Chapter One Hundred and Twenty — Into the Scumways
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty — Into the Scumways With breakfast done, we all sat around the table-or flopped onto the ground-and basked in the glory of having full tummies and good friends around us. I had Orange sprawled out across my lap where I was absently rubbing her behind the ears while staring at the last bit of food on my plate. The ‘should I, I shouldn’t’ playing in the back of my mind was pleasant.But, as with all things, it couldn’t last. “We should get going sometime soon,” I said with a sigh.Booksie patted her tummy where she had a food baby. “Oh? Are we all going?”“Hmm,” I hmmed. “I don’t know. Maybe just a few of us.”“What are you even planning on doing?” she asked. “I don’t think the Morepoles will listen to your pleas. No offence.”“Yeah, I know. But if we don’t at least try to talk things out first then I’d feel bad. Everyone deserves a chance before other options are taken.”“Other options,” Amaryllis repeated. “Like killing them?”“What? No!” I said. “I mean like talking to the police. Maybe... I don’t know, suing them.”“We could eat them,” Cholondee suggested. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said. The dragoness nodded. “You’re probably right,” she said.“I am? I mean. Yes. of course.” I was expecting to have to make up some quick excuses to stop her from eating the locals. Being friends with dragons was totally awesome, but they had a few habits that I found rather distasteful and hard to accept. I wasn’t sure if that was me being discriminatory, or if it was okay to accept that a friend had the habit of eating people. “Yeah,” she continued. “The grenoil taste all stringy and wet.”I slumped into my seat. “A-anyway, I think the best thing to do would be to go over to wherever these Morepole people are and talk to their boss. Give them a nice friendly warning and maybe talk things out. And if that doesn’t work then we’ll figure things out from there.”“Awa, that, that sounds like a nice plan,” Awen said. “Um. Maybe we can put pressure on them some other ways if it doesn’t work. My mom and dad were good at that kind of thing. They taught me how to do a bit of that. I was never very good at it, but with Broccoli, I’m sure we could figure it out.”Amaryllis sighed and plucked the last bit of bread off my plate. “Might as well,” she said as she chewed. “Right! So now we just need to decide who goes, and who stays up here,” I said. “I think that maybe Booksie should stay out of it. Just in case.”The bun shrugged. “I don’t mind. The Scumways aren’t exactly my idea of a fun time. And I could go see if my shop still stands.” She turned to Rhawrexdee and smiled up at him. “Would you like to accompany me? We could see if any of the books I talked about are still there.”“I suppose I could go with you,” Rhawrexdee said with some ambivalence. His tail shifting behind him gave up the lie. “I’m going with your group then. The less time I spend with that blue lump the better,” Cholondee said.I looked to Awen and Amaryllis, but Awen just seemed lost and Amaryllis was toying with her ring and not paying attention. “Well okay then!” There was some shuffling about as we got to our feet with all the energy of a group of retirees on a warm afternoon. The tab was settled with the nice grenoil lady, Orange was set on the ground and the table and chairs were dragged back into the restaurant.“I’d give goodbye hugs, but we should be seeing each other again in a bit,” I said.Booksie grinned. “I wouldn’t say no to a hug anyway,” she said. I laughed as she squeezed the stuffing out of me. “We’ll see you soon!” I said.Booksie waved us off before turning to Rhawrexdee. I led the rest of my friends deeper into the city and past the first line of guards who scrambled out of my path. “So,” I said a little bit later. “Where are the Morepoles anyway?” “You’re the one leading us and you don’t know?” Amaryllis asked.“I was only in Port Royal twice before, and never for much more than a day,” I said.“Then why are you the one we’re following?” Amaryllis asked. “You moron. I thought you knew where you were going.”I smiled sheepishly back at her, then pointed to the ground ahead of us where Orange was walking, tail high and posture as proud as could be. “Actually, Orange was ahead.”Amaryllis whapped my side with a wing. “Don’t be pedantic. We can ask for directions. Someone around here must know where these Morepoles are based.” She turned narrow eyes onto one of the younger guards who hadn’t quite scrambled far enough away and then stomped over to him with a click-clack of her talons on the cobbles. “You. Tell me where the Scumways are.”