Delvers LLC 5, ch 12

I apologize in advance for the higher number of typos in this chapter.  I was going to post it yesterday, but it ended up being a little longer than I'd intended and my brain is mush right now.

If I don't post this now, I'll feel guilty which will ruin my writing zen and none of us want that.

Anyway, if you don't want to deal with a few extra typos, I'll have them fixed by tomorrow.

Delvers LLC is back, baby!

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Henry held Mareen’s hand as he walked down the street of Wakeharbor.  The six Adom guards following them didn’t speak much.  Henry was actually glad they were there.  He didn’t want any misunderstandings.

Part of him felt embarrassed about making a stink for better accommodations, but Ludus was a great teacher.  If you didn’t act like you deserved better, sometimes people wouldn’t treat you like you did.  Henry thought it was pretty fucked up, but sometimes it sucked to deal with reality.  Now he had responsibility, and maintaining his image could help protect the people around him—his family, and his friends.

Maybe Volleyball had more of an effect on me than I thought.  He smirked as he remembered the tall, Areva noblewoman lecturing him about, “Propriety.”

Now he and Mareen were heading to an upscale market across town, nearer to the ocean.  Henry was looking for some tools, or maybe crafting materials to browse to kill time.  There were another two hours before the team had a meeting planned.  Right now, the High Priestesses were meeting with the city’s mayor and having a chat with the Queen of the Adom.

He wasn’t exactly broken up by the fact the Delvers LLC crew hadn’t been invited to talk to the queen.  Dealing with nobles was bad enough, but royalty was even worse.  It’d been a while since he’d gotten to really explore a city, and he’d been reassured that Wakeharbor was safe since his group were given “Visitor” status.

At first he’d been a little apprehensive about visiting the city, even being orb-Bonded.  Actually especially being orb-Bonded.  But Mareen had calmly told him that if anything could attack and kill them in the street, staying in their quarters wouldn’t offer any protection.  It wasn’t like the mini-mansions set aside for guests had any shielding or other defenses.

Mareen had been right.  And that was the sort of practicality and straightforwardness he’d fallen in love with her for.  He’d genuinely grinned at her, and Mareen had hesitantly, shyly smiled back.  She was still stiff, still different, but glimpses of her past self were showing through more often, now.

They held hands and he felt the tips of her claws touch his palm.  It didn’t bother him.  Henry didn’t necessarily want Mareen to go back to being the woman she had been, that was impossible.  Instead, if she were just able to find peace and stop hating herself, that’d be enough for him.

Everyone made mistakes and could be shit on by life.  He knew that from experience.  Now that he wasn’t dead anymore, he would do whatever he could to make sure she was never alone like that again.  And if she was ever swallowed by hell again, well, he’d gone to get her once.  He’d do it again.

Wakeharbor ended up being more interesting and less worrisome than he’d imagined.  There were goods and food from all over Ludus and he got to smell dishes he’d never even seen before.

For the most part, the buildings and streets, the vendors, it was all similar to what Henry was used to on Ludus.  Light poles had crystals on top so the city obviously ran on magic power, same as cities in Tolstey and Berber.  Henry made a note to ask about that later since he wasn’t sure if Adom had adventurers the same as other races.

The only serious differences in architecture were the varying sizes of buildings.  Most buildings had human-sized doorways since most Adom seemed to be able to use them alright.  But a few buildings were noticeably smaller or larger than normal.  One in particular had elephant-size doors.  Henry didn’t see whatever or whoever owned that shop, or house, or whatever.

If not for the exceptions, he could almost imagine he was in a new part of Mensk he hadn’t seen yet.  There were street hawkers, office buildings, and everything else a normal city would have.  The people were just likely to have scales or tails.  Or tentacles.

Most Adom seemed to behave like most humans, too–they didn’t notice everything around them most of the time.  Quite a few Adom only seemed to actually register that Henry wasn’t visibly Adom after seeing the guards behind him.

He and Mareen were the only humans he’d seen since leaving the swanky villa he’d been given for his stay.  When he’d asked one of the guards, she’d told him that humans were not allowed in Wakeharbor past the port.  Everywhere he went, the Adom stared.

