Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 48 We Remove Him

Isaac rose from his spot on the inn roof and turned to lean against the picket fence crowning its top. He looked out over the city of Safeharbor. A thousand rooftops swept out before him. He was on the roof of one of the tallest buildings. He could see a large building much like this one except it wasn’t painted. He absently wondered what that building was.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs broke him from his contemplation. Lenna, who had just been watching him, turned to see who was coming. She reached for her helmet but before she could get it on they heard a familiar voice. “No need for that dear. It’s just me.” Celeste told her.

Celeste sat on the top step breathing a little heavily. Lenna glanced at Isaac who just shrugged and turned around to lean against the fence while watching the woman. “The food was good.” He told her by way of greeting.

“I’m glad.” Celeste replied while still breathing deeply. “I’m getting out of shape. It was only three flights.” She said mostly to herself. “Anyway, I’m here for a reason.” She told them and pulled a letter out of her apron pocket.

“That was fast.” Isaac commented.

“About an hour.” Lenna replied.

“It appears Sera mentioned me.” She took a deeper breath. “Well, this is not what I was expecting when I treated you two to dinner.” Celeste went on. “A drow noble woman and a noble man from somewhere currently undisclosed. Three dead guards.” Her voice dropped as she said the next part mostly to herself. “He told me to be on my best behavior, I’m always on my best behavior, that old bastard.” She returned to speaking normally and continued. “He’s sending enough gold to rent out the suite.” She winked at Isaac.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Lenna is allergic to beds… or sleeping for that matter.” Isaac commented.

“Last time I slept you almost died.” She replied curtly.

Celeste chuckled. “Anyway, I think he told me just enough to get a point across but not enough to actually tell me what’s going on.” She grumbled to them.

“I think that about sums it up actually. We came here to sign up with the Adventurers' Guild and restock only to get detained and be put in the care of some rather unpleasant guards. Once we were no longer in their ‘care’ I demanded an audience and got it. Now we’re here.” Isaac summed up for her.

“Okay…” Celeste was trying to understand one key thing: “Why did that work?”

“Why did what work?” Isaac asked.

“You demanding an audience. That normally would have gotten bloody after they found out about the dead guards.” Celeste explained.

“They didn’t find out until we were standing in front of them.” Isaac enlightened.

She thought for a moment before nodding. “Well, this is all over my station so it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is if you two are going to be causing trouble.”

“Probably.” Isaac answered honestly. “Trouble likes to find me if I don’t find it first.” He glanced at Lenna for a moment and then back to Celeste. “It probably won’t be on purpose if that’s what you’re worried about. It just tends to happen.”

“Izen’s little note also said that if either of you step out of line to let him know but not to make a big deal of it. You got some kind of deal going on I take it?” Celeste asked.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah. We won’t go breaking any laws or anything but he knows that his guards’ lives depend on how accommodating they are to my guard.”

Celeste raised her eyebrows in shock for a moment. “You threatened the guard?”

“More like promised violence than threatened but yeah.” Isaac explained. Lenna just sighed and closed her eyes while leaning back against the fence.

“Part of me really wants to know the whole story but the other part is telling me to let you two be.” Celeste told them.

“If we stay long enough, you will find out. My Lord is horrible at keeping secrets.” Lenna told her.

“I am not.” Isaac interjected. “I haven’t told anybody about…” He cut himself off before he spilled the beans on something he shouldn’t.

“Izen’s note also had a warning for you two.” Celeste told them. “He said that Sir Gio, the magistrate, is after you. He can’t do anything about it until Gio makes a move out in the open. Magistrate’s are assigned by the king so Gio isn’t technically one of Izen’s subjects.”

Isaac thought for a moment. He scratched his chin idly. “Why warn us?” He asked.

Celeste shrugged. “Don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“He’s afraid.” Lenna replied and leaned forward while opening her eyes. “If something happened, and you survived, he doesn’t want to suffer the consequences.”

Celeste’s eyes went wide. What she said made sense but Izen was the duke of the entire domain within the Innerworld that humans inhabited. He had also seen his own fair share of combat. She swallowed hard at the revelation.

“Why only if I survived?” Isaac asked.

Lenna looked at him. “They can deal with me. I can’t disappear. Nor can I teleport. I also can’t kill people by touching them.” She said, surprised that Isaac hadn’t realized how high he had actually played his power up. Granted, even if he didn’t realize it, that was how powerful he was.

“You think they figured out I can teleport?” Isaac asked.

“You never unlocked the shackles.” Lenna reminded him.

“Oh.” He replied.

“I see. So he sent some wizard assassin and his V’Nova bodyguard to my doors so he could keep an eye on you.” Celeste said, exacerbated.

“Basically.” Isaac replied while Lenna just nodded.

“Well, you kids have fun. I’m going to pretend I don’t know anything.” Celeste told them and stood to leave.

“That’s probably a good idea. So do any meals come free with the suite or no?” Isaac asked tentatively. He was really hoping to continue to eat for free everywhere he went. It was a ‘gift’ he thought to himself.

Celeste just shook her head. “Only one meal per day is free. This is an adventurer town. We expect you to be out for most of the day. Come down and get the key when you are ready to turn in.” She told them and started down the stairs.

A little after Celeste had left Isaac looked down at Lenna. “She seems nice.” He was happy for anybody who didn’t freak out upon seeing her.

“Yeah.” Lenna replied.

“Everybody sure knows your name. I’m glad I didn’t say it when we got to Ben’s End. I almost did.” He confessed.

“That would have been horrible.” Lenna said while thinking about how quickly their journey would have ended. Even if it hadn’t, Lenna probably would have ended up fighting the entire garrison.

“We made it.” Isaac said while looking out over the city again. “We just need to be careful and we can stay here.”

“What about the magistrate?” Lenna asked.

Isaac shrugged. “Do you think you can take him?”

“Alone? Maybe. Together? Absolutely.” She replied.

Isaac nodded to himself. “Here’s the plan. We wait until he makes a move then we remove him from the game. It’ll be both a power play and a way to prevent future problems.” He explained and then continued thinking aloud. “If the duke decided to warn us about him then this was always a possible outcome. He’s prepared for us to remove Gio. This is also a test. If we are as strong as he thinks we are then we should be able to handle him. If not then we are a problem that was taken care of without him even having to lift a finger.”

“Understood.” Lenna replied when he was done.

“Let’s get some rest. We have to go to the Adventurers' Guild tomorrow.” Isaac told her and headed down to get the key from Celeste and return their bowls.