Chase nodded, then beckoned to Pwner and the others. “Let’s talk.”
They followed her back out onto the stoop. Pwner sat with his head in his hands.
And Chase followed her instincts and stayed silent.
“So it’s permanent then?” Pwner asked, the words heavy as lead.
“No. But the fix is tough. Speranza has to let her go.”
Pwner laughed. “Might as well be permanent, then. That slitch ain’t gonna do me no solids.”
“How will you know unless you ask her?” Chase said. “A clever man like you probably has some... methods of persuasion available to him.”
Cagna shot her a look.
“You’re assuming she ain’t gone, gone.” Pwner said, but there was a note of hope in his voice.
“She isn’t. We found Thomasi. He confirmed that she has enough tokens for at least one or two more respawns.”
“He know where she might come back to?” Pwner asked, eyes fixed on her, and yes that was hope, there.
“No, sorry. But she talked of being a courtier in a kingdom up north. I imagine a clever man could head up that way and find some leads.”
“I’m shazz at legwork. Never been a good detective. But with your help—”
“No.”
That threw him. “What?”
“You stabbed us in the back. And you killed Thomasi. And you don’t care about collateral.” Chase leaned in. “Unless it affects you personally, anyway. And you’re a wanted murderer, and that goes against Cagna’s code. I’d rather have her working with me than you.”
He flinched at that. “I got levels and resources your dog girl can’t even dream of!”
“And none of them matter if they’re going to be turned against us at the worst possible time,” Chase was scowling now. “We gave you a chance, and you blew it.”
“You would have done the same!” Pwner jumped to his feet. “Anyone would!”
“I never have, and I never will,” Chase said, crossing her arms. “And I could have taken Speranza alive, if you hadn’t blown everything to hell. The lot of us together could have taken down a half-strength Camerlengo and captured Speranza. Then we could have made her undo the conversion. But now? You’re screwed, and that’s all on you.”
He put his hand in his cloak, and Cagna was there, blade out as he loomed over Chase. His face was a twisting mask... fury, grief, confusion, and things she couldn’t identify.
“So what the hell do you want then?” he finally choked out.
“I want you to cede your claim on this city,” Sir Barriano said. “Acknowledge me as the rightful Ruler.”
“And then we want you to go. Just go and do whatever. Away from here.” Chase said. “We have enough to deal with without you here.”
“You’re going up against a dragon, and the best thing you can do is to send me away?” Pwner snorted. “You gonna burn, you know that?”
“Maybe. But we won’t get blown up or die to plagues or poison when you decide to turn on us again.” Chase said, glaring at him.
“Why should I?” he asked, glaring back.
A clunk and clatter from inside the house. He scowled and started back in.
Chase stopped him. “Because we can look after her while you search for Speranza.”
“What?”
“You can’t. You have to sleep sometime. She’ll wiggle free no matter how good your bindings get. Even if you drug her, she might build up enough of a constitution to shrug it off at a bad moment. If you imprison her somewhere, you’d need someone to take care of her, and you risk the Inquisition grabbing her and using her against you. So leave her with us instead.”
“How... what the hell you gonna do for her?”
“We’ll keep her as safe as we can. We’ll tell her we’re looking for Speranza too, which is the truth actually. We’ll keep an eye out for her and try to bargain to get Carmina changed back if we find the Siren.”
“With us doing this, you’ve got double the chance of finding Speranza. More if I get my connections involved,” Cagna said. Her eyes hadn’t left Pwner the whole time they’d been here.
The player looked down. Chase saw his lips twist. Not an activation, just agony.
“What choice I got?” he asked. Then he smiled, ruefully. “Hell. I only wanted this city as a gift to her. She wanted to try being a queen. Wouldn’t have lasted, but it woulda been fun for a while.”
“You love her,” Chase said, reaching out to pat him for the first time. He flinched but let her tap her hand against his leg. “I respect that.”
“Don’t know why I love her,” he said, and he seemed to be talking to himself more than answering her. “She’s juss ones and zeroes in the end. Juss code. Stupid. Stupid to the bone.”
