The house boat came around the bend in the river, a dwarf standing in the doorway, rowing with a huge oar. Yeuric jumped from the landing onto the roof of the floating tavern.
"Jump now lad! It's almost too late!" Yeuric cried. Eltres breathed in deeply, and then he jumped into the water, missing the tavern by three feet. Eltres felt his hands and feet freeze. Eltres swam up and pushed forward to the boat. Eltres grabbed onto the giant oar, and the dwarf pulled him in. Eltres came above the water, and jumped onto the side of the boat, where he pulled himself up. Yeuric jumped from the roof, his beard flying behind him.
"Ar ye okay, lad?" Yeuric asked.
"I'm... alive..." Eltres managed to cough out.
"Gorn, get the boy inside. The breeze and the water's gonna get em a case a hypothermia." Yeuric said. The dwarf grabbed Eltres and slung him over his back. Gorn carried Eltres inside, into a big room with a long bar and five tables inside of it. Gorn sat Eltres down on a table and turned to Yeuric.
"What's happened? Where's the merly twins? Where's Sernon? Who's the boy?" The dwarf asked without breathing. Yeuric took a deep breath.
"Sernon and the Merly's arr alright, and the boy's a 'alf-elf called Eltres. I'm takin' em in as me apprentice." He said
"What. Has. Happened." Gorn asked again.
"Soon Sernon will know better than I. He'll answer for ye." Yeuric replied. Gorn growled and turned his back as he headed behind the bar to brew himself a drink.
"Temper's got the edge on em" Yeuric muttered.
Just then the door to the tavern swung open and four hooded figures walked in.
"Markey's gonna love that one, eh?" One of the hooded figures said
"Ohh yeah, we'll be real stuck in the war soon enough."
"I hope Gorn's made me some root water."
The fourth hooded figure held his hand up to signal silence.
"Who's the boy?" A calm, smooth voice asked.
"Sernon, this is Eltres. He's a half-elf, and he's good at theivery. He's an orphan, an outcast, and now he's my apprentice." Yeuric replied "Why don't ye introduce yerself to the lad?"
The hooded figure removed his cloak to reveal a blackened face, scars all over his face, and one missing eye. Eltres was taken aback, his face twisting in disgust.
"This happened because of a little incident that happened when I was raiding a mine. The whole dang thing exploded when I set off I trap. I barely escaped, but it scarred my face forever. You may not believe it, but I used to be as pale as you can get. I'm Sernon, and the leader of this orginazation." Sernon shook Eltres' hand and gestured to another to two other hooded figures to reveal two identical halflings, who where about three feet tall and had auburn hair.
"Halflings? I thought they lived on the other side of the world." Eltres Said.
"We used too." said one
"Now we live on this boat." said the other.
"I'm tern" said the first
"I'm Fler" said the second.
"And we love to steal! We're pretty good at breaking locks, traps, you name it!" They said cheerfully in unison. Yeuric and Gorn chuckled. Finally, the last hooded figure revealed himself.
Except it wasn't exactly a he.
A beutifull Elf with emerald eyes and raven black hair stood before him. She looked about Eltres' age, wearing a black jump suit.
"Hello. Are you Elvish? You look a bit like it." the elf asked
"Uh......" Eltres stuttered "oh! I'm a half breed. I'm Eltres." He said holding out his hand
"That's not a very nice name for yourself." The elf said, frowning. Now Eltres too frowned, and she giggled.
"No, not Eltres. I meant half breed. I'm Corida." She held out her hand. Eltres knelt down and kissed it. Corida blushed, and hurried out of the room.
"Young Love, eh?" Yeuric joked.
"Is this everyone in the guild?" Eltres asked.
"There's one more. He's a half-troll, and he's currently off leading his bandit army on a raiding campaign." Sernon said.
"You have a bandit army?" Eltres asked
"We have three. That's why people fear us, because we can steal from you and attack you if you've attacked us." Tern said "we'll be paying Lorta a visit soon." Gorn chuckled.
"What about the wand thing? What's that? Why where you so afraid when they said it?" Eltres inquired. Everyone froze, and nobody moved for at least a minute.
"The wand is hidden below Iren. somewhere in the catacombs. It can do a lot of damage to all of us." Yeuric said.
"Quiet Yeuric." Sernon said "spies are everywhere." Gorn passed out a couple of drinks, and to lighten up the mood he began to joke and tell stories about how he fought off whole garrisons with a hatchet, until Eltres fell on the table, asleep.
YOU ARE READING
The Theives War
FantasyA half-elf, born in the city of iren, is left orphaned on the streets, until he is taken in by a very wealthy man. And that wealthy man introduces him to his lifelong friends, the members of the Theives guild. But soon the land is ripped apart by wa...
