Chapter 26 - The Broken Axel

The smell of the shrum in the Broken Axel probably could have been enough to evoke a hallucinagenic trip on its own. When we walked in, the smoke hung thick in the hot air, like an oily miasma. I could feel it soaking into my hair and skin and clothes. Annalisa nearly gagged.

Beyond the drugs, this was the type of bar that catered to the sordid sort of scoundrels that met for nefarious ends. To that effect, each corner was a little bit extra dim. Cloaked individuals leaned in close to whisper about ill-fated plans. Dark eyes glared at us from within deep hoods.

I’m not sure what it says about me that I felt completely in my element.

I pulled my own cloak’s hood up and sidled into a table in an open dark corner. The wood smeared under my fingers. I tried to wipe them on my shirt, but it had already been saturated. At least I hadn’t brought my seeker robe. I grumbled and ordered a drink.

Annalisa cast about. “Do you think anyone in here knows anything about the girls?” she asked.

“If they do, they’re not likely to volunteer that information. And we’d give too much away by asking.”

Annalisa’s knee bounced under the table. I could feel it rattling on the cheap floorboards, and the drink of the fellow at the next table threatened to vibrate off the table. He shot us a dirty look, but blanched when Annalisa returned it. You wouldn’t think a plane-touched woman in a wide, floppy hat would be intimidating. But I think even a blindman could sense Annalisa’s short fuse and willingness to fight over just about any opportunity. He quickly moved to another table.

The light went from orange, to red, to the pale blue of the dragonlight while we waited. Eventually, a hulking mongrel orc ducked into the bar with a dwarf half the height, but equal in girth. I recognized him as the dwarf from the pits: Jeedle’s brother, Gron. They spotted us, and Zarry made his way over to our table.

“You find the place?” he demanded, no preamble.

I nodded. “Buttoned up, guarded. I didn’t get a look inside, but I can feel the card ain’t moved. I take it things didn’t go well with Mother Mayaz?”

Miss Trundi’s husband huffed. “Kridick strike ye as the diplomatic sort?”

Zarry stilled him. “Yer voice carries, Gron. No, it didn’t go well. She denied the raid. But we knew she would.” He pulled a scrap of parchment and a stick of charcoal from his belt pouch. “Draw me a map.”

I licked the tip of the charcoal and began to sketch out the block with the hideout. “Got two entrances here, here, and probably one through the back of this butcher. Sentries here, here, and here. Second story is accessible by the neighboring roof here, but this window is sealed up. Got blindspots in the southeast corner here, and the northeast corner here and here.”

Zarry pulled the sketch back over and his slit eyes widened. “You sure you’re not a cartographer, kid?” He passed it to the dwarf, who whistled, studied it, and then pocketed it.

The four of dragons hummed contentedly in my deck. Most of those details were etched clear in my memory, which seemed to be a side effect of the spell’s enhanced perception. “So we’re going in, then.” I said. Annalisa cracked her knuckles next to me.

Zarry nodded. “Aye. We’re going in.” He held up one finger. “You ought to know. Kridick’s only interested in one of them girls.”

“We get them all,” hissed Annalisa.

“We try,” growled Zarry. “But if It comes down to make a choice, grab Lenise.”

“Why?” I asked. “What makes her so special?”

Zarry sucked at his front teeth. “Can’t tell you that, kid. But savvy this: you get her out, and Kridick’s esteem of you goes way up. How much is it worth to you to be in the good graces of your creditor?”

I crossed my arms. “You know him better than I do, Zarry. How much is it worth?”

The hulking mongrel scraped his chair in closer. I could smell the old drork on him. What’s more, the lovers arcana burned over his own forehead. His fate was tied to Kridick’s at least as much as mine was to Annalisa. “He’s mean and he’s hard. But he’s fair, Darcent.” Except when it came to fixing fights, of course. But I didn’t mention that.

Zarry continued. “We’ve got three solid fighters here, each more’n a match for any three mayaz fighters.” I notice he didn’t include me in that figure. I’d seen Zarry completely body Annalisa without effort. I didn’t know what rank he was in the pits, only that Kridick wouldn’t trust a slouch to guard him. “But it ain’t their knives I’m worried over. Cover us with your playing card hokem. We get in, get the girls, and get out before Mother Mayaz gets wind.”

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“And if she’s in there?” I pointed out.

“She ain’t,” said Zarry. “Kridick had to go to the upper city to find her.”

That made me feel a little more secure. I nodded. “Ok. What are we waiting for?”

Zarry looked at the fading light of the window. “One more hour. We move at true darkness, give that mage’s magic a chance to cool down. You’re sure the dragons don’t affect you, none?”

I was loathe to discuss intricacies of my skill with the Deck of Wills. But I needed Zarry confident. “I’m sure. There’s some theories as to—”

“I don’t need the technicals,” said Zarry.

“Fine by me.”

None of us ate, except Annalisa, who ate enough for the four of us. I guess when you grow up in a house with seven brothers, you learn to shovel everything in. Where she packed that food, I couldn’t tell you. She was thicker at the hips and shoulders than most plane-touched, but that was toned muscle with barely a hint of softness.

