130. Partners in Crime

The kid liked tall, out-of-the-way places, so the first place Garott went was up on the walls. He spent a couple minutes walking the facade, then one of the Redcliffe guards posted up there pointed him over the balustrade.

Sure enough, he got up on his tiptoes to peer over the divider and spotted the elf about seven feet down, sitting on a gargoyle jutting out of the stone. The elf was staring out over the water of the bay halfway across the city, one hand tracing patterns on the gargoyle's stone head.

Garott huffed quietly, but nonetheless pulled out his spare rope. He tied one end around his waist, then looped the rope around a rail in the balustrade and climbed over it. Carefully, he rappelled down the facade until he was even with the elf.

Kazar cast him a mutedly amused look. "I could burn your rope right through. You'd drop like a stone."

"Yep." Garott settled against the wall, finding a semblance of purchase against a narrow lip in the rock.

The elf turned back to look out over the city, his eyes following ships coming in and out of the harbor. Garott swung with him in silence, watching the bustling of the roads below them. He spent an amusing couple minutes watching people pass right below them, the suckers all unaware of the two Wardens right above them. If Kazar did indeed cut his rope and he went tumbling, he'd probably land on one of them.

It took a couple minutes before the elf broke the silence again. "He sacrificed himself to save me," he said, voice thick with scorn. "Who does that?"

"Crazies. Remember Marnan?"

He scoffed and turned a scowl to Garott. "Why would someone do that? I treated him like crap. Why would he do that?"

Garott shrugged, which made him swing a bit. He couldn't explain it either. The two settled into conspiring silence, pondering the oddities of their more heroic peers.

After a couple minutes, Garott asked, "I ever tell you about Leske?"

Kazar glanced over at him and shook his head.

"Me and him were buddies since we were urchins, running through Dust Town covered in filth. We worked together under the Carta boss."

"Literal partners in crime, huh?" Kazar gave him a weak smirk.

"Damn straight, and good ones too. Me and him... we were in sync. Knew how the other guy worked, so we could just give eachother this look and we knew what we were gonna do. Which guys we were going to lean on, which ones we were going to swipe from, and which we were just gonna go ahead and off."

Kazar snorted a laugh.

"Then, we got a little over our head. Our boss told us to fix a Proving match, because he had money riding on this one guy. Shoulda been easy... we go in, drip a little poison in his opponents' waters, and get out. Except, when we got there, the guy who was supposed to win was dead stone drunk.

"So Leske has this idea. This awesome, awful idea... I put on the guy's armor and wallop all the highly trained Warriors at their own game."

Kazar laughed. "I like how he volunteered you."

"Yep. He was crazy sometimes, but not suicidal. So he goes off with the poison, and I do my best to put on the Warrior's armor. Next thing I know, I'm being ushered out into the arena and told to fight to the death."

"Bet that poison came in handy."

"Not as much as you'd think." Garott smirked. "Leske got the last guy, but the rest? That was all me."

Kazar slanted him a doubtful look. "How?"

Garott tapped his head. "Thing about Warriors... they're strong, but they ain't too smart. A couple caltrops and a habit of ducking can go a long way."

Kazar laughed full-throated at that.

"Yeah, I was pretty awesome. Problem was, Leske didn't think to tie the drunk down while I was out kicking ass."

"That bite you in the ass, huh?"

"Yep. Guy stumbled out on the field just as I was being declared champion, and I was unmasked in front of the whole damn city. Being casteless... yeah, we were in trouble. My boss managed to grab us before the city guard did... but that wasn't much better. Threw us in a cell all the same. Probably woulda killed us for losing him all that money, too."

"How'd you get out?"

"How else? Broke out of the cell and cut a path to the door. Luck being what it is, the city guard met us at the exit, and woulda dragged me off again for defiling the Proving if Duncan hadn't stepped in and claimed me for himself."

Kazar smiled fondly. "Funny, how often he did that."

"Yeah. Thing was, I hadda leave Leske. He wasn't Warden material. I'm not sure how he got outta trouble. I have to assume Jarvia sprang him."

"Jarvia?"

"Carta's second-in-command. We killed the boss on the way out, but she got away. Took over the Carta, too, what with the power vacuum Beraht left."

"As you do," Kazar agreed.

"After Ostagar and everything, I headed back there. Didn't have the guts to go into Dust Town, though... not when everyone there'd probably either wanna kill me or make me Paragon. Not until Bhelen told me to take care of the Carta for him, anyway. Image management and all that."

"And Leske was there," Kazar guessed. Smart kid.

"Yep. Sten, Morrigan, and me fought our way through their base. Ended up in the old office I'd been in a hundred times, except instead of Beraht and Jarvia, I was looking at Jarvia and Leske. The blighter had clawed his way right up to the second-in-command."

Kazar was watching him now. "What did you do?"

"What could I do? Jarvia was calling her goons in, and they had a dozen traps scattered everywhere, and everyone was killing everyone. I tried to take out the traps, but Leske knew me... he knew that's what I would do, so he tried to incapacitate me while I was disarming. I woulda gone down right there if Sten hadn't saved my ass. Next thing I know, the fight's over and Leske's dead at my feet. Never even got to say goodbye to the sap."

Kazar chewed his lip, and that was a weird thing to see him do. "Do you wish you had?"

"Sodding yes. Woulda given the blighter a piece of my mind, falling in with Jarvia. He was a moron if he thought she wouldn't just use him and lose him."

Kazar nodded and looked back over the bay. "That sucks."

"Yep. But funny thing is: I ain't mad at him."

A curious glance.

"Really. Way I figure it, Leske's choices were his own. They were dumb ones, but he was just doin' what he thought needed to be done to save his own ass. It's the way we dusters are."

"Smarter than Jowan was, at least."

Garott shrugged. "He made his choice, elf."

"It was a dumb one," he insisted. Then, in a lower voice, "It didn't even work."

Garott raised a brow at that.

"There's still pieces of it in me. The demon, I mean." And this, here, seemed to be the crux of what was bothering him. He twiddled his fingers, and sparks bounced between his hands. "Every once in a while, I have these... thoughts. They feel like they're his, but they're not. They're mine." He clenched his fists, and the sparks disappeared. "It's hard to explain."

"Hm," Garott grunted thoughtfully. "It dangerous?"

"I don't know!" Kazar shifted his seat on the gargoyle, turning to face Garott. "I don't know what it could make me do... or think... I don't know how to control it, because it's part of me, but it comes from a demon!" Kazar's voice went high and tight. "Jowan killed himself for me, and it didn't fucking work! It was all for nothing! I'm still an abomination!" His voice broke and he turned away abruptly, swiping his sleeve across his eyes.

Garott gave the kid a moment to compose himself. Only once the elf had gotten a couple deep breaths in and cleared his eyes did Garott say slowly, "Seems to me, an abomination wouldn't be worried about being an abomination."

Kazar's laugh was weak and cynical.

"I'm serious. When that guy was in you, would you have torn yourself up over this? Come to think of it, would ya have done it before he came along, either?"

After a moment of Garott staring at him pointedly, Kazar finally shook his head. "Guess not," he mumbled.

"See? Totally going soft on me, elf. Think that means you're okay."

Again, there was something like a laugh. "Not going soft."

"Yeah, kinda are. Guilt about your friend's death? That's pretty damn soft."

Kazar smirked, swiping the last dampness out of his eyes. "Says the guy who threw out his deal with a certain dwarven king, just because a dead princess asked him to."

"Damn straight. I'd do it again, too."

He and Kazar shared a smirk, and they settled down to stare out over the bay in companionable silence.