"Talk about drastic changes of scenery." Shiv said with more than a little awe.
"You call three weeks of slowly changing scenery… drastic?" Briggs asked with an annoyed expression.
"Sure. We went from an underground city to a floating one." Shiv had no doubt his neck would be sore before too long from looking down at the majestic city that just so happened to be their next target.
"Hah! This is not a floating city. The floating cities are further east." Duncan shook his head and took the lead, moving down the hill they had just crested and into the valley in which the city rested. Eventually, they reached one of many lengthy ropes hanging from the side of the plateau sitting just inside the shadow of the stone formation. The construct casting that shadow, which looked to be an abrupt mushroom-shaped plateau that you would find in a massive canyon, was sitting in a green valley and did not fit in at all with the surroundings.
The plateau was made of red stone, and was unnaturally smooth. On top of it rested their destination, aptly named Plateau City.
"We must yank on this rope for awhile. The more we yank, the faster they send someone down for us." Duncan informed his compatriots as he began to do just that, pulling the rope repeatedly with much gusto. He quickly tired out, however, and looked to Shiv with a pleading expression.
Shiv rolled his eyes, then began to use his inhuman strength and endurance to repeatedly yank the rope with much force until Duncan told him to stop. They all looked up, and witnessed a large wooden platform being lowered toward them from the side of the plateau, far up in the air, and a man-sized stone rising.
When it came to a stop a few inches on the ground, Duncan stepped aboard and motioned for the rest to do the same, so they did. With another tug of the rope, they began to ascend, and the stone began to descend.
Seeing the city from afar was nothing short of awe inspiring, but up close… it was less so. In fact, it was dirty and rundown, and looked like a good portion of it had recently been burned. The people were downcast and had a depressed look about them. Those that actually lifted their heads enough to regard the newcomers welcomed them with suspicious glances and muttered curses.
"Are ye some more refugees from the Underground City?" A raspy, grating voice caused the group to turn to get a look at the hunchbacked young man sitting on a wooden box on the doc that their wooden platform had come to stop beside.
It was held there by a system of pulleys, and on closer inspection, Shiv realized the ropes were made of metal wiring. 'Impressive.'
The young man was staring at them with his mud-colored eyes, waiting for a reply, and Shiv sighed when he saw that everyone was waiting for him to respond for them. "Some more?" Shiv blatantly ignored the question and responded with one of his own.
"Aye. We've had tons of them comin' through these past few days."
"Is that why this place looks like a dump?" Shiv stepped off of the platform and took a seat on a box nearby to the young man.
"Haha, nah. It looks like a dump cause it is a dump. Them religious folks came in with the new king and ha' been ruinin' the place." The hunchback didn't seem to mind that his question had been ignored. In fact, he looked happy to be talking to someone, though he did look around warily before making the comment about the 'religious folks'.
"New king?" Shiv shook his head at Briggs, who was silently asking if he could lead the remaining Mirrors and Revengers into the city in search of a place to spend the night. Briggs shrugged and took a seat on a nearby box and watched the conversation with a bored expression. Duncan also watched. He did so with a disgusted, curious expression as he stared in fascination at the hunchback. Blaze was staring at the ground far below with wonder as she laid on the ground and stuck her head over the edge of the dock, her hair flying everywhere in the strong wind.
"Aye. Tyrant King Wessel. He came in a few weeks ago and killed Old King Jerep and his family and took over this here city. He's a right evil tyrant, he is." Shiv half expected the hunchback to look over his shoulder with a fearful expression again, but the man just continued talking as if he hadn't insulted the (hypothetically) most powerful man in the city. "But the priests of his religion…" This time he paused to turn his torso to check behind him for any listening ears before turning back to Shiv and leaning forward to whisper. "They're monsters. The whole lot o' them. They've been ruinin' my home." He said the last bit with noticeable sadness.
"I'm sorry." Shiv didn't know what else to say. When he was done with this wreck of a city, he doubted the sad hunchback would think it to be an improvement. With that, he paid the young man and was forgotten when a bell began ringing violently. The hunchback got up and began switching levers and cursing and grumbling about life in general.
Shiv watched with interest for a few seconds before motioning for everyone to follow him, and walked into the city that looked like it had already been subjected to one or more of the Trio's wild plans.
***
As Duncan took the lead and led his comrades around a corner in the city, the platform reached the dock, and three men and three women stepped onto the red stone ground of the Plateau.
"Hiya, Ugly. Anyone funny lookin' come through while we were out?" The red-headed one-eyed woman in the lead of the group asked the hunchback while tossing him a pouch of coins that she pulled from her inventory.
All six of the group were decked out with animal furs and leathers covering every inch of exposed skin aside from their faces, the exception being one of the women, who was wearing a fitted mask.
"Aye, a couple more groups of refugees from the Underground City came through, and a group of armored, armed fellas as well. Though the most interestin' outta them all was a lil girl who rode a flamin' wolf and only had one leg." The hunchback gave the information up immediately as he eyed the contents of the pouch with a greedy smile.
"Is that right? Very interesting." The woman nodded back at a slender man with a perfectly trimmed mustache, and the group began walking again.
"An' there's one more thing…" The hunchback called after them with a glint in his eyes. "I won't charge ya more cause I likes ya, but… that fella you been lookin' for? The one ya described to me half a dozen times?" His smile turned vicious. "He's their leader."
***
"Enough of your nonsense." Briggs groaned.
"It's not nonsense. I swear it." Duncan stood firm. "I was a very resourceful seven year old." He smiled at Blaze. "Though not as resourceful as you, of course."
"I'm eight." She said in a condescending tone. "Of course you weren't as reso… as good as me. You were a whole year younger than me."
Duncan laughed. "Yes, yes, of course. My mistake. But anyway, I remember coming through here and taking a left… here."
"Quit making stuff up. Just admit it! You're lost." Briggs said.
"Admit defeat when I am clearly in a winning position? I would rather be happy for the rest of my days." Duncan scoffed, earning weird looks for his words. Despite having spent quite a bit of time with the strange man, none of them, aside from perhaps Blaze, were used to the strange things the short ex-noble would say.
Shiv wasn't paying attention to the conversation, as he was still stuck on something Duncan had said earlier. He brought it up now: "You really ran away when you were seven?"
Duncan laughed. "I did."
"And made it all the way here, several weeks travel from your home?"
"The entire way." Duncan affirmed. "And we're here!" He gestured at a ramshackle old building squeezed in between two other seedy looking structures. "This is the place I took refuge at when I came here all those years ago. Sigh, good times." He entered the building without further ado, and everyone aside from Shiv followed him in. Briggs doing so with many grumbled complaints about the insanity of his companion.
Shiv stayed outside, staring at the building with consternation. "You went to a bar when you were seven!?" But of course, Duncan was out of earshot, already having entered the building. Someone that did hear him, however, was a homeless man who squinted at him and scooted farther along his wall away from the transmigrated man.