Minos PoV [https://i.imgur.com/mUtFHjM.jpeg]
Four years ago, Minos visited Soliton. Zephyrus' population has been rapidly growing, and with more people comes more waste. Sewage disposal was becoming a major problem, and a plan was made to construct a modern, city-wide waste management system. The Varinian Court sent teams of engineers to neighboring countries, one was sent to the City of Wealth, and he elected to join them.
He was fifteen at that time, just fresh off Lira’s mentorship. He was struggling to find his place in the court of the king, so he tried dabbling into the field of engineering. It only took him six months before he got bored of measuring land, digging ditches, and laying masonry. He quit and moved on to find another line of career.
Despite his short stint, he did learn quite a few things from the other engineers. Most of all, he got to see Soliton’s underground, stone-lined sewers up close. At first, he felt awe-struck as he beheld a segment of about six-thousand miles of interconnected underground tunnels. All ranging from six to ten feet in diameter, buried fifteen feet underground. However, despite what appeared to be a masterful engineering feat, their head-engineer noticed several glaring flaws.
Minos helped with authoring a comprehensive report, which their team submitted to the King once they returned home.
When Minos stepped back into Soliton a few days, he felt a bit of nostalgia for his engineering days. And when Seiveril brought them through the sewers, he couldn’t help but reminisce about his time there.
But now, he was just feeling sick of it already. And not just because of the sewer’s pervasive stench, or its rat-infested tunnels. It was all that, plus getting forced to trudge through mud of offal and shit. What was hours of aimlessly wandering through the labyrinthine maze felt like days. And the worst part of this whole experience was that he was already used to the taste of feces in his mouth.
Minos wanted to cry. He wanted to wail and sob and curse the gods for his predicament. But he would look behind him and find the young Robb, relentlessly following his steps, holding a ball of light he casted over his palm. He was quiet for the most part, he didn’t hear him complain once. So instead, the young nobleman bit his tongue and clenched his fist, willing himself to be strong. Strong enough, if not for himself, at least for the young boy.
The depth of the sewage water varied as they moved across, but never reached anywhere higher than Minos’ waist. The young nobleman stopped for a moment to take a breath. Or at least tried to take a breath amid the humid and stale air. He asked Robb how he was holding up and the boy nodded that he was okay.
Minos eventually saw signs of progress. From what he could remember about the tunnels, they were wider the closer it was to an access shaft. And finally, they came across one with a familiar size. It was similar to the tunnels they used to get to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters, with the same three-feet walkways on the sides. He helped Robb climb up to one first before following behind.
They shimmied along the walls of the culvert, which again reminded Minos of when they were heading to the Guild. Maybe that might work, he told himself as he reached for the pocket of his trousers. It’s still here.
He tried to remember how they fared back then. Seiveril, the half-drow rogue, was leading their way across the very same passages. It was incredulous to think that she had their path memorized. The walls all looked the same, the walkways all had the same width, and the distances between the corners were all similar. There must be some way for them to know which way they are going. It just seemed impossible for the thieves to traverse these tunnels without a magical tracking device, or at least some kind of mnemonic to know which way to go.
“Tell me you know a spell that points to the direction of the nearest exit door…” Minos told Robb half-jokingly.
The boy shook his head. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Minos dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Good job on the light though.”
Robb smiled and glanced below. He wrapped his shirt around the Focusing stone his father gave him by folding his cloth twice over and twisting it around. The fist-sized gemstone hung over by his chest like the fruits of the exotic cauliflory trees from the east. Meanwhile, Minos slipped the large tome at the backside of his trousers, being held tight by the waist-string of his pants.
The pair came across a corner and Minos stopped to study it. He noticed a number engravings at the bottom of the pillar. He took note of it and then glanced at the branching passages, from the left to the front, and to the right. He remembered reading a book about mazes and there was advice there on how to get out. He took a deep breath and turned to face Robb beside him.
“You know the trick on how to escape a maze like this?” Minos smirked, trying to make light of their situation.
“How?” Robb replied.
“Always turn left.”
“Always turn left?” the young boy repeated.
“Or right. Doesn’t matter, as long as you’re consistent.”
“How so?”
“Because by always turning a corner, you would eventually find an exit.” Minos took the left-hand-side path and continued ahead, demonstrating his idea. Eventually, they reached another branch to the right-hand side.
“There’s no left turn,” Robb commented.
“It doesn’t always have the left turn. In this case, we take the leftmost, which is forward,” they continued, but Minos still took note of the numerical engraving at the bottom of the corner column.
The duo continued on their way, and going across five more corners finally seeing a metallic ladder that leads to a hatch above.
“An exit! We did it,” Robb cried.
