The Lost Runes Saga [Epic Fantasy]

After giving instructions to meet with some administrator in Nordstan, the upper city, in preparation for the journey, the Stalheim rune scribes left, taking Jarl, Guard Captain Anderson, and all their men with them.

There were no signs of Ida's people on the street, but it was only a matter of time. Runes Aplenty was silent and dark, with no heat runes active to stave off the cold, leaving the place hollow-seeming as they stepped inside.

"I'll rejuvenate a few sowilo runes to chase away some of this clamminess," Alvarn said, stepping over to the counter.

"We'll be leaving again soon," Vidar said, glancing out through the window. "And be careful with the dragon's essence, or you'll burn this place down."

People were milling about, and a few shops were even opening up in spite of the recent attack. That showed resilience on the part of Halmstadt's citizens. At some point, they'd need to open Runes Aplenty again to feed themselves, but not yet. Vidar and those around him didn't have that luxury. Not yet.

A knock at the door.

"Told you," Vidar said, opening it up.

"Guildmistress wants you," a girl said. She couldn't be more than twelve. Too thin clothes for the weather, in earth colors, full of rips. The girl's hair fell in front of her face, hiding most of it, light brown and tangled. What little of her features showed through were smudged with soot, except for two narrow lines at the sides of her eyes. She'd been crying. "Come with me."

"Where to?"

She looked him up and down, but her face betrayed no emotion. "I'll take you."

Rolling his eyes, Vidar turned and waved for Alvarn to follow. "Come on, then."

"Ida." She cleared her throat. "Guildmistress, I mean, only said you." Her eyes darted into the shop, then out to the street, like she might bolt at any moment.

"Stay calm," Vidar said, keeping his voice smooth and warm. "Alvarn is a friend. Ida knows him."

She took a step back. "He a thief?"

"Look at him. Does he look like a thief?"

"No," the girl said, shaking her head. "Thieves don't wear glasses."

Vidar blinked. "There you go."

"Fine then. Come, come," the girl said, waving for them to follow.

Like the previous times, the path to their current hideout was all but straightforward. Street up and street down, scurrying down narrow paths and rushing over courtyards full of people gathering around algiz-styrka glyphs for protection. That's what Vidar had settled on naming the act of joining runes together, glyphs. More than once, he considered telling the girl that Fjodor knew the location of their hideout, but stopped himself each time. Frightening the child would not lead to them getting to their destination any faster.

After an excruciating half hour, they were back to a building a few streets over from Runes Aplenty, and Vidar drew long, steadying breaths to keep himself from exploding into a fit. The place had a run-down look about it, like it'd been empty for a long while with no one to tend to repairs. All windows were boarded shut, even those on the second floor. The door opened a crack after the girl performed a long series of rhythmic knocks.

It was dark and silent inside. "Password?" a voice called.

"Shit goblin," the girl said through a giggle, glancing back at Vidar, who let out a tired sigh as the door swung open to admit them.

Vidar and Alvarn followed the girl inside, the door clicking shut behind them, throwing the small group into darkness. Whoever let them inside lit a candle and raised it to give some small, however inadequate, light to see by.

"I'm Ella," she whispered. "Come with me."

They continued through the empty house, past a separate, also locked, door, and down to a basement full of dust and discarded things from whoever used to live there. Ella walked through the room on light steps, careful not to disturb anything, until she reached a blank wall on the opposite side. She bent over and pulled a moth-eaten carpet to the side, revealing something familiar.

"Is that a hatch?" Vidar hissed.

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Ella produced a key and opened it with a familiar clunk. It was one of Vidar's hatches, except this one was bigger. Not by much, but enough for Alvarn to fit.

"Johanna, you go first," Ella said.

The girl who'd fetched them climbed down. Ella nodded to Vidar and Alvarn, and Vidar climbed after, marveling at the wider passageway.

"It's tight," Alvarn grumbled, but he made his way down as well.

The hatch clicked shut above them, and they descended to the bottom in darkness. Once they'd made it down and out of the narrow joining tunnel, Vidar triggered the kenaz rune on his forehead, giving them ample light to see by.

Johanna and Alvarn turned away, covering their eyes, but soon grew accustomed to the light source.

"What is this place?" Vidar asked, his voice echoing down the empty hallway.

No water or human waste ran past them here. It was just bare stone from floor to ceiling.

"This way," Johanna said, as Ella emerged from the tunnel behind them.

A long corridor followed. The sound of rushing water soon tickled the edges of Vidar's hearing. Before they made it to the source, however, a single door appeared on the right-hand wall, set into the stone. Thick metal. Cold to the touch, with spots of rust around the edges. It'd been there a long time.

