Clover Kingdom / Diamond Border (Eastern Quarry Central Chamber): May 6th, 1011. Night.
It was a murderous night for the world. The quarry's central chamber bright with lanterns and the kind of false confidence only criminals with numbers tend to wear, yet if you were to look closely at the high ledge overlooking that chamber. To be more specific, at the grinning child crouched above men twice and three times his age while death spun quietly around his fingers. You could tell something very unfortunate had just entered the room.
The atmosphere doomed.
(David's POV)
I looked down at helmut crane and thought with a ugly smile on my face "Yes. You absolutely look like a man about to finance my recovery"
Crane slammed a cup onto the crate beside him and barked "I said move the next shipment before sunrise. I don't care if saint peter's dogs are crawling up the walls now. The buyers south of the border already paid."
Myeyes narrow. Buyers south of the border.
Good.
So the ledger mattered even more than the gold.
Nyx crouched beside me and whispered "Can I kill the loud one with the ugly beard first."
"That's the bounty." I whispered back.
Nyx clicked her teeth and said with interest "Then can I maim him artistically."
I stared at her for a long second and said with a shrug "Reasonable."
Benjamin knelt behind us and said calmly "Master david. We have twelve visible men. Eight more by sound. Two elevated positions. One hidden caster to the left."
I hadn't even caught the hidden caster.
My eye twitched.
Nyx noticed and smirked.
I hated that.
Jarred softly uncorked a bottle near the back of the group and asked "Signal."
I raised one hand and whispered "When I close my fist, Benjamin seals the left tunnel. Jarred floods the right flank. Everyone else cuts the chamber into pieces. Crane stays breathing unless he gives me a better reason."
One of the syndicate women whispered "And if he resists."
I smiled with my eyes closed and said "Then he learns why my patience is limited."
My hand closed.
*BOOOOM*
Everything happened at once.
A silver door slammed over the left tunnel mouth like a metal tomb.
Jarred's grimorie flashed dirty gold and a flood of black wine burst down the right side of the chamber.
Men screamed. Lanterns burst.
Nyx shot off the ledge like a black arrow.
I flicked two loaded dice down into the chaos.
*BOOOM* *BOOOM*
One took a gambler in the jaw hard enough to spin him off a crate. The second ricocheted through a hanging chain and cracked the hidden caster straight in the temple before the bastard could form his spell.
Crane roared and the iron sand around his arms exploded outward into a spiked shield as he screamed "AMBUSH."
"No shit." I said as I dropped from the ledge.
I landed hard, felt my stomach complain, ignored it and slammed my hand against the ground and thought "World of fortune"
*BOOOOOM*
The cave floor lit up.
Numbered panels flashed beneath the boots of everyone in the chamber.
Crane's men froze for half a breath in confusion.
Then the board began cheating.
Panel 2 cracked beneath one runner and dumped him knee deep into sudden sinking stone.
Panel 4 launched another man sideways straight into jarred's incoming black wine.
Panel 1 chained a spearman's ankle and let nyx carve across his chest before he could scream twice.
I moved fast.
Not fast enough for ariella.
Fast enough for trash.
Critical roll flashed from my fingers.
A dice hit one crate, bounced off an iron hook, then slammed into the wrist of a bowman aiming at benjamin.
*BOOOM*
His hand folded backwards and he shrieked.
Crane growled and thrust both palms outward and said loudly "IRON SAND MAGIC: GRAVE WALL."
A black silver wave of metallic sand surged up between us into a thick wall full of rotating blades.
Nyx landed on my panel beside me and snarled "That's rude."
"He's buying time." I said instantly.
My eyes shifted. There. The ledger.
Still chained to the crate behind him.
Good.
Very good.
I pointed two fingers and said calmly "Board shift. 6."
The panel under nyx flashed. She vanished.
Crane's eyes widened just a little as nyx reappeared behind his wall with all five claws out.
*SHSK*
Her strike tore across his back armor and sent sparks and blood into the air.
Crane roared and swung blindly behind him.
Nyx ducked.
I flicked a loaded roll through the gap she created.
The dice shot through the iron sand and slammed into crane's side.
*BOOOOM*
He crashed shoulder first into the crate holding the ledger, snapping the chain anchor loose.
Yes.
That was what I wanted.
Jarred appeared through the black wine flood with a bottle in one hand and yelled "Boss man, can I melt the ugly twins now."
I glanced right.
Two huge earth mages were stomping through the chaos, both dumb enough to scream while charging.
"Please do." I said honestly.
Jarred grinned and said loudly "WINE CREATION MAGIC: RAIN OF SHARDS."
Dozens of dark crystal-like droplets exploded outward and shredded the ground in front of the twins.
One took a shard through the eye.
The other tripped on a panel shift and went face first into nyx's waiting foot.
*BAAM*
I almost laughed. Almost.
Because crane had recovered and now wanted to kill me personally.
His iron sand spiraled around his arm into a giant jagged lance and he lunged across the board with surprising speed for a man built like a tax problem.
I grinned.
Ugly.
"You should've stayed on a numbered panel." I said calmly.
His foot hit 1.
Dice chains shot up around his knee for one perfect half second.
I whispered critical roll.
One dice hit the lantern above us.
Bounced off the chain.
Struck the cave ceiling.
Then drilled straight down into crane's shoulder joint.
*BOOOOOOM*
He screamed and the iron sand lance burst apart.
I was on him before the echo finished.
Not because it was smart. Because I was irritated.
I slammed my boot into his jaw and grabbed the ledger chain while he fell.
"HELLO HELMUT. I need your money, your information and your continued disappointment." I said shouting in his face.
*Splat*
Crane spit blood at my boots and growled "You little devil."
I had a pleased look on my face and said "Correct."
Behind me the chamber was still chaos.
Steel.
Wine.
Screams.
Nyx laughing like a future crime statistic.
Benjamin moving through openings no normal eighty one year old man should have been able to see.
Good.
Everything was going profitably.
Then the cave ceiling cracked.
My grin faded.
A deep rumble rolled through the chamber and dust began pouring from the supports.
I looked up slowly.
Crane started laughing through blood.
"There it is. Knew the church dogs were pushing from the upper shaft. Everyone in this hole is fucked now." Said crane with a rasp.
The whole chamber went completely silent for a split second.
Then twenty different people started swearing at once.
I dragged the ledger chain higher and stared down at crane with dead eyes.
"You absolute ass of a man." I said honestly.
Another crack split the cave roof.
Bigger.
Worse.
Benjamin turned toward me and said calmly "Master david. We have roughly one minute before this chamber becomes a memory."
Nyx vaulted onto a crate beside me with blood on her cheek and a wild grin on her face and asked "Do we leave."
I looked at the ledger.
At the bounty.
At the collapsing cave.
At the dead and dying men around us.
Then I smiled.
Very slowly.
Ugly.
"Yes. But not before I get paid." I said.
And above us, the quarry finally decided to join the fight.
THE END…