“I told you,” Minos sighed. “Just turn left.” He motioned for Robb to stay where he was, and he started climbing up the ladder. Upon reaching the top, he carefully pushed the heavy hatch covering the manhole and took a peek outside.
It was dark and cold on the surface. The hatch led to some kind of an alleyway, empty and barren except for some wooden crates and barrels. For some reason, it looked familiar to him.
“It’s clear…” he announced. He glanced below and gestured for Robb to climb up as well and the boy followed. “Wait!” Minos remembered something and pointed towards the magical light that guided their way. “From here on, no magic, okay?”
Robb flicked his hand, dispelling the arcane light. Minos then pushed the hatch open and crawled out of the hole. He then held it up steadily to let Robb out. Despite his extreme caution, he didn’t notice one figure sneaking up behind him. He only heard its voice.
“Well, well, well, what do we ‘ave ‘ere?”
Minos quickly turned around. A large man was standing tall under the shadow of the alleyway. He was holding a club in his right hand, with its fat end resting over his left palm. The young nobleman tried to stand up, but the man stopped him. “Easy pretty boy, there’s nowhere for you to go.”
Minos heard footsteps and he turned to his other side. Another man emerged, small and scrawny. He had a long stick sitting over his shoulder.
“Where’d you two come from?” asked the bigger man.
“Why do you ask? Are you from the City Watch?”
The smaller man burst into a quiet, subdued laughter. “Do we look like the fucking City Watch to you?”
“No. So, that means we don’t need to answer your questions,” said Minos.
“That’s fair. That also means we can just kill you right ‘ere!” replied the bigger man.
“But... why?” asked Minos. The two men closed in around Minos and Robb that the young nobleman could now see his face. They exchanged confused glances with each other after hearing his question.
“Why what?” asked the smaller man.
“Why would you kill us?” clarified Minos.
“Why would we need a reason to kill you?” continued the smaller man, scratching his head.
“Because…” an idea popped into Minos’ head. “I’m a rich and powerful, influential man.”
“All the more reason to kill you!” said the big man. He raised his right arm aiming his mace against Minos’ head.
“And I don’t have a shortage of enemies. If you kill me now, you’ll be doing a lot of people a favor, cause you would be killing me for free…”
The smaller man furrowed his eyebrows, “oh so you do want to die, eh?”
“No, no, of course not. But you should ask yourselves, do you want to kill me for free? Or would you rather kill me, for a price?”
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The two men exchanged another look and a smile. They seemed to get what Minos was talking about.
“So, what? You want us to find your enemies and have them pay us to kill you?” explained the smaller man.
“That would be the smart move, yes. I’m sure if you speak my name out loud in some parts of this city, you will find somebody who hates me.”
“And what’s your name?” asked the big guy.
“We’ll get to that later,” answered Minos. “But for now, what you should do is, take me to your leader.”
“What leader?”
“Your leader. Ask her, and she will tell you who out there has a contract for my head.”
The two brawlers exchanged another look.
“You’re from The Guild, right?” clarified the young nobleman.
“What guild?” the big guy asked again. The duo tried to be subtle, but Minos caught them with ease.
“The Guild. You know what I mean,” for his final flourish, Minos grabbed the ring in his pocket. The one with the emblem of a chalice. He held it up and showed it to the two. “Come on, you recognize this…”
“Huh!” gruffed the smaller man.
“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” denied the big man.
“Alright, fine, I get it. Anyway, thank you, gentlemen, we’ll be on our way…”
“We’re not gonna kill you,” said the smaller man, convinced by Minos’ words. “But we ain’t letting you go either.”
“I see, so what now, then?” Minos kept his unthreatening stance up.
“You think we should…” rambled the big man to his partner.
“Yeah, we should…” answered the smaller man. He looked at Minos as he produces a length of rope. “You’re coming with us.” He announced quietly.
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It happened again. Minos and Robb’s arms were tied to their backs. This time though, their heads were covered with hoods. The two men tossed them to a closed wagon and drove away from the alleyway.
It was a slow ride, and he could hear the drivers muttering to each other. He also noticed that their vehicle stopped multiple times, probably from the checkpoints set up around the city. The curfew was still active, yet for some reason their wagon was allowed to traverse the streets at this hour.
Eventually, they stopped, fully, seemingly arriving at their destination. The two dragged Minos and Robb out of the wagon into somewhere with bright lights. Minos could tell despite the hood over his head. Then he heard the familiar rasp of the Guild Leader’s voice.
“What are you two motherfuckers doing in here?” She was shouting, sounding more annoyed than mad.
“Sorry ma’am. But we found this fellow ‘ere lurking around one of our ahr-zees,” Minos recognized the voice of the big man. He sounded nervous and scared, different from the way he met him earlier.
