Charomera

The 15th of Thargelion

The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals

Arche drifted back into consciousness with a groan. He made a mental note that if he ever found a healer, he’d ask them to check for brain damage. He’d been knocked out way too many times to be safe.

A nice, dull ache settled over his entire body. Arche shifted, realizing he was on his side, and heard the small, metallic rattle of chains, which explained the pressure on his wrists. He began flexing his toes and moving his feet softly, checking for injuries. Other than bruises, he was fine until he reached his hands, where one of the fingers on his left hand had been broken sideways, flaring up with a shock of pain when he tried to move it.

Arche worked his jaw left and right, pushing through the soreness as he recalled the bar fight. He was pretty sure he’d knocked some of the guy’s teeth out with the mug but his lack of eyesight made that difficult to confirm. He’d also failed to anticipate the follow up strike to his jaw that sent him reeling into a table. He remembered being dragged, angry shouting, and someone slamming his head into something. After that, he really wasn’t sure what had happened.

With a groan and a sizeable amount of effort, Arche sat up. His Health was two-thirds full so, despite the pain, he was in no imminent danger of death. All things considered, this wasn’t the worst situation he’d been in, but it was up there.

He sent out a mental probe, searching for anything alive. What he found was not particularly reassuring. Throngs of people filled the space around him, bundled into groups of twos and threes and repeated several times over. None made noise and none were familiar. Wherever his friends were, they weren’t with him.

Arche eased himself into a sitting position. Trying to ignore the sudden ringing in his ears that came with the motion. Manacles clanked as he cradled his broken finger.

“Awake at last.”

Arche ignored the voice, focusing instead on himself. Despite his situation, he was still dressed in his armor. He was also still wearing his Ruby Ring of Lesser Life, which meant he hadn’t been stripped of his valuables. Not yet, at least.

“Not in the mood to chat? You didn’t mind mouthing off to Hektor.”

It took Arche a moment to place the voice. It belonged to the other man at the tavern, the one who had tried to defuse the situation.

“Hektor insulted my friend,” Arche said. “What would you have done?”

“I’d have killed him. But you decided to humiliate him. That creates an issue.”

Arche grunted.

“I’m not concerned with the fragile egos of whatever passes for a thug here.”

“You don’t seem to understand the gravity of your situation. Hektor, loud and boisterous as he may be, is still a member of the Hekatonkheires.”

“As are you, I take it.”

“Indeed. And as such, we have a certain reputation to uphold. More than that, there are certain philosophies we hold to. Blood for blood.”

“I hit him with a cup, he broke my finger. That’s blood enough. If you wanted me dead, I’d be dead. So cut the shit and tell me what you really want.”

There was a long pause before the man spoke again.

“What is your name?”

“You first,” Arche shot back. “Tell me true, I might do the same.”

“Amphios.” The reply was immediate.

Arche considered for a moment. It was probably a lie, but it didn’t sound like one. In any case, he hadn’t actually thought up a fake name to give.

“Arche.”

“A pleasure. Now, Arche, I believe we were discussing balances. You and Hektor have both paid out in blood, that is true, but you owe a debt to the Hekatonkheires, now.”

“Do I, now? How do you figure?”

“By virtue of the fact that you are still alive after publicly attacking a known member of our order. Your very life has been spared; thus your very life is forfeit.”

Arche chuckled.

“That’s not how debt works. People don’t owe you their life because you decide not to kill them.”

“I could always kill you now.”

Arche grinned, tasting the blood on his teeth.

“Try it. See how it goes for you.”

It was Amphios’s turn to chuckle.

“You have spirit. I like that. You know, we’re always on the lookout for people like you. People who don’t back down. You could go far in our organization.”

“Not interested, thanks.”

“A shame. I think you would have liked it here.”

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“I disagree. So what happens now? Don’t suppose you’ll just let me go?”

Amphios ignored the comment.

“It comes to my attention that you are traveling with a few more companions than were with you in the tavern.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Three others are in your group,” Amphios continued, ignoring Arche. “Two women and a third who does not show their face.”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

“One of the women claimed to be a member of Hekatonkheires to some brigands outside the city. I spoke to one of them just a few hours ago. He described you in great detail. A blind warrior in crimson armor – you do cut a certain image, if no one’s told you.”

Arche said nothing, cursing inwardly at his decision to not remove his armor.

“This woman is of great interest to me. Especially because her description matches someone I know. Someone I thought was dead. You will bring her to me. Do this and our involvement is over.”

“And why the fuck would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, I will torture, enslave, and kill your friends. I’m a reasonable man, but my reason has limits.”

Arche’s blood ran cold. Amphios snapped his fingers and the manacles binding Arche’s hands and feet fell open. Boots scraped across the floor and hands roughly lifted him onto his feet.

“Consider my offer, Arche. Bring her to the Mizzenmast Docks before next Nyxpera or your friends’ lives are mine.”

