Chapter 155

The driver had found that it would be impossible to drop Jay and his friends off at Redgrass. The road had been blocked off leading up to the business and for good reason. The road was entirely packed with people, all of whom were well dressed and not to mention well off.

Seeing no way forward the driver stopped at the intersection instead and let his three fares climb out. Jay thanked the driver and the driver responded with a tip of his cap before moving to drive off.

As Jay and his friends turned away from the cart a man suddenly came out of the crowd from behind them. Jay thought for a moment that he had seen the man jump down off of the cart behind them but couldn't be sure, and he wasn't all that interested to begin with.

As Jay and his friends walked off the man hopped up in to the cart next to the driver and threw an arm around him.

The driver attempted to recoil but stopped suddenly when he felt a sharp point of cold metal press up against the side of his throat.

From the outside it looked like the man was a bit drunk and had wrapped one arm around the shoulders of the driver, perhaps being a bit too friendly but nothing to worry about. It didn't draw the eye and no one paid any attention to the driver and the man seated next to him.

“Drive,” the man said with a smile and gave the man an address. The man began to ask the driver a number of questions and the driver answered without any attempt to hide the truth.

His answers came as quickly as the questions did. His name was Gerry. He was married. He had two kids, a boy and a girl. He gave the man their names. His kids? They were both young and still in school. He drove carts for a living. Yes, he made an okay living at it. He lived over on Sycamore St near the smelters. It was a small shack. No it didn't leak when it rained, he had fixed that last year. What was that? No, no! He did not want to die!

The driver drove to the address but was nervous. He knew the area the address was in if not the address itself. It was deserted, rarely visited, and the perfect spot for committing a crime. The driver shivered but quickly stilled when the shivering caused the metal point to dig further in to his neck.

“Sometimes when you drive people I bet you hear things, don't you?” the man asked in a friendly manner as the metal point dug in to the driver's neck just enough to be painful.

The driver yelped before quieting. “Y-yes. I mean no! No! I don't hear anything!”

The agent sighed. “I don't believe you. Your entire trip last fare you spent staring at them instead of the road. Remember?” the man verbally prodded.

“No! I wasn't,” the driver tried before the metal point made its presence once again known. “I mean y-yes! Yes! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Just tell me what you want!” the driver practically sobbed.

“SILENCE” the man suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs and the driver broke down in tears. “I want your silence, and I'll have it too, one way or another.”

The driver nodded and tried to stop his tears but the fear was too much. The metal tip hadn't stopped digging in since the ride had started and the driver was terrified of saying or doing anything that would displease the man holding it.

“Tell me, who were you just driving,” the man asked.

“I don't..I'm..” the driver tried but the man shook him.

“NOBODY. You drove NOBODY. You saw NOTHING, you heard NOTHING, do you understand me? Say it!” the man shouted at the driver.

A window to a nearby house had cracked open but slammed shut as the man continued yelling. No one wanted any part of whatever was going on outside their doors.

“I didn't drive anyone or see anything I swear!” the driver stammered out in between sobs.

The man withdrew his arm from around the driver and sat quietly next to him for a moment. “Now, do you have any questions?”

The man shook and stared at him fearfully before he spoke hesitantly.

“Who are you?!” the man finally choked out through his nervousness.

“I'm nobody. An agent. I'd focus on you if I were you.” the man replied in a friendly tone of voice.

The driver closed his eyes for a moment as he just tried to survive the encounter. He hoped that the man would spare his life. When he opened his eyes the man was gone. The driver looked about quickly but could find no sign of the man.

The driver was about to drive off. Now that the man was gone he felt a bit more confident. Maybe he would go to the Watch! They would...probably want to know what he had heard. The man thought about his options as his eyes looked about when he noticed it.

On the bench next to him was a simple dagger. It had been jammed point first through a folded sheet of paper and had pinned it to the bench. The driver fearfully pulled the dagger loose and unfolded the sheet of paper. Inside was written four names. His children, his wife, and his. Nothing else. The list made it clear what would happen, to who, and in what order should he ever break his silence.

The driver didn't need anything else to get the message. He would keep his mouth shut. He had seen nothing, heard nothing, and would say nothing, not to anyone, not now, not ever.

*****

Jay wasn't quite sure how to make it to the front doors of Redgrass. A crowd was one thing but Jay wasn't faced with a crowd, he was faced with a veritable sea of humanity. It was a real puzzle.

Norri poked Jay, “Hey!” she shouted, “I bet they'd let you past if you put the mask on! Everyone knows the owners wear masks!”

M'redith smiled and nodded, “Oh, and your title too, turn your title on!”

“Which one you guys want to go with this time?” Jay asked.

Norri grinned, “Dawnbringer! It's the only gold title I've seen so far!”

M'redith laughed and the sound was almost entirely swept away by the sounds from the crowd. “You've only seen maybe six titles total, ever!”

Norri grinned, “Still counts!”

Jay laughed, “Ok, it's worth a try. Give me a second.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The three all went in to their menu screens and set their Dawnbringer titles to active. Golden letters appeared over their heads, the title Dawnbringer practically sparkling in gold. Jay removed his mask from his pack and fixed it to his face where it stuck firmly.

The mask exuded an aura of power and was disturbing to look at, especially if Jay was staring at you with it on. The addition of the titles over their heads began to draw attention and the crowd around them pulled away from them in response.

The crowd, and this can not be stressed enough, was made up of the well off and the rich and many of them were impeccably educated. Some, for example, were aware of the past existence of titles and also of their incredible rarity. To see three people, all sporting identical titles, was not just a shock but a warning to those who knew what they were seeing and those people pulled back from Jay and his friends as soon as the titles appeared.

