And merrily we roll along. I'll leave the intros brief, seeing as the chapters are brief too:
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Shadowchasers
Blue Blood
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Interlude
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Souled Out!
Part 2
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With the sentry leading the way, the three Shadowchasers hiked up Magma Avenue.
"So, who is this Jacob guy?" asked Maddie.
"The only man in the city - and on the island, for that matter - who knows how to smelt and refine truesilver."
"Seriously?"
All three Shadowchasers were shocked by this revelation, as this was the first time they'd heard of anyone other than a dwarf, gnome, or warforged who had such a skill. Truesilver - properly called telstang - was an alloy of copper, platinum, silver, and mithril. It wasn't an extraordinarily strong metal, being as brittle as the pewter it resembled, and to a Mundane, seemed useful for little except cheap jewelry. But its true value was as a magical ward against supernatural powers that could alter flesh. A warrior who wore this material in a way that contacted bare skin could fight a ghoul with his bare fists and not be paralyzed, could look a gorgon straight in the face without being turned to stone, or foil a dark wizard's attempt to turn him into a frog or mouse, or for that matter, any sort of animal. Many a warlock assassin known to "rub out" victims via the dreaded spell disintegrate had been caught by surprise by a mark using truesilver to protect himself. Of course, the downside was it also prevented any use of beneficial spells that altered flesh, like bull's strength.
"Some people claim he has some 'special' way of making it, but we don't pry." The sentry lowered his collar, showing a small disk of truesilver, worn as a pendant. "It's not easy to get it anywhere else. Here we are."
Old Jacob's smithy looked more like a two-story townhouse - with two large chimneys - than a shop. However, when they opened the door, the stifling heat within confirmed the purpose. The huge forge was a dwarven smelter, a type of blast furnace, the white-hot flames within used to liquify the base metals and combine them into the enchanted alloy.
Impressive as that was, even more so was the smith himself, who they assumed was Jacob. A huge, muscular man with saltpeter gray hair and full - but not overly long - beard, his apron and trousers dirty and his face smudged with soot, clearly, he was a diligent worker dedicated to his job.
As the Shadowchasers and their escort rather abruptly barged in, he lifted the dark goggles he was using to shield his eyes and said, "What?"
"Uh, Jacob, right?" said Maddie. "Listen, I know this is sudden, but we have to get you out of here."
"Say what?" he exclaimed.
"They're serious, Jacob," said the guard, "we have ample reason to believe there's a bomb in this building, you've got to clear out."
"Uh, I can't… do that."
"Why not?"
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A minute later, the guard and Maddie were following Jacob up the stairs to the second floor, a living area where the stairs ended in a living room and a small kitchen. Maddie noticed that the couch had a blanket and pillow on it - someone had been sleeping there. There was a door that led to the bedroom, which was locked - Jacob quickly remembered he had left the key downstairs. "Dammit!" he grunted, and then rammed his shoulder into it, forcing it open.
Quickly turning to acknowledge his entry was a woman dressed as a nurse, and given the medicine, salves, towels, and other medical equipment, it was obvious she was one. In the king-size bed was a woman who was in an advanced state of pregnancy.
"Jacob?" The woman tried to sit up, but the nurse quickly tried to prevent it, gently saying, "Easy, Meggan, easy."
It was clear now why Jacob couldn't abandon his home, but he clarified it further.
"Three weeks ago, Meggan slipped and fell on her back, the doctor said that if she moves at all -"
"-she would risk a miscarriage," said Maddie.
Jacob nodded in reply. While this confirmed to Maddie that this was the right place, it came with the grim realization that they were facing a very clever - and very cruel - madman…
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"Why are you looking in there?"
As Red Feather stood by, her bow ready to fire should some hidden accomplice of their foe decide to make itself known, Sonya was peering into the forge itself, using the goggles Jacob had removed and tossed on the floor before rushing upstairs.
"Seems an obvious place to hide it."
"Who do you think we are facing?" asked Red Feather. "Why would he target this place?"
