The Serpent and The Thief

The Serpent and The Thief

Of course it would happen on one of her forays out into the world. Vetiscia sensed the removal of the tomes the moment they left the library, and not in the hands of someone trusted.

She had to cut her venture short as a result, but it was little concern. It could wait. Her knowledge, however, was not something so simply taken, not without her approval.

She returned to her temple, channelling herself through the Between Realm in order to make the trip quick, emerging from the mouth of a statue in the deep recesses of the temple, a place used solely for transportation. Few were permitted free entry here, as Vetiscia liked to keep some things about her mysterious, not wishing to be seen coming and going. Though, most had been here when given an errand a bit more difficult than others when it came to the journey, Vetiscia helping them along their way.

She was as large as a boa currently, and slithered across the stone platform in the middle of the cavern, the rest of the space opening up behind and either side of the statue and the main area, small watercourses running down either side into underground reservoirs, a dull rushing audible throughout the cave.

A stone wall greeted her, hewn from the rock, decorated intricately with sculpted reliefs, and in the middle was a set of large metallic doors inlaid with exotic wood supports, with reliefs of coiling serpents carved into the beams.

She didn't take this door, instead slipping into a secret passage concealed at the base of a carved stone column to one side of the door, covered by a sliding slab of stone that was almost imperceptible, and seemingly opened by her mere proximity.

A tight passage lay beyond, almost too narrow for a human to effectively use, and some certainly were. But the perfect fit for herself, slithering through the tunnel unseen. There was an intricate, labyrinthine network of such passages practically woven around the entire temple, allowing Vetiscia secretive access to any part of it she pleased, with some of the exits only large enough to fit her at a size more common among typical brush snakes.

She made her way through the passage until emerging into one of the many corridors of the temple.

One of her Learned happened to be by, wearing the gown typical of her subjects. The man had a worried look on his face, and then shock with a bit of panic upon seeing the goddess emerge from one of her passages.

"My Goddess!" he exclaimed, before clearing his throat. He had a frantic look to him, despite trying to calm himself. "My Lady, I an afraid--"

"That there has been a theft?" she answered calmly.

There was another moment of surprise before the man remembered such was expected of a goddess, especially her, though that didn't stop him looking mortified.

"My apologies, we only just discovered this trespass," he informed, bowing his head before her. "I was on my way to send a message to you, My Goddess."

She knew he was afraid, worried about her wrath over such a thing.

For some, even after years of service, they still didn't quite remember Vetiscia was not such a spiteful goddess to condemn a small failure.

Least of all when it was less failure, and more prowess, on the thief's part.

She brought her tail around, brushing the tip across his lips gently.

"Calm yourself, Dern," she assured. "You have nothing to fear from me, you should know this."

He lowered his head shamefully.

"Apologies, My Lady."

She smiled and lifted his chin up, leaning in to give him a quick kiss, widening his eyes.

"There will be time for proper apologies later. For now, tell me what you know," she said, slithering along for the library, Dern following.

"Alas, very little. It was a quiet moment in the archives, not many of us were present. We only discovered the missing tomes thanks to the magic wards, but somehow they had been deceived, at least temporarily."

This made Vetiscia raise a scaly brow.

"Deceived, you say? Ingenious magic, then, to trick my power, if for a little while," she remarked. Whoever this thief was, they were clever... clever enough to have had a place among her Learned, if not for this slight.

One had to be clever to even find this place. Cleverer still to have so quietly infiltrated and removed precious knowledge by thwarting her magic to buy some time.

Or perhaps, a skilled thief, and an even more skilled magician, serving as the thief's employer.

Time would tell, she knew the thief wasn't far, she could still sense the tomes.

They were within the Warrens, a chaotic network of cave tunnels more labyrinthine than the secret passages of the temple. It was easy to get lost in them, and difficult to find any entrances to them.

It must have been how the thief entered unseen, as most come through the paths above, tests on their own for potential Learned.

It would not have been easy to chart a route through the Warren, but it was unlikely they were lost now. Enough time, and they would slip away with her property.

