The Foolhardies 31 Mistaken for the Culpri

"Yeah, like you haven't?" Luca countered. "I saw what you did against Ashley."

"Well parried, little brother," I glanced over at him. In the dim light of the small cave, I saw the satisfied smile plastered on his face. Not that he didn't deserve it. He did just win his first deathmatch after all. "Well, are you going to tell me how it works?"

Luca's smile vanished. "Is that an order?"

I shrugged. "No... I just think it might be useful to know how your new skill works so I can help you use it better next time?"

"You mean..." Luca's face turned my way. "So you'll have a counter for it next time we spar."

"I knew it," I pointed a finger at him accusingly. "You were planning to use it on me next time."

He slapped my finger away. "As if you weren't planning to use your new skill on me next time."

"Ha, as if I needed to... and no wonder you've been beating me in our last two training sessions. You've probably been using it already." I elbowed him hard on his shoulder.

He elbowed me back. "I haven't... you're just getting slower, old man."

I elbowed him again. "Cheater."

"You're the cheater." he sent me another elbow on the shoulder.

Our brotherly argument devolved into swatting each other's hands away before either of us could land a blow on the other's shoulders.

"You really must be brothers," the drow leader said as he opened the tent flap and walked out. "You're both equally annoying."

I slapped Luca's shoulder one final time before I stood up straight and looked over the drow I planned to negotiate with. Assuming he was telling the truth about not kidnapping Aura and wasn't just hiding her somewhere deeper in their caves system.

The wide gash on his body was now covered by a tight linen bandage tied at the waist. A herbal-type yellow paste could be seen leaking out of the bandage. From the burned smell wafting out of him, I guessed that they cauterized it too.

The drow that walked out of the tent after him was a petite female whose pale eyes were a shade of purple. She carried what I assumed was a healer bag with her. She didn't leave the cave but stood to the side of the drow leader like an assistant would.

"Have your friends returned from harassing my people yet?" he asked in an arrogant tone that contradicted the smile plastered on his face.

The familiar sound of a huge pair of boots angrily stomping on the rocky ground could be heard from the corridor behind me which connected this small cave to the arena beyond.

"I think they're back..." My brow furrowed as I thought about why Edo would be angry like that. It meant he really didn't find Aura. It seemed way may have mistaken who the culprits were in Aura's case.

"Oh, good... Now you can all go away and never darken our doorstep again," the leader said, happily.

A moment later, Edo walked into the cave. With him were Luca, Ashley, Varda, Zarz, and the knife-wielder I fought against outside the city gates the night before.

"No dice, Dean," Ashley answered. "we couldn't find your elf friend."

Edo strode forward, his eyes blazing.

"Tell me where you hid her drow or I will smash you into mudpie," Edo hissed.

"I don't take threats kindly, friend," the drow leader's eyes narrowed as he spoke but the smile never left his face. "Especially not from a filthy half-blood..."

Edo growled.

"As interesting as it might be to watch another fight," I interrupted. "I'd rather find my partner before the night ends..."

I shook my head at Edo.

"She's not here," I told him before I turned to the drow leader with a warning look. "Right?"

"I swear on the golden moon that lends its glamorous light to the land," he answered quickly. "My people did not take your she-elf. Perhaps you should have watched her properly."

Edo took a step forward after he heard the taunt but Luca got in his way and pulled him back. It wasn't like anyone could have stopped Edo if he went on a rampage. This meant he allowed Luca to pull him away. It was a good sign that things weren't going to get nasty.

"Zarz, get over here, please," I said.

The little gnome glanced out from behind Ashley's legs. After he believed a fight wouldn't start, he walked out of his hiding place and trotted over to me.

"You called me, kid?" he asked toothily.

Hearing a cherubic looking gnome call me a kid made my eyes roll.

"I need you to tell me again what happened after I was knocked out," I knelt so our faces were almost at level with each other. "And I want every detail you can remember."

Zarz did as I asked and retold his tale from the moment he woke up to the moment he ran to get Edo and company.

"It was certainly not my people who took your friend," the drow leader sat on the stone chair next to his tent that I assumed was his version of a poor man's throne. "We wouldn't be out in hostile territory so near to dawn."

If what Ty discovered was true and drows really were weaker during the daytime, then the leader's excuse made sense. I thought of this while thinking about other possibilities, other enemies who knew we were in the city—and my mind flashed on a swirl of blue and green and yellow colors.

"Zarz," I said slowly, "The kidnapper who tried to stab me before I vanished... it was he, right?"

