Honor Amongst Thieves

Chapter 5 –Blood, Sweat, and Tears

All was darkness. Wow, does my head hurt! I don’t even remember drinking any of Garten’s Special Brew. It must have been slipped to me by Trap. I’m going to wring her little neck for that. Well, I guess I should open my eyes, survey the damage. Artemis cracked an eyelid, then shut it again immediately. It’s fine, boyo. If you can feel your brain catching on fire from a little light, that is good. You still have an eye, you still have a brain, and they’re still working together. Wow, must have been one hell of a… It was at this time Artemis tried to raise his hands to rub his face, only to find them shackled. What in the name of Tahira… It came flooding back. Gingerly Artemis’ hand tried to reach for the back of his head. Wincing from the pain, he withdrew his had and tried to focus on it, a harder task than usual. Good, no blood. Hopefully that means no concussion. I’m not dizzy, also a good sign. Very well, Artemis, don’t panic. Examine your surroundings. It’d be easier if I could see decently, he chuckled, which he stopped immediately as his head pulsed in pain. Keeping his eyes open as much as he could force himself too, he looked around.

The room he was in seemed to be made of stone, probably about twenty five feet square. The room was dark, except for one lone torch on the opposite wall. There seemed to be other objects in the room, but given the poor quality of the light and the pounding in the back of his head, Artemis resigned himself to trying to figure out more details later. Now, so much for the surroundings. What’s my situation? Well, I am sitting. My head is in serious pain. My arms are chained to the wall behind me, and my hands can only barely touch. Feet seemed to be chained too. My captors have left me clothed, at least from the waist down, but there is no sword on my hip. Dagger? No, I don’t feel the weight. Smoke bombs? No. Lockpick kit? Of course not, that wasn’t even hidden. Well, looks like I’m well and truly stuck. At least until my captor releases me. Speaking of which, what about my captor? What do I know? Precious little. He really wanted that ring, he has me trapped, and Raven works for him. Raven, how could you? No, now’s not the time. Now you need a plan. Well, hopefully I can stand up to torture, he thought grimly. I guess I must wait until I can find a weakness. Maybe I can sleep, recover more. Tahira, I think I’m going to need to call in a few of those favors you owe me. With this final thought, Artemis forced himself to fall back to sleep.

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“Well that was close,” sighed Rumple, relieved. “Thank goodness Artemis likes to go see his family. I can’t believe Terni believed us when we said Arty had told us to relay the message to him.”
“I’m not sure he did, but we can’t worry about that right now. Where can he be, for Tahira’s sake? I mean, this morning I was congratulating him, thinking he had gotten even more out of that trade with Raven then she had offered in that note, but now it’s three in the afternoon. Something must have gone wrong,” ranted Jerrie in return. “What’s worse, we can’t tell Terni straight up, because of what Arty was doing when whatever went wrong went wrong. I feel so helpless,” he finished, throwing up his hands in resignation.
“Hey, Jerrie!” exclaimed Rumple, turning and grasping his face firmly in her hands. She gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “It will work out. Artemis can handle anything, you’ll see.”

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Someone was coming in. Make that someones. Waking up, Artemis was glad to see that his eyesight was back to full working order. Slowly looking over, so as to not aggravate his still throbbing skull, he saw three forms walk in through the space which he was now able to see had a door. Quickly Artemis glanced over at the forms he had seen earlier. That looks like, yes, it’s a chair. That…it looks almost like a box, but not quite. That final thing, yep, that’s a brazier. This is not going to be fun in the slightest. Luckily one of the new visitors brought in two more torches, which he placed in empty holders on opposite walls, so it was much, much easier to see. The others came over and undid the chains holding Artemis’ arms to the wall, and, pulling him up in the process, rechained them to rings higher up on the wall, so that he could no longer sit down. They then left, so that Artemis never got a glimpse of their faces. Refocusing on the last intruder, Artemis beheld a tall thin man. Although it was hard to judge from his sitting position, he’d guess this person was easily over six feet tall, though he could not have weighed more than 190 pounds. His hair, also hard to tell in the torchlight, he’d have to guess would be jet black, and he had it short, very short and flat. If he hadn’t known better, Artemis would have thought it was tattooed to his head. His face was striking. Wow, he looks worse than I feel. Red-rimmed eyes, and look at those bags! Wrinkles too, but that just looks like age. This man looks like he hasn’t slept for three nights straight.

