Chapter 73: Low Tide

“Dual affinities are really rare, though!” Taava whined to Seyari.

“Yes, they are,” Seyari replied exasperatedly, “but for the last time, I am not also a demon. Demons can’t even use holy magic.”

“Are ya an angel, then?” Taava squinted at Seyari. “Stupid illusions!”

“I don’t have an—”

“We’re approaching the ferry town,” Salvador cut Taava’s incessant questioning off. “Be careful what you speak about.”

Taava huffed. “Yeah, yeah, fine!”

I kept silent, thinking about Aretan, Nelys, my sister, and the Gelles Company. Aretan and Nelys should be safe and waiting for us somewhere in the city, or close by if Nelys’ wanderlust had gotten to the two of them. As for the Gelles Company, a big mercenary company that had branches across Ordia and took contracts of all sorts could be a boon or a danger.

From what we had gathered, mostly from Taava’s knowledge (and a bit from Seyari), the Gelles Company was named after the River Gelles which flowed through Ardath and out by the Empire’s largest port, Formarast (which was somewhere west-southwest of here). They had a branch in Lockmoth, but their main headquarters was probably in either Ardath or Formarast. Both cities I really, really wanted to avoid.

If they had a branch in Linthel, then maybe we could try to sign on with them. A big company could provide both some anonymity among members of myriad backgrounds, and a significant backer for when I decide to wear my demonic nature publicly.

I could see the city ahead, set along a crescent-shaped bay seemingly carved out of the muddy river estuary we would have to cross by ferry. Even with the tide out, I could see the color of the river water bleeding into the ocean.

The smell of low tide, dead fish, and human waste started to sting my nostrils before we even entered the small town that had sprung up around the ferry crossing. Despite the open flatness of the surrounding landscape, I wondered if someone traveling here would be able to smell Lockmoth before they saw it.

The ferry was cheap, and felt rickety despite its size. The crush of people on the ship gave me a stark reminder of my height, standing a head or more above all but the tallest people in the crowd. I didn’t miss the looks I got. I returned them with a glare or a smile, depending.

The smell over the water was somehow even worse. I plugged my nose all the way across. Surprisingly, I seemed the only one of our group bothered by the noisome odor, or at least no one else showed their discomfort.

The four of us hurried to find an inn once we disembarked. Salvador took us to a place where he’d stayed before. I took a deep breath once the door had closed behind us, fighting the urge to gag when I realized I could still almost taste the scent. Gods, how did anyone live in this city. Maybe my sense of smell was also getting better? If this was the type of thing I could expect to enjoy, I would gladly take my sense of smell staying human. Seyari, noticing my discomfort, paid for two rooms quickly, and we dashed upstairs to claim them. Inside, the air was much better and, finally able to breathe properly, I collapsed onto our big, nice bed. Seyari locked the door and walked over.

The sheets were nice, and the furniture was too. Well-built and clean, this place looked to be one of the better inns I had experienced. And with my seemingly endless journey, I was getting to be quite the expert on inns.

“I’m surprised the smell got to you that much.” Seyari plopped down beside me, then rolled on a shoulder to face me.

I looked over at her and smiled. “Yeah, well maybe I just have a sensitive nose.”

“Don’t you like durians?” She twisted her nose.

“Yeah, and? They smell fine once you get used to it.” I looked over to the window. “Think you could close that?”

Seyari waved a hand and the curtains drew closed with a gust of air. “Don’t you think the people here are used to this?”

“Maybe? But still, a durian is food while this—” I gestured all around us. “—is what food ends up as.” I wrapped my tail around us and pulled Seyari in close.

“Gross.” Seyari smiled broadly. “You had to make it gross.”

I leaned over and planted a quick kiss on her lips, careful of the horns I now had. “I guess I did, sorry.”

“You’re not sorry.”

“Guilty as charged.”

Seyari kissed me back, her tongue probing out. I reciprocated, my longer forked muscle bullying her smaller one. I pulled her close with all four arms and when we separated, our faces were hardly a centimeter apart, a thin string of saliva between our lips.

