Deus Necros

“Trouble you say?” one of the people in front of them spoke, from their position it was a large man, bald and wore nothing but an unbuttoned sleeveless maroon vest over his chest, with long baggy pants that were tied with a rope on his waist and right above his ankles, leather sandals a long dagger on his side. His voice had the sandpaper rasp of someone who shouted more than he spoke.

Two other men were standing next to him while the burly yet large bellied man sat on a chair. “Y’all seem to be out of this region, let me guess spies for the empire?”

“Why would we be spies?” Tull said. He sounded hurt in the way that invited contempt rather than pity. Better that than fear.

“Don’t act like a fool, your skin color is too pale for this region. What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I promise you we’re not spies.” Tull replied. He seemed to be more delved in this type of conversation with rugrats and thieves than the prince so the latter didn’t even jump in to argue.

“That’s what all spies say.” The burly man replied.

“How are we to convince you then?” Tull said with an eased tone. As long as they’re conversing he didn’t have to start killing anyone right now.

“You don’t need to, we have our ways, handing over spies to the palace is one fine way to get rewarded isn’t that right boys?” the man laughed and so did the other two with him.

“And if we’re not spies.” Tull said, prying some more, any information about the palace is important.

“Doesn’t matter, spy or not once the master of the catacomb gets his hand on you, everyone becomes a spy.” The man laughed and it was not a pleasant sound. Somewhere behind him someone else laughed too late.

“Ah, I see, torture them until they confess, real or not… I won’t like that…” Tull said.

“Neither would I,” the prince replied, “I’m sure we can… talk this through.”

“There is nothing to talk about.” The large man replied.

“We’re both aspiring merchants…” Tull couldn’t finish his words.

“Stop with the lies, you don’t even have a hundred Kronas worth of good on you.” The gang leader said.

“That’s because we got robbed, but we do have some partners that could lend us money to do business. We’re merchant that trade goods between the Sun Kingdom and the empire,” Tull said. He did not rush. He let the words arrive like a man setting cups on a table. He made sure they heard the word partners.

“That’s even more reason to hand you over to the authorities, doing illegal trade is a crime to be hanged for.” The large man smiled, at first it was a doubt but now he can actually get some coin.

“True, especially if you’re dealing in Poppy…” Tull said and let the words hang a bit.

Immediately, they noticed the reaction of everyone in the room through the blindfold. Weight shifted. A throat cleared and then did not. Metal touched leather and then stopped. Men who had been bored became attentive all at once. They seemed to be addicts, though they’re not at the point of breaking down, but its clear that their regular dose had been reduced.

Like a drug addict being offered a potential dose, one of them almost approached the two for more potential poppy. But a cough from the leader soon silenced them.

“You know you can’t grow Poppy here…” he said.

“Yes, it can only be grown in the empire where the atmosphere allows it. We’ve been working with Hakim for the past year…” Tull said.

“Hakim is dead.” The man replied.

Of course he is dead, Tull thought, he killed him himself last year when he was smuggling the opium. He kept his face empty of that memory. There was no profit in ghosts.

“That’s why we came here… we needed a new… investor. With Hakim dead, we have too much merchandise on our hands, and it’s too risky distributing it all in the empire.”

“This sounds too convenient, we’re almost out of our own stocks too…” the man said.

“I had the feeling that was going to happen, so that’s why we risked coming over here to find a new business partner…” Tull’s reply was cold and brisk but had all the information the burly man needed.

“This is above my paygrade then…” the burly man said, “Cut them loose but keep a close eye, come with me, we’ll need to take you to our leader…” he said as he stood up.

Tull stopped a smile from creeping up on his face. His goal achieved, he can now meet the ringleader.

Soon the two were let loose, though soaking wet and drenched, the two of them looked rather relaxed. Tull rolled his shoulders as if shaking off sleep instead of rope. The prince stretched his fingers as if the knots had never existed.

“You two seem like you’re at home.”

“Thugs, thieves and beggars are our number one client, it feels more like we never left home..” Tull said.

The burly man looked at the prince and frowned, “He’s too pretty to be working in this line of work.”

“That’s the best part about this work, who among the nobles would deign themselves to buy from an ugly fucker like us?” Tull said as he smirked at the fat man.

“Ah, I see, that is indeed true, a lot of bitches here would consume copious amounts of the stuff. He’s eye candy for them I suppose. Hah, follow me,” the man said as he opened the door to another dark hallway. The door had been painted blue once and then stained by hands until it looked like a sky after a sandstorm.

The group moved with the leader ahead and Tull and the prince in the middle with two other guards following behind, their hands on their weapons ready for any tricks. The passage turned and turned again. Low ceilings brushed hair. Heat collected in pockets that smelled of brass and old breath. They passed a room where dice clicked on stone. They passed a room where no one spoke at all.

After many detours and opening of many underground doors and pathways, they finally reached what looked like the den of all that is corrupted and foul in society. The sound hit first, a slow buzz of wasted talk, then the spice and smoke and the sweetness of something burned long past sense.

A room that was doused in the smell of opium and drugs, naked women and men sprawled all over, with the smell of incense permeating the place. Thin ribbons of blue smoke curled toward a ceiling stained black and gold with soot. There were mirrors in gilded frames that showed the room from angles that did not exist, and cushions whose tassels dragged patterns in dust.

Along a large sofa that would only be fit for a king, a man with a lot of hair loss, missing teeth and a missing eye was smoking from a dragon pipe and wearing nothing but a velvet robe that did little to cover any of his privates. He had two women next to him who were far too gone from drugs to even defend themselves. One of them tried to smile at the prince and missed.

Both the prince and Tull’s expressions remained calm and collected. A surprise for Tull since he was used to seeing the lower part of society. But the prince was never used to this type of stuff.

Still his face didn’t even change as he saw the debauchery happening here.

“What’s this, Jelal?” the leader spoke.

“Prospects,” the burly man that accompanied them said. “They’re claiming that they’re the ones that were suppling Hakim.”

“Oh,” the man said as he pushed the women away and stood up, finally he roped the robe around him as he walked toward the two. His bare feet made soft sounds on the carpets. His one eye gleamed with lazy humor that did not touch his mouth.

“That’s a bold claim, Hakim never shared his secrets with anyone. You know what would happen if I find out you’re lying?” he said.

“I can already make a guess, and I don’t like it,” Tull said smiling.

“Good, now we’re on the same page,” he said as he placed his hand on the man shoulder, “We’ll need to vet you now,” he said as he looked to a hidden chamber, “Get the boy here.” He said.

Soon a man wearing leather and cloth as clothes with a redhead on him, along with what felt like an ominous presence behind him. Weak but threatening…some form of spirit “This boy’s called Redd. Quite the fitting name for this monstrous fella.” The guard behind him handled him like a dog that had bitten before and would again.

“I don’t see any monster here, nothing but a caged dog,” Tull said as he saw the slave print on the young man.

The young man was cuffed and looked to have had a lot of pain introduced to him. His eyes however didn’t lose its feral sheen. But the moment the young man’s eyes landed on the prince, it widened. And that was something that Tull didn’t expect. He watched the spark of recognition flare and race toward a mouth that would shape it into trouble.

Recognition.

Shit might go bad real soon if the boy speaks. Tull shifted half a foot and let his smile widen by a hair. The prince tilted his head as if considering the cut of the leader’s robe. The room did not yet know it was holding its breath, but it was.