“Well met, Offworlder,” said a hauntingly familiar voice. Darci swung with a startled cry, an icy touch of fear running down her spine before her thoughts could even register. It was Domati.
“You have a right to be afraid, little one. I am a very feared person.” The evil wizard grinned at her, stroking his short beard, leaning down slightly so that he could look her in the eye.
Darci stepped back yet she did not look away. She would show him that she was not afraid. If he was going to start something, she promised herself that she would finish it. Only now had she begun to realise what was at stake, and it was nothing less than life for all in this world. This man had been haunting her from the beginning and she had had enough. No more nightmares, no more fear and no more hiding behind her friends.
As he regarded her, Darci realised that he did not look all that different from his shadow form, only now his features were more distinguished. His cloudy, bloodshot eyes gave him the look of a madman. As he looked her up and down she could feel his penetrating stare, so she imagined her mind as a fortress, and in an instant, she had slammed the entrance shut, leaving her mind secure.
Domati’s nose sat crookedly upon his face, and his thin dark lips were set in a permanent leer, mocking the world, perhaps blaming it for what he had become.
The evil wizard’s clothing was the strangest that Darci had seen on this world yet. On his head, like a helmet, was the tough shell of a crab. His belt buckle was also a crab, small red and well-polished, as was his ornamental sword handle. He wore a ring on his finger shaped like jewelled crustacean, and on his cape was another, holding two of the corners together around his neck. The rest of his outfit was black, trimmed with gold.
“What is your problem?” Darci asked her tormentor. She felt she had to say something brave lest what little courage she had leave her. The hero always has something good to say in the movies, she thought.
“Problem? Problem? I have no problem, only needs. I want information about your world. Knowledge is power, and if you have enough power, you can do anything,” He walked around the ethereal void as if giving a lecture to a promising student. His tone, somewhat reverential, changed abruptly into something more sinister as he turned his insane glare on her.
“But now I don’t need you. I have made a new friend, and I believe you know him. This demon from another world, he knows all about you… you little thorn in my side. Anyway, Demolish, the evil one can give me the power that I want, and all I have to do to get it is destroy you. What could be simpler?”
Domati’s hand flashed out from his side, throwing a malevolent ball of flaming light at her head. Instinctively, Darci raised her hand to try to defend herself, but the impact never came. In the Offworlder’s hand lay the pent up ball of magic that had been meant to destroy her. The Gauntlet of Elron had acted like a glove, catching the ball for her without any conscious effort required. The sphere was rotating in her hand, slowly changing its colour from flaming red to a passive shade of green.
Domati glared at her, visibly stunned. A magical attack like that could consume an entire man. It was something that he had done numerous times before. Killing someone in the apparent safety of their dreams was one of his favourite forms of revenge. That much power should have obliterated a mere child.
A curious thought entered Darci’s mind as she watched the ball of magic rotate slowly in her hand. If he could throw a ball of light at her and she had caught it, she should be able to return the favour. She raised her eyes from the ball to her tormentor. Now was the time take her destiny into her own hands. She lifted her chin in silent challenge. Bringing her arm back she heaved the orb of energy forward, sending with it all her pent up anger and fury, from the attack in the street to the beasts at sea. This time she would shine.
The evil wizard raised his hands in front of his face, unprepared for such a turn of events, but still quick enough to react. Before the ball struck him, he vanished into the void, the sphere of light disappearing into the mist he left behind.
“I will destroy you, Offworlder,” his disembodied voice echoed around her as her surroundings began to fade.
Darci woke up from her dream, struggling against something that was trying to tie her down. Her hands gripped into the soft furriness of her assailant. In the darkness, she paused, blinking, trying to focus as she caught her breath. To her relief, she finally realised that she had only been tangled up in her twisted, sweat-filled blankets.
In the corner of the small room, Defyance was fast asleep and snoring loudly, Darci wondered what time it was, silently cursing this world’s lack of clocks. But with no sound coming from downstairs and only the slightest sliver of moonlight to fight back the darkness, it was obviously very late at night, or more likely, very early in the morning.
The tired teenager was about to go back to sleep when a creaking floorboard in the hallway caught her attention. Her ears began to listen for any other sounds. Something was wrong, but she could not put her finger on it. Was someone standing outside the door?
“Defyance.” Darci crawled over to her sleeping friend to whisper into her ear, but the warrior woman did not even stir. She gripped her friend’s shoulder and shook her, but still she slept. The Dagger Bearer would know how to handle anyone breaking in, but it looked as if she would get no help from her unconscious friend. She gave one more desperate shake before the door finally squeaked open behind her.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she realised that someone stood behind, looking down at her.
“She won’t wake up until well into the morning, girl. She had a little too much to drink last night,” a gravel-like voice spoke from the darkness. Startled, Darci turned around and saw a bulky shape filling the doorway. Behind him, she could see the shadows of at least two other men. It was too dark to tell if they were armed.
She took an audible deep breath; Gemal and the others were only across the hall. They, and anyone else around, would be able to hear her if she screamed loud enough.
