Where has Verra teleported me to, and why was it so damn painful?I had immediately recognized from how they moved and how they were holding their weapons that all four of the men approaching me rapidly were the next best thing to completely ignorant about using the blades in their hands. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't feeling generous enough to offer lessons. They were on their feet, I was lying in a pile of strange boxes of food. I let myself collapse onto my back again to use both hands. A quick twist of both wrists dropped a weighted dart into each hand. I crossed my arms slightly over my chest before whipping both arms out and releasing the darts.
My two targets fell to the ground, clutching their necks around protruding darts. It didn't seem as if I'd done spinal damage to either, so they could be revivified later. I didn't want to permanently kill anyone. If someone teleported onto a table of food at a Jhereg organization meeting, the reaction would be the same. Toughs crowding in with weapons, others backing off and trying to figure out what was going on. Except for the whole part where Jhereg organizational meetings had teleport blocks. My assessment of the professionalism of these people fell another notch.
"No guns. You will shoot each other." I heard, spoken loudly, firmly, by someone I couldn't see from the floor.
And that's the voice of someone in charge. What's a gun?
The two remaining toughs had briefly, unprofessionally, stopped to stare at the two men holding their necks. After gawking at the dying men, they turned their heads back to me and started taking quick steps forward with grim, determined looks on their faces. I jerked my arms in another sweeping motion, carefully telegraphing the movement so they would see it. As expected, the two stopped and raised their hands to protect their face and neck. That gave me time to bring my knees to my chest, my hands up over my shoulders and kick up with all the strength in my legs and hips before pushing myself into the air with my hands.
A moment later, after some midair contortions that were a lot less painful when my guts weren't tying themselves in knots, I was on my feet, crouched, with my hands above my boots. Looking around, I saw two dying men and two men with knives, very close, looking a little nervous. There were at least ten more wielding various clubs nearby and getting nearer. Some of the clubs appeared improvised. Others were clearly purpose-built. Nobody seemed to be preparing to throw weapons, and I saw no bows or crossbows.
"You know, we don't have to do this the hard way. I'm Jhereg. This isn't a job for me."
"Never heard of you, Jhereg." The same voice. I still couldn't see the speaker, since I was crouched. "You've probably killed two of my men already. I can't let that stand. It would send a bad message to the rest of my people."
That reasoning, I understood. The man in charge had taken this personally. Years ago, when I had been running an area for House Jhereg, I tended to get personal when my people were killed.
"This was an accident. I don't want this to escalate. I'll pay for their healing, and a little extra aside to compensate for their downtime. Back off."
After a pause there was a little bit of a laugh. "I imagine that you don't want this to escalate. Too bad." He paused momentarily and then barked. "Take him."
Where are you Loiosh, I yelled psionically, reaching mentally for my familiar and finding nothing.
I drew a long dagger from my left boot with my right hand, and gripped the bottom edge my cloak around my left arm. As I started to stand, I flared the cloak at the man to my right, feinting a strike in his direction. The man to my left leaned in to try to stab me, but under the flaring cloak I was turning clockwise. Lefty had been watching the cloak move, and not me. I slammed his right forearm out of line with my right elbow, hard enough to make him drop his blade, and spun around him, pushing him towards the other knifeman with my left arm. As he fell forward, I stabbed him in the right kidney. The two men collided, and the fourth man dropped his knife as the third man knocked him over. The blade cartwheeled towards me with an odd ringing sound. I hadn't heard a blade sound like that on stone before.
Leaning over rapidly, I picked up the fourth man's knife with my left hand as it skittered across the strange smooth stone floor and threw it hard, hoping to hit the fourth man's great artery in his inner right thigh. The blade was a dirk, but it didn't have proper balance for close fighting, or throwing, and felt too light. The thrown blade was off target by several inches and only cut the fourth man lightly instead of burying itself in his thigh as intended. The third man wasn't bleeding enough for me to have hit an artery with the kidney strike, and might get back up, if he was strong and focused. The fourth man certainly would be getting back up.