“Please,” I added.“Ah, zey are not a very nice place, miss,” he said.“We have a dragon,” Amaryllis said.“Ah. Yes. Well. Um.” He swallowed as Cholondee and Awen came closer too. Though I don’t think Awen really scared him that much. “Zey’re zat way,” he said as he pointed more or less towards the docks. “West end of ze city, near ze docks.”“Now we know where we’re going,” Amaryllis said with smugness that I thought was entirely undeserved. Still, she’d gotten some results. “Whelp, let’s go then,” I said.The Scumways, as it turned out, were a bit of a dump. The area was tucked behind a wall dotted with tenement buildings. It was in a natural hollow along the side of the mountain holding Port Royal. The docks were just a bit to the south, with airships passing ahead in a hurry. A gate blocked off the area, just like the one in the East side of town, though this one wasn’t guarded as much and the road, missing cobbles and all, was a whole lot dirtier, with trash piled up along corners and the little half-pipe gutters along the sidewalks jammed up by old newspapers and refuse. The colourful little street vendors I’d seen just about everywhere in Port Royal were missing. In their stead were groups of young grenoil, often in tattered clothes with knives at their hips.This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.They might have been scary, but we had a Cholondee with us, and one hungry look from her had them scurrying away. Passing the gates was easy for most of us, but Cholondee said some very rude words in what I think might have been her native tongue as she sucked in her tummy and shuffled through the gate at an angle. As it turns out, Dragons are like cats. If their head fits, so will the rest of them. Mostly because if the rest doesn’t fit, they’ll make it fit.“So, where do we start?” Cholondee asked as she shook off some masonry. I looked around the little area past the gate. The homes in Port Royal have all been nice and sturdy. Wooden walls over stone foundations, with obvious signs that some magic trickery had been used to sculpt things. The homes in the Scumways were entirely different. Ramshackle buildings of wood and rusty steel. Streaks of rust and dirt from the mountainous overhang streaked the walls and even from where I stood I could make out big mushrooms growing out of humid corners. The constant rattle from copper pipes was present here too, but the pipes themselves were in a bad way. One of them had a crack in it and every few seconds, like clockwork, a spurt of brackish water would spritz out of it. The smell gave no doubt as to why the water was brown. Orange took one look at the place and started walking up into the air until she hovered half a dozen feet up.“So, if I were a gang of do-badders, where would I hide?” I wondered aloud as I surveyed the area. I could see why a gang might form in a place like this. The people living here, just one wall away from the much cleaner and nicer parts of the city, must have been filled with resentment, especially if it was hard to move out of the area. I could imagine someone promising a young grenoil some money if they just did as they asked, pretending to be their friend while dangling opportunities before them. Someone desperate enough would take the bait.I scrunched my nose at the thought. “We could ask one of the locals,” Amaryllis said. “If any of them were around.”The square was nearly empty except for one older grenoil leaning against a far wall, mouth wide open and bottle of booze next to his snoring form. “I’ll go find someone,” I said.I stepped away from my friends, then heard Awen jogging to catch up to me. “Awa, you’re going off on your own?” she asked.I smiled over my shoulder. “You can come, of course.”“Thank you!” she said. “So, um, we’re looking for people?” I nodded. “That’s the idea. Just someone who might know where these Morepoles are staying.”The next street over had a few shops and such, mostly decrepit little stores with barred windows and big stocky grenoil standing before them. I counted three apothecaries and two pawn shops out of the ten or so stores lining the street. There were some people here, mostly grenoil but some humans and a few harpy too. They all looked like they could use a bath.I flicked off the reins holding back my Rank A Cleaning magic and breathed a little easier as the air around me became suffused with my mana. The skill was doing most of the work controlling the magic while I focused on other things.