Maybe that relentless furnace inside her just needs a constant deluge of fuel. Either way, she practically bounced off the walls waiting to storm the Mayaz compound. She practically wore a hole through the floor, and Zarry had to threaten to gut her to get her to sit still for a moment.

When the time finally came, she was out of her chair so fast her tail cracked like a whip, and waiting for us in the street outside the pub. I could still feel my card several blocks north of us. The east was our best bet, so we circled around to one of the blind spots.

As we approached, I held the others back while I used the four of dragons. The shroud of darkness lifted, hurting my eyes with the sudden illumination. But it wasn’t making light, just amplifying that of the wane dragons. If the blind spot was already known, then they’d have someone watching approaches to it.

“South side of the street, peaked roof,” I whispered to the others. They followed where I was looking, but I doubt they could see them. I touched the four of dragons to Zarry's shoulder, just for a moment, and the orc stiffened as the siphoned power enhanced his sight.

“Got ‘im,” he said. Wait here.”

The mongrel disappeared down an alley while the rest of us hunkered down.

“Bloody terror, that one,” said Gron, with more than a hint of respect.

“How’d they end up running Barrowdown?” I asked.

“They were the toughest pro fighters in Dragonmaw. Once Zarry pulled Kridick out of the pit, it was only a matter of time before they started calling the shots.”

“Huh,” I said. “I figured it would have been Kridick that pulled Zarry out.”

Gron huffed a laugh. “Kridick bought out his indenture, but Zarry was the one what gave him a reason to want more than cracking skulls for money.”

My eyebrows rose. “Oh…” I said. “I see.”

“I heard they been inseparable ever since,” said Gron. He waggled his eyebrows at Annalisa. “Not unlike you and the mage here,”

“Not like that!” I protested.

“Darcent says we’re marked as lovers,” said Annalisa.

“Not like that!” I hissed.

A weight hit the cobbles just behind me, and I stiffened, knife coming out of my sheath. A heavy hand clamped it back down before I could draw it. Gods, he was quick. “Peace, lad. Hells below, I could hear your yammering from the rooftops. Let’s go.”

I made to stand with the others, but he grabbed me. “That thing with my eyes, what was it?”

“The four of dragons,” I said. “Sometimes called the greed of dragons.”

“That’s a stupid name for a spell. Does Kridick know you can do it?”

The dragons raged in my deck. “It’s not stupid, it’s been that for centuries,” I said, standing. “And no, he doesn’t.” I hoped they wouldn’t refuse to help him again, if it came down to it. The dragons in the deck were just as prideful as the genuine article, I was coming to realize. As my bond grew stronger, so too did the feedback within the deck itself. I was glad I hadn’t brought the blood-soaked cards I’d been found with three years ago. I shuddered, just thinking about what dark wills might inhabit those fel cards. How had Margot’s blood tainted them? Had it made them stronger? Almost certainly. Had it made them more dangerous? Invariably.

I followed the other three across the alley, watching for patrols. As I knelt down in a patch of shadow, I felt a scraping sensation through the cobbles and jerked my hand away. Most of the residents of Hollowdown avoided this area after dark. It’s not just the gangs making violence. Hollowdown was practically part of the undercity. Some of the denizens of the ruins beneath the streets felt that way on occasion, too.

The corner of the Mayaz hideout offered concealment from three sides. With the sentry dispatched, we were able to get flush against the building next door. After scuttling up the wall, Zarry demanded the dragon’s gaze again. Ugh. I obliged. He must have liked what he saw because he started hoisting us up to the roof one by one. The strength enchantment on his bracers flashed each time. He followed us up, staying low.

“We work our way from the roof down. Quick, quiet, and thorough. Don’t want no alarms raised,” said Zarry. He looked specifically at Annalisa as he spoke. She nodded and thrashed her tail. I drew my knife as well as my deck. I itched, wishing I could do a reading on this raid. I felt blind without it.

The roof to the hideout was about three feet lower across a narrow alley. Zarry vaulted it just as the rooftop sentry came around the corner. For all his bulk, the mongrel was quiet as any footpad. He scooped up the Mayazian and cracked his neck before the man could so much as shout. Zarry layed him down on the tiles, and we followed him to the trap door.

Annalisa sat next to me, slightly shaking. I squeezed her arm. “Hey, it’s alright, we’ve got this.”

She looked back at me, and it wasn’t fear in her eyes. Her tremors came from barely-contained energy. She wasn’t scared. She was a powder keg that had been told to hold her fuse for hours. She waited while the girls from the Mop were held against their will. She was furious.

Uh oh.

Before I could say anything else, Zarry hefted up the heavy door in the roof, and Anna disappeared in a blue flash, tail whipping as it disappeared down the opening. Gron and I stared, slack jawed. But he recovered first, scowling. “Should have expected it,” he said, sliding down himself. I could already hear shouting from below, and a scream as one of the sentries on the upper level was knocked out of the window he’d been monitoring.

“Damn that devilborn girl!” grunted Zarry. “She’s going to get herself killed. If you're gonna go, go now!”

I lowered myself through the roof and looked around. Somewhere outside, a whistle sounded.

“Zar’, we gotta move! Zar?”

I looked up just in time to see the trap door slam closed above me.