Book 2 Chapter 62: He Needed Help This Time
Dantes could feel the boat beginning to slowly sink as he looked around the cabin. He wouldn’t be strong enough to swim through the holes through which the water was pouring as a rat or a roach, at least not until the cabin was completely filled. That forced him to wait. He sloshed through the water toward where Mercedes had left her bottle of wine. Somehow, it had stayed on the table in spite of everything. He lifted it up and took a swig from it, letting the warmth of it spread through him and take a bit of the edge off the pain of the various bruises, bone fractures, and cuts across his body. If not for the improved energy and healing he received from his gardens he estimated that by now he should probably have the body of a sixty year old dockhand that had done hard labor all his life.
He pulled the stem of the wine glass that Mercedes had stabbed him with out of his chest with a grimace and tossed it into the water with a splash. The boat had sunk another several feet. From what he could tell, the water was coming in through dozens of small holes rather than a single big one. He searched the cabin and found one of them. He then pulled one of Mercedes’s crossbows from his belt and fired at it, widening it a bit with an explosion. He tried several more times, but it was still a tight fit for his rat form, which meant that once the cabin was filled he’d have to try and find his way out as a roach. He didn’t relish the idea of being that small in a dangerous situation, but the risk certainly beat drowning.
He took another swig from the bottle. Jacopo crawled just a bit higher on his shoulder as the water began to reach his waist. He closed his eyes and focused on all of those threads of life that were connected to him. He began to pull at them, drawing that life into himself, then he focused more deeply, on himself. It had been a lot harder to do since he’d been in his state of odd delirium after his fight with Mondego, but he managed to bring his focus down to those almost invisible parts of his body near where he’d been hurt. He pushed that life force into those tiny pieces nearest to where he was injured, and watched as all of them seemed to speed up and work faster to address whatever damage he’d sustained. He didn’t fully understand what they were doing, but he could tell after only a few moments that it was helping.
He kept that flow of lifeforce going in the back of his mind, and turned the rest of his attention elsewhere. He released all of the vermin who he’d had standing at the ready to swarm into the boat so that they didn’t hurt themselves or drown, then he shifted his attention to Mondego’s manor. Guards and servants were milling about wildly searching the grounds, and even through the senses of a pigeon in a tree he could hear Mondego screaming from inside the manor, his every word causing those inside to jump and scramble at whatever order he made. Nearly a third of his guards were leaving the manor and moving toward different parts of the city. Some headed toward Needle Street, others toward the docks, and a few actually made their way toward some of the nicer bars bordering Uptown. It wasn’t difficult to come to the conclusion that they were searching for Mercedes.
Dantes took a third sip. The water was nearly to his chest so he needed to hold the bottle a bit higher than he’d like, but it wasn’t exactly his biggest concern. This was the chance he’d been waiting for, and Mondego and Mercedes had created it for him. It was lucky, but he was also hesitant. He’d been fucked over by rushing in so many times before. With Gaspard and Danglars he’d taken things slow and steady and his victory over them was absolute. Mondego had taken one of his hands, and Mercedes came far too close to killing him. He was worn down after his fight with Mercedes, even with the targeted recovery he was giving himself. At the same time, he’d been preparing for his assault on Mondego’s Manor for months, and his vermin marks were all nearly full. If Mondego managed to recover from everything that had just happened it could also make him all the more dangerous, particularly since Dantes had only so much leeway with those Lieutenants he’d met with as well as the Fingers. How would they react to him not taking this opportunity to finish things?
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Dantes tread some water and moved to stand on a side table that would let him keep his head above water without exhausting himself, Jacopo moved to the top of his head. The ship hit the seafloor and rocked a bit, the force of the impact made the holes expand, causing the water to fill the boat more quickly.