Path of Dragons

"What am I going to do with you?" Elijah asked, pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed.

Gunnar, still bound to the headboard by ethera-sapping handcuffs, let out a long-suffering sigh. "Whatever it is, can you do it elsewhere? I don't mind the…equipment in here. Even the knowledge of what it's for doesn't bother me. What really gets to me is the smell," he revealed. He gave short sniff. "Like olive oil and sweat. And sex."

"I'll have you know that we clean regularly," Atticus insisted. "Hygiene is very important to Selene."

"You need to get a better cleaner," Gunnar countered. "Seriously. I'm not even making a joke here. Do better. Or just kill me."

Elijah rolled his eyes at the exchange, then said, "I'm not going to kill you."

"You're not?" asked a surprised Atticus.

At the same time, Gunnar asked, "Why not?"

"Do you want to die?" Elijah asked.

"No."

"Then don't question it. I'm not."

In truth, Elijah had gone back and forth on what to do with the assassin. By all rights, he'd earned an execution. Elijah had killed people for much less. However, the mitigating circumstances stayed his hand, and he wasn't entirely certain why he'd come to that resolution.

Perhaps it was because, at his core, Gunnar's primary motivator was helping other people. Maybe it was part of his effort to deal with his trauma. Or it could've even been that he was just tired of solving every single problem by killing people.

But in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if there was another factor. The reality was that Gunnar had a very specific skill, and it was one which Elijah lacked. Not the assassin part – Elijah could kill people without much trouble. Rather, Gunnar had proven himself a stubborn and diligent hunter, capable of navigating a world that Elijah often found difficult. And Elijah reasoned that the traits which allowed him to master that craft might be useful elsewhere.

"You have two choices in front of you," Elijah said.

"Only the two?"

"For now. First choice – you go down to the Hollow Depths and kill trolls. That will probably lead you into a Primal Realm," Elijah offered. Only an hour or so ago, he'd gone to the Branch, where he'd read a half-dozen messages, mostly from Sadie. The tone ranged from annoyed to worried, but the gist was the same – she'd led the first wave of an army down to the Hollow Depths, where she'd already begun training the troops to forge ahead and attack the Primal Realm.

It was not going to be a quick process. The training alone would take months. However, it was necessary if they wanted any real chance at defeating the blood-themed Primal Realm. And if they could accomplish that, they would be well-positioned to challenge the remaining Primal Realms.

"Doesn't seem like the best use of my talents," Gunnar remarked, far too calm for a man chained in a sex dungeon and facing down the most powerful person in the world. "What's behind door number two?"

"You really in a position to be picky, friend?" asked Atticus, his hands on his hips.

Gunnar tried to shrug, but with his hands bound to the headboard, it wasn't much of a gesture. "Just offering my opinion. He did say I have two choices. Can't blame a man for wanting to know his options. If it comes down to it, I'll go slaughter some trolls, though. Won't be much different than any other warzone."

Elijah said, "It will be, but we'll come back to that." He ran his hand through his hair. "Option two is you find out who hired you. Trace it to the top, then kill anyone responsible."

"Don't know that I can do that."

"You'd rather kill trolls?" asked Atticus.

"Not especially."

"Then what's the issue?" Elijah asked.

"Integrity," he sighed. "It's a bitch, ain't it? But it's the sort of thing that separates a live assassin from a dead one. You hire me to do a job, I do it. It's all professional. Contract accepted. Contract completed."

"Does it include failing to kill your target, then giving up?" asked Elijah.

"Ah. No. Not exactly."

"But you're going to do that part anyway, right?" was Elijah's next question. "Or is this all just a not-so-elaborate ruse meant to enable your escape so you can try again next time I'm vulnerable?"

"I've already told you that I have no intention of continuing the contract. Didn't really want to take it to begin with. So long as you agree not to take it out on Seattle, I'm done trying to kill you. I gave it my best shot, and I think we both know I'll never get a better opportunity. No interest in banging my head against a wall, especially when that wall might bang back."

"Then you're free for a new contract, then?"

"If you put it like that, suppose I am."

"And would your integrity get in the way if I just hired you for a job that includes killing the people responsible for me almost dying?" Elijah asked. His reasoning was simple – Gunnar was a professional. Or at least that was how he thought of himself. So long as Elijah paid his fee, he'd do his best to accomplish the job. Without that, he was forced to confront the morality of turning on his employer. It was a thin line, but Elijah was banking on the man sticking to his code. "You won't betray a client. I understand that. But you're done with the job. You gave it your best shot and failed. They're not a client anymore. Now, you're open for work, right? I want to hire you."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Can you afford me?" Gunnar asked.

Elijah chuckled. "If anyone can, it's me. I'm a soap tycoon, after all."

After that, it was down to the haggling. Elijah let Atticus handle the negotiations, though he still ended up on the hook for far more ethereum than he'd expected. The bottom line was that, without the threat of killing the man, Elijah didn't really have any leverage. He needed someone to do the job, and if there was one thing he'd established, it was that he was not the best investigator in the world. He just didn't have the patience to play detective.

Gunnar clearly did, and he knew that he had the upper hand in the negotiations.

And he also had the means to get rid of the problem. So, he was effectively a two-for-one, which was how Elijah justified paying him an obscene amount of ethereum. Nearly three-hundred gold was quite a steep price. In addition, he had Elijah promise to support him in his endeavor to improve the lives of those living in Seattle's Undercity. That was easy enough, considering that he'd considered a similar route already.

But in the end, he could either pay Gunnar's price or kill him right then and there. Elijah chose the former, though he was still sorely tempted by the latter.