“Well well well, the Black Ghost of Tyro in the not-quite-ethereal flesh. Raven, darling girl, tells me you also go by Artemis,” said the man, turning disinterestedly to regard Artemis. “I must say, from her description, I expected a bit more muscle. Oh well, rumors tend to grow, do they not?” he said, smiling. “Ah, but where are my manners? I am Lanthander, guildmaster of the new thieves’ guild in town, and I must say, it is a pleasure to meet you. You’re quite the celebrity in the underworld of this city. The job you did on the Farthender family house is the stuff of legend. I even heard there’s a bard working on composing a song about it,” he said bemusedly, pulling a knife out of a belt sheathe, which he used to clean his fingernails as he slowly paced in front of Artemis. “How is your head? I do hope my men did not hit you too hard; they tend to avoid taking risks with unknown enemies. They’re good people, though.”
“Honestly? It hurts, quite a bit, actually.”
“Really? I’m so sorry; let me help you with that.”

Reaching into a pouch on his belt, he pulled out a ruby of a red so deep and pure Artemis had never seen its equal. Slowly extending his hand, Lanthander touched the gem to Artemis’ head. Instantly the gem began to glow, and Artemis could feel strange waves of energy from the ruby traveling to the sore spot on the back of his head, which instantly ceased to ache. The gem ceased to glow, and Artemis glanced at Lanthander questioningly as he replaced it in his belt pouch.

“Wonderful little gem, isn’t it? Instantly heals any damage that exists on the object it is in contact with, animate or inanimate. Yes, this gem has been used to save people from the brink of death and to repair a cracked goblet. Heh, last item I ever stole when this guild was still working in Nycris. Unfortunately, it cannot bring people back from death. It can make a person’s body whole, no matter the damage, but if the soul has left, it is gone, and what use is an empty body? Still, I think you’ll get the chance to experience the wonders of this gem firsthand quite a lot over the next few weeks. You see, I’ve learned that this gem has a very interesting use. Let me demonstrate.” Lanthander’s face suddenly grew intense as he turned quickly and jammed his dagger into Artemis’ left side as deeply as it could go. Artemis cried out as it felt like fire lancing into his very core penetrated his side. Looking down at the dagger, he saw his own blood come slowly leaking out of the edges of the wound, some dripping to the floor, the rest flowing in small red rivers down the handle of the dagger, coating Lanthander’s hand. Glancing up, he saw Lanthander’s face twisted in a perversion of glee. Lanthander slowly twisted the dagger inside Artemis, scraping his lower rib as he cried out again. Lanthander ripped the dagger out, and Artemis’ blood started flowing freely from the wound, as Artemis fought to remain conscious despite the pain. Lanthander resumed in the same measured tone he had used earlier.

“Now then, I have just done damage to almost all your internal organs, having missed out on your right kidney, your right lung, your heart, and, due to the length of the dagger, I might have only nicked your liver. Now, I know you’ve been on the street long enough to know that that’s a mortal wound, in addition to being incredibly painful. Behold, however, when I place the ruby on you.” So saying, Lanthander put the ruby on Artemis’ bare chest, where it glowed brightly yet again, and Artemis’ wound closed up quickly, leaving him feeling physically fine, though mentally shaken. “Amazing, isn’t it? I can do anything to anyone, as long as it doesn’t instantly kill them, and the ruby will keep them alive. Another demonstration, I believe.” Before Artemis could react, Lanthander slashed the already bloodstained dagger across Artemis’ throat, cutting through the jugular vein and windpipe in one swift motion. Artemis watched his blood splash and begin to drip from the wall off to his side as he tried to scream from the pain, but all he could do was feel, horrified, as blood gurgled out the front of his throat to splash his chest. Artemis was about to pass out from the blood loss when suddenly, he felt his throat wound close and blood replaced in his veins. “Even a wound that could be fatal in a matter of moments can be mended, if the ruby is applied to a person quickly enough. That means, my dear boy, that I can do almost anything I want to to you, almost anything my wonderful mind can think up, and you won’t die. Moreover, I can keep doing it until I grow bored. No more waiting for you to recover between sessions! This is one of the greatest wonders of our age! Too bad I’m the only person to ever possess this gem to realize its potential for torture. At any rate, I just wanted to impress you with this wonderful gem. Think about it while I’m gone.”

