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The guard whose knuckles had left such a deep impression on my face during my first day in the colony was at least as surprised to have been rammed by a bloodfly as I was to see him here. With a hearty curse and a final buzz I reverted into human form and instantly reached for my Krush Pach.

"What!!!" Bullit made an awkward little backward hop, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword.

"Where to, scoundrel?" I addressed him in a most cordial manner, raising the orcish axe. "If I was in your place, I would not dare to draw my weapon!"

"You," he slowly said, his relief about the unexpected apparition just being me plainly visible. "Hah! They must be really desperate to send a kid."

Well, he had asked for it, had he not? The Krush Pach's flat side connected with the guard's temple, his head smacked into the bricks, and then he slid slowly down the narrow corridor's wall 1). I was upon him in an instant, searching through his stuff, but to my great disappointment Bullit's possessions were of little value. He did not carry the dungeon keys. With an unnerved sigh I tore a few strips of blue fabric off my magician's robe to bind the guard's hands behind his back. I mean, my robe was too long, anyway, and frazzled at that...! Then I slapped Bullit back into consciousness.

"Pardon my ill manners," I said when he sent me the bedazzled gaze that usually came after receiving several blows to the head. "I have not come here to conduct a lengthy conversation. Tell me where you hid the dungeon keys, scoundrel, and I shall be off."

Bullit weakly shook his head. "You're completely nuts. Crud, I knew I should have drowned you the day we met!"

I affirmed the truth of his statement with another smack to his face. "Prithee, the keys! Or do I have to kill and resurrect you as my undead minion first?" Not that I knew how to do the latter, mind you - at least not as long as there was a strip of flesh on his bones, anyway -, but for some unfathomable reason my threat did work.

"Gomez," he croaked.

"Gomez what?" I raised my dirt-caked axe. "Pray, speak in full sentences!"

"Gomez has the keys!"

"Are you certain?"

Sweat started to trickle down the man's forehead; well, up to now I had not known that I was so fearsome! "Damn, yes! As for the 'why', don't ask me, I have no fucking idea why he took them!"

"If I was in your place, I would feel exploited - being forced to guard the dungeons without having access to a single key," I mused. "But to a scoundrel like you it might feel natural after all." With that, I put Bullit back to sleep. Now I had to revise my plan again...

*

Unfortunately there was not much scope for the development of an alternative course of action. If I wanted those keys, I had to grab Gomez by his soft parts. He would be in his sumptuous bedroom, and the only method to get there without raising hell was to use my last remaining bloodfly scroll. Sounded feasible, did it not? So I buzzed back the way to the courtyard. Plucking up all my courage, I hovered over to the collection of impaled dead bodies, diving from cover to cover to close in on the entrance to the Ore Barons' House 2).

The Heavies who stood on either side of the archway were probably sleeping with their eyes open, for none of them did react to the huge mosquito passing between them. Just like the one over at the barracks, this hallway was also deserted at the early hour, but I knew that people would start to go about their duties here soon - if only to prepare the Ore Barons' breakfast. Speed was of utter importance now.

Just as I prepared to hover up the stairs where I believed Gomez to be at this time of day, a loud snore made me stop. At first I suspected one of the sleepwalkers at the entryway to be the culprit, but the sound was too close for that. Taking the shortcut through the yet-empty kitchen, I risked a bug-eyed peek into the Great Hall where the Ore Barons used to feast.

Well, the fact that a bloodfly has no heart that can beat in its throat did not mean that my circulation did not do peculiar things when I saw Gomez wallow on his throne, soundly asleep. Obviously the Ore Baron had not deemed retiring to his bedroom a necessity... I could even see the key ring on his belt; unfortunately, though, my bloodfly form was not suited to manipulating objects such as this one... and the buzz of my wings was too loud.

I am sure that a sensible person would have called it a day at this point and simply left the premises. But those were desperate times, and desperate times usually call for desperate measures.

