Chapter 6: Compensation

Owen awoke to soft voices.

“Damn,” said one voice, a deep, gruff tone. “Poor bastards didn’t stand a chance.”

“At least they put up a good fight,” said another, younger voice. “Look at all the dead demons around them.”

“It’s still a damn shame,” said the first voice, his boots crunching on the dirt as he came closer.

Wait, are they talking about me?

“My momma says it’s better to die in somebody’s arms, at least,” said the younger voice. “She says it’ll help you stay together in the afterlife.”

The older man snorted. “Let’s just get these fools to a grave before something foul grabs them.”

Yep, they are definitely talking about me.

All of Owen’s body hurt like a sonofabitch. The sunlight burned through his eyelids in a manner befitting the worst hellfire. And every little sound made his head pound.

But bright side, as he cracked open his sleep-crusted eyes, he realized that Azure still lay her head on his chest, her arms draped across his body as she slept, her face angled away from the rising sun.

Even though Owen felt like he’d been hit by a truck, he found that at least now, he could move. He shoved Azure awake, and she snapped up in a startle.

“Holy shit!” the younger man screamed. “They’re alive!”

Azure glanced between Owen and the voice’s direction before narrowing her eyes. “Of course we are, no thanks to you assholes.”

Owen forced himself to sit up and turn in place to finally get a look at the two newcomers. Their bodies certainly seemed to match their voices. One was a portly, mustached fellow with a tight-wound tunic wrapped about his girthy frame, while the other was a scrawny, lanky fellow without a lick of hair on his chin. His tunic was large and billowy on him, reminding Owen of teenagers who would get a suit tailored with a bit too much growth expected in the coming years.

The pair both wore clubs at their side. And both had startled, pale expressions plastered across their faces.

“Who are they supposed to be?” Owen asked Azure.

“They’re the damn gate guards. They shut the doors on us when we were running in yesterday.”

Oh. So that was them.

Owen immediately felt his blood begin to boil. He tried to leap to his feet, but found the action beyond the measure of his abilities at the moment. Instead, he staggered up, clenching his fists in a mixture of pain, anger, and exhaustion.

The skinny guard’s pale face turned outright ghostly. “It wasn’t our decision, I swear! The order came down from the Gate Captain.”

Owen shared a glance with Azure.

“Bring us to the Gate Captain,” said Azure, catching his glance. “And bring us some food and water, dammit.”

“Of course,” said the fatter guard, leading them to the now-open gate. It was yet early morning, with much of the fields before the wall still drenched in shadow and mist. However, sunlight beamed through the open port like a pillar of fire, or the very gates of heaven itself.

The warmth was bliss on Owen’s skin as he hobbled through the thick ramparts. They came out the other side to see a wide dirt road leading straight on from the gate. There were a few small houses made from wood-- bamboo it looked like-- built on small trails that came off from the main road, but the inner bounds of Ysvale were mostly hidden by a gently rising hill, which rose up its fullness of height about a hundred yards ahead. The great stone walls continued in either direction for miles, curving around in a large circle, visible even from a fairly long distance.

And directly adjacent to the gate, attached like a blemish to the thick stoneset walls, was a three story building constructed of brick with a thatched roof. A few other cudgel-wielding guards sat on barrels next to the open doorway, with smoking pipes wedged between their lips.

One of them was in the process of lighting his pipe when he noticed Owen and Azure. His jaw fell open and he dropped his pipe, seemingly without even realizing it. The others noticed soon after, alternately choking on pipe smoke or the pipe itself as they drew in sharp, shocked gasps.

To a degree, Owen thought he understood their reactions. Azure looked like a blood-stained, walking corpse, and he imagined that he didn’t look any better. He glanced down at his chest. His jacket and shirt flaked bits of blood with every step. Yep. Definitely giving off The Walking Dead vibes.

“They want to see the Captain,” said the fat guard who’d led them here.