With that he turned to the object Artemis had thought was a box and dragged it out in front of Artemis. Artemis was only given a moment to correct his view, it was in fact a table with a cloth thrown over it, before Lanthander withdrew the cloth with a flourish worthy of revealing a gift to the High Court. Instead of gold or fine cuisine, however, on the table there rested objects that Artemis could only think of as the most horrific-looking torture devices he had ever seen, for what else could there be. There was something that seemed to be an oversized corkscrew, various blades, saws, pokers, and hammers. Looking at Artemis and throwing him a wink, Lanthander turned and opened the door. He was about to leave when he paused. Turning, he said to Artemis, “Oh, I almost forgot. You must be hungry. Whenever I remember, I’ll have a crust of bread and some water sent to you. Goodbye, Black Ghost, rest assured we will see each other again soon.” With that, Lanthander closed the door behind him, leaving Artemis in the room, his only company the promise of future agony. Artemis stared at the devices until all the torches burned out.

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“Gods, it’s been two days since the meeting!” exclaimed Jerrie, frustrated.
“I know. I don’t think Artemis can get out of whatever trouble he’s in alone,” replied Rumple, her voice full of worry for her friend. “But we have no clue where he is, and no way to contact him or track him. We can’t do anything more than we’ve been doing, talk to our contacts, keep an eye out. Something’s bound to happen eventually.”
“I know, but it kills me to think he’s out there, possibly in pain, and we can’t do anything about it.”
“Me too, love, but we’re doing all we can. Let’s get some sleep; hopefully something will turn up tomorrow.”

