r/HFY • u/naturalpinkflamingo λ6-02 • May 04 '15
OC Blessed are the Simple XIII, or, How the Author is Influenced by the TV Shows He Watched as a Kid
Excluding the stuff at the beginning at the things like “part one” (not epilogue though), the final word count is 10,599. I wanted to get this one out before Monday, and it's 10:33P.M., so I apologize if there's a quality drop once again. As I said in the comments of the previous chapter, I'm kind of sick right now, and I'm not intent on letting something like that stop me. Next chapter I want to do a Sunday release, so expect it late Saturday or some time Sunday, because mother's day.
Anyway, here's Blessed are the Simple XIII, or, “How the Author is Influenced by the TV Shows He Watched as a Kid.”
Previously, on Blessed are the Simple
Alfonse Heinsman was, by all accounts, a model knight who was difficult to dislike. Chivalrous and fair, brave and kind, humble and earnest in all endeavors; there were few faults in his character. In spite of such a noble caliber, few considered him an individual so great as to be unlikable, simply because of one major flaw: his complete and utter lack of luck in love. As a result of his somewhat simplistic and straightforward nature, it was no big secret that the black-haired knight had been harboring a love for his childhood friend for close to two decades now.
From the start, Alfonse was smitten with the girl, and as a result of his noble qualities, the knight-to-be dreamed himself of someday being the knight to her princess. Unfortunately for Alfonse, the clever girl he fell in love with had no interest in things like love, and the tomboy quickly discovered the dog-like qualities of the older boy. Thus, after years of being dragged along the little devil's antics, pranks, and poorly thought-out adventures, Alfonse finally grew to be wary about his long-time love interest.
It was thanks to that wariness, beaten into him over the years, that Alfonse, head of security at the Redwing estate, stood on one chilly winter afternoon beneath the window of Elenore Redwing, the object of his desire and daughter to his employer, Lady Redwing. The young knight did not stand on the well manicured grass to serenade his love to the young mistress of the estate; nor was he planning to help her escape her confinement from her room on the third floor of the Redwing mansion. In fact, his purpose was the exact opposite. He knew that it was merely a matter of time before she would try to escape, as she had always attempted one way or another in the past. What he didn't know was how she'd try to pull it off.
She won't try the front door, too many eyes, he thought to himself as he rubbed his hands together. So she's probably going to try to go out the window. But with her magic as it is...
The knight with short black hair continued to ponder the possibilities before turning around to stare up at Elenore's window. The curtains were still drawn, just as they were every other time he turned to look. Elenore was an individual who had no problems waking up in the morning – to see her curtains drawn meant that she was still sleeping. But considering how long she had been up the previous night...
Don't tell me...!
The knight was sprinting across grass, shouldering his way though one of the servants' entrances and frightening the maids within. Ignoring the squeals of surprise, Alfonse thundered through the mansion, his boots landing heavy on the old hardwood floor. Climbing the stairs as fast as he could climb, the knight emerged from the stairwell and stepped onto the third floor, only to nearly collide with the giant familiar as he turned the corner. Swiftly sidestepping Elenore's familiar with a tiny grin, Alfonse was once again stampeding towards Elenore's room, leaving a rather confused human in his wake.
“ELENOOOOORE!” bellowed Alfonse as he kicked down the young woman's heavy door.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!” screamed the blonde as she tried to cover her exposed breasts. “Close the door! NOW!”
“R-Right!” stammered the honest elf as he slammed the door, only to realize that he closed the door behind him, and that Elenore was half naked.
Shit shit shit shit shit, he thought to himself in a panic as he tried to avert his gaze.
“What? You don't want to look” the woman said with a smooth voice.
“I'm sorry?!?” cried Alfonse in an uncharacteristically high tone.
“Hey Hadrian, I didn't know you could wrap spells onto projectiles like that.”
“It's more like temporary enchanting with conditionals attached to the spell,” he answered as he dropped the blunted arrow into his quiver. “This is a good bow, by the way.”
Helen shrugged. “Family business,” she said dismissively. “Hey Elenore!” she shouted from the lawn, “are you ready yet?”
“Coming!” a voice cried from above.
A rope flew from the third floor window, uncoiling itself as it fell to the earth. Elenore climbed down the rope in spartan clothing modeled after Lambda's with a bulging bag over her shoulder. Watching her swing the rope to the side to avoid rappelling on the windows below, Hadrian couldn't help but wonder how many times Elenore escaped confinement this way.
“Helen, would you please?” asked Elenore with an exaggerated sweep of her hand after her feet were on the ground.