Now that I was standing, I could see a large man, dressed entirely in strange black clothing. He was leaning against what looked like a huge, strange wagon, arms crossed, watching me. I saw a wisp of smoke come from his mouth as he looked at the ten men standing around me, afraid to attack. "I haven't seen him do anything that makes him a cape yet, but he's very good. Surround him. Attack him from behind. Guard yourselves when he's facing you." His voice dropped in tone and rumbled. "Prove yourselves."
It was reasonable advice to be given to unskilled amateurs fighting a professional, but it didn't explain anything.
The man in charge was Easterner, and wearing all black. No grey. The only three Houses with black in their colors were Dragon, Dzur, and Jhereg. House Dragon wouldn't take an Easterner. House Dzur would, conceivably, if an Easterner could defeat seventeen champions of the House of Dzur. Even if an Easterner could manage it, anyone that could make it into House Dzur from the outside certainly wouldn't be hiding behind these incompetents. They would be in my face, attacking me themselves. If he were in House Jhereg, he knew nothing, which meant he wasn't in House Jhereg.
With my left hand, I pulled two shuriken from a pouch at my belt and threw the poisoned blades at the men on the floor. I didn't want them getting back up.
I drew another dagger with my left hand and dashed away from the man in black as the ten men surrounding me started closing in slowly, carefully. They were doing their best to follow their boss's commands.
Trying to figure out what was going on was taking up most of my attention, I couldn't afford to be surrounded, not even by these imbeciles.
The two incompetents trying to keep me from escaping the circle were even more pathetic than the knifemen. I deflected one poorly-considered strike obliquely with my right forearm and took the left on my shoulder while leaning away from it. Neither attack would leave more than a minor bruise. I put my right hand dirk in the right-side man's diaphragm, and the left hand dagger disemboweled the left-side man. One man fell, dying, unable to breathe. The other went to his knees and started trying to hold everything inside. Eight left and their boss. Three down hard. Three poisoned or wounded badly enough they couldn't fight.
"I really don't want to take out all your people. They aren't good enough to have a chance against me. Six down, and they haven't even drawn blood on me yet. Think about-"
There was a popping noise and Loiosh started screaming in my head, making me wince.
Boss, where are you? I'm a bit busy, Loiosh.
I felt Loiosh poking around in my mind, and started backing away towards the wall. The eight remaining men followed me, slowly. I saw their leader's head instantly snap to where I could feel Loiosh. I hadn't seen Loiosh emerge, but the leader of these people had. That was something to remember, carefully. He might actually be competent in a fight.
The better-dressed man in black seems to have seen you, Loiosh. I'm fine. Six down, nine to go, what took you so long?
There was a sensation of shock from Loiosh. You did all this in two seconds, Boss? I'm impressed. Really, I mean it. I'm impressed. And the man in black- It's been at least thirty seconds, Loiosh. Is Rozca here too? Rozca is here. Boss, it's only been two sec-
I felt Loiosh sifting through more of my memories swiftly.
Boss, this is weird to the point of hurting my head. They're all Easterners? Where are we? And why can't I sense the Orb through you? Did you find another Phoenix stone? No Orb?
That's what I said, Boss. I was talking to myself, not you, Loiosh. That's fine then, I suppose.
I pulled two more poisoned shuriken from their pouch and sent them on their way. Two men grunted in pain and fell to the ground, screaming as jhereg poison started hitting their nerves. I was immune to the poison due to Loiosh biting me constantly when he was little, when his poison sacs were very small.
I turned my head towards the man in black as I slowly kept moving backwards. The building was very large. I was starting to move into shadow. "I've taken out eight of your men now. It was easy. I can take out the rest just as easy. Have them back off."