One of the guards held up an unsure thumb, pointing inside the building. Owen guessed it was the barracks. “He’s in his quarters, I think. Probably doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“And that’s a right shame, ain’t it?” said Owen. “Wouldn’t want to inconvenience the bastard who locked us out of the gate at night.”

The man who spoke swallowed and didn’t object any further, so Owen and Azure entered the barracks with the fat guard now trailing behind them. The room was larger than it looked from the outside, forming a sort of gathering area of wooden tables and benches, with a window to what Owen guessed was a kitchen in the back.

A simple staircase led them up the backside of the room to the second floor, where they found a few bunks arranged in rows around the outer walls, with a small table in the center covered in some kind of playing cards that Owen didn’t recognize.

Up a third set of stairs they went, where they were met with a single door that partitioned off most of the final floor. Owen tried the door, but it was locked. He rapped on it loudly, but no answer came. Then he banged on it with his fist, making the door shake in place. And even then, nobody answered.

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“Figures,” he growled.

“It’s like Mathers said,” said the fat guard, now appearing visibly nervous, “the Captain probably isn’t expecting visitors. If you keep going, you might upset him.”

“Do you have a lockpick on you?” Owen asked Azure.

“Nah, I’ve never been good at that kind of stuff,” she said.

Well, that was something Owen would need to get. He’d always kept a spare lock kit in his van back home. He wasn’t the kind of person to go sneaking around, but if he needed to get to an asshole, he didn’t want something stupid like a lock to get in the way.

“I could blast it open?” said Azure helpfully, fire dancing on the tips of her fingers.

Owen grinned.

“I-I-I can’t let you do that,” the fat guard stuttered, putting his hand on his club.

Owen gave him a look, one he’d practiced over the years for moments like this, that made the guard pale in his boots. The overweight man stumbled back and immediately ran down the steps, calling for the other guards.

“It’s now or never,” Owen said.

“My pleasure,” said Azure. She placed her hand over the keyhole for the lock and traced a new mana sigil with her fingers. When it was completed, she activated it with the palm of her hand.

A split-second later, a hand-sized blast of fire ripped out of her hand, smashing straight through the lock and ripping it out of the door. This time, Owen heard a muffled voice crying out on the other side, along with the sound of splashing water.

So, the asshole was taking a bath. All the better.

Owen kicked open the door. The Captain’s quarters were quite spacious compared to the guard barracks below. A large desk stood front and center in the room, covered with paper and ink wells. The bed was behind the desk, and to the side, there was a doorway to a separate room.

And standing in that doorway was a mostly naked, middle-aged fat man. Sopping wet and still covered with suds, he only covered his extremities with a loose towel. His face was bright red, likely from a mixture of heat and rage.

“Who the hell are you to be barging into my quarters?” he bellowed. He must not have initially noticed the zombie-like qualities on Owen and Azure, because immediately after speaking, the color drained right from his face and he cowered backward, crying out, “Demons in the barracks! Oh goddess, save me!”

“What’s the plan?” said Owen.

“You hold the door,” said Azure. “I’m going to get compensated for the hell we went through last night.”

Owen nodded, knocking over the desk and sliding it in front of the door. It wasn’t terribly heavy, but it gave him something to prop against. Then again, if it were heavy, then he wouldn’t have been able move it anyway. His whole body still hurt like a bastard, and it was only rage that gave him the energy to carry on.

The first of the footsteps reached the upper floor as a few guards tried to unsuccessfully open the door. Owen leaned against the desk, holding it in place, while Azure yelled at the Guard Captain, “Hey asshole! Do I look familiar?!”

“N-No!”

“Really?” she said, and though Owen couldn’t see it, he heard her break something fragile. “Because your boys downstairs told me that you ordered them to shut the gate as we were running in.”

Owen glanced back to see the Captain’s eyes bug open. “You? You were those pair of stragglers last night?! You survived?!”

