Published at 3rd of August 2024 7:50 am

Book 2 Chapter 40: Midtowners Are Nothing if not Adaptable

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There were screams of disappointment from the crowd, but they were drowned out quickly by cheers as several of the watchers moved to collect their winnings, and others began to enter the pit to drag the injured contestants out. Dantes slipped through all of them, and leapt into the pit to approach Vampa.

Vampa leaned against the wall of the pit and drank from a waterskin that had been thrown down to him. He was covered in light scrapes and bruises, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Dantes had seen a lot of fights, but Vampa fought very differently from what he’d seen recently, particularly compared to Gavain. Gavain was all flash and power, he led the attack and was rarely on the defensive. He had complete confidence in his abilities and skill and reveled in it. Vampa initiated almost no attacks, but focused on counters and waiting for openings that he could take advantage of for maximum effect. In Dantes’s mind that didn’t make sense as he clearly had the raw power to have waded into the center of the fight and take all of his opponents on at once, but he couldn’t deny the discipline fighting as he did must take.

Vampa regarded Dantes carefully as he approached. His expression didn’t change at all, but when he reached him, he spoke.

“Follow me.”

Dantes hesitated, but followed him when Vampa leapt up and pulled himself over the side of the pit. He led him through the crowd, that swiftly parted as he approached, and down a hallway, then up some stairs, and finally through a trapdoor that led to the interior of a house. Dantes could smell cooking, and appeared to be in some kind of basement. They went up another set of stairs and found themselves in a small and sparsely appointed sitting room. There were a number of rugs on the ground to hide the splintering floors, piles of mismatched pillows that seemed to be for sitting, and a table that appeared to have once been a massive spool for rope.

As they stepped into the room, the sounds of cooking ceased and Vera appeared in the doorway. She was smiling, gently, but when she saw Dantes her expression changed to one of shock.

“Hello, Auntie.”

She took several steps forward and wrapped him into a hug which he returned warmly. She then pulled away and smacked him.

“You couldn’t have found me sooner? I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead again.”

As she spoke, Zilly appeared as well, passively watching the scene as they spoke.

“It took me a while to recover. Then I needed to take care of a few other things that came up.”

“Recover? You look fine.”

“His hand,” said both Zilly and Vampa in unison.

Vera looked at his right hand, then dropped it and lifted his other, this time feeling the slight wood grain to it as her hand touched his.

Dantes resisted pulling it back.

“Mondego?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said as he flexed each finger. “It's been more helpful than anything.”

“The bats. Those were you,” said Vampa.

Dantes nodded.

“Unnecessary, but thank you.”

Dantes nodded again.

“Zilly told us what you did to save her, Alessa, and Caressa.”

“I’m a sap for women I’ve slept with.” He saw a stern stare from Zilly. “Or who have cooked for me,” he said with a nod.

That seemed to pacify her.

“Have you heard from the girls? Are they all alright?”

She nodded. “A few of them simply left the city, which they’d been planning to do for some time, but the money was good for them. Caressa went back to her family, the work was never something she was too skilled at, but all young girls want to give the city a try. Alessa is staying with Decker, they’re second cousins, and Tieara is selling weed to kids in uptown. Sera is now the fiance of a 1st mate, though from what she tells me that may not last.”

Dantes listened as she spoke. He was glad that the girls were all relatively unharmed, but full of anger at what happened to the Vixen that Vera had done so much to build up while he was in the Pit. Most of it was directed at Mondego, but there was more than enough turned inward toward himself as well.

Dantes took Vera’s hands. “I will have it rebuilt when this is over. When Mondego is dead and everything is done, I’ll remake it brick by brick, if that’s what you want.”

Vera nodded. “That’s the least you owe me, but for the love of the gods, don’t rebuild it just as it was. The walls were starting to rot, the holes in the roof needed patching constantly, and I think the entire building was tilting slightly. You’ll be building me something better than the Vixen.”

Dantes smiled. “Of course Auntie. I’ll get whatever suggestions I can from you before I get anything started.”

“Good. I’ll start picking out furnishings.” She smiled as she spoke, but Dantes could see the worry behind her eyes. He’d already lost five years and his hand to Mondego. She was projecting confidence for him, but she was wondering what else he might lose at the same time.

“Have some tea before you leave.”

“I don’t want to put anyone at risk. Besides, I don’t want to impose on Vampa.”

Vampa looked at Vera. “No risk. Have your tea. I’m going to clean off some of this blood.”

Vera looked at him. “I’ll help while we wait for the kettle,” and they both vanished into another room. Dantes began to make some guesses as to the nature of their relationship as he sat on one of the floor pillows beside the spool.

He looked up at Zilly. “Glad to see you’re alright.”

She nodded.

He didn’t expect a thank you from her or anything. She knew that it was as much his fault that she was in that position to begin with and he wasn’t about to think her so stupid that she hadn’t figured that out herself. Still, he felt the need to fill the silence in the room with something.

“I’m surprised to see you here. Are you related to Vampa? A sister? Or Cousin perhaps?”

“He’s my father.”

Dantes silently absorbed that information for a moment. Elven familial relationships were always a pain to figure out. He’d known more than a few young looking elven men dating forty year old human women less than half their age. It could get more than a little complicated to figure out. He’d even once heard of an Elven man that realized he was dating his own great, great, great grandaughter. By then they were basically cousins at that far of a removal, but the man had the good sense to leave town and not come back after that.

“Did Vera know you, or Vampa first?”

“Vampa, I’m not sure how they met though.”

He gave a wry smile, “There’s really only one way that Vera would’ve met him, eh?”

She reddened slightly. “He would not have done that.”

“I’ve heard that line before. You probably didn’t hear it as much at the Vixen since it mostly catered to sailors. Plenty of wives, daughters, and sons will deny their Dad’s been paying a visit to the local brothel. There’s nothing wrong with it, except in the case of the wives I suppose.”

“My father is an honorable kni-” the kettle began to whistle and Zilly took a deep breath and regarded him with a glare.

That was the biggest rise he’d seen from her since they’d met. He always felt a need to prod at women he was attracted to, which in this case he regretted a bit. He held up his hands and stood up as Zilly moved into the kitchen to move the kettle.

“I’m sorry. There are many ways they could’ve met.”

She ignored him, and poured tea into three mismatched mugs before placing three equally mismatched tea cloths over them to keep them warm while they steeped.

A few minutes later, Vampa and Vera reappeared. Vampa’s cuts and bruises were cleaned and dressed, and the fine dusting of sand from the pit had been washed off of him. That was cleanest Dantes had ever seen him. Now that he and Zilly were in the same room, he was able to trace more similarities. Their ears were set in just the same way, aside from where Vampa’s had been clipped, and their eyes were the same shade of hazel. It was possible that Vampa was also blonde, but with his head clean shaven he had no way to tell.

“Shall we all sit?” asked Vera as she removed the cloth and grabbed a mug.

“I’ll take mine outside,” said Vampa.

“As will I,” agreed Zilly as they walked out the front door onto a small porch that Dantes glimpsed through the door as it opened.

Vera sighed. “They’re likely to hold that grudge until they die.”

Dantes shrugged. “Of all the grudges held against me, that one I can handle.”

They moved to sit on separate cushions and sipped their tea. “So, you told me about where the girls had gone, but what about Decker? I don’t recall him even being there when Mondego attacked.”

“He actually drew off three of Mondego’s men. He was targeted first since they thought he was the greatest threat. He found work at a wine shop on the border of uptown actually. Pays quite handsomely too.”

Dantes smiled. “Well… midtowners are nothing if not adaptable.”

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