Shadowborn

Chapter Seventy: Homecoming

Chapter Seventy: Homecoming

By morning, half the demi-humans in camp had a collar around their throat and a spring in their step. By the time dinner was served that night, the other half had joined them. The camp had finally started to feel like it should have seeing as it was the last night we’d be spending in the wild. In the end, there were only two who decided they didn’t want to join my household.

I was sitting on the ground facing the campfire, nursing a bowl of delicious stew, with Tiana curled up on one side, Noelle sitting on one of my legs, Serena on a camp stool behind me, and Rhallani on Tiana’s other side with her nose in her journals. I was enjoying the peace and quiet when Jack plopped down beside us, her gaze locked on the fire. “Thought I’d let you know Anri and Kili will be signing up with me.”

“If that’s what they want, I’m hardly going to stand in their way.”

She regarded me for several seconds. “Kili has a powerful class. Anri left the military to go to her previous Patron because he promised protection. I’ve offered the same thing, just with less...”

“Awfulness?”

She inclined her head. “Though, since Hellions have built in fire resistance, having an ally I don’t have to worry about burning could come in handy.”

“Thought you weren’t a noble,” Tiana pointed out, leaning into my side.

Jack snorted. “I’m not. But I am an S rank adventurer. Class five. Lowest of the S ranks, but still high enough that I can contract up to five servants.”

Tiana let out a whistle. “S rank? Are the rumors true?”

“Gonna have to be more specific.”

“That S rank for women isn’t often merit based.”

“Ah, that one.” Jack grimaced. “Yeah. S rank means untouchable. In most cases because of connections, but mine is a little more...literal. I’ve got the merit to back it up, though. I sure as shit haven’t been idle since I’ve joined the guild.” She just shrugged. “With my skill set, I’d have made it eventually.”

Noelle made a low noise. “What will you do when we get back to the city?”

I rubbed her back, aware she was worried about Jack taking her friend somewhere far away, but Jack made a noncommittal grunt. “Not sure yet. Depends on a lot of stuff.”Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

“Like?” Serena prompted.

Rather than answering, Jack turned the conversation back on us. “What about you all? With an entire household’s worth of demi-humans, I have to assume you’ve got plans.”

I nodded, willing to let her dodge the question for now. “We’ve got a lot to get set up. Making our main house livable, seeing what states my other properties are in, figuring out how best to handle the inevitable host of squatters in a way that doesn’t make me feel slimy, looking into why a councilman is trying to orchestrate the capture of demi-humans, and about a dozen other things.”

Jack made a gagging sound. “Booooring. Come on, Z, give me something interesting. Surely you’ve got some fun planned.” She pointed at Rhallani without looking. “And no, a week long sex binge does not count.”

Rhallani pouted. “We’ve gotta break in the new bedroom somehow.” She grumbled. “Once we get it built, of course.” Then she grinned. “But, once we get the big stuff squared away, we need to find someone who can work spider silk.”

That piqued Jack’s interest. “Oh?”

Rhallani grinned. “Yep. Zaren has a storage packed full of Valax silk sacs. I’ve always wanted magical underwear.”

Jack shot her a droll look. “You don’t wear underwear. Trust me, I’ve noticed.”

Rhallani just shrugged. “I could go for some crotchless panties.”

Serena choked on a mouthful of stew, and I couldn’t help but bite back a laugh. “And is that before or after you go questing for magic sex toys, Angel?” I asked.

Rhallani just shrugged. “Gotta start outfitting a library at some point, too. And start researching. I’ll have a packed schedule for a while. And...” She shot a guilty look at me. “And we’ve gotta sit down with my sister as soon as we can. I want her to know I’m okay. And happy.”

Jack nodded. “What about you, T?”

Tiana just shrugged. “We’ve got a whole host of girls now who own nothing more than the clothes we’ve loaned them. I think a shopping trip is in order. I figure since my boyfriend is loaded, I can afford to splurge on some nice dresses.” Then she wrapped her arms around one of mine. “Though spider silk panties are definitely a tantalizing prospect.”

Jack’s gaze returned to staring down the fire and I could see the gears turning in her head. I wondered if she was still thinking over my offer. “What about you, pipsqueak?” she asked, nodding towards Noelle.

