Minos PoV [https://i.imgur.com/z7eOSqv.jpeg]

Confidence was Minos’ primary weapon. Among all of his abilities that he would gladly show off, like his swordsmanship or his aptitude for literacy; his confidence, or rather, his surplus of confidence, was the one thing he valued the most. Hence, it was the skill that he would put in the forefront, every time.

“We want passage out of the city. To Ad-Nilem.” Minos spoke to the person sitting in front of them. A dark-skinned middle-aged woman, with a wide round face and a thick set of lips smeared by purple ochre. Her dress had a large round shape that covered her multiple-layered chin folds and thick neck. Minos didn’t need to see what was underneath her chemise to figure the shape of her body.

“Maybe you didn’t hear the news, but the city is on lock-down. Nobody gets in or out.” She answered with a raspy voice after giving Minos a study. She was holding a looking glass over a thick tome on the table. Every once in a while, she would grab a roll of smoke sitting half-burnt on a ceramic tray, place it in between her lips, and take a puff. Afterwards, she would blow out smoke with complete disregard, filling the room with the smell of burnt hemp.

“We did hear the news,” Minos answered, trying to ignore the patronizing tone she was carrying, “and that’s why we went to you, and not the harbor.”

“And what makes you think I can help you get out of the city?” the more she spoke, the more her voice sounded like running of a dull blade on a whetstone.

“Because that’s what you do.”

“I don’t think you have the tiniest inclination about who I am and what I do, Mr. Zephyrean.”

That caught Minos off guard. He was so sure that he was hiding his Zephyrean accent. Still, he kept himself from reacting, keeping a facade of obliviousness for being called out. Confidence. “Cause you’re The Guild.”

“The Thieves’ Guild,” Cassana interjected. Minos gave her a side-eye, warning her to let him do the talking. She didn't even try to engage him.

“Heh!” The fat woman scoffed, “Do you really think that there’s such a thing as an association of thieves and cutthroats? That they’re not gonna slit each other’s necks the moment they gather in the same room?”

“Not if it means more money for you all?” replied Minos.

“And that’s something that you can provide?”

“More money? Definitely.”

“Here's the rub, pretty boy,” the woman dropped what she was doing and faced Minos directly, “hypothetically speaking, if such a group exists, how much money are you willing to give away, in exchange for their services?”

“I already gave him a quote.” Seiveril butted in.

“Let me hear it,” said the woman behind the desk.

“One thousand marks per head.”

“That sounds reasonable,” the fat woman’s lips curled in, hesitating approval before her eyes went back to Minos, “do you have that amount for the three of you?”

“Six of them.” Seiveril answered before Minos could even open his mouth.

“Six? That’s six thousand marks! Now, what kind of man has six arians to spare?”

“I’d say, a very thrifty man?” Minos answered with a smile. He felt a cold chill as his mind began to foresee the direction of their discussion. He thought of a way to steer the direction away from it.

“Actually, it’ll only be for four people, and the kid is not coming,” clarified Cassana.

“You know what I think?” The woman stood up, slowly and with much effort, given her size. She strode towards Minos, every footstep heavy against the stone floor, “There are two kinds of men who are willing to spend that amount of gold: those who are running from something, or those who are hiding from someone. From which kind do you belong?” she asked, pressing her misshapen head against Minos’ face.

The young nobleman felt as if her entire weight was bearing down on him. He underestimated how scary she was. Still, he managed to keep his confidence up. “Your business, if we ever come to a reasonable arrangement, is to secure our passage to Ad-Nilem; and my business,” Minos pushed against her in reply. He straightened his shoulders and tilted his head up, “is entirely up to me.”

"Heh!" The woman rasped. She turned around and carefully went back to her seat. “I will need insurance, however. An additional fifty percent of the total fee, which you would get back, when you return here.”

“Bullshit. I don’t intend on coming back here.”

“Then consider it as payment for keeping my mouth shut, in case somebody asks about you. You can take my offer and Seiveril will lead you to the quickest way topside; or not and you can leave the way you came in.”

“I’ll take it,” Minos answered with no hesitation, “but, I’ll pay you the moment we step on the ship. Not before. I’m sure you have someone you trust to send us off…”

The woman paused to consider. “Fair enough, Seiveril can handle that,” she turned towards the rogue drow. “Right?”

“Sounds good to me,” Sei nodded.

The heavyset woman pulled one of the drawers underneath her desk and rummaged for something and handed it to Minos. “Head to the docks before sunrise and show them this ring. Ask for Marli of The Sloan, he knows what to do.”

Minos grabbed the signet ring and gave it a thorough look. It was made of bronze, too small for his fingers, and was emblazoned with the shape of a chalice. He placed it in his trouser’s pocket.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Make sure they get to the docks before the sun’s up,” ordered the woman to Seiveril, “accompany them to the ship, and collect their payment.”

The rogue drow nodded.

“I guess that’s it… you have our thanks.” Minos concluded, but the woman returned to what she was doing without giving them a final look.

----------------------------------------

The way out of The Guild’s hideout was easier than their way in. Minos and his companions were already back at the surface before anybody could begin to complain about the narrow hallways and dark passages.

They climbed up and out of a trapdoor and found themselves in some kind of basement, which reminded Minos of Cassana’s wine cellar back at her village. Seiveril bid them farewell and warned them about blabbing their secret entrance to the authorities. She hopped back through the trapdoor and disappeared into the dark.

