//------------------------------// // Betrayal // Story: As The City Sleeps // by KarmaPolice //------------------------------// I awoke and shook off the grogginess that always accompanied a forceful ripping back into the conscious world. I rolled over and groaned at my sore wing, a memento of last night’s tower-dive stunt. Things never hurt in the moment with the adrenaline pumping, but they sure caught up with me the next day. I checked the wall-mounted timepiece and saw that I had slept for eight hours- a healthy outage for me. I recollected the events of last night’s caper. I immediately discarded my clothes -they sorely needed a wash- and strolled leisurely from my chamber into the hall. I stumbled slightly as I made my way towards the common area. Strutting my way inside, I was immediately greeted with an applause from my comrades. I grinned- my ego was well deserved. I took an exaggerated bow and then plopped down in my seat at the long table. Slink and the others had made it back sometime in the night, and he dejectedly stared down at his oats while he chewed. I nudged him, and gave a reassuring grin when he looked up. He seemed to perk up a little. Lifter spoke up from the head of the table. “Well, gang, now that the dragon has awoken from his deep slumber, we can discuss the fruits of our labor.” I grinned and nodded enthusiastically. “Did you talk to a fence? Did he quote a price? Holy fuck, we’re gonna be drowning in bits!” Lifter returned my grin with a touch of slyness. “Well, you’re certainly right on the second count. But this particular take, we’re not going to give to the fence.” I cocked my head. This took me aback. “Well, who are we gonna sell to?” Lifter took a dramatic breath. “I don’t even know the name of their group. In fact i’ve never seen an organization quite like theirs….” I took a breath. Selling an item like this to someone we didn’t already know was risky. Typically we liked to let our fence, a shadowy character who’s real name we didn’t know, act as the middleman. Our Organization had made it a standing policy to not directly deal with buyers. A policy that I hoped Lifter did not intend to break. “Well, don’t keep us waiting.” I said with interest. Lifter cleared his throat. “There’s no simple way to sugar-coat this so I’ll just come right out with it. The buyer is a group of mages who say that they wish to procure the sunstone for scholarly reasons. They say their order was estranged from the institute many centuries ago and the stone was stolen from them.” “And now they’re willing to pay for it? What’s stopping them from just taking it?” Asked Squall, a pegasus with a knack for weather diversions. “What’s stopping them is us. They’re not getting in here without all eyes on them and there’s going to be no more than five of them. They may be powerful mages but we’ve got numbers. And they have the bits. I’ve seen it.” Said Lifter, a glint in his eye. Lifter’s pleonexia was shining through just as gold might. Lifter was legendary for his planning and careful execution, a fact I took solace in. However, the size of this score might be clouding his judgement. Might be clouding all of our judgements. The conversation at the table shifted to other things- namely, what members would be doing with their substantial pay cuts. Mostly they talked of extravagant houses or fancy diamonds. Me, I would be reinvesting my cut. I wanted to move our Organization out of these dingy tunnels and give it a home it properly deserved. Then we could really start raking it in. That was if the deal didn’t go sour. I couldn’t shake my feeling. As breakfast adjourned and everyone went about beginning their day, Lifter caught up with me and took me aside. “Shift. Listen to me.. I know you’re apprehensive about this deal. I can sense it. Just… listen, okay? I know this is risky. I’ve thought it over… There’s something I haven’t told you. This job, we did on commission.” This took me aback. “Commission? You’re saying these wizards paid you to get the stone? Why couldn’t they do it themselves?” Lifter sighed. “They told me their magical auras would be detected by the mages at the Institute. There’s a reason they haven’t managed to get it through all these centuries. As for common thieves like us.. Well, there’s never been anyone like us, has there, Shift?” I mulled that over. He was right. We had done something new. Something great. “Well, if it’s a job on commission, they must have paid a sum in advance, right?” Lifter nodded enthusiastically. “Five hundred thousand. These are high-rollers, Shift. They threw out five hundred large on a gamble. They had no guarantee we’d be able to rip off the institute. But they did it anyway. And that’s scratching the surface. They’re sitting on a dragon hoard, Shift.” I whistled. Lifter placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Trust me, partner. We’re going to make it big. I know you want to get