Blood of the Bone Idol (Open)

[BigMcLargeHuge]

If there was a more satisfying sound than the chink of a fat purse of gold in your pocket, Ran hadn't heard it. Unless, of course, it was the chink of a fat purse of gold which he'd come into by fencing a noblewoman's jewels on the black market.

It couldn't last, of course. All that money would have to go to the Guild - for "improvement", Gerom said. Improving what? Ran couldn't say. Those nine-times-damned Knights of Scara Brae were rounding up more thieves every month, as Gerom complained in the meetings of his Guild chapter every week. And besides, what was the point of being a thief if you couldn't spend your ill-gotten gains every once in a while?

"Another pint o' piss, Voc," he commanded the innkeeper, shoving his empty tankard back across the scuffed wooden bar top. "Put this one on my tab."

"More for the tab," Voc grumbled, drawing a pint of ale from his cask. "Ain't you ever going to pay me off? You owe me two hundred shinies, you know..."

"I'll pay you off when I come into some money of my own. In other words, never," Ran replied. He grinned ear to ear, knowing it would set Voc off. But the truth of the matter was that the old man would never call in his tab unless he needed money fast. He knew about the Guild's ludicrous rules as well as any man.

Ran surveyed the scene in the tavern. The Broken Bow catered to a somewhat less savoury clientele than your average tavern in Scara Brae, and the usual crowd of miscreants and petty criminals were gathered around the small, smoky front room. Helm was sitting in a chair propped up against the wall as usual, gulping down a bowl of onion broth as if he hadn't eaten in three days (and he probably hadn't, if he was willing to eat that slop). Two old men he didn't know the names of were gambling at dice in the far corner, both quarreling over whether the other was cheating. Ran could see with his enhanced vision that both of them were cheating, but neither of them would ever admit to it until the other put a knife in his throat. Thief-style gambling was so much more fun than the normal kind that way. And were those three men in the corner dandling whores on their knees and tossing back sour red wine Knights of Scara Brae? Ran was sure he'd seen them somewhere, keeping watch for Malyn Wakedog while he broke into a merchant's house. Ah, the high and mighty Knights aren't so different from us gutter rats as they make out. Surprise, surprise.

Just then, Pahl swept in through the door of the inn, the hinges creaking with a worrying crack of old wood splintering. Ran hailed him, and called him over to sit down. Pahl flopped in a seat heavily, and Ran reached across so they could clasp hands. He grinned involuntarily. "Six months in Brokenthorn Forest and you haven't changed a bit!"

"No? One of our contacts there said I'd got more handsome." Pahl cracked a lazy half-smile, and ruffled his long dark hair.

"More handsome? Yeah, I saw a woman on the other side of the street who didn't flee in terror from you. That's a first. So, what'd you find in the forest?"

Pahl shook his head. "Nothing. Absolutely bloody nothing. You'd think there'd be some ruins or treasure or anything in there, right? Forest swallows everything and all that. But no, just spiders the size of a dog. I should be thankful none of 'em tried to bite my head off." Pahl looked down in disappointment. "I told Gerom, nobody's lived here long enough to leave ruins, but did he listen? No."

Ran lifted his tankard. "Well, I know one cure for disappointment. Voc, another pint, on the house."

Pahl grumbled. "Can't solve everything with drink, Ran..."

Ran smiled. "No, but it feels like you can. If you drink enough, even the smell of this place goes away."

"Better start drinking, then. Voc never cleans in here."

Ran took a swig of ale. "So, you went to the Guild to do your report? I've not been to the Guildhouse in weeks. Any news?"

"Oh, the usual. Gerom whining about how many arrests we've had, like I don't know. Guards got Bull and Kerner on a job, this time round - more to keep your dad company, I suppose. Oh, and Malyn wants to kill you."

Ran nearly choked on his ale, letting it run down his chin, then set it down heavily. "What?!"

"Malyn says you owe him a thousand shinies, but personally I think he just wants to get you out of the way. I told him he was spewing dung, but he said if you don't pay him his protection tonight he'll pay you a visit..."

Ran shrugged. "No problem. I'll just toss a knife through his heart."

"...with his boys."

A chill of fear ran through Ran's body. He'd met Malyn's boys before, and they were most certainly not to be trifled with - not over-muscled hulks like most higher-up Guild members got as bodyguards, but lithe, serpent-like men with utterly inhuman faces. They didn't even have to say anything to be intimidating, just stare you down with those dead eyes. They were more than capable of shoving a sword up Ran's arse if he didn't hand over his money... money he didn't own.

"I need some money of my own, and soon. But it'll have to be from out of the city, the Guild watches all our acquisitions here like a hawk."

