Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 554-555

“We have bigger problems than Dorne,” Rodrick said. He interlaced his fingers on the table and leaned back in his chair. “Well. Not problems. But Dorne won’t be one from here on out. So we can focus on the things that actually interest us… such as figuring out who the next person to Sunset should be. That is… assuming Eleven is going to be taking someone else?”

That got everyone’s attention pretty quickly. Everyone turned to look at Koyu. The tall lich paused, clearly somewhat uncomfortable with all the gazes suddenly directed at him. Then he inclined his head slightly.

“She said she would take another when we were ready. It seems they are unused to the rate at which the Menagerie’s members have been able to adapt.”

“That might be because we’ve sent all the crazy ones first,” Anna said through snort of laughter.

“Is that meant to imply someone in the Menagerie isn’t at least a little bit whacked in the head?” Vix asked. “Because I’ve yet to meet them.”

“I take offense to that,” Moncia said. The orc crossed her arms in front of her chest and narrowed her eyes. “I am perfectly normal. This is just my day job.”

“How many other orcs do you know working as bouncers for a tavern?” Lillia asked. “For that matter, how many orcs do you know that have married humans? You and Raen might be among the strangest we’ve met. Not all power is physical. Going through all the difficulties you must have faced just to be together isn’t the kind of thing a normal person would be able to do.”

  “I’m not sure if I should take offense to that or not,” Raen said. His voice was slightly muffled by the fact that his head was still rested on Monica’s lap. “But I’ll just treat it as a compliment.”

“Well, either way, I certainly can’t go,” Vix said. “My heart is… well, you know. Don’t want to mess with anything so soon after swapping out one of my slightly more important internal organs. That seems like a recipe for disaster.”

“And I’m not going anywhere until we know Vix is perfectly safe,” Anna added. “Especially with the auction coming up. We’re going to need a healer on hand for when things inevitably go bad.”

“I have not yet grown accustomed enough to my class to want to Sunset,” Kien said. He laid his hands over each other.

“Me too,” Thane said. “Also, don’t we kind of have this whole thing every time someone comes back? Shouldn’t we find an easier way to pick people or something?”

“Of course not,” Esmerelda replied with a scoff. “This is fun. And I have no need for Setting Sun’s services. My class is already dealt with, and I won’t have anyone’s grubby little fingers trying to mess with it again. Madiv obviously can’t go either. He’s occupied for the auction.”

“What about Vanessa?” Thane asked.

Arwin shuddered at that thought. The thug was already more than competent enough as she was. The idea of letting her become even more of a menace was a mildly terrifying one. But she really hadn’t been with the Menagerie for all that long.

“That might be a bit too fast,” Arwin said with a shake of his head. “She’s a new member. And, technically speaking, I don’t know if she’s fully onboard or not. I’d wait longer before offering something like this to her. But, speaking of which, where even is she?”

“Keeping an eye on the shop,” Esmerelda replied. “Some of the weapons have been getting antsy. They’re terrified of her, though. She does a good job keeping them in line.”

That gave Arwin a moment of pause.

The devils are… scared? Of Vanessa?

Why?

He see tell the same question on Lillia’s expression. Neither of them chose to voice it. Experience came with the knowledge that there were some questions that one really just didn’t need the answer to. If Esmerelda felt it was important, she’d tell them.

“What about Elias or Maeve?” Arwin suggested.

 Elias’ head shot up. The man rarely spoke during dinner. It was actually somewhat rare for him and Maeve to make an appearance. They tended to spend just about all of their time in dungeons or searching for fights.

Even though everyone in the Menagerie already knew that Elias was a monster, he still clearly didn’t feel comfortable removing the protective wrappings covering his body. He’d only moved enough of the coverings to let him shovel food into his mouth.

 “What?” Elias asked.

Beside him, Maeve tilted her head to the side.

“That’s not a bad idea at all,” Arwin said. “What about you or Maeve? Would either of you be interested in Sunsetting? You haven’t been here for the previous conversations, so I don’t think you’ve been offered it before.”

“We’re monsters,” Elias said. “I might not be about to fall apart anymore, but—”

“How does that matter?” Arwin asked, his brow furrowing. “Lillia is a demon. I don’t think the Mesh is going to see you or Maeve any differently than her, is it?”

