* XXIX *
He'd gone, very suddenly, quiet on the mind-link, and she'd had to wait a couple of minutes for Sellyria to find out what had happened.
"His guards are under attack…" Arden relayed to the others. "The Mayor and one other are down in the centre of Cathedral Square, but no one can get to him. They're under fire from an unseen enemy and pinned down!"
They hijacked some horses from some passing men and galloped for the square, where a familiar soldier met them.
"Elric!" Boshley called as he dismounted, taking the shaken guard's hand.
"The Commander is down," he relayed to them. "We think there's a sniper across the square; we can't get near him…"
"We know," she answered sympathetically. "It's okay…"
She surveyed the square. Jarmaath's body was not moving; another guard lay still next to him too. About half a dozen or more guards were scattered around the edges of the square, sheltering in doorways and alcoves, all of them pointing towards the buildings at the far end, but all in slightly different directions.
"Ideas?" she asked aloud. Eldarion and Elantar both began to climb onto rooftops, one either side of the alleyway where they waited. Buttercup drank from a bottle.
"Watch tha windas!" she called, and took off, flying directly towards the Mayor. Boshley began to make his way across the square, but was making slow progress without his trusty mount. Buttercup successfully drew fire from the unseen assailant, but a little too well, as it turned out.
"Two up, three over from the right!" Eldarion called, preparing his bow to shoot at anything that moved in the windows again.
Buttercup returned a few seconds later with Jarmaath's body. She was in trouble though, and yanked a crossbow bolt from her thigh.
"Poysin…" she gasped as she collapsed, and Gravak stepped forward to investigate. Arden readied her bow, sighted towards the windows that Eldarion had called out, and began to slowly follow Boshley's advance.
O-O-O
He watched for further movement, but nothing came.
A black shape had leant forward to fire at Buttercup as she flew to retrieve Jarmaath; its features were similar to the creatures that had ambushed them at the farmhouse on their return journey from the Thornwaste.
"Come on…" he whispered, an arrow poised. Elantar was sprinting forwards along the rooftops of the left-hand side of the square, and the enemy had spotted her, levelling a crossbow in her direction. Instinctively, he took his shot, and was convinced that he'd hit.
O-O-O
"Miss!" Elantar gloated as a crossbow bolt clattered into the tiles behind her. The sniper had been struck by a distant arrow as it pulled the trigger and vanished from its position in the window; it didn't step back from the window, it actually just disappeared…
She rounded the corner, now on the same side of the square as their enemy: there wouldn't be any more shots coming in her direction. There were cries from an alleyway on the other side of the buildings; human voices involved in a skirmish with someone. She didn't have time to check on them yet; they'd have to wait. She counted chimneys until she reached the building where the sniper waited. Elantar stopped and peered over the edge.
O-O-O
He'd successfully drawn the poison from Buttercup's body, and turned his attention to Jarmaath. He suspected poison here too, and quickly cast an Orison to confirm this.
"Jarmaath's alive!" he called and gestured to two of the men sheltering in the nearest doorway, beckoning them over. Arden was following Boshley across the open square, while Buttercup flew towards the open window that Eldarion had been aiming at. Gravak gripped his symbol of Tontor, stood, pointed at the window and bellowed.
O-O-O
Elantar swung down from the roof and through the open window. The last thing she expected to see was Gravak standing in the centre of the small room.
"Where is it?" she asked him.
"I don't know…" he answered. "Wrong room?" She made for the door.
"Locked…" she whispered aloud. There was no way he'd have had time to leave the room and lock the door behind him. A gasp from Gravak broke her train of thought. She snapped her head around to see the enemy complete its swing and then vanish once again. Gravak reeled from the blow. This was going to be tricky…
"Stand still…" Gravak suggested, and took down his mace. He swung at the air and hit nothing. Elantar closed her eyes, remembering her fight with Koth in Vraath Keep. She couldn't see anything then either, and still counted that one as a win. Whatever it was that stalked them here though, it moved with far more stealth.
"There…" she thought, and thrust a sword forwards and to her left, but hit nothing.
Buttercup clambered into the window from outside, and floated down to the floor, with Taldir also flying across the square behind her.
"He's somewhere in this room…" Gravak told her, stomping forwards with his mace raised. It suddenly appeared, striking Gravak in his side where his armour took the brunt of the blow, and then disappeared again as Buttercup swung her sword, hitting only air. It revealed itself again a couple of seconds later, aiming a swing of its Falchion at Buttercup, but was shot in the chest by an arrow through the window. It growled and once again turned invisible.
O-O-O
"What's going on up there?" Boshley called. The Wizard looked down to him.
"I can't really see…" he replied, attempting to manoeuvre himself into a better position. "Elantar and the Orcs have it cornered in a room, but I can't see it still…"
Boshley kicked in the door on the ground floor, Arden and Dog following him in.
"A funeral parlour…" Arden chuckled. "Good business to be in about now…" she added humourlessly. There were cries from the rear of the building.
"Someone out back…" Boshley decided. He weaved his way between the coffins, Eldarion's hound following him. He opened the rear door to find eight men sheltering in the alleyway from a volley of bow fire that had come from the windows above him. They each returned fire with light crossbows.