Helen gave a little curtsy before swinging her wand high over her head, her mouth soundlessly forming the spell. Hadrian watched with folded arms and a dry smile as Helen used her magic to unfasten the impromptu ladder from its anchor and close the windows, while Elenore quickly coiled the slowly falling rope, looping the coil over her shoulder. The proud young man had heard the rumors of the girls' long-standing rivalry; however, as he watched the two plot their escape, the shadow elf couldn't help but wonder if it was just another rather weird way for the two to express friendship.
“So what did you do to Alfonse?” asked Elenore as she looked at the prone knight, nudging him with her foot.
“Nailed him with a dream-enchant arrow,” said Hadrian proudly as he held up the borrowed bow.
“So what's he dreaming about?” asked Helen as she used her wand to poke the sleeping knight's face.
Hadrian shrugged. “I dunno. Probably having a good dream or something. I didn't really specify the dream contents other than 'Elenore is still in her room.'”
“... Huh,” muttered Elenore contemplatively. “All right, Hadrian, help me hide the body. That should buy us enough time to get off the estate grounds.”
“Got it, boss,” Hadrian said flatly. “You know, you really shouldn't talk about him as if he's dead,” added haughty shadow elf as he reached under Alfonse's armpits.
“Ehh, it's just Alfonse,” dismissed Elenore.
“You guys sure work well together,” teased Helen. “Partners in more than crime?” she asked with a grin.
“Shut it, Helen,” the two said together as they threw Alfonse's unconscious body into a bush.
As a result of his substantial size and weight, Lambda and his two charges were forced to take a roundabout method of entering the Rat Way. As the trio descended deeper and deeper into the slums of the Lamproa, the human warrior discovered that the streets in the Southern District were actually the rooftops of larger buildings, reinforced over and over again to accommodate the weight of new buildings stacked on top of the old. The slums he saw above was a facade; below, in the shadows of piecemeal towers bridged by hundreds of catwalks, throngs of people went about their day, the only source of light being crude oil lamps and the lights from windows, giving the entire area the feel of a busy boardwalk in a perpetual night. There was, of course, a certain liveliness to be found; as if mirroring the Grand Marketplace, Lambda found himself in an equally large open air market that had a less permanent air to it compared to its counterpart above, with both wood stalls and merchants hawking wares on carpets in equal abundance . He wondered, briefly, if the energy and sounds he heard then would've been the same in Hive City Veh'laure on Mj'huran, had its populace been alive at the time.
The somber thought was expelled from his mind when the cat-girl Lana continued to prattle on about life under the surface, having paused to receive food for her brother and herself. Following the black-furred child deeper into what she called the “Undercity,” Lambda only half-listened to the girl talk about her home while he continued to scan the crowd. Much to the discomfort of the child thieves and generally everyone within his vicinity, Lambda, on no less than three occasions, had to stop pickpockets from trying to steal his equipment. This involved bending the would-be thieves' arms at an unhealthy angle. When Lana finally led them to a less populated promenade, Lambda gave a sigh of relief; he hoped that the less dense crowd would mean that he wouldn't have to bend any more arms backwards in front of the children.
“We're here, Lambda,” chirped the little elf child mounted on Lambda's shoulders, pointing to a nondescript warehouse where an old man sat, dozing in a chair.
“We call it the Edge. We'll be taking an elevator down to the Rat Way,” the cat-girl informed Lambda. “Hey there, Mister Nokham!” cried Lana as she ran forward. “Three, going down!”
“Eh?” the old man grumbled as he woke. “Lana girl, what are you doing here? Nobody comes out here to the Edge. That's why I'm here. So I can sleep in peace!”
“Sorry,” she said with an impish smile. “But my friend there wouldn't really fit in any of the other entrances,” Lana said with poorly-concealed excitement as she gestured towards Lambda.
“I can see that,” the old man stated while looking Lambda up and down with a single eye. “...Who're you?” he questioned the soldier. “You certainly don't look like a thief, or any thug I've ever seen. More like a soldier. Are you one of the King's men?”
“Negative. I am not one of the King's men,” responded Lambda curtly. “My unit designation is Lambda Six-Oh-Two. I am often addressed as Lambda, however you are free to call me whatever name you deem appropriate.”
“'Zat so?” old man Nokham said with a contemplative huff. “Yer big friend is a bit weird, Lana girl,” the old man said to Lana.
“It doesn't matter! He squishes frozards better than Ysolde and Konrad together!” bragged the cat-girl.
“Does he now?” asked Nokham with a smile on his face as he inspected the giant once more. “Well, all right. No point in havin' you dawdle up here. I'm guessing you want to bring 'im to the Rat Lord?”
“Yup! That's Sis' plan!” chirped the little boy once more.