Most just stared, but some were friendly.  Some were too friendly.  A very well endowed, demonic-looking woman with horns, purple eyes, wearing scraps of cloth and little else sidled up to Henry and began caressing his shoulder through his clothing.  Mareen didn’t really react, so at first he just let it ride out, wondering if it was a custom or something.  The fact his Adom guards weren’t intervening kind of added to his uncertainty.

Other Adom on the street who noticed them began to look amused, or embarrassed.  He figured out she was just coming on to him, either for sex, or blood, or who know what else.  She was prattling on about the city, so Henry held up a hand to interrupt her.  “Excuse me, what was your name again?”

“Caireel,” she purred.

“I don’t want to assume here, but I think you want something from me, right?”  He’d almost asked if she was a succubus or something but had decided the answer was probably pretty obvious.

“Perhaps.  Or perhaps you are just so handsome that I can’t help myself, Mr. Man.”  She slid a single taloned finger up his arm.

“Well Caireel, I’m just going to the market.  It was nice to meet you, but I’m having a walk with my wife.”  He emphasized, “wife.”

“Oh that’s sweet.  Maybe she can join us later.”

Mareen finally looked over.  “I can tolerate your nonsense if it only disrespects me, but if you disrespect my husband’s tressech again, I will destroy you.”  Her tone was matter of fact, but her eyes glowed red.

Henry blinked and thought about that one.  Why was that disrespectful to Philana?  It took him another second but then he blinked again.  Maybe because Caireel would be… cutting in line?  But how would she even know?  Henry sort of felt like a piece of meat for an uncomfortable moment.

Then he finally understood that this woman being here in the first place, not talking to Mareen first, was an open sign of disrespect.  Ludus and Earth were not the same.  On Ludus, if a man was in a relationship, any woman who was interested had to first approach his wife or girlfriend, not the man.

He’d been polite to Caireel without even thinking about the implications.

The succubus-looking woman showed her teeth with a lazy smile.  “Are you asking for a fight?  Your guards and any surrounding Guard around us are all witnesses.  If you attack, I am within rights to defend myself and this is Wakeharbor.”  She sniffed.  “You may not look or smell human, but the soul does not lie.  And Adom are not weak.”

Henry glanced around.  He finally spotted a handful of Adom that looked similar to Caireel, wings and lots of skin and supernatural good looks.  Only two were visible but one was on a roof with a boxy contraption, maybe a recording device.  This chick’s a clout chaser! Henry thought with astonishment.  Then he chuckled out loud.

The Adom woman frowned prettily.  “This is not the Berber continent, Henry.  I am sure you are very strong…for humans.  Handsome too,” she purred and winked at him.  “But some of the Adom Clans are as powerful as entire human countries on Ludus.”

Henry didn’t stop softly laughing, which didn’t seem to make the succubus very happy.  He said, “I really don’t like being used for other people’s bullshit, and I like people disrespecting my wife even less.  But I’m going to help you understand some things you don’t seem to get.  First, I’ll admit I have no fucking idea about some of what you said.  It’s possible Adom get underestimated, but you’re definitely underestimating us, too.  Mareen here doesn’t die easily, and I gaurentee you don’t want her as an enemy.

“But the real way you fucked up is with my…what was the word?  Tressech, right?  The woman that Mareen wants me to take as a second wife is also bonded to me somehow.  She’s a High Priestess.  So if you disrespected her trying to get a reaction for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum on the rooftops up there to record, that was really dumb.  I don’t care how tough you think you are, Philana can rip your tails off and make you eat them.  Anyway, this catty bullshit is boring.  Fuck off, lady.”

The succubus was visibly taken aback.  “A High Priestess?  Sweet thing, I’m sure you are delicious, but a High Priestess?”  She turned to look back at the guards following them.  “ I think you might be delusional and—”  Her voice trailed off as one of the guards, a big rock-skinned man very slowly nodded at her and then shook his head.

