The Fusionist Book 4 -- Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Larek turned his attention to the woman speaking to him from the alleyway, and the first thing that he noticed was that she appeared to be quite poor, as she barely had enough clothing to cover herself decently. The clothing she did have was dirty and torn with holes in places that made him wonder why she even bothered wearing it in the first place, as it appeared so threadbare that he could see through most of it if the sun hit it just right. She also appeared to be slightly older than he was, though it was difficult to tell as her face was partially hidden in the shadows of the alley.

“You know of an Inn that has a vacancy?” he asked, fighting relief at there being somewhere he could stay that night. He didn’t know if it was true, however, so he didn’t want to get his hopes up too much.

The woman chuckled and replied, “Oh, it’s not an Inn like the Workhorse here.” She waved at the building beside her. “It’s more of a place where we—and those that like a little… privacy—can find a little alone time. What do you say, big boy?”

That sounded like exactly what he needed, but he wasn’t naïve enough to not know that certain things – like privacy – came with a price. This woman wouldn’t be asking him if he wanted a place to stay out of the goodness of her heart, so she must want something from him. “What’s the catch? How much would this privacy and ‘alone time’ cost me?”

The smile she flashed his way was barely visible in the shadows of the alley, but he definitely saw it. “For the entire night, my large friend… 50 silver pieces.”

50 silver pieces? That’s quite a hefty increase from what I paid for my last room, but I guess that beggers can’t be choosers. There’s nowhere else to stay, so I guess it’s this or camp outside again.

If he had been low on funds, he probably would’ve refused the offer already, but he was still flush with coins due to sleeping outdoors – and he was really getting tired of his tent and sleeping roll. If this place really had the privacy and safe space he craved, for at least a night, then it would be well worth it.

The only problem was that he didn’t want to bring trouble down on this woman. Sure, she was taking advantage of his predicament by overcharging him for a room, but she seemed nice enough and likely needed the money to buy new clothes since the clothes she did have really needed to be replaced.

Moving closer to her so as to keep his voice down, he said, “This is something that I could definitely use. I must warn you that I might have some Protectors from another town looking for me, and I don’t want to bring you any trouble.”

At his statement, he could see her smile grow even wider. “Oh, that’s not a problem. However, we’d have to charge you double to ensure our safety, but I can guarantee that no one would be able to find you where we’re going.”

“A full gold? If you can guarantee that no one will find me, than I can agree to that.” He paused for a second before he dropped his voice and told her in a threatening whisper, “But if you or anyone else who might be with you tries to screw me over, no one will be able to identify your bodies when I’m done with you.” He was thinking of the Healing Shelter +8 Fusion on the stone in his pocket when he said that, which certainly made that bandit back in Lakebellow unrecognizable.

Larek didn’t necessarily want to threaten death if she or someone she knew attempted to cross him, but he knew that it was a definite possibility. He didn’t know her, and since he was beginning to believe that she was associated with some sort of criminal element there in Swiftwater based on her mention of privacy, it didn’t hurt to warn her beforehand. While his moral judgment balked at dealing with whoever these criminals were, he semi-justified it because he was technically a wanted person – even if he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Expecting her to be taken aback at his threat, she just chuckled with a deep, husky laugh while she continued to smile. “Ooh, I like that; I actually believe you’d do it, too. The others won’t know what to make of you, but I think this could be quite beneficial for all of us.”

Larek didn’t know what to say to that, mainly because her words didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him.

“Is there a discount if I pay up front for a longer period of time?” he asked, turning his mind away from who these people might be and focusing on his goal. “I’m trying to get across the Swiftwater as quickly as possible, but I was told it could be a month or longer.”

“I’m sure we can work something out,” she said with a visible wink, before beckoning him to follow. Looking around the street outside of the Inn, he didn’t see anyone watching him, so he quickly moved to shadow the woman as she hurried down the alley.

