Karoy of the Second Sun, Chapter 2
...
"Five minas for a pair of trousers is absurd! Look at them!" Karoy held up the garment to show the holes torn in the knees.
The old woman on the mat in front of him leaned back on her pile of cushions and took a drag on her long wooden pipe "It's just economics boy, I have trousers, you need trousers and it seems like you don't have time to shop around." She grinned letcherously, "Or maybe I just like you better without them."
Ulirobi rolled her eyes and tossed a handful of coins at the seller. "It's not even your money. Just put on the pants so people stop staring at you."
Grumbling Karoy pulled on the ill-fitting garment and they made their way down the row towards the gate to the beggar's city. Sellers lined the street here, their wares a motley selection of stolen, scavenged and crudely handmade. The walls were painted with elaborate graffiti in bright orange and red and stark black, blasphemy, obscenity, and unappreciated beauty blending together in a miasma of visual overstimulation. Ulirobi purchased some freshly boiled bandages from one seller and a few lumps of charcoal from another as Karoy stalked forward, his attention taken up by the sensation of the two poisons fighting over which got to stifle his heartbeat first.
"Hero, eat." Ulirobi waved a skewer of roasted songbirds in front of his face, startling him. It was good they had lost their pursuers quickly, he was in no shape to fight. He accepted the skewer and daintily bit a nibble of the meat. It was at least well-seasoned.
Ulirobi tore into her street birds enthusiastically, a dribble of grease escaping down her chin. "I'll treat your wound once we can find a spot to hide beyond the wall. Too many eyes out here, we're better off moving."
Karoy grunted and watched the priestess devour her meal. He took another bite, forcing himself to chew. The gate to beggar's city was a block ahead, denoted by the cluster of water sellers on either side. The wells beyond the wall had become infected with a virulent flesh-eating disease decades before, and nearly all of the folk who lived there had migrated out. The city's magistrates had put up the wall and declared the abandoned houses open for squatters, a deraliction of duty disguised as compassion. No guards patrolled those streets, and at two hours' walk from a clean well, even the most ragtag criminal enterprises wouldn't set up shop in beggar's city. It was a place for only the most desperate people.
It made sense that their destination lay within.
Karoy watched with approval as Ulirobi bought water from the most expensive vendor. You couldn't trust a discount water seller not to cut their wares with the local tainted supply. He smiled as she handed out the rest of her coins to the line of children they had accrued as it became clear they had money to part with. She handed out the minas to the smallest children first, each with a blessing "may your ancestors welcome you after a good death", and a curse "if anyone takes this from you may their lungs rot within them.". The older children spurned by the limits of Ulirobi's purse did not pounce upon their lessers as he thought they would once she turned her back. A death priestess' words were not to be taken lightly, even here.
A half hour's trudge through the forsaken, ash-strewn streets they found an empty house to shelter in. Ulirobi swept aside the lightest patch of accrued trash and laid down her outer robe for him to lie on.
"Would you believe I have some trepidation having my wounds cared for by a cremationist?" Karoy chuckled as he lay down, his vision swimming, black shapes dancing in the corners of the room, what he hoped were hallucinations.
"We train as healers first. Now hold still." She poured some expensive water on his wound, and he winced as whatever toxic resin had coated the dagger bubbled in reaction. She nodded, a studious look in her eyes.
Drawing one of the lumps of charcoal from her bag, she cupped it in both hands, and, holding it close to her mouth, whispered a short, breathy prayer. The dark lump glowed suddenly bright and orange.
Karoy raised his eyebrows "Neat trick, how do you keep it from burning you?"
She smirked, "You haven't been to a service at our temple have you?" She blew on the charcoal, making it flare brighter and hotter.
Karoy shook his head, "Never liked funerals."
She grinned, "We priestesses walk among the flames, they are like sisters to us." She pressed the glowing orange lump against Karoy's shoulder, sending searing pain that he couldn't help but scream through. Ulirobi put a knee and an elbow on him to limit his thrashing, while keeping the charcoal in place and singing a low, droning prayer to her fiery gods as the heat seared through his veins. As the poison was eradicated, his senses returned to their full power and the pain became more acute. Despite her efforts he threw her off of him, crouching over her menacingly.
"That hurt, priestess."
Ulirobi grinned up at him, "And yet it saved your life." She held up the glowing coal, now casting a sickly green light.
"Did that remove your poison as well?"
"The Drossbella wouldn't be a very effective motivator if I could extract it as easily as that. But you should be greatful, it is likely what kept that dagger's poison from killing you immediately." The priestess crushed the coal in her hand, scattering cooled ash on the ground beside her. She pushed him back to a lying position, washed the dust from her palms and started wrapping his wound in bandages. "Drossbella isn't merely a death sentence, it makes you stronger, quicker, more resilient. We consider it a gift. If you die on this quest it will be a good death."
