Rowan set his empty mug aside and sighed. To be honest, he didn’t know how to really answer Soran’s question. What were they going to do about this mess? Should he trust “Weave”? Did he really have a choice not to?
No, he decided silently, he didn’t. He certainly couldn’t refuse the girl’s offer; she’d just turn around and turn Soran in to the city guard. So he had to agree to the payment of 3000 gold—either that or get rid of her somehow. And he didn’t particular relish killing her, greedy as she was.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. In any case, the boys would never forgive him if he did. Xue would understand and likely approve, but couldn’t risk alienating the others, especially Soran. That and he wasn’t so sure it would be as easy as it used to be for him to kill an innocent person in cold blood.
“I don’t know,” he finally admitted. He stood up then and paced the room a bit, trying to gather his thoughts. Damn it, he was a born politician! Persuasion and cleverness were in his blood for gods’ sakes. There had to be a way to trick Weave into helping them, without giving her 3000 gold.
“All right,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair again. “Let’s think. She’s offered to help us track the real thief down, but for a price. A price we don’t happen to have, seeing as how none of us carries several thousand gold pieces in our pockets while traveling.”
He met Kato and Soran’s eyes, but they seemed to be waiting for him to continue. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and tried to think. “She wants the money,” he muttered. “We don’t have the money. If she doesn’t get the money, she’ll turn us in. I have the broach, but the broach is useless.”
He shook his head. “This is ridiculous. Even if I disguise you well enough, sari, we’ve still got the girl to worry about. And she has ALL our descriptions.” He tapped a finger to his chin, then finally shrugged.
“I hate to have to come to this, but I suppose I’ll just tell her the truth. I’ll give her as much as we have on us, then promise the rest later. Hopefully, she’ll be gullible enough to believe me…” He trailed off for a second, lost in thought, then looked at Kato and Soran. “Come on, then, let’s pool our money together. And if that’s still not enough, I don’t know, maybe I’ll try and offer her the bloody horses, too!”
~*~*~*~*~
Cas was impressed with Huck’s street networking abilities. (He decided to keep thinking of her as “Huck” since that was who she was known as around here.) He couldn’t help wondering what she really did for a living; she sure as hell wasn’t a street urchin, that was for sure. A thief, he figured, or maybe an assassin. A spy?
That thought gave him pause. Maybe she was really working for the city guard. But then she would’ve turned Soran in by now, right? Probably. Or maybe she was waiting until they were split up enough so as not to pose a threat. Xue was gone now, Alex was all beat up, now HE was gone…
Suddenly, he wasn’t sure what to do. Should he turn back? But now that he thought about it, they were the ones who’d suggested getting food, not her. And Rowan had sent Xue off; Huck hadn’t even known about Jeremy. He relaxed. Not a set-up, then. Probably not a spy, either.
He tensed up again when Huck warned him about the barbarians at the tavern they were headed for. Knowing that they hated other races made him wish he had a hat to pull over his head to hide his horns. But surely she wouldn’t take him there if she thought it’d put him in danger. He had to be comforted by that thought, since he couldn’t very well act like a wimp and ask her if it was too dangerous for him to go in with her.
Once inside, he decided the place wasn’t all that bad. He’d certainly seen worse. He followed her up to the bar, his confidence increasing with each step. He was pretty much in his element now; fighting Rocs and camping out under the stars wasn’t exactly his forte, but give him a big city full of lowlifes and he’d feel right at home.
He grinned up at the barbarian barkeep while Huck made up some little story about them wanting to start up a gang. After Red plunked down a couple of mugs before them, he lumbered off to get the food ready, leaving them relatively alone.
Not surprisingly, Huck took the opportunity to pelt him with questions. No doubt she figured him for a simpleton, the dumb street kid who wouldn’t know any better when it came to imparting important information. He was just about to tell her that their business wasn’t none of hers when she stopped him short, asking about his horns.
He frowned, not knowing whether to blush or scowl. After all, nobody had ever referred to his horns as cute!
“Course they’re real,” he said, giving her a funny look. “Why would I walk around with horns on my raking head if they weren’t real? Ain’t ever met nobody that was afraid of me just cause I’m part demon.” He shrugged. “Some people like ‘em, some people don’t. I don’t know what the big deal is, long as they don’t touch ‘em.”
He took a long swallow of his wine, wiping his mouth with his sleeve afterward. “As for the others—well, that depends on what you wanna know about them, I guess. Rowan’s rich; he can definitely afford to give you your gold, but you’ll have to wait till we get back home. Soran is his student. I’m Soran’s friend. Me and Remy live outside a Bizmar at some mansion house his friend Marz Nightcrawler built. And let’s see…”
He tried to think how much he knew about the others and realized it wasn’t all that much. “Xue’s Rowan’s friend, I think, but I just met her. Kato lives at the mansion with us, but I don’t know him that well neither. Alex sorta joined us on the way here. We’re all headed for Dara to fetch some magic wand thing for a mage lady who’s gonna pay us 1000 gold apiece if we bring it back.”
Red reappeared then and handed them a couple boxes of hot food. Cas paid him the money, then they each grabbed a box and headed back outside. Huck led them back a different way than the one they’d come, which Cas thought was pretty clever of her.
Back at their hideout, Soran was looking a bit better. Eremis told him that Alex was awake and apparently going to be okay, which was good news. Rowan looked unusually pensive, but Cas just took it as him being worried about his lover having such a hefty price on his head.
“This is how the situation stands,” the elf began, not even waiting for them to unpack the food. “I’ll give you the money you requested—but not all right now. Believe it or not, I don’t have 3000 gold stuffed away in backpack somewhere, but if you’ll only take my word for it, I promise that I have more than enough to pay you back in Bizmar.”
~*~*~*~*~
On her way to fetch Jeremy, Xue was only accosted once. She stayed true to her word, remaining in human form and using her sai to rip the man’s throat open instead of her lupine jaws. After that, word must have spread pretty quickly that she wasn’t exactly easy prey. No other human males so much as looked at her the rest of the way.
Jeremy, although still calm, seemed relatively concerned that they’d been gone so long. She explained quickly (very quickly) where they were and what was happening. Instead of seeming relieved, he frowned, so she hurried to reassure him of their safety.
He still seemed displeased. “This guy Soran's nothing but trouble,” he said, once they were outside. “Sometimes I think we'd all be better off if we dumped the hooker and moved on without him.”
Xue narrowed her golden eyes at him. In that, at least, he sounded very sincere. She noticed he was shooting her little glances, too, as if hoping that she’d agree with him. It took all of her willpower not to growl and snarl at him for such treacherous feelings. Instead, she soothed herself with the prospect of encouraging him to admit his backstabbing intentions, if he had any. He could, she supposed, simply be a disgruntled pack member. She highly doubted he was brave or strong enough to literally do Soran in.
But he might be capable of arranging for someone else to do it.
“I agree,” she responded, her expression giving away no indication of her true feelings. “He slows the pack down. If only there was way to get rid of him, I would do it.” She shot him a penetrating look. “I don’t suppose you have suggestion?”
