Walker was correct there was a money trail, or part of one
at least. Almost all of the money Garet was making from the drugs was going to
one singular cost. Of course what that cost was, wasn’t explicitly listed
anywhere, but it was a very safe bet that it was this shadow government. “How
exactly is this helpful?” Callie asked him, “Yipee we know about their money
flow…yet we still don’t know anything else.”
“Look at the amount of cash that’s moving into this place!”
Walker shouted at her, “You really think they’d be able to safely move this out
of here without either A: getting murdered, or B: needing a whole regiment to
escort it?”
Callie sighed, “What’re you getting at?”
“The money’s still here…?” Rede asked confused.
Walker rolled his eyes shaking his head, “No the money’s not
here, but I’d bet that there’s a passageway for them to safely, and discreetly,
transport all that money out of here.”
“So what?” Rede asked, “We looking for some sort of secret
passageway behind a bookcase with a special book as the lever?”
“Pffft.” Walker chuckled, “That’s way too fairytale like.
Looking more for rugs covering hatches or wall décor covering holes.”
“Oh come on! People totally have those!” Rede said.
“I never said people don’t have those, but you’ll only find
those in the fancy mansions owned by the rich-ass people who can easily afford
the fairytale life.” Walker told him.
“Or the really old decrepit ruins.” Shade added in.
“That used to be owned by the same rich-ass people.” Walker
said, “Honestly it’s way more money than it’s worth to set up some sort of
fancy bookcase passageway. If you’re insisting on the bookcase though, you’re
still better off skipping the lever and mechanization of it to just cover up
the wall where your passageway is.” Walker shook his head as everyone looked at
him mildly confused, “Amateurs.”
“Sooo…what are we doing exactly?” Rede asked him.
“Start going around this place picking up rugs and throwing
down the wall hangings. Stomp and knock listening for a hallow sound. If you
think you got it, find the latch to open it up or simply punch a hole in it.
Simple enough?”
Gorgos immediately ripped off the nearest painting and
slammed it against the ground screaming vigorously. The large portrait snapped
in half. Gorgos hurled the half in her hands across the room like a Frisbee
while still yelling loudly. As she turned back towards the wall she punched it
as hard as she could. Her whole forearm went through the wall, “Gorgos punch
good.” She smiled and pulled her arm out while ripping off a plank of wood
revealing a small hidden passageway.
Walker, along with everyone else, blinked rapidly while his
mouth was gaping open as he watched Gorgos rip off more of the wood in the way.
Finally he spoke up, “So…um…what’s the likelihood of that playing out just like
it did?”
“Probably about the same chances of you getting a royal
flush in poker.” Shade smirked.
Walker slowly nodded his head, “Just making sure that should
be nigh impossible.”
Gorgos finished ripping off the wood in the way of the
entrance to the skinny hallway and turned back to the group smiling, “Tada!”
She cheered.
“Fantastic find!” Callie cheered at her, “Looks a bit small
for you though.” Callie was right, the passageway was fairly skinny, barely
wide enough for her or Rede to pass through.
Gorgos shrugged, “Gorgos turn, go side.” She looked at the
hole and nodded, “Will fit.”
Walker jumped over by Gorgos and looked down the path,
“Should widen back out as soon as we get underground and out of the house’s inner
workings. Most of these do unless it’s used as an escape route only.”
“How would someone fit an entire chest down that?” Rede
asked him, “It’s way too narrow.”
“Ever heard of small chests?” Walker looked at him confused,
“Or maybe they got a chest on wheels.”
“Chest on wheels?” Rede looked at him confused, “What?”
Walker blinked at him in silence for a few seconds before
continuing, “You’ve never…” He sighed heavily and shook his head, “Alright, I
don’t know what kind of pompous life you’ve lived, but if you take some wheels
and bolt them on the front and back of a chest it becomes a lot easier to
move.”
Rede closed his eyes and sighed calming himself down,
“Anyways…we going down?”
“I’ll lead if you light the way.” Walker shrugged at them.
“You aren’t leading.” Callie said quickly, “I’ll lead,
you’ll follow, Rede will take up the middle and light up the way, Shade will
come after, and Gorgos will take up the rear. Good enough?” Everyone nodded at
her, “Perfect. Let’s go.”
Rede used his holy magic to light up the dark pathway while
they walked down it. Again Walker was correct, the pathway quickly angled down
and once they had traveled far enough into the ground and away from the house
it’s width increased making it more comfortable for everyone. “So, who’s this
Guyil character?” Walker asked.
“Someone from Rede’s history.” Callie told him.
“Oh wow, I never would have guessed!” Walker emphasized his
sarcasm.
“We don’t know much about your past.” Rede snorted at him,
“Why should I tell you about mine?”
“You all know more about mine than we know about yours.”
Walker fired back, “All we know about you is that you’ve been trained as a
healer in holy magic. That’s literally like all we know.”
“He’s got a point there,” Shade piped up.
“Why does it matter?” Rede snapped at them.
“Gods man!” Walker said, “Calm down. Just asking who the
hell this Guyil guy is.”
“Leave him alone.” Callie told them, “He doesn’t like to
talk about it.”
Walker stopped holding up the group, “Huh? You think I
fucking like to talk about my past?” He snapped at them.
“You don’t understand!” Rede hissed at him, “I had a good
life going for me! I was a successful individual that exceeded in everything I
was to do. I followed the laws, I was praised on the streets! You’re just a
bloody criminal, you wouldn’t understand!”
