The hidden room was much larger than any of them had
expected it to be. It could comfortably house all five of them. The room
expanded out and was easily was the size of the ‘cellar’ above it. There were
already a handful of chairs down in the room, along with a large table, but
they would not have fit through the small hole leading into Para’s room,
meaning either they were built down here, or there was another way in. Walker
had taken a quick glance around and found nothing that looked obviously like a
hidden passageway. It was evident that Para had taken down a handful of wooden
walls that would have split up the room. The more Walker thought about it, the
more he was convinced there had to be another way into it…and that it had to have
been used for smuggling people.
Walker quickly pulled out the folder containing the notes
about the mimic stronghold and spread the papers out on the table. Most of the
papers were maps that were marked differently. “Hey, Shade, mind going back
into Para’s room and finding me some tacks and pencils, preferably different
colored ones.”
“Can do.” Shade said before he started to climb back up the
ladder.
“Gorgos…” Walker turned to look at her, “I want you to
lightly knock on the walls surrounding the room. If anywhere sounds…different
than the rest, tell me.”
“Task weird, but easy.” She shrugged at him and started
tapping along the walls listening carefully.
Walker quietly mumbled to himself as he studied the papers
before him. The mimic’s castle was tightly locked down. He grumbled to himself
and shook his head while Shade descended back down into the room, “Found this
here basket that-“ She froze as she saw Gorgos tapping along the walls, “What
are you doing Gorgos?!”
“Walker asked.” Gorgos responded.
“There used to be another way into this place.” Walker told
Shade, “I’m having Gorgos hear if any of the walls seem off.”
“How do you know that?” She responded.
“I’m confident this used to be used for smuggling.” Walker
told her, “No one, not even a shitty smuggler, would bring all of their product
right through their own tavern. There once was another way out.”
Shade shook her head at Walker and sighed, “I thought you
said this used to be filled with gold.” She said while handing over the basket
full of pencils, tacks, and yarn.
“Well it probably wasn’t FULL of gold.” Walker chuckled,
“Otherwise Para could have bought herself a whole damn kingdom, but anyways
that’s beside the point.” Walker grabbed a folded up piece of cloth from the
file and walked over to one of the walls, “Before this was used for gold
storage, it was used for smuggling. No need to change a room if you’re just
going to use it for storage, but there would be a damn fine reason for sealing
off the other exit.”
Shade shook her head and rolled her eyes, “I’ll take your
word for it.”
Walker flicked the cloth letting it unfold into a large map.
He held it up against the wall and sighed as the bottom of it was nearly
touching the floor. “Hold it up for me will you?” Walker asked Shade.
Shade nodded and grabbed the map from Walker, holding it up
against the wooden wall. Walker ran off to grab one of the chairs along with
the tacks. He quickly jumped up onto the chair and started pinning the map to
the wall. Finished, Walker sighed and cracked his knuckles, “That…that is our
task.” The map was covered in forest, with only a few small stone towers, if
they could be called towers, standing out.
“Doesn’t look like much.” Shade told him.
“Well, that’s because it’s just a map of where the castle
is, not of the castle itself. Their stronghold is under the ground. These few
things, “Walker pointed to the towers, “Are merely the entrances into their
castle.”
“Why not put up a map of the castle itself then?”
“I’ll explain it all when-“
“Hey!” Walker stopped as they heard Callie shout down into
the room, “Think we can get some help bringing down the drinks?”
“Sure thing, one moment!” Walker shouted back up. Gorgos
walked next to the map still tapping the walls and shrugged looking at Walker,
“Nothing.”
Walker nodded at her, “All good, we’ll find it later. You’re
the tallest one here, have them hand the drinks down to you.”
“Yes.” Gorgos smiled and quickly helped get the drinks down
into the room.
As soon as the drinks were down Callie went to climb down
the ladder, “Wait!” Walker shouted at her. “Think you guys can grab some
stools?”
“Not a bad idea.” Callie chuckled and stopped herself,
“Would be nice to have a place to sit.”
“How is it down there?” Rede asked them.
“Open…WIDE open.” Shade responded.
“Meaning if you want to have fun you need to find some other
room.” Walker shouted at them, “But if that’s the plan I want those stools
first!”
“We’re not that stupid!” Callie shouted back at him.
“You sure? There was that one time down in the swamplands at
the bar whe-“
“Hey!” Rede shouted, “No one told us the drinks would have
aphrodisiacs in them!”
Walker shook his head and muttered to himself, “I tried to…”
He sighed, “Whatever!” He called back.
“You knew those drinks were drugged?” Shade looked at him
confused.
“Why else do you think I didn’t touch them?” Walker
chuckled, “Place made a fortune off you people that night.”
“Huh?”
Walker shook his head, “Any place run by a Bullren makes their
best money off of that. Anyways…” Walker chuckled, “Let’s get to it.” He ran
over to the table and quickly got to work on planning their plan of attack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“These should do you guys fine.” Para shouted at them
tossing down handfuls of gorgeous blankets and pillows. All of them were
extraordinarily soft and vibrantly colored in purples, reds, and blues with
intricate embroidery covering them. “Our best rooms are booked out right now,
so I had to take them from are normal ones.”
