Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Port Fairwind, Southern Geth

The day of the events at Necropolis-on-Sea…

If Katie was being honest, she would admit that she was more worried about the Oxventurers’ reactions to their engagement than the reaction from her Court. She would admit that the only thing keeping her nerves steady was the encouragement of her betrothed. She would admit that she was beginning to feel excited about their pending nuptials, about being married to him. With each day, she discovered a new part of him that delighted her. But as the dust would settle, Katie was left with a glaring truth: honesty was a stranger to her.

After choosing the perfect ring from the Oxenturers’ vast treasure and the laborious task of relocating the gold to another lake, Katie and Dob set out to find the rest of his guild. It took some time, but eventually they came across a barkeep who confirmed that he had seen a group of travellers of the guild’s likeness going west to Port Fairwind in a hurry. Katie inquired about what their purpose was in the city but Dob had little answers for her. Last he knew, the guild was on the hunt for the missing pieces of a puzzle sphere, but what it contained, he did not know. She proposed that maybe they were heading to Port Fairwind to have the sphere’s treasure appraised to an incredulous look from him. In any case, she had reminded him, if what was inside was indeed valuable, they would still need to share it with him. Even if he hadn’t been there when they acquired it. What belonged to one, belonged to all. Guild code mandated it so. Dob persisted that there would be no such issue, and that rather their focus should be on how they would find them once they arrived. However, upon arriving in Port Fairwind, it was apparent that would not be a difficult task.

Katie was aghast. She had never seen the city in such state of carnage. White cobblestones stained dark red, broken furniture abound, iron cauldrons cast aside, and a slow growing mob of people with rage in their eyes and pitchforks in their hands.

“Dob,” she said, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt. He did not respond and pulled himself from her grip. He made his way through the crowd and leaving her behind to make her own way. She pushed through the crowd after him and eventually made her way to the front to see him reunited with his guild. She watched with pride as he calmed the mob with a single spell, causing the crowd to slowly disperse. The guild seemed eager to welcome him back. She had no doubt they were grateful for his perfectly timed arrival, as it seemed to her that they had been in much need of his aid. It was clear her fiancé was an essential part of their team. She wondered how much longer they could have fared without him.

Suddenly, Dob turned to her with a smile and a hand, beckoning her to join him with the guild. He took her left hand in his, proudly displaying the diamond ring on her finger.

“We’re engaged!” She announced, excitedly.

She knew they might not take it well, but to hear such loud objections and cries of dismay, it stung. She gave Dob’s hand a slight squeeze and felt him squeeze back in a reassuring manner. They would need time, no doubt, to come to terms with their betrothal. But surely if Dob could look past their disagreements and see her as she was then so could the rest of his guild. The conversation was loud, mostly on the parts of Prudence and Merilwen, but she and Dob remained steadfast in their vow to each other. However, just as they seemed to be gaining the upper hand in their arguments, the conversation can to an abrupt end at the sudden appearance of a strange man with the legs of a bird. Was he the one who was responsible for all this destruction?

She had barely time to process this new arrival before Corazon leapt towards the man, knocking him onto his back. With a flourishing gesture, the man conjured large beings from the red pools on the white stone. The towering beings marched towards the man. They pulled Corazon off of their master and tossed him aside with ease. Then they proceeded to come together to form a sort of magical barrier around him. It was like nothing Katie had ever seen before!

Katie’s first instinct was to fall back and attack from the shadows, a natural strategy for the Queen of Thieves. She just needed a moment to breathe, to collect herself and her thoughts, and to formulate the best approach to attack such a foe as this man. Katie had settled on her course of action, but it seemed her fiancé had other plans. .

“Katie,” he said, “the one-two punch!” The one-two punch? The move that the monks showed them? He wanted to try the move they had only ever seen right now? Gods, he was a fool, but as she looked at his smiling face, beckoning her to be at his side and to join him in this battle, she caved. This could be her chance to prove her loyalty to the others. So, she nodded to him to signal she was all in.

He tossed his dagger into the air. With a perfectly timed leap, she kicked the dagger towards the being. When she heard his pained cry, she knew she had met her mark. She watched him struggle as he yanked the dagger from his side and tossed it to the ground. With his attention elsewhere, Corazon bashed his pommel into the back of the being’s head in an attempt to subdue him. But the being stood strong. So, they threw all their might at him: fire-breath, vine attacks, daggers, swords, and whatever makeshift weapons they had. Until finally, he fell.

