Downtown Druid

Jacopo crawled in Dantes’ jacket and settled into a pocket towards his back.

“This is a much better method of travel,” he said, burrowing as far into the pocket as he could.

“Really? You seemed to move much more quickly when we were running through the tunnels together.”

Jacopo began chewing on a small piece of lint, settling into a position reminiscent of sailors laying in hammocks. “No, this is definitely better.”

Dantes chuckled, still covered in blood and worn out from the fight, but then humor had always been one of the ways he’d alleviate stress. He moved into a small offshoot cave, and uncovered his pack. Inside was all of the gold and valuables he’d been collecting over the last few months, all of the easily preservable food he felt was worth bringing, a handful of fruit seeds he’d felt compelled to pack for some reason, and a rope he’d made himself out of the rags that had served as his bed. He added the coins and valuables he’d taken from the Orcs, adding all of it up in his head. He had about fifty gold in mixed coins, and maybe another twenty in random valuables, though he felt confident he could barter for more. It was a small fortune, both in the underprison, and in the slums on the surface, though here in the prison it couldn’t buy him nearly as much as it could out of it. It was a good start, a helpful amount of resources to get things started if he made it out. He’d hoped to have more, but he’d accelerated his own timeline when he’d chosen the path he was taking with Blud.

“We will see the city soon?” asked Jacopo.

Dantes rested his right hand over the mother’s reach seed, feeling its power. “Yes, very soon. I just need to make a few stops first, and then we make a flashy exit.”

“Is that wise?”

“No, but making a statement can have value.”

“As you did when you felled the elves?”

“Yes, or like you did when you killed and ate your cousin.”

Jacopo nodded, an expression Dantes could feel, but not see. “Yes. This makes sense.” Dantes walked a few more feet. “The finger you took from the golden haired one, the elf. Is that also for a statement? As the ears were?”

Dantes sighed. “No, just hoping I can use it to fulfill his last wish is all.”

“Does his last wish matter? He is dead.”

“To me it does.”

“Hmmm, complications?”

Dantes nodded. “Yes, complications.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence until Dantes reached the Undermarket. The sellers trying to peddle goods outside of the market started towards him, then stopped in their tracks as they noticed he was covered in blood. Those who were just on their way in also stopped in their tracks as they followed the eyes of the sellers. When he reached the guards, both the Kobold and the Dwarf actually broke their stoic gaze into the middle distance which the consortium guards were famous for to glare at him and then look wide eyed at one another to decide whether or not they should stop him. He made that decision for them, walking past them without even acknowledging their stares.

The rest of the market reacted similarly to him, and he was gratified to have the way to the Which Wench cleared for him, reducing the amount of time it took him to reach it significantly. He was also grateful to see that it was Syn manning the front, in the guise of a female magister with a stern expression and black magisterial robe that was somehow tight enough that you could see the divots in her hips.

She looked Dantes up and down, her smile never fading, even on the flicker of her true form he glimpsed for a moment. “None of that’s your blood, is it?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“What’s going on?”

Dantes looked at the small crowd of people gawking at them. “Inside?”

She nodded, and they moved to her room, the nameless moving to block the entry as they did so.

“I’ll ask again,” said Syn, “What’s going on?”

“Have any of the Collared been here today? Maybe Wane?”

She frowned. “No, I don’t even think Orebus has been by, and lately he’s been here every tenday since that deal for drink you had put in place.”

Dantes’ frown deepened. That meant she didn’t know what had happened. The Collared had locked down, and the Orcs hadn’t had much time to spread the news either. “The Orcs attacked the Collared while they were moving the last shipment of booze from Mez…Tel escaped the attack to warn everyone, but he didn’t survive.”

Syn’s form flickered for a moment, and on the pale white changeling face he could see an expression of pure anger and malice that quickly vanished back behind the stern expression she’d been wearing as a faux magister. After that, she glanced back down at the blood on Dantes’ coat.

“You and the Collared already paid them a visit? We would’ve supplied some nameless to aid you, had you asked.”

