Caught

"Look, you're making a huge mistake! I had nothing to do with whatever it is that you seem to feel I was involved in!"

The city watchman fixed the speaker with an amused gaze even as his hand drifted to the hilt of the plain broadsword belted at his waist, "I'm certain your accuser will be thrilled to hear that. Now shut up and get moving."

Elteber sighed and stepped out of the doorway of the small apartment he had rented on Goat Lane. Rented may not have been the right word. Commandeered may have been a better one. In point of fact Elteber had been squatting in the vacant apartment, and for the life of him he couldn't fathom how the watch had found him. Apparently he was to face his accuser, and his mind flitted through the half dozen or so petty crimes he had committed in the past week. He could think of none where he'd left obvious signs of his passing. His days of a high profile jewel thief were long behind him, and he no longer left a calling card with his marks. The fact that the watch had known right where he'd been baffled him beyond reason. Something about this situation was very wrong, and as he followed the lead guardsman into the dark alley that led away from Goat Lane he heard in his mind not the footfalls of their soft shod boots, but rather the clink of heavy iron chains.

* * * * *

It took about forty minutes for his captors to march him through the city to his destination. During that time Elteber took careful note of the bearing of his captors. There were three of them, and something about the way they carried themselves just didn't ring true with him. Their was a menace about them, and he knew that if he ran away they wouldn't exercise the restraint one could normall expect from men of the watch. They watched him like predators would watch prey, and he knew that they bore him a very special kind of malice. Yet the more he watched them, the more he realized it wasn't him they bore said malice for, but rather for everyone, and everything. 

Perhaps it was these observations which caused him to feel no surprise when they opened a manhole and led him into the sewers. He felt even less surprise when his captors removed the white and red embroidered surcoats of the Watch, to reveal chainmail shirts that weren't precisely polished. Things began to click in to place, and when he caught sight of the taloned claw sigil on the amulet worn about one of the men's necks, his worst fears were confirmed.

"Kryxor's blood," he swore under his breath. He knew exactly where they were taking him, and he knew he didn't want to see the one they were taking him to. He looked about frantically and knew that he had no way to escape. His shoulders slumped and he accepted the hard shove from one of the men almost stoically.

In short order they reached a heavy iron door with a thin grate. The lead man spoke quietly through that gate, and El could hear the sounds of several locks and bars being disabled. Finally the heavy door swung open and El was shoved through. About thirty feet beyond was round wooden platform that hung from heavy iron chains. Two huge creatures, likely bugbears were chained nearby. Next to them was a massive wheel with several poles set inside of it. After leading Elteber to that platform the leader of his captors gave a nod and the two chained creatures each set their shoulder to one of those poles and began to push. There was a loud grating noise and Elteber felt the platform begin to rise.

It rose for a quite some time, higher and higher through a tunnel of complete darkness. Then above him El saw a the dancing lights of torches, and brief moments later he was standing in a dimly lit corridor that ended in a sturdy looking oak wood door. With the leader in front and his other two captors behind, El walked towards that door. In his heart he knew what lay beyond that door, and he had no greater desire then to rush back towards the platform and leap after it into the all-consuming darkness.

The lead man grinned at him and opened the door, “We part ways here. I’m sure you’ll be well cared for.”

The laugh that ensued was wicked, and filled with pure malicious joy. Elteber let out an involuntary shudder and stepped through the door into the chamber beyond.

The room he entered was bathed in the dancing light of many torches. The shadows that were the natural result of such lighting served only to enhance the sense of foreboding that cankered El’s soul. His eyes were drawn up from the dancing shadows cast on the floor by a silvery peal of laughter. His eyes moved slowly upwards, over the polished stones to the first of five terraces. 

Atop that fifth terrace, clad in a silken gown of deepest scarlet, was a beautiful woman. She met his gaze with dark green eyes that seemed to blaze with an inner fire. Again that cascade of laughter filled the room.

Rising to her feet with a languid grace she stepped forward, her hands smoothing the front of her long gown. There was nothing revealing about that gown, it was tastefully cut, designed to enhance her figure not with daring cut outs and exposed skin, but rather with its shape and flow. Her beauty was enough to steal the breath of any man, and as she slowly descended the steps to each terraced level Elteber felt his blood quicken in his veins. As she descended from that last terrace Elteber caught a brief whiff of a heavily spiced perfume. For not the first time since he’d arrived in her lair, Elteber felt himself shudder. She drew closer, circling him slowly, her fingertips reaching out to touch his shoulder. El however, did not feel fingers, but rather felt as though a set of talons had raked across him.

“My my, it would appear that the bird has caught a mouse in her claws hasn’t she?” her voice was rich and lustrous, “a little mouse, so lost and alone. Did you think you could escape me little mouse? You should have known that I would find you. I have eyes everywhere.”

El opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter even a syllable the beautiful woman spoke again.

“You wound me Elteber. You slipped out of my bed in the middle of the night and fled like a coward. You stole my virtue and then stole my emerald? My dear little mouse, did you truly expect to escape Quinn Hawke?”

“Look, Quinn, I… well we are both aware that your virtue was stolen long before I got involved. As for the emerald,” he floundered for a moment, looking up at her for the first time.

It was stupid; he knew that before he even opened his mouth, but he was not noted for his common sense, “I wanted a memento of your eyes. Something with which to remember our time together.”

The slap across his face was one he would admit to having deserved. His comment had definitely been in bad taste.

“Little mouse, you amused me for a time. You proved a pleasant distraction, yet I’m afraid you are no longer amusing. Tell me now Elteber, where is my emerald?”

He coughed, and scuffed the toe of his soft leather boots against the polished stone floor.

The look she fixed him with carried none of her warmth, none of the subtle sensuality that it would normally have carried. Rather what he saw there was pure daggers.

"I'll ask you one more time little mouse. Where is my emerald?" her voice was filled with venom.

“I… well… I may have mislaid it Quinn.”

Her eyebrows arched dangerously, “Mislaid?”

“Well, there was this bout you see. Seemed to be a pretty peachy deal, all sealed up you know? No chance of loss. Well… I…”

She glared at him, and raised her hand threateningly.

“The man I’d bet on threw the fight, bet against himself. There was nothing I could do!”

“You bet my emerald? You… fool!”

“Now Quinn, look I---”

Her eyes were no longer on him. She had turned and begun to once more ascend the steps towards her dais. She spun, her elaborate silk gown swirling about her shapely legs. She lowered herself to her dais, and pulled a simple silver bell from her bodice. She rang it gently, but once, and from the shadows near the first terrace stepped a massive man. Bare chested and rippling with muscles then imposing figure came forward and took Elteber firmly by the forearm.

 “You no longer amuse me little mouse, and as my emerald is now gone you have caused me to lose a small fortune. That fortune you will regain for me, for as of this moment, you are my personal gladiator. You leave tomorrow for Southgate. There you will either make my fortune, or you will die.”

As Elteber was dragged quite firmly from the room by the behemoth of a man, he quite clearly thought that he most certainly didn’t deserve that.