The guild wasted no time questioning the strange man, who they called Vocatus. From their conversation, she learned that he had doomed the entire realm to a terrible fate: endless consumption of wine. She wondered if the man was also after what was in the sphere and perhaps that was why he attacked them. Before she could interject, the guild had turned the conversation to another matter: how to end this curse.

Vocatus told them that he required a great source of power to undo what he had begun. Far too calmly for her comfort, they huddled together to form a plan. She joined their huddle, listening carefully when an unfamiliar name caught her ear.

“Babe, who’s Liliana?” Katie asked Dob. It was an innocent question, or so she thought. Before her fiancé could reply, Merilwen shoved her from the huddle with a sharp elbow to the chest.

“Liliana’s Dob’s other girlfriend, Katie,” Prudence answered with a gleeful jeer.

“He’s sort of had a crush on her for a while,” Merilwen added, evidently all too eager to chime in. Katie looked to Dob for his response, but he avoided her gaze.

“Okay, look, could everyone just calm down for a second? You’re all talking so much. Let’s just take a moment,” he said, somewhat frantically trying to regain control over the guild. Why didn’t he defend her? Why wasn’t he looking at her? Was what they said true? Was this Liliana his lover?

They would have no reason to lie to her, unless they only did it to hurt her, but Dob didn’t deny it. Of anyone, he stood the most to gain from lying to her. She was the thief queen, and their marriage would make him her consort. No, Dob didn’t care about any of that. He had his own wealth. She saw herself in the Lake District! Besides he never mentioned such things to her before, but then again, he never mentioned this Liliana woman to her either. Who was she, and what was she to him?

The guild continued to make plans as she stood on the outskirts of their huddle, but she heard none of it. Their voices drowned out by the questions and worries consuming her every thought. Finally, Dob turned to her with wide eyes and a forlorn look. It was almost enough to lure her back in. Almost. 

“It’s all in the past, babe,” he said, his voice high and his tone pleading as he brandished thin silver threads in her face.

“What’s all in the past? Babe, talk to me! Why did Merilwen hit me? You saw that, right?” She implored.

“I don’t know why Merilwen hit you. She is inscrutable,” he answered, unhelpfully.

Merilwen interjected, “I was defending the huddle.”

“You could’ve just asked,” Katie shot back, before turning to her attention again to her betrothed. She needed a moment to clear her head from this dizzying conversation. “Babe, I am going to go get us something to drink. Do you have any allergies, or anything I need to avoid?”

“Yes, actually,” he said, and her handed her a readied list on a scroll. She found a small comfort in this display of trust. Perhaps she was overreacting. She could admit that since becoming the thief queen she had become little paranoid. “There are a couple of rare herbs and roots that I had to avoid growing up.” She quickly scanned the page but did not see anything she recognized.

“Oh, these things are certainly hard to find. Trust me, you’ll be fine. I’m going to give you a minute then.”

“We are good, right Katie?” He asked while brandishing the mysterious threads in her face once more. “There was this powerful mage and she kind of had –”

“A thing for you?” Katie finished helpfully, but the words felt bitter on her tongue.

“Well, she kind of had a thing for me, and I kind of had a thing for her… There was undoubtedly chemistry…”

“Is she jealous?”

“Uh, I don’t think…” Dob paused for a moment, very carefully pondering his next words. “I don’t think she knows you exist.”

Not careful enough.

“I am going to go get us drinks,” she said, icily. She turned from him, leaving him to address his guild while she tended to her task. Anything to get away from him in this moment. She clenched the list in her hand as his words repeated over and over in her mind as she wandered into an apothecary’s shoppe.

Didn’t even know Katie existed? She was the Thief Queen! She was legendary! Commonfolk and highborn alike trembled at the mere mention of her title. Who was this woman to not know of the Thief Queen? He said she was a powerful mage, but she must not be significant if she had never crossed paths with thieves’ court. Katie tried to imagine what such a woman must look like. She probably lived in a little hovel in a forest somewhere without a care in the world, with dirty bare feet, bright glittering eyes, a wide smile, and long flowing hair that Dob’s fingers itched to touch, to braid… Like he had done for her… and Merilwen… Gods, this was torture! How many women did he have?

“Can I help you, miss?” The shopkeeper’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. She was grateful that the pearl hid her face from the man. She could not bear the thought of a stranger seeing the tears that filled her eyes. She could not bear the humiliation.  

“Er, yes, I am looking for something to drink. Something… refreshing…” She said, though her mind entertained other descriptions of ill intention. “Perhaps yak milk? Oh, and it can’t contain anything from this list,” she added, suddenly remembering the paper clenched tightly in her fist.