From the dark alley, she led him across a street filled with what appeared to be residences, before slipping through a relatively narrow gap between two buildings. Larek had to take his pack off in order to fit through the gap, but it was easy enough since he wasn’t so wide. Another sprint across a handful of mostly empty streets and small openings in between different structures – one of which was a stable – was followed up with entering a large storage facility through a side door. The entire time, the woman didn’t say a thing to him, and he didn’t ask any questions, as it was all he could do to keep up with her despite him having a high Agility stat and she didn’t seem to have any stats at all.

It turned out that the storage facility, which was surprisingly not full like the warehouses he saw near the docks, wasn’t their eventual destination as they moved toward the back, where they passed through a wooden doorway into a much smaller room located in the rear. As soon as he was through, the woman closed and locked the door with a key she seemed to magically pull from somewhere, and then gestured for him to move out of the way. He took a step to the left to remove himself from where he was standing, and then the woman pushed something on the wall that made a faint *click*. The confused Combat Fusionist didn’t know what it was she did until she moved to the far wall, which was made entirely from stone blocks, gripped the edge of a block with both hands, and then pulledit toward her. Instead of it being a useless exercise in futility, it turned out that the stone block was attached to a larger doorway that slid open without a sound and with seeming ease, as she didn’t appear to be straining to move it.

He would’ve been absolutely shocked if he hadn’t seen something similar in the Dean’s office back at Copperleaf Academy, where Shinpai had opened a portion of the wall. As it was back then, there was no hint of magic in the way it moved, so he could only assume it was all mechanical in nature.

She didn’t wait to enter once the stone block door was wide enough for both of them to fit, and he quickly joined her inside what appeared to be a stone tunnel that ended with stairs heading straight down – at least that was where it appeared to go from his vantage point. It was difficult to tell since he’d had to duck down as the ceiling was a good foot and a half shorter than he was, which caused him to feel like he was nearly doubled over in order to fit.

As soon as they were inside, the woman immediately closed the door behind them, before they were plunged into near complete darkness. There were a few cracks or holes in the door that allowed some of the light from the storage facility to filter through, which allowed him to see her struggling with what appeared to be flint and steel as she attempted to light a torch.

He heard her muttering under her breath. “That lazy Sam should’ve kept this ready to go earlier, but nooo~ooo, that was apparently too much to ask.” At one point, she dropped the piece of steel, and it bounced on stone floor, creating a sharp echo that reverberated down the hallway and likely down the stairs. The woman who brought him there froze in place, visibly listening intently. “And now they don’t even have anyone watching the entrance,” she muttered irritably.

“Here,” he said, handing her a stone. Right before she reflexively took it, he activated the Basic Illuminate +1 Fusion on it, something that he’d created in less than a minute on his travels to help him navigate his way through the land at night and to explore small cave systems to ensure it was safe for him to find a place to get some sleep. This Fusion was the only thing he’d been able to create because it took essentially no time at all; anything that took some real thought or concentration was too much for his anxiety to handle.

The light the Illuminate Fusion gave off wasn’t very bright, but he also hadn’t needed it to blind him in low-light situations or announce his presence to anyone or anything within half a mile; inside the dark tunnel, it was nearly blinding in the extreme darkness. The woman nearly dropped the illuminated stone as it activated, but somehow managed to juggle it in her hand as she shoved the torch back into the iron-ringed holder he could now see on the wall.

“What—? Never mind, I’ll ask you later. Let’s go.” She held the stone in her hand as if it was a snake that was getting ready to bite her, but she didn’t hesitate to use it to lead the way down the tunnel and then down the stairs, which she took dangerously fast in his opinion, but it was also obvious that a long familiarity with the route allowed her to take it with ease. Walking down the steps bent over was a little more difficult for Larek, but he managed to keep up with her.

He was thankful that neither of them fell, as the stairs went straight down at least 150 feet without any switchbacks or handholds; if either of them had tripped, there wouldn’t have been anything to stop them from bouncing all the way down. With his body being so strong now, he doubted he would be too seriously injured, but the woman couldn’t boast the same.