It made her blood warm, but not from rage. Sure, there was an amount of anger there, for such a trespass, but she was more excited than anything.

It had been a long time since she had the opportunity to hunt. Often she would set loose some of her Learned in the upper levels of the Warrens, less confusing passages and more easily navigable if they really needed to return to safety, just so they could flee from her, so she could chase them down, thrilling games of cat and mouse. But it was always just that, a game. They knew what lay at the end, even if they tried their best to avoid her, to give her a good hunt. There was fear, but nothing so delicious as the genuine terror of true prey. They knew they were going to be safe at the end, and that every moment of capture would be exquisite.

This thief, however... they likely didn't know her proclivities. Her depravity.

And they would be taking to the rest of the Warrens.

This was going to be an exciting hunt.

"Dern, tell the rest of the Learned not to be concerned. I will handle this," she told him.

"What will you do with the thief?" Dern inquired.

Vetiscia looked ahead, and slowly licked her lips.

"Demand penance~"

Vetiscia then slithered off, knowing the direction... and preparing for the hunt.

---

Pate slumped against a rock face, panting after the near death experience.

The stalagmite he'd affixed a rope to wasn't as sturdy as he thought, and snapped just before he had reached the ledge below, almost tumbling into the yawning abyss beyond.

Were it not for the torchlight he'd attached to his head, he wouldn't have been able the tell the difference between the dark rock and the void just waiting for a careless slip.

After all the meticulous planning, all the tricks and the equipment necessary, the wards and the deception charms, things he didn't normally work with out of a sense of distrust, and his years of experience and many successful heists, it was a simple misjudgement of a bit of stone that almost cost him everything.

He wasn't sure there was even a bottom to these pitfalls. There were only a few of these great holes, and this was the only one he had to risk plummeting into, but the thought of falling into another domain, or simply falling until he perished of exposure... it sent a shudder up his spine.

He should've climbed down the rock face like he did going up. But no, he had to go fast.

He took off his hood, and the frame with the lamp attached to it, setting it by his side. He swept back his dirty red hair with a hand, wiping up sweat of fear and exertion.

He sighed out and looked at his surroundings; in the dull light of the lamp, there wasn't much to see, but his keen green eyes picked out details most others wouldn't, a skill honed from years of prowling in the dark. A most useful talent. Another being his ability to climb, though mostly for scaling buildings, spelunking was a different matter altogether, one he hadn't quite developed, though one he did some study on before embarking on this job.

Maybe he should have studied a bit harder.

To think, his greatest challenge yet, his greatest heist ever, stealing from a god, and the hardest part was the cave delving and the climbing.

Not that sneaking into the archive had been stress free, there were a surprising amount of cultists in the temple, though the archive itself didn't have many occupants at the time.

More than Pate would like at any time all the same. Fortunately, they were mostly focused on whatever they were doing, he wasn't exactly inclined to stop for a chat.

The only part there that really worried him was filching the tomes themselves. They had their own spot on the shelves, though there were others next to them. All probably of equal value in some fashion. He, however, only had the talismans for the three tomes he'd come for, nor did he have the room to take anything else.

He had been sceptical of them from the beginning, but there was nothing else that was going to get him past the wards that protected the Goddess' precious books.

It wasn't that there was some protective barrier preventing access to them, or some lethal curse that would have killed any unauthorised removal, but rather enchantments that would have alerted any and all to the theft. That's what he'd learned, at least. His employer seemed to have gone to great lengths to uncover the temple's protective secrets, but couldn't uncover the secrets they actually wanted without a more... direct approach.

That was where Pate had come in, but without the talismans and wards the wizard had given him, the thief never would have succeeded.

Still, it wasn't over yet. Pate had to get out of the caves, with added bulk no less, but nothing he couldn't handle.

Well, the bottomless pits gave him pause. He couldn't pause for long, however, he needed to get out of the caves and get back to his employer before anything bad caught up with him.

