Eight Intertwined

97 - Omar

The room was quiet for a few heavy moments following the travelers' arrival. Morlock broke through the silence with a laugh that felt much too casual for the upcoming battle to the death. He didn't know what was coming, and it would be his downfall. "Come to inquire about a job, have you? Very well..." He looked over to Omar, lips parted as he prepared to speak once more. 

But Tressa cut him off by stepping forward, her foot slamming against the floor. "I'd sooner eat those rocks than work for you!" she snapped. 

Morlock's expression, previously set in haughty generosity, twisted at her words. "You're as much of a fool as the boy is then," he muttered crossly. "To think two self-styled merchants would be so averse to making money..." He took a step back, and Omar took a position in front of his employer. "You should know that I pay my loyal men quite well. Everyone has a price."

"And the price of human life is enough for you?" Tressa asked as she took a step forward as well. Her grip on the Tempest Spear grew ever tighter, and the wind in the room immediately fell still, ready to listen to her commands as soon as she gave them. 

Morlock simply laughed once again. "There's nothing that money can't buy," he answered, his voice all too casual for Tressa's tastes. She saw red as Morlock looked down to Ali, lifting up the merchant's chin with his foot once more. "So what's your price, boy?" He examined Ali carefully, seeing the defiance in his eyes, before Morlock dropped his head and scoffed. "On second though, never mind. You're Maruf's whelp, aren't you? For all I know, you could be a fraud just like your old man."

"S-Shut up!" Ali stammered. He tried once again to push himself to his feet, but Morlock's foot came down on his back before he could get far. Ali groaned as he hit the ground again, his exhausted body unable to put up a fight. 

"Didn't he tell you? His father's an infamous swindler in the south," Morlock told Tressa with a smile on his face, though everything about the grin was twisted in ways Tressa had never thought possible. "He made a fortune scamming gullible sops with fanciful half-truths. Until, that is, he got swindled himself... By a trusted friend, of all people. Saddled with debt, poor Maruf ended up bankrupt. A sad tale, no?"

Ali glared up at him but said nothing. Morlock took that as a sign that Ali wouldn't be protesting anymore, and he simply smirked as he leaned down a bit more over his prey. "There's no room for emotions in business." He finally moved away from Ali with a laugh on his lips, unable to restrain himself any longer. "The poor, stupid fool!"

Ali waited until Morlock had turned his back before he started to push himself up once more. "Say that one more time," he whispered, trying to parody strength with everything he had despite his body's desperate desires to give in beneath him. 

Still, it was enough to catch Morlock's attention, and he paused before turning to face Ali once more. "What was that?" he asked slowly, clearly having heard the words but giving Ali a merciful chance to back away before the world turned against him once more. 

Ali finally managed to push himself up into a crouching position, though he was still shaking from exertion. "Insult my father's name one more time and I'll..." He swallowed dryly before looking up to Morlock with a glare. "My father is a good, honest man! He sold his customers what they wanted, and his words made them happy!"

"Your father was nothing but a lousy, lying dog!" Morlock snapped in return. He kicked Ali in the stomach once again, and Ali yelped before falling back to the ground. "Those with money make the rules, boy! Second-rate peddlers like you and your old man should shut up and die like the paupers you are!"

"You son of a...!" Ali snarled. He looked up at Morlock for a few more seconds, and something in his eyes shifted as shock overcame his features. "You... It was you, wasn't it? You were the one who ruined my father's life!"