Duskbound

"Where'd you get it?" Velik asked Ned.

"You know I can't tell you that. It's a trade secret. Here, your winnings."

"Fuck the gold!" Velik snarled. He smacked the bag hard enough to send it flying into the wall and leaned over the desk. "That monster. Where did it come from? I don't care who sold it to you. I want to know where it was found."

Ned's eyes were wide as he looked down at the split leather bag with gold coins spilling out the seam. The bouncer outside the office poked his head in, but Ned sent him away with a small shake of his head. "Look, Gray, I'm sorry, but—"

"Save it," Velik told him. "This is important to me. I'm not leaving without an answer."

He was still in his gladiator's clothes, which were covered in blood with small chunks of skin glued to the fabric. The pole he'd been armed with was gone, but it wasn't like he actually needed it to push around a guy half his level with a weak administrator class. And Velik wasn't feeling charitable. Being confronted by a flesh beast had set his nerves on edge and dragged bad memories to the surface.

He could still feel the give in the flesh-covered ground of the cave he'd last fought those monsters in, could still smell the putrid stink of the dungeon as it rotted before his eyes after he'd destroyed the core. The image of Chalin's twisted body, what was left of it at least, was etched into his brain.

"Alright! Alright," Ned said, his voice shaky. "Just the location it was picked up from? No names. No smuggling routes? You just want to go out and hunt some in the wild or whatever."

"Sure, let's go with that. I'm going on a hunting trip and I enjoyed my fight tonight so much that I want to do it again."

Ned pulled a thick portfolio out of his desk and set it down in front of him. Flipping it open, he started rifling through what appeared to be a highly disorganized mess, with all sorts of random scraps in there. There were small squares of paper with random notes scribbled across them, what looked like invoices for goods and repairs on equipment, a lewd charcoal sketch that Ned hastily flipped past, and finally, about halfway down the stack, a report that hopefully contained the information Velik wanted.

"The Verdant Belt," Ned announced. "South end, near the ancestral hunting grounds of the Coramik tribe. They would probably be able to direct you more appropriately once you arrived. The bill of sale doesn't mention, but the transport team probably picked the monster up straight out of one of their camps."

"Verdant Belt," Velik repeated. His geography lessons hadn't really progressed to the point where he'd started learning the regions of other countries, but he could read a map and he wasn't afraid to ask for directions. He'd find it, one way or another. If he had the distance right, he was looking at perhaps two weeks of hard travel with few stops for rest, more if the roads ran out before he reached his destination.

There would be a border crossing he'd need to deal with somehow, too. The easiest way would probably be to just not cross over there. It wasn't like wilderness travel scared him, and he didn't much care if he was there illegally. The odds of a group of people calling themselves a tribe wanting to check his paperwork seemed low.

"Thank you," he said. "And, I'm sorry. This…"

He trailed off and shook his head. With a sigh, he pulled ten decarmas from his status screen, the coins materializing one on top of another in a small stack. "I'd appreciate if this conversation stayed between us. I don't plan on coming back here again, and I'd hate to have to change my mind."

Ned's eyes glittered with greed as he eyed the stack. The decarmas were worth more than the sack of gold fulmites he'd smacked off the desk, which Velik had also made no move to reclaim. No doubt Ned saw a nice little payday that his bosses didn't need to know about sitting in front of him.

Velik left him to it, only taking the time to reclaim his gear from the locker rooms. Once again fully kitted out, he swept out of the coliseum, ignoring the eager grin from the bouncer who'd bet on him to kill his first monster in a single blow earlier. The man's smile faltered as Velik stalked past.

"Wonder what's wrong with him?" the bouncer muttered under his breath, unaware that Velik could still hear him from a hundred feet away.

* * *

At first, Jensen hadn't been sure. He didn't really care to watch the fights, but the merchant, Shelir Blendstin, he was hoping to talk into helping finance his first expedition loved the coliseum, so that was where they had their meeting. Four times, the talks had stalled so the man could fawn over one of the gladiators, and Jensen had found himself growing more and more annoyed.

Then the one called Gray had walked out. "Oh, he's fighting tonight!" Shelir crowed. "You're in for a treat, my young friend."

Jensen watched Gray demolish the first two monsters curiously, noting that the fighter wore none of the enchanted armor he'd seen on the other gladiators. Even his weapon was nothing more than a sharpened steel pole.

When the flesh beast had been dumped into the arena, he'd nearly jumped out of his skin. Though he hadn't seen any of the monsters personally, he'd gotten a good description of them and hearing the announcer name the monster had cemented it. The way Gray had reacted was just further evidence of his suspicions.

He put the thought out of his mind and tried to steer his would-be business partner back to the matter at hand, but Shelir would have none of it while Gray fought. Truthfully, Jensen found the fight to be somewhat boring, being nothing more than variations of dodging, stabbing, and dodging some more. It wasn't until Gray had unveiled some incredibly destructive skill at the end that Jensen had really paid attention.

Right height. Right build. Right weapon and set of skills. It has to be you, but what are you doing here? he wondered. You can't be that desperate for money. Torwin said you cleaned up all those champions and claimed the seeds.

"Now that was a fight! Gods, did you see how he finished that monster off at the end?"

"I saw," Jensen said. "Now, as I was saying—"

"Lad," the merchant said, cutting him off. Jensen suppressed a twinge of annoyance. "It's not that I don't think you'll find something. Your class alone guarantees that. It's that you've got too much opposition against you. It's bad for business to go against your father's wishes."

And there it is. That's why he's been jerking me around all night. My father's one step ahead of me, scaring off all my potential investors to keep me here.

"There's nothing I could do to change your mind?" Jensen asked.

"Sorry," Shelir said with a shrug. "The dangers of not coming back…"

"I am sure my father has oversold the risk. He's not exactly unbiased when it comes to matters of my safety," Jensen said smoothly, "but if that's what you're worried about…"

"Hmm?" Shelir leaned forward.

"What if we hired Gray onto the caravan?"

"Oh ho!" the man laughed. "I suppose I'd have to meet him to interview him, as an investor looking to protect my assets."

"Of course. It's only practical."

"But no one knows who Gray is, and the coliseum won't sell out their gladiators, not even to me. Believe me, I've already tried."

"I think I've got a good idea of how to find him," Jensen told him. Got you.

The merchant pretended to consider it, but he'd already made up his mind. Crossing Jensen's father was worth it for the chance to meet his favorite gladiator. He wanted it and was willing to pay the price. It wasn't even about how much money Jensen wanted at this point.

"Alright, lad. Call it a test of competence. If you're so sure, you bring me Gray to interview. As long as I'm satisfied, you'll get your decarmas."

"Give me a day or so to convince him," Jensen said. "He's not going to be motivated by a pile of money."

Shelir snorted. "Everyone's motivated by money. If you think otherwise, you're just not using enough of it. And if you think a gladiator doesn't care about his coin, maybe I should reconsider this deal."

"He's not fighting for money," Jensen insisted. "But you can ask him yourself when I bring him to see you."

"I'll hold you to that," the merchant warned with a hearty laugh.

"That's fine by me." Jensen rose from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll just go catch up with him."

"And just how are you going to do that? It's not like he's going to walk out onto the street wearing his arena grays."

"Oh, I have my ways. I am a [Vault Seeker], after all."

Shelir's eyes widened. "You can find people, too?"

No. Jensen didn't answer out loud, just shot the merchant a wink and left.