The Brotherhood of The Black Rats

4.33 Entrances and Exits

33| Entrances and Exits

Spider thought over his options as he limped his way back from the pharmacy. He could run, lay low for a while, maybe go back to New Orleans and invoke his sacred right among his old relatives there. He could try to find The Black Rats but it would be hard. Even if they had somehow survived their encounter with the Grey Guard Simon and the others were smart. They could have been anywhere in the world by now, and would they even want to see him?

His answer was waiting for him in the darkness of his empty apartment. In the dim grayness of the rain-slicked window light Spider first took him for one of Bison’s men returned sooner than expected.

“You!” exclaimed Spider as the figure revealed himself to him “You shouldn’t be here Kai, you need to go.”

“What happened, Spider?” asked the pale-skinned boy, from where he sat half-cast in shadow. “Who set us up?”

“I swear on the souls of our fallen friends it wasn’t me,” defended Spider “When Simon tried to pass off an open package to The Warden the shit hit the fan. You botched the job.”

“The job was botched to begin with,” said another voice from behind him. Spider turned as a large shadow fell over him. Thompkins towered over the doorway unglamoured in full Troll form. At his side was a girl.

“I didn’t know.” Pleaded Spider “I just spent the last two days chained to a wall because of this shit…I just—“

“—Save it.” Interrupted Kai “You may not have been directly involved but you brought us into this mess.”

“And I’ll do whatever I can to make it right,” admitted Spider his voice cracking with desperation.

Only silence followed the man’s plea. As the rain beat down a steady rhythm against the large windows the seconds slowly passed.

“He’s telling the truth.” Said the girl then, she stepped forward away from the hulking Troll toward the cowering man with a steady swagger.

“You’re the one they are looking for.” Realized Spider “You’re—“

“—Not from around here,”she interrupted. “I need to get home and I need to take the others with me.”

“You need to get out of here,” stated Spider “I’ll do whatever I can to help, but Bison’s men are due back here at any moment. If they see you or even sense your magic…”

“What’s Bison’s play?” asked Kai “Is he working with The Warden?”

“He is now,” said Spider “But each man is using the other as a means to an end. Monroe wants in on the Pixies while Bison is planning something else…something big.”

“How big?” asked Kai

“Big enough to spill some pretty dangerous magic into the gutters for our less respectable brothers to kill themselves with,” answered Spider passing over the torn spellbook page, he had been given to the young man.

“Where did you get this?” asked Kai looking it over.

“Bison,” replied Spider “He wants to put the Guilds at war with each other to tie up The Grey Guard long enough to make his play.”

“What about Captain Reinhardt?” asked Thompkins cutting in.

“Reinhardt’s a crooked tool, He wants in on The Warden’s game because he thinks he can stuff his own pockets if he keeps the wheels turning smoothly. I imagine he’ll be in for quite a surprise when Gutter Mages start slicing his men, alongside each other into a million pieces,” said Spider.