Clover Kingdom / Diamond Border (Black Die Underground City / South Supply Ward): January 16th, 1016.
It was a treacherous night for the world. The lower tunnels smelled like smoke, lamp oil, old grain and fear trying to act like it wasn't shaking, yet if you looked closely near the south supply ward. To be more specific, behind a sealed medicine route that only seven people should have known existed. You could see betrayal standing on two legs with a church coin purse under its coat and not enough survival instincts to understand death was already listening.
The atmosphere rotten.
(David's POV)
His name was varek sol.
Route captain.
Former smuggler.
Useful.
Greedy.
Stupid.
Stupid enough to think the first two traits would save him from the third.
I sat on top of a tunnel arch in the darkness, watching him whisper through a crack in the stone wall to a church scout on the other side.
Nyx crouched beside me, her eyes glowing faintly in the dark and whispered "Can I rip his face off."
"No." I said whispering back calmly.
Nyx sighed and asked "Can I remove one ea…"
"No, be quiet." I said Immediately.
Nyx smiled and asked "Can I scratch my name into his forehead."
"Later. If you want to get thrown off a roof." I said calmly while examining their mouths.
Nyx smiled and said with a grin "Progress."
Below us, varek whispered "The clinic moves before dawn. Third lower door. Dice mark covered in ash. Six guards only. No benjamin route."
The church scout pushed a small pouch through the crack.
Varek snatched it.
I stared at the pouch.
Seventy gold.
I knew because benjamin had already replaced half the coins with marked ones.
I sighed.
Not because he betrayed me.
Because the price was ugly.
Varek turned around.
A black magenta dice floated inches from his face.
His eyes widened.
"Boss…" Said varek softly.
I dropped from the arch and landed in front of him.
*THK*
The church scout tried to run.
Nyx disappeared.
A wet sound followed.
Then silence.
I smiled at varek with my eyes closed and said calmly "Hello varek."
He trembled.
"Boss I can explain." Said varek with fear in his eyes.
"Good. I love when people insult my intelligence before dying." I said calmly with my face suddenly forming a wide inhuman grin.
His face went pale.
"The church had my brother." Said varek quickly.
I opened one eye and said as u licked some blood off my lip "Did they."
"Yes. They said if I didn't give them the route, they would kill him." Said varek quickly with sweat forming on his forehead.
"Your brother died two years ago in a tunnel collapse." I said calmly.
The tunnel went completely silent.
Varek's mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
Nothing came out.
I smiled and said with slightly widened eyes "See. This is why betrayal irritates me. Not because of the betrayal. Because the lying is lazy."
Varek suddenly ran.
Of course he did.
They always do.
I let him get seven steps because six felt too generous.
"Dice magic: Fortune Step" I thought as a black magenta panel flashed under my foot.
I vanished.
Varek turned the corner.
I was already there.
His face hit my palm.
*BAAAM*
He slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the stone.
*Crack*
Nyx walked over dragging the church scout by one leg and said "You could have let me catch him."
"I needed exercise. I've been to hold up in the study like a schemer." I said calmly, stretching my shoulders.
"You're so greedy." Said nyx with a grin.
I nodded and said calmly with a lecherous grin while placing my left foot on the face of the body "Yes. I always enjoy a little cat and mouse game."
…
Black Die Underground City / Public Chamber: Later That Night.
The chamber filled quickly.
Not with everyone.
Enough.
Route captains.
Healers.
Food brokers.
Guards.
Market speakers.
People who mattered enough to be afraid publicly.
Varek was chained to the center pillar beneath the black dice banner. His face was swollen. His lips were split. His eyes had already started begging before his mouth got permission.
I stood in front of him with my grimoire floating beside me.
The chamber was completely silent.
Good.
"Betrayal is normal but not permanent." I said calmly.
Several people stiffened.
"People betray for food. Coin. Fear. Family. Pride. Lust. Bad math. Sometimes a person wakes up and decides their skull needs fresh air. I happen to be a man worthy of doing such a good deed." I said with a generous smile on my face.
No one laughed.
I turned toward varek and said calmly "Varek sold a clinic route to ariella's dogs. That clinic had medicine for wounded fighters, fever children and three people I was still deciding whether I cared about."
Varek started crying.
"Boss, please." Said varek as tears streamed down his face.
I lifted one finger.
He shut up.
"The church paid him seventy gold." I said calmly while waving my pointer finger back and forth.
The chamber moved.
Not loudly.
But it moved.
A insult had entered the room.
"Cheap bitch." Said nyx from the background
I nodded.
"Exactly." I said calmly.
I walked closer to varek and crouched in front of him.
"You did not just betray me. You embarrassed me with the price." I said softly.
Varek shook his head quickly and said "I can fix it. I can give names. I can work. I can…"
"Silence. You will give names. But you will not work." I said with cold eyes that bore into his.
His breathing hitched.
I stood up fully and looked at the room while saying calmly "From tonight forward, anyone who sells a route, clinic, food hall, inner door, healer, child shelter or supply mark to ariella tepes, clover, the church or some gutter rat with clean boots will pay ten times what they were offered."
I smiled wider abs said while licking my lips lustfully "Not in gold. But your dead bodies."
The room became colder.
I raised my right hand and said calmly "Dice magic: Weighted Roll."
A dice appeared above varek's head.
"One means quick. Six means example." I said calmly.
The dice dropped.
Rolled.
Stopped.
Six.
The room went completely silent.
I stared at the dice.
Then sighed.
"Even fate has taste." I said calmly with a shrug.
Varek broke before I even continued.
Names spilled out of him.
Two church contacts.
One food broker.
One healer.
A route marker boy.
Then one name made benjamin's eye narrow.
"Marcel sane." Said varek, sobbing.
Benjamin went still.
I turned my head toward him and asked "You know him."
"Former safehouse quartermaster. He knows old storage paths." Said benjamin calmly with closed eyes.
I looked back at varek and smiled smiled.
Ugly.
"There it is." I said calmly while spreading my arms lightly.
A traitor with new information was irritating.
A traitor with old information was heaven in human skin.
I looked at the guards.
"Take varek away. Keep him breathing long enough to be regrettable." I said calmly with a wave of my left hand.
Two guards dragged him off.
He screamed anyway.
I turned back to the chamber.
"I will feed you. I will pay you. I will protect you if protecting you is worth more than replacing you. But if you sell me for seventy gold, I will make sure every person in this city knows exactly what your fear bought." I said calmly.
No one moved.
Good.
Nyx leaned closer and whispered "That was almost inspiring."
I glanced down at her.
She grinned.
"Almost." Said nyx repeating with a example of two of her fingers inching slightly apart from one another.
I stared at her for a moment and suddenly put my right hand on her head and looked at the tunnel where varek had vanished.
"Nyx." I said calmly.
Her grin sharpened.
"Bring me marcel dane alive. I need his mouth." I said calmly with a grin.
Nyx's scarlet eyes glowed and she asked "And the rest of him."
I smiled and said calmly "Optional."
Nyx laughed softly and vanished into the dark like a bad decision finally getting permission.
I looked back at the room.
Some faces were scared.
Some loyal.
Some pretending.
For now.
Ariella touched my city.
Now I knew which fingers she used.
And fingers could be broken before the hand even realized it was bleeding.
…
THE END…