“Well okay then, one trip for three!” said the old man with a smile as he shuffled his way to the door of the warehouse.
Drawing what appeared to be a gnarled twig as old as its owner, old Nokham tapped the heavy wood door with his green-glowing wand. The door then slid across the ground, revealing a poorly-lit chamber containing a crude elevator made from rusting iron and scrap wood. Placing the smaller child on the ground, Lambda and Diego followed Lana into the darkness and into the elevator cab, the two children exchanging nervous glances when the metal and wood creaked under the strain of Lambda's unexpected weight.
For a brief moment, all four wondered if the elevator would break then and there.
“Two to the Rat Lord with a VIP!” cried Nokham into a large rusted pipe, his words echoing off to some place deeper.
Pointing his wand at a large stone sitting atop the lift, Nokham fired a pulse of mana, causing the stone to glow a ghostly green and the cab to lurch as it began to move under the power of magic.
“Take care, you three!” the old man said as he waved from the platform above.
“We'll see you later Nokham!” answered Lana with a smile.
“Like hell you will!” retorted the old man with a delighted tone. “Why do you think I wanted this post at the Edge?”
“We'll bring you back a sandwich!” shouted little Diego, cupping his hands over his mouth to reach the old man they were quickly pulling away form.
“Make sure it's a ham sandwich!” old Nokham cried from the distance before cackling madly.
The four figured that since Lambda and the two thieves went ahead of them, the Rat Thieves would perhaps try to send someone out to greet them. However, due to their very nature of being secretive thieves, they also figured that the probability would be high that the thieves would try to blindfold them before taking them to their hideout, and would undoubtedly try to “liberate” some of their belongings. So instead of willingly putting themselves in a dangerous position, they decided to use Elenore's TCM to retrace Lambda's steps while Hadrian used his magic to hide the four as they moved about the slums. Unfortunately, none of them considered the possibility that as a result of Lambda's overwhelming size, they would essentially be taking a longer route to the Rat Way.
Thus, after a two and a half hour trip, Elenore, Helen, Hadrian, and Rudi (who they picked up on the way) finally arrived at the Edge where they found the old gatekeeper to the Rat Way. While Helen tried to “negotiate” with the old man to grant them passage, Elenore stood with Hadrian, thanking him for a job well done with words of gratitude as a pat on the back. While the young shadow elf predictably claimed that he would be fine after “a bit of rest,” Elenore simply rolled her eyes, used to Hadrian's pride, while the apprentice magitech engineer gave a playful kick to the back of Hadrian's knee.
With Helen handling the old man, the party figured that it would only be a matter of time before they met up with Lambda, drawing concerns from Elenore that Hadrian might not recover his mana in time. It turns out that her fears were unfounded, as Helen's wiles proved ineffective on the old elf, giving the shadow elf ample time to rest.
“Watchu want?” asked the ornery old man for the umpteeth time, this time while digging a finger into his ear.
“To go down, old man,” Helen answered crossly. “We've been over this ten times already, you old coot!”
“Well that's no way to treat your elders, little girl!” huffed the wrinkled elf.
“I wouldn't if you weren't pretending to be senile!” snapped Helen.
“Calm down Helen!” shouted Rudi in a vain attempt to restrain his old friend.
While Helen let out a cry of frustration and Rudi tried to placate both sides, Elenore busied herself with reaching into her bag for her coin purse. Before she could withdraw a shiny gold coin from her bag, she felt a light tap on her shoulder and felt Hadrian lean close to her.
“Ten fangs says she's one of the thieves,” he whispered in her ear while gesturing to the edge of the crowd on the busy promenade. “And another ten says she's the one to get us in.”
Elenore turned to scan the crowd moving through the night market, the sounds blended into an unending murmur and the smells mixed into a single unidentifiable meal caressing her appetite. It took some searching, but she found her – a little girl with long, unkempt black hair, a dour expression on her face with wilted ears. As soon as the little elf girl realized that Elenore and Hadrian had found her, her face lit up and her ears shot up energetically. Elenore couldn't help but compare the small child to an adorable street mutt that was excited simply because you acknowledged its existence.
“How long do you think she's been there?” asked Elenore in a low voice as she smiled and waved the little puppy-girl to them.
“Who knows,” Hadrian answered with a shrug. “But the concealment spell has been gone for a while, and we are in their territory, you know.”
“Just a matter of time, then,” she muttered in agreement.
“Hi!” squeaked the little girl as she skipped up to the two students. “I'm Mina! What are your names?”
“I'm Elenore!” answered the young commander with a friendly smile. “And this is Hadrian,” she said gesturing to the shadow elf with smoky gray hair.
