Luna insisted on going first into the lion’s den. Despite the protest of her two remaining guards, she insisted on entering first. Without Toss Carraige, the remaining two guards were far more concerned. Luna would finish dealing with him later.
Above her was splintering wooden sign, of a pig sleeping on a wood tankard. This was the place, and Luna pushed the door to the bar open. The inside was moderately run down. Chairs and tables showed signs of use, and the bar top in particular was stained with the drops of many drinks and times both good as well as bad. It was strangely reminiscent of the bar she had just come from, perhaps a touch better upkept. Which really didn’t say much for the prior space.
There weren’t a lot of patrons at this hour, at least not for this bar in particular. What few were in there were either of the dark or neutral races and looked to be off duty guards most likely from her Lunar Guard. There was not a single light race to be seen. This was not a place any royalty like her had any business being in. But she didn’t have much of a choice. Though a part of her did relish the almost forbidden and simple pleasure of an evening in a pub like this one. It was an opportunity she rarely was afforded.
Looking around, she did her best to ignore the surprised gaze of the various inhabitants. At least one of them stood to salute her. She ignored them. A tap at her shoulder turned her head, as Hastam pointed to the end of the bar.
There he was, at the end of the bar near a corner and almost out of sight sat Neal. He was downing a tankard of something or other, and drowning whatever was on his mind with the same drink. Her general had followed her in and moved silently. Once more he found a table in the shadows, in a place where he could watch what happened, from a distance. There he sat glaring the failure of a guard drowning himself in self-pity.
The princess approached the man whose head was now laying on the bar top, paying more attention to the fine wood grains than the world around him. Pulling out the stole next to his, she sat down at his level.
In response, Neal sighed and looked up. He didn’t really want any company at the moment. But as he turned to tell the person next to him that the rest of the bar was in fact open, his mouth could suddenly not stay closed or speak any words.
For a moment, Neal considered if he had too much to drink and was starting to hallucinate. He had never drank enough before to get him quite to that level, though there was a time he had an indepth conversation with his house plant and his roommates cat, they never did speak back.
A strange part of him welcomed the possible experience. A magical hallucinatory pink elephant that would lead him on a quest to understand the problems in his life and how to fix them. It would be like a parade of pink elephants, and somehow he’d end up in a tree after learning he could fly. Or, maybe that was the plot for Dumbo? Regardless, she wasn’t pink, quite the opposite in fact. He began to doubt she was a hallucination, despite the oddity of her presence.
“Princess Luna… You are less pink than I expected for a hallucination.” His head fell back to the bar top. He was neither sober nor drunk enough to deal with this.
The smell of alcohol from his drink permeated her nose. Whatever was in there was very strong. It was rare that she drank, but maybe it might help her loosen a bit for whatever conversation was about to take place. At the very least, she doubted her ability to have this conversation while fully sober herself.
“Excuse me, barkeep. Can I have a glass of your tartest red wine, please?” Luna asked the rather heavy elf who, like his patrons, also couldn’t stop staring at her.
Blinking his eyes, his senses returned. As a bar tender, the princess made a request, he had to get this right. Being in the good graces of the Princess and Queen could only help his business. Being in bad graces would likely be bad for his head and shoulders. He thought about it for a moment, there were so many choices when it hit him. “Berry Sisters! The bats know their wine. I’ll get you a glass. Um… my Princess.” He fumbled the words as he ran off to some back room and brought out an actual bottle of something with all due speed.
Neal’s head turned to watch him pour the dark red liquid. Neal was surprised, “Lyaeus, I thought you only had barrels of cheap stuff. Nothing expensive like that.”
“Oh be quite you! Of course I have better wines and liquors in back. Also, what I sell is affordable, not cheap.” Lyaeus corrected him, with a smile. But it was clear the statement had hurt his pride as a shop owner.