"Assuming it is a 'he'," said Sonya. Red nodded, and Sonya started to answer the question. "Well, whoever it is could be a former partner of Jacob, former friend or lover, former apprentice, former mentor, a supplier or customer he got into a dispute with… Hand me those tongs, would you?" As Red Feather did so, Sonya went on. "Probably an insufferable genius and an anarchist trying to prove to everyone they mean business. In the end, though, terrorists like this rarely choose targets based on anything other than a desire to terrify people." She started using the tongs to poke around the hot coals in the furnace. "That's why they're called 'terrorists'. HEY!"
Something inside the furnace grabbed hold of the tongs and shoved them, knocking Maddie over! "Watch where you're pointing that thing, water-bag!" snapped a rude voice from within the forge.
To the utter shock of both Shadowchasers, a small, imp-like creature - a tiny fire elemental! - marched up to the hatch, indignantly putting its hand on its hip and tapping its foot.
"A hearth spirit?" gasped Red Feather.
"Yeah, that's me," it snapped, "what's the big idea? Where's Jacob?"
"Uh, he's… Busy right now. Look, uhm… We need to find something that might have been put in there, a red gem about this big -" She held her thumb and index finger, indicating a size of about four inches.
"What, you mean this?" snapped the creature. It seemed Sonya's hunch had been right on the money, the spirit hurled the Crystal at her, hitting her in the forehead.
"OW!" she cried, then as she fumbled to catch it, added, "Ow, ow, OW! HOT!"
"Some guy threw this in here yesterday; tried to eat it and almost broke a tooth. Knock yourself out."
"THANKS!" she exclaimed. "Oh, and sorry."
Maddie and the guard came down the stairs, Maddie starting, "We have a problem, we -"
"Problem solved, Maddie, mission accomplished!" She held the Crystal so they could see it, but hastily added, "Well, mission one, anyway."
There was a clear look of relief on Jacob's face, but it quickly turned sterner. "Listen, I want some answers here, what -"
"Reese, you tell him!" answered Sonya. The guard nodded, and the three Shadowchasers rushed from the building. Red Feather withdrew the scroll and unfolded it, and indeed, fresh writing had appeared on
"One down!" exclaimed Sonya. "Looks like we've taken an early lead, Jigsaw."
"A little early to start acting cheeky, Ms. Clarkson," The voice from 'Jigsaw' startled them, as he hadn't spoken in a while, and it didn't seem as jovial this time. "I don't recall saying you could get help."
"You didn't say we couldn't either."
"Touché. You three think you're so smart? Your imported street smarts are no match for an intellect like mine."
Seems we were right about the "insufferable genius" part, thought Sonya. "Oh, you're that smart, huh? Well tell me this, Jigsaw, if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"
"What?"
"You figure it out, fella, you're the genius."
As Sonya was arguing with him, Red and Maddie weren't just standing and listening. Red Feather was holding the scroll, Maddie speaking into her Disk.
"Sergeant, are you there?"
There was some static, followed by a "Yes I -" Then more static, a "Ye-" and then finally, "Yes, I'm here. Damn, you use these things all the time?"
"The communicator is an optional extra. Look, mission one accomplished, we have one of the Crystals, and the scroll has changed again."
"Look under the Duke's throne."
"Seems a little straightforward there."
"Hmm, the only Duke I can think of in Cauldron is Duke Pendergast, he's the official who acts as mediator at the Civics Office. But… I don't remember any throne."
"We'll check it out anyway, can you give us directions there?"
"Go to Obsidian Avenue from where you are and then follow it westward about a mile. It will be on your left, across the street from a shop called Glowergold's Pantry, it's hard to miss. I'll send a couple sentries there to meet you if there's trouble."
"Gotcha, we're on our way." She turned the Disk off. "Looks like we're at least going to get a workout today."
"Indeed," continued Jigsaw, catching them by surprise. "Zhent has his facts straight, but he clearly doesn't have all the answers."
"That a hint that we're getting warm?"
"You're volcanic, but don't forget, play with fire, you get burned. Oh, just to remind you, it is now 12:25."
Don't I know it, thought Maddie, pushy son of a bitch…
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The three Shadowchasers had no idea how close they were to their foe.
From the stationary store across the street, two blue eyes were watching them. Not the attractive type like Paul Newman's - this man's eyes were watery and pale, a cold, creepy type of blue eyes. The type that not only acted like a "window into the soul" but showed way too much of it. They peered out at the three Shadowchasers from beneath uncut bangs under a wide-brimmed hat.