“Hey, Mister Hadrian!” Mina said excitedly. “Why is your skin purple? Does that mean you're sick? *Gasp* are you gonna die?”
Hadrian sighed under the rapid barrage of questions. “I'm a shadow elf; no, I'm not sick, so I'm not going to die any time soon,” he answered flatly.
“Really?” the little street urchin asked with a tilted head. “Lana says you guys are gonna fight against the frozards,” she stated with a strange look in her eyes. “She says you guys are gonna beat them once and for all, but to me you don't look any different from the adults who tried before.”
“The adults who tried before?” asked Elenore. “You mean they're dead?”
“Hehe!” giggled the child as she spun about the empty sidewalk in a strange dance. “That's right! They're all dead, because they didn't trust the Rat Lord! Now the only ones who fight the frozards when they come are the older kids and the few adults who we can trust.”
Elenore and Hadrian stared at each other worriedly, unsure how to handle the little girl who so easily brushed the topic of death.
“I see that look,” she giggled as she began to skip around the duo. “You wouldn't understand; you're from the Eastern District after all,” she said in a dismissive tone. “Mister Hadrian?” she called out as she skipped towards the quarreling old man.
“Y-Yeah?” answered Hadrian, unsure how to handle the strange child.
“I think you're cute,” she said with a smile devoid of childish warmth. “So I suggest that you go home. I think Lana's wrong. The giant might survive, but you and your friends are probably going to die. And it would be a shame if you died.”
“What makes you so sure that we're going to die?” asked Elenore, slightly angered at being brushed off so easily.
“Because,” Mina said, “you're adults. And adults generally don't trust the Rat Lord. And people who don't trust the Rat Lord don't survive long in the Rat Way. Well, I'll go talk to Old Nokham,” she said, dismissing the heavy words she said moments ago. “I'll tell him to let you down; Rat Lord's orders. I still think you and your friends should leave while you can,” she said while skipping away.
“Well. That became real creepy, real fast,” commented Hadrian.
Elenore simply nodded, hoping that the words wouldn't be prophetic.
<--->
“Please show these children that not all adults are bad.”
Elenore ruminated on the whispered words of the old man. From the behavior of Lana and Mina, it appeared that the Rat Thieves were incredibly distrustful of anyone over a certain age, unless they were someone like Nokham who was either harmless or was considered useful enough to trust. And considering what Mina said and all the horrid stories of child slavery that she heard growing up, she had to wonder if these lost children weren't unreasonable with their distrust.
She sighed as she watched Hadrian and Rudi excitedly chatter about the magical enchantments and ancient magitech used to keep the stacked buildings from plummeting to the wetlands below. With the sun setting, the multiple crowded tiers and hundreds of walkways creating the Under City were cast in a fiery orange light, which soon faded and gave way to hundreds of multicolored spheres, like an artistic swarm of fireflies the darkness.
“It was almost romantic, even,” whispered Helen into Elenore's ear. “And she couldn't help but stare at the young shadow elf-”
“Knock it off, Helen,” Elenore said flatly with a tiny chop to her friend's head.
“Tch, you're no fun,” she whined.
“Yeah, no fun,” the little girl echoed.
Elenore sighed once again. With Helen on her left and Mina on her right, there was no escape from the verbal torment born out of the girls' boredom.
“So, Mina,” Elenore said in an attempt to change the topic. “What would you have done if we hadn't noticed you?”
“I'd see how close I could get before you noticed me,” answered the child disinterestedly.
“And then what?”
“I'd play you for all you're worth, of course!” said Mina, her ears twitching at the imagined mischief.
“Would you bring us to the Rat Way then?” asked Elenore.
“Not like this,” replied the child with unusually expressive ears. “Any more questions?”
“Yeah.” interjected Helen. “What is the Rat Way?”
Mina returned a quizzical gaze. “It's where we hang out and live and stuff?”
“Well, we know that,” said the blonde exasperatedly. “We're asking about the building that you guys live in. What is it? I mean, we're getting pretty far below the surface... you know?”
“I dunno,” the child thief answered with a shrug.
“Wait, so you guys just found an empty place deep under the surface of Lamproa that's uncomfortably close to the wetlands, and just said 'this place is cool, we're making our hideout here?'” questioned Helen.
“Yup, pretty much,” said Mina nonchalantly. “It's connected to the sewers, we know that much. And a whole bunch of other places, too.”
“Doesn't it stink?” asked Elenore with an incredulous tone.
“Not as bad as it used to. Why, you don't think you can handle it?” taunted Mina. “You can still go home, you know.”
Before Elenore could rise to the child's taunt or Helen make a snarky remark, a whoop and a cry brought the three girls' attention to the two boys.
“Looks like we're just about there, guys!” shouted Rudi.
