A DRINK BEFORE BATTLE (MxM)

The leisure district was eerily quiet. Along Sevei’s route from the high street to here, the sounds of clamorous pandemonium had died away, along with the sight of people out and about. The shops here were all shuttered tight, and although a few guards could be seen at the doors of the larger gambling parlors and taverns, once Sevei reached the stretch of brothels, even that sight became rare.

The Golden Pearl had been crawling with Kyrzhan’s private guards, but the Aviary seemed completely abandoned. Frowning with worry, Sevei slipped through a small gate that led to the back garden, where tables and benches nestled among bountiful flowers and a small carriage house kept a few horses. He could hear the animals nickering in their stalls, telling him they hadn’t been used for departure, but the wet and muddy ground showed that several people had fled the house in a hurry.

Keeping his ears open and alert, Sevei produced a ring of keys from his belt and let himself into the house through a back door. The spacious kitchen he entered was in a state of disarray - spilled flour, dropped eggs, a few dishes overturned here and there. A delicious scent permeated the air, wafting from a simmering pot hanging over the still-burning hearth. Sevei drew his sword and crept carefully through the kitchen and out into the main lounge.

It was still dim here during the day, but the small windows set high in the walls let a few scattered beams of sunlight fall in dust-speckled shafts to the floor. As quiet as Sevei tried to be, his spurred boots thudded and jingled as he traversed the wooden floor towards the staircase, the sounds echoing around the seemingly cavernous room. He abruptly halted when he spied a foot poking out from behind a table.

It belonged to a heavy-set man with a rough look about him, who lay on his back in a pool of blood, clearly deceased. He wore a leather gambeson and a belt strapped with empty weapon holsters, no sign of any military insignia on any of his clothing. Holding his breath, Sevei stood still and listened to the utter silence around him while watching a rivulet of blood wind across the floor towards his feet, then turned and strode quickly to the wall below the staircase.

He slid an oddly shaped key into a crevice in the carved designs on the wood paneling, and opened a door that would be undetectable if you didn’t know it was there. The door opened onto a narrow, unlit well of stone steps descending into the earth below the house. Sevei set his shield down next to the door, then stepped into the pitch black tunnel and closed the door behind him. He had to navigate the steps carefully in the darkness. He’d gotten about halfway down when his sword rang out with the impact of another blade striking down on it.

Sevei could barely see the other person’s motion in the darkness. When they struck again, the two blades slid along each other until the hilts caught, and the unknown assailant leaned in hard, aiming to push Sevei down or back up the stairs. Sevei quickly wedged a foot on the step behind him and pushed back, both descending several more steps in a rush that almost lost Sevei his footing. The other person withdrew, but as the swords swept apart, the person launched themselves into Sevei’s chest. A grunt sounded in the darkness as a shoulder slammed into Sevei’s armor.

Sevei grabbed a handful of the other’s clothing as they both stumbled sideways against the wall. He couldn’t feel any armor on them, and it was apparent that this person was quite a bit smaller than Sevei.

“Oh!” Sevei said, “wait…”

But the other didn’t wait. With astonishing agility, this slippery little guy twisted himself out of Sevei’s grasp and landed a hit on Sevei’s sword arm, knocking his wrist against the wall and almost causing Sevei to drop his sword.

“Wait!” Sevei said again. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Sevei heard a whisper of laughter as the point of a blade caught in his maille coif, pressing the rings into his throat.

At that moment, a door opened beyond the foot of the stairs, and a small light appeared.

“Anzen, stop!” Kyrzhan’s voice rang up the stairwell. “That’s Vei!”

The body in Sevei’s grasp froze, then relaxed with a deep sigh of relief. Sevei let go of him as the light came nearer until Kyrzhan’s face appeared in it a few steps away, his expression drawn and beleaguered. Anzen also appeared in that light, leaning against the wall now, his face sweating and his lips open to gulp the air. Sevei leaned back against the opposite wall and grinned at him.

