Walk in the Shadows

Seven

Even though it was late, I found that Honningbrew was still open for outsiders. Or at least the door was unlocked.

The moment I stepped in, the acrid smell of rodent as well as the sweet scent of mead hit me. I coughed and covered my nose. That was not an odor combination I ever expected to smell, nor wanted to smell again. The smell of rodent came from two dead skeevers that had been left lying in the middle of the floor. Their corpses were laid in puddles of blood. Mallus had not been exaggerating when he told me this place had a problem.

A man stood just in front of a long wooden bar. He had thinning gray hair, a small gray goatee, and the harshest scowl I had ever seen. I assumed he was Sabjorn. "What are you gawking at? Can't you see that I have problems here?"

I cleared my throat, dropped my hands, and faked an innocent smile. "Is something wrong?"

His scowl deepened, if that were possible. "Are you kidding me? Look at this place. I'm supposed to be holding a tasting of the new Honningbrew Reserve for the Captain of the Guard. If he sees the meadery in this state, I'll be ruined."

I glanced between the skeever bodies. "I might be able to help."

"Oh, really? And I don't suppose you'd wouldn't do this out of the kindness of your heart, would you? I hope you're not expecting to be paid until the job's done."

I bristled a little. Of course I wanted the payment in advance. Doubtful he would pay me as he was being escorted to the prisons for nearly poisoning the Captain of the Guard. I could make a little money on the side, could I not?

I felt a little pleasure as I intimidated him into doing what I wanted. "You'd better, or I yell 'skeever.'"

His eyes grew wide, and he held his hands in front of him. "Okay, okay! No need to make rash decisions. Here's half. You get the rest when the job's done. My only demand is that these vermin are permanently eliminated before my reputation is completely destroyed."

He handed me a rather large coin purse. I tucked it into my ever-filling satchel. "How do I 'permanently" clear the vermin?"

"I bought some poison. I was going to have my lazy, good-for-nothing assistant Mallus handle it, but he seems to have vanished. If you plant it in the vermin's nest, it should stop them from ever coming back."

I held out my hand, still pretending to be friendly and willing to help. "You've got a deal."

Sabjorn just sneered at my hand. Then, he pressed small black bottle and a key against my open and empty palm. "Don't come back until after every one of those things are dead."

I stuck the poison in my bag, then headed for the door leading towards the brewery. As I walked away, Sabjorn muttered something along the lines of, "Now I have to clean up this mess."

I closed the door behind me, finding myself in some sort of storage room. Filled with barrels that I assumed contained bottles of Honningbrew mead. I went down some stairs, coming to a door that was locked. I used the key Sabjorn gave me and opened the door.

Right away, two skeevers, bigger—and smellier—than normal skeevers attacked me. I whipped out my sword and ran one through, kicking the other one in the snout. It bit my boot, but its teeth did not break through my armor. I pulled my sword out of the first rodent and chopped through the second one. I kicked its body aside, then kept going.

I had to skirt past a couple bear traps that had been laid in the doorway leading further into the tunnels. I did not want to get my foot caught in one of those. No doubt, it would crush my foot.

More skeevers filled the next cavern. I got bit more than once, but none pierced my armor. My only regret was now my armor reeked of rodent saliva, and that was not a smell that went away easily.