Chapter 6
The trickster
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There were occasional days when the Realms made sense. When one could feel that all the Gods' clever designs had a purpose, and every leaf and rock and creature were exactly how they needed to be.
Today was not such a day.
"Then what happens after we lure them into the sewers?" Elene asked, her features sceptical.
Their contact let out a thoughtful hum as he picked out a bolt with an odd skull-shaped attachment at the tip. "I suppose we could try stuffing the tunnel with special-purpose Flasher Master bruiser mates and setting it off from a looong way away, much like the time my Uncle Paddy by marriage twice removed kicked off a revolution against the Insidious Griffins of Nail's End, I gotta tell ya, the earth still shakes in that part of the Realm to this day, and when those little horrors went off in a big yellow ball, you had to scrape pieces off the griffins off the ground with tiny forks – you know, the kind noblemen like to poke at small folds of flavoured treats at parties…what do they call those, canapes I think?"
A slow throb had started up around Jaheira's left temple, and it was growing steadily more insidious with each sentence pouring out of the mouth of the gnome before them. When the assault against the Coronet's slaving operation succeeded, Hendak had asked them to pursue the rest of the slavers back through the sewers like the vermin that they were. Bernard, however, had proposed a less direct path, one that the slavers would not expect. Spurred by the need to strike at the slavers quickly before they discovered Lehtinan's demise, Hendak himself had escorted them to meet Bernard's contact and secure a lynchpin for their strategy.
That strategy revolved around being smuggled in by the slaver's long-time turnip supplier. A dark-haired gnome of questionable conduct, well-known to be an enterprising merchant and smuggler in his spare time, though up until that point unaware that he'd been selling to slavers. His outrage seemed genuine when he realised that his turnips were purpose-bought for slaves, as it was a cheap source of nutrients around these parts.
What she had not counted on was that Jan Jansen was an aggravating chatterbox with the capacity to meander endlessly about obscure bits of turnip lore, or derail into random stories of distant relatives in the middle of a serious discussion. A courtesy call that was supposed to take ten minutes had now degenerated into almost half an hour of grass chewing with him on the most pointless unrelated topics, much to her and Anomen's shared chagrin, and Hendak's bemusement.
Elene and Yoshimo, however, had taken this new development in stride. If anything, both seemed genuinely curious about the foppish little gnome.
"Yes, I believe they are referred to as canapes in these parts. Though in Kara-Tur we merely call them pointless," grinned Yoshimo.
Elene cocked her head, as though studying an unidentified fauna in the wild and cataloguing it in her mind for posterity. "Amazing. You didn't even pause for a breath through all that. Not a one."
"Elene, do not encourage him," Jaheira growled in warning.
Hendak chuckled quietly in the corner, the grizzled foreigner amused despite himself.
Jaheira glanced at their newfound benefactor, the former gladiator from the north. He'd picked up a monstrous greataxe and stormed the Coronet himself when they took the fight to Lehtinan. His rallying cry of fury and retribution was irresistible to his brethren, who fought like demons to overcome their disadvantage. Nothing was recognisable from the man's face once they were done with Lehtinan. And just like that, the Copper Coronet was under new management.
"Ah yes, those little bits are delectable, you must have been sneaking into naughty parties indeed if you know what those are, Yoshi." Jan winked at Yoshimo, then reached up to adjust the preposterously oversized glasses atop his head. "Ehh, but given what happened to Uncle Paddy, maybe bruiser mates wouldn't be the best idea, would tickle the structural integrity of maybe half the sewers in this part of the city and we could all be torn under like a house of cards before the day is out, much like a griffin nest collapsing under the weight of a particularly overweight female, not that anyone would say that to her face…"
"Can you get to the point, man?" Anomen thundered.
