Chapter6

"Hurry the hell up, sis!!" Kendrik was tearing through the jungle on Schmendrik with Kendra not too far behind. Certainly by now the tailor had alerted the guards and a manhunt was being initiated. The island was relatively small, and if they didn't get out soon, they'd be done for. Kendrik slowed his horse until Kendra's mare finally caught up. "Sheesh, sis... that horse needs some good combat training methinks..." He smirked as he dismounted and fed an apple to Schmendrik, replenishing his trusted steed's stamina. "We gotta bail soon... they're probably forming a dragnet as we speak..."

Kendra nodded as she slid off Misty's side. She fed her an apple and petted her to calm her down. "Alright... to Jhelom, is it?" Kendra began flipping through her runebook searching for the rune. It had been some time since she had need for it, but fortunately it was still there. She remounted her horse and chanted the words of power. A gaping blue hole in space opened up and they shoved through quickly.

"Mmm ... I love the smell of serpent in the morning..." Those were the first words Kendra heard after passing through the portal. They were surrounded by snakes and serpents and alligators on all sides. The horses were bucking wildly and it was all they could do to stay mounted. Kendrik was swinging his kryss about wildly chopping and stabbing here and there, gouts of blood spraying everywhere.

"Little help here, sis??" Kendrik kicked at a rearing serpent, almost getting bitten in the process. Kendra quickly unslung her bow and took aim at the first cold blooded thing she saw. <<THOK!>> The bolt flew straight into the gullet of a hungry alligator, forcing it to close its maw and reconsider its advance. She slowly began to pick them off, one by one. An arrow here, an energy bolt there... until finally the advance slowed enough for them to make a break for it. Except Kendrik made no move whatsoever at a break... He was barely clinging onto the reins of Schmendrik... and even the horse wasn't moving all that quickly.

"Ken...? Ken?!"

"nnnngh... I don't feel so well..." Kendra knew immediately... he had been bitten and poisoned by one of the serpents!

"Vas An Nox!!" She cried, focusing on her brother. The poisons running their course through his and his mount's blood dissipated instantly and he began to immediately feel better. Schmendrik even neighed, almost as if it were a sigh of relief. "In Vas Mani!" Sparkles of blue energy surrounded her brother, healing the wounds and bites he had suffered. "Quick, Ken... make a run for it!" He needed no more urging than that... He and Schmendrik were gone before she had finished the entire sentence.

More serpents were eagerly slithering over, the smell of blood strong in the air. Kendra's mana was drained... it took all she had left to cast that last heal on her brother. She dug her heels sharply into Misty's side and her mare took off like an arrow, leaping over the corpses of the fallen reptiles. She followed as closely as she could to Kendrik, almost losing him a few times in the thick jungle vegetation. Finally, he slowed and came to a stop, close to where he once lived. She was amazed that he had lived in such a dangerous place for so long, but then again, he was usually a lot more prepared. At least he never got unwanted visitors...

Kendrik dismounted and began to search the forest floor for something. She figured it would be a while with as dense as the underbrush was here, so she slipped into a meditative trance to regain her lost mana.

"Aha!" he exclaimed as he began to kick dirt and leaves out of the way. He looked about nervously to see if anyone was watching. Satisfied that they were alone, he knelt down and pulled on the trapdoor cleverly concealed by fake roots and twigs. It was a struggle, but finally it gave way to reveal a ladder that led deep into darkness. "Hate to wake ya, sis... but can I get a quick light?"

Kendra stopped meditating long enough cast a quick nightsight on him before slipping back into her semi-conscious state. She was far from a Grandmaster in the ability to meditate, so it took her far longer than usual to regain full mana. Kendrik descended quickly into the hole, past dirt and insects to a moss lined floor below. He looked about... and sure enough - all his old supplies and disguises were still intact. He got to work immediately... he'd have to be able to fool half of Britannia with this one...

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"This does not bode well..." The Bubfather, Fingers Mcgee, was quite perturbed about the news his trusted advisors had relayed to him. "So you're telling me that all guards will be on the lookout for members of the thieves' guild... and that when they are found, they are to be executed right then and there?" Jwilson and Axel simply nodded. "How the hell are any of us going to be able to do business if we can't even access the bank?! Skara will be crawling with guards not on our payroll now.... Call together a BUB meeting. I'm sure it'll be a day or so before this fully goes into effect, so we still have some time to figure things out. Get to the sub-guildmasters in the towns. They know all of the BUB members well enough. Have em hang out at the banks using the usual code. Even those of us in disguise will get the message readily enough." Jwilson and Axel turned to each other, nodding silently.

Fingers frowned behind his tribal mask as the two men took their leave. An edict like this could cause the collapse of his entire empire. BUB - or Britannia's Under Belly - were the most prolific of all the thieves guilds in Britannia. Their success depended on the ability to move into and out of town as they pleased, banking their stolen goods often to keep from losing them to ganks or guardwhacks. With that ability removed from them, he and his guildmates stood to lose a lot. Sure, they still had houses in key locations, but that was still limiting. Fingers rose from his throne in front of the fire and began to pace nervously. Something would have to be done about this. One other thought kept creeping into the back of his mind... When he caught up with his former partner in crime, Kendrik... there'd be words...

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