Blood and Gold: Chapter 9

[jiminee]

 It's been way too long. And this isn't the day I usually post on either but it's the holidays so I've sort of lost track of time :P

But I can promise lots of exciting things happen in this chapter. It's also one of my favourite chapters that I've written!

Edit: I've finally (sort of) completed a map of the continent. Here!

Chapter list
 

Bdubs looks around before opening the wall, carefully pulling aside the loose bricks that nobody knows about but him. He crawls inside and replaces the bricks. It’s dark in the cavity inside the wall, only the small square of yellow leaking from behind a trapdoor giving any light. He opens the trapdoor after a couple of seconds of feeling around. The light floods the cavity and he goes down the ladder, and then closes the trapdoor.
It’s a long way down, but at the bottom, the ladder well opens into the vast, open underground cave that breaks off into many tunnels around the walls. Several people stand at stalls, or talking lowly, making deals that only they know the details of. It’s dimly lit and sparsely decorated. To Bdubs, it is home.

“Bdubs!”
“Genny!” Bdubs walks over to the man with a long beard and grins. “Been a while.”
The two nod at each other.
“Did Guude enjoy the loot I got you?”
Bdubs nods. “Mhmm. Kept him happy.”
The light from a sconce on the wall casts low yellow light onto the man’s crooked smile. “Good. There’s plenty more where that came from.”
Bdubs nods, satisfied. “I would expect so. They haven’t noticed yet?”
The old man cackles. “I’m still here, aint I?”
They share a laugh, then Genny asks, “Did the ninja do the business?”
Bdubs shakes his head. “Not sure what he’s up to. Hope I didn’t blow my money on a scam.” He shrugs.
“Well if you end up needing a hitman, I know a g- ”
“I don’t want to kill them!” Bdubs interrupts him. “Just capture.”
“I meant for the ninja.”
Bdubs looks around at the stalls offering services. Thievery, kidnappings, hitmen, even assassins… There are stalls that sell goods too. You could find anything you need down here, and many things you might wish you’d never heard of. This underground world is a hub for criminals, a world that Bdubs is comfortable in. He feels a little bad that he can’t tell Guude about it.
But only a little.

Bdubs walks over to a sparsely decorated stall. He squeezes through the small gate and closed it, opening a chest behind the counter and putting in some food he brought. His service isn’t up, not yet, but when it is he’s sure he’ll have a large number of customers. Generik watches him curiously.
“So what is your service?”
Bdubs chuckles. “Aheheh. What am I good at?”
“Flim-flamming? But we all are, here.”
Bdubs shakes his head. “Seducin’ people. To learn their secrets and stuff.”
Genny lets out a burst of laughter. “Man, you couldn’t seduce a horse! And how you gonna be out there trying to do that while your little boyfriend’s at home wondering where you are?”
Bdubs hops up onto his new counter and sits. “Guude ain’t my boyfriend! We’re just business partners. And I’ve already successfully slept with one guy, thank you very much.”
Genny raises his grey eyebrow and cackles. “Spare me the details. What information did you get from him then?”
Bdubs smirks. “Well…” He looks around, then lean speak lowly. “He was one of the members of Naziv, actually.”
Generik frowns at him. “They were caught in Feretan.”
“They escaped, don’t you remember?” Bdubs pulls out the ratty poster, with four headshots skilfully drawn on the paper.
“Oh man, I’ve seen her!” Generik points to the drawing of the red-headed woman with the name ‘Aureylian’ written in bold above it. Underneath is the cash reward for catching all four members. Ten thousand Gallam.
“Yeah, she came into the bakery when I was in there the other day, didn’t she?” Bdubs says. “And they’re all here. I’ve seen ‘em.”
“So you want the reward, huh? How do you possibly plan on- ”
Genny is cut off by a barking laugh from Bdubs. “Ahaha! No. I don’t want any reward. I want something much better than that.”
“Oh?”
“I want all four of them to help me and Guude break into the palace. For real.”

Vechs is looking through the eyes of a skull shaped mask. He doesn’t see anything behind them, only blackness. A hand comes up and takes the mask away, revealing to Vechs that there was nothing all along; nothing behind the mask, just a black wall he has been staring at. Vechs shouts and turns to look for the thief, but sees nobody; the desert is vast and bright until the sun sinks suddenly, too fast, leaving the dunes black and freezing. Vechs grabs at the sand and it flows from his hands like water.

