Dantes stood in the center of the Maw, feeling the sun warm his skin. It was a feeling he missed, though that hadn’t made him seek out the Maw in the past. Putting yourself in the center of a beam of light was something one should typically avoid in prison. Still, he hadn’t exactly been smart about that since everything had started with the Elfland Kings. He’d put himself into the center of things more and more, and he’d enjoyed every second of it. It felt like tasting who he was before he’d been thrown down into the Underprison. Before he’d lost everything. There was a way he could’ve done things that could’ve avoided a lot of the trouble, but at the same time some of it was almost certainly inevitable. Whether he rose in the shadows or the light, he’d make enemies, that was simply the cost of rising. May as well choose the method he enjoyed more… No, that wasn’t quite right. If he’d taken more care, Tel may be alive. There had to be a balance, and he needed to work to find it… After his final display in the Underprison.
He looked at the edge of the light coming down from the Maw. There were a number of people gathering, curious about what the foolish mutt was doing before they recognized him, then their curiosity only grew. None of them approached him once they recognized him, one of the benefits of being known and feared.
He reached out to the rats he had tracking Blud. He was tearing his way through the Undermarket, he’d nearly arrived. Dantes reached his hand into his jacket and cupped the Mother’s Reach seed in his hand. It was hard to hold, the heat and pulsating making his entire body shake as he held it. When he reached out to it, he was stunned by a kind of roar that reminded him of the last typhoon he’d seen hit the docks. He felt the same desire he’d felt from all seeds, to unleash their potential and grow, but this volume was beyond even the craving for blood he’d felt from his garden before he’d managed to quell it.
Not much longer
He sent the thought to it, but wasn’t even sure that the seed could understand over its own roar. He placed it back into his jacket.
“Will it be much longer?”
“No, it shouldn’t be.”
“Could you not simply use the seed now, and escape? Blud’s forces are scattered. Even the Collared or Changelings alone could take them now.”
“You’ve been watching my thoughts?”
“Yes. It is a way to pass the time. You often think of the places called ‘brothels’.”
“Well, I grew up in one, hang out and gamble in one down here, and I haven’t seen a woman in five years, so that checks out.”
“You have the thoughts about leaving now yourself, so let us leave. Isn’t it going to be more dangerous with more people? Not to mention the chance the Blud manages to kill you.”
“More people may provide me more cover too. There’s more than a mile of old ruined buildings and a tall wall between the maw and the rest of the city. Used to have a lot of people living there, but it turns out it ain’t popular to live close to a pit full of criminals. The more people climbing up behind me, the more cover I get.”
Jacopo thought about it. “That’s not why though, is it?”
“No,” Dantes thought again of Tel’s face wrapped in cloth and laying in the garden.
“Revenge?”
“Yes.”
He could sense Jacopo nodding. “Worth the risk then.”
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“Exactly, and this is just the start. Once we’re in the city, there’ll be even more waiting for us.”
Jacopo nodded, content with Dantes’ answers, and crawled back down into a pocket toward the back of his jacket.
The crowd that was gathering had grown even larger as word that Blud was on his way had spread, and a few dozen people were scrambling to get spots with a good view, and there were even shouts of bets being taken. Dantes couldn’t see the Shadow Cats in the crowd, or Wane, but he felt a pair of eyes on and turned to see Syn boldly wearing the shape of a tall, regal woman in a high hairstyle and flowing gown, flanked by ten nameless bodyguards. She gave Dantes a wink which he returned just as a commotion began at the edge of the Maw. Blud had arrived.
Blud was massive to a degree that was baffling to see in person. He stood easily seven and a half feet tall, making him nearly two feet taller than Dantes, and he was about half as wide as he was tall. He was perhaps the only one in the underprison who could make Merle jealous of his musculature. There had been rumors that his mother had lain with a giant to make him, and he was known even on the surface for his skill in a fight when he acted as a mercenary for the Fingers who would hire him when they needed exceptional violence done in a bombastic manner. Between his conversations with Wane, Ryker, the Shadow Cats, and a few others, he’d pieced together that Blud was actually not the most popular Orc, and acted more as a figurehead than an actual leader, but that unlike many in his position, he was aware of his role, which made him smarter and more dangerous than many might give him credit for.
Dantes turned his attention to him. He really only had one shot at what he was planning, and so he drew the seed from his jacket and held it in his hand, fighting the shaking it was causing in him.
Blud pushed through the crowd and raised an absolutely massive and chipped axe to point at Dantes, “YOU!” he roared.
Dantes looked left and right dramatically before pointing at himself. “Who, me?”
“How did you kill my men? Who helped you?” he was closing in, looking around the ground for any traps that might be hidden in the sand. The dialogue was to gain information, but it was also clear that he wasn’t underestimating his opponent.
“No one helped me. Well, except for your girlfriend once before I got thrown down here. I don’t think that’s what you were asking about though.”
Blud didn’t take the bait, instead continuing in a slow circle around Dantes, sizing him up and assessing other threats. He knew from what Ryker had told him that Dantes was clever, and deceitful, which made him cautious.
Dantes watched him circle, his hand gripping the seed tightly. He started to hear some yelling from the surface of the maw. The guards seemed to have taken notice of what was going on.
“Ten copper on the big one!” yelled one of the guards mockingly.
“No one would take that bet. The other one’s a bug compared to him.”
Dantes ignored them. There wasn’t anything wrong with being a bug as far as he was concerned, and it was all the more impressive when a bug felled a lion.
Blud’s instincts were screaming at him that there was some kind of trap, but his senses couldn’t detect anything. Nothing hidden in the sand, his remaining boys were in the crowd looking for any backup he might have, but all of the Mutt’s known allies that were there seemed to be keeping their distance. He could back away, but that would make him look weak, besides which the Mutt needed to die twice over for what he’d done to Ryker, and now to the rest of his gang. He’d hoped to take him down slowly, but now it was kill or be killed by the other gangs just as the dwarves were. He needed to make a bloody statement then and there, no matter what his instincts told him.
Blud was stronger than Dantes, and faster. He could reach him in less than three full steps, and bring down his axe. Even if Dantes dodged the initial strike, once he was in Blud’s range it wouldn’t matter. There’d be no escaping him.
Unfortunately, while all Blud needed to do was charge a short distance and bring his axe down, something he could do in moments, all that Dantes had to do was lift the seed in his hand and think a command.
GROW!
A root shot from the seed with the force of a blunderbuss firing and pierced through Blud’s heart, passing entirely through his body and driving into the sand that covered the maw. He died with a look of confusion on his face, cursing himself for not trusting his instincts.
The seed didn’t stop there, and shot out a dozen more roots that pierced the ground. They grew and pulsed in a way that reminded Dantes of the God of Rat’s tails that had all been tied together. Once the roots were embedded, they began to spread and thicken, and soon from the center, a trunk began to coalesce.
Dantes took position and the moment its first branch began to form, he grabbed it, and then the tree started to rise.