Skein of Shadows (dungeons and dragons) Page 8

  “If we are a danger, it is because you made us this way!” the amethyst-eyed warforged replied angrily.

  Just then, the Cannith man noticed Sabira.

  “These warforged are too stubborn for their own good,” he complained to her, obviously thinking her an ally by virtue of the fact that she was made of flesh and bone instead of metal and wood.

  “They’re trying to get rid of us,” Bardiche protested, turning to her, “pretend we don’t even exist!”

  One of the other two warforged, a green and yellow model with green crystals for eyes who looked like he’d been custom-forged for House Deneith, moved up to stand beside Bardiche.

  “We were made to be stronger than flesh. Why should we let flesh push us around?”

  His voice was low and ominous and Sabira had to resist the urge to reach for her urgrosh.

  The red-eyed warforged behind him spoke up.

  “House Cannith made us, and now they treat us like dirt. Maybe the Lord of Blades is right…”

  “Right about what?” Sabira challenged, knowing this wasn’t her battle but not able to let the inherent threat hang in the air, unaddressed. “That you should rise up against the fleshlings and take what is yours by force? Is that what he’s preaching? War against the combined might of every breathing race on the face of Eberron? Because that’s what you’ll be facing if you rise up against Cannith-you have to know that. Eradication, not revolution. Is that really what you want?”

  Green Eyes looked at her, his hands flexing at his sides. The monitor was no longer waving his crossbow around-it was aimed, and cocked.

  “We never asked to be created! But now that we have been, Cannith owes us-”

  “ Nothing,” Sabira replied coldly. “So what if you didn’t ask to be made? Who among us did? The mere fact of our existence doesn’t somehow entitle us to anything more than what we can earn with our sweat and buy with our blood. Why should warforged be any different in that respect than their creators? Or would you rise up against the Sovereigns themselves, then? Your fate would be less certain, at least, if not any less miserable.”

  “All we want is freedom-” the apologist for the Lord of Blades began, but Sabira interrupted him too.

  “Which you were given at the end of the Last War. I don’t see any chains keeping you here. If they exist, they’re of your own making.”

  The two warforged stepped back, muttering, and the monitor lowered his crossbow, looking relieved. Sabira turned to Bardiche.

  “Glaive sent me here to find some warriors for an expedition I’m outfitting, but I’m thinking these are probably not the warforged for the job. So unless you know some others…?”

  “You have to understand-” the would-be actor began, but Sabira held up a hand to forestall him.

  “No. No, I really don’t. I’m looking to hire blades, not philosophers.” Or, Host help her, anarchists. She might bend or sidestep the rules from time to time, but she at least acknowledged their existence. “If you can’t help me, I’ll look somewhere else.”

  Bardiche gave her a short, apologetic bow.

  “It is true, we seek a mission, but not, I fear, the one you’re offering.”

  Since she hadn’t actually offered it yet, Sabira knew it wasn’t the job they were rejecting so much as the opinions that came with it, but she was fine with that. The last thing she needed was to head into the depths of Tarath Marad wondering if she might wake up with a warforged blade in her belly because she’d had the temerity to be born with a pulse.

  Sabira shrugged.

  “Your loss.”

  As she turned to walk away, the warforged reached out a quick hand to stop her. The monitor’s crossbow snapped back up and his finger had pulled the trigger halfway home before she could wave him off.

  “There is one who might be interested. Guisarme shares many of the same beliefs about the Lord of Blades and his mission that you seem to. Perhaps you would find his company more… favorable… than ours.”

  She could hardly find it less so, but she didn’t think that really bore mentioning.

  “He is working on a ventilation shaft two flights up. Pass the Gorgon on the left side and another set of stairs on your right and you should find him there in a small courtyard.”

  “The Gorgon?” Not particularly helpful, considering the bull iconography was rampant in Cannith’s enclave, even more so than the chimera was in Deneith’s.

  “The giant floating bull’s head.”

  Ah. That narrowed it down. Even she knew where that was, and all her previous trips here had begun and ended at the tavern.

  “Good luck to you,” Bardiche said, extending his hand.

