I’ve fallen out of a lot of buildings in my life. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. I don’t try to make a habit of it, but in general, most buildings just aren’t built too tough, so when a Hunter collides with a flimsy wooden wall, it’s the wall that breaks. Brick and stone are expensive, you know?
In my life I’ve been thrown out of windows, been shoved off of balconies, and hurled off of roofs. I’ve fallen from cliffs, castles, and châteaus. So I mean it when I say that the fall from Lavin’s apartment to the street wasn’t that bad.
Sure, I was five stories up. Sure, I was tackled out the window by three angry Kurtadams. But, those same three angry Kurtadams also served as cushioning when I landed. And I got a great view of the city as I fell. Lavin’s not-so-safehouse had some beautiful brickwork on the outside, painted a bright and cheery yellow. And sure, soldiers began shooting at me from the window, but those aforementioned Kurtadams took most of the shots for me. I got hit on the shoulder, but the bullet passed clean through me. How lucky.
As I ran from the scene, bullets bouncing off cobblestones, blood dripping down my arm, my thoughts turned to Lavin. Had she gotten away with Char and Yvlan? I sure hoped so, there were about a dozen soldiers in her apartment. If she hadn’t gotten away, they’d grab her, and there wasn’t much I could do about it.
I rounded a corner and realized that I was running out of road. Only forty feet in front of me, the cobblestones ended, giving way to a drop to the river. I considered turning around, but the sound of gunshots richochetinng off of pavement behind me made me second guess that. As the road rapidly ran out under me, I took a deep breath and leapt into the river. As I plunged into the freezing water, I heard muffled shouts and gunshots, but I just dove deeper. As I began to swim downstream, bullets began to hit the water. They quickly lost all of their momentum and I swam away.
I shook my head. It was a rookie mistake; every experienced soldier knew that water was one of the best covers from bullets. Get a couple feet down and any bullet that hits you (if any do) won’t be much faster than a crawl.
I glanced at my watch and realized I didn’t have too much time left. I began to swim a bit faster. I had to have time to dry off before I met Jala or I’d never hear the end of it.
—
An hour later, dripping wet, I climbed out of the river and hauled myself onto the cobblestones. I took a few deep breaths and glanced around, trying to ignore the water pooling beneath me. Thankfully, I’d asked to meet in the Warren, so even though the streets were semi-busy, nobody was giving me a second look.
The alley where I was supposed to meet Jala wasn’t far, so I got to my feet and started walking. My limbs hurt, my lungs burned, and the bullet wound in my shoulder ached. I felt like shit, which was pretty much business as normal for me.
After five minutes, I wasn’t much drier, but I had left a trail of water in my wake, making it exceedingly easy for anyone to follow me. Great.
As I neared the alley, I saw that Jala was already there. I saw her before she saw me and I’m glad I did, because she looked amazing and I looked terrible.
Her gray locs were tied up into a ponytail and even though I hadn’t seen her in a couple years, she somehow kept getting more beautiful as she aged. Which, considering I’d literally been stunned to silence by her beauty the first time I’d met her, was quite the impressive feat.
“Hi there,” I said, quietly. Jala turned toward me and a flash of annoyance went over her features. “What?” I asked, raising my hands defensively. “I haven’t done anything.”
“This isn’t how a man who ‘hasn’t done anything’ looks or behaves,” Jala hissed, glancing around nervously. “You’re soaking wet and fixers came to my office yesterday. They were asking about you.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Okay,” I muttered, “maybe I’ve done something.”
“Gods above, Jonas—”
“But it was the right thing to do,” I said, stepping forward and gently taking Jala’s hands into mine.
“Fine,” Jala said, averting her eyes. She let go of my hands, wiped her hands off on her pant leg, and asked, “What do you need?”
That, honestly, was a good question. ‘A lot’ was the answer, but I couldn’t just say that. As I opened my mouth, time slowed to a crawl and Abraxas stepped out from behind Jala, appearing from nowhere. He looked a bit better than before. Now, instead of looking an inch from death, he just looked very ill. His skin was still pale, but not quite as pallid as before, nor as slick with sweat. The bags underneath his eyes had also gotten noticeably smaller. Unfortunately for me, right now, I was guessing he looked a hell of a lot better than I did.
“Gods above,” Abraxas rasped, raking a hand through his messy hair, “are you averse to the easy way out?”
“Butt out,” I said, gritting my teeth. “This isn’t the time.”
Abraxas let out a moan of exasperation. Then, he was gone and time resumed.
“What do you need?” Jala asked, repeating herself. “Jonas?”
“I need some information and some protection,” I said slowly.
Jala sighed and nodded.
“Okay, what can I do for you?” she asked.
“Thank you,” I said, trying to give her a confident smile.
“Don’t give me that,” Jala muttered, “you’ll be paying me back—one way or another.”
I rolled my eyes but nodded. I owed Jala my life a dozen times over. This wouldn’t meaningfully increase the tab.
“Okay then,” I said, clearing my throat. “Have you heard of someone called the Doctor?”
Jala just looked at me, her expression blank. I couldn’t tell if she genuinely didn’t know, or she was just feigning ignorance. Either way, I had to push ahead.
“It’s someone who works for the Guild,” I said, “they’re performing some experiments that I’m pretty sure are against Guild bylaw, as well as just being flat out illegal.”
“Jonas…” Jala began to say, before she paused. “I’ll look into it, but no promises. Anything else?”
“Yeah,” I said, “someone’s been selling some pretty high-grade monsters. Not your garden variety show ponies either. I had a run in with a Hellhound.”
Jala flinched, no doubt due to memories from the Last War, but nodded.
“And as for protection,” I said, “well, if this all goes to shit, I need to make sure I won’t be persona non grata at the Guild.”
Jala chuckled and said, “You’ve been that for forty years, but okay. I get what you mean. I’ll make sure there’s still a place for you when you come back.” Then, she looked me up and down and sighed. She muttered a hex and waved her fingers over me. I felt my clothes warm up a bit and they began to dry faster.
“You always were better at magic than me,” I said quietly.
“I was better at a lot than you,” Jala said. She wasn’t wrong.
We stood there in silence for a bit and I wanted nothing more than to sit down on the cobblestones and talk about life with her. Or just sleep. Sleep would be nice. But I had a lot to do.
“If I’m still alive when this is all over—” I started to say, but Jala cut me off.
“You’ll be alive.”
“Fine,” I said, “if I’m not in a jail cell when this is all over, I’ll buy you a drink. And dinner. Wherever you want.”
“You can’t afford the places I want to go to,” Jala said, a smile flicking across her lips. I shrugged and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning around and walking away.
Abraxas appeared next to me, but time didn’t slow. He just walked with me for a while, completely silent.
Finally, he opened his mouth and asked, “Where are we going?”
I didn’t answer, because, well, he could probably read my thoughts. I didn’t know where Char, Yvlan, and Lavin were, but a safe bet was the Clucking Hen. Even if they weren’t there, I could at least get a drink.
“You know,” he started to say, but I held up my hand.
“I know,” I muttered.
“You could have been happy,” he said. “Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve been actually happy?” He glanced over his shoulder to where Jala had been and sighed. “The worst part is that we’ve always been like this.”
“Hindsight and all that,” I muttered.
“I suppose,” Abraxas said, before disappearing.