Mechaniker

1.01 The Suppressors

Ten Years Later

Treguna sat cross-legged staring into the tiny flame once again. She focused her mind trying to draw herself into the glow. She wanted to accept it. To become one with it. But the harder she tried the more frustrated she became. She would not gaze into the light like a statue. Fire was ever-changing. Tonight she would dance with the flames.

Once again she turned to pain. She put her left hand above the tiny plume of flame, swaying it around the edges of the heat. She watched her skin slowly blister.

It hurt.

It felt amazing.

Maybe this was accepting the flame, she considered. But it didn't feel right to her yet. There was still something missing.

Returning from her thoughts she reluctantly pulled her hand out of the heat. If she let her hand burn again that would hurt her flexibility and dexterity. Without her nimble hands she would go hungry or worse. How else was she to survive in the poor quarter? Be it thievery, salvage, begging or whoring, she'd need both her hands to survive. Well, maybe not whoring she reconsidered, but her parents had taught her enough to avoid such a fate at all costs. It was her true last resort.

Treguna rubbed her hands together preserving the heat and the pain. She blew out her candle, waited for it to harden and hid it away in her ragged bag. She checked the area for trouble and climbed out her hideout behind The Cranky Kraken. It was a low wage inn where all the fishermen and day laborers drank and complained about their jobs, wives, lack of wives, and everything else in between. Treguna had been squatting in the ruined cellar below the inn for over a week now.

As she sneaked out, Thom, the owner of The Cranky Kraken, stepped from around the corner. Treguna tried to duck away, but Thom's meaty hands darted out and grabbed her wrist. He eyed her with a smug smile and said, "Would you like a quick snack little one?"

She tried to wriggle away but Thom's grip was like iron. His smile turned hard. Treguna knew escape was impossible so she tried to stall for time. "I am a little hungry. What do you have to offer?" She replied carefully keeping the panic from her voice.

"I have some bread here." He said pulling out a somewhat fresh loaf of bread from his smock and handing it to Treguna.

"Thank you?" She muttered with distrust in her voice. She meekly accepted the bread wishing she could disappear.

Thom turned his attention to her latest refuge and pointed. "Tomorrow some of my boys will finally fix that busted cellar. I do hope we don't find any larger rats living off of my hard earned food and ale."

He sighed dramatically and put a few bronze coins into Treguna's trapped hand. Finally he let go of her wrist and winked.

Treguna was so surprised with her reversal of fortune that she forgot to breathe for a few moments. Thom turned around slowly and whistled as he walked back to The Cranky Kraken.

"Thank you." She reluctantly whispered at Thom's retreating figure. She turned the other direction and hurried off into the night.

Thom had given Treguna food, a handful of coins and an eviction notice. All in all it could have been much worse, she thought. Unfortunately, she now needed a new home, but she was used to carrying everything she owned on her back.

Treguna bit a chunk out of bread and stored away the rest for later. Still chewing the stale bread, she carefully navigated the mostly empty streets of the poor quarter of Delemoor. She always tried to avoid others when she could afford the luxury.

In the poor quarter strangers meant harassment and possible danger but it was the safest place for Treguna because she could blend into the disheveled crowd. It had been her home since the war.