18. Hull - Welcome to the Lows (Patreon)

Chapter 18

Welcome to the Lows

I dithered and skulked around the fortification’s drainage grate for a good ten minutes before I realized what I was doing, and once I caught myself I was disgusted. She shows up once and you’re ready to slink around on your belly after her like a kicked dog. She gave you a Twins-damned rock from the Demon Realm and that’s supposed to make up for stealing your soul card and leaving you to die? She doesn’t care, you moron. She ran into you by mistake, got out of it as quickly as she could, and you’ll never see her again. Just accept it. I drove my fist into the solid metal wall, relishing the bloom of fire in my knuckles. That, at least, was a pain that I knew how to deal with.

I needed to get to the Lows. Being absent two nights in a row after exiling a pair of my lieutenants was a bad idea. Still, I just… something was missing. I turned away from the grate and crossed the darkened pathways to the far side of the compound. I snorted at my own weakness and stupidity, but that didn’t stop me from knocking once I got to the right door, or from feeling a rush of relief when Basil immediately cracked it open.

“Not sleeping?” I asked. “It’s late.”

His vest was rumpled and his shirt partially untucked beneath it as if he’d been lying down fully clothed. He looked a little wild about the eyes in the nearby globe light. “Hull! I, ah… have had a difficult night.”

From inside I heard a throaty female voice. “Is that your friend? Perhaps if he joined us you’d feel more at ease.”

Basil hastily stepped outside the barracks hut and shut the door behind him, but not before I peeked in and saw a naked elf girl sitting up in the far bed. I gaped at him. “Basil!”

He waved his hands in frantic negation. “Please keep your voice down. You’ll make it all worse.”

“You’re sleeping with an elf?”

“I am not,” he hissed, clutching at his mussed hair.

I gave him a flat stare and pointed at the closed door.

Even in the dim light I could see him flush. “I know what it looks like, Hull. Twins save me, I know. She wanted to help me cultivate Life source, and…”

I shook my head, thinking back on the brief, impressive glimpse I’d seen. “If that’s what it takes, I don’t know why I’m not cultivating Life right now.” I squinted at him suspiciously. “You’re really telling me you didn’t touch her?”

“I swear it on my own card,” he said, clapping his hands over his heart. “If I’d had anywhere else to go, I’d have done so, but the elves are allies, and I didn’t want to offend, and, and… then even after I’d said ‘no thank you’ in the very politest and most proper way possible, still she shucked off her clothes like they were on fire before getting in bed. Thank you for coming to get me – I was at my wits’ end.” He hooked an arm through mine and led me firmly away from the hut. “We can stroll and talk for a while. Perhaps she’ll be gone when I return. Twins, let it be so. What would I tell Esmi?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Poor Basil. More pretty women than he knows what to do with.”

He gave my arm a friendly slap. “Hush. Do say you’ll keep this to yourself, won’t you?”

I shrugged. “If Esmi’s caught between you and Gale, it might give her a good push to know she’s got some competition.”

He sighed and sagged as he remembered the rest of his predicament. “It would give her a push, all right, but in entirely the wrong direction. She’s not that kind of woman, Hull. She values me; I know she does. The issue is more a question of defying her parents, which isn’t an easy thing. We’re taught from the cradle that the House comes first.”

“I won’t say anything,” I promised. “Though if you ask me, it’s a damned waste to show all that self-restraint and not let your woman know anything about it.” I stopped in front of the hidden grate, an idea springing to mind. “Hey, if you’re not sleeping anyways, why don’t you come to the Lows with me tonight? I’ve got a access to a card there that’s as good as a solid night of shut-eye –” It was hard to force out the last words, but they were the reason I’d knocked on his door in the first place. “– and I could use a friend’s company.”

He cocked his head and considered me in the shadows of the street. “You are not the same man I first met, Hull.”

“Don’t be an ass,” I growled, my face heating in the darkness. “You coming or not?”

“It would be my great pleasure,” he said with quiet dignity. I thought for a second he might even bow, but at least he spared me that. He was less gracious when I showed him the drainage gate and led him through the dark and the wet, but he kept his prissy grumbling to a minimum, and soon enough we were well away from the fortification and walking back to the city.

“What a curious feeling of freedom,” he said, breathing deep of the forest air. “I can see why you like to return to your old haunts like this.”

“It’s not for a quiet stroll, if that’s what you mean,” I said. “It’s just that if I don’t take care of things, Ticosi’s old thugs will take over for him, and then things keep going just like they always did.” The injustice of it all burned in my chest like it always did when I got to thinking about it. It felt like holding Nether, but cleaner somehow. “It’s not right, this whole part of the city having no cards and no jobs.”

Basil squirmed uneasily. “There are other poor spots in Treledyne, you know. Catchpole, Hillside, the Docks.”