“And so, you bring him to me? In my house? What sort of inbred, rotting, spastic little brain does you two have you have in between your heads that you thought this was a good idea?” screamed the Guild Leader. Despite the familiarity of her voice, her tone and way of speaking was quite different from when Minos first heard her.
He chuckled. Minos chuckled. Back then, she sounded calm and calculated. Now, it was as if she was losing control of herself. He felt a little bad for the two goons that picked them up.
“Klaus!!” yelled the Guild Leader, seemingly calling out for somebody. Minos heard footsteps of someone else getting nearer.
“Madam?” asked the new arrival, in a light Ledrithan accent.
“Kill these idiots.”
The two men gasped. But what caught Minos’ attention was the fourth voice.
“Mother!” It had the voice of a little girl, high-pitched and naive, also bearing a slight Ledrithan accent.
“Oh sorry, sorry, my sweetling,” responded the Guild Leader with a calmer, motherly tone.
Minos’ curiosity had now taken over him, so he raised his hooded head. “Sorry, ah… look, it’s my fault, don’t blame them.”
There was a moment of silence, until the hood over Minos’ face was pulled away. He readjusted his eyes for the bright light while glancing to his side. Robb was kneeling beside him; his hood was removed as well.
“Ah, it's you two.”
“Yes, hi.” Minos smiled.
The Guild Leader’s demeanor changed. It was now closer to the one she carried when they were talking back at their headquarters. Minos glanced around them to study the place at which they were taken. It was the open courtyard in front of a lavish mansion. The dark of the night was being repelled by about half a dozen lamp post around the yard. To his right and to Robb’s left were the two men who grabbed them outside of the sewers.
Meanwhile, in front of them, three people were gathered around a circular picnic table. Minos recognized the Guild Leader, while sitting opposite her was a child, with curly blonde locks and a ribbon around her neck. She was pinching her nose in disgust, probably because of how the pair smelled, but there was an air of curiosity in her face.
On the table itself, Mios noticed the book Rikhart gave them, as well as the Focusing stone. Further behind the table stood a tall drow man wearing a butler’s uniform. He assumed this was the one she called Karl.
“They stink!” the little girl cried.
“Like we said, they were crawlin’ out of one of the exits,” explained the big man flanking Minos.
“We were gonna kill him, but we thought, maybe we can have a little extra for the effort, you know?” added the smaller man beside Robb. “Also, he has your ring—”
“Enough!” The Guild Leader’s voice echoed across the yard. Minos saw the men tremble in fear. “Karl, take these two outside.”
The drow butler stepped forward and gestured for the big man and the smaller man to follow him. They both did without complaint, but not before giving Minos a stern look.
Once they were gone, The Guild Leader stood up and glided towards Minos. “I thought you were dead.”
“I thought so too,” Minos said.
“What do you want now?”
“What do I want?” Minos repeated, taking offense. “We had a deal, lady. And I already paid you half of what we agreed upon.”
“And I did my part. Seiveril delivered you to the docks, didn’t she? She escorted you to a ship…”
“So why are we still here, stuck in this wretched city?!?” Minos couldn’t help but scream. All his anger and frustration now spilling out of his mouth.
“It’s not my fault your friends are careless.”
“Somebody was waiting for us. Ambushed us and took the two of us captive.”
“Yes, I heard about that.”
“Then explain how? No one knows about us, except you. How am I not to believe that you sold us out?”
“And how would that benefit me? Huh? Think. You still owe me half of our agreed upon deal.”
“Somebody made a bigger offer,” shrugged Minos.
“I do not dabble in double dealing. Bad for business.”
Minos nodded. Arguing was pointless as he never had any solid proof against the Guild Leader anyway, so he let it slide. “My friends. Were they arrested?”
“They were,” answered the heavy woman.
Minos sighed. “Then, I want another deal. You get my friends out of prison, and I’ll pay you anything.”
“What you want is impossible.”
“But you’ll do it.”
The woman smiled and walked back towards her picnic table. She caressed the hair of her daughter who wasn’t paying them any attention. Rather, she was preoccupied with the Focusing Stone on top of the table. Minos glanced at Robb and the young boy was also fixated with the thing.
Suddenly, the stone started to glow, and Minos saw it slowly levitate up in the air. He quickly looked back at Robb who was shaking his head.
“I’m not doing anything,” Robb whispered.
Minos glanced back at the table again and the Guild Leader pushed the stone back into its place. She held up her finger, admonishing the little girl for what she did. It all clicked in Minos’ head.
“Your daughter, she can do magic.”