Lyaeus handed the glass to the waiting woman in front of him, “Here you go, um my Princess-“
Luna held up a hand to stop him before picking up the glass. “Please, no need for formalities, in fact. I prefer it if you don’t even mention I was here. Ever.” She glared at him and those around the room, who thankfully took the less than subtle hint.
“Of course! Of course, uh the wine is on the house. I insist.” Lyaeus laughed at his own nervousness. That wasn’t a cheap wine either, but how was some like him supposed to charge royalty?
With a light smile Luna savored the aroma of the first sip. It wasn’t sweet, not even close, nor was it bitter. It was sour, like a tiny grape that was just a few days too short of being ripe. It was strong, and cleansing, just like how she liked her tea. With a smile, she pulled out a square silver coin and handed it to the elf. “No, I insist on paying you. This is fine wine, I might even have to get a few bottles bought for the castle.”
Lyaeus’ eyes opened wide at the large amount. That bottle of wine was worth about 2 silver shillings, this square silver weight coin was worth ten times that.
At first he was worried he’d have to make change until she said, “I don’t want to carry a pouch of coins. Please keep any extra.”
The elf’s wide eyes were joined by an equally wide smile as he nodded and left the two alone to discuss, whatever it was a washed-up guardsman and princess talk about.
Luna knew she didn’t have a lot of time. But still, she sat there for a moment just to savor the quiet, as she thought about what to say to Neal. She had gotten the rough story from her other guards, but no doubt he would have his own input as well. At the very least, she knew she could no longer put off talking with her captain any longer. But of course, that would have to wait till the next time she saw him. Taking another light sip of the wine, she smiled lightly. She really did like it; it’s strong taste drying her tongue out ever so slightly.
Neal turned his head to stair at her once more. “You seem very real for a hallucination, princess.” He spoke before going back to consider the tankard in front of him. It was getting low he thought.
With a raised eyebrow she turned to him, not confident he was joking anymore, “Are so drunk that you think you’re hallucinating?”
“Not yet, but I’ll get there!” He downed whatever was left in his tankard before flagging down Lyaeus for another one.
Luna glared at the barkeep, for a moment as he put down yet another tankard and took the human’s coins. “How many of those has he had?”
“This will be his fourth. He knows I’m going to cut him off after six if he doesn’t slow down.” The bartender reflected Luna’s glare back to the human he was serving.
Neal laughed, as he took another rather large sip from his drink. “Coward. What’s wrong, you can’t stand a drunken ape?”
There was that word again, ape. Why did humans refer to themselves as apes. Certainly, they looked a little like them, but then so did the other races. Luna didn’t understand. Perhaps, it was a good question to get a reasonable dialog started.
Luna twisted at her wine glass with some uncertainty, “Neal, tell me something?”
“Hmmm? What does my hallucination want to know?” Again, he took a swig from his tankard.
“Why do humans call themselves apes?” She cocked her head lightly thinking about her own question.
“What? I don’t know.” He stopped himself from taking another drink as he thought about it more. “OK, I don’t know why humans here would call themselves apes. On Earth though, humans are descendent from apes. Or we have a common ancestor? I forget how it works. I’m not smart like my brothers and sister were.”
Nodding and twisting her head, she processed the response, “I see so you call yourselves apes as reference to your baser natures.” She took another small sip of her wine and considered what Aaron had said earlier. His actions and reasons all seemed to derive from their baser instincts.
“What would an ape do?” Luna whispered to herself, far to quiet for even Neal to hear.
Neal smiled and blushed lightly, “I guess that makes sense. You’re pretty smart Luna, kind of like my sister.” Neal sighed and began drinking again. “You know, I couldn’t do anything right compared to those three.” His head fell back to the bar top.
The words left Luna a bit confused, what three was he talking about? His family, obviously, but why? Something about all this seemed deeper than just guard and what Sable did. “I’m sorry Neal, I don’t think I understand. What three are you referring to?”
Lifting his head off the bar top, she could see his eyes were watering slightly.
