Chapter Twenty-Three – Out on the Town

  That night, Gray sat with Settie at Gorgonzola’s Counter, in their usual spot way, down at the end, where they had privacy. Now that they had any number of secrets, including the true nature of that year’s Soulshred Week, they didn’t want anyone to listen.

  The old goblin teased them mercilessly. “Just the two of you? Where’s that Midjara Munch? I can’t believe you’d left that poor girl at home to cook for herself. You know, she is my favorite.”

  Gray grinned. “As it should be.”

  Settie didn’t respond. “I want your Alastrian Meatcake, but not what you give to your typical customers. I want your very spiciest of sausages and the sharp cheese. I want your Meatcake to be lethal.”

  Gorgonzola’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, you want the pre-fall version of the dish, one that put a fire in the belly of the dragons.”

  Settie nodded.

  “I’ll have the same,” Gray said. He was feeling sore and beaten, after hours running down their Chaotica field, throwing the ball, tossing the ball, and trying to tear it away from his team mates. He’d failed, every time, because he was still so weak compared to them, especially Tomi, who in her full cat hulk form was viciously strong.

  Gorgonzola squeezed one eye closed. “Are you sure, lad? To get it to the right level of spice, it needs to be manafied. It very might burn a hole in your core.”

  Settie answered for him. “He’s not ready. Bring him the baked zaba zaba and make it manafied.”

  “No,” Gray said. “I want what you are having. Unless it really will burn a hole in my core.”

  “Let me give you the normal stuff, boy. It will be spicy enough, and I’ll give it just a little mana.”

  “Excellent,” Settie said before he could argue. “And bring two portions. I want to stuff him to the gills. And he’ll have your manafied house red, please.”

  Gray thought to argue, but he had to trust the captain, at least for now.

  She turned to him. “I like that you have pride, but no, tonight it’s not your pride I want to nourish, but your other instincts. Now that we know we’ll be playing Chaotica, we need this meridian problem addressed, once and for all.”

  “I like that idea. But I have two concerns. One is Rynn. She’s not happy that she wasn’t invited. The other? Why did you want me to bring my stick?”

  Settie’s eyes narrowed even as a smile curved her lips. “You and that stick are inseparable. What did you and Rynnanatha say to me? Ah, yes. Inseparable and unstoppable. Might as well say the same thing about the stick. We’ll use it later. Most likely, given your recent popularity with the women in your life, in the Pleasure Market.

  “Now, I am curious.”

  Again, Settie smiled. “As you should be. Pain ignites your meridians, but one can’t live in pain for long. So we have a quandary. If tonight, we fail to fix you, then there are also my contacts in the fairy world. I wanted to go there and watch a Chaotica game anyway. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or not, but the Briarblood Collective are having matches. It will be good for us to see them in action. And ideally, we’d find a team to scrimmage us.’

  Gray exhaled, feeling oddly relieved. “Yes. I spent the day running, knowing that we can practice at our ball-handling, but we need to practice with other people. The problem is, we don’t want all the squads to know what we know.”

  Settie thought for a minute. “We must assume two squads already know what the competition will be—that wretched Blythe’s squad and that orcish buffoon’s squad.”

  “Freek is his name,” Gray said. “Of the Wrath City Raiders. And then you, have the Fire Flyers.”

  “With their new dog girl.” Settie scowled. “To replace Sindara.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I’m not going to remember their insipid names. I’m glad you do.”

  Their wine came, and Gray took the first sip of the manafied vintage. It was sharp, spicy, warm, delicious. And it went right to his head. He blinked, suddenly very drunk.

  Settie sipped her glass and looked at him. “Your first time drinking real wine. I’m assuming you are feeling it.”

  He let his head fall to the side and realized he was dangerously close to falling off the stool.

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  Settie was there with a lesson. “Focus on your core. When you drink, visualize the wine spreading throughout your body. If you just drink it, you’ll eventually wind up puking. Sip, visualize, and feel it go everywhere. Ideally, you’d channel it right into your meridians.”

  He tried to get control of himself, but the world was spinning a thousand miles an hour. He didn’t close his eyes. He’d gotten drunk before, and he knew that closing his eyes would make the spinning worse.

  He put his hands on the marked and scored counter and focused on all ten of his fingers. He imagined that the warmth in his belly was radiating out into his fingertips. The very tips of his fingernails. He was surprised that they didn’t start glowing.

  “Feeling better?” Settie asked.

  He nodded. “If I’d gotten your pre-fall Meatcake, it would’ve killed me, wouldn’t it.”

  “Not kill you, but our evening would’ve been cut short. Take another sip. It will get easier the more you do it.”

  “Ha. Like sex.” He laughed. “Rynn hates that she’s not here.”

  “She shouldn’t,” Settie said. “You are not for me, Grayson Fade. You’ve found your bonded. So we can all quit wondering about who your lovers will be.”

  “Quinly Quillswrath was with a fae who had multiple wives. Then, of course, there is Akazel the Bound.”