“Amor tutti eguaglia,” Sir Barriano said. “Love makes all equal.”
Pwner looked at him, considered him for a long moment. Then he nodded. “I concede. Rule this city well, old man.”
Sir Barriano sighed in relief. Then he stood up straight and declared “Claim Domain!”
Silence.
Silence, broken by shouts in the distance.
But not shouts of fear or despair or panic.
Shouts of joy.
Within moments bells were tolling. Gnome had a new lord, now.
“Thank you,” Chase said. “Now I’d better get in there before Carmina gets loose.”
Pwner was gone by the time she got back.
Which was good, because she had a very angry Carmina in tow. But the catgirl-turned-minion wasn’t angry at her and that made all the difference in the world.
The catgirl spent all her time on the walk back telling Cagna the location and secrets of each and every one of Pwner’s hideouts in the southern lands, and the dog beastkin’s grin grew wider and wider as she scrawled them down in her notebook. Chase shook her head.
He’d brought it on himself, really. Getting her un-slaved would be a longshot at best.
“I’ll give you the best chance I can,” she decided.
Vitale was waiting there when she returned, a few new scratches on his chassis. Across the hall, Dijornos sat with Yubai and Greta, the three of them laughing and making wide gestures, reliving the fight they’d had in the dungeon.
Chase wished them the joy of it. Dungeons weren’t her thing. Much less now that she knew what they truly were.
Thomasi shrugged at her from across the way, then did a double take as Carmina walked in behind them. But he recovered from his surprise to offer a small bow and a handshake to Sir... to Lord Barriano, as the new Ruler of Gnome made his entrance.
Cagna cut straight to business. “You have the cor— the egg?”
“I do,” Vitale said, standing tall. He loomed over Chase before digging out a green crystal. “I require your assurance. Your vow that you will not harm this thing, no matter what you tell the dragon.”
“I will not harm this thing,” she swore.
He gave it to her without hesitation. “You either mean it, or you’re a skillful enough liar that I cannot see the difference. In which case you will be effective enough to fool him. Gods speed you on your way, Oracle of Hoon.”
Chase opened her mouth to thank him—
WHAM!
The room shook.
She staggered, regained her balance, and glanced around furiously.
“I don’t know what that was, but Madeline and Renny just lost most of their hit points!” The Muscle Wizaard called out.
“We’re out of time. You’re with me. Come on!” Chase grabbed Thomasi’s hand and pulled.
Thomasi paled and spoke, as she dragged him. “We need a plan; we need to find a place to parley with him where he can’t just kill us. We need—”
“We don’t have time! We’ll improvise! Trust me, it’ll work fine!” Chase called back to him.
She didn’t get any charisma boosts from that, but nobody protested.
“We’ll stay here,” Sir Barriano said, laying his hand on Vitale’
s shoulder. “Making ready to salvage the situation, should it go wrong.”
“Yeah, and we’re coming with you. To salvage the situation if it goes wrong,” Greta said, as she hustled after her sister, trailed by Dijornos, Cagna, and Bastien.
It was the dead of night now, the time between midnight and morning, and the moon illuminated all in pale light.
“Cagna, can you whisper a message? Let Renny know we need a place to talk to the dragon. Some place he can’t just kill us.”
“You realize we’re dealing with a dragon here?” Bastien pointed out. “There aren’t many places in this city he can’t kill us.”
“Yeah, but he won’t want to harm the egg,” Greta said.
“But if there’s a way for him to kill us without harming the egg, he’ll take it. That’s what we need to stop,” Chase said, staring at the crystal. It was warm to the touch and drew her eyes. With a quick shake, she pulled her gaze away and tucked it in her apron.
“Good luck stopping him, he’s really big!” Carmina pointed out.
There was a pause.
Everyone turned to look at the catgirl.
Cagna coughed. “Why is she here again?”
“Well we didn’t tell her to stay behind...” Chase demurred.