“My siblings, and my whole family I guess. They all thought I was a failure. I wasn’t even suppose to be born. I was, a mistake. Everyone always made it a point to remind me of that. On the rare occasion they even remembered I existed.” He took a large swig of his tankard again, threatening to finish off his fourth in short order.
He continued, “My older brother ended up as a skilled and well paid areospace engineer, made big money working for some company or other building rocket parts. My sister, she’s going to her PhD and already has a few papers under her name. Even my younger brother has his hustle going, with his business startup, in crypto I think? I don’t know. Barely a year out of high school. Eh, I guess two years now. Me though?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The slight frown on Neals face dropped into a deep look of scorn as he chugged the last of his fourth drink, forcing down both the bitter alcohol and feelings. “I couldn’t even manage a stupid bachelor’s degree or the military. Even here in this fantasy world, I can’t even make it as a simple guardsman. I mean how hard is it to be a guard here? There’s not even any war, and I couldn’t do it.”
The weight of what he had been thinking of pulled his head back down to the bar top with a loud thunk. He actually laughed for a moment, “I just don’t understand the point of it all. I don’t understand why anything is the way it is here. Hell, I didn’t even understand in my other life.” Her human was clearly in a lot of pain. She had no idea how to resolve it. More to the point, she needed to resolve it quickly too. He raised his head and hand to flag down another.
Luna waved off the bartender as she grabbed his arm and gently lowered it.
“A better question is, why are you here drowning yourself in pity? You’re supposed to be on guard duty, you claim it’s simple so why aren’t you doing it.”
The human just staired at his empty tankard for moment more wondering why it was still empty, “Not anymore. I quit. Just need to drop off the paperwork. I’ll get around to it eventually. Not like they’re going to dismiss me if I don’t show up. Afterall, I have no orders anymore!”
Taken aback by the statement, it was not what she needed to hear right now. Not to mention the pain it was clearly causing him. “Quit? I don’t believe that. Maybe if you had said that a month ago I might believe you, but with everything you’ve put up with from your captain, no, I can’t see you quitting now.” She had to pull him out of his funk, quick.
“Heh, you noticed all that?” He looked up with a smile but it quickly faded back into a frown. “No. There’s no place for me in the Lunar Guard. Even if I returned I still wouldn’t be doing anything.”
Luna shook her frustration; she did not have time for this. Grabbing her wine, she followed his lead and downed the last of it in a gulp. It was a shame; it was good wine. “Neal, I don’t fully understand what you’re going thorough, and I’m sorry I don’t have the time to coddle you right now.” She turned his head gazing into his eyes. She could see the blush on his cheeks deepen and ignored. “I need your help.”
His gaze different from hers as he laughed again “Ha! My help. What can I do…”
“You can be a human, because that’s what I need right now. I need a human that can think like a human, and talk to other humans. Something very bad happened in the Human Enclave earlier, there’s a strong chance they are going to sack the Upper City. I need someone like you to help me talk to them and talk them out of it.”
“Wait, what? None of that makes any sense to me. Let me just get my bearings first…”
As Neal got up out of his seat he became aware of the strange sensation of falling. At first he assumed it was just the spins, until his head and ass hit the floor. “Owww…” He grabbed at the back of his head. As bad as it hurt now it would be worse in the morning with the hang over.
“Neal! Are you alright!?” Luna watched him roll on the ground from her seat. It would have been amusing if things weren’t so dire.
For Neal, the rolling was necessary, as it was difficult to lay on the ground without holding on. He did have the spins, and bad. He wouldn’t be able to stand much less walk anywhere.
“Princess, I’m sorry but. I don’t think I’m going to be of much use to you.” He bobbed his head in time with the invisible waves crashing over him.
She continued to watch him, pitifully while she thought about what to do. Though she didn’t have to wait for very long.
The door to the bar opened with a fast swish. A dark elf rushed in, his face flushed like he’d been running. As he sat at the bar, he shouted to the other patrons, “Hey, you guys see the fire to the east? Looks like it’s right around the wall for the Enclave. Looks like another riot. Glad I’m off duty today.” He then raised and hand and shouted for “Lyaeus”.