Still, even if they'd had time to notice him, he wouldn't have stood out all that much among the residents of Cauldron; as creepy as he was, some people were even creepier.
"AHEM!" said a strict-sounding female voice in his head.
"Ugh," he said, in a low whisper. "What is the problem, Khama, it's going as I planned it?"
"Oh, seriously?" said the voice. "Odd, according to the 'plan' that you outlined, which I made a point of keeping a copy of, you predicted they wouldn't find the first one until 12:45."
"Listen, before you get angry -"
"Angry? It's no skin off my nose if you louse up, Ferid, we're doing this as a favor for Xokiek, remember? Of course, if you louse up too much, he is going to be incredibly angry, and -"
"Listen, just tell him and Zarn to have everything ready, I believe the plan also specified their role in it."
"Of course. And do take your time, if they find the second one before 1:20, Zarn owes me 50 Sovereigns."
"Remind me again how I wound up as your apprentice?"
"Because I invited you and you said yes, now get moving."
Ferid grumbled and moved to follow the three Shadowchasers. Unlike most wizards, he was no stranger to physical activity, having explored wilderness locales for most of his life. He was, however, not accustomed to being told what to do.
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"Mainlanders, over here!"
The three Shadowchasers had jogged briskly in the direction (running, as they all knew, tended to tire one out much quicker and tended to cause delays) and after five minutes and quite a few catcalls aimed at Sonya, they saw Glowergold's Pantry, the storefront display with huge wheels of cheese (one of them about the size of a bus) quickly noticeable and drawing attention to the sign above. The Civics Office was less noticeable, as it looked like the other large and extravagant residences on that sign of the street, and they were fortunate for the sentry calling to them and waving.
Naturally, they ran over to him. "What's the situation?" asked Maddie.
"Not sure, we have a slight problem."
"Certainly, they would let us in?" asked Sonya.
"Well, yes, they definitely would, but uhm -" He opened the front doors, and the three Shadowchasers were beset by the loud and angry din of dozens of angry dwarves.
The door opened to a large entry hall that may have at one time been a comfortable and elegant reception area. The room had a vaulted ceiling and a massive (unlit) stone fireplace, plus an assortment of potted plants, comfortable-looking chairs, and a sofa, plus a large, cedarwood desk on the left-hand wall. There was a table with a buffet spread out in the middle, but it was a mess, with a lot of food and plates spilled on the floor.
Crowded around the desk were about two or three dozen angry, rowdy dwarves, a harried-looking secretary flanked by two security guards trying to keep order. The disheveled woman seemed exhausted and overworked, frequently trying to make herself heard while trying - with little success - to get them to sit down and take names.
"Seems you've got a… few folks in line ahead of you," said the sentry.
"Not good," said Sonya. She tapped her Duel Disk and spoke into the receiver. "Sergeant Zhent, are you there?"
There was a small amount of static this time, but Zhent picked up faster now. "Yes, I'm here, and I know. Seems our 'friend' has scheduled his attack on the day Pendergast is hearing complaints from the Brewers Guild from Hollowsky. I'm afraid 'no cutting in line' is one of the most enforced rules at the Civics Office, and I don't have the authority to pull rank."
"Okay, we'll call back in ten minutes if we can't think of anything." She clicked the Disk off. "This is going to get ugly."
"You're telling me, sister," said a voice, "I haven't seen this many angry dwarves since they raised the price of beard shampoo."
For the second time today, they noticed a small creature - the one who had made the wisecrack - perched on Sonya's head.
"You?" exclaimed Maddie. It was the forge spirit they had met at Jacob's smithy, though Maddie and Red could see it clearly now, a small imp-like elemental with coal-black skin shrouded in fire, which oddly, didn't ignite Sonya's wig. She was about to shoo it anyway, but then realized it seemed in a much more social mood than before.
"Jacob closed the shop down early, his wife was pretty upset about the whole deal." As he (they assumed from the voice it was a "he") was saying this, he produced a cigar (from where, they had no clue). "So, I've got nothing to do until he opens tomorrow, so I figured I'd see what you guys were up to." Forming a small flame from his palm, he lit the cigar. "Name's Baern, by the way."
