135 Rest Area (1/2)

Right after the masked rider's escape, Varda and her crew dashed out into the alleyway where the McCord twins, Aura, and I were gathered.

\”Commander, we drove those nasty drow away—\”

Varda took one look at the gore in the alleyway—the numerous dead bodies lying under a pool of their own blood—and she leaned on the wall to her right and puked her guts out.

The stench of dwarven rock beer suddenly permeated the air.

\”Spirits…\” She wiped at her mouth with the sleeve of her arm. \”What the mud happened here?\”

\”Long story,\” Aura answered wryly. \”Can someone call Berrian out here. Dean's wounded.\”

I glanced down at my forearm. It was definitely bloodier than I last checked.

\”Someone grab our dead too,\” I ordered. \”We leave no one behind.\”

Later, after our fallen kobold had been taken away by Thor's crew, and after Berrian had applied a healing salve to my arm and bandaged it right and proper, I found myself continuing my earlier discussion with the McCord brothers. However, they were a little too preoccupied with their covers possibly being blown to tell me more about Ty.

\”You… you let her get away…\” Collin slumped against the wall behind him. \”She's going to kill us if she finds out we're your spies.\”

\”Relax, you're safe,\” I said, leaning on the wall opposite him. \”She was too busy running away to see you guys.\”

\”But—\”

\”—You're safe,\” I repeated, cutting Connor off from his protest. \”You're safe… but Ty isn't. He's still imprisoned somewhere in this city.\”

I crossed my arms and looked pointedly at the twins.

\”So I need to know where this auction's going to be held at,\” I said.

The twins gave each other worried looks.

Aura walked over to them and took their hands in hers.

\”We promised you we'd protect you,\” she said, her voice a calming note to their ears. \”We will. Trust us. And help us find Tiberius.\”

Just like that, whatever worries that McCords felt was washed away, and by the growing blush on each of their cheeks, I guess they were willing to be cooperative again.

After she'd let go of their hands, a part of me wondered if Aura hadn't just used her empathic abilities to calm the McCords down like she'd often done with me whenever I was a little too riled up. And if this was the case, I was surprised to find that I didn't like it. It felt manipulative somehow even though I knew she was only doing it to help me find Ty.

Aura turned her gaze on me and I quickly reformed my frown into that smirk that had recently become my default.

\”So,\” I said quickly. \”What else can you guys tell us?\”

Collin sighed. \”They call it the Wailing House… an auction house that deals exclusively in quality slaves… You can find it in the Gold Quarter of the city.\”

The twins nodded at each other before they both turned to face me.

\”That's all the intel we have for you,\” Collin said. \”We're leaving now.\”

He bowed his head toward Aura and then turned back toward the Cold Steel Brew. Connor followed after him, but glanced over his shoulder to say one final thing, \”We're laying low for now so don't expect our help anytime soon… gotta keep the heat off us first.\”

The twins entered through the tavern's backdoor and disappeared on the other side.

\”We should go to, Dean,\” Aura suggested. \”Don't want the local guards to catch us around this mess.\”

She narrowed her eyes at the nearest dead body, a she-drow who looked no older than she did.

\”We'll need to be extra vigilant now that we've clashed with the Scarlet Moon… There will be many more of them,\” she said.

I took one final glance at the slaughter I'd caused, and despite my earlier elation at having triumphed over my enemies with my own martial skill, I couldn't help feeling that slight pain in my chest.

I breathed a sigh of relief and then put my hands together.

\”I hope I never go numb to all the death we see… and cause,\” I whispered like a silent prayer to whichever great spirit was listening.

Our entire group made our way back toward the courtyard of the merchant's guild where we would rendezvous with Luca and Ashley's group who were waiting for our return.

\”Why're your clothes bloody? And why is your arm bandaged?\” Luca asked once I was close enough for him to scrutinize.

He turned his gaze on Aura, Donar, Berrian, Thor, and then finally, the wobbling Varda who was being held upright by two dwarves on either side of her. It seemed all the liquor she'd imbibed had finally gotten to her.

\”What in mud have you guys been up to?\” he asked in obvious confusion.

Aura and glanced at each other.

\”Barfight,\” we said together, which was immediately followed up by Varda who added, \”I started it… he-he.\”