For the first time in their brief acquaintance, she found herself strongly agreeing with Anomen's sentiment. When Elene had told her he'd be joining up with them, she'd harboured doubts. As a squire of the Order of the Most Radiant of Heart, he espoused certain black and white views that prickled her sensibilities. Those tenets worked within the bubble of nobility and military discipline, but once tested in the real world, he will discover quickly enough that the lessons which got him to where he was would take him no further. She doubted that discovery will be an enlightening experience for one as high-minded and prideful as this man.
Time will tell.
"The point, my dear impatient knight in shining armour," Jan replied with a twinkle in his eye, "Is that your best shot would still be to hit them in their own lair and finish the fight within. Easy enough, I can get you in no problem, be as easy as Auntie Petunia pushing in a cart of explosives to her mother-in-law's eightieth birthday, now those were fireworks no one ever forgot, my Uncle Jeven still hasn't grown his eyebrows back after that fiasco…"
"Will you be assisting us once we're inside?" Jaheira cut in.
Jan paused. "Well, I'm a bit rusty at this fighting business, been doing nothing but turnip peddling for years, you see…"
Somehow, Jaheira managed to avoid rolling her eyes. Around them, his workshop was filled to the brim with advanced alchemical equipment and half-made mechanical contraptions, all clearly of the illegal variety. Elene had also pointed out the traps lining certain sections of his workshop, deadly to the uninformed intruder. With such an elaborate if haphazard set-up, only a fool would believe that this man's core business was peddling turnips.
"Although from what you've been saying, these slavers have been bringing in wee ones to the stockade." His expression darkened at the mention of it. "I can close an eye to a lot of things, what people do behind closed doors is their own business for the most part – but a gnome's gotta draw a line somewhere."
Hendak nodded at him. "We would be thankful for your aid. Any spoils from the slaver den would be yours. The scum cannot be allowed to escape, or we may never be able to save the others."
Jaheira took a deep breath to centre herself. Even she had been outraged when Hendak told them of the extent of Lehtinan's crimes. Children were brought in from the south by slave ships to be sold to unscrupulous nobles as servants or 'for sport'. She didn't want to think on what that entailed. All that she knew was that the vile men had to be stopped, and stopped immediately. That Hendak offered a reward for their efforts was simply bonus for her.
Elene smiled. "So, when do we head off, Jan?"
"You're in luck! I have a run to the compound due tonight, but this time I reckon I'll stick around for a new business proposition." Jan shuffled over to the shelves mounted on a nearby wall, fingers twitching excitedly. "Let's see, I think I can fit in a few nifty surprises in the cart for the trip. Ooh, this will be like the Jansen family reunion from ten years ago, when Cousin Edgar brought in a baby copper dragon as a surprise. Lit the house on fire, it did! Right after, Granny Mesa said to me, now Jan…"
As Elene followed Jan on his madcap recollection and survey of 'nifty surprises' to take with him, Anomen stepped closer to Jaheira. "Is this…really a good idea?"
Jaheira glanced at him. "I am open to alternatives."
His brows furrowed at her response, partly because there weren't any at this juncture. They both knew they'd been lucky at the Coronet. Releasing the imprisoned gladiators tipped the scales in their favour, but it was a near thing. Hendak organised his men for a frontal charge while her group tackled the Beastmaster in the kennels. Once there, the druid in her raged against the conditions the animals were kept in, and they were more than happy to answer her call as she turned them against their wicked captors. Not many of the beasts survived the encounter, but at least they had won their freedom in the end.
Elene worried her. The girl clearly struggled against the handicap of not being able to use magic. Blows that she used to turn away with spells now struck her with full force, and she saw Elene forced to use her innate abilities more than once during the battle. At least she had good sense to hide it from Yoshimo and Anomen – she couldn't gauge how either of them would react to the knowledge that they travelled with a godchild.
"My men will wait for Elene's signal," Hendak told her. "We can subdue the guards, but you will need to open the door from the other side for us." His eyes flashed with fury. "We will sweep through their vile ranks like a cleansing wave."