"In here!" he called, the nearest turned towards him in surprise, and bellowed for the rest to follow him.
"Never thought we'd make it in!" the first said gruffly to him as he reached the door. "Let's get 'em lads!" The eight raised a cheer and set off up the staircase.
O-O-O
Had the other three cleared out of the room, he could have filled it with fire and been done with it. Instead, they insisted on staying, trying to land a blow on an enemy who could repeatedly turn invisible: it was an impressive power…
He floated down to the floor below and peered into the window; five Goblins stood on the far side, peering out of windows of their own. They were just lowering their bows and equipping swords instead, reforming to face the single door into the room they occupied.
The door crashed open, and Taldir was surprised to see a string of men charge into the room armed with a with a mixture of swords, clubs and axes. He covered the Goblins and the far end of the room in webs to aid the men of Brindol in their fight.
O-O-O
Eldarion watched the combat unfolding at the far side of the square. He was growing frustrated, but was convinced he could take down the enemy assassin from here. He'd already managed to land two arrows in it as it reappeared to attack.
He loosed his bow once more as it reappeared directly behind Buttercup, this time sticking him in the head.
"Try vanishing now!" he mocked, and prepared to climb down to join the others.
O-O-O
Eldarion had probably just saved Buttercup's life: the enemy's Falchion blow had been about to rip her spine out.
Now their enemy was dead, they finally had a clear view of him: it did look very similar to the creatures who'd ambushed them about a week earlier. Blackspawn Raiders, Taldir had called them.
"Let's get downstairs," Gravak suggested. Buttercup took the quickest path, flying back out of the window, and presumably in through the one below. Elantar reached for her lock picks and knelt at the keyhole.
"No time…" Gravak growled, pulling her aside. He crashed a heavy boot through the door, kicking out the remaining shattered timber to clear the way.
By the time they had made it downstairs, the Goblins had all been killed. Eight men stood among their companions, and Buttercup was staring one of them down with fury.
"Dat sorrd!" she bellowed?
"This?" he asked, showing the longsword that he carried. He didn't flinch from her gaze: he was probably a man not to be trifled with, but Elantar's money would still have been on Buttercup.
"Yoo stowl it…" she growled.
"I won it…" he retorted, with a smirk. Buttercup balled her fists and lunged at him, finding his seven companions stepping forward to grapple her.
"Enough!" Arden insisted. "What's going on?" she asked, mainly aiming her question at the Barbarian.
"'E killd a frend o' mine an' nickt 'is sorrd…" Buttercup announced, pointing out the leader of the men. He simply shrugged in response.
"I killed a rival gang leader and took this sword as a trophy," he insisted. "You were an ally of the Jade Lotus?" he asked.
"Da wot?" Buttercup asked with confusion. There must have been more going on here… Elantar couldn't imagine that Buttercup would have got involved in a local gang.
"Look… I don't know how Kreig managed to get his hands on this…" he continued. "Perhaps he killed this friend of yours?"
"The Jade Lotus…" Arden began. "They're a gang?"
"Were…" one of the men responded, to much laughter.
"Our old rivals…" the leader spoke up. "We're the Crimson Tigers, and we're running things now…"
"Is that so…" Arden answered, a hint of a threat in her statement.
"Well…" he replied, "there is the matter of all these Goblins to deal with first. Want to give us a hand? We can see you set up pretty well once this is all over."
"We're probably fine as we are…" Arden smirked. "We're pretty tight with Jarmaath; how about you give us a hand, and we'll let him know how helpful you've been in defence of your home?" There were a few smiles at this initially, but the Crimson Tigers slowly realised that they were outmatched, and eventually agreed.
Elantar returned to the attic room to retrieve the sniper's equipment; she was mostly interested in the poison that he was using, and got Taldir to have a look and identify it.
"Good thinking…" the Wizard responded once they were back in the square. "It'll help us work out what's wrong with Jarmaath…"
"That wasn't really…" she began before hesitating. "Never mind…" she finished weakly.
Taldir figured out that Jarmaath had been infected with some Drow poison, which had knocked him unconscious. There had been three more bottles of this in the assassin's belt pouch, along with another that he called Purple Worm Venom, which Buttercup had earlier suffered the effects of, and a vial of Saisson Leaf Residue. Elantar took these, and considered using them at the earliest opportunity. Buttercup took his crossbow and ammunition: she did not have a ranged weapon to fight with after giving her bow away to a civilian. Elantar also claimed a couple of potions of Invisibility from him: she was pretty sure that he hadn't been drinking these to hide from sight, so was a little bemused as to why he had them.
"Remove Poison…" Gravak announced as he returned from the stockpile with a scroll. He cast the spell on the Mayor, who sat up groggily. He made his gratefulness clear, Elric and the other guards doing likewise.
"Breach!" Arden suddenly called.
"Yes…" added Jarmaath immediately afterwards, taking to his feet again. "Sellyria, Immersten… I'm with Arden now," he declared. "We're not far away, and moving to intercept."