“How long until we need to go do something?” I asked.

“I dunno, boss.” Seyari’s eyes twinkled, dye barely holding back their golden hue. “I think you’re the one who gets to make that call.”

“Let’s get dinner late.” I leaned forward and our lips met again.

***

Taava checked under the beds and under the mattresses and looked out the window noting nearby rooftops and sight lines. Salvador did the same, albeit silently and without the excessive paranoia that followed the kazzel’s actions.

Seyari and Zarenna were one room over. Her employer might not know she was back in town, the Black Claw might not know either (or have anyone nearby), and she and Salvador were no slouches in a fight, but it paid to be cautious.

Taava also doubted a wall would do much to stop Zarenna. She reached up and felt her neck. Completely fine, but her mind whirled back to that moment. She hadn’t even been able to follow Zarenna’s movement, and her voice had promised a bloody death in its tone.

So that’s what a demon—a Sovereign demon—is like, she thought.

Despite that, she didn’t really fear Zarenna. At least, not in the same way she thought she would. As dangerous as the game was, Taava had proven the Sovereign of Wrath’s sincerity.

She slipped herself back into her mask and turned to Salvador who was unpacking; they didn’t know where Zarenna and Seyari’s friends were staying, or if they were even here. Chances were this inn would be home for a while until they were attacked again or finished their business—if she could avoid her employer.

Taava still needed to clear her debt somehow. One group of murderous thugs chasing her was more than enough, though she’d easily take loan sharks over trained assassins.

“Hey Salvador,” she asked, lying down on one of the beds to stare up at the ceiling. “How long d’ya think until those two start screwin’ in the other room.”

Salvador hid his shock behind a smile. “I would assume they have more sense than to start the moment we get to an inn with a comfortable bed.”

Taava rolled her eyes. “Suuure.” She listened carefully, swiveling her ears around. No thumping, yet. Or perhaps just thick walls.

Salvador’s smile wavered. “If they are… indisposed, I may want to go find dinner sooner rather than later.”

Taava put a hand on her stomach and sighed. “I’m starved, and even if it smells like stewed ass out there, I wanna eat something that ain’t trail rations. Lemme throw a cloak on over my ears and tail and we can go out. Don’t want my ‘employer’ findin’ me straight away.”

Salvador was quiet for a moment before assenting. “I think Zarenna and Seyari will be fine here for a while.”

***

We didn’t get around to anything until the next morning. I think we all needed the sleep, food, and… other things. It didn’t take us long in the morning to run into our first problem.

How were we supposed to find Nelys and Aretan?

Lockmoth was a big city—the largest I’d been in since Baetnal, although that wasn’t saying much. Aretan had been clear in his desire to go here when we parted, but we hadn’t exactly had time to form any sort of plan.

He probably knew about this city from his dealings in Liseu. That meant he and Nelys, presuming they had made it here, and presuming they had come by ship from Liseu officially, would have entered Lockmoth at a certain section of the harbor.

Hence, we’d spent the morning asking after our friends at every inn in that area. Mercifully, the tide was in all morning.

There was, of course, the chance they had moved on elsewhere, or had never been in the area at all. If inns failed, we could try asking around for passenger records of Turquoiser ships inbound from Liseu. Unfortunately, asking for ship records from a country hostile to Ordia (in a port known for illicit activity, no less) with an excuse anyone could have made up on the spot, would have given us less luck than trying to pry information out of tight-lipped inn owners.

And it wasn’t like they weren’t trying to be found! Aretan was nothing if not punctual and organized. You’d think any place they were staying he would have been able to tell them to be on the lookout for people matching our (disguised) description.

Seyari had set aside some money for bribes and we were burning through it. The fact that Taava was broke and Salvador was close wasn’t helping things.

The four of us were sitting outside at an area of tables surrounded by food stands of all types, mostly finished meals (or completely finished, in my case) sitting in front of us. We’d chosen a small table tucked away under a group of overgrown trees in old, crumbling planters. The place was nearly empty—too early for lunch and too late for the morning rush. Plus, the tide had started to recede, and the lingering smell of food in front of us was the only thing keeping that smell at bay.

