After a few hours, the sun began to set. The traps were placed, everyone was in position, my portals were set up at different spots in the room, everything was in place, all that was left was to wait. I hid amidst the brush on the grass-coated side of the room while Reggie turned invisible somewhere near the pool. Crowfiend could come at any moment, so we had to stay vigilant.
Two hours passed, then three, and then four. The tension in the room was palpable. I knew he would use every trick in the book to avoid being seen so I focused on my other senses. The blowing of the wind, the trickling of water, eventually I could even hear some of the guards around the base of the building. It was a quarter to midnight when I heard something. “What’s that?” a guard asked. “Get ready!” I immediately whispered to the team. What followed happened so fast I could barely process it.
A shadowy figure flew through the window right past Katherine and Gus. I could hear the trip wires of my first two traps being sliced apart as two ebon feathers flew through them. Krimsun stood firm at the entrance, “Stay in position!” she yelled to Gus and Katherine who were about to charge him. The figure had already made it to the glass case, “Finally, the Quatricore…” said a surprisingly smooth voice. He disabled both of my traps and went to lift the glass.
But I set three traps.
THWOOP! Hundreds of tiny strings pulled towards the crow at once. He swiftly got out of the way, but the strings followed him. “Shoot!” he yelled as he was cocooned by my web. To think I’d be inspired Lieutenant Lenfon of all people. Krimsun flicked her wrist and created a ring of fire around the thief, just far enough away from the strings to avoid burning them. “Looks like you aren’t quite as clever as you thought, Crowfiend.” Katherine chuckled as she began moving towards him. “If you say so,” he replied calmly. Krimsun immediately scowled, “Get back into position Katherine!” she yelled.
At the same time, I heard alarm bells go off outside. “The Oakenveil treasury has been robbed!” someone shouted.
“This was a distraction!” I shouted from my hiding spot. The crow gave me a smug look and chuckled. “Heh, they actually pulled it off,” he muttered to himself.
Krimson had more expression on her face than I had ever seen. It was terrifying, his eyes staring directly at Crowfiend’s face as if she could rip him to shreds with her gaze. He shifted his weight to turn to Krimsun, “Well, it has been fun, but I’m afraid I’ll have to make my exit.” With a cheeky grin, he rapidly spun around, unwinding himself from the bindings. “No!” Krimsun unleashed a plume of flames at the Birdfolk. Crowfiend deftly dodged the attack and made for the window.
“Almost had me there Elf!” he mocked as he tossed his arrow-like feathers at Gus and Katherine. “Nice try, you crusty corvid!” Katherine replied as she deflected the attack. “Crusty?” he replied, sounding hurt as he dodged Gus’ counterattack. “Hey! Woah!” cried the half-giant as the thief jumped upon his head.
“So long! And thanks for the fun- what!?” he shouted as he felt something grab his leg. “Gotcha!” yelled Reggie as his invisibility wore off. We all charged at this opportunity, I made use of one of my portals at the base of the window.
“I’m flattered that you want me to stay,” spoke Crowfiend, seconds away from being scorched and sliced, “But I really must be off!” he grunted as he kicked Reggie in the face, tearing at his skin with his talons. “Agh!” Reggie shouted as he gripped his face. Crowfiend dodge Krimsun’s fire and Katherine’s sword, but he hadn’t noticed me yet, but I couldn’t stop him myself, I had one shot to hit him.
Gathering my strength, I leaped from my portal and tapped Crowfiend on the leg as he flew out the window. “Nice try little mouse, at least you hit me! More than I can say for your friends-! Agh!” he shouted as he narrowly avoiding getting caught in a twister created by Krimsun.
