Chapter Seventeen

Garrett stopped in front of a beautifully crafted mansion, obviously designed by a skilled architect. Mercury marveled at the amazing design as they walked around to a door sunk halfway into the earth. Garrett knocked on the door, obviously expecting an answer.

“Garrett, the door is half buried into the ground…” Mercury pointed out. “Who’s gonna answer? A dirt devil?” Garrett just smiled. Soon after, the door opened and four bows were swiftly pointed at them.

“Don’t move,” a voice said. The thieves didn’t. “Take off your hoods.” The thieves complied. “Oh, Garrett,” the voice said. The bows were pulled back. “Come in.” Garrett swung into the dark room. Mercury took a hold of the doorframe and followed suit. Inside was a room containing a few torches for candles and a table with chairs in the center.

At the far left was a small porthole that seemed to lead to a tunnel. Once the two thieves were inside, they saw the five high members of the Thieves’ Guild. They had already placed themselves around the table again, oblivious to the two thieves who had just come in. Garrett shut the door quietly and stepped over to the table. He took a quick glance at the map that was laid out on its surface and began to draw on it.

“Constantine’s mansion is nothing like this,” he said. “It’s more like this. The secret passageways that run through the house are mostly not on here, except for a few of the more obvious ones.”

“Garrett,” Mercury said, “why are you helping them with that when we need to do something else?”

“Because. This is where we’re going anyways.”

“Isn’t Constantine the Trickster? Why are we heading into the Trickster’s mansion? Am I the only one who sees that this is just slightly dangerous?”

“Yes. His mansion’s been abandoned since I got rid of him the first time. He hasn’t advanced far enough to get into it yet. We do not know whether or not the Trickster is close to arriving there, however. And if he takes that particular area, he is sure to go to the house as soon as he can. Therefore, we must move quickly.”

“Have the Hammerites installed any of their new security systems there?” One of the thieves asked.

“Quite possibly,” Garrett said. “But I doubt they’ve found the Eye. The Keepers probably made sure of that. Perhaps we should check with them…”

“No!” Mercury said vehemently. “They’d be curious as to why we want to know.”

“True… but we can tell them we’re going to look for the information we’ve already found.”

“It doesn’t matter. Who cares whether the Eye is there or not?”

“If it is there, there’s a minor possibility that the Trickster may know about our arrival. If he does know, it may make our job a whole lot harder.” The five men thought for several minutes. Then, one of the Guild members spoke.

“I believe the best idea would be to ask the Keepers whether or not they know where it is. If they don’t, we can safely assume that the Eye is indeed still in the Trickster’s mansion.” Garrett reluctantly nodded his acquiescence to the plan.

“You plan the entrance to the Trickster’s mansion,” Mercury said. “I’ll go talk to the Keepers.”

“You sure you can find your way through the streets?” Garrett asked. Mercury nodded. Garrett turned back to the table and devoted his full attention to the planning. Mercury turned and left, making sure to shut the door behind him. As he progressed through the City, he realized just how empty it had become, all the guards and other men having rushed to save their homes. He felt sorry for these people. He knew what it was like to be forced from one’s home because of a disaster.

But he also knew they would be able to return soon. Unlike in Oklahoma, the danger here would be gone soon. He continued through the streets, less careful because of the lack of guards. At one point, he crossed a patch of light crouched.

“Hey!” a voice rang out. Mercury froze and looked in the direction of the voice. Right there was a guard of the City Watch, running towards him. Then, the guard stopped. “Mercury?” he asked. Mercury was caught by surprise.

“Do I know you?” he asked.

“No, no you don’t. But you’re a hero. The Keepers have told us you are searching for a way to get rid of the Trickster for good. Mercury stood up and took his hood off.

“You mean no one’ll kill me if they see me?”

“No way! Unless it’s one of those filthy apemen, of course,” he said with sudden disgust. Mercury nodded understandingly.

“This’ll make my trip a whole lot faster. Thanks for letting me know.”

“Yeah! Bye now.”

