Chapter 6:

The man leading the other knights was young, between sixteen and eighteen years of age. He sported slick, black hair and a small goatee.

"Johan Dürer," Kyria said with a smile, "My, you've grown."

"And you're just as beautiful as ever," he said, getting on one knee.

He grabbed Kyria's hand and kissed it. As the men lowered their weapons, Thomas and Christine felt a great deal of relief; their leader's apparent friendship with Kyria meant they were on the same side.

"You two know each other?" asked Thomas.

"Yes," said Kyria, "We met years ago while I was on a mission in Konstanz, pursuing a dangerous fugitive. As a child, Johan was already proficient with a sword. He was my guide for much of my quest there."

"Since then," continued Johan, "I have followed in Ms. Kyria's footsteps and taken to mercenary work."

"But you're so young," marveled Christine.

"Do not let my age fool you," said Johan, "I command respect, the same way any soldier would."

"What brings you to Venice?" asked Kyria.

"We were sent here by King Adalwolf von Krone," replied Johan, "A number of artefacts were stolen from the Kingdom of Wolfkrone, including the family crest and crown jewels belonging to Wolfkrone's original founder. Rather than send soldiers, and risk an international incident, the king hired us."

"Wait," said Thomas, "Those are the treasures Dampierre asked us to find!"

"Indeed," said Johan, "It seems you've been caught up in one of Dampierre's schemes. The man is nothing more than a con artist and a thief. He is known to sell stolen goods, then hire others to re-steal the items, allowing him to continue profiting off of them."

"So, that bastard deceived us?" asked Thomas, "Damn him!"

"The treasures are currently in the possession of the shopkeeper," began Kyria, "A man by the name of Cepheus. Unfortunately, he was arrested and taken to the Doge's Palace. We were just on our way to break him out."

"Kyria," began Sarpedon, "A thought has occurred to me: Dampierre could have been lying about his boat been seized. If he discovers that mercenaries are here to arrest him, he might flee Venice! We should head for the docks instead…"

"But the treasures," said Pallene, "Johan could use our help retrieving them."

"Not to mention the girl," added Thomas, pointing at Valeria, "We can't leave her caretaker to rot in prison like that!"

"If I may," said Johan, "I can have two of my men escort her out of the city to safety, while I personally aid you on your quest to save Cepheus. We'll focus on getting Dampierre afterwards."

"Johan," said Kyria, placing her hand on his shoulder, "We truly appreciate your help."

"After all the times you saved me as a young lad," he began, "It's the least I can do. Now, let's get moving. We have gondolas that can get you where you need to go!"

With the sun now beginning to set, the group, along with Johan and his men, made their way towards San Marco District, where the Doge's palace was located. The group had been split up into a "fleet" of gondolas, which made its way down the Grand Canal. Around them, rioters could be seen clashing with officers, along with civilians entering their homes or fleeing for their lives.

"It looks like the rioting has spread to San Marco," noted Johan, "Fortunately, the Doge is out of town and the palace will likely have been evacuated of all officials."

"But there will still be guards to contend with," added Kyria, "We best use the cover of the riot as much as we can."

As Thomas observed his surroundings, a feeling of uncertainty overcame him. From the nearby rooftops and alleyways, shadowy figures watched the group's every move.

"We are here," said Johan.

The Doge's Palace was a stunning, white limestone building located at the south end of the San Marco district. The group parked their gondolas at the edge of the canal, then disembarked before entering the building.

"Something's not right," noted Thomas, "Where is everyone?"

The group looked around as they entered the building. They were met with no resistance. In fact, the building was eerily quiet. Not far from the entrance lay three corpses of Italian soldiers who had their throats slit.

"What in God's name?" demanded Johan, "Must've been…You there! STOP!"

A man sporting golden locks and a purple vest was visible at the far end of the room. Upon being spotted, he bolted.

"After him!" ordered Johan.

"We'll head him off," said one of Johan's men.

Johan nodded as the group split up. They followed the panicked man down the hallway, but he was fast. Fortunately, some of Johan's men intercepted him at the next corner. When the man tried to turn back, he ran straight into Johan Dürer, who grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall.

"You're one of Dampierre's goons, aren't you?" demanded Johan, "Why did you kill those guards? Answer me!"

"I dunno what you're talking 'bout," said the man, "Please, jus' lemme go!"

