With Thimble at their lead, the trio zipped through the Slums. He steered away from the pathways which burnt their noses and eventually came to a castle-like ruin next to a river that ran through Visgamar. Looking closer, Orion realised it was actually a collection of decrepit houses built upon each other, giving the image of a fortress.
"There's someone running there," Kora said, pointing towards a clump of trees and bushes.
Orion strained his ears but couldn't hear anything. Though, he did catch sight of a shadow rushing into the concrete fortress once he peered in the direction.
"Na worries, that's just a runnar," Thimble said while casually waving his hand, "He keeps watch in case someone attacks,"
"Right," Orion nodded with a frown. The relaxed way Thimble spoke brought new light to Orion's horizon. He couldn't even imagine himself acting so calm about an attack, let alone imagine the lifestyle that led to it.
They passed by the first house and entered the den. There were few people by the outskirts of the den, and they mostly resigned to watching the trio, forgetting any confrontational thoughts once they realised it was Thimble leading them. But, as they entered the heart, the Seekers saw a large band of people sitting around in a garden decorated by rubble.
Orion recognised Nanlong in the crowd, his large frame hard to miss; Thimble had introduced him to the murderous mercenary leader during his tour. But, other than him, the rest of the ragged cutthroats were strangers. The boss of this group was a brown-haired, bearded man sitting with one knee up and eyes glaring at the newcomers. He looked like Thimble, minus the maroon hair and the two large scars on his face and plus some years of hardship.
"Thimble, yer useless shit. Instead of wasting around, how about yer whore out like yor sisters and earn us some monies?" the brown-haired man shouted. His comments were met with laughter, the tense type you do when you're under too much pressure to truly let loose.
"Na, Ginger. Listen," Thimble said as he gestured to the Seekers to wait. He left with Ginger (the brown-haired man) and came back a few moments later.
"Haha, forget my rude comments. My bro's told me yor strong, ain't it?" Ginger said as he took his place. He scrutinised the Seekers for a few seconds, watching their posture and actions. "An' he's told me yer wanna meet Rats, is that right?" Silence washed over the gang.
Orion frowned. He doubted Thimble had told Ginger he was a Seeker or a Mage, purely due to how frightened he was, but there was still a chance.
"Yeah, we can pay you in gold for it," he replied.
"Hahaha, talking about gold in front of us, the Sticky Fingers, are yer mad or summin?" Another tense laughter followed Ginger's taunt.
Shit.
"It's fine, we're strong," Kora replied. Another set of laughter, this time mocking.
"Fine, fine. Since my bro didn't beat around the bush, I'll come clean. We need fighters, and we need them tonight. If yers can help us against the Saltrocks, then I'll let yer join me,"
Orion thought on it. It seemed the only other ways into Rats's pavilion was through another gang leader, which would add more uncertainty and risk, or by sneaking in, which would be impossible considering Rats's guards were thieves and robbers.
"Fi—"
"Wait there, Ginger. You're telling me you believe these kids are strong?" Nanlong called out with a curl to his lips.
Orion looked back to Ginger and saw he was calm despite the interruption. So, he had either been waiting for Nanlong to say this, or they were good enough friends to not care about such trivial matters.
"Go on, Fister. Teach them a lesson," Nanlong finished, pushing forward a man who was a mix of muscle and fat.
Fister's eyes gleamed and he brushed his pudgy hand through his mohawk, springing it up. "If you say so, boss,"
Kora placed a hand on Orion's shoulder and nodded. She pulled her cowl lower and strode to Fister. The mohawked man sneered at her slight figure and sped up into a charge, his hands stretched out to tackle her. But instead of flustering, Kora kicked, or better said, sliced through the air. Fister expected this and spun in time, actually, a bit too late as his feet left the ground and his body was sent flying, hitting the ground a metre away.
He did not get back up.
"Ahh, strong and pretty. They're a good sort," Nanlong said.
Kora frowned in his direction while the other mercenaries peered into her cowl, trying to get a glimpse. The large mercenary leader clearly had eagle eyes.
"Good good, let's get you up to speed then, specially yer, Thimble," Ginger said.
"What?"
"The ship's not coming in a few days. It's coming today an' they were tryna hide that, just got it snitched to me," Ginger paused and rubbed his brown beard. "Like, I ain't no idiot, clearly they got the word we're attacking and this is a trap to kill us, but this is also our chance."
Ginger turned to the Seekers. "Despite Rats's street-cred, you still wanna meet him, an' there's a million reasons why you would wanna. I don't wanna hear the sob story tho, just help us sink the Saltrock's ship an' you can come with me,"
It was then a new group of men entered the ruins. Orion recognised one of them: Skitters, another man Thimble had briefly introduced him to, the one with a lot of lockpicks and masks in his home.
"Ai, Ginger. The ships coming to the Drowner's. Checked a few homes around the dock, ain't found anyone, yet," Skitters said, brushing his hand through his wavy hair.
"No one? Yer sure?"
"Ya, unless they got a Mage or summin, I ain't sure how they could ambush us,"
No one spoke, no one moved, no one breathed. Orion realised it wasn't just Thimble who feared Mages, but instead all of them.
"Don't even joke about that," Ginger said. "Fuck, let's just go an' get in place."
*****
It had been six hours since they had entered Ginger's den, and three since they had gone into hiding by the Drowner's docks. Ginger and his thugs, including Thimble, had scattered across the buildings, awaiting nightfall when the ship was said to arrive. Nanlong and his mercenaries had hidden close to the docks; they were the best equipped and would take the vanguard in the fight.
As for the Seekers, they were in an abandoned storage room with Skitters, alike to the one Orion had first woken up in but with a tunnel. They were told to follow Skitters as he sneaked onto the ship and dumped the flares overboard, then to protect him afterwards. As if to lure them to go down the decks and murder, Ginger had said any treasure they took was theirs to keep
Night had arrived sometime before, and the trio now waited for the ship to arrive. Orion had a bad feeling about the ambush, after all, Ginger had trusted them too easily, he had given them too important of a job, and now Orion had to kill people getting on with their lives.
He knew whatever ploys both sides had planned would come into play once the ship arrived, and as if by magic, a loud horn blared out from one of the houses far away. The ship was here…