Well Done

by Andrew Seiple

  “Why would I want those? They just seem to cause trouble and get stinky,” Renny shrugged.

  “Never change, Renny,” Chase smiled and eased herself down on a fallen crossbeam. “We do have a full plate. Three problems that I can see, maybe four, and they aren’t getting any better.”

  “The dragon,” Carmina held up a finger.

  “Dragons, if the prophecy’s right. Though one might not be a problem, just her shadow. Something she’ll do or trigger...” Chase chewed her lip. “Then there’s the dragon cult. I still don’t know their deal and that bothers me. Lastly, the Inquisition.”

  “We mainly steer clear of those guys,” Carmina shrugged. “Darnell switches guilds when they get too close.”

  “Darnell?”

  Carmina’s muzzle twitched. “Gah! Forget I said that. Pwner. Pwner switches guilds when they get too close.”

  “Darnell? That’s his player name?” Chase said, leaning in.

  “Look, he’s killed people for less, so seriously, forget about it.” Her ears twitched. “But yeah, it’s his real name.”

  “You know about this whole thing?” Chase gestured around, one sweep of an arm encompassing city, sky, pretty much all of reality. “The game?”

  “Oh. Yeah.” Carmina said, sitting down on the beam next to her. Renny hopped up on Chase’s other flank.

  “And?”

  “And what?” The catgirl shrugged. “It is what it is. But who cares? I’m still me; I still have fun. So long as they don’t turn it off before I’m dead, what does it matter?” She grinned. “Besides, I’m sleeping with a player. Maybe he can keep me around if they DO turn it off. Somehow. He’s smart, he’ll figure out a way to do that.”

  But there was just a bit of doubt in her voice. Chase had heard that tone before, back in Bothernot. She filed it away for future use.

  “I’m impressed that you two wanted our abilities badly enough to save us from imprisonment,” Chase told her, shifting the subject. Now that she was away from Pwner, she could safely try to milk the beastkin for information. “Do you really need information that badly?”

  “We need a face,” Carmina said, simply.

  “You... have faces?” Renny pointed out, confused.

  “No! A talker. Someone people trust and open up to, or who can mingle. That was our problem in Arretzi. We didn’t have anyone who could schmooze.”

  “For... what precisely? What are you working towards, here?” Chase asked.

  “Okay, just so you know Dar—” Carmina snapped her mouth shut, then continued. “Pwner. Just so you know, Pwner told me what I could and couldn’t tell you. So, all I can say is that what we want is our mutual enemies dead or hurt enough that we don’t have to worry about them.”

  “You realize that sooner or later we’ll be dealing with Cagna, right? That she’s not going to be too happy about being kidnapped by someone she’s out to arrest?” Chase spread her hands and put on her best conspiratorial look. “Can you give me a little more? Something I can spin to placate her, so she doesn’t get tempted to take matters into her own hands?”

  Carmina’s ears went flat. “Don’t get me started on the Doge’s dog.” She looked away. “She’s no threat. Just doesn’t have the levels. My man’s got thirty or so on her, and that’s before you get into his side jobs.”

  “What’s he do, anyway? I know he’s an Alchemist, but beyond that...”

  “He swaps them around as needed, goes back to the guild for whatever fits the mission. He’s got a bunch,” she seemed happy for the change of subject, happier still to be boasting. “Mercenary and Scout make Bounty hunter, and Alchemist and Assassin when he needs to be a Plague Doctor, and...” she caught herself. “Bunches of other stuff. Never you mind what.”

  “Does he have any dragon plagues?” Renny asked.

  “He’d need a sample of dragon blood first, is the problem,” Carmina sighed. “We’re hoping Barriano can do that, at least, before he gets his people cooked. Get some blood on the ground or on a weapon that I can swipe,” she grinned. “It’d be nice if the Knight and the dragon take care of each other, save us a lot of trouble afterward. Well, the dragon, anyway. Sir Barriano won’t be much of a challenge for my man.”

  Afterward. Afterward is significant, Chase knew. They were planning for an afterward.

