Opportunities

Twelve: Jumping

There was so much to sell that we had to visit several merchants to unload it all. In fact we’d reached Bravil by the time we sold off the last of it, and we all had more money than we knew what to do with. I got it into my fool head that if I took everyone out for a round of drinks, they’d start to get along.

For the first round, everything went fairly well. Othrelos and Kovan sat together, chatting in a friendly tone in their native tongue. Jak and Zedrick together, of course, on the other side of the table, and me at the head. The others one table over, because they were both less important and more neutral.

But in his second cup, Jak started to get surly. “I think if we’re all sharing a table we should all speak the same language.”

Othrelos responded with a curt nod. “Sorry. We weren’t trying to be rude.”

“Sure you were.” Jak bared his teeth in more of a sneer than a grin. “I know you don’t like me.”

Zedrick frowned but kept drinking, and Othrelos sighed. “I didn’t set out to dislike you, but you seem to insist on it.”

“Well, it’s like I said before. You’re taking something away.”

Othrelos shot me an uncomfortable glance rather than responding. We hadn’t had time to sit down for that particular conversation yet, so he didn’t know whether I intended to make him my only partner or not.

Unfortunately, Jak read the look quicker than I could respond to it, and beamed. “Oh, I see,” he chuckled. “So I’ve still got a shot after all.”

“This is really starting to irritate me, Jak,” I scowled at him as Zedrick kicked him under the table.

He stopped, and I thought that was the end of it until we’d drunk our fourth round. Othrelos and I declared it our last, and rose – effortfully – from our seats to go up to bed. Jak rose too, and staggered over to put a hand around my waist. I gave his arm a clumsy push that only nudged his hand down onto my ass, and he grinned and leaned in to kiss me.

Othrelos shoved him off of me. “How many times does she have to say it?”

Jak regarded him with a bleary-eyed smile. “Do you really think she means it? She’s putting on a good show for you.”

As I opened my mouth to yell at him, Othrelos shoved him again, harder, red eyes full of rage. Jak threw a right hook at O’s jaw, connected with a nasty cracking sound, and they both staggered. O growled and punched the pirate in the stomach, then blocked his answering left cross and landed a second blow to Jak’s face. Kovan and Zedrick leapt in to pry them apart, but it was a struggle: they kicked and cursed, and it wasn’t until Melliwin and Tahm stepped in as well that they stopped trying to get at each other.

“It can’t keep being like this,” Zedrick frowned.

“No,” I said, “it can’t.” I turned to look at Jak, pinned back by Zedrick and Tahm, his face red. “I don’t see why it’s like this now. I know you don’t like me this much, Jak.”

He was starting to slump, and his words were slurred. “Bad enough I always lose them to Zedrick. Now I’m losing them to a fucking mer.”

“Is that what this is about?” Zedrick cried. “Again? This was why we started – damn!” He turned and looked at me. “Right. I’ll take him to sleep this off, and he and I will talk when he’s sober.” He and Tahm half-carried Jak away, and gradually, the others started to relax. I turned my attention to Othrelos.

“How’s your jaw?” I asked quietly.

He moved it back and forth a little. “It could be worse.”

“You don’t have to prove anything, you know.” I slipped my arms around his waist and snuggled up against him.

His fellow meri released his arms, and he put them around me. “No?”

“No. Do you want to have that conversation now? Would it be better for you if I’m not with anyone else?”

He hugged me a little tighter. “Yes.”

“Then I won’t be. There.” I kissed him on the cheek. “So don’t let him keep baiting you.”

“Is it really what you want?” He nuzzled the side of my neck. “It’s not just to stop us fighting, is it?”

“Of course not. That’s not how I normally behave, is it?”

Just like I wanted, he laughed a little, and the last of the tension faded. “No, it isn’t.” With that, we were finally able to make our way up to bed, where we celebrated our new relationship with a few drunken caresses before falling asleep in our clothes.

We stayed for a couple of days, sleeping more of the time than not. We’d spent days down that hole with no sense of time, and it was only after we settled down in Bravil that we realized how exhausted we were.

After a few cycles of eating and sleeping, I woke up actually able to think. Othrelos and I were curled toward each other, his head against my stomach and his arm draped over my thigh.

“O?” I asked softly, stroking his hair. “Do you think Fathis will keep trying?”

