Bound Evil

Having woken up in the early afternoon Emily and Alex spent the better part of the day looking through markets for supplies. They managed to secure many useful items, such as a tent, rope, another tonic, and for some reason a net.

Now as they traveled back through the streets Emily noticed the lanterns near the ceilings and roads were starting to dull somewhat. It was either an intended feature or just a natural conclusion of the day, but as night approached outside, the light down in the keep began to wane.

Denizens of the different layers began packing up their wares and heading home for the day.

Traveling down the road became less congested as traffic began to lessen. Making the trip back up to the inn far easier than getting down there had been.

Those that did remain seemed to consist of late-shift workers, guards, and the odd teenager scampering about.

Alex and Emily moved in silence as they climbed upward towards the base level. When they got to the sign with the bathing field mouse on it, they entered the inn and headed down to their rooms. Alex had paid earlier for another night, so when they got to the end of the halfway, Emily opened the door to the room Ashe had used the night before.

Before she closed it she glanced back and spoke for the first time since their fight.

“What are you planning for tomorrow?”

Alex adjusted the bag containing their supplies

“I have a couple of things to work out, but I’ll let you know tomorrow morning.”

Emily examined him, unsurprised that he wouldn’t explain himself.

Nodding she stepped into her room and closed the door, she didn’t move away until she heard the click of Alex’s door across the hallway, releasing a sigh.

The room was still the state they’d left it after Ashe’s disappearance. Emily moved to the bed and sat down rubbing her temples. A headache had lodged itself behind her eyes and refused to go away. Emily was close to pulling some energy from her chest, but she had so little right now, she decided against it. All she wanted now was a good bath, some food, and perhaps some company. Perhaps if Emily headed up to the bar for a drink she could satisfy all three of those conditions.

She was just rummaging through her bags for her coins, when she felt the blood she’d put in Alex’s boots on the move.

Emily's head turned to the door, expecting a knock, but when nothing came she pursued her lips. She could feel it was getting further away but she didn’t hear any sound coming from the hallway.

Standing Emily walked over to the door and placed a hand on the door knob. The most likely answer was that he had the same idea as her and was heading to either the bath or the bar, however, when he reached the limits of her natural range Emily stepped back out into the hallway and began to follow.

The feeling of the blood began to climb upward, so that eliminated the baths. Heading up the stairs, Emily could feel he was still getting further away.

Stepping into the common room she saw that people were still milling about having their evening drinks, but the closing door to the inn caught her attention.

Frowning to herself, Emily was not interested in following the guy, but when she thought about the fact that her very existence hinged on his survival she sighed. Heading toward the exit, she noticed Jesse sitting at the bar alone, as she passed, the man threw a smile her way.

Emily could only send a small grin back before she headed out the door, cursing Alex’s line as she did so.

The roads were mostly empty so she spotted him heading towards the core of the keep once more.

Seeing as there was less space to hide here she let him get to the edge of her natural range, any further and she’d have to sink a ton of energy into the technique. However, this did mean that she could follow him without the fear of alerting him. Though by the look of it, he wasn’t worried about being followed. They got out onto the spiraling drop and when they had only gone about two levels down he turned into one of the offshoot passages.

Moving closer she couldn’t tell what was so special about this neighborhood that he’d sneak out to get here, but then he took a turn down one of the side streets. They were fairly low down so the area was quite compact, causing her to slow down before taking the next corners.

Alex seemed to have led her into a maze of streets and side alleys. Without her blood leading the way, she would have lost him four turns ago. It was strange, in the few glimpses she caught of him, Alex looked confident as though he knew exactly where he was heading.

As she turned the next corner, her blood led her to a street with only one exit, she saw several small houses dug into the wall but Alex was nowhere to be seen.

Moving closer she thought he’d entered one of the residences, but then she spotted a tarp of sorts in the corner of the cul de sac. Stepping under it Emily saw a narrow alleyway.

It was so tight that she could run her hand on either side of the walls if she just brought her arms out a little.

Alex was getting further, so she didn’t have time to stop. Moving to the end of the alleyway she noticed the temperature dropping somewhat, eventually, she came out on another road. Only this one was completely different.

Cracks spidered through the surrounding stonework, as if abandoned by the keep itself. Of the lanterns hanging near the ceiling, only half remained lit, deepening the oppressive darkness.

Emily went on high alert.

People milled about aimlessly, sitting near the edges of the shrinking light, while others lingered around street corners eyeing Emily as she entered.

She could tell that as the rest of the keep was winding down for the evening, this area was just beginning to wake.

Realizing she was about to lose Alex, Emily readied herself for anything and pushed forward.

