Heartworm

Searching for Phern and Bandit was like looking for a… Gumdin in- uh… a Thorlash? I’m not sure how Phern manages to come up with those things on the fly. If she even was coming up with the names. In all the time I’d known her, it was unclear if some of the words she said were nonsense, or were an obscure word that she had learned in her childhood. My awful attempt at a Phernism aside, my search had yet to reveal anything of note. Overall, it seemed as though the guards station around Thrieve were all aware that some of the Council were on their way to the city, but from everything I had eavesdropped on, they weren’t even told why. If they were hiding that kind of information from most of the guards, it meant that I was in for a long night. I had already decided when I woke up this morning that I was not willing to rest until I found the two of them. I had to give myself the constant reminder that since I had no way of knowing the state the Phern and Bandit were in, it was better to assume they were still alive. For my sake.

My investigation had taken me to the northern edge of the city. The afternoon foot traffic was at its peak for the day with many people walking from wherever their jobs were back to their homes, and vice-versa for those that took the night shifts. Thrieve was surrounded by a standard stone wall, one that you might imagine seeing in a children’s book about a castle. I secretly wondered with how old this city was, if those stereotypical drawings had been based on the boring stone wall that stretched around the city like a lumpy oval. I toyed with the idea of taking a break near one of the wall-inns, a popular structure in Thrieve as they stood around each of the entrances and exits to the city. They were modest inns built into the wall itself to accommodate those that were traveling through the city without wanting to stop for long. They were also inherently a bit of a trap for people new to the city of Thrieve. The wall-inns had higher rates for rooms than any other inn around, and relied on people’s desperation to rest the moment they entered. The wall-inn that I was passing brought back some more old memories. This hadn’t been the one I stayed in, that would be the one down at the southern entrance of Thrieve, but they looked very much the same.

* * * * *

“You gonna eat that? Can I just-”

I slapped the short woman’s hand away from my plate. She hadn’t even waited for a response before she was reaching out towards my food.

“My answer hasn’t changed since the last time you asked. No.”

“...so you’re not gonna eat it? Okay!”

I slapped away the woman’s hand once more, frustration rising in my voice as I repeated an action for the 5th time since we had started to eat in the wall-inn. She had only been stuck to my side like glue for the past 8 hours, though it felt like 8 days for me. Every single time I ask her why she wouldn’t leave me alone she would just shrug or say ‘It’s more fun to hang out with someone else than by myself’. Why I had to be the ‘someone else’, I wasn’t sure.

“I am going to eat it! Can you just eat your own damn food?”

“I am eating my own damn food, but yours also looks good and I want to try some of it! Plus, I already paid for both of ours, can’t you just think of it like a Phern tax?”

“You paid for it with-” I cut myself off just in time, finishing my sentence instead with a frustrated growl. It was better than announcing to the entire dining room of this establishment that we had just paid for our meal with money that was just stolen from the Duchess of Headriss. “Will you stop trying to steal my food if I give you a little?” I asked diplomatically, grasping at whatever strings I could to get the Phern locomotive to hit the breaks.

“Yep!”

“Fine.”

I watched as the woman grabbed a portion of the food that was on my own plate and awkwardly moved it to her own using a combination of a fork and a spoon to accomplish her goal. To my surprise, after she had moved food from my plate, she then moved some of her own food onto my plate. She had made a trade between the two of us. That was fine… I guess. Some of the food she had looked appetizing to me, though I wouldn’t have asked to trade in order to satisfy those temptations.

True to her word, she had not attempted to steal any food after that point. The two of us ate happily in the warmth of the inn’s dining area. It was a kind of meal that I had not had since… well since I was 7, frankly. Ffenton had never prepared anything extravagant for me, so I ate the same meals made with local animals and local berries, and nothing else. The last time I had a meal this comforting was from my father’s cooking at home. The shepherd's pie that I worked my way through on the plate tasted like home. It tasted like the life I wished I could return to.

