Chapter 25: Negotiations

“Well, I tried. Sorry Davos. Men? Kill her.” Despite his words, his men only unsheathed their weapons, and waited for confirmation.

Adriana’s eyes widened, but Davos laughed. “C’mon Apollo, knock it off. You’re not going to kill us. You owe me and you know it.”

The man behind the desk shrugged. “I wouldn’t kill you, unless it was necessary. But I have nothing to lose by killing her, and everything to gain.”

“You can try,” Adriana said. She hadn’t made a move to get up, but she was coiled like a spring, ready at a moment’s notice. Davos had convinced her to leave her weapon behind on the ship.

Apollo smirked at her. “You are outnumbered and outpowered. You’re only at thirteen percent Divinity, even if it is True Divinity. Even Davos, at his -- “

“Actually, I have a question for you, Apollo,” Davos interrupted with a charming smile. “What do you even care for? How much exactly do you think they’ll pay you?”

“I don’t.” Apollo shrugged. “But anything that could make a profit concerns Lord Orobaal. The Sun Temple would pay a premium for their God’s Divinity back, and my lord would benefit. Which means I will benefit. If it’s not me shaking you down, it will be them. They won’t allow the spirit of their patron God linger in the heart of a feral girl. You might as well take what I offer you. If you don’t…”

Before Adriana could tell him to go fuck himself, Davos laughed and said, “You raise an excellent point. Would you permit my friend and I a moment to talk it over?” He jerked his thumb to the other side of the room, where a tapestry dedicated to the patron Titan hung. There were still guards nearby, and no clear way to the door.

“By all means. We wouldn’t want you to rush to a final decision without thinking things through.” Apollo bowed his head and motioned for them to go. Not once did he raise his voice, or sound concerned or even annoyed. The power broker was just amused and pleased to be there, and clearly thought he had the upper hand.

Even with the lingering pain in her stomach from the dragonwasp’s venom, Adriana wanted to take her chances. On the other hand, she trusted Davos’ judgment. He was overly cautious sometimes, but if he thought there was a way out of this without giving up her True Divinity, she’d listen.

“What’ve you got for me?” she said once they were next to the tapestry.

Davos sighed. “I don’t think he’s going to budge. I’ve known him for a while, and he’s only gotten richer and more powerful since the last time we crossed paths. He owes me a favor, but that won’t save us.”

“Do we fight?” Adriana asked, a thrill running down her spine.

“No,” said Davos. “Plan Epsilon, on my mark. Follow my lead until then.”

Rather than fade, the thrill only grew stronger. During their time at sea, they’d come up with a couple possible maneuvers and plans for the future. Plan Epsilon was a simple one, and Adriana didn’t like running away, but leaving behind a wake of destruction wasn’t a bad consolation prize.

“Fine. And then what? Back to the ship?”

Davos grimaced. “Going to have to, I think. There’s nowhere in Mykarkos Apollo doesn’t have influence. Ready?”

“Ready.”

They returned to the desk, but didn’t sit down. Apollo raised one delicate eyebrow, his ever present smirk widening. “Give me good news, Davos. I’d hate for our friendship to take a hit over your stubbornness.”

Davos laughed, and even Adriana put on a snarl of a smile. “Good news indeed. As it turns out, we value our lives immensely, and I got her to listen to reason. But you gotta help me out here. What’s the actual best offer you can make? I don’t mean what you give other people. What you give your friends who might work with you in the future.”

Apollo nodded and turned to Adriana. His eyes swept up and down her appraisingly. “When I asked you what you wanted, it wasn’t necessary. I know what you want. Including your desire to kill me and run. But that’s the point. I understand people like you, girl. You want power. We all want power, no?

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“I wasn’t lying when I said I’d give you enough to be a lesser God in weeks. I’ll bring you up to thirty-five percent Divinity with the Warmaster’s, Huntsman’s, as well as a taste of the Brine and even a little bit of Hessius’ Divinity. Some of the last remaining, now that he’s fallen and no one has taken his place. So that way you could keep a little taste of what you’re giving up.”