Hendak left them to their devices once the signal was agreed. From there, Jaheira's group prepared and waited for nightfall to strike at the slaver stockade. It would be a two-pronged attack, with Hendak arraying his surviving brethren to support them from the hidden sewer tunnels which led directly to the Copper Coronet. The bulk of the work though, would fall on them. Times like this she missed Xan and Imoen. They were skilled hands at wreaking havoc in a battlefield, which was needed in fights where they were sorely outnumbered. Now she only had Elene to count on for subterfuge.
"Remember what we discussed," Jaheira told Elene.
"No magic," she nodded, resignation evident in her shoulders. "At least Jan has a good stock of potions."
Jaheira wrinkled her nose. "I hope they perform as advertised."
Elene's answering chuckle sounded more nervous than mirthful.
The slaver stockade building was a rickety old building, unimpressive and bland in every way. At a cursory glance, it could be mistaken for a warehouse in the middle of the slums, a port for ill-gotten goods other than the sprawling buildings in the docks. People didn't realise that most of the structure was underground, where it connected with the sewer channels leading to the docks. That was how most of the Coronet's slaves came into the city, as Hendak told them.
As the lanterns on the streets were lit, Jan led the group into the sewers through a grate not far from his workshop. Jaheira lamented their fate, that somehow, she'd had the misfortune of visiting the underbelly of nearly every city she'd been to. It would take a day to wash out the smell alone.
Annoyance flashed on Anomen's face with every particularly loud squelch of his booths. They'd had to switch him out of his shining splint mail to make him look less like an Order Knight, instead garbing him in the typical hodgepodge chainmail common to guards. Jaheira was dressed in much the same manner while Elene and Yoshimo stuck to the shadows, unseen. Elene was entrusted to find the entrance to the Coronet tunnels and unleashing the waiting gladiators on the unsuspecting slavers. There was some hint of where it could be, but Elene would have to be quick to figure out before the rest of them were overwhelmed.
Jan slowed down when they reached a dead end after a winding stretch of tunnel, the small cart he was pushing rattling as he ground to a halt. Muttering to himself, he rifled through his pockets, "Now where did I put that thing..." Finally, he retrieved a small blue stone, which he waved in front of the wall.
The wall faded from view, revealing a door beyond it.
"Clever," Yoshimo noted.
Before Jan could turn and launch into a story about what he'd just done, Jaheira nudged him hard in the shoulder, prodding him forward. She took her position behind him and to the right, while Anomen moved to Jan's left. For all the world, they would appear to be bodyguards. Behind them, Elene and Yoshimo melted into the shadows, hidden from sight until they were needed. Instead of knocking, Jan pulled out another contraption from his vest – a steel fork, with only two prongs. Then he tugged at the prongs, causing them to vibrate wildly and release a dim ringing sound. When he touched the fork against the door, the door quivered in tandem while barely making any noise.
Jaheira watched with interest as he stowed the now-still fork with a smirk. Even without the requisite license, he was able to get away with useful displays of magic. Interesting little fellow.
They stood in silence for a few long moments before Jaheira heard movement on the other side of the door. The slat built in at eye level was pulled open, revealing a man with bloodshot eyes. Eyes which narrowed at the sight of her and Anomen.
"Ere now, you're not Jansen," the man said.
"And I haven't grown in height since the last time we spoke, Gorf," waved Jan cheerfully, who was a good foot shorter than Jaheira. Gorf had to raise himself to peer down at the gnome through the slat. "Though I've had a cousin whose sister-in-law grew to be as tall as a half-orc after imbibing a dubious potion at her sixteenth birthday. Now there was a sight to behold."
Gorf the guard snorted. "That's Jansen, alright. Ey, who are these people with you?
"New bodyguards for a special occasion. Today I'm not just delivering your usual turnips, though those are still top of the line stuff. I'd like to share some new trinkets from my workshop, valuable little things indeed. I promise you won't be disappointed," Jan said with a manic glint in his eyes.