He took a moment to respond. “I don’t think he’d try to hurt me. So he shouldn’t try to hurt you either. If you showed him you have your own force, he won’t escalate and risk his life or ours.” He stopped and thought. “I’m not sure that means he’ll give us up entirely, though.”

“Great. Then you’re definitely coming down to Anvil with me.”

He chuckled. “That’ll work. Jak and I living together will be perfect.”

“They’re away most of the time.” Still, he had a point. “I’ll buy you a house.”

Up onto his elbow then, looking surprised and a little bit skeptical. “You’ll buy me a house,” he echoed.

“I’m not sending you back up to the Imperial City when I don’t know yet whether I’ve got Fathis in line. Anvil’s got me, my pirates, and the Gray Fox, and that’s more than he’s going to dare. He’d be too far out of his own territory.” I pulled him up toward me by the hair. “And I’ll be able to visit you whenever I want.”

“Ah,” he grinned, “there we go.”

A couple of hours later we actually emerged to give the order to move on toward Anvil. Jak still had a black eye, and kept his distance from Othrelos. He did come and give me something of an apology, although it was quick and mumbled with his eyes cast down and away from me. “Know I was an ass. Sorry.”

“I love him, Jak. It’s no reflection on you.”

“Yeah.”

So we rode home, and Othrelos got a room at the inn, because it really wasn’t a good idea to put him and Jak too close together, and I started looking for a house. I didn’t have to go far: in The Count’s Arms a jaded rich boy was selling his grandfather’s mansion cheap so he could go away to the Imperial City. I had his asking price, so he gave me the deed.

He said it had been in disuse for a while, and it was too late in the day after too much travel to want to bother with going and cleaning it up, so Othrelos and I stayed the night at the inn anyway. When we came down in the morning, Amusei was waiting for me.

“I just missed you in Bravil,” he said. “The Gray Fox is looking for you. He’s waiting in Cheydinhal.”

“We came through Cheydinhal on the way here.” I sighed. Good old Amusei.

“He sent for you personally?” Othrelos asked. “Do you realize how rare that is?”

I shrugged. “He’s done it before.”

“Then I’m sorry. I always thought you were exaggerating.” He smiled a little. “You need to go, then. I’ll work on the house while you’re gone.”

A short breakfast, a long kiss, and a few sweet words, and I was back on a horse on the way to Cheydinhal. Ganredhel’s house was the one I was supposed to find this time. It was next to a house that was clearly abandoned, which made me wonder why we hadn’t met there instead.

Remembering his wishes, now reinforced by my promise to Othrelos, I stood a comfortable distance from him. “You sent for me?”

He stood to greet me. “Yes, a good while ago. Where were you hiding yourself?”

“I’m sorry about that. It was something important.”

“You and the pirates found your boy, then.” He grinned at my surprise. “I do have sources of information, you know. Did everything work out to your satisfaction?”

It was silly of me to blush. “Yes, it did. If Fathis just keeps to himself, it will be nearly perfect.”

“Capital. Let’s take it as a sign of luck.” He sighed. “And I assure you that Fathis is going to keep to himself. You can even use him as your fence in the Imperial City if you like. I hear he pays well.”

“What?” Use Fathis as my fence? Had he been drinking?

He laughed. “That is his role in the Guild, you know. He’s a fence. And not only does he remember your pirates well enough to have a healthy respect for you, he also has this notion that you have taken on some amount of importance in the Guild. That you’re being groomed to outrank him, if you don’t already.”

It was hard to resist stepping in flirtatiously, but I had to start breaking the habit. “Where would he have gotten an idea like that?”

“I can’t imagine. At any rate, we needed that settled, because you’re going into the Imperial City for me. You’re looking for a fellow named Jakben. ‘Earl of Imbel,’ wherever that is. But he’s in the City. He’s the last known descendant of a thief named Springheel Jak, who lived three hundred years ago. He had a pair of magic boots that we require.”

“And Jakben may have them, or know where they are.” I nodded.

“We’re very close to the great moment now, Luminara. Don’t dawdle.”

I didn’t. With both of us trying to create a distance there was no point in lingering.

It was strange coming back to the Imperial City after so long. It felt different than I remembered. More present, somehow. The beggars, however, were the same, and one of them gave me Jakben’s address in Talos Plaza for a very reasonable price. They also told me he only tended to go out at night.

