The Dreaming Land

Chapter 1: The Shard

Orius watched the pier from a nearby rooftop. It was nearly midnight, and no more ships should have been coming in, and yet there was one. He'd been tipped off about it by a friend, and about the cargo inside of it. The rumoured value of which was why this ship was coming at night. It was foolish, though, and too simple a tactic to throw off the Thief-King of Gigas City.

The small boat cruised in along side one of the smaller docks. It wasn't even a cargo ship, adding to its disguise, though he knew better. Slowly, Orius crept around to a better position on the roof tops, watching as the sailors tied up the small vessel, preparing to unload its cargo. As expected, the royal guard began showing up to escort the cargo handlers to the city vaults. The plan, however, was to stop them before they could get that far. Even the Thief-King had never gotten into the vaults.

He brushed his wet brown hair out of his eyes. It clung to his forehead, made damp by the ocean's brine. He counted the guards, ten in total. More than he wanted to tangle with, but if the information was right about the cargo, and it had been thus far, it would be worth his trouble. Accompanying the royal guard he noticed an official appraiser with them. They pulled off the top of the large wooden crate, and what Orius saw inside made his heart skip a beat.

There, inside a carefully constructed glass case sitting inside the crate, was a glistening white piece of stone likely no bigger than his own fist. This wasn't any ordinary stone, though. It was a moon-shard. Useless unless being used for magic, most were locked away in the deep-vaults of the cities. They fetched a high price on the black market, but this one seemed special. Now was not the time for questions, though, it was the time to act.

With a few bolts in hand, Orius opened fire on the guards, aiming to take out the few in heavy armour first. He dropped one with a crossbow bolt through the back of his neck between his breastplate and helmet. Quickly, he loaded another one in and fired, taking out a second in a similar manner before the guards could figure out where it was coming from. Moving slowly across the roof to a lower point, he loaded and fired a third bolt, killing a third and final heavily armoured guard. Seven more, he thought.

At this point the archers had figured out where he was firing from, and started launching volleys of arrows in his direction. Dropping off the side of the building into an alley way, Orius was now behind cover, but was now cornered. The guards would be coming, but that was fine. He could hear the tapping of their boots on the wet cobblestone as they approached the alley way. With the flick of a match, Orius tossed a smoke bomb around the corner.

There was a loud bang as smoke filled the street, disorienting the guards. Quickly, Orius rounded the corner, crossbow loaded, and began firing into the thick smoke. He could hear the painful groans and cries from them as his bolts hit home, but it wouldn't be enough to finish them off without the aid of sight. He slung his crossbow over his back and drew a blade from his boot, entering the smoke.

Carefully and silently he wove his way through the smoke, slicing anyone that was close enough. His dark, long jacket helped him blend perfect with the thick black smoke. Four more guards fell this way, and soon the smoke began to clear. As the black smoke dissipated, he could only imagine what it looked like to the other guards. Orius standing along, surrounded by dead guards. The sight alone must have been enough to terrify the other guards. The few left carefully conjoined around their precious cargo.

Before they could attack, he hurled his dagger through the air, and reached for his crossbow. Quickly he got a handle on it and fired, landing a dead shot right between the eyes of one guard just as the knife dug in right in the chest of the second. The third was quicker than he'd expected though, and already had his bow drawn, ready to release. And release, he did.