Karoy stood up and stretched his arms, testing his range of motion with the bandages. Satisfied, he picked up Wyrmsplitter and looked around for something to use as a scabbard. "Agree to disagree priestess, but I'm plenty strong and quick and resilient without your fancy drugs. Most people just pay me gold when they want my services."
Ulirobi returned her things to her purse and stood, shaking out her outer robe and wrapping it back over her shoulders. "Our order has strict rules about hiring mercenaries."
"Something about the sanctity of life and profanity of lucre?" Karoy found a sturdy length of rope that he cut in half, tying his illfitting trousers with one half and wrapping the other diagonally across his chest to sling his sword from
"No, a high-profile assassination costs about a quarter of what we charge for a high-profile funeral, so the elders had to put rules in place to stifle the perverse incentive." She crept to the doorway and cracked it open, peering into the street.
She darted away from the door, hissing through her teeth "Shit! They caught up."
Karoy slunk to the door, peering through the narrow crack. Six of the ceramic-masked assassins strutted down the detritus-strewn street, forming a perimeter around a tall figure, Karoy instantly recognized him from the rooftop. The golden dagger floated over the man's shoulder bobbing left and right slightly like a snake measuring a strike. The party moved purposefully down the street.
"I assume that's your 'Scoss Under Scorched Skies'." Karoy whispered, backing from the door, "They don't seem to be searching for us.".
"They think you're dead, or at least weakened. I doubt they count me as much of a threat." Ulirobi grabbed another lump of charcoal from her coinpurse, inspecting it.
"I take it they're headed the same place we are." Karoy peered back out. The man with the reptilian collar chuckled at a joke by one of his followers.
"The inverted temple of Kystassi, yes." The priestess ducked her head into the small house's second room. "The stairs are broken, can you give me a boost?"
Karoy raised his eyebrows, joining her, the next room was piled knee-high with trash. Slots for eight missing steps led to a trap door in the ceiling. "What do you have in mind?"
"I figure the temple will have plenty of dangers of its own without having to deal with these bastards as well." Ulirobi lifted her robes to wade to the spot under the trap door. "We should neutralize the threat now while we have the element of surprise and a relatively comprehensible battlefield."
Karoy crouched down and cupped his hand for her to step in. 'You may have been wasted on the priesthood."
Ulirobi laughed, "My father is a general. If I was a son I could have joined the family business. I wound up on the other end of the death industry." She steadied herself as Karoy lifted her. "I'll set them on fire, you cut them down. How's that sound?"
He grinned, "I like that my part is simple."
Karoy made his way back to the door. Their quarries were nearly out of his line of sight. He hoped Ulirobi had a clear shot.
A brief susurus from above indicated that the priestess' magic had begun and as her song became a throaty chant, it drew the attention of some of the masked folk. Then with a final shout, seven banners of flame arced across the sky. Karoy charged the enemy, swinging Wyrmsplitter at the dagger as it whipped overhead to Ulirobi's position. His swing connected, deflecting the gilded weapon into the chest of a now burning assassin. Scoss glowered at him as he closed distance, tossing aside the charred companion he had sacrificed to block Ulirobi's flame.
The assassins scattered. Karoy put two out of their misery as they rolled on the ground. He charged Scoss, thrusting Wyrmsplitter at the man's chest. The tall figure raised his arms abruptly and the burning corpse of the masked figure Karoy had stabbed with the golden dagger slammed into him, knocking him off balance. The tall man laughed as his three remaining minions, singed but still alive, converged on Karoy.
"Karoy of the Second Sun, I am so sorry you had to be caught up in this." The tall man laughed as he freed the flying dagger from his ally's chest, tossing it into the melee. "I have long enjoyed hearing the songs of your exploits."
"Call your men off and I can tell you the parts that even the bawdiest bards left out." Karoy began to worry, flanked by the three masked ones, plus the dagger dancing overhead, it was all he could do to deflect their blades. He struggled to land a hit.
The tall man chuckled, twisting the emerald on one of his many gold rings. "Unfortunately I am running out of time. Perhaps we can talk in the afterlife."
Suddenly the golden dagger split into a dozen copies which began diving at him one by one. He swung to deflect them, his blade passing through the harmless duplicates, but distracting him enough to give the assassin on his left flank an opening. The jagged shortsword scraped his rib and left a nasty gash across his stomach. Wyrmsplitter chopped into the masked figure's shoulder in response while another assassin sliced into Karoy's leg. Karoy freed Wyrmsplitter and shoved the dying assassin towards the other two, shifting his stance to protect his wounded leg and guarded himself with Wyrmsplitter's length. One down, he could still turn this encounter to his advantage.
"And so ends Karoy of the Second Sun." He heard the tall man's gloating before he felt the dagger in his back. He swung wildly behind him, but of course the man wasn't holding the weapon and Karoy only managed to throw himself off balance. He fell face first on the filthy street.
"Grab that sword! The blade of the great hero Karoy must be worth at least a thousand doveli. And someone find the girl, she must answer for her part in this!"
Karoy slipped from consciousness wishing a thousand sadistic tortures upon Ulirobi's head.