out of these tunnels. Me too. We can do that, and much more. All we need to do is pawn off this stupid rock and our dreams become reality!” I was about to agree but something else tugged at my mind. “Back in the Institute, I had thought about the repercussions of selling this to the wrong group. Maybe it was kept so closely guarded for a reason, you know? What if this group turns around and fucks something up with it?” Lifter’s face turned grim. “What could they possibly fuck up that we care about? Face it, Shift, this world is advancing nowhere quick. We know first hand that the government is corrupt, and that’s corrupt in the eyes of a thief. This group we’re selling to has a bone to pick with the Institute, and we both know that the Institute is government-run. Besides..” -he said with a dismissive roll of the eyes- “..we both know that a frontal assault on the Institute would be like ramming your head into a wall, fancy stone or not. Just let them give us their money and they can worship their stupid rock, okay?” Stupid rock. The power that thing had… I thought. But there was no use arguing further. Lifter was right. They had no reason to fuck with us and whoever they did have a reason for was our enemy too. I squeezed the thoughts from my mind all day. I went above-ground to the city marketplace, blending with the crowd while I bought more wheat for the storeroom. As the day trundled on and my mundane tasks occupied my imagination, I forgot the troubles plaguing my imagination. And at the end of the day, I sunk into my strawlined mattress and settled in for another well-deserved rest. I awoke from my shallow sleep with a start. As I shook my head to clear the grogginess, I heard a rapping on the wall outside my door. Pulling back the sheet I used for privacy, I saw that Slink was standing there. “Buyer’s here. Lifter wants everyone upstairs.” He said before turning and heading for the staircase. Good thing, too. I thought. For an exchange like this we’d want maximum security. I was about to head for the staircase too but paused for a moment. The nagging feeling was coming back. I stopped in my room and quickly donned my stealth clothing before heading upstairs to join the others. I made my way into the common room. A dull murmur could be heard as I approached it, and when I stepped inside, I could see the buyers- a group of five unicorns. They each wore robes- an uncommon sight- but then any group that had resources enough to buy this rune would be uncommon. Four of them hung back near the entrance while one, who I assumed was the leader, conversed with Lifter. I stood in with the rest of our group as I listened. “Yes. I can make complete assurances as to its authenticity. The hurdles we had to overcome to possess it make sure of that. It’s dimensions and characteristics are an exact match to those recorded in the lexicon.” “I will need to observe it personally, of course.” The unicorn spoke in a cool, level tone. His voice was icy and I had to resist gritting my teeth. I didn’t like him. “Of course” said Lifter, with a cordial smile. He motioned and one of our guards brought forth the case. Placing it on the table, he backed off while Lifter opened the case, spinning it around to display its contents. The unicorn eyed the stone closely. He produced a magnifying glass, carefully scrutinizing the stone’s polished surface with it. Finally, he withdrew and spoke again. “It appears to be authentic. We shall proceed with the deal.” He motioned behind him, and one of the hooded mages came forth, a magical hold on two large bags. He placed both bags on the ground beside Lifter and withdrew. Lifter made a motion of his own and Tumbler approached him. “Weigh it.” murmured Lifter. Tumbler and Deadbolt took a bag each and dragged them to the scale in the corner of the room. Placing each bag on one end, and then placing one bag against weighted lead bars, Tumbler did the math on a piece of paper. Finishing his equation, his eyes went wide. He drew a shaky breath before calling out “Looks like five-point-five million, give or take.” I noticed our group stirring excitedly. Lifter wasn’t lying- this was massive. You could put all our other scores together and only barely come close to that amount. Lifter nodded. “So it is. A pleasure conducting business. Bolt, see them out, please..” As Lifter turned away from the table, I noticed something- the Unicorn had levitated the stone. I remembered the surge of power I had felt from touching it. I was stepping forward to speak up when all hell broke loose. In a flash, the Unicorn’s magical aura tripled in luminosity, the dull glow becoming as bright as the very sun itself. The Unicorn, I shit you not, hovered into the air. His eyes shined with an orange intensity. And then, he released a pulse of energy that flung every one of us against the wall like ragdolls. I blacked out as my skull smashed against the cobblestone