“Looking in from the outside it is easy to think that the gangs and guilds of the Everness Underrealm are all ruleless, lawless entities. The kind that simply allow the thugs, thieves, and murderers in their ranks to do as they please when they please it. In practice however, nothing could be further from truth, for there are laws and rules in place. Three of them in fact. The First: Never Kill a Noble. The Second: Never Harm a Pregnant Woman or Child. The Third: NEVER EVER, EVER, THREATEN, STEAL, HARM, OR KILL A MENDER.”
—The Dark Side of Everness, James Grimm, The Golden Age, 4982
And just like that, Vincent’s past had finally caught up to him.
Or it almost had, as Vincent discovered listening to Mara’s tired and raspy voice as he spoke.
“They barged in all at once and started yelling,” she said, still lying flat on her back in the bed, the bandages that once covered her face now cut away revealing a completely hale, if worn, face. “They wanted to know where their friends were…the men that you warned us about. Asked for both by name and knew the two of them had fallen into the reservoir.”
She paused to take a breath and shake his head, his eyes shifting over towards Vincent, “they also knew that the men had something with them. Called it a package, but never said outright what it was. Though knowing how you arrived to us…”
“They probably meant me,” Vincent finished when the nurse simply trailed off, leaving her to nod once.
“That’s what I thought,” she said before continuing. “Anyway, Theo told them that we knew nothing more than what they said, that something had fallen into the waters, but was never seen again. Unfortunately…it didn’t work. They all got angry, angrier even at the news, and…um, I don’t remember much after that. Only fire.”
A short silence filled the air as everyone knew very well what that meant, the pause eventually broken by Ayre who was still seated by the bed side.
“The other nurses told me that they ransacked our stores afterwards,” he said in a weary, exhausted tone. “Taking a number of elixirs, bandages, and…and Theo along with them.”
“Then they left?” Vincent asked as he looked up from Mara, who had shifted her attention towards the ceiling as Ayre described what the gang had taken, a look of profound guilt upon her face. “They didn’t do anything else?”
“That’s what the others told us when we got back,” the mender stated with a nod as he looked over towards Norin, the dwarf having remained as still as stone ever since Mara had started talking. “None of them reported the group doing or saying anything else before leaving. Only that they did so quickly once it was clear the men they were looking for weren’t here. In fact, one of the nurses commented that they all seemed like they were in a hurry with how quickly they left.”
“No doubt for a reason,” Vincent said, the fact that they had taken not only supplies, but also had bothered to kidnap Theo standing out in particular. Especially given the war everyone knew they were fighting. “They must have needed a mender. A life mender. That means they wouldn’t likely hurt him.”
“I…I hope so,” Ayre replied, the man appearing and sounding clearly fragile as the words left his mouth, leaving a silence to fall over all of them afterwards.
If I’d just come back a little earlier, I could have stopped them, Vincent thought as he mentally replayed what he’d been told of the attack, one that he had missed not only by little more than an hour, but would have on any other day, been back by. It left him with a profound sense of guilt and frustration coursing through him. Today I finally had all the mana and virtues I could ever want to have to defend myself, to defend Theo and the others. But I wasn’t here. I was too busy worrying about the Selection and what it could do for me. If I hadn’t been, I could have been here to stop them. I could have captured, if not killed them all. But I wasn’t. I was—
A sharp grunt from across the bed abruptly interrupted Vincent’s thoughts, prompting his attention to snap back into focus and see Norin’s eyes boring directly into his. A stare that Vincent instantly saw to see that they held the very same anger that he too felt burning inside him. However Vincent only had a split second to take in the rage that he saw in the dwarf’s eyes before his head sharply canted itself to the side, the motion accompanied by him pushing himself up and off the chair. Much the very first time that Vincent had interacted with Norin, the message was unmistakable for Vincent to miss.
Follow me.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“We’ll be right back,” Vincent said as he shifted to follow the dwarf, only then belatedly seeing that Mara had fallen back asleep. A glance following that, this time towards Ayre, simply showed the death aspected mender nodding absentmindedly at Vincent’s words, his attention clearly focused upon his employee and friend.
Unable to help but be curious as to what Norin would want with him, Vincent then turned to follow the dwarf into the hallway, which after a short distance as to be out of sight from Ayre, had him turning to look at Vincent. Then, before Vincent could think to say anything, the dwarf’s fingers and hands exploded into action, moving in what rapidly became a familiar pattern.