“Like I said, her name is Philana,” said Henry with a smile.  “I think she inherited some of Biivan’s stuff after that bitch got killed.  I wasn’t there, though.  When Keeja and my friend actually killed her, I was already dead at the time, though.”

Mareen turned again.  Her face devoid of emotion, red eyes glowing, she asked in a pleasant tone of voice, “Your name was Caireel?  Would you like to meet my husband’s tressech?  She is dear to me and I am sure she would be interested in discussing how you have chosen to conduct yourself here.”

Without another word, the scantily clad Adom turned and headed for an alley.  The loose crowd of curious onlookers hid her from view in moments.  Not long after that, the observing succubus crew surrounding them vanished as well.

Good riddance, thought Henry.  He turned to the guards and said, “What the hell are you doing here if you can’t stop things like that?”

“Our job is to stop any violence threatening you, or any that you begin.”

“That sounds pretty fucking stupid to me,” said Henry with a frown.  “Do you brainlets even understand what might have happened?  We are humans in your city.  That doesn’t happen very often, right?  So if anything blows up, others might get involved just for the hell of it.  I don’t know how powerful you guards are, probably pretty spicy if you’re with us, but what the fuck are you gonna do if someone starts shooting spells off from ten blocks away?

“Our job is to stop any violence threatening you, or any that you begin,” repeated the rock-skinned guard.  He seemed to be uncomfortable, though.  Henry decided that maybe there was more going on here that he didn’t know about.  It was all a bit murky because he wasn’t exactly sure how strong the average Adom was in Wakeharbor, too.  Most of the Adom he’d met in Berber had been as strong as a one or two rank orb-Bonded.

He made a face and turned back around.  Then he met Mareen’s eyes and studied her.  “That was the equivalent of a slap in the face from woman to woman on Ludus, huh?”

“Something like that.”

“Did you want to kill her, Baby?”

“Yes.”

Henry gave her hand a squeeze.  “Not thanks to our fucking super guards back there.  Oh well.  Even with all the provocation, you didn’t even flex the claws this time.”

“My control is getting better.”

He smiled and she smiled back.  She is getting better, he thought.  It’s not just my imagination.

Then he had a sudden thought as the idea of “claws” jogged his memory.  He turned and asked the guards, “Where are the Reptile Tribes of the Adom?  I would like to meet someone named Anz’wei if she is here.”

The guards looked between each other before the one that seemed to be in charge shrugged.  “This way,” pointed the Harpy-race guard.  She’d gracefully moved one arm to indicate a side street coming up.  Henry noticed that the street they were on was starting to open up, too.  Soon there would be riders, or maybe larger Adom.  The city was not laid out in a way that made any sense to him.

“That’s the way to the Lizard Tribes?”

“Yes.”

“Good.  Let’s go that way.”

The guards looked between each other again.  Their leader began, “Sir Henry, I don’t think…”

Henry grinned.  “Hey, if you are just going to follow me around like baby birds and not ever interfere, then get back to not interfering.  I’m going that direction.  Feel free to follow along or not.”

The guard leader’s eye twitched but Henry had already begun ignoring the group again.  Around Keeja and the other High Priestesses, Adom were meek as kittens.  But out in the wild like this, he got the distinct impression that most of the guards and official-types didn’t think very highly of him.  Or humans in general.

He wondered if their attitudes would change if they knew Mareen was a blood mage.  Henry wasn’t dumb enough to say anything about it, though.

After taking the turn and walking for a bit, he began to understand why the guards hadn’t wanted him to head this direction.  It turned out that like every other city, Wakeharbor had a poor area.  The more his group walked, the poorer the surroundings got.

Curious onlookers in the nicer parts of the city hadn’t stopped to watch long.  Most of them had obviously been busy doing something else.  But now a small crowd was following them and growing larger.  The guards were looking distinctly nervous.

Maybe this wasn’t the smartest thing I have ever done, thought Henry.  Ultimately, he and Mareen could both escape most hairy situations pretty easily, but he didn’t want to be the cause of bloodshed.  The guards hadn’t been all that helpful, but he didn’t want them all to be ripped apart…or whatever.

