Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [123]
The blades were clean and sharp enough that he could see his reflection in them, something he’d not done in a long time. He had to admit—without any surprise, given everything he’d been through—that he looked horrible. Dirty and ragged and covered with a thin coating of bone dust. Still, he could not hold back a smile.
He handled the blade gingerly, as its construction seemed to threaten to poke him at every moment. He looked around at the scattered treasure and wondered if he should risk taking more. Almorra, after all, had promised him and the others any additional treasure they found. But anything would have to be hauled back up the pit and out of the city. In the end, he quickly chose two small sacks of gems—emeralds and diamonds—and a good-sized satchel of platinum coins stamped with the seal of the Royal House of Kryta.
Dougal turned and sped back through the catacombs, lacing his way back through the bars of the trap, leaving the vault doors open. When he reached the pit, the rope still hung there.
“I have it! And gems and platinum as well!” he shouted upward. Riona appeared at the top of the pit and waved. The Claw would be too bulky and sharp to carry up on his back, so he tied it to the rope and gave the line a tug. Riona hauled hard on the rope, and the Claw went up in an instant and disappeared over the rim of the pit.
Dougal waited for a moment for Riona to throw the rope back down.
But the rope didn’t return.
“Riona?” he called. “We need to get out of here. Just cut the rope off the Claw and toss me the free end!” Had something happened? Had the ghosts gotten her?
Riona leaned over the top of the well, brandishing the untied Claw in her hand. “I have it! Thank you, Dougal!”
“Wait!” Dougal strove to keep the panic from his voice. “Throw the rope down.”
Riona’s voice cut like a sword. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Something ice-cold struck Dougal in the heart. “What do you mean?” he managed, but the horrible realization was already dawning on him.
Riona gave a mirthless laugh. “I have what I came for and have to leave now. Thank you for all your help. I could not have done it without you.”
Dougal’s blood ran cold. “This was your plan from the start, wasn’t it? You’re the one who alerted the Ebonhawke guards.”
Riona chuckled. “And told Clagg where to find you. Almorra isn’t the only one to send messengers through the asura gates. Though I will admit that I wasn’t sure about it all until we returned to Ebonhawke, and I saw the charr forces arrayed against us.”
“Why?” asked Dougal, but he was already scanning the slick rock wall ahead of him. It would be difficult to climb without a belaying rope, but not impossible.
“Why Clagg and the Ebonhawke guards?” said Riona. “I wanted to get rid of our unwanted allies. This was supposed to be a private party. I thought you and I could pull this off without them, and if you were of a like mind, we could take the Claw for ourselves. From what I knew of you, I thought you could be … convinced, as long as the others weren’t around. But instead of reducing our menagerie, I ended up increasing it. Telling Clagg resulted in the oaf Gullik joining us, and we had to take the rat asura with us after he got us out of Ebonhawke.”
“And the guards in the sewers?” said Dougal, thinking of the horror they had both felt killing other guards.
“A sad accident,” said Riona, her voice wavering. “I had planted myself on the parapet to wait for the guards, but you and that vegetable got there first. No, they were just doing their jobs, like the charr patrol.”
“You can’t take the Claw back to Ebonhawke,” said Dougal, and moved slowly along the ledge, toward the wall and out of Riona’s view.
“Stay where I can see you, or I am gone,” said Riona, and Dougal moved back. “You’re right. That was my original