Khobos, Chapter 1 (or prologue) Part X

A new section to Khobos. I'm doing this a bit piecemeal, so bear with me!

Flair shook her head regretfully as she retrieved her dagger from the guard’s jugular. Fer chuckled softly. She'd been hearing that voice for a while, now, ever since she had begun her mission. That made it two years. Two years spent listening to a madman.

To Flair, the killing was a necessary evil. Besides, what did the life of some insignificant guardsman matter to her? They deserved it for serving tyrants and despots. For Fer, it was fun.

Bounding to her feet, the assassin scanned the dark hallway and quickly found a duramalm lamp hanging from the wall. Careless. She stalked right next to it and inhaled sharply. The hallway grew dark for a moment as the lamp was snuffed out, but soon it lit up in Flair’s eyes as the substance began to take effect. The ability to ingest duramalm was extremely rare - Flair could even venture to guess that it was unique to her. It granted her near-perfect vision in darkness, alongside some other... useful abilities.

The door she’d been searching for lay close by. No other guards seemed to occupy the hallway. They’re not here. Flair ignored the voice. She moved in front of the door and crouched, placing a hand on the metal handle. Then, she carefully pulled it down and allowed the door to slide open, suppressing the noise with a carefully placed bubble of Suppression.

Yes, Fer whispered Inside. Look for it in the desk. She pretended not to have heard. But she moved to the desk all the same. To normal human eyes, the room would have appeared pitch-black. To Flair, it looked like the room was awash with moonlight. She pulled open the drawers one by one, shuffling through their contents with the deft fingers of a practiced thief. She paused as her hands felt an irregularity on the far corner of the drawer. Maybe there’s a hidden compartment there, the voice suggested. She checked. There was. Now, how to access it?

Flair perked up, suddenly alert. It had been faint, but she’d heard footsteps in the hallway. Whoever it was, he clearly didn’t know of Flair’s abilities. She didn’t fault him for it; nobody did. The footsteps stopped just behind the door, barely audible to even Flair’s metal-enhanced ears. She stood up, checking her sleeves for her knives. Kill him, Fer urged. If he tells the others that you were here, you’ll never get your brother back. Flair grimaced. Her brother had been dead for seven years. Fer often said things like that, random things from her past. Raving. Don’t get distracted. You. Must. Kill him.

Flair willed the duramalm into her veins and muscles, enhancing her body. The crouching figure gasped as she shot out into the darkness, only a blur to his eyes. She landed on the wall opposite the doorway and launched herself behind the figure with a burst of Acceleration.

She whipped out her daggers, dashing past the man and trusting her hands to move of their own accord. The spy dropped to his knees, a pool of blood already forming below him. He was bleeding from a dozen lacerations. Strange, Fer said, musing.

“That’s not a nice way to greet someone as awesome as me.”

Flair whirled towards the “dead” guard, utterly and completely shocked. Fer made a choking noise that suddenly cut off into silence.

Of the wounds and lacerations she swore she’d dealt to the man’s body, there was no sign. The man picked himself up from the ground, dusting off his coat and adjusting his cowl as he gave Flair a warm smile. Strangely, Fer was silent in her head. Now, if only she could get away from here with the box--

“Now, do me a favor and give me the thing.” Flair started. “The thing?” she asked, shocked.

“Oh, nothing. I just assumed there was a reason for you being here.” He grinned smugly and stepped up to her side. Flair flipped out her knives in response, retreating to a safe distance. The man stopped.

Then he stepped through the wall.

The maneuver revealed another man, slighter of build and darker of skin, dressed in a black overcoat, the rim of his hat covering his right e--

Of course. Who else could’ve even contemplated doing something like this?

“Zake.”

“Flair.” She immediately recognized the voice. Quiet, but intense. Not gravelly or rough, but smooth. It had a sense of inevitability to it. A voice that could make kings tremble. That had made kings tremble.

It was a shame that the owner of that voice never quite lived up to one's imagination.

“You don’t have to use the dramatic voice on me.” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, but it's so fun.” Zake said, switching back to his usual sarcastic tone.

“Why did you follow me here?”

Zake smiled apologetically, but as always, it was a kind of a half-smile. She could never tell whether he was being entirely serious. Or sane, for that matter.

“Well, let’s just say that I had a bit of a divine intervention--“

Flair perked up. “A what?”

“Shh! They’re not that far away!” he whispered, intentionally overdoing the voice. Flair almost rolled her eyes. But then, it was quite nice to see someone again. Even if that someone was the most insufferable person she knew.

“So about that ‘divine intervention’. . .” she began.

