Chapter 33

Once back at the boarding house, Darras found an empty table outside where he couldn’t be flanked or approached easily from behind and poured himself a wine from the skin as well as eating a skewer of meat he’d also purchased. He was swiftly approached by others who asked where he had bought the skin and they tended without fail to make their way back into the city to buy their own. Others stayed to chat and find out what Darras was selling as well as relating their own tales. The mood remained convivial until what had to be a squad of Lizardmen approached and the tensions ratcheted up immediately.

They were however straight away confronted by the landlady who berated them for being out of their jurisdiction and pestering her clientele, despite the fact they’d approached no one. Being a female, and this was essentially a matriarchal society, she rapidly had the entire squad on the defensive and acting nervously. Darras had, however, spotted one of the Lizardmen trying to surreptitiously edge around their formation carrying what appeared to be some kind of knife. Moving silently himself Darras was able to get into a position where he could deal with any sort of attack on the landlady and, when the Lizardman rushed forward carrying the now revealed blade, was able to bring it down still openly holding the blade, if stunned and immobile.

“So, you would attempt to kill a matriarch?” the landlady screeched. “In her own business?”

This defused the hostility the suddenly alert patrol were giving Darras and put them immediately on the defensive.

“I ... I’m sure there must be an explanation for Slaressti’s actions,” the officer stammered out.

“He’s a follower of Tookhro, was always mouthing off about keeping other races away from Chassal and Caragryth,” one of the Lizardmen informed the officer.

“By killing our own ... and a matriarch at that?” the landlady yelled.

“That was not our business here, we simply wished to check the papers of recent arrivals,” the officer replied nervously.

“Outside your jurisdiction?” the landlady hit back. “You were sent to harass my customers, with an assassin in tow!”

“It is not for you to question my orders,” the officer more or less bleated as a crowd had now gathered to enjoy a bit of street theatre, even as his men bound the downed Lizardmen.

“I believe it is when you are where you don’t belong,” the landlady hissed.

This exchange was interrupted with the arrival of another patrol, who were dressed somewhat differently to the original one. This appeared to provoke some sort of confrontation between the two groups with clearly no love lost between them.

Darras had, in the meantime moved to stand next to the landlady (who ignored him) along with a few others from the boarding house, all clearly prepared to defend her if necessary. They were in turn ignored by the two sets of guards whose officers were clearly disputing jurisdiction, with the newcomers clearly demanding that the guard that Darras had taken down be handed over to them.

The landlady in turn was now yelling at both sets of guards and demanding they should sort out their dispute anywhere except in front of her place of business It was then that Darras felt the presence of a shadow, not too close, but clearly watching.

‘You’re right, my Darras, though it’s not the one we’re after, ’ Erren informed him.

“I’ll take it out anyway as no doubt it will cause trouble later,” Darras murmured.

‘Agreed.’

Darras slipped away from the now agitated standoff and moved into an alley where he was able to scale up the side of a building and drop down unnoticed inside the city. Then, following his senses and Erren’s occasional warning, he was able to move into what appeared to be a storage building, standing, as all the other buildings in the city, up on stilts to avoid the often wet ground. He then silently move to where the possessed one was standing, watching the scenes outside the gates on an internal raised platform. Darras was about to make his move when he paused, feeling that this was somehow a kind of trap.

‘There’s something else in here with us, ’ Erren confirmed his suspicions.

“Some sort of guard creature?”

‘Possibly, though I can’t get a good feel for its position.’

“Seriously dangerous then,” Darras mused, then darted forward to grab the shadow, causing the possessed one to collapse, even as Darras’s momentum carried him through the window to drop to the ground two metres below still holding the shadow as a long thin arm snatched the air above him. Keeping a hold of the shadow as it died from his touch, Darras moved away from the window until the shadow dissipated into the ground.

“Any ideas, my Erren?” he asked, keeping an eye on the building he had left.

‘Vampire, most likely, ’ she confirmed Darras’s fear. ‘Very skilled, so probably an old one.’

“Very skilled, if it can fool your senses,” Darras mused.

‘My senses work through you so are quite limited in this context, ’ Erren explained. ‘That you cannot perform magic doesn’t help either.’

“I still have two hours of daylight,” Darras replied. “Time to go hunting.”

‘Be careful, my love.’

“I will.”

Feeling that he was being observed, Darras moved away from the building, though looped around to enter it again. The noise from the ruckus between the two sets of guards and the landlady was still ongoing, so Darras doubted anyone would have missed him. Re-entering the building Darras moved cautiously to his original position, knowing that whatever had tried to grab him was likely to still be in there as the building stood alone and a vampire was unlikely to be out in daylight.

‘Don’t get cocky, ’ Erren warned. ‘It likely got in there in daylight.’

