Accounts Payable

by Blaise Corvin

  He protested, “But we’re friends!”

  “You are a friend who owes me a big favor, right?”

  “Fine!” he chuffed. The drake slithered off his rock; the way he could move so gracefully, despite his size, always seemed strange. “I’m going to go eat something.”

  “Where?”

  “The sea, of course,” he said, jerking his head toward the water. “What do you think I’ve been eating since I got out of the dungeon?”

  “I didn’t really think about it,” I admitted.

  Jadanak’s expression became very serious, and he said, “Nora, don’t let your new power dull your edge. When we first met, something like this would not have just slipped your mind. The two greatest downfalls of those with serious power are arrogance and complacence...or obliviousness, guess.”

  “That’s three things,” I corrected.

  He rolled his eyes at me. “I’m serious. We have a good...working relationship, and I would hate to see you die.”

  “Especially while I’m carrying this letter, huh?”

  “Well, yes. Just don’t forget where you came from. You were dangerous when I met you because of who you were. What you are is not who you are. Remember that.”

  After the drake turned and wandered off into the waves, disappearing under the water like a snake, I sat in the sand to think. I stayed this way for at least ten minutes until I got up, heading back to meet with the Serpents’ leaders. Like I told Jadanak, I had a feeling they’d want to talk to me.

  ***

  I walked into the familiar room and sat at the Serpent command table again, but only Beem and Anippe were present this time. “The scouts found me and sent me here. You have something new to tell me?”

  “Yes, and I’m glad we’re getting right on topic.” Beem patted a paper in front of her scrawled with notes. “After the attack last night, we worked some more on our cultist prisoner. She is dead now—”

  “Too bad,” I murmured.

  “—but we managed to get more information out of her.”

  I put my hands behind my head. “And it’s not good, right?”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” said Anippe. Her face was drawn, and she looked like shit.

  I said, “You look like shit.”

  Anippe grinned. “I know. I haven’t slept. The attack last night was a step up from what we’ve dealt with before. If you hadn’t been here, it could have been a rotting disaster. Before, with just the flying things, we always had the option of moving into the shelter to wait until they leave or the sun came up so we can see. Artillery was never part of the rotting equation.”

  Beem waved a hand. “Let’s stay focused.”

  “Right.” Anippe straightened her shoulders, and I wondered how she avoided poking herself with all the spikes on her armor. She said, “We already knew that something big is happening tomorrow, so most of our questioning was about that and the true-demons. The cultist said that tomorrow is the ‘Day of Atonement.’ Basically, they’ve been getting their true-demons from portals, which makes sense.”

  “Portals to where?” I asked.

  “It seems that most of these cultists are worshipping Asag, so probably some place he controls.”

  “Asag?” The name sounded familiar, and then I remembered where I’d heard it. “Never mind. Dark god or something, right?”

  “Yes. I am no expert, but maybe Beem can help here.”

  “Bad news,” said the Areva woman. “Most dark gods have their own planet. The true-demons are probably coming from his.”

  Anippe ran a hand down her face. “And based on what we have discovered, tomorrow is an invasion.”

  “A what?”

  “We are not relying on the cultist for this, she just confirmed it for us. She was spiteful to the end too, I think she only told us as a kind of curse. It was a real shame that she died.” Anippe’s eyes were hard. “The cultists are attacking more than one place in Berber tomorrow. This country is in the middle of the continent, and probably the strongest country. If they take Berber, they take everything.”

  I held up a hand. “Wait, what? So Bittertown—”

  “Will be destroyed. Everyone’s friends, family, and lovers will be demon food. Oh, by the way, that is why so many people have gone missing, at least the rotting cultist said so. They’ve been feeding them to true-demons.”

  “So what do we do?” All my personal problems suddenly seemed insignificant. I’d somehow landed right in the middle of a war the day before it started. “And you are sure this is real?”

