Free Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn by John Nest, You The Reader, Overus

recruited them by the thousands. This cave is home to his captive children and thoughtless thugs.
    'That is, good to know,' thought Smoke, amused.

Then, a powerful stench overcame his senses. The poor ventilation of the Thieves' lair did not help the sweaty OrkElves passing through the tight tunnels.

Several light stones lined on the walls of the cave illuminated the passageway, Smoke wondered where they could have gotten so many of them. He was shortly answered when he saw several bags of the glowing rocks being socketed into the walls by OrkElf children.

"Let me guess, those light stones were donated by unknowing Sonstwelters?" Smoke asked Jack.

"Yeah," replied Jack with a mischievous smile. "I was not very good at it at first, but after Cynar whipped me into shape, I got this good."

Jack then waved  a piece of jerky in front of him.

Smoke was taken aback. It looked very much like one of his smoked ancient bison meat. "Hey that's—"

"Tut, tut, tut. Come now, Faux, don't make a scene," said Jack with a grin, happily munching on his stolen jerky. "Are you not the one who told me to keep a low profile. You do not one Cynar to suspect us now, do you?"

Smoke let out a deep sigh. "Fine, fine. Where's Cynar anyway?"

They passed through a series of tunnels which had no end in sight. All of them were filled with OrkElf guards. Equipped with the same armor and weapon as the ones who stepped outside when Jack called them. Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox sensed several more people inside the cave, at least three-thousand.

Then, they passed through a corridor with bars on the side. One of the dungeons had a little girl, sobbing loudly.

"Geisel, don't worry. Everything's fine now," suddenly said Jack. "Daniel is in a better place."

The little girl stopped crying and stepped in front of Jack. From behind bars, she quickly grabbed his clothes and pulled him hard against her metal dungeon.

"You promised me!" she yelled out. "You promised me that he would not die!"

"Geisel, calm down," pleaded Jack. "I know I promised that you would always be with him, but some things were unavoidable."

Then, a tall slender figure appeared from behind them, and pulled Geisel's hand off Jack. Smoke felt uneasy upon seeing the man dressed in black Assassin's clothes. His Cunning of the Dire Fox did not pick up on his presence at all. He wore a hooded robe, black gloves and a full face-mask just like Smoke's.

"Geisel, your brother is dead," said the mysterious man in black. "If Jack did not beg for your life, I would have ended it as soon as I heard of Daniel's demise."

The little girl hurriedly shrank back to her dungeon, far from the reach of the Assassin.

"But if you insist on being a pest, I'll kill you right now," threatened the unknown man. "Even if Jack offers his life for yours."

"Come now, Cynar, you don't have to scare the girl," chided Jack. "She just lost her brother, cut her some slack."

TWANG

Jack's feet flew off the ground, and he was pinned hard against the iron bars. As Jack was being choked, the masked Assassin let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Jack, Jack, Jack, just because you're currently my best bait, doesn't mean that you're irreplaceable."

"Ack, Cynar, ack, I can't breathe," said a choking Jack.

THUD

Cynar released the boy, and his body slumped on the ground. Cynar then turned to Smoke and stared into his eyes.

"I don't trust a man with a mask," Cynar said to Smoke. "You know nothing good will ever come out from doing business with them."

"Same here," said Smoke with a clenched fist, preparing to make a strike.

Cynar then kicked the downed Jack. "Oi, is this your latest recruit?"

"Huh?" Jack rubbed his neck where he was strangled by Cynar. "Yeah, yeah. His name is Faux, his really powerful. Faux, this is Cynar, the King of Thieves."

"What kind of Job does he have?" asked Cynar.

"What kind of Job?" repeated Jack. "Uhm, well, he is a very powerful—"

"I'm an Earth Elementalist,"