Left in the Cold

[yutzen]

(another from the archives, another prompt story from Make Up A Criminal. Introducing a thief and hunter in the process)

Thief who desperately wishes to stop finding skeletons-in-closets
 

---

Quick footsteps rang out within tunnels of stone, one pair much heavier and louder than the other.

Through the halls of an old, old ruin, the remains of what had once been a castle half-carved out of a frozen cliffside, a bird and a badger - more or less - made their way into the depths as quick as they could manage. The latter had packed much lighter than usual, with leather of a once-scaled creature as his only armor, and still he was falling behind in their rush towards the depths. Wings, deft legs and over a hundred pounds of difference were just a bit too much to overcome, and Askalim knew it. He called out, sounding almost outraged: "Chitwy, I can't exactly defend you if you run ahead until I can't even SEE you!"

The gliding Cheli whipped around in response, suddenly flying backwards to advance and berate at the same time. "And I can't exactly grab what we're here for if we ain't even there yet, Quills! We're in a race, and that ain't gonna hold 'em down forever!", she yelled back while pointing far behind the Toskar with the spur of her wing. At the very back of the hallway laid several others of his species, flailing blindly in a cloud of what looked like smoke at first glance, until the drifting clumps and the damp, musty smell gave it away as the spores of something far worse. "Just catch me at the door, and don't even think about stoppin' there for a breather, 'cause I ain't picking locks today!" Her voice was a near-shriek, without a iota of care for being overheard, and once she was done with it Chitwy turned around and got back to running, not losing an ounce of momentum. Despite her attire, a thick, coat-shaped tangle of wool and what hopefully only looked like spiked brambles, she remained frighfully quick and even aerodynamic.

All the more trouble for the badger, who was forced to hurry more and more after the bird on his stocky, aching legs. She's just bold, his boss had said, bold enough to fetch the prettiest penny, and right now for this job they'd need one hell of a penny. She said only someone like Chitwy could do a smash-and-grab with something that could move small mountains, like they were doing just now. The ever-cheery chiropteran had even suggested she'd just need "a good bit of help with the 'smash' part", back when she sent him along with this ear-splitting little burglar.

And now she had just waltzed right into the target hideout, blown past a patrol with just a puffball the size of his head, and meant to use him as a battering ram while flying blind with an old map in her claws. He had expected a complex plan and all he got was a blitzkrieg of chaos, one the Toskar was forced to aid with - following her trail the whole time lest he get swept up too. All he could do was mutter between ragged breaths, "Lord below, Zee, where do you find these people...?"

Then the swallow stopped on a dime, hovering in mid-air right before a spot that looked entirely unremarkable to his eyes... But his eyes weren't Chitwy's: A toskar's eyesight was above average for the caverns, which would make it barely passable in any sunlit place. But the Swallows' eyes were made for details near and far, and this one's sight was a step beyond. More than enough to spot the shift in tone and a series of suspicious little creases that brought her to a sudden halt...

Just as she asked, Askalim did not slow down. And when the Cheli threw herself out of the way, pointing a talon straight at the spot in the wall she knew was it, he just tucked his head low with an unhappy groan and got his new axe ready for action. For her to tell him "This door for example, even if it ain't look like one!" just confirmed what he needed to know: It would be a painful catchup, yet one that'd hopefully give them an actual shortcut. With this kind of havoc, they'd need one.

And so, he turned it around, twisted his torso, and brought it smashing sideways into the creased spot on the wall, hoping against hope that it was some kind of secret door and not just solid, carved stone like everything else in this damned hallway. He really didn't want to ruin another axe.

And the blunt end hammered right through, the wall proving loose brickwork on a hidden frame - scavenged stones simply polished to look like the rest - which was smashed into its components when its hinges wouldn't give. Lucky him, she was right! Keeping his momentum, he almost eagerly threw himself right through the crumbling blocks with his head kept low, scattering them with his corpulence - before feeling himself near-shoved forwards by Chitwy once she saw the smallest hint of a breach, much to his annoyance. "Care to wait 'till I've cleared, you jumpy sack of-!?"

