“No need for me to. Esh will win.” She gazed around with what she hoped was an unconcerned air.
No Esh in sight, and when her gaze came back to him he was nodding in approval. “Good woman. Every man needs one like you. Keep treating your man right, and make sure you can say the same about him.”
“What’s your name?” She needed to ask Esh about him. Something about him wasn’t sitting right. He was a warrior, but he didn’t belong to the Cage. He didn’t give off that vibe. Which, if that was the case, why was he here?
“Rorth. And you’d better get back before the guards are out in more force. Hate to think of you in trouble.” With a smile that looked very wrong, given the number of sharp protruding teeth in his mouth, Rorth left.
As if his prediction had brought about the change, a large number of men appeared, most ignoring her but some stopping to give her a blatant once-over.
And that was that. Innate hunting was a bust for today. There would be other ways to find out the information she needed.
But even as she turned to face the apartments there was a tickle, a tease, a dim thrum to come look, something here, come find me grabbing at her…compelling her.
She walked past the edge of the training center, down a path a little more overgrown, a little less trampled than the others. The feeling tugged at her, twisted along pathways in her mind.
At the sighting of the figure in the distance, she stopped, even with the magic pulling on her. It was…wrong, like a saccharine sweet scent over rot, the disharmony inciting rebellion in her.
The fighter appeared to be an albino, bright and white and so large, a mountain of snow against an evergreen background. He was shirtless, the loose white pants darker than his skin. He had been shadowboxing, but within moments of her arrival he lifted his head, scented the air, before turning bloodshot eyes in her direction – not the true red of a vampire, but the unwavering stare unnerving all the same.
Further back, from behind him, evil magic…crawl of fetid flesh
slice of the blade into decayed muscle
deep, feral joy at the pain yet to be visited upon them, on all of them…
Nalah’s pulse jackrabbited in her neck, cold sweat a clammy reality at her hairline. The only time she’d experienced anything close to this feeling was those first moments exposed to Tenro. Tenro was savagery, war, bloodlust, mixed with the last moments of the damned.
This… This was…
Pure madness.
And a cold, crazed love of death.
Something clamped down on her upper arm – large, with a grip that hurt. “Get off!” Her fist came up to hit at whatever had her. “Get off me!”
“What are you doing here?” He caught her fist, blocking her with less energy than she would use to swat a fly. Bad, but… Her pulse slowed and comprehension flowed through her. He was a guard who caught her breaking rules, not a servant to that madness. And he was human, large and mean in that generic way all the guards around here were, as if they’d been selected for that exact reason.
Her pulse normalized, and as she came back to herself and the evil faded, now something from this guard teased her senses, beat against her skull. He wasn’t connected to what she had just felt, but this guard was innate, and she didn’t recognize this power.
Did Beylor know? Was the guard selected because of that, or did he hide it from his employer?
She had to get away and regroup, with the least amount of trouble possible. Clearing her throat, she went for a tone of Tiffany oblivious. “I was trying to find my boyfriend.”
No, he didn’t buy that at all, as his fingers gripped even tighter. “You don’t seem in too much of a hurry to find him.”
She jerked once, twice, finally free though very aware it was because he allowed it. If oblivious didn’t work, time for attitude. “The set-up is interesting! No law against looking, and don’t fucking touch me again if you don’t want the Cage King crawling all over your ass for manhandling his woman!”
The look in his eyes was dissecting her, trying to decide her place here. She couldn’t do anything else but go all in, and she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, pure put upon.
He blinked, those eyes too sharp in his big dumb face. After a few breaths of stand-off, he waved someone else over. After the prompt appearance of another guard, he said, “Here, whatever we say is law is law, and the law is you stay in the main house with the women. Got it?”
“Got it,” she said, putting as much pouting attitude into the words as possible.
The other guard motioned her to start towards the house, and she turned and began walking. It was a minute before the guard at her side spoke. “I would’ve thought Fallon would send someone sneakier.”
Nalah would have tripped if his hand didn’t come out and stabilize her. Before she could look at him, he spoke again. “Keep looking straight ahead. You already brought enough attention to yourself.”
Damn! Here was her contact, and she hadn’t checked him out earlier, too intent on looking at her tormentor. “You’re acting as a guard?”
“Low-level, mostly patrols of the ground, meaning I keep an eye on the women and the house.” Which was perfect for their needs. Had he requested that, or had the Guild known exactly how to position him to get him into the right spot? “I wasn’t expecting you to make a scene.”
“It was necessary for me to get out to do my job. And I’m sorry, but if Fallon told you about me, she must have brought up my distinct lack of sneaking ability. I’m doing my best.”
“She did. I was hoping she was underselling you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
The sigh was more felt than heard. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll work around it, as long as you can find the artifact.”
“That I can do. Do you know where it is?”
Another set of guards was walking toward them and her contact shut up until they were well out of earshot. “Beylor always has multiple safes in his home. How close do you need to be to feel where the artifact is?”
