Merchant Crab

Balthazar and the rest of the group abandoned the cover of the bushes and ran to the manor at full speed. The time for stealth was over, now that the mayor’s niece had decided to make her big entrance.

“Is she always this…” the crab said to Leander as they hurriedly crossed the driveway.

“Feisty?” the captain responded. “Ever since she was younger than your friend Suze over there. I always tried to teach her how to turn that fire into something productive, but sometimes you just have to accept that something will get burned.”

The running crab rolled his eyestalks. “Hopefully it’s not us. I already have enough with one drake.”

Reaching the front door, they barged in to find Olivia alone in a large entry hall, looking around with a mix of surprise and confusion.

“There’s… no one here,” the young woman said.

The manor’s foyer was long, with several doors on both sides and a staircase leading up to the next floor at the very end of it. The place was illuminated by two chandeliers above and multiple candelabras spread all around on the dark mahogany furniture, giving the hallway a heavy and slightly creepy mood.

What a fire hazard. And the time it must take to light all of these up every night! Not to mention how much wax they must go through. Ooh, maybe I should start selling candles…

Blue sniffed the air around, looking with suspicion at the many orange flames of the candles surrounding them, while Suze’s interests seemed to be centered on the drawers of the dressers and other pieces of furniture everywhere.

“Strange,” the old captain said. “No guards outside the house. No guards in the entrance. Where is everyone?”

Something slammed at the other end of the hallway and everyone turned their heads with a start. A light was shining in a doorway off to the side of the staircase. The stairwell past it seemed to lead below, and they could hear steps approaching from there now.

“Be ready,” Leander said, putting his fists up.

Balthazar put his pincers up as well, despite having no idea what he would do with them from that far away.

Two men emerged from the stairwell. One was wearing a city guard uniform, minus the helmet, which he was carrying under his arm. As for the other, the merchant immediately recognized him as a bandit named Brig. Despite Balthazar’s difficulties with telling human faces apart, not even he could forget that mean-looking mug and the scar that went with it.

The pair staggered through the doorway and into the entry hall with unsteady steps, leaning on each other for support as they tried to keep a straight march—and mostly failing.

They were both drunk as skunks.

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“Oi! Mickey!” the guard yelled as his hazy eyes struggled to focus. “We—hic—We told you to keep watching that per… that perim… per-he-meet-her… To watch that damn fence until someone else comes to replace you!”

“Yeah!” exclaimed the larger goon next to him, waving a tankard around. “We’re all busy downstairs…” He paused to giggle with a wheeze. “Discussing important matters.”

“Yes,” the uniformed man said, slapping the back of his drinking partner. “Like who was the vile criminal who cracked open that keg of—hic—vintage.”

Brig’s red cheeks bunched up as he smiled like a naughty boy—a very robust, ugly, and drunk naughty boy.

“Uh-oh. I hope nobody calls the city guard to arrest me!”

“Haaaahahaha!” yelled the guardsman as they both pulled on each other, trying not to fall to the floor from all the cackling.

Balthazar and his group looked at each other with awkward gazes.

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“I guess they weren’t expecting visitors?” said Olivia.

“Let’s not get complacent,” the captain said. “We don’t know how many more guards and bandits are in this place.”

“Maybe I could distract them,” said Balthazar. “I’m sure I’ve got a bottle of rum around here somewhere that I could sell to them.”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Heeey, wait a minute,” the drunk guard said, squinting at the intruders across the entryway. “I know I’m seeing double, but that’s still way too many people to just be Mickey.”

The bandit goon next to him scrunched up his face trying to focus on the group too.

“Oi! That ain’t your guard! I’ve seen that crab before! He’s the one the boss wants!”

The other man dropped his helmet and turned to the stairwell, struggling to keep his pace straight. “Ah, crap, we got intruders! Get the guys!”

“Nope!” said Suze. Without Balthazar noticing, she had already sneaked her way around the hall and was now in front of the doorway to the staircase the two men had come from.