So I morphed back into my true, human form, hoping the blue dazzle of the transformation would not wake Gomez, and as an afterthought briefly wiped the blade of my Krush Pach on my torn robe. Not that I felt the need to keep up a neat appearance in the presence of this imbecile. No sir, if I ever had held the man in high regard, he had done his best to ruin it over the course of the last few days. But I had come for Scorpio's sake, and somehow I was sure that the instructor would have frowned at my mud-caked axe.

After checking if we truly were alone in this room, I tiptoed over to the throne. Nobody in his right mind would consider me to be a talented thief, mind you 3). Feats involving a great deal of agility usually turned out to be very difficult for me, but I thought I had been silent enough this time.

After checking if we truly were alone in this room, I tiptoed over to the throne. Nobody in his right mind would consider me to be a talented thief , mind you. Feats involving a great deal of agility usually turned out to be very difficult for me, but I thought I had been silent enough this time.

Wrong.

"You," Gomez said, squinting at me from half-closed eyes. What bugged me most about it was not that he had awoken, no, but the relief I meant to hear in his voice... just as if he (and Bullit, for that matter) had expected a troll mother to come and tear the whole place down, and been visited by a gobbo toddler instead.

"Who would have thought that? When we expected a mage we didn't exactly think of a scruffy little girl." He sat up in his throne, cupping his bored face in a big hand. "You needn't look so surprised. As it turns out, you couldn't fool everyone. - But now that you're here, would you mind telling me how you managed to get by Bartholo and his men? And while you're at it, who else is part of this foolish conspiracy to bring down the barrier?"

Bartholo? Conspiracy? Barrier? I had suspected Gomez to be a nut case all along, but at the moment I had not the slightest idea of what he was speaking.

"That would be none of your business, scoundrel," I bluffed, firmly gripping the hilt of the Krush Pach while trying to look more confident than I felt. "Do not forget that this 'scruffy little girl' was old enough to be dealt a life sentence! And now do what I tell you, or..." Or what? Looking at how Gomez just cocked a brow at my words, I chose to add an ominous, "...or you will meet the same gruesome fate as your panderer Bartholo and his men!", and waved my orcish axe.

"Mhm." Quite unlike Bullit the highest Ore Baron did not seem to be very impressed. "And what do you want me to do?"

"Give me the dungeon keys!" I yelled.

"The dungeon keys," Gomez repeated, a corner of his mouth twitching. "What makes you think I had them with me?"

I bared my teeth in what I hoped was a dangerous scowl. "Bullit said so."

Gomez' obvious amusement seemed to increase by the moment. "Oh, really. Isn't he a jerk?"

"Even jerks tend to tell the truth when their end is near," I growled. "And now give me those keys, scoundrel, or I shall cleave your head from your bloody shoulders 4)!"

Gomez shrugged and sank back into the seat of his throne with a sigh. "Those keys aren't what you need."

As it was, the smug ruler of the Old Camp had finally managed to make me angry. Determined to suit the action to the word I made a step forward, the axe raised high above my head. "What I need and what not is for me to decide, scoundrel!"

"Just believe me." A condescending smile lighted up the Ore Baron's face when he nodded towards the room's other exit. "Raven, would you be so kind as to give the little pest what she seems to need most?"

I still call myself fortunate that he was talking of a sound thrashing and nothing else.

________________________

1) You know, this is exactly why I like axes so much. Gorn - you might know him, he is one of Lee's mercenaries over at the New Camp - likes axes, too, but his reasons are quite different from mine; as far as my preferences go, there is no weapon better suited to knocking down opponents quickly without killing them. Admitted, a shovel or spade would be equally suited for that purpose, but an axe-wielding mage is a tad more intimidating than one with a shovel. Image is everything.

2) To be true, each time I passed near a human my pricker started to itch, but giving in to the beastly temptation in this situation would have been suicidal.

3) Quite contrary to the accusations which brought me here I had never been a thief, just a wench in line for an alchemy apprenticeship. Watch me pick a lock, and you will know what I am talking about! I must have caused Mr. Fingers sleepless nights when he tried to impart some of his knowledge on me after I arrived at the camp...

4) 'Die by the Sword', anybody? - Jaz

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