“I wouldn’t bother; they’ve all had the same drink. You know, the one from Chalier.” There was a snigger from one of the others hiding in the darkness. There was nowhere for Darci to go; the man in the doorway blocked that exit, and there was no other way out. She was trapped. She felt a tingle on her right hand and realised she was still wearing the gauntlet. The time of running and hiding behind her friends had passed. She was not going to just sit there and let this new threat play itself out. If they thought she was going to go quietly, they were wrong.
She backed away, slumping her shoulders with a scared look on her face. trying to look as defenceless as possible.
“Now don’t break down and cry.” The man in the doorway took a step towards her. “I hate it when girls cry unless it’s because of what I’m doing to them.” Another snigger erupted from the darkness. “Just make this easy and I’ll make sure that nothing happens to you this night.” The voice sounded oddly familiar now. Her mind clicked, the drunken man who had stumbled near their table earlier in the night.
The man loomed nearer, and yet she could not step back any further, nor escape his outstretched hand. She remembered what Taslessian had said about the gauntlet. Its power was only limited by her imagination.
One thought came to mind: ice. With a speed that surprised her, Darci flicked out her gauntlet, trying to knock the attacker’s hand away. It struck his wrist with a sizzling sound that made him recoil violently.
“You little bitch!” he shouted.
The gauntlet had been cold enough to burn. Wary to approach her again, the man stepped to the side to let his hidden comrades try. Darci could see that both of them were armed, but not with conventional weapons. The man now in the doorway was shorter than her first attacker with the features of a rat, his dark, shifty little eyes watching her with glee. He was hanging onto a large, thick blanket, wielding it as if it were a net. The other man, only slightly taller but with a figure like a beanstalk, held a long, bl
unt stick.
Darci was trapped. One man she could handle, but three was too much. The sinking feeling of failure was the last thing she experienced before a painful explosion at the back of her head turned everything into darkness.
Chapter 3
“I told you she was not to be harmed!” A distant voice pierced the pain-filled fog inside Darci’s head. As she tried to open her eyes, her vision swam, causing her to close them again. Slowly she began to check her senses. Her mouth was dry, like cotton. Her nose twitched, catching the scent of old smoke, alcohol and perhaps the metallic smell of blood. Her fingers twitched and then grasped something… a blanket. Her feet were cold, and she realised then that she was laying on a bed somewhere with a small, rough blanket covering most of her body leaving her only sock-covered feet exposed to the cold.
In a moment of clarity, Darci remembered that she had been abducted from the inn and nobody had been able to help her because they had all consumed the tainted wine.
With an involuntary groan, she sat up and opened her eyes. This time her vision held steady. In front of her, there was a fuzzy greyness that soon solidified into a wall. The wall was connected to another; no blemishes, no windows, marks or even pictures of any kind. She was in a small, torch-lit room with no windows and only one door. As for where that room was, she could remember nothing. She swallowed awkwardly as she tried to fight down the panic that was welling up inside of her. She could be anywhere.
Movement in her peripheral vision caused her to turn her head. Her eyes focused on the two men standing on the far side of the room. One stood tall wearing the average clothes of a common man from Chinta. His eyes looked at the wall away from Darci, his hand clutching his newly bandaged arm with white knuckled fingers. The other man stood not as tall, yet his chiselled chin was held high as he stared down the first stranger.
“Get out of my sight while I apologise to my guest.” The man who attacked Darci left the room, his head hanging from tensed shoulders until the first man looked away. His shoulders then squared, head held high as he closed the door behind him. She wondered who could control such power as to be able to command such a large and intimidating person.
“How’s your head?” he asked as the door closed shut. His voice seemed to carry genuine concern that was mirrored in his eyes.
Before she could stop herself, Darci answered his seemingly good- natured question. “A bit sore… Who are you?” She was finding it hard to focus. Her ears were ringing and her head throbbed distractingly with every unsteady breath.
“I am Kuffs, the current King of Thieves. I displaced the previous monarch about a month ago.” The man gave a bit of a chuckle, smiling as he continued. “Anyway, I do apologise for the… misunderstanding. I asked my man to invite you to my humble abode, not to attack you.
Darci was staring at the young man in front of her. He looked like he was just out of his teens, too young to be any sort of king, she thought. But he did not look like a thief, with his dark hair, boyish good looks and infectious smile. She smiled back, but even that caused her pain enough to remind her of the danger she could be in. Her hand instinctively went to the back of her head. There was a nasty lump and her hair was slightly wet, but not with blood. Someone had taken the time to clean her wound before she had regained consciousness.
“Here, drink this.” Kuffs crouched down beside the bed so that he could hand her a cup of something steamy. Even though she hesitated to take it, he held it in front of her as if knowing her doubts, nodding his head in encouragement as she reached out her hand.
As she held the hot cup in her hands, a warm sensation began to travel through her cold fingers and up her arms. Its smell was like an outstretched finger, enticing her to take a drink. However, though the King of Thieves appeared nice enough, drinking something from him had put all her friends to sleep. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the drink, then to her host and then back to the drink. What other tricks did this man have up his sleeve?