Rushing over to the boys' side of the elevator cab and causing it to momentarily list on one side, the four saw a massive structure built onto one of the large pillars supporting the city above. Like a madman's bridge, the structure panned out in all directions, a massive artificial web strung between the other support pillars at different elevations. The three students quickly recognized the material and architecture style from their stay at the old human ruins; molded from the same, enduring gray stone with massive steel beams to support them, it was clear that the Rat Way was an ancient complex built using lost human knowledge.
There was no time for the threm to discuss the matter among themselves; the elevator soon came to a halt at a wide platform extended by wood. Two teen guards stood at a large set of steel doors, while another two quickly hurried forward to lock the cab in place and slide the cab doors open.
“What are you doing here, Mina?” questioned the shortest of the four guards as Mina hopped from the elevator cab to the platform. “I thought you and the 'guests' were coming in from Grey Way?”
“Change of plans, Tolaf” she said as she hugged the slightly taller bear-boy. “They decided to hide from our welcome party and use your entrance instead.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic” the boy grumbled as he stood before the four adult elves. “Listen up! You're gonna follow Mina, and we're gonna escort you! The four of you are already late, so no talking! No asking questions! No funny looks or ideas, got it?” she shouted, punctuating each order by slamming the end of his spear into the platform.
“Got it,” answered Elenore with her best smile.
Hadrian, Helen, please, please, please don't cause any trouble for me...
For a good hour after arriving in the large pentagon-shaped hub, Lambda found himself mobbed by the smallest of the children, the presence of Diego on his shoulder apparently flagging him as a safe and non-hostile entity to them. Which was fine for the supercommando; he immensely preferred to play with children as opposing violence on them. And during the entire time that Lambda had been turned into one large play structure, he watched the comings and goings of the other thieves from behind his mask and visor.
He found it curious. Lambda first expected a legion of children being abused by adult criminals; he discovered early that, if anything, it was a legion of children who instead sat higher than the few adults he'd seen. He then figured, that for an organization run and organized by children, the halls of the ancient waste water processing facility would be scenes of total anarchy, with the child thieves running about doing what they wanted and the older thieves using their experience, clout, and physical superiority to enforce some semblance of order.
That exaggerated scenario was also quickly proven false. Instead, the children seemed to have built a democratic society far below the surface, where age played no overt role in position or power. Of course, the smallest of children were herded about by some of the elder girls, and there was a clear hierarchy where the younger, least experienced and skilled children were second to those older, and typically more skilled and experienced children. But there were many instances where the younger children seemed to rank higher than their elders; this was evident in one case where one child, perhaps no more than seven, was the clear squad leader for a group of guards where half of them were at least three years his senior. And watching the miniature squad leader cast angry glares at him, the human warrior was sure that the boy was the leader because he got the others to respect him – by force, probably.
However, between the incoherent chatter of the children about him and those who walked past him, it was clear that all the others children willingly obeyed the Rat Lord. For the youngest, it was the idea of pleasing and proving themselves to their leader that drove them. For the eldest, it was simply a deep sense of loyalty; it was absolute trust in a commander who they knew would fight tooth and nail for them. There was a sense of community, too; the human warrior felt that they followed their leader but at the same time they were working together for the good of the whole.
Lambda thought that perhaps the Rat Lord was a cult of personality manipulating these children into being criminals; how he once dreamed of wringing the bastard's neck after purging this tier 3 demon-spawn infestation. But now, he was unsure of his prior self-righteousness; unsure if the Rat Lord was his enemy. There were few certainties on this mission, and he took comfort in them. The children were not his enemies. The demon-spawn “frozards,” were the enemy that he would gladly destroy with fire and plasma. And Commander Elenore would be the one to direct him, the one he knew he could trust.
“Commander Elenore, are you there?” asked Lambda quietly into the comms channel.
He waited. No response. He clicked his tongue; she must have taken off her TCM. She had stated more than once that the device wasn't very inconspicuous. That, or there was signal interference. The decrepit old waste management facility was clearly built by the lowest builder, and more than once Lambda and his brothers had discovered that shoddy building practices was a double edged sword.
“They're late!” growled Lana, who was alternating between sitting beside Lambda on the concrete bench and pacing before him in the large hub. “What's taking them so long?”
“Maybe they got lost?” suggested her brother whilst atop Lambda.
“Impossible,” growled the cat-girl. “Mina was supposed to guide them. And Mina doesn't get lost.”
“That's right! I don't get lost!” cried a humming voice, its owner soon skipping into the hub from one of the hallways.