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What must have been a day had passed since Lanthander had left before Artemis heard the door open up yet again. Turning, he was momentarily stunned by the light of a new torch being brought into the room. When he was able to make sense of the images he was seeing again, he let out a startled cry.
“Raven!”
She shot him a pained look as she replaced the torch in the opposite wall with the lit one. She was carrying a tray, which she set down on the same table on which the loathsome devices rested. Finishing this, she took up a small roll from it and approached Artemis with it. The instinctive joy he felt at seeing her again was instantly squashed as he reminded himself of what she had done. As she held up the roll so that he could take a bite from it, he turned his mouth away in hatred. She looked even more pained than before.
“I’m sorry, Artemis, truly I am, but Lanthander gave me orders, and I had to obey them.”
“Why? You could have let me catch you, or you could have told me about the trap somehow. You could have…” His voice trailed off, his face showing nothing but resentful feelings.
“No, Artemis, I couldn’t have! I was under observation for every second of the deal, as well as the chase. Luckily, they were only listening during the deal, or I never would have dared to…” She also trailed off, tears evident in her eyes.
Refusing to be swayed, Artemis responded angrily, “Oh, so that kiss wasn’t ordered by your guildmaster, then, as a way to make sure I chased you? Ha!”
“No, Artemis, it wasn’t! You have to believe me! I…I love you.”
Artemis’ face turned from anger to shock. “You love me?”
Looking up, tears glistening brightly on her cheeks, she looked him deeply in the eyes. “Yes, Artemis. I love you.”
Artemis looked stunned for a few seconds, and then a small smile forced itself into his dry, cracked lips. “I don’t know what good it will do me now, imprisoned and about to be tortured by your leader, but I’ve loved you from the first second I saw the true you, in that dark room a week ago.” Raven smiled, relieved, and she threw her lips against his for a quick, passionate kiss. She withdrew and once again put the rock hard roll up near enough to Artemis’ face for him to take a bite from it, which he did, eagerly.
“Just to warn you, Lanthander is going to be here in less than an hour.” Artemis looked at Raven worriedly as he continued to attempt to chew the bread in his mouth. “He told me to come here, feed you, give you water, and clean you off before he came.” She held up the cup of water from the tray to his mouth, which he sipped from, hoping it would help him to swallow what he had bitten off. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get all that dirt on your torso and throat?” Artemis nearly choked on his food, he was trying to laugh so hard.
“Sorry to disappoint you, my love, but that’s not dirt. That would be my dried blood. There’s some more on that wall over there.”
“What?” She peered closer at the stains on his chest. “Oh Tahira! That’s horrible! But this can’t be your blood! If you bled this much, you’d be dead! And this line across your throat! It can’t be your blood.”
“That little gem of your master’s, beautiful torture assistant that it is, kept me alive.”
“The gem? Oh Gods, he’s never done this to prisoners before. What is wrong with him?”
“He didn’t used to be like this?”
“No, back before we left Nycris he was very nice. He was easygoing, I thought of him as a father. Ever since then, though, he’s been getting more and more strange.”
“Well, whatever he used to be like, I personally think he’s completely and totally insane,” Artemis said matter-of-factly as he accepted another bite of the roll and a sip of water.
“Given this blood, I might be forced to agree,” said Raven, beginning to wipe off Artemis’s torso with a wet rag. “I don’t know what’s happened to him.”
“That’s a question for another day. First though, there is a question I need you to answer for me, my love.” Raven looked at him, forced to smile at being called that, despite the disturbing thoughts running through her mind. “Will you help me escape?”
Now it was Raven’s turn to look stunned. “But, Artemis, I can’t! It’s…” She looked into her eyes, and her heart gave her only one option. “Yes, I will, I have to. I guess it comes with the whole ‘love’ package,” she responded, smiling. “I don’t know what I can do, though. I can’t do anything blatant; we keep too close of an eye on each other for that. I want to help you, my Artemis, but I don’t know how I can get you free.”
“You don’t have too. All I need from you are three things. First, information. Where am I and how hard would it be to get me out of it from the outside?”
“You’re in a small underground building just outside of Tyro, up in the northern mountains. As far as how hard it would be, from a personnel standpoint not too hard, there is only an average of about ten guards in the whole building, as you are the only prisoner. However, there are quite a few traps to catch the unwary, and if the guards don’t pass you at the beginning, they are always active. Overall, I would be forced to say that it would be very hard to penetrate this compound, even with a regiment of warriors.” Artemis smiled.
“We don’t need a regiment of warriors; all we need is my friends. Which is my second request, I need you to contact my friends.”
“How?”
“The easiest way would be to walk around the market around one in the afternoon. Your hair will make you distinctive, and they’ll probably remember you. Chances are they’re even on the lookout for you. The big trick will be giving them the correct message and confirmation from me. Very well, here’s what I need you to do. Walk around the square at one, like I said. You’ll be, ahem, ‘accosted’ by two individuals, one a man and one a woman. The man is named Jerrie, the woman is named Rumple. I need you to tell them that you were sent by me, and that you want to help me. When they ask for proof, tell them, hmm, ah, tell them I told you to ask Rumple if she finished the peanuts yet, and that I expect to know what I got in the other eight bags. That should convince them. Once they believe you, tell them where in the mountains the entrance to this place is, and tell them they’ll need the shadow and the troublemaker. They’ll understand.”
“Right, market, one in the afternoon, Jerrie and Rumple, Rumple has peanuts, other eight bags, location, shadow and troublemaker. Got it. What’s the third thing you need me to do?”
“I need you to kiss me again to give me enough strength to hold it together when your master comes to play with his toys.” Raven gave a small smile, and then complied. Their lips touched, and they tried to show all the feelings they held for each other in that simple kiss. Their lips opened slightly and their tongues intertwined, caressing each other. They broke apart eventually, each with a smile on their face and in their souls.
“Ok, give me the rest of that roll and the water, and get out of here. Lanthander’s probably going to be here very, very soon.”
“Right, my love, and I promise to get you help as fast as I can.” Raven scooped up the tray and headed for the door when it opened on its own, Lanthander on the other side.
“Ah, Raven, my dear. Is the prisoner cleaned and fed? Yes? Were you able to get any more information from him, like I requested?”
“Yes, he has two friends that I know of, one is named Jerrie and the other’s name is Rumple.”
“Hmm, not vital information, but not altogether useless, possibly. Thank you, you may leave us now.” Shooting Artemis an apologetic look, Raven left the room and shut the door. Lanthander took down the torch from the wall and lit the brazier. Replacing the torch, he then picked up what looked like a conventional poker and placed it in the brazier. Still in total silence, he pulled up the chair next to the brazier and proceeded to look at Artemis, right in the eyes.
Wow, does he ever sleep? Lanthander looked the same as he had lest time he had been in. He had red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes that showed an apparent lack of sleep. Granted, he didn’t look any worse, but that wasn’t saying much.
Artemis and Lanthander stayed that way for a full half hour, neither speaking, neither looking away, for this was a contest of wills, and to break eye contact was to show weakness neither torturer nor tortured could afford. Finally, Lanthander rose and pulled the poker from the brazier, its tip now white-hot. Approaching Artemis, he withdrew the blood-red ruby from its pouch and put it in his right hand, with the poker in his left. Moving with surprising swiftness, he shoved his right hand underneath Artemis’ chin and shoved his head back against the wall behind him. Artemis could feel the ruby pressed against the flesh of his jaw. “Now then, my dear Artemis, I do believe you know where your guild headquarters is. Would you please be kind enough to tell me?” Finished, and with an evil sneer, Lanthander thrust the flaming hot tip of the poker into Artemis’ right eye. Artemis had never screamed so loud in his life.