The street was large enough for wagons or riders, but Henry only saw the occasional delivery move past them on either side.  He wondered if that was the normal state of affairs or if word had spread about the hundred-odd admirers gawking and following along.

A few months ago, Henry would have been sweating bullets.  Most of the Adom looked like monsters with nicer gear or clothes.  As it was, he was beginning to wonder if they should just turn back when he heard the chanting.

Henry usually cycled between his superhuman senses these days on a rotating basis, but if he focused on one of them, he could get a lot more information.  Grateful for something to take his attention from the mass of near-silent onlookers, he used his Enhanced Senses ability to focus on his hearing, making it far more sensitive.

“What’s all that chanting?” he asked the guards.  “It sounds like it’s coming from over there.” He pointed vaguely ahead and to the right.

“That is the Lower Temple District,” answered a guard with leathery skin.

“Temple District?”

“I would like to go there,” said Mareen.

“Yeah, let’s check it out then head back.  The Lizard Tribe can wait another day.”

The guards seemed relieved.

As it turned out, the Lower Temple District was a large square, probably the size of two football fields, tucked away in the heart of the poorer area of the city.  The area had a very clear separation from the rest of the city and was surrounded by large buildings with glowing signs.

“If this is the Lower Temple District, I wonder what the upper district is like,” muttered Henry.

There were groups of robed Adom in groups all over the place, but the one that his eyes were drawn to, and the group making all the noise, were orks.

Seeing the blue-mottled creatures brought back a flood of memories and Henry came to a stop to study them.  There were a few hundred of them, and some had cots or blankets on the street.  A big ork dressed in beads and teeth on thongs stood on a raised platform in the middle of them.  He was beating his chest and hollering, then the surrounding orks would respond in kind.

Henry had been to a Lutheran church once.  What he was hearing sounded a lot like catechism.  Something the orks had been hollering had sounded suspiciously like “Han-ri.”

“Mareen, remember those orks I told you about in Berber?  The ones that were acting like I was the second coming of Christ?”

“Yes.”

“I think these are their friends.  Do you think we should just leave, or try to talk to them?”

Before Mareen could speak, the leader on the raised platform finally noticed them and must have somehow known who Henry was from one hundred yards away.  The ork pointed, knelt, pressing his forehead to the platform and began practically scream-chanting.  In seconds, several hundred orks were all staring at Henry.

Behind him, one of the guards whispered, “Cultists!”

Their leader, the Harpy, softly ordered, “No sudden movements.  I’ve heard about these orks.  They are not Adom, not yet.”

“Oh great,” said another guard.  “I was supposed to be off work today, too.”

Henry keyed his communicator and quietly said, “Nora, this is Henry.  Can you hear me.”

“This is Nora,” came over his ear piece.

“Can’t you speak ork?”

She sighed into the microphone.  “Yes.  I can.”

“Can you get here really fast.  Like, fly your ass here immediately?  We might have a stiuation.”

She must have heard the seriousness in Henry’s voice.  “I can leave now.  How do I find you?”

“We are at the Lower Temple District.  It’s a big cleared area in the poorer part of the city.  You should be able to find it from the air pretty fast.”

“What if I can’t?”

Henry chuckled darkly as dozens of orks began running at him.  “Then if things go wrong, you might be able to follow the explosions.”

Jason's voice came over the device.  "I can't move without making a lot of noise, so I will stay here for right now, but I'll be ready to come if, you know, explosions."

"Glad to hear it, buddy," said Henry.  He took a step toward the rushing orks.  "Maybe they'll understand the universal greeting.  ‘Bah Weep Granah Weep Ninni Bong.’”  He chuckled at his own joke.  Behind him, the guards looked a question at Mareen, but she just shrugged.

Henry only realized he’d still had his mic on when Jason’s voice came through his ear piece again.  “Come on man!  Isn’t that from Transformers?  I really don’t understand how you can always rag on me for being a geek when you make so many references–”

He shut off his communications device.  After a light cough, he turned to Mareen and said, “I don’t think Jason understands the universal greeting.”