“None are half so bad off as the Lows, and you know it,” I said, trying to rein in my temper. He was a noble; of course he’d try to wave the problem away. “I don’t know how Ticosi got away with taking every damn card in the neighborhood for all those years, not to mention flaunting a whole deck full of Chaos right in the middle of the city. Somebody had to have known.”

Basil looked at his feet for a long moment. The trees were thinning out as we approached the city. “Father told me once the Lows were off-limits to the City Watch.”

I snorted. “No shit. Did he say why?”

He spread his hands. “I was a child at the time. I didn’t think to ask. But there are only so many people with the authority to give him that kind of order.”

I clenched my fist. “Hestorus. Every time I turn around, he’s the problem.”

He scanned the air and made shushing noises. “You never know if he might be listening.”

“Let him listen,” I said. “He’s so obsessed with this idea of making more high-rarity souls, of elevating humanity, that he doesn’t actually care what happens to any of the rest of us. He already knows what I think, Basil.”

“Be that as it may,” he said shakily, “perhaps we can find a large troll and poke it with sticks instead of continuing the conversation? It sounds safer.”

I let out a pent-up breath and tried to shake off my anger. It wasn’t easy, and we walked for a ways in silence before I could find something else to focus on. “Speaking of elevation, what about that new soul ability of yours? You said you’d show me.”

“Yes,” he said, brightening. “A wonderful idea. Pull one of your cards for me, if you would. I can only do one, so choose carefully – whichever you’re most interested in elevating.”

I wanted to upgrade all of my cards, but which to look at first? My Sucking Void sprang immediately to mind. It had been my first Nether card, and despite its drawbacks it still served me well in nearly every match. Of course, the same could be said for the Hateful Hammer, and I’d been considering a sidegrade for my Night Terror to make it a more reliable summons, hadn’t I? Or the Marauders. Twins, what would the Marauders look like at Epic? I practically drooled at the thought.

The city was creeping up on us, and I wanted to have my cards securely back in my Mind Home before we reached the Lows, so I started pulling, considering one after the next. The Talisman of Spite was another strong contender – it was the linchpin that of a lot of my other cards fed into. In the end, though, I handed my friend the Sucking Void. That was where I’d really gotten my start; it felt right to make it the first focus for elevation. I can always ask him to take a look at the others another day.

Basil nodded as if he’d known all along which one I’d pick, and then settled the card in his hand, rubbing the other over the top of it like he was warming it up. “I can do it from memory,” he murmured, “but it feels better to have the card in hand. I believe I get a clearer sense of the possibilities this way.” He breathed in and out slowly as we walked, his eyes closed. I kept a hand on his elbow and watched the road for any tall cobbles or loose stones in his path.

“This becomes truly remarkable at Mythic,” he whispered. “I’m seeing one path that increases the invulnerability to 5 turns. It costs 3 of any source instead of the current 2, so that alters the tempo of play somewhat, but with a larger deck you rarely bring it out early anyways. Ohhh, but let’s consider this: it could also stay at 3 turns and only destroy half your remaining deck. That keeps its cost at 2. Incredible.”

I watched his face hungrily. “I wish I could see them.”

“I do too,” he said, opening his eyes. “Perhaps… have you heard of sharing soul cards? I wonder if we could try something similar. It’s not a thing to do on the road in the middle of the night, and to be frank it’s generally reserved for family members and those very closest to you – but given all we’ve been through, my friend, I do believe you qualify.”

My heart gave a lurch inside me, and all I could do for a long moment was press my lips shut and nod my head. How this boy could say such heartfelt things so openly, so honestly, I couldn’t imagine. I reached for low humor, and that loosened my tongue. “It’s not like cultivating Life, is it?”

He gave me a shocked look and burst into surprised laughter. “Oh, Twins! No, that it is not. Twelve save me, what do I do if A’cia doesn’t leave me alone?”

I shrugged and gave him an innocent grin. “Maybe Esmi would take you both.”

That brought more scandalized laughter, although he quickly sobered. “That is how the elves do it, you know. These ones, at least. She told me she is already, ah, partnered with both of the others. Esmi would most emphatically not be amenable to such things.”

I nodded. “Different folks do things different ways.” I’d heard about a woman living on Hook Street years ago who kept three different husbands. Most of the women I overheard gossiping about it sounded more envious than anything else, though none of the men sounded quite so keen on it. One way or the other, though, nobody made too much fuss that I ever found out about. In the Lows, everybody was just trying to get to the next day, and no one had the energy to spare for outrage. It didn’t surprise me that nobles might feel otherwise.

I gestured to the card he still held. “Any other interesting possibilities?”

He ran his hand over the card again and closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Hmm, yes, I see another. It would change the utility of the card, but I’m visualizing a version that drops the deck destruction entirely and makes all your Souls invulnerable for 3 turns instead of you.”

My eyebrows rose as I imagined my little squad of demons wreaking havoc without taking any damage at all. “That sounds incredible.”

He handed the card back. “Truly. Any one of those outcomes would be beneficial, I think.”

