by Gideon Mills
Wyatt held back a laugh. “I know there is food here for you too.”
He dished out all the food in his bag, and sure enough there were plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit for Cat. There was some stuff that Wyatt had never heard of. They both ate up the food and were happy.
“Francis told me to stay with you,” Octavia said. “I lived at his place. So I guess I’m staying here.”
That had been unexpected. It was just like a mage, even the good ones like Francis, to expect a person just to be okay with whatever they decided was best for others. “I see,” Wyatt said. “I can figure something out.”
He had hoped to spend the night with Cat, but with the goblin here that might put a wrinkle into that plan.
“I can stay too,” Cat said. “We will need to get an early start.”
“Oh, joy.” Wyatt only did early for a job, and that was rare. Much of his work was at night, and that was just the way he liked it.
It was late, and just the thought of getting up early made Wyatt tired. With that in mind, he made his way up to his actual apartment above the office. It wasn’t much and not built to house three people. It was barely big enough for Wyatt.
“Nice place,” Octavia said with a sarcastic tone. “I thought all mages were rich.”
“Only those that are nobles, or kiss up to them.”
Octavia tilted her head, and her purple hair flowed around her. Wyatt rather enjoyed looking at her and that hair. “I see. Well, I guess you all can’t be Francis.”
Wyatt groaned, and Cat giggled. He really didn’t want to be compared to a noble, or another mage for that matter. It wasn’t a fair comparison, and for the most part Wyatt was pleased with his life.
“That Francis,” Cat said. “He’s special.”
Wyatt rolled his eyes. “I see how it is. I’ll let you two ogle over the great Earl Richard the third.”
His pace was a mess, and still had the lingering scent from the sex the night before. It made him yearn for more, but with the way the two were acting, he had no hope. He had been thinking about cleaning up and making a place for one or both of them. Now he said fuck it, and went to his bed and lay down.
He didn’t care about much else at this point. His body was sore, and his mind racing over all that was going on in the world. Never had he been so moody and so up and down. Perhaps a good night's sleep would help him.
14
An unexpected sight
“Up and at ‘em.”
Wyatt shot up in his bed. He had been having one of the best dreams of his life. The mage had Cat, Octavia, and the woman that hired him in his bed. A lavish place that he’d moved into, and they were all taking turns pleasuring him and each other. It had been incredible, but he highly doubted anything like that would ever happen. That was indeed a thing of dreams.
It had been Octavia that had woken him, and she had on different clothes, which was a bit of a surprise. He didn’t remember her bringing a change or anything at all with her. But here she was in a very tight, very sexy dress that showed just how perky her tits were.
His eyes lingered there a moment longer than intended. She didn’t say a thing, but another did. “You like what you see?”
Wyatt looked up to the doorway to his room, and Cat was standing there. Watching him with lust in her own eyes. At least, she still wanted him. She too had a new outfit on that complemented her light silver hair and those magenta eyes. Her angular face was glistening, and apparently, the moon was still out as her tattoo was visible and sexy as hell.
“I do.” Wyatt wasn’t going to start pretending now. “I’m surrounded by two stunning women.”
“I like what I’m seeing too,” Cat said. “A real shame that we have to leave in a few minutes.”
“Yes, such a shame,” Octavia said. “Missed our one and only chance.”
Wyatt’s eyebrows shot up, his face covered in shock. He hoped she was kidding, in a good way. She pretended not to see his face or what he was thinking. “Get dressed mage, we have a dwarf to talk to.”
It didn’t take him but a matter of seconds to get dressed. He had a style he loved, and Wyatt stuck to it, a pair of comfortable pants that he kept in good shape and a linen top. It made the summer heat in Imlay bearable. Let him breathe and feel like a good PI. Unlike the heavy mage robes that he dreaded wearing, and sweated his balls off in. About the only good thing about them was the quick access for making love. Maybe that was the reason they liked to wear them, but it didn’t seem like it. Most of the mages that Wyatt had been around were stiff, and not in the good way.
