Things had been moving so fast since they appeared here in this strange city and Gabe hadn’t had time to really think about his circumstances. They had been ripped from their lives and thrown into some medieval era fantasy town, accused of murder, and now they were waiting in a dark alley to meet with a suspect. It was the most excitement he had experienced in a long time, but now that they were standing in the alleyway behind the grocer, he had plenty time to be introspective.

He was enjoying this feeling of being a hero in a fantasy story, but it put into stark contrast how boring and uneventful his life was. Back home, he was just a shift lead at a fast-food restaurant working to pay his way through community college. The other two were talking about their various studies and obligations they had at school and about what they needed to do when they got back. Listening to them, Gabe felt that same pang of self-doubt that he had every time he hung out with his two friends. They were so successful and, if they ever find their way back home, will go on to have great careers and lives. When compared to them, Gabe’s life was a disaster.

He had a little apartment that he could barely afford, a car that was broken down and wouldn’t run, and an associate’s degree that is going to take him four or five years to complete. When compared to his two friends, he was nothing but a loser from their hometown that wasn’t going to make anything of himself. Maybe he could be more useful in this world. He stood there mulling all this over when he heard a set of footsteps coming near them.

 “Uh… Thank you for agreeing to meet me here.” Said Mr. Cotton in a sheepish voice as he approached the group. Kat and Sinclair stopped talking and joined Gabe.

“No, thank you Mr. Cotton. I’m happy that you came to help us with our investigation.” Gabe said in his best friendly and polite tone.

“It’s the least I could do for poor Grace.” Mr. Cotton said as he was wringing his hands, full of nervous energy.

“Do you know who killed her?” Sinclair asked

“It’s not as much who, but what that killed her.” He was looking over his shoulder and at the shadows that were peeking out from behind things like he was worried they were going to come alive and get him. “The creature was summoned to kill her.”

“What are you talking about, ‘the creature’? Are you trying to tell me a monster killed her?” Kat questioned as she stepped closer to the man. Now that Gabe thought about it, that might not be too wild of an idea. Who knows how this crazy world they found themselves in operated.

“Yes, the creature, they summon it to attack the victims.” With this he was growing more agitated so Gabe decided he should change the line of questioning.

“My friend here found a letter in your waste basket. It mentioned the words our daughter. Would that have anything to do with this? Did anyone know about your relationship?”  Gabe asked this while reaching out and resting his hand on the man’s upper arm.

“Yes, Grace and I had a daughter. I would give her money from time to time to make sure our daughter was well taken care of. I don’t think that our having a daughter together was very well known and we were careful to keep it secret. We didn’t want….” Whatever else he was going to say would be a mystery because at that time the sound of a rock being kicked down the alleyway caused him to look up in fear. A group of dirty, poorly dressed men were walking down the alley way towards them. Now it’s not polite to assume anything about people, but Gabe was pretty sure that if you looked up the words; thugs, ruffians, or disreputable in the dictionary their picture would be next to one if not all of them. They were approached by the thugs, the four of them carrying clubs and knives with faces that said that they know how to use them. The men sized up Gabe’s group as they approached. It appeared that the swords hanging at the sides of the obviously inexperienced fighters were not a deterrent for them.

“Ay, you lot. What are you doing here in our alley.” The biggest and ugliest, and therefore the leader, of the four said in a deep rough voice. “You must know that if you are here then you owe us a tribute, don’t you?”

“No sorry we don’t have any money.” Kat called back to the man. She spoke slowly. Loudly, and shrugged with her hands out to indicate there was nothing. Gabe sighed, Kat was picking a fight.

One of the other three men leaned in to the leader “She said they ain’t got no money” he whispered loud enough to be heard two streets over. The leader slapped the man in the face.

“I heard what she said.” He said to the other man, point a grimy calloused finger at them. “But they have swords ain’t they, and that there is Mr. Cotton ain’t he?” He was gesturing at them now.  “And he has more money than anyone else in this area.” Then he turned his attention back to the group of newbie guards and their rich ward. “Hand over your weapons and Mr. Cotton and nobody gets hurt.

Gabe stepped forward and dropped low into a fighting stance, weight balanced in the center of the stance and shoulders loose. He looked the leader in the eyes bringing his fist up. “That will not be happening. This man will not be going with you.” This put the big ugly man on unfamiliar ground. The strange young man with the obviously unused sword was challenging him to a fight, without drawing his sword. The Gabe wasn’t quite as tall as the leader, but he was pretty good sized. The big ugly man decided Gabe couldn’t be too tough. His face didn’t look like he had been into many fights and his knuckles weren’t scared. The three of them must be rich kids whose parents bought them a commission into the Kings Guard.

The leader approached Gabe with his club at the ready. “I said give me your weapon lad!” he roared reaching out to grab Gabe by the shirt on his chest. He raised his club up and went to drive it down on the boy’s face. He was surprised to find that his arm stopped moving before the head was cracked open by the club. Gabe had reached up, blocked the strike, and his other hand seized the hand on his shirt. Next thing the man knew, Gabe had pinned his arm to his body and was twisting his wrist and lowering his stance. The excruciating pain made him drop the club from his hands. The other three saw this as the prime opportunity to jump in and they decided to help.

