27 - Death While We Eat (Patreon)

The members of King’s Dream filed into the personal study of Paul Wayland as he sat at an ornately carved desk. He greeted them by getting right to business, “I’ve asked you here to brief you about your next mission.”

“We haven’t accepted a new mission yet,” Dazien stated and crossed his arms in defiance, “Phoenix just returned from being captured, tortured, and almost turned into a monster and you want us to just turn around and go back out into the field?”

“It’s a blood moon, kid,” the older mentor said as he stared up at the young gemite from his plush chair, “I had your party assigned to another delivery contract. You’ll be picking up the supplies directly from Cultivator’s Citadel and taking them to the outlying fort towns. Phoenix has a portal to them and we’ve gotten more reports of bandits and raiders in the area. The roads aren’t safe to take, even for some Adventurers, and the attacks have gotten more brazen as the blood moon continues, with some of the towns reporting direct assaults on the walls. Even portaling there, you may run into more bandit trouble.”

Dazien glanced at the Wayfarer standing between the Defender and Mage with a pointed look as the leader replied, “That shouldn’t be a problem,” meeting Paul’s eyes, the gemite added, “If they’re anything like what we ran into before, we should be able to handle them well enough. This doesn’t sound much different from the other missions we’ve done though, so why bring us here to inform us?”

Paul looked slightly annoyed as he grumbled, “There are a few other things you need to know about. First, I wanted to let you know that the main reason I requested this is that the AOA, with approval from the Duke, will be performing a raid on House Ruwena’s Estate tomorrow.”

There was the sound of sharp inhalation as everyone reacted to the news. The twins both seemed alarmed, while Uriel seemed unfazed, and Dazien’s expression darkened in a mix of concern and anger. Phoenix, however, narrowed her eyes at her mentor, her mouth pursed into a thin grimace as she guessed, “And you want us out of the city during it.”

Paul met her gaze unflinchingly and without any hint of guilt or remorse as he stated bluntly, “Exactly.”

“My lord, we can help–” Dazien began to protest but was cut off.

“It’s not because I doubt the capabilities of anyone in this room, kid,” Paul interrupted, “I simply don’t want any of you getting blowback from this. They’ve already tried to take out their anger towards me upon Phoenix and I don’t want her or anyone else being targeted simply in an attempt to hurt me.

“So, you all will go deliver these critical supplies while myself and a team of Adventurers deal with the Ruwena family,” he said, glancing at their party leader as he added, “I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you just how devastating their betrayal will be for the duchy should they succeed in their plans in addition to the potential societal upheaval once word of their treachery spreads among the people.”

“The Ruwena family basically manages every aspect of our Reality Rift. If it wasn’t just Lord Ruwena but the whole family and their allies that got involved and they’re planning to help the Soul Reapers…” Dazien said in slight horror as he looked from Paul to the rest of the party.

“We won’t let that happen,” the Emerald Caster said firmly, “The political upheaval this will cause, though, is why I wanted your party out of the city. We don’t want the enemy to potentially turn their gaze towards the two people that revealed their plots to the authorities.”

They all glanced between Phoenix and Dazien, realizing the potential implications that they might be specifically targeted by the family. Paul gave another annoyed grumble, “Aside from that imminent conflict, there is one last reason for this particular mission,” he continued as he directed his attention to Phoenix, “My sister, Patricia, has been persistent in voicing her desire to meet you.”

“You mentioned that before. But why now?” Phoenix asked in confusion before adding, “And what does that have to do with the mission?”

“She is the liaison between the local government and the clergy of the Cultivator. She helps oversee food distribution throughout the duchy and I informed her of my intentions to bring you into the family,” he explained. Phoenix’s eyes went wide but he cut off her questions or potential panic with a raised hand, “I told her you hadn’t decided anything but, nevertheless, I felt it prudent to inform her. We have been discussing my abdication after the blood moon and this would become part of that discussion should you choose to accept. Not to mention you should meet the rest of the family and Patricia is more adept at navigating that than I am.”

