[Wade_Gustafson]

The following is a short story set in the world of "Maiden Desmodus" (). The story relates to one of the many possible ways a player can earn their way into one of the guilds in the game. We revealed it on our website to open a contest for players to submit their own tales, art, etc. I thought that it might make an addition to this forum. I hope that you enjoy it.




Paragas was dead.


I looked down upon the once flawless face of my oldest friend, the man who had been like a brother to me for almost twenty years. The colour was gone from his face. Ice had begun to form upon his plump lips. A faint line of blood had frozen down the side of his jaw.


There would be no more long nights consoling him about the gold wasted trying to impress some lass who had no interest in bedding a rogue. There would be no more adventures into Johannasburg to refill our purses with gold pilfered from decadent city folk. No more daring escapes when those we had offended with our exploits came looking for us.


It was unlikely that Paragas and I had ever become friends in the first place. I the only son of a wealthy Thirian tailor who traveled freely between both kingdoms, and he the son of a Kneyan ruffian who had spent his life jailed in one kingdom or the other. Paragas was forced by circumstance to fend for himself at an early age, and as such it didn’t take long for him to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the Fellowship of Shadows.


I had tried to talk him out of the guild on many occasions. “I’ll win enough gold betting on the jousts when we get back in Johannasburg for you to attend school and learn to be a physician,” I said. “Following this mercenary is only going to lead to trouble.”


Paragas smiled at me before tipping his tankard into his lips.


“Paragas,” I pleaded, “I have a bad feeling about this one. We’ve stolen enough, we should just head back to Johannasburg.”


I was about to say something more when Paragas turned away suddenly, showing his back to me. His attention had been stolen by a dame entering the tavern alone.


Several other drunkards had turned to watch her, but in truth she would only have been considered with half a glance in Johannasburg. Here in Tharn, I supposed, she was quite the find.


Paragas was the first to his feet and moving toward her. As a man who was both handsome and beguiling, no other challenger presented themselves, knowing full well that their grease and grime was no match for a charming confidence man with a pocket full of gold.


Within minutes, Paragas and the peasant girl were together at a table sharing drinks and laughter. Soon after, they left together.


“Your boy there is going to get himself into a heap of trouble.”


I spun around at the grainy voice over my shoulder and saw the mercenary we had followed hovering over me. His barrel-chest was so close to my face that I had to lean back against the bar on my elbows to look up at him.


“He’ll be through with her soon enough and she’ll be back looking for another rich suitor tomorrow. Your – friends there – should worry not at all,” I said.


The mercenary cocked his jaw and made a sound somewhere between a growl and a tone of acknowledgement. A minute later he was seated beside me at the ale-stained bar of the Drunken Bull.


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“You look quite chipper for a man with a split lip and a black eye,” I said to Paragas as we saddled our horses the next morning. “Was she worth it?”


“Not really.” Paragas climbed onto his old roan mare. “In the end, she took me for half of my gold before she left and let her brother and three of the biggest Thirians I’ve ever seen into my room.”


I climbed up onto my saddle and spurred the gelding I’d dubbed “Copper”. “Well, at least the trip wasn’t a total loss. What did we haul, about four hundred gold, maybe five?” I asked.


Riding beside me down the street of Tharn, Paragas reigned in his mare. I stopped and looked back at him. There was a clutter of activity in the background as slaves carried stone away from a place where the Kneyan Blood Knights had nearly battered their way into the city a week before.


The look on Paragas’ face said it all.


He had taken a beating and paid for his life with our gold. I stared down at my saddle horn and took a deep breath to calm myself. “How much do you have left?”


“Nothing,” Paragas confided, “They got it all.”


I felt heat in my eyes as they welled up with tears mixed of anxiety, anger, and fear.


“Two weeks!” I raged. “I was given two weeks, Paragas, to settle my debt with the cabal in Johannasburg. I lost everything betting on the last tournament and now you’ve stolen my only chance. You’ve killed me! They’ll cut my fecking head off and put it up on a pike if I don’t have the gold for them when we go back to the city!”
“So we don’t go back,” Paragas said placidly, as if he had already given this a great deal of thought.


“And what?” I screamed. “Stay here? After I’ve…” I lowered my tone, “After I’ve helped you rob half the damn city!”


Paragas offered a shrug. “People come and go through here all the time, nobody is going to know it was us.”
“That mage saw both of us. If he hasn’t already given our descriptions to the sheriff he soon will.” I was furious, my hands shaking and white-knuckled on the reigns.


“We still have time.”


“Time for what?” I asked.


“That mercenary.” Paragas said.


I blinked. “No!”


“Why not?” He carries more gold on him than anyone else I’ve marked in this city. Hell, his ring alone is worth at least what you owe the cabal.” Paragas smiled at me as he continued. “We hit him now, while he’s probably still hung over. We hit him, and we ride out of here and don’t come back to Tharn for a good long while.”


“He’s too dangerous,” I said.


“You’re just scared, mate.”


I spent a moment seething. “I have a better idea.” Paragas smiled again with that infections grin that had made him a natural swindler. “We ride to Kemble.” I spurred Copper forward into a canter.


Paragas rode up beside me. “Kemble? You want to just hide from the cabal? They’ll find you in Kemble. The Isle isn’t big enough to hide from them.”


“I know,” I said.


“What are we going to Kemble for then? You’re not thinking of taking one of those creaky old boats and leaving The Isle all together are you?”


I shook my head and looked forward nervously as we drew near the city gate. We both stopped our horses simultaneously and froze. Black Down mercenaries were accosting people at the gate, throwing back hoods and studying faces.


“Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with us,” Paragas whispered.


The mercenaries waved a wagon through, and as the mule pulled it out of the way I caught sight of the Rahist mage we’d robbed the day before.


“****e!” Paragas said, turning his mare and galloping back the way we’d come.


Maybe if Paragas had kept his head we could have turned and rode back the way we came without drawing notice, but now it was too late. The mage saw Paragas charging away and began shouting and pointing my direction as the Black Down began calling for their horses.


I yanked hard on the reigns and spun Copper around, driving him forward down the road and sending people diving out of my way.


I braved a quick glance back at the mage. He held a knife in one hand and the other thrust up in the air. Blood was running down his arm.


(Continued in Part 2 due to message size)