Grima led the way as I followed close behind him, the hood of my cloak up to cover my face as my mind ran in circles around what Grima had walked me through before we left. It was good advice he’d given me, there was no question about that. But there was one thing he’d asked of me that I wasn’t sure I could commit to following. Even if it meant risking my life walking into the Mauler’s den.
“Do you have any Skills or Sub-skills that could help you when the talking starts? Anything that might have a mental effect that can keep you cool under pressure?” Grima asked me as I’d sat down to take in everything my boss had to say several hours earlier. Despite myself I startled at the questions. My mind immediately thinking back to the terrible emptiness that I’d felt in the throes of Dead Calm. Buying that single Skill had basically saved me and May when I was on the verge of panicking and shutting down after the bomb went off. Hell, I’d even saved someone’s life with chest compressions. But despite all the good it had done me I felt a genuine spike of fear at the thought of turning it on again. I hadn’t helped May or that hostess out of the goodness of my heart with the skill on. Every action I made had been stripped of any emotion and meaning.
I’d helped May out of some twisted sense of self interest and only saved the hostess’s life because not doing so would negatively affect May’s opinion of me. When I’d jumped in front of the crowd to break the Redbrand’s fire spell before it could go off it wasn’t about saving lives, it was about protecting myself and my investment.
“I have something, but its…” I stalled trying to find the words to describe it. “I don’t have the Wisdom to control it effectively. It should work, but its something that I don’t want to rely on if I don’t have to.”
Grima paused. Looking me over quizzically. “You’re sure that you’ll be able to handle the pressure without it? I’m of a mind that you should use every tool you got when the circumstances demand it, even the rusty ones.”
I closed my eyes and though back to how I’d almost left Pyga to die in the fire because the Skill didn’t want me to risk my life unnecessarily. What if I went to the Maulers and activated the Skill only for it to drive me to betray what I knew of Grima, Gregor, and May? What if it made me do something worse?
“I’ll think about it.” I said noncommittally.
Back in the present I was shaken out of my reverie by the sounds of bustling movement as a contingent of Shieldguard patrolled down the street. Despite how much I liked Gregor I couldn’t help but feel a bit of resentment that none of them had been there to help when the Redbrand attacked. I noticed the same sentiment in the eyes of the Beast Folk who were navigating the damaged and rubble strewn street in places. It was even in Grima’s eyes, though dimmed to an extent. Walking through the Murk District with the light of the sun just beginning to peek above the horizon it made all the damage that had been wrought that night so much clearer.
Burning buildings had been put out, the shells of their brickwork and surviving wooden walls making me feel like I was walking through a war zone. I turned to look back, not seeing it with the buildings in the way but still easily imagining what the remains of Pyga’s apartment building looked like from this distance.
“Having second thoughts Kincaid?” Grima asked.
“No, no. Just thinking about last night is all.” I said softly. Feeling like it would be out of place to raise my voice even with the other people on the street.
“Good.” Grima grunted. Smiling wryly for a moment as he added “I’d hate to have come all the way out here for no reason.”
The levity faded from Grima’s demeanor as he looked around, clearly recognizing where we were. “It’s not much farther. We take a left here.”
Moving closer to the Mauler’s base of operations the nature of the destruction around us changed. There was less of the pure fire damage that was the Redbrand’s signature. There were parts of the street that had clearly been affected by magic or skills. Forming defensive walls out of the cobblestones with burn marks across the front and sharpened pillars of rock that erupted from the ground at odd angles that clearly had blood stains on them. I’d thought that was the most impressive but what lay beyond the next street took my breath away.
“Hmph. That’ll be Ymir’s work.” Grima said unimpressed. “Close your mouth Kincaid, you’re gonna let the flies in.”
Snapping my mouth shut I followed Grima’s loping gait as we walked past the small glaciers that had taken over this part of the Murk district. I’d wondered during and after the Redbrand attack what the Maulers had been doing since I’d only encountered a few last night. It felt criminal at the time that I hadn’t seen more doing their part in the fighting. Especially since I’d had to tag team an entire building’s worth of Elementals with little Pyga.
