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Chapter 3 - The Fragment

When the door slammed shut, Dougal's excitement fizzled away and his hands paused on the box he held. He swallowed the lump in his throat and gathered his composition before turning to look behind him.

"Hi there," Dougal said with a smile and bowing in an over-exaggerated manner. "You must be the Lord of this house who's decided to grace us with your presence. Astor, correct?"

"That is Lord Astor to you, filth," the grey haired elf replied. He stood in the doorway in a silver nightgown. He was balding, and his hair formed a semicircle around the peak of his head. His eyes were like an owl's, fierce and focused, and they were each topped with a fuzzy white caterpillar. He had a sheathed saber that he held in his left hand. The elven lord was accompanied by the soldier that they had spotted from down the hall. The one that seemed to keep moving towards them without actually moving.

"What are you doing in my home?" the lord demanded of the pair.

Dougal looked from the elf, to the box in his hands, and back to the elf again. "I'm here to collect charitable donations for the local orphanage?"

"Elron," the lord said to the guard, "Kill the dwarf first, before he can cast a spell."

Dougal jumped up with a start, dropping the box so he could lift his hands in his defense. The wooden chest clattered as it hit the floor, and it left a shallow dent in the floorboards. "Wait, he's the sorcerer!" He pointed to Jinn, who growled in response.

"Don't take me for a fool, thief," the elven lord said. "The gnolls are nothing but a bunch of savages. They would never be able to master the secrets of the arcane. You're people, however, have built a republic on your skill."

Elron moved first, sprinting across the room before Dougal could fish out more sand from his belt pouch to work a sleeping spell. He dove to the side, narrowly missing the impact from the guard's reckless charge.

As Dougal righted himself, the guard spun around and his form began to waver. A tingling sensation in the back of the dwarf's head told him that magic was being worked. Someone nearby was casting a spell of some sort.

Of course the lord of the house would be a wizard, Dougal thought as he focused on the energy, the mana in the air, to fuel a spell of his own. He'd have to act fast if he wanted to stop the lord's ritual from finishing.

"Effervan tojitiscah," Dougal recited as mana flowed towards his out-thrusted palm. A thin beam of magical energy zipped across the room and struck the elven lord in the hand, searing the skin on contact and causing him to lose his concentration.

"I should compliment you on the illusionary trick in the hallway," Dougal remarked. "You almost had me fooled. I knew it was too good to be true for your guard to actually be asleep."

While the dwarf was talking to Astor, Elron charged at him once again. He was intercepted as a blast of searing-white lightning caught him off guard and sent him flying into a book case. The shelving teetered and books began to trickle downwards as the entire wall seemed to come down on the guardsman, making a horrible racket of cracking and splintering wood and bones.

"Nice aim, Jinn," Dougal said.

Jinn turned to the elven lord, and held a ball of fire in his hands. "Just because some gnolls are uneducated savages, doesn't mean that I am."

"Good help is so hard to find these days." The lord of the house moved to unsheathe his saber, but found that his hands would not respond to him. He looked down in surprise to see his hands bound by ethereal chains that were connected to the ground. When he looked up, he realized that Jinn's hands were glowing as he concentrated on holding the elf in place.

Astor stared in wonder. "You didn't recite any words of power. You didn't even make a move! How!?"

"I've trained for years to be able to do what I can do," Jinn replied, his words harsh sounding as he growled. He tugged with his paws, and as he did so, the chains went taught and dragged the elf towards the ground, forcing him onto his knees. His face flashed red from embarrassment. It was not a dignified position for any lord to be in.

"Good job," Dougal said with a smile as he ambled towards the elf. "What was that about it being hard to find good help? Maybe you're just not looking in the right places." The dwarf plucked the sword gingerly away from the elf's hands, pinching the blade between his thumb and forefinger and slowly sliding the grip out of Astor's hands. He sheathed it and lifted it up before him. Dougal held the pommel against his left palm and the bottom of the scabbard with his right.

He looked at the elegant hilt, it's golden surface engraved with a floral pattern. It was clear that this one was made out of real precious metals and wasn't simply painted. It also felt heavy in his hands, as it was longer and designed for the much taller elf.

"Simply beautiful. I must thank your blacksmith for this." Dougal closed his eyes, focusing on a place that was quite a ways away. It was in the basement of an old, disused chapel, beneath a hidden floor panel. "Koriwhitos wifrow: Vieg!"

Dougal began to press his hands together, and as he did so, the saber vanished before him. When finally his palms met, a shimmering blue-white light escaped between his fingers, then faded away with an audible pop.

"My saber-"

"Will go a long way to helping me and my associate. Thank you for your kind donation," Dougal interrupted, grinning. He dusted his hands off, as if he'd been rummaging through dirt, then drew one of his daggers. He twirled the blade in his fingers as he made a show of walking around the elf once, stopping behind him. His hands flashed forward and he pressed the well-used blade against Astor's neck and leaned forward.

"Don't kill me!" the elf pleaded.