The last time she had held her mother’s ring, it was like it started singing to her the moment she entered headquarters, the sound as welcome to her as her mother’s laughter. “Normally, entering the house I could lead you to it, but I don’t know how being in a blackout zone will affect my range.”
“Then I’ll need to scout and find where the safes are. We’re only going to have one chance with you in the house, and I don’t want your magic not working like you think it should.” His voice was grave, and the weight of what they were doing fell on Nalah. It wasn’t her and Esh and their baggage anymore. This was a mission. This is where she or Esh or the man behind her could die.
Dread pooled through her extremities, leaving her fingers icy numb. She’d never taken lead before. She’d been on missions before, but she was always in the back as support, and even if there was fighting she’d been surrounded by so many others, the possibility of being hurt almost didn’t exist. Now, she was in an unknown place, allied with a guy she didn’t even know what he looked like.
They were nearing the apartments. Another minute tops before they had to separate. He asked, “The Cage King – is he a tool or part of the operation?”
Esh would hate to be called a tool. And though she tried to convince herself in the beginning that he was only a cog… “He’s part of it. He doesn’t know how to find the artifact though. That is only me.”
And there was the door. In a whispered rush, the man said, “The artifact is most important. I’ll try to escape with you and the Cage King, but if I must leave either or both of you to secure the artifact’s safety-”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else. Don’t worry about it.”
He opened the door, and as she entered he gave one final warning. “Watch for Lian. You are in his sights now. You were before, as he has an obsession with Esh. He will report you to Beylor. Beylor has a severe underestimation of women. Lian does not, and Beylor will leave it in Lian’s hand
s.”
“I’ll watch my back,” she said, but the man was already gone.
Chapter Nine
‡
“The illustrious Cage King. Truly an honor.”
The tone said it was anything but, a sentiment Esh had plenty of experience with. “Fuck off,” Esh said, not halting his work on the bag, the give of the fabric not even close to the density of skin and muscle underneath his knuckles, but all he had for now.
The voice lost the insincerity and now held only resentment. “What, you’re too good to even speak to the rest of us?”
Jealousy, loud and clear. With a glance, Esh took him in. A guard, not a fighter, so maybe he lost money on a betting against Esh. Or maybe he was a fighter on the outside, one unable to get into the Tour, and now he was taking it out on the man known to have turned down several offers. Whatever the guy’s background, his tone was personal, and the guard had a hard-on for him specific, not fighters in general.
The bitterness was seeping out of the man, but there was cunning as well. This man wasn’t stupid. Too early to tell if this guard would harm Nalah to hurt Esh or not, but guard-boy needed to be watched. “I’m in training. What do you want?”
“There was a small problem with your female companion today. I found her wandering the grounds.”
“Is that all?” Esh began on the bag again. “She’s not a dog. Let her go where she wants.”
“That’s not the rules.”
“Right, since we’re rules followers here.”
Malice dripped from the man’s words. “So you’re okay with others sharing your woman?”
Esh quit the bag and turned, and the guard lost the smarmy smile. “Let me be real clear. My woman is mine. She is not to be touched, and I don’t care what your fucking rules say, I don’t care if she’s breaking them or not – if anyone touches her, I will rip their ribs out of their chests and beat them to death with ‘em. And if any of you dumb-fuck guards get in my way, I’ll break so many bones no healer in the New Realms will be able to put you back together. Are we understanding one another here?”
The guard swallowed hard, but that was the only sign Esh’s words got to him. “Just get your woman under control.”
“I’ll talk to her. You talk to everyone else and tell them what I said.”
The guard got himself more under control, enough that he now gave a sneer. “Because you’re the Cage King, and we all jump when you speak?”
Esh went closer. The guard was his height, a little broader, but the man still cowered, still had that sneer. “Because I’m the Cage King, and you know what I can do when I want. Don’t you?”
“Yeah.” In a strange reversal, Esh’s words seemed to give the man determination, strength, because he straightened, meeting Esh’s gaze with a lot more fire. “Yeah, I know.”
“Heard you had an interesting day,” was how Esh greeted Nalah as he entered their apartment, and the sight before him slammed into his chest and stopped him short.
Nalah was doing nothing more than sitting curled in a chair, reading a book. It was how he’d often found her, always reading, her face mobile as she absorbed whatever words lay before her – frowns, smiles, sighs of pleasure, all normal and expected.
And he missed it, maybe more than anything else, because it was the best part of her and showed who she was – smart and sentimental and willing to let their reality go and keep searching for something better, never settling for crap and saying there was no other choice. More than anything, she was what had kept him going those early days. He never wanted her to lose this part of herself, would protect it with whatever he had in him.
“At least I made some new friends first. Tiffany and I are now besties,” Nalah said, not looking up from the book, but bringing her hand up, her first and middle finger twining together.
Gods, this fondness, it bubbled up inside and damned if he could stop the smile overcoming his face. “C’mon. We’re going walking. Beylor ain’t going to say shit if you’re with me.”
