Excerpt: The Fluffy Bunny Chronicles

Gavin heard something bumping around inside the ambulance. Out of instinct he checked his hilt to loosen his sword. Instead of steel, he felt nothing next to his hip. Not having a weapon was almost like being naked. He listened carefully, trying to figure out if it were a person or just an animal inside the carriage. The bumping noise approached the back hatch. Quickly Gavin manuevered himself arouind the corner of the ambulance, giving himself the advantage of surprise once who or whatever came out. A nearly bald head peeped out of the door, looking around.
"Kermit," said Gavin, "you nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you doing in there?"
"Gavin, old chum," said the bald man in the ambulance. "I thought you had disappeared on the face of the earth, it has been so long. This here is my house, come in come in! There is plenty of room for a friend."
Gavin climbed up into the ambulance. The two men sat down in the cramped space. Kermit had a number of blankets and rags scattered in his humble adobe, it was probably the best he do to keep warm on the cold autumn nights. "Wish I could offer you a drink," said Kermit, "but I have just drank myself silly yesterday. Not much else to be done since the end of the last war. Where have you been, old lad?"
"Like you say, not too much to be done since the war. Times have been hard since then. Seems like nobody is hiring honest people anymore."
"Honest people? I think we killed all of them during the war, don't you think?"
Gavin shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes I wonder that myself. You have to wonder who we really killed, what kind of people no longer exist because of us."
"Bah, I do not think of it like that. Actually, I do not think of it at all. Such thinking will drive a man insane, make him drink more and do crazy things."
"Crazy things like live in a decommissioned ambulance?" Both men shared a hearty laugh. "Really, Kermit, what are you doing here? I thought you would stay with the mercenary guild. A lot of the younger lads could certainly learn a thing or two from you. Or at least you could live there and steal their money by playing cards."
"I got myself injured when I came back home. Survived the entire damn war with only cuts and bruises, then came here and broke my bloody leg. Go figure. Was not much good for the mercenary guild, so I came to Mivla's temple to get healing. Cost me a lot of my money to get the bone straightened, bloody greedy priests. Well, naturally my leg hurt so much I had to do some self medicating. Whiskey usually helps the most, dulls the pain right away. At least it used to. Now I am here, this is probably where they will find me dead one day. So I hope, it would be a bloody shame to be kicked out of my house so early. What about you lad? Still with the mercenaries? What is your story?"
"I got tired of killing honest people." Gavin looked at his hands. When he was younger and first started out with the mercenaries, he kept track of how many kills he had. As the war progressed and got uglier, he stopped counting. No one told him that there was no glory in killing people's lovers, friends, and brothers. Especially when you were killing for someone else's cause. More so when you killed for a deity you did not worship.
"I can toast to that," said Kermit. He lifted a flask to his lips and swallowed a long draught. He peered into the flask with one eye and threw it to the other side of the small ambulance. "Bloody flask empties too quickly now days. I think it must be getting smaller."
"I heard a story that the temple carpenter died a rather horrible death," said Gavin.
"Aye, lad," Kermit looked from side to side as if making sure no one else was listening. "The priests came into the courtyard three mornings ago and found their handiman dead. He was stabbed in the chest, nothing was stolen off of him or from his house. So the priests went to get the Sapphire thingy they use in their rituals. Last rites or whatever they do for the dead. You know what? The Sapphire of Mivla was stolen! The two men that guarded it were shot in the throats with tiny darts tipped with poison. The poor men were having seizures and convulsions when they were found. At least one of them is said to still be alive, but only barely hanging on. Just like me when I need a filled flask."
"So if killing two armed men and a lonely carpenter were all that is involved in stealing the sapphire, why did not someone else do it long ago?" Gavin had an idea there was more to this story. He wanted Kermit to keep going without complaining about not having a drink. As he was apt to do from time to time in his story telling.
"Well you see lad, the sapphire is held in a small chest, locked with a certain key. The chest is bolted to a table and enclosed in a glass cube. If the glass is broken, it triggers a magical alarm to go off. So whoever did this beauty of a job, somehow figured out how to dispel the alarm. Not only that they also found a way to open the chest without the key."
Gavin snorted. "I would think such a box would not be opened so easily with simple lock picking tools. How do you know they did not simply have the key?"
"The High Priest of Mivla carries the key around his neck on a silver chain. He still has the key on the chain. Also you are forgetting one detail." Kermit paused for what he thought was dramatic effect. Gavin figured Kermit was just waiting for a drink to handed to him. "If the box is opened without the key, a black dye sprays on the hands of whomever opened the box. And it is permanent dye, it can never be washed off. Some of the black dye was found on the table."
"So, whoever stole the sapphire has black hands? That will make it easy to catch him."
"You got it lad! Smart one you are, always caught on to things like that." Kermit grinned, showing off half rotten teeth. "Except nobody has seen the thief that stole it. Not in three days. Lad, I tell you those priests are worried stiff."
Gavin shook his head. Of all the thieves they could have caught, they caught Gavin Tysdan. A minor thief with some money problems. And somebody pulls off a big crime against a major temple while at least two people, and the perpetrator is not caught? Justice never did seem fair to Gavin. At least he admitted he was a lowly thief. But the man that stole the Sapphire of Mivla probably did not care who he hurt. He was probably half way across the Inner Sea on his way to Taloun. He would likely make a good profit selling the Sapphire to the right buyer, who would turn around and claim to have "recovered" the relic for the Temple. Whoever he was, he was a really good thief to pull off such a job. Only men who were cunning or incredibly foolish pulled off such stunts. Most did not live to tell about it. Especially if their hands were permanently dyed black.
"Hey lad, all this talking has made my throat dry," said Kermit. "You got something to drink on you?"
"Tell you what, friend," said Gavin. "You stay here, I'll be back with drinks for both of us. Consider it a celebration. Just like old times." Kermit nodded enthusiastically.