Mud and Magic Ch. 05

The thief cursed and bolted, vanishing with astonishing elegance amidst the onlookers.

"Thank you," Rhys said to Galdor. "I owe you one."

"I've lived here long enough to exactly know how this works," Galdor said, a grim smile on his lips. "Had been here barely a day and I was utterly broke thanks to such a gutter rat."

"And I wondered if you'd feed him to me," Borna growled. "No one would have missed him."

"Best not to get on Nezha's bad side by killing her guys. I'm sure there are at least three more of them watching what happened." Galdor slapped Rhys' back. "All's well that ends well."

"Who is this Nezha person?" Rhys asked, making sure to keep in Borna's shadow. Suddenly, traffic didn't seem as bothersome.

"The biggest, baddest half-dragon you can imagine," Galdor said, grinning. "Runs the Thieves' Guild here. Even the Storm Lords respect her. She makes Borna here look like a lithe elven maid in comparison."

"Hey, I heard that," Borna hissed. Then she giggled. "But you're right. Even I can remember the stories about her cruelty -- and I was just a little girl when I lived here."

"She isn't all that threatening when you know her a little," Thurguz added. "Granted, she is stricter than Idunn on a bad day and has some... interesting ideas in regards to her amusement but as long as you are polite and prepared for a staredown, she's perfectly reasonable."

"Not what I have seen," Galdor said, shivering. "Well, I'm glad we visited Millie instead of her."

"And here we are," Thurguz said, pointing at an elaborate, huge temple across the road. The facade was built from a red stone inlaid with larger-than-life bronze murals depicting humans, elves and dwarves in all manner of intricate sex positions. The columns bearing the triangular roof had been beautifully carved into male and female examples of every species, sometimes sitting on the shoulders of each other. "The House of Silks," the half-orc explained. "House of Allura, the Dancer or Pleasure's Kiss."

"Or the Whore," Borna whispered, none too kindly. "We don't have to go through there, do we?"

"No. The entrance to the catacombs is somewhere behind it." Thurguz waited until a large wagon had rolled past then he strode briskly across the street, the others in tow. Past the House of Silks they went and through a narrow alley separating it from the temple of Lord Justice. They soon found themselves in a small courtyard. A merrily bubbling fountain stood in its center with small grassy triangles surrounding it. Soft moans could be heard through a window on the House of Silk's rear-facing wall.

Rhys breathed a sigh of relief. They were the only people here. Peace and quiet at last.

"Are you all right, lad?" Thurguz asked.

"Yes. No." He sighed. "Maybe I'm simply not made for city life. It's too crowded, too noisy." Rhys threw up his hands. "It's stupid, Master. When I was back home in the village, I wanted nothing more than to be away from there, doing anything but being a farm boy. Now...," he grinned sheepishly and brushed strands of his hair behind an ear, "now I'd love nothing more than to go back."

"Don't fret. Large cities do this to people. No matter if it's Lordehome or Storm Harbor. I know exactly how you feel." Thurguz looked behind the fountain, snapping his fingers. "Borna, would you mind?"

"Of course not." She joined him, bent down and effortlessly hoisted a large manhole cover up and to the side.

"When I first came to Lordehome," Thurguz went on, climbing into the shaft, "I wanted nothing more than to turn and run away screaming. Way too many paleskins for my liking. Hm. Going by the cobwebs, no one has been here recently."

Borna sighed. "And I was hoping for something a bit more spacious." She shrugged out of her cloak, handed it to Rhys and snaked herself into the shaft. A moment later, there was a curse, the sound of hooves on rungs, followed by the screech of tortured metal.

"Are you all right?" Rhys called down. He could see precious little apart from a large shadow flailing in the darkness. Balling his fist, he pulled a few strands of power around it and caused his fist to glow. Ten feet below him, Borna dangled from a broken metal rung. All others from the lid of the manhole down to her position had broken off and parallel claw marks had been carved into the stone of the shaft's walls.

"Do I look all right?" Borna growled. "This piece of wire won't hold much longer." As if in response, the rung she held onto groaned threateningly.

"It's only a few more feet," Thurguz called from below. "Just let go."

"Sure, why not?" Borna quipped. "Remind me to bring rope next time." She opened her claw and fell. Instead of crashing to the ground below, her descent slowed, much to her surprise. With a gentle rustling of scales on stone, she alighted.