“Do you understand the Deep Sign Speech?” His mind translated as a torrent of disjointed knowledge rushed into it, leaving him blinking at the dwarf half in a daze.
“I…yes. I guess I do.” Vincent replied back in a surprised whisper as he waited for the spinning information that was the dwarven sign language in his mind to stabilize and settle in place. Even if he suddenly found himself with a half a dozen questions as to how he had ever learned it in his previous life. Fortunately by now both situations were something that he, and by extension his Insight, had grown used to, allowing him to temporarily push his questions aside and focus on Norin’s once again moving fingers.
“Good. I hate using slates.” Norin signed back, slowing in his movements just enough to cast a wary glance down both ends of the hall as if to make sure it was empty.
“This attack should have never happened.” He continued afterwards, his face turning into an angry scowl as he glared back at Vincent. Or at least as much of it that could still move did. “They should have been stopped before they even got here.”
“I know,” Vincent replied, once again in a soft tone, feeling his guilt rise even further at the open admission of his failure. “After so much time passed during my recovery and hearing that they were fighting with one another…well, I just didn’t expect anything to happen. That was a mistake. I should have been here. I should have—”
A flash of fingers accompanied by Norin’s shaking head interrupted Vincent.
“No. I’m not talking about you.” The dwarf signed, punctuating the last word by poking Vincent square in the chest. “I mean those who attacked this place. The Shadowed Hand. They should have known better than to do that. They should have known that menders and places of healing are sacrosanct. That if they truly needed mending they could have just come here.”
“Uh, they could have?” Vincent asked with confusion, unable to help but feel as if there was something that he’d misunderstood. “What do you mean?”
“That there are rules as to how things are done down in the dark,” Norin signed back, his expression changing somewhat as he stared back up at Vincent, though not in a way that could easily be interpreted with how much of his face had turned to stone. “No children or women with child, nobles, or menders. No exceptions. If they had injuries that needed to be treated, they could have just asked, any mender in the city would have helped them. Yes, even them.”
“Then why the hell take Theo?” Vincent demanded, despite wondering exactly how Norin knew so much. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“It certainly doesn’t,” Norin signed back. “They have been here long enough to know the price for breaking any of the rules. For them to break it, to ignore that, something in their schism must have changed. Something exceptional. Something desperate.”
“Like what exactly?” Vincent asked, feeling a little frustration creep into him with the circles the conversation was going in.
“I was hoping you could tell me,” Norin stated, the dwarfs fingers flashing in a flurry before ending in a pointed look, but this time accompanied by an enthusiastic motion towards Vincent’s arm and leg. “Your riving has been fixed. Have you remembered anything more before your Fall?”
“You mean if I remembered why they could be looking for me?” Vincent clarified before going on to shake his head. “No. Nothing. I don’t even remember what the melds they took did, let alone anything of my life before it.”
Norin frowned at the response, his disappointment in the answer clear. However even so, that disappointment only lasted for a second on the dwarf’s face before his fingers resumed moving. “Then are you prepared to find out?”
It was a question that instantly put Vincent on his guard as he stared back at the dwarf, the implications of the statement clear. Nor was that all that Norin had to say either, the man quickly noticing Vincent’s reaction to his statement.
“What, did you think we would just sit here, waiting to see if Theo would return? Or maybe call the guard and see if they will do something? No. Not only did they break the rules of the underrealm, but they attacked our home,” he went on to state, his fingers and hands practically turning into a blur with how quickly and angrily he signed. “They will be punished. Tonight. You might learn something useful you were a part of that punishment.”
The dwarf finished his statement with another expectant glare at Vincent making it abundantly clear as to what that sort of punishment would be. However that wasn’t what caught Vincent’s attention as he met the man’s stare, remembering what Theo had told him and how he had once been an Ascendant.
“Who exactly are you?” He asked the dwarf, who promptly let out a small nod at the question as if it was the response he was looking for.
“A Fallen. Just like you,” Norin replied with a quick series of signs and gestures. “Now, your answer?”
It was a question that Vincent didn’t even to think about before he replied, recalling fully well the anger and rage he’d felt when he’d first seen the clinic. Both of which had only grown after he realized what happened to Theo.
“I’m in.” Vincent stated. “What are we going to do?”
“First, we will let Ayre know that we’re leaving for the night,” Norin replied, his face hardening as he signed back. “He’ll know exactly what that will mean.
“Then, once that’s done,” the dwarf continued. “We are going to go hunting.”