Elias hesitated for a moment. “I suppose not. To be honest, I haven’t thought of it.”

“Wait,” Thane said. He squinted at Elias, then looked to Maeve. “Monsters? What kind—”

“Later,” Lillia said, raising a hand. “I think we all know what’ll happen if you get going, Thane. You’ll have to save your questions for another time.”

Thane coughed into his fist. “Right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lillia said. “But Arwin has a good point, Elias. Both you and Maeve are more than capable of Sunsetting your classes if you want to. Being a monster isn’t going to interfere in that.”

Elias didn’t respond for several moments. Then he glanced at Maeve. Neither of them said a word. As always, they didn’t seem to need to speak to communicate. The two were just silent for several seconds.

Then Maeve nodded slightly.

“Maeve is open to it,” Elias said. “She’s willing to try if you’re offering the opportunity and if nobody else would prefer to go first.”

Everyone glanced at each other. Nobody voiced any dissent. Just about every member of the Menagerie was a little bit too busy with the upcoming auction. There wasn’t anyone that they could afford to spare at the moment.

Elias and Maeve were both competent fighters, but the Menagerie had quite the significant amount of defenses already prepared. Letting one of them go Sunset their class was actually the least likely to negatively affect the outcome of anything that happened to the auction.

“Then it sounds like it’s decided,” Arwin said. “Maeve will go. We’ll just have to find Eleven, who definitely isn’t invisible and lying in one of the empty chairs.”

 A shimmer passed through the air. Eleven appeared near the end of the table, her head propped up in both hands.

“Am I really getting that predictable?” Eleven asked. “I knew Lillia was aware of my presence. But you’ve got no way to sense me. Did you really just read me off a pure guess?”

“You do, like, one thing,” Arwin said. “It really wasn’t that much of a leap.”

“I’d be offended if I could be bothered,” Eleven said through a yawn. She pushed herself upright and shook herself out. “Right, then. We’re bringing the… what are you, actually?”

“A Siren,” Elias said. “She avoids speaking whenever possible. It has… unfortunate side effects if she isn’t careful.”

Eleven’s head tilted to the side as a shimmer of interest passed through her features. “Now that’s interesting. Sirens… I’ve heard rumors that their voice can sing someone into the greatest sleep of their life. Is that true?”

“Maybe she can show you after her Sunsetting is complete,” Elias said. “But she doesn’t like using her abilities when they aren’t needed.”

“A good night’s sleep is always needed,” Eleven said. She stretched her arms over her head, then shook herself off. She snapped her fingers, tearing a portal in the air open in the ground at her feet. “No matter. On we go. This is the easiest job I’ve had in a while. It’s rare I get to just be a ferryman. There’s so much extra time to sleep. I’m not wasting that time talking.”

Maeve rose to her feet. She exchanged one last silent look with Elias before walking over to join Eleven.

“Mind if I take this?” Eleven asked, glancing at a plate of food on the table.

“Go ahead,” Lillia said.

“Thanks. I love you guys,” Eleven said. “See you soon.”

Maeve dropped into the portal. Without another word, Eleven walked after her. The magic snapped shut behind them.

“She’s a Siren?” Thane asked, his eyes sparkling. “I’ve never met a Siren before.”

Poor Maeve. Something tells me she’s not going to get much time to readjust when she makes it back after completing her Sunsetting. Thane is going to be at her door with a quill and paper to get every scrap of information he can.

“We will not need the backup,” Madiv said. “The preparations have gone very well. I am already just about ready to hold the auction, even if it was tomorrow. All that is missing are the final pieces we’re going to sell.”

Everyone exchanged a glance.  The time until the auction was countable in a matter of days, now. They were so close. Arwin could barely even imagine the new materials and connections this would net them. He didn’t even care about the gold that they’d earn.

This auction was going to be their next step in positioning themselves to take on the Adventurer’s Guild. If it went well, he’d have the resources to continue building the most powerful armor possible for the rest of the Menagerie. It also had the added benefit of swaying the Dwarven Council.

If we pull this off, we might be able to get closer to convincing them to start pulling some of their support from the Adventurer’s Guild. They only care about money and power. I doubt there’s any real loyalty there. Every scrap we take from them is one that the Guild doesn’t get.

