Exalted Warlock - 49 Chapter 10

“And where the hell are we supposed to find such a person?” Soykan asked, raising the same question that Magnus asked.

The four thieves stood right outside the medical bay were Bulut rested. Shui explained the issue that they had, but now the question was how will they address it.

“We could ask our good friend the Whisperer if he knows any Magical docs in town,” Taylan supplied. Which was a good idea since they really had no other option or any other course of action to follow.

“Mmm, that is actually a good idea,” Soykan said voicing everyone’s thoughts.

“HEY!” Taylan shouted as a look of indignation passed through his face. “I might be a joker but that does not mean I am a halfwit.”

“So, you do know that you are a pain in the ass, huh?” Magnus asked as he caught the man in his slip up. It was his fault and his fault alone that he gave Magnus such a wonderful opening.

“Now that hurt,” Taylan as he painted a hurt look on his face. “I bring cheerfulness and joy to all. It is all of your faults that you have a stick up your ass.”

“Enough,” Soykan shouted. “This is not the time or place for witty quips. I want everyone with their game face.” That no-nonsense pronouncement from Soykan got everyone silent and they made themselves as well behaved as could be for a rowdy bunch like them.

“Magnus go visit Master Whisperer and see if he knows any good doctor, magical in nature that is. Taylan and I will make our rounds in town. We will see if we could luck out and run into any genuine adequate physician that could have a second look on Bulut, and find out something that Shui couldn’t.”

Then turning to face Shui he raised his hands in the air, “Of course I do this with all good intention and mean no offense to you, Shui.”

“None taking,” Shui replied. “It would be the correct idea for somebody to have a second look at him.”

“Good,” Soykan uttered with a nod of his head. “During all that you shall remain with the big man and keep an eye on him.”

“That was exactly my line of thinking,” Shui said.

“Alright then, everyone knows what they should do. So let’s head out!”

————————————-

For the third time in a row, Magnus banged his fist upon the patch which was the secret opening. Nobody answered. Why should they? It was so deep into the middle of the night you couldn’t even find a single soul out. Even the nightcrawlers made themselves sparse.

That realization made Magnus yawn as he became aware that he did not get any sleep all night and would not, for quite some time.

It was clear that nobody would be answering the door. However, Magnus just could go away, he needed the Whisperer and he needed him now. With little options left Magnus walked back to the mouth of the alleyway. He racked his eyes over the building looking for another entryway.

He noticed a door at the front of the building then without a word he made his way over to it. With the little amount of due regard he had left in him, Magnus knocked on the door. And got the same response, none.

Now that all paths of consideration were exhausted, Magnus could have things his way. Taking out his lock picking tools, Magnus got to work on breaking in. In under a few seconds Magnus had the door open as the mechanism clicked into place. He had to say, that was a new record for him, and he was feeling quite proud of himself as he swung the door wide open.

Then he came face to face with a brick wall.

For a while, Magnus was gobsmacked as he stared fixedly at the wall before him. Finally, his mind rebooted itself and he realized what he was staring at, a false door. He wondered what sort of paranoid bastard would you have to be to set up a false door, a Fucking false door.

Well, you would have to be at the Whisperer’s level.

In his anger, Magnus punched the door to relieve some of his irritation and vexation. That action only caused him pain as he jumped around the doorsteps grasp his hand in throbbing agony. Once he settled himself, Magnus got to work looking for another entrance.

As he stepped back from where he stood, he saw that there were two windows, with their shutters closed shut and the curtains blocked him from seeing what was inside. But that never stopped him and was really as good as any entrance for him.

However, the windows were overlooking the street, and even if nobody was awake at this time, there were still the guards. Furthermore, one might walk upon him in the middle of the deed as he was breaking and entering.

Sighing deeply, Magnus walked back to the mouth of the alley, he looked to see if there were an opening deep into the dark recesses of the alley, away from prying eyes. He spotted another window closed shut and curtained. He would have loved to work with it, but he saw no latches for him to grab onto against the cold, smooth stone.

His eyes surveyed the area looking for another way to make it to the window. He did not have all day to stake out this place and look for another entrance. Bulut was waiting for him back in the hideout, unconscious and being consumed by some Magical infection.

Magnus’s eyes landed on the building right next over, it was close, really close, just jumping distance away. As that realization crossed his mind, Codex immediately knew what he would try to pull off next.

“No, no, no,” Codex cried out.

“What are you going off about?” Magnus asked as confusion was written all across his face.