  Chase wasn’t sure she wanted to stick around for an afterward. She had a feeling that after Pwner and Carmina got their use from her, that she and her friends would be a loose end. Once she was no longer useful, their... alliance... was probably going to be gone.

  No, she’d read too many Jinkies books that dealt with this exact situation. If she trusted someone with a past history of homicide and betrayal, then she’d deserve what she got.

  And I don’t have a good failsafe for this one, yet. Unlike the other one I’m managing...

  She checked her party status while she thought and breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness!”

  “What?” Carmina looked at her, puzzled.

  “What?” Renny echoed, looking up at her, glass eyes flashing in the sunlight.

  “Ah, nothing important,” Chase smiled. “Everyone’s alive and intact, is all.”

  Across the plaza, the sound of metal striking metal rang out, and Chase jumped. “That’s new!”

  Twelve more times it pealed out, as they sat and listened.

  “That’s the clocktower,” Carmina sneered. “You never heard it before?”

  “I heard something like it before, the first time we were in Gnome. I didn’t have a chance to ask about it,” Chase said, shrugging. “I haven’t heard it since, though.”

  “Yeah... it hasn’t struck since the dragon blasted the city,” Carmina’s ears flexed as she thought. “Huh. Good point. I wonder what changed?”

  “I told you, the city endures!” Vitaly’s voice boomed from right behind them, and Chase managed to control her surprise.

  Carmina and Renny, not so much. They were diving for cover before they realized who it was, and Chase giggled a bit as she stood and greeted the old man. He bore a sack, and the smell of food managed to overpower the charred stench of Gnome, for once.

  “Oh, oh thank you,” she said a few minutes later, her face full of bread and vegetables. “This is lovely. Where did you get it?”

  “A friend of mine owed me a favor, so I called it in,” Vitaly smiled, sweat dripping down his brow. His skin looked a bit more flush now, the walk had probably done him good. “That’s how things work around here,” he continued. “I find good people, and we help each other out. You helped me out, so now there are sandwiches.”

  “It’s kind of like magic, when you think about it,” Renny pointed out. “You do work, and then poof, there’s food!”

  Vitaly laughed and laughed, between bites of his own sandwich. He ate just like he walked, measured and unhurried.

  “Friends do help friends,” Chase nodded. “That’s the way it should be. That’s actually why we’re here. We’re looking for one of our friends who went missing.”

  “Oh? You think he went missing around here?” Vitaly looked around. “What’s his name? Why was he here?”

  He, Chase noted. He assumed that her friend was male. That was an interesting coincidence.

  Or was it?

  “Yubai,” she said, watching his eyes carefully. “Yubai Gold.”

  He paused for a moment, and his eyes were still as deep ponds. Something about them...

  Vitaly laughed then, breaking her gaze. “No thanks, I don’t need that stuff!”

  “You don’t need gold?” Carmina was curious. “Just how rich ARE you, old man?”

  “Nah, I’m not rich. That just brings trouble. It’s better to make friends with rich people. Oh man, you saying that brings back memories,” he turned back to Chase. “Used to be dozens of guys lined up, back when the dungeons were booming and the adventurers filled every corner of the market. They’d be selling gold dawn to dusk, then they’d troop out and work all nigh
t. Never socialized, never said a word that wasn’t to do with business, just stood in one place all day and shilled coins.”

  “Yes, that sounds like him!” Chase said, smiling. “We rescued him from some trouble earlier, but he got into more.”

  “Those lot...” Vitaly tapped his knee. “They were still around, even after people fled into the night. They came to the empty markets, and something was different with them. They jumped at their own shadows. I remember one, this little rat man, spent most of his time just feeling the cloth on his stall. Like he’d never really seen cloth before.” Vitaly put his sandwich down and wrinkled his nose. “A few of them pissed their pants. I’d wondered how they went so long without bathroom breaks before, but whatever sustained them, they lost it. They were... I don’t know. Reborn? That’s a good word for it. Reborn, and so frightened.”

  Ghosts of dread worked their way up Chase’s spine. Speranza’s voice whispered in her memories. Think of him as mentally slow, she’d said.