  Beem sighed and rested her hands flat on the table. “We had a lot of information before but none of it really made sense. The last piece fell in place with this interrogation. Enough of what the prisoner said was accurate that we need to take all of it seriously. As for what to do, that is another box of leech eels.”

  I felt a ball of dread growing in the pit of my stomach. After gathering my thoughts I said, “So let me go over this again. The Bittertown gangs run Bittertown now, but the gangs themselves, minus this one, the Serpents, have all become dark-god-worshipping crazies. They are using true-demons as weapons, and have portals to hell, or at least they will tomorrow, and they are going to attack the whole rotting country. Lots of people are going to die. Meanwhile, we are out here on an island in the Berber sea. We know that hell-on-Ludus is coming tomorrow, but we can’t tell anyone, because we are gangers, criminals, nobodies, or,” I said, pointing at myself, “an ex-Tolstey army officer. Nobody is going to believe us, and even if they did, they would only have a day to react.”

  Anippe nodded. “That about sums it up. We are rotting fucked.”

  I briefly thought about Reesi, hoping she’d made it out of Bittertown, that she was safe. Then I felt guilty. If the Serpents were right, there were going to be a whole lot of dead people tomorrow. Bittertown was the armpit of Berber, but there were still innocent people living there. Plus, if Berber truly fell, there wouldn’t be any safety anymore. From what I had read in history books, nothing like this had happened for a long, long time.

  I asked, “And all your other people, the leaders, they know all of this already?”

  Beem folded her arms. “Yes, and they know there isn’t anything we can do. We don’t even know where the cultists’ base is, or where we can truly hit them. If they have a hellgate open, or they are going to open one, we need to shut it. Otherwise, Bittertown will be full of an unlimited flow of true-demons. We can’t do anything if we don’t know where the damn thing will be, though. If we’re too late, a little group like this won’t be able to stop them anymore.”

  “So what now?” I asked.

  Anippe leaned back in her chair. “We have a girl with good handwriting putting together notes to all the nearby Berber military forts. Karen is going to summon magic messenger birds to take them to the army commanders as soon as possible. Whether they even get there, and whether the military believes us, who knows?”

  “Why not the Bittertown Guard?” I asked. I already knew the answer, though.

  Beem scowled. “We can’t be sure they don’t all work for the Cultists. Besides, even if they aren’t, based on how useless they’ve been for the last few months, I wouldn’t trust them to save a few coins on groceries, much less a city.”

  I gestured vaguely upward. “So you really can’t do anything other than send out some messages?” Frustration filled my body, like ants under my skin. I didn’t doubt the reality of what we were talking about, though, that there really was something big happening soon. I’d seen the signs over the last few years too.

  “Without knowing where to even attack, yes,” growled Beem. “There is no point running in and getting killed for no reason. We are fighters and sisters, not soldiers. I will not send the Serpents in without an actual target.”

  She was right. “Rotting night,” I swore. Suddenly, something rattled around in my brain. Anippe looked like she was going to speak again, but I held up a hand. “What if we know where
their base is, or at least maybe how we can get in?”

  Beem drummed her fingers on the table and slowly answered, “Well, then we might be able to form a plan. At the very least we would have a rotting chance, and maybe the people of Bittertown would too.”

  Anippe nodded as she studied me. “Most of us still have family in town, so a lot of Serpents will just need a direction and an excuse to get involved. They would be willing to die. They’re good girls, strong.”

  I was no rotting hero, but these Serpents seemed to want to be, so maybe I could throw them a bone. All the strange things I’d heard from Eggshell, Yvadne, and especially Gretch seemed connected. “I might have a lead for you. Do you want to check it out?”

  Beem eyed me warily. “We are fairly desperate at this point. Even if we start right now, we won’t be able to bring every Serpent family or friend from Bittertown to the island. On top of that, after last night, we have no reason to think this island is even safe anymore. So... normally I wouldn’t be so quick to go along, but why the hell not? What do you have in mind? It isn’t like we have many other rotting options.”