Her hand was forced before she could gather all her cards. There was no time, Neal couldn’t help her from the floor.
“Neal, I’m sorry. Truly I am, I just don’t have time for these games. I’ll help you later.” Before she could walk away, a weight dragged at her ankle as Neal grabbed it at.
She looked down and practically begged him, “Neal, please I have to-“
“I don’t…” Neal swallowed back more than words, “Please don’t go yet. I think I can help, tell me everything again. Something doesn’t sound right.” On shaky legs he stat back on the stool, which thankfully didn’t require handholds.
He sat there for a minute, catching his breath. It was all right; He could handle this.
With half glazed eyes, he stared at the Princess and asked, “They want to sack the upper city? Why though.”
Seeing a chance to jump in Coruscis smiled and smirked. Like a nerd about to explain some interesting fact that no one asked for it. “The princess said it earlier! Vengeance for vengeance’s sake. It all makes sense if you think about humans and their nature.”
It was hard for Neal to not be annoyed by it. Not just because she was annoying and he still hated her, but because that was wrong. “No. Like I said, that doesn’t make sense. Outside of stories most people don’t chase vengeance. Even when they do, they’re individuals.”
Coruscis’s ears twitched, and her teeth grit against each other a bit in agitation, “Oh? You know these humans better than I do? Aren't you the one always reminding everyone that you weren't from here?”
“I don’t and I’m not but, it still doesn’t make much sense. Even if they’re angry and mad Vengeance just does not make sense. People fight for food, resources, or because they’re being attacked. Vengeance is, different, it’s never organized.”
Seeing Coruscis grow flushed Luna jumped between the two, she knew how her assistant could get and they couldn’t deal with her shutting down. “Tell me Neal, Why do you think vengeance doesn't make sense? What are you thinking?”
Neal shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. The drunken haze and spin was affecting his mind as well now. “It's just that... Vengeance is the kind of thing a child goes after, or an individual. Someone kills my family, so I go off and kill theirs and that kind of thing. You're talking about an army sacking a city, that's not done for vengeance. I mean sure maybe a small terrorist group, but not an army. Most people aren’t going to lay down their lives just to hurt someone. It’s always a very small sub group.”
Coruscis jumped back in. “OK, but why not? It makes sense we have maps. This looks like what they're doing.”
Neal try not to grit teeth too hard, as the rabbit talked. “OK, from the top, what maps and what evidence?”
Coruscis Walked over to the human and dropped her book in front of him. She then took out her notes and laid them on top. “Here these are the maps I'm talking about. They're maps of the sewers, the maps of guard patrols. And a general map of the city.” She opened the book to a seemingly random page inside. There were sketches, lines, some curves and straight, overall, though, it showed a silhouette of the city.
Next, she opened up one of the notes and read what was on it. “Humans quickly put away their maps and charts, but some were still left on the tables. All the ones we saw showed lines and drawings of the sewer system leading up to the Upper City. From the Human Enclave. Over top of it all were guard patrols for the Upper City.”
Coruscis looked up at Neil and stared him right in the eye. Her ears were perked up strait, and her left foot made an unconscious thump on the ground. For any aware of the signs, it was a threat display, from a race who despite fuzzy appearances were known for their speed and brutality. It wasn't just her that was right; it was also general Torrent and Luna. How could he, a mere human, a young one not even from this world, know more than these three?
Neal looked over the drawings far more closely than he did the notes trying to make sense of it all, he just couldn’t because it didn’t. Neal Was almost certain of it now the humans were lying about something.
Luna was almost pleading now. “We don’t have time. So Neil, can you please tell us what their motives are then if not vengeance?”
He just shook his head. “I guess it doesn’t really matter what their motives are. That is, that is, I don't know. But, I don’t think it’s vengeance. They want to send a message.”
“What kind of message?” Again, she pleaded.