“Aren’t you glad I took you here? Beats eating stale bread with berries, huh?” The woman grinned at me, bits of her own pork roast visible in her smile. I gave a quiet laugh, which seemed to inform her of the food stuck in her teeth. Phern laughed along with me once she opened her mouth to reveal that she had been unable to dislodge any of the food. Phern seemed giddy at the sight of my mirth. It had been the first time I had truly laughed around her all day. Maybe there was a part of her that was infectious. I certainly hadn’t had such a pleasant meal in a while, both in food and in company.

“By the way, do you mind if I stay in the inn with you tonight? Or- uh, I can just meet you at your spot by the main road in the morning.”

“Huh? Why would you meet me out there?” I asked as I sectioned off another bite. Halved, more like, as I only had about two more spoonfuls of the savory pie. After mulling over the warm flavor of the shepherd’s pie, I noticed that Phern was staring at me with what looked to me with thinly veiled sadness. “Well I thought- I was thinking we could work together again! Like… tomorrow.” She gave a weak smile and picked at her food, seemingly unwilling to finish the last of the roast on her plate.

“I’m not gonna help you- uh, relinquish assets from people again. I told you that’s not what I’ve been doing.”

“No, I know! I meant I could help you with your… hunt. Or- search? Whatever you wanna call it.” I had told Phern what I had been up to in the past week outside of Thrieve. She wouldn’t stop asking me what my business was lurking by the main road like some sort of bandit, and I was not interested in her calling me a bandit over and over until I told her otherwise. Never did I mention that I needed assistance with that task, however.

“Sorry. It was nice to have a meal together and all, Phern. But I work alone.” I finished the final bite of my food and stood up from the table. I could already see the woman’s chest rise and fall at a faster rate, like me leaving was going to cause some sort of panic. I wasn’t prepared for any of this, what was I supposed to do? The last friends I had were around a decade ago, was I just bad at being friends with people? “Uh, if you want to have a picnic or something, you know where to find me.” I added on, turning to leave the inn briskly. I’d feel better once I could return to my hunt. Social time was not what I had spent 9 long years training for.

I had asked that we eat at the wall-inn by the southern entrance just in case any groups decided to enter the gate late at night. It seemed my choice was a smart one, as two separate groups had just arrived inside of the wall. Maybe I could check the two groups before they split up and got too far? I suppose it would be smarter to check the- wait. As I looked between the two groups of travelers to make up my mind, I saw a member of one of the clusters break away from the rest, towards a nearby alleyway. If I was a human-slaughtering deceitful beast, a dark alleyway was probably the safest way to travel through a city. What had Phern said earlier in the day? Bingoldonk!

I raced towards the alleyway, slowing my pace as I got near. When I dipped into the incredibly slim alleyway between buildings, I saw the figure twist around to face me. Maybe stealth was out of the question already.

“Are you following me?” The man spoke in a deep and steady voice. A cloak drawn over his head and shoulders, that’d make it hard to see the tattoo.

“Kind of? I saw that you just came into the city and I wanted to give you some directions! I’m a- uh tour guide! For Thrieve.”

“No need. I know where I’m going.”

“But if you let me give you a brief 5 minute tour of this part of the city I can give you a five gold credit towards whichever inn you choose to stay in!”

“Five gold? Bullshit. I’m not interested in scams.”

“It’s part of the new tourism program in Thrieve! I promise it’s not a scam, it’s just to get people interested in our wonderful city!”

The man did not seem convinced. Understandably so, considering the completely unrealistic deal I had just tried to offer him. I should have just said 5 silver or something more realistic like that. At this rate, I’d just have to try to cut the monster down in the cramped alleyway.

“If you want to rob me, just say so. That way I can kill you and move on with my evening.”

“WOW BRENDA I CAN’T BELIEVE IT WASN’T A SCAM!” Phern’s loud voice bounced back and forth between the stone walls as she turned the corner to face me. What was she doing here?! I just told her that I work alone. If she was trying to join my hunt, she’d end up dead. She might have been older than me, but I had spent years training where it seemed like she had only spent years stealing. “Oh! Is that another lucky customer of the Thrieve introductory benefit plan? You there! You simply must accept this woman’s deal! I thought it would be a scam because if you think about it five gold makes no sense I mean even the more expensive hotels in this city don’t cost that much but what they don’t tell you is that you get the extra back in cold hard coin meaning you basically just get a whole bunch of money for only a five minute tour!” Phern was speaking so fast that it was becoming difficult to keep up with her words. I noticed that she was quickly closing the distance between the mysterious man at the end of the alleyway. I desperately wanted to say something to stop her, but it would only alert the man of our knowledge.