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Raven was beginning to lose hope. She had told Hadren that she was going to the market to snag a little snack, but that had been about an hour ago. If she didn’t get back to the guild hall soon, he’d get suspicious. Hadren was one of her best friends, so he wouldn’t think she was about to betray them, but he would come looking, and getting caught by him was not an acceptable option. It’s almost two. Where are they? She was about to give up and go back, resolved to come back after checking in with Hadren when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a dagger pressed into her back.
“Raven, isn’t it?” asked a feminine voice behind her. “We should talk.” The dagger guided Raven into one of the least used alleys surrounding the square. Entering it, Raven saw a man, sword drawn, enter from the other side. The person with the dagger shoved her forward, and when Raven recovered her balance she looked behind her to see a woman slightly shorter than herself, with the dagger still pointed at her and grinning maliciously.
“Now then,” said the man, “you and our friend Artemis met to negotiate the trade of a ring a few nights ago. He has not returned. You will tell us where he is, and then we will kill you. Refuse and you’ll still die, but very, very slowly.”
“Are you Jerrie?” This stopped the man dead in his tracks, looking surprised. “So you must be Rumple,” Raven surmised, looking at the woman, who was equally surprised.
“How do you know our names?” asked Rumple. “Did you torture them out of Artemis?”
“No, he told me them freely, I want to see him freed just as much as you.”
“A likely story, and for saying that I’m not going to let you bargain for your life anymore. Rumple, restrain her while I go for her ears.”
“No! I swear, I want him freed. He told me to ask Rumple if she’s finished the peanuts yet, and that he expects to know what were in the other eight bags.” This made Jerrie and Rumple pause again.
“My Goddess, she may be telling the truth!” exclaimed Rumple, finally.
“Ha! She has to be! Good old Artemis! Knew he’d figure out a way to get a message to us! Quickly, Raven, where is he?” Raven guided them out into the street again and pointed to the northern mountains.
“Do you know the road leading out of town into those mountains? At the rock that looks like a rearing horse, if you turn to the east and walk for about twenty minutes you come to a small path. Follow this path back to the north until you reach the pine forest. Then head back to the east until you reach a pine on the very edge of the forest that has been split by lighting. There turn north again and about five hundred feet into the woods there’s another path. Follow this path and it will lead you to the entrance of the underground building where Artemis is.”
“I thank you for your help, and pray that it does not lead you to harm. Come on, Rumple, we have to go get Artemis out of his latest difficulty.” Jerrie and Rumple began to jog to the north.
“Wait! Artemis also told me you’d need, um, ‘the shadow and the troublemaker,’ whatever that means to you.”
Rumple’s eyebrows rose, and she turned to Jerrie. “Very well. I’ll go get Rane, you go find Trap.” Turning back to Raven, she said, “I’m afraid I misjudged you, Raven, you have proven you feel as strongly as we for Artemis, perhaps even more so, as you are here against your guild. I thank you, and rest assured, somehow, some way, Artemis will be free by morning!” The pair dashed off in opposite directions, and Raven was left to pray that they were right.

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A/N: Glad to find so many people enjoying the story! I apologize for any errors, but I blame the Beta. He tends to read instead of edit. Leave any thoughts you may have!