Johan slammed the man into the wall again.

"I'm not playing games," he warned.

"Dampierre sent us 'ere to cause some mischief," the man sobbed, "Told us 'e wanted a full-scale riot by sundown, 'e did! 'e never told me to kill no one!"

"So," began Christine, "Dampierre started the riot? But why?"

"I don't bloody know," the man cried, "I was just doing me job, is all!"

"Wait," began Johan, "If you didn't kill those guards, then who did?"

"The men in the black robes," sobbed the man, "The ones with them strange markings on their faces! That's all I know, I swears!"

Kyria stared at Johan in shock.

"The Fygul Cestemus," she said, "They're here…"

"They must have tracked us down," said Thomas.

Johan let go of the man, allowing him to run away.

"Who are they?" asked Johan.

"Dangerous men," replied Kyria, "They are here to kill us."

"Christine isn't safe here," said Sarpedon, "We need to protect the necklace at all costs! I will take her out of the city while you continue searching for Cepheus!"

Sarpedon held his hand out to Christine, but she hesitated to take it.

"I…I…" she began.

"No," said Kyria, "We are safer together, as a group. We will watch over her."

Sarpedon frowned.

"Fine," he said, "We'll have it your way."

The group continued to push deeper into the palace in search of the prison. Eventually, they arrived outside, in the palace's courtyard.

"We have to make our way to the other side," said Johan, pointing upwards, "The prison is just up there, at the top floor."

"Upstairs?" asked Thomas, "Typically, I'd expect a dungeon to be underground…"

"That's why they call it I Piombi," explained Johan, "Or, 'The Leads'. It is because of the lead roof…"

A gunshot suddenly whizzed past his face.

"Jesus!" exclaimed Thomas.

Through the windows of the palace surrounding the square courtyard, several Fygul snipers could be seen.

"Take cover!" ordered Johan.

The group sought cover behind the pillars that lined the courtyard. Several of Johan's men were hit, but most survived.

"Ready the rifles!" yelled Johan.

Johan's men drew rifles and fired upon the cultists in retaliation. Several of them were struck, causing them to fall from the windows to the concrete below. Both Johan's men and the cultists reloaded their weapons as quickly as possible.

"Ready?" yelled Johan, "Fire!"

Johan's men fired again, with some hitting their mark and many missing. The back-and-forth went on for several minutes.

"We can't stay here," said Thomas, "We have to push forward!"

"Go," said one of Johan's men, "We'll distract them as much as we can!

"Come on," said Johan to the main group, "Let's go!"

As soon as the cultists finished firing another volley of shots, the main six abandoned their post and made a dash for the other end of the courtyard, while Johan's men fired back. They eventually reached a main hall with a gold-lined ceiling and massive arched windows, through which the last bit of daylight shone through. There, they were greeted by several more cultists, this time armed with swords.

"I hope you're ready," said Kyria, drawing her sword.

"As ready as I'll ever be," lamented Thomas, as he drew his own.

The group charged towards the cultists and fought back against their assault. During the ensuing battle, explosions could be heard outside.

"What was that?" asked Thomas, as he cut down a cultist.

"The Fygul Cestemus must be firebombing the palace," replied Kyria, "Either to distract us or flush us out."

Once all the cultists in the room had been taken care of, the group reassembled near the room's exit. Another explosion could be heard, followed by some slight shaking.

"This is madness!" barked Sarpedon, "We should be getting the hell out of this place, not trying to bust out some shopkeeper I've never even met! It's too dangerous!"

"I'm not going anywhere without my artefacts," said Johan.

"And I'm not going anywhere without Johan," added Kyria, "We promised him help, and now we are here. Anyone who wishes to leave is free to do so; I'm staying."

"I stand by you, Kyria," said Pallene.

"I suppose Christine and I don't have much choice," said Thomas.

Sarpedon growled and uttered a curse under his breath. The group continued to press forward, navigating a series of long hallways.

"The stairs are just over…" began Johan, "Mein Gott!"

Several gunshots could be heard coming from outside. A volley of shots struck the windows next to them, causing them to shatter. The group panicked as they searched for cover.

"It's not safe near the windows!" yelled Kyria.

"We have to get out of this hallway," said Thomas.

As he began to run, Thomas tripped over some rubble and fell to the floor. The group ran towards his location, only to be rocked by another explosion, this time, right over their heads.