He started to take a drag on the cigar, and Sonya did take a swing at him; this was not regular tobacco he was smoking, it was Naxxian pipeweed, a plant native to swamps with Shadow-related origin, smoked by troglodytes, bullywugs, and lizard folk. The most well-known trait was the revolting stench. An old anecdote among soldiers in World War II was how an officer (likely Sensitive to Shadowkind) suggested using the stuff as part of training programs to enhance a trainee's tolerance to tear gas, an idea that was seriously considered, but dropped because actual tear gas was cheaper.
But… When Maddie stopped coughing, she had a brainstorm.
"Out!" she exclaimed. Going through the doors and back outside. She looked up towards the roof, and as she expected from the presence of a chimney, the fireplace in the main hall was functional.
As the others followed her out, she pointed to the spirit and asked, "Look, Baern was it? How many more of those cigars do you have?"
"Uhm, eight I think, maybe nine but -"
"What would you say about helping us save the city?"
"Meh," he said with a shrug, "I'll try anything once."
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It took two minutes for Maddie to explain her plan, evident as they couldn't help but keep their eyes on that clock. Still, it was simple to understand.
Baern dashed inside the main room (grabbing a chicken wing from the spilled plates on the way), where everyone was too occupied and too upset to notice a tiny Shadow like himself and made his way to the fireplace. "This is gonna cause more confusion than a dire rat loose in a cabaret club," he said with a chuckle. He tossed the wing into his mouth and swallowed it (including the bone) and turned the crank on the side of the fireplace, closing the chimney flue, and then leapt inside it, where there were three logs and piles of kindling. Then he dropped five more of his cigars - taken from the cigar box in whatever hammerspace he kept it in - over the logs.
"Eh, nothing like a cheery fire, I always say." He belched flames, setting the kindling and the cigars alight. Then he sat down and reclined as the fire - and the smoke it was causing - rose. Maddie had told him to open the flue in two minutes, but until then, this was sure to be a good show.
Outside, the three Shadowchasers and their escort had covered their noses and mouths with cloth, watching the results unfold. As Maddie had hoped, the mob of dwarves inside along with the unfortunate secretary and her bodyguards ran out the exit in a fit of coughing and cussing.
"I can't say this was the most orthodox idea," said the sentry, "but it worked."
"Don't celebrate yet, we still must find the duke and search his throne. When our friend opens the flu, help extinguish the fire, we don't want anyone to think the whole building is burning down."
The sentry nodded, and with the last occupants having vacated the main hall, the three Shadowchasers rushed in and towards the door leading upstairs.
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"Sorry!" shouted Maddie. A woman in a maid's outfit screamed as they rushed past her, almost knocking her down. They would apologize later, but this was urgent. The upstairs of building was made up of a long hallway with several office doors on either side, and the loud arguing coming from all of them showed that the duke's aldermen were busy handling complaints from the brewers' union representatives, none of them having noticed the ruckus downstairs or the smoke used to clear it out. It seemed that was because the ruckus in here was worse. Still, it was easy to find the duke's office, which was at the end of the hall and accessed by double doors; they made a beeline for it and threw them open.
It was a quaint and comfortable-looking office, with bookshelves, art, and formal-looking furniture, not the least of which being the oaken desk much larger than the one downstairs, the man behind obviously being Duke Rowan Pendergast himself. Something the three Shadowchasers noted quickly is that the chair he was using was not a throne.
He was an odd-looking individual. A middle-aged man, he seemed overweight, but bulky and stout. He wore black clothes that seemed formal, but very out of date. His hair and beard were auburn, both thick and wiry, and he had a musty odor around him that was odd and unsettling.
Of course, that could likely be attributed to his job, which he was clearly not enjoying now. Eight dwarves were in front of him; four of them had blonde beards, no hair on the top of their heads, brown eyes, and tanned skin, while the other four had black beards, ample hair on their heads, gray eyes, and paler skin, this obvious differentiation showing they were of two different clans. And it was more obvious from the arguing between the two who seemed in charge that they did not like each other at all.
"I cannot seriously believe you're letting this fool just take my idea!" hollered one of the blonde ones.