But Arwin had no doubt that, if the auction went well, there was absolutely no way that it would fly under the Guild’s nose.

It was only a matter of time before the guild investigated them. And when that time came…

Arwin’s jaw set.

He’d be ready for them.

One way or another, the reckoning that he’d been preparing for ever since he’d awoken with his new class was growing closer — and Arwin planned to make sure that every single member of the Menagerie lived through it.

Chapter 555

The next few days passed without incident. The Menagerie set about their own tasks. Arwin worked the forge with Wallace and Koyu, making some pieces to sell for the auction. Everyone kept a close eye on Vix to make sure that she was taking well to the changes induced by her new heart. But nobody kept a closer eye on her than Art, who had practically glued himself to his sister’s side to keep an eye on any potential issues.

There had only been one real abnormality thus far.

Vix’s appetite had increased. And quite significantly at that. She mowed through plate after plate of Lillia’s food to the degree that a number of adventurers had taken to gathering to watch her eat. Reya had promptly started charging them for the experience. And, somehow, people were actually paying for it.

Anna had yet to lift the ban on Vix’s magic. But even aside from that, she seemed to be taking to her new heart well. Neither she nor anyone else had noticed any significant abnormalities in her health.

In the meantime, Lillia toiled away in the kitchen on a project that nobody had managed to get a good look at yet. Reya and Olive ran the delivery service, with Elias and Vanessa occasionally joining in to help when the volume of orders grew a little too high for just the two of them to deal with alone.

Madiv spent the majority of his time in the Mausoleum preparing for the rapidly approaching auction along with Esmerelda, who had been spending a slightly suspicious amount of time with the vampire.

Rodrick — well, he did whatever it was that Rodrick did.

Nobody knew.

Nobody wanted to know.

 And then, roughly two or so days before the auction was set to open, a knock rang against the door of the Devil’s den early in the morning, well before the sun had even had a chance to properly rise.

“The heck?” Reya asked, looking up from her pancakes to squint at the door. “This early? Why?”

Olive’s wooden hand lowered to the sword at her side. The other continued to shovel food into her mouth. She’d gotten quite good at multitasking with her cursed arm.

“It’s Haley. From the Dwarven Council,” Rodrick said through a mouthful of food. He waved his fork at the door. “Open it. They’re here under the official flag with their puppet guild.”

Arwin and Lillia exchanged a glance. Then Lillia flicked her hand. The door to the Devil’s Den creaked open.

Haley stood on the other side, just as Rodrick had said. A pair of heavily armored warriors flanked her. There was nothing particularly flashy about the heavy plate the two men wore, but there wasn’t so much as an inch of visible skin beneath the armor. Even their faces were covered by full helms and a logo of a burning shield had been emblazed onto both of their breastplates.

Despite the plain appearance, Arwin noticed the magic in their equipment immediately. It smelled faintly of lilac and crisp apples. The scent was strong enough that it left no doubt in his mind that whoever had created the armor had been no pushover. These men were well equipped.

“Thank you,” Haley said, walking into the Den. The two men followed in after her. “We have returned along with one of the guilds representing the council. These men are from Bleak Shield, Rank 45 in the Secret Eye’s rankings.”

“The men? Or the guild?” Art asked.

“The guild,” Haley replied. She came to a stop several feet away from the tables that the Menagerie had gathered around. Her nose twitched slightly at the divine smells rising up from everyone’s plates, but she kept her composure impressively well. “These guards will be present for the duration of the first auction. They have also brought flags to hang that will make their support clear. That should be sufficient to dissuade the majority of troublemakers. They will also defend peace within the Mausoleum and ensure nobody tries to steal or interfere with the proceedings of the auction.”

Arwin couldn’t help but notice that Haley had very specifically not mentioned anything about the streets or areas surrounding the Mausoleum. It seemed her guards weren’t going to be interfering if someone tried to rob somebody right after they stepped out of the Auction House.

He glanced at Lillia. “Are they capable of what she claims?”

“Capable enough,” Lillia replied.

“And do they speak?” Rodrick asked. “Your men are rather silent.”

