The room stank. It was dingy, musty and filthy. And overpriced. It was the best place they’d had to stay in a very long time. Oresus was sleeping like the dead.

Gloe was keeping watch. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep. He did, very much so. It had been a long time.

But, strictly speaking, he didn’t have to. Now that they were back around so many people he could constantly eat at full capacity, which meant the maximum regeneration he was capable of. When running from the demons going without sleep had meant delayed healing of other wounds, so he had slowly been deteriorating. Here he could regenerate the damage of not sleeping without it costing too much.

There was the still the psychological need for sleep of course. He couldn’t go insane from lack of sleep as long as the physiological effects were being healed, but that didn’t mean he didn’t miss the reset that unconsciousness provided. Even an hour or two would have been great.

Something to look forward to, but now wasn’t the time. For one thing there was no way to be certain they couldn’t be located. As far as he could tell they hadn’t been followed, but that didn’t get them very far. There were certainly abilities and spells that could track or find them. It was just a question of cost and effort.

How much did Conrad want Emokha solely dependent on Constellation? Did his guild share his viewpoint? Did the headmaster? Until Gloe had some idea he wasn’t about to drop his guard. It would be very convenient for Conrad if there were a couple of random murders in the slums.

So he was on watch. It wasn’t as if it was a complete waste of time anyway. He was fairly good at multi-tasking these days, and he had a number of projects he was working on. One in particular was reaching its first level of fruition. Which was a good thing. Probably. He grimaced comically. Gross, but good. Probably.

...

Barely had Oresus begun to awaken and stretch when a voice spoke in his ear. “You have any seeds you want to grow?”

“W-what?”

“The thing is, I’ve a got a line of a fresh source of blood, and I was thinking to myself: ‘Ori will be pissed if I waste good blood.’ So I thought I’d ask.”

“Uhhh…” Oresus shook himself further awake. “Did you k-kill someone Zekhow?”

“Me? Of course not. Not today anyway.” He paused dramatically. “Yet.”

“M-maim someone?”

“No. Again, yet. The day is young.”

“B-but you have blood?”

“No, I’m going to have blood. Shortly. You got any seeds or not? I found a good spot to grow something.”

For several minutes Oresus pointedly ignored him, rising and washing his face. “We n-need soap. And other s-stuff. And we s-should look for stuff for Emokha too.”

“We can do that after we drop off the blood.”

Oresus turned and looked at him. “Is this a-actually important?”

“Little bit.” Gloe shrugged.

“Then l-let’s go.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Grab your gear and follow me.”

“T-trouble?”

“Not that I know of, but I took a look at the lock on the door while you were sleeping. That thing wouldn’t hold back a lizard-squirrel. We’d better take our stuff with us unless we want to get robbed blind.”

“Ah. We should f-find somewhere safe. I doubt the g-guards will appreciate me lugging these spears around town.”

“Good point.” Gloe thought for a moment. “Bet you can find a good place to hide them just up ahead.”

“A p-park?”

“I think it’s just overgrown. Watch your step, the ground is really swampy here. Looks like someone miscalculated the drainage. My guess is that’s why no one has built anything here.”

“I wouldn’t c-come here either if I had a choice. It stinks worse than m-me.”

“Point taken, soap is next. Go hide those spears and come back with seeds. This looks like a nice secluded spot. I’ll get the blood.”

Oresus vanished into the weeds for a few minutes. When he returned Gloe was bleeding all over the ground. “What h-happened?” he exclaimed.

“You remember that snooty nurse said I was tainted? This is why.” He pointed to a small pile of bloody spheres.

Squatting down Oresus rolled several over with a twig. “R-runes? Some s-sort of magic items?”

“I guess when the vampires realized I could regenerate they decided to stick these in the wounds they created. Nasty little shits.”

“C-cursed objects.” Oresus stepped away in disgust, then frowned. “How did y-you get them out? And what is this other s-stuff?” He pointed at another small pile of bloody miscellaneous objects.

“Remember these?” Gloe held up one of the fanatic’s daggers. “I figured out what the enchantment does. Makes it easier to punch through your own shroud. For some reason. Haven’t figure out the ‘why’ of that yet. I mean, suicide, obviously, but why?” He wiped the blade off and put it away.

