Keller's Tale

CHAPTER ONE [/u]

Two faces peered out the stables open door into the night looking for any sign of their partner. Bendo, the larger of the two men growled. "I hope Laggath found a lockman or this is going to be messy." The smaller known to all as Weasel turned towards his companion and whined. "It wasn't my fault that Fingers got pinched by the City Guard, I told him to lay low until this job." The sound of Weasel's voice had always annoyed Bendo but he held off clubbing him with a fist. The last thing they needed at this time was to make enough noise to draw the Guard. Bendo spotted Laggath moving from shadow to shadow as he approached the stable. As Lag got closer, Bendo noticed a strange look on his face. "Well knowing Lag," He thought. "if he hadn't found someone he would have looked like a kicked hound dog."

Lag entered the stables and all three men moved to the back to talk. Bendo rubbed his temple and looked down on Lag. "Well did you find one? This is gonna be impossible if we have to break through every locked door in the place." Lag seemed reluctant to speak for a moment and then began. "Well after the last Guard sweep lockmen are hard to find. I found...someone, but I don't think you are gonna be that happy with his ... kind." A vein in Bendo's temple began to throb. "I don't care if you found a one legged Troll, as long as he can get us past those locks!" Lag jumped back a moment at Bendo's outburst and then smiled. "Just remember you said that when he gets here Ben. He told me he would meet us here once he got his tools."

A few minutes later, Ben began hearing a strange tap tapping coming closer to the stables. The sound was as regular as a heartbeat but Ben couldn't place what could be making the noise. He looked over to Lag who looked like he was about to burst out laughing. The sound got closer and closer until it ceased right outside the stable door. The slight figure came through the door dressed in dark clothing, a 3-foot cudgel in his right hand tapping back and forth on the ground ahead of him. Ben's first thought was "At least he is dressed for the job." His eyes then drifted up to the man's face. When he saw the black scarf around his eyes he looked quickly back to the staff in his hand and the tapping became clear. His head turned to Lag and he speared him with a finger. "You did NOT hire a blind thief!" Lag snorted as he held back his laughter. "Hey Ben.... at least he has two legs." This was too much for Weasel and the sounds of his high pitched giggle filled the stables.

Ben looked at his two companions and then back to the figure near the door. "Look boy, I don't care what lies you told Lag here, we can't use a gimp on something this important." As he said this his hand reached down towards his dagger. "Can't let him head out a squeal about this job to the Guard." He thought. The movement brought his companions laughter to a halt. Ben quietly drew his dagger from its sheath. As it cleared the sheath with a muffled snick, he saw a blur of motion from the cloaked figure and a crossbow bolt knocked the dagger from his hand. There was a moment of silence from all of them as they watched the dark clad man reload his small crossbow. His head turned towards them. "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't see. Now, if you have gotten that out of your system, lets get on with this job"

Bendo smiled for the first time in weeks. "Alright then, this is the job and how we're gonna do it..."

CHAPTER TWO[/u]

Four dark clad figures moved quietly from shadow to shadow as they moved across the well-manicured lawns and gardens of the estate. A small figure in the lead, followed by a large, hulking, brute of a man, just behind him followed a slight youngster. The last figure followed, keeping his right hand on the shoulder of the man ahead of him. They all paused in the shadow of a huge hedge maze as a pair of guards walked past. Once the guards were out of sight they moved to the north wing of the mansion.

The large, plain, metal bound door was out of place on a building this ornate. Ben motioned for Lag to bring Keller forward. His voice hissed out. "Alright, here is where you earn your share." Keller reached into his belt pouch and pulled out the tools of his trade. His hands lightly brushed the surface of the door. He gently felt the lock and the area around for a few moments. Ben, getting impatient, whispered. "The lock is right there, get on with it." Keller answered without turning. "No one puts a Hashentar lock on a door this thick without putting a few surprises for people like us." Ben looked startled. "How can you tell what kind of lock it is?" A grin lit Keller's face. "How can you tell one woman from another in the dark? They all feel different and respond to different kinds of touches." He touched what appeared to be the head of a nail and gave it a half turn. A quiet click was heard. Keller then inserted his picks in the lock and in but a few moments another click was heard. Keller smiled again "And they all open up easy enough for the right man."