The bookmark went in and the book went down, the movement quick but protective. “Yay! I almost feel like we’re out of the Middle Ages.”
With a quick, “Stow it, smartass,” he ushered her out of the building and in short work they were walking around, her hand engulfed in his, the low-level warmth bubbling within him as they walked and talked like they had before she left.
They weren’t the only ones out, and Esh let Nalah take the lead so she could get whatever she needed. She studied everyone and everything, but there was never any look of real interest on her, nothing to say she felt anything more than he did. For that, he was grateful. They had enough dealing with this item she had to collect. He didn’t need any other headaches.
“Have you met Rorth?” Her voice was quiet, careful not to carry.
“Yeah, this morning. Did you get something from him?”
She shook her head, which was what he’d figured. He’d never heard of an orc being anything magical. “Not like that. We spoke for a minute though.”
“And?” Nalah wouldn’t have brought him up if there wasn’t something.
“Does he seem like he belongs in the Cage?”
Course she would pick up on that. Nalah was as connected to the fights as he was, even if she hadn’t ever stepped into the ring. “No, but damned if he’s not a fighter. He’s one of the few who’d made me take notice.”
“I got that, but that doesn’t translate to participating in the Tour. The timing is suspicious.”
He didn’t get that from the orc. Yeah, she was right, there was something more that had him here, but Esh wasn’t worried about other fighter. But what she was saying did bring up a question. “How many know about Beylor having this item?”
“I don’t know. It’s a recent development, but it wasn’t exactly a secret transaction.”
Esh swallowed hard against the spew of curses rising up. Why did the Guild send her in here without information? This was supposed to be some all-important magic, but the person trying to find it was flying blind. “The Guild ain’t impressing me much.”
“I met my contact.” Nalah’s voice was so low it was barely above lip-reading, but he caught it.
With a quick look around to verify where everyone was, he pulled her to the side of a building and pushed her against the wall, bending low so her face was inches from his. “Tell me.”
“A guard. I don’t know what he looks like, and we only had a moment.”
“When do you meet again?”
“We didn’t have enough time to decide on one.”
“So not impressed with the Guild.” Even he heard the pissed-off growl in his voice.
But Nalah laughed, her eyes clear and easy in a way they hadn’t been since before. “Contrary to rumor, they don’t know everything. Well, maybe Tec does, but he’s too busy with online gaming in his off time to tell them.”
“Who’s Tec?” Pissed off and jealous. Great combination.
“Not my boyfriend,” she said, which was the most important information to him after all, and her smile said she knew it.
Hmmm. Wasn’t this a cozy spot to explore that smile, somewhere she couldn’t get away easily unless she wanted to make a scene.
Her eyes widened and her body shifted for flight, but he bracketed her head with his forearms. “Not fair, Esh.”
“So?” he said as his mouth lowered. “Think of it as keeping up appearances.”
He brushed his mouth over hers, playful and light, and she began to relax, pushed herself up on tiptoe to meet him.
It became a game, one of them pushing into the kiss, trying to deepen it while the other held off, then a sudden switch, the roles reversed. No matter which, Nalah’s smile held, her lips satiny smooth against his.
And then she froze, her mouth hardening, and her head whipped to the side so fast a few braids flicked against his chin.
Following her gaze, he saw the albino fighter. He hadn’t met the man earlier. While the other fighters
played at introductions and good wishes, the albino had been there only long enough to see the competition, then had gone to the forest.
Rorth was one of the fighters Esh was keeping his eye on. This guy was another. “Did he speak to you today during your travels, like Rorth?”
His gaze never left the albino, but he saw the quick shake of her head from the corner of his eye. “Worse.”
The pale fighter’s stare never wavered from them, and under his hands Nalah began to tremble. Inside him, something kicked, fought free to take on this thing, this being who didn’t feel right, even without anything in him like Nalah had.
She pulled on his arm, and he looked down to find Nalah staring up at him. She blinked, her eyes going from fearful and confused to determined. “We need to get back to the apartment. Please. You can’t fight him here. They’ll kick us out of the Tour.”
Yeah, he had to get away. Her hand tugged on his, and without further comment Nalah led them back, quicker on the return trip than they’d been going out.
The door had only shut behind them when he said, “What did you feel? There’s something magic with him.”
Nalah was pulling herself back together. “I don’t know if it’s from him, but there’s dark magic connected to him, strong enough that even here I feel it full blast.”
“But magic doesn’t work here.”
“Most magic,” she corrected, pressing the heel of her left hand against her forehead.
With that gesture, he went to a cabinet, grabbed medicine, and gave it to her with some water. Her startled expression morphed into thankfulness, and she downed the offering. “It’s strong enough that it’s giving you a headache?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Do you recognize it?”
“No. It’s evil. It’s connected to death, but I’ve never felt anything like it, not from any necromancer or vampire I’ve ever come in contact with.”
Esh swallowed hard, the casual sentence confirming every fear he’d had since that first night when the name of the Guild had been brought up. “You’ve been near necromancers?”
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