The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

The fog had started to lift by the time the group left Grafia behind, the distant horizon dull and grey. After what had just happened, they were naturally slow and cautious in how they went. Coin grew tense whenever another traveller past them, his body like a coiled spring, but ultimately they were just strangers going about their business.

"The Brotherhood? Surely not!" Pearl balked. They had tried to explain everything to her, but the bard was still dumbfounded by what she was hearing. "They're a shadow of what they were. Velasco has spent years pushing them further to the margins and rooting them out."

"Not all too well by the sound of things," Elijah remarked. "The Brotherhood of the Dagger were massive in their prime, an agency spanning the length and breadth of Arcadia. I doubt even the king knew how big they were, before he got skewered on his throne."

As it turned out, destroying a kingdom-spanning clandestine network of spies, soldiers, and assassins was rather hard to root out. Something nobody could have anticipated.

"This one is confused," Essine murmured. "The Brotherhood are a dangerous group. But why did Velasco wish to destroy them? Why were they unwilling to change their master?"

"Because they had special privileges under the crown. Privileges that Velasco was unwilling to maintain. Some people jumped ship, became part of his Spiders. But others... others have been scurrying in the dark all this time."

Pearl gave them an incredulous look. "And making deals with goblins? Come now, even I wouldn't make up a tall tale like that."

The old merchant shrugged. "Goblins are vicious and manic, as we all know. But they're not as stupid as everyone would wish to believe. They can be bribed or paid when the right offer is made. If the Brotherhood are offering them the right gear, they'd gladly collaborate with them," he explained.

Essine shuddered, a bristle racing down the length of her fur. "Were there really that many down there?" she asked, glancing to Coin.

"More than I'd want to count," he admitted. An image flashed in his mind, a sea of glinting eyes in the relative darkness of the cavern. He had seen his fair share of goblins back in the temple, but the numbers the Brotherhood must have had... the thought made him shudder.

"Then what do you plan on doing?" Pearl asked, glancing to the back of the wagon.

Elijah seemed to weigh the question in his mind, humming as he rubbed the reins in his hands. "In truth? I don't quite know. We already paid for the powder, and it's certainly valuable. Too valuable to just throw away. Can't give it to Valle, even if that means handing the ring back to him."

Coin didn't much mind. After all, he'd gotten a spare when he rescued Pearl a few nights back.

"We could sell it to the archchancellor," Coin suggested. "If they like black powder so much, I mean."

"Mm. Maybe. And we'll probably have to break the news to the archchancellor's people while we're at it, and that's a damn pain. But better to be inconvenienced than to be caught up in another war." He sighed and shook his head.

"We might get paid extra for helping them," Coin reasoned, smiling. He briefly thought of Fiodor, his smile faltering a bit. He'd need to get back at that elf. And if he got another good look at the man, he'd have what he needed for his plan.

Pearl grimaced. "Quite a naive thought, Coin. You may be a handsome devil, but that head of yours is an enigma. Like... a happy dog, I suppose."

"Er... thank you?" Coin replied. He was fairly certain that was meant to be an insult, but she said it like a compliment.

They day's travel went by without incident. Coin scanned the horizon all the while, but found no trace of anyone who would want to do them harm. Yet this, strangely, did little to put his mind at ease.

If anything, the calm just made him uncomfortable, as if there was always something just far enough behind them to keep out of sight. As underwhelming as the elf back in Grafia had been, he didn't doubt that his group had an abundance of armed men to call upon.

And, of course, there was the matter of Leona. He regularly looked back on the road, but saw no trace of her either.

As the sun began to set, they made their camp in a clearing many paces from the road. Trees and brush ringed them, but they still didn't light a fire. Instead they lit their way with hooded oil lanterns, casting a dim light around their camp while they ate a dinner of cheese, salted meat, and bread.

Hardly glamorous, and Essine was unhappy about not being able to cook, but they were unwilling to light a campfire when there was a risk of them being tracked.

Elijah set up a few noisemakers around the outer perimeter of the camp for extra protection, but there was still an awkward silence among the group as they ate. Pearl's lute sat beside the crate she was using as a chair, untouched.

"Do you suppose they will pursue us?" Essine asked in a low voice, nibbling the edge of her salted meat.

"Possibly. I doubt Coin scared them off that much. Criminals can be determined and stupid in equal measure when something valuable is involved," Elijah mused.

Pearl crossed one leg over the other. "Considering where we are, and what the cargo is? I reckon those men were with Fatty Broadfellow," she said.

"Fatty... Broadfellow?" Coin murmured.

"A gnomish thug. A blight in Sentinel, has been for years now, and he's got a long reach for a man with such short arms," Elijah said, snorting. He seemed to ruminate on Pearl's suggestion for several moments. "I suppose it makes sense. He does love his explosives. And a chance to snatch a few casks? Aye, he'd go for that."

"Ideally they won't be stupid enough to try anything. But, if they are, then I'll deal with them."