Out on the streets of Imlay, before the sun was even up, the air was crisp. They were nearly completely alone. A few shady people lurked in the alleyways of the city, eyeing them. Wyatt could feel the eyes on them as they passed people. It was only a matter of time before some of these poor souls tried to make a move on them.
“Did we really have to go this early?” Wyatt asked through a yawn.
“Yes,” Octavia said. “Little known fact. Dwarves have a different sleep schedule.”
“That’s not little known,” Cat said.
“To regular people, it is.”
Wyatt didn’t care. All he wanted was to go back to his bed and lay his head back down. Even if it was for only a few more minutes. He was tired and sore all over. He was barely into his thirty years, and yet he felt much older than that. Not that he actually knew what it felt like to be sixty or more, but he swore right now he knew.
They rounded a corner, and eight of the eyes that Wyatt had felt on him were standing there. In stances that said they meant business. Before Wyatt could even reach out to his mana, Cat and Octavia were in motion.
Cat moved with such a speed that it was hard to even watch. She wasn’t a blur, but damn close to it. The four men didn’t stand a chance against an elf and a goblin as they were clearly in a league above them. Wyatt didn’t mind that he was useless here and enjoyed the show. It let him hide the fact he was a mage, which made this fight even more one-sided. Sometimes the desperate didn’t notice just how outmatched they truly were. Wyatt understood why they did it and almost felt back.
The elf had one down in a blink of an eye, moving with the speed and grace of a cat. Octavia was at the next man, and she pulled a knife from some place, Wyatt had no clue where. She sliced the man, and he went running. The other two looked at them in shock and awe.
Not even giving them a chance, Cat was on the next one. Using some sort of martial art that Wyatt didn’t know. It must be an elven one, and she took both men out. A kick, spin and punch later, both were on the ground.
“Hot damn,” Wyatt said. “Nice work.”
“Thanks for nothing,” Octavia said.
Wyatt shrugged. “You know full well I could have used my magic, but you both had it under control.”
“Humph.” Octavia didn’t appear to be sold on that fact that he could’ve used magic. “If you say so.”
She retook the lead, and they went to the docks. That wasn’t a place that Wyatt would have expected to find a dwarf. Sure, they no longer lived underground, being forced out by the dragons and the giant trolls. It was a shame and something that the other races of Urgan should have helped them with.
“The docks?” Wyatt asked. “You can’t tunnel underground from here. Can you?”
Octavia laughed. “That depends.”
Now Wyatt was really lost. “I thought that dwarves didn’t like the water.”
“They don’t, but I don’t like mages, and here I am. We must do what we must.”
“For a goblin that doesn’t like mages you sure spend a lot of time with them. Working for one and letting him force you to be with another.”
Octavia shrugged. “Maybe I don’t hate mages as much as some of my kin.”
“Or nobles for that matter,” Cat added.
The goblin glared at the elf. “Nobles suck, but Francis isn’t like the rest.”
“That’s true,” Wyatt added. “Francis
is very unique in many ways.”
“Anyway, follow me.” Octavia didn’t lead them to a ship or any of the warehouses that lined the dock district of Imlay. Instead, she went north along the water; the beach was rocky and threatened to throw them into the water each and every step. Wyatt had never been a fan of the beaches here. They weren’t like the ones he heard about in other cities, sandy and pleasant, a place to swim out into the ocean. Not here. There was a reason that people didn’t come here often.
There had been many stories of people getting hurt and drowning here. Not to mention getting sliced on the rocks and getting some sort of flesh-eating diseases or magical spell. There had been a few clients that knew he was a mage that asked him to cure someone who made the unfortunate mistake of coming here and getting that flesh-eating magic or whatever it was. There was nothing that Wyatt could do, not even a trained mage like Francis could stop that. There were just some things in the world that magic couldn’t cure, and that was one of them. Not that Wyatt knew much in the way of healing. It just wasn’t his forte.
