While tossing a severed human head in her palm, Iona greeted Luke, “Hey there, troublemaker. Did you know half the underworld is calling you the masked terror? The Red Gorrids have a two hundred gold bounty on your head for targeting their subordinate gangs. Shouldn’t leave your name behind after you do dirty work.”
Luke observed the area, dense gas corralled around the underground area. The entire base was made of a brown and gray stone wood mix. Crystal orifices steamed air and another gas into the gang territory.
Hooked chains hung with corpses skewered onto them. Empty blood stained cages were sealed shut. In the corners were feasting tables with organs, cadavers, and other meat unfit for cultured consumption.
That all fed into the massacre displayed behind Iona, converging into a revolting treat for Luke’s eyes, and certainly his nose.
Luke spoke while observing Iona’s handiwork, “Needed to do cleaning. Can’t call myself Sooty’s family if I let the people who target her get off easily.”
Arching an eye brow, Iona said, “Cleaning? The triad was about to forgo the agreement for the Tides and tear down the city. That is, until Aloysius and I stepped in and clarified it was retaliation by us for one of their groups targeting the companion of a Defier.”
She prodded Lulu forward with a finger, the owl started to move toward Sooty, “That Defier is you. I fed them a lie they don’t believe, that Rune was an out of country hired hunter to track down Sooty when she was captured by the Green Vipers.”
As Lulu came up shyly to Sooty, the owl started to hoot and whisper, of which Luke understood nothing. Sooty turned her head and cawed. Lulu’s eyes hit the floor. Sooty, after some hesitation, cooed, flew off with Lulu to patch things up, however two birds would and do some bird bonding.
“I killed the Purple Emperors, what’s the excuse cooked up for that? Nice work here by the way, shame I couldn’t do it myself.”
Iona sighed, “That certainly threw a wrench in our ‘negotiations’, but once it was revealed they too were actively targeting Sooty, most of the heat died out. To settle matters, two other groups,” Iona jutted her chin toward the gore scene beside her, “namely, the Peach Ghouls, and White Snakes, were considered left for dead, no longer backed by the triad.”
Tossing the mask in his hand up and down, Luke asked, “Am I to let the White Snakes, and person to put forth the request on Sooty go free? That’s not going to work, Iona.”
“No one said that, Luke.” Iona threw the severed head in hand, and it rolled to Luke’s feet, “That is the head of the Peach Ghoul’s leader, but let me show you something else.”
Plunging her hand into her spatial bag, Iona casually tossed two dismembered skulls beside Luke like taking out the trash. Inspecting the remaining fleshy features, one appeared to be for an elderly human, the other, a young monic man. Iona was nonchalant about it to the point that Luke saw her in a new light. When he thought that she too was a Defier, the image settled in place for him.
“These two are?” Luke questioned.
Smiling while putting her hands under her chin, Iona said, “The older gentlemen was Velmont Einrose, former chairman of the Einrose merchant group. He was a well known ‘collector’, and posted the request. The monic led the White Snakes, I cleared them out for you. Consider it my apology for my separation ploy leading to Sooty getting caged.”
Off of what I know, that means the person to take out the contract, and every major group that made efforts to steal Sooty are dead. The remnants left are small timers. With the Tide coming soon, I’ve got to concentrate on preparing for that, its only eight days left now.
“I’m getting the message. The rest of the underworld has little to do with Sooty, I’ll stop messing with them, and wait until the Tide has come and gone before doing anything else. Apology accepted. Is Lulu over there explaining things to Sooty?”
Timber came and settled beside Iona, the Beastmaster scratched Timber under his chin, “Lulu is handling it, knowing her, she's profusely apologizing and demeaning herself. She feels incredibly guilty. I keep telling the stubborn owl its my fault and not hers, but Lulu won’t hear it.”