“I mean think about it Mr. alleyman! You’ve got a dingy old hood on your head but with five brand spanking new shiny golden coins you could get a wonderful felt hood or maybe a silk hood or maybe even a jeweled bedazzled hood that shows everyone your brilliant personality-woah!” I was just as surprised as the man was to see her run towards him to accentuate her statements. When she reached him, she tripped, most likely a fake trip if I had to guess, and snatched the back of the cloak as she fell. In a move so smooth that I was jealous of it, she fell into a roll on the ground and tugged at the cloak, breaking the broach that held it together in the front and tugging the fabric entirely off of his body. I watched as the man’s muscled form was revealed. Underneath the fabric of the cloak, he wore thick bangles on both of his arms, with a traditional sort of fabric wrapping around his abs and ending halfway up his ribs. The lack of any clothing above his chest meant that Phern had a full view of his back. I could see her eyes widen in surprise, followed by a squeak.

“HOLY SHIT HE’S A-”

Before she was able to finish her sentence, the man- no- monster had already begun to shift into the horrifying form that I saw in my memories every time I went to sleep. His arm wrapped around itself with a thick shadow that extended into sharp claws at the end. He had slammed Phern into the nearby wall, cutting off her words and turning the rest of her statement into choked cries. I lunged into action immediately, unsheathing my sword and letting Urlial’s blessing wash over me in a comforting purple haze. I had closed the distance between myself and the beast with astonishing efficiency, making a clean cut through the arm that held Phern to the wall before the creature could finish moving his left arm towards her gut to rend her organs out onto the floor of the alleyway.

The monster screamed out in pain as Phern collapsed onto the ground in surprise. Clearly, my little stunt had changed his priorities. In an instant, he was already charging at me. I watched in slow motion as he raised his left claw to swipe. Easy, I’d dodge and follow up with another slash to claim the other arm. I was shocked to see that the slash was a feint, intent on keeping me planted in one spot to avoid his attack. The real attack ,it seemed, was the entire body weight of the large shadow wreathed beast slamming into my chest before I could move away.

My head slammed against the jagged stone of the alleyway, fragmenting my vision into multiple overlaid perceptions of a dimly lit monster standing over me. I felt teeth sink into my right arm, with the following twist wrenching the sword out of my grasp and onto the stone ground. I tried to shift my weight to allow me to kick at the beast's maw, but my entire body was being thrown side to side fast enough that I couldn’t get my bearings. A moment later, I made the realization of why I was being thrown side to side. The beast was dragging me along with it to a new location. One that I found out shortly in possibly the worst way imaginable was that as I was pulled into a small opening on the ground and splashed into water that ran beneath the city. No. Not water. Sewage. The animal was dragging me into the sewer.

* * * * *

An idea crossed my mind as I reminisced about Phern and I’s ‘luxury’ meal. One that could only be considered luxury for people that hadn’t had a decent meal in years. The sewers themselves stretched throughout the entirety of the city, as I had not so pleasantly discovered on that night. One location stood out in my mind more than any of the rest. There was a way into the prison of Thrieve through the sewers, something I had completely forgotten about until now.

Incredibly conscious of how I was now nearly retracing steps that I took 8 years ago, I lingered towards one of the slim alleyways that sat in between clusters. The edge of my lip curled into a small smile as I looked at the sewer grate that sat untouched for Gods knows how long. Was it nostalgia I was feeling? Could one get nostalgia for a life threatening memory? I’m not sure. Maybe the memory would become a lot more inviting to think about once I knew that Phern was safe.

I pulled away the grate, the accumulated grime dislodging into an unpleasant scent as I did so. I was becoming increasingly upset that I lacked my usual gloves with my armor drying inside the bathroom of the inn. With a brave face, I began to descend the slimy ladder into the sewers beneath, making the leap towards one of the edges to avoid having to step in any of the sewage. Phern owed me a lifetime supply of cleaning spells for this.