He couldn't finish, already finding himself interrupted by the burst of another puffball torn right from the swallow's coat, smothering the room in spores before he could even witness what or who was inside it. Covering his nose and eyes with one hand, the toskar rose his axe with the other and listened for any movements that weren't his apparent partner in crime swooping into the room, barging through her own cloud to find what they were looking for. The chorus of coughs that erupted through the place was not encouraging at all, no matter how incapacitated they were right now. But all he could do was wait and back against the wall where he could be sought for protection, as the sound of flapping wings filled his ears between coughs... And he could not shake the feeling he had heard one of them before.

"FOUND THE BAUBLE!"

Bauble was a misnomer. As Chitwy landed before him, Askalim could see the artifact they'd been asked to bring, right in her claws: A little spiral artifice, actively twisting within its crystalline case, with caps of heavy pitch-black metal at each end keeping it sealed. Almost by instinct he reached out to touch it, and immediately a buzz of unknown energy traveled down his claw and into his body, making him shiver... and in shivering, he could swear the thing, and the slabs of stone right beneath his feet, and even part of Chitwy herself, trembled right along - and he could feel it like they were part of him.

Pulling away, he shook off the daze and clenched the axe in his hand, ready to face down whoever was left just in case it was too late to run. Shoving the bird aside, he stepped forwards into the fading cloud, letting the room's details be unveiled as the spores dropped to the floor. Already he could see the contours of a large hall, with tables and chairs set about, and an imposing throne in the back, upon which a hulking figure that was undoubtedly an old Toskar (going by the quills at his back, and the mustache and tusks his silhouette showed). And soon the coughing figures stopped, going upright and turning towards him; more Toskar from the looks of it, all of them armed and dangerous, all of them eager to end his and the bird's lives for interrupting whatever happened here. And soon enough the cloud had fallen enough that he could see their faces: Most scarred, some bristlier than others, stripes of black and blue down their faces, and one of them glaring at him with green eyes that he swore he'd seen before, even before he-

Askalim froze, all sounds within the room fading to his ears, and all sights but one following with them. All he could hear was...

---

Yeah. Sergeant Askalim. Prowling the perimeter, with a lockbox under each arm. I thought the big fuck with him was shady even then, but now...

Ohoho, no, taller than even him! Could've been some Consortium bastard, or even one of the Bannerbound for all I fuckin' know! Some real interestin' company Sparky found either way, no?

Don't give me that shit about your record, no one is that fuckin' perfect unless they're hidin' something. And you sure are hidin' somethin' under your sleeve, no?

I say let judgement be passed, and they can see what they find. After all, wouldn't find anything if he didn't do anything, so why should he worry, no?

See? Last refuge of the scoundrel, blaming everyone but himself! Just let it up, admit it, would be more respectable if you did, ya fuckin' traitor. Traitor and a liar and a coward, what a fuckin' mess. I told ya we should've never let him in. Fuckin' Sparky...

Ohoho, aren't you pissed. Someone's mad he got found out, huh, Sparky? What, you're gonna blame me next?

Like I said, let judgement be passed. Do nothing, fear nothing, no? You two, cuff this traitor right away before he tries anything. The rest of you are dismissed.

Hah, nah. Say what you fuckin' wanna. It's your word against mine, Sparky~.

---

It had all gone right so far, maybe even better than expected. She had been lucky that passage straight to the heart of the castle had been patched so poorly once you could actually see it. And the big guy Ziv-Ziri had so generously provided her had done his job admirably so far, the best shield-slash-battering ram she could've asked for! Holding the prize in her talons without even the slightest scratch or snag, Chitwy couldn't complain.

Right until now.

Askalim had lost all momentum, stopped like a (trembling) statue facing every other badger in the room, the tension in his body palpable even at this distance. He wasn't going anywhere like this, she could see it... The good news though is that he was being a terrific distraction. All the others were staring at him just as stock-still, even the calmest of them looking unsettled. The green-eyed one in the fancy helmet was almost funny to her, watching his smirk melt to actual horror in real time.

So she pounced on opportunity and went flitting behind them, ready to take them out while their focus laid elsewhere. Curiosity demanded a glance at her companion though, to see whatever he was doing to get so much attention, and so she tilted her head to take a look...

"Hello, captain~..."