Kuffs ran his fingers through his hair before leaning forward to stick his finger in her drink. With a cheeky smile he put his finger in his mouth to suck off the liquid he had collected. “Don’t worry, my finger is clean.” He held his hands up for her inspection much in the way a young boy would do to a disapproving mother. “Anyway, I wouldn’t poison you. We only put your friends to sleep because we didn’t want anyone to get hurt…”
“Well I got hurt, and so did my first attacker!” Darci reminded him. When he shrugged his shoulders indifferently, she took a tentative sip of the broth, swirling it around in her mouth before swallowing it, finding that to all appearances, it was only a good tasting meal. Her eyes wandered around the room for a moment, looking around for something to keep her warm. Being taken in the middle of the night wearing only pants and undershirt was a chilling experience.
Smiling again, the thief handed her a half cape from his shoulders. “That was an accident in your case, which received a well-deserved punishment. Aside from that, the drugged wine was just a precaution.” His eyes wandered to her hand as she raised the cup to her lips. She flexed unconsciously, causing a slight metallic sound that was music to her hears. They had not taken the Gauntlet of Elron. She clenched her fist as her mind wandered to what she could do if they tried.
Kuffs gave a merry laugh as he realised something funny about this young girl. To him, she seemed naive and innocent, yet canny and slightly distrustful – a bizarre mix. “I’m not going to take your gauntlet, Darci. In fact, I’m not even going to ask you about it.”
What his young guest did not know was that he had already tried to take the gauntlet to see what it could do for him, but he had been unable to take it off. It had burnt anyone who tried to touch it. The King of Thieves sighed inwardly; what she did not know would not hurt her. He bounced up from his crouched position to pull a chair out from the corner of the room so that he could sit down in front of his guest.
Darci took another swig of the soup that she had been given. It tasted wonderful, much like tomato soup, but it did nothing to abate the pain in her head. She held the cup firmly on the bed as she raised her other hand to where she had been hit. She gingerly touched her hand to her wound, concentrating on the gauntlet. The strange rush of power through her veins was a comforting feeling. Beginning from her chest to flow up her arm and then into her head the pain began to slowly disappear, leaving only a small, unnoticeable lump under her slightly tangled hair. With a rush, she was relieved both of pain and cloudiness of mind, yet she was left slightly fatigued by her efforts.
“Why am I here?” she asked. Her now clear eyes glared at Kuffs as she sat straighter, squaring her shoulders. “And where is here?” She looked around the room again, realising that the walls were made of some kind of mortar, not bricks or wood, with only the door to break the monotony. With nothing else of interest in the room her only hope was the very man who had kidnapped her.
“Well, to answer your first question, you’re here to satisfy my curiosity. I’ve never seen a being from another world. Personally, I don’t know what all the fuss is about.” The confident young man paused for a moment so that he could study his guest.
If Kuffs was going to play it cool, Darci was resolute in doing the same. She did not know exactly what she was dealing with, and she found that, most times, it was best to play stupid.
Kuffs shrugged; perhaps this girl was not as simple to crack as he thought. Without further hesitation he continued. “To answer your second question, you are in one of my secret lairs.” His lips curled into a childish grin. “To tell you more could put your very life in danger.”
So what’s new? thought Darci. She could not tell whether Kuffs was being serious or not. His relaxed posture and contagious grin at least led her to believe that he was no serious threat.
“Out of curiosity, I’m not your prisoner am I? I can go if I want to, can’t I? After all, you did say guest.” Darci was hoping that this was true because she knew that once Maledorian
woke up, he would rip the town apart looking for her, with the rest of her friends right behind him. When he finally did find her, and somehow she knew that he eventually would, the knight would kill the King of Thieves without a second thought, having her safe before the young man’s head fell to the floor. For some reason, this thought did not bring her as much satisfaction as she expected. He had a rather cute head after all.
“Heavens no. I’m a thief who does a bit of cutthroating and thuggery on the side. I’ve never tried my hand in kidnapping. Anyway, like I said, I do apologise for the misunderstanding. I can also see how my first attempt at becoming your acquaintance could be misleading. But don’t worry, the leader of the group that attacked you and your lad friend is no longer part of my entourage.” He bowed his head in mock remembrance of a remorseful deed to hide a smile at the way the useless man had been run out of town with literally nothing but a pair of boots.
“What first attempt?” Darci looked at him questioningly. She took another sip of her drink as she awaited an answer.
“I first saw you when you entered the city. Who knows why, but I’ve always had a knack for seeing people. Some call it magic, I just call it talent, but I knew that you were not normal.” Like the dawning of a new day, what the King of thieves was saying slowly began to pierce through the fog of her confusion. All of a sudden his features seemed familiar, and she could remember seeing his boyish good looks from the saddle of her horse. It had been an interesting, yet instantly forgettable encounter on her first day in Chinta.
“Before you disappeared overseas on the Elspeth, I wanted to get to know you, so I sent one of my men, Red, to go see if he could fetch you. Hard to go find good help these days…” The thief shook his head in a way that almost made Darci nod in agreement.
Red. That had been the name of the thug who had led the attack on her and Taslessian.
“You know, if Maledorian wakes up and I’m not there, he’ll find me, and no matter what your reason for kidnapping me, he’ll kill you and anyone else who stands in his way.”