"What a fine mess," Galdor said, critically inspecting the destruction. "No way we're getting down there in one piece. Or rather, you." He shot Rhys an apologetic grin and pulled a flask from his vest. The dwarf downed the contents in a quick gulp and hopped into the hole. Rhys looked after him, shaking his head as the dwarf slowly drifted downwards.

"What about the way back up?" Rhys asked. "I mean, even if I make it down there in one piece, how are we to get back up?"

"I can always teleport us back out," Thurguz called. "Has Idunn taught you Feather Fall yet?"

"Not yet. Now what?"

Someone cleared their throat behind Rhys. He turned around. Carrying a basket full of what looked like diaphanous veils, a naked woman leaned against the fountain. Almost naked. She wore a purple scarf with golden tassels around her neck.

And she has fur.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" Her voice was a sultry purr. Rhys forced his gaze upwards, away from the spotted, golden tail swishing around her ankles, away from the pale fur on her stomach and breasts, until he could look into her face. She had a slightly protruding snout, with a spot of dark fur around her nose, triangular cat ears and incredibly bright green eyes. A slight whiff of musk tickled his nostrils.

"Uh...," he began, instantly realizing that as far as conversation gambits went, this wasn't his best effort.

The beautiful stranger sat down her basket and sashayed closer, a playful smile on her lips. "What, never seen naked Catfolk before? Or are you mute? A moment ago, you seemed quite capable of speech." She stopped less than an arm's length away from Rhys. "The name's Najat, silky of fur, quick of tongue and pretty new at this priestess thing. Welcome to the House of Silks. Or rather our little garden."

Rhys cleared his throat. "Sorry. Not my best day today."

"Yes, you smell awfully flustered. Meow." Najat peeked past him. "Oh my. I hope nobody got hurt. The last thing we need is another visit from the High Justicar."

"No, I think everyone but me made it down there safely. And I'm Rhys."

"You want into the old catacombs? You could have had that a lot easier, you know?" Najat said. Rhys realized that her purr was independent of her speech, it seemed to come right from her chest. "Where exactly are you headed?"

No one had said anything about this being a secret mission. Rhys stepped closer. Najat smelled nice, of warm fur and a little musk. "There's supposed to be a buried elven academy somewhere close by," he said softly. "We're trying to find it."

"Oh, I've heard the Mistress of Pleasure talk about that. Recently, some Watch people came through here, looking for exactly the same thing. They said something about wanting to open a portal into the Burning Pit without anyone noticing."

"You're pretty well informed for a novice cleric," Rhys said, grinning.

Najat slithered her arm around his waist, melted against him for a heartbeat and pushed him towards the back entrance of the temple. "Well, couldn't be helped that time. I was tied up between her and one of the older clerics when the visitors came through. I heard every word." Her grin was radiant and extremely naughty at the same time.

A few moments later, after walking through a disappointingly mundane hallway into the temple proper, Najat guided Rhys down a narrow staircase and into what looked like a storage room. In the light of his still glowing hand, strange, four-legged benches of varying heights could be seen, a bewildering array of what looked like swings and ropes and harnesses and other, even more confusing items were haphazardly stashed into it, some things on shelves, some on top of each other. An old door with metal fittings almost disappeared in the chaos.

Najat squeezed herself past some bits of furniture, offering Rhys a nice view of her toned backside. He caught himself wondering how she would feel against his naked skin, possibly with his rod between her butt cheeks and-

She turned around, pulling the door open. It squeaked pitifully. Her eyes met his and a sly grin played around her lips. "I get that a lot," Najat said, pointedly looking down, at his crotch. "But I assume you're in a bit of a hurry?" She leaned against the cool stone wall, her nipples standing up proudly, and caressed slowly down her front. Rhys, despite his best intentions, couldn't help but follow the path her fingers -- topped with small black claws -- took, right until they began to tease her folds.

"Yes, sadly," he said, squeezing past her. "It was nice meeting you."

Her hand shot out and clamped around his wrist. "Wait, wait, wait. Not even a 'thank you'?"

"Huh?" He stopped dead in his tracks. "Didn't I-?"

Her purr kicked up a few notches, to the point where Rhys was convinced he could hear it more through his stomach than his ears.

"No, you didn't. That calls for a bit of redress. I could have left you up there after all," Najat whispered, releasing his wrist. Her eyes glinted with barely concealed lust.

