Chapter 87: V2 Eleven

The city of Airus rose above our heads as our wagons moved deeper into the mountain. When I’d pictured the city inside the mountain, I thought of something dark, and cramped. I’d picture the city as a maze of tunnels or caves. The city I saw was far from anything I could have imagined. 

The interior of the mountain was spacious, rising high above our heads and descending far beneath our feet. Elevated streets stretched across the cavernous interior of the mountain in a cross formation, joining at the center where people congregated on a square platform cluttered with stalls. The city's buildings were carved into the sides of the mountain, each connected by a series of balconies. Seeing the stairs, and elevated walkways, I was reminded of M. C. Escher’s Relativity painting with its multidirectional stairways. 

“The city stables, and our guild warehouse are down below. So we’ll need to take one of the lifts.” Rainy said, pointing at something on our left. 

Looking in the direction she pointed, I saw four large stone platforms suspended by thick chains that were being lowered, and raised to reach the different levels of the mountain city. As we made our way to the elevator platforms, the people crowding the street gave our wagons a wide berth. Several of the pedestrians gave the wagons curious looks as we passed, and my ears twitched in response to chatter that filled the air when they noticed our guild banners. 

By the time we reached the elevator platforms, I knew two things for certain. First, Noctus was indeed in Airus, and second, our guilds reputation in the city was a lot lower here than in Caruan. While Darius had warned me that our Airus hall was smaller, and much newer than the one in Caruan, I hadn't known our position here was so unstable. 

“Look, Dee, the Eternal losers are prancing round in fancy wagons now.” 

“Surprised to see them parading about like that with one of their officers locked up in a cell.” 

“I heard one of their officers got caught with his fangs in the neck of a Councilors daughter.” 

With a loud thud, I banged my head against the wall of the wagon in frustration as more, and more people began to gossip about a vampire from the Eternia guild being caught with some high ranked city councilman’s daughter. There was no need to guess who the vampire was, as our guild only had a handful of vampires, and only one in a command position.

“Take the reins please,” I said to Rainy who nodded, a look of concern on her face as she darted glances at the crowded street. 

With the dryad now in control of the wagon, I turned my focus inwards to the metaphysical space in my mind where dozens of golden sparks floated around in swirling patterns. Calling forth the spark that connected to Corvus, I watched as it lazily left the pattern, and floated towards me. 

“Be honored, for your high priestess has deemed you worthy of her words.” I declared, speaking into Corvus’s mind with an exaggerated air of superiority as I connected to the spark. 

“Not now Kads, I’m busy kicking your brother's ass.” Corvus retorted, and I could almost hear the strain in his voice as he spoke.

“Noctus is in jail.” I informed him bluntly, as the clanging of chains pulled my attention partially away from the mental communication. A quick look around showed we’d reached one of the large stone platforms, and Rainy now stood beside Arion, holding the horse's bridle to lead him by hand onto the platform beside the other wagon. 

 “Markion! Hold, hold!” Corvus shouted, and I grimaced in annoyance.

“I see you still haven’t grasped the concept of filtering your verbal communication from mental.” I remarked, as the lion Bakeneko proceeded to yell for the guild leader.

“Shit, sorry Kads, I’m getting Darius now. How did Noctus end up in jail?” 

“He apparently got caught fangs deep into a city Councilor's daughter.” I scoffed, only half paying attention to the conversation as I gazed out at the mountain city as we descended past half a dozen elevated walkways that crossed from one side of the cavern to the other. 

“What? That makes little sense. Noctus only takes blood from guild volunteers, and he hates dwarf blood. If you’d said looting the mana crystal supply or magic academy archives I would have believed you, but biting a politician’s daughter? Are you sure that's what he is in jail for?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, before telling Corvus about the conversations I’d overheard.

“You’re not even at the guild hall yet?” Corvus asked.

“No, I contacted you right after I started hearing the rumors.” 

“Hopefully, they’re only rumors and Noctus will be at the hall. If not, then you’re the highest in rank after him. Regardless if he is in jail or not, contact Taurie, and have Bron send a rider to Yuki. She is to depart immediately to Airus, and until she arrives you are in charge of the guild members in Airus. With how you described people's response to our guild, it’s best if we have two commanders in the city working to improve our position there.” 

“Er, can I not? Why am I in charge? What about one of the team captains? Other craft masters?” 

“Most departed Airus for Sēkrit, we only kept a handful of teams in Airus.” 

“How many is a handful?” I asked cautiously, not likely where this was going.

“Three teams, and some non combatant members. There should be twenty four people assigned to the Airus hall, with allowance for any teams that may be passing through on various missions. The hall is only large enough for fifty people, sixty at most. Update me with a head count when you’re able.” 

