Morning came early for Nelson and the twins. He hated mornings, but he knew he had to get a move on soon. If they waited too long, the serpentines would wake up and be on the prowl. He woke the twins and made Atraas cook them some breakfast. As soon as they had finished, he had them back on what little path there was.
Everything seemed normal at first. Birds sang when they flew overhead, frogs and fish moved about in the waters and bugs kept bothering them. Then suddenly everything was silent. Nelson halted the group with a single gesture of his hand. He was pretty damn sure something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t see anything.
After a while, he had them continue. Nothing large had moved, so he assumed there was something else the creatures were hiding from, perhaps just a snake or a large fish. Whatever it was, it had been big enough to spook the wildlife.
“How much longer do we have to go?” Inleet complained as she dragged her feet behind them. “My feet are
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Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH10
Finally, the four of them found themselves at the edge of the marsh. With Ket following beside them, everything else avoided them like the plague. Nelson couldn’t say he minded as it made the rest of the journey a breeze. What he feared wasn’t from the dangers now, but the attention such a large warrior woman would bring to him and his group.The first thing they had to do, however, was cross the Vast Grasslands, which as the same suggests, was grasslands so vast that they seemed almost as endless as the marsh itself had been. On the plus side, they didn’t have to worry about getting stuck in thick soupy water or ambushed by serpentines.Herds of horses galloped in the distance. Nelson marvelled at them and wondered if this was where most of the noble horses had come from. Or if these were wild and would remain such. As far as he knew, Sethis didn’t make their fortune from selling horses.By the time they reached the first signs of Ameath
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH11
The tavern wasn’t as full as Nelson had assumed it would be, but there were still enough people there that he could easily blend in with the crowd and none paid him nor Inleet any attention at all. They were just two extra bodies in an enormous city that were looking for a drink. From the looks of it, though, many of these people had nothing worth stealing. He could easily scam them out of their coins, but he was sure he could do that with a mere card game, rather than picking pockets. The only thing he wasn’t sure of was if these people were honest and wouldn’t know he was cheating, or if they were like-minded people and would easily figure him out quickly. He would have to study them long enough to find out, but for now, he just wanted to drink and see if he could learn anything about Sethis, or how he ran his city. You could tell a lot about a noble, by how he treated his people, or what his people thought of him. Nelson was not thought of highly, but he u
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH12
The next morning, the trio woke to the usual hustle and bustle of a city just waking up for the day. From all they could gather, their acquired mask was not the item looked for from the place it was stolen from. At least, there was nothing that suggested the owner cared that much for its loss.Nelson could only guess the owner hadn’t yet realised. Either way, he was glad that he could relax enough to not stress over the smaller details of the day. He had far too much to plan for tonight, including making sure he was ‘on the list’ for the party.That itself would require finding one such person who he could replace with no one realising it. Many such people in the city likely fit the bill, but he had to be sure none could tell the difference. This meant any family man was off of the market for body-snatching. So to speak.Nelson knew this would not be easy, but there had been a few candidates last night at the tavern. If one of those were bachel
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH13
The journal, while seemingly important, lacks anything that would give Nelson a lead on where to go or if Sethis is part of the slave trade or not. It does, however, have a few entries about both the late Kings; Fenryn’s older brother and their father. With a sigh, Nelson puts the item back into the draw. “Well, that was a waste of time,” he mutters to himself. “This guy has to have some skeletons somewhere. No one is this perfect.” A light whispered voice speaks somewhere behind him, “another exists.” Spinning around, Nelson’s hand quickly goes to where his hidden blade is located, but his gaze does not locate the voice’s owner. His golden-brown eyes scan the room. Had someone snuck up on him somehow? That should be impossible. Was it one of those guard-birds? The ones who could use the common tongue to alert of any intruders? He glanced up to see if one was perched anywhere above him. Nothing was. Cautious that someone was hiding from him so
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH 14
“So you want us to go… where, again?” Atraas asked. His gaze on Nelson was deadpan. He did not believe what he had just been told but knew full well what Nelson had said. Inleet herself was not impressed, and she glared at Nelson in horror. “You know the lands of the dead are not something we can just sneak in and out of, right?” She asked, her tone blunt. “Not to mention the ground-elves,” Atraas agreed. “Everyone says they’re just an old wives’ tale to scare young children, but I swear to the Goddesses, I saw one!” Sighing, Nelson looked between the two. “I can’t force you to go with me,” he began, shaking his head. “But your second pay from our benefactor will only come if we succeed in our mission to sort this out. That the trail leads towards the Underworld is…” he paused, looking for the words he needed. “An adventure none of us expected, sure, but we’ll be fine. Maybe.” “Oh, I feel so confident now, thank you!” Inleet barked out her sarcastic r
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH15
Finding a way around Ket and the demonic beast, Nelson couldn’t help but notice it had wounds from previous skirmishes. If that had been here or somewhere else, however, he wasn’t sure. What he knew was that most of them were concentrated in the same area. This could only mean one of a few things. One was that this beast was originally a pet or slave of someone and that was the spot they used to make it do as commanded, or those who fought it off knew something he did not. Either way, he guessed that if he struck that area, he might see better results than aiming for a direct fight. It was a plan, at least. He just had to make sure that he could gain enough height for it to count. Climbing up one of the dilapidated buildings, Nelson did his best to ensure his footing was strong before he pulled out some of his throwing knives. He had come prepared for battle, but he hadn’t expected to be in a fight so soon. Ket had yet to notice him, but that was fine
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH16
The first thing Nelson did was have the twins eavesdrop on the children. Finding out if they lived nearby, or were orphans, was the first clue on how to deal with them as a whole. Most who lived with parents were harder to sway into doing things you needed them to do, but an orphan looking for some quick profit would be much more willing.When he had his answer, the next task would be to figure out what they wanted out of life. Money, a rare item that only the jerk across the street had, or the chance to see the person they loved. Then, Nelson could find a way of convincing them he could help.Or he could just steal something from the group and get them to give chase. Sometimes the simplest plan was the best one and lucky for him, these kids were orphans who had just come into a small amount of coin.“You have a good sense of the place’s layout, right?” Nelson asked Inleet in hushed whispers. The three were accustomed to this form of distractio
Adventures of the Crown: The Noble Bandit CH17
An icy breeze swept through the area, causing the fog to swirl and dance around them. Nelson REALLY did not like this at all, and he turned his back against Ket so that nothing could sneak up behind him. The twins followed suit. “So, what are we dealing with?” Nelson asked, his voice kept low, though whatever had been stalking them was likely already close enough to hear him. Ket let out a low hiss and replied, “unknown. Not a thing marshes have.” “Oh. Wonderful,” Nelson sighed out and shook his head. The spirit clinging to him made a little chuckle. He wondered if it knew what it was, or if it could tell where it was. He wanted to ask it but doubted it would tell him much. After all, the spirit had been quiet until now. It surprised him when it said, ‘watch the fog.’ Glancing at the level the fog was at now, he realised it had again risen higher than where it had been before. It had gone from his ankles to his knees and was now at his hips. T
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