Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 9: Getting Acquainted - part 2

Itzal was facing his own challenges elsewhere. "They're all bloody morons!!!" The drunken yelling from a man who's name Itzal still hadn't been able to figure out resounded through-out the small open space between the many tents. A lot of the pro-Liberator Forest Elves gathered here to drink, which Itzal discovered after posing as one. At the current time of day, there was only a single one of them. Luna had set out to do some investigating on her own. Although he wouldn't let a normal woman travel alone in a camp like this, she'd proven to him that she was quite capable of handling herself by making amazing progress with her training. Any man that wished her harm was in more danger than she was. That said, it left him to deal with this drunken fool on his own. So far, he had been having a bit of luck by simply agreeing to whatever he was saying, but he wondered when it'd run out.

"You're right." Itzal said, hoping the man would eventually clarify who 'they' were in his most recent statement.

"You... see. It's all... It's all simple. They don't want us to be free. You know? They want us to be slaves. So... the Liberators want us to be free, right? So, like... They're screwing up the order in the autonomous zone and blaming us for it! That's it... must be it. It's a good thing we don't trust those Empire goons... Keeping us here... I'm sick of these tents! I'm really fucking sick of tents... It's all just tents and mud and tents..."

Itzal figured he should try to steer the conversation a little, if he wanted to have even the slightest chance at getting something useful from this. "We're all sick of them, my friend." He wasn't sure what to steer towards, until he remembered something. "It's a good thing we did what we were able to in New Haven."

"Ah, you were there too? Yes. It's a good thing. Bloody General Guard trying to murder us with the rest of his goons. We should've gone after him first! I tell you, they're planning to enslave us all! Fight fire with... fire! Yes.. fire."

Itzal was only mildly pleased with the results of his bluff. He figured he'd have to take it a step further. "Yeah, I'm glad they warned us about this beforehand. Without their warnings, who knows what might've happened."

The man looked at Itzal with wide open eyes, before he made a loud hushing noise. "SHHH!" In his drunken state, it attracted more attention than anything Itzal could say. He then whispered. "They don't like being mentioned. It's not good."

Itzal suppressed a smile. He had just managed to strike gold. This man knew about the involvement of some sort of third party. "Ah, my bad. I'm sorry friend, I just get so frustrated. If only the others would listen to them as well."

"Yeah, I get how you're feeling... They're weird, but they know stuff. Lot's of stuff."

Itzal still wasn't sure who they were talking about, and by now, he worried a bit. It sounded like the man had somehow managed to sober up a bit, which meant...

"Say, who did you serve in New Haven?" The question arrived at the exact time Itzal feared it would. The men was starting to become ever so slightly more paranoid.

"I worked for Almond."

"Ah, the secretary. He's a great guy. Pretty smart. Strong too. Rumour has it he even knows lots about the guards somehow."

"They're right, I've been able to see him in action first-hand." Itzal wasn't bluffing for once.

"You did? Must've been quiet the thing." The man sounded genuinely impressed. "There's one thing wrong though, with Almond. He doesn't want to work with them. Says they're even less trustworthy than the Empire. Can you believe it? What kind of fool thinks that?"

Itzal was surprised to feel some sort of relief. He normally didn't really care all that much about others, but hearing that Almond wasn't completely on the wrong side, for as far as that was a thing at least, was still a relief. "It's his job to consider all options and to be a bit paranoid, otherwise someone could easily infiltrate."