Bound Evil

As they got closer to the commotion up ahead, Emily noticed that everyone was avoiding the scene like a plague. Casting their eyes away from the group of chained individuals. Emily took a closer look at them and could see even the clothes they wore on their bodies were made of the poorest material, held together by twine and desperation. All of the prisoners looked like they hadn’t known a bath in months and, as though to pair with that, grim acceptance masked their faces. All, save for one—a scraggly man currently lying on the floor looking up at his attacker with a light of defiance in his eyes. The guard above him wielded a heavy metal club, which he pointed at the man viciously.

“Get out of line again and you’re on rock-chopping duty for a month!”

By now the two of them were approaching parallel with the group and the man looked desperate. He glanced about and caught the eyes of the only bystander who was looking in his direction. Emily.

Seeing her passing so close, he dove to his feet with a surprising burst of speed and dashed towards her, causing the line of prisoners behind him to get dragged off their feet. The guard shouted but the man was determined and because of the unexpectedness of it, Emily watched the man reach out toward her with grimy hands.

Grabbing hold of her clothes, he just about shouted in her face.

“Please! I’m begging you, buy me out of this hell, I’ll do whatever you need, have mercy!”

Everything had happened so fast that there was a brief window where no one reacted.

Alex took a step and drew his daggers, next, was the guard, who charged after the prisoner, but it was Emily who got to the man first.

Her knee connected viciously with his groin, causing him to keel over in pain. Then when he was at boot level she drew back and kicked him in the face sending him crashing to the ground on his back.

The whole area stuttered to a halt, even the guard who’d been chasing after the prisoner slowed.

Emily couldn’t help as her nose wrinkled in disgust and she tried to brush off the areas where the man's hands had accosted her.

As though waking, the guard and his allies restrain the now unresisting man, and as they dragged him back to the others. The man with the club came forward.

“Miss, are you alright?”

Looking up, Emily nodded to the guard calmly. Without thinking she relaxed her posture to mimic the people she’d seen on the upper levels.

“Yes, of course, apologies that I had to take that into my own hands. But I feared for my life. Darn, and I was having so much fun down here too...”

The guard glanced at her and then over her shoulder at Alex. A light of understanding seemed to enter his eyes, along with… concern.

“Aaa, yes, I completely understand Ma’am. Seeing as you are from the upper levels and a prisoner assaulted you while we were on duty would you like to lodge a complaint against him?”

The prisoner on the ground made a pained cry of panic, but one of the other guards shut him up quickly.

Emily frowned at this, the guard was misunderstanding something but she didn’t care to find out what nor correct him.

“No, I couldn't care less about that, I’m just going to be on my way now.”

The guard looked worried at this and took a step with her, signaling to his allies. One of them handed him something and turned back to Emily.

“Yes Ma’am, but in light of the situation please, take this as compensation for your wasted time.”

The keep’s hand held out a bronze medallion shaped like a large coin, only this one was perfectly round with their insignia imprinted on the front.

Not wanting to blow the whole charade, Emily stopped and took the medallion, nodding to the man slowly before turning and making her way into the crowd. Alex followed behind her and when they were out of sight he pulled her into one of the alleyways.

Emily expected him to be his usual angry self, but this time Alex wore an amused look on his face.

“I see now why you were offered performer.”

Emily cocked her head. He looked almost excited—something she had never seen from Alex, except perhaps in battle. As she continued to stare at him, Alex noticed and let out a snort.

“Normally, Tagrin’s hands don’t care about bystanders, and they only give out crests to the highest stations.

Emily didn’t like this game of charades, it was taking too long, Alex seemed to notice her annoyance and let out a huff.

“He thought you were an upper noble. The crest he handed you, can offer us some protection across even some discounts.”

Emily blinked in surprise.

The whole interaction suddenly made more sense. Their clothes were probably the furthest thing from nobility, but they also didn’t match the surrounding drab greys. Making them perfect for people trying to blend in. If Emily had to guess, the guard probably thought she was a young noble undercover with her bodyguard.

Shrugging Emily found herself glad something was going her way for once.

After that, they moved out of the ally and continued in the direction Alex had been leading them, making sure to avoid any further groups. Emily didn’t bother asking how he knew where they were going, he’d probably give some annoying answer anyway.

The stalls and people continued for a good while but eventually, they faded from sight almost completely.

Alex took them down a tunnel that seemed to have dozens of carts entering and leaving it.

The stink of manure wafted through the air as laden pack animals transported lorries of the stuff in the direction they were headed.

Emily's first thought was that they’d ended up in the sewage system and if that was the case she was going to beat Alex. Luckily for him, Emily noticed a powerful light source coming from up ahead.

As they got closer she was convinced it was the light of the sun, it became so strong that she began to blink back tears. When she finally adjusted she saw a large low-hanging room with glowing panels of daylight shining down on huge sections of plants. The room itself was expansive but was at most two stories tall throughout.

Her eyes widened as rows upon rows of multicolored crops stretched out in front of her. All manner of strange fruit and vegetables growing on bushes, trees, and vines choked the landscape.

They’d reached the farms, and it was like a world onto itself.

Several staircases were leading down to that level and just as one entered the chamber Emily saw a market of sorts beginning near the base.

“Come on, and watch your coins,” Alex said as the brush of people narrowed in.

Emily took the stairs two at a time and when she got to the bottom an array of new scents hit her. Food stalls lined the place and she caught a whiff of something familiar. The smell of roasted corn drew her forward and a need to taste something familiar seized Emily.