and could do nothing as the darkness of unconsciousness instantly overwhelmed me. As I regained consciousness, I could hear pandamonium unfolding against me. Shouting, screaming, and the thunder of detonation spells. I shook my head, letting out a groan at the pain. My vision began to reclaim it’s domain over the blackness. As I became able to perceive what was once my organization's meeting room, a feeling of sheer dread came over me. The bodies of my compatriots lay broken in the rubble. Amongst the debris, glints of gold shimmered against the light of flickering fires- the bits that were supposed to be our prize. They had slaughtered us. The hooded figures had retreated to stand by the entrance again, since no opposition remained. And in the center of the room, Lifter’s body was being suspended in the air. He struggled for breath against the magical hold in which he was trapped. A large wooden splinter stuck out from his abdomen. “Can you see now the price of your hubris, young foal? Your entire clan, reduced to quivering leaves beneath our hoof..When you released this treasured stone from it’s prison, did you believe you could pawn it off as though it were some trinket? You know not what you have done. By desecrating it in this manner, you have incurred a debt.. A debt that shall be paid with your life!” Holy. Fuck. The Unicorn mage’s voice, while icy and unnerving, was now physically painful. It had a booming distortion- like many voices talking as one. Lifter gasped for air as he spat out his words. “You bastard. You think you can come into my place and rip us off? You are going to pay for this, asshole…” The mage let out a laugh- a terrible, nauseating laugh. As I struggled to my hooves, the mage intensified his spell, and I heard a crack like dry sticks breaking. Lifter’s body went limp. As though a pebble is kicked aside on a leisurely stroll, Lifter was flung against the wall, collapsing to the ground in a heap. Immediately, I felt a primal anger building within me. It felt like my blood was boiling. Immediately the pain left to be replaced with sheer, unbridled rage. I sprang up, braced against the wall, and charged with all my speed. I couldn’t hope to contend with this...creature... head-on, but I could catch him off guard, or so I hoped. My hopes were quickly dashed. I felt a strong wave of G-forces as I was stopped dead in mid-air. He had me in his magical grasp, just as he had Lifter before. The mage spoke again. “Another wishes to die so foolishly? Can you not see the devastation your arrogance has wrought around you?” “FUCK YOU, MANIAC!” I screamed, my rage finding an avenue to escape, in lieu of reducing this fucker’s face into griffon food. “The stone has touched you. I feel it in your aura. Did you feel the power? That was only a fraction of the stone’s abilities. You are chosen now. And thus, I will allow you one chance. I have another job for you. And should you complete it, I will allow you to live.” My heart pumped as I tried to contemplate this. When in a dicey situation, I would usually try to come up with some insulting one-liner or another. But this pile of shit had just killed Lifter. My mind was incapable of thinking rationally. So instead, I simply growled- “I. Will. Kill. You.” “A foolish choice. It is regrettable that you were not more intelligent. Perhaps a swift end will serve as a final lesson.” I closed my eyes. This was it. After everything I’d done- countless heists in every city on the map. I’d ripped off peasantry and royalty. Stolen illustrious diamonds and ratty old books. In massive mansions formed of cloud, high in the sky, and in simple shacks. Lifter and I had taken a crew of petty criminals and formed the city’s most feared criminal organization. And here it all ended. But death did not come. Instead, a detonation spell erupted seemingly right in front of my face. The spell suspending me was released and I fell from the air. The mage let out a roar of indignation- a sound more terrifying than any dragon in existence could hope to produce. I whipped my head around. There stood Slink. A trickle of blood dripped from his forehead, and his magic held several chunks of rubble, ready to be hurled. “SLINK, NO!”I shouted, hoping he’d come to his senses and run before it was too late. He obviously had no intention of running. He fired off another detonation, this one striking a barrier hastily erected by our enemy. With the mage’s attention momentarily diverted, I whipped around and delivered the most solid buck of my life directly to his jaw. The mage’s head snapped back, his magic faltering, allowing another detonation from Slink to strike him directly. Now his cohorts were stepping in. Firebolts whizzed past my head as I ducked to avoid them. This was not going well for us. As fast as I could move, I tackled Slink to the floor before a fiery blast could impact him. “Let’s go- now!” I grunted as I hauled