The only reason he abstained from murder was because he truly did want to get to the bottom of what was going on in Seattle, and from what he could tell, Gunnar was the best person to do that job. Still, transferring that money to the man who had spent the past couple of weeks attempting to kill him was more than a little frustrating.

Once the deal was done and the fee transferred, Elijah released Gunnar. As the man sat up, he massaged his wrists. "Do I even want to know why you have all of this?" he asked, glancing up at Atticus.

"The wife and I like to –"

"Nope. Never mind. Sorry I asked. That image is going to be stuck in my head for a while."

Atticus chuckled at that.

"Anywhere I can clean up?" the assassin-turned-investigator asked.

"A hotel," Atticus said seriously.

"Seriously?"

"You tried to kill my friend," the Greek Merchant stated, his good humor fading. "I can forgive if he can, but that doesn't mean I want you in my house any longer than absolutely necessary."

Elijah cast a heal on Gunnar, then said, "Best if you get to it, then. You know how to contact me."

Gunnar nodded. "Guess I should thank you for not being the coldhearted son of a bitch I was led to believe you were," he said, standing. He extended his good hand. The other arm was still broken and would need to be set before it healed. He could take care of that himself, though. "No hard feelings?"

Elijah looked at that offered hand, then took it. He gave it a good squeeze. "Betray me, and you won't be the only one to die. I'll make it hurt."

"Good to know," said an unfazed Gunnar. Then, without any further comment or conversation, he headed out.

After that, Elijah mounted the stairs and left the dungeon behind. Atticus followed, and before long, the pair sat in a sunroom, a basket of fruit between them. A few moments later, Selene joined them, draping herself across Atticus' lap. In a way, he was happy for his friend, but he couldn't help but be a little turned off by their overly public displays of affection.

But then again, they weren't in public, were they?

Either way, it made Elijah uncomfortable, so he wasted no time before getting down to business. Chiefly, it had to do with his arrangement concerning the war elf loot. Kalki's representatives had already contacted Atticus, and he'd even established a tentative relationship with their leadership. As a city that had been at war for years, they didn't have much in the way of mercantile pursuits, but Atticus planned to change that.

"With the War elves gone, I wouldn't be surprised if the Conclave gets their hooks in the area as well," Atticus said, opening his mouth so Selene could feed him a grape. "We need to keep an eye on them, by the way. With their stranglehold on transportation, they could easily exert a lot more influence than they are. One wrong move…well, let's just be wary. The same with the guilds…"

"Ineffectual and selfish," Elijah muttered. Certainly, the war elf threat had never exactly knocked on their door. More than a thousand miles separated Kalki from New York, and the only accessible route between them went through mountainous terrain. However, the fact that they'd simply left Kalki to fend for itself was unconscionable. They were willing to let it fall rather than extend themselves into the conflict.

In truth, he understood their reticence. Generously, he could say that they were focused on more important matters – like the Primal Realms. However, he knew it was selfishness that drove them.

"Sometimes, it feels like everyone else is looking at this as a way to enrich themselves," Elijah remarked. "I'm afraid that they won't take it seriously until it's too late."

"Such is the way of humanity, my friend."

"Gunnar said that Seattle found a Primal Realm. Do you know anything about that?" he asked.

"It is far to the west, across the ocean and located in a vast desert which is, in turn, surrounded by mountains."

"Any settlements nearby?" Elijah asked, intending to visit.

"Only one of note," Atticus answered. "It's a place called Rubibi."

Then, he went on to describe the town, which was located on the coast of an entirely different continent. Most of that landmass was entirely uninhabitable, with the temperatures spiking to untenable extremes. The coasts were barely livable, though all but a few were terrorized by vicious storms, aggressive marine life, and even volcanic activity. Rubibi was apparently one of the few surviving towns, and its population had swelled into the tens of thousands as people fled the other cities in the region. It still was no great metropolis, but it served as the only real staging ground for exploration of the continent's inhospitable interior.

"Do we know the theme?" Elijah asked.

"Not for certain," Atticus answered.

"But there are guesses, aren't there?"

"My sources tell me that Seattle's Explorers believe it is the Dragon realm," Atticus answered. "That might not be accurate, but…"

Elijah frowned. With his nature as a dragon, he was more than interested in the Dragon-themed Primal Realm. However, he found himself more worried than anything else. The more Isaiah and his ilk knew about dragons, the more dangerous it would be for him.

Hopefully, Gunnar would get results.

"Now, about this tent," Atticus said. "Where did you find it, exactly?"

"What?" Elijah asked. "All of this, and you're worried about a tent?"

"It sounded like a nice tent," Atticus said. "Shame to just leave it out in the middle of nowhere."

"I guess…"

Then, he described the rough location where he'd killed the gnomish golemancer, adding, "I tried to figure out how to take it down, but…"

"Leave it to me, my friend. Once I have it in hand, I'm sure we can come to an agreement on just what it's worth," Atticus said with a grin.

Elijah laughed. "I wish I could stick around, but I've got a lot on my plate," he said, rising to his feet.

"Don't spread yourself too thin, my friend."

"Don't think I have much of a choice there," he said before Atticus wrapped him in a bearhug. Once released, he said, "Thanks. For everything. Not many real friends out there."

"Think nothing of it," Atticus stated. "We are brothers, you and me."

Elijah gave him a smile. It was nice to know that he had unconditional support in his corner.

With that, he turned his attention to the other items on his to-do list. Before he got to most of the world-threatening issues, he needed to take care of things at home.