The Wayfarer hesitated for a moment before admitting, “I haven’t decided about that yet,” she glanced at her teammates, appreciating the support of their encouraging looks, “But once I return from the mission, can we go over more details?”

Lord Wayland nodded in understanding, “Of course. For now, though, she would still like to meet my Protégé and I thought this might be a way for her to meet everyone involved with us,” he gestured towards the rest of the party, their expressions showing a mixture of honor and pride that he had included them.

Uriel surprised them all by speaking up with his smooth voice, “Are you hoping that we encounter the bandits, Lord Wayland?”

The question caught the party off guard but the cinderen’s ember-lit eyes gave away no indication as to his disposition. Paul stared at the young cinderen he had a complicated history with for a long moment before deciding to be forthright with them, “Yes.”

The paladin met the Wayfarer’s stunned expression with his own resolute one, “They are preying on the weak that do not have the advantage of being closer to reinforcements. These aren’t hungry or desperate people if they have the strength to harass a fortress town, they’re the worst sorts of criminals that prefer to terrorize.

“Fighting against people is a very different experience from fighting with wild animals and monstrous creatures, Phoenix. It’s an experience that you will not be able to avoid forever and that you must become prepared for,” he added solemnly.

Phoenix seemed about to argue but Dazien placed a hand on her shoulder as silent words seemed to pass between the two and he found himself wondering just how close the gemite planned to get to his ward. Then the young warrior’s gaze turned back to him as the party leader stated with determination, “We will protect the innocent from anyone that seeks to harm them, Lord Wayland.”

When Dazien looked back at Phoenix and gave her a single raised eyebrow, she nodded in acquiescence and said, “I’ll try my best to keep people safe.”

He waved a hand dismissively then and commanded, “Good. You shall meet with Patricia this evening and depart first thing in the morning,” then he met each of their gazes in turn, “Good luck, Adventurers.”

As the group headed toward a restaurant that Phoenix hadn’t been to before, part of Dazien and Uriel’s continued efforts to expand her knowledge base of their world, she had been content to walk beside Uriel in companionable silence while the other three chatted and led the way.

“I can’t believe he’s making us avoid the roads and monsters to do a lame delivery mission just when things were getting exciting in the city!” Rayna complained loudly to their party leader who was shaking his head in response.

“This will mean a civil war, Rayna. It’s not ‘exciting’, it will be a terrible risk to many innocent people. You should read some of the tragic histories when wars between noble Houses broke out. It’s not just the aristocrats that pay with their lives,” the gemite stated solemnly.

“It’s exciting because we’d get to fight! It’s not like I want to see Mundanes dying in the streets but he’s literally sending us away from the battle!” the Striker bemoaned, “How are we supposed to help protect people if we’re not where the fight is?!”

“We will be helping, sister,” Saiya spoke up, “Like Lord Wayland said, there may be fighting near the town we’ll be delivering to.”

“I hope so,” the voxen said.

“Killing people is never something to hope for, Rayna,” Uriel surprised them all by saying as they entered the stairwell leading down to the underground Quicksteam lines.

“That’s odd coming from you,” the pugilist observed, “You’re the one who ended up doing most of the killing last time.”

It was Dazien who cut in then by snapping, “Do not confuse following my orders and protecting our party with a desire to kill. I know for a fact that he took no pleasure or excitement from that fight. Now apologize to him.”

“It’s fine, Daze,” the cinderen began to say but their party leader halted their movement in the crowd to turn back to his partner.

“No, it’s not, Senesh,” the gemite stated firmly, “She has no right to assign her own feelings to your actions. She has no idea-”

“King,” Uriel interrupted with a large hand on the slightly shorter man’s shoulder, “I know she didn’t mean it as an insult. It’s fine. Let’s just drop it and get some food.”

“I’m sorry,” Rayna spoke up, without the usual brashness as they all turned to look at her and she stated with a slightly awkward expression, “You’re right, I didn’t mean it as an insult. I thought you were seriously awesome but if it makes you upset, I’m sorry I phrased it that way.”