“Well, I naturally manifested to myself and--“

Flair decked him in the face.

“Ouch!” Zake stumbled to the ground, holding his face. "I wish you didn't do that every time I--"

"I distinctly remember you saying, 'Flair, if I ever annoy you, feel free to deck me in the face.' and I intend to hold you to that promise."

Zake sputtered in outrage, as if to argue further, but then wisely thought the better of it. Instead, he picked himself up from the ground as if nothing had happened. Any normal person would have walked out of that with a broken chin. Not Zake.

“Right,” he sighed, this time with noticeably less glibness, which Flair appreciated. “I guess I can be a bit annoying. Old habits die hard and all that stuff.” His tone took on a hurt cast.

“You know, even though I can heal from that, it still hurts.” His ability, Regrowth, allowed him to heal from nearly any injury in seconds. Unfortunately, this had given the man far too much time to practice being annoying.

“Your jokes hurt.”

Zake chuckled, flashing that half-smile of his at her again. It was as much a part of him as his near-immortality.

“But really, I’m here on business,” he said, growing solemn.

That could only mean one thing. Covenant business. Flair felt a fist of anxiety forming at the pit of her stomach.

"Well, let's just say... hypothetically." Zake took a step towards her.

"Say that a bunch of suits suddenly came together on something. Say that they were the big suits... for example, the Highseers. I know, I know, sounds impossible, right? Highseers agreeing on anything. Impossible."

"But, despite that, say that they come together on something."

"And... hypothetically, what would they have come together on?" Flair asked, cautious.

"Well, here's the short of it. You've only been off doing your thing for what, two years? So they'd obviously have come together on the biggest elephant-in-the-room of the entire Covenant. You."

Flair didn't say anything. She was far too occupied being dazed. Zake seemed to take it as his cue to keep talking. The man did love his own voice.

"All of that is naturally coming with the implication that if you don't, they'll send--"

"Yes, yes, the Hunters. Nasty things."

So a group of Highseers actually agreed on something? Why on her, of all people?

"You really should come with me," Zake continued nonchalantly. "Those guys don't issue direct orders lightly." He tapped his chin nervously.

"Actually don't remember the last time they even talked to anyone."

Flair sighed. "At least me get the thing."

"Actually, they insisted on getting it as well. You know how they feel about thieving and all."

Flair rolled her eyes, stopping short of entering the room again. Of course they did.

"So... walk there?" she asked, the glow of the metal finally seeping into the ground.

"I've got something much better."

Flair looked up. Something much better? What was it? A magical artefact of some sort? Some new piece of technology from the East?

Zake walked up to the open window and gestured through it, towards the manor's courtyard.

Oh.

Not one of those. 

Author's Note

Your thoughts, constructive criticism appreciated greatly! Ideas? Thoughts? Opinions?

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Whilst fantasy isn't 'my thing', wanted to read something different.. and it really is.

The unseen speaker is fascinating, i kept waiting for 'him' to say more, to hint at the outcome of why Flair present in such a mysterious manner. Your language is generally quite 'old-shioned' - except for the word 'deck', however. You spread the tale with a touch of villainy, at times, not clear is she's good or bad.. decided on the former. Her mystical abilities add even more to your fantasy theme.. and add unusual dimensions (at least to a non fantasy reader like me)

The sudden appearanc e of Zake - could be friend, lover, to be perhaps, there's surely a distinct connection... adds a new theme and really gives more light to what might be ahead. Their dialogue is very good, smiled at their teasing or is it 'jousting' . Now i guess i need to read on and discover what else is in your imagination.

One thing negative.. the faintness of font colour makes for tricky reading at times. Might it be a little darker.

[Mikael Malmberg]

Thank you very much!

There is one part I dislike about this chapter, and it's the info-dump "sealstone has vanished blahblahblah" part. I think it's too big of an info dump this early on, more likely to confuse rather than raise interest. Do you have any suggestions for that, ideas? I'm not entirely sure if I should just delete the entire part or cut it down somehow.

[emmajoy]

Tis a tad late here, will get back to you on your enquiry.. tomorrow.

[Mikael Malmberg]

Sure thing! Thanks for taking me up on that. I appreciate the feedback.

[Coyote Poetry]

A well -written story. You create good story line and strong characters. The good description allowed the reader in and held them. Making them want to read more. Thank you for sharing the excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Mikael Malmberg]

Thanks! Would you personally read more of this if I continued writing? Do you enjoy fantasy, in general?

[Coyote Poetry]

I would keep reading this. I like fantasy. Your story is light fantasy. Bringing real life and fantasy together. Create a interesting story line.