Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 58 I Am Not A Betting Woman.

After Lenna and Isaac returned the cart, pulling it together like before, they found an empty table in the Guild Hall to wait. “What do you wanna do after we get paid?” Isaac asked the only drow allowed in town.

“Take a bath.” She replied. Some spider guts had managed to work their way into her armor and the sooner that problem was resolved the better as far as she was concerned.

Isaac chuckled and his eyes found a few places that were marred by a green liquid of spider origin. “Fair enough. Maybe head back to the library after getting something to eat?” He asked.

Lenna turned her gaze from taking in the other adventurers to him. “My Lord.” She began. “Where you go I will follow. If that is what you wish, then that is where we will go.”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “So you don’t want to finish your book?” He retorted.

Lenna straightened a little in surprise. “I never said that.” She reminded him while trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible. It was a good book. One that she wished she could take out of the library.

Isaac chuckled and shook his head. “On another note, I hope we get paid more than Shiny and his team. What was his name? Eliot?” He asked.

“Yes.” She replied. “We should get at least seventy gold.”

The two of them continued in light conversation for a few more minutes before Alice walked out of a back room with a pouch of coins in hand. She scanned the hall and waved the two of them over once she found them. Isaac and Lenna met her at her desk.

“So, don’t keep me hangin’. How is our first day’s pay?” Isaac asked while struggling to contain his excitement.

Alice smiled and had to try to hold in a chuckle. It wasn’t very hard once his ‘fight’ with the Guild Master returned to her mind. She shook her head to clear it. “Ten platinum, one gold, and three silvers. Your haul was thirteen spiders, two full and undamaged sets of web fluid glands, eighty one spider eyes, and twenty poison sacks.” She read off her itemized list.

“At the rate we are burning through gold that’s still like a month’s worth of coin.” Isaac said, surprised at how little work they had to do in order to survive. “That…” His voice trailed off in thought. “Doesn’t seem fair. How much do non adventurers usually make?” He asked Alice.

“Um, well, it depends. Shop clerks usually make around two gold a day. More dangerous jobs pay better and most jobs in town are relatively safe.” She explained.

Isaac did the quick math. “We just made fifty five days of work worth of money in a few hours. How… why aren’t there more people out there doing that?” He asked.

“Like I said, it’s dangerous work. The risk of dying out there is incredibly high compared to in town.” Alice replied. She was confused that the concept was so hard for Isaac to understand. “Um, Lord, I mean Isaac, have you been fighting your whole life?” She had met an adventurer before who had a similar difficulty in understanding the common folk. This adventurer was from a nomadic tribe who had always lived in the wilderness and regularly fought monsters in order to survive. That tribe had one day been wiped out by one such monster.

“Uh…” Isaac was taken aback by the sudden personal question from Alice who always seemed to be terrified of him.

“I’m so sorry.” Alice cut in frantically before he could reply. “Forget I said anything. Please.”

“No. It’s alright.” Isaac replied calmly. “Yeah. I more or less have been fighting for almost as long as I can remember.” What he told her was the truth even if it didn’t paint the proper picture.

“I see.” Alice replied quietly. “Most people prefer to rely on others for protection so they take up jobs in the city. Those of you who go out into the wild, to hunt those that would hunt us, are often seen as heroes by children, and, if they make a big enough difference, by many adults as well.” She told him.

“It is less pronounced,” Lenna spoke after Alice was finished. “but it is much the same where I am from. The citizenry hides behind the walls and the backs of the strong.”

Alice nodded. It was not lost on her that Lenna spoke of where she was from as if Isaac hadn’t been there. ‘I wonder how they met.’ Alice thought to herself.

Isaac shook his head. “Maybe I’ll understand one day. I would rather not die some day because a monster showed up and it just happened to be stronger than me. I don’t like trusting others with my life.” He said.

Lenna’s eyes fell for a moment before she composed herself as if nothing had happened. Isaac seemed to sense it however and turned to look at her. “Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I’m not happy you are here. I like fighting beside you, not hiding behind you.” He explained.

Lenna nodded. “I will keep that in mind.” She told him.

Isaac and Lenna returned to their room in the Celestial Dawn after buying a nice warm meal and some fruity meads. After their dinner Isaac was sitting cross legged on the bed with his eyes closed but still facing the opposite direction from Lenna who was in the bath. “You know? I think we are missing something.” He said loud enough for Lenna to hear him clearly.

