Chapter 787: Brokers & Brawls (Patreon)

The tavern was larger than most, a testament to the wealth of the merchant district. The place smelled of roasted savory food and the sweet scent of wine. Heads of strange beasts hung from the walls, trophies that the master of the tavern portrayed for his guests. Stryg would never understand such a custom. Why buy trophies from actual hunters and then show them off? Everyone knew the tavern master had never fought any of the beasts.

The tavern was packed. Stryg counted fifty tables at least and that was only the first floor. The second floor was made up of a wide balcony that allowed the wealthier patrons to look down upon their so-called ‘lessers.’ There were no empty tables. Barmaids, some with horns, others without, danced across the tables, serving drinks and food to a plethora of hungry patrons. Most were merchants, others mages, and a few even dabbled in less than ‘proper’ businesses. There were only two things every man and woman sitting down shared, coin and their desire for more coin.

The sound of gossip and boisterous laughter assaulted Stryg’s sharp, yet sensitive ears. His ears drooped more than usual and he found himself covering them with his hands. For all the wealth this place exuded, Stryg preferred the small, simple taverns he used to frequent back at Hollow Shade.

Tauri whistled as she took in the view of the tavern. “Fancy place. You sure this Ori guy is here? I thought he was more of a ‘low-life’ kinda guy.”

Evander pulled his cowl lower over his face. “Ori always follows the trail of gold. If there’s money to be made, he won’t be far behind. Trust me, he’s here.”

“Trust is hard to come by these days,” Gale muttered and shoved past him.

“Why does my Shadow not like you?” Stryg asked him.

Ori sighed, his shoulders dropping. “I’m a sand-rat. She’s a noble lady. Not much to like, I suppose.”

“Gale isn’t like that,” Stryg noted. He wanted to prod further, but Tauri had already managed to coax a pair of drinks from a barmaid and was bringing them over.

“Here, a bit of liquid courage. You’ll need it,” Tauri handed it to Evander.

“Thanks, but I don’t drink while on a job,” Evander said. “Besides, we’d need cups.”

“Nah, we don’t need cups. Stryg?” Tauri offered the mug to her husband instead.

“Wait—” Evander tried to stop her.

But Stryg grabbed the mug with a silent nod of thanks and downed the whole thing at once. “Tasty.” He licked his lips and stared lamentingly at the empty mug.

Evander stared at him, surprised. “Wow, that’s not ale. You know that, right?”

“And?” Stryg asked, completely unbothered.

“And it’s meant to be shared around the table. It’s strong stuff, really strong. Like, people die if they drink too much,” Evander said.

“Noted.” Tauri took only a small sip.

“I thought the mug was a little big,” Stryg said.

“Dammit, we’ll find Ori later. We need to get you to a healer as soon as possible.” Evander turned to leave.

“Nah. I’ll be fine.” Stryg tossed the mug behind him.

The mug cracked upon a sune woman sitting behind them. She went limp on impact and face-planted into her plate of food before slumping over and falling to the ground.

Stryg glanced back at the sound. “Oops.”

“Jahneesa? Jahneesa!” The woman’s partner rushed to her side and shook her shoulder frantically, eliciting only a weak groan from the woman.

“I can fix that,” Stryg raised his hand somewhat.

The sune man glared at Stryg and jumped to his feet, hands balled into fists. “Fix this? You stupid son of a whore, I’ll kill you!”

“Wait—” Stryg didn’t get a chance to finish. The sune rushed him. Stryg batted his fist away with ease and replied with a quick jab to his throat. The sune man clutched at his throat and gasped for a breath that did not come. He stumbled back, eyes wide in panic, and fell onto his table, sending the table and every ceramic plate shattering into the ground in a loud crash. The other guests at the table fell back from their chairs and shouted in dismay and angry surprise.

“Every time.” Tauri shook her head.

Evander stared at the wreckage, mouth hanging open. It had all happened so fast. 

“We need to go.” Tauri didn’t waste any time and made her way through the crowd of barmaids and idle-standing guests.

Stryg followed behind her. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t.” Tauri held up a finger and kept walking.

“What the fuck just happened?” Evander did a double-take at the crashed table. He heard someone call for a guard. “Shit,” Evander cursed under his breath and hurried after his companions.

Evander managed to reach them near the stairs, but a guard shouted for them to stop. The guard was already pulling out his sword by the time Evander turned around. Stryg snatched the blade and casually snapped it with his hand. The guard stared at his broken sword in shock, but before he had a chance to shout, Stryg punched his throat as he walked by, never breaking his stride. Evander looked back in mounting horrid realization of who he was traveling with. Tauri grabbed Evadner’s arm and pulled the stunned snow elf along and up the stairs.

“Okay, that one was just asking for it,” Stryg shrugged.

Tauri sent him a glare. 

Gale ran up the stairs a moment later. “What happened?”

“The usual,” Tauri grumbled.

“Wait, this is usual?” Evander asked.

Gale looked over at Stryg and nodded slowly. “How many did he kill?”

“Two, maybe? Depends how hard he punched them,” Tauri said.

“I didn’t hit them hard,” Stryg said.

“You’re a titan. A hard hit from you punctures plate armour. A soft one breaks bones,” Tauri said dryly.

“Do we need to find an exit?” Gale was already scoping out the windows on the second floor.