He collected himself, and once more continued on his journey, descending another drop before entering into a passage that was just tall and wide enough to walk through comfortably, though sloping upwards. He swept his lamp all around him, looking for the smell specks of glittering light, another trick given to him by his employer. He didn't quite understand it, but he had been provided a pouch filled with small, glittering stone flakes, and was instructed to drop one or a few on the ground or flick some against a wall as he made his way through the subterranean warren. As he did, they adhered to the ground and silently fizzled into the glittering lights he now followed. A breadcrumb trail for him to follow, a handy aid. Though naturally, he used his own methods as well, his 'mark' scratched onto the rock by a broad, shallow and blunt spike protruding from the small pommel of his personal dagger. It was his method, and it hadn't failed him yet.

Each mark had slight variations in the seemingly simplistic cross-like scratchings, which all meant different things, something the guide rocks weren't so capable of.

The one he passed told him he was coming up to a particularly twisty and confusing section of the warrens. Helpful now that he had to recount his steps.

He entered into a large cavernous space with holes and tunnels branching off in different directions, with sloping surfaces leading up and down, like the room was some great, bewildering crossroads.

Fortunately, he had his marks and his guiding motes to aid him, and things should have been smooth sailing from there on out.

How wrong he was.

He was only partway through the space when a disembodied voice echoed across the stone, deep but feminine.

"You impress me, thief~" said the voice, from everywhere at once, and nowhere in particular. Pate stopped in his tracks, looking around frantically.

He knew it was too good to be true.

"To enter my temple, to avoid my Learned, and fool that magicks that watch over my knowledge, and leave unseen and unnoticed until too late... a rare talent~ Though, perhaps one not entirely without aid in this endeavour~"

A chilling laughter rippled through the caves, Pate hunching and bringing his hand to the dagger at his hips, though he wasn't sure what he was going to do with it. He was a master thief, not an assassin, and it was often more a tool than a weapon, serving as self defence and as a last resort only.

He wasn't sure what a dagger would do to a deity, if that's who it was that now spoke to him.

He knew better than to answer, he couldn't get bogged down into a debate with a god. His only hope was that they weren't quite omnipotent. Perhaps then he had a chance if he tried to give her the slip, but he didn't like his odds. More than likely she knew these caves intimately.

Still, he wasn't one to give up. He had to at least fight. Maybe force the goddess to be quick with him.

Wishful thinking, perhaps, but better than despair.

He looked around, and spotted a nearby tunnel. He didn't know where it led, so he was taking a gamble, but he had a good sense of direction. He hoped he could double back and leave the way he came, with a good enough head start to just maybe escape.

He bolted towards the passage, prompting laughter all around him.

"Yes, run~ But you cannot hide with my property, thief~"

He cursed inwardly; she was probably tracking him by the tomes he carried, but he dared not discard them unless he had no choice or as part of a clever ruse.

Maybe ditch them somewhere, lead her away, then snatch them back when she'd distracted... no, if he did that, she would simply take them.

He didn't want to abandon them, not after so much effort, but he might not have had any choice in the matter.

He scrambled up a slope as the passage began to twist up, in a turn, and then down again, getting rather narrow.

"It's only a matter of time... I will find you, thief~"

He didn't know what was worse, the certainty in her words, or the lack of anger. No rage over the theft of her property, no contempt for the trespass upon her temple.

Just calm amusement.

The passage levelled out and he ducked behind a rock, trying to control his breathing. He looked into his pack, and looked upon the tomes; he'd never be able to hide with them on his person, and he'd never be able to secret them away somewhere for later retrieval, not without her finding them. Even if it meant he escaped, this would have all been for nought if he had to leave empty handed. And he was wary about what that wizard might have done to him for failure.

He grimaced, and slung the bag back over his back and kept going, aware he couldn't linger in one place at once.

Especially not when he heard hissing, wicked laughter coming from down the tunnel from whence he came, and a soft, but loud, scraping sound that grew steadily louder.