  “The fae have their core oaths, which you do not want to have anything to do with. As for the Third Avatar, he’s dead. Do you think that Pamalee Thornpinch knows about the game?”

  It was a sudden turn for their conversation to take, but Gray’s head was starting to clear. “Something tells me that she does. Why else would the Briarblood Collective be playing Chaotica. I’m assuming that the Briarblood Collective is Lust City’s First Field.”

  “You are correct.” Settie paused. “You know, I did some checking on the fae’s squad, Squad 1. If they have a name, I don’t want to know what it is. It seems they are a collection of ne’er-do-wells and misfits. Miss Thornpinch’s family left the Thistle Mire under very suspiciously circumstances, which is why they ended up in the Freckle Islands, as far away from the Belly as you can get without ascending to heaven itself.”

  Gray’s geography wasn’t that good, but he knew that she was just exaggerating to be funny. He liked that Settie was less dour. They had a lot to be grateful for. “The real question is, who is paying her? And will they keep paying her if she suddenly would rather win the Testing rather than get a paycheck.”

  He sipped more wine, and again, felt the rush of being drunk. It was nice, and the world became so very fuzzy. Before he knew it, he wasn’t talking about Pinch or Chaotica. He looked Settie directly in the eye. “This is a partnership, Captain. And for a partnership, there must be trust. I talked with Crewel. What happened to your last two squads?”

  Settie sipped her wine and didn’t respond.

  He waited. It felt like that meeting with Crewel in his office where the silence became a game. Who would break it first?

  “My last squad died five years ago during the Reckoning. That year, it was a trek through Old Town, from one side to the other. I wasn’t there, no, but they got unlucky, as it happens. A Pride Serpent wiped them out. They gave their lives to save the other squads. Fucking idiots. And what? Now I am the murderer, or that’s what everyone thinks. They should’ve run. They didn’t. Thank you, Gray, for making me talk of that. What other pain do you want to inflict on me? You’re as bad as Ames.”

  Gray blinked, trying to make his wine-soaked brain work. “The Reckoning is after the Training. It’s in Old Town?”

  “Sometimes,” Settie said bitterly.

  He didn’t comment on Ames’s new acolyte skill. The ability to inflict pain was powerful. They could use that in their game. It would be a very good way of getting the ball from an enemy player. But then Gray was asking his next question. “And the other squad?”

  “Twenty years ago. That Squad died during the Hunting. It was our last hunt together, and yes, I was there for that. As was the Widow Stone’s squad. We came across Envy Imps, all clustered in the same house. We tried to run, I tried to burn them, but Envy Imps are cold, so cold, and so vicious. They are perhaps the most powerful of the lesser fiends. I did what you did with Carter. I gave the Envy Imps the other squad so my squad could run. But the joke was on me. They killed the Widow Stone’s brother yes, and a few others, but then, another batch of demons tore my squad apart. I escaped with my life.:

  He could see the truth, and he could see why the Widow hated her. “And you didn’t go back for Emerilia.”

  Settie chuckled, and it was a cold sound, maybe as cold as an Envy Imp. “Oh, calling the Widow Stone by her first name now? You are getting far too comfortable with far too many women. But yes. I thought they were all dead. Little did I know that the Widow Stone’s sponsor was there, and he helped his survivors escape. I had no such luck.” She then leaned in close. “I have answered your fucking questions. I have been very patient. But you’re drunk ,and this doesn’t matter. I would not willingly betray you and the girls. No, this is my chance. This is my last chance.”

  “For what?” he asked.

  Settie drained her glass. “My last chance to drink this glass of wine. There, that is a good enough answer to this last question. Good, here comes Gorgonzola. I’ll finally get some proper food.”

  The dishes were set down, and Gray started his meal. It was layers of pasta sheets, very spicy sausage, a ton of gooey cheese, and that was covered in Gorgonzola’s delicious red gravy. It was rich, powerful, and perfect.

  The Meatcake had a lot less mana than the wine, and it gave it a little kick, but one that he felt on his tongue. It was surprisingly spicy, and then, when it went down, it felt kind of like an ironbite, but the mana didn’t just sit in his core. No, he felt it radiating out, and his fingertips began to tingle as did his toes.

  Settie didn’t say a word as she ate her own version of the dish. But at one point, he glanced over and her eyes were filled with tears. She blinked, and one rolled down her cheek.

  She noticed he was looking. “It’s very spicy, very spicy indeed.”

  That wasn’t the reason why she was crying as she ate the pre-fall Alastrian Meatcake. Gray had his theories, but he wasn’t going to offer any up, not right then. He really didn’t care too much about her past.

  Maybe he shouldn’t have believed her story about her last two squads, but he did.

  What bothered him more was her plans for him that night.

  Why the Pleasure Market?

  It had been where they had kissed before, and yes, Rynn had brought up the kiss.

  Of course she did, and now they were headed back there.

  Well, whatever happened, he would have to tell Rynn all about because like with Emerilia—no, the Widow Stone—she would know.

  It was just one of the consequences of being bonded with someone forever.