The two men smiled at her and Dazien spoke first, “Thank you for apologizing and I’m sorry for my own outburst. I shouldn’t have assumed you meant to insult him either. Now let’s get that nice meal before we have to meet Paul’s sister later and potentially fight a couple of bandits tomorrow.”

They resumed their journey down the stairs to grab a quickie to one of the districts she hadn’t seen much of yet. Apparently, there was a little hole in the wall restaurant in the eastern Manufacturing District that made amazing chilled noodles.

While they waited in line for the port they needed to get on, Phoenix felt a sudden weight land on her shoulder and a small black cat rubbed against her face, “Bliss!” she cried out, trying to move the cat to her arms instead, “I don’t have any treats for you right now,” the startled Wayfarer said then saw the stick of meat in the tiny mouth that kept trying to move the meat into her own mouth, “No, Bliss. I’m going to eat dinner soon with my party, but thank you for offering to share.”

Uriel reached into his own pack and pulled out a small cookie and held it up toward the sneaky chimera, “Hey Bliss, I’ve been wanting you to try this new recipe and let me know what you thought.”

The kitten startled her by suddenly swallowing the stick of meat, stick included, then hopping over to the cinderen’s shoulder to commence with the treat-tasting, apparently not bothered with joining them for the ride on the Blueline.

Dazien chuckled as they boarded the port and said, “I think she missed you. Her party all helped search for you when you were captured.”

She grinned at the kitten and gave her some headpats, “Thanks, Bliss. You’re pretty sweet sometimes for a murder-cat.”

As the group found themselves alone in the small glass port, Phoenix finally voiced a question she had been pondering for a while but had resurfaced with the potential conflict in their new mission, “How, um… when was the first time you all killed someone? Like a person. What made you have to do it?”

Rayna spoke first, “It was similar to what we ran into before. Saiya and I were about seventeen? We had decided to leave the clan that had taken us in after ours was wiped out and we had just gotten to a human outpost in our homeland. A couple tried to steal from us.”

“So you just killed them?” she questioned.

“No,” the voxen said with a darker undertone in her voice, “We gave them our jewelry, then they tried to take us as well. Our claws work just as well as a dagger against Mundanes. We both ended up killing for the first time that day to not become slaves.”

“Oh,” she said quietly, glancing over at the two men.

“I was sixteen,” Dazien began, “I had been training with Warrior for about a year by that point and had gotten rather good with a blade. Had just moved in with Uriel at our current place. I still didn’t have my Aspects yet but I didn’t need them that night.”

The gemite crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the glass wall of their transport, “I was walking home after training, had a real sword on me, not a wooden practice one. Anyways, there was this big guy in one of the side alleys.”

“Did he try to jump you and steal too?” she asked curiously.

He gave a wry grin, “Nope. He didn’t care about me at all,” the warrior paused, then asked, “Did I ever introduce you to Jennica?”

“No, I remember you talking about her getting into trouble though when we went to visit,” the Wayfarer recalled.

“Ah, right. Well, I’m the reason she’s currently staying at the temple,” he admitted and clarified, “Jennica was laying half-dead on the alley floor while the man was beating the life out of her. Turned out he was her father but I made it so he would never hurt her again.”

Phoenix stared at him for a long moment as she processed the story and asked, “She didn’t hate you for killing her dad?”

The gemite made her jolt in surprise when he gave a bark of laughter, shaking his head, “Quite the opposite. That rugrat clung to me like a flea on a dog after that. She started getting angry at me and acting out about a year ago when she found out I planned to become an Adventurer.”

“What? Why?” Phoenix asked in utter confusion, “It’s because you were meant to be an Adventurer that you saved her isn’t it?”

He gave a crooked grin as he explained, “Her mom was an Adventurer. When the mom died and left her alone with an abusive father, she kinda blamed her for it and I think that blame spread to all Adventurers who leave their kids behind and risk their lives.”

“I see…” she said thoughtfully.

“Well, we’re here. Let’s stop all this talk of death while we eat, yeah?” their party leader suggested as the port doors opened and he pushed the cinderen, still laden with a nomming kitten, out in front of him to leave the rest of them to trail after.

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