Enmity of Atlas

Trenton grabbed a chair for himself and rerighted it, keeping his eyes locked on the dwarven guards pushing in from every side in a vain attempt to keep them docile. If they really intended to fight, a handful of common soldiers weren’t going to stop them, especially ones so unused to combat. They looked on in horror at the piles of shredded dwarven bodies, the blood of their brethren staining the soles of their heavy guard boots. A weathered soldier, like the strangely familiar looking dwarf who was picking up the boy’s desk and setting it upright, wouldn’t bat an eye at atrocity. There wasn’t time to be mortified on the battlefield unless you intended to join the fallen in their folly. Adrieith’s embrace was a cold and bitter one, something some men fight against their whole lives, but it is inevitable, no matter who you are. No one escapes death forever, in whatever form it happens to come in.

“Andree, undo the fool’s chains,” the boy said, nodding to Garrote while pulling Karfice behind his desk, knife still pressed to his throat. Somehow, Karfice was still sleeping, even as he was forcefully pulled out of his seat and behind the boy’s desk, where he’d be a more effective bartering tool. But that also meant that no one was looking after Leo anymore. Trenton snapped out his arm as Leo tumbled off of Karfice’s lap, catching him as best he could before he hit the floor and holding him close. The boy eyed Trenton with a mix of interest and disgust, “I don’t see the point in carrying a corpse around with you. Haven't you ever heard of letting the dead lie?”

Off to Trenton’s side, the chains around Garrote’s body crumbled to the floor, disintegrating as if they were never even there in the first place. He looked miffed, rather furious, but was holding it together decently enough, putting on an only slightly grumpy mask for the time being. Good, they’d need his help if another fight broke out. Still, it didn’t make sense why they’d release him so willingly. Were they that confident? Why?

“Shut up and talk. I could easily kill another couple dozen guards before you could stop me. How much would it cost you to replace that many? Couple thousand gold pieces at least,” Trenton said, the guards shifting nervously away from him, several barely managing to hold their weapons level with how violently they were shaking. He had no practice projecting his presence out, nor could he access the other, more commanding presence within himself, but after the show he’d just put on, it seemed the guards were willing to take him at his word.

“You forget,” the boy said, pressing his blade further into Karfice’s neck, drawing forth a thin stream of blood, “I’ve your friend hostage. If you don’t behave yourself, who knows? My hand might just slip,” the boy jerked the knife to the side, ensuring not to actually cut Karfice’s neck, instead using it as a show of his intention.

Trenton leaned forward, “If you intend to kill us, then there’s no point agonizing over little details like when, right? Go ahead. The moment he’s gone, I can do as I please. Say, how strong are the foundations of this tower? I’d wager not strong enough.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Am I?” Trenton’s eyes bored into the boy.

Of course, he didn’t really mean any of that, but it was all part of the game. If the boy killed Karfice, then there would be nothing stopping Trenton from attacking. He wouldn't necessarily survive, but he would do a hell of a lot of damage before he went down, something that a money centric businessman would never allow. It was a gamble to base his strategy on an assumption, but it was a pretty safe one given the extravagance of the room they were sitting in at that very moment.

All Trenton needed was for the boy to say his piece, then they could take it from there. And the first step to that was breaking the boy's nerve, making him more desperate than he rightly should be. He was well put together, but he was still a child, one much younger than Trenton. In a battle of will, he stood no chance.

The boy shifted in his seat, sweat trickling down his forehead, his eyes darting this way and that, “Then I’ll make this quick, for everyone’s sake. You see, I run a very successful business, an empire spanning every trade you could imagine, first and foremost being our lucrative mining industry here in Avar. Nowhere in the world is there such an expansive supply of rare gems and minerals, items we profit from like no other. Except, there’s a problem. Miners die every now and then in the mines, but over the last handful of months, it’s only gotten worse. I’m starting to lose entire crews of men, no matter how many guards I send. That’s where you come in.”

“Why don’t you appeal to the duke?” Kiva asked.

“Great idea! Only, there isn’t one. At least, not a real one,” the child said.

“Explain,” Trenton said, his voice bitter and deep. No real duke? That reminded him of someone he knew, someone he hated with every fiber of his being. To even think that another Teiv existed in the world, let alone another within the Conqueror’s kingdom was unacceptable. In fact, the very idea made him furious.

“Dead, out of town, sick, who knows. Point is, he’s out of commission. The only thing keeping this city running are some advisers he left in charge in case of emergencies, and they’re of very little help,” Andree said, prodding Trenton with the hilt of his battleaxe to get him settled fully back into his seat.

“Which is why I need your help. Not only is this a lovely little opportunity for a family reunion,” the boy said, making a mocking face at Garrote, “but I’ve also had my eyes on you for some time. You’re making quite the stir in the news. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the strongest, most expendable people in the city.”