Should Rozca and I just watch, or help? Just watch. Try to figure out what's going on. I'm fairly sure I can handle this myself. For once, Boss, I think you're right. What House is the man in black in, anyway? I don't think he's in a House, Loiosh. Verra sent us somewhere with no orb. You looked in my memories. He thinks my name is Jhereg. None of them seem to have any clue what House Jhereg is. Oh. Yeah. This is weird, Boss. Loiosh, I agree. Even time is different here, like the Paths of the Dead. You took two seconds to get here while I was fighting thirty seconds, at least.
I felt the recoil of Loiosh's mind at that thought. That's not very comforting. And Boss? What, Loiosh. I'm no longer impressed. Thirty seconds for the first six, and then fifteen seconds for the next two? These Easterners are worse than Teckla. You need to pick up the pace.
The man in the black suit walked towards me slowly across the wide floor, speaking in a deep, commanding tone. "I have this now. Back off."
The incompetent thugs backed off, and starting to tend to the dead and dying.
"So, you are a cape, Jhereg." His glance drifted up to where I could feel Loiosh and Rozca. He was looking into what seemed like darkness to my eyes.
You're right, Boss, he can see us. I told you that. Warn Rozca if you- Already done, Boss. What's a cape? It's a piece of cloth, attached at the shoulders-
Loiosh hissed into my mind. And I smiled before replying mentally. I don't know. Maybe that's what they call the city watch here? Why would your appearance make them think I was with the city watch though? A whole city watch of witches, Boss? That could be very, very bad. Thanks for the pleasant thought. Hundreds of people who can trace my weapons. Welcome, Boss.
"Tiny little dragons, and good in a fight." The man chuckled deep in his throat as he started closing the distance across the floor. "It's a shame you came here uninvited, attacked us, and killed my people. I might have tried recruiting you. Oni Lee was the last member of the ABB with sufficient weapons skills to teach others. He's been gone a while now though, and the people he taught either disappeared or were killed between the time I was captured and when Scion went insane."
As the man walked slowly under the lights in the middle of the vast open space, I got a clear view of him. He was very powerfully muscled, but not much taller than me. His skin was an odd shade of yellowish olive, and his eyes had a slight, odd tilt under a head of black, straight hair, tied back in a single knot at the top of his head. Many of the other thugs shared the same facial features and type of hair, but his was the only hair in that style. He was not carrying any weapons that I could see. Definitely no long blades. Almost certainly no short blades. Darts and shuriken or similar thrown weapons were possible, but he was very large to fight with weapons requiring more dexterity than strength.
My eyes snapped to his feet when I could see them clearly. He was wearing footwear that looked well-made, but didn't even cover the ankles. Like hard leather slippers. The black clothing was very fine. The trousers moved like silk, but I couldn't see the faintest trace of light through them. The top was something that was in the style of a heavy woolen Orca seaman's sweater, with a high, tight collar and long sleeves, but it was thin, nearly sheer. Muscles bulged under the shirt as the man moved, and the material adjusted with no sign of stress.
Their clothing is stranger than their food. Boss, this guy has no weapons I can see. Those clothes don't hide much. He just watched you effortlessly carve up eight of his employees, and he's just walking up to you with zero sign of worry. He's got orbs that hang to his knees, that's for sure, Loiosh. Either that, or he's completely insane. He reminds me of you.
I ignored the barb.
Are there any other people in the building, besides the fighters and this fellow? No, Boss. Rozca and I are watching. I'm not going to tell you what Rozca is seeing outside, through the windows. Not till this is over.
"You seemed very talkative earlier, but you are silent now?" The man in black said, his face twisting into a slight smile. "Have you recognized me, perhaps?"
"I'm just trying to figure out why you're so confident. I can see you have no long or medium length weapons, and you've just watched me humiliate eight of your men. If you aren't good enough to teach your people to fight better than what I saw here, I can't imagine why you seem so carefree."
The man scowled and stopped, ten paces away from me, looking at me like I was an idiot. "You don't know who I am?"
Loiosh inserted himself into my mind incredulously. Did he really just pull the 'Don't you know who I am?' line? Not now, Loiosh. But yes, he did.
"No clue. I'm Vlad. Good to meet you." I looked at him, tilting my head slightly to the side, expectantly.
