The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

While Coin was supposed to be rubbing elbows with Velasco, Essine and Pearl were making arrangements for a more humble celebration at home upon his return. Domajor and Leonid were handling the lion's share of preparation.

Scylla and Colony would be joining them at a later point. For the time being, the witch had persuaded the elder mimic to join her somewhere more remote so she could explore and examine Colony's magic. It was something the two had been doing on and off over the span of the past few days.

Essine moved along the dining hall, humming to herself as she set plates and cutlery down at each position on the table. Pearl peered out the window, squinting as she spied flashes of fireworks lighting up the night sky. "Well... been a long time since I attended the Goddess Festival here in Sentinel. Seems they've made more of a party of it this time around."

"Do you not wish to go out and enjoy for yourself?" Essine asked.

"No, not for me. I admire a crowd, of course, but only if said crowd is focused on myself." The bard shrugged faintly. "Call me vain, but that's just how I am."

Essine chuckled. "This one feels the same. It is nicer to spend time together as a group." She paused, glancing back to the white wood door that led to the kitchen. "Come the morning this one will bring food to the Spokes to feed the other kobolds."

"You sure there'll be enough?" Pearl asked. "Isn't a healthy bit of food being given to Cricket so she can feed the urchins on Goddess Street?" she asked.

"It will be fine. Domajor is a... careful man, he will leave plenty for Cricket and for this one."

As they spoke, the door to the kitchen creaked open. Cricket entered, yawning and scratching at the back of her neck. "It's really hard not to steal stuff while they're cookin' in there. Smells amazing."

"Well, Domajor has picked some damn fine people to staff the kitchen." It could never be said that he did not painstakingly pick the best people to staff the manor. "I... take it you're used to more humble provisions? Well, I can hardly judge. In my early days as a bard I was no stranger to meals of jerky and nettle soup."

"I don't care if I eat like a pauper. All that matters to me is getting the kids something to eat," Cricket said, shrugging.

"Well, if it is something that helps to keep you employed? It's fine," Pearl said. She didn't much care for charity one way or another. But if Coin saw Cricket as a valuable asset, then she would not argue the point.

Essine offered her a smile. "This one would be happy to come with you some time. To provide aid where possible to your pe-"

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A great bang echoed from somewhere outside, followed swiftly after by a flurry of other booms. Some nearer, some farther, but all violent in their intensity. And then the screams started, panicked and terrified compared to the joyous cries from earlier.

"Damn," Cricket muttered. "What now?"

Pearl moved to the window and tried to get a look at things. But between the hedges and the high wall that bordered the estate, it was hard to make out much of anything. But soon she saw something that made her eyes widen. "Smoke."

Essine's fur bristled. "F-fire? Then, were those... bomb blasts?"

"Oh well." Cricket paled. "I need to get back to Goddess Street. If something's happening out in the city, then-"

A great thunderous boom roared from somewhere outside, dangerously close to the manor, punctuated to a sound like metal shrieking as it was torn asunder. Those present fell silent, staring uneasily at each other.

"Whazzat... outside?" Cricket murmured.

Pearl swallowed hard. "We... we had magical defences put around the manor, after assassins came after us when Elijah died. It should... it would take a lot for someone to get past that."

Another explosion, this time close enough to sent a tremor through the floor, joined by the sound of glass shattering and wood crunching. Now Domajor came rushing from the kitchen, still holding a great knife he had been using to carve a roast.

"Are you alright?" he asked, surveying the trio.

"That... that sound came from the front door," Essine said, her pointed ears twitching.

Domajor grunted and raised the blade. He called back into the kitchen, asking the cooks to lock the doors for their own protection, and returned his focus to the others. "So much for those damn magical defences. It would have to be something potent to break the protective ward on the gate and fence."

"A... a wizard?" Essine asked. She kept her ears perked up, and heard the distinct sound of heavy footsteps moving slowly but deliberately through the house. And gradually toward their position.

"Maybe. Specifics don't matter right now, Lady Essine. For now we need to try and get to safety, and then-"

Something struck the door to the hall beyond the dining room with such force that it was torn ff the hinges and launched clean across the room. It struck the opposite end of the room with a deafening thud, smashing a hole through the wall. A figure like some terrible grim wraith, all dressed in rags, strode silently into the room.

It was humanoid in shape and about as tall as Domajor, but the glimpse of its eyes only barely visible from the shade of the hood made it clear to Essine that it was as far from human as one could get. It, to put it simply, smelled wrong. There was something dead in his scent, something alien. A cacophony of aromas colliding into something that made her mind reel just to smell it.

But worst of all was the sense of utter hatred she felt from this strange figure when she looked into its slitted snake-like eyes.

Domajor hurled himself at the figure like an enraged tiger, the carving knife clutched firmly in his hand. Yet, as quick as the butler was, the cloaked figure weaved around the three sharp stabs he tried to land. Domajor swung the knife in an arc, only for a scaled claw to backhand it in half. The severed blade cartwheeled through the air and embedded itself in the wall.

Undaunted, Domajor tried to grapple with the stranger. Yet even he was swiftly overpowered, clawed hands catching him by the wrists and forcing him back. Domajor grunted, gasped, and was launched clean through the window at the other end of the dining hall.

"Shit," Cricket hissed, shifting to put herself in front of Essine and Pearl, standing in a balanced fighting stance. "I don't know what you are, mate, but you'll be one dead freak if you don't back off right bloody now!"

The stranger stared past Cricket, as if she didn't exist at all, and focused solely on Essine. His gaze made her blood run cold. "I want the mimic," he said, with a voice like gargling gravel that struggled to enunciate every syllable. "But I will settle for the rat, for the time being."