I glanced over to see Seyari glaring tight-lipped into her coinpurse. “How bad is it?”

She groaned. “Depends on how badly you want to eat the next few days.”

“Pretty badly. Pretty sure I need to do that to live,” I replied, placing a hand over my stomach. Taava gave me an odd look and I shrugged. “Anyway, what’s the plan then? Try to have Taava sweet-talk another innkeeper?” I smirked at the unusually quiet kazzel who was holding her ears flat against her head under her hood. She was wearing one of Salvador’s traveling cloaks and looked tiny in the heavy garment.

She perked up, tail twitching somewhere under a pile of fabric “Hey! Everythin’ was goin’ perfect ’till—”

“Taava,” I leaned over the table and cut her off. “Please. I won’t bring it up again if you don’t.”

“Fine! But I’m tellin’ ya it wasn’t my fault. No one coulda predicted—”

“Taava, please,” Salvador cut in.

“I do not need that mental image,” Seyari said with finality and Taava pouted. “I hate to say this, but we need money. We’ve already got it out there that Aretan and Nelys have friends looking for them, and our innkeeper knows we’re trying to find them. We need to find something to do to make money.”

Taava raised her hand, her embarrassment seemingly forgotten. “I’d try ta get booked somewhere, but I should lay low.”

Seyari nodded. “Yes, you should. Any other ideas?”

“I could see if a tanner or an apothecary needs an assistant,” Salvador volunteered, “but I’m a little out of practice.”

I scratched my chin. “What about that mercenary group, the Gelles Company? I’d bet they pay pretty well, and we might be able to have them help look for our friends if we don’t find them soon.”

“That would be alright by me,” Salvador replied, nodding.

“Hey yeah!” Taava hit her fist into her palm, tail spiking straight up behind her. “You lot can go do that and I’ll lay low back at the inn, maybe ask around real discreet like for those friends a yours. From whatcha told me, they’re pretty distinct, yeah?”

“You could join the company too, Taava,” I offered.

“I dunno,” Taava rubbed at the back of her head and her ears lowered. “They do any diggin’ and I could screw all of us outta gettin’ in their good graces.”

“Taava,” I leaned forward and gave my voice an edge, “if it comes up, we’ll let them know what’s really going on. If they drop us, I’m pretty sure it means they weren’t interested anyway, and if that’s the case, screw ‘em. Plus,” I added in a cheerier tone, “you’d get more money toward your debt if you joined up. And we’d be closer to you in case you get attacked again.”

“Yeah, but—”

“About your debt, Taava,” Seyari asked, her look forcing the former assassin to sit back down, “if we’re going to fix that situation, we should know how much it is and whether we should try to pay it or seek an alternative solution.” Seyari glanced over at me and Taava followed her gaze.

I looked back at Seyari who shrugged at me. She’s using me for muscle! Not that I mind…

“So, uh, yeah.” Taava rubbed the back of her head. “It’s with the Mudrats, in Riverside, the old part of Lockmoth up inland along the river.”

“How much do you owe?” Salvador asked.

“A little…” Taava trailed off, mumbling a number. I’d caught it the first time, but didn’t register until she repeated it louder under the withering glare of a frustrated Seyari. “Twenty thousand gold pieces. Plus interest.”

My mind spun. How do you even get into that much…

“They know the people who helped me get outta of Raavia, and they bought my debt.”

“And let me guess, they added to it?” Seyari spat.

“Of course!” Taava grimaced. “And I was only barely makin’ ‘interest payments’ workin’ as a bard. They wanted me ta go back ta my old kinda work, but I wasn’t gonna.”

“So, they trap you in debt until you start killing for them?” I felt my anger rising alongside the others.

Taava slouched in her seat, and poked at a wooden skewer idly. “Yep. Prob’ly keep me in debt after, too. Not like I had much of a choice but ta try ta pay it off, since they had ways to contact the Black Claw.”