“No, we stick to the plan. We find the information broker and then get out of here,” Stryg said adamantly.

“Okay, where is he?” Gale asked Evander. The other two turned to Evander expectantly.

Evander took a step back. “I haven’t— Look, we just got here. We’ve barely had a chance to look around. And the guards will be here any moment. Ori could be anywhere.”

“Take a guess,” Tauri pressed.

Evander furrowed his brow and thought about it. “He’ll probably be on the second floor. In a dark corner where people won’t see him conducting his business. He prefers his privacy, as do his clients.”

“So a private booth perhaps?” Gale eyed several in the eastern corner.

“Perfect. You point him out to me, I’ll take care of the rest.” Stryg made a beeline to the booths.

“Wait—!” Evander said.

Stryg pulled back the curtains from each booth he passed and glanced inside. He ignored the guests’ angry shouts and kept walking. Finally, he stopped by one that had a beady-eyed, skinny human sitting across from a fat sune with a dozen gaudy rings wrapped around his horns. A bodyguard was standing behind the fat man and he drew a dagger as soon as Stryg poked his head inside.

“Who the fuck are you—?” the fat merchant growled. 

Without hesitation, Stryg stepped inside the small room and caught the bodyguard’s hand in a flash. He snapped the poor man’s wrist, caught the dagger as it fell, and plunged it into the man’s eye socket, silencing him mid-scream. The bodyguard fell over in a quiet thump.

“Dear sweet gods!” The fat merchant tried to stand, but Stryg stepped behind the booth and pushed him back down.

The bead-eyed human scrambled to the other edge of the booth and stared at the scene in panic. When Stryg didn’t react, the human gave a weak smile and slicked his hair back. “How can I help you, m’lord?” 

Evander ran into the booth, out of breath. “Stryg, you’re too—” His eyes locked on the human. “Ori.”

“Evander?” The beady-eyed man frowned in disbelief. “You’re alive?”

“That’s Ori?” Stryg asked.

“Yeah,” Evander said, not taking his eyes off the information broker.

The fat merchant looked around the room and frowned indignantly. “What the fuck is going on here—?” Stryg snapped his neck. The man slumped over, dead.

“Oh fuck!” Ori yelped and jumped to his feet. “Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you, okay? Just don’t let that lunatic kill me.”

Evander marched over to Ori and punched him in the face. Ori’s head snapped back and he fell back onto the booth. “Shit, you broke my nose!” Ori cried as he held his face, blood pouring out between his fingers.

“That’s for Grace, you piece of shit.” Evander snarled.

“I didn’t know,” Ori whimpered. 

“Get up!” Evander yelled.

“Please,” Ori held his hands up for mercy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know what would happen when you tipped off the Greymarks about our heist? The one you supplied plans for?” Evander kicked him in the ribs.

Ori fell to the floor and cowered in the corner, glancing between a red-faced Evander and the stoic Stryg.

“I have debts to very powerful people. I needed the money,” Ori whined.

“And you decided to play both sides, you traitorous little shit,” Evander said.

“I thought you’d get away… I didn’t mean for anyone to get caught,” Ori said.

“You told her where our hideout was!” Evander kicked him again and again, until Ori was left in the fetal position, whimpering for mercy.

Tauri rushed into the room. “The guards are coming. Gale’s holding them off, but they’ll be here any second.”

As if to support her claim, Gale rushed in behind her, blood-stained sword in hand. “Nine guards coming this way. Even more rushing up the stairs. Twenty seconds at best.”

Stryg nodded. He placed his hand on the wall and channeled green. The bricks trembled for a moment before crumbling apart.

“W-What are you doing?” Ori looked up, confused. “Wait, wait, wait, aaagghh!” Stryg grabbed him by the collar and tossed him out the makeshift hole. Ori screamed the whole way down. His legs took the fall and his ankles snapped on impact.

Evander looked down in satisfaction at the crying man before his face went pale. “Wait, do you want me to make that jump?”

“No need.” Stryg grabbed Evander and tossed him over his shoulder before scooping up Tauri in his arms. The window rushed past his ears as he leapt out the window and landed on his feet with a heavy thud. He rolled Evander off his shoulder and carefully placed Tauri down.

“Thanks, darling.” Tauri kissed Stryg on the cheek.

“Yeah, thanks.” Evander winced and rubbed his butt. “I think I just broke something.”

“You’ll heal,” Stryg said.

Gale jumped after Stryg, somersaulting mid-air, and landed in a roll before jumping back to her feet with poised grace. Evander couldn’t help but stare in awe. 

“We need to move fast. They’ll be on us soon,” Gale said, keeping an eye on the street.

“We need a distraction,” Tauri said.

“There they are!” shouted a guard from the second-floor room. Several more joined him, staring down from the hole in the wall Stryg had made. “Don’t let them get away—!”

Stryg raised his hand and shot a fireball at the guards. The room exploded in flames. Screams of panic erupted from inside the tavern. “What? I created a distraction and dealt with the guards. Problem solved.”

“Every single time…” Tauri sighed heavily.

“We should move before Stryg kills any more guards,” Gale said.

“Agreed,” Tauri said.

Stryg picked up Ori, who was still crying in pain, and slapped him across the face into unconsciousness. “Any good hiding spots left in the city?” Stryg asked Evander.

“I might have one,” Evander said.