Paranoid of me, probably, to think of vampires first. After all, I’d just come out of a whole city of them. All the same, I waited until late in the evening to break into the house, so he’d be more likely to be away.

Unfortunately, there was nothing there that gave me any indication about either Springheel Jak or the fate of his boots. At least not on the main floor or the upper one: the cellar door had an unpickable lock, which meant I would have to search Jakben himself for the key. That sounded exciting.

I’d have to pick his pockets. Even if he was a vampire, it would attract too much attention to kill him out in the street, or have him found murdered in his house. But if I waited in the house, it would spare me looking for him in the city. So I waited.

He came in the early morning. He certainly had the reflexes of a vampire: he noticed me almost immediately, even though I didn’t make any mistakes. But instead of attacking, he cringed and professed terror. A burglar! Of course I could have the key to the cellar. I could have anything I wanted, if I only spared his life.

I was skeptical. But by inclination I was also a thief, not a killer, so I took the key and left him, resolving to pay careful attention to any sounds behind me.

In the cellar were other vampires. I felt silly about not having the nerve to kill Jakben outright, but that didn’t keep me from drawing the Razor and slicing up his friends. I had no scruples about killing things that were trying to eat me.

I knew which was Jakben’s coffin because it contained his diary. Right away it captured my attention: I knew a man who was a great thief. He dared steal from Nocturnal herself! How odd that I cannot seem to recall his name. I think we were friends, but I'm not certain.

He’d known the Gray Fox before the cowl. He was Springheel Jak.

He was right behind me.

I spun on my heel, slicing as I turned, and sure enough, I connected with flesh. He hissed with pain and fury, fangs bared, as I cut again. He’d brought a glass sword down with him, and he tried to hit me with that; but he’d expected to take me by surprise. He was not really prepared for the extent of my resistance.

The Razor made an awful sound the last time I struck at Jakben, and there was a flash as the vampire fell to the ground, sickly white and motionless. I knew by instinct and reading that this time, Dagon had taken his soul through the sword. I felt sick. I must never use the thing again.

As I stood over Jakben’s body collecting my wits, I finally noticed the glimmer of magicka around him. He was wearing the boots I was after.

Since his cellar had also provided me with several other nice things, I decided to test my luck by looking for Fathis. He conducted his business in the Elven Gardens District.

He had never been so fawning. “Luminara! Delightful to see you. What brings you to town?”

I blinked at him for a moment before I responded. “Guild business. I have some things to sell.”

“Happy to look at them for you. May I?” As I pulled things out for him to purchase, he added, with his eyes cast away from me, “Is my nephew well?”

“He is. We stopped the invasion.”

“Wonderful. I, ah, don’t imagine you’re of a mind to tell me where he is now, but thank him for me. He’s always got a job with me if he wants it.” Now he did glance up. “Then again, I suppose that if he means to keep working at all, he’ll be working for you.”

“We… haven’t discussed that.”

“Of course not.” He cleared his throat. “I hope you understand that I never intended either of you any harm. He’s family, of course, and as for you, it’s obvious how he feels about you. And how the Guildmaster feels, for that matter.” He paused. “I am well established as the fence for the Imperial City. I hope that you will keep that, as well as family, in mind in any future decisions.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about any more, but it seemed prudent not to let on. “I will.” I took my money and left him. He did, indeed, pay me well.

When I got back to Cheydinhal, I tossed the diary into the Gray Fox’s lap first. “You might have warned me that Jakben was Jak.”

“What are you talking about?” He skimmed the diary, then scowled at me. “Do I really look to you like I’m three hundred years old?”

Oh. I shuffled one foot. “Well, no. I’ve been running into so many vampires lately, and for all I knew it was one of the powers of the cowl.”

He relaxed a little. “It isn’t. I didn’t know Springheel Jak: I’m not the original Gray Fox. The cowl has been handed down within the Guild – usually without much warning about the consequences.” He snorted. “I hope to be the last. At least the last one like this. That is assuming you’ve got the boots?” I provided those, and he turned much more cheerful. “This is it, then. Now it’s all planning and execution. Well done, Luminara. I will let you know when it’s time.”

Again, there was no loitering, just an awkward glance as he paid me. I was learning how to have one partner at a time, and he was saving himself for a woman who would never know his name.

It was far sadder than my childhood fantasy had been. Now I couldn’t imagine wanting to be the Gray Fox.