“Anyway, I’ve been working on a technique to move inanimate objects within my body. Basically you imbue it to a specific point, like a muscle or something. When you flex the muscle pulls the object with it, just a bit. Then you release and repeat, scraping it along, bit by bit. I did that with everything inside me until they were all bunched up at appropriate spots near the surface. Then I just cut them out.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“About time too. Some of this stuff has been in here a while.” He poked a piece of bloody glass. “I’m pretty sure this has been in my skull since I was about two. One of my ‘uncles’ hit me with a bottle.” He looked up at the sky musingly. “He wasn’t my favorite.”

Oresus looked a mix of shocked and horrified. Gloe deliberately breezed right on. “Anyway, here’s the blood. Plant your seeds so we can get shopping.”

“R-right.”

...

“You’re way better at shopping than I am” Gloe said admiringly.

“H-how much shopping have you actually done?”

“Well…” he began ticking off items on his fingers while muttering. “Prison camp, jail, dungeon, apprenticeship, deep wyld, prison, prison camp, dungeon, wall, deep wyld…” he made a face. “I bought those clothes you’re wearing” he said brightly.

“Yes, they’re v-very nice. I think I’ll k-keep doing all the shopping.”

“Probably a good call. Where to next?”

“I w-wish we had more funds. We already got the b-basics for ourselves but Emokha’s clothes will have to be custom-made. That’ll b-be expensive. That doesn’t l-leave much.” He sighed. “Is there anything else y-you need?”

“Oh, all kinds of stuff, but don’t worry. I’m already mulling over additional ways to make money.”

“Well, n-now I’m worried.”

“Tch.” He slapped Oresus on the back. “That’s exactly what I said not to do. Tell you what…” he pulled his makeshift pack of his back and rummaged in it. “Here, see what you can get for these.” He handed over a small stack of fanatic daggers. “I was going to melt these down for…reasons. But you can have them instead. Only because I like you though.”

“Oooookay.” Oresus took the daggers, then smiled slowly. “This’ll g-give us a cushion. That’s a r-relief.”

“It’s getting late. You want to stop somewhere for food? We have a few days before we meet up with Emokha, so we have time to sell those tomorrow.”

Oresus looked uncertain for a moment, then glanced down at the daggers and smiled. “I suppose w-we could afford a small treat.”

“That’s the spirit. You pick the place.”

“Okay. W-what do you like?”

Gloe shrugged. “I’ve spent most of my life eating gyoks and such. Which isn’t exactly a problem per se, but it makes my opinions on fine dining questionable.”

“S-sometimes I worry about you.” They walked slowly down the street, Oresus peering into each restaurant, tavern or inn as they passed. “And, given that I’ve eaten your cooking, I w-worry about myself too.”

“Fair.”

Oresus took a deep breath. “This is s-strange.” At Gloe’s questioning look he elaborated. "I h-haven’t done anything normal since I leveled up. It’s s-strange shopping. Really m-makes me feel how much I’ve changed.”

“How so?”

“W-well…I notice things. And it’s s-so much easier to think.” He pointed. “Everyone g-going in and out there is dressed nicely, but they don’t look full when they leave.” Nodding in another direction “And over there it l-looks like the food doesn’t settle well.” An exiting man grimaced momentarily and tapped his chest as if proving the point.

“The p-prices there are higher than the other places we passed. I never w-would have been able to remember that before.” He wrinkled his nose. “And someone is burning a roast over there. W-weird to be able to smell that from here.”

“Enhanced smell isn’t always a benefit” Gloe sighed.

“T-true. But s-still, useful.” He stopped. “Here.”

It was a small restaurant, easy to pass by. “Whatever you want, although I am curious why you chose it.”

“The sign is h-hand-painted, and nice but not professional. The floor and t-tables are clean. S-someone cares. Prices are s-slightly above average, but the food smells better too. The c-customers are all dressed like they came here after work, but many brought their families, so the locals like it here. It’s over h-half full so it’s popular, but we’ll still get service. The paint is n-new, so word is still getting around.”

“Tch.” That was worth two finger-guns.