"Oh, calling me a thief now, Daylnyl?" replied one with black hair. "Are you going to show me where you have a trademark on ghost peppers?"
Ghost peppers? Thought Sonya. Wait a minute…
"They aren't 'ghost peppers,' Gerdrak, "if an uneducated cretin like yourself knew anything about spice beer you'd know they're called bhut jolokia. The Grunguvoon clan invented the recipe for the Caanian Spicy Lager, and the swill you ruffians have been putting out is just a pale imitation."
"Oh, so why are you so eager to force us to stop making it?" said Gerdrak with a chuckle. "The Barrowbelts have been making the Infernatus Hell Brew ever since the strongest thing you could drink was a scoop of real coffee in a pot of decaf, and I'd wager that hasn't changed much."
Throughout all this, Duke Pendergast was showing phenomenal patience, watching the two with a look of bemusement on his face. But Sonya had other ideas. She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled loudly.
"Who in -" started Daylnyl. Then upon turning and seeing Sonya and her outfit, said, "Uhm…"
"WHOA!" gasped Gerdrak upon seeing her.
"Eyes up here, big guy," she snapped. "First of all, bhut jolokia literally translates to 'ghost peppers' in Assamese, so you aren't as smart as you think. Second, I'm going to take a wild guess here - this beer you claim he stole, the other peppers used to make it are serrano, jalapeno, habanero, Fresno, and Peruvian dragon fruit, correct?"
"Sonya…" started Red Feather.
"Don't stop her," whispered Maddie, "she's doing great."
"Yes," said Daylnyl, sullenly.
"Well, then." Sonya closed her eyes and put her hand on her hip. "There's a brewery in the States that has been marketing that since 2015, and I do believe the heads of at least three dwarf clans are major stockholders. Maybe we should drop them a wire and ask for their opinion on who owns the rights to it?"
There was a long silence, and then Daylnyl started to reply with, "Are you in any way implying -"
"All right, ENOUGH!" Duke Pendergast stood up, slamming both his palms down on the desk and knocking the lamp over. "You two have been getting on my nerves for the past forty minutes, which is ten more than I was required to give you, so unless either of you have any solid evidence of the accusations you are making, I suggest you stop wasting my time."
Both decided to follow that suggestion. Daylnyl rudely pushed past Sonya as he and his entourage exited the office; Gerdrak seemed more polite, but as he passed by Sonya, slipped a note to her hand, and whispered, "Call me." She couldn't help but blush a little, even under that green body makeup.
"THANK you!" exclaimed Pendergast, his voice awash with relief. "You three just spared me another migraine."
"Those guys have been here before?" asked Maddie.
"Every blasted month! The Barrowbelt and Grunguvoon clans never seem able to resolve their petty problems on their own, so those two come here every month to whine about it like a bunch of children, and every month my blood pressure seems to get higher. Anyway… What can I do for you lasses?"
It seemed he thought the three Shadowchasers were other members of the Brewers Guild, not exactly a bad guess.
"Uhm, Duke Pendergast, this may seem a little off the subject but…"
The duke listened closely, his expression changing to one of concern when they explained what they needed to find, but also one of confusion.
"I'm… sorry mainlanders, I don't have a throne. Just this chair which I've been meaning to replace for a long time. Priorities, you know. I don't think the saboteur you mentioned means that."
"Well, one way to find out."
"Oh, of course." The duke stood up so Red Feather could look - which made her and the others a little nervous, as he seemed almost six feet tall and hulking. The chair unfortunately didn't seem much different than the other chairs in the building; as he tipped it up so she could see underneath, there was nothing odd there, and the batting had no tears or seams to suggest anyone had tampered with it.
There also didn't seem to be a way anyone could even have gotten into the office. Pendergast explained to them that the office door and window were sealed with wizard locks when he was present, requiring a password to open which only he and the four aldermen knew.
This was a dire situation, and they knew it. Searching the whole building would take more time than they had, but without finding it, they had no clue at all where the other four Crystals were, only that they were likely placed in areas with civilians who didn't even know of the danger.
"Duke Pendergast?" As they were contemplating this, the unfortunate maid whom Maddie had knocked down early came in. "Sorry to intrude, the Forgefire emissary got sick in your washroom."