It took quite a while to navigate the sewers of the city. It wasn’t like they had signage posted around the place to help you navigate. The prison was close to the center of the city where I had begun my search. I had intended to break into the building this evening if I had no other leads, but as if Phern was assisting me in spirit, the memory of her foolish stunt in the alleyway all those years ago reminded me of a much better option. After around two hours of walking through the sewers, enough so that I had become adjusted to the smell, if you could believe that. I swear if I crawl out of this place smelling like shit someone is going to be my therapeutic punching bag.

It had been a long time since I had been in these sewers, and even longer since I had used them to break Phern out of a poorly performed robbery. I hoped that my memory served me well enough to pick the right grate to exit through. There was only one way to find out I suppose. I reached towards the ladder, this one significantly less slimy than the one I’d used to get down here. Perhaps some other people had used it to break out of the prison? Reminding myself I would need to wash my hands five times over at my earliest convenience, I pushed the grate aside and lifted myself out of the sewers.

Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. Seems a lot can change in 8 years. This used to lead directly into the service room adjacent to the prisoner’s showers. It seems that enough people had figured out what we had figured out when we were younger. The room had been demolished entirely. I’m assuming a different service room was rebuilt somewhere else, but either way, it meant I was breaking in like I had first thought. I was exactly breaking anyone out just yet. If I was able to get a good look at the prisoners, I could confirm if they had Phern and Bandit here, or the much worse option of being hidden away somewhere else in the city.

I shifted my two Dahlias into hook swords to allow me to sink them into the stone on the side of the prison. With how old the construction was, I wasn’t too surprised to accidentally dislodged and break off parts of the way as I climbed. If they ever found out who damaged their property, then I’d gladly pay it. Not really, but I would be impressed that they tracked it back to me. Once I had reached the top of the building, I made the inconvenient realization that there was a distinct lack of anything whatsoever up here. I had just sort of scaled the building by reflex, since high ground was always the best position to stalk prey from. But I wasn’t stalking prey this time, I was searching for my allies.

At the very least, there was an entrance on the slanted roof of the building, one that hadn’t been used very often by the way it was nearly completely rusted shut. I used one of the hook swords to leverage the gap of the rusty door to pry it open slowly. If I wanted it open immediately, I’d have put my body weight behind it and popped the sucker wide open. But since I was at least ‘attempting’ stealth, I opted for the slower approach in order to preserve my concealment. Entering through the small door, I quickly realized it seemed to be a service door that led into the support beams above the unwelcoming prison. Like everything else in Thrieve, there was an overwhelming amount of stone used in the construction of this prison. Enough to make me question how long it was before it fell through the ground into the sewer from all of the dense walls clustered together. The entrance I had found turned out to be incredibly fortunate, as it allowed me to creep through most of the prison from above, without needing to test my neglected skills of close quarters subterfuge from when Phern had taught me how to become a thief alongside her. I hadn’t ended up using those skills much in our careers as Life Hunters, but they always seemed to come in handy at the strangest of times.

In almost no time at all, I had managed to find my way towards the cells of the prison. As I neared the area, I heard a familiar voice travel along the walls of the poorly insulated stone, echoing into my ears and giving me pause.

“Of course you can tell me, you idiot. Laia is my sister.”

“B-but she said you were captured-“

“Does it look like I’m currently being held captive?” Lucas’ voice was stern, like he was ready to strip the guard of his rank at a moment's notice. His betrayal was not unexpected, even still, this was one of the few things I wanted to be proven wrong about. Perhaps there was only so much that someone could do to unravel the layers of conditioning that a Marked is subject to through their childhood.

“N-no sir!”

“Then tell me where the beast is being held and I won’t have to throw you in a cell for interfering with the Empire. This beast is a greater threat than you could possibly imagine.”

“Uh-right! Sorry, sir. Laia wanted them held somewhere discreet. The Captain of the guard from Multon is holding them in the old prison underneath the city.”

Old prison. Another reminder of 8 years ago. It seemed that my retraced steps weren’t going to end in the sewers after all.