"That right? Gimme a tic."
The slat shut with a snap. Anomen flicked her a slightly worried glance, making Jaheira grateful that their helmets hid most of their faces from view. Keys jingled on the other side, and eventually the door was pushed open to allow them in. They found themselves in a large room filled with boxes and supplies, with two possible entry points other than the door they'd passed through. Gorf was a scruffy chap, looking as though he was still shaking off the remnants of a hangover. A few feet behind him sat another armed guard. The other man leaned forward in open curiosity as Jan pushed his laden cart through the door with irrepressible cheer.
"What have you got this time?" the other guard asked.
"Pure magic. You're both familiar with my Flasher Masters but I hope you can indulge in a bit of up-selling this fine day," Jan gushed. Shuffling over to his cart, he pulled off the tarpaulin cover to reveal two boxes within. One laden to the brim with turnips, easily enough to feed a few dozen people for days, and another smaller one containing burnished copper orbs. He gestured to Jaheira. "If you please, I'd like to give a demonstration to my friends here. Like my Grand-aunt Gertrude always said, if you want people to believe you, better show it to them."
Obediently, Jaheira stepped forward to pick up two of the orbs. They fit right in the palm of her hand, heftier than what she'd been expecting. Though Jan had assured her that they were reliable, Jaheira felt a mild twinge of trepidation in handling them without protective spells in place, especially knowing what the contraptions really did.
"Looks harmless, doesn't it? Until you toss two or three of these to the ground."
"Yea? What does it do?" Gorf craned his neck to peer at the orbs more closely.
"See for yourself," Jaheira smiled.
Then she threw the orbs at the ground between the guards' feet as hard as she could. They cracked on impact, releasing a sickly-sweet gas which promptly engulfed the two men. They were unable to do much beyond yelp in surprise before succumbing to the powerful nerve agent contained within the gas. Loud clatters echoed in the small room as the guards collapsed to the floor in their armour, twitching. Jaheira, Anomen and Jan backed away from the spreading cloud of gas, careful to remain out of the radius.
"Well, what do you know, it worked!" Jan clapped his hands in delight.
Anomen rounded on him. "You mean you weren't sure if it would?"
"Really, Ano, there's no way to know everything with certainty. Success is always on a measure of probability, after all."
"You little…"
"Quiet!" Jaheira hissed.
She raised her hands, calling to mind the untamed wilderness of the Cloakwoods. Calling upon Silvanus, she summoned a powerful gust of wind to blow the paralysing gas deeper into the room, dissipating its potency. After a few moments, she stood still, listening. So far, so good. Now, on to the main event.
"Yoshimo?"
"Moving," came the whispered reply from further away.
In the silence, she caught the slightest sound of footsteps as she'd been looking out for it. Yanking off the unwieldy helmet concealing her face, she and Anomen got to work hauling the guards into a hidden corner to be restrained. There was no need to kill them, she felt, helpless as they were. They could be useful leverage for the courts in drawing out confessions later. Assuming it was even possible to take the mastermind of this operation to the courts. To be able to operate so brazenly in the heart of Athkatla, this person must be well-positioned indeed.
Once they were done, Yoshimo re-appeared.
"The hallway is trapped, but that's been taken care of. There lies another holding area for slaves not far from here, then more guards beyond the end of the hall. Not a significant force, maybe half a dozen." Yoshimo levelled a meaningful look at Jaheira. "We can easily surprise them."
Jaheira eyed the copper orbs in the cart. From what she observed, the gas did not differentiate between friend or foe. Too risky to use in open battle, and she wished to save a few offensive spells just in case. Half a dozen guards were what Yoshimo counted, she knew there would be more stationed elsewhere about the stockade.
"And Elene?" she prompted.
Yoshimo glanced back the way he came. "She headed off in the other direction, away from the pens. That's likely the other entrance."
"Is that right?" Jaheira glanced at Jan.
