The Axe Falls 2 -ch 5-

“Claudia, would you save me, you beautiful, kind, generous, fiance of that idiot man of ours?” pleaded Jessie as she climbed down from the horse.

Everyone but her had learned to ride a horse reasonably well.

For whatever reason though, the Dark Elf just couldn’t figure out how to ride without hurting herself. To the point that she would just grovel to Claudia for relief.

“Jessie… just… stop,” Claudia said with a warm laugh.

Over the week of travel to get here Claudia had actually warmed up to the Dark Elf, as well as the High Elf. They both had their odd bits and Claudia seemed to like both of them being the way they were.

“Of course I’ll help. You really need to practice though and get lessons,” advised Claudia, swinging her leg expertly over the horse and dismounting with ease and grace. Walking over to where Jessie was rubbing at her hips and literally whining, the young woman had a grin on her face. “Jessie… come on… really?”

“I’m really trying to learn, Claudia. I really am. I swear,” complained Jessie, looking at the other woman with a hang dog look. “Save me?”

Claudia rolled her eyes, put her hands to the taller woman’s shoulders, and then clearly pushed healing magic into her. A blue glow surrounding her hands and Jessie’s shoulders.

“Ooooh, you’re the best,” hissed Jessie, her entire body untensing.

“Normally, I’d make fun of you,” Sara murmured, standing not too far away from the other two. “But I remember how painful it was to me. All I’ll say is… you have my sympathy, Jessie.”

The Dark Elf looked confused, then frowned, only to shake her head.

“Uh, alright. Thanks… Sara,” muttered the Dark Elf.

“I’m glad I learned faster though. Clearly I’m the better in this contest,” added Sara, swishing her lead in her free hand back and forth as if it were a wagging finger.

Jessie bared her teeth as the High Elf passed by, looking rather annoyed.

“Oh? Oh? Is that it?” growled Jessie, glancing to Claudia.

“I’m all done,” said the healer.

“Don’t be-mm-loud,” Rahak warned after landing not far away. The big bird began hopping over to where the group was. “Loud will draw attention. Jessie is like… shiny coin. Glittering. Others will want.

“Don’t be loud. Must be quiet.”

Jessie hesitated, then went after Sara, hissing at the other woman in a hushed tone. Catching up to the other Elf and leaning in close.

Only for Sara to laugh at whatever was said.

“Shiny coin?” Claudia asked, looking to Nick and Rahak.

“Distracting, attractive, and will catch the eyes of others,” elaborated Nick. He understood Rahak quite well, surprisingly. Moving to Jessie’s horse, Nick took the lead that hung down and began walking with it toward the city walls.

“Ah, hm. I see,” muttered Claudia.

“At least she isn’t as pretty as you are,” offered Nick, catching Claudia’s eyes with his own. Then he hit her with a smile.

As crappy as it felt to manipulate her like this, he realized that he needed to keep her happy. Happy and willing to play along.

The day she wasn’t willing to do so was the day he was found out.

She wasn’t the one to swear an oath, her father was. She’s a bit of a wild-card.

“A good thing Jessie understands the concern and has done her best to make Claudia a friend, Sire,” confirmed Lucian.

“Maybe we should put a hood on you or something,” muttered Nick, staring at Claudia. He was genuinely considering it now.

Since he had seen her last, Claudia had grown up into a lovely woman. Her body and face actually matching her age now.

“Rahak, do we need to stuff Claudia into a hood? Her robe does a fair job of getting rid of her figure, but not her face,” Nick continued, ignoring the red-faced Claudia entirely despite her staring at him.

“Ahhhh, yes… we should do that. There is enough-mm-dislike… for Elves in the eastern parts that Jessie and Sara will mostly be ignored,” agreed Rahak, hopping along next to him.

Table sauntered along without anyone needing to tell him what to do.

He would follow Nick until told otherwise.

Ker was riding along the rump of the horse again.

“I’ll be fine,” Claudia assured him. “Just act the part of my man and it’ll be fine. Isn’t that right, Rahak?”

“Yes! Yes, that is a suitable disguise and plan,” agreed the Corvu with a croak. “It would be very… very… shiny coin for Nick to be with Elf. That means Claudia is who Nick is with.”

Claudia raised her eyebrows at Nick, stuck her arm through his, and began walking along beside him.