"Oh, for the love of," sighed Pendergast. He sat down again. "Just what I needed. Well, put a bolt on the door, it's going to be cleaned tonight anyway and -"
"Wait, wait," said Maddie. "You have a private washroom?"
Three minutes later the duke led them to the privy on the second floor. It was a nice, if somewhat old-fashioned bathroom. There was a toilet and sink made of porcelain, heavily perfumed, though the once-pleasant odor was marred slightly by the smell of vomit from the dwarf who had gorged himself on something from the buffet table that had made him ill.
"I don't understand," said the duke.
"Where we come from," explained Sonya, "the word 'throne' is slang for 'toilet'."
"Really?"
Maddie examined the toilet and noticed that there was a basket of dried rose petals next to the toilet paper - this was an old fashioned "close stool," a chair built for this purpose placed over a stone base with a removable chamber pot. The purpose of the rose petals was to throw them into the chamber after the toilet was used - it helped conceal the smell.
"Red give me a hand with this," said Maddie. Damn, of all the things I did NOT want to do today…
She was, of course, correct, as when the two of them lifted the commode and moved it aside, the stench was almost overpowering. Of course, it was little wonder, Pendergast did say it was due to be cleaned tonight. If they hadn't already deduced that they were dealing with a sadistic criminal, this clinched it.
Maddie quickly took the cloth she had used downstairs to cover her nose and mouth and reapplied it. "Don't worry, I got this, I was hip deep in this stuff a few months ago. You can go wait outside."
She was, of course, correct in the first part. She fortunately had a few rubber gloves left in her satchel from the work she'd had to do in Hong Kong's sewers before coming to Cauldron. Sonya took Pendergast out into the hallway while Red stayed to provide any aid she could - this wouldn't be pleasant, but it wouldn't be difficult.
"So, sorry we had to crash the whole, uhm, discussion here."
"Oh, it's quite alright, Ms. Clarkson," said Pendergast. "It's what I do, and I've been a moderator in worse situations than that. One time I had to go out to the east part of the island to settle a trade dispute between a grove of treants and of mercane. It took over the entire afternoon for the treant to explain what the issue was."
Sonya giggled a little and said, "Well… treants are like that."
"He also said - eventually - that his fellows gave him the job because they said he talked too much. Come to think of it, I'm not sure just what the mercane were selling to them. Might have been soap."
Sonya was really starting to like this guy. "Still, I have to say you did a pretty good job with those guys back there."
"Oh, please, if I can't manage those ruffians, I don't deserve this job. If that Grunguvoon fellow was even half the man I am…"
"Seriously?" said a gruff voice. "I'd say you're more than twice the man he is."
It seemed at least two members of the Grunguvoon clan hadn't left yet. Neither of the young dwarves in front of them were Gerdrak, but it seemed these two weren't interested in talking. Obviously, the comment was not intended as a compliment.
"Move it, fatso, you're in our way," ordered one of them, whose most noticeable feature was his large, muttonchop sideburns.
Pendergast was officially angry now. "I beg your pardon?"
"I said move it," said the other, who had a shorter than average (for a dwarf) beard but no mustache,"your stomach is crowding the hall!"
"Uh, sir," said Sonya, "maybe you should -"
"Do not concern yourself, Ms. Clarkson, I will handle this." He turned to them and sternly stated, "I am Duke Rowan Pendergast of Cauldron's city council, and I will not be bullied by some thug who barges in here and -"
He was cut off when, to Maddie's shock, the one with no mustache socked him hard in the stomach. Pendergast fell to his knees, clutching that part of his torso, only to be quickly kicked in the face by the one with the sideburns.
What shocked Sonya the most was that now she saw the one with no mustache was wearing brass knuckles. These two had not come simply to make a complaint.
"Okay," she shouted, "you folks just aren't funny anymore!"
"Oh, is that so?" said the one with the sideburns. "Ever hear the one about the guy with the collapsible billy club?"
This bad joke had a visual aid, as he jerked his arm once causing the baton he was holding (collapsible, of course) to extend and then snap into place. Sonya gritted her teeth and lifted her fists, knowing a fight was now unavoidable.
