Samon slammed the tin cup on the shoddy bar, and it crumpled in his hands. He growled and tossed it across the room. It struck the opposite wall of the single room shack sitting in a back alley. The whore he hired from Reina poured him another cup, her hands shook the entire time.
“Damn it!” Samon said downing his drink, “How did things turn out this way?”
The shack was the former hangout of a small gang under him, but they were found dead. Briar was found dead just outside, and what’s worse, none of the other businesses in the area would house him.
“And Reina sent me a cow to replace the ones that died,” Samon glared at the prostitute on the other end of the bar.
The girl lowered her head in shame. As she should. The girl had a crooked nose with wide nostrils, and her head was slightly too big for her body. Not to mention, her beady eyes bothered him greatly.
“She’s pissed because you killed two of her best girls.”
Samon sneered as the rat faced man sat next to him, “What are you doing here Andren?”
“Sire’s disappointed with your recent failure,” Andren flicked his greasy black hair out of his eyes, “He ordered me to help you get rid of the Legion, and there’s no getting out of it this time.”
“I don’t need you and your rats to help me,” Samon said, “Once I recover, I'll head to that tavern and crush the windman under my hammer.”
“The Amu’Ryjin isn’t the leader,” Andren sipped his drink.
“What,”
"The Amu’Ryjin warrior is the enforcer,” Andren said with a condescending smile, “Oria is in charge the criminal operations while a former guild receptionist is running the legal business.”
“Who’s the boss?” Samon finished another drink.
“Don’t know,” Andren said with a growl, “None of my informants can find anything on him. But he’s resourceful, and he must have something on Sire if he isn’t dealing with this directly.”
“Why don’t we just go in there and destroy them directly?”
Andren pulled out a lock of rough brown hair onto the bar, “Because there’s more of them than we first thought,” Samon stared at the hair in confusion, “It’s wererat fur.”
“Why are you carrying around rat fur?” Samon said swiping the fur off the counter.
“Because I found it in one of your warehouses that was raided,” Andren said, “Looks like the boss of the Legion has forced the wererats into his services.”
“Dammit!”
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t tear them apart,” Andren smiled viciously, “I think it’s time that we punish Oria for going against the King.”
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Meridith sat at the bar humming to herself as she read. She pursed her lips as a particular passage caught her interest. Magic isn’t what I thought it would be. She looked at the candle next to her and pointed her finger.
“Erupt light and heat,” she said, “Spark.” The wick ignited for a second then went out. A sudden wave of exhaustion hit her.
“Are you feeling unwell?” Vaera said from across the dining room.
“No dear, I’m practicing magic,” Meridith said holding up a flimsy book, “I asked Master to teach me, so he gave me this book to study while he undergoes repairs.”
“Great,” Oria scoffed from the corner of the room, nursing a drink. Meridith scowled, Can’t that bitch put some damn clothes on? “So, when can we expect you to start slinging spells?”
“I won’t be doing that anytime soon,” Meridith said.
“Why,” Vaera peeked at the book, “Is magic that hard?”
“Well, it seems so,” Meridith said, “It seems the hardest part about magic is harnessing and directing the natural mana in the air.”
“Natural mana?”
“According to this book, there are three types of mana in our world. Divine, Necrotic, and Natural,” she said pointing to a picture in the book. It was a circle with three spirals entangled inside, “Miracles and healing harness divine magic. Necromancy, and curses harness necrotic, and all other spells harness natural. The hardest part about spellcasting is being able to pick out and harness the right type of mana the spell needs.”
“Is that why your spell didn’t work?” Vaera said looking at the smoking wick.
“I guess,” Meridith said, “I don’t quite know why it failed.”
“Maybe you didn’t say the right words,” Oria smirked as she wiggled her fingers.
Meridith growled, “It wasn’t the incantation,” she said, “Apparently it doesn’t matter what words you use. It’s the intent and desire behind the words that matter.” Meridith closed the book with a sad smile, “To think Ilan figured this out without being trained at the academy.”
“We have a problem.”
Mina, Yula, and Kogna came in carrying the groceries needed for tonight, but all eyes fell to the young boy that followed them inside. The left side of his face was red and puffy, and his left eye was practically swollen shut. Tears ran down the right side of his cheek as he searched the room and ran towards Oria.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Teddy,” Oria kneeled and inspected him, “What the fuck happened!”
“T-they took her,” Teddy said, his voice muffled from his swollen lips, “I tried…to stop them!”
“Who, Teddy,” Oria wiped away his tears, “Who took who?”
“Sis, they…took Sissy,” Teddy buried his face into Oria’s chest, “Andren brought his men to the brothel…and they took her away.”
“Shit,” Oria hugged the boy, “Don’t worry Teddy, we’ll get her back.”
“Who’s Andren?” Mina asked from the bar.
“He’s a noble working for the king,” Yula said, “He uses the poor and destitute as his personal spies and minions. They’re deathly loyal because they’re so dependent on Andren’s generosity.”
“Oria…what do we do?” Teddy looked up at her.
Oria pulled Teddy into a tight hug. I don’t know. She gritted her teeth, “Can you think of something, Red?” she said.
“I’ll send a message to Skivret,” Meridith said petting Teddy’s head, “We’ll get your sister back sweetie.”
Teddy hugged Meridith tightly and buried his face into her chest, “Cheeky bastard,” Oria smiled as Teddy chuckled.
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“So, this is the place?” Meridith stared at the rickety shack.
“Suits Blackhammer perfectly,” Kogna chuckled as he kept his eyes on the homeless randomly squatting on the dark streets, “It’s going to be difficult if we have to fight.”
“Backups arrived,” Oria said, “Roofs. Shame he couldn’t send more.”
