Coyote Run

Part 1: Fifteen Miles

Waverly looks up from her dinner plate. A half-eaten potato and an empty cup of soup. She makes eye contact with the man in front of her.

His ragged clothes had caught her attention first. Ash coated his shoulders, the knees of his trousers were ripped out, his cheeks and eyes were sunken in. He had lingered in the doorway, looking around until his gaze stopped on her, sitting in her usual corner, far away from the bard who had drank way too much before preforming.

He had stayed there, trying to blend into the crowd, but continuing to watch her. He was not subtle like the guards were. He had waited until after she had eaten to approach her. A smart move on his part.

"You're Jack." He's fiddling with his hands, "Right? The- the one who t-takes... You can get us out?"

Waverly glances around the room, the guards were on the far edge, not paying attention to her now. She shrugs, "Possibly. How many?"

"My wife, two daughters." The man puts his hands flat on the table, scars crisscross over the backs of them. He's trying to keep from shaking.

"And you?" she takes a small sip of her tea that is quickly cooling off.

"I'm nothing compared to them. They are everything and I want them to be safe first."

She flicks her eyes over him. She's heard every excuse in the book, This one was by far her favorite. Trying to appear noble, when really it was the cost they were afraid of. The mines didn't pay much. Families were already barely feeding them selves, and trying to save the extra copper to escape this burning hell-hole was almost impossible. Almost.

Waverly mindlessly stabs at her potato.

"I-I can pay. I- uhm. I snuck these out of the mine." He bumps her leg under the table and presses a small bag into her hand.

Waverly passes another glance around the tavern and digs her hand into the bag, all the way to the bottom. She chooses at random and looks it over. A tiny emerald. Not big enough to be noticed missing, but just big enough to be worth something. She returns it to the bag and repeats the process, pulling out a ruby. "Why do you want out?"

"My wife is pregnant," he sighs and looks down at his hands again, "I don't want the baby born here. He'll go to the mines when he's ten."

Protecting his family. "Okay." She stands up and finishes her tea. It's bitter and horrible, but it was warm at one point. "We can leave tonight."

"T-Tonight? But we need to make pre-"

"If you wanted a vacation, you've come to the wrong Coyote. I can take all four of you, but we need to leave tonight." She drops a few copper pieces on the table and marches towards the door, pulling her coat around her tightly. "Come on, we don't have all night."

Waverly leads the way outside and stops. She has no idea where they are going.

"To the left," he points. "We live on Miner's row."

Of course they did. Miner's row was a tightly packed section of the lowest ring. Gray buildings, narrow streets, and people throwing garbage onto the beggars below. Not a great part of town. Most of her clients called it home.

Waverly finds herself staring up at the night sky. She couldn't see the stars overhead, but tiny flecks of gray snow were drifting to the ground. Snow mixed with ash from the mines. She watches her breath rise above her, forming a cloud in blackness. She's still watching it when the smells and sounds of Miner's row draw her attention.

King Ravenheart III had been so generous to give the miner's their own part of town. If you worked in the mines, you got a cheap single room. It's not ideal for the miners who have children, but a roof was a roof. Especially in this day and age.