Rumours of a Sword
By Jadon W. M. Smith
Thunder roared and wind howled as the storm raged outside the small tavern. The interior was empty, aside from a single man and the bartender who was studiously wiping glasses. The man sat in a booth in the corner of the room, with nothing but a single small glass of liqueur that hadn’t been touched. Rain battered against the alehouse’s small windows and roof, filling the silence that lay within the dimly lit building.
“You still waiting for yer friend?” the bartender called over to the man in the booth.
The man in the booth was dressed in a pale yellow, rough tunic with matching pants. A dark evergreen cloak covered his clothing, with splotches of dried mud scattered across it. The man’s face was pointed- a sharp goatee lay at the bottom of his chin, short black hair covered his head, and fine thin eyebrows accentuated his dark eyes. He sighed, running his finger around the lip of his glass.
“Of course,” the man replied, “why wouldn’t I be? My friend always shows up to meet me.”
“Storm’s gettin’ a bit rough though, wouldn’t ye say?”
“My friend and I are more than just drinking buddies, sir. We’re business partners. So when we arrange a meeting, I assure you he won’t be letting a little bit of inclement weather stop him from arriving.”
As if on cue, the door burst open, a figure with a shawl wrapped around his upper body and head stumbled in, wind screaming loudly behind him as it clawed into the room. The figure struggled with the door for a moment, fighting against the wind until finally the door was closed again- shutting the howling spirit out. The figure removed the shawl, revealing his hairless green head. A dun, dressed in a dark red tunic that was thoroughly soaked. His shoes squeaked slightly as he crossed the wet floor and sat across from the man.
“See?” the man grinned at the bartender, pointing his thumb at the dun, “what’d I tell you?”
“Yobediah be damned,” the dun swore, the light of the lanterns lighting his face. The left half of the dun’s head was scarred, covered in lacerations of a long-passed fight. His left eye was blind, coloured milky white. No doubt that whatever had slashed at his face took his vision too. “Of all the nights for there to be a bloody storm, it had to be tonight.”
“Oh shush, you plant-people love the water, don’t you?” the man smirked at his friend.
“Not anymore than you hairy-ass humans do. Excuse me, bartender! Get me one of whatever he’s having!” The bartender nodded, grabbing another glass and walked up to the booth. He placed the glass before the dun, filling it with drink from a tall bottle.
“Leave the bottle, would you?” the dun smiled at the bartender. He nodded in return, walking back behind the counter to continue with his dishes.
The man across from the dun leaned back, folding his hands and resting them on the table as his smile slowly waned. The dun downed his glass and began to pour himself another. There was silence as the man looked at the refilling dun.
The plant person looked up at his friend. “So… should I start?”
“What the hell happened this week?!” the man’s hands unfolded and slammed on the table as he suddenly leaned forward, breaking his previous light-hearted demeanor. The dun wasn’t fazed, instead opting to throw back another shot. “We had deadlines to meet, margins to stretch! Chimera and Ancientglass don’t quite grow in orchards, Kesil!”
The dun, Kesil, set his glass down and ran his hand down his face.
“Look, Yago, this is completely out of our control-”
“You’re damn right it’s out of control!” Yago the human interrupted. He thumped his fist against the table again, causing the bottle to rock slightly. “31 men lost in a single week. THIRTY ONE. How in the hell does that happen?!”
“The Songkram are tightening up borders. There’s more patrolmen than normal in the towns- you can’t walk 5 feet on the street without bumping into one of those nakai cocksuckers.”
“When has that ever stopped us? We’ve been operating in the Songkram valley for years now. Why is it now that we’re getting our salesmen eviscerated left and right?!”
“Yago… okay, here. It probably started because one of Jack’s customers OD’d. Not in private either- this scatbrained junkie was on enough Chimera for 5 men. He collapsed in the middle of a road with blood pouring out of his eyes and nose. You tell me that won’t draw the attention of the local Songkram police.”
“Are you telling me that all of this is because of a single idiot junkie with a poor sense of timing?”
“Well… no. But it’s probably one of the main incidents. The Songkram does crack down pretty hard on this sort of thing.”
“So how did they find Fafly Haven?”
The dun groaned and closed his eyes, inhaling slowly before sitting back. “So you heard about it.”