Rather than knock on it, Johanna whistled a shrill note, and a door soon unlocked from the inside.

"About time you got here, Vidar," Ida said. "And Alvarn. Welcome."

"What is this place?" Vidar asked again, stepping inside into what looked to have once been a storage facility of some kind. It was just a single room, large enough to fit a hundred people. Similar metal doors led into other rooms. Some were open, showing people inside. Most were closed. A corridor led away from the main room. Kenaz runes affixed to the low ceiling gave them light to see by, so Vidar rendered his inactive.

Rune scribe students and thieves clustered in groups around the chamber. Some older men and women stood off to the sides, talking amongst themselves. Proper rune scribes, Vidar realized.

"What do you mean?" Ida asked. "We're in the sewers. Home for you, are they not?"

"I wouldn't say that," Vidar grumbled. "I have seen nothing like this room. How did you even find it?"

"Some maps found their way into our possession. And a key, as it happened. We've been looking for entrances the last few days and finally found one accessible from the inside of a building. Neat, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Vidar said, nodding in approval. "Fjodor knows about the building up there."

"I'm not surprised. But what would he find if he decides to do away with us? Dust and debris," Ida replied with a grin.

Siv stood up from where she'd been sitting in one of the groups, with Erik by her side, and they both hurried over and exchanged hugs.

"You won't take Fjodor up on his offer, then?" Vidar asked Ida.

"Nothing has changed," Ida said. "The thieves' guild is the thieves' guild. Full of men. He says we're welcome, but we won't stay alive for long if we join. Fjodor will see to that."

"He seems like a decent man to me," Vidar countered.

She gave him a dark look with her one eye, "Then you still carry some of that naïve boy Siv and I rescued with you."

Vidar cleared his throat. "Fair enough. We have little time, and there are things to discuss."

He grabbed Alvarn's arm and pulled him forward to stand next to him.

"I will leave for a while, so you'll have Alvarn to work with."

"Leave? What?" Ida asked. "Why?"

Vidar explained the task ahead of him.

"You really think that's possible?" Erik asked. "Becoming friends with them?"

All eyes turned to Vidar, who did his utmost to project confidence. "Of course. You just need to keep everyone alive long enough for me to get there and convince them. And now it sounds like I will have an escort sent from the steward himself."

Rather than stand around, they continued into one of the separate rooms where they could speak in peace.

Alvarn spoke in a low voice with one of the rune scribes before following inside. Once he joined them on the floor, he let out a sigh, a troubled look on his face. "Viktoria is Fjodor's prisoner."

"How are the other room scribes here with you, Ida?" Vidar asked.

"When I decided to pull away from Fjodor's men, we took the captured rune scribes with us. The old ones might be assholes, but it felt wrong to leave them as prisoners. Siv brought the students."

"We'll have to figure out what to do with them," Alvarn said. "From what Orjan just told me, none of them wishes to return to a guild led by Viktoria. Not after I told them what Viktoria put me through."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Ida said, excitement bubbling in her voice. "I've decided on a name for my guild."

"Let's hear it then," Vidar said.

"The Sisterhood."

"Simple. Not as mysterious as something like The Daughters of Shadows, but I suppose it works."

"The Daughters of Shadows?" Ida asked and made a face. "That stinks worse than you used to."

"The Sisterhood..." Alvarn muttered.

"What?" Ida asked.

Alvarn waved it away. "Nothing. Just thinking."

The small group set to talking about their plans going forward, deciding how to go about protecting Halmstadt, The Sisterhood, and what to do about the captured rune scribes, among a myriad of other issues."

Vidar pulled away and let Alvarn do most of the talking. His leaving Halmstadt for a while meant his friends needed to step up, keep things going, and plan. Solutions from him often meant throwing himself at them and trying to stay alive. Without that option, the others needed to find better ways. Looking at Alvarn, Ida, Siv, and others in the room, Vidar felt confident they'd get it done and stay alive until he returned, his mission completed.

Dragon's essence pulsed in his heart, its power singing to Vidar. He'd lied to others, saying he felt the dragons, that he knew of their intentions by instinct. It'd been just that, a lie. But there was something in the essence, shimmering in all colors of the rainbow, that made him feel connected to the dragons, despite all that had happened. If he could pull on that emotion when he arrived and speak to them from a position of kinship, he knew convincing them wouldn't be an impossible task.

The others rose around him, and Vidar blinked, coming to and getting to his feet.

"It's decided then," Alvarn said. "I'll be going to the steward first thing tomorrow."

"W-what?" Vidar spluttered.