Without the palanquin marking her out as being attached to a noble (or whatever Janaxia counted as), then Stathis was drawing attention, being very clearly not local. At least she seemed to be getting taken for a potentially dangerous outsider though, being obviously armed and armoured. She must have gotten turned about somewhere, as she found the district wall but not the gate. Unusually, none of the buildings backed up against the wall itself, a gap of at least 5 paces between the wall and the building. The wall was well-constructed and clean as well, without any weeds growing from the cracks. The building was a whole different matter – sturdy brick, but not very well-maintained, the mortar crumbling and cracking, with scrubby plants managing to grow from the cracks.

Flying would almost certainly be noticed and draw likely negative attention. And arrows and spells! An angel showing up at the palace here, well… that would definitely get noticed, and probably not in a good way. Some time alone to think would be helpful though – figure out what the hell to do about Janaxia. Again! Or was it still? And Skotadi as well.

She started walking, glad of the slight relief offered by the wall, feeling how her sweat made her clothing stick to her body. By the time she got back, she would need a bath! And to make Janaxia apologise for leaving her here.

She sighed, wishing that she could expel the heat that way, pant it out. Skotadi could at least have been thankful for being rescued from a magical circle and a building full of murder-bees! How much of that was Janaxia being a bad influence, and how much was Skotadi herself, was hard to judge. Whatever was going on with Skotadi as well.

Stathis ducked into an alleyway as a group ran past, whooping and hollering, chasing down an oversized rat, a stone bringing it down. It let out a piercing keen, a brain-piercing squeal that cut right through Stathis, making her wince in pain, the group hesitating. More rats appeared, smeary dots of green light poking out from gutters and basement windows, the sound echoing around, shutters beginning to vibrate from the echo. Somewhere, a glass shattered with a loud crack, the green glow getting brighter.

She headbutted the wall, the loud clang drowning out the keening whine for long enough to regain her bearing. Something squeaked beneath her, several of the things surging upwards from a gutter. A swing of her sword cleaved through them, the sound getting less painful as she focused and invoked her powers, reducing it to a dull throbbing rather than a knife in the ear.

More of the creatures turned to look at her, before scampering closer, scabby fur seething in a verminous flow. Another swing of her sword sent several flying, their bodies broken apart, falling back to the ground. They ran up her, claws and teeth scrabbling at the metal of her armour, without any chance of breaking through, although it was unnerving to have them on her and not be able to see them, the eye-slots in the helmet too narrow. She dropped her sword and started tearing the things off her, feeling them shift in her gauntleted hands, their bodies weak and brittle in her grip, easy to snap and toss aside.

The keening whine abruptly stopped as she threw another one aside, stamping down on another, feeling the body snap underneath her weight. The distant sounds of street-life started to creep back in from elsewhere as she reclaimed her blade. The narrow street was covered with the dead and twitching bodies of rats, their blood soaking into the ground. She flicked her blade clean, sheathing it and looking over to the group.

Several of them were wounded, their flesh covered with ugly scratches and bites, more of the things dead around them. They were armed with a variety of simple weapons – clubs and maces, probably good at squashing the rats.

One of them looked at Stathis, keeping his blood-stained club raised up, bits of fur and flesh still stuck on several nails embedded into the wood. One of his eyes was a bright, vivid yellow, the other a more normal brown, and he had a blurry tattoo of a scorpion on a bulging bicep.

He spoke, watching as Stathis spread her hands, unable to understand him, before he switched languages to something she understood. ‘You’re not from around here.’

‘No, I’m not. You have a lot of problems like those things?’ She tried to clean blood and gore off herself with a hand, the stuff already drying, starting to seep into her armour. Now she was sweaty, and probably stank of gore! ‘There were some murder-bees in one of the buildings.’

‘Yeah, it’s that time of year.’ The group were all looking at her tensely – not quite ready to fight, but definitely cautious. ‘And the rats are swarming. You meat under there, or a made-thing?’

‘I’m alive! Just didn’t really expect to end up here. Glad I dressed for the occasion though, being bitten to death by those things…’

‘Yeah, that’s no way to go. But these are our tails – you want the bounty, you’ll have to go through us.’ Behind him, the rest all tensed with their weapons.

‘That’s fine, take them.’ They immediately relaxed, swapping their weapons for knives, slicing off the tails of the rats, throwing them into a blood-stained sack. ‘I was escorting someone from up there.’ She pointed up at the palace. ‘Any idea how to get back?’

‘Up to the palace? That’s not for the likes of us, or even someone dumb enough to wear metal during high-sun! You some scale-blood’s fancy thing? You’ve been dumped down here. Can probably get a good price for the armour though. And that sword looked fancy. Just watch out none of the fancy take a liking to it, or you.’

