The Foolhardies 32 The Negotiation

"I saw you glide away last night... Imagine having an air-force like that on my side... it's giving me chills just thinking about the possibilities," I answered truthfully. "Besides, I''m human. I don't have any fairy prejudice. I hate you all until you prove you're worth liking."

"We're remnants of the Hazy Moon clan... it has always been our way to prowl the night sky," Thom said proudly. Then his brow furrowed, and he asked, "Can you really convince your general to protect my clan?"

I nodded. "Darah sent me here on a mission to recruit soldiers for the specialized unit she wants me to build... a response team that can react to any situation on the battlefield."

"Like the Avengers!" Luca blurted out.

The momentary grin on his face vanished quickly when all eyes turned on him.

"MCU still ongoing on Mudgard?" Ashley asked thoughtfully. "The last one I saw was Civil War... because, you know..."

Not that we needed a reminder of Ashley's very sad circumstance, but I thought to myself that I could use tales from Mudgard as inducement to get her to join my team—and I wanted her on my team. Not just because having a shieldmaiden gave my unit more prestige and give us access to resources only a shieldmaiden had, but also because she was kind of cool. Only, before I could recruit Ashley, I needed to secure my drow air force first.

I coughed audibly to bring the attention back to me. "As I was saying... you join my team and help me find out where Aura's being held and I'll help you secure a better life for your people. Maybe even move you into a swankier cave."
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Thom leaned forward. "And how are we supposed to find your she-elf? Are we expected to conjure out of nothing but shadows?"

"Same way you found out where your drow children were being held... it's proof you have connections in the city," I raised a finger upward. "Plus, you've got the sky. You can cover more ground than my unit."

Thom's grin grew disturbingly wider. His pearl white teeth were a stark contrast to his ebony skin. "You are a very smart Mudgardian..."

"Humph... too much brain and not enough brawn if you ask me," Edo's voice was calmer now that he knew why I wanted the drow's help.

I was right in thinking he would never turn down any assistance that led to finding Aura. Even if it meant working with drow.

"He's definitely a wise-ass," Luca agreed.

"Foolhardy," Varda added.

Ashley just laughed.

"He's also right," Edo turned his glower on Thom. "You help us find Aura and Great General Darah will want to thank you personally."

"This she-elf is special then?" Thom asked curiously.

Neither Edo or I answered him which in hindsight was answer enough.

"Well? Do we have a deal or not?" I pressed.

Thom looked over at Enna, and I watched their silent conversation of nods and shakes and eye rolls until Enna finally sighed in defeat.

"You are our clan leader, cousin. We will follow you anywhere... even if it means being subservient to lesser beings," she said.

"Lesser beings..?" Ashley had a hand on her sword hilt.

Enna glanced over at Ashley and said, "Mudgardians like you who reek of filth and dirt..."

Ashley drew her sword. The shadowblade shot out of it like a lightsaber that had just been activated.

In response, Enna drew her own shadowblade knife from underneath her cloak.

For a moment, I thought negotiations were about to break down thanks to the hot-headedness of these two females, but Thom smack the side of his fist against his throne's arm rest, and ordered his cousin to stand down.

After Enna withdrew her blade and turned away from us, I asked Ashley to do the same. Thankfully, she listened to me, and the situation de-escalated.

With the quarrel finished, Thom raised his hand forward in my direction. "Very well... we will assist you in finding your she-elf and fight for you in your future battles. In return, you will help raise my people out of the squalor we find ourselves in and protect our women and children from the evil machinations of the Scarlet Moon."

I took his outstretched hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure doing business with you."

After we shook hands, Thom sent Enna to relay his orders to his people. They were to send out spies to their informants in the city for word on Aura's whereabouts while a second group of drow would take to the sky in their gliders and scout the area outside the city because he guessed, and I concurred, that Roselle and his fools wouldn't have been able to get out of the Broken Sellsword's Canyon in broad daylight with Aura in tow. Too many people would notice. No, they were either still hiding inside or only just now beginning to set out.

As soon as Enna ran out of the cave, I glanced over to my companions and relayed my own orders.

"Edo, take Ashley with you and get our recruits ready to move out as soon as we have word," I said. "Varda you and Zarz—"

It was only then that I noticed the cherubic face glaring up at me.

"What are you mad about?" I asked.

"Do you have time for me now or aren't you done making deals with everyone else," he pouted. "Because I recall you promising to get my master's iron arcane focus working?"

"Uh," I raised an eyebrow. "Now's not really the time Zarz."

He pointed a finger at me. "There ain't no better time, kid!" And then he pointed at Thom. "Do you know what these drow need to make a shadoweave cloth?"

I looked over to Varda to see if she understood our gnome companion but she just shrugged back at me.

"A dusk shard!" Zarz exhaled. "Your new friends have a dusk shard somewhere in here!"

My eyes lit up once I remembered the key piece of information Zarz gave me. We needed a formless shadow crystal to combine it with the iron arcane focus so it could work as a core for my falchion. The only way we could get such a rare crystal was from a dusk shard.

