The Scholar's Tale (Original Fantasy)

Sidestory: New on the Nexus

'It's real?'

David sighed at my question. 'No, Ryzhan. I'm fucking nuts and dragging you along on a journey that will end with me missing an obvious danger until it destroys us both. Do keep up, Jesus.'

I frowned but kept walking beside him. His hands were in the pockets of a harment I understood usually lacked those, except decoratively.

'Whoever makes suit pockets makes the pockets for chicks' pants too,' he'd grumbled earlier. 'It's all a plot by Big Bag to sell more purses. But I I'll never buy one.'

'Who's Big Bag?' I'd asked, not liking the sound of this merchant, whom I imagined as a slimy, fat sort looking to trick people out of their valuables.

David had just given me a flat look, not answering. It didn't matter. This "Bag" wouldn't get me.

'Anyway, yeah, the Nexus is real,' David said. 'Not exactly the kinfmd of place where I'd usually hang, but then, it's not a tree.'

Between his expression and the dark bruises circling his throat, I had enough reasons not to ask.

Nexus Core was the kind of settlement that shifted to match its inhabitants' mood ("Like the secret part of that London, not mine, the one with too much neon and detectives with bullshit powers") so most maps were useless, but David either knew his way around or was browbeating the place into something walkable.

'Core can get you anywhere,' David said gruffly, 'because if it's somewhere, it's connected to it. Anyway, it's a good place to spend time in for those like you. Enough fuckery that you won't have time to reminisce and have a seizure.'

It sounded too much like a madhouse for my liking, but I'd bear it until my Gift was in working order once more.

'You stay here.' He pointed at the inn that rose before us as suddenly as if it had been waiting - though not in a friendly manner. I didn't think I'd ever seen a more hostile building that hadn't been alive and possessed. "Enter at your peril" had been carved into the stone above the door.

'Is that a joke?'

'That's the neat part, you get to find out everytime you pass by.' David rubbed his hands. 'The Flintlock Warlock and its namesake will always have what you need, provided you can dodge the mood swings.'

'The owner's?' I guessed.

'Huh? Yeah, those too,' David said distractedly, then pushed the barred door open.

Though I could not judge the room's dimensions, it looked much like any alehouse, if with more metallic furniture. Behind the bar, a tall, dark-skinned man with a scowl wide enough enough for a whale hlared at us from under a mop of hair as black as his eyes. At his belt, almost hidden by his colourless long coat, hung two guns.

'Flint,' David greeted, leaning his elbows on the bartop.

'You never buy,' the innkeep said, voice as cheerful as his face. 'You never donate. If I could throw you out, you'd-'

'Do flips, probably, yeah,' David cut in blindly, jerked his head at me. 'Got a new one for you.'

'Customer?' "Flint's" nostrils flared. 'Or tenant?'

'Exactly.' The strigoi's voice was still airy. 'I'm glad you agree.'

'What-' Flint began, groaned as the door opened. 'Edith, I know you didn't drag your kharzplated ass here to drink. If you want a place to brood your way through, go back home.'

'Locke.' The armoured figure that entered looked and sounded neither nor female, covered in something like thick, living smoky glass, constantly catching light as the surface warped. There were no openings to see or breathe through. 'As cheery as ever, I see.' Her (I thought) cape, made of the same material and held up by nothing, swayed as she moved to stand beside David. 'Silva. Still hideous, huh? How's your girl?'

'Hotter than you,' he replied, not glancing at her. 'Yours.'

'Hotter than you, but you try to hype that up.'

'Me? I could never.'

'Too bad you didn't say that after you imagined wearing suits.' Her mask melted enough to let me see a smirk on a pale face as she kissed his cheek. 'Good to see my favourite undead monkey boy still kicking.'

'I am here-' Flint tried and was utterly ignored.

'So you haven't been fighting with Mia, right? You're getting along?'

'I tried to argue once but she put my stuff on the top shelf and I cried.'

'Tragic. Not that you could ever get things done with a top anything.' Edit coughed to mask the muttering at the end, unconvincingly.

'You wouldn't believe what I had to do until she agreed to get it back down.'

The armoured woman mimicked wiping away tears, then addressed me. 'Don't worry, new guy. These two here are going to set you up right fast. If not well.'

'Hey!' That was David.

'That's not-' Flint began but got cut off.

'Nah, you shut the fuck up. I have flair, you wouldn't know it if you tripped over it,' the strigoi interrupted him. Patting the innkeep on a shoulder, he turned to face me. 'Don't mind him, Ryz. He acts like this because he's too dumb, I mean, manly, to express feelings other than anger. Don't you agree?'

Flint's eyes drilled into mine, and I suddenly gained great interest in the wall behind him. 'I would like to spend some time here, for...health reasons, if I wouldn't impose.'

The innkeep sniffed. Coming from a bastard who looked like he glared bears to death then cussed their hides off, that felt like a death threat from most men. 'Is there anyone else passing through today?' Locke asked the other two. David shrugged, Edith chuckled, and his scowl deepened.

'Y'all are dumber than a bag of rocks...fine. Get your ass behind me, cane boy.' He said, turning and pulling a bottle from one of the racks along the wall. The stone between it and the next slid away to reveal stairs lit by torches, leading up.

Edith did not squeal (because she's a woman too dangerous to be described as doing that, like I learned later, and I did not want her to correct me), balled her hands into fist. 'I knew rhere's a secret entrance!'

'Don't wear it out like it's one of yours,' Flint groused, beginning to walk. 'Inn tells me you're a writer Yldii. For your first day's stay, you can kludge together today's Nexus News. I'll edit.'

David was carving shapes into the bartop. 'Take it easy. Not all of us got to the epilogue as fast as you, Flint.'

A snort from the next floor up. 'End of the backstory, at best. That's the shit deal of having a past leading up to episodes with no common thread. You can never tell what's next, or when it will end...you still alive, Yldii? Your captain will find you by the time we finish the paper, at this pace. And people dob't come here cuz I'm so damn irresistible.'

I followed.