“I figure you’ll just kill us if we disagree, or at least try. But why should we agree?” Trenton said, Garrote giving him a nasty side eye. It looked like he was not happy with the idea of compliance.

“Well, I’m sending you down with Andree, so you’ll be under duress regardless. But, I’m far from unreasonable. If you come back alive, I’ll give you a nice sum of money and you can go free. You scratch my back, I scratch yours--simple,” the boy said, folding his hands together.

“How much?” Trenton asked, his eyes narrowing.

“10,000.”

“Make it 20.”

“15, and if you do a good job I’ll give you each another 2,000.”

“16 and 2,000 per person.”

“Fine, it’s a deal. Do you agree to the terms then?” The boy said, clearly pleased with the deal. He must’ve had quite a lot of money to throw it around so haphazardly, but that was obvious just from the sheer size of the tower they were in. At least Trenton got a decent bit from him, and without too much hassle either.

“If you stick to your word, I’ll stick to mine. Now, what do you need us to do exactly?” Trenton asked, making sure there was no room for trickery in this deal he was agreeing to.

It wasn’t ideal, embarking on a mission for presumably their enemy, but it was the safest choice. Trying to rebel would only mean bloodshed and risk. But at least this way there was a chance of getting everyone out alive, however slim that might be.

The boy smiled, releasing Karfice from his threatening grasp and pushing him towards their group. Karfice stumbled to the side, shaking himself awake. He looked both at the same time extraordinarily disoriented and acutely conscious. Odd. Without a word, Karfice plopped down into a seat next to Trenton, overseeing the rest of the procession with his steely gaze.

“It’s simple. You’ll be heading down to the eastern sector mines to investigate. Find what’s causing my miners to disappear and fix it. Andree here will report back to me when the problems dealt with. Is that clear?”

Trenton stood to his feet, considering the offer as he looked over their little group. They had 3 cripples, a boy on death's door, and Kiva. It wasn’t an ideal crew for what was almost certain to be an extermination mission of some kind, but they’d have to make it work. At the very least he should try to get one of the cripples off the table. Not to mention they could use some rest regardless. It was pretty late.

“We rest and head out tomorrow morning,” Trenton said, making a demand rather than bothering to ask.

“Why? It only gets worse the longer this goes on. I’d like you all to set out immediately.”

“It’s been a long day and I’ve already done a lot of fighting. If you want your problem fixed, we’d best be in top shape. So we rest and head out tomorrow morning.”

The boy cocked his head to the side, considering it for a moment, “...fine. We can spare the day. Just find them a tent and they can sleep on site,” the boy said dismissively towards Andree.

“Right, right. C’mon, all of you. We’ll take a bird over,” Andree said, corralling the lot of them through the crowd of soldiers and down the tower, leading them into what looked to be a workshop filled to the brim with copper machines pumping steam from stray pipes sticking out every which way. “Ay, get me a bird and the flight deck open now! MB’s out of commission!”

The various workers in the room immediately jumped to attention, putting down whatever they happened to be working on to pull a massive metal bird from storage, one easily big enough to transport the lot of them. It must’ve been a lot lighter than Trenton realized since it took only a dozen or so relatively weak looking men to move it. Maybe it was some special alloy, one only available in Avar.

When they pulled the bird out, it looked to be dormant, but after some fiddling on the machine's underside, it suddenly whirred to life, stretching out its wings in the cramped room, nearly knocking over a couple tables close to it. The metal birds certainly were lively for automatons without an ounce of humanity to them.

“We can discuss what happened to you later,” Kiva whispered into his ear as they boarded onto the back of the bird, barely holding back tears. “What are you going to do with Leo?”

“Not much I can do. I wouldn’t dare leave him here, and I doubt they’d let us drop him off at Evai’s, so I’ll just have to keep him close, make sure he’s protected,” Trenton said. Kiva looked concerned, but she didn’t press the issue any further.

Once they were seated, Trenton set Leo down, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. She broke down into tears, sobbing into his chest, letting out a long stream of words not quite coherent enough to understand. Figures, he had been scouring the city the whole day without a word to anyone. They had probably been worried about him, especially with the hole in the wall he left behind. At least Raligoth was still there to explain what happened in his absence…hopefully.

Ahead of them, the wall slowly splayed open, the workers messing with different buttons and controls in walled booths off to the side, making sure they had clear space to fly out of the building. Andree settled into the front part of the bird, making sure to keep an eye on all of them as he commanded the bird forward onto the flight deck, the cool night air stinging Trenton’s tender skin.

“Good, looks like you’re all ready. Tallicum! Fly!” The dwarf shouted.