The source originated from an older gentleman sitting at the back of his cart with a small coal grill. He was turning several roundish vegetables so that they cooked evenly. Strangely enough, their look was identical to the golden kernels Emily knew, but instead of the usual oblong shape, it looked more like a toffee apple on a stick, only with what looked like melting butter, dripping off it instead of sugar.

“How much?” Emily asked.

“A pair of yellow pips for three rounds, little missy.”

Emily reached into her pocket to bring out her coin pouch but accidentally grabbed the medallion with it.

When the man spotted the bronze coin his relaxed face immediately turned sour.

“Ya know what, screw-off, there's a couple of Hand sellouts further in, go bother 'em.”

Emily cocked her head and paused, her eyes falling down to the medallion, she wasn’t happy but walked away.

Alex caught up to her with what looked like skewers of dark rich meat slathered in a particularly fragrant sauce.

Emily shot him a withering look and held up the medallion. Alex glanced at her and then the vendor who was still glaring their way.

“Ah, yeah, be careful where you use that, but just because everyone listens to the keeps hands does not mean everyone likes them. Stick to vendors that have the symbol if you want to use that.”

Emily’s mouth turned down at the corners.

“You could have told me that sooner, I missed out on something nice because of you. As compensation…”

Emily plucked one of the skewers from his hand. Alex began to protest until she bit into the meat, and a burst of flavor exploded in her mouth. Emily equated it to lamb with a sweet basting over it.

Alex glowered at her but followed as the two of them walked deeper into the mass of carts and sellers. Some had blankets on the ground with the wares there for perusal, while others simply held out bundles of vegetables calling out their wares. A couple of stand-alone buildings acted as permanent storefronts

Emily noticed only the walls of this large rectangular space held houses, leaving the rest of the space open to growing food.

They were just nearing the border to the actual farmlands when Alex changed their course and they found a large set of stalls with the hand’s insignia on them.

Alex went over and while he was busy Emily looked over at their wares. Again it was mostly food or raw ingredients. But there were a few things that caught her eye. The first thing was a travel-sized set of cooking utensils, something she thought would come in handy if they were out on the road for long periods. The next thing she saw was a bracelet, it looked old and worn but had a certain charm to it with simple pieces of red glass inlaid into it. It had a large front jewel with delicate features not unlike a watch face, but without any mechanisms. It glittered in the light calling out to her.

Emily had always loved beautiful things and had stolen quite a few in her time but in most cases, she didn’t bother to dress up. The likelihood that it would get damaged in her adventures was fairly high and in this new place, it seemed even more of a certainty.

It was an unnecessary buy but the longer Emily looked at it the more she fell in love with it.

Looking up at the vendor, Emily saw a young man staring at her with a grin.

“You looking at that lovely piece miss? It’s a work of art, right? Won’t get anything better outside of a Gemsmiths shop.”

She squinted at him.

“Good to know, how much? With this?” she asked as she held out the medallion.

The vendor's eye flickered over to the medallion for a second and back to her, a wry smile overtaking him. Picking the bracelet up, he held it out to face her.

“It's a family heirloom you see, long passed down, but sadly I gotta part with it on account of some debts. So I’ll throw in that mess kit you were looking at, and we call it... nine ovals?”

The kid was laying it on thick, but Emily could feel the urge to buy it increase as he must have used some kind of skill. She tried to fight it but she would be lying if she said the bracelet didn't look beautiful.

About to reach for her coins she felt Alex bump up against her breaking the pull, the kid looked as annoyed as Emily felt, but Alex didn’t seem to care.

“What are you looking at over here? Oh did you want that? It's good quality at least.”

Emily looked up at the guy, she hadn’t guessed Alex would approve of this kind of purchase and yet he looked thoughtful.

Now that she was free Emily took a step back from the table.

Alex however remained in place.

“Hey kid, how much?”

The vendor repeated his price and Alex hummed.

“Way too much, but what about a trade.”

As he said this Alex drew one of the many daggers he had on his person. If nothing else the cultist's dagger certainly looked like a fine piece of gruesome art.

The kid's eyes widened and he nodded.

“Deal!”

Alex sheathed the blade and handed it over taking the bracelet and kit in turn.

Emily watched the exchange with narrowed eyes and when he was done she began walking away, moving briskly through the crowd.

Alex jogging after her.

“Hey wait up, here take this.”

Emily ignored him and kept walking, choosing to respond without looking back.

“Did you get everything you needed? Can we leave now?”

“Ah no, I got compact rations but still need to grab some healing tonics, hey just hang on a moment.”

Emily stopped near a street corner and turned to look at him, when she did, he offered up the bracelet again.

He was about to say something but she spoke over him.

“Why did you get that? It's a waste of our resources.”

Alex frowned, and now that she was looking at him she saw he looked conflicted.

“Look, I know the skill the kid used on you could have only worked if you’d wanted this in the first place. You were about to buy it. This way, all we only lost was a dagger, and I wanted to get you-”

Emily felt the tremors in her chest squirming to the surface.

“Alex, I don’t know what you’re pulling here, but if you're going to try and manipulate me, at least make the attempt less obvious.”

Alex's face grew grim as his arm lowered.

“...Then should I just get rid of it?”

Emily shook he head slowly.

“I don’t care what you do with it, Alex.”

The man worked his jaw but then relaxed, his usual cold look returning.

“Right… I’ll remember that… We still have quite a bit to get from here so grab some strong rope if you see any.”

Alex turned and began walking away, Emily watched his back for longer than usual before following after him, unable to get rid of the anxious feeling in her stomach.