“Awa, thank you,” Awen said. “You, um, smell much nicer than this place.” she was eyeing everything suspiciously, her crossbow no longer strapped over her back but hugged up against her chest.“You’re welcome,” I said. The magic was doing a number to the street underfoot, so I decided to move along. Now, if I was a bad, bad person and someone wanted to talk to me, where would I be?“That alleyway looks nice and dangerous,” I said as I pointed to a dark tunnel between two buildings. “Awa, we’re not going there, right?” Awen asked.“Of course! We’re two innocent girls, that’s the perfect place to find a bad guy who might know things.”Awen followed, eyes darting this way and that, into the dark and stinky alley way. Even my magic couldn’t stop the smell of dung from wafting over to me as I moved into the shadows. I paused to pull my shovel out from where I’d stuffed it between my back and pack.“I should really learn some light magic to use as a torch of sorts,” I said as I moved deeper into the alley. It was quite dark, the sunlight not quite able to make it to the bottom. “I can show you some lights,” a gruff voice said from up ahead.A grenoil man appeared, covered in rags and looking like he’d just come out of a brawl. He had a big knife in one hand and was smiling wide when he saw us. “Insight,” I muttered.A Grenoil Scumrunner, level 10Same level as my main class. “Hello sir,” I said. “Sorry to be a bother, but I was hoping to ask for directions.”“How ‘bout ya give me your purse and we’ll see,” he said.“I could give you a few cop, I guess,” I said. “We just have a couple of questions.”“How about you give me all of your cops. Zen I’ll answer all of your questions.”“Eh... no.” I shook my head. “That’s not how I want this to go down, mister.” The grenoil blinked and looked at his knife as if to make sure it was there. “What? No, give me all your coin!” “I said no,” I said. I did reach into a pocket of my bandoleer and removed a pair of copper coins. “I’ll give you these if you tell me where I can find the Morepoles.”“I’m not asking ya, I’m telling ya to give me all ze coin ya have,” he said.I sighed. “Mister, I’m not going to let you mug me. If you don’t want to help that’s fine. Could you point me to another mugger?” The grenoil man stared for a long moment. “Are you mad?” he asked.“No, I’m pretty sure I’m sane. I just need to find the Morepoles, and soon. We have two impatient dragons to distract so if we take too long it might be trouble.”“I’ll stab ya?” he tried.I shook my head again. “I mean, you could try. But then we’d be having a very different sort of conversation.” I pulled out a silver coin. “Two cop, one sil for the info?” I smiled big and bright. “Please?”
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-One — Gangsta Bun
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-One — Gangsta Bun “We know where to look!” I called out to Amaryllis and Cholondee as I raced back to them. The mugger had been very informative after a little bit. He was even kind of nice. The streets were still mostly clear, though a few people were poking their heads out of alleyways and over the lips of the roofs to stare down at Cholondee. The dragoness was, after all, a very impressive lady. We would need to move though, there didn’t seem to be that many exits to the Scumways and we were effectively blocking one of them which was a bit rude. “What did you learn?” Amaryllis asked.I came to a bouncing stop before her and looked over to make sure Awen was still on my heels. “We found out where the Morepoles have their big base. It’s way on the other side of the Scumways, near to the docks.”One of Amaryllis’ eyebrows rose up a bit. “I would have expected them to be closer to the nice parts of town, not so close to where the smell is this awful.”“Maybe it’s for solidarity?” I asked.“Broccoli, they’re a criminal organization, I doubt solidarity is a major factor.”I shook my head. “It should be. Think of how it would look to their members to see that some of them are living way better than them. It sends the wrong image.”“Awa, do you know a lot about gangs and such, Broccoli?” Awen asked.I tried not to flush. “When I was little I had different goals. I wanted to either be a veterinarian so that I could spend the day playing with cute animals, or an anthropologist so that I could meet new sorts of people, but for a little bit I wanted to be a gangster.”