“These are from your normal rooms?!?” Rede asked her baffled
as she climbed down into the room.
“I told you,” She smiled, “I went all out on upgrading. Even
bought some small houses to rent out as well. We’ve, by far, become the best
damn tavern/strip club/bar/whatever you want to call this place in all of
Talama.”
“Making you some enemies?” Walker asked her.
“Certainly, but I’m working on rectifying that.”
“How so?” Callie asked.
“I’m currently in talks about establishing a…partnership
with some of the other places that have lost customers to me.” Para said
proudly, “I don’t want to buy out more places, this is supposed to be a free
city and if one person held a monopoly on the taverns…well it becomes a lot
less of a free city. But I also don’t want to run these other places into the
ground. So far, our best bet of reaching a deal is that we create a pool of
money that is filled by an equal percentage of our profits. That pool would
then be split evenly among all of the bars involved.” She took a breath, “It’s
not perfect, but it’s a step in making peace with them.”
“Why not just pay them off?” Rede asked, “I mean if you make
the most money it’s like you’re paying them off anyways.”
“Because if she pays them off it equates to buying them.”
Walker said, “Plus it’s a high likelihood that they’d still be run into the
ground. This way they are working together while the smaller places will get a
constant flow of money.” He smiled at Para, “I like it. I mean sure you do lose
some profit, but I get the feeling you make more than enough to sacrifice some
of it.”
Para laughed, “Indeed we do.” She sighed and took a seat,
“So, what’s your master plan for this, Walker?” She asked him.
Walker licked his lips excitedly and jumped onto the stool he
had set up next to the large map so that he could reach everything on it.
“We’ll arrive from the south. Callie, Rede, Shade, and Gorgos are going to
start by clearing out the nearest of the towers.” Walker pointed at everything
while he spoke, “And from there they will leave and head to the next one to do
the same thing. Clearing out all five of the towers, or more likely until the
mimics send a force to deal with them.”
“How do you know they’ll send out a force?” Para asked him.
“First off, because they’ll be searching each tower making
it obvious they know the mimic’s are hiding something here.” Walker responded,
“Secondly, they’ll actually be able to kill the mimics guarding the towers.
Thirdly, the most important one, they’ll be killing these mimic’s with ease
because they know a mimic’s weaknesses.”
Para slowly nodded, “And what are you doing during all of
this?”
“Waiting.” Walker smiled, “The mimic’s will send out one
hell of a force to deal with Callie and party. That will be their queue to run
off towards our campsite and my queue to sneak in.”
“You’re going in alone?!” Para shouted at him.
“See?” Callie shouted as well, “We’re not alone in thinking
it’s a bad idea!”
Walker narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Para, “Tell
me…what all do you know about…Walker?”
“What?” Nearly everyone asked in unison.
“Trust me. What…who…is Walker?”
Para grinded her teeth for a few seconds while everyone
stared at her before speaking up, “You’re the latter half of Night Walker, with
Night being your wife. You were by far the realms most successful, and humble,
crime lord that we’ve had in ages. You then-“
She stopped as Walker was shaking his head at her, “You’re a
smart girl. Think earlier.”
Para again stared at him confused for a few seconds before
her eyes popped wide open, “You went by Walker before you met Night.”
Walker smiled at her, “Yes…”
“You were also still able to pull off tasks that should have
been impossible without her as a mimic unless you were using magi-“ Her mouth
dropped wide open in shock and she stared at him in silence for a few long seconds.
“Impossible.” She whispered.
Walker chuckled lightly, “Why else would I-“
“Go by Walker.” She finished his sentence, “You’re a Shadow
Walker.”
“Precisely.” Walker clapped proudly, “I knew you were smart
enough to figure that out.”
“A Shadow Walker?” Callie asked him in shock, “I thought
they were merely a legend!”
“They are.” Walker told her, “It’s a skill that one is
neither born with, nor can it be taught.” She stared at him confused, “A Shadow
Walker is made only when the perfect, massively unlucky, circumstances line up
perfectly to damn a soul. Even then, only those souls that have unbelievable
will and determination can survive long enough to reform into a physical state.
Then, and only then, is a Shadow Walker born.”
“What the hell is a Shadow Walker?” Rede finally asked.
Walker chuckled, “Someone who can do this.” Walker closed
his eyes and focused for a few seconds. Everyone but Para and Callie looked at
him confused, they waited in anticipation. Their excitement was rewarded when
suddenly Walkers body wisped away with a breeze and he was nowhere to be seen.
“What the?!” Rede shouted. Gorgos jumped back in shock and
started looking around the room in a panic. Shade looked around curiously while
Para and Callie looked around excitedly.
Suddenly in a swirl of shadows Walker appeared on the
opposite side of the room smiling, “One who can walk in the shadows.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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