Vechs wakes up shivering. This room is too cold. This hideout is too cold. He looks around and sees nothing. Consulting his watch by the light of a struck match, he sees that the time is three am.  He extinguishes the match and steps onto the floor, tiptoeing to the door. He doesn’t really know where he’s going; just that he needs to get out. He can hear the breathing of his sleeping companions.

Once up the ladder, with the rock replaced, Vechs sits against a tree. It’s cold, yes, but so cold that his fingers and toes go numb. Numb is better than feeling anything, he’s learnt over the years. He looks into the darkness, past the trees with light reflecting from Corax into the depths of the forest where no light enters or escapes. The black hole is comforting to look at, in a strange way. And Blame…
Vechs balls his fists. Blame’s barely been off his mind since that one trigger, that one cause to think about Blame surviving and escaping and… and hating Vechs. He knows this. What he did isn’t easily forgivable, or ever forgivable, and Vechs wouldn’t be surprised if Blame wants to kill him. He’d almost be able to take that if he didn’t love Blame so much.
It wasn’t exactly a whirlwind, or a short and sweet relationship like any of the others. It was a slow burn. It didn’t even begin in friendship, Vechs thinks, recalling how much Blame hated his guts at first. It was the most surprising thing Vechs had ever done.

“Vechs.”
The cold word pierces the darkness and there is Bdubs. Vechs balls his fists and stands up. “Blyx off. Go away.”
“But Vechs, I just wanna…”
“Go away. I don’t need you, okay? I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with me, but that was a one-night thing.”
“Moved on, huh?” Bdubs moves closer. “I just want to talk to you. No funny business I swear.”
Vechs keeps his defences up, his mental weaponry at the ready and locked on Bdubs. He is ready for anything, despite the numbness.
“Vechs, I have a proposition.”
“I already said no! Not again!” Finger on all the triggers.
“I mean a different thing than that. Listen, I’ve been an admirer of Naziv and your amazin’ work for a long time. You're great escapists as well as thieves.”
“Stop flattering me so much,” Vechs says.
“Sorry. I was just wonderin’ if you’d like to help me out with a little project of mine?”
“What is it?”
Bdubs sighs, playing with the hem of his shirt. “I can’t tell until you’ve accepted. I’m sorry.”
“Then no.”
“Please?” Bdubs moves closer. The only heat Vechs can feel is his breath.
“I won’t let you beg. Just go before I hurt you.”
“You’ll like it, I swear. And it’s only something I can do with you. With Naziv.”
Vechs thrusts his fist out. It swings straight and hits Bdubs, cracking against his nose. The man stumbles back, grabbing his face.
“You're an asshole, you know that?” He shoots an evil look at Vechs and stumbles off into the forest. When he’s out of sight, Vechs sits down again, shaking. He knows he can’t continue to live like this, but what does he have left?
“Everything that’s happened since we arrived here has been wrong,” he says gently into the night. He doesn’t look back at Corax but thinks of its bright heap, the gold city built on a terrible past. Maybe it’s not the grand prize they should be working towards. Maybe it’s just a bad luck charm that thieves always fall at, a blow to the kneecaps of even the strongest criminals. Maybe it isn’t built to be solved like a puzzle.
Vechs realises  he can’t feel much of anything. He can see, but the vision is hazing, turning to a black fuzz that feels comfortable and he doesn’t particularly care to focus his eyes. Maybe the blackness is okay, just for now…

“Vechs!”
He wakes in shock, seeing a pair of purple lights fading into vision.
“Vechs, oh my god. What are you doing?!”
It’s light. Vechs sits up, feeling his face turn hot. “I was just… I fell asleep. I know.”
“Vechs, why the blyx are you out here?” He’s pulled to his feet by Nebris. He sways a little when he stands, then blinks until his eyes focus.
“Did you come out here last night?” Nebris looks Vechs in the eyes with concern.
“I d-did. I’m cold.”
“Vechs! You seriously need to get warm. Falling asleep out here isn’t healthy.” Vechs feels a warm arm curve around his shoulders. It surprises him, but he stays silent and says nothing about the fact that the feeling warms the inside of his stomach too. Nebris helps him down into the nearby ladder well and watches as he descends, before following and pulling back the rock.
There are relieved murmurs from Aurey and Zisteau when Vechs appears at the bottom of the ladder. Aurey gets up.