That wasn’t a lot, considering our guild’s membership was close to seven hundred people. In comparison, the guild hall in Caruan was large enough that almost three hundred people could be accommodated. I’d been fortunate to be assigned one of the few single rooms during my stay in Caruan, as most would be a shared room with up to four other people. 

“Fine, but Yuki better get here soon.” I snapped, before yanking back the tendril of mana which connected to Corvus’s metaphysical presence. 

Mentally flinging Corvus’s spark away, I called forward the one for Taurie and, after connecting to the dark haired elf, relayed the order for Bron to send a rider to Yuki’s location. Only for the girl to inform me that Yuki had told Bron she would be going on a tamer class related quest, and did not specify where she would be going. 

“That stupid vampire better not actually be in prison.” I grumbled softly to myself as we rolled up to a pair of large metal doors set into the side of the mountain. 

The torn, and egg smeared Eternia banner hanging lopsidedly above the doors, letting me know we’d arrived at the warehouse our guild rented from the city. Eyeing the banner, I felt a renewed feeling of anger towards our guilds co-leader and vowed to find a way to permanently de-fang the man whore of a vampire. 

Climbing down from the wagon, I watched as Kip strode to the metal doors, and slammed his fist against them three times in rapid succession. After no response came, the dwarf once more pounded on the door, this time calling out in a loud voice. 

“Open the damned door, it’s Kip.” 

“Shut it ya wee bugger, I’m coming.” A voice called out from behind us, and I turned to see a tall, muscular orc striding towards us with a scowl on his face.

“Roan,” Victoria greeted with a smile, as the orc drew closer.

“Didn’t expect to see you back so soon, Red.” Roan commented, wrapping an arm over Victoria's shoulder and giving her a brief hug before moving to unlock the warehouse door. 

“We’re only passing through,” our captain responded. “Is what we’ve been hearing true? Has Noctus been arrested?”

The Orc's face took on a solemn expression, and he nodded, running a hand over his short cropped hair. 

“It’s true, but we don’t know much about what happened. Noctus went to meet with Counselor Broliar about getting a better mining hold, and never returned. Next thing we knew, we’d been kicked out of the mines, and our business licenses were all revoked. Things are pretty bad here, Red. I’ve tried to send a message to the guild leader through the Whispers, but we don’t have the gold. Every bastard in this mountain is charging us gold for shit that isn’t even worth a bronze.” 

Damn it Noctus, what did you do? Scowling, at the ground, I reconnected to Corvus, updating him on what I’d learnt to regard Noctus, and Yuki’s unscheduled trip. 

Victoria nodded, glancing over at me, then gestured to our wagons. “Is there room enough for both wagons in the warehouse?”

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“Plenty of storage, it’s near empty with most of our supplies being sent to the new hall.” The Orc replied.

A quick glance into the room showed it was indeed almost completely empty, with only a few crates and barrels stacked along the back wall. Unhitching both horses, we pushed each of the wagons into the storage room. Once the wagons were inside, I climbed inside the one I shared with Rainy to gather up the few items I had stored within. 

“Foxy, I’m taking Arion to the stables, are you paying extra for grooming or doing it yourself?” Pia called from the doorway, and I glanced up from where I knelt next to Leo’s basket. 

“I’ll pay for the grooming,” I told her, reaching into my pouch to retrieve a handful of gold coins. 

Taking the coins, Pia left, and I turned my attention back to the Leosaur cub curled up inside the fur lined basket. While the cub was still not fully recovered, he’d shown some signs of movement, and would lap at the water I placed into the basket for him. Even then, he did not appear to be fully awake, nor did he show any interest in the meat I offered him, not even when I coated it in his beloved Scorcher venom. 

Taking all these things into consideration, I strongly suspected that the Leosaur cub had entered a state of Brumation, as many other cold blooded reptiles did when faced with a colder environment. I had hoped that with Pyr keeping the wagon warm, Leo would recover from his dormant state, but so far he seemed content to stay snuggled up in his makeshift burrow.

“Pyr, jar.” I ordered, holding up a large glass jar as I looked over at the wisp, who sat within the wagon's small furnace. Slowly, the round gelatinous ball of fire left the furnace, and floated reluctantly over to the jar. 

Once the alchemic fire wisp was safely inside the glass jar, I wrapped it in thick leather. Placing the jar into Leo’s basket, I watched as the Leosaur cub shifted closer to the jar, his front paws curling around it possessively. With Pyr inside the basket to keep Leo warm, I attempted to lift the basket from the floor, only to discover it was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. 

“I’ll take him, Foxy.” Victoria called, hunching over as she stepped up into the wagon. 

“Thanks,” I murmured, stepping back as the Kijo picked up the basket with ease. 