That was a bad tone of voice and she knew it. But it matched the sight: His eyes were wide as plates, as were his pupils, almost ablaze with the light of the torches in the room. And for the first time since she'd met the guy, she saw him smile- no, grin outright, even if any happiness she could see in it had a minimum safe distance. She could see every damn tooth he had in there: The sharp ones, the chipped ones, even the missing ones long replaced with copper(?), primed to clamp around someone's throat.

"Oh but you're a little above captain now, right? Interesting company you've got here, Valkut, fit for an irreproachable, perfect little soldier of the Voska Empire, no~?"

And from the sounds of that, and the one his eyes were fixed on, she knew exactly whose throat that was. And already he was taking slow, prowling steps towards this Valkut as his mouth dripped with the most virulent verbal venom to grace her ears. Everyone present, even her, was either reaching for their weapon or already had it raised, as this standoff proceeded... except Askalim himself, who kept his axe down and his trembling hand up like it was a simple greeting - much as she could see those claws were eager to draw blood. Everything in his stance screamed it: The animalistic glare, the slow steps, that grin, the faint tremors through his body, and those raised quills at the back of his head, along with the rest that pinned his armor back as they rose-

And Chitwy's eyes caught a single spark of electricity snapping between quills in an instant, briefly lighting the room behind him, drawing further attention from her own skulking behind the others. She was always wary of asking one of these badgers whether they could channel or not, things got awkward if they couldn't, but that answered that. And it just validated what she knew: Never touch an angry Toskar. Let alone one this pissed off. And from the looks of it the others knew the adage too.

Finally a voice that wasn't Askalim's, coming from his unfortunate target trying to offer a weak smile. "A-ah, sergeant A-Askalim, a-ain't that a surprise...! Listen, I know this all seems pretty damn shady-"
The next step was a stomp that silenced him, as Askalim hissed his next words through a clenched rictus. "Doesn't it, captain~? Oh, I keep forgetting you're not one anymore. Just as you forgot how thanks to you, I'm no sergeant anymore. Funny how memory works~!"

Valkut took scrambling steps backwards, trying to keep distance from the seething ex-soldier. "S- Askalim, this is just... s-something that had to happen, yeah? Lil' s-sacrifice for the good of the Empire! Just like that time! They n-needed me, and I had to- GAH!" An almost pathetic sight, watching what looked like an actual soldier trip and fall on his ass while backing against a pillar, no matter how quick he got back up. "I n-never meant for you to get-"

"Exiled, is the word you were looking for, or were you looking for something lighter, like 'discharged'? Yet it sure helped, didn't it~?" Her quilly companion was looming over all present, but especially over this old enemy - why did this have to happen now!? Personal business was the worst, Chitwy thought, before her mind was snapped out of it by his next words. "No more prying eyes, no more suspicions, and no more snooping Sparky to ask questions. Isn't that right?" The Cheli grimaced; it's like the sheer hatred in that word drained the air from the room, stopping all breaths cold.

But not Askalim's. He was pointing at the old badger on the throne, uncomfortably close to her, as he hissed his next words through a smile that ached for blood. "Was he the one I saw you with, captain? Couldn't even stab Voskar in the back for another nation, had to do it for some bandit cabals instead. No betrayals, no ideals, just a little extra coin. Called me a traitor, and yet this is worse; there's no word low enough for this."

With this furious Toskar looming over him, showing more teeth than any beasts in the dark, this treasonous soldier could only offer a terrified smile. "H-hey, c-come on, t-this ain't a time f-for p-petty things, just hear me out for a sec, Spar-"

He did not have time to interrupt himself, to clamp his own claws over his mouth. Askalim stopped his words cold with a claw around- no, into his throat, his nails just shoved into the traitor's collar like a wild animal. He didn't even use his axe to tear into him - but that's all Chitwy needed to know. She had work to do.

The sounds of what was too one-sided to be a battle hid her movements, and she quickly pulled a wad of brambles, pulling it into its individual spiky strands with one movement and whipping it over three of the bandits before they could charge towards his rampaging companion. And in a tangle, all three fell, with a clatter of heavy armor. Two of those remaining turned attention to her - right on time to get one smaller puffball to the face each, letting them cry out and fall from the spores crawling in their eyelids. She even got a direct hit into the eyeguards with that second one! Things went wrong even by her standards and still she had it handled, she thought, as she turned towards the last moving Toskar who was bringing a warhammer towards Askalim. She reached into her coat again for-

...the emptiness at the bottom. "Oh fuck how many did I bring!?"

