A Tale Of Two Tieflings

Chapter 3 - Dualities

(... In which Valakas discovers difficulties and potential threats to his lifestyle when trying to be two people at once...)

Over the next few months, my lifestyle shifted. I began to dabble in highway robbery during the day, and spent more effort studying people's schedules over time in order to perform successful daylight break-ins while their homes were empty. It was much more of a challenge than I was used to, considering a number of the neighbours were also home and awake at these times and I certainly didn't get as much in terms of loot, however every evening around 5pm I would go back to Annie's, and Elluin would meet me there. Some days we would spend in the back room together, some days in the bustle of the bar itself. I showed Elluin how to play poker (which he said was "Practically akin to legal robbery!"), and some nights we spent together until morning, while others I walked him to the edge of his home district where we parted ways.

Every time we met, I ensured I was presentable, wearing appropriate clothing and jewellery. Part of my income dip was surely due to the fact that whenever I now obtained fine clothes and accessories that fit, I would keep some of it aside as opposed to fencing it all as usual, and gradually I began to build my own wardrobe of attire specifically for our time together. Elluin would offer subtle comments on my appearance and choice of clothes, and I used this to curate and build on my own fashion sense along with editing Archie's wardrobe to suit his tastes. He liked it when I wore blues, greens and purples, which apparently contrasted well with my eyes, and he preferred it less when I wore reds and browns, saying that it was wasted on my colourful red skin. Who knew fashion was so complicated?

Living two lives became a norm - by day I was Valakas Dhuske; criminal, thief and highwayman, gathering enough so that by night I could become Lord Archibald Montgomery the Seventh; confident and wealthy aristocrat. And as the time stretched on with this new dual-life, I began to find that being Valakas was so much lesser. Despite it being the same life I had lived on these streets for most of my life now, it suddenly became so insufferable. Having to hide, sneak around, worrying that the next guard I meet would somehow find me and take me in, and on the nights that Elluin returned home, Valakas was nothing more than a lonely, unsatisfied criminal.

Archie, on the other hand, he made for the best life I have lived. I walked tall, I spoke confidently, I knew I had to be careful in terms of spending (which was a challenge when the person you're purchasing things for believes you to have money practically pouring from your ears) but the ways I did it made it feel like I had unlimited wealth and riches following me at every turn. People who saw Elluin and I on the streets and around the city seemed to hold immediate respect for me. Even the ones who looked a little suspicious of me initially, then offered polite bows of greeting and smiles after taking in the luxuries that adorned me. Archie had everything, and most importantly Archie had Elluin.

My fellow brigands and thieves made fun of me, saying I had grown soft, and joking at how dumb and pompous the noble name I had chosen was. They poked at me, saying they missed me at the gambling table, and in their various beds during the nights, but I simply smiled and waved them away. I dabbled in gambling on occasion still, however never enough to lose a substantial amount. I had to be careful, the money and feigned wealth was all that connected me to Elluin, and I could not lose that. Some of them were worried that I had become so detached from the gangs and the city's underbelly that I would turn them in, but I assured them I was no traitor. "I'm only doing this for the money" I told them, which seemed to sate their suspicions, that was only the part of the truth which they wanted to hear, the rest I kept quiet.

One evening, 6 months into this double life of mine, we met as usual at the Tavern, and Elluin looked different. His customary bright smile was replaced with a very bad poker face, and he didn't walk with his normal upbeat pace. He didn't speed up when catching sight of me as he often would, and approached at a steady, almost slightly slowed walk, as I stepped towards him.