Beam POV: Day 61

Current Wealth: 2 gold 23 silver 41 copper

We had a budget of about 1 gold, according to Xangô. That ought to have been enough to rent something suitable for a long time, anyway, and in fact he assured me that he didn’t intend to spend anywhere near as much on it. That was a relief, because I really didn’t want to see almost half our money disappear all over again.

The two of us made our way through the city with Argar and Helena at our backs, figuring that the pair of muscle-bound giants might make any arguments we saw fit to throw at someone a bit more persuasive. We’d started to get a knack for navigating the nauseating city design that was so common to this world, but even so it took us a while before we actually got to our first potential property, needing to ask around by word of mouth until we found one that was even up for renting. I really did miss the internet.

It was a warehouse, sort of. Small and squat, feeling like it’d been cross-bred with a storage closet. Its owner was some old guy who didn’t look exactly pleased to see us, but whose attitude brightened up immediately once we held out our coin. His eyes expanded to almost the size of his head as he eyed the gold piece flitting between Xangô’s fingers.

“I’ll give you it for a month.” He said, quickly. “For that gold.” Xangô smiled.

“You’re not getting this gold off me, first of all.” He replied. “I’m only showing it to you so you know we’re not going to short you on whatever money we end up owing, I assume you’d have just asked us to anyway if I hadn’t?”

The man glared, and gave a fractional nod.

“Good. Then what’s your actual offer?” Xangô asked. “And before you give it, let me just point out that I’ve already figured out you don’t even use this dwarf-warehouse of yours. I’m guessing you bought it last-minute a while ago to meet a sudden influx of required space, right? It’s far enough from your other properties that it’d just lose you money to use it alongside them, and the fact that you’ve not managed to sell it on again tells me that I’m not exactly looking for premium land here. So, what would you like for a month of its use?”

If his jaw had tightened any more, the man’s teeth might’ve cracked. He took a good few seconds of thinking before replying to Xangô’s observations, which gave me plenty of time to be nice and impressed by my friend.

“Twenty silver.” He said at last. Xangô snorted.

“That’s absurd, you’re asking for more than…” He hesitated, thinking, not as good as Solitaire when it came to math. “Thirty copper a day?”

“I don’t get thirty copper a day for smashing open heads.” Argar cut in, volunteering the information as if it were merely some interesting little piece of trivia. He crossed his arms as he said it, sleeve tugging back slightly to reveal a bicep that looked more categorically akin to the thigh of a bull. The man paled.

“Six silver.” He said at last. “Final offer.”

Xangô looked for just a second like he might argue, or simply walk away, but in the end he sighed.

“It’s not your final offer, is it?” He asked. “Your final offer would be almost nothing, given that you’re earning no money at all from the place.”

The man opened his mouth to argue, then Xangô spoke over him.

“Deal, anyway, consider it a show of good will.”

His surprise was matched only by my own, but I knew better than to say anything about it. The man, likewise, only paused, blinked, then nodded before speaking with a strained gruffness.

“Thank you.” He managed, then, as if eager to regain some kind of control, his eyes hardened as he followed up with a demand. “I’ll be having my rent up front, first of every month.”

“Of course.” Xangô smiled, placidly. “Here you are.” He handed a few coins over, which seemed to have the man about as disoriented as if Argar had just leaned over and punched him in the head.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

That had always been how Xangô did things, though. When someone tried to square their feet and push against him, he’d simply step back. Offer no resistance, let them fall over themselves in the attempt. People couldn’t take control that was just handed to them, he’d explained it all once before.

I’d known his methods, but I’d not really seen them that often. Every time I did was a sharp reminder that Solitaire wasn’t the only genius in my friend group. Scary.

Our new landlord was gone soon, and I followed Xangô into the property. The inside’s atmosphere hit us like a wall of frozen shit, its stench so concentrated and strong that it was almost physical. My eyes watered instantly as I strained them to examine the insides with the aid of a few beams of light pouring in from its open door.

Xangô was the first of us to regain his bearings, surveying the place with about as much neutrality as could’ve been expected. I joined him.

It was perhaps three hundred square feet, with a ceiling just barely tall enough that the giga-troll we’d fought could’ve stood up straight. Rats scurried around as the light hit them, dirty and, well, ratlike, and the air was so clotted by debris that I could actually see it as ant-sized particulates in the sun.

Argar spoke first, with a chuckle.

“Glad to see you’ll be getting your money’s worth.” The giant snorted. “Looks like a right perfect place to be saving the world from.”

Xangô glared at him, an evil look seeping into his eyes.

“I know.” He sighed. “It’s far from perfect, fortunately we have our loyal warriors to clean it up a bit in preparation for Solitaire to work his magic.”

Argar swore, and Helena only eyed Xangô, suddenly looking…Jagged.

“You are not going to make me clean rat shit out of a building.” She told him, as if it were a bare statement of fact. My friend tilted his head, weighing her.

“You wanted to help us, didn’t you?”

“Help you.” Helena snapped. “Fight for you, protect you, and make some change in this world. Not shovel literal shit.”

Xangô’s face flashed with the ghost of a smile, just for an instant, then it was buried.

“So you think it’s beneath you?”

She glared, and he continued.

“Solitaire shovelled shit, you know, to make his explosives. He spent the better part of a day-”

“Fine.” The Vittonian snapped, glaring harder, not softer, now that she’d finally come around. “Fine, you made your fucking point, happy? I’ll help clear it up.”

Xangô smiled.

“Beam, you’re still working on your magic, right?” He asked. I answered with a nod, and he looked thoughtful. “Right. Well, keep doing that, I think I’m going to give my own a bit of a go.”

He’d spent much of our journeys doing just that, but hadn’t quite discovered anything new yet. I found myself suspecting that maybe there wasn’t anything new for him. I kept it to myself, regardless, not wanting to ruin his apparently good mood.

For the last few days, I’d been testing my own powers, too. Learning the ins and outs. The major limit I’d uncovered was that I could apparently not give my weapons to other people, nor my armour. Not in any practical sense. Once I let go of one, it didn’t take long for it to disperse entirely, which meant that at best I could arm an ally for seconds. That might find its use anyway, mind, Argar with a big axe or such made with the same magic as my sword might well take trees down with a few swings, but it wouldn’t let us outfit an entire company with magic gear or anything.

That sparked a thought.

“When do you think we’ll be able to get our hands on some proper armour?” I asked Xangô, glancing at Helena and Argar. The former had something, at least, albeit nothing more than some thick woollen gear I’d been told was called a gambeson. Argar was practically walking around in normal clothes, and I didn’t trust his skin to stave off a blade as well as it had Solitaire’s teeth.

My friend seemed equally convinced, sighing.

“20 gold or so will get us a full suit of plate armour. Maybe…Uh, maybe 25 for us, given our sizes.”

My heart fell, but Xangô’s hand was patting down on my shoulder quickly.

“It’s not as hard as it sounds, I mean, Solitaire’s building us a fucking gun, right?”

That did lift my spirits a bit, given that it was, in fact, a fucking gun he was talking about. I nodded. Almost considered holding my tongue, but decided to speak anyway.

“I just want you all to be safe.” I managed, not meeting my friend’s eye, suddenly awkward at the admission. “Putting a bit of steel around you would help that, not that I intend anything to get a finger on you under my watch anyway.”

Xangô nodded, severely.

“We’ve got our feet under us now.” He promised me. “Things will get better soon. But for now…Well, first off, we need work.” He sighed, turning to Helena. “You’re literate, right?”

She nodded, seeming surprised to be asked, and Xangô was quick in continuing.

“Then come with me. We’re going to go and look for some work.”