Lady Killers Club

Chapter Two

Jaid prepared herself by casting a disguise spell. Whether it was the stress of the situation, the alcohol, or the fact that she lost her job as court mage was weighing on her mind, but she could barely make it work. It was like she rolled a dice and got screwed. The others saw her blatant betrayal and were not happy. It was a good job they had more pressing issues to deal with.

The women played their instruments as Vithra wove her siren song, with the occasional side eye in Jaid's direction. The angry mob outside the door stopped in their tracks and swayed glassy eyed to the music while the improvised band shimmied their way out the tavern's front door and onto the street.

"We have to keep moving, the spell will only last for a few minutes after we stop playing." Vithra sang, swapping to common tongue for the benefit of her present company.

"I know a place." Ivridda chirped, still clanging her makeshift instrument half heartedly.

They stopped playing and followed the gnome into the darkness of the unlit alley leading down near the docks. Feltries' docks were one of the saddest looking docks in the Lakes Region, with no real connections to the other regions it only possessed a small fleet of fishing trawlers and the odd cargo vessel. Which had nothing to do with the elusive Serpent of Feltries... Jaid had no idea why Ivridda was leading them towards such an obvious dead end.

"Come on." the gnome hissed.

Everyone was still following closely, but it was clear that Ivridda was getting increasingly anxious. She slid down the bank and into the shallows. Jaid cursed the gnome under her breath. She hated getting wet. She followed nonetheless.

"Where the hell are you taking us?" Vithra complained.

"Trust in our small friend." Vilberg said with the calming yet authoritative tone of a knight.

They continued to trudge through the sludgy shallows in the shadows of the docks for several more minutes, just long enough for Jaid to get used to the squelching sound, before Ivridda stopped and sniffed the air. She tapped the rock beside them.

"Mage, shift the rock." she commanded.

"Shift it where? I can't shift that much rock." Jaid protested. After her last display of magic she wasn't looking forward to embarrassing herself again quite so soon.

"Feel." Ivridda took Jaid's hand and pressed it gently against the rock. The mage's eyes flashed yellow as she looked through the wall within the earth.

She gasped. "Tunnels." she whispered, looking at her tiny companion.

Ivridda nodded excitedly, "Hurry."

Jaid closed her eyes and cast her spell, moulding the earth at her will. She created a doorway into the tunnel beyond and gestured for the women to go through. Once all four of her companions made it through she turned and replaced the earth to how it had been before. Jaid collapsed to the ground and laughed.

"Is she okay?" Vithra asked.

Koshak shrugged. A woman of very few words the lizard pirate was. Nelbirg grabbed the feline and slung her over her broad shoulders.

"Let's keep moving." she ordered, looking at Ivridda expectantly.

"There's an old burrow we can set up camp in for the night." said Ivridda finally. It was clear to the others that the gnome didn't want to disclose the location of her secret hideout. But after what felt like hours of trudging (or dangling in Jaids case) through pitch black caverns they realised that it was more than that.

"Ivridda, is this your home?" Nelbirg asked sceptically, placing the exhausted mage roughly on the ground at her feet.

Ivridda looked around. There was a small bedroll laid out neatly beside a fire pit, several sealed crates, and a small armoury stacked smartly against the dirt wall. The gnome nodded shyly.