Apparently I now had my answer.
The temperature dipped considerably as we passed the large blocks of ice, as if instead of melting with the morning’s warmth they were determined to stay frozen. It must have done wonders to put out the fires here, the buildings all around had a lot less damage to them, if you didn’t count the frozen parts as damaged at least. I felt an involuntary shiver as I passed by a solid wave of ice, the still shadows of Redbrands frozen inside. One of them frozen solid as he had clearly tried to run. A few ice blue fingers peeking out of the surface as his mouth was frozen open in a silent scream.
“They’re gonna hear me out right?” I said suddenly a lot more nervous than I had been a few seconds ago. “Not just ice me the moment they spot me?”
“Relax.” Grima said placatingly. “Ymir likes to take in a situation as much as possible before acting. It’s what makes her a good leader. Just don’t insult her or anything she stands for right away and she’ll give you time to talk.”
“How much time?”
“Eh…” Grima stalled. “If you were kin like us I’d say a solid fifteen minutes. But you’re human, so cut that in half.”
“Seven minutes?” I asked strained.
“More since you’re with me.” Grima said assuredly before a frown creased his muzzle. “Maybe less depending on how happy she is to see me. We didn’t part on the best of terms.”
“How exactly did you part?” I asked curiously. I had only seen the two memories of Grima’s from his cleaver that one day. I’d been able to put two and two together but maybe their situation wasn’t so bad?
“Her best and brightest trashed my shop while Ymir put me through a wall.” Grima said with an off handed smile. Like that memory was something he’d found amusing. “Though it might have been two walls now that I think about it. That whole scuffle is a bit fuzzy to me.”
I was about to respond to that when Grima stopped and I nearly bumped into the wolf. We were at the entrance to a dark alley even by Murk district standards. The morning sun doing nothing to penetrate its depths. I turned to Grima and noticed with a stab of guilt that the massive wolf was as tense as I’d ever seen him. Moving around the shop he’d always moved around in a focused but unhurried manner. The bottle of swill he kept nearby at all times was testament to that laid back approach he took to things. To see him lose that, even for a moment, hurt to see. Especially since it was because of what I’d asked him to help me with.
“They’re in there?” I asked warily. Suddenly feeling eyes on me I couldn’t place.
“Yup.” Grima said softly. Staring into the alley like he could see something that I couldn’t.
“Grima...” I began. “You don’t have to-”
“Don’t.” Grima growled. All levity from earlier absent from his tone. “Don’t do that. I made my choice. Least you can do is respect it.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Part of me wanted to stay silent. I didn’t want to go in their alone. But Grima had done good by me. More than most people on Earth had done added together. Now that we were here, I didn’t want anything to happen to him because of me.
“Even if that choice ends up being a mistake?” I asked softly.
Grima paused. Weighing my words for a moment before turning his head to me. The ghost of a smile on his face. “Life’s too short to live with regrets Kincaid. Any choice I make I follow through to the end.” He said moving down the alley as the darkness swallowed him. “Especially the mistakes.”
I followed along as the alley grew smaller and smaller. I’d gotten too used to how wide the alleys were in other parts of High Water. It felt downright claustrophobic. With a deep breath I sank into Meditation. Wanting to make sure that I was as calm and collected as I could be the moment we arrived.
“The Maulers have lots of ways in to their base.” Grima said loudly. His voice ringing up and down the narrow alley. “I figured it would only be a courtesy to take the scenic route in.” Grima paused letting his words fade before speaking again, almost casually. “I’d have been happy to knock you understand, but I can’t remember where exactly the door was. Care to show us in fellas?”
A momentary pause was all we had before we were joined in the alley by two more Beast folk. Almost seeming to meld out of the darkness in front of us and behind. Within the throes of Meditation I made sure to keep my movements to a minimum, not even flinching or turning to look at the massive form hovering right behind me.
