Conláed, the bandit leader

Mmhmmmm.... it is so tender, I hardly have to chew before slurping it down my throat in bliss. The muscle sinews separate into strands of flavour as they pass the back of my throat.

'Mhmmm,' I actually moan audibly. The scent from the flesh still on my plate already causing an overabundance of saliva as I’ve already swallowed everything in my mouth. I expertly manoeuvre the cutlery to cut stab and scoop up more of the meat and soup whilst looking intently at Eyrie’s eyes asking without words how he got his hands on so much of the delicacy and why would he be wasting it on me.

Mhhmmm, so delicious.

I know I’m the boss of this little band of cutthroats but we are all still scavengers here and as such every creature is out here for themselves first and foremost. Sure we are considered the drags and bottom feeders but everyone from the sects to the guilds and the nations that hunt us for sport and perceived slights. But this particular band is more than that, through hard work and a few throats slit silenly in the night i have whipped them into something reselmbling an organised force and it shows.

‘’How did you get a human child in this market, you better have not used any of our hoarded gems.’’

I threaten as it dawns on me that the fucker might have taken some of the gems he is supposed to safe guard and is now bribing me so I don’t kill him outright after I’d have eventually found out. I slurp up the soup from the bowl while keeping a stink eye on the grinning fucker, I’m not about to let this opportunity go to waste even if I have to slit his throat after.

‘’I invested some of our gems in a new revenue stream,’’ the sleazy fucker says with a smooth smile even as I narrow my eyes and increase the temperature in the room with my black-fire shadow chi.

‘’What kind of revenue stream?’’ I ask already eyeing the empty bowl yet cognoscente of the fact that we cannot afford the luxury of living like fire-blessed sect elders.

The threat in my words and aura is apparently clear enough to loosen the vampire’s tongue as his coyness is starting to irk me more than I have the patience or luxury to bear. Thankfully it’s just the two of us in my entertainment chambers so there is no one for which I have to keep face at the moment.

He starts talking about how human infants are so tender and good to eat because they don’t yet have any chi in their bodies like I’m some idiot that doesn’t know that. He talk about how chi less ingredients are rare and can be used for a variety of alchemical and cultivation purposes, definitely covering his ass try to butter me up for some big point. Beastkin are born having already started cultivating in the womb, most other humanoid are not as prolific as the humans thus are even more watchful of their young, I start fantasizing how best to torture him as he speaks.

As of yet I still don’t see how I at the minimum don’t have to maim him for splurging our hard earned gems away on a minor luxury, even had he gotten his hands on a human child for a few red beryl there is no way we could make enough of a profit to warrant the risks. I’m going to have to break his spine for a few weeks, maybe defang the blood sucker and have him drinking from a cup, yea the indignity alone will teach him a lesson and set a good example for anyone that wants to try shit with our loot. Eyrie is still too useful to kill though, which is probably why he did this shit to begin with.

‘’...but what if we had a continuous supply of chi less corpses, and not just humanoid either but Beastkin types and other animals as well.’’

I’m already shaking my head, ‘’you have lofty dreams for this band and for that alone I’ll let you live but for every gem you squandered away on this ‘revenue stream’ of yours you will suffer under Sophia’s tender mercies for a week-‘’

‘’I used two opals,’’ he interrupts quickly and I nod quickly taking that in. That’s a lot but nothing compared to what he has made for the band with his uncanny cleverness with money.

‘’I don’t know why you thought wasting to opal for this was feasible,’’ I say standing to my full height just a head shorter than him at 1.6m.

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‘’I bough enough to feed the whole gang for two opal,’’ he quickly add and it takes a moment for his words to sink in as confusion clouds my mind. He sees me trying to understand his words and that slimy grin of his is back on his face and he saunters around the chambers nonchalantly looking at around picking things up and inspecting them as he waits for me to make sense of what he just said.

‘’What?’’ I ask just to make sure I heard him right, my stomach grumbling greedily as I replay his words a 5th time and yes I think I heard him correctly.