Rede’s eyes of rage locked with Walker’s while everyone
stared at the pair in utter silence. The tension between the two filled the
atmosphere. Finally Walker nodded at him and cast his eyes downwards shattering
the silence, “If that’s all you think of me, then so be it. Let’s finish this
job at least.”
The tension immediately faded into concern. Walker’s sudden
surrender caught everyone off guard. Shade looked at him, “Walker-“
“Let’s get this over with.” Walker cut him off. “Lead the
way Callie. We’ve got some ass to kick.”
Callie licked her lips and nodded at him, “They probably
heard us arguing.” She said continuing to lead them down the passageway.
“Then they will be preparing-“
“RUN!” Walker snapped at them, “They aren’t going to prepare
they’re going to cover and hide! Fucking book it!”
“What do you know-“
Walker cut Rede off, “I’m the criminal here, remember?!”
Callie nodded at him, ignoring Rede and started to charge
down the hallway. Everyone quickly followed her. She burst out into an open
area catching the dozen or so people off guard as they frantically worked on
gathering all of the papers and gold in the work area. Rede ran to her side and
pointed at the fully armored man that was obviously in charge, “That’s him!” He
shouted at her.
Callie and Rede advanced on him while the remaining trio
quickly engaged the others in the room. “Well I’ll be damned.” The armored man
smirked as he unsheathed his dual swords, “If it isn’t Jace, the Redemption.
What brings you to this neck of the world?”
“I could ask the same of you, Guyil.” Rede snapped back at
him.
Guyil smiled at him, “Just expanding our reach.” Guyil was
sick of wasting time and immediately engaged the pair. The fight was going
nowhere fast. Guyil was master of his blades and was able to keep both Callie
and Rede completely on the defensive. Neither Callie nor Rede were known for
their offensive abilities, but were easily able to absorb anything Guyil threw
at them. Guyil jumped back disengaging from the fight when noticed everyone
else had died in the room to the other three.
“Give it up.” Rede hissed at him, “You’re time has come!”
Guyil smiled, “You are just as foolish now as you were in
the past.” He smirked, “King Lance will be pleased to hear of your death and I
will be hailed as a hero…the man who murdered the slayer of kings.” He started
laughing manically.
Rede’s eyes narrowed, “You’re outnumbered!” He shouted at
Guyil, “Sooner or later your treachery will be exposed, but you won’t be alive
to witness it!”
“We shall see.” A mass of magic suddenly expelled outwards
from Guyil in a purple gaseous form. As the gas passed over the slain bodies
they immediately started to twitch and thrash about reanimating themselves.
“Necromancy?!” Walker shouted, “Guys we might actually have
a situation on our hands.” He sounded genuinely concerned for once as the
bodies pushed themselves off of the bloody floor.
Guyil continued to laugh as he spun his swords around in a
flurry. Rede hissed to himself and threw his hands down to his sides summoning
balls of pure light. He thrust his hands forward at Guyil and a torrent of
light poured forth into his body. “LIGHT COMSUME YOU!” Rede screamed at him.
Guyil was thrown against the wall under the torrent and holy wings slowly
started to appear from Rede’s back. Guyil’s armor disintegrated and he screamed
out in agony as the magic poured into his body.
Rede brightly radiated as he continued to pour light into
Guyil until all that was left was a steaming pile of ashes. Finally he stopped
and the aura that had manifested around him faded away slowly. The reanimated
corpses fell down to the ground as their master had been destroyed. Walker
whistled loudly, “You’ve been holding out on us, Rede.” He commented with a
chuckle, “Kingslayer too, eh?” He smirked, “And I’m the criminal.”
“I DIDN’T-“
“I was joking!” Walker quickly cut him off, “Gods you’re too
good of a person to kill a king, especially King Kanith, he surprisingly wasn’t
too bad of one.”
“What are you trying to get at?” Rede snapped at him.
“He called you Jace, the Redemption.” Walker looked at him,
“I know that name, most do…I can see why you’ve changed it.”
“Then you know exactly what I’ve lost in life.” He hissed.
Walker smirked, “You’ve lost the lavishness of being the
Kings healer. You’ve lost the hot bubble baths, the nice carpet and marble
floors, the servants, the groomed glorious horses, the calm carriage rides, the
women who’d throw themselves at you.” Walker snorted , “You’ve lost all the
luxuries. Now you’re just a normal person.”
“I earned all those luxuries through hard work and good
deeds!’ Rede shouted, “Not through thievery and criminal activities like you!
You lost what you never deserved!”
Walker looked at him and shook his
head in disappointment, “You think I lived a lavish lifestyle, with a castle
full of servants?”
“Don’t all criminal lords?” Rede
hissed.
“Heh…” Walker took a deep breath,
“You know nothing about what I did, or maybe you only have heard what the Trade
Correlation told you. Believe what you will. We aren’t done here yet.”
“What do you mean?” Shade asked
before anyone else could speak up.
“Even if this was the head of operations,
which I’m fairly certain it wasn’t,” Walker added in, “We still need to disrupt
their other activities. The only one of importance here was Guyil. There has to
be others to pull this off.” He started leafing through the papers that were
strewn across the room, “They’ll be names in these, at the very least code
names, but hopefully much more. This was an official workplace of theirs; we
need to get as much information as we can from here.”
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