A soft, violin-solo ballad greeted them as they climbed up the stairs. Minos realized they were in a tavern. The spacious room was laden with empty chairs and tables, except for where the nobleman’s drow companion was. Lira was sitting alone with her chin resting on her palm, as she was being serenaded by an old man on the podium.

“Is this why you didn’t wanna come with us to The Guild?" Minos said as he approached her.

She shrugged without taking her eyes away from the bard.

“How are you here already? Did you know we were gonna end up here?” Cassana asked Lira.

“I told Seiveril to bring you here afterwards,” explained the drow huntress, waving her hand. “Ashvell and Rei are in a room upstairs, probably asleep by now. Go get some drinks if you like.”

“But what if the deal didn’t push through?” asked Minos.

Lira tilted her head to the side as a response to the young nobleman’s question. Really? He could almost hear her speak.

“Then why let us go through the sewers, when you know a convenient and clean, non-smelly entrance?”

“I want Sei to give you the whole tour, of course,” she answered slyly before sniggering.

Minos shook his head. He sat down beside the huntress and motioned his hand towards a server asking for a drink. Cassana, on the other hand, walked past their table and towards the further end of the room. Meanwhile, Robb stopped on his feet, seemingly deciding whether to sit with them or with the redhead.

“Aren’t we gonna get in trouble? Getting drunk way past the curfew?” Minos asked.

“We’re indoors. No guard is gonna catch us here,” Lira answered.

“If you say so. I take it you and that Seiveril, the two of you used to work together? Back in your time here?” inquired the young nobleman.

“No. I already left The Guild when she joined. But we did train with the same people, hung out with the same crowd. And I’m also older than her by a few decades.

It was still hard for Minos to wrap his head around the lifespan of fey-folk. Lira looked just a few years older than him, but she was already an established bounty hunter when his own father was just a teenage boy. He just can’t imagine how it would be to live and outlive generations over generations of humans. Even the stories that Lira would tell him were about the things that he could already read from history books.

“So how does it feel, huh?” he pried, as the server poured beer into his mug. “To be back in your hometown after all these years?”

Lira shrugged in disregard.

“Really? No feelings of nostalgia? Wistfulness? Longing?”

The huntress shook his head, “I was just here two years ago, under orders from the K—” she stopped herself and glanced at Cassana. Robb sat down beside her after all. Lira raised a glass and called for her attention, and the wizard replied with a nod of acknowledgment and her own raised glass.

“So, how did it go?” she whispered to Minos, changing the subject.

“It went smoothly, just as expected,” he answered.

“No, I mean,” she motioned her head towards Cassana.

“What?”

“Those were not very nice words…” she commented, referring to the short spat Minos and Cassana had earlier that evening.

Come on! Minos slammed his back against the chair. “She was the one who started it, going on and on about me and Rei, as if I don’t give a shit about—”

“Do you?” asked Lira.

“You too? Really? I’m offended that you, of all people, are asking me that.”

“Well I have to ask. Because from my point of view, your obsession with finding the Sword is getting the better of you.”

“My obsession?” repeated Minos, his eyes glaring at Lira.

“The things you went through… everything that you’ve sacrificed for this… " Lira buckled, as if saying the right word would weaken her argument. "... this dream of yours. Yes, its an obsession! It’s time to call it what it is.”

Minos sighed and shook his head, before taking another gulp. “I’ve explained to you a dozen times why I have to do this.”

“And I told you a dozen times to stop.”

“Then why are you here?”

Lira paused before answering. “Because I care. I give a shit. And Rei? She gives a shit.”

“It’s he,” Minos corrected her.

“Whatever. He went with you despite the danger, and despite being a foreigner to this land, he went with you and kept you safe. Me? I came after you, my orders were to bring you back. But I’m choosing not to. Not because I believe in what you’re doing here.” Lira did her best to lower the volume of her voice despite the intensity of her words. The violinist’s melody also helped in containing their conversation within their table.

“I don’t care if you find that Sword or not, I don’t care about any of that at all, that’s human business. I’m here, because I believe in you. And whatever name you pick for yourself, or whatever kind of fake persona you’re trying to portray here.. and behind this facade, all these smoke and mirrors, I know you. And I know what kind of person you are. I’m with you through this, but I need to have your word, that you won’t lose that.” Lira pointed her index finger at Minos’ chest.

“I’ve been around for decades, boy. I know what obsession does to people.”

Minos stared blankly at the table between him and Lira, trying to find a powerful rebuttal, but he couldnt. “But she started it!” He cried instead, deflecting the blame from himself.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What do you want me to do? Say sorry? She’s been nagging at me ever since the two of us met…”

“It doesn’t matter, she just lost people, she’s grieving...”

“So because she's grieving, she’s allowed to be mean, but I'm not?”

“No, of course not. But she’s going through shit. And what you did, and what you’re doing right now, is you’re adding more shit on top of her pile of shit. You don’t have to do that. So, just, be the bigger man, and apologize.”

Minos raised both his hands in surrender, he was too tired to defend himself. “You know what, I’m not a kid anymore. I’m not that eleven-year old boy that you used to chase with a stick…”

“But here you are, acting like one," scoffed Lira.

Minos stood up, grabbed his beer, and sauntered towards Cassana’s table. However, instead of approaching the redhead, he went to the other side, to where Robb was sitting. He raised his mug as he looked back at Lira, flashing his most annoying, toothed grin. He grabbed the young boy up from his seat and pulled him away from Cassana's table.

“Come on Robb, let’s head upstairs," he shouted over the music, making sure Lira could hear him, "…to the men’s den! Where we can be men! Not bigger men, but real men!” He could almost hear Lira sigh in reply.