“A gangster,” Amaryllis repeated, her voice so flat it could have been used as a level.I tucked my hands away at the small of my back. “They have cool beanies.”Amaryllis huffed her ‘this is silly, let’s move on’ huff and fluttered a wing about in a ‘go on’ gesture. “We could get moving. I’d like to get this business done sometime today. I do have things I’d rather be doing.”“You do?” I asked.“Idiot, of course I do,” Amaryllis said. “But we can get all of this stuff done first.”I grinned. “It’s really nice of you to want to help Booksie this much,” I said.Amaryllis glared. “You said near the docks, right? It should be that way.” She pointed off to the side. “We’ll use the widest roads we can.”“Oh please, if you’re going to try and find a route that I can fit in then just give up, I’ve seen this place from the air,” Cholondee said. “I’d have to tear down half these buildings to pass through, and while that would be amusing, it would also scuff my scales. I’m going to fly off my breakfast, maybe find some Sky Murgh to snack on.”“Ah, okay,” I said. “How will we find you again?” I asked.The dragon eyed me, mirth making her eyes twist up at the corners. “Foolish bun, I’m the predator here. I find you.”With that, she spread her wings wide and started to beat at the ground. I had to press my skirts down and cover my eyes as huge gusts of wind rushed past. When they abated, Cholondee was far above and circling over the city. I waved up to her and saw her waving back a moment later. Dragons were so cool! Once I was done fangirling about my new friend, I skipped over to my more ground-bound friends, grabbed their hands and/or talons, and started pulling them along after me. “Let’s go find the boss!”The roads of the Scumways needed some serious maintenance. Pulling my friends along already made travelling hard, but the missing cobbles and the cracked pavement made it harder still. As soon as we were a block over, the city became a little livelier. Or maybe that wasn’t the right word. There were more people about, definitely, but they were shifty. Grenoil in long coats standing by the entrance of alleys, women of a few races in revealing clothes leaning next to houses with red bows over their doors. A few folk eyed us mistrustfully as we moved by, and I was getting the distinct impression that we weren’t welcome. Maybe it was because we stuck out like sore thumbs. My armour and dress were both bright, Awen’s long coat and fancy crossbow too. Amaryllis was the only member of our group wearing more muted colours with her brown over brown outfit, but the way she walked and her white feathers made her stick out anyway. Other people I could see were all dirty and hunched over, wearing grey rags or simple brown clothes, with pant legs that were muddy to mid-calf and their long coats were torn more often than not.I was considering maybe buying a few coats that we could toss over our clothes to better fit in when we rounded a corner and found ourselves on a road with a single man standing in the middle of it. He was a taller, bulkier grenoil, lips curled up at the corners and a long wooden bat over his shoulder. “Heard you girls were lookin’ for us,” he said.I slowed to a stop, then let go of my friends. Just in case, I looked over my shoulder to make sure there wasn’t another group of girls he might have been talking to. It would have been really embarrassing if he was and I replied thinking he meant us. “Maybe,” I said. “We’re looking for the Morepoles. Are you one of them?”“Oh, we are,” he said. The grenoil whistled, a sound I didn’t know grenoil could make, and a dozen people appeared out of the alleys and buildings around us. They were a scruffy mix of grenoil and humans, all dressed in Scumway chique and carrying bats and chains and a few knives. I felt Amaryllis and Awen tense, the air around us filling with the faint scent of ozone as Amaryllis’ magic started to seep out of her and made her feathers rise. Awen pulled her crossbow off her back and had it ready to shoot though she didn’t seem to know where to aim.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.“Are you here to escort us to your boss?” I asked. “Because that would be real helpful!” The big grenoil smiled wide and shifted his bat so that he held it before him. “I’m here to beat ze crap out of ya, zen we’ll see ‘bout bringing you to ze bosses.”I blinked. “That seems really counterintuitive. We just want to talk. I don’t think you know what we want to talk about yet. What if we’re customers?”“Are you customers?” he asked.“Well, no, not really,” I said.“Broccoli, I think that would have been a good moment to lie,” Amaryllis said.