Up ahead, Jessie and Sara were arguing in violent whispers, each of them using their hands to discuss whatever it was expressively. Thankfully one of the two of them had decided to drag Sara’s horse around to block the view from the gates.

Standing so close to one another it was hard for Nick to truly think of them as a different race. They shared so many things other than their skin color that it felt silly to him.

“Hey, Elves,” he hissed as he got close to them.

Both women turned to look at him.

“First, Jessie, this is your horse, not mine,” Nick stated.

To which Jessie winced, ducked her head, and came over to him. She didn’t even seem phased that Claudia had her arm through his and seemed unbothered by it.

“Sorry, that’s… sorry. I just get so wound up from her,” apologized Jessie, taking the reigns. “Thanks for-for… for… yeah. Thanks. For everything.”

The beautiful Dark Elf said the last with a smile from ear to ear for him. Her eyes glittering at the same time.

“We going with Claudia being the noble lady girlfriend?” Jessie asked, indicating the two of them after a pause.

“Rahak thinks its the best course of action. It’d also take attention off Claudia,” Nick answered.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Sara and I had briefly discussed it the other day and we had a similar thought,” Jessie confessed. “Aint that right Bright tits.”

“Sure is, you poor sad Dark Elf. I’m sure I can help teach you proper manners going forward. Yesterday’s instruction wasn’t too horrible,” agreed Sara, moving in to Nick’s left side. Leaving him between the whole of the group. Claudia’s horse and Table were only a few steps behind.

I can’t tell if Sara is as angry as Jessie is, or just shows her anger through being as polite as she is.

Those snide backhanded comments.

But… she never talks to me like that.

Nor Claudia or Rahak.

“I would venture, Sire, that Sara is deliberately needling Jessie this way as it’s how Sara learned to deal with conflict,” Lucian surmised. “In fact, I would wager that she dealt with adventurers with poor manners in similar ways.”

Ah.

Good point.

Thanks, Gramps.

“Ladies, there’s no line to get in. Best you curb the bickering,” Nick warned after realizing they would be walking right up to the gate.

There really wasn’t anyone at the gates other than guards.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Claudia whispered. “Sara, I really hadn’t been to the adventurer guild before I showed up. What was the normal population of adventurers like?”

“Three or four times the number. Easily,” Sara answered. “The war has drained the country of adventurers or individuals with levels that could let them fight.

“The lords of the realm have emptied their pockets and money is being splashed in every direction.”

Blinking, Nick suddenly had an odd thought.

Buying and selling to and from the Outer World Ledger wouldn’t do him much good.

However, buying from the Ledger, and selling to the realm, could work out really well.

In fact, maybe I should try it. We’ve got a few coin to test some things out.

“Not a bad idea, Sire. Given that the country is in the first months of a true civil war, there will be good deal of equipment and resources to be bought for either army,” agreed Lucian.

“Welcome to Goba, family of Had,” drawled the guard. He didn’t look as if he fit his armor and the full helmet that covered his face made Nick think more of a child wearing their parents clothes. “Reason for coming.”

“Dungeoning,” Nick said and immediately pulled up his necklace. He had made sure it was resting against his armor to make this easier. “Party of five. We’ll be looking to pick up one or two more.”

The guard didn’t nod his head, didn’t respond in any way verbally, but in fact only waved them on toward the door.

As if whatever they had to do with him ended at the door. That they were no longer his problem and he didn’t care either.

Nick did notice that there was more than a little attention paid to Sara and Jessie both.

Not an attraction type of attention, either.

The group closed in tighter to one another, with Nick getting Claudia up into his side, Jessie movie behind him, and Sara and Rahak moving to the front.

Originally, Nick had a concern that they’d possibly have to remount their horses just to get through the streets.

While Goba was easily the size of Ashton, there were fewer people here than Ashcroft had been during it’s peak that Nick was there. A number of buildings had signs in the windows saying that they were open to being purchased as well.

“Well, there’s that,” Jessie remarked, moving up from the back to stand beside him. Sara and Rahak had fallen back as well. “Bri-Sara, the guild is neutral, isn’t it? Did any news get up to you about it being a ghost town down this way?”

“No. Not at all,” admitted Sara with a frown. “For a Dungeon city, it’s far under populated. I can’t imagine what the populous is doing with that much of the economy being shut off so suddenly.”

That’s a good point.

Will our coin go further or lesser here now with that many fewer people.

If it was just the adventurers… they were all disposable income.