  “When was this?” Chase asked.

  “I told you, back when the markets started emptying.”

  “I mean, how many years? It was years, wasn’t it?”

  “Oh... about twenty, all told.” Vitaly looked at her, and though his face was friendly, though his eyes were placid and calm, she could tell. She could tell it was an act. It was all an act.

  “You know, don’t you?” she asked. “About the players?”

  “Now there’s a dangerous word,” he said, taking another bite of his sandwich.

  “Our friend is one. But he’s different. He’s like what you describe... well, he can take care of himself, mostly. Except we’re worried that he’s in danger. This city is a dangerous place.”

  “It is,” Vitaly said simply. “For some more than others.”

  Chase closed her eyes.

  Well, when in doubt, she DID have a few tricks, now didn’t she?

  “Silent Activation, Fortuna.”

  There was no skill up, and when she opened her eyes, Vitaly had shifted, just a bit. He was leaning on his mop now.

  He saw me. Well, that’s fine. “Could you humor me?” She asked, as she slowly, slowly pulled her card case from her pack.

  “I don’t know. I’m not much for jokes, sorry,” Vitaly smiled.

  “Could you draw a card? Any card.”

  “Ohhhh....” Renny said, leaning forward.

  “What? What’s this?” Carmina looked confused.

  “Who was your god again?” Vitaly said, putting the sandwich aside.

  “Hoon.”

  “Very well, Chase Berrymore of Hoon, I’ll draw your fortune for you. Friends do favors for friends, after all.”

  “They do.”

  Vitaly reached out, and carefully, glove creaking, he found a card and flipped it over.

  The five of hearts sat before Chase, and her shoulders sagged as she felt relief.

  You are now a level 8 Medium!

  CHA+5

  LUCK+5

  “I don’t understand,” Renny said.

  “I do,” Chase said. “I remember the last time I saw that. Thank you, Vitaly.” She took the cards back.

  “Oh, you’re welcome,” he said, his eyes following her hands as she worked, and his own hand firmly on the handle of the mop.

  “Well. If you see Yubai, please tell him we hope he’s doing all right, and that we’re happy to help if he needs it. We would like to save the city, because she’s in a lot of danger and a dragon’s at the heart of it.”

  Vitaly’s face was unreadable. “Gnome’s handled dragons before. He won’t burn the important parts.”

  “Nebs thinks that Gnome can’t handle this one. And neither can the world. Got that one from another Oracle.” Chase told him.

  “Hmmmm... Prophecies are often wrong,” Vitaly said. “The world changes.”

  “And not always for the better,” Chase replied. “Those strangers, the ones who sold gold and woke to a new world, what happened to them, I wonder?”

  “One day they were there, the next they weren’t,” Vitaly said. “Gone in different ways, I suppose.”

  “Gone or taken. Yubai was taken once,” Chase shook her head. “We’re no friends to those who did that. Quite the opposite, actually.”

  “Well, that’s good to know.” Vitaly stood. “Sorry I couldn’t help you. There anything else you wanted?”

  “I think we’re good,” Chase said, smiling. She stood and offered her hand, putting it as far up as it could go. Vitaly shook it, and his grip was as hard as steel. “We’ll see you later,” she said.

  “I hope so,” The old man nodded, and then he turned without another word and started picking his way through the ruins, on to the next job.

  “Well? Now what?” Carmina asked. “That didn’t work out. How much time can we waste on one bear guy?”

  “I wouldn’t call it time wasted, but we are done here,” Chase decided. “Think the drugs have worn off yet?”

  Carmina glanced down at the lootbag folded into her belt. “Yeah, I think so. Give me the word and I’ll draw Cagna out.”

  “Not here,” Chase said, heading north. “Let’s go back across the river. We’ve got a Wizaard who’s probably missing us by now...”

  CHAPTER 19: WAR COUNCIL

  This time around they didn’t have any trouble crossing the river. They were out of the Knight’s territory now, and nobody cared who came and who left.

  There were people out in the streets... cleaning up, salvaging. Chase and Carmina were scrutinized carefully, but there were a few smiles and even a few cautious greetings.