“I want to find my sisters,” Noelle said simply. “Val thinks there might be some clues in the city. I also want to try and find my mother, but Zaren would know how to do that better than me.”

“What about for fun?” Jack prompted, her voice unusually soft.

Noelle just shrugged. “Fun is not something I have thought about for a decade. I’d like to spend more time with my friends and spend more nights with Zaren. Other than that, I do not know where I would start.”

Tiana wrapped her arms around Noelle, pulling the smaller girl into her lap and nuzzling her face into the spot between Noelle’s neck and shoulder. “Don’t you worry, we’re going to find all your favorite things and drown you in them.”

That managed to draw a happy hum from Noelle, and Jack smiled. “And you, blondie?”

Serena’s hand found my shoulder, gently kneading my muscles. “I want to find one of Allura’s temples. I’ve never been in one, but I’ve always wanted to go.”

That made Jack’s head snap up. “Allura? What the fuck does she have to do with anything?”

“Well,” Serena said uncertainly, her hand pausing, “Allura is my patron goddess. My worship of her is the reason for my priestess class.”

Jack leaned forward slowly, her amber eyes falling on me. “Allura is the other goddess? How the fuck does she fit into all this?”

I exchanged a glance over my shoulder with Serena. “Remains to be seen,” I said evasively. “Why?”

She ground her teeth rather than answering before shooting to her feet with a curse and storming off. I shared a bewildered look with Serena, who only shrugged. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

But her answer came when Jack returned, a large bottle of dark liquor in hand. She plopped down again, kicking her feet up so they were in my lap, then tore the cork of the bottle out with her teeth and spat it onto the ground. I raised a brow at the size of the bottle she apparently planned on finishing tonight.

“Is getting drunk a good idea with your...fiery situation?”

“Nope,” she said, just before she took a long pull from the bottle. “But it sounds like we need to have a conversation that I refuse to take part in sober, so here we are.” She took another long drink and grimaced. “Don’t suppose any of you would be willing to part with deep dark secrets to make me feel a little better about sharing my own, would you?”

Tiana’s hand found my thigh, rubbing dangerously close to my cock. “Kinda hard to trust you with secrets when you still won’t tell us why you were lying to the caravan,” she pointed out.

“Not gonna let that go, huh?” Jack asked. After another drink, she sighed. “Got a message from my sister. Said she didn’t want to go into all the nitty gritty in a letter, but that she needed to ask a favor. Syl doesn’t ask for favors, and I owe her. She said that up north, an Arelim had been indebted to some asshole lord, and she wanted me to assume ownership of her and get her safely back to the capital.”

I looked to Rhallani, but she just shook her head. She was as confused as I was, it seemed. Jack continued. “I figured it would be an easy enough job, but then I got an eyeful of your bedroom fun and started to think there might be a little more going on than we suspected, so I became Lady Vivian to see if you were really taking care of her or if she was yours against her will. You passed with flying colors, so here we are. Still trying to figure out what I’m gonna tell my sister, though.”

“I don’t know any Syls, and I don’t know anyone by the last name Pryce,” Rhallani said, frowning. “Why me?”

Jack just shrugged. “Like I said, she was light on details. I was just happy to get a chance to repay her somehow, but that’s a question for,” she held up the bottle, which was already missing a decent amount of its contents, and pointed about two inches below where the liquid currently sat, “around here.”

She took another swig. “How does someone become a priestess for a goddess she’s never set foot in a temple for?” she asked.

I looked back at Serena, who had suddenly blushed. I’d be lying if I’d never wondered the same thing. “Well,” Serena said slowly, “if you must know, there was a boy.”

Jack snorted. “Isn’t there always?”

Serena didn’t answer. “I thought he was the one,” she continued, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “We’d been seeing one another for a while, but we hadn’t gotten very far in the bedroom. We had a day planned, and I figured praying to the goddess of love for things to go well only made sense. I went to the general temple in town and said a few prayers, then suddenly my monthly flow was starting weeks ahead of schedule.”

I shook my head. “I’m sending Safina, too. She should discourage anyone from making trouble. They’ll also make stops at the guild to send messages to any family members—such as Rhallani’s sister—and get updated documents on my properties in the city.”