“Like what?” Lenna asked.

“I don’t know. I feel like there are things happening that I should be aware of but I’m not.” He sighed deeply. “Am I being paranoid?” He asked.

“No.” She told him. “It’s probably the magistrate.” She offered. She thought about it more for a second. Isaac had told her that he had a really strong connection to her and that dragon. What if that extended, in a weaker form, to other, stronger, dark creatures that were farther away. “Or my uncle.” She said barely loud enough for him to hear.

“I don’t like it.” He told her.

Lenna changed the subject as a thought occurred to her. “Why don’t we ever have conversations when you’re in the bath?”

“Because I usually start them and the warm water puts me to sleep.” Isaac told her as if it was just a normal thing like when he had said that guards’ vests were white and red not white and gray.

All she could do was shake her head. There really wasn’t any other response she could come up with.

—

Evening found Lenna sitting with her feet up and a book in her hands on the second floor of the library. She looked up from her book when she heard a groan and saw Isaac face down in a book on the table. He flopped to the side dramatically. “Nothing?” She asked.

“No, lots of things actually.” Isaac replied and sat back up. “Everything except what I need though. I have to make spells from scratch that only use dark mana but I don’t understand why incantations work in the first place to even try.” He complained and threw his hands up.

“Maybe a change of pace would do you good.” Lenna offered.

Isaac rubbed his eyes and temples. “Probably.” He replied. “What do you have in mind?”

“We should grab some rations and refill our waterskins.” She told him.

Isaac stretched. “Yeah… but that doesn’t sound fun… and I’ve had enough ‘not fun’ for a while.”

Lenna closed her book and stood up. “We could work on your swordsmanship.” She offered.

Isaac’s eyes lit up. “Now that, sounds like a good plan.”

The two of them found their way to the arena and the rack of training swords. They each grabbed the same ones that they had used last time and walked out into the arena. No sooner had Isaac taken one step in did they notice a pair of warriors engaged in a duel.

Isaac leaned against the side of the entrance and looked up at the stands. There were about fifty people watching. One such observer was a guard who was still on duty. It looked like he was making sure neither of them cheated and also that no one interfered.

“Sanctioned duels to the death.” Isaac muttered quietly. His mind was racing. These duels opened up so many possibilities. He wanted people to know who he was and that he was beyond messing with after all. He turned and looked at Lenna. A plan was starting to form. ‘If I can get her to duel somebody, legally, in front of a ton of people, then maybe she will at least be feared instead of despised. Maybe even respected.’ He thought to himself.

The duel was over soon after and the loser was rushed to a healer. It hadn’t ended in a death but the one who lost was losing blood rapidly. The winner walked past them to leave. Isaac nodded to him. The winner noticed the dulled weapons in their hands. “Have fun.” He said in a gruff voice while he walked past.

After most of the crowd had dispersed Isaac nodded into the arena and Lenna followed him in. The guard came to meet them. “Do you have the arena reserved?” He asked.

Isaac tilted his head. “No. We didn’t need to when we were here with Edward. Is that something we were supposed to do?” He asked.

The guard seemed to notice the silver eyes and the knight with a guardsmen’s vest and swallowed. “Not necessarily. Official duels need to be reserved so a guard can be present to preside over it. Otherwise if someone dies it’s a crime.” The guard explained.

“Alright. Well we are just here to spar a bit.” Isaac said with a smirk. “I don’t think Celeste would like it if we did so on her roof.” He added.

The guard nodded once. “If someone has the arena reserved while you are here they take priority for the field. I hope you understand.” The guard told them.

Isaac smiled at him. “That makes sense. Have a good day officer.” Isaac told him and walked past him out into the middle of the arena. Lenna nodded to the guard who nodded back in return and then hurried out in a fast walk.

Once it was only the two of them in the arena Isaac chuckled. “One gold says he’s going to go tell the magistrate.” Isaac said and spun to face Lenna with his dulled blade at the ready.

“I am not a betting woman.” Lenna replied and took a casual swing at him with her own dull blade. As the two continued to talk they would swing, slash, block, and parry at a low speed. The exercise was more for Isaac to get used to using his sword than her teaching him any actual fighting style or technique.

“Fair enough.” Isaac replied. “Wait… didn’t you make a bet with your life right before we met?”

Lenna smiled under her helmet. “That was different.” She replied.

Her smile was audible and Isaac chuckled. “Yeah. Sure it was.”