He smoothly places another bowl on my desk and the captivating aroma tells me that this is more of the delicacy I just had, my mouth waters but I don’t touch it. I’m alive this long because I know when something is too good to be true, the band is one of the longest lasting because I know when something too good to be true and there is just no way to feed 63 people including the vamps that can only eat blood this good fair on only two opal.

‘’What the fuck did you do?!’’ There is horror in my eyes now instead of the casual worry about what form of punishment will give a lasting impression. If this stupid mother sucker bought enough human flesh and blood to feed everyone in the band we are going to be routed out and we are going to be slaughtered. That’s not even the worst of what will be done to us, the torture before death will be a sweet pleasure compared to the things they will do after they kill us and defile our corpses. I know this as I used to be a human’s servant for the longest of time and it is a fate I only wish upon my most hated enemy.

‘’Calm down boss, look have I ever steered you wrong when it comes to money? Hear me out hear me out,’’ he says placatingly and I realise the carpet is smoking just as a feathered pillow bursts into flame on the couch we pilfered from a caravan my contacts directed our way.

‘’Explain yourself,’’ there is no playfulness now, I will kill this worm of a being and feed it to my dregs, salt the shit they produce and have it cursed to never be part of the cycle of life again.

‘’Okay okay, look that’s not a child you just ate but an adult human okay?’’

‘’Impossible, I’ve eaten enough adults to know what you say is impossible.’’

‘’Look boss, the Pride is trying to move new merchandise on the down low, human in every single way except they don’t have any chi to speak of and not just human either. Hear me out hear out hear me out,’’ he says making himself smaller so as not to be looking down at me at this very moment.

‘’The Bantu would wipe out the prides if they ever peddled in the flesh of their young and I said this when they tried to sell ‘em to me. I also wanted nothing to do with ‘em you know? Then they gave me a sample to taste as proof that there was no chi in them, blood as fresh as an infant’s I tell you. No Bantu grows to adulthood without chi, that’s like saying water that’s not wet right, so I asked why they aren’t using em themselves. They apparently have so many they don’t even know what to do with ‘em, had a feast for 5 days straight before they decided to start making money off ‘em. Even showed me a bunch stacked together but they wouldn’t tell me where they were getting em.’’

I look at him, really look as I take in what he is saying. ‘’You are saying this is an adult I just ate?’’

‘’Had a full beard till Cook shaved it off, as long on the slab as you now stand tall weighed at least 60kgs with hairy balls that Wanda decided to roast,’’ he says quickly making the ward of truthfulness in the air that sparks faintly with light as he empowers it before fading away.

‘’How many did you get for two opal?’’

‘’Two, all the gems I had with me at the time they never have much to trade so I really wasn’t ready for this hall.’’

‘’How many carats per opal?’’

‘’Two 2 carat opals, oval. They’ve only ever traded with us so they probably have no idea how low their price was and I tried my very best not to make as big a deal off it as it was but I haggled hard. The blood I bought separately, 5kilos for a tanzarnite as the corpses where already drained. As we speak Jasmine is harvesting the marrow we can grow blood supplements for and sell to in the cities and make ten times what I spent, however you look at it boss we are going to be rich.’’

‘’Unless the Bantu shut us down or the pride wises up,’’ I say already doing all the rough calculations in my mind. I’m not very good would numbers but anyway I see it what we will be providing doesn’t currently exist in the quantities Eyries is implying in our corner of The Vale.

I look at my desk as I think, this fucker just fed everyone some of the richest fair in the land, the men will be grateful to him, he definitely secured himself some good will at least for a while, is he trying to undercut me? No, he’s too smart, he knows he needs me and the political connections I have. I may not be the strongest in the band but they all know I keep them fed and have kept them alive this long through being wily and my connections. I’ve always had a secret dream of starting my own sect, we the money we could rake in we could buy cultivation manuals, resources for tempering and the best weapons. Maybe spruce up these gloomy caves and stop living like bottom feeders.

‘’Alright Eyries, what do you have in mind?’’ I say taking a seat indicating for him to take one himself before digging into the bowl of succulent food placed so temptingly before me on the desk.