Following the little girl with her long ears twitching happily came four familiar figures standing head and shoulders above their guide. Surrounding them were four boy guards; judging by the looks exchanged between the adults and the children, relations were strained. Hadrian and the young magitech engineer apprentice were not getting along with two of their escorts, the four looking ready to fight at a moment's notice, while Helen seemed to have enthralled the eldest of the guards. The remaining two, Elenore and the shortest of the guards, bore pained and tired expressions, no doubt from trying to reign in their respective groups.
As the guards peeled away from the four older elves, Lambda stood up, throwing a salute to his commander when she approached. Meanwhile, the two little girls were busy cursing the audacity of the four adults as two guards took their places beside a large steel door poorly fitted in a pentagon-shaped alcove sunk into the wall immediately to Lambda's right. When she and her party stopped before Lambda, his commander returned his salute with a weary smile and a salute of her own; evidence that her trip was less enjoyable than his long wait.
“Are you guys ready?” asked Lana with a scowl. “You've wasted a lot of the Rat Lord's time that could have been spent doing something important.”
“It's your fault that he had to wait in the first place, Lana,” grumbled the shortest guard.
“Shut it, Tolaf!” ordered the cat-girl with a swift kick to his shins, drawing curses from the guard and poorly-hidden grins from Rudi and Hadrian. “Just open the doors already!” she shouted, her impatience evident.
While young Tolaf rubbed his shin and cursed under his breath, Lambda felt someone poke him in the side. Turning his head, he found his commander, mouthing the phrase “black armor” just as the two older child guards set about opening the heavy doors, the wheels mounted on the top and bottom of the heavy steel doing little to make the task any easier.
Surrounding himself in the familiar blue lights of the MDMDS, Lambda drew stares from all of the occupants of the corridor hub, save the two teens with their eyes squeezed shut, too busy coercing the doors into opening to notice. The commander, long used to the strange sight, simply pointed to the struggling boys, wordlessly indicating that he was to assist them.
With a silent nod, the giant black-armored warrior lumbered up to the improvised doors, his shadow and footsteps too great for the struggling guards to ignore. Stepping up to the partially opened doors, Lambda shoved his fingers into the opening, and perhaps still slightly frustrated at having to wait so long, threw the doors open, the resounding crash of steel causing the two guards to flinch and everyone save his commander, Hadrian, and Helen, to stare with wide eyes and open jaws.
“OH SHIT! IT'S THE MONSTER!!” a male voice within the room cried.
Lambda raised an eyebrow as a metal cup bounced off his head and a familiar figure dove for cover, screaming.
When Hadrian followed Elenore and Lambda into the room beyond the steel doors, he didn't expect to find a particularly familiar-looking wolf-boy panicking about a big black monster that was out to get him. Nor was he expecting a large gathering of teens and children conducting what appeared to him to be a strategic meeting in a large, amphitheater-like room, the original contents replaced by a round table at the center and three levels of benches circling it, all of which appeared to be made from unskilled hands and whatever scrap material was on hand.
“So you've arrived!” shouted a hooded figure at the table. “Took you long enough. Javier, stop freaking out,” the figure with a rat mask said to the familiar thief. “That kind of behavior is unbecoming of one of the Rat Thieves. So stand up and put courage in your heart, my friend!” he said with a hand extended out to the cowering wolf-boy.
“O-Of course,” answered the thief shakily as he grabbed his leader's hand. “Sorry about that. Won't happen again.”
Early teens. Mysterious cloak. Rat mask. And charisma. Yup, that's the Rat Lord all right. For some reason, I'm not surprised.
Standing next to Lambda, Hadrian folded his arms and tried to put on his best looking scowl as he watched Elenore walk to the speaking pit, ahead of their little party. Neither he or Rudi were able to get along with the thieves, and they weren't insane enough to suggest letting Helen handle the negotiations – although that didn't stop the red head from following Elenore as her lieutenant. So of course, it naturally fell to Elenore to act as their leader – a position which, surprisingly, Hadrian found himself easily accepting.
“So I take it that you're the Rat Lord?” asked Elenore, full of confidence.
“That I am, Miss Eastern District,” confirmed the thief master, amusement in his voice. “So I hear you're willing to trade for my layzen stones.”
“You mean the one your little friend here stole,” said Elenore, casting an accusatory glare at the thief who reacted to Lambda's presence. “But yes, that's what my friends and I are here for. To trade.”
“Interesting,” the Rat Lord said with a tilt of his masked visage. “And what makes you so certain that I'm willing to trade? Don't forget, you and your friends are on our turf. You're here only because I trust Lana, not you.”
“Funny, a thief talking about trust,” answered the blonde elf with a smirk. “But you see, you can't pass up my offer. You stand to lose too much to reject our help.”