“We lost him,” Gus lamented. “I called it!” Reggie shouted, “I knew it was a ploy but did anyone listen to me!” he complained as Gus bandaged his face, “Ouch! There goes our pay, out the window!”. Krimsun was silent but clearly frustrated. “We can still catch him and his cohorts!” Katherine said, “We just need to find out where he is hiding out.” Krimsun sighed, “They have scoured the city, no one has ever found his hiding spot.” Katherine huffed, “Well we could still try! What do you think Mak? …Mak?” she asked again as she noticed I had my eyes closed and was focusing. “Like he’ll do us any good,” Reggie said, “He got a hit in and it didn’t even slow him down.” I sighed, “I am trying to track the portal I left on him, so could you please quiet down,” I said in a frustrated tone, trying to hide how proud of myself I was.
The portal was too small to see through, we would have noticed that. It is just big enough to hear and smell through though. Focusing in on the sounds of the city and comparing them to the sounds from the portal I was able to get a rough idea of his movements. “He is heading through the market!” I relayed to the group. “We’ve not a moment to lose,” Krimsun said urgently, “Gus, put Mak on your back and follow me!” she raced towards the window and began to cast a spell.
“Well Krimsun, this is quite the disappointment,” said Verdona smugly as she walked out of the tree trunk. “I thought your guild was supposed to- ?” Katherine cut her off with a bolt of energy that just barely missed her face. “We have a lead as to where he is headed,” said Reggie quickly, “If you could have your guards get people off the streets and into their homes it would make it much easier to find him.” Verdona kept a straight face, but her eyes gave away her fury. “Well now, that’s a surprise,” she said with a bit of spit on her p’s. “Very well, I’ll have the streets cleared, but you better catch him.” She then walked over to Katherine and whispered, “Pull a stunt like that again, and I’ll have your organs strung up like laundry,” Katherine’s breathing got heavier and it sounded like she was about to say something she’d regret.
“Good luck sister,” said Verdona to Krimsun before she began giving orders to her guards. Krimsun merely nodded as she completed her spell and a large funnel of air flowed in through the window and sucked us up. “No!” Katherine yelled as she covered her eyes with one hand and stomach with the other.
It took all of my focus to keep track of Crowfiend’s location. Between the sounds of the wind, the people on the street, Katherine screaming, Gus trying to console her, Reggie mocking her…
In any case, I was able to tell that, wherever he was going, he wasn’t taking a direct path. I smelled the same tomato merchant stand and heard the same group of pigeons three times. “He is expecting to be followed,” I said aloud. “We need to keep a distance to make him think we lost him. Turn right up here, he’ll be able to see us going the wrong way.” I instructed from Gus’ back as we bolted into an alley.
We spent the next fifteen minutes running through the various twists and turns of Oakenveil’s backstreets. Even while I focused on Crowfiend, I could sense some of the background. As we got further away from the center of the city, I could hear coughing, crying, the growling of stomachs. The impoverished population was kept out of sight and mind from the rest of the city.
“Hey Mak! When are we going to find the thieving cur? Or have you just been having us run around as a dumb joke?” Reggie asked. “Shut up! He’s trying to focus!” Katherine replied. At this point, I heard his footsteps stop, and some rustling of trash, a creaking sound, and a musty smell. “He’s entering some kind of passage, take the next two rights and a left.”
We soon arrived at the place I heard him stop, a deserted alleyway, covered in discarded items and refuse. Gus and Katherine began searching through the garbage immediately, but Reggie scoffed, “Really? Did you just send us on some goose chase to let him get away? I know you must resent the guard here because-” his rant was interrupted by Krimsun unleashing a massive gust of wind and fire on the sides of the alley. Instantly, the trash was reduced to ash, and a small opening into some kind of basement was revealed.
“Follow me,” Krimsun said firmly as she coated herself in flames and charges down into the basement. We followed quickly behind, but through the portal, I heard screaming. “We have to hurry!” I yelled. But when we went down, I saw Krimsun standing still staring at a crowded room of people in ragged clothes, with Crowfiend standing in front of them. “Please, just take me, don’t harm any of the other people here.” The thief pleads with Krimsun.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