"Most certainly, kid," Zarz nodded in agreement. "Acted all pompous too. Like he was the boss of the other three."

"What did you say he called me?" I asked.

"It was hilarious," Zarz giggled his child-like giggle. "He called you an insolent reprobate! Whatever that means."

As Zarz continued his fit of giggles my eyes found Luca's and it seemed the same light bulb lit up inside his head as the one in mine.

There was just one final thing to confirm now. "Hey, Zarz..."

I waited for the giggling to stop before I continued.

"I recalled you saying something about colors... what exactly was this leader wearing?" I asked.

"Something like that," Zarz pointed at the drow leader's cloak.

The drow leader grabbed the edge of his cloak with a hand. "I think not. This is made from shadoweave cloth. Only a drow can withstand the enchantments we've placed in them."

Zarz's eyes lit up at the mention of the shadoweave cloth. "Shadoweave, huh... The only way you could make one of those..."

He glanced over at me, but as he tried to speak, I stopped him with a hand. "Whatever it is, you can tell me after you explain what the last kidnapper wore underneath the black cloak. I assume you noticed it while he was stomping around like an idiot."

Zarz nodded. "Of course, I noticed. They were blue and green in some kind of feathery patterns..."

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At Zarz's words, four people spoke up at the same time. It was me, Luca, Varda, and Edo, and all of us had the same annoyed tone in our voices. "Roselle!"

"I'm going to murder that little mudstain a hundred times over," Edo growled.

"Let me help you, Edo," Varda was rubbing her hands together like a villain with an evil plan. "I've always wanted to drown that pixie in a mudslide."

Ashley elbowed Luca lightly on the shoulder. "I take it you all know who took your elf friend?"

Luca nodded. He didn't react the way the other two did but he was frowning. "He was the commander Dean replaced... He left us to die during our last mission with him."

Unlike the rest of them, however, I was actually smiling as I was recalling Sun Tzu's words, All warfare is based on deception..."

Finally, we knew who took Aura. Now we needed a way to find him and his cronies, and it was time to flex my negotiation skills.

I walked closer to the stone chair where the leader sat.

"Looks like we were wrong to accuse you... please accept my apologies," I said, bowing slightly.

"Manners... I didn't know you Mudgardians actually had any," the drow leader joked.

"Yeah, well, we do..." I answered without taking his bait. "We also know what it looks like when you're down in the dumps."

The drow leader's eyes narrowed despite his ever-present smile. "Whatever do you mean?"

I pointed to the shabby leather tent. "That's not a place I would choose to live in if I was the leader of a mighty clan."

Then I pointed my thumb behind me to the corridor leading out to the arena.

"We took the scenic route on our way to save Luca," I continued. "What I saw tells me your people have had it rough these last couple of years."

His smile wavered. It seemed I struck a nerve.

"Thank you for your concern but we're doing fine," he answered flatly.

"Are you though?" My eyes glanced over to his assistant and the shabby white healer's gown she wore underneath her shadoweave cloak.

His eyes followed my gaze, and it was seconds later when he finally responded. "What are you proposing."

"Thom!" the knife-wilder raised her voice. "These people killed our cousin!"

The leader, whose name I now knew was Thom, raised a hand to silence her.

"My cousin, Enna, speaks true. You have wronged us... why should we listen to you now?" Thom asked.

"Because my brother beat you fair and square..." I nodded over to Luca. "And from what I understand of drow culture, a loss can still appease your dead cousin's soul as long as you put your heart into the fight."

Thom leaned back in his chair and raised his right hand's forefinger to his still smiling lips. "You've studied our culture?"

"I've got resources," I answered while in the back of my mind I thought about my awesome backup back in Mudgard.

Thom tapped his fingers on his lips for a long while before he said, "Well, tell me what you propose."

It was now or never. I took a breath and said, "You and your warriors come work for me, and I'll make sure your fallen clan comes under the protection of Great General Darah."

My companions reacted to my words just like I thought they would.

"Um, Dean, can you even make a deal like that?" Luca asked, sighing as he did.

Varda was shaking her head. "This is a bad idea, Commander..."

"Their drow, Dean," Edo snarled.

I raised a hand to stop their whining. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, not my enemy."

I recited the wise words of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Sun Tzu, with a steady voice.

"These are not the same drow our Trickster Pavilion is at war with," I answered. "And they have just as much cause to hate the Scarlet Moon as Aura and her brother do."

Chapter end