Pahl grinned. "I've got just the thing for you, my soon-to-be-dead friend. A friend of a friend said that there was some ruin up in the Windlacer Mountains - he'd never been there himself, mind - but he said there was some kind of magical gem up there..."

Ran cocked one eyebrow. "Oh? What's it do?"

"Magic users who have more talent than a mossy boulder - more talent than you, in other words - they can connect with it, and it gives them some sort of boon. Problem is, nobody could agree what. Some said it gave them great magical powers, some said it gave eternal life, some said it made them irresistible to women..."

"I hope it's the third one," Ran said lasciviously. "I've not had a woman in months..."

"Sorry. Nobody said it cured ugliness. Besides, for you it's just a shiny rock, because you can't develop your skills fast enough. Remember when you wanted to demonstrate your invisibility to Gerom, and you couldn't hide your head?" Pahl guffawed at the memory of that embarrassment, until Ran thumped him about the head.

"It might just be a shiny rock, but it's a valuable shiny rock, and a valuable shiny rock is just what I need." Ran stood up to leave. "Tab'll have to wait, Voc. Come on, Pahl, we'll get Wheels to arrange a cart for me. I'm heading up the Windlacers tonight..."

[BigMcLargeHuge]

Three days later, Ran was standing at the foot of the Windlacer Mountains, staring up at them in the pale dawn light and feeling apprehensive.

Pahl had refused to come with him. "I wouldn't go up into those mountains if the Queen offered me everything in her treasury. Ain't you ever heard of the dragon that lives up there?" Ran had tried to tell him the dragon was a myth, but Pahl refused to listen. Still, he'd arranged transport to the peak where he'd said the gem was, and that was all Ran needed.

But now, Ran wasn't so sure about that. It was the middle of October, and the upper parts of the mountain were blanketed in white. Ran drew his thick brown cloak around him and tied it tightly, but the wind still sliced through him like a dehlar sword. Windlacer Peak loomed in the distance - Ran's eyes may have been deceiving him, but he swore he could see a flame on the top. Dragon's not mythical, then. Guess I owe Pahl ten shinies, then. One more for the list of people I owe money to. Ran stared at the craggy peak before him, and shuddered. Oh well. Needs must.

Cautiously, Ran began to inch up the mountain. The rocks were soaking wet from yesterday's rain, and would probably be coated in ice soon. The slope was so sleep that Ran had to clamber up it, face pressed to the rock and fingers digging into the cracks. Before too long, his fingers were aching and red, and he could barely hold onto the steep cliff face. Not only that, but the wind was blowing a gale. Ran's straggly hair, wet with sweat and from the cold, moist air, was being plastered across his face every other minute, and it was more than tiresome. Every time it happened, Ran had to stop and wait for it to peel away. You damn fool, you should've waited to climb up here. But no, money's more important. Feh.

After hours, when the sun was high in the sky and reflecting brilliantly off the snow cap of the mountain, Ran managed to pull himself up to a small outcrop of rock. He lay back, staring up into the blanket of clouds hovering not far from his head and panting. Was it really worth putting himself through all this strain, just to get some poxy gem he couldn't even use? Well, the other option is facing a Malyn's boys... yeah, worth it.

Ran stood up and surveyed his surroundings. There was nowhere to go from the ledge, but up, through the clouds to the mountain's peak. The only other option was a narrow rectangular cave, coming off the ledge. No, wait, not a cave - a building, built into the mountain. The rectangular entrance of the cave was perfectly straight at the sides, with serpentine carvings entwining round it. The mountain face was unusually smooth, heading up from it.

Something wasn't quite right, though - Ran couldn't quite put his finger on it. The fierce winds should have eroded the mountain face and left the carvings faded, but no, they were as deep and clear as if they were freshly ground into the rock. Not to mention the smoothness of the door's edges - it could only have been made that straight by magic, but who would carve a door into such an inhospitable mountain, and why? Nobody with any sense that Ran knew, that was for sure.

Hm. Something quite intriguing about this. Better have a look.

***

The interior of the building was a bit of a disappointment - totally empty. Anything that might at some point have been stored in here had long since been cleaned out, or perhaps had never been here in the first place. Shit. And I was hoping for a bit of a supplement to my supply too. At least there was still something there - a gem, and he was pretty sure this is the same one Pahl mentioned. Ran could see it, sitting in the far right corner of the building's single room. It was a bright red, like a ruby, but surrounded by a strange white glow that Ran had never seen from a ruby. Ran moved toward the glow, cautiously, and as he got closer, the glow transmogrified itself into a statue.