  Sabira hesitated a moment before accepting the grasp.

  “Can’t say as I wish you the same, considering, but I hope you and your brethren realize that you’re freer than you know before you do anything rash.” Of course, she didn’t have a lot of faith in epiphanies, so she planned on making sure she wasn’t around, just in case.

  She nodded to the monitor and then made her way up the two flights of stairs to the level that featured the Gorgon. As Bardiche had said, it was essentially an enormous bull’s head atop a floating pedestal that seemed to be powered by a gigantic blue orb that glowed and crackled with arcane energies. It was an ostentatious display of power and craftsmanship, one far more suited to the larger metropolises of Khorvaire than to this wild jungle continent. Toven d’Cannith, the head of the enclave, had certainly outdone himself. The sight was enough to make the true heads of the House-Merrix, Jorlana, and Zorlan-green with envy. Either that, or white with fear.

  First Greigur with his royal purple crest that had nothing of the traditional Deneith green and yellow in it, and now Toven with his Gorgon to rival the relics of the giants. Sabira was beginning to wonder if all the dragonmarked Houses arranged for their overly-ambitious scions to be sent away to Xen’drik before they could cause problems on the larger continent.

  Then again, if that were true, the population of Stormreach would be much, much higher.

  Sabira saw a warforged hammering at the side of a building in a tiny dirt courtyard that boasted a single tree and some tall bushes. As she neared, she saw it was indeed a ventilation shaft he was working on, with a large fan that circulated air to workers in levels far below the enclave.

  The warforged noticed her and paused in his work. He regarded her with unblinking violet eyes.

  “They like to talk about House Cannith and its amazing devices,” he said conversationally. “But somehow they never seem to mention the folks who keep those devices running, day and night.”

  “Well, they are the House of Making, not the House of Maintenance,” Sabira replied, wondering belatedly if Bardiche’s idea of “favorable” had anything in common with her own.

  Guisarme surprised her by opening his mouth wide in a booming laugh that echoed off the walls of the small enclosure.

  As his laughter was trailing off, Sabira heard a noise behind her and turned. A small crowd of men and women had gathered at the sound. None of them looked happy, and some of them bore naked steel.

  “Kanjira said the one who attacked her had a hammer-that must be him. Get him!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Wir, Barrakas 4, 998 YK

  Stormreach, Xen’drik.

  Sabira pulled out her brooch and held it up. “Not happening, folks. I’d suggest you put those weapons down and back off until I can get to the bottom of this.” The group hesitated, not yet unruly enough to challenge a Sentinel Marshal, even if the odds were ten to one in their favor. “Now. What exactly is it Guisarme here is supposed to have done?”

  A thin man stepped forward, spurred on by a large woman in garish purple skirts who could only be his wife. Her face was bright red and contorted with hatred as she looked at the warforged, and Sabira was concerned the woman might collapse in an apoplectic fit at any moment.

  “That warforged attacked my daughter behind the Crafting Hall! He hit h
er in the head with that hammer and took her pouch! And now we’re going to teach him a lesson!”

  The Crafting Hall was across the square, one of several buildings-like the one Guisarme was working on-that faced the Gorgon and saw a lot of foot traffic. It seemed an unlikely place for a robbery, especially in the middle of the day.

  “With that hammer there?” Sabira asked. The crowd was on her right and Guisarme was on her left, so she stepped back toward the building as she gestured, to give the angry parents and their followers a better view. Guisarme held out the small sledge he’d been working with. “The one that is completely free of blood?”

  “So? He wiped it off!”

  “On what?” Sabira countered. “His clothes-the ones he’s not wearing? The nonexistent grass? Oh, I know. He wiped it off on a rag which he then stashed in the same place where he put the money he stole, somewhere in between this little courtyard and the Crafting Hall less than one hundred feet from here. All while about a dozen people and their iron dogs milled around, including a handful of Cannith monitors. Yes, that makes perfect sense.”

  “In the bushes, then!”

  Well, that was barely possible, she supposed, though it would make Guisarme the stupidest thief she’d ever encountered. Either that, or the cockiest.

