Gritch Troublemaker's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Gritch Troublemaker wanted the one thing the gods of Mesa Prime guarded above all else. Their most sacred relic. He crouched behind a stone pillar at the temple's edge, counting guards and finding too many. Four at the stairs. Two more at the dark doorway. He had slipped past locks and dogs and angry farmers in his time. But nobody told him where the relic actually sat inside that huge stone building. Rooms branched into rooms. One wrong turn and a guard would skewer a goblin like a rat. He needed a map, or a mouth that knew the way. Blundering blind would get him caught before sundown. Gritch had heard the beggars talk. A woman who once served the temple now slept near the fruit garden past the outer wall. They called her the exiled priestess. Cast out, bitter, and poor. Gritch grinned. Bitter and poor people sold secrets cheap. He found her kneeling in a lush patch of plants, her robe torn and stained, picking berries with bandaged hands. A faded holy symbol still hung at her throat. She did not flinch when he stepped from the bushes. She only looked at him with tired, wary eyes. "A goblin," Mira Ashenvow said. "Here to rob them. Of course you are." She popped a berry into her mouth. "Everyone comes to me now that I'm nothing." "You know the temple," Gritch said. "You know where they hide the big shiny one. I pay." He shook a small pouch. Coins clinked. Mira stared at the pouch, then at her bandaged hands. Hunger moved across her face. "They threw me out with nothing," she said quietly. "After thirty years." She reached for the coins. Gritch pulled the pouch back. "Secret first." Her jaw tightened. For a moment he thought she would send him away. Then she spoke fast, like a woman cutting a rope. "The relic sits below, not above. There is a lower chamber beneath the altar. A hidden stair behind the carved beast with the eagle's head and the lion's body. Press the eye." Gritch's heart jumped. The carved gryphon. He knew that image. He tossed her the pouch. She caught it against her chest. "But you cannot walk in," Mira added. "The guards rotate at the ringing of the evening bell. That is your only gap. Miss it, and you die inside." Gritch backed toward the bushes, already picturing the carved beast and its stone eye. He had his path now. He had his gap. Then Mira stood, brushing dirt from her ragged robe. "One more thing, goblin." Her tired eyes sharpened. "When they find the relic gone, they will know someone told you. There is only one person left alive who still knows that stair." She looked at him. "So I am coming with you. Whether you like it or not." Gritch froze. He had wanted a map. Now the map wanted to follow him inside.