“This might be-mm-an opportunity,” Rahak crooned. “If the Dungeon is this empty, we could… have a big nest.

“Special items that need more coin will probably be cheaper. Nest items will probably be the same.”

“Special items?” Jessie asked.

“Luxury goods,” Nick answered, having moved through his own thoughts at the same time. “The people who left were all disposable income. They didn’t actually contribute to the city other than the dungeon and coin.

“There’s… going to be a vast glut of overstock for many things. We might be able to buy things at a better price for a time.

“Yes. Yes. Coin? May I have coin?”

Nick grimaced and considered that.

He had wanted to toy around with the Ledger and he would certainly need money for that.

“I’ll give you my coin, Rahak,” Claudia said. “Consider it my contribution and my pleasure to be here. I don’t think I’ll be using it otherwise since Nick seems determined to pay for everything.”

“Ah, yes, wise. A good investment. I will-mm-provide… ah… more… than given. Two for ten,” Rahak stated.

“Speaking of coin,” Nick said in a very soft tone as they walked. “I’ve got a significant amount of fake coins. Any ideas on how to offload them?”

“Yes! I can do that!” Jessie said eagerly, taking a step to him. “Would… would you mind, Nicky?”

“Not at all. So long as you don’t do anything too terrible with it. You can’t really break the law anymore, remember?” warned Nick with a smile for her.

“Completely above board. Not an issue. I promise,” Jessie said with a chuckle. “What kind of numbers were we talking about?”

“Something like eight-hundred smiv and a hundred-fifty liv,” he answered, glancing over at her.

Jessie’s eyes widened at that and then she nodded her head quickly at that.

“Perfect. Okay. Let’s… let’s go get rooms and go about our business,” she said. “Rooms, board, and a check in with the guild. We should all meet up for dinner, right? Go gear ourselves?”

“I’ll stay with Claudia for today,” Sara offered up. “I don’t have anything to pick up but she might.”

“Yes, thank you,” Claudia agreed.

And what she didn’t say, was being my body guard here and now is almost pointless.

That’s fine.

“I will go… to the library, mm,” Rahak stated.

“I suppose I’ll go get a party form for us and see what the situation is at the guild,” determined Nick.

“Pick a man,” Sara said with a bright smile.

“Yes. A man,” demanded Jessie.

***

Walking into the adventurers guild Nick looked around.

A momentary fragment of a memory popped up to the front of his brain.

Walking into the original guild and seeing much the same. A few adventurers, a number of guild employees, and a facility that seemed as if it was meant to be full.

Except there were fewer of everything here.

Walking up to the only guild teller, Nick stepped behind a man in heavy plate armor.

Rather than pay attention to the man and his conversation, Nick instead looked around. Trying to see if there was anything out of the ordinary here that might be interesting to talk about later.

Yet as far as he could tell, it looked to be a near mirror of the one back in Ashcroft.

Only the decor and several bits of furniture was different.

“Next.”

Snapping his eyes to the front, Nick walked up to the now empty counter.

The guild employee was a woman in her thirties that was somewhat attractive. She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She greeted him with a smile.

“Hi, came in since Ashcroft collapsed,” Nick explained, laying his necklace down on the counter. “I’ve got a permanent party of five, roughly level eighteen as a whole. We plan on picking up one or two while we’re here.”

“Oh! That’s wonderful. Here’s the form you’ll need,” said the woman reaching down to the spot below her counter top.

Nick only nodded his head and looked to the back of the guild employee area.

He noted that there were a number of work areas that looked clear of people and workload. Desks and tables that had what could be charitably be called clutter if one ignored a lot of that clutter looked dusty or mislaid.

“Thanks,” Nick murmured as the woman handed him the form. She hadn’t bothered to check his necklace and had barely looked at it. “What’s the representative situation here? Do I work with someone in particular or is it just whoever’s at the desk?”

“Whoever’s at the desk is fine,” said the woman.

“Alright. Any chance I could get some work as well? Plan on being in the dungeon for a while with the group so we’ll need things a party of six or seven could manage,” Nick put in, giving the woman a smile.

“That’s a different window right now,” said the woman. She leaned out of her window a bit and pointed down to the furthest window. “It’s open in the mornings till noon. There isn’t… enough adventurers to get the work done so the window isn’t open all day.”

“Right,” hissed Nick.

This felt like a good opportunity but he wasn’t sure. It could just as easily be worse than Ashcroft.