“Yeah, no crap I heard about Fafly Haven. Every single villager’s heard about the Songkram’s bust there. What I want to know is how the Songkram found out about its existence, and where it was.”
“One of our civilians on the inside--Jinvo, I think his name was--he was guiding one of our salesmen to some potential customers. They got caught in a Songkram checkpoint and this dumbass was carrying samples on him. The nakai arrested him and Jinvo and probably tortured the ever-living hell out of them both. And of course one of them- or maybe even both- gave up information regarding Fafly Haven.”
“Oh for- who the hell are we hiring nowadays!? We might as well be dumping our money in the Slingwhip for the naga!”
“You must be out of touch. The Songkram were going to kill them if they didn’t talk, and the two of them knew it. What would you have done if they said they’d spare you if you gave up our info?”
“I’d tell them nothing, that’s for damn sure! Tell me Kesil- did the Songkram kill them?”
“Probably. Beth’s the one who saw them get arrested. She met with them a couple minutes before they walked down that street. No one’s seen them since of course.”
“So the Songkram killed them.”
“Well, I guess so. Besides, the nakai usually have pretty twitchy swordarms. No one’s shown up in a public execution, so they probably got-”
“Okay well then I sure as hell wouldn’t have told them anything! Yesil, if you knew that the Songkram were probably going to kill you whether or not you talked, why would you say anything?!”
The dun groaned again and leaned forward again, cradling his face in his hands.
“I get it Yago. I just…”
The two sat in silence once more. Only the muffled pattering of rain cut through the silence.
“So Fafly Haven,” Yago finally broke the silence, “you have any details?”
“I met with George earlier today. This morning- just East of here on the road.”
“Outside of Songkram borders?”
“What am I, stupid? Of course outside of Songkram borders! I was more worried about Corgathian knights stumbling across us than khatkir listening in.”
“Just double checking. Seems like there’s more incompetent people than I thought nowadays.”
“Anyways, George’s had enough. He’s out--heading up to Sharkville to catch a boat. Moving to Phovezila.”
“Pussy.”
“He survived Fafly Haven. He was there when it happened. He was one of the only ones who didn’t get captured or killed.”
“Who else survived?”
“Esak, Jerome, some whores and some local mules. Children.”
“Call ‘em what you will- they’re loose ends.”
“We’ll find them soon enough.”
“You think you can find these people before the khatkir can?”
“We’d better.”
Yago stopped for a moment and peered at Kesil.
“Somethings wrong,” the man asked, “What is it?”
“George told me there was only one.”
“One what?”
“One nakai. A single warrior.”
“A single warrior. A single nakai took out 31 trained guys.”
“I know it sounds outrageous- but haven’t you heard the rumours? About the vigilante?”
“You mean the Inuzumatako?”
“Is that what they’re calling him nowadays? Anyways, point is, I think there’s a chance they could be connected.”
“So what you’re saying,” Yago breathed, “is that Fafly Haven was taken down by a lone vigilante with a sword and the Songkram still only suspect there’s a large-scale drug op?”
“I mean, unless Jinvo and the idiot actually did talk.”
“Right. But I… I don’t know Kesil.”
“Okay well, let’s talk about the incident from last week. Remember? You personally sent two guys to Dailo’s place since you thought he was taking the product instead of distributing it.”
“Yeah, he’d picked up like 3 to 4 pounds of Ancientglass a month ago and still hadn’t sold any.”
“Of course. So we send those two thugs to his place, just rough him up a little and collect the Ancientglass if they could find it. His parents and younger sister were also living with him, so we made sure that they wore masks.”
“And then they got killed.”
“Precisely. Sword slashes across their bodies- their intestines splattered all over the damn floor. I got some guys who went to see the following morning when the two thugs never reported back. They saw first hand what was left. And get this- the family said a man by himself came to their doorstep and cut down both of them and disappeared into the streets. They said he didn’t look like a nakai- he wasn’t wearing the armour they usually did when on duty.”
“So? He could’ve just been off-duty and wanted to exact some justice.”
“You didn’t hear about what else they found in the morning, did you?”
“No.”
“Three blocks down, 6 nakai dead. Actual nakai. Armoured up and all. Every one of them cleaved to the brisket or headless. You tell me what’s up, Yago.”
Yago finally picked up his glass and drank. He held the glass for a moment, resting his chin on his other hand.
“You said we had some other survivors of Fafly Haven?”