"My name is Lung." He was watching my face, carefully.
He's named after an internal organ? Loiosh paused a second and then continued. I am Lung, son of Kidney and Prostrate. Brother of Stomach, Tongue, and Appendix. Stop, Loiosh, you know better than to try to make me laugh when I'm talking business. This has got to be an exception, Boss. Seriously.
"I'm glad to meet you, Lung." I paused and nodded to him. "Like I said, I'm willing to pay for revivification and healing for your people. I didn't come here to do harm to your organization. I don't even know where I am, to be honest. I was teleported here with no warning."
The man started walking forward again. "It would probably be best if you didn't come within three paces of me, Lung. I don't want to hurt you if you make a sudden move."
The man was clearly enjoying himself now, and, if anything, was more relaxed than before. He stopped three paces from me, and smiled. "You amuse me, Vlad. Do you know what Leviathan was?"
Lung was starting to push every single one of my danger buttons, but I saw nothing at all to be afraid of. A man that big with no weapon, would just bleed more before he died, even if I didn't draw Lady Teldra.
Can you detect any sorcery or witchcraft at all on this guy, Loiosh? None. I've been looking really hard too, Boss.
"No clue, Lung. I'm a very long way from home, apparently. Far enough I can't detect the Imperial Orb. Do you know where Dragaera is?"
Lung's eyes squinted in thought. "I'm afraid I've never heard of the place." He paused. "You said something about revivification for my people? I don't know that English word, but it sounds like bringing people back to life. You can do that?"
I couldn't help but stare at him as I realized-
No Imperial Orb, Boss. No revivification. Got it.
"No, I'm afraid I can't. It's beyond my ability with sorcery."
His eyes opened wide, briefly, and then narrowed. "Sorcery? Do you think I'm a fool? If you had some sort of cape power to bring my men back to life, I might have let you live if you brought them back." Lung took a step forward towards me.
Boss, the other people in here are looking really scared right now. I just took out eight of them in less than a minute, Loiosh. They're looking at Organ-guy, not you, Boss.
"I warned you, Lung." On his second step forward, I cut his throat and took two quick steps back to avoid getting blood on my boots when he fell.
What? I'm not that vain. Blood can be traced, and it seemed possible that the entire city watch was witches. Incompetent fighters can live a while before they get in a fight. Incompetent witches burn their brains out and become drooling wrecks the first time they try anything difficult. I knew I could easily trace Lung's blood on my boots with witchcraft. If I could, other witches could as well. Stop distracting me and let me tell the story.
Instead of falling and bleeding like a proper person with no more blood flowing to their brain, Lung took another step forward, which was rather startling. What was more startling was that his neck wasn't cut any longer.
Boss, his eyes are on fire! Loiosh, I told you when we fought Loraan- He's NOT undead, boss.
I dropped the dagger out of my left hand and reached towards Lady Teldra as Lung took another long, rapid step forward, absolutely no fear at all in his face.
Boss, move, now, get away!
As my left hand wrapped around Lady Teldra's hilt, Lung struck with his open palm, so fast I could barely even see his arm move. I took the blow directly on the flat of my sternum, barely above where my left arm was crossing my body to grip Lady Teldra. I heard my ribs collapse with a sound like crumpling paper as I shot through the air like a catapult stone. I have never been hit anywhere near that hard. I had never seen anyone get hit that hard, by anything - not even sorcery. I flew at least ten paces backwards into a pile of trash. My feet never hit the ground before I slammed up against the odd metallic wall with a loud clang and a spray of garbage.
Loiosh screamed in my mind, and I felt him moving in to attack.
My heart was not beating, and I couldn't breathe. My hand was starting to slip off of Lady Teldra, but I gripped harder, in desperation, trying to pull her from her sheath so she would be unfettered. I had no leverage. My shoulder bones and ribs were confetti. My hands worked, and my arms, but there was no leverage from my shoulders. The sheath Lady Teldra was in had to be very tight; it was meant to hold her in place, hilt down. I didn't have the leverage to free her and save my life.