‘That a common thing?’

‘Hey, we’re with Kalisparax. He might be a haradach, but he looks after us some, at least if it doesn’t cost him much. Doesn’t really deal with exotics though, don’t think he’d be interested in you.’

Stathis had no idea if that was a rank or an insult. ‘That’s fine, I just need to get out of here. The whole city seems to be divided by walls?’

‘You fresh out of the ash? Yeah, each of the scalebloods has their turf. You want to get between them, you got to ask. Some let anyone in. This is where all the scribblers and finger-wagglers live, and it’s next to Gibbarach’s patch. After that thing with the acid-spitting slime-bears, he’s none-too-keen on getting his patch screwed up, so he had all the walls reinforced, and made sure to pay his guards well enough to keep an eye out. And the other side is Morani – she and Kalisparax used to be tight, then they fell out, hard, so the gate got bricked up. Means if you want to go there, then you have to go all the way around, takes about an hour. Or find someone that knows a passage that totally doesn’t exist, you follow?’

‘OK, so it’s basically a load of tiny domains stacked up together? That sounds complicated.’

‘You got that right! Especially when half of them are on the outs with each other. You got to know the ways of things, or you’ll get stuck in here. Better than being stuck in the dead district on the night of a full moon, but there’s a lot of chantlings here, looking for raw material. Not that you look like you’d have any problem skewering one of them.’

‘I’d rather not get kidnapped, no.’ She kicked a knotted tangle of blood and gore away, the thing splatting against a wall. ‘And can look after myself. So you live here?’

‘Yup, been sworn to Kalisparax since I was just a sprat of a thing.’ He was clearly the leader, everyone else setting to the task of slicing off tails, the sack filling up with leathery strips of meat, already attracting flies. ‘So, you with that scale-blood that came down earlier? Rare to see anyone that fancy come to a place like this. You must have pissed her off to get stuck down here.’

There was a cry of celebration, as another of the group lifted up a grey-and-red mass, what looked like a dozen rats all conjoined together by their tails into a single clump.

‘Must be our lucky day, to get a rat king! Good bounty on them.’

The thing suddenly twisted, spinning around in the air, multiple teeth chittering in conjunction, eyes glowing green. Stathis stepped forward, drawing and slicing in a single motion, slicing into the thing as the piercing whine started up again. Just as suddenly, it cut out again, the thing truly dead now.

‘You have many problems with things like that?’

He shrugged. ‘They come and go. They breed in all the old bits under the city – too many crawlspaces and old places to flush ‘em all out, and I sure as hell can’t afford enough charms to keep the bastards out. Best to keep an eye on cribs, and not leave food out for long, but that’s city life. Beats living out in the ash!’

The fused-together mass of tails was sliced free of the bodies, which was stabbed repeatedly, presumably just to make sure it was properly dead this time.

‘Well, you helped us with that, so I figure we can at least stand you a drink. Be a good haul for a day’s hunt. And think about selling that armour – you’ve been dumped here, your owner don’t care none.’ He rapped a knuckle against it. ‘Feels pretty tough. Guess it must make it easier to fight rats and stuff but must slow you down too much in the arena.’

‘It’s not that slow. And it makes it a lot safer to be hit.’

They started to move, Stathis moving with them, one hand still on her sword, just in case. ‘So are you not allowed to leave this place? Everyone has to stay in their district?’

‘It’s not really that bad. At least if you’ve got someone that gives a shit! Some don’t, just skim off the cash and let everyone go twist. And there’s way through, if you’ve got the contacts and the jink.’

They turned onto the main street, the gateway to the next district looking very much closed, the guards on the wall above, looking down at them. There was a single person doorway, with a long queue waiting, being allowed to go through one at a time.

‘So, how many districts between here and the palace?’

‘About four to seven, depending on how direct you go. Glassicht and Baracith are both open though, so even you could walk through. The palace proper though, they’re proper tight. A bribe to get in there would be more than you or I could ever afford! Especially since the Serpent Queen took over. She’s got it tight over there, even managed to organise the arena fighters. Well, sort of, heard they didn’t take it kindly, being told what to do and all that. And trying to get them to use the same weapons! Bet that went down like a dose of poison. Not that anyone would tell her no.’

Stathis nodded her head, remembering the smooth grace of Zarazonnia, and her sheer size and strength. Taking her on without a lot of backup seemed like it would be a very bad plan!

They moved into a side street, this one looking more inhabited, with a trader loudly haggling with a local, over the price of some fruit Stathis didn’t recognise. A shadowy doorway looking enticingly cool, but she waited until the others had gone ahead, in case of ambush, before following.

