Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 29

Castelian’s mansion sat atop a small hill among a dozen other villas and luxury buildings. Nestled in the Glade where the rich and powerful lived, his black, almost fortress-like home stuck out like a sore thumb against the other mostly inviting places of Sankta Varath’s nobility and merchant class.

It was only by divine providence that no catapult had razed the black mansion with its pointy towers and sharp angles. I was genenerally surprised how little the Glade had been touched  compared to what the rest of the city looked like. 

I jumped off Wolf and told him to wait outside the gate, grabbed one of the Vaultpacks off his side, and slung it over my shoulder. I turned to one of the sycophants who had accompanied me all the way to Castelian’s mansion.

“How come this place looks so much better than the rest of the city?”

The streets were empty, and the houses boarded up, though I had seen plenty of looters roam around. It did bring a smile to my face to see the rest of Sankta Varath finally getting a chance at payback, though I wished the circumstances were different.

“My Lord, the Glade employed mages in the early days of the siege to shoot down projectiles, but they have all been relocated to the White Palace. Some have also escaped the city in their cowardice. A sad affair if you ask me.”

“Figures,” I muttered.

It was no wonder the Glade had special protection. Well, to a point of course. The King cared for his nobles only as long as his own ass was safe.

I looked up at the letters C.F. worked into the steel of the gate then pushed it open and walked up a few stairs to the entrance door. It was unlocked, no wonder. Nobody was stupid enough to rob Castelian Fair.

Until now.

The mansion was large and as dark as his soul. The walls and the furniture were made of polished blackwood shining in the light of oil lamps. Paintings and trophies filled almost every inch of the walls. Most portrayed Castelian killing a monster or standing triumphantly above it. There must have been hundreds of monster heads hanging all over the mansion, some as large as Jaggadar beasts.

I heard noises coming from the basement door down a wide hallway so I made my way there all while appreciating the trophies.

“Hah,” I chuckled, seeing the head of a Harbin Witch looking menacingly into nothingness. I looked over my shoulder for some reason, then stuffed it in the bag. Pearl could use it in her club or even the Lusty Lion once everything calmed down.

I suspected Tarnia was somewhere in there, so I opened the door carefully and stepped through on my toes. I walked down a flight of stairs and found myself in a vast basement held up by several stone columns. Only then did I realize it was a kind of prison or torture chamber, or probably both. I saw stretching racks and foot crushers, ball stabbers, and a whole rack of spiked and sharp tools. Interestingly enough there, was nobody in the prison cells to my right. What did that sadist do to people down there, I wondered. What an absolute blight this guy was on everyone around him. How did Tarnia even decide to accompany such a man? Not that I knew much about Tyfus’ ex-girlfriend, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone could make friends with such a maniac.

Says the guy who befriended all of demonkind, I thought and pushed back a chuckle. But then again, demons actually stood for something. Even if it was demented as hell. Castelian had only stood for himself.

There was a heavy steel door at the far end of the place and the sounds I heard upstairs had become much louder and clearer as I closed in. I stopped before opening it to listen in, realizing the door was very warm for some reason. I heard gasps and moans from inside, and even some sloshing sound that made me grimace. I turned on my (Demon Skin) and gritted my teeth as I swung the door open.

“Release him, you bitch!” I yelled and readying my blade to kill her, but then suddenly froze in confusion.

 Tyfus was naked and chained to the wall. He was gagged with some kind of leather strap with a ball in his mouth. Tarnia stood above him in skimpy black leather holding a whip in one hand and the reins of a nearby goat in the other. They were both covered in sweat, even the poor animal which had really no good reason to be there.

“Ffaank!” Tyfus mumbled through the strap in his mouth.

“You!” Tarnia snapped and immediately tossed a fireball my way. I smacked it away with my hand and it exploded against the wall, washing the room in even more heat.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Tyfus spat out the ball.

He didn’t look great, the fool was beaten up, both eyes black, and his nose was bleeding. He had several bruises and cuts across his body.

“Frank, just in time to ruin a good thing,” the gnome mage said and chuckled, then grimaced in pain.

“How dare you come in here!” Tarnia roared. “You know what Castelian will do to you?”

“Castelian’s dead,” I said. “Go to the western armory and check for yourself if you don’t’ believe me. Now release him or join your bastard boss.”

“He’s… what?” she said in a softer tone. Tarnia dropped the whip and the reins. The poor goat, realizing it was free, stormed out the door behind me. The three of us watched it go in silence for a moment.

“What is it with you and goats lately, man?”

“Don’t judge,” Tyfus said.

“Are you two—are you fucking in here?”