At some point, the carved red brick gave way to coarse stone, plunging the passage further into the cold.

The stone took on a rougher look, buildings seemingly carved into the rock itself, their layout clashing for any open space, dotting the walls without any rhythm or reason. It looked as though this area had been mined out and before it could be developed, was seemingly abandoned. Emily didn’t know what they called it here, but she knew these types of forgotten places well.

Slums.

A place even the guard would hesitate to enter, she didn’t spot even one of their brightly colored leathers around here.

Stragglers eyed Emily viciously, but she was used to these types of looks. Luckily no one tried to bar her way or she may have lost Alex as he slipped down one of the many side tunnels.

Following suit, Emily stepped into a wide open space, it was here that she could make out several stand-alone structures, built into the center of the space. The largest one seemingly a tavern of some kind. Loud voices issued out of it, along with the sound of laughter and music. The warm atmosphere leaking out of the building was in stark contrast to the surrounding ashen stone. Those loitering nearby gave the building a wide berth. The reason became obvious when Emily spotted the people hanging around outside. They looked well-kitted out with armor and weapons and seemed to mill about lazily. Yet even from here, she could see the danger in their stances; these were trained individuals.

Alex headed straight for the door to the establishment and passed the threshold without hesitation. Emily's blood remained fixed inside and she gave him a couple of minutes before stalking out of the alleyway.

It also gave her time to examine the other buildings, they were much simpler than the one Alex had entered and she thought she heard growls coming from inside.

Moving through the space steadily drew the attention of several gazes, forcing her hand to rest on her shortsword. She wasn’t any good with it, but they didn't know that. Either way, they seemed to lose interest in her pretty soon.

As she got nearer, Emily noticed a large board set up out front. Glancing over it she saw what looked like several bounties pinned up haphazardly. There were well-drawn sketches of people, along with what looked like different amounts, but the text on it was indecipherable.

Not that she would have been that interested. This looked like the kind of place where one could get shit done.

Swords for hire, as it were.

Emily was just heading for the door had gone through when she spotted a familiar man leaning up against the side of the structure.

The orange light from within illuminated his face just briefly as he swayed into its glow.

Emily was only ten or so steps from the tavern’s entrance when she changed course towards the space between the buildings. Stepping out of the light of the front door she could see two men were milling about in the ally.

Advancing toward the pair Emily could see her target had his back to her

The man held a bottle with the dregs of some amber liquid in it as he leaned up against the building for strength.

He didn’t seem to notice her coming and when he was close enough Emily moved in and whispered right next to his ear.

“Hey, Ron. Did you miss me?”

The man from Emily’s earliest days jumped and turned around, his hand going to his side, even in his drunken state she could see his reactions were not slow. Unfortunately for him, his hand dropped to an empty scabbard as Emily danced away falling into the beam of light. The metal of his sword still singing as it slid free.

“Damn, who dears sneaks up on a… wait… well I’ll be fucked. If it isn’t the little broken girl.”

The recognition in his eye was exactly what Emily’d been looking for as his sluggish mind took her in.

Emily was just happy he remembered her.

Sadly, some of the joy of their reunion was sapped from the air when the second man scrambled to his feet.

Fetu was not as drunk as Ron and his eyes landed on her with the correct amount of concern.

“Blast it all, how are you here? Ron step away from her.”

Emily moved forward again and brought the blade up against Ron’s neck. She expected him to dance back but he remained where he was, letting the blade brush up against his neck.

Ron’s eyes carried a dark light of amusement.

Relax, Fetu. She doesn’t have the grit to kill; her stance reeks of an amateur. Look at how her hand shakes.

Another blade sang out through the passage as Fetu growled out.

“Don’t be a fool, you know what kind of circumstances we left her in. Who even knows if she’s still human.”

Ron blinked in shock as if the thought had only just occurred to him.

Emily grinned as she let the blade press just hard enough to draw blood.

“Wrong on both accounts gentleman. I’m going to enjoy killing you, Ron. And, a demon? I’m nothing so kind.”

Whether emboldened by drink or downright stupidity, Ron refused to back down.

“Hah, all I can see is you putting on airs, you should have stopped playing your self-righteous game when you escaped. There's only one position I want to see you in darling.”

Emily's smile was equal parts radiant and savage.

“You’re near the bottom of my list Ron, but you’re still on it.”

With that, she drew the blade horizontally, in an attempt to slit his throat.

Ron’s eyes widened as he threw himself backward, turning the cut into a horizontal gash that stopped near where his leather armor began.

Falling backward he landed on his ass, and even as he prepared to jump out of the way again he saw Emily’s smile as she bore down on him.