Minos glanced aside as he noticed the butler Karl walking back in their direction. He whispered something in The Guild Leader’s ear, and she nodded. She then gestured for him to take her daughter with him.
“Time to sleep, my darling,” she told her softly.
“Good night, mother,” the little girl kissed her mom on her cheeks and quietly went away, hopping behind the butler.
Finally, the Guild Leader faced Minos. “She can do magic, yes, what is it to you?”
Minos shook his head. “Nothing.”
“I know what you’re thinking. You wanna blackmail me about my daughter having magical abilities. Nice try, but no. My daughter’s ability is registered with the proper authorities. I’m not hiding her, and I’m proud of what she can do.”
“I think you’re projecting. I’m not a monster, I wouldn’t involve an innocent in this.”
“Huh! Says a man who is towing an innocent child in his side,” she gestured towards Robb, the little boy looked at Minos.
“He’s the victim here,” Minos needed a quick way to gain the woman’s sympathy. He made a calculation in his head and figured it was worth the risk to divulge the information he was holding. “Look, the people who took us, they took us because of this boy. Because he could also do magic. And this place where they took us also had other children who were capable of doing magic.
“Now, I don’t know what kind of torture they were doing to those children, and honestly I don’t care, because we,” Minos gestured towards Robb and himself, “will be out of here. And I swear to Eirene, I would never wish for something bad to happen to your daughter. But we both know how much this city hates magical people. So, tell me, if, or when that unfortunate day comes, do you want to be glad that you helped me now, or do you want to be regretful that you turned me down?”
The woman turned silent. She raised her head, taking in everything that Minos said. The young nobleman relaxed his shoulders and rested his hips over the back of his heels. His knees were already starting to hurt from their awkward position, but he tried to ignored it.
Finally, the Guild Leader sighed, “you can keep your gold.”
Minos’ eyes widened in surprise. He was so sure his heartfelt speech got to her. He tried to stand up ready for another round of a desperate plea. “By the gods, I’m running—”
“You can keep your gold because your friends are fine. Last I’ve heard they’ve been holed up at The Dirty Deer.”
“What?” Minos studied the woman’s face, trying to see if she was being truthful.
“Look, I don’t want anybody thinking that we renege on our agreements; honor among thieves, and all that, you know how it goes. So, I will help you get back to your friends and in return, you will tell me everything you know about these people who are kidnapping children with magic. And of course, I expect you to answer my call, if and when something unfortunate happens to my daughter.”
“As for our original deal, I’ll see to it that Seiveril can arrange for another ship. And no more shenanigans.”
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The butler, Karl, took Minos and Robb and drove them to The Dirty Deer inn, the same place they stayed at a few nights ago. The two were kept hidden under the carriage’s seats, and Minos again noticed them being stopped by checkpoints along the way. He wondered how their driver was able to traverse the city during curfew, but he remembered what the drow rogue mentioned the other day: in Soliton, money is King.
Eventually, the carriage came to a full stop. The hidden that concealed the two were opened and Karl instructed them to step out. Without another word, the butler left them at the side of the road by the inn. Minos tried to thank him, but he just drove away without even looking back at them.
At this point, the cake of mud clinging from their toes to their waist had already dried. The adrenaline of the escape had worn off and Minos could already feel the tiredness in his bones. Robb, meanwhile, was unusually quiet the entire time, but the young nobleman understood why.
They stepped into the inn. It was empty and quiet. Minos imagined Lira sitting by a table being serenaded by a musician, but there was nobody inside, not even the innkeeper.
Minos hobbled towards the counter not really knowing what to do. As he rested his elbow, he imagined Cassana coming to greet him and asking what she may do for him. He saw the light coming from the kitchen behind so rang the bell and waited.
He glanced to his right and imagined Rei standing beside him, alert and eager. Instead, there was only a little boy, anxious and tired. He tried to think of a joke to cheer him up, but his mind was already running on its last fumes. He couldn't remember the last time he slept.
Finally, someone stepped out of the kitchen wiping their hands on a towel. It wasn’t Cassana.
“You're lucky, we have one room left,” he remarked without looking up at the two. When he finally did, he was taken aback, not by who they were, but by the state they were in. “By Moira, what happened to you two?”
“Lira. Are they here?”
“No, but the rest of your friends are.”
Minos smiled. He felt a pouring of relief washing all over his body.
“Room 3E,” said the innkeeper.
Minos placed his hand over Robb's shoulder and tugged him along and climbed three flights of stairs. He was almost crawling on the floor by the time they got to the door of room 3E. He could feel his legs giving up, and he spent his last burst energy to knock on the locked door. A few moments later, it opened, and a familiar face came to greet them.
“How’s my favorite charcoal-boy?” Minos replied.