he was trying to put on a good show for Haakon. However, that meant Haakon and his goons stayed back across the street. Ingvar appeared at the door waving your War Knife, which had me worried, but it enticed Haarkon out into the street then your trap went off. Holy Troll shit girl! The whole block?”

“I wanted to make sure,” I said.

“Well, you caught some of their stealth and ranged people as well, as they were moving through to cover the back. The blast killed Ingvar and the shock wave and debris killed some of Haakon's crowd and we got down there and made sure none of them survived. I found the War Knife before the Guard arrived and we backed off.” He pulled the knife out and laid it on the table.

He continued, “Early this evening we had a guild meeting and I showed the knife and made a stirring speech about your death and how the Guild would go on in your memory, etc etc. Those with me that saw Ingvar with the knife backed up your death.”

“You're going to ask to keep the knife aren't you?” I asked.

He nodded and I thought about it for a few minutes. “I will get a replica made from steel and blackened if you need a symbol.” He nodded. Nyx was actually quite happy living in the thinner stiletto shaped Blacksteel Knife I looted from Fett's treasure chest. It was also a better knife for me. However, apart from the War Knife having sentimental value it was also worth a shit ton of coin.

“There is a caravan heading to Hrothgar in a couple of weeks. I am going to try to get on it, that will get us out of town for a while. It should be back just before the auction as it is a two month round trip. That will get us out of your hair and you can get the Guild in order. I assume that will be an expanded Guild?”

He smiled.

I nodded, “Here are the bank and ownership documents, you are the Boss now. I will be back and I will check up on you. If you need help in the future then ask. I will also ask if I need help. You might call it an unwritten mutual assistance agreement.”

He nodded and we shook on it.

As he went to leave I added, “By the way, I have already withdrawn what I consider to be reasonable compensation for my work from the accounts. You might also want to disarm the other two safe houses I trapped. You might get some coin back on those explosives.” He left with a bit of a shocked look on his face. Wait till he sees how much coin I took.

Wiremu will be happy I am out of the crime business. I am not sure what he will think of our new flatmate. I need a week to just relax. I am also going to go for some long rides. Dusk has been neglected.