  And all along the way, Chase marked the clocks visible through open windows and the steam that wisped through newly-repaired pipes. The old parts of Gnome were in good repair, here.

  Sir Barriano hadn’t claimed this territory, yet it was doing fine. Nothing like the threat of anarchy across the river. That was something to think about, something she needed to discuss with the others.

  They came out somewhere just south of Corinthia’s territory. For a second Chase considered checking in with the Necromancer-turned-Oracle but decided against it. It had only been a day, and Chase had far too many things to do and not enough time to do them in. So, they made their way through still-empty streets, past the occasional cloaked watcher who ran when they got too near, all the way back to the barricade over the lightning road.

  “Hey!” It was the woman with the leather apron, just her head visible over the wall. What was her name again?

  “Signora Sassiona!” Renny waved, and the big woman waved back from her perch.

  “We wondered where you got to! Your old man is worried, you needa to go see him!”

  “That’s the plan,” Chase smiled.

  The smile disappeared once she got closer to their insula and heard Speranza’s voice.

  The player was yelling, berating Bastien, and Chase felt her face twitch as anger stirred within her.

  So it was very satisfying when she knocked on the door and the human’s voice abruptly ceased.

  Bastien opened it, looking as haggard as she’d ever seen him. His beard was tangled, and his eyes bleary behind his spectacles. Yet they widened with joy, and before Chase could react, he’d swept her and Renny both into a tight hug.

  His beard was everywhere and it tickled, and Chase had to thump his chest three times before he eased up.

  “I... I don’t...” His spectacles were all foggy, and tears ran out from under them. “We thought you had been taken. She said...”

  “You’re safe!” Speranza said, her face a mask of relief as she appeared behind the Wizaard.

  Then her eyes went wide. “You! You’re the catgirl that took them!”

  “We prefer to be called beastkin,” Carmina sniffed, and smoothed her hair down with one hand, considering the humans with one eye open. “And I brought them back, so calm down.”

  “She was trying to get me to leave. We almost did,” Bastien said, stepping back and letting th
em into the apartment. Indeed, several pieces of their luggage lay on the ground near the sofa, half-filled.

  Chase scooped her crystal ball off the top of one bag, checked it, and nodded. “It wasn’t a bad idea. For all she knew, the Inquisition was going to be breaking down the door at some point.” She smiled at Speranza, who blinked, then smiled back. “That said, please remember that Bastien is your friend, and friends don’t yell or insult others to try and get them to run away.”

  Speranza lost some of her smile. “Sorry. I’m sorry about that, it was... a troublesome situation.” She squeezed Bastien’s arm.

  “I forgive you,” he was still staring curiously at Carmina, who looked back, unruffled. “I say, you’re an Acrocat, aren’t you? Your act is amazing!”

  “Thank you!” She beamed. “Always good to meet a fan.”

  “Who ARE you? Besides an Acrocat, I mean?” Speranza asked.

  “We’ll get to that in a bit. For now, know that we can trust her,” Chase said, knocking the sofa with one hand.

  Renny and Bastien tracked her movement, and the Wizaard’s eyes hardened behind his spectacles as he blinked tears away. They both nodded, just slightly. They’d caught the cue that she arranged weeks ago.

  Speranza, of course, was oblivious. She was one of the reasons they’d made that particular code signal, after all.

  All of this took place in a heartbeat, and Chase was already talking, to pull their attention away from the gesture and her friends’ reactions. “We have a lot to catch up on. I’ll start. After we got scooped into the lootbag...”

  She told them about the events of the night. Renny and Carmina threw in the occasional clarification or correction.

  “I almost got away clean,” the beastkin said, shrugging. “Once I had you under the bridge. But there were just too many people and too much fire and light. It took about a dozen of them to run me down, but every place I’d chosen as an escape route had been burned or was full of people so there was no chance to get away.”

  Once captured she’d bided her time and used some hidden lockpicks to escape her cell. Then she’d found Chase again, and that’s when their wild escape from the Basilica had happened.