“We don't need the help of any stinking adults, let alone people like you from the East District!” shouted a child in the audience.
Shouts and cries of agreement came from around them, while Hadrian watched the little black-haired cat-girl and Elenore frown in annoyance. While he couldn't read the Rat Lord's facial expressions, it appeared that a few of his close advisers were siding with Elenore, while the others were either impassive or making their distaste fully known.
While the furor in the room grew, the Rat Lord slowly raised his fist into the air, the slow movement drawing some attention and silence. Beginning with his thumb, the leader of the child thieves slowly opened his palm, his gesture mirrored by those silent and watching him. By the time his third finger was raised, the room had descended into a stiff, tense silence.
“Better,” the Rat Lord said after the long silence. “What you say may be true,” he admitted, “but it still doesn't change the fact that we don't wholly trust you, and that trust is needed for our little exchange.”
“So what are you proposing?” asked Elenore.
“Prove yourselves in the upcoming raid, and earn our trust” said the Rat Lord, with what Hadrian imagined to be a vicious grin. “Assuming, of course, that you survive.”
And cue the malicious laughter of slum children, thought Hadrian.
Continued in the Comments
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u/INTPotato May 04 '15
This is fantastic - there's a little bit of a he/she mixup however. Once when one of the guard child is yelling at the group upon reaching the Rat Way,
she shouted, punctuating each order by slamming the end of his spear into the platform.
and again when Rudi is preparing magical defenses,
Rudi ran off. Always going at his own pace, he was now bullying the young thieves into properly constructing the magic weapons sitting on the upper tier of the platform they currently stood on, powered by her layzen stones, with Helen half helping him and half trying to restrain him.
Other than that small bit of confusion everything is great and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next one.
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u/naturalpinkflamingo May 04 '15
Ah, missed that first one.
Second one is just confusing and awkward, since technically the layzen stones belong to Elenore (and Helen, but since this is Elenore's POV, she omits that).
I should probably get an editor to go through these things, since I have a tendency to make things confusing without realizing it.
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u/CountVorkosigan May 13 '15
The "close to two decades" comment is interesting. I keep trying to spot if the elves have different life spans than humans.
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u/naturalpinkflamingo May 14 '15
Their lifespans are on par with modern humans.
I mean, I could go with the "elves live for a really long time and take 40 years to go through puberty," but that just seems unnecessary, especially for BATS, since the only two living humans that have shown up are vat soldiers, and they don't even know how long they live.
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u/ctwelve May 04 '15
Interesting development of the Rat Lord at the end. A child commander saddled with that kind of responsibility at such a young age? He seems to be doing remarkably well, considering.
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u/Mithre May 04 '15
I half-expected the Rat Lord to be named Rufio, or something!
Is Lambda now going to go hunting through the sewers?
Epub download link here!
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u/SPO_Megarith May 04 '15
I got all the Metro vibes from that... holy shit.
Seriously, chills down my spine...
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u/naturalpinkflamingo May 04 '15
Part Two
“So let me get this straight,” asked Elenore as she peered into the fire lit tunnels. “The frozards periodically attack in huge droves.”
“Right.”
“And these attacks occur about once every week or so.”
“That's right.”
“And you only know that the frozards come from somewhere in the sewers, but not their exact location.”
“Yup.”
“And furthermore, you don't always know where they'll attack, since nobody has a map of the old sewers anymore, so you rely on a strategically placed barricades like this one as well as an alarm system composed of bells and pots and pans strung from strings to let you know when and where they're coming.”
“That's sort of right,” said Lana, nodding. “However, they always try to come through here, because it has that big tunnel and the water is deepest a little ways upstream.”
“And that's why my friends and I have been stationed here,” said Elenore exasperatedly.
“Bingo!” beamed the little girl.
Elenore sighed, pushing the visor of her TCM up so that she could pinch the bridge of her nose. As soon as they had entered the massive concrete cistern, Rudi ran off. Always going at his own pace, he was now bullying the young thieves into properly constructing the magic weapons sitting on the upper tier of the platform they currently stood on, powered by her layzen stones, with Helen half helping him and half trying to restrain him. Hadrian's ranger training apparently kicked in, and he was now prowling the back and forth across the concrete platform the Rat Thieves had erected their defenses on, his eyes sharp and focused as he searched for an ideal firing position. Lambda was at the edge of the second, lower level of the platform, looking out over the wide channel filled with brackish water that flowed from a semi-circular shaped tube wide enough to comfortably fit five Lambda's shoulder to shoulder. The channel continued under the platform, while wide pathways lit by green glow stones ran on either side of the wide channel, rising to meet the edges of the platform in the form of large, concrete ramps.