“No, not the Collared. Just me.”

“Took a few guards out? Or found the ones that killed Tel?”

Dantes shook his head. “No, I killed all but two that Wane asked me to spare. Though Blud was away with a raiding group at the time.”

“You’re saving him for last?”

“Yes.”

Syn stood there silently for a few moments. She’d always been able to absorb anything Dantes said or did with ease, even often seeming to have predicted his actions before they happened, but it seemed he had reached her limit.

“Tel wanted me to say, or someone to tell you, that you were the best lay he ever had.”

She chuckled and shook her head, a bitter expression taking over her stolen features. “He was young. He should’ve been able to say that about someone that loved him.”

Dantes let that statement hang in the air, unsure of how to respond to it. He decided to push past it, the eyes he had in the tunnel telling him that Blud was arriving at his message at just that moment. ““I’m leaving, or dying, today.``

Syn nodded slowly, taking the moment to remove the genuine emotion that had invaded her features. “It’s about time.”

Dantes raised an eyebrow. “For me to die, or leave?”

Syn shrugged, the magisterial robes tightening provocatively at the gesture. “Either, I suppose.”

Dantes frowned. “If you come with me to the Maw, you might be able to escape. It’s a narrow window, but if you act on the opportunity when it arises…”

Syn shook her head. “You know that I’m bound here by Fey law more than anything.”

“And if I escape? Is there some way to free you?”

She shifted her eye color to red, then blue, then purple as she thought. “The magister who bound me would have to release me from the binding. After that, I could escape myself.”

“What’s her name? What’s she look like?”

Syn laughed, her form shifting, but only to add elf ears, and make her features slightly less symmetrical. “I was actually already in her shape, give or take a few subtle changes,… It gives me a bit of satisfaction to take her form with clients every so often..”

Dantes chuckled, feeling a bit of the tension he was carrying loosen. Then he took a hard look at her, committing the face to his memory. “And her name?”

“I don’t know. We aren’t able to know their names…as a precaution.”

Dantes nodded, it would take some effort, but assuming he got out a face, and knowing that she was a magister should be enough for him to find her. “I’ll do my best to take care of it. Assuming I survive.”

“Where will this escape of yours take place?”

“The Maw, where I can be certain Blud will find me there.”

“Then I will be there too.”

“It’ll be dangerous, even if you aren’t planning to escape.”

She smiled. “Every fight needs a beautiful woman in the audience.”

Dantes smiled and nodded at her, making his way out of the brothel and back out to the Undermarket. Blud was currently roaring and smashing things, but that wouldn’t buy much time. Dantes had one more stop before he would be ready to meet him.

He left the undermarket and moved through the tunnels the smaller unaffiliated gangs called home, reached the Shadow Cat’s small cul de sac, where the three of them were shooting the shit, while Jayson cooked. It seemed that was the primary way they passed the time when they weren’t working.

When they saw him, their smiles faded, then they faded more when they saw the blood on his clothes.

“Dantes…are you alright?” asked Jayson, a bit of genuine concern bleeding through. The looks exchanged by Jayk and Zak echoed the sentiment.

Dantes shook his head. “Honestly? No, it’s been a pretty shit day.” He checked the rats outside of the Orc gang entrance and saw that Blud was on the move, he didn’t have much time. “Listen, I’m about to fight Blud in the Maw. If you come with me, and are quick and smart, there’s a chance you’ll be able to escape. There’s also a chance you’ll die. It’s up to you.”

Jayk frowned. “You don’t expect us to fight Blud, do you?”

“No.”

“Then why are you telling us? Need us to help keep his men off of you? Or rob some people in the crowd? Maybe rough someone up while everyone’s distracted?”

“Or beat up that gnome again?” offered Zak.

“No, this isn’t a job, just a warning. You’ve done me a few good turns and I just thought I’d do you the same favor. Show up, or don’t, it’s up to you.”

With that, Dantes turned and walked away, toward the Maw.