Eventually they came to the bottom of the stone steps and there was a definite temperature difference that even Larek could feel, and he couldn’t believe that the woman wasn’t shivering with how barely covered she was. Oh, wait, she is.  Her teeth were just starting to chatter as she practically ran toward the end of another long hallway, where a thick wooden door bound with what appeared to be iron bands presented itself to them. The woman immediately knocked on it with a seemingly random sequence of knocks, and while she cursed under her breath – which he could see since it was so cold – there was the sound of a few bolts being pulled back from the other side of the door.

The glow of firelight could be seen peeking around the wooden door as it opened, though it was washed out a little bit by the Illuminate Fusion in the woman’s hand. The next thing that Larek sensed was a blast of warm air that escaped from whatever was on the other side, and he realized that this was why the woman who had escorted him there had practically flown down the steps. The outer stone tunnels were cold, but there was a warm sanctuary just through the door.

“Finally! Let me in – I’m freezing out here!”

The woman pushed her way inside, past the figure that had opened the door. It only took Larek half a second to realize that the figure was another woman, though in comparison to his escort, she was almost entirely covered up – though the clothing was almost perfectly conformed to her body, like a second skin. He couldn’t see her face clearly because she was silhouetted by the firelight behind her and the other woman had taken his Illuminate Fusion, but he had the impression that she was suspicious of him.

His impression was only confirmed by the way she planted herself across the threshold and pulled two knives from somewhere behind her back, brandishing them in his direction. “An’ ‘oo mi’ ya be?”

It took him a half-second to mentally translate the thick accent, which was essentially, “And who might you be?”. “I’m just a temporary lodger, looking for someplace quiet and private for a little bit,” he answered. “That nice lady who brought me here said that this was a place where I wouldn’t have to worry about being found by… others.” He gestured to his escort, who he could see inside a larger room as she wrapped what appeared to be a large wolf fur coat around her shoulders. He couldn’t see the fire that warmed up the room, but he could feel the heat from it and hear it crackling somewhere, but other than that, the rest of the space was a mystery until he was inside.

“‘Dis troo, May?” The woman blocking the door asked over her shoulder, though Larek could tell that she never took her eyes off of him.

“Yes, yes, let him in, Yvette. He’s going to be staying with us for a while.”

There was a grunt a half-second before the knives pointed in his direction disappeared behind Yvette’s back, before she swiftly moved away from the doorway. Taking that as an invitation to enter, Larek walked inside and stopped as soon as he found that he was able to stand at his normal height without hitting the ceiling, which was at least 10 feet above his head.

Looking around the room, he was surprised how warm and inviting it appeared compared to the bare, cold stone on the route there. Long tapestries hung from near the ceiling to cover the walls in a riot of different colors, some with various scenes stitched into them while others were simply interesting designs. In between the tapestries were oil lamps similar in construction to the ones he’d seen in the Whittleton Inn, which helped to illuminate the large room, which was at least 150 feet wide, though only about half that deep.  In the middle was a large fire with an iron chimney poised above it that directed the smoke up and out of the room, though where it went after it passed through the ceiling was a mystery.

On the right side of the room was a massive wooden table with a dozen legs interspersed through its length to hold it up, along with a few dozen high-back chairs pushed underneath it. On top of the table were a half-dozen candelabra with half-melted candles still in them, though they weren’t lit at the moment. Other than that, it was clear of anything else.

Along the back wall of the room, directly across from him, were a number of closed wooden doors leading to who knew where, all of them painted in a different color, from red, green, yellow, and even a strange metallic copper color that reflected the firelight.

Lastly, to his left were an arrangement of different comfortable-looking chairs and couches, along with some small side tables that were just far enough away from the central fire to not be too hot – though in his own opinion, the heat was already stifling. It was from that section of seating arrangements that Larek realized had been a quiet murmur of voices which cut off upon his entrance; the source of those voices quickly became clear to him, as it was easy to see in the well-lit room.

They were all women. A few of them were dressed just as sparingly as his escort, a few wore garb similar to the woman who had been blocking the door – which he discovered was a blend of cloth and leather as he got a chance to see the outfits better – while the majority of them wore what he would classify as “normal” attire, or at least normal in the sense of what was worn in the Sealance Empire.

