The Iron Teeth

A Tradesman's Tools 7

Blacknail growled as he made his way around the building and towards the back exit. The way was familiar and he'd been here enough times now that he wasn't really paying attention, and thus he almost walked right into a pair of guards.

He heard them coming only seconds before they turned the corner. Startled, Blacknail immediately ducked behind a large barrel of rainwater and out of sight. A man and a woman with sheathed swords and leather armor then stepped into view, and headed his way.

Blacknail's stomach twisted as he watched them from concealment. He wasn't in a very good hiding spot, and if the two thugs got too close or walked behind the barrel they would see him. He cursed himself for not paying attention.

The hobgoblin held his breath as the two humans walked right by him. One of the pair suddenly stopped walking, and threw a look backwards at the barrel. She stared at it for a few seconds, and frowned when she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"What are you doing?" her partner asked.

"Nothing, I just thought I heard something, but there's nothing there," she replied before turning back around and walking away.

"This is Daggerpoint, if you jump at every shadow you'll be spending the entire day on your toes," the man remarked.

Blacknail sighed with relief as soon as they were gone. When the humans had passed him by, and he'd become exposed, he'd instinctively crept around to the other side of the barrel and back out of sight. His instincts had served him well, but then again they almost always did.

The hobgoblin stood back up and then continued on his way. He still burned with anger, but now he was struggling to keep it contained. Nothing good ever came from letting his fury loose.

He prowled through the alley and towards Luphera's window. When he got to corner that overlooked the passage behind the building he stopped and peered stealthily around it.

The sun was now starting to rise. The tips of its rays had just begun to shine over the grungy buildings of the city. This gave Blacknail a very good view of the two guards that were standing by the back entrance of his destination.

Both of them were large armed men with purple vests, and one of them had placed a lit lantern on top of a nearby crate. The windows of the building behind them also shed light out on the back street. None of the sources of illumination were that strong, so together they cast a confusing maze of shadows onto the dirty cobblestones and mud of the alley.

Blacknail studied the guards from the mouth of the alley. Why were there all these guards around suddenly? There had never been so many before. Were they expecting him?

It didn't matter though. There was no way he was going to let a few stupid humans stop him. He would get the answers he wanted. He didn't know why he felt so driven to question Luphera, and he didn't really care.

The hobgoblin glared at the guards furiously for several seconds, and then several more. Okay, he had no idea how he was going to actually get past them...

There were a lot of shadows to work with, but it would still be difficult to sneak past them up into a window. No, he'd have to get rid of them somehow. How would he do it though?

He could sneak up to them and try to take them out quickly before they could raise the alarm, but that would be risky even with Elixir. A distraction might work, if he could come up with a good enough one.

He didn't feel like sneaking around anymore, though. He was angry and wanted to hurt someone, and these men were undoubtedly connected to the assassins that had awakened him in the middle of the night! He really liked sleeping on his bed.