"Dunno," he replied with a shrug, even as his hands were busy loading a heavily customised crossbow. "They only ever let me in this far. It's like my Uncle Gerdy, lived close by for thirty years and I'd only ever seen his welcome mat."
Taking a deep breath, Jaheira hefted her staff. "Let's move before someone comes to check."
The four of them crept up the hallway as best as they can, Jan and Yoshimo safely hidden in the shadows. Jaheira had called upon her spells to harden her skin to that of a tree bark, making her more formidable on the front lines. It has been a while since she'd had to do so – in the past, she'd trusted Khalid to take the brunt of the assault while she slithered in behind him. Her attacks focused on the offensive, on battlefield control, not absorbing attacks. At this juncture, she didn't think she could rely on young Anomen to play that role for this group. The safest pair of hands were her own.
As they reached the end of the hall, Jaheira flexed a hand, the words of a spell at the tip of her tongue. Just as Yoshimo said, around seven men were stationed about a room with boxes stacked to the ceiling in some places. She didn't give them a chance to react. Within seconds, vicious vines sprouted about the room, curling around their legs, eliciting shouts of surprise.
Anomen's prayer lent a burst of inspiration as she advanced. She paused, however, when Jan appeared next to her, his feet set apart at shoulder width in a classic shooting stance.
"Ay up, gents!" he shouted.
Then he lifted his crossbow to unload an odd-shaped bolt towards a cluster of three guards moving away from her entangling vines. It struck the middle guard on the upper arm before splintering into small chunks in a bright flash, blinding and stunning all three enemies. With those three incapacitated, the group focused on the four remaining guards quickly, taking full advantage of the chaos. Yoshimo's arrows burst down the guards furthest away while Jaheira and Anomen got to work to those nearest to the doorway.
So far, so good.
Until heavy footsteps resounded further in, from a hallway reachable only via a set of rickety steps yards away from her. More of them were coming. If she had to guess, the stockade could easily house three dozen guards, enough to quickly overwhelm their small strike team unless reinforcements came through. Since that was out of her control, Jaheira signalled to the others to fight harder, take down their opponents faster. They needed to set up a defensible position in a chokepoint as soon as possible if they were to survive the coming onslaught.
"Move away from the stairs!" Yoshimo called out.
Jaheira jabbed her staff at her opponent's midsection and did as she was instructed. Two familiar copper orbs sailed across the room to land at the top of the steps leading to the interior hallway. Gas hissed out from the shattered orbs, limiting visibility beyond the steps. In the distraction, Jan scored a direct hit on her aggressor, the man falling over with a bolt in his eye. Jan let out a loud cackle as two guards rushing into the gas promptly fell over in their rush, overcome by the effects of the gas. Throwing a quick glance about the room, Jaheira saw that they'd cleaned up house on the remaining enemies.
"Quickly, form up! Anomen, in front," she barked.
The knightling rushed forward, standing before her with his shield raised. Jaheira flexed her fingers and began the chant for another spell. The next person who attempted to across the threshold would be in for a sore surprise indeed.
Eventually, the gas cleared, floating upwards towards the high ceiling. It didn't take long for two more guards to charge in. Jaheira was ready, though. She raised her hands and unleashed a plague of insects upon them, her lips pressed into a tight line as the guards flailed and floundered against the sudden blitz. While that made them easy pickings for Jan and Yoshimo, they were merely the vanguard. Four more piled in after them, cursing as they caught the edges of the spell. Jaheira's lips thinned at the sight as her ears caught even more coming behind them.
Anomen engaged the men swiftly, his bulk and shield making it difficult to rush him. Despite her initial concerns, the lad had been trained well by his Order, standing his ground as a shield wall against a melee onslaught. Just as Jaheira intercepted one guard who attempted to step around his guard, a loud roar erupted from behind them.
"Down with slavers!"