“Are you okay Vechs?” She hides her relief, not wanting to tell how scared she was to wake up and find him missing.
“Yeah,  fine,” he mumbles, sitting down at the table. Zisteau puts a warm blanket around his shoulders. Aurey goes to the kitchen and returns with four steaming mugs. She sets down one in front of Vechs.
“He was just outside,” Nebris says. “Not far at all. Fell asleep against a tree.”
“Really?” Aurey turns to Vechs. “if something is wrong, please tell us.”
“I just needed to get out,” Vechs mumbles, grabbing at the mug of mulled wine. “Cold.”
“Yeah, ya think?” Nebris says. “It’s cold out there.” Then he says, less harshly, “Come on, Vechs. You can’t spend all our time here moping around. We’re in Corax, we should be having fun!”
Aurey and Zisteau exchange a glance. Despite the fun they promised Nebris Corax would be, they haven’t had much of it all here. The nuisance of Guude and Bdubs, and Vechs’ bad mood has held back a lot of what they hoped to achieve here.
“Nebris, you and Vechs should go out and have a bit of fun. Do what you want, as long as you don’t get caught,” Aurey says. She’s desperate to cheer up Vechs, and she knows a bit of thievery should do the trick.
“Are you sure?” Nebris is hesitant. He watches as Vechs downs his steaming drink quickly and stands up.
“Why not?” Vechs says. He still looks numb, but at least he’s up for stealing. That’s a good sign, Nebris thinks.

They are out of the hideout as the sun rises higher, already nearly at the top of the sky's curve. Vechs prays there won’t be another run-in with Bdubs. Anything would be preferable to that. Nebris is talking about trying to break into a house, and Vechs remembers he hasn’t done that yet.
“Nebris, I want you to lead this mission. See what you’ve learnt.”
“Really?” Nebris sounds excited as he takes the lead. Vechs makes a mental note to make sure Nebris doesn’t slip up. The last thing they want is to get caught. If they are caught Vechs will be responsible – again – and…
“Do you trust me?” Vechs asks quietly. He knows it’s not the best time but he has to know. His fear comes back.
Nebris stops walking. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think I’ll make a stupid mistake and get us caught and….” Vechs falters. He doesn’t know how to say it.
“Like with Blame?”
Vechs looks down and nods slightly.
“I trust you, Vechs. Listen, I know you made mistakes in the past. Whatever! I don’t know why everyone’s treating me like glass around you but listen, I trust you. You’ve probably learned from your mistakes. I don’t need to be constantly paranoid that you’re going to get us thrown in prison. Just do whatever, and if something happens I’ll blame whoever is actually responsible.”
Vechs looks at him. “Thank you.” He doesn’t mention the wave of paranoia lifting from his shoulders now, but just smiles at Nebris. Maybe that was all he needed, and he can enjoy this city more now. Yes that was it. He just needed the reassurance.

 

Bdubs stumbles off, growling. His face is aching and he, yet again, didn’t succeed in convincing Vechs. But that ninja is taking far too damn long, and Bdubs is impatient.
“Hey.”
Bdubs whirls around at the voice he doesn’t recognise to see a thin man in grey clothes, standing a little way off among the trees. “Who the hell’re you?”
“Don’t ask my name. I’d just like some directions, I'm a little lost.”
Bdubs walks closer to him, rubbing drying blood from his face. “You don’t look too healthy. Where you need to go? Corax? You're almost there.”
“I believe a group of thieves known as Naziv may have come this way,” the man says.
Bdubs’ eyebrows shoot up. “Oh?” A grin breaks onto his face. “Seems like everyone wants them these days.”
“So you know where they are?”
Bdubs laughs. “I certainly do.”

Comments

[koijuly]

Feels like the cusp of finding out what happened to bitsy, very interested in that...
Poor vetches

[ruddiestbubbles]

Great chapter! Can't wait to see what happens with Vechs and Blame. I want to say that Nebs will play a big role in that. I'm secretly hoping for Nebs and Vechs to hook up (finally)

[(Anonymous)]

Good chapter! I can feel the suspense building already.
-Observing Anon