  “Look for yourself,” she said magnanimously. As Kanjira’s mother moved forward, Sabira shook her head. “No, not you.” She didn’t trust the woman not to cut herself behind the bushes and drop her own pouch to fabricate evidence against the warforged.

  “You.” She pointed at an orc who’d wandered over to the edge of the crowd, attracted by all the commotion. “What’s your name?”

  “Skraad Walor,” he replied. “It’s a travesty, seeing a proud warrior treated this way.”

  She wasn’t sure if he meant Guisarme or Kanjira’s mother-or possibly Kanjira herself, who was conspicuously absent from the mob that had formed to avenge her.

  “Actually, a travesty is what I’m trying to prevent. So, if you wouldn’t mind…?”

  The orc pushed his way through the crowd, which had grown in number, though it didn’t yet include any House Cannith monitors. Surely the enclave’s security must be aware of the situation by now. Sabira had to wonder what they were waiting for.

  He crossed the dirt yard in three steps and shoved the bushes aside, bending low to examine the ground and disappearing behind the greenery in the process. After a moment of searching, he reappeared, holding up something in his left hand.

  A bloodthirsty cheer went up from the mob until the orc stepped back out onto the dirt and proceeded to smooth out the crumpled up paper he’d found. It was a copy of the Stormreach Chronicle.

  “Droaam Expedition Lands in Xen’drik!” he read, in a surprisingly good imitation of a Chronicle newsboy. “Invasion Rumors Spread!”

  He made a show of examining the broadsheet front and back.

  “No blood. No pouch. No warforged prints, either. Sorry.” He balled the paper up and threw it back into the bushes.

  Sabira turned to Kanjira’s mother, who was even redder than before, though Sabira would have bet a hefty sum that particular shade of crimson wasn’t humanly possible.

  “It seems like you have the wrong warforged. Maybe you might want to get back to Kanjira and try tracking down the real culprit now? Though he’s probably halfway to the harbor by this time.”

  Several of the members of the crowd started to move away, murmuring in disappointment. Sabira was relieved to see more than one sword make its way back into its sheath. It would be nice to settle this without having to bloody her shard axe.

  Kanjira’s father placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder, but she shrugged him off. Another man moved up behind her, and by his size and florid complexion, Sabira guessed he was either Kanjira’s maternal uncle or her brother.

  “I don’t care what you say, I don’t care who you are-I know that warforged attacked my daughter, and he’s going to pay!”

  “Melcare!” her husband yelled in warning, but it was too late. The woman pulled a dagger from her voluminous skirts and darted around Sabira to try to get at Guisarme.

  With an annoyed sigh, Sabira set her feet and grabbed the woman’s long braid as she passed. Just as the slack played out, Sabira put all her weight on her right foot and yanked as hard as she could. Melcare’s head snapped back and she was lifted several inches off the ground as Sabira pivoted and then released her hold in one smooth motion. The woman went tumbling into the dirt courtyard, skirts fluttering as she fetched up against the base of the tree and lay there, unmoving.

  “What have you done to my mother?” the red-faced man shouted, drawing a pair of long knives from sheathes hidden in his sleeves and advancing toward her.

  “Pulled her hair and got her dress dirty?” Sabira replied, reaching around to unharness her urgrosh as she took a step back to give herself more room to maneuver. “Considering she drew a weapon against a Sentinel Marshal, she’s lucky she’s still breathing. Are you really that anxious to find out how far your family’s luck-or my patience-will hold out?”

  “Save it, you metal-loving bitch!” he growled, bringing one blade down in an overhead strike while he lunged at her midsection with the other, as if he were trying to enfold her in a deadly, drunken hug.

  Sabira whipped her shard axe out and across, catching his left elbow with the cheek of the axe and sending the knife headed for her stomach flying into the courtyard. The force of her blow rocked him back and the other blade went wide. On her backswing, she brought the sharpened dragonshard that formed the spear tip of the urgrosh down into the meatiest portion of the man’s right thigh, then jerked it back out again with equal force.

  As blood spurted, he dropped the other blade and clutched at his leg. A kick sent him sprawling onto the ground, where he rolled around in agony.