“Have you contacted Commander Corvus?” 

“Yes,” I sighed, filling her in on what Corvus told me. “I don’t even know where to start.” 

“Start by having a warm meal, and a bath. Then once we’re all refreshed, we can come up with a plan.” 

“Sounds good.” I agreed, following Victoria as she climbed out of the wagon, basket held gently in her arms. 

As I hopped down from the wagon, Zosimos flew towards me from where he’d been perched on the wagon's roof. The heavy fur lined cloak I wore tightened around my body reflexively when the bird approached, but quickly loosened its hold as the crow settled onto my shoulder. Slipping my fingers into one of the pouches attached to my belt, I pulled out a thumbnail sized fragment of mana crystal which I pressed to the inside of the cloak. As Faux snatched the proffered morsel from my fingers, I walked with Victoria out of the warehouse to where Kip and Roan stood talking in low voices. 

“Roan, this is Craftmaster Kadia, head of the alchemy department. She will be taking charge of the guild hall until a commander arrives to relieve her.” Victoria stated, her voice firm as she addressed her brother. 

“Craftmaster Kadia, I’ve heard about you from Co-leader Noctus.” Roan said, holding out a hand in my direction. 

“That’s not concerning at all,” I said lightly, giving his hand a brief shake. 

“Not to be rude, but have you got any gold on hand or authorization for the guild accounts? We’re running low on food, we’ve been supplementing as much as we can with hunting, but even basic foodstuff is far out of our price range.” 

“How can things have gotten so bad in only a few days?” Kip asked, looking shocked. “Is ma okay?” 

“Auntie May is fine, doing what she can to keep us all fed. Like I said, we are being charged exorbitant prices for everything, and not just by the artificial citizens in the city either. A single loaf of bread is two gold if you're from or associated with our guild. Even those we’ve previously had good relations with have distanced themselves.” Roan sighed, his shoulders slumping as he finished locking the warehouse. 

“I’ve got gold, and access to my department's accounts, which should be sufficient.” I reassured the Orc. 

Though, if the prices were really that high, I didn’t think I would be able to support the guild's expenses for long on the money allocated to me. 

Leaving the warehouse, we began walking towards the stables in search of Pia and Rainy who’d not yet returned from stabling the horses. When we arrived at the stables, we found both girls in a heated argument with the stable master, who claimed the stables were full despite there being dozens of empty pens in plain view. 

“Kip, go work your magic, get the horses stabled.” I told the dwarf, handing him five gold bars, each the equivalent of a hundred gold coins.

With a nod, and a mournful look at the gold that would soon be lining the pockets of the stable master, the dwarf went to arrange the horse's accommodation. 

“Foxy, can you believe this bullshit?” Pia raged as she and Rainy moved away from the fiercely haggling dwarves. 

“Enough! The last thing we need is you behaving like an immature child and making things worse than they already are.” I snarled, ears flattening against my head as I glared at the Faun who’d begun a tirade about the rude people they’d passed on the way to the stables, and the stable masters' treatment.

Eyes widening, Pia snapped her mouth shut, her own ears drooping as she shifted her gaze to the stone beneath our feet. A pang of guilt shot through me at the sight of the sulking Faun, but I ignored the feeling in favor of turning my attention towards Kip, who was stomping his feet like a grumpy toddler as he made his way back over to our group. The dwarven stable master he'd been speaking to, certainly looked far happier than Kip did as he led both horses away. 

“Hundred gold a day,” Kip ground out through gritted teeth, as he reached us. 

“That’s not so bad.” I mused, having expected it to be a lot more.

“Each.” The dwarf spat, the veins on his forehead standing out against his skin as he seethed. “Extra hundred if they’re staying overnight, so that’s two hundred gold each for a twenty-four hour stay. We’d be better off slitting their throats and reviving them later, at this rate, the mana crystals would be cheaper.” 

“No,” I said firmly as my stomach twisted at the thought of purposely killing Arion. 

“Kads, we can’t keep paying out the ass for a pair of horses.” Kip argued. 

“He is right,” Roan advised, his eyes drifting to the stables. “Those of us who had horses either sold or killed them if they were bound after the third day.” 

Five days, Noctus has only been in jail for five days. I thought with a shake of my head, how could things have gotten so bad so fast? 

“If it’s been this bad, why haven’t you left?” I asked, as we left the stables. 

“Some have, most riding out on the first and second day for Caruan or to the new encampment to alert the guild leader as to what’s happening. The rest of us stayed because leaving is what they want. They want to run us out of Airus,” Roan said softly, his eyes scanning the area around us as we walked. 

“And who are they?” Victoria demanded before I had the chance. 

“Dreadmere.”