"I sense your urgency, thief~" the voice taunted. "I can taste the scent of your fear on the air~ Do you think you can escape me~?"

More laughter.

Pate wasn't one to lose his cool. It wasn't the first time he'd heard this sort of talk and humbled his pursuer with a clean getaway.

But they'd never been a deity. He didn't think he could make a mockery of this creature.

There was a side passage, and he ducked into it.

Each turn heightened the risk he took, of getting lost, of getting stuck, of falling into a pit, or worse, happening upon a dead end... disturbingly appropriate words.

But it was that, or simply give up. He wasn't sure he could bargain with this goddess, that he knew was something that only happened between the goddess and those seeking her out. Not after stealing from her.

He was afraid. He couldn't lie to himself about that, and his exerted breathing reflected that, doing his best to also keep it controlled.

'There's gotta be something,' he thought, but wracking his mind came up with few alternatives outside of 'run'.

He came upon a more open space, a junction not unlike the place this pursuit first started.

He briefly considered abandoning his lamp, but its light was pivotal in some of the more treacherous areas... and any betrayal of his position was moot as long as the goddess could sense the tomes.

He was starting to hate the damn things.

He made up his mind then to try just a little longer, but if hope abandoned him, he'd abandon the tomes.

To hell with the wizard.

He heard a sound behind him, a hissing sound, and a more audible scraping, and he ducked behind a nearby ridge of stone, eyeing another nearby passage, ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"I know you are here, thief~" came the voice, at the mouth of the passage he'd just come from. She was here now, in the very cavern, the source of her voice easily discerned. But he dared not catch a glimpse, least of all she catch a glimpse of him.

He steeled his breathing, trying to get his panicked heart under control.

"I know your thoughts~ You think you have a chance~ If you just keep pace, keep ahead... perhaps you do, thief~ Shall we find out~?"

Pate couldn't fathom why she'd suggest he had a chance. A false sense of hope? Or perhaps he really did have a chance.

Maybe she wasn't that fast. If she really was a big snake, maybe that bulk slowed her down.

He didn't want to cling to hope, just his speed and his footing.

He held his breath, closed his eyes, balled his fists... and then burst from his hiding space.

He anticipated a sudden burst of speed from his pursuer, but there was again only terrible laughter.

"Yes, flee~ You need only reach the surface~"

He tried not to think on her words. She was a cunning creature, he was starting to gather that. He figured there must have been a trap in store.

Yet as the passage grew tight, and he had to squeeze his way through, he could hear her slithering across the stone behind him, never too far away.

"Run~ Run, escape, give me a good chase~ I will hunt you all the same~"

It was then Pate realised that she'd been toying with him the whole time, in a sense.

Whether or not she could've ended the chase at any time, wasn't clear to him. What was clear, was that she was enjoying the pursuit. It was a game to her. She was the predator, and he was the prey.

Like a hapless little rabbit trying to escape from the snake invading the warren.

Of course, he didn't have much choice. Either give up and deny her fun, and probably suffer for it.

Or maybe, just maybe, humble her and escape.

At least it was a chase, and not stalking. He didn't think he could stand being stalked by her in these caves, but as long as he had the tomes, she wouldn't have to search.

Though he had no idea how keen her senses were.

The passage started to narrow perilously, which almost brought him to despair, but soon it widened again, and he felt a fleeting bit of hope.

Hope that, with such a narrow space, the goddess would be slowed or forced to double back. Giving him a chance.

And what luck! He emerged into a familiar space, that crossroads from before. He saw his path, a faint glitter by one of the passages further up one of the slopes.

It wasn't the end of the chase, there was still a ways to go, but it was the last stretch before the surface.

He pushed his legs as far as he was willing to, he couldn't waste all his energy now in a mad sprint that might exhaust him before he was free and clear of this place.

He would have to demand more from that wizard. And never again would he accept a job to steal from a god.

He bounded up the slope until he came to a flat surface, and was nearing the mouth of the passage.

That was when he heard the terrible laughter, and swift scraping across stone.