“We aren’t as weak as you think. We’ll defend ourselves. Strike us and we’ll strike back. Take your pick, but if it was me, I wouldn’t be planning an attack just for vengeance. An individual might, but not an army. Armies have purpose behind their movements. Or, they should. Unless you want to assume they're idiots, you would need to assume the same.”
He was sure that this was a misdirection. The humans in the enclave wanted the guards to think that they were going to sack the upper city. They want us to think that they're using the sewer specifically. Why? What were the sewers giving them? They were tight and confined and there were a lot of them. They looped around on each other. Which meant the guards would had to split up and double back. They would be focused. The high guard would have to be there in mass to search it all.
So while everyone was busy trying to protect the Upper City from attack that wasn't going to happen. Everywhere else would be open. But the High Guard were only in the Upper city to begin with. So what did that open, where else would they attack? He pushed the map of the sewers away and looked at the general map of the city. Common Guard and some of the Royal Guards would be up there too. So the general city would also be open.
That was it. The spot the High Guard wouldn’t be at. “This map, where is the High Guard command center?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” The rabbit snapped back.
His head was pounding now, but still he focused on the map. One area looked particularly suspect as he pointed to a few grids in the south west parts of the city, right in mid city. “Is it somewhere around here?”
The rabbit was surprised at his accuracy and nodded, She moved his finger a little bit. “It's actually right here. But why?”
“The humans aren't going to sack the upper city. It's a diversion. They're going attack the High Guard Command Center.”
You could see they didn't believe him. He shook his head and helped the map one more time. “Look, this is where the UpperCcity is. All the High Guards are going to be in the sewers or on the surface near the entry points to the upper city. Even the ones on the surface are not going to have a clear line of sight to the High Guard Command Center. You'd have to go directly through the castle. You can't do that with an army. So, they’d have to go around it. Best case, as soon as they see fire, it'll take them 1/2 hour, maybe an hour to get over there. By that time, their center is going to be ruble.”
Coruscis and Luna blink and looked between each other. Linda glanced back at the bar to the old Bat. He was sitting there drinking something again, but still paying attention. Her look conveyed one simple question. What do you think old man? His glance back said nothing. Instead, he put the drink down and looked at the tabletop. He didn’t know what to think? That was rare, rare and terrifying.
“OK.” She spoke to both of them, before turning back to Neal “Say I want to believe you. Why?”
Neal Shook his head. How could he explain this better? “You guys are right; the humans want to hurt the High Guard. But only the High Guard and only to send a message, it’s not vengeance, it’s war. They want to show them they are not weak, that if you attack them, they will attack back. Attacking the Upper City doesn't do that, it just makes them look like villains and bullies. Attacking their command center does. It makes perfect sense if you think tactically.”
Neal Dropped his head back to the bar with another thunk. He was done, he just couldn't deal with this anymore. “You asked my advice. You asked my thoughts. This is what I have to give you. I'm sorry if it's not enough.”
He both desperately wanted another drink and desperately did not. Really, what he wanted is for everything to stop spinning, and he didn't mean the room. Maybe if he was actually sober. Maybe he was in better condition. Maybe he had taken better care of himself. Maybe he could have helped her. Maybe he could have been used for this one time? The simple fact was, he wasn't.
A hand fell to his shoulder. It was soft and smooth; He could feel that through his clothing. She looked down at him with a smile and said “Thank you. This helps.”
Coruscis also approached Neal. He really didn't want to talk to right now. Nor ever. “Neal, I’m sorry I got mad. I don't know if you're right or not. But your logic is sound.”
He sighed and gave a quick half of a laugh. ”At least your notes and maps are good Bookworm.”
The duo of Coruscis and Luna left the bar, leaving the human to sulk in his troubles and liquor. Given the coughing coming from her carriage, Luna had guessed that General Turret had managed to sneak out before them. As always, he was still spry even with a few drinks in him.
She turned to him, “General, what do you think?”