“Tiana and the rest of the new servants are going with Korey for now since I’m not sure I’ll have anywhere for most of them to sleep just yet. Her and Liana will watch over everyone until I’ve got a house for them to move to.”

“Sticking with Liana as head servant, then?” I nodded. “Good, she’s competent as shit. You’d have to be an idiot not to utilize her. Noelle and Serena?”

“Noelle is sticking with me until we have somewhere secure,” I told her. “Her race plays into this somehow, and I don’t want to risk the wrong person seeing what she is just yet.”

“You should start gathering information as soon as possible.”

“Already on it,” I told her. “Once we’ve got everyone settled for the day, Valith, Alice, Tsuki, and Nariko are headed out into the city to find out everything they can about the current players in the lower city. I was originally just going to send Valith and Nariko, but they convinced me to let Tsuki and Alice help. I’ll send them in pairs so they have someone to watch their backs.”

That seemed to appease her. “The collars should protect them from most. Nobody will want to risk pissing off the new guy in town until they know what kind of clout he’s got.”

My thoughts exactly, though I would have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t a little hesitant to send them off on their own. They seemed more than confident they’d be able to get the job done, though, and the job definitely needed doing. I had so much shit to take care of it would be days or weeks before I could step out and do the information gathering myself, so I’d have to trust they could handle it.

She peered around the caravan. “Looks like we’re up soon, you should probably banish the golem unless you want to end up on Bennet’s radar early.”

I made a grunt of agreement and headed for my wagon. Jack had accepted just about everything I’d told her with surprising ease. She hung back while I hopped up and headed for the golem, prepared to banish it just as I had my sword this morning. Both were powerful magical artifacts that would bring undue attention to us before we were ready for it.

The poor golem was still missing half its limbs, but I’d already promised Rhallani to help her figure out a way to restore it to its former glory. When I kneeled down and put my hand on its chest, though, I sucked in my breath sharply. “No...” I muttered.

Jack hopped up on the wagon. “What’s up?”

Before I answered, I needed to be sure. I reached out with my senses and felt around where I thought the golem’s chest would be. My fears turned out to be well founded when I found the soul there. It was mutilated, cut and chained in place with strands of magic that attached it to the golem’s physical body.

“I always knew the golem was special, but I didn’t realize...” I looked up at Jack, my expression grim. “It’s built around a soul. Someone killed to make this golem. They attached the soul to the rest of the body. That’s why it’s so efficient. Why it always felt smarter than a normal golem.”

No, not someone. Karn.

I banished the golem and stood. Jack looked like she might be sick. “That’s fucked.”

“Yeah.” We both lurched as the wagon started moving again, leaving that particular revelation to be dealt with later. “Come on, I should be at the front when we get to the gates.”

Korey, Cynthia, and Pierce were all at the head of the caravan already when Jack and I joined them. We timed it perfectly, only having to wait a few minutes before the gate guards finished with the group in front of us. They turned to wave us through, and I saw whoever was in charge lock on to Korey immediately.

“Korey Pravl,” he said, his lip curling. “Figured you’d take longer to get back. Don’t see Vossen with you.” He looked to the men performing the inspections. “Make sure to be extra thorough with this one.”

Before I could so much as speak, Cynthia stepped forward. “Actually, an inspection won’t be necessary.”

The guy in charge paused, then turned back slowly. “Is that so? And who the fuck are you?”

Cynthia just smiled professionally. “Who I am is unimportant, but who I work for isn’t. You may want to read our paperwork before you go throwing your authority around.” She brandished the documents, far enough away that the man would have to approach her.

He looked from me to Pierce to Jack, then to whoever had come to the front of the caravan to stand behind us. He stalked forward and snatched the documents from Cynthia, his brows slowly raising with each word. He paled, then his eyes shot to me. I arched a brow and he hurriedly shoved the papers back into Cynthia’s hands before waving them through.

“Have a nice day, my lord,” he mumbled, stepping aside.

Korey got the caravan moving again and we fell into step. Once we were through, we all turned to Cynthia.

“How did you manage that?” Korey demanded. “Borrik fucking hates me.”