  Part of me felt empty while I told the Serpents where they might get a lead on the cultists’ base. I’d gone through so much to learn more about my past, and none of it had brought me any joy. Beem’s expression while I told her was skeptical the entire time, but she still sent out a small crew on a boat. Now we just had to wait.

  The stress I was feeling was getting to me, and I had never been very good at waiting around, so I went outside to practice with Eneus under the open sky, losing myself in the rhythm of weapon forms. I tuned out the world around me, just stabbing with my spear, transitioning to Vistvis for slashes, flipping backwards, using Flight to effortlessly maneuver, and pointing Pewpew without firing. My hands and feet flashed out, I sheathed and drew my weapons, constantly staying in motion, moving faster and faster. A voice deep down still suggested I just fly away, to just escape, but I’d outgrown that part of myself.

  No. I was no hero, but most of the people in Bittertown deserved better than to be eaten by the horrible things like I’d fought the night before. Besides, I still had a score to settle with a couple Jackals. In the past, I might have said that I was not a Berber soldier, so this was not my fight, but now I knew better.

  I wasn’t sure how long I practiced, but it was around noon when a respectful cough and a, “Nora, please?” intruded on my practice. A Serpent scout stood nearby, a look of awe on her face, and I noticed that a small crowd had gathered to watch me.

  One of the watchers whispered, “Did you see how fast she was moving? Rotting temptation, she could mow down a whole squad without even blinking.”

  “More than that,” whispered another. “She killed those true-demons last night too, right? I bet they didn’t stand a chance. No wonder the dragon listens to her.”

  I glanced around, hoping to find a towel or a cloth to wipe off my sweat, but then realized I didn’t really have any. Wow, I thought. When I wasn’t actually fighting for my life, the effects of all my added Endurance abilities were really obvious. I minimized Eneus around my wrist, starting a fresh round of whispers among my watchers, and gave the scout my full attention. “Yes?”

  “Beem and the other leaders would like to see you, uh, Mistress.”

  “It’s just Nora Hazard. Lead on.”

  ***

  After I was seated at the familiar table again, this time with the full leadership team there too, Beem got right to the reason she’d called for me. “You were right.”

  Anippe nodded. “Sending one of the boats on your say-so was a leap of faith. We could have used that time to pick up more loved ones from Bittertown instead. It turned out to be the right decision, though.”

  I nodded. The way the gang leaders had tried to steal my family’s home in the past had been a jagged pill—I was not special, nor even my sister—my house had been. The building, or at least the land, had been what the cultists had really wanted. Since the Serpents still didn’t know where the cultists were actually hiding, I’d told them they might want to check out my childhood home, which was now in a run-down, near-abandoned part of Bittertown. The place was close enough to the water they wouldn’t even have to leave the boat if they brought a spyglass. Turns out, they found something.

  “The scouts witnessed cultists coming in and out of the house,” said Beem. “Quite a few entered, leading us to believe there must be a tunnel or some sort of passage way from there to the real base. We think the house might have been built over part of a cave underground or something.”

  Anippe chuckled without humor. “We’ve been searching for something like this for months, you know. It turns out there is some kind of rotting...veil, or illusion around the area and especially that house. The only reason we saw anything was because they didn’t bother closing it up on the side facing the sea.”

  I asked, “So you are going to attack?”

  Anippe firmed her lips. “Yes. This isn’t much to go on, but we don’t really have much of a rotting choice. We are scared, but all of this is a lot bigger than turf wars or scams now.”

  Frederick, the quiet older man, suddenly spoke up, his eyes meeting mine. “Please go with them, Nora. Please, my niece is in Bittertown with her entire family. She and her sister-wives have five children. They’re good kids—” He trailed off, and Karen put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Even if we bring them here, I do not think they would be safe, not unless the cultists are stopped.”