I turned to Thom and asked him flat out if he had a dusk shard lying about somewhere.

Thom's eyebrow rose slowly while he looked from me to Zarz and back to me. "Assuming we did, why would I tell you this?"

"Because we're allies now... and I've got Leprechauns to spare," I answered.

Thom feigned a sigh. "Very well... Commander. Follow me."

While Edo, Luca, and Ashley returned to our recruits who were waiting in the central area where the arena was, Thom led me, a curious Varda, and an excited Zarz to an inner chamber even deeper into the cave system than the chamber that was Thom's home.

This new chamber was similar in size to the one we were recently in but it had zero occupants. Even from the opening where we stood, it was already chilly here like a freezer at a butcher's shop when someone opens its door. The coils of black vapor spreading out beneath our feet from inside the chamber seemed to come from the shard of crystal that was roughly Luca's size. It pulsed with a deep violet light near the edges but its central core was pitch black akin to crystalized shadows.

"Pretty," Varda said with gleaming eyes.

"Ho-ho," Zarz said. "Now we're talking."

"All you want is a shadow crystal, yes?" Thom asked for confirmation. "You don't have any other reckless demands like wanting to claim the entire dusk shard for yourself, do you? because I promise it will not go well if that is your intention."

I shook my head. "We only want a dusk shard."

"A formless one," Zarz corrected.

"That is simple enough to provide as this dusk shard has no elemental affinity," Thom answered before showing me his open palm. "The price is five hundred Leprechauns. I will not accept anything less."

"You just said it was simple enough to give us," I argued.

"Yes, but since I can tell you want it badly enough..." His smile was widening again. "It is not greed. It's for my people."

For some reason, I wasn't quite convinced by his last statement, but he was right. I wanted go finish this sidequest badly. "Fine... you'll get it after we rescue Aura."

Thom seemed satisfied with just my word because he walked into the chamber and over to the dusk shard, drew his katana, and with quick slash upward, shaved off a piece from its corner. He picked up the fallen piece and offered it to Zarz.

"Here you are," he dropped a colorless crystal that was the size of my pinky finger onto Zarz's hands. "Pleasure doing business with you... Commander."

I wondered why it sounded like a taunt to me every time 'Commander' came out of Thom's lips.

"Well, Zarz... Can we make the core work now?" I asked.

Zarz's eyes glittered while he gazed at the crystal's depths and the nail-sized core of darkness found inside it. "Yes... I believe we can... but I'll be needing your weapon and a week's worth of time to forge you a new sword..."

"Fine..." I nodded without giving anyone any idea of how giddy I was inside. I was getting a new weapon. Preferably one that could help me trounce Luca and Azuma the next time I fought them. "You can have my falchion after we rescue Aura."

It was an hour later, while I impatiently tapped my foot over the rocky ground of the arena, that we finally had news of Aura's location.

Our guess was right. She was still in the city, held captive in a dilapidated quarter similar to the slums of cities on Mudgard. This maze-like district of broken stone houses and narrow, dirt ridden streets was a good place to hide for thieves or traitorous former commanders. It turns out Roselle had a safehouse there that was no more than a broken-down stone mansion along the quarter's main street.

It took us another two hours to get there but Thom's drow gliders were already hidden in nearby rooftops to keep watch on any movement. And with just that, one could see that their addition to my fighting force drastically increased our mobility.

I also dispatched Zarz to the Rings Auction House to inform Kallista of our rescue mission with a request not to interfere with it or arrest the drow who were now our allies. As I wouldn't hear back from her until the operation was over, I just assumed she would let me do what I want. After all, she did mention she hoped I would deal with her city's problems which included the drow and probably Roselle too.

Edo, Ashley, myself, Donar and several recruits were staring at the two-floor, stone-cut building from the opposite side of the street. Luca, Varda, Shaqs, and Thom had surrounded the building from both sides to ensure no one could escape to the streets. The surrounding rooftops were littered with twenty drow led by Enna, their bows pointed at the building's entrance and windows. We were more than ready for anything. Or so I thought.

Before we could begin to storm in, there was a huge explosion that led to the stone building collapsing in on itself like a bomb had exploded inside. Plumes of black smoke billowed upward alongside a column of fire. Fiery sparks shot out in all directions and forced my people back from the target.

In the center of this chaotic mess rose a creature formed of shadow and flame. Beside this monstrosity stood a very angry and maskless Aura. And the expression on her face was that of a woman contemplating murder.

"That's an Efreet right?" I asked Edo in a calm manner.

"Yes, he answered just as calmly.

Donar was nodding his head gleefully. "Such beautiful flames... it could only be done by such a powerful fire spirit."

"You know... you guys suck at being rescuers," Ashley commented.

Both Edo and I nodded as we looked on.

While we watched Aura order her efreet to send a column of fire into the rubble she'd created, I said to no one in particular, "Maybe next time we attempt a rescue operation we should make sure the people we want to rescue actually need rescuing..."

Chapter end