A small smile curved her lips as she thwacked her attacker soundly in the head. The cavalry had arrived. In her peripheral vision, she noted the dark leathers of Hendak's gladiators as they moved in with a vengeance, with Elene leading the pack. The newcomers moved with unnatural speed, likely bolstered by one of Jan's potions. It didn't take long for their combined group to clean up. In the end, the last guard turned tail to run back the way he came, with Anomen hot on his heels.
"Anomen, wait!" Elene shouted as she went after him.
"The hot-headed fool," Jaheira cursed.
Elene was about a foot away from him when the tell-tale click of a pressure plate heralded disaster. Bolts flew in from above towards Anomen. Swivelling on his feet, he caught one, two, but the third and fourth struck him in the shoulder and chest. Without wasting time, Elene gripped him from behind and pulled him back into the room before he could blunder into a kill-zone. She left him slumped against the wall, then went back into the hallway with two bright red flasks in hand. From the booms that followed, they must have been explosive in nature.
The gladiators with Jan and Yoshimo barrelled past Anomen to follow Elene. Jaheira held back, crouching in front of the wounded man, taking stock of the damage. He was panting heavily, but the bolts didn't seem to have done serious damage.
"I can heal this," he waved her off.
Fine with her. Jaheira tore off after the others.
With Elene and Jan and their bags of tricks, the slavers didn't stand much of a chance after that. In the end, they only lost two gladiators in the fight, while the five surviving slavers were rounded up for further questioning. Anomen headed off with the gladiators to free the rest of the slaves while Yoshimo got to work on the crates and chests scattered across the stockade. That left Elene, Jaheira and Jan to survey the scene in the main storage room, each of them sweaty and tired after the running battles they'd fought through.
"We make a great team," Elene smiled at Jan. "Want to make it a more formal arrangement?"
Jan glanced at her in surprise. "You want to partner up with little old me?" He scratched at his beard, bemusement clear on his features. "That'd be a first, for sure. I mean, I'm flattered and all. But I have a business to run, a family to feed. As fun as it sounds to ride off into more shenanigans with you, I still have things to take care of here. Grandma Retta once removed would never let me hear the end of it!"
"If that doesn't work, then…instead of traveling with us, maybe you could help sell things for us. Things we can't sell in the open market. And I don't know…" Elene gave him a shrewd look. "For a cut of the final price, you'd let me use your laboratory now and then?"
"Oho. I see where you're going with this." Jan grinned. "That's definitely a better idea than the time I signed away my kidney for a chance at getting the jumbo turnip seed of Farthing. Was sheer blind luck a griffon attack cut short the event and killed the broker, or I'd be a few stones short, if you catch my drift." He let out a chuckle, tickled by some distant memory. "You know what, my dear, I think we have a deal."
Jaheira watched as elf and gnome shook hands on their agreement. They discussed some terms, exchanged several more notes after before Jan decided he would join Yoshimo on his treasure hunt. After all, he had been promised a share of the spoils.
"You think Jan is more reliable than Gaelan's lot?" Jaheira asked once Jan had left.
Elene grimaced as she took a swig from her water flask. "I think that's a given."
"As welcome a distraction as this has been, we need to move on with our objective. Do we proceed with Gaelan's masters soon, or should we look for alternatives?"
"Do we have a deadline to see this Bloodscalp fellow?"
Jaheira shrugged. "Not as such."
Silence stretched as Elene picked at her gauntlet as she deliberated their options.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"I am partial to finding other routes," Jaheira admitted. "Surely the Shadow Thieves cannot be the only power in this city that can get us to Imoen. Perhaps there will be loopholes we can exploit, or even officials we can bribe."
Elene's lips twitched. "Don't let Anomen hear you say that. He seems a right stickler for doing things by the book."
"The boy will simply have to deal with it," she replied drily.
"He's hardly a boy. I think he's alright."
Jaheira was too tired to argue, so she held her tongue.
"I suppose we will do what we must." Elene looked up at last. "And I think you're right. We should hedge our bets."