She shut the door and turned the key in its keyhole.

“Hey, gimme that, you little—” yelled the guard, before tripping on his own feet and introducing his chin to the carpet below.

Swift as a mouse, the little street urchin zipped back around with the key in her hand.

“Come back here!” Brig shouted, tossing his tankard aside and rushing to the girl with a bit more steadiness than his drinking partner.

“I don’t think so, friend,” Captain Leander exclaimed as he ran to intercept the goon. “Stick to someone your own size!”

Just as the bandit was about to block Suze’s path, the mayor’s right-hand man stepped in front of him.

“Get outta my way, old man!” Brig barked as he made a fist and wound up a punch with the same grace as a bear trying to walk on a tightrope.

“Please,” the veteran said, swatting the thug’s hand away with ease. “You wouldn’t be a worthy opponent even if you were sober.”

With an uncanny speed for a man of his age, Captain Leander struck a quick jab to Brig’s throat, making him choke up and bring both hands to his neck.

As the bandit’s eyes bulged out, the martial arts tutor used his fist to deliver a devastating blow to his gut, which, despite its ample size, could not dampen enough of the shockwave to keep him on his feet.

“Blargh!” Brig blurted out as the contents of his drunken stomach made a forceful escape through his mouth and onto the burgundy carpet under his knees.

“There, that will sober you up right quick,” Leander said as he looked down at the barfing bandit.

After there was nothing left for him to throw up, Brig let out a final burp as his eyes rolled back and he dropped unconscious.

“Hey!” exclaimed the guard, rubbing his chin as he tried to get up from his crawling position. “You won’t get away with this!”

With a running start, Olivia ran at the manor guard and landed a spinning kick right on his chin, knocking him out on the floor again.

“Sleep it off,” she said with snark.

“Great form, Liv!” the captain complimented, giving her a thumbs-up.

Balthazar skittered forward and placed the back of his pincers against the sides of his shell.

“Well, no turning back now. The crab’s out of the bag, so we’d better move. We’re on a timer until everyone realizes what we’re doing.”

Leander nodded. “Agreed. It sounds like most of their forces will be downstairs, where the mangoes are. We should make that a priority.”

“But,” said Olivia, “what about the mystery woman orchestrating this whole thing? She’s probably upstairs. We can’t risk her getting away!”

“Doesn’t look like there’s anyone else on this floor,” Suze told them after a quick run peeking through every door in the hallway.

“As much as I don’t like it, we should probably split up,” said the merchant.

“Very well,” the captain said. “I take it you will want to confront this figure yourself, Mr. Balthazar. I will take the cellar and recover what has been stolen.”

“I’m going up too,” said Olivia. “I’m not letting whoever made all this mess get away any longer.”

Suze popped up in between them. “Dibs on going up too! I wanna know who she is so bad!”

Balthazar shrugged. “We can’t just let the captain go down there all alone. If most of the men are there, he’s going to need some backup. Druma, Blue, you two go with him.”

The crab’s companions nodded.

“While I would welcome the challenge,” said Leander, “I’m not so prideful I’d refuse the help. Thank you, Mr. Balthazar.”

“Yeah, no problem, just make sure those mangoes are unharmed, will you? I plan on eating lots of pies made with them.” The crab glanced down at the passed out bandit and guard. “Maybe you should take one of their weapons before going down?”

Captain Leander roared with laughter before holding his closed fists up.

“If you haven’t noticed already, I’ve got all the weapons I need right here. Good luck!”

Taking the key from Suze, the old master headed to the door with Druma and Blue following behind.

“Alright, let’s move too,” the mayor’s niece said, running to the staircase leading up with Suze in tow.

Balthazar skittered toward the bottom of the stairs and suddenly stopped, his eyes slowly rolling up to the top of the stairs.

“Oh no,” he said. “That’s going to be a problem.”