They ran out of the building, coughing from the smoke, just like the non-combatants (and a few of the smarter combatants). Kelsey had confiscated their masks just before they left, and the sting of the acrid smoke made Aris feel sorry for those who’d had to breathe it all along.

Kelsey was coughing now, just like them, but Aris was pretty sure she didn’t need to breathe and was just doing it to allay suspicion. She focused on clinging to Anton so that they didn’t get separated in the press as they made their way away from the building.

A crowd was already forming, mixed between gawkers and the start of a bucket brigade. Aris was surprised to see such public-mindedness in this run-down part of town, but she supposed that no matter where you lived, you didn’t want to see your house burning down.

Their efforts would be wasted. Kelsey’s strange weapons had made thick, choking, smoke but no fire. Probably not dangerous in small doses, but anyone who was caught in it would make it a priority to get out. They didn’t stop moving until they’d moved well away from both the gawkers and the people fleeing.

“I think he got away,” Kelsey said, disappointment colouring her tone. “I’m pretty sure I winged him, but I didn’t see him when we were getting out.”

“Does it matter? We got away unhurt.” Aris said. Anton had done an amazing job of keeping the thugs away from them, which had let Kelsey and herself deliver a devastating hail of fire. She’d even made a level.

You have reached Level 7.

Please allocate 2 free Ability points

There was no trait to choose this time, so she just accepted the level and put her points into Dexterity.

Applying Benefits for Level 1

Toughness + 1

Agility + 1

Dexterity + 1

Perception + 1

Willpower + 1

Free points assigned to: Dexterity

She quickly checked her status, while Kelsey lectured them on how to crime.

Aris Lucina, Original Gunslinger (Level 7)

Overall Level: 12

Paths: Scullion/(broken), Original Gunslinger

Strength: 9

Toughness: 10

Agility: 14

Dex: 14

Perception: 20

Will: 18

Charisma: 11

Traits

Eye for Freshness

Heat Resistance

Sonic Resistance

Sure Shot

Trick Shot

“It’s not great, because he knows at least something about us and what we’re doing. He’s probably going to run to whoever is in charge of law enforcement… at which point we’ll find out what he knows.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have engineered that confrontation, then,” Anton said. Aris could hear worry in his voice, but also a bit of smugness at the thought that Kelsey might have made a mistake.

“Kelsey didn’t engineer that, though,” Aris pointed out. “He dragged us off the streets.”

“She knew that he would, though,” Anton explained. “And that he’d try to lean on us.”

“Really?” Aris asked, looking at Kelsey. “They were tricked?” Now she did feel bad for them. She’d thought that she was fighting in self-defence, but it didn’t feel as pure now.

“I’m not as good a shot as I thought,” Kelsey said, pouting. “I do well enough on the range, but in actual combat… Aris makes this look too easy.”

Aris frowned. By now Aris knew Kelsey well enough to know that a lack of an answer was an answer, just not the one you wanted.

“Don’t feel too bad for them,” Anton reassured her. “They were all trying to kill us, and the only one that was tricked was Rashaq. And he got away.”

“Don’t remind me,” Kelsey said sourly.

Aris thought about it for a bit. “Then, shouldn’t we warn Captain Tkukkuk? He brought us here, he’s sure to be associated with us.”

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“We can have one of the urchins pass him a message,” Kelsey said dismissively. “We already cut the cat brothers loose, so the only things we have to worry about are our safe house and our contract with Captain al-Nazari.”

Aris gave Kelsey a reproachful look. It seemed to her that a warning to a friend that they might be arrested was the sort of thing you delivered in person. It was a risk though, so she let it go.

“Let’s go then,” Kelsey said. “We need to get back to the safehouse, and we need to make extra sure that we aren’t followed.”

They hadn’t been gone long, but the derelict house was already showing improvements. Debris had been gathered and thrown in the backyard. Some of the stored water and the slave’s old clothes had been used to clean the floors.

Most of the former slaves were resting on the bedding that Kelsey had supplied, but a few of them were waiting around impatiently.

“Finally! We were getting worried,” Galen said when they entered. “Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine,” Kelsey assured him. “Work on your patience though, we’re not doing anything until night falls.”

Galen looked at Kelsey doubtfully but sighed in frustration when Anton nodded in agreement.

“I was stuck in that cell for so long, and now I’m just waiting in a room that isn’t much better,” he complained. “I just want to do something.”

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” she said. She produced a device that looked a bit like Aris’s guns. A closer look, and Aris realised that she’d actually seen it before, when the skeleton had installed the new lock on the door.

“Get some practice with this,” Kelsey said. “It’s called a drill, but you’ll be using it as a screwdriver.”

The gun-like bit was attached to a large box with a flexible cord, and Kelsey showed him how to carry it with a strap over his shoulder. Then she gave him some “self-tapping screws” and told him to try them out.

“There’s got to be something in this scrap heap that you can fix with a screw,” she said, “and there’ll be more work for it on the boat.”

Some of the younger slaves expressed interest in the tool and came over to see what Galen was doing. She left them to it, going over to where Anton and Aris were sitting.

She sat down next to them, crosslegged with her back to the wall.

“Now,” she said, “We just have to wait and see if Karim sells us out.”

“You seem pretty calm about that possibility,” Aris said.

Kelsey shrugged. “He got a taste of what it’s like to cross us,” she said. “And we’ve been feeding him and his crew plenty of cash. Rashaq is looking pretty weak right now, so I like my chances.”