He leaned forward, resting on his elbows. His green eyes lit up with interest and excitement. “Do this, and only other Gods will be able to stand in your way. You can do whatever you want, take whatever you want, and it’ll happen faster this way. True Divinity is hungry, and any gains you have will be massively reduced. You are on the slow path now. I can speed you up, and unleash you onto the world.”

Adriana looked around the room. The guards’ eyes were all on hers. She had no idea how powerful they were, but chances were they were all at least at a hero level of Divinity. The moment she acted, chances are they would jump on her. Her abilities were good against that, and so was Davos. He’d run interference while she got them out of there.

“You make a great offer,” said Davos. “But before we accept, I want to show you what she’s capable of. I might have a counter-offer of my own you’ll find pleasing.”

“Oh Davos, do you think me a fool?” Apollo laughed. “I’m not leaving myself open to attack.”

“Not a fool, but I know you, my friend.” Davos grinned, fingers twitching at his sides. “You’re too curious for your own good. I vow on our friendship that Adriana will not attack you in the next two minutes. Any longer than that, and I make no promises. Mark my words, you’ll be impressed.”

Apollo’s eyes slid over to her. He didn’t bother hiding his curiosity or his contempt. Eventually he motioned for her to go for it.

Adriana lifted her hands. A second later they blackened and shifted with Smoldersap. She tossed a sticky, flaming glob in the air. It landed back in her palm with a splat, some landing on the carpet at her feet. Apollo frowned, but waited. The Smoldersap cooked in her hands, radiating ever increasing heat.

“That’s it?” Apollo scoffed. “Almost all of Hessius’ followers can create flames. Black, liquid flames are a curiosity, but that’s hardly something I’ve never seen before.”

“That’s not the impressive part,” said Adriana. She flung a bucket’s worth of Smoldersap at the wall to her left. It splattered against the wood and began burning, though not nearly as fast as she had expected.

Just as expected, the guards moved forward, but Apollo cut them off with a slice of his hand. “Interesting. Was that supposed to burn a hole for you to get out? This entire building is reinforced.”

“Is that so?” Davos asked, tapping his chin. “Let’s put it to the test, shall we?”

In her weakened state, summoning a handful of Flashfire took more than she expected, but she wanted to make sure it worked. She nodded to Davos and flung it at the burning wall. A second later, the explosion sent the nearest guards sprawling. Sunlight filtered in through the five foot hole in the wall and ceiling, igniting Adriana’s hair and hands and filling her with its strength.

Davos turned and Gusted the two that came up from them as hard as he could. Strong as they were, he was adept at anchoring himself and knocking people off their feet. One flew into and through the sturdy door.

Apollo leapt to his feet and opened his mouth. A small disc came tumbling out before growing into a full sized silver shield that flew to his arm. He raised it in time to block Adriana’s Flamespitter. The shield absorbed the flames, glowing red, before it pulsed out energy and sent Adriana ass over ears.

“Get out of here, now!” Davos cried out as he turned his Gust over to Apollo. The power broker blocked and absorbed it with his shield, so he aimed lower and blew the large, heavy desk into him, pinning him against the wall.

Adriana got to her feet, but a guard swung a sword down on her. She rolled to the side and lashed out with her foot. He may have been powerful, but he was also heavy and she swept his legs out from under him. With a fist full of smoldersap, she punched him in the nose. The sap splatted all over his face, and he opened his mouth to scream as more sap entered.

Shuddering, she pulled herself away and started for the gaping hole in the wall. Davos joined her there, and they were about to leap when something slammed into the side of the building. Only Davos managed to stay on his feet, and even then not for long. The western wall collapsed, as did part of the second story. Adriana and Davos went tumbling down over broken wood and glass, landing hard on the stone street.

Above them, a huge monstrosity with a spiked club for a nose and two tusks slammed its ball into the wall once more, just above her head. Her stomach flipped as she rolled under it and got back to her feet. Davos was already up and grabbed her hand. They ran away from the beast, and into two familiar faces.

Synto waited for them with his club resting against his shoulder. Mykos stood behind him in a cloak, twin knives out. Glowing green eyes peered out from the hood.

“Well, well, well,” said Synto. “Fancy running into you here. I believe you have something that belongs to me.”