“Well, it started with torture,” Tyfus said, spitting out a wad of blood. “Kinda turned the other way after a while.”

I sighed and rubbed my face.

“Fucking hell, Tyfus. I just killed the guy because I thought he had your girlfriend cut off your balls one by one.”

“Castelian is not dead,” Tarnia said, her voice rising. “He can’t be dead.”

I rolled my eyes and then pulled Kagon’s Hand from my Vaultpack.

“No,” she mumbled. “No, it can’t be. I will—I will—”

“Do what, Tarnia? Kill me?”

She suddenly burst into tears and Tyfus groaned.

“See what you did? Everything was going so great. Man, no wonder even the Gods don’t want you near Fey.”

“What did you—Tyfus, do you want me to beat your ass senseless? You’re chained in a basement, you idiot. How is everything going great?”

“I would have turned her around. I just needed more time.”

“What you need is a smack to the head.”

“Oh yeah? I had plenty of that, you know. Trying to clean up the mess you left. Got almost killed out there by that asshole.”

“Well, obviously you didn’t get slapped hard enough—”

“I’m free,” Tarnia said in disbelief. “He’s really gone, isn’t he? I can go now?”

“Dead as a rat.”

She looked around as if taking in the new reality around her.

“All those years and all the shit he’s done to me.”

There was a deep sadness in her voice. Nobody ever questioned Tarnia’s allegiance to the Dreadweaver. In the eyes of people, the two were the same.

“So what? You were his prisoner or something? Is that it? All the shit you pulled around the Kingdom was because he made you do it?”

“I…” her hands curled into fists. “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she yelled and stormed out the door, leaving a trail of hot air behind her.

I packed Kagon’s Hand back into the Vaultpack and unchained my gnome friend. I found his robes on a shelf to his right and tossed them at the gnome.

“Let’s go. I have places to be.”

Tyfus put his clothes back on in silence, wincing here and there. He was badly beaten, the poor little bastard. He kept his purple eyes on me the entire time, slowly but surely unnerving me.

“What?” I snapped finally.

“Back from Hell, huh?”

“Yeah, back from Hell.”

“You’re a demi-god now, huh?”

“Don’t feel like one.”

“You don’t look like one, either.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Got anything to say to me?” he said, putting on his mage hat and grabbing his staff.

“Say what?”

He narrowed his eyes on me.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Kidding you? I almost died, Frank. You owe me a fucking apology.”

“An apology? How about a fuck you?”

“You got some nerve, Frank. Abandoning me. Calling me a traitor and all. I came back! Unlike you, I actually risked my life to save the family and now you tell me you got nothing to say to me?”

The whole basement lit up in purple as my blood began to boil. There was no alien god, no demon general, or maddened adventurer prick who could get me rolling like that mean little bastard son of a bitch.

“Don’t you go all berserk now. You don’t frighten me, Slayer of Gods. I’ll burn that one good eye right out your socket, you know?”

“I’m not going to apologize, gnome,” I said through my teeth.

Tyfus sighed shaking his head.

“Guess I’ll have to be the bigger man again,” he said, slapping my leg as he made for the door. “Don’t worry. I didn’t really expect an apology. You’re a brute, Frank. You’ve always lacked basic manners. It’s just who you are. Friends forgive, after all.”

I let out a long breath, steadying my nerves.

“I saved your ass from Castelian, so let’s call it even.”

“Hah! Even?”

“Yes, even,” I snapped as he made for the stairs and I walked behind him, imagining all kinds of violence. He looked over his shoulder and grinned.

“If you say so, god slayer.”

I felt a sharp pain shoot through my head and gritted my teeth as I rubbed my forehead. Tyfus was unmistakably Tyfus. Well, at least all the torture Castelian and Tarnia leveled against him didn’t manage to dull his assholery. That was something, I guessed.

As Tyfus waddled his way to the exit, I called on him to stop.

“What now?”

“We’re in Castelian’s house, right?”

“So?”

“He’s dead.”

“How many times do I have to hear about your heroics?”

“Until you’re sick to the stomach, gnome. But that’s not the point,” I said, tapping the strap of my Vaultpack.

“Oh,” the gnome said, his purple eyes widening. The gnome mage grinned like an evil little imp.

“Glad to know Hell hasn’t turned your worldview around. You can take a Borough’s kid out of the Boroughs but you can’t—”

“Less talking, more looting.”

We stuffed the Vaultpack full with paintings, statues, jewelry, and even a couple of fancy masterwork chairs. I had to tear down some walls to find stacks of gold and precious stones. All in all we found some 7,000 coin in several locations. Sadly, most of Castelian’s worth went down with his Vaultcoin when I killed him, but I was more than happy with what we found.