“Yeah- Esak and Jerome. I haven’t seen them myself yet though. Probably left Songkram borders to hide until things cool down.”
“Heard anything from them?”
“I’ve heard rumours about what they’ve said- they claim a similar thing. One guy with a sword busted into the place and immediately cut down our guys.”
“Did they say it was a nakai?”
“I don’t bloody know, Yago! That’s all I’ve heard from the rumours- a guy with a sword smashed through the doors, beelined straight for the back rooms and BAM-” Kesil snapped his fingers. “All dead. And that 31 corpse count--that’s not including local thugs. Mercs, pitfighters--not exactly the softest handed folks. Whoever this swordsman is, he’s good.”
Yago set the glass down and crossed his arms.
“So what now?”
“Well I don’t know. If this… Inuzumatako or whoever busted up Fafly Haven, then we’ve still got time to deal with the Songkram. On the other hand, tracking this one guy will be nearly impossible. For Hyperius' sake, this is a mess. Okay, here’s what we can do-” Kesil quickly poured and drank another shot before continuing. “We send someone up to the Dancing Dragon, see if anyone knows who this Inuzumatako is. Maybe he’s an outside merc with an employer who has a vendetta against us. We send in the broom squad, get them to find the kids and the whores. Get rid of them. Then we need to see if we can get in contact with that fat nakai, whoever he is. Bribe him again and see if he can figure out what happened to Jinvo and whoever.”
“And like that all of our troubles are gone?”
“Of course not. But we’re gonna need to slow down traffic for a while. Fafly Haven- or what remains of it- is obviously crawling with khatkir detectives right now. We’ve probably lost a couple month’s worth of product, as well as things like ledgers and things with names on them. If we don’t exercise caution for these next few months, we’re toast.”
“And naturally, no one had the brains or balls to light that place up once it was compromised. So George is out, fine. But Esak and Jerome need to pay for their stupidity. Whoever sees them first, make sure we teach them a lesson.”
Yago stood up as he finished talking. He placed a few Corgathian Clicks on the table to cover his tab.
“I guess we’ll be in touch. I’ll go to the Dancing Dragon, see if Fred’s heard about the Inuzumatako.”
“And I’ll speak with the broom squad and deal with the mess here.” Kesil extended his arm towards Yago. Yago reached out, clasping his hand.
“We’ll get through this, my friend,” Kesil said with a smile. Yago nodded back solemnly. “Besides, we have enough money. If things go really South, we’ll just travel West! Ha ha!”
The two got up, bid farewell to the bartender and prepared themselves for the weather outdoors.
“Back into the fray,” Yago said, pulling his cloak’s hood over his head. They opened the door. But they weren’t met with wind or water--something blocked it. ^e1aef9
A towering figure stood before them. Spikes like hooks protruded from its wide shoulders. The glint of metal reflected the lightning in the sky. Blood-red light poured from its featureless visage. The dim light of the inside of the tavern was enough for the two to identify an ominous symbol on the mountainous figure’s helmeted forehead. ^532829
“By demons! Khatkir!” Yago took a step back, nearly tripping over his cloak. “What are they doing so far away from Songkram borders!?” ^42267e
“Ask questions later- they’ve found us!” Kesil pulled a large dagger from his boot, and moved to stab his opponent. The dagger glanced off the armoured chest of the khatkir, who emitted a metallic groan--almost like a whimper. Kesil quickly reversed his weapon, but it was as if the khatkir knew what was going to happen. The Songkram assailant moved back just enough for the blade to swing by him, then reached out at blinding speed to grab the dun’s arm, directing it in a way that resulted in the dun’s own weapon inside his own chest. The dun gasped, yellow blood bubbling from his mouth as the khatkir screeched and released a blade from its forearm, slashing the dun’s throat. Kesil collapsed. ^118ffb
“Kesil!” Yago cried out, taking another step back. This time, he tripped on his cloak, landing on the alehouse’s floor with a yelp. The bartender yelled, abandoning his counter and fleeing to the building’s back.
“Wh-wh-” Yago stammered as the khatkir approached him with heavy, ironclad footsteps, “h-how? How did you find us? Wh-”
There was a final blend of screams- Yago’s, and the metal grating of the khatkir- then silence.
Thunder roared.
Wind howled.
The interior of the tavern was empty.
End.
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