Rise of the Blade - Charles Moffat [79]
"Shove it! That's-"
"Not acceptable," Chev finished for the leader and removed Sharkslayer from the man's throat.
The rest of the thugs backed off except for the dwarf who only narrowed his eyes. In the blue light Chev saw the respect and fear in the dwarf's eyes and at the same a sense of comraderie.
"I never cared for that guy's neck anyway," spat the dwarf. "You get half and first picks."
Chev had been running low on coin from the start of his vengeance. He had stolen food and killed at random for anything he needed but had always kept his word in the end by letting informants live. Now he had a pouch of platinum to bargain with and speed up those information sessions.
Too much too late however. All the Harpers had went into hiding and those hadn't were dead. At the very least the warrior could finally get some new clothes and throw away the ragged tunic and pants he had been wearing for the last century.
When the warrior finally left a tailor's shop late that evening, it was in a warm brown leather cloak, matching pants and a red silk shirt. His boots he had kept, to which the tailor wasn't about to complain. Not with the customer paying with platinum.
Many people saw Chev leave the building out the front door too and business would undoubtably boom into a proverbial gold mine in the next couple days.
Under that warm cloak was a belt with a lasso dangling from it. The belt and the lasso was the only things he had taken and they were all he needed. The gems he had given to the dwarf Hivar.
After he had left, Chev didn't doubt that the thugs would criticize his choice to kill their leader over the gems and then not even keep the gems. It was a matter of principles as far as Chev was concerned. He had made a deal and if the person wasn't going to keep up their end of their bargain it was their own fault. The warrior had no pity for liars of that sort.
Valeska had awoke this morning in a guest room just down the hall from Doctor Pierce's and Marque Draque's. It was mind boggling that she was somehow a honoured guest. Then she heard the shouting from down the hall.
"You had no right! That drow should be killed! She is evil and a spy from Lloth!"
"I truly doubt that she's a spy! She's been on the surface longer than you have!" yelled back Doctor Pierce's stern voice. "And I have every right to allow her within my home. It is afterall, my home."
With only a cloak gathered around her shoulders, the drow bard crept down the hallway and peaked through the crack between the door and the door frame. She tightened her grip on her hand crossbow.
"Not for long if you keep up this up! Her presence alone in Waterdeep threatens every elf on the surface! The drow have been planning a huge surface raid for years! What happens when they finally emerge from Undermountain in the tens of thousands?"
"Valeska Ko'Ragur is more opposed to that idea than any other person I know. You gold elves have a habit of sticking your pointy noses and ears where they don't belong!"
"We have the right to defend ourselves! No second rate has-been is going to tell me what to do!"
"Has-been?" Pierce said deceptively quiet. "You're calling me a has-been?"
"Yes!" shouted the elf and wagged a finger at the Doctor from across the desk.
Lightening fast, Pierce lifted the arrogant elf into the air with one hand and shook him roughly. "Look, you drunken little castaway! I've adventured for more years than most elves dream of doing! Did you know I spent ten years exploring Chult? To say nothing of two years enslaved in a gladiator pit? I killed the tarrasque while I was still in my first year on the road and I'm telling you right now that Chev is four times better than I was back then! If you want to take on a fighter who could kill the tarrasque four times over without breaking a sweat, you can go right ahead!" The Doctor dropped the flush-faced elf and took a step back. "And when you do, I'll be there to take bets on which of your body parts he removes first. Most likely your head because I doubt he'd like looking at that thing you call a