Once we filled up the first Vaultpack I went out and grabbed another. We pretty much stripped down his house, taking with us more furniture, curtains, expensive cutlery, vases, extremely rare carpets, different artifacts Castelian looted from who knew where, including a large jade statue of a siren that offered a +10 aura of comfort.

But the biggest loot fest happened when we entered his armory. I knew the best pieces of armor died with Castelian, but oh boy, there was plenty of useful stuff there. I found rare leather gear, including bracers that gave +20% to ranged attacks. That, together with the Heart Seeker, a +10 longbow, would make a fitting gift for Fey. I stuffed two +4 longswords down my Vaultpack, too, just in case I lost Traitor or Mercy for some reason.

I found a pretty decent plate armor set that I thought I could give to Derek if I ever saw the bastard again. Tyfus looted two +4 daggers, one of which was named Goretusk and had a 10% chance to strike two times. I knew Pearl would go crazy about it. There was plenty of other stuff there, too. Armor pieces for Rot and Korvan, and even Wortimus in case the fautar decided to give clothing a try.

I had completely lost track of time looting the place. It felt good, too. Stealing decades of effort from an asshole adventurer. All four of my Vaultpacks were full by the time we were done and as we made our way out the mansion with the last one, Tarnia came down the stairs, fully dressed this time, of course.

“You don’t mind, do you?” I said, nudging my head at the Vaultpack on my shoulder and smiling. 

“I will burn this place down now, anyway.”

“Would be a shame,” I said. “You can get a pretty decent price for the place. Matter of fact, I might—”

“I will burn it down,” she repeated, her eyes lighting up with small flames.

I shrugged.

“Suit yourself.”

“You’re the Slayer of Gods and you worry about coin? Now?”

“Tarnia, Frank, Frank, Tarnia,” Tyfus said, chuckling madly.

“You’re a disgrace, both of you. All that power and for what?”

“You’re the last person in this city to preach about power and responsibility, Tarnia,” I snapped.

“Bah,” she waved me away. “Piss off now. I’m done with the two of you.”

I wasn’t one to hold a grudge if I didn’t have to, but she was really testing my good nature.

“What the fuck is it with you gnomes?” I hissed.

“Frank, just let it go,” Tyfus tried.

“Let what go? The fact she’s been terrorizing the city for decades with her boyfriend? The fact she almost killed you? Tortured you and threatened my family? You know the plan was to kill you, Tarnia. Tyfus here is the only reason I stopped myself, but I can still change that.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Exactly.”

“I don’t have to explain—”

“Explain what? That Castelian would have killed you if you left his side? That you were too afraid to say something so you went along with his insanity?”

“You don’t know what it was like.”

I wanted to say a bunch of other things, but stopped myself. We all knew what it was like when Castelian just walked past you. One tiny mistake and he’d take your head. Sometimes you didn’t even have to make a mistake. But living with him on a daily basis? No, I couldn’t imagine that.

“Forget it,” I said. “Do what you want, just know that if I even see you close to my family again, I will kill you.”

“Frank,” Tyfus said sighing. “See, that might be an issue.”

“What?”

“Tarnia and I talked. Not much, if you know what I mean?”

He winked at me getting a flat stare in return.

“Anyway, we kind of agreed that we still had some things in common and—”

“Oh, come on! Her? After everything?”

“I’m a forgiving man, Frank. You could be, too.”

“Ugh,” I groaned and walked out the door.

“No worries, love. We’re good,” I heard Tyfus tell Tarnia. Who the hell fucks their torturer? No, who the fuck gets into a relationship with their torturer? That was even worse.

I strapped the Vaultpack to Wolf muttering curses to myself.

“You angry,” the deviltail said with a worried tone.

“Not with you, boy. Let’s go,” I said, saddling him. Tyfus and Tarnia walked out the door with hurried steps.

“Hey, you can’t leave us here. The Ashpit is miles away. Give us a ride.”

“I’m not going to the Ashpit,” I said, turning Wolf down the street.

“There’s a war in the city, Frank. How are we—”

“You’ll manage, I’m sure,” I said, having no doubt they would. A sixth and seventh circle mage could handle a couple of barricades. Besides, I couldn’t stand another minute with Tarnia. And even Tyfus for that matter. I was glad he was alive but…damn, why did he have to make everything so difficult for me?

I was lost in my angry thoughts when I realized something standing in the middle of the street. Wolf almost squashed it.

“Hold!” I yelled, pulling Wolf back. The deviltail raised his front feet and backed away from the goat in front of us. Tyfus’s other love interest looked up at us and bleated.

“Fucking gnomes,” I muttered.