  Sabira turned to face what remained of the crowd, her shard axe held across her body in an easy two-handed grip.

  “So. Who else is feeling suicidal today?”

  There was a sound behind her and Skraad yelled, “ ’Ware the mother!”

  Sabira spun, expecting to see Melcare. Instead, the blade the woman had thrown skimmed Sabira’s cheek before impaling itself into the wood of the building behind her with a quivering thunk.

  Stupid, stupid, she chided herself, even as she advanced on the woman who stood up against the tree, dagger held out in front of her. The scar would serve her right for disregarding a potential foe just because she looked more like a washerwoman than a warrior.

  Melcare’s eyes were wide and frightened, but determined. She’d thrown her son’s knife, which had landed on the ground near her when Sabira disarmed him. While the woman was definitely skilled with a blade from a distance, it was clear she wasn’t as comfortable in hand-to-hand combat, and the dagger shook in her grasp. But she didn’t lower the weapon as Sabira stalked toward her; instead, she raised her chin defiantly.

  Sabira had no desire to hurt the woman. Melcare obviously really believed Guisarme was the culprit, all evidence to the contrary, and she was simply trying to protect her daughter-and now, her son. Sabira could understand the maternal instinct, even if she didn’t share it.

  Ideally, she’d disarm the woman and put her in shackles, but that would mean putting her shard axe aside while there were still potential enemies at her back. Sabira had already let her guard down once today and had blood seeping down her face as a result. She didn’t particularly want to add blood from a sword thrust to the ribs into the mix.

  So she did the next best thing. She transferred her urgrosh to her left hand with a flourish meant to distract the other woman. When Melcare’s eyes left hers to follow the axe, Sabira pulled her right arm back and punched the hapless woman under the chin. Melcare’s head snapped up against the trunk of the tree and her eyes rolled back, showing the whites. As she dropped the dagger and her knees gave out, Sabira caught the other woman around the waist with her free arm and lowered her to the ground.
She made sure to step on the dagger blade this time, just in case the woman was a better actress than she let on.

  Then she straightened and looked back at the father. He was alone now, save for three House Cannith monitors who had their crossbows trained on Sabira. The rest of the crowd had disappeared, deciding they hated warforged less than they wanted to be arrested.

  “Drop the-” one of the monitors began, then caught sight of her brooch. He lowered his weapon, motioning for his companions to do the same.

  “Your pardon, Marshal. We heard a commotion and came to see what the problem was.”

  More like, they heard a commotion and watched until they were certain they wouldn’t have to lift a finger themselves to resolve it before stepping in to take credit for keeping the peace. But what were a few pertinent details among fellow defenders of law and order?

  “The ‘problem’ is that you stood by and let a mob form to persecute an innocent warforged and got a Sentinel Marshal wounded in the process. You’re just lucky I don’t have time to take this up personally with your superiors, but rest assured that Captain Greigur will hear about this and he will make the time.”

  She had no intention of filing a report with Greigur, of course, but the monitors didn’t need to know that.

  “According to this man here, Marshal,” said another of the monitors, clearly taking umbrage at her tone, “he and his companions were trying to conduct an orderly, lawful citizen’s arrest on this warforged when you interfered and wounded two unarmed Cannith residents in the process.”

  Sabira’s brows shot up and she couldn’t suppress an incredulous laugh. She kicked the dagger toward him.

  “Sure, they’re unarmed now — how exactly do you suppose they got that way? Or do you think maybe I threw that knife at myself?” she asked, pointing to the blade stuck in the wall near the ventilation shaft.

  “The Sentinel Marshal speaks truly,” Guisarme said, though after seeing the dark looks he got for it, Sabira sort of wished he hadn’t. She didn’t really think his support would earn her any favor in the monitors’ eyes. “The fleshlings accused me of assaulting their daughter, but I have been here working on this ventilation shaft since the first bell. Those were my instructions, to work until the fourth bell, or until the fan was fixed, whichever came sooner. As you can see, two of the fan blades are still in need of straightening. As I have not yet completed my task, I have not left my post.”