David Bishop and the Mystic of Creation T.C. Crawford (icecream ebook reader txt) 📖

happen. Do you understand?” he asked, looking sternly at Glenn and Glynn.

They both shook their heads in unison.

“Good. If word gets out that the Defiant One and his armies have indeed returned, no one will risk sending their goods to the surface to trade, and therefore, no one will come to me for my services. The bank will lose its most lucrative business, and with all of the money I’ve already committed to keeping my insiders quiet and on the prowl, I’d lose more than I can bear.” he said, pacing back and forth. “We must not let this happen…whatever the cost, do you hear me?” he reiterated.

“Sir, you can rest assured we will take care of this quickly and quietly.” said Glynn after sharing a look of understanding with Glenn.

“But we will need a considerable amount of gold to convince the scouts to give a false report – they won’t risk lying to the King without a big incentive.”

“Yes, yes, take whatever you need from the vaults. If we don’t get them on our side, our business is doomed anyway!” said Manny frantically. “We can replenish the funds later. Right now, our only focus is in keeping the truth from the King! Now be off, there’s no time to waste!” he said, pointing to the door.

Glenn and Glynn quickly walked out of the room. When it came to finding the weakest link in an organization, there were none better.

They had been the ones who found out that the King’s personal accountant had been stealing little by little from the King’s treasury over the years. Now, he was giving them insider information in order to keep them from spilling his little secret.

They were also the ones responsible for finding the guard who patrolled the palace who was facing financial uncertainties due to his gambling addition – now he was doing quite well, and only had to pay the price of his loyalty to the King to gain back his losses. That and his promise to keep tabs on the whereabouts of the soldiers patrolling the city so they could plot out the best places and times to carry out their more lucrative deals in privacy, without the risk of interference.

Yes, their boss had given them many assignments indeed, and they had been very busy buying off the weak and feeble-minded ones wherever they could be found.

Because of this, they knew just where to go to carry out their latest assignment.

Glenn and Glynn made their way through the city proper and up the higher walkways of the upper-class district. After several long paths and quite a few turns, they found their way to the Office of the Guard Patrol who’s ranking officer had recently been caught in a compromising situation, one that would have left his wife quite disappointed in him were she to find out.

Fortunately for him, Glenn and Glynn knew how to make secrets disappear, but they always had a price. Today, that price was to be paid by getting him to choose his two newest recruits for the King’s assignment – recruits he knew could be manipulated if offered a vast amount of coin to keep quiet certain details of their report.

They quickly dropped off the large bag filled with gold coins and explained their terms to the ranking officer, terms which he quickly agreed to after a small reminder of why he was doing their bidding.

“For your troubles” said Glynn, handing over a smaller bag of coin to the officer, to which he smiled and eagerly slid into his pocket.

“Thank you, sirs. Always a pleasure doing business,” said the officer.

With their business settled, Glenn and Glynn made their way out of the Office of the Guard Patrol and headed to the lower district for a celebratory drink. They loved their job, and they were very, very good at it.

Chapter XV

The feast turned out to be better than any of them could have imagined. It was held in a great dining hall filled with several long wooden tables that spanned across the room from wall to wall.

King Tybrin had spared no expense when it came to the food. There were all kinds of roasted game ranging from boar, turkey, venison, all the way down to what David was told was duck. In addition to the meats, there were countless varieties of salads, vegetables, and fruit bowls on every table.

The popular drink of choice was a dark, amber ale that the Dwarves took great pride in and was brewed within their caverns by the hundreds of gallons. It had somewhat of a spicy note, with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. Darryn told them that the spice came from a local pepper that grew in the dark caverns near the city and was extremely spicy if eaten raw but toned down quite a bit during the brewing process.

The King had also requested an assortment of live music and entertainers to attend the feast, singing heroic tales in song form of ages past and ballads of long-lost lovers, while others performed juggling acts and reenacted plays of historic battles and other important events.

Eventually, enough drink had been consumed that several Dwarves began jumping up on the tables and dancing to the music, swinging arm in arm and knocking over several mugs and dishes in the act. Some of the patrons that were less intoxicated didn’t take too kindly to their meals being kicked to the floor and began shouting at the hooligans, trying to get them down from the tables. Others simply decided to join them and before you knew it, nearly all of the tables were filled with dancing Dwarves!

Reingard and Holzer, feeling much more at home in this environment than David, Erin, and Tyrius would have liked, jumped up on the table and joined in the merrymaking, laughing and trying their best to sing along and keep up with the footwork of the Dwarves.

Overall, the evening was quite enjoyable and was filled with joy and