“I won’t!” Carmina yelled. “My lady might be there! With the dragon, I mean.”
“That’s uh, not very likely,” Bastien pointed out.
“I won’t know until I look, now will I?” Carmina said hotly.
Chase closed her eyes. Speranza’s charm did a number on its targets, shrinking them to about half their previous attributes. Carmina hadn’t been a genius to begin with. This hurt to watch.
“I mean, he’s really big, she might be hiding under the dragon, and he wouldn’t even know!”
“I’m pretty sure he’d know,” Greta said.
“He is pretty big, isn’t he?” Chase pointed out. The beginnings of an idea were stirring in her mind. “Maybe we can use that. Thomasi, you know Gnome pretty well?”
“Decently enough.”
“Here’s what I’m looking for...”
CHAPTER 27: DEALING WITH DRAGONS
WHUMP.
Chase took a deep breath and put away her cards. “Here we go. Are you ready?”
“Are you sure this is the strategy you want to follow?” Thomasi asked. A thin bead of sweat rolled down from his hairline, marring the impassive front he was putting up.
WHUMP.
“It’s the only one that has any chance of working, if they’re guiding me correctly. And they haven’t failed me yet,” Chase said.
Then she opened the door and gave Greta a thumbs up.
“Cagna! Send the message!” Greta yelled down the hall.
WHUMP!
Then the big halven girl darted in and hugged Chase, squeezing her close. “Don’t screw this up. This isn’t Boggy Wilker and the pickle jar. This is a dragon.”
“I know,” Chase said and squeezed her back. “You stay safe, too!”
“Only way I’ll be unsafe is if we have to save your butt. You remember that, Chase Berrymore!”
WHUMP!
Oh, it was way too close. “Go!” Chase said and sent her on her way with a push.
Greta ran, taking the stairs two at a time when she came to them.
Which was precisely why they’d chosen this insula for the task.
Not because of the stairs, mind you. It was due to the size of the stairs. And everything else in here, really.
This insula, like many in the district they’d chosen, had originally been designed for gnomes. And unlike most of the others of its era, it had never been repurposed.
As such, Thomasi was sitting, doing his best to keep his head down, and even Chase found the ceiling a bit close for her liking. Cramped quarters all around... and it was paired with some of the sturdiest construction still existing in the city.
Chase figured it would buy them five, perhaps ten minutes. If they needed more than that then it was probably hopeless anyway.
It also had one very important feature that hopefully wouldn’t come into play...
Then a new voice whispered in her ear.
“Get ready!” Madeline said. “Renny’s on his way to yah now.”
WHUMP! WHUMP whump whump...
The dragon was circling now. Something had changed.
Noise on the stairs. “I’m here!” Renny called out. “You need me to make an illusion of what you’re doing, right?”
“Yes! Just as you see it. Stand... there.” Chase said, pointing at the door to the apartment.
“Where do you want me?” Carmina asked. “What am I doing again? I forgot.”
“You’re our escape route if it goes wrong. Keep that Loot Bag ready in case you need to scoop us up. But... ah, you shouldn’t be in sight. Hide behind the sofa or something.”
By the time Chase looked back she was gone. She might have lost a lot of levels, but she was still good at hiding. Just a bad Burglar, that was all.
Well.
Time to buff.
“Lecture, Silver Tongue,”
“Okay, it’s up!” Renny said.
Chase cleared her throat. “Okay. If I flick my hand at you like this, then pause the illusion. This means start again.” Then she dug in her apron pocket and held the egg up for Renny to see.
And above her in the sky, a much-larger illusion of herself was doing just the same thing.
“Hello there, Therasimalazyn. I call for parley. If you continue on this path, you will destroy—”
The building shook.
A wave of sound, filling the air, filling her head, and she fell to the ground, feeling blood well up in her nose and drip to the ground, as fragile tissues gave...
...until the sound eased, and she could hear again.
“I didn’t show the part where you fell over,” Renny said. “Also I’m lowering the sound of his roar in here. Let me know when you’re ready again.”