All she could do was watch as Askalim tore Valkut open with his bare hands like a sack of- no, she'd rather not watch that much when the less-gruesome sight of someone trying to backstab him with a warhammer was coming in. She tried to rush in with a shortspear in her hands as this bandit reached out to grab Quills by the shoulder for leverage and bring down the hammer on his head-

ZZZCRACKT

...and fail, as the sparks coursing through his spikes leapt into her hand instead, making her seize like a statue and fall backwards onto the floor. Chitwy learned that lesson thanks to more than one coppery trap, and she decided to make sure this one didn't get back up just now by continuing on her rush to her, and jabbing the spear into the eyeguard until she heard a scream. That should keep her down, and it's not like non-Chelies used those much anyways. She turned towards the last one, the big badger on the rocky throne, spear still in her claw...

Only to see he had closed his eyes, driven his nails deep into handguards built within the stone, and done something that had the lines in the stone glimmering with blue, frost creeping out of his body and over the stone...

"Quills, we gotta go", she yelled, turning to her companion and trying very hard to avoid the grisly sight that had him spattered in red. "I dunno what that guy's even doing, you're gonna have to tell me later, but we gotta go." Another squelch of nails digging into flesh made her wince, and she raised her voice further. "Quills! WE'RE LEAVING! WE GOT THE THING! ASKALIM!?" No response but another tearing sound-

Before she simply smacked him across the snout with the blunt end of her spear.

The traitor fell with a thud onto the ground, falling onto his belly to cover the worst of his injuries. Askalim blinked, staring at his bloody work, then at his claws, then at his partner in crime. "I..."
"No time right now, we gotta leave, Quills, we got the bauble and what is that guy DOING even!?" She was outright squawking, flailing her wings in the air while her lower talons picked up the prize. The hideout, this cold castle, already felt like it was trembling...

Yet when he looked down, he saw those green eyes looking up at him one last time.

With one last furious bellow, that of a warrior rather than an animal, Askalim brought his axe up high, and brought it down upon that fancy helmet and all that laid beneath it, with literal earth-shattering force - for it went right through, with no care for metal, bone or flesh beneath it, and embedded itself into the stone block beneath so hard the head snapped right off its haft. It was done.

Even in the space of less than half a second, Chitwy could see the wits crawl back into his brain, as he held the shattered remains of his weapon. Glancing about, appraising the situation, he thought quickly, and spoke quickly: "Alright, off we go, stay behind me, but first-"

He threw the broken handle at the last Toskar remaining, the old "king" in his throne, nailing him right across the runed metal that served as his crown - with enough force to make him cry out and hold his head in instinct, the glow of the carved runes in his throne flickering out in the process as his claws withdrew from their rightful spots.

"Alright, now we go!"

The way out was much clearer, thankfully. No patrols for Askalim to plow through, or waste puffballs on that Chitwy no longer had. They had all wisely run as the temperature in the tunnels fell sharply, and the walls started to tremble. All they had to do was run, keep running and never stop until they knew it was over. They wouldn't turn around to see if anyone followed them, nor would they turn around to see who else would flee with them as they barged out the entrance to this icy castle, and into the snowbound crags that hid it.

And they wouldn't turn around to confirm that, as they ran off into the distance, out of sight of anyone within, the castle in question was indeed moving, shifting in place, growths of ice rearranging its stonework like musculature. Looking back to see a singular, crystalline wheel of ice that seemed to glare at the two specks as they got lost among the snow, would've only gotten in the way of their escape.

---

"He was there!? OF ALL PEOPLE!?"

A grand expanse of snow, ice and cliffs of rough marble stretched out in all directions. Thick, rolling hills of white were only interrupted by hills of white stone breaching through them - still crowned by a precarious cornice each - and towering mushroom caps, azure in color, under which thickets of crystalline "grass" could grow. Above it all, the cavern roof could hardly be seen, laid too thickly with enormous icicles that loomed almost claustrophobically, like the jaw of a beastly titan. Talar's Snowdrifts, inhospitable as always... and still they held a single dot of light today, one persistent campfire that refused to go out surrounded by three figures, one of which cried out in a shrill voice at the other two.