“Certainly,” the shopkeeper smiled as he reviewed the list. As he tended to her request, she perused his wares. Here she found stock of sticklewort, alder leaves, root of hellebore and mandrake, bulb of bluebell and foxglove, and dried primrose heads. Healing remedies, surely, for what harm there could be had in a little flower?

“Here you are, ma’am. We’re out of yak milk, but I do have my own concoction. I hope you don’t mind; it’s a tad bitter.” The shopkeeper had returned with two drinks of a dark green colour. “Anything else caught your eye?”

“No, this’ll be all,” she said. She paid the man six copper pieces for her drinks and made her way back to the guild only to find that Vocatus was gone.

“What if they start making out? Join forces! Then we have to fight them both,” Prudence declared, sounding quite exasperated.

“Who’s making out?” She asked, announcing her return. “Here, babe, they were out of yak milk, so I got you a juice instead. It tastes bitter, but don’t worry about it,” she said, hoping all the while he would find the taste dissatisfying.

“Oh, okay thank you,” he said. She felt a little pleasure in watching him painfully try and fail to hide his grimace.   

Suddenly, Merilwen smacked the drink from his hands, wasting three of her copper pieces. To an even greater delight, she watched as Dob admonished the other woman.

“Please, I really like her, and she really likes me. Can you just try to be nice?” He said to Merilwen’s obvious chagrin.  

“It’s okay, Dob. I get it. Jealousy is a powerful thing,” she said, smugly. Even if there were other women, Dob still chose her. He made a promise to her. Not to Liliana. Not to Merilwen. To her.

Again, she felt a great gratitude to the pearl, as it hid her smirking expression just when Merilwen began to protest loudly. The arguing amongst the guild about the juice persisted to the point where Egbert, their noble paladin, dropped to the ground to taste the spilt drink. He declared it tasted of floor and was bitter, as she had said. Even still, Prudence declared that it could contain herbs and roots that were poisonous to her betrothed. At this assertion, Katie felt that she had enough.

“Why would I do that? Why would I poison my fiancé? Why would I want him to die? I want him to live, I want to marry him,” she countered to Prudence, to which she had no reply. Finally, Dob came to her defense, declaring that she didn’t have to explain herself to the guild, and in a grand display he licked the juice off the ground. He chose her over them.

“Now that we are all poisoned, I guess there’s nothing left to do, but proceed,” Prudence said as Dob stood to be at her side.

“Actually, Katie, maybe we can get a fresh pair of eyes on this situation, and maybe everyone can agree that it was a helpful thing that we brought you in,” he said rather pointedly. He explained how Vocatus had tricked them into revealing information about Liliana, allowing him to go after her. Now they were uncertain whether they should intervene or let events unfold between these foes as they may. 

“If it were me in your situation with Vocatus and Liliana,” she began after a moment of reflection, “I would draw them in close then slit their throats while they’re not expecting it, and then, voila! You’re the queen!” Dob looked pleased with her response, but she noticed Egbert and Merilwen’s visible discomfort at this suggestion.

Corazon was the most vocal about his disagreement with her plan. He argued that they would be better served if they observed their fight from a distance and then eliminate whoever was left in the end. The guild came to a consensus that they would intervene to stop Vocatus. It seemed odd to her that they would go to such lengths to protect an enemy. To her, this plan was a fool’s course of action. However, she couldn’t help but notice that her fiancé was quite relieved by this decision. She toyed with the ring on her finger. Perhaps this was a habit of his, saving women from dangerous beast be it of boar… or man.

Only one tasked remained: find Liliana by whatever magical means they had. Unfortunately, their means were few. Neither Egbert nor Merilwen had spells that could locate Liliana, and even if they had the correct spells, they had no means to get to her. Even worse, Prudence was apparently without her magic entirely. What was the point of all these casters if they couldn’t even teleport? However, the Oxventurers did not seem deterred by these obstacles. Instead, they seemed accustomed to them. Dob suggested that they call on a wizard with a strange name to aid them with this matter.

Merilwen, excited, called for him. Nothing happened at first, but then suddenly, there was a clap of thunder that was so great, it shook the very ground beneath their feet. Katie grabbed Dob’s arm to steady herself. When she looked up, she saw an old, wizened man, who looked somewhat pleased to be called upon. Dob rushed forward to introduce her to the wizard, calling him Binbag, and to her surprise, invited the wizard to their wedding. Binbag and Dob prattled on a bit, before her betrothed remembered the pressing matter at hand. He produced the silver threads once again, and presented them to the wizard, revealing that they were, in fact, strands of that woman’s hair.

