Downtown Druid

Book 3 Chapter 10: Quarter Dead

Dantes landed back at the club by early afternoon. Jacopo chose to keep flying for a while, diving toward a man walking by with a bit of bread and ripping a chunk off of it before he continued to fly away. Dantes walked down from the roof and into his mossy audience chamber. He took a few moments to check on the status of his gardens, to feel the life flowing from him and make minor adjustments he felt he needed. He’d need to make a personal trip to his largest garden soon.

He was sitting on his living throne when Jayk appeared at the door.

“How did you know I was back?”

“I didn’t, I’ve just been checking every hour or so.”

Dantes opened his eyes. “The meeting went well. You’re looking at the newest member of the Fingers.”

Jayk smiled. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll start making the moves to take over the Gatemen’s territory.”

Dantes nodded. “Recruit as few of the Gatemen themselves as you can. I want you to focus on recruiting kobolds, try to find a standout that would work well for us there.”

Dantes nodded. “The Gatemen have always been run by the people mostly within the gates. Humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes. Focus on bringing in halflings and Kobolds as the main muscle for it. We already know how to work things within Rendhold’s gates, but they’d have good insights for what happens outside of them. Also, I like Kobolds. They’re good people to work with.”

Jayk nodded. “I might have some contacts that escaped the Pit who could work.”

“What have I missed since I’ve been gone?”

“More murders in Uptown. This time they seem to have been targeting the guards.

“The guards themselves?” Dantes asked.

“Guards that were mages as well.”

Dantes stroked his chin, some of the murders would shift his theories away from Syn, then before he knew it there'd be more that indicated her again. He wished she'd come to him, he found himself missing her a bit. “Well, let’s just push those weapon sales to Uptown even harder then. No reason not to make some gold off of it.”

Jayk nodded, then frowned. “There was one more thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“A man claiming to be your father is at the bar.”

Up until this point Dantes had been wearing an expression of amusement and contentment, but the moment his father was mentioned all of that drained from his face as he clenched his jaw.

“What’s he look like?”

“Bit short for a half orc, broad, tattoos everywhere…gold eyes.”

Dantes put his face in his hands.

“Has he asked to see me?”

“He has.”

“Did he convince the bar to let him drink for free?”

“He has.”

“Guessing Zilly isn’t working right now?”

Jayk nodded and Dantes sighed. If she’d been there she would have made him pay every copper he owed after every drink.

“Auntie must not be here either or he’d be dead…” he muttered to himself.

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“She’s meeting some fish suppliers on the docks.”

Dantes nodded. “Bring him up here. Bring Zak as well.”

“You sure?”

Dantes nodded, realizing that how much he didn’t want him to actually bring his father up had leaked out in his voice.

Jayk walked out and returned a few minutes later with Zak and a half-orc man in tow.

The man was, as Jayk had said, short for a half orc. His skin was a darker gray than Dantes’s own making the black tattoos across his skin barely visible even in daylight. His tusks weren’t capped, and his hair was dirty and thick, filled with dreads made by neglect rather than intention. Much of that hair was gray now, though he was barely twenty years older than Dantes. He looked much like any other orcish sailor that Dantes would’ve encountered on the docks, and in a crowd he may not have recognized him, but for his eyes the color of golden coins, matching Dantes’s own.

“Eddie!” he said as he took a few steps toward him.

“Louis,” he responded, holding out a hand to stop him from approaching.

Louis quickly put his heavily calloused hands away. “It’s good to see you Ed,” he said with a wide smile.

“How long’s it been?” asked Dantes. “Seven? Eight years?”

“Not sure. Time moves a bit differently on the seas.”

A familiar excuse. One he remembered hearing often when he’d asked why he hadn’t seen him for so long as a child. As an adult he’d often thought that the damage his father had done to him would’ve been much reduced if he’d never shown up at all rather than appearing infrequently, pretending to care, and then leaving for another half a year or more.

“I was sorry to hear about your mother. She was a lovely woman.”

Dantes gripped the wood of his chair so tightly he could hear it complaining to him. He loosened his grip.

“Yes. She was.”

His father gave a solemn nod, as if he actually cared, then looked around. “I uh, can’t help but see how well you’ve done for yourself.”

Dantes raised an eyebrow. Their surroundings were primarily moss, vines, flowers and a few bushes, but he took his meaning, and knew where it was leading.

“I’ve been lucky,” he said, with honesty.

“Well, maybe all the family’s luck went to you.”

“Been going through some hard times, Louis?”

He shook his head sadly. “Well, you know, it gets harder and harder to work on ships these days. I’m not as young as I used to be. Though don’t tell that to any of those pretty young things downstairs,” he winked. “My last commission just finished, and I thought, maybe, you could help me out a bit. I have a little bit saved, but not much. I just thought we could make up a bit for lost time, eh?”

Dantes bit back fifteen different cutting remarks that leapt to the tip of his tongue and nodded.

“Jayk, take him back down to the bar for another drink. Let me talk to Zak about his arrangements from here on.”

Louis smiled. “Thank you son.”

Jayk led him out of the room and Zak approached his throne.

“Take him a few blocks away and have him beaten and thrown in a gutter somewhere.” He pulled a silver coin from his coat. “Let him have this.”

“How close to death should I leave him? Half?”

“Quarter dead, don’t break anything. I just don’t want him coming here again.”

Zak nodded, not questioning the request any more as Jayson would’ve done aloud or Jayk might have silently, and walked out the door.

Dantes sat there simmering for a few minutes. Eight years. He’d not seen his father in eight years and the first thing the man does is ask for a free ride. Dantes was certain that if he hadn’t been doing so well for himself then he would’ve never seen him again. He didn’t show up when his mother had died, even though he knew that the Jacopo had been docked in Rendhold at the time. As a child he’d idolized his absentee father, as a teenager he’d accepted his imperfections, but now he no longer had any sympathy or patience for the man.

He gathered himself, focusing on all of the operations he was monitoring for some time, working the mundane mental tasks he set for himself everyday until he’d calmed down. He stood up and walked down to the bar. His father was gone, and it had been cleared out.

He looked at Zilly, who was in the middle of removing her coat.“Something thick, dark, and strong once you’ve settled in.”

She reached down below the bar in front of him and pulled out an already poured glass which she placed in front of him.

Dantes nodded at her gratefully. “Thank you.”

He took a long sip, letting the warmth of it spread throughout him. Once the heat of it had settled in his stomach he looked around the bar. It was moderately busy. Not as busy as it would be later in the evening, but most of the tables were full, the bar was busy, and the card tables rung with the sounds of coins being thrown onto them. There were a few bored looking whores, but he knew they’d be busy by the time the sun went down. If they weren’t then by the end of the day he’d do his best to help them out… unless Sevryn wasn’t feeling too tired after performing.

He coughed a bit and took another sip of his drink, ruminating on the possibilities of the evening a bit before turning his mind back toward the practical. He was checking the status of the Gatemen through the eyes of a rat in their market when he started to feel a tingling in his fingertips. He looked around, trying to find the source of whatever magic was setting him off, but he realized he didn’t see anything. Though he did notice that everyone else was looking around as well. The club had an enchantment that helped people notice magical cheating at the gambling tables, but he wasn’t detecting anything in that particular direction. In fact, it almost seemed like the magic was all around him.

The tingling kept building in his fingertips, until they started to feel like they were burning.