The statue was of a male elf, sitting down, back hunched over and head resting on his hand, its face betraying no expression at all. It was carved of a strange bone-white metal, unlike any type of metal Ran had ever seen. Ran couldn't tell how old the statue was. Like the structure it was housed in, the statue was perfect. There were no scratches on it, no spot of rust anywhere, and it was as shiny as if it had been carved yesterday. Magic, obviously - some kind of spell of preservation. Whoever wrought it must have mighty, to preserve it this well. He ran his hand over it, and to his great surprise, the statue was warm. Warm! Weather this cold, it should be like an icicle! He shuddered. This was getting bizarre. And was that a hole in the wall, visible just behind the statue's head? Yes, it definitely was.

Setting his shoulder against it, Ran shoved the statue aside to reveal the hole. It took some work, but the statue was surprisingly light for its size - not much heavier than an average human. Just one more mystery, then. As soon as the statue was moved, a white glow not unlike that emanating from the statue issued from the hole. Ran flinched back. He wasn't going in there if he could help it. He zoomed his eyes in through the hole, and an unsettling sight awaited him.

The hole led to some sort of back chamber, roughly carved from the rock of the mountain. And it was filled with statues, made of the same metal as the one of the elf, but of many different species - humans, elves, dwarves, goblins. But where the elf statue was calm and expressionless, the faces of these statues were contorted in agony, and they were standing in postures that suggested writhing. Ran shuddered. Definitely not going in there. Let's just grab that gem and get this over with.

Ran snatched the gem up and shoved it in the inside pocket of his cloak he used to store smaller stolen items. He turned his back on the statue, and strode out of the building, never looking back.

But just as he reached the door, a strange creak issued from the building. Ran poked his head back in, to an unsettling sight. The statue was gone! The white glow had suddenly vanished, and the room was now in total darkness. Ran shrugged, and turned back. He didn't care what kind of ancient magic was responsible for this. He just wanted to get out of there.

[BigMcLargeHuge]

A couple of nights later, Ran was camped by the side of the road under a laurel tree, a days' walk from a small thieves' enclave on the outskirts of the Brokenthorn Forest, where he could make sure to have sold the gem off by evening.

Ran was happy, in a low-key sort of way. He'd just eaten - alright, hard biscuits and salt pork wasn't to everyone's taste, but it kept body and soul together when pickings were thin, and living in poverty as he was, pickings didn't get much thinner - and he was sure of getting a good price for the gem.

Absent-mindedly, Ran turned the gem over in his hand. Though it was not quite totally dark yet, the moon had already risen, and the moonlight lanced across the gem in a way that was really quite stunning. Ran usually didn't care for pretty baubles and shiny things - he was more a man who cared for what they were worth - but this was something else altogether. Every time he picked the gem up, a slight tingle ran across the skin of his hand - obviously, the magical power that flowed through it.

Something strange was going on, though. The gem was making his skin tingle more than usual; in fact, it was beginning to get quite annoying. Ran made a move to put it back in his pocket, when a jolt of pain suddenly shot through his arm. He gasped, clutching his arm, and tried to put it down, but it seemed to stick to his hand, somehow. Ran's hand twitched, involuntarily, as he held the gem up. Somehow, the gem was rotating in his palm, and pointing back down the road the way Ran had come. Panting, Ran looked where it was facing, and saw a human figure walking down the road toward him. Who on Althanas comes walking down a rarely-used road at dusk, just the place to get robbed? Better have a look at him. Ran zoomed his eyes in on the man, but couldn't believe what he saw.

The man was horribly injured, and dressed as he was only in a soiled grey loincloth, his injuries were on full display. His entire body was criss-crossed with miniature cuts, all perfectly straight and forming a grid pattern across his face, torso and bald head. Even worse, all of his cuts were bleeding copiously, so that his skin almost appeared red in the dim evening light, and yet he was standing straight and didn't appear to be in any sort of pain. And it wasn't just the cuts; his flesh was black and charred, and seemed to be flaking off as he walked.

Ran couldn't help it. He staggered over to a nearby bush and fell to his knees, throwing up. This isn't right, this isn't right, a man shouldn't be that injured and still be able to stand! What's going on here? All I wanted was some easy money...

Even after he'd finished, Ran stayed on his knees, moaning and clutching his head. He only pulled out of it when he felt the tap of a finger on his shoulder, and the words, "Is there something interesting in that bush?", whispered into his ear.

Ran nearly jumped out of his skin when that happened. He turned around, to see the burned man looming over him. He was a lot taller than he'd looked from a distance - nearly seven feet tall, and muscled like an ox. With his red and black skin and huge stature, he resembled some fire titan from time immemorial. Not the sort of thing one wanted to face on the road. But Ran knew he couldn't show any of this - couldn't make himself look weak compared to a man who should by all rights be dead. He immediately sat up, and tried to compose himself.