“You’re scrappy!” he laughed, laboring a bit for his own breath. “I like it!”

“What are you doing here?” Kyrzhan asked. “Shouldn’t you be where the battle is?”

“Yes,” Sevei answered. “I should be, and I can’t stay long. I just wanted to check in on you.”

“We’re fine here,” Kyrzhan said. “We’ll all just stay down here until whatever that is blows over.”

“Fine?” Sevei scowled. “Who’s the corpse upstairs?”

Kyrzhan pursed his lips into a line while Anzen’s eyes narrowed malevolently.

“One of my guards,” Kyrzhan snapped.

“He thought now would be a good time to take liberties,” Anzen said coldly. “He was wrong.”

Sevei’s brows rose. “Did you kill him?”

“No,” Kyrzhan said. “Another guard did.”

“And where is that guard now? And all your other guards?”

“I sent him to see the others off… after that one. And to check on things outside. He’ll be back soon.”

Sevei sighed and shook his head, biting back any I told you so’s about Kyrhan’s guards. He stared intently at Kyrzhan, who held the lantern in one hand and a short sword in the other.

“Do you know how to use that?” he asked with a nod.

Kyrzhan glanced at the sword he held and shrugged nonchalantly. “A little.”

“I’ve been teaching him,” Anzen said proudly.

Sevei’s mouth fell open in affront.

“Kyri!” he said in a plaintive tone. “You wouldn’t learn when I tried to teach you.”

Anzen laughed slyly. “I have my means of persuasion.”

“I’ll bet you do…” Sevei muttered.

Kyrzhan rolled his eyes and huffed.

“Oh, don’t start!” He turned around and walked briskly back the way he’d come. Anzen and Sevei grinned and chuckled at each other, then followed him.

They entered a chilly, windowless cellar lit only with candle lanterns, where all the denizens of the Aviary had gathered to wait out the unrest. They were all dressed in practical, plain dark clothes and sat huddled in groups around the room, cheerlessly playing cards or dice games and snacking from baskets of fruit and cheese. Sevei thought it looked like the most dismal picnic he’d ever seen. Kyrzhan stood looking them over with a fraught scowl. Sevei threw an arm around his shoulders.

“I swung by the Pearl, and everything is fine there,” he told him, pleased to feel some of the tension in those slim shoulders relax under his arm. “Gerna was arguing with the guards, though. She wanted to go help the less fortunate. The guards wanted her to stay put.”

Kyrzhan chuckled under his breath.

“She’ll probably win that argument,” he said. “She usually does. Good, then, the one I sent will probably bring a few guards from the Pearl.”

Sevei felt an easing of his own tension at that.

“I’ll wait here until he’s back,” he offered.

“No, you have places to be,” Kyrzhan protested, pulling out of Sevei’s embrace. “If I’m not mistaken, you have a certain plot to hatch and this is the opportune moment, and if the Pearl is unscathed, then all should proceed as planned.”

Sevei nodded slowly as his thoughts flew back to Meira and Yeresym, who were waiting for him. He drew a hand down his face.

“Alright,” he said, shrugging a facade of confidence over his hesitation. “I have to get to the municipal house. I don’t suppose I could borrow a horse?”

“I haven’t got any war horses,” Kyrzhan laughed.

“I don’t need it to go to battle, just get me across town fast.”

“Of course, take what you need.”

Sevei clasped Anzen’s arm.

“Keep him safe,” he said. “Keep yourself safe. Don’t attack any more strangers in the dark. Just bar this door and stay in here until your guards arrive.”

“Yes, Sir!” Anzen laughed as he imitated Sevei’s soldiers.

“Kyri?” Sevei said with a warning in his voice, glaring between the two of them in turn.

“Yes, Sir,” Kyrzhan humored him.

With a heavy heart, Sevei kissed Kyrzhan’s forehead, then reluctantly stepped out into the stairwell, frowning as the door closed behind him, casting him into the pitch black darkness once again.