"Where's the fun in that?" Dougal whispered threateningly into his ear. He could see goosebumps forming along the elf's neck when he spoke. "It would be so... easy." As he said this, Dougal dragged the knife across his neck, only deep enough to draw a shallow line of blood. "After all, I'd rather there be no witnesses." His voice was a low snarl at this point, and though Astor could not see it, his hand trembled as he held the knife.

Astor was sobbing at this point. Dougal couldn't tell what he liked more, the fact that he had this elf firmly within his grasp, or his reaction.

Jinn looked at Dougal and their eyes met. The gnoll frowned at him, and at once, Dougal shook his head to clear his mind. He couldn't afford to allow him to take over.

The elf didn't seem to notice. "Please, I'll give you whatever you want! Just let me live!"

"Anything, huh?" Dougal said, sounding the words out. He glanced at Jinn and winked at him. "I want information, Your Lordship."

"What do you want to know?" The elf had stopped his sniffling, but he voice still wavered, as if he were on the verge of crying again. Dougal could only look at him and think about how pathetic he looked. This man was supposed to be part of one of Altair's founding families, and he was reduced to a sniveling wreck that was concerned only with his survival rather than the preservation of his family's power.

"You know what I'm looking for." Dougal's eyes went to the chest, and the elf's followed his. "Where's the fragment?"

"I-it's... right there," the elf said.

"No, it's not." Dougal nodded to Jinn. The gnoll shifted to the side and kicked the chest towards them. It slid before catching on the carpet and tumbled end over end the rest of the way. It stopped just short of them, and Dougal pulled it the rest of the way.

The dwarf opened the latch with his free hand and flipped the chest open. Inside was nothing more than a tome and a couple scrolls. Beneath that was a stone with several runes on it, and it looked to be carved from a larger piece. "This is not what we're looking for," Dougal replied. He grabbed his other dagger and held it upside down before stabbing the stone. It's form wavered for a second before it vanished, shattering into hundreds of pieces of blue-white energy that returned to the air.

The elf gulped audibly and his eyes were focused only on the blade of the knife.

"Do you really think a dwarf of my skill would be unable to tell an illusion apart from reality? I'm hurt that you'd think any thief would fail to realize that was a decoy."

Astor gapped at him, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. What could he possibly say or do to get him out of this situation? Dougal wouldn't give him time to think, as the dwarf continued talking and berating him.

"Frankly, it's insulting to think that someone of your prestige would be incapable of hiring not only competent guards, but more than two at that. You have simple locks, and no traps of any kind." Dougal plucked a thin vial from off his belt, and the blue liquid sloshed around inside of it. "I carry around this very expensive anti-venom for a reason and I'd rather like to use it before it expires."

"A strange reason to want to be poisoned," Jinn mused, a smirk creeping across his muzzle.

"Oh, shut up," Dougal reprimanded, sounding flamboyant. He turned back to the elf and edged ever closer, his rank breath slapping him in the face. "Now tell me, where's the real treasure I seek?"

"I-it's in my room," he replied meekly, his face pale.

Dougal sheathed his daggers and cupped the elf's cheeks, smacking them a few times. "I knew we could come to an agreement eventually. Jinn?"

The gnoll lifted his hands and as he did, the magical chains came up off the ground and coiled themselves tightly around the elf's arms. His legs were freed, allowing him to move. Dougal helped him to stand and opened the door of the study for him.

"Lead the way, Your Lordship."

The elflord begrudgingly led them down the hall towards his bedroom, which was situated to the left of the window where the guard had been "sleeping" a short while ago. Dougal opened the door to the bedroom, and saw the elaborate bed spread before him.

The bed that the lord and his wife had was beyond luxurious. The very word was incapable of describing it. Every part of the bed was covered in fine silk, with the fattest, plushest pillows that the dwarf had ever seen laid out on top. It had a high backboard and supports that draped a silken curtain around the mattress. Dougal took a moment to press down on it, and felt his hands sink into it. It was like pushing on a cloud, and his arm sunk in up to the elbow. He tentatively pushed his other hand down, contemplating diving into the fabric to see what it was like to lie on.

"Get your filthy sausage fingers off my bed!" the elf roared. When Dougal whipped around to glare at him, the man shut up. On the inside, the dwarf was fighting to keep such a serious expression on his face.

"We don't have time for this, Dougal," Jinn said, growing impatient. "Let's get what we came here for and get out of here."

"Dougal?" the elf asked.

"Ach, why do you gotta go and use my real name?" the dwarf moaned.

"You didn't seem to care when you were using mine," Jinn reminded him.

Dougal paused for a second, thinking, then shrugged. "Oh well, I suppose Altair would've learned sooner or later." He happily went back to ordering the elf around, who instructed him to look beneath the bed.

"Really? Of all the places you choose to hide your most prized possession, you stash it under your bed?" Dougal said, aghast at such an affront to his clearly superior skills of thievery. He dug out the small, seemingly unimportant wooden box and pulled it out. His hand touched the lock and he shook his head in disappointment. "Not even a single ward on this thing. And you call yourself an elf!"