Before they could, Kat jumped forward with her sword out causing the other three to freeze long enough for Gabe to disengage throwing a kick into the man’s chest as he did. Gabe’s heart was thudding in his ears. He had never had to use his training in a fight before, but when the man grabbed him, it was almost like his body moved on its own. The other three men squared up with them and charged. Gabe could hear the sound of feet hitting stonework as Mr. Cotton ran the other way going deeper into the alley. Gabe didn’t draw his weapon instead he decide he was going to allow his training to carry him through. The man that was running at him swung wide with a scything blow at the side of Gabe’s head. Gabe met the swinging hand with a chop to the inner wrist. He stepped into the attack and grabbed the man’s arm with his other hand at the elbow. Now with two hands on the man’s arm, Gabe pivoted his foot and spun bringing the thugs arm around and lower, throwing the thug onto his back. Gabe finished the attack with a kick to the man’s jaw while he was down.

The kick seemed to put the man out of the fight, and Gabe scanned the scene around him. Kat was doing okay. She wasn’t very skilled with the sword she was holding, but the man who was attacking her was slow and she could stay out of the reach of his club. Sinclair on the other hand was getting backed into a corner swinging his sword wildly. Gabe went to go help him when he noticed in the last second that the leader had gotten back up. He ducked the first of the leader’s punches, stepped back to avoid the second punch, and the third punch hit him right in the jaw. Pain flared bright in Gabe’s mind as he returned the punch with a quick combo catching the thug’s leader in the nose, then the gut, then. and only then, a palm strike to the side of the jaw catching the leader right in a pressure point, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. He heard a cry of pain and turned to see that Kat had landed a kick to the groin of the man attacking her. He fell to the ground holding his bruised, if not broken, family jewels.

A clatter of metal hitting stone drew Gabe’s attention back to where Sinclair stood cowering in the corner. The sword Sinclair had been holding had been knocked from his hand and was laying too far away for him to reach. Gabe ran to help him, but he realized with horror that he wasn’t going to reach him in time. Kat was running to hoping to get to the thug as well, but he was drawing the pipe back to make a bone crushing swing. They both watched in horror as he swung for Sinclair’s head and with a hollow thwack, the pipe made contact…. with a wall of shimmering light. Sinclair had his hands up in a cowering position but the man who had swung the pipe stood there dumb founded. Gabe didn’t know what to do or think so he looked at Kat. What he saw almost made him laugh. If Kats jaw could drop any lower, it would have been on the ground.

“A… A… Arcanist” the man stuttered backing away from Sinclair. When he realized that he had not been hit, Sinclair opened his eyes and let out a squeak of surprise looking at the barrier that had formed between them. As this happened, the barrier faded into the background. The thug apologized and turned to run away back towards the city streets by the grocer. Kat started to give chase, but Gabe stopped her. Sinclair couldn’t say anything, he was too busy studying his own hands. The peace was short lived, however. As they looked at each other dumbfounded, a man’s blood curdling scream was heard.

“Oh no, Mr. Cotton.” Kat exclaimed as she turned to go running towards the scream. Gabe ran after her, just a few steps behind. He could hear Sinclair running behind him, but there was no way he could keep up. Deeper into the network of alleyways they ran as Gabe did all that he could do to match the speed at which she moved. They turned one last corner, when they came upon the grizzly sight. Mr. Cotton was laying on the ground in the middle of a large circle of blood. His eyes were pleading as he looked up to them as he was slowly drained of life. He mouthed the words help me as the creature on top of him tightened its vice like grip on his throat.

The thing on top of him was the most terrifying that Gabe had ever seen. It had a large red ragged cloak draped over a thin emaciated form. Its face was a horrible masque of death with large boils on corpse like, pale skin. Its eyes were missing, leaving inky dark pits behind its shriveled eyelids. It had one set of long, talon like fingers wrapped around the poor man’s neck. The other hand had been plunged deep into the dying man’s guts. Gabe rushed at the creature trying vainly to help the dying man. As he drew near the creature it looked up at him and hissed through fanged teeth. The look on its skeletal, boil covered face caused Gabe to freeze in his tracks.  The creature ripped something from the hole torn in the man’s stomach and then light as a shadow it raced off around the corner. Gabe regaining his composer ran after it, but all he found was a dead end and a strange symbol etched into the wall. Investigating it, Gabe could see that the symbol etched into wall appeared to be some sort of pentacle in a circle filled with runes and sigils. The center of the pentacle held the symbol of an eye with three daggers stabbed into its pupil. It glowed with a faint, red light like that old dying coals. As Gabe stared at this, trying to comprehend it, the symbol started to fade into the wall. He watched for the next few minutes, as the circle were absorbed into the stone wall. He tried to make sense of it, but his mind was racing and he was pretty sure that he was feeling the effects of an adrenaline crash. Then he heard Kat calling for him. Gabe ran back to his friends and the now cooling corpse of the late textile magnate. Gabe took one long look at the body, then at his friends and said “Well, looks like we have some explaining to do.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 7