“That’s vile,” Salvador said.

Seyari sighed angrily and leaned back in her chair. “And you weren’t paying fast enough, so they decided to call the Black Claw and get their money back.”

“Prob’ly.”

“Then they have their money back, so why do we care?” I argued, angrily taking the last bite of sausage off my own skewer.

“Not like they’ll see it that way. If the Claw didn’t get me, they’ll still want their ‘due.’” Taava put air quotes around the word.

Seyari exhaled hard through her nose, eyes narrow. Salvador was staring rigidly at the wood of the table.

“I figured as much,” I huffed, letting a tiny bit of fire lick along my breath, charring the skewer. “I think we should find an alternative payment method.”

“Yeah, me too.” Taava nodded. “But if we just go find ‘em, and even if we, y’know, then—”

“We’ll be in hot water, too. And with people who aren’t thugs,” Seyari concluded.

“Won’t the city guard also want these guys gone?” I asked, hopeful.

“Depends on how much of a kickback they’re getting for ignoring them,” Seyari replied, taking the burned skewer from me. “And that could be very—” She snapped the twig. “—Problematic for all of us.”

“Crap,” I rubbed the base of my braid anxiously. “So who could we go to? Is it worth trying something anyway, or running away?”

Salvador leaned forward and steepled his hand in front of his chin. “If we run, they will only help the Black Claw to find us, yes? Do they have influence outside of Lockmoth?”

Taava shook her head, then cocked it to one side. “The Mudrats definitely have some kinda contacts in other places—like the ones who got me outta Raavia.”

“What if we got those contacts to turn on the Mudrats?” Seyari asked, tossing the bits of burned stick onto the old stones of the square. “If we can get the Black Claw after them too, we could probably slip out of everyone’s reach.”

“Yeah, sounds good!” Taava smiled, then flattened her ears and hissed softly, smile flipping to a grimace. “But how the heck d’we do that? I’m pretty sure the Rats bribe the guard, any sorta royal army or militia won’t give two fucks, and all the other crime bosses in Lockmoth aren’t people I’m gonna work with.”

I felt an idea click into place in my head. “The Gelles Company.” Everyone turned to look at me.

Salvador nodded.

Seyari nodded as well. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Hey, that was my revelation!

I continued before Seyari could. “If they’re a big mercenary group, and as uncorrupted as Drin and Tren seemed to think, we might be able to get them to help and give the whole thing an official stamp, so to speak. The city guard won’t openly support criminals, and I doubt their ‘allies’ would either.”

Taava pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Yeah, they’d cut and run. S’what I’d do.”

“I agree,” Salvador expression shifted almost to a smile. “Plus, there will hopefully be less death that way.”

“Well said, Renna.” Seyari smiled at me and leaned over to peck my cheek. I smiled back, I’m a sucker for praise. She continued, “needless to say, I also agree. They might even have some kind of bounty out already, but I doubt they’d let new members take it on. Taava, how long until the Mudrats find you and we get dragged into this mess?”

Taava looked around. I realized now why she’d chosen this spot. Few places to over hear us, and the buildings around let her take advantage of her excellent hearing.

“Honestly,” Taava replied, “It’s kinda lucky they didn’t already find us. I’m sure we’ll know of ‘em by tonight.”

“Then lets sign up with the Company today.” I rose from my seat and picked up all our trash.

Seyari rose as well and glanced around. “Don’t tempt fate like that, Taava. Let’s go before they show up here.”

I chuckled darkly. Taava hissed. Salvador uttered a short, quiet prayer.

“Why don’t you and Salvador get our stuff from our room, Sey?” I offered. “I can keep Taava safe if something happens in broad daylight on a main street, and that way we won’t get our stuff stolen and I can maybe get ahead on whatever bureaucratic crap we’ll have to deal with.”

Together, we left the square, and split up. Taava and I headed for Lockmoth’s Gelles Company branch after getting directions from the place where we’d bought our early lunch, while Seyari and Salvador walked quickly back toward the inn we were staying at.