My left wrist and forearm worked feverishly. All of my attention centered on wriggling and coaxing to try to get Lady Teldra out of her sheath. It wasn't working.
Loiosh screamed something into my mind that I can't remember. A second or two later, Rozca's body slammed into my shoulder, unbalancing me. My upper body slid to the side, collapsing out of the dent in the metal wall that had been holding me in a semi-seated position. I held to Lady Teldra as tightly as I could, and when my body bounced to the floor, Lady Teldra stayed in her sheath.
Just be yourself, Vlad. Just stay alive, Vlad. I screamed into my own head. Verra, if you're listening, you had best take good care of Cawti and my son, or I'm going to find a way to help Lady Teldra earn her second name.
My left hand relaxed despite my best efforts to keep struggling to pull Lady Teldra from her sheath. No heartbeat meant no body strength after only a few seconds. Suddenly, there was a strong sensation of concern and worry. I felt a shiver pass through my body, and Lady Teldra slid out of her sheath, falling several inches, her pommel striking my limp left hand.
A nightmare of hunger and rage assaulted the minds of everyone nearby that wasn't me, or my familiars, as Lady Teldra's blade was freed of her sheath.
If you have never felt the hunger aura of a morganti blade, be thankful. A minor morganti weapon is enough to make the weak-willed tremble just from its presence. A strong morganti blade with a powerful aura will cause the weak-willed to flee and the brave to tremble. A Great Weapon like Lady Teldra has a morganti aura strong enough to make a brave person run away when drawn in normal circumstances.
But a Great Weapon drawn when its soul-bound wielder is in mortal danger? The projected aura is powerful enough to drive most to flee mindlessly, even to the point of trampling loved ones underfoot. Only the very bravest can even stand in front of a Great Weapon when it is in such a state. A single Great Weapon can turn the tide of a battle. Lung? He slowly walked up to the trash pile and looked at me as I lay crumpled there, ignoring Loiosh and Rozca as they raged at him. He was clearly being impacted by the aura, moving with trepidation, looking around furtively, glancing at shadows, but he wasn't fleeing.
I watched his eyes scan me, before he turned and walked away. Loiosh later showed me, psionically, what Lung would have seen from that angle. I would have walked away from the dying me too, if I didn't know what a Great Weapon could do. At the time, my body looked lumpy and twisted, like a sugar candy man left too close to the stove, but not quite close enough to burst into flame.
After Lung left, I was too damaged to feel pain at first. Then I felt my heart begin to beat again and the bones in my chest and back began shifting under my skin. Lady Teldra was maintaining my consciousness and trying to restore me. Somewhere, far away, I heard a strange wailing noise. It was almost like a banshee scream, sounding like it was coming from many directions at once, and it was getting closer. I was fairly sure it wasn't me screaming in pain.
All of a sudden the pain started, without warning. I stiffened and coughed, which, due to the state of my bones and lungs, led to a spray of blood on the ground in front of my face and more pain than I could deal with. Almost as much pain as Verra's teleport had given me. The pain suddenly disappeared again.
Loiosh landed next to my head so I could see him without moving. My right cheek was resting on the copper-smelling, cool, flat stone, shifting back and forth gently as my torso rebuilt itself. Boss, he's gone. Who?
What? Loiosh rummaged around in my head. Oh, no. None of that, Boss. There's nobody to carry you, and we can't stay. I can tell that Lady Teldra's almost healed you enough to move. Organ-guy left six of his incompetent dead people behind, and you killed them. Falling asleep is not an option. That noise that's getting closer? I bet it's the city watch. Lady Teldra was furious. She probably sent everyone within a couple hundred yards screaming off in all directions. Well, except for except Organ-guy. Just five minutes, Loiosh. Boss, I'm going to bite your nose if you don't stay awake.
A small set of jaws with very sharp teeth poised themselves in front of my crossed eyes, lightly gripping the end of my nose.