"WATCH OUT!" yelled Johan.

A large chunk of the ceiling and wall came crashing down, seemingly crushing Thomas. Once the noise died down, Christine ran towards the wall of debris and began pounding on it.

"NO!" she sobbed, "THOMAS! It cannot be…"

Kyria placed a hand on Christine's shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine," she said, "But there is no way to get to him now. We must move forward."

"But Thomas…" began Christine.

"We will meet up afterwards," said Kyria, "But for now, we must get out of this hallway!"

And so, the group continued onward without Thomas.

"Dear me," said Thomas, spitting out dust.

As Kyria predicted, Thomas survived the ordeal, having managed to crawl away from the debris in time. As he stood up, he realized he had been separated from the group and was now alone.

"Great," he muttered, "I have to find some way to reconnect with them…"

Thomas fled the hallway and returned to the previous room, only to be swarmed by more sword-wielding cultists.

"Nope," said Thomas, "Not going by here!"

Thomas darted towards an open door that led upstairs. Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Thomas turned the corner and took cover behind a large statue. As the cultists pursued Thomas into the hallway, one of them began shouting commands; the others responded by splitting up into two groups.

"Damnit," thought Thomas, "They'll find me for sure!"

After frantically looking around, Thomas found an escape; an open window directly across from him. Seeing no other option, Thomas climbed out of the window and onto the ledge directly under it.

"Don't look down," Thomas whispered to himself, "Don't look down…"

The narrow ledge Thomas stood upon was three stories above the courtyard he and his companions had previously run across. In the distance, the sounds of gunshots and explosions could still be heard. Thomas tried desperately to block out all distractions as he sidled his way to the other end of the building.

"Woah!"

Thomas' right foot slipped, causing him to momentarily lose balance. After glancing down, he took a deep breath and continued to move.

"Was this seriously the best idea I could come up with?" lamented Thomas, "Ugh!"

Several Fygul cultists had heard Thomas' grunts and came running to the window to find him sidling his way across. They stuck their heads and rifles out of the window while shouting commands at him in their language.

"Now what?" Thomas wondered.

To the right of Thomas, a giant banner hung from the roof down the building's façade. Seeing no other option, Thomas drew his rapier and sighed. He plunged his sword into the flag and leapt from the ledge.

"WOOOOAH!" he screamed, "Bad ideaaaaaaa!"

The cultists at the window stared in shock as Thomas slid his way his down to one of the windows below him. He then kicked forward, flying feet first through the window and shattering the glass.

Two Fygul cultists had been conversing in the hallway when Thomas came crashing through. He struck one of the cultists, sending him flying into the opposite wall and knocking him out. As Thomas stood up and recovered from the impact, the other cultist stared in shock at what had just transpired.

"Sorry," said Thomas, dusting himself off, "Didn't mean to drop in…"

After a brief pause, the cultist drew a sword. Thomas responded by drawing his own rapier and deflecting the man's attack. The man attempted a horizontal swing, getting his sword stuck in the wall. Thomas then stabbed the man in the chest, killing him.

"I have to keep moving," he said.

As Thomas navigated deeper into the building, he came across a three-way battle between the guards, the prisoners and the cultists. Having no clue what Cepheus looked like, Thomas called his name out a few times but received no response. Given how dangerous the situation was, Thomas felt best not to intervene and keep moving.

After finding another way upstairs, Thomas finally discovered I Piombi. The cells boasted solid iron doors and iron-barred windows. Some of the open cells still had prisoners in them, many of whom were too weak or too frightened to escape. Other cells were vacant, allowing Thomas to catch a glimpse of the filthy conditions inside. Enemy resistance was non-existent on this floor.

"Cepheus?" whispered Thomas, "Cepheus!"

"Over here," whispered a voice.

Thomas ran to the source of the voice. A balding, bearded middle-aged man stared at Thomas through the iron bars of his cell.

"You're Cepheus?" asked Thomas.

"Yes," replied the man, "You'll need keys to open the door. Take them from that man over there."

Thomas looked to his left and saw the corpse of a guard lying nearby. After searching his body, he returned to the cell door and unlocked it.

"You weren't let out?" asked Thomas.

"I'm afraid not," said Cepheus, "When the riots started, people came in and started opening the doors. Before they could get to me, those robed men appeared and scared them out."