“You know what I am talking about, and you know it well, Mister,” Codex growled out.

“I seriously do not have any idea what you are talking about,” Magnus said, getting defensive all of the sudden.

“You. Will. Not. Jump. Those. Buildings,” Codex spat out each word.

“Mmm, now that you mention it, it does sound like a pretty good idea. Thanks,” Magnus declared as he made his way over to the adjacent building.

“Are you crazy?” Codex suddenly asked as she saw him lockpick the nearby establishment.

Magnus mulled it over as he got himself inside the building which was thankfully abandoned as trash, dust, and small critters littered the place. That made his work all the more easier as he climbed up the rickety staircase.

He didn’t stop on the second floor thanks to it not having a window adjacent to the alleyway window right next over. Climbing up to the third floor, Magnus found a path that lead to the roof. Getting the door open, he was assaulted by the fresh night air which was a welcome comfort to that dust ridden building.

Magnus walked to the edge and looked over to his target. It was a floor right below, so this made it a tricky jump as he had to angle it right. Plus it was a dangerous one at that since only the cold ground floor awaited him if he did not land this perfectly.

“To answer your question, Codex,” Magnus said as he hyped himself up for the jump with deep intakes of breaths.

“Yea.”

Grinning madly up to the starry night sky, he reiterated, “Yea, I am batshit crazy,” as he jumped.

Time seemed to slow all around him once his feet bounded off of the edge. The air whipped against his clothing and the exposed upper section of his face causing his garments to flap in the breeze and his eyes water. The jump that should have been only a few seconds became minutes, hours, days as his objective became closer and closer.

However, there was one issue, one that could be his undoing, and could send him tumbling down to his doom. His aim was off! He lined himself up too high so he would be landing above the window sill.

Thus Magnus watched helplessly as the structure became nearer and nearer, he had only enough time to form one thought, ‘Fuck!’

Then he struck the stone wall above the window like a potato sack, he could have sworn that he heard some crunching noise, but he had a bigger concern to worry about. His breath was knocked right out of his lungs, causing him to be dazed, and started seeing some stars. It was only thanks to his instinctive need to survive that he made a mad scrabble with his hands as he slid down the stone wall.

Wither it be by the luck of the gods or whoever was watching over him, Magnus, in his mad scrabble seized the window still. He held on to it for dear life as his feet dangled into empty air and his arms strained under the weight of it all.

Spurring himself onwards, Magnus elbowed his way onto the window still, fortunately, there was enough room for his feet to perch on albeit not that much. He squatted there for a while as he tried to get his breathing under control and once he got himself in order, he surveyed his surroundings.

That was a mistake as the ground which was a couple of meters below came into immediate view causing a swirling sensation of vertigo. Magnus quickly gripped the window frame as his breath came in frantic gasps and his heart beat wildly against his chest.

It was clear now, why you should never, ever look down when you are at a great height: that dizzying sensation is positively unpleasant. Balancing himself as best he could, Magnus let go of the window frame and tried to pry open the glass panel.

It did not budge which made it clear that it was locked shut. Magnus asked himself why the paranoid bastard just couldn’t have left a window open for him which would have made his life much more easier.

Getting his tools out, Magnus got to work on getting the latch open while making sure not to fall backward and on to the ground down below. It was unpleasant work as his fingertips were bloodied and torn with some fingernails even flaking off, thanks to that mad scrabble of his. Now add that to the cold night wind which was making his hand numb and clumsy, and his work got all that much more challenging.

Nevertheless, in the end, the latch clicked into place and Magnus was able to push it wide open. Quickly he got in, then crouched as he surveyed the surrounding, he had to be careful considering what a paranoid weasel the Whisperer was. Who knows what other surprises he has in store!

Thankfully, the coast was clear as a result Magnus got up from his adopted position and was able to grand himself the reprieve be deserved. The first thing he did was give himself a once over, he knew that everything was not in order.

Foremost in importance, was his bloodied fingers. It was a small miracle that he was able to clutch the window still as his digits were slick with blood and throbbing with pain. He quickly treated his wounds as best as could, as he applied one of Shui’s salves. Then he dressed it with the bandage he kept on hand, that will have to do for now until Shui could have a closer look at it.

The next problem he had to address was what produced that crunching noise, it was easy to find the culprit as his nose felt out of place and on fire. He knew what these symptoms meant, a broken nose.

With a deep sigh, Magnus pinched his nose then snapped it into place. The pain was brief but he nearly got knocked unconscious as the pure agony assaulted him, indiscriminately. Still, the effort was worth it as it was better to do it sooner rather than later. The only thing left was the madly itched and the disappearing after-effects of the burning sensation.