Ben pushed the door open and motioned Weasel to the fore. The companions entered after the small man and gently closed the door behind them. Lag lit a torch and its light danced off the stone of the stairway. They made their way down the stairs a slow tread at a time. The air became stale and close. The stairs ended at a landing with a corridor leading left and right. Weasel looked back to Ben, who motioned to the left. Weasel moved slowly down the left corridor on all fours acting almost as twitchy as his namesake. Before he had traveled 20 feet down the passage, an audible click was heard and a pit opened up under Weasel. Though Lag had seen it several times before, it still amazed him at how fast Weasel could move when in danger. One moment he was on the trapdoor and the next he was 10 feet away in a blur of motion. He looked back at the group, gave a toothy grin and moved back down the corridor. He skirted the edge of the pit and motioned the rest forward. Weasel watched as his partners moved around the pit. He was surprised as the blind man made his way past as if he saw the hole as well as they did. Weasel laughed to himself. "I guess that he would have fallen down a hole and died a long time ago if he couldn't figure that kind of thing out."

Another door waited at the end of the corridor. This one had no visible locks on its wooden surface. Ben put a hand on Lag's shoulder. "Your turn boy." Laggath stepped forward and looked at the door intently. Sweat formed on his brow, as he appeared to be fighting something. Shaking his head for a moment, he took a prism and a piece of chalk from his pouch. He scribed a few runes on the door while murmuring a language that the others couldn't make out. He continued chanting as he peered through the prism. His finger stabbed out towards the base of the door and the surface shimmered like water as the concealment spell was broken. A small keyhole was now visible on the lower part of the door. His voice showed the effort that the counterspell had cost him. "Another lock Keller." He whispered. "Center of the door, two feet up."


Keller dropped to a knee and his fingertips gently brushed across and around the lock. He moved a small pick into the lock and felt around for the tumblers and catches. As he built a mental picture of the inside of the lock, he paused for a moment. A grim smile appeared as he whispered. "Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Anyone who can design something like this should be killed before he sells too many." Ben clenched his fists and looked down at him. "Are you telling me you can't open it!" A look of anger crossed Keller's face. "Don't insult me like that again fat man, of course I can open it. This just may take some time." Keller felt around in the lock with his probe for a few more minutes before sitting back on his heels for a while. He now had a very accurate picture of the lock and the more he thought about it, the less it made sense. He knew there were false catches inside the lock that would probably set off something deadly, but which were real and which were traps?

He ignored Ben's angry grumble to his side as he tried to grasp the pattern to the lock. Keller tried to put himself into the designer's head as he had so many other times. Can't be another Hashentar, that would be too obvious. Not Quelin's work, his sight is too bad for anything this small. Sen-Tyn was long dead and this lock felt too new to be one of his. So who...?" The picture filled his head again and he chuckled as the realization came to him. "Lazlo! This is one of your specials." Keller hadn't thought of his old teacher in years. Though if anyone could have designed a monstrosity like this, his mentor could have. "Well Lazlo, the first thing you ever taught me was never believe your own eyes. I always hated that joke and you knew it."

He grinned as he envisioned the lock one last time. He pulled out his longest straightest lockpick. "You made it too complex old man. And because of that I am gonna beat this." He inserted the lockpick straight in, past all the tumblers and catches. He probed all the way back to the real catch he knew had to be there. He slotted the end of the pick in a small notch and gave a gentle push. With a muffled click the lock opened and the door was free. "Beat you again old man." He said with a grin. Bendo leaned down and with shock in his voice said. "That's it! You just stick a long piece of wire in and the door opens up? How did you figure that out?"

Keller smiled as he stood up and brushed the grit off his knees. " I told you, it's just like a woman, you just have to make it past all the traps and push the right buttons."