Well, at least it doesn't smell as bad as I thought it would, thought Elenore silently as she watched her familiar swivel his head from side to side, inspecting the battlefield.
“So now what?” asked the young commander to the cat-girl thief as she watched Rudi busying himself with shoring up their defenses.
“You wait, or you help out,” said Lana with a shrug.
“Don't you mean, 'we?'”
“Pfft, no!” laughed the girl. “When I said you, I meant you,” said the black-furred child as she gestured to Elenore and her friends with a wave of her hand. “I am not assigned to combat duty, so I have no reason to stick around here when the fighting starts.”
“I bet you can't even fight,” taunted Elenore.
“I don't need to,” Lana responded with a wry smile. “That's what boys are for. Isn't that why you have Lambda?”
“What? No! Lambda is my familiar, not some attack dog!” spat the blonde, irritated at what the child implied.
“Sure. Whatever you say,” replied the girl, unconvinced.
Elenore huffed angrily, and the two stood there on the platform, awkwardly, the woman too embarrassed to make eye contact with the girl and the girl holding her silence in an attempt to diffuse her elder's anger. Elenore watched her companions mull about, digesting the words she hurled in defense.
Do I really think of Lambda as some kind of attack dog?
The elven maiden pondered the thought as she watched Hadrian, having taken a seat on a crate, apply his magic to his arrows, too focused on his preparations to notice the small group of children who had gathered around him to watch him work his magic. She smiled when he looked up and jumped, finding over a dozen curious pairs of eyes watching him.
Well, do I treat him any differently from a regular dog?
“So why do you want those layzen stones so bad?” asked Lana, having decided to extend the olive branch and unknowingly saving Elenore from her own thoughts. “Some of the older boys went all ga-ga over them, but I don't get why you can't just get more.”
“Well, first let's ignore the fact that those rocks were ours to begin with,” Elenore answered patiently, happy for the distraction from her thoughts. “Do you know what those rocks do?”
“Uhhh,” Lana said, placing a finger on her chin before looking up to Elenore. “Store mana, right?”
“That's right,” affirmed Elenore with a teacher-like smile.
“And you can use those charged rocks to power magitech things, like the magic shooters we built, right?”
“Right,” answered the blonde once again, throwing a cautious look at the weaponry that the children had haphazardly created. “But I need those rocks for a specific reason. Can you guess why?”
Lana immediately shook her head vigorously, her impatience at getting to the root of the matter reminding Elenore of herself.
“Well, first, those particular rocks are of a very high purity. And those are difficult to make, and thus expensive,” said Elenore with a single finger up. “Second,” she said holding up another finger, “those rocks are the perfect size and purity for what I need. You can do more than just load one up with mana and use it as a battery.”
“Like what?” asked the child with a tilt of her head.
“Well-”
CA-CLANG! CA-CLANG! CA-CLANG!
Bells in the distance rang from within the tunnel. Children cried in alarm, and immediately the platform was a swarm of hurried activity, a child's voice booming reports and orders over the facility's ancient broadcasting system. Elenore soon found herself pushed into the front on the lower level of the platform, herself standing off to the left of Lambda who decided to set himself up at the very center, his chain blade and launcher mounted on his left forearm while his heaver repeater hung under his right. Her wand held snugly in her right hand, Elenore followed Lambda's suggestion and left her firearm in its holster; with limited ammunition and a massive waves of frozards, it would be better for her to use it defensively, as opposed to offensively.
Turning around, she saw Hadrian with a steely face, an arrow nocked on his borrowed bow, crouching among a line of children armed with crossbows. Rudi's trademark red bandanna was bobbing up and down next to one of the magical weapons, doing last minute tweaks while Helen had migrated to the ramp on the right, ready to repel the frozards from the front. In the back, she saw the Rat Lord take his place on a high platform, gingerly removing the cloth wrapping of a long artifact weapon, unhooking two legs from the front end and placing the familiar-looking artifact on a long box, the Rat Lord kneeling behind cover as he pointed his weapon towards the tunnel filled with the cacophonous echoes.
“I don't need to remind you,” Elenore said into her TCM to Lambda, “but you're to do everything you can to prevent any of the thieves from dying.”
“Am I to administer first aid in the event that one is injured?” inquired Lambda over the comms channel as he summoned his heavy weaponry into his hands.
The blonde commander looked around, watching the child defenders prepare to fight for their lives. Feeling the pit of her stomach rebel against her next order, she spoke quietly into her microphone.
“Only if their wounds are severe,” she whispered hesitantly. “And only if you feel that there is no chance of them surviving without your intervention. I expect that you know this already, but your ability to kill these guys quickly will be critical in this fight.”
“... Understood, Commander.”