“Grima?” The dark furred wolf in front gawked. Before cursing and stepping closer. “Shit. That really is you isn’t it? What are you doing here?” He started before looking to me with a concerning level of menace. “And whose the Shade?”
“Just here to talk.” Grima assured. “And the Shade is a friend. We have some questions to ask Ymir if she’s available then she can give us some answers and we’ll be on our merry way.”
“Fuck me.” The wolf paled. “You want to talk to Ymir? After last night? Are you mad?”
“Not currently.” Grima said with a wry grin. “So how about it?”
The wolf paused for a moment. Clearly weighing a decision before deciding what to do. “You I know.” The wolf said pointing to Grima. “You I don’t know.” He said pointing to me. “Even if you are a friend of Grima’s. I’m not taking any chances. Wyzen, come on. We’re taking them to the cellar.”
A large paw the size of a dinner plate pushed into my back from behind hard enough to have nearly thrown me off my feet if it weren’t for my Dexterity. Despite that, I moved forwards without any complaint. Letting us be led deeper down the alley towards a pair of thick unassuming cellar doors. The wolf leading us opened them and gestured for us both to get in. Looking down into the cellar I couldn’t make out a single detail beyond. Everything within nothing but pitch black.
“Go on.” The wolf said warily as Grima stepped forward and waved him away. “I know the drill.” He said gruffly as he stepped forward and I followed him inside. The only light coming from the open cellar doors above us. Looking around as I went inside I was mildly surprised to see the space was bare. Completely barren in fact. When I’d heard this place was a cellar I’d immediately thought of it being filled with big barrels and ancient wooden shelves, but the little I saw of the floor seemed spotless.
“For what it’s worth Grima I’ll try and get them to move quick.” The wolf said above as he hauled the doors shut. Both of them slamming into place so loudly that they almost made me break out of Meditation. Leaving me and Grima in complete darkness. I couldn’t even see Grima even though I knew we were only a few feet apart.
I waited for something to happen. For bright lights to shine out and blind us, for us to be surrounded by Maulers but nothing happened. No sounds, no lights, no nothing.
I made to speak but my words died the moment they left my mouth. Literally. I tried speaking again but it was like someone had muted me with a universal remote. I tried speaking louder and louder until I was full on shouting but it was like I was saying nothing at all.
A quiet room? With sound dampening Sigmata? I thought dubiously, feeling an itch of discomfort at being in a room like the ones the Blackwater goons had put me in. I was just beginning to wonder how I’d talk to Grima while we were alone when I felt his clawed hand wrap around my arm and squeeze deliberately once, twice, three times. Before we’d come here Grima had told me we’d signal to each other if anything went awry. One tap on anything was to run, two taps to fight, three taps to wait.
I breathed out a sigh of relief that I couldn’t hear at the third squeeze on my arm and felt more than saw Grima shift as he made to sit on the floor. I wasn’t thrilled to wait when I’d wanted to get this over with as soon as possible but it beat running or fighting my way out. I’d done enough fighting and running both to hit my quota for this lifetime and then some.
With nothing better to do I sat cross legged on the ground with my back straight. Partly to focus on my breathing for Meditation and partly to look cool and collected to anyone watching me. Even if I was a transmigrated loser from Earth it helped if the Maulers thought I was someone who’d be unruffled by the situation.
Sitting in the dark with Meditation did wonders to help the time pass. I focused on my breathing, felt the thrum of mana racing through my body, and when I was brave enough I felt inside my head for any trace of Rykas. He’d been quiet since our fight after I’d saved Pyga. Too quiet, as cliche as that sounded. The parasite was clinically insane. Not having him constantly try to take over my body felt abnormal. He was still in there somewhere. Licking his wounds probably. The bastard.