“C-come on Zekhow.” They barely had entered before a smiling hostess approached and took them to a table. Oresus studied the menu like there was going to be a test, then carefully charted a precise course between desire and economy. Gloe just got soup.

It was good soup though. Gloe took his time so Oresus wouldn’t feel rushed. “This is r-really good.”

“In fairness you’ve been eating monsters and waterlogged hardtack, but point taken. I don’t know what anything in this soup is…” he looked curiously at a bright blue vegetable “…but it is quite tasty.”

Oresus took another long pull from his beer. “It really is. It’s been so l-long.” A bite of sausage had him closing his eyes in appreciation. “You know what this reminds me of? That last d-day in Tranche. I know I made a joke about your cooking, but I think that was the last decent meal I had. Such as it w-was.”

“You know I heard from a sojourner that if you haven’t had alcohol in a long time your tolerance goes way down. Just food for thought.”

Looking up from his quiche Oresus smiled. “Just a bit buzzed. I’ll be c-careful.” He savored another bite. “It’s been quite a ride though, hasn’t it?” More steamed vegetables vanished. “You know, after the demonlings ambushed us in the forest a lot of the guards were terrified of you. That’s why they w-wanted me to come talk to you.”

“Terrified? Really?”

“Yeah. The way you kept coming back from w-wounds everyone knew you were tough, but you were sort of a joke. Like a training dummy or something, just constantly getting beaten down. No one thought y-you would actually level up to the point where you were a threat.” There was a prolonged period of mastication.

“And then the lumberjack parties started getting hit, and we headed out there. We could tell the top guards knew something, but we thought it was about the d-demonlings. They freaked out when they found Strem’s corpse though, and that’s when we figured it out. The other low-level guards were r-really upset. Did not want to get in the middle of it all. I w-was still excited from successfully using my ability, so I said I’d talk to you.”

“And here we are.”

“Yeah.” Oresus’ chewing slowed down, and he drained the last of his beer. He waved to the waitress for another, then leaned back in his chair. “I d-didn’t really believe I’d ever get out alive.” He grimaced. “Those early days in the camp, I didn’t want to.”

Gloe nodded himself. “I felt that a few times.”

“On the w-wall?”

“Before that. The wall was a relief, in some ways.” He hesitated, seeking the right words, but they escaped him so he plowed on regardless. “Some of those demons…well I’m sure you know. They’re some sick freaks.”

“Yeah.” Oresus took a drink from his new flagon. “Odd you w-wound up there rather than with me.”

“They didn’t like some of the things I had to say during the victory parade, and it sort of escalated from there.”

“Ah. So I guess we p-probably both would have preferred if you had been at the camp with me.” Another sip, then he turned back to his food. “But…eventually I met Emokha. She s-saved me. She never gave up.” He looked up, his slightly flushed face oddly serious. “I’m going to help her as much as I can until I die Zekhow.”

“I know” Gloe said softly. “Don’t worry. I’m not making any promises, but I’ve never been shy about telling people my real feelings. I may not stick with ya’ll the whole way, but I won’t betray you either.”

“Good.” Oresus shook himself slightly. “Good. And this is d-damn good food too. You sure you don’t want a beer?”

“Never had one before. What’s the legal drinking age here?”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. W-what is that?” He finished off a pickled fruit. “How old are y-you anyway?”

“I’m not sure.” Gloe paused delicately, then pressed on casually. “I don’t actually know how long ago Tranche fell.”

“About two years I guess.”

“Hmm. Maybe somewhere between eight and eleven then?” He no longer looked it. Leveling up so much had given him a somewhat overly developed body.

“That’s quite a r-range. How can you be that unsure?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time in prison.”

Oresus slowly gnawed the rest of the meat off a bone. “You know, if you weren’t so w-weird I think I’d feel really bad for you.” He took another swig of beer, then smiled. “But it’s okay. I like you anyway.”

That…huh. “You know, I actually really appreciate that, thank you for telling me. I think you’re only the second person…” he trailed off.

“Emokha likes you too.” Oresus laughed. “Even though y-you’re ugly.”

“Hey, unless you grew a couple of extra limbs and eyes when I wasn’t looking you’re sitting right next to me on fugly street mister.”

They both laughed. It was a good night. The food was excellent, but, as it turned out, the company was better.