“Oh, right, oops.” I tapped the side of my helmet with a knuckle. “But yeah, we’re not here to fight; so maybe we could just not fight and become friends?”Big GreenDesired Quality: Someone who admires how big he is.Dream: To beat up anyone who steps onto his turf.Big Green tightened his grip around his bat and pointed at me with it. “Are you saying we’re too cowardly to fight?”“No? That’s exactly what I didn’t say,” I said. “You hear zat? Ze girl is mocking us!” Big Green said. “We should teach zem a lesson, zen have our fun wiz zem after!” I felt a pit opening up in my tummy. Maybe going to the worst part of town was a bad idea, after all. I pulled my warspade around and off my back while eyeing our surroundings. The street wasn’t too narrow, but it wasn’t all that wide either. Not enough that we could use it as a chokepoint. There was an alleyway nearby, and I could see a set of fire-escape like stairs in its shadows. That might be handy, except there was a young human between us and it. “Insight,” I whispered.An excited human Scavenger, level eight. Weaker than any of us. But I couldn’t bet on that being the case for all of them.“The alley,” I whispered.“I see it,” Amaryllis said.I looked around, other than that one alley, there weren’t that many places to go. “When I say ‘go’ we run,” I muttered.“You think you can just leave?” Big Green asked. Had he heard me? “No sir, I think that instead of fighting we should just— Go!” I spun on a heel and darted towards the alley. The Scavenger in our path looked at us with widening eyes and started to raise the nail-covered piece of wood he had.I batted the wood aside with the end of my spade, then spun around him. As I passed, I flicked out my foot backwards mid-hop and hit him behind the knee. He squeaked as he went down.Amaryllis and Awen slid into the alley and I moved after them in a hurry. “After zem!” The alley was a mess, but I could see the light from another street out ahead of us. Amaryllis cast a bit of light to allow us to skip over some of the trash left on the ground. Booted feet thumped behind us, the thugs getting closer, but we burst out of the other end of the alley without any of them catching up. Amaryllis slid to a stop, raised her hand, and frowned as she focused.“No killing!” I shouted.She huffed. “Close your eyes!” I did as she asked. Light burst out of her hands, followed by a sound like an empty steel drum being flung off the roof of a building. Screams came from within the alley as our followers dealt with the magical equivalent for a flash-bang to the face.“Nice!” I said as I looked around. This street was nicer. Barely. It had a couple of shops, and some crooked street lamps dotted the sides of the road, most missing the two lamps at their tops. “Awa, that way!” Awen said as she pointed to the end of the street. We started to move, only to come to a scampering stop as half a dozen thugs ran out from another alley and cut off our path. Turning around was no good, those Amaryllis hadn’t caught in her blast were moving out behind us, followed by their blinded and dazed buddies. “Shop!” Amaryllis said. She ran over to a store and unceremoniously smashed through its window shoulder-first. Awen jumped in after her. I was too slow to act, before I got to the storefront Big Green landed before me and brandished his bat my way. “You’re not escaping me! None of you are,” he said.I tightened my grip on my spade and looked around, all my ears perked to listen for an opportunity or for trouble. I couldn’t see an easy way out. Maybe I could jump to the roofs? A glance at the two or three grenoil that had followed by jumping over the buildings nixed that idea. Big Green didn’t announce his attack. He just rushed towards me, bat swinging down for my head.I hopped to the side, then had to skip backwards as that brought me into stabbing range of another thug.I was caught in a circle, one that was quickly growing smaller. I tossed my spade up and slid my backpack off in one smooth motion, then caught my spade again. Now I could fight unencumbered.“Fight, you moron!” Amaryllis shouted.A blast of wrist-thick lightning shot out of the store and hit one of the grenoil goons in the side. The grenoil was flung off his feet, his entire body twitching and writhing in midair before he crashed onto the sidewalk. Another man screamed as a bolt appeared in his shin.I decided to take Amaryllis’ words to heart. If these people wanted a fight, they’d get one. And when I was done beating the stuffing out of them I’d lecture them real hard about how to greet people nicely and be friendly because this sort of behaviour was unacceptable.
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