Rhys melted against her. They were nearly equally tall, so his rod ended up right against her crotch. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close by her furry butt cheeks. Their lips met in a wild kiss, going from closed-mouth to dueling tongues within moments. Her tongue was rather wide, with a rough texture and her smell enveloped them both. Exercising all his willpower, Rhys eventually broke the kiss, panting. "Again, thank you for your guidance."

Najat moaned softly, grinding her crotch against his throbbing hardness. "And now I don't want to let you go, meow. You got me more than ready. I've heard sex with a stranger is even better than with someone you know."

"It can also be pretty damn deadly, furball." The soft rasp of Borna's voice was accompanied by the rustling of her tail on stone. A moment later, her stinger slithered up Najat's leg, causing the cat girl to jump backwards and screech in terror as the chitin-clad demoness strode into the circle of light coming off Rhys' hand.

"Who is she?" Najat whimpered, fur on end.

"A friend of mine," Rhys said. "Najat, meet Borna."

"I was about to ask if you're coming, Rhys," Borna said, flexing her claws. "But going by the smells, the question is kinda stupid. Come now, Thurguz is all worried."

"Uh, sure. See you, Najat."

The cat girl slithered down the opposite wall, exhaling slowly. "Damn. If she's your friend, I don't want to meet your enemies. Good luck, Rhys. And don't be a stranger, meow!"

Rhys and Borna walked through narrow corridors and through tiny burial chambers in silence, until Najat's sighs and moans were only whispering echoes.

"And I thought meeting me would have extinguished her lust," Borna said. Despite her size, she moved gracefully, tucking in her vestigial wings or hunching down when needed. Her body seemed much more flexible than its armored outer skin should allow. Rhys also noted that she had wound lumps of fabric around her hooves, dampening the tell-tale clopping sounds she usually made.

"I'm no expert but I guess clerics of The Lady of Silks are always ready and willing," Rhys mused. "How did you find me?"

"Your smell."

"You could smell me through all these tunnels? That's impressive."

She shook her head, sliding around a large stone sarcophagus. "No. I can smell your arousal. Another side effect of my... unique existence." She exhaled slowly. "Some scholars say that sharks can smell drops of blood in the water for miles. I can smell excited people." She stopped and sniffed. "Galdor and Thurguz went that way."

"And which of the two are you tracking now?" Rhys asked, fascinated.

"Galdor. Thurguz has a very good grip on himself." Borna ducked under a low-hanging arch. A few more dozen feet they crept onwards until they found Thurguz and Galdor in a somewhat larger chamber with two more exits. They found two soiled bedrolls, stained black with dried blood, a crumpled skeleton and a few haphazardly discarded pieces of clothing and gear. Galdor held up a remarkably well preserved chain shirt, the metal links stained matte and dark while Thurguz knelt next to the skeleton, inspecting it. A mote of bright sunlight hovered over his head, shedding enough light to see by.

"What happened here?" Rhys asked.

"Looks like dark elves came through here some time ago," Galdor said. "This is certainly their style." He shook the chain shirt. It barely made a sound. "Magically sound-proofed armor, a corpse and way too much blood to be healthy."

"That poor fellow probably was one of them," Thurguz said, pointing at the devastated rib cage. "Must have ran afoul of one of the priestesses and ended up as an impromptu offering." He shook dirt off his hands and grinned at Rhys. "Glad you could join us, lad."

"I had to pry him from an Alluran's embrace," Borna said, giggling.

"Honestly, the best thing happening to me in this hellhole of a city," Rhys said, grinning.

"I want all the steamy details," Galdor said. "Oh, wait. Only Borna and Thurguz can read Elven." He shot Borna a furtive glance. "Sorry, princess. I'll go with the big man."

Borna winced. "I'm sorry, Galdor. How long do you want me to castigate myself?" She balled her fists. Rhys heard the sound of claws scratching on chitin.

"I want to trust you, honest." Galdor said, looking away and brushing his hand over his short hair. "But one brush with death a year is plenty. Maybe next time."

"It's decided then," Thurguz said, handing Rhys a piece of green chalk. "You two take the left corridor, Galdor and I the other. When you reach an intersection or fork, mark the way you used. And should you find anything, use this." He held out a folded piece of parchment. "Our marks are red, understood?"

"What exactly are we looking for?" Rhys asked, pocketing the items.

"Anything leading to the elven academy. Should you stumble across Carver's men, that too. Read the parchment aloud and we will come running. And should you find nothing within the next two or so hours, we'll meet back here and re-assess our situation."