myself up. We made for the back door, Slink’s horn still glowing as he repelled the magical attacks being hurled at us. The leader was still down, but I could see his eyes beginning to glow again- soon he would be back in the fight and there would be no monologuing this time. As we dashed through the halls, making for the escape tunnel, the gravity of the situation started to hit me. No, no.. It’s gone, it’s all gone…. I could hear the hoofbeats of our pursuers behind me. No time to think, just run! I had to slow myself down considerably for Slink. As I made it to the library, I toppled the rearmost bookcase as though I were ripping down a curtain. We stepped through the opening. “Seal it, hurry!” I shouted, the urgency in my voice not necessary given the circumstances. Slink fired off one more detonation at the ceiling, sending rocks collapsing down over the tunnel. I knew that wouldn’t stop them for long. We hurried through the cobweb-filled tunnel by a conjured light before reaching another branch of the sewer proper. Bracing myself against the smell, we reached the exit stairs. I resisted the urge to burst through the manhole cover into fresh air- although there was no secrecy left to protect, I didn’t know if more of those crazy unicorns could be waiting. Slowly, I popped the cover open, taking a look around. This one was in another back alley. We really had done a good job with mapping out those tunnels. I hoisted myself out, followed closely by Slink. I cursed our racial differences- every instinct was screaming at me to head to the clouds for refuge. Slink didn’t know any cloudwalking spells otherwise I’d have hauled him up there myself. Instead we sprinted as fast as our legs could carry us through the dark streets. A driving rainstorm was dousing us with water and I silently cursed the weather service for scheduling it tonight, of all nights. After an all-out sprint for what felt like forever, we ducked into an abandoned tenement building. Slink collapsed in the corner while I watched out the window for signs of pursuit. After we caught our breaths, I began to assess the damage. “Are you hurt?” I asked. “My head took a whack. I’ll be fine. Shift… what the hell happened?” I shook my head. “We got into something over our heads, kid. Our luck ran out. Maybe we were set up… I really don’t know. Did anyone else get out?” Slink looked away. “I blacked out… I couldn’t really see…” I could hear him starting to choke up. I remembered the sight of Lifter’s lifeless corpse being flung aside and I honestly felt like joining him. But there was no time. Right now we needed a plan. “They’re gonna be looking for us, Slink. They’re gonna want to tie up the loose ends. We need to get out of this city. Tonight!” “I...I know, but… the others! What if somebody is still alive in there…?” My face took on a grim expression. These were my friends. I couldn’t abandon them, not after all we’d been through. But I knew I couldn’t hope to contend with that mage head-on. I went to sit beside Slink. “Listen, kid. I don’t know what that stone is capable of and I don’t know to what lengths those fuckers are gonna go to track us down. All I know is that there’s nothing we can do tonight.” “Shift….we’re not going to let them get away with this, are we..?” I nudged Slink. “Look at me, kid.” He looked up. I saw tears welling up in his eyes. “That was my best friend they killed in there. That was everybody I cared about in the world. That was my life’s work. Fuck the loot!....” Slink recoiled as my voice began to pick up in intensity. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. “No. No, there’s no way they’re getting away with this. The Organization was all I had and they took it away from me. Now all I have is revenge. And you had best believe i’m going to get it.” Slink wiped his eyes. “I’m in. I’m coming too.” I gave a half-hearted smile. “You’ve got a lotta heart, Slink. That was some real bravery in there.” “I’m going to do far worse when I see him again. He took everything from us. The Organization was all the family I had…” I nodded wistfully. I had plucked Slink out of a gutter when he was a foal. I was pulling a job and something stuck out about him- namely that he had attempted to levitate my bit-purse right out of my saddlebag. It would have worked, too, if I hadn’t noticed a reflection. When I whirled around, I had expected a drug-addled hobo who’d be violent, but he was just a scared, hungry kid. So I offered him a chance to use his skills towards a greater good, in exchange for food and shelter. I brought him back to the Organization and the rest was history. Remorse hit me again like a gut-punch. I had been so caught up in my own sorrows that I hadn’t considered his. Lifter and I had devoted years to building the Organization into what it was, but for Slink, this was all he had ever known. It would take some time to readjust. But we had a new mission now.