“Okay,” Chase said. “Lesser Healing.” The pain in her head went away. “Thomasi?”
“I’m good. My constitution’s a bit higher than yours.”
“I’m okay, too!” Carmina shouted.
“All right...” Chase straightened back up, mopped her face until there wasn’t any more blood.
“Let me,” Thomasi said, and one handkerchief later he deemed her good to go.
She set her face into a glare of annoyance, and waved her hand at Renny. “Oh control yourself. Temper tantrums aren’t dignified. You can either parley or we can run off with this egg and then you’ll be responsible for losing two of them. Which is it?”
The voice again, faint at first but rising as Renny lifted the sound barrier around them. “show yourSELF YOU LITTLE WORM.” It echoed throughout the building, past the blown-out windows, through the empty halls. It was doing the same through all the nearby buildings, she had no doubt.
Despite herself, she shivered. But halvens were no stranger to fear, and she knew the course she needed to run. “After what you did to this city? I think not. Not until we’ve come to an accord.”
“I SHALL BURN YOUR BONES TO ASH AND TAKE BACK WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN.”
Chase flicked her hand at Renny, the signal to stop. “Foresight,” she said, then checked the future.
Her face blanched, as she listened to things spiraling out of control. Two more Foresights and another level of the skill, and she had a good response ready. She motioned for Renny to start again. “If you burn us, you burn the egg. You know what happens then.”
Silence and an echoing growl. A growl with just a hint of annoyance. “THEN I SHALL FIND YOU, AND EAT YOU, AND PLUCK WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN FROM YOUR DEAD FINGERS.”
“Or, we could talk it over,” Chase said. “We don’t want the world to end any more than you do.”
“THEN YOU HAVE ACTED VERY FOOLISHLY.”
The building shook, and Chase winced.
“He’s taking apaht one two blocks dahn from you,”
Madeline whispered in her ear. “I’ll let ya know if he gets too neah.”
Chase nodded and used a quick Foresight. Then she waved for Renny to continue and spoke again. “You put your faith in our enemies. They were fools, and we slew them. Try working with us instead.”
“YOU HAVE BEEN MORE OF A THORN THAN THAT HALF-BREED TOLD ME YOU WOULD BE.”
“Because we’re not alone. We have allies. We have the heart of the city on our side.”
“A ROTTING AND RUSTING HEART, THAT ONE. DYING. CLINGING TO AN EMPIRE LONG LOST. BOUND BY ANCIENT CODES. WORTHLESS TO ME.”
“Oh? Then look to the east. And stand clear.” She motioned Renny to stop. “Send Cagna the signal!”
Renny nodded. He couldn’t do wind’s whispers, but he could put illusionary words at a pre-determined location.
Silence, for a moment.
Chase began to worry that something had gone wrong.
And then, a flat crack. Again, the building shook, and something exploded overhead.
“Nahss!” Madeline said. “That woke him up.”
Chase signaled Renny to begin again. “That was a metal rod the size of a Church steeple, going very, very fast. Our rusty and rotting friend could shoot you down at any time. We haven’t. Because we want to parley. Do you want to parley, or do you want to see how well you can fly when he starts shooting at you?”
That was a bluff.
Vitale had restored the lightning road, repurposing it to move some hastily gathered and forged metal spikes down it, but it could only be aimed vertically, not horizontally. And it took a few minutes between each shot, for reasons that were way too technical for Chase to understand.
The silence stretched, and she swallowed... then closed her eyes in relief as new words appeared.
Your Silver Tongue skill is now level 35!
But the dragon still had some suspicion. “HE DID NOT USE THAT WEAPON ON ME EARLIER. WHY?”
“Because there was no lord of the city to command him to do so. He was still abiding by the old treaty. Now there is a new lord, and he has decided that you have broken the treaty. So Vitale can fire at will. But that wouldn’t solve the real problem, now would it?”
“He’s coming yah way!” Madeline said.
Chase grimaced. Something had alerted him; she didn’t know what. They were running out of time.
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