Rough hands hauled him away. He tried to focus on the path they were taking him, but it was no use. He was taken upstairs, downstairs, left, right, and, in one case, marched backwards. By the time he felt the chill of wind on his face, he was thoroughly confused. The people dragging him weren’t done with him yet, however. They walked him through the streets, up and down alleyways, and even spun him around a few times. Arche couldn’t glean much about the two dragging him, but he did reach out tentatively with his psychic probe, mostly to get a sense of their minds should he ever cross paths with them again. Within half an hour, he was shoved to the ground.

“Go inside the building in front of you,” said one of his captors. “Remember what the Fifth Hand told you. One week.”

Arche pushed himself slowly to his feet. He turned toward the men and held up his broken middle finger. With a swift motion, he set the break and kept the finger aloft, backing through the door. Once it was shut, he cradled his hand to his stomach, groaning with pain. He didn’t have time to collect himself as a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Arche, there you are!” Tess’s voice rang out.

Arche grabbed for her with his good hand, catching her sleeve.

“What is it?” her voice was tense and concerned.

“Not here,” Arche hissed. “Not safe. Don’t go outside.”

Tess grabbed his cloak collar and led him through the building. He stumbled twice, once when bumping into a doorframe and again upon reaching the stairs. Soon enough, they were safely within the privacy of Arche’s room, though they weren’t alone.

“Arche, you’re back!” Helwan exclaimed. “Oh no, you’re injured again.”

“Not so loud, Helwan,” Arche said, his head still throbbing.

“What happened to you?” Cora asked, curiosity overtaking any concern in her voice.

Arche held his hands out and made his way over to the bed.

“Is everyone here? I don’t want to repeat myself.”

“One moment,” Cora said. “I’ll get Efterpi.”

The door opened and shut. Less than a minute later, it reopened and two pairs of footsteps came through.

“We’re all here,” Basil said.

“Great. In that case, I have terrible news.”

He told them of his encounter with the Hekatonkheires, going into as much detail as he could about the environment and the conversation. The only part he changed was the one concerning Tess, spinning it instead so that it seemed the gang was angry that someone was impersonating them. Arche finished with the ultimatum that had been dropped on his plate.

“So we have until next Nyxpera to come up with and enact a plan, whenever that is.”

“Yesterday was Nyxpera, so we have four days,” Basil said.

“We should leave,” Cora said. “Quickly sell our wares and buy the necessary provisions and be out before week’s end.”

“Wouldn’t they expect us to run?” Helwan asked. “If I were them, I would watch the city exits.”

“He’s right,” Tess said. “They’re also likely watching the building. Getting out of here unfollowed will be tough.”

“We can’t assume they don’t know what we all look like,” Basil said. “That bandit probably gave them enough identifiers on all of us for them to pick us out of a crowd.”

“We can’t stay here. That much is certain,” Cora said. “Lying low will be difficult. We’ll have to leave the district.”

“Couldn’t we go to the guards?” Arche asked. “Wouldn’t they be able to help?”

“If they decided to help, it wouldn’t be free,” Tess replied. “It also wouldn’t be safe. The Hekatonkheires has people in the local guard. That’s one of the reasons why they’re able to operate so freely within the city. Grease enough palms and get the right people to look the other way and you can have the whole city on your plate.”

“Surely they don’t have control over the entire city?”

“No, but some areas are more permissive than others. Mizzenmast Docks is home to their headquarters, that’s probably why they want you to take me there. They’ll have the most freedom there. Conversely, the Hull is where they have the least control. It’s also the most affluent area of the city and home to the Lyceum Apokryfos.”

“So we should go there.”

“Getting there won’t be easy.” Tess sounded suddenly tired.

“Basil, you know the city, right?” Arche asked.

“Well enough,” Basil replied. “Never really been to the Hull.”

“If they’re expecting us to run, they’ll expect us to go to the Hull.” Arche massaged his broken finger. “So we need to go somewhere they won’t expect us to go, but that they also can’t easily move against us if they find us.”

“What about the Keel?” Basil asked. “It’s next to the Hull. Not as rich, not as safe, but still pretty close. Plus, it’s on the far side from Mizzenmast docks.”

“Sounds perfect. We’ll need a place to stay.”

“There’s an inn called Styx and Stones. We can stay there.”

“Here’s the plan. We split up and lose our followers in the city. We meet up at Styx and Stones and conduct our business from there.”

“It could work, but the timeline could be a trap to get us to drop our guard. They dropped you off, so they know we’re here. They could be ready to attack us as soon as we leave,” Cora pointed out.

“That’s why you lot are going to be our distraction.” Arche smiled. “Tess and I will leave out the window. The four of you will go out the front door and lead a merry chase through the city.”

Cora scoffed.

“You realize we’re on the second floor, right? You really want to go climbing around with no sight and a broken finger?”

Arche lifted his injured hand, showing off what he hoped was a mostly straight digit.

“It’s practically better already,” he lied. “Besides, this is our best option, unless anyone has a better plan.”

No one spoke up.

“All right. Gather your things. We’ll be moving quickly.”