"Of all people, yes", a smiling Askalim replied. Genuinely smiling this time, a sight that was rare even to those who knew him best. "I'm going to guess that wasn't intentional on your part? Not a belated birthday gift or little surprise? No, that's not your style... A payoff for saving your hide during our last outing at the Spires would've been more your thing." He speculated idly, eyes staring at the fire, before turning back to his chiropteran boss. "You would've indebted me for the rest of my life, Zee." The smile grew distant, as did his eyes once more before he closed them, laying back to let the fire warm him. "And I wouldn't even be upset about it... if you had told me "happy birthday" or anything remotely similar after that, I might've had to kiss you."

He did not see the expression his boss, Ziv-Ziri, made when he said that so off-handedly, but he smiled nonetheless. Chitwy did see it, though, and decided to deflate the moment with her own chirping words: "I, however, might've stabbed you for that, that's the kinda thing you WARN ME ABOUT, BOSS! We already had enough shit on our plate with the guards, and the... old fuck with the throne! DIDN'T NEED THIS BAGGAGE IN THAT PILE! I've had enough of that for a lifetime already!"

Watching the bird skip closer to the fire, just close enough to avoid catching ablaze, the bat tilted her head. "Enough for a lifetime meaning this isn't the first time this happens to you, Chi?" She idly hummed as her slender fingers explored the prize, tapping on the crystalline middle while her palms held its points.
One wing raised in the air with a spur pointing at the ceiling, before it drooped. "...not it getting this personal, that's new. But the bit about stumbling into a soldier from an actual country doing things he'd have to kill me just for seeing? Or a chief, or a pen-pusher, or an agent, or whatever? I've lost count, and not just 'cause I ran out of claws!"
The Vez leaned in closer, bringing one claw to her chin. "Guess with you aiming so high, and us aiming so high now, you just keep stumbling into these. Countries do a bunch of shady things for things like these, once they know they're there!"
One of the badger's eyes opened. "Sometimes it's just their people. Sometimes all you need is a greedy, slimy bastard with some clout to find out, and it goes from there. But they'd need their nation to find out..."

All thoughts were briefly interrupted as a flicker of flame crawled up the Cheli's bramble-coat and she had to dunk it into the snowbank in a hurry to avoid it consuming the rest. "...this friggin' place", she muttered to herself, before turning to the others. "I'd fucking hate it if this is just a permanent job risk, but I also still love the job way too much, so it's not gonna stop me. Just... Don't do that to me again, Quills, for fuck's sake! Or anyone else for that matter but you know what I meant!"

That smile on the badger's face was back, just a little wider than before. Enough to warm a heart, even in a rough visage like his. "Oh, I don't plan to. I haven't felt this peaceful in a while..." Leaning closer to the fire, he dug through the Vezarym's bag for something to eat. "Some have told me vengeance is an empty thing, that it achieves nothing... Maybe so. Maybe the act itself, for its own sake, isn't so. But now... when I catch myself thinking 'and then there's that son of a whore', during hard moments, as thoughts I'd prefer quiet wondered what he'd be up to, what he'd be enjoying whereas I trudged through mud, and stone, and snow..." Once again, he closed his eyes, letting some teeth show in his smile once more. "...now, I can simply answer to myself: He's dead. I killed him. After everything, I killed him, and here I am."

Chitwy piped up, now that she had a chance to calm down. "Does the part where he died fucking terrified and in pain help, or get in the way of that thought? 'cause I don't think I've hated anyone like that in my life, and I'm curious."
Almost a little nervously, Ziv-Ziri's voice piped in as well. "Me neither. Concepts, maybe, some rules and maybe the Consortium on a really bad day, but never that much, not by far! And never that... visceral. Literally or not, eugh."  

With a bit of self-consciousness, Askalim picked some bloodstains off his whiskers, concerned, yet intrigued by the question... After a moment, he sighed, and looked into the eyes of the other two.

"...think what you will of me for this, but... after everything, it helps."