Katie thought she might be sick.

He had her hair.

Using a single strand of Liliana’s hair, Binbag cast a scrying spell. He cast the spell upon a nearby a cauldron of wine, much to the annoyance of the enchanted townspeople. However, the spell did not deter them from dipping their goblets into the wine. Binbag shooed them away before gazing deeply into the cauldron.

“Oh, she’s goodlooking,” the wizard murmured, and Katie scoffed. Dob frantically gestured to the wizard, who hastily added, “for someone so plain… Look here!” He shouted, and the Oxventurers peered into the cauldron. “She appears to be aboard a ship… but to where is she headed?” He stirred the cauldron, and Katie begrudgingly leaned in to watch as he calmed the rippling wine. On the still surface, she saw a ship upon raging waters bound for a shore she did not recognize.

“Necropolis-on-Sea,” she heard Egbert muttered knowingly. Katie looked to Dob for an explanation, but his eyes remained steadfast on the cauldron.

“We need to get there, quickly! That is my ancestral home!” Corazon exclaimed. “Our home,” he quickly corrected himself at the scathing look from Merilwen. “Binbag, can you teleport us there? Surely, you can do that?” The wizard paused for a moment, before he finally relented to the guild’s pleas.

He traced sigils in the air around them, and runes began to glow on the ground around their feet. He was muttering in a tongue Katie had not heard before. With a clap of his hands, the spell was cast, and what a horrible thing it was. She felt as though she had been split in two by an ice-cold blade while the air around her turned to violent winds, cast from all directions. Then, all at once, the sensation stopped. She opened her eyes to see she was standing on a hillside near a great big tree.

“Are you alright, Katie?”

Dob’s voice was a welcomed sound after such an ordeal. She eagerly took his outstretched hand, feeling unsteady on her feet.

“That was certainly something,” she said, shakily. She noticed how little of an effect the spell had on the Oxventurers. Merilwen certainly had no problem walking up the hill, with the rest following close behind her. Dob, thankfully, remained by her side as they made their way to the hilltop. That was until he heard a sudden panicked cry from Merilwen, and he ran to join her.

Alone, Katie made her way to the guild. Upon reaching the top, Katie saw what inspired the panic, and in truth, the sight caught her own breath. There, anchored in the bay and with waves crashing against her hull, was the largest ship Katie had ever seen. Though, it was not the ship at gave her start, but what it had brought to the shores. Tents – far more than she could count in one glance – had been pitched on the land before a cliffside great manor. A military camp, to be sure. She looked to the Oxventurers. If any of them still had confidence in their plan, it was absent on their faces.

Prudence seemed to be peering at something below through a spyglass. Following her line of sight with one of her own, Katie saw something most strange. Strung up high, gutted and adorned in fine clothes, was… Egbert? No, he was standing beside her on this hilltop… Her eyes must be playing tricks on her, or it was an illusion, or… Or there was far more to this woman that the guild was letting on.   

“If Vocatus is dead,” Prudence murmured. She tossed the spyglass to Corazon, who nearly dropped it in surprise. Suddenly, she conjured a green fire in her hands and hurled it at a nearby tree. She shouted in gleeful triumph. Corazon walked up to the now charred tree to admire the damage.

“Well, I guess that’s settled, then,” he said with a surprising calmness.  

“Except for the fact that Liliana is in our home,” Merilwen countered. Katie found herself silently agreeing with Merilwen. Surely, they hadn’t teleported all this way for nothing.

“We can’t take on Liliana and her army, Merilwen,” Dob said, gently, in a tone she thought sounded familiar. “I think we need to cut our losses and count our wins. Prudence’s magic has returned, and we have a wedding to plan!” He looked to Katie and gave her a small smile. So, they had come here for nothing.

“You’re right, Dob,” Merilwen said, and Katie’s eyes narrowed as she watched her squeeze his shoulder. “I am sure Liliana is sifting through our personal belongings as we speak.” Katie watched as the colour drained from his face. What could be in there that he didn’t want her to find? He snatched the spyglass from Corazon’s hands and quickly scanned the manor.

“To the next mission, gang, wedding planning!” Corazon cheered, clapping Dob on the back.

“Yes, to wedding planning!” Egbert corralled.

Katie felt somewhat relieved at their support, belated as it was. However, when she looked to her betrothed, she saw that he had a far-off look in his eyes. Was it from worry? Fear? Longing? She couldn’t tell, and that hurt more than she could admit.