  Beem nodded. “You are free to come, Nora. I know I can’t order you to do this, and you can probably leave whenever you want. I won’t wash the rot off of this situation—this is probably a suicide mission. It’s less of one if you come along.”

  “And you’ve told all your fighters this too?”

  “Yes. I just met with all the squad leaders and they are spreading the word. I won’t be tricking anyone into going.” Beem looked exhausted.

  I wanted to be sure. “So if I come, we will have better chances?”

  “That’s rotting obvious,” scoffed Anippe, but Beem held up a hand. She had a gleam in her eyes like she might know where I was headed with my question. Figures. I didn’t know how old she was, so as Areva, maybe she’d already lived three of my lifetimes.

  “What if I brought the drake?”

  “The dragon?” asked Karen.

  “Drake,” I corrected. “And you’ve been guarding the baths too, right?”

  “Well, yes, and he did actually come by one, he said he lost something once before we turned him away, but—” Anippe trailed off, sputtering. “This is a really random rotting thing to be talking about right now.”

  I just shook my head. “Same old Jadanak,” I muttered, then louder I said, “okay, what if I bring the drake, and give you this.” I pulled a box out of one of my belt pouches, flipping it open to display what was inside. Everyone at the table gasped, and I asked, “Would this also give us better chances?”

  Trevor, the Life mage whistled. “I think so. In fact, maybe we might actually survive this.”

  Beem looked up from the Dolos orb on the table, searching my eyes. The hope I’d seen earlier in her eyes had grown. “We can really have this?”

  “Yes, but only if we all attack tomorrow, and I have a say in how we do it. If you agree, you can have the orb and give it to whoever you think should have it, but they need to swallow it before they sleep, and they need to do it soon.”

  “Deal.” Beem held out her dainty Areva hand, and when I shook it, I could feel the wiry strength she hid. She announced, “The Serpents are going to war.”

  “Creator help us,” breathed Anippe.

  I got up from the table. “I need to go track down a big lizard now, and he is not gonna be happy.”

  All the Serpents’ leaders were busy staring at the orb, but Beem flicked her eyes up to acknowledge what I had said. I gave them all one last nod and left.

  ***

  I found Jadanak lying in t
he sand near one of the island’s beaches. After I’d decided to chance flying at low altitude to speed up my search, it hadn’t taken me long to locate him.

  The drake was on his back, picking his massive teeth with a claw as I landed nearby. He cracked one huge eye open and growled a wordless greeting at me.

  I frowned. “I just heard you tried sneaking closer to the women’s baths on the island.”

  The drake suddenly became a flurry of motion, spraying sand everywhere as he flipped over to sit on his haunches. His eyes shimmered and he dipped his head in what I thought might be his version of an earnest expression. “That was all just a misunderstanding,” he rumbled.

  I restored Eneus and leaned on the spear while fixing the perverted reptile with a glare. He wasn’t going to like his orders, so starting with a position of strength was probably a good idea. “You’re lucky for that. I don’t really care right now, but you are lucky it was all just a ‘misunderstanding’ and I didn’t get any complaints.”

  “Yes, yes, a misunderstanding.”

  “Good.” I put a hand on my hip and said, “I came because I am calling in that favor you owe me.”

  “Already?”

  “Yes. We are going to help the gang here attack the cultists in Bittertown tomorrow. They discovered an entrance to their base today.”

  The drake narrowed his gigantic, glowing eyes. “There is more to this, though. Why tomorrow?”

  “Well,” I admitted, “the cultists are probably gonna open up some big hellgates and flood the world with true-demons. The Serpents are going to stop them.”

  “The gang here? With their leather armor and...clubs, and bronze weapons? I don’t think more than a handful have any enchanted gear. And why are you going?”

  “A couple Jackals need to die. Also, what the cultists are planning isn’t right.”

  Jadanak looked at me for a while, not moving except to blink. “I am not going to talk you out of this, am I?”

  “Nope.”

  “Do you know how terrible true-demons taste?”