"Why would I ever need it? Thievery amongst the upper class has never been a concern," Astor said. The tone he spoke told Dougal that he barely believed that was an excuse.

The dwarf lifted the box up and was looking into the lock. It was simple enough. No traps there, either. The case felt heavy, and that definitely meant there was something inside. His blood didn't tingle like it had with the chest in the study, so that likely meant the fragment inside this box was the real deal, or a dud of some sort.

Dougal began to pull his lockpicks out for the third time that night when he said to Jinn, "You might as well release him so he can tend to his wife or daughter or whoever that nice piece of ass downstairs is."

"Won't he just call for the militia?" Jinn asked dubiously. Dougal already had the lock undone and was lifting the lid.

"We'll be gone before he even reaches his doorstep," the dwarf said confidently.

Jinn shrugged his shoulders and dismissed the magical shackles holding the elf lord in place. "If you say so."

The elf rubbed his wrists and moved his arms to limber them up a bit. He rushed out of the room as soon as he was freed, and slammed the door behind him.

"Spritely old man, isn't he?" Dougal mused as he lifted the fragment up out of the box. It was like a piece of a puzzle, not unlike the other fragments he had already acquired. It had a number of runic symbols that he couldn't decipher that had come from the Sylvan language. Looking at it, he could already tell how it fit together with the other pieces.

"Perfect," he whispered as he stared at it. "Two more to go."

The mana in the air shifted, and the dwarf looked up at the door. An intangible barrier flickered into place for a moment before becoming invisible again. Just inside the barrier, he noticed a glowing rune that he hadn't seen when they'd first entered.

"He's a very spritely old man," Jinn said wryly.

The elf's voice shouted from the other side of the door. "You rats are going to pay for this! The militia will be here in moments and the both of you will be hung for your crimes!"

"Well, good job, Dougal," the gnoll snarled. "I hope it was worth it."

Dougal smiled and said, "Yes, it was worth it." The dwarf tucked the fragment back into its case and handed it off to Jinn to carry. "Mind holding this? It's a bit too bulky for me."

"Swell," the gnoll replied, holding the box easily in one arm. "Now, how do you plan to get us out of here? It's faint, but I can hear armed guards marching towards the manor. Also, that elf is wringing his fingers at his chance to get back at us. He's probably still standing outside the door instead of looking after that woman from earlier."

"Really? What a heartless old bugger." Dougal rushed to the window and tried to open it. Sure enough, there was a barrier there too. "Guess that option is out." He ran his hand along the surface of the invisible wall. His skin tingled, and it felt warm to the touch. It was definitely powerful arcane magic, but it wasn't created of Astor's own accord. "He's using runes to maintain the barrier. How strong do you suppose it is?"

"Stand back, let me see if I can break through it." Jinn motion for Dougal to get behind him and gathered mana in the palms of his hands. "The problem with most barriers is that if you hit them with enough energy fast enough, they overload and shut down." A blast of lightning arced from his hands towards the window. The ear shattering crack of thunder deafened both of them, and Jinn winced as the sound echoed in his mind, making him feel as if his skull were about to burst. A web of energy stretched out in all directions along the walls and then vanished.

"Ow," Dougal said almost nonchalantly as he twisted a thick finger in his ear canal. "What were you saying? I couldn't hear you over how badly that failed." He watched as the last few crackles of lightning seeped down towards the ground, then realized they stopped at the bottom of the baseboards rather than continuing to crawl on the floor. "Did you see that?"

"What?" Jinn shouted, still deafened by the ringing in his ears.

[The lightning stopped at the floor,] Dougal signed, hoping this time he got the meaning right.

[Yes, I noticed that too,] Jinn replied.

Dougal took a few steps back and aimed his hands downwards. "I suppose after he locked us up in here, I won't feel too bad about doing this..." he muttered before focusing on another spell. "An theros, verus. Fiz ban!"

The room was consumed by a brilliant orange glow as a ball of flames erupted between Dougal and the floor, sending the dwarf flying backwards as he whooped triumphantly. The floor shattered with a terrifying crunch, and debris went flying into the air as it was kicked up by the explosion. Dougal managed to roll and righted himself on his feet.

The sounds of Astor screaming and shouting could be heard throughout the house. Jinn was already leaping through the hole with his sword in hand and Dougal quickly followed him. They came to land on a table inside the kitchen, their feet crunching on broken and charred wood. Seeing a window to his right, Dougal grabbed the nearest object he could find. The heavy iron skillet his hand found would do the job. He chucked it as hard as he could, shattering the glass with ease.

"Not so worried about me cutting up that carpet now, are you?" Dougal said sardonically as he and Jinn leaped through and made a break for it.

The gnoll shrugged, hefted the box he shifted into a more comfortable position, and ran on ahead. The sounds of the soldiers heading towards the Astor mansion were quickly becoming a distant memory.