As they made their way along the treacherous beach, the sun rose in the east, bringing its brilliant heat and light. Making the walk much more manageable and letting Wyatt relax. With the light over them, he was able to make better steps and choices around the jagged rocks.
Eventually, Octavia pointed in the distance to a cave on the coastline. This was a place that not many in Imlay ever ventured to, Wyatt was sure of that. He had lived here all his life and never been. None of the people he spoke to ever talked about a cave in the water or at its edge.
“What is this place?” Wyatt asked.
“The entrance to the former home of the dwarves.” Octavia clearly had knowledge that many humans didn’t. It was a pleasant surprise that Francis had such a fantastic goblin with him.
“How did you know this?” Cat asked. “I know a lot about dwarves, but I didn’t know of an entrance to the dwarves’ tunnels in Imlay.”
“I told you. I have a lot of connections in Imlay. I’m not what you would call a typical goblin. Sure, I love me some pickled ham or roasted duck, but I have friends that most of my kin wouldn’t. Like Francis.”
“I see.” Cat had an impressed look on her face. “I do say I like you.”
“You aren’t half bad for an elf.”
That almost sounded like a compliment, but Wyatt wasn’t so sure. Cat seemed to be pleased. She continued to follow the goblin; Wyatt had no choice but to bring up the rear. He was the biggest fish out of water here.
He really wanted to get back to the city proper and do what he knew best. Talk to people, do some magic. Maybe have a drink and make love to Cat. This was not what he signed up for. Not that he knew what he was signing up for when he started this quest.
They arrived at the entrance of the cave. To Wyatt, it appeared utterly abandoned, and theirs were the only footprints leading up to the place. It made him wonder if this was the right place.
“You sure about this?” he asked.
“Trust me.” Octavia had a confidence about it all. “Just wait for it.”
That phrase was one that Wyatt hated to hear more than anything in the world. It was almost inevitably followed by something that he didn’t want to see happen. That hurt him in some way and left him aching for days. There were no four words strung together that he disliked more than those.
Sure enough, this was no different. Without warning, the ground shook around them, and the cave began to glow. Soon another hole formed, and Wyatt nearly fell back into the water, only being saved by Cat’s incredible reflexes.
She had reached out and clung to his linen shirt as the ground opened up, and a dwarf appeared. One that had a long shaggy beard that dragged all the way down to the earth. It was snow white and matched his wrinkled, brutish face
“Digan,” Octavia said. “So good to see you.”
“Why did you bring an elf and a mage to our doorstep?”
“You know I wouldn’t unless it was important.”
Digan tilted his head and examined them. How he knew that Wyatt was a mage, Wyatt didn’t know. He didn’t have that much experience with dwarves; they were one of the most secretive and seclusive races in the world. Maybe since they were immune to mages, they could tell a mage on sight. Wyatt wanted to ask him, but this wasn’t the time or the place. There might never be either of those.
“Octavia, you know times are changing. I don’t have time for distractions.”
“You and I know that. They know that. In fact, they are trying to figure it out. None of us know what is going on.”
Digan grunted. “Sure, we do. The humans are trying to rid the world of all but themselves.”
“I don’t think that,” Wyatt said. “I know humans have been cruel and done vile things in the past, but this isn’t just them.”
The dwarf was dismissive of Wyatt and didn’t even acknowledge him. “Octavia, you have done a disservice to me and my kin.”
She didn’t seem happy about him saying that. That might be the first time since Wyatt had met her yesterday that she wasn’t smiling. The goblin had been consistently delighted and playful, but Digan slapped that out of her.
“You listen here,” she said. “You and I have been friends. Bonded over our disgust for humans, mages, and giant trolls, but you are being a jerk. They are investigating what is going on. All they want is to talk to you. And you have to be a big old grumpy dick.”