Luke funneled frost essence to his feet, and gradually started to freeze the bloody scene around him. The smell and sight was too revolting to keep ignoring it, “Sorry, the smell is getting to me. Too many nauseous scents today, had an event fight for about half my day. Probably a bad place to ask, but how do I go about training Sooty?”
Wrinkling her nose, Iona said, “I’ll give you a short run-down. Any details can be in a cleaner environment. The best way is repetition ad nauseam, have you seen the other portal in the Defier’s guild? The one that isn’t Musai’s?”
“I have, what about it? How is Timber acting down here? Isn’t he against enclosed spaces like this one?”
Luke noticed the Thunder Paw bear pawing the ground with intensity, as a measure to distract himself.
“Timber dislikes them, but deals with it when he has to, like now. He’s a loyal bear, aren’t you?” Iona scratched Timber’s head, and the bear closed his eyes to enjoy the motion. The Beastmaster circled back to the conversation, “That red portal is our illusion realm, you won’t have a better place to train Sooty in this Duchy. You can creating settings for beasts up to the middle of tier 3. Have her practice her skills on them for hours, there’s safety measures in place, if you over tune things, you can leave quickly.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I’m guessing its for practice only? They don’t drop anything or give experience?”
I wonder if I can steal stats from them? I’ll have to test it.
“I’m afraid they do not.”
Lulu returned to Iona, starting a conversation with her. Sooty settled on Luke’s shoulder, appearing to be in a much better mood. Luke asked Iona, “Need any help with the clean up here?”
“You can go ahead and do what you want, Luke. Lay off on the other gangs for now, not that they’ll mistakenly target you again. I can clean up my mess. Watch out for Annika, and be up in time for Musai’s morning sessions set aside for you.”
“As long as she doesn’t take my bed again,” Luke muttered. He tapped on Sooty’s talon’s, “We’re leaving, if you want to say goodbye to your friend, now’s the time.”
Sooty gave Lulu a short caw, and the Owl returned with a hoot. Placing the mask back onto his face, Rune stepped into the black liquid portal.
----------------------------------------
Strolling down the central road, Rune was on his way to the Sylen’s governmental center. As the time was well into the middle of the night, the two moons seemed to circle each other in an endless dance.
The sound of night bugs cascaded down the lane, every couple of yards a hanging lantern or magelight lit the street. People of all four major races could be seen meandering from one area for night life to another.
As always, the majority were monic men and women. Likely from a subconscious measure, people naturally gave space to Rune as he walked. He imagined that the eldritch horror that peacefully sat on his shoulder would not give an inviting aura.
Cities patrols tended to give Rune a suspicious glance, until they noticed the emblem attached to his mask. The unsaid implications made those responsible for order largely leave Rune alone. Coming later into the night, faint stars peeked through the building clouds, with the two moons as their epicenter.
Now that I think about it, where exactly is the City Lord’s residence? Does this thing help me? Rune tapped the shard attached to his mask, a log line appeared.
[Overlay view to path toward the item’s owner? Y/N?]
This was city property, and by some counts, the City Lord should be the ‘owner’ of this shard. Following the train of thought, Rune tapped yes.
Coming to his vision, a yellow path materialized in his sight, real, yet, ethereal.
The yellow brick road?
Following along, Rune began to twist and turn toward the silver-black tower. Winds dipped into the streets, and the path led to an ornate building flanked by portal guards.
A portal building? Why is this one different? Rune thought.
The moment Rune came into view, several gazes fell on his masked stature. Used to wariness during the night, he slowly approached the portal guards, their postures straightened out, each clasping a hand over their wands or weapons in readiness.
Traces of pulsing light radiated behind them, coming from the watched entrance. A faint oscillation teased at Rune’s sense of hearing. The masked man calmly strode forth to the tensed guards, following the overlaid yellow path, halting a pace from them, he allowed his wordless stare to bore into the strained gaggle of men and women before him.
Goaded by Rune’s lack of communication, a red bearded mage guard spat, “Have you any business with the city? I don’t like the faint sense of blood wafting off your person. Who are you, and why are you here?”