He looked closer to see if he was mistaken about them all being women, but unless they were wearing a really good disguise, he didn’t see any. What he did see, and found strange, was that all of the women were what he would consider attractive, though he supposed that attractiveness was subjective. If anything, even the older women – and in this case, older meant that they were in their 30’s or early 40’s – were good looking, which was a little intimidating when they all turned toward him simultaneously, stopping their conversations to stare at him.

“Uh…” he said, unsure of what to do now that he was supposedly at the destination his escort promised.

“Right through here, big boy. We’ve got a bunch of spare rooms ever since… well, never mind, it’s not important.” The woman who had brought him there had taken off her wolf fur coat and hung it back on a rack near the entrance, before beckoning to him to follow her once again. She led him toward the blue door on the back wall of the room, with Larek conscious of everyone still staring at him. It was more than a little uncomfortable, and he breathed a sigh of relief as they walked through the blue-painted wooden door, leaving them behind. He was also grateful to see that the hallway they entered was at least 8 feet tall, meaning that he didn’t have to worry about hitting his head.

“It’s right at the end of this hallway here. Your room isn’t luxurious, but hopefully it should serve you well enough. There’s a brazier in every room to keep the chill off, though it takes a little bit once it gets going to be comfortable. Meals are served every morning and every eventing in the dining room section of the common area, which you likely noticed on your way in. Your payment will cover meals and lodging, along with complete privacy. We hold our privacy in high regard, if that isn’t clear by now.”

She stopped by another door at the end of the hallway and opened it quickly, showing him what was inside. It wasn’t luxurious, as she had already admitted, but it was certainly spacious; the 30-foot-by-30-foot room held a bed large enough for even his own frame – or at least most of it – as well as a simple wooden desk and chair, along with a wardrobe where he could put his things. Not that he was planning on letting his stuff out of his sight for long, as his suspicions about the woman and the people hidden in this secret underground facility being criminals of some sort looked fairly accurate.

Regardless, unless they turned out to all be murderers, he didn’t really care as much as he supposed he should. All he was worried about was having a secure place to sleep, the privacy and safety to create Fusions, and the anonymity to avoid the Protectors that may or may not still be on his trail. This place had all of that, as he eyed the locks on the extremely sturdy door on his way into the room, and he wasn’t about to back out now.

“Speaking of privacy, I wanted to ask you a few things. If it is none of my business, just tell me so and you don’t have to answer,” Larek said, turning to the woman who still held the stone with the Illuminate Fusion in her hand. “What is this place? Who are you people? And are there any men here, or only women?”

Instead of answering right away or telling him it was none of his business, she sighed and said, “That’s a long story, and not one I’m going to tell right now when I’m freezing my toes off.” Looking at him, she continued. “Since you’re staying here, I suppose you can be told a little about us, but first we need to settle with your payment. It’s a single gold for this first night, and if everything works out, we’ll talk about a longer term and how much that will cost. Oh, and here.” She held out the glowing stone in her hand toward him. “Thank you for letting me borrow, uh, whatever this is.”

“Keep it. I’ve got more,” he said, shrugging. It was true, though, as he had a handful of them in his pockets.

“I can’t do that – this must have cost a fortune! Besides, we’re already extor—charging you an extravagant amount to stay here, so it wouldn’t be right.”

He wasn’t going to argue with her, so he took the glowing stone and deactivated the Fusion on it before putting it back in his pocket. Thankfully, there was an oil lamp directly outside of his doorway on the opposite wall, letting in light, which helped him reach into his pack and pull out a single gold coin, which he then placed in the woman’s hands. Or was it May?

“It’s Maybelle, actually,” she corrected when he asked, making the gold coin disappear… somewhere. “Yvette doesn’t speak very well, but I suppose that helps in her line of work. Now, why don’t we go back out and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

Strangely enough, the prospect of facing all of those stares again was even more intimidating than facing an entire horde of monsters.