Page 29 of Dishonor Among Thieves
Be careful, he mouthed, reclaiming the torch from my hold.
I nodded and pulled out my dagger again, unsure what, if anything, I would do with it if a swarm of rats followed us. I realized as I followed him down a narrow tunnel that the solitary guard at the entrance was likely only one of many goblins down here in the sanctum. How many more, and what had happened, we would only know by pressing onward. While the tunnel was narrow, it was tall enough for a man of Neo’s height to walk without stooping. That meant we were likely at least eight or ten feet underground. Maybe deeper.
I followed Neo’s back, the torch illuminating the path ahead only so much. I tried not to look past his massive form but couldn’t help myself as the path, scarcely wide enough for two to walk side by side, widened to reveal an intricately designed wooden door, fortified with iron fittings. The door was ajar, its lock coated in a powdery black dust. Neo ran a gloved fingertip along the residue, sniffed it, then whispered, “Magic.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. If magic had been used down here… There might be no goblins left alive. Neo must have believed the same thing. He shoved the door open and rushed into the sanctum, the torch casting light on every rat. And there were hundreds.
Goblin bodies littered the floor of the sanctum, their blood drying in pools or splashed in grotesque-looking shapes across the walls. The creatures here had died horrible, violent deaths. Their bellies cut open, their hands cut off, and in the case of one in particular, an even more nightmarish fate. A blood-red glow illuminated the ceiling and the walls. A terrifying, creeping canopy that looked exactly like the blood moss that grew on the Oderisi land. I wondered if that’s where the blood moss had come from. That would explain why I’d not seen it elsewhere in the realm. Moss spores tracked from Neo’s shoes to his home? I knew little of the study of plants, but at least since I’d seen the moss already, I wasn’t horrified by the sickly red light that cast a haunting hue over the devastation before us.
“Vlareq…” Neo sank to his knees, swatting at rats and ignoring the sticky, blackening blood that seeped into his leather mail. He dropped his sword on the ground and looked helplessly behind him. I was right there, taking the torch to unburden his hands.
Neo knelt before the head that had been separated so brutally from its body. Long black hair covered a cruelly severed neck, the eyes of the goblin still open, blood red, and lifeless. His mouth was locked in what looked like an eternal snarl, the nostrils of its hooked nose permanently flared.
I longed to rest a hand on Neo’s shoulder, to utter soothing words, but I had none. I did not know the depths of my husband’s friendship with this goblin, but the grief in his sunken shoulders tore my heart to ribbons. I was growing used to the stench and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed lamps affixed to the walls and assumed there had to be some sort of ventilation system if the goblins could breathe down here. I carefully stepped past the headless body to light as many as I could find, anxious to drive away the ghastly red glow with some true light. I followed the line of the wall, lighting lamps and kicking at corpse rats, trying not to look upon the faces of the many who’d been slain.
“Gods, no.” Neo’s broken whispers brought tears to my eyes as I lit the last lamp.
An artist illustrating the demons and devils of Ástleysi could not have imagined a more nightmarish scene. Fully illuminated, the sanctum was now clearly a tomb. By my quick count, dozens of goblins lay dead, but also animals, beasts I’d never seen before, had been hacked to bits or cut into pieces.
I walked up to one of them, holding the torch close to look at the creature’s face.
“Those are megadrile moles,” Neo said, his voice shattered. “The goblins ride them through the tunnels, use them to help dig and burrow.”
The large animal had the segmented, pinkish body of the common earthworm, with a barbed tail. Its four legs bore claws like that of a mole, long and sharp with a slightly scooped shape. Perfect for digging tunnels. I reached down to touch one outfitted with a small custom-made saddle but recoiled at the cold, slimy body. That’s when the tears began to fall. I willed myself to stay silent, letting tears stream down my face as Neo stood, holding the head of his friend in his hands.
“H-He…” The tiniest voice croaked from someplace in the sanctum.
Neo surged to his feet, his sword clenched in a fist. “Who’s there!” he demanded, his voice echoing with rage.
“Here! Neo, here!” I saw movement, a slight shift coming from a dark mound of clothes and bodies and hair.
I ran to the source of the sound, holding the torch high.
“Who are you, friend? What’s your name?” I stomped my foot, scattering a few tenacious corpse rats feasting near the survivor, then dropped to my knees.
“El…” The voice was labored, and I wished that I had gloves. But I would not let my bare hands stop me from rooting through the dead to free the trapped one.
“Go on,” I urged as Neo joined me, carefully moving aside the bodies that had been thrown or tossed atop the survivor.
“Elgit.” The word came out in a single, pained grunt.
“Elgit,” Neo echoed. “I am Neoruzzi Oderisi. You know me as friend of Vlareq, ally of your kin. What happened?”
I considered reaching for the traveling pouch tied around my waist, to offer the survivor some water from my cask, but Neo stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. He squeezed gently, trying to send a message that I did not understand.
Neo knelt to get a closer look at the man’s extensive injuries. I could see now why he’d discouraged the water. The goblin’s belly was cut clean open, blood and viscera soiling his tunic.
Though his gray lips were so dry they looked cracked, they barely moved as they goblin whispered one coherent word.“Haeloc.”
Neo leapt as if he’d been stung. “Where? Here!” His voice was so loud, I could see the dying body flinch against the sound.
Neo drew his sword, his eyes flaming red, his fangs fully elongated.
“I will take his head and burn every hair one by one. Where is he? Where!”
I stuck the end of Neo’s torch into the soil as I’d done with mine outside by the horses. Once my hands were free, I knelt beside the shuddering goblin and pulled my cloak from around my shoulders. “Here,” I said, bunching the garment and setting it behind his head like a pillow. My mind was racing toward one direction, but I could tell Neo’s went the opposite.
“We need Odile,” I said, my stare pulling Neo’s gaze to me.