Before Rune could answer, the mage guard must’ve funneled mana to his stave and wand, as the two began to swirl with power. Yet, the man did not fire. Taking that as a sign of overt readiness, Rune remained mute in the face of the unknown path laid before him.
This crystal was to guide him to the city lord, or perhaps someone who could represent her, Deter wouldn’t have bothered to give his terms otherwise. Trusting instinct, Rune pointed to the now pulsing crystal overlaid on his mask.
Confusion ran through the ranks before him, and a few murmurs arose. Rune’s senses couldn’t make out their words despite the recent enhancement to them. When he strained his eyes, Rune could see a shimmering wave of power encircle the guards. Another guard, this time a monic woman with deep blue hair signaled to those around her. She snapped up her head to overlook Rune. Pressing onto a crystal she fetched from a spatial bag hanging from her side, she waved one arm.
The aura around the suspicious guards had subsided, and the monic sentinel enlightened to Rune to his swift coming situation, “The crystal I so willingly signaled with shall bring over Jordis, the commanding officer at the current hour. She’ll be the one to escort you in, Deter’s mark.” The forthcoming woman patted aside the others stationed around her, and they returned to mechanical discipline, staring straight ahead while ever scanning the nearby area.
In their stead, the monic came up to Rune, her eyes wandering over Lilith on occasion, “You match the description well, masked terror. I wonder what rumors about you are true?”
Rune made no move to respond, leaving the woman to a light chuckle, “The one about your remaining silent a little often seems spot on.”
The monic stilled, and Rune tensed in reaction. A powerful, yet feminine voice of a human woman rang over the ornate portal building coming from within, “Escort him in to me, Lynara.”
Responding instantly, the woman only informed Rune with a glare as she slowly moved back toward the purple, black and white architecture. Releasing a puff of misted breath, Rune trudged alongside her into the building, while giving Lilith a reassuring pat, to which the shadowed creature writhed in welcomed pleasure and affection.
Before soaking in the new sights within, a new presence commanded attention. A woman in spotless white chain mail, with a grey bone great sword mottled with black spots casually slung behind her back, up against radiant blond hair. Gesturing shortly to the monic guard, she commanded, “Leave us, Lynara, I’ll escort this one in to the City Lord.”
“As you order, Commander Jordis.”
Leaving with a salute, Lynara returned to her post, and Rune found himself alone with the woman, save for one hooded guard that stood before three portals. Grasping for slivers of knowledge, Rune inspected Jordis. Her pale skin reflected off the lowly lit room, and scars marred her face in several areas. A thick miasma of mana swirled around her. As she showed no signs of exertion, Rune assumed it was a subconscious or natural reaction.
“Done getting your bearings? Lady Cyrn has precious little time to waste, and you won’t be one of the reasons for that under my stewardship. Follow along, Rune. Deter sent word ahead to expect you.”
Her blue eyes centered on the eldritch black creature situated on Rune’s shoulder, “Keep your fiend in check while your here. Now then.”
Jordis swiftly led Rune to the three portals, veering toward the leftmost portal. A swirling mass of gold and purple, acknowledging the other watcher within the building, she said, “Let us through, Geldis.”
Responding by revealing a pendant, the man acknowledged, “Procedure first, commander.”
“If you insist.”
Receiving approval, a faint wave of mana washed past Jordis, and shot through Rune, the pendant glowed a fierce white, before returning to a blank state. Beckoning with a swift motion of her head, Jordis guided Rune, “Into the portal, I’ll be in shortly after. Try not to test the City Lord’s patience by standing around.”
Leaning into his rapidly forming reputation, Rune remained silent even as questions bounced around in his mind.
The city lord can only be reached through a portal? What does she want from me, anyway?
Shrugging off the curiosity for later, Rune steadily strode into the intermixing purple and gold rotating vortex, prepared to keep his end of the deal with Deter.