“They do not, unless a direct request is given of them.” Haley said. “We work with professionals. Their focus is following orders. That requires their complete attention. You may as well pretend that they are statues. These warriors will not get in your way or hinder you in any manner. They are here purely to fulfill the deal we have made.”

And you’ve conveniently brought them after a member of the Council have already tried and failed to kidnap Thane and then sent his warriors to attack us.

“Go to the entrance of the Masoleum,” Lillia said. “Madiv will meet you there and give you your orders.”

The pair of armored guards both gave her a sharp nod. Then they turned on their heels and marched out of the Devil’s Den without so much as a single word.

“So this confirms that Council’s backing is now official?” Rodrick asked, leaning back in his chair and watching Haley carefully as he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin.

“It is,” Haley confirmed. Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you phrase it like that? Are you trying to imply—”

“That you’re liars and cheats by everything but the letter of the deal?” Rodrick finished for her, arching an eyebrow. “Yes. I am. And I can respect it. But there’s a time when we’ve got to be outright with each other. You can’t blame me for making certain things are clear. It’ll be important for the future.”

“And what is that meant to mean?” Haley asked.

“Simply that I want to be able to deal with any dwarves that happen to attack us as if they are traitors to the council,” Rodrick replied casually. “After all, they’d be going against your publicly confirmed stance. And traitors don’t need to be treated with any due process… do they?”

Haley hesitated for a moment. Her eyes narrowed slightly. It wasn’t exactly hard to tell what Rodrick was implying. But there weren’t many routes left before her. The Council had made its stance clear. All she could do was incline her head. “Of course not. We do not harbor traitors in our midst. Should anyone be foolish enough to break the deal we have struck, then they should be dealt with properly… should you be capable of it.”

“You don’t have to concern yourself about that,” Lillia said. She rose from her seat. Shadows shifted behind her like ripples through a lake. “We’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves. Is there anything else? If not, you may leave.”

“When does the VIP portion of the auction open?” Haley asked. “We were promised a seat.”

“Two days,” Lillia replied. “At the break of dawn.”

Haley’s eyes flicked over to the plates of food on the table. Then she wrestled back control of her gaze and forced it to return to Lillia before nodding sharply.

 “Understood. We will return then. I can say with complete honesty that I am quite curious to see what it is that you’ll be putting up for auction. The Mausoleum has drawn quite a bit of attention. People will be quite disappointed if your offerings fail to hit the mark.”

“I’m confident that everyone in attendance will be more than pleased with our offerings. Just keep in mind that they will be put up over several spread-out rounds,” Lillia said. “Not all of our best pieces will be put up at the start.”

“When will they go up?” Haley asked.

Rodrick laughed. “That’s what you’ll get to find out. Buy what you want, Haley. And make sure you bring enough materials to ensure that you don’t run out and miss on something truly interesting.”

The dwarf narrowed her eyes. Her gaze flicked to the food once more. Then she coughed into her fist and nodded.

“You talk a big game, Menagerie. I can say with complete honesty that the Council is quite curious to see what you have for offer. We do not back a guild lightly. There are great expectations — oh, fuck it.” Haley’s shoulders slumped and the grandiose tone in her voice evaporated like a puddle in the desert sun. “Can I have some of that food? I’m starving, and I don’t think I’ve smelled something so…”

She trailed off as a shadow imp strode up to her, a cloth-wrapped bag in its hands.

“I was just waiting for you to ask,” Lillia said.

Haley blinked. She looked down at the imp, hesitating for no more than a second before gingerly taking the bundle from the shadowy monster.

“We will return in two days. Prepare yourselves.” The sharp tone returned to Haley’s voice as if it had never left. She turned on her heel and strode for the door. The dwarf hesitated right before stepping out. For a moment, she remained there. Then she glanced over her shoulder and cleared her throat. “Thanks for the food.”

“No need to thank me yet,” Lillia replied. “You’ll be back, after all. After you eat that, you won’t have a choice. Just don’t forget that you asked for it.”

Haley swallowed. She glanced at the bundle in her hands. Then she tucked the food under an arm and strode out of the Devil’s Den without another word.

The door slammed shut behind her.

All the members of the Menagerie looked to Lillia as a wide smile spread across her features.

“I think I’m quite looking forward to the auction,” Lillia said with a glint in her eyes. “This is going to be entertaining.”