21. Captain Morgana Silversword
Chapter 21
Captain Morgana Silversword
“N o way,” Clover said, looking over the bedraggled party. It had taken them three days to make their way out of the catacombs, being pursued by the city guard the entire time. The alarm they’d triggered had not only called in the full force of Thelanoris’s security measures, but also put them at the top of the most wanted list. The Thieves Guild had been the sentinels’ first stop, so it wasn’t safe for them there. They needed Clover’s help.
“Please,” Thrormir pleaded. “We can’t get out of here on our own. The city walls are impenetrable.”
The dwarf and the halfling were the only ones who could stand comfortably in Clover’s cottage; the rest of the party hunched over, Gorlag especially, as they took refuge.
“You haven’t even paid me what you owe,” Clover said, and Morgana noticed that her hand tightly grasped the hilt of her dagger.
“The deal was in and out,” Calamity said. “And as long as we’re here, we’re not safely out. You owe us.”
“Safe never came into it,” Clover snapped, baring her pointy faerie teeth as she flitted closer to Calamity.
“Please,” Thrormir said, holding his hands out between them to keep them apart. “Clover, we’ll get you the money. Half of what we owe you now, half when we’re safe.”
“Outside the city walls,” Clover offered. “That’s the best I can do.”
Yorick shook his head. “We’ll be sitting ducks if you drop us there. No way. We said safe .”
“And what’s safe?” Clover asked. “When you’re back in your own precious city on your own plane of existence? No, you’ll pay now.”
“We won’t,” Morgana said, moving onto her knees so she could grasp at her own sword. Clover looked her over and clearly decided that she wasn’t worth the fight, backing off a bit.
“Mummy?” a somehow even smaller voice called from the corner of the room, and the party looked over to see a tiny faerie child poking its head down through a hole in the ceiling.
Clover flitted over to the hole so quickly Morgana couldn’t even see her wings moving.
“Go to bed, sweetie,” she said.
“I can’t sleep though.”
“Mummy will be up soon, as soon as my friends are gone.” She turned a pointed look to the party, who all waved awkwardly at the little one.
Once Clover had managed to convince her child to go back to bed, she looked back over at her guests.
“I have a lot at stake, too,” she said, “as you can see. So tell me what you want, but I’m not doing it if it puts my family on the line.”
“We respect that,” Morgana said. “We just want to go somewhere we can find sanctuary.”
“Tell me where,” Clover insisted. “Because all I know is inside this city, and that does you no good.”
Morgana shared a look with Thrormir, who shrugged. They’d all agreed that telling the Thieves Guild exactly where the portal was could be a bad idea, so that was off the table. But they needed to go somewhere.
When Yorick stepped forward, Morgana preemptively cringed. He had a tendency to try to seduce his way out of situations.
“I have an idea,” he said, and they all braced for what he was going to say, not expecting it to be the best idea any of them had had yet. “Take us to the Bards College.”