“I was—”

“Have a nice day,” said the woman with a wave of her hand.

Nick shifted his poleaxe from resting  against the ground to against his shoulder, turned, and left the counter. There wasn’t anything else to do here and he got the impression that people had already given up, to a degree.

Or, at the least, the guild employee has given up.

She just sent me away and that was that.

Didn’t even tell me her name.

As his eyes passed over a woman sat down in a couch Nick came to a sudden and complete stop. His shock was so complete that he couldn’t even get his feet moving again.

Sat down in a recliner, reading what looked like a newspaper, was Julie.

Her short black hair had grown out just a touch since he’d seen her last and was now styled rather prettily.

Pale green eyes were gliding across the broadsheet held loosely against her crossed legs.

Dressed in clothes that he would expect from Claudia when she was acting the part of the heir apparent, her pale skin was only slightly on display.

Her decent figure was more visible this time instead of being compressed by her caster armor. Both the staff and the glowing orb were missing but he imagined they weren’t far.

She hadn’t noticed him and seemed to be entirely engrossed in her reading.

Why not.

Technically she works for the forces who support me becoming king, right?

“As far as we know, Sire, that is their goal,” agreed Lucian. “Also, you’re staring.”

Walking over to Julie Nick felt his mouth curl up into a smile.

While it hadn’t been a normal meeting, having killed a number of her subordinates, then her capturing him as a hostage, it hadn’t been unpleasant either.

They’d ended up spending hours talking quietly or having sex.

Everyone had just assumed she had been a brutal captor, asked him nothing, and that’d been the end of it.

Julie paused in her reading, her eyes no longer moving across the page.

“I’m not interested. A drink, dinner, your part, or anything else. I’m not interested,” she refused in a tired voice, only now looking up at him.

“That’s a shame. That ruins my day in fact,” Nick drawled. Pressing his poleaxe to the ground and then leaning onto it. “Oh well. What can one do.”

“Nick,” Julie said the word with genuine warmth, a smile turning her lips upward and suddenly looking quite pretty. “What’re you doing on this side of the lines? This is the territories of the Dukes.”

“Eh, I don’t have a contract with the war anymore. Now I’m just an adventurer,” Nick admitted and tilted his head to the side. “Can I sit? You know I love being over the top of you, but it makes talking harder.”

Julie’s smile grew broader and she gestured at the seat directly next to her on the love-seat. Only to then get up, and sit herself down on the love-seat as well.

Shaking his head, Nick grinned and sat himself down next to Julie. He set his poleaxe down at his feet and adjusted his armor and belt.

“You look good, Julie,” Nick remarked as he settled into the furniture. “Really good. Not feeling as down? Your mom doing better? She get over that flu? Sounded like she was going to be alright given how your father sounded diligent.

“Also, hows your sister? She end up listening to you about your worries for her boyfriend?”

“You really did listen to me,” Julie said with a sudden laugh, staring at him in a way that made him feel like she was shocked.

“I… uh… yeah?” Nick replied, feeling weird at her comment. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Julie clicked her tongue, continued to smile at him, then reached out and laid a hand to his knee.

“Mom’s fine. Recovered alright but tired. Sister dumped him and just in time. Guard came around looking for him a few days later. And yes… I’m doing better as a whole,” answered Julie. “After our talks I put in for a transfer and I came here to recruit for the Dukes.

“The king will need a power base when he returns, which means someone needs to be getting the soldiers for the Dukes, to earn back the throne.

“Or something like all that. I couldn’t give a shit less, I just needed time for me. This’ll give me that.

“But… what’re you doing here?”

“Adventuring. Trying some new things,” Nick drawled, putting his hand atop Julie’s.

To which she immediately flipped her hand over and intertwined her fingers through his.

“Tell me more about the Dukes. About what’s happening. The King you’re looking to enthrone,” Nick tried, wanting to know more from their perspective. “And how you fit into it. If you really don’t care or if you’re just giving me more bluff and bluster.

“You know, like when you told me you hated kissing, only to get all bothered when I kissed you for almost an entire hour.”

Julie rolled her eyes, blushed, and leaned her head back.

“This is my punishment,” she murmured to herself it seemed. “This is what I get for doing what I did. Because now I have no power over you and here we are.”

“I’m sure you have some power over me. You’ll just have to ask nicely,” Nick teased. “Now… would you tell me?”