“I suspect the possessed one got it there,” Darras surmised in a low voice.

‘Hmm, possibly.’

“Does mean they were expecting me,” Darras added. “Though I didn’t feel observed when I left the gateway building.”

‘You weren’t, I would have noticed too.’

“Can you detect it?”

‘It’s still in there, but I can’t give a precise location.’

“Wonder if I could attract it out if I went after my original target?”

‘It’s a thought ... possibly.’

“I’ll try it, as I suspect currently it will have the advantage in there.”

‘It will.’

Darras headed away from the storage warehouse, making for the centre of the city, observed by, but not hindered by, the populace. Soon enough, he began to pick up traces of a shadow and with Erren’s aid, began tracking it down. It became clear, the possessed one was in the matriarchal complex where the King resided. It was a place where the Matriarch could keep an eye on him.

Lizardman society was generally governed strangely to Darras’s eyes, with each Kingdom being ostensibly ruled by a King, but controlled in the background by the matriarchs. This meant the vast majority of Lizardmen that Darras met were male as the matriarchs were egg layers and produced multiple broods. Once a year, the matriarchs went into heat and the males fought over the right to mate with them. The other races simply stayed out of the way during this time as Lizardman society became focussed on one thing, and one thing alone. Males would fight anything and anyone at the drop of a hat ... except for females and juveniles.

Darras was, however, able to gain access to the complex as, for all it was guarded, it was not fully observed along its boundaries and the earthen wall was not very high. Darras then, with Erren’s aid, stalked his prey, seeing very few individuals around in the massive interior.

‘In here, ’ Erren advised, as the sensation of shadow had grown exponentially to Darras’s senses.

“Alone?”

‘I believe so, ’

Darras guessed the room to be an office, though could not immediately see the shadow. This was resolved when the possessed one stepped through from another door and came to a halt upon seeing Darras, before launching itself at him as well as giving off a loud bellow. Darras though was prepared for the attack, though suspected getting out of the complex would not be as easy as getting in. The mistake as ever from the shadow was assuming that somehow Darras was vulnerable to it, hence Darras batted away the unsheathed claws with his arms and was able to grasp the shadow and pull it free from the possessed one.

Darras swiftly discovered this was a very powerful being indeed, if hampered by the effect of Darras’s grip upon it. Despite its struggles, Darras was able to pin in and bring about its death whilst hearing the sounds of alarm from around the complex.

‘They only heard the bellow, not its origin or originator, ’ Erren informed Darras.

“Gives me some time, at least.”

‘Yes, though not that much as a methodical search is beginning.’

“Let’s see about getting out of here then.”

Darras went to one of the unglazed windows and glanced carefully outside. Seeing no activity he climbed through and moved along the side of the building, aiming for the outer wall, hearing a lot of activity behind himself.

“Why aren’t they looking outside?” he asked Erren.

‘They are confused, there was one bellow of challenge and they are looking to separate the combatants, not find an intruder.’

“Getting dark soon,” Darras murmured as he padded over towards the wall.

‘Yes, I’ll keep watch for you as I suspect this vampire might make an attempt, ’ Erren replied.

“I don’t think it was brought here specifically for me,” Darras mused as he slid over the wall. “I think it was possibly being taken somewhere where I could be set up.”

‘Certainly a possibility. This shadow has been positioning itself here for years, ’ Erren agreed.

“Yes, I doubt they planned it here, but one of them must have spotted me ... or the vampire has my spoor somehow and picked me up.”

‘Well currently it will be masterless, hence slightly more vulnerable, ’ Erren replied. ‘If still fixated on you.’

Other than a few hostile glances, there was no overt hostility towards Darras, even as he could feel, to an extent, the miasma of tensions and hate lifting somewhat from the city. While he approached the gate he could still hear the ongoing dispute between the two sets of guards and the landlady and so was easily able to make it back to his table and the skin of wine he had left hanging on his chair.

“Are they always like this?” Darras murmured, mostly to Erren.

“They are, though this one is a bit of a classic,” A stout merchant humorously rumbled in reply.

“Hah, I went to check on my goods, thinking it would be over by the time I returned,” Darras chuckled.

“Normally not a bad guess,” the merchant nodded. “Names Renkoff, specialist in silver trinkets.”

“Darras, currently running errands for the Healers Guild in Trelketh,”

“Nice profitable business,” Renkoff nodded thoughtfully.

“Other than having to come here where the Lizardfolk seem to be spoiling for a fight, yes,” Darras agreed.

“They’ll get over it. They seem to get a bit more ... frantic near mating season,” Renkoff replied as the argument appeared to be over, or rather the two sets of guards backed away from an increasingly irate landlady.

“Ah, is that what it is?”