"Got it." Borna was already moving, ducking into the left corridor leading away from the dark elven resting place. Rhys joined her and together they crept through the catacombs.

"This is like digging for a needle in a haystack," Borna complained after a few minutes. "These catacombs can go on forever and they look pretty much all the same. Skulls, skeletons, holy inscriptions." Her words slowed and her eyes narrowed dangerously. Rhys followed her gaze. The burial chamber they had just entered was almost barren except for a low stone plate set into the floor and a feebly flickering lantern hanging on a wall. Most of the engraved letters on the slab had been worn away by the ages but a distinct icon was still visible -- two hands raised in a bowl-shaped gesture, tied at the wrist with barbed string. Borna growled dangerously then her foot lashed out, the hoof connecting solidly with the inscription, erasing it in an explosion of stone splinters. Rhys barely managed to shield his face.

"Whoa. What was that all about?"

"Forget it and let's move on. I'm sick of dungeon crawling," Borna snarled, her tail snapping from side to side as she stomped from the chamber. Rhys made a quick chalk mark and hurried after her.

"For what it's worth, Najat said that a couple of Watch people came down here recently, looking for the elven academy," Rhys said. "Even if we don't see the markings, maybe they left some tracks?"

"Your horny kitty friend didn't say when exactly they came through here, did she?" Borna asked. She had stopped at a T-junction.

"No." Rhys joined her, enveloping her in the soft glow from his hand. "You can see in this darkness?"

"Yes. All of my senses are heightened, sadly." She pointed at something to the right. "Looks like someone came through here."

"Sadly?" Rhys squinted. There were footprints, barely visible thanks to a fresh layer of dust which had settled over everything. They turned into the corridor and followed it, with Borna in front and Rhys bringing up the rear.

"I may not take damage from most attacks but it still hurts like hell," Borna hissed. "Having to listen to all of you fucking around at night isn't much fun either while I sit alone in my room. I had to ask Merrick to prepare food just for me because I can't take the spices he puts on most of his stuff. And should Hilgrun find it within herself to blow me, it's over within moments."

"You can feel it when someone touches your armor?"

"Yes. Where would the fun be otherwise?" Borna said bitterly. "This way." She pointed down a narrow, winding stairwell.

Rhys scrawled an arrow next to the stairwell and followed her. "The more I learn about you, the more I wonder what happened."

She sighed, tucked in her shoulders and crept down the stairwell. "I am suffering for my parents' stupidity."

"What did they do?"

"Shhh." Borna stopped him with a tap of her stinger against his chest. Rhys flinched as a lance of sharp, icy pain lanced through his chest. And that was just the flat of the spike!

Rhys crept closer, resting his hand on her back. Her armor plates seemed to ripple under his palm. "What is it?" he whispered.

"We're not alone down here," she replied. "Since none of our friends wear armor, that leaves either natives or Carver's men. Finally." Like a cat's, her spine seemed to smooth into his hand then she was gone, quietly rustling along the corridor. Rhys noted that the construction had changed subtly. Gone were the packed earth walls, replaced by solid stone blocks. The corridor was wider too. He added a few more strands of power to his light spell, causing the globe of faint illumination to widen and brighten. Borna had dashed ahead. Rhys just caught her stinger disappearing in a doorway. He sprinted to keep up.

They ended up in a large hall, easily fifty feet long and thirty wide, with regular, man-sized alcoves along the walls. Ahead of Borna, Rhys could make out half a dozen humanoid shapes, shakily marching ahead. It took a moment for him to realize that he beheld a squad of skeletons, bedecked in ancient, rotted armor pieces doing their eternal rounds.

He shivered. The thought of the dead walking about should scare him witless. But in Borna's presence, the surreal, the dangerous was only half as terrifying.

Suddenly, a large stone slab came down from above, sealing the exit behind them. At the same time, Rhys noticed movement in the alcoves. A quick count revealed two dozen more skeletons jerkily coming to life, brandishing spears, swords and clubs along with round shields.

"Did I do that?" Rhys asked.

"Doesn't matter," Borna snarled. She pounced and landed among the first six skeletons. Her claws and tail lashed out but instead of bones shattering and armor pieces flying everywhere, her attacks had little effect. Borna kicked out with a hoof, pulverizing a skeleton's shin.

In an eerily choreographed move, all six skeletons, even the one on the ground, turned to face Borna and hacked at her, the weapons rattling against her armor. She snarled and flailed even harder but her attacks simply glanced off the monsters.