--

An inn south of Necropolis-on-Sea, Gathered Isles

The evening following the events at Necropolis-on-Sea…

After a hot meal consisting of a meat and carrot stew and a fresh roll that was washed down with a light ale, Katie excused herself from the guild’s rowdy company. Needed to turn in after such a long day, she told them to little protest. She had thought her fiancé might join her, but he bid her a goodnight and sent her to bed with a small peck on the cheek. So off she went to the room by herself.

The accommodations at the inn were modest to say the least. While it was certainly a step up from her recent arrangements, she longed for her own bed in the queen’s private chambers in the Tangle. It had been far too long since she last laid her head on the feathered pillows and silk sheets, and it would be even longer still when she would again. She supposed once they were married Dob would return with her to the Thieves’ Court as her consort. She supposed, but they had not discussed it yet. They had not discussed much at all since they had joined with the rest of his guild. They would talk soon, she figured. After all, they had a wedding to plan, and there remained the small matter of that other woman.

Katie removed the pearl and set it upon the bedside table. She removed her rings, necklaces, and unlaced her leather boots. She studied her appearance in the looking glass upon the wall. If he chose her over Liliana, then surely that woman couldn’t hold a candle to her. Bright blue eyes, golden hair, callused fingers… Did mages’ fingers harden the way thieves did? Or were they soft? Did she perfume her skin? Wear the finest of fabrics and ornaments in her long, silvery hair?

The image of Dob waving that woman’s hair in her face flashed before her eyes. He was so brazen with them. He just carried them around on his person. He carried them still!

She spied his bag in the corner of their room. He wouldn’t be joining her for a while, and she was well-equipped to search through a person’s things without them being any the wiser. With careful fingers, she parsed through his belongings. A mess kit, a disguise kit, some rations, a waterskin… Nothing that would conceal a lock of hair. As she riffled through his clothes, she found his leather folio tucked neatly underneath.

She opened it to find pages loose and disorderly. Pages of music compositions, followed by poems, and incomplete sketches of the guild members, fauna, and unfamiliar landscapes. She flipped through each page, searching, hoping, praying to whatever Gods would hear her… Then she found what she was dreading: a charcoal portrait of an unfamiliar woman.

This portrait depicted a woman of great beauty with high cheek bones, piercing eyes, long pointed ears, and long, flowing hair. Her stomach twisted. This was his most detailed portrait composed of careful lines and thoughtful shading which served to compliment her features. She turned the pages and found more sketches of her, even some of her full body. He adorned her in ornate clothes and jewelry. She was more beautiful than she had imagined. Katie had no doubt that he had penned poems and songs for her, but she dared not look to suffer more. The folio slipped from her hands; papers scattered at her feet as it crashed to the floor.

Her worst fear had come true. She let him make a fool of her, again. Hot tears slipped down her cheeks. She angrily wiped them away. He would have no more of her tears. She would make sure of it.

She dumped out her belongings onto the floor and frantically began to search, but to her surprise, the monk’s book was missing. She remembered packing it when they left their camp, but now it was nowhere to be found. There was only one person who could have taken from her without her noticing: a skillful rogue, one who had no problem defying his queen. So, Corazon’s support for their marriage was a lie. All of them lied. No matter, she had other ways of getting her revenge.

They would marry, she decided, regardless of Dob’s real affections. Regardless of what his guild said. She made had a promise, and she was woman of her word. There was no doubt in her mind that they would marry. She had much to gain being his wife: a lake full of treasure, a fine manor on the shores of the Gathered Isles, and the satisfaction of the Oxventure Guild’s eventual destruction.

She would have to wait to get her ultimate revenge, but she took no issue with that. She could be patient. It would be worth it. She would be careful in the meantime not to rouse any suspicion. He would find in her the most loving and delighted of brides.

She began to tidy the mess she had made of their room as he would come to their shared bed eventually. He could not know she knew of his true heart.

As she tidied, she pondered all the ways she might do it. Following their wedding ceremony, she could slit his throat in their marital bed. She could poison him and the rest of the guild at the reception with cups of tainted wine. Or she could bring them all to the court with the ruse that she would be presenting Dob as her consort, only to have them hanged for treason against the Queen. They could serve as a warning to any who might still be against her. She would not be made a fool, not by them, not by anyone. She would rid herself of her enemies one by one.

Just as she settled on this plan, she stumbled upon a piece of paper that gave her pause: Dob’s list of rare roots and herbs that he couldn’t eat. She tucked the list into her waistcoat. She would have to be careful, but she saw no reason why she couldn’t make him suffer a little before they were wed. A thought that brought her a private delight that she was all too willing to admit.