"Let me guess, I'm going to end up owing you money as well," Ran said, attempting his usual cocksure grin and raised eyebrow, but only managing a weak smile. "Well, I've got no money on me, so get lost."

The burned man smiled, but it wasn't a warm expression in the slightest. It was a predatory smile, the smile of a shark, and his pointed teeth only made this more obvious. The raw red flesh of the cuts on his face glistened wetly as he did so, and tiny flakes of ash fell from his skin. It took every fibre of Ran's willpower not to turn round and vomit again.

"No," he said, his voice a wheezy, rasping bass, as if it had been burned in whatever accident had befallen the man as well. "In fact... quite the opposite."

The man sat down next to Ran, uncomfortably close. With his enhanced vision, Ran could see every detail of the pattern of his burns and every single cut on his body. Probably just wants to make me uncomfortable. Well, he's doing that, all right.

"You see," the burned man continued, idly playing with a blade of grass, "I work for a very powerful individual. An elf, in fact - Fabilien Rayholt. Oh, he's a great man - you'll have heard of him, I expect?"

Ran mustered up the courage to look directly into the man's eyes, which were, like everything else about him. "No."

The man turned his face away, the smile falling from his face. Ran could have sworn that he heard the man mutter, "Damn it, I told him nobody'd know him now…", before he turned back, the predatory smile back in place. "No matter. The point is, he's after that gem you've got," he said, indicating the gem, which had by now fallen on the ground. "Oh, it's for a good purpose, don't you worry."

"What good purpose?"

The man faltered, briefly. "Great magic. My master's a great sorcerer… yes…" He turned away again, briefly, and muttered, "Why didn't I think this through? Master should've picked someone else…"

Ran was building up his courage now. The burned man may have had an intimidating exterior, but if his story was falling apart, Ran could take advantage.

"Alright, I'll give this over. But I'll be wanting some compensation, mind."

The man blinked. "Compensation? Oh, yes, yes," he said hurriedly, "I'll pay you for this, don't worry. We all know how much you… common men… like your money…"

"Hey," Ran said icily, "common man, am I? I don't think much of your tone of voice, friend. Still, I'll forget that, long as your price is good. What'll you give me?"

"Twenty gold pieces."

Ran snorted. "Twenty? For a priceless gem like this? Get stuffed, mate. You can do better than that, I'm sure."

The man didn't seem perturbed in the slightest. "Oh? Fifty gold pieces, then."

Ran shook his head. "Well, aren't you a cheapskate! Look, I don't know if your sense of what things are worth got burned out of your skull or what, but this has to be worth at least a thousand gold pieces, 'specially after what I went through to get it. Give me a sensible price, or get out of here."

The burned man put his hand to his chest, in a gesture of mock-pain. "You wound me." He then suddenly dropped his voice to an even lower register, and gave it a harder edge, so that his voice came out as a nearly monstrous gurgle. "Give it over, fool. You don't know what the consequences will be if you don't..."

The man's threats put Ran off, but he was on safer territory now. He knew exactly what to do when someone was threatening him - it was as much an everyday occurence in his way of life as eating and sleeping. "As it happens, no, I don't know what the consequences are, and I'm willing to bet there's none. And if you don't leave me alone this instant," he said, while drawing his dagger and giving the edge a few quick strokes with a whetstone, "I got something else that can wound you right here."

The burned man growled. "So be it." He stood up to leave, but before he took more than a few steps away, he spun back suddenly, and grabbed Ran by the throat, lifting him into the air and pushing him against a tree trunk. Ran grunted, but could do no more - the man's fingers were hard and bony, digging into the flesh of his throat as if the man was trying to penetrate his neck with his fingers. He wheezed, and dropped the dagger.

"When the world falls down," the burned man rasped, his voice soft and dangerous, "they'll say it was you who caused it, for refusing to help out the people who could save it." He released his hand sharply from Ran's throat, in such a way that Ran fell to the ground in a heap, and walked away. Ran groaned, massaging his throat. He briefly considered running after the burned man and plunging the dagger into his back, but decided it wasn't worth it. He had no weapons, but he could've been a canny hand-to-hand fighter. Besides, he could pawn the gem off on the black market tomorrow, and he'd be rid of the problems that went with it forever. Frankly, he didn't care if the world went down, so long as he got his money.

Ran lay his bedroll out, and went into a deep sleep, exhausted from his encounter with the burned man. So deep a sleep, in fact, that he didn't hear the elf and the man sneaking along the road toward the thieves' enclave.