Alex and Claire found Wess near the Teleporter. A small crowd had already gathered around him, including Orchid, May, Mite, and several townsfolk. It struck Alex that there was no sign of May’s brother, Aaron. He’d have been a bit more concerned about that if May hadn’t looked so relaxed. There was no way the girl would have been in anything resembling a normal state of mind if Aaron was dead.
He’s probably still training in the Mirrorlands. Damn. He locked in hard. I should get back to that as well as soon as I can. We can’t start getting complacent just because we killed the River King.
“Aha!” Wess exclaid as he spotted Alex and Claire making their way over alongside Glint. “Just the people I was waiting for. The money-distributors. I’ll take a few complints as well, if you’re offering. And an apology.”
“An apology?” Alex asked as they drew to a stop before him. “Why?”
“Because you yanked my damn support out mid-fight,” Wess said, glaring at Alex from beneath the brim of his sowhat-tattered cowboy hat. “The hell was that about?”
Oh. Whoopsie. Forgot about that.
Alex coughed into his fist. “Ah. Right. Yeah. Sorry about that, Wess. It wasn’t intentional. We were fighting the River King, and I kind of got used to calling in all my monsters at once. It looks like things worked out anyway.”
“Of course they did,” Wess said with a smug grin. “Who do you think I am? With the amount of money sitting on the table, there was no way I was letting this slip out from between my fingers. There are few better motivators than a fat stack of cash.”
“Are we sure we killed the River King?” Claire asked. “I think he might have reincarnated.”
Wess gagged. He thrust a finger in Claire’s direction. “Don’t. Never make that joke again. I take an imnse amount of insult to it. There is a huge difference between being so fat cat sitting on a pile of gold and being a dashing adventurer who earns it with sweat, blood, and hard work. Haven’t you ever heard of Robin Hood? The people love Robin Hood.”
“Are you telling you distribute your earnings to the less fortunate?” Alex asked.
“What? Gross. No. Are you kidding ?” Wess scoffed. “That was the last part of the whole legend. We can skip it. I’m using the gold for myself. How else do you get cool shit?”
“I think that was like, the main part of the legend,” Alex said, choking back a laugh. “But we did agree we’d get you paid. I—”
“Not just paid,” Wess said, raising a single finger into the air. “I went above and beyond the call of duty, my friend. And I have retrieved for you, out of the goodwill of my heart, a number of items that Crimson seed quite interested in.”
“Is it really the goodness of your heart if you’re charging us for them?” Claire asked.
“I would suggest just ignoring the majority of the words that co out of his mouth,” Orchid put forth. She drumd her fingers against her staff. “That’s what I’ve been doing, and it works great.”
“Look. We’re getting caught up in semantics,” Wess said with a shake of his head. “I think we should be far more appreciative of the fact that I have brought us two very nice gifts. The first is a ticket to so big fancy Outworlder auction. The second is the key to a fancy dungeon that Crimson very desperately wants. Though I should probably ntion that the key is technically sold.”
Alex’s head tilted to the side. “Sold? To who?”
“Crimson.” Wess scratched the back of his neck. “For the price of a certain auction ticket.”
“Are you telling you sold the key to Crimson in exchange for the auction ticket, then went and ran away with both?” Orchid asked, her cold exterior cracking as amusent managed to force its way through into her features. “You can’t be serious.”
“Technically speaking, I did sell the key to them,” Wess said. “I just promised we’d sell them the key in exchange for the auction ticket. The caveat is that the key will be sold back to them at the auction.”
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Alex burst into laughter. “Holy shit. That’s bold. Selling their own key back to them?”
“That’s assuming they even win it,” Claire pointed out. “If we’re selling this key at an auction, soone else may very well walk away with it. Not the best way to make allies, Wess.”
“No. No, not the best,” Wess agreed. He scratched his chin as if in deep though. “But it does make so damn good money. Also, it’s funny. I’d say that’s worth a pretty penny in itself, wouldn’t you?”
The corner of Claire’s lip twitched in amusent. It was the smallest movent, nearly unnoticeable. But it had happened. And if Wess had actually managed to draw a genuine reaction out of Claire, then it wasn’t too hard to tell what it was she was thinking.
Even Orchid looked like she was fighting back laughter.