“Not so much that you didn’t try to kill Rashaq,” Anton pointed out.

“Eh, I took my shot. You can’t win them all,” Kelsey said.

* * *

Aris waited with the ex-slaves near the docks, while Kelsey and Anton met with the ship’s crew. Galen, Tavik and she had the job of guarding the group while they waited to get on the boat.

They were hiding in an alley fairly close to the tavern where the meeting was, so she could see that the crewmembers were upset when they came out. Anton looked concerned, while Kelsey seemed entirely free of worry as she waved them to approach.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“They haven't got all the new crew that they need,” Kelsey said. “It’s fine, we should probably take a day or two to get the place ship-shape.”

The female courl—Soraya—glared at Kelsey. “You can’t do work on the ship if we’re not there, and if we are there then we can’t recruit.”

Kelsey waved dismissively. “We’ll work something out,” she said. “Lead on.”

Soraya didn’t move immediately. “You’ve got supplies arranged for all these… humans?” she asked. “I don’t see any barrels of water.”

“It’s all arranged,” Kelsey said reassuringly. “Let’s get moving.”

It was tense, moving through the streets at night. Aris didn’t know where an attack might come from, and everyone on the street took note of the large group moving together. What people thought of them, Aris wasn’t sure, but the suspicious glares did nothing to calm her nerves.

Despite all that, they made it to the dock without incident. The ship’s… tender, Aris thought it was called, was tied up, ready to go.

“Two trips,” Soraya said, looking at the group. “And you’re in the first group,” she said, looking at Kelsey. “Captain will want a word.”

“Looking forward to it,” Kelsey said, rolling her eyes.

That meant Anton was going as well, of course. Aris needed to stay back and guard. She watched as the boat was loaded up with the less physically capable former slaves, and then watched as it sailed into the darkness.

There were a few lights out on the harbour, but even with her improved Perception, Aris couldn’t tell one ship from another. She hoped the crewmembers knew where to go.

It was a long wait in the darkness. It wasn’t totally dark. There was a lightstone, affixed to a post, high up on the end of the pier. It stopped boats from running into the structure, she supposed, though why they were sailing at night, she didn’t know.

Three docks over, it looked like someone was preparing to sail at night. That dock was all lit up, with Elitran soldiers moving around in a purposeful fashion. Soldiers all seemed to do that, Aris had found. She wondered if there was a trait that they all shared that did that.

She watched them in fascination until she was startled by a voice.

“Ahoy, land lubbers,” It was Rashid, the other crewmember. The boat had returned and she’d missed its arrival.

Aris felt the blood rush to her face. She was supposed to be on watch, but she’d let herself get distracted.

“What’s going on over there?” she asked, trying to cover her lapse.

Rashid looked over and frowned. “They’re getting the Prowler ready to leave, he said.”

“At night?”

“Maybe… maybe they just want to be ready to leave at dawn. A lot of logistics getting a ship that size ready.”

Aris could see what he meant by the size of the ship. It was even bigger than the one that had guarded the harbour when they arrived. It looked like they had to load it with a lot of sailors and soldiers… and slaves to pull the oars as well.

“Anyway, none of our business,” Rashid said. “Get your people aboard.”

Getting everybody moving was complicated enough that Aris forgot about the other ship. Soon enough, they were moving through the darkness, heading for the tiniest of lights, shining over the water.

“Did everything work out with the captain?” she asked.

Rashid shrugged. “The thing about the captain is, he likes having a chance to shout.”

“He’s happy then?” Aris had known a few shopkeepers like that at home. She had avoided them when she could.

“Not really,” Rashid said, “He’s lost track of what he should be shouting about.”

Aris giggled. Kelsey was like that.

“That storage device of hers,” Rashid said wonderingly. “Do you know how big it is? I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

“Oh… I’m not sure if I should say,” Aris said. Then again, it wasn’t like Kelsey was hiding the ability. “I’m not clear on how storage devices work, but they’re like an invisible box that you can take stuff out of?”

“That’s the basics of it,” Rashid agreed.

“Well, Kelsey’s isn’t like that. It’s more like a… tunnel? A short one, but it goes somewhere else. And she’s got people there, on the other side, putting stuff in and taking stuff out.”

Rashid whistled softly. “That’s still quite the item,” he said. “You people really are more than you seem, aren’t you.”

“That’s a fair statement,” Aris said. The dark bulk of the ship was coming up, the light they were seeking rising higher as they approached. “You should keep that in mind.”

Rashid gave her an uncertain look and then busied himself tying the tender to the ship and arranging for a sling for the passengers.

Aris watched with interest. When they’d arrived before, they’d had to climb up a rope, but many of the passengers weren’t capable of that, having bad hands, bad eyes or just general weakness. For them, a counterweighted sling had been set up, allowing Rashid to pull them up to the ship, one by one.

When it was her turn, she took the sling, just because it looked fun. It wasn’t. During the day, maybe, but tonight she couldn’t see anything, and just swung about dizzyingly as she got hauled up.

Anton helped her out, and she clung to him until the world stopped moving. Not that it did stop. They were on a ship, and the waves, gentle as they were, never stopped. But it was nice to hold him.

He let her hold on as long as she liked. They only broke off when Kelsey approached.

“Listen,” she said without preamble. “I think there might be a problem.”