Digan stepped back from Octavia, clearly in shock. His eyebrows shot up, his eyes were wide, and a gasp sounded from him. None of the group had expected that from Octavia, not that Wyatt knew her all that well, but she hadn’t seemed to be the type to blow up like that. Wyatt was happy to see it and glad she did. The dwarf was even worse than what Wyatt expected from them. They were notorious for being unfriendly to many, even their own kin.
“I see,” Digan finally said. “I have offended you. Forgive me.”
The attractive goblin shrugged and looked to Cat and Wyatt. “These are my friends, and you should treat them like you would me.”
Digan nodded. “As you wish, that is our tradition, which I have clearly failed. Please follow me.”
He turned and went into the new opening that led deeper into the earth. Wyatt didn’t want to go deep underground. It wasn’t that he was scared of tight places or being without sunlight. Okay, maybe he was since he did have that one dream every once in a while of being buried alive. That didn’t happen often, it was enough, and he really didn’t want it to come true.
Cat and Octavia were on the trail first; Wyatt didn’t hesitate for too long. There were steep steps that led deep into the earth. How it wasn’t wet with water, as they were close to the ocean, Wyatt didn’t know. It seemed that it would be, but it was dry as a desert.
The deeper they went, the more torches lined the walls, creating strange shadows, and sounds of rodent and other critters sounded. Wyatt hoped none of them were dangerous and capable of killing him. He heard many of the stories of the crazy animals in the world. There was much more than just dragons and wyverns out there to kill humans.
Soon they reached the bottom and saw a large city. “I thought all the dwarven cities were destroyed,” Cat said.
Digan turned to her. “They were. We are rebuilding. Most of us don’t like to be on the surface. It feels like we will fall up.”
“I’ve told you,” Octavia said. “That’s not possible. Magic keeps you there.”
“And we’re immune to magic,” Digan said. “Only a matter of time before we float away.”
Wyatt wasn’t sure that either was right, but wasn’t about to voice that opinion. For now, he was taking in the city and just how crazy it was. Even though the dwarves were half the height of humans and a third the height of the giant trolls, the place was big enough for any of the races or animals. Why they built so high up, Wyatt didn’t know.
He could see deep into the place with all the torches they had lite up. It was truly an amazing
feat of building. That was one thing that all agreed upon: dwarves built better than any of the races. None could compare to them.
Unable to stop himself, he whistled in amazement of the city. “How big is this place?”
“About half the size of Imlay,” Digan said.
That shocked Wyatt. Imlay was one of the largest cities in the world, and to have a city underneath it, half the size was saying something. “Just crazy.”
“If you say so,” Digan said. The old, grumpy dwarf led them further into the place and finally stopped at a tavern. He went in, and they followed it. Wasn’t much of an establishment. The ceiling was just tall enough for Cat and Wyatt. The tables weren’t going to work, but Wyatt and Cat sat on the floor next to one.
“What is it you want?” Digan asked.
In the place were two other dwarves drinking a strange-smelling ale. Wyatt knew that it was late for them, unlike being early for him, so drinking was the norm this time of the day.
Cat laid out what they were doing and what they’d learned. The rumors of them building new tunnels and leaving the city.
“That is common knowledge,” Digan said. “Though only half true.”
“How so?” Octavia asked.
“We aren’t building new tunnels, but fixing the old ones. We have been for years. Even if the King wasn’t trying to kill us all, we would be doing this. Just increased the effort.”
That really shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Of all the races, the dwarves hated the city the most. Even more than the elves and that was saying something. Humans and goblins were the ones that thrived in cities and being close to each other in large groups. Not that elves didn’t like being around each other, but they needed open spaces and trees.
“You really think that the king wants you dead?” Wyatt asked.
“He does, while he didn’t put out some proclamation like he did with the elves. Our spies found similar info as the goblins did.”
Wyatt looked to Octavia, who shrugged. “I’m not in touch with many of my kin. They hate me over working for Francis. I didn’t know they learned anything.”