“I have to admit, there’s sothing deeply diabolical about this,” the outworlder said, leaning against her staff and shaking her head. “Crimson can’t complain too much. This kind of shit happens all the ti between Outworlder families. It won’t be seen as a deathly insult… and I don’t think Hazel has the resources to draw on to allow us to beco one. She’s in a bad spot.”
“Why?” May asked, craning her neck to look up at Orchid. “Isn’t she the leader of her family now?”
“No.” Orchid shook her head. “Not in the slightest. “She’s the leader of the branch of Crimson on 274-50, and she just committed mutiny against her own family.”
“So Crimson is going to kill her?”
Orchid waggled a hand in the air. “Not if she does well. Outworlder families rarely care about the fodder they send out to planets in the early stages of an Apocalypse. They keep their real powerhouses for when the System stops limiting them. But Hazel will have a whole lot of trouble from the other Outworlder families. They’ll sense blood in the water.”
“Why?” May asked.
“Because Crimson’s forces on 274-50 are destabilized now. Anything they control will be easier to attack now that Brandon is gone. He was a competent warrior. On top of that, Hazel is less likely to be able to fulfill any promises Brandon gave other families.”
“Why?” May asked.
Orchid didn’t even flinch at the deluge of questions.
“Because she’s going to be busy establishing her power and making sure soone doesn’t do to her what she did to Brandon,” Orchid said. She tapped May on the forehead with one finger. “Why don’t you answer a question yourself, now? If you were in Hazel’s position, how would you establish control over the family?”
May scrunched her nose. She thought for a few monts before her eyes lit up. “I’d kill all the people I didn’t like to make sure there was nobody who could stab in the back!”
Alex let out a choked cough.
“That would leave your house weak,” Orchid said with a shake of her head. “Removing enemies is good, May. But weakening yourself is dangerous. Soone would take advantage of that and crush you. Try again.”
“I’d just not have recruited anyone that sucked in the first place,” May said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “That way, nobody would want to kill .”
Orchid paused. Then she inclined her head. “That… would be the ideal scenario, yes.”
May grinned. “See? I’m smart.”
“And I,” Mite proclaid abruptly, stepping forward and clearing him throat. “Am patient. At least, I was. That was a good segue. But I am going to vibrate my bones out of my body if I have to stand around forever when I’ve got actual bones to be playing with. Alex, the River King had so shit I need to finish the Mythical Building you brought back from the Ancestry. Can I have it?”
“Yeah, sure,” Alex said. “Wait. What exactly did you...”
He trailed off. There was no point speaking anymore. Mite was already long gone, racing back across town to finish his creation. Alex and Claire exchanged a glance.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Claire said. “Sorry to interrupt your lesson, Orchid.”
“It’s fine,” Orchid said with a shake of her head. “We’re supposed to be on break right now anyway.”
“Great,” Wess said. He adjusted his hat. “So. Auction. Fancy dungeon gate thing from Crimson. Money. Let’s focus on the money part.”
“Rhyss?” Alex asked.
The Advisor popped into being beside him. “Yes?”
“Pay him sothing reasonable, please,” Alex said. “With a bonus for the extra work he did. And Wess, don’t screw people over without at least warning us first. It’ll be good to avoid making enemies out of everyone you help.”
“Noted,” Wess said, rubbing his hands together with a grin. He tossed a small gem over to Alex, then followed it up by handing him a shimring gold ticket.
Alex plucked the slip from Wess’ hand. Then the other man was gone, whistling cheerfully as he followed Rhyss down the road and toward the Town Hall.
Shaking his head, Alex glanced down at the golden ticket in his hand.
Bleak Night Golden Pass (Legendary) — Consumable
Upon Destruction: Transports the activating entity and anyone in contact with them (up to 5 individuals) to the Bleak Night Auction Hall for (1) auction.
Ti until Auction: ??? (Date not yet announced)
A grin pulled at the corners of Alex’s lips as he read over the description. Then he wordlessly handed it over to Claire. The date for the auction still hadn’t been announced yet.
That ant they had ti to farm up so strength — and materials — in the Mirrorlands.
His grin grew wider.
Another chance for to screw with the Outworlders and make a bunch of Credits in the process?
Oh, yeah. This should be fun.
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