The Ties That Break

The moon above shone brightly over the silent town. Lanterns flickered inside their glass prisons with no one to reignite them once the oil ran out. Not that it mattered due to the newly enforced curfew signed by Lord Valian himself and upheld by his lackeys, all eager to get into his good graces with the high-ranking nobles also under his influence. Yet even their tenacity to keep the streets unoccupied could not hide their arrogance as they bragged about what they would do to anyone they saw, or their inability to spot the duo in the alley.

The pair were like shadows as the guards passed them by. Their footsteps were undetectable by sound or sight on the stone streets thanks to magic. From their cloaks light failed to find them even under the lanterns illuminating the few vermin searching for food. They only stopped at a closed tavern where two guards rested in wooden chairs by the doorframe, eyes closed, and breath coated in liquor. In the window stood a single lit candle to betray the presence of a living soul inside.

One motioned to the other to remain silent as they made their way to the window. Three taps, and the door’s oiled hinges opened silently to them. The guards remained in their dreams, blissfully ignorant to the sleeping powder in their now empty bottles.

The pair entered the once bustling tavern, now a haven for what little still stood of the rebellion. Inside were people of different walks of life: farmers, thieves, merchants, beggars, and two minor nobles squeezed dry of their coin. They all had lost something because of the tyrant: homes, livelihood, family, friends, and even lovers.

Both boys removed their hoods as they made their way to the center of the tavern.

Twin dwarves, sister and brother with beards of braided ginger, stood on each side of the door, guarding their comrades with their lives and weapons like they did before the mines were seized for the use and pleasure of the lord’s minions. A healing priestess of the local church, once a sanctuary for lost souls now tainted by corruption, prayed in a corner, her once dazzling cloak stained with dust and grime. A grizzled man, once a thief for survival but now another ally in their fight, took a sip of his drink, careful not to make eye contact with the twins. On the table were several pages of blueprints of the pathways underground, the very designs one half of the pair found in his mentor’s possession. The other half of the pair was a self-taught mage with the luck and skill to find the source of the tyrant’s power, and how to destroy it.

They all had the same goal: end the tyranny plaguing their home once and for all. Friends and allies until the very end.

The dwarf sister approached them, a determination in her gait borne of years experienced in deadly situations.

“About time you two showed up. What took so long?”

“Kai wanted to make sure nothing could go wrong,” replied the boy with chestnut curls. “He wanted to run some tests, and the library is the safest place for the time being.”

The boy with blonde hair falling to his shoulders scowled at the other boy, but his crimson cheeks betrayed his embarrassment.

“This may be the only chance we have,” he replied, walking to an empty seat at the table by the older man. Emmett, the former apprentice, remained standing as the dwarven sister, Ada, approaches him.

“Nervous?”

“Isn’t that to be expected? We’re trying to overthrow the lord of the land, after all.”

“Sure. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a statue around us. Tiberius nearly ransacked the bar waiting for the two of you, and he’s claimed to have raided the royal coffers.”

Emmett chuckled softly. He was nervous, they all were. Kai was right: this was their only chance. The lord was away, but for how long? Anything could happen on the way to the summer castle of the royal family, and anything could bring him back before they could complete their task.

For years Lord Valian ruled the land with an iron fist and bottomless pockets desperate to be filled. Calls to action had been crushed, pleas for aid from other nobles fell on deaf ears, and not even the royal family took no notice of their plight. All seemed hopeless, until Kai’s visit to a neighboring town’s magical library helped him discover the root of his success: an amulet of arcane magic said to give the wearer an untold influence over others. All it took was conformation of its existence from Emmett’s former employer before he disappeared and Kai’s rare ability to sense and use magic.

Emmett takes his copy of the blueprint from the table, jostling the thief’s, Tiberius, half full glass. The tavern was chosen for a reason: in days past the underground passages beneath the town were used for secret trading and safe pilgrimages, now rumored to be abandoned and haunted. The maps he crafted from his mentor’s notes revealed a path from the tavern to the amulet’s location. Traps were noted, but the rebels knew more would have been added to keep criminals and thrill-seekers from stumbling upon the source of the lord’s power.

Sigrid, the healer, ended her prayers as she noticed Kai leave his chair to take a bottle from behind the bar.

“One for the road?”

“No,” he replied dryly. “Alcohol is good for creating fire and certain spells. We need to be prepared for whatever happens.”

She nodded before noticing their group, the ones chosen to find and destroy the amulet while the others remained to protect their secret or aid the injured, walking towards the back of the tavern. They both followed as the hidden hatch was opened to the stairs leading them on.

“How does it work without wearing it?” Sigrid asked Kai as their companions ahead descended the steps into darkness. Silence wasn’t a necessity, and she was curious.

“Blood magic, sort of. The owner needs to let it absorb their blood if they don’t plan on keeping it on their person at all times. However, the absorption needs to be repeated on a regular basis or else the owner’s influence diminishes. My guess is that he won’t take it with him at the risk of its discovery or having something happen to it. While he can still use its power visiting the royal family, the farther away it is from him, the weaker it gets, which means it will be easier to destroy.”

Before them the darkness was broken by torches melded to the walls ignited by Emmett. Golden light veils the stone bricks of the catacombs as the small but determined group follow the path forward. Emmett and Tiberius remained near the front, watching the walls and ground for signs of traps while guiding them to their destination. Ada and her brother Theon guard them at their sides, Sigrid and Kai close behind for healing and protection. The others were where they were most needed as well.

Within the first ten minutes Tiberius noticed a discolored brick before a companion could take a fatal step. His familiarity with such things kept them safe, until the careless arm movement of a rebel activated a set of mechanisms, opening to a dark hole beneath. The rebels had no time to grieve their lost companions, even as their screams echoed in their minds.

More obstacles tried to deter them, injuring some while others also lost their lives. Ada’s brother Theon could only go so far on a broken leg from a magical arrow Kai couldn’t stop with his limited knowledge. Sigrid knew spells to keep the pain at bay, but not enough to fix it in the time they needed to reach the amulet. Her own life was taken just before those who remained reached the final stage.

Emmett and Kai alone were able to cross the threshold into the final chamber. Heat filled the area as the flickering flames below danced around them. Only a narrow bridge of charred stone separated them from their target. One at a time they walked, careful not to misstep else they fall. Eternity passed, death just at the edge of their vision, and then they stood before it: an amulet of bright gold engraved with twisting images of arcane magic, a single gem of blood at the center.

Kai’s own magic was minimal compared to those who studied their craft for years, but for countless nights he had memorized the words to say while using the magic within him to remove the ties between owner and object. A smile radiated his freckled face as the color drained from the gem, turning the deep crimson into a flawless diamond.

As he turned to his childhood friend he expected a mirror of his own emotions, but what he saw in that moment was something entirely different just before Emmett’s hands press into his chest, sending him backwards towards the fires below.