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR [/u]

The sound of the first figures dragging feet was followed an instant later with the twang of Keller's crossbow firing. The other thieves watched the bolt strike the center of the figure's torso and crunch right through with no visible effect. The foul smell from the creatures finally became clear when they shuffled into the light of the torch. "Undead!" Screamed Lag. "They are animated corpses!" Ben watched the four figures shuffling towards him and immediately charged the first. His dagger cut a slash along the chest of the corpse and his mace crushed the things right shoulder. Although one arm appeared to be out of action, the blow from the other arm rocked him back. While he maneuvered to the undead's bad side he noticed a chest in the alcove that the thing had emerged from. He shouted to Weasel. "Chest in the alcove runt, see if you can get it while we keep these things busy."

Weasel, who had plunged his sword into the back of the dead thing several times without result, dove into the alcove and started dragging the heavy chest out. He saw Ben and Keller fighting shoulder to shoulder and Lag just behind them chanting in some strange tongue. He heard the crunch of Ben's mace and the blind man's staff hammering into flesh and breaking bones. But as good as that sounded, he also smelled fresh blood from his companions. As he dragged the chest towards the portcullis under cover of his fellow thieves he noticed the light getting dimmer and his breath fogging in the suddenly freezing cold air. He looked over to Lag and saw his drawn and grey face furrowed in concentration. He saw one of the shuffling figures burst into flame and fall backward. Lag fell to the ground and his now barely flickering torch lay forgotten at his side. The light slowly dimmed as the burning corpse fell down and the fire that engulfed it slowly burned out

Keller's nose was filled with the smell of decay and burned flesh. The others were making too much noise for him to tell precisely where all the things were. "Just lucky they drag their feet loud enough so I can do THIS." He thought as he brought his staff down with a satisfying crunch. He felt blood running down his arm and he was sure he had at least a couple of broken ribs. "This is NOT what I signed on for." He thought as he fought for his life.

Ben saw Lag's unmoving form lying to the side and blanched. The kid was a royal pain sometimes, but he had saved Ben's life twice and debts like that had to be repaid. "Weasel, get in here and grab Lag, he's down." Weasel's whine echoed through the arch. "But Ben, I almost got the chest out." Ben's roar cut through the sound of battle. "Get in here NOW!" He moved to stand over Lag's fallen form and the three battered figures shuffled to follow them. He was reassured to hear Lag's groans as he slowly roused. Ben saw Weasel dive past one of the moving corpses and take hold of Lag's arm. The slight thief pulled Lag upright and they slowly moved towards the archway. But Ben's glance over his shoulder was costly as the one armed undead slashed it's clawed hand across his throat. Ben saw the blood pouring down his chest. The gurgling sounds he heard from his throat told him it was bad. He saw the blind man cock his head towards him and a pained look crossed his face

Neither Lag nor Weasel had seen what happened when the torch on the floor guttered out and the room was plunged into blackness.

bookmarking, Fed... I want to actually read this, rather than the sneak-n-scan that one has to do at work...

But when you said 'Keller's Tale' I was brought to mind the books Hit Man and Hit List by Lawrence Bloch... The protagonist is an assassin named Keller...

BM (likewise)

Still hoping for some feedback on the story from those of you out there with the time

CHAPTER FIVE[/u]

Keller heard a muffled whine from where he last heard Weasel and Lag. A gurgling from his left told him that Bendo's throat had been torn open. He sensed the surge forward of the shuffling corpses and threw himself back. The backwards tumble caused his broken ribs to grind together but he fought through the pain to try and locate the portcullis. A heavy crash behind told him that Bendo had hit the floor. Making his way past the heavily breathing Lag and Weasel, he heard the small thief call out. "Ben, Keller, where are you. We can't find the exit. Keller… Ben…"

Keller moved towards the location where his senses told him the exit was. He nearly tripped over the chest that Weasel had dragged from the other room. His gentle hands ran over the chest to gauge its size while he tried to ignore the sounds in the distance of the undead tearing Bendo apart. The coppery smell of blood was everywhere now. "Once they're done with him". He thought. "They'll be coming for me." The thought of tireless undead following him forever gave him a cold chill of dread. He measured the size of the chest swiftly and reached over to the portcullis. "It will just fit." He thought.