It made me think of my stat distribution. My utterly lopsided stat distribution. I’d previously intended for my attribute points to go straight into Wisdom. That was undeniably the stat I needed the most to keep Rykas in check, but shit kept happening that forced me to put points into Dexterity. I kept going back to the roof when I’d leveled up and how I could have done anything else with my attributes except dump them all into Dexterity. But as much as I wanted to convince myself I could have made a better choice could I have? My mind and body were almost spent on the roof, if it hadn’t been for the surge of strength I’d gotten putting points into Dexterity I might not have been able to move in time to catch Pyga as he fell.
Sure the extra Wisdom might have helped me fend off Rykas but what about after? I couldn’t have fought off half of those Redbrand that came after me and May without the ridiculous amount of speed I’d gained. The whole situation just left me feeling frustrated. It felt like I needed my heightened Dexterity to fend off the threats to my life outside my body while I lacked the Wisdom to protect myself from the threat within.
Then there was the elephant in the room.
I felt inside my chest towards the wild hatred and anger that had raged there. The bundled instincts I’d torn from Rykas in our mad fight for ownership of my mind. I initially felt like relying on them was akin to opening myself up to attack from Rykas but the threat from him was minimal compared to the threat the instincts themselves posed. They felt raw. Undisciplined, wild, and ferociously violent. Almost the exact opposite of what techniques I gleaned from Skills like Small Blades felt like. Those all felt precise, clinical even. Like facts memorized from a book or movie except they were a combination of movements, skill, and intuition now that I'd acclimated to the Skills' presence in my mind.
Then there was the anger and rage that came bundled with them that glommed onto my own emotions and thoughts. Even now in the midst of Meditiation I had to be careful to not focus on thoughts about Redbrands and Blackwater. If I did I could start to feel my anger bubbling in my chest like a living thing. Itching to tear into the people responsible for hurting me and the people around me.
But even with all that, as much as I disliked to admit it… Weren’t these instincts a good thing?
I hated the thought of even fighting like Rykas did but there was no denying that his savage instincts were extremely effective. They were the same instincts that helped him use my level one body to carve his way through a Blackwater hideout. The same instincts that had helped me channel my increased speed to devastating effect against the Redbrand and their ambush.
In a way those instincts felt like Dead Calm. A powerful ace that worked way too well for my own good. I’d had to fight my way out of the ice cold logic of Dead Calm and fight to keep the burning heat of Rykas’ combat instincts from turning me into a butcher. Both were things that could be useful to me if I kept them both on tight enough leashes.
The return of sound to the room hours later, was almost startling enough to knock me out of Meditation as a beam of light came through the hidden door of the cellar’s far walls. Revealing a number of Beast Folk that piled into the small cellar as Grima and I rose to our feet. Blinking rapidly at the disorienting light.
“Ymir is looking forward to seeing you Grima.” A grinning hyena said wryly. “Your guest however, not so much.”
“Shame.” Grima said. “He’s the only reason I’m here. By the way, you get any better at dice Shugo or do Wyzen and the others still fleece you like a sheep?”
“Fucking lapdog!” Shugo said roughly. Taking a threatening step forwards. “You ain’t one of us anymore. I outta-”
“Quiet.” A heavy commanding voice spoke up. Silencing the hyena faster than you could flip a switch. As my eyes adjusted to the light and the crowd of very unkind looking faces staring at me and Grima both a figure prowled through the bunch of Maulers. A lion that I remembered seeing just last night. The same one who had flattened a Redbrand into a pancake against the wall with stone covered claws.
“Grima.” The lion nodded respectfully to Grima, who lost the wry smile at antagonizing the hyena and nodded back with the same level of respect. “Karn.”
“I will take you to see Ymir.” Karn said gruffly. “But not before I take this one’s measure.”
Turning to me the lion Beast Folk stalked towards me like I’d slapped his grandma. Since he was the same height as Grima, and my head had to tilt up to look him in the eye I felt more than a little concerned as he glowered down at me pointing a single claw tipped finger at my face.
“You.” Karn said as he bared his teeth. His very sharp looking teeth. “You lied to me.”