Meridith nodded, “Someone reissued a bounty on the wererats,” she said, “Skivret trying to secure his hold on the sewers and fight them off.” She smoothed out her dress, “Let me do the talking.”
Meridith stepped up to the door and knocked on it. A tall, thin man with greasy black hair opened the door and smiled down at her.
“What a surprise. I wasn’t expecting a beautiful woman to show up,” his eyes lingered before turning to Oria, “Good, the brat delivered our message. Come inside.”
Several men sat at the tables dispersed around the room. Their eyes taking in Meridith hungrily. At the bar sat Samon along with two women attending to him. They both looked distressed as they served him drinks.
Samon downed his drink and glared at Kogna, “Ready to go again windman?”
“Let’s try and keep this civil please,” Meridith said with a warm smile.
“The men are talking sweetheart,” Samon chuckled, “Go get changed and start serving drinks.”
Meridith laughed and playfully slapped Samon’s chest, “As fun as that sounds, I think I’ll do the talking,” she said, “After all, I wouldn’t want another building to fall on you again.”
“You bitch!” Samon glared as he raised his fist.
“Enough,” the thin man said drawing their attention.
Samon spit on the floor, “Fine Andren, you do the talking.” He took his seat back at the bar.
“Are you all right Ada?” Oria looked at the girls.
“I’m…fine,” Ada said. She was slightly shorter than Meridith but was more well-endowed. Her soft curves gave her a mature motherly look that was accentuated by her large brown eyes.
Meridith took a seat at the bar, “I take it there was a reason for kidnapping Oria’s friend?” she said, looking at Andren who sat next to Samon.
“We needed to send a message. You understand.” Andren said with a lazy smile.
“I do,” Meridith said with a soft laugh, “The perception of strength is the greatest weapon you have. You can’t have their respect if they don’t fear you. However, I think you’re taking it out on the wrong person.”
“Who should I be going after then?”
Meridith smiled, “Did the King ever meet with anyone. A…wizard perhaps?”
Andren looked back in confusion, “Yes, but he’s…”
“Missing,” Meridith said with a growing smile, “Odd how he disappears around the time all this mayhem starts. You know, the murders, the ants at the arena…the Legion.”
“Stop trying to change,”
“Shut up Samon!” Andren said glaring at her, “You’re saying Decker has something to do with this?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t already know,” Meridith sighed, “Even before all this, I could tell something wasn’t right.”
“When you worked at the guild,”
“Yes,” she tapped her fingers, “I found it odd that Decker was pushing to have the rats eliminated. He was practically throwing money at the guild to get adventurers down there, and then suddenly, he pulls the request.”
Andrew chuckled, “The sewer rats have always been a problem,”
“Fifteen golds worth?” Andren’s smile faded, “Maybe you’re right, and I’m ignorant on how this all works.” Her smile turned to a pout, “By the way, I’m still mad at Baron for that trick he played on me.”
“What,”
“Didn’t he tell you about me?” Meridith gave him a sad look, “He’s known that I’ve been involved in this for nearly a year. I would have expected him to tell you.”
“Baron, does things his own way,”
Samon slammed his fist, “Why are we still talking?” the other men in shack yelled in agreement.
“Look, we don’t want to fight,” Meridith said with a disarming smile, “We just want to take Ada back to her little brother.”
“You attacked us,” Samon growled.
“And you kidnapped one of us,” Meridith said looking to Andren, “Did you truly expect us to take that lying down?”
Andren tapped his fingers on the bar, “Fine, take her and leave.”
“You’re letting them walk away!” Samon said standing up, “I thought we were going to punish them?”
“Clearly they’re more to this feud than an upstart gang,” Andren said with a sigh, “And I’m not going to lose anymore men until I know more,” He looked at Meridith, “I’m going to come for you if things don’t add up sweetheart, and you won’t like what I have planned.”
Meridith gave him a sly smile, “Until then,” she said, “Come Ada, your brother is worried sick.”
Meridith could feel the hateful stares on them as they left the shack, and the tense atmosphere dissipated as they stepped out into the open street.
“I gotta hand it to you Red,” Oria said with a sigh of relief, “I didn’t think we’d get out there in one piece.”
“You’re not the only one,” Meridith said with her own sigh, “It’s fortunate for us that Decker isn’t letting his people know about the situation. We can use that to sow strife within his own organization.”
“Let’s talk about this someplace safe,” Kogna said eyeing the homeless.
“Yes please, I want to see Teddy.”
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“Sissy!” Teddy ran and hugged his sister tightly.
Ada wrapped her arms around her brother, “I’m sorry for making you worry,”
“Did everything go well?” Mina said, looking them over.
Oria nodded, “Thanks to Red,” she said, “Who knew she had a silver tongue.” She looked to her friends, “What are you going to do now?”
“I…don’t know,” Ada said, “The brothel won’t take me back after this. The last thing they’ll want is to get on the King’s bad side. And I don’t have the money to leave the city.”
“You can join us,” Oria said looking to Meridith, “I think the boss will be fine with that.”
“She’s free to stay here until he returns,” Meridith said from her chair, “After that it’s his decision.”
“Thank you,” Ada said wiping her tears, “I promise I’ll do anything.”
“Same here,” Teddy said, “My gang will do everything we can to help.”
“We can discuss this more later,” Meridith said rubbing her shoulder, “It’s late, and I need a bath.”
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Andren stared up at the ceiling from his dirty mattress. The soft snoring from his partner brought a sense of comfort. He wrapped an arm around her and let his hand rest against her plump breast. If Samon isn’t going to enjoy her, then I will. He smiled at her soft moans as his hands played with her. He buried his face into her hair and breathed deeply. She smelled of roses and cinnamon.
I don’t like this. He closed his eyes as drowsiness washed over him. Meridith’s words echoed through his mind, and it made his spine shiver. What have you done, Decker?