They descended downwards, the passageway so narrow that she had to turn slightly to avoid scraping the walls, a metal door at the bottom sliding open. The air down here was cooler than above, tables scattered about the place, wood battered and scarred, chairs and stools all in different styles. Barrels were set against one wall, several well-muscled guards keeping an eye on them.

One of the guards stepped forward, and they started to converse again, Stathis getting gestured at a few times. The sack of tails was produced and emptied onto a scale, the warped mass of multiple tails taken out. Then money changed hands, a motley collection of silver and bronze, a few gold coins on top.

The others all went to sit down, Stathis joining them, although they all kept a safe distance, talking amongst themselves. Unable to understand them, Stathis looked at the walls – they were covered with posters for some fighting tournament, most of them years old, to judge by how weathered they were. A few had bloody hand-prints on, faded to a dirty brown – was that some kind of signature? On one of the more recent ones, she recognised a picture of the man that had guarded the skywalk, his chest less scarred, posed dramatically.

Clay knocked together as drinks were placed on the table, glazed thimbles full of something clear, the odour strong enough to penetrate into the helmet. Stathis looked around – other than the guards, there was no-one else down here, and no-one that looked fancy enough to be from the palace. She took her helm off, glad to be out of the thing, before pulling her gauntlets off.

‘Huh, really not from around here, are you? Guess your owner has a thing for pretty and buff? Drink up, anyway.’ The others pounded back their shots, shuddering at whatever it was. Stathis lifted it and gave it a sniff, recoiling from the pungent odour. She inhaled, then slammed it back. The taste burned over her tongue and down her throat, searing into her stomach, and making her cough – whatever it was, it was strong! Although not quite as vile as whatever Vrintar inflicted upon others.

The next set of drinks were in taller glasses, very frothy, but more palatable. One of the others twisted their fingers, water vapour twirling through the air and forming into slivers of ice. Stathis stared at it with desperate longing, imaging it trickling into her armour, soothing and cooling. She tapped her fingers on the table, pointing at it, getting looks of confusion from everyone else.

‘Can you ask him to make more of that? I’ll pay!’

This was translated as Stathis ferociously downed her drink, holding it up. More shards and chips of ice were created, falling into the mug, until it was about half full. Then she tipped it down herself, half down her front, half down her back.

The cooling effect was immediate, the feeling blissful as the ice melted, soaking into her clothing. ‘Thank you. That feels much better!’ She could feel her clothing was now soggy beneath her armour, but it was better than being stiflingly hot. ‘Is this enough?’ Stathis fished out a few silver pieces – from what they’d been paid from killing the rats, it should be ample.

It met with general approval, apparently a suitable amount.

‘So if I wanted to get out of here, who’s the best person to talk to?

‘Still want to try and beg your owner to take you back? Well, I can get you out of here, but all the way through the city, that’s more of a problem. And into the palace as well? That’s going to take some doing. Not gone any contacts of my own that high up. And I don’t want to get dragged into whatever shit you got going on. When the fancy get pissed, they lash out pretty nastily.’

‘Don’t worry about that.’ When she got to talk to Janaxia, there was going to be a very long talk! ‘Just get me close and I’ll sort it out, you don’t even need to come in with me. Hell, if you can get me to the gates, that’ll probably do.’

‘It’s your body on the line! I might just know a guy though – what’s it worth to you?’

Stathis fished in her pouch again, clinking money until she found several gold coins. ‘Take that as a down-payment. And let’s assume that neither of us is going to betray the other – if you do, things will end badly for you, and you won’t get anything more.’

‘Hey, you’re crazy enough to wear that much metal, who knows what else you might do? Guess you’re no stranger to crawling around the dark and fighting? Hey, you considered signing up for the tournament? The best fighters get taken into the Palace as guards.’

‘That seems like a lot of extra work! And I’m guessing the worst don’t normally survive the experience?’

‘Hey, be boring otherwise! Got to weed out the weak somehow, right? And it gets the beasts nice and riled up for the later fights. Well, as it looks like we might be sticking together for a while, my names Karanth. Keep the gold flowing, and I’m sure we’ll get on.’ He smiled, not entirely convincingly. There was the temptation to try and compel the truth from him, but conjuring up a golden aura of light might get a negative reaction, so Stathis just shook his hand.

‘Just get me where I need to be. This place do food? Been a while since I ate.’

‘If you’re paying, then I’m sure they can find something. For silver, they won’t even spit in it.’

Not the best of recommendations, but if they were travelling through tunnels filled with magical rats, it would be best to be fully fed in advance.