Cepheus stepped out of his cell and examined his surroundings.

"This riot is far worse than I initially thought," he noted, "We must escape!"

"It's okay," assured Thomas, "That's what I'm here for."

"Thank the gods," said Cepheus, "I owe you one, Mr…"

"Hunter. Thomas Hunter. Before we go, I'm first going to need the items you bought from Dampierre; a crest, and some jewels."

"Of course. They were confiscated from me by the guards and placed into storage along with other looted goods. They barely had any time to go through the items before the chaos reached this place, so they're probably still there. I can show you where it's located."

"Please."

Cepheus led Thomas to another room containing numerous shelves and tables, each filled with items. Thomas and Cepheus began searching through the shelves together.

"How could I have been so stupid?" asked Cepheus, "I should have known better!"

"What do you mean?" asked Thomas.

"Dampierre…I had concerns that the artefacts he sold me were stolen, but he gave me his word. I should have trusted my gut. When the riots started, I grew fearful that a mob was coming for me, so I placed the items in a bag and fled, hoping to dispose of them somewhere I would not be connected back to them. Unfortunately, I was caught by a soldier, who saw me carrying goods and mistook me for a looter."

"It's okay now. We're getting you out of here, understand?"

"The worst part of all this? There's a little girl back at my shop. I told her to wait in the store room when I left and now…"

"It's alright, we took care of her!"

"Y-You did?"

"She was being taken in by two officers. My friends and I stopped them and now she's being taken to safety."

Cepheus immediately turned pale.

"Is something wrong?" asked Thomas.

"It's nothing," assured the shopkeeper, "We need to get out of here, now! Forget the items, just go!"

"But I need…"

Cepheus grabbed Thomas by the arm and tried to drag him out of the storage room. Unfortunately, as soon as they stepped out, they were met by gun-wielding cultists.

"What's going on?" demanded Thomas, "This was a set-up, wasn't it?"

One of the cultists smacked Thomas in the head with his rifle, knocking him to the floor. Dazed, Thomas placed a hand on his left temple and felt blood.

"Ack!" he yelped.

From behind the cultists, two men stepped forward. One of them was an older man, with long, white hair and matching beard. The other man was much younger, near Thomas' age, sporting thick brown hair styled to resemble devil horns. Each man bore unique facial markings and highly elaborate robes, indicating a higher rank.

"My, my," said the older man, "Thomas Hunter, we meet at last. The Great Palgaea told us much about you, yet you know nothing of us. Allow me to introduce ourselves; I am Valnykuluk, Grand Priest of the Fygul Cestemus. The young gentleman at my side is Kunpaetku, my greatest disciple."

"You'll never get the necklace," spat Thomas, "Not on my life!"

"It is too late," said Kunpaetku, "We have your friends right where we want them. Soon, the necklace will be ours and the Great Palgaea will finally be restored!"

"So it was Dampierre who led you to us?" asked Thomas.

"Why, yes," replied Valnykuluk, "He was even kind enough to start that riot, providing us cover while we navigated the city. As payment, he requested that we bring you back alive. He has big plans for you, evidently."

"That is why we kept Cepheus in his cell," began Kunpaetku, "We knew it was only a matter of time before you came for him. He certainly played his part well."

Cepheus lowered his head, clearly ashamed of his role in the cult's plan.

"You won't get away with this!" snapped Thomas, "I'll never let you take me or my wife, understand? You'll never…"

The cultists kept their rifles trained on Thomas while Kunpaetku drew a damp rag and made his way over to Thomas. He bent down placed the rag directly over Thomas' mouth, causing the young man to slowly lose consciousness.

"It's done," said Kunpaetku.

"Good," said Valnykuluk, "Men, get him out of here!"

As the cultists dragged Thomas' unconscious body out of the room, Valnykuluk and Kunpaetku approached Cepheus.

"As promised," began Valnykuluk, "We will have the soldiers release the child. We thank you for your cooperation."

"They had already saved her!" spat Cepheus, "My betrayal was for nothing!"

"A pity," chuckled Kunpaetku, "Now, we have business to attend to. Stay out of our way, or we will come for the girl again, understood?"

With his head still hanging low, Cepheus slowly walked past the smug priests and out of the room.

"Come," said Valnykuluk, "Let us enjoy the show…"