Cynthia made a show of carefully putting the paperwork away. “I merely worded the documents to point out that Zaren has the right to oversee the transport of potentially hazardous materials. There was an entire page dedicated to the proper handling of containment procedures that, if violated, could result in a horrible death. Not only that, but I made it clear that he has both the pull and the ability to handle materials that an average guard would never be able to discern from anything actually illegal, so unless he wanted to call his superiors and risk offending a powerful lord with the delay...” she trailed off with a shrug.

Jack snickered. “Where the fuck did you find her?”

“Ran into her in Anford. So far, she’s been worth every copper promised and then some.”

Cynthia’s only reaction to my words was a slight darkening to her cheeks. I knew she prided herself in her work, but I wasn’t kidding. As soon as I could, I was giving her a raise.

Korey just shook his head. “Whatever the case, I’m continually glad I agreed to take you on back in Listone. It really has been a gift that keeps on giving.”

We carried on into the city. The houses we were surrounded by were hardly slums, but they weren’t nearly as nice as the houses I knew were further in. But we didn’t stay there for long. Eventually Korey took us off towards the southeast corner of the city where the quality and cleanliness of the buildings around us rapidly started to decline.

Cynthia held up her map. “This is where we’ll split, it seems.”

I nodded. “Alright, everyone know their jobs?” I received nods all around, then turned to Korey, holding out a hand. “I’ll be in touch once I see what state my house is in. Might be a few days my people have to stay with you, but I’ll pay you back.”

Korey waved my offer away. “After all you’ve done for me, it’s the least I can do. I’ll keep your people safe. I can do that much, at least.”

I turned to Pierce, who had Yen standing behind him. “Well, Zaren, it’s been a pleasure.” It was still odd hearing my full name coming from them, but I’d come clean last night. Not necessarily that I was one of the original members of the Seven, but that I was technically a part of the household Rolar had created for me. “My earlier offer still stands, and you know where to find us.”

I shook both their hands. “Once I start setting things in motion, I’ll reach out.”

Then I looked to Jack, who stood with a hand on her hip. “I’ll stick with you, for now,” she said. “Zoey can roll with Cynthia and Rhallani as a bit of extra human muscle, and I’ve sent Reese off to see who all is still in town that I can lean on.”

“Good. Let’s move out, then.”

I embraced Rhallani, then Tiana, making them both promise me they’d be careful. Splitting from them in such a large city made me nervous, but I knew I had to put my trust in them. As badly as I might have wanted to, I couldn’t just hoard all the people I cared about behind thick walls and wait out the end of the world. Not when I still had souls counting on me.

Serena and Noelle fell into step with us and we headed towards where Cynthia said my manor would be. I knew vaguely where it was, but the city looked a little different after thirty years. The longer we walked, the more concerned I got. Many of the people we saw were demi-humans, and there was definitely an element present that had me repositioning Noelle so that she was between the three of us.

We were certainly going to have our work cut out for us, that was for sure. The few humans we did see wore rags and looked like they hadn’t bathed in a while. I hadn’t expected things to get any better when we got to the area where my manor was, and I wasn’t disappointed. The buildings had once been grand, but decades of neglect and abandonment had left them decayed shells.

Finally, we came to a stop at the largest, nicest manor at the end of the row. The main building was three stories sprawled out over the acre of dead land locked behind a black iron gate with a number of smaller buildings surrounding it. The walls were grimy and faded, many of the windows were cracked, broken, or too dirty to see into, and at the front was a broken fountain filled with disgusting, brown water. In the center of the closed gate was a wide, metal sigil. A black dragon wrapped around a sword fashioned like the Jailer’s Blade that sat in my storage.

“So this is home, then?” Serena asked.

“Seems like it,” I answered.

“What a shit hole,” Jack noted.

“It sure is,” I agreed.

It was perfect.

Announcement

Finally, after far too long, we have made it to the capital!

That isn't the only development far too long in the making either. If you are curious about the various demi-humans and their more common traits, then I added some entries in the glossary that will hopefully help readers keep them straight. I have some ideas for other entries (character sheets is on the list of things I'd like to do, I just haven't had the time to sit down and do it) but for now I figure demi-humans were a good place to start.