But then, it became clear, turning their backs on Pendergast had been a big mistake. The duke had recovered very quickly, his strong hands grabbing them by the backs of their necks.
"WHAT?" shouted the one with the sideburns. "Wait, let go you big -"
Pressure applied caused him to stop talking quickly. "You two can insult me all you like," snarled the duke, "but threaten a lady and that is where I get angry…" Then he slammed their heads together and dropped them on the ground.
"Whoa," said Sonya.
"Ahem." The duke straightened his tie. "Sorry you had to see that, now -"
"Uh, behind you," said Sonya.
It seemed the Barrowbelts and Grunguvoons could cooperate more than the duke had assumed. There were members of both clans among the nine or so dwarves they were facing now, plus a couple from a third clan.
"Seems the negotiation phase of this debacle was unsuccessful, Ms. Clarkson. Shall we?"
Sonya lifted her sword and gave a smug smirk towards the mob. "Now you're talking."
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Of course, inside the washroom, it was hard for Red and Maddie to not hear the fighting outside. Red had bolted the door and was leaning against it, her knife in hand should any of them try to force their way in.
Maddie on the other hand was trying hard not to throw up, all while dreading the shots she would have to get once this was over. Come on, where is it… damn.
And then finally, "GOT IT!" She triumphantly lifted her arm, holding the second Crystal aloft. Of course, it would have been far more dignified had she not been covered with filth and smelled like a cesspool.
Then she felt a horrible pain in her forehead. For a minute, she felt she really was going to be sick.
But instead, she heard a voice in her head. It wasn't Jigsaw, it was a female voice, and for some reason, she knew the message it said was private - only for her:
You need a hook to catch a fish,
A flickering lure to catch its eye,
But minnows are a paltry dish,
When one has bigger fish to fry.
"Maddie?" She heard Red Feather's voice and recovered from the stupor and dizziness quickly. Her name was repeated, this time by Sonya, and she felt herself being lifted off the floor. "AH!" she shouted.
For a moment, she thought she had woken up from some horrible nightmare. But she was still on the second floor of the Civic Hall, now outside the washroom, and there were about a dozen pulped dwarves lying in the hallway. "What?" she started.
"Long story. You, okay?"
"I'm…" started Maddie. "I'm… I'm fine."
That was a lie. She was not fine. While the odd headache and dizzy, nauseous feeling passed quickly, the odd verse spoken by the female voice she had never heard, it was there, it had forced its way into her memory.
She did not want to keep it a secret, and she was trying to tell her two friends, but each time she tried, some… thing forbade it. Whatever it was, it was somehow preventing her from telling them.
But that was not the worst problem now. A voice they recognized too well came to them again.
"You see, Shadowchasers," said Jigsaw, "as you said, I never said you weren't allowed to ask for help, but then, so can I. Still, I actually like it this way, it makes it more exciting."
Naturally, this was an unsubtle threat, and they knew it. "Then this is your sick idea of fun?" asked Maddie.
It seemed whatever this spell on her was, it was okay with what she wanted to tell him.
"I never said that. I do have a reason and should you three ever figure out who I am, maybe I will tell you. Until then, you have two hours and one minute, so you'd best hustle."
Sonya started to grope for the controls of her Duel Disk. "Damn, Red, you have the scroll?"
Red nodded. She showed them the scroll, which had changed again:
"The sinister machination is in the high Hand of Justice."
"Lieutenant Zhent -" started Sonya.
"I heard her," responded Zhent's voice through the Disk. "That's an easy one. Go to the courthouse; it's only four blocks to the south from where you are. If you need help there are always a few sentries around there, just give them my name and they'll be sure to offer assistance."
"Uh, sure, what exactly are we looking for?"
"Trust me, you'll see it when you get there. Just try not to cause much of a ruckus, it's the last thing we need at the City Courts."
"Anything further I could do to help?" asked Pendergast.
"For now, pray. We'll keep in touch."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
With a third of their time expired - and it seems, Khama 50 Sovereigns richer - our fearless trio has gained three of the four bomb-crystals. But it's only going to be uphill from here.
Part three of our little interlude comes this Wednesday!
And one day after that, come here the premiere of "BLOCKBUSTER Yu-Gi-Oh!"