“NOBODY RUNS,” the leader announced fiercely. “Everyone keep an eye out. He can’t pick us off if we see him coming.”
They all looked around them, peering into every shadow.
“Don't forget the shadows at your feet,” the leader said. “Catch him quick and you can drop him while he's disoriented from appearing.”
As they watched the shadows, they neglected to realise that not every patch of darkness in the tall arcade was at ground level. None of them saw Jason floating down onto the leader until Jason let his mass return, using the weight of the fall to plunge his dagger through the startled man’s eye. Their leader slid off Jason’s blade and dropped to the ground, dead. The others stared at the shadowy figure standing in front of them like deer in headlights. Even though he was right in front of them, out in the open, none of them made a move.
Jason looked down at the man whose head had been stomped on by the now-dead leader. He was in a very bad way, but still alive. Jason walked closer to the group, who flinched at his approach. He took a potion from his belt and held it out.
“Heal this one and go,” he told them, gesturing to the hurt man on the ground.
The thugs looked at the potion like it was a venomous snake, but finally one of them reached out to take it. As if that movement was a starter’s pistol, the others all ran. The one who took the potion knelt to feed it to his fallen companion. It didn’t bring about a full recovery, but with his friend’s help, he got to his feet. The thug who had taken the potion from Jason gave him a look of wariness and confusion.
“Thank you,” he said. “For the potion.”
“You won’t thank me if we meet like this again.”
The pair hurried off, one supporting the other. Soon after, Dean cautiously approached with the recording crystal still over his head. Jerrick was walking behind him.
“Give me that,” Jason said.
Dean nervously took down the recording crystal and handed it over. Four of the five dead men on the ground had been beside Dean himself when they first confronted Jason. If Thadwick hadn’t needed Dean for his summoning power, and if Jason hadn’t needed Dean to use against Thadwick, then Dean himself could have easily been one of those bodies.
Jason looked at Jerrick, who was also staring down at the bodies.
“You’ve had your two chances,” Jason told him. “If you and I run into each other again, after all this is done, I hope you’ll be smart enough to run.”
Jason looked down at the bodies.
“Are these all adventurers?”
“What?” Dean asked, looking up from the corpses, distracted. “Oh, uh, yes. Those who couldn’t pass the assessment themselves, Thadwick had slipped through. That was a while ago, though. It’s harder since the new director came in.”
Jason shuffled through the pockets of the fallen, eventually digging out their Adventure Society badges.
“I’m a little surprised they carried them,” Jason said. “It’s not like they do any adventuring.”
“We all carry them,” Dean said. “It gives you some weight to throw around.”
Standing up, Jason looked around the arcade.
“What’s the local civic authority here?”
“The what?” Dean asked.
“Who’s in charge here?” Jason said. “Who do we tell about the killings?”
“This is Dorgan’s territory,” Dean said.
“Dorgan? He’s one of those three crime lords, right?”
“The Big Three,” Dean said. “They run Old City because people from the Island don’t care so long as the money keeps coming.”
“What about some kind of local government authority?”
“There’s the Duke’s guard,” Dean said, “but they only come over if there’s some kind of threat to Island interests. The Big Three makes sure there isn’t.”
“Five dead adventurers is a long way from nothing, though,” Jason said. “The Adventure Society will be looking into it.”
“So what do we do now?” Dean asked.
“Stick to the plan,” Jason said. “Get you to your family and I get things settled. This is just one more thing to settle.”
97
Integrity is Sexy
With Dean and Jerrick stashed with Dean’s family, Jason decided he had time to stop at his lodgings before getting to business. He was weary, heavy with the blood of the men he killed, even after the crystal wash had cleaned it away. He took a long, luxurious shower and, with a fresh change of clothes, went for lunch with Farrah, Gary and Rufus in their suite.
Madam Landry sent lunch up in the dumbwaiter and they went out to the balcony. Since Jason had become an adventurer, they were seeing less of each other, and eating lunch in the sunshine as they looked out over the ocean was something they did whenever they had the chance.
“You missed a lot,” Farrah said to Jason as they sat down.
“Oh?”
“Gods showed up at Jory’s clinic,” Gary said. “It was something to see. Dominion asked after you by name.”
“What?” Jason asked, half-standing in his chair. “Dominion as in the god?”
“That’s the one,” Farrah said.
“That’s bad,” Jason said, settling back down. “That’s really bad.”
“He seems to like you, if that helps,” Farrah said.
“No, it does not help,” Jason said. “That makes it worse.”
The others recounted to Jason what took place outside the clinic.
“Good for Jory,” Jason said. “He deserves recognition for what he does. And that Davone, guy. Turns out he’s alright?”
“He’s wasted following around that idiot, Thadwick,” Rufus said.
“You should tell him about the other thing,” Gary said to Rufus, who looked over at Farrah, who shook her head in resignation.
“Cowards,” she said. “Jason, we’re going away for a while. There’s a big expedition, and we’re on it.”
“Oh?”
“It finally came out why the Ustei Tribe came south. You remember that waterfall that shut off briefly? The monsters you fought?”
“Of course.”
“Well, there have been other instances around the desert. Close by, it’s only been brief, isolated instances. Up north it looks like the problem is much worse. Enough that the oases connected to the astral space were no longer able to support all the nomad tribes.”
“Something is going on with the astral space?” Jason asked.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Rufus said, picking up the narrative. “We’re going to relocate the Ustei back to the north, enter into one of the apertures and investigate the astral space.”
“That doesn’t sound like a small expedition,” Jason said.
“It isn't,” Rufus said. “It's massive. Danielle Geller is leading it, along with a handful of other silver rankers. Dozens of bronze-rankers, hundreds of iron. People who haven't been on a contract in years. The chance to explore the desert astral space, under the watchful protection of silver rankers? The city's most prominent families are falling over themselves to be involved.”
“I can imagine,” Jason said. “Why am I getting a sense of hesitation from you all?”
The others looked at each other, all shaking their heads. Finally, Gary groaned capitulation.
“You don’t get to go,” Gary said. “This isn’t just a matter of you not being invited; you were specifically excluded. Which is a load of crap, if you ask me.”
“Specifically excluded?” Jason said, his voice ramping up.
The others braced for an explosion, but Jason let out a long, calming breath, instead.
“I guess I can see that,” he said.
“You can?” Rufus asked, looking at Jason like he was a grenade that unexpectedly didn’t explode.
“Look, it's no secret that I can be contentious when it comes to the upper classes. I’ve caused problems before. And I’ve been rising very high and very fast, socially, for someone with no background. I’m guessing this is a test. If I show that I can take this quietly, miss an opportunity without kicking up a stink, then I pass.”