Rathamatá was born in a Uburo village, being a humanoid and feathered reptilian, adapted for a semi-aquatic life as well as others of his species that live in the archipelago off the coast of Gao-Razil, and went as a young man to Zand to study the laws and the rule of the elves and vampires who took the lands of their ancestors. He quickly climbed the ranks and became the Az Guild Leader, a title worth as much as the nobility of any Earl or Duke in this city. But this story is not about Rathamatá.
"I arrived!"
The doors to the room swung open, there were two armed orcs with their arms still outstretched after each of them pushed one side of the double doors into the guild leader's room. But what really worries the saurian was the small green woman, dressed in a top in the colors of her favorite team and short denim shorts. She carried two daggers on her back like swords and had hair dyed purple and shaved into an undercut, leaving enough to make a side bangs and a ponytail. The same goblin that Rathamatá invited to the guild years ago and has regretted it every day since. Gira, the goblin.
She walked confidently, waving her arms boldly with her hands and much of her body still smeared with blood, dust, and gunpowder. The goblin then climbs into the chair and stands on the seat with her bloody arm resting on the table.
"We got one more. Where's my money?"
"Gira, I told you, take a shower after you... Finish the job.""I'll have it, but first I want my silver."
The four-foot-long goblin picks up the rolled-up sign she had tied around her waist and places it open on the table showing an illustration of a human male with a large scar on his face.
"Boys?"
One of the orcs reaches into a bag, takes the severed head of the same man from the poster, and throws it to the goblin. She takes it and with the blood still dripping from the head draws the X on the poster. Or maybe a Gera rune of "Gira". We'll never know for sure.
"Just as the way Aunt Liri taught me!"
The saurian sighs with his nostrils. He cursed the day Beliri Zaila and Gira met.
"Good job..."
He opens a safe under the table and takes out a large bag of coins. The goblin girl is excited about what she's getting.
"But earlier I was informed of a certain hooligan who caused several accidents on Tanzi Street, in addition to leaving 23 wounded, including an elf nobleman, caused deaths of 4 civilian and 1 soldier who protected the aforementioned nobleman, eliminated 6 wanted bandits who were already being hunted by other mercenaries and 2 whose posters had not yet been drawn.""6... 2... So I got 8 more? Good!""No. You will be taxed for the compensation we will have to pay for injury and death, destruction of public and private property and the rewards of the six will be paid to those who accepted the mission of bringing these criminals to justice, as well as receiving nothing for two murdered before the kill or capture mission is officially accepted. To cover the costs of the posters already ordered, I'll withdraw it from your balance as well. That leaves you with a total of... Ten Pitch."
"Whaaaaaat?!"
The guild leader keeps the money in his purse and leaves only two silver 5 Pitch coins. The two orcs enter the room and take the coins before the goblin. She reached for her weapons, but the saurian made the noise closer to a clearing throat than his throat is capable of making, warning her of the consequences.
"Riiiiight! Now I need another job then!"
Gira crossed her arms in annoyance.
"Here you go. And try not to destroy the other half of the city this time."
The angry, frustrated goblin girl took the rolled-up paper from his scaly hand tightly, then opened it to see a portrait of an irreverent-looking hakin, curly horns, long black hair and dark lipstick, right below the sayings of the name that Gira ignored inadvertently. The reward value is of 5000 pitches
"How pretty is it in? But 5,000 Pitches is 5,000 Pitches! My bad, bruh!"
Gira spoke as if she was facing the person on the poster and soon after that she looked at the paper again trying to memorize the face, but this time she paid attention to the name and made a confused expression.
"Amon Tormenta? Didn't that Jack die in a fire some time ago?"
"I thought so too, but it looks like he's still alive and working. In fact, he seems to be involved in more than just smuggling now."
"Huhoho! 5 grand for a capiroto¹ who came back from the dead, I'm up!"
She takes the paper, rolls it up and puts it on her belt just like the other poster was before, then the saurian drags another paper across the table and she signs it in runes with a happy little scribble of herself on the side. After the saurian stamped the renewal of terms that stripped the guild of all responsibility upon her death, the goblin rushed out in search of its mission.
"Take a bath!"
"OK!"
The saurine sighs and puts his hands back watching the small figure disappear in the hall. The hinge of one of the doors finally gives way after being broken open so many times and it collapses to the ground scaring Rathamatá. He brings a scaly hand to his face frustrated and thinking about the damage the goblin has caused him.
Gira went to her house, an apartment in the same neighborhood where the guild's headquarters is, dropped her belongings along the way while her cat caressed her happy with the arrival of her owner. She eyed the half-full bowl on the way to the bathroom.
"You have food, Meg."
The black and white cat insisted, but the goblin ignored her.
"Stop it, or you'll go back to the emergency food station!"
It's a lie, she loves cats. So much so that she shares the rats and birds she catches with Meg. The goblin took her bath while the cat insistent watching her owner clean herself in the shower for reasons only cats know, then went to her room where she found a dead bird near the bed. After changing and eating her present, she was convinced that the cat deserved a treat too and put more feed in the pot.
"You know Meg, sometimes it's good to have moments of peace like that. Just you and me, enjoying delicious food. I just wish one of us could cook, that pigeon should be much better roasted."
But an explosion near her house interrupts her moment of peace! The cat runs to hide under somewhere and the goblin's first reaction is to pull the daggers behind her back, but she forgot she left them in the room. The goblin runs there, grabs her weapons, then heads to the window.
"What the fuck?!"
She saw a huge wooden ship emerge, crashing into one of the other guilds. The survivors were trying to get others out of there, before the building collapsed for good. There was no explanation for all that chaos, a ship had simply fallen from the sky in the middle of the city-state.
*****
¹Another expression for "Devil". We have a lot of them in our language.
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Shadows of Araddun
Fantasía[Rated: Teen] Araddun is a dark and violent world, yet joyful and magical. A place where the limits of time seem to make less sense to us earthlings, seeing techno-magical constructs side by side with dinosaurs, orcs, elves and vampires. In this wo...