The statement made Elijah stir uncomfortably where he sat. "You're good, my lad, but I'd rather avoid getting into a fight with any gangland groups. It's... risky."

"Suicidal, more like," Pearl said, shaking her head. "And anyway-"

A bowstring thwanged from somewhere in the brush. Coin moved on a reflex, quicker than a charging steed, as he grabbed Pearl and Elijah and tossed them behind some cover. A crossbow bolt thudded into Elijah's seat a split second later, kicking up a cloud of dust and splinters.

A second shot echoed a heartbeat later, this one aimed toward Essine. She had already started to move, her senses and reflexes sharper than those of the humans, but Coin was in front of her in a blink. A gust of wind exploded from his palm, striking the bolt and knocking it away.

A group of men emerged from the treeline, brandishing weapons. He recognised several of the men from earlier this morning, including the elf who now had a bandage over his broken nose.

At the head of them was a tall and slim human, dressed in a hooded green jerkin. His sharp, owlish face was partially wreathed in shadow, but Coin could clearly see a gnarled scar on the right side of his face. He held the chains of a great slobbering beast on one hand, the creature standing on his knuckles as he snorted at the air.

"A steppe ape," Elijah said, drawing a blade from the scabbard on his hip. "Damnation. Where'd they catch one of those? One of the best hunting animals in the world..."

"Thought you'd gotten away, did ya?!" the elf mocked, cackling excitedly. "Oh no, you're not getting away from us! Coulda done this the easy way, but you had to choose the hard way!"

The hooded man gave him a sharp look. "Damyr, please shut up."

"But Caldwell-"

The hooded man shifted his posture slightly, instantly making the elf freeze in place. When the elf fell silent, Caldwell turned toward Coin. "Ain't nothing personal in all this. But Boss Broadfellow wants more black powder. Damyr tells me you're a wizard. Maybe you're thinking you can kill us all..."

He examined his allies, a collection of burly and well armed fellows who who watched them with a murderous intent.

"And maybe you can. But I assure you, we have more men afield of here, set to move if we take too long in coming back."

Coin regarded Caldwell warily, clenching his fists. His meteorite ring glinted under his glove, magic pulsing and swirling through his body. A well aimed bolt of lightning could wipe several of them away in an instant. But he had to be mindful. If he got turned around, or wasn't careful, a stray spark could set the casks alight.

And the others... he was quick and strong, but they were very fragile. Could he fully protect all of them? And do so without exposing his true nature in the process? That thought worried him far more than fighting off an entire group of armed men.

"Enough of this!" Damyr hissed. "I say we just-"

Coin's wrist snapped upward, a blinding white flash of lightning exploding from his palm. It closed the gap before a single man present could so much as blink, instantly exploding Damyr and the two men beside him into hissing chunks of ashen meat. He hurled himself to the side to avoid the hail of crossbow bolts that followed, only being grazed by two of them.

The steppe ape, loosed from his chains, shrieked and tackled Coin to the ground with inhuman quickness. Coin's vision became filled with flailing fists and gnashing teeth, the beast striking at him again and again. A normal man could be torn limb from limb by such a beast.

Coin could endure the blows, but they hurt something fierce and made his vision shudder.

"Coin!" Elijah called.

The mimic's fist shot up, fast as a crossbow bolt, slamming the ape in the ribs. Several of them cracked, yet the shrieking beast did not relent. The second blow, much harder, pulverized several ribs into powder and shunted the pained beast back. Barbs flew from Coin's fist, invisible in the darkness, shredding and devouring several strips of meat.

Pushing through the pain, his head feeling as if it had been beaten worse than a drum, Coin forced himself upright in time to see Elijah warding off two of the bandits with his sword. For his age, he moved with surprising quickness and grace. No doubt, in his prime, he had taken the time to get lessons. But that would not do much to aid him when those men pressed the assault.

Turning and shouting, Coin unleashed a great boom of wind from his palms. Several of Caldwell's men were lifted and flung away by the force of the gale, two of them smashing and splattering against the trunks of the largest nearby trees.

He turned, set to tackle the two men. He had make do with his bare hands, he couldn't risk using magic near the wagons. Yet they were so far, could he reach them in time? Coin grit his teeth and pressed forward just as the two thugs rushed Elijah and Pearl.

A flicker of silver shone in the darkness. The flicker became a shape, and the shape became a silhouette, and the silhouette became Leona in under a second. Leona, fresh from the ether, dashed forth and decapitated both men in a fleeting stroke, sending twirling spurts of blood racing into the air.

She landed neatly on the grass, ignoring Dancer's shrieks and chitters of surprise. Grinning, she flicked the blood from her blades in a single movement.

"After last night," Leona said, glancing across the destroyed camp toward Caldwell. Her two underlings emerged from the brush behind her, brandishing their own weapons. "This is just the kind of violence I need to work some stress out."