Chapter 315: On the otherside
Rindiri sprinted through the narrow passage, dodging a puddle of mud. The shouts and running from behind were distancing slowly. She dashed around the next intersection into a wider alley, then continued through another set of passages that were so narrow she felt her shoulders bump into the buildings on either side.
She slowed down to a normal walk when the voices were completely gone, trying to regain her breath.
Since when are those Nioxes that fast? she thought, recalling the two that ran after her.
Towering and with slightly chipped bone masks, arm-length horns, and a ridiculously muscular physique, they had still moved with flexibility that rivaled the best sail cleaner she had ever seen. The way they had managed to climb up the building towards her hiding spot would probably give her nightmares.
It took her almost half an hour to navigate back to the small Rabble District, huddled between the least of the smaller harbor districts and the poorer merchants quarters. As she walked through the dirty, narrow roads, she barely noticed the feces, dirt, and worse things that streamed through a half-foot-wide channel. She quickly made her way to an abandoned, boarded-up building. Its roof was partially collapsed across the entrance, giving no visible way in, and even a proper inspection would show it wasn't worth the effort to even rebuild.
Rindiri covertly looked around, but there was nobody in this part of the Rable district. She circled to the back and, with a final look, snuck between a few crates stacked on each other into a ramshackle maze. Moving through it, she reached a seemingly dead-end and removed the side of a crate, revealing a pathway. She closed it back behind her and crawled through until she entered the building. It was old and dusty, with a single path through the dust leading to a ladder.
Rindiri climbed down, and when she passed a pair of well-made arrays, a soft chatter came from below. She continued down until she reached a small alcove inside a large room. It resembled an old, run-down inn, with people of many different species sitting around, chatting softly, and looking weary to the bone. If anyone came here, they would be surprised to see groups of purple-haired Yuurindi mixed with others, likely more than they had ever seen gathered in one place.
"Scander is waiting for you."
Rindiri's heart skipped a beat, but she didn't let anything on her face or posture show she'd been startled. Instead, she slowly turned her head, searching for the one speaking. It was only because she knew what to look for that she saw the small figure hugging the back wall. Two piercing purple eyes set in a face that looked younger than she knew it was drilled into hers.
"I'll go there now, Dagger," she said. "How are the others?"
"The shitty ship is almost repaired, and everyone is patched back up, captain."
There was a slight emphasis on the final word, and Rindiri allowed the humor to reach her eyes as she grinned at Dagger. She'd told her crew not to call her that while here, but her second-in-command knew exactly when they were alone and delighted in using it when and where she could.