I mused on the options as I put the card back behind my ear and let it slide into my Mind Home. “I think I’d rather only lose half my deck than take the extra turns of invulnerability.” We were well inside the city walls now; we’d be to the Lows in just a few minutes.

Basil made a non-committal sound. “It was hard enough for your opponents to stall you for 3 turns. If you had 5, you might not need more of your deck at that point. Plus, it’s an extra 2 turns of card draw, which minimizes what you’re losing.”

He was right, of course, but I wasn’t done mulling it over. “Either way, I think I’d take those over putting the Spell on my Souls instead of me. They can’t be damaged, sure, but anything that destroys without doing damage – like your Equality – that would still take them out, am I right?”

He patted my shoulder, beaming. “Excellent. You’re learning quickly.”

“So it’s a question of more turns or less card loss,” I said, rubbing my chin.

“There’s no great rush to decide,” Basil assured me. “Unless you’ve managed to break down a, ahem, certain stash of cards for useful shards, you won’t have the funds for a Mythic upgrade any time soon.”

“Ah, but I’m working on it,” I said, feeling proud of myself. “I told you I’m learning from the Relicsmith Roshum, right? He’s started showing me the steps for processing a breakdown, and he said he’d give me the list of ingredients as soon as I knew what I was doing. The only problem is that he doesn’t have the more expensive stuff, the alchemical whatevers. I still have to figure that part out.”

“Nothing stops you for long,” Basil said, favoring me with a smile. “I can’t wait to see where you’ll end up.”

“The Lows is where I’ll end up,” I said, sweeping an arm around to show him that we’d entered my domain. “It’s where I started, after all.”

His smile faltered as he took in his surroundings. “Oh my. It certainly has character.” He started drawing source and putting it overhead.

I chuckled. “Relax, lordling. You might be a midnight snack around here most days, but you’re walking with the Big Man. You’ll be fine.”

“All the same,” he whispered, “if you don’t mind…” He summoned a Soul.

I shrugged. “Not a bad idea, if it makes you feel better.”

He nodded vigorously, his eyes wide as dinner plates as he tried to look in all directions at once. “It very much does, thank you.”

I suddenly realized that I didn’t have to go around wondering exactly what card he’d summoned anymore. I dug the glass eyepatch we’d all been issued out of my pocket and strapped it on my face. Now when I looked at the Soul I could see everything about it. It felt like being back under the Dueling Dome, and I was surprised at how wistful that made me.

“Good card,” I grunted. “Why don’t you wear yours?” I said, pointing to my eye covering.

Basil looked faintly embarrassed. “My soul abilities make it fairly redundant.”

“Lucky,” I said. “I’m tempted to start sleeping with mine on just to get used to it.”

We chatted about our advisors as we walked the last stretch to Roshum’s place. Basil had some grudging, guardedly good things to say about his half-crazy Chaos mentor, but I couldn’t say the same about Badgou. She’d hardly even looked at my cards yet. She kept grilling me on what Demon rifts I’d seen and how I’d found them, and she didn’t seem to believe me when I said I’d never been to one. When I’d asked what cards she recommended I add, she’d shown me nothing but Earth cards even though I told her I couldn’t use them. If she did the same during our next session, I planned to go to Edaine and tell her I needed someone else to advise me. Dwarves and I were not a good fit.

I rounded the corner onto Bagger Lane and was glad to see light spilling out of Roshum’s shop a few blocks down. As I got closer, though, a nagging sense of unease tugged at me, and I gradually slowed until I came to a stop just a handful of houses away.

“What is it?” Basil asked, stepping reflexively behind his Shieldmaster.

“Not sure,” I muttered. “Something’s different.” I snapped my fingers. “He’s using blue globes, that’s what it is. Wonder why. He said he hates working under blue light. Washes out the colors.” I started forward, but then I stopped again two steps later. “And the kid’s not here.”

“Kid?” Basil asked, looking tense.

“The little girl I told you about. Roshum says she hangs around at night even when he doesn’t have her sweep.” I chewed my lip. “Maybe she’s asleep. It’s probably nothing.”

“Hull,” Basil whispered. “You’ve lived here your whole life. If something feels wrong, then something is wrong.”

The words slotted home in my head, and I started pulling source and cards. The draw wasn’t great, but suddenly I felt the urgent need to summon something. I focused my 2 summoned Nether and brought forth the only card in hand I could easily afford without overextending myself.

The moment the mist of summoning started to coalesce, I heard a shout from a darkened alleyway behind me. “He’s summoning! Go, go now! Everybody go!”

Men and Souls poured out of Roshum’s shop and from alleys both ahead and behind. Basil stiffened and started summoning. No one waited. A full crowd was running at us from all sides, a good twenty people or more, weapons out and screaming at the top of their lungs.

It was a proper Lows welcome, and I cursed myself that I hadn’t seen it coming sooner. I’d just let us get ambushed.