Others were even more educated, had private tutors and special classes. Some of those were aware of the meaning behind the golden color of the title, and those people understood that a golden title represented not just an achievement but a powerful one. Those people knew that if a blue title was a warning flare then a golden title was a blazing signal fire that said 'do not screw with this person.'

Oh, and the fact that the only publicly known people to currently hold titles were all somehow linked to the owners of Redgrass had spread as well, which made it fairly easy for the majority of the crowd to deduce that they were looking at, if not the owner of Redgrass then at least a owner of Redgrass.

M'redith and Norri fell in to line behind Jay as he walked towards the main entrance. None of them acknowledged the crowd – it would have been folly to do so due to the vast number of people present. They had little trouble walking towards the front doors and the crowd parted in front of them as they went.

The people around them would go quiet and step back as they noticed the titles and the people in front of them would turn around to see what had caused the crowd to go quiet. Then the people in front of them would scramble to get out of Jay's way.

From their point of view all they saw was a taller than life man wearing a viscous black mask clad in full leather armor striding towards them with the golden title Dawnbringer hovering in the air over their head. In a word, terrifying.

The crowd quickly parted and as they moved through the crowd a susurration rose behind them as those in the crowd whispered and talked in a hush about the tall man, the mask, the trio of titles.

Jay reached the man at the front door who was looking down at a list, “Name?” the man asked curtly as Jay stared down at him silently. “C'mon, I don't have all night, na...ame..” he began but began to stutter as he looked up, and up, and up and in to the glowing eyes of the mask.

“But you DO have all night, don't you?” Jay asked, and the voice came out in a lower dangerous tone of voice, almost mechanical.

The man made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and attempted to recover, “My apologies, sir! No name is needed, please...” the man begged.

Jay nodded at the man who smiled a terrified smile in relief. The man opened the main doors for Jay and waved him and his friends inside.

Immediately inside they were met by a woman with curly long blond hair, a tight fitting rainbow striped shirt, and a pair of black pants. A golden necklace hung from her neck and glittered brightly.

“Welcome back! What can we do for you tonight?” the woman asked enthusiastically.

“How are we doing tonight?” Jay asked kindly.

The woman nodded for a moment before she answered, “Great! Filled to capacity for the last four hours! We've got all rooms and floors fully staffed and our stores should last us maybe to the end of the week at this rate.”

Jay smiled and the mask did not. “Right! Thank you. I meant how are you doing tonight?”

The woman laughed lightly and waved a hand at him, “I thought you meant! You know! Sorry, I got confused!” she said as she and Jay laughed about it for a moment. “I'm doing great, the tips tonight are going to be phenomenal!”

“Now that is good to hear!” Jay replied as his mask again failed to display anything other than a stern visage. “Can you find us an owner's table somewhere for the three of us?”

The rainbow top wearing woman smiled brightly, “Of course! Food or fun?”

Norri spoke up loudly, “FOOD.”

M'redith grinned and the woman laughed, “Food it is, follow me please!”

Jay followed behind her and was very careful to keep his eyes on her shoulders as she walked in front of him. M'redith was right behind him. The woman led them through a number of rooms as usual but this time it took time to move through each. All the rooms were packed with people all of whom were having a good time.

“This is the ocean room,” the woman explained loudly as they entered a bright blue room. The center of the room held a pool full of various creatures. Stingrays. Tiny sharks. Starfish. All sorts of creatures swam about and along the pool's edges were people who dipped their hands in to the pool to pet the creatures when they swam by.

The outer edges of the room was dominated by isolated dining areas and the walls were dotted with aquariums, each with their own specific set of occupants. Jay noticed one with two miniature lobsters. Another held what looked like horseshoe crabs. Yet another held what appeared to be bio-luminescent jelly fish that lit up in a rainbow of colors.

Norri smiled widely, “It's beautiful!” she said as Jay and M'redith marveled at the room.

“Thanks! I did it myself!” the woman chirped happily.

“Really?” Norri asked surprised.

The woman looked embarrassed. “No, I'm afraid not. Just a joke was all.”

M'redith laughed and Norri smiled along. It was all in good fun.

They were seated at a round table with room for four or five but as there were only three of them they had plenty of room to themselves.

“I'll have someone come by to take your food requests, if that is ok?” the woman asked Jay.

Jay nodded, “Can't wait,” he said as he removed his mask and held it up against his bag's opening to store it.

“Oh!” the woman remarked once Jay had taken off the mask.

“What's wrong?” Jay asked.

The woman looked a little nervous and shook her head, “Nothing.”

“Really, it's ok,” M'redith insisted.

The woman looked from M'redith back to Jay and then gave a tiny shrug, “With the scary mask I guess I thought you would look...different. You look nicer than I'd thought you would, that's all.” the woman admitted shyly and then quickly left the table before she could be asked anything else.

M'redith's eyes narrowed but Jay laughed, “What? You DID tell her it was ok.”

Norri chuckled too, “You do look scary with that mask on. Can't blame her for being surprised when you take it off and don't end up looking like a monster.”

Jay grinned, “I'm glad we came here!”

M'redith laughed, “Oh shut up,” she said before she leaned on him for a moment just to take the sting out of her words.

“I hope they don't serve us seafood. I'd feel guilty eating it in front of other...sea...food.” Jay said slowly as he looked around at the abundance of sea life on display around them.

Norri laughed, “That's awful.”

“Fine, YOU order sea-food.” Jay insisted with a grin.

“Shush you two, it looks like someone is coming,” M'redith said in an adult tone of voice as Jay and Norri went quiet but continued smiling.