Besides those two points of concern, everything else was in order except maybe the dust he collected.

“Was it worth it?” Codex suddenly asked while Magnus was dusting himself over.

“Well I did get inside,” Magnus replied with a shrug.

“At the near cost of your life!” Codex screamed as she lost her top with the absolute indifference he had with the close shave.

“Alright, calm down, Codex,” Magnus said as he held out his hands in a soothing gesture. “It didn’t happen so there is no need to lose sleep over it.”

“Don’t calm ME,” Codex shouted. “You, young man, have been off the rails. You have been doing all sorts of dangerous stunts and being putting your life at risk. I will have no more of that! It stops right now and right here.”

“Are you still angry about earlier today?” Magnus asked, catching on quickly to Codex’s mood.

Codex didn’t even choice to deny it but did the complete opposite of it as she went on ahead and admitted it with a big, “YES! Yes, I am angry about that, and do not even make me get started on it. I had enough! I will not put up with you placing your life at risk anymore. This ends now.”

“Come on Codex,” Magnus whined like a little child to his parents.

“No, no, no,” Codex said as she wagged her finger. “You have no consideration for your life at all. You couldn’t care less if you died today because you think you might have another go at it. But what if you do not? What if this is it? What if it would be the end? Did you think about that possibility?”

A moment of silence passed over both companions as Magnus had to face the reality of what Codex said. Was he suicidal? The answer was obvious in his opinion, NO. He did have tendencies to put his life at risk, and he could see how that could be a constant worry for Codex. But that did not mean he was suicidal, it only indicated that he was a bit on the reckless side of things.

Though was he subconsciously suicidal? This life has been unpleasant and was way worse than his previous life even with all the difficulty that it came with. So far, he had to fight for every scrap he had and he had to commit a lot unlawful acts to get by.

Magnus stopped himself there, now he was overthinking stuff and putting himself in a conundrum. This is Codex being her usual worrywart, if she did not complain about a few dozen things concerning him then she wouldn’t be herself. Plus he was sure that he was not suicidal. Or at least that is what he would like to think.

In any case, before he could put any more musing towards that direction, he heard a noise. Immediately Magnus took out his curved daggers and got ready for a tussle or trouble that might come his way. The sound was faint like the slapping of skin on skin, and close by which was why he was able to catch it.

Magnus’s head locked on to his left, where a stood door leading off to somewhere else, that was where his ears tracked the sound to, where it was coming from. Slowly creeping forward, Magnus headed over to the door, maybe this might give him a lead regarding where that bastard was. In any event, it better be, because he sure as hell did not want to search the whole building for that son of a bitch.

Once he reached the door, he slowly inched it opened it and finally got a good view of what laid beyond plus what was making that sound. Immediately he regretted his action as inside was a bedroom with two individuals going at it like rabbits on top of the bed in the middle.

“What fuck?!” Magnus shouted, as he raised his hands up in the air unable to deal with this. The woman, he had no clue who she was but he could easily guess that she was a prostitute but the man, on the other hand, he knew him well.

No wonder the fucker did not open the door, he was too busy banging away. His shout must have drawn both the man and woman’s attention towards him and they all stared at each other suspended in time.

Magnus was the first to do anything as he shook his head and addressed the man, “No wonder your wife you left.” Then everything went to the shits as the woman broke down into an ear splitting scream and the man tried to run.

That is when Magnus realized how this must look, a cloaked and masked coming into your sleeping chamber in the middle of the night, well equipped is never a good sign. Now that he thought about it, it could only mean only thing really, assassination.

“Come on, you got to be serious,” Magnus said with a weary sigh as he darted forward and intercepted the man halfway towards the main door. He grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him back causing him to take a few steps back and fall on his ass.

Immediately, the man started begging and pleading as he saw no way out of this. “Please, let me live. I promise I will pay you double, no, make that triple whatever you are getting paid right now. Please, let me live.”

“Oh, shut it,” Magnus said as he turned to face the woman. She immediately recoiled back in fear and alarm as she drew further in on her corner. Without a word Magnus tossed her a few gold lions and indicated with his head towards the side door he came in from.

The woman did not need to be told twice what to do, as she collected her coins, grabbed her clothes from the ground, and ran off.

“Please, good sir, just let me go and I promise I will pay you four times what you are getting.”

“What did I saw, now?” Magnus asked in a much deeper and menacing voice.