“Wait, wait, don’t kill him!” Hear cried. “My orders were not to kill him! I need him!”
The thug with the club, who was winding up to bash Otto a second time, stopped mid-swing.
As soon as the Paladin had been knocked out, See No Evil dropped his disguise and transitioned into the hulking, globular form of his true self. It had never bothered him that he was so ugly. After all, why worry about your appearance when you could change it at will? The fact that one of the Pauper Prince’s thugs had hit him during their little charade couldn’t be ignored.
“How dare you strike one of the master’s men, you oaf!” Hear shouted as his long lizard-like form untangled from See’s drooping flesh.
Now in his full size, See lumbered over to the Riftling who had punched him and threw him against the cracked wall with one meaty arm.
“You told us to make it look real!” another of the ruffians cried.
See didn’t respond, his anger making him lean into his weight to crush the Riftling’s neck.
“Let him go!”
The female voice came from the other end of the alley. As she emerged, See saw that it was once of the Pauper Prince’s lieutenants: Moffet.
“You listen here,” Hear hissed. “When our master ordered the Pauper Prince to lead us to Clockwork Cove, she told him to make sure See and I were unharmed. Now, how do you think she would react if she found out one of his men had punched one of us, hmm?”
Moffet shrugged. “We could handle this kidnapping on our own. Why do we need you?”
See laughed and loosened his grip on the Riftling. As much as he hated the blue-headed lieutenant, he had to admit that she had spirit. Also, if anything were to happen to her, the Pauper Prince could make things bad for him once he returned to Clockwork Cove. He did not want to have to go back to that smoky, cog-infested place any time soon.
“Because we are our master’s greatest spies!” Hear retorted. “Correction, we are the greatest spies. Listen, once you’ve spilled the Paladins’ dirty secrets, then you can flee back to your Prince, but not a moment before.”
“And once you’ve let go of my man, we will tell the little hero what he wants to hear. Our deal of no harm went both ways, remember?” said Moffet.
See grunted and removed his arm from the Riftling’s neck.
“Yeah, yeah, then just consider us throwing your boy into a wall as making us even then.” Hear slithered over to the Paladin and checked that he was breathing. “Good, at least you don’t seem to have done any permanent damage to my pawn.”
See walked over, raising his brow.
“You’re right. If we’re using chess analogies, he would much better suit a knight.” Hear glared up at the gang of ruffians. “Well? What are you waiting for? Bag this shiny boy before he wakes up. We need to set up everything to make it look like you’ve captured both of us.”
See frowned, hoping Hear wasn’t pushing his luck with them.
Moffet sighed and gestured to her men. “You heard the . . . thing. Tie him up and take him down into the Underbelly.”
They jumped into action, putting a sack over his head and binding the Paladin’s wrists.
Moffet raised a hand to her forehead, not looking all too happy about where her faith in the Prince’s cause had brought them. “Remind me, why am I taking orders from you lot again?”
“It’s the pecking order. Your master is loyal to ours,” Hear said, standing on the end of his tail. “Besides, you have a new Riftling on your crew. And we both know how Paladins react to Riftlings.”
Moffet nodded, and once her men had the Paladin bound, she gestured to the alley. “Take him down, boys.” She followed after them. “Now, I guess I’ll have to work on my acting chops.”
See grunted and transformed back into the seneschal. Hear slid up his leg and wrapped himself around See’s shoulders.
“Don’t grunt at me like that. You’re always going on about how well you know my plans, and yet you always look like you’re judging me, even when it goes smoothly.”
See huffed, unable to say that getting punched wasn’t something he would describe as “going smoothly.” He followed the men down into the alley, where a hole led into the dark depths of the Underbelly.