“You too,” Mercury said. Then, he took off running through the streets, no longer avoiding the light that had become so dangerous for him. He ran around corners and greeted the few guards he came by. But he never stopped to talk.

When he finally arrived at the City’s lines, a horrible sight greeted him. A huge force of apemen was attacking the City’s soldiers. The City Watchmen, not used to such odds, were falling left and right. Hammerites and Mechanists, bred to fight apebeasts, swung their huge hammers and massive maces, making up for the fallen Watchmen. But the City’s lines were falling back.

The attack was too strong, and even Hammerites fell to the beasts in some places. Then, Mercury saw the area where the Keepers were fighting. It was spectacular. The black Keeper swords easily parried and blocked apish attacks, and, in their spare time, they struck down the disgusting creatures left and right. Mercury did not attempt to join the action up close. Instead, he looked up behind him to see the buildings covered with archers. And they were all looking at him. ‘Waiting for my orders,’ he realized. He pulled out his bow.

All of the archers followed suit. He knocked an arrow, moves echoed by the archers.

“Fire!” he screamed, releasing all his energy and fury with the arrow. “Fire at will!”

Over two hundred arrows flew from the bows, aiming true and striking down hundreds of apes. The City’s men, realizing they were saved, raised up a cry of war and launched themselves upon the apes with renewed fervor. They attacked, ignoring wounds and striking down apes with seemingly endless strength.

Soon, with arrows and blades attacking them, the apes broke up and fled for their lives, less than a fourth of their number still alive. Mercury stood alone on a street, bow still in hand, a wild glint in his eye as he looked for another target. A Keeper approached the bloodthirsty man, bent on calming him down. He touched Mercury’s shoulder.

“Have we won?” Mercury asked, wild glint leaving his eye.

“Yes. You were absolutely miraculous,” Marco said. Mercury abruptly sat down on the ground.

“How many of ours died, Marco?”

“We don’t know. But there were many. Too many. Mostly City Watchmen. Those who did not die know now what one of these attacks is like. They will do better next time.”

“Why did those archers wait for me? Why didn’t they start shooting before I got there?”

“Because they weren’t there. The situation was direr than it seemed, Mercury. We had just beaten back an attack, and the archers were sent to rest. When they saw this arrive,” Marco gestured to the surrounding area, “the Master Keepers sent for the archers. You arrived ten minutes after the start of the battle. The apes had already pushed ten blocks ahead. The archers arrived soon after you. They recognized you, and assumed you were there to lead them. And you did. We won because of it.”

“Where’s the Master Keeper?” Mercury asked, standing up. “Can you take me to him?”

“Yeah, sure,” Marco answered readily. “He’s in his apartment.”

“Apartment?”

“Because we’re in the City, we obviously don’t use tents, Instead, we live in the abandoned homes.” Then, he changed the subject entirely. “We sent an appeal for help to some other cities – ones that were around at the time of the Trickster’s fall. If they respond, their forces should be arriving tomorrow.”

“That’s good news. The Master Keeper..?”

“Oh yes.” Marco led the way to one of the surrounding buildings. They made their way onto an elevator and went up to the fifth floor. There, they went to one of the rooms that looked out towards the bleak landscape beyond the City’s boundaries. The Trickster still hadn’t penetrated into the actual city. The Master Keeper stood when he saw Mercury.

“Mercury! The amazing Mercury! I must tell you, this brings new meaning to being in the right place at the right time! What can I do for you?”

“Do you know where the Eye is?” Mercury asked.

“The Eye? Well… Yes, kind of. I mean, we know where it is, but so does the Trickster. We are preparing to move it, however. Why?”

“Is it in Constantine’s mansion?”

“Oh no. It is someplace much safer than that.”

“Good. Keep it out of Constantine’s mansion.”

“Of course. But, out of curiosity, why?”

“Because Garrett and I are going there.”

“Why?”

“That’s an excellent question. I don’t know. Garrett never told me. It has something to do with how to destroy the Trickster.”

“I see. So be it, then. Do not worry. We will not take the Eye there.” Mercury nodded and left.