The echo of shuffling footsteps signaled to him that the zombies were moving again. He listened carefully and heard Weasel's whine by the far wall. "Should have enough time." He thought to himself. He grabbed one of the chest's handles and rolled under the portcullis. He gave a sharp tug and the chest squealed as it dragged across the stone floor. Weasel's voice quavered from the far side of the room. "Bendo, is that you? Are you by the door?" Keller heard the two other thieves dragging themselves his way. He listened for the three remaining undead and realized that they would get to him before Lag and Weasel could reach the exit. His mouth set in a grim line as he realized what he had to do. He reached to his left as he heard Lag's strained voice chanting again.

Weasel panted heavily as he supported the greater part of Laggath's weight. He couldn't understand the words that Lag was chanting, but he hoped it would help them find the way out. Lag's voice cracked as he finished his spell and a glowing light appeared in midair. A cold blue light illuminated the large room. The thieves stopped short when they realized that the three undead were between them and the exit. A motion from the base of the portcullis caught their attention. They leapt forward as Keller reached out and yanked on the crowbar. Lag screamed "NO!" as the portcullis slammed down.

The three walking dead reached through the gaps in the portcullis as Keller dragged the squealing chest further down the hall. Lag's voice was cracking as he called out. "Why Keller? For the love of the Gods WHY!" A voice floated back to the two men. "Because if I hadn't done it to you, you were going to do it to me." Lag heard a surprised grunt and looked down at Weasel. He saw the guilt written plainly on the small thief's face. Weasel ran his hand through his greasy hair. "It was Bendo's idea." Whispered Weasel. "He figured to kill Keller after the job and just split things three ways." A stricken look crossed Lag's face. "And now Ben has killed us too." He spat angrily.

They heard struggling grunts in the distance and the squealing of the chest stopped. Keller's voice carried to the two men. "Sorry boys, I really am. You should have remembered the old saying about there being no honor among thieves." The sound of a door closing echoed through the room.

The echoing click of the lock snapping shut seemed to act as a signal to the three undead. As one, they turned toward the two men and shuffled forward.

CHAPTER SIX

EPILOGUE[/u]

Keller sat in his comfortable chair as he pulled on his boots. Reaching out, he banked the fire in the broad fireplace and stood up. Several steps took him past the huge, silk covered bed that dominated the room. Picking up his worn, grey cloak from the back of a chair, he shook the dust off it before he fastened it on. His questing hand searched among the dozens of half finished locks that covered his huge table and he found the basket full of apples he had left there. A firm apple joined the heavy coin purse that rode inside his shirt. Smiling, he pulled out a soft scarf from his pouch and tied it around his milky white eyes. He moved to the stout door and un-barred it. Taking his oldest and most battered cudgel from a rack by the door, he exited his comfortable little house and grinned as the smells of the city hit him. He locked the door behind him and moved out onto the street.

The tap tapping of his cudgel echoed from the nearby buildings as he moved down the street. He moved to the side as he heard the sound of a carriage coming down towards him. The carriage paused and Keller smelled two separate perfumes on the wind. "Nobility." He thought as he waited for them to move on. His guess was confirmed when he heard one of them speak. The accent of the High Nobles in the voice of a young girl carried to him. "Oh Mummy, look at the blind man. It's so sad. How terrible it must be for him. The poor, poor man." The crack of a driver's whip was followed by the sound of carriage wheels clattering across the street's cobblestones.

Keller lowered his head and shook it. "Yes," he thought "the poor, poor man." He laughed out loud and picked up his pace. A bright smile lit up his face as he moved down the street. The tap tapping of his cudgel took on a jaunty beat as he faced a new day.

Finally got around to finishing this story, hoping to get some feedback from anyone who has a little time to read and comment.

I was planning to write a few more short stories about Keller. Hoping for suggestions on style and character improvements.