“Surprising, ain’t it?” Azure snapped, grabbing the Captain by the hair and dragging him to the floor of the main office. “Yep, we’re alive and kicking, no thanks to your incompetent ass.”

“I don’t know what you expected,” said the Captain. “Night was falling. You could have been demons.”

“Your watcher could see us from a mile out!” Azure said. “You saw us travel under daylight! You were just being a cowardly, lazy bastard.”

Now realizing that the people attacking him were, in fact, people, some of the red anger swelled up the Captain’s face again. “I was just doing my duty, you bitch.”

Azure shared a glance with Owen. “Did you hear him just call me a bitch?”

“I sure did,” said Owen, grunting as he held the door shut again. The guards had started to break the door down itself, using some sort of battering ram on the other side. Admittedly, he hadn’t thought this through. He wasn’t sure what would happen when the guards broke in, but something told him he was going to end up behind bars… Or dead.

Admittedly, the fact that he had the possibility of dying twice in two days was outweighed by the idea of going to jail for the first time.

Regardless, Azure seemed to be in control of the situation, if not her temper. She kicked the Captain beneath the ribs and said, “Call me a bitch again. I dare you.”

He spat on her boots. “When my guards get in here, I’ll see you hanged. Attacking a Gate Captain? You must be insane.”

Ah. So, they were going to die.

Azure leaned in close to the Captain with a wide grin plastered across her face. “You might be a Gate Captain, but I’m a Diver. And you interfered with Guild business last night. If I wanted to, I could see you hung from those same gallows.” From a pocket, she retrieved some sort of metal crest and held it close for the bastard to see.

Owen was pretty sure that, at that very moment, the Captain pissed himself. He stared at the crest, stunned for a moment, his breathing increasing in pace and frenzy. Whatever a Diver was, the title held a lot of weight.

At that exact moment, the guards managed to bust through the door. Owen stepped away from the desk, letting the first of them come through, club in hand. The man swung wildly at Owen, missing, and Owen clocked him upside the head.

It hurt like a bitch-- stinging his already tenderized hands-- but instinct was instinct, and even half-dead, Owen wasn’t going to be punked out by some idiot with a wooden stick.

“Stop!” the Captain screamed. “Stand down, stand down!”

A second guard had already stepped over the unconscious first guard, his club similarly raised. He stopped short of swinging, eyes flicking between Owen and the Captain, before gently lowering the club down to his side.

The guard Captain had “assumed the position”, kneeling and groveling desperately before Azure. “Please, this doesn’t have to reach the Guild, does it? Just name your price, and I can make it happen.”

Azure pressed her boot to the man’s head. “I’m so glad we could bring you to reason,” she said, her voice quivering with malice.

Ah, so she had a plan the whole time. Sighing with relief, Owen sank to the floor as his exhaustion caught up with him again. When the hell was he going to get a break?

“First thing,” said Azure, pointing down at the Captain’s prostrate form. “You will provide my companion and me with food. And none of that crappy gruel you force feed your men. We want real food with meat. And while we consume our fill, you will arrange for a carriage to transport us to the Guild Hall. Additionally, you will arrange for and pay a healer to meet us there to tend to our wounds.”

The cowardly man glanced up briefly, his eyes bulging with disbelief. “A healer? You can’t be serious? Just a single visit with one of them costs more than I make in a year.”

“Then you’d better figure out which strings to pull, or find some heirlooms to sell,” said Azure mercilessly. “It will take us months to recover from these injuries on our own, and that’s simply unacceptable.”

“I…” the man looked like he might protest further, but he paled beneath Azure’s gaze. “I understand,” he said, lowering his head once more.

“Glad we understand one another,” said Azure, finally stepping away from him and plopping down next to Owen, leaning against the desk. She’d made a good show of it, but she was definitely tired too.

“Oh, and one more thing,” said Owen, picking up a wood chip from the floor. He threw it at the fat bastard, hitting him upside the head. “Put some clothes on. Your saggy moobs are literally the last things I want to see today, demons included.”