Chapter Twenty-Three - Guts ‘N Glory

11 Seleszeni 10.076 Z.C., Evening

“This better not be it,” Lilla muttered to Nadine as they followed Mav and Splatz toward a long line stretching out into the street. Nadine pointed to a painted sign hanging over the weathered door, Lilla squinted to make out the words as they approached. Sure enough, they’d arrived at the Guts ‘N Glory. Lilla groaned, dreading the dullness of waiting to get in.

She trudged alongside Nadine, stopping at the back of the queue. Mav paused with them and pointed to a side entrance, down half a level and obscured by the corner of the building. Lilla could make out another door with a much shorter line.

Great, Mav’s getting us in the VIP entrance! Where I belong, naturally. Lilla lit up and almost started walking again, until Mav spoke.

“Splatz and I need to go in the fighter’s entrance down there. We’ll meet you inside.”

Lilla’s eyes narrowed, crestfallen again, and Nadine put a reassuring hand on her arm. She realized she must appear agitated, and turned to read her friend’s expression. ‘Please don’t make a scene.’

“We had a bet,” Lilla demanded, holding out a hand. “Pay up for the round of drinks you owe me first.” Mav looked at her hand like he’d rather not.

“We don’t know if Yarik lied yet or not,” he contested, his tone flat. “The bet is still in play.”

“Fine,” she sulked, waving for the boys to keep walking. I’ll just get Sergeant Handsome to buy our drinks if he shows up. Mav gave her an indecipherable look before issuing them both a mock salute and jogging to catch up to Splatz, already halfway to the stairs.

She and Nadine people-watched in line, immersing themselves in the carefree Razisday chatter and hubbub humming around them. The golden evening sunlight reflected off the roofs and windows of the high buildings around them, even as the streets grew darker with dusk approaching. Izzet work crews walked past, activating the scarce streetlights as they went. Down the stairs, she watched Mav and Splatz banter with a hulking cyclops stationed at the fighters’ door before going inside.

Peering ahead past their slow-moving line, Lilla sized up the bouncer at the main entrance. The tall human, with the brand of Rakdos tattooed on his face, seemed impatient but pliable. He was bulky for a human too, only a little smaller than Yarik.

“We could probably get in faster if we flirt with the guard,” she suggested, glancing at something over Nadine’s shoulder. Nadine frowned, but stood on tiptoe to get a better look at the doorman herself.

“We’re here for a date, Lilla. We might get in faster, but everyone will think we’re easy.”

Lilla sighed. Why does Nadine have to be right? If this weren’t a date, she could get into the bar any number of ways without wading through this line. They shuffled forward two places, nearing the front of the line as the door opened and closed ahead of them, allowing a few people in. Lilla eyed the prominent signs painted on the walls in red paint, announcing ‘NO ALMS.’

“Why don’t they take alms here?”

Nadine studied Lilla from the corner of her eye. “Dang, the rubblebelt must have had some pretty big rocks for you to grow up under, huh?” The vedalken refused to dignify her friend with a response, but Nadine went on anyway.

“The Cult and the Syndicate don’t get along, and they’ve both got a lot of people here in the Sixth. For the past few years it’s been really tense; they’ve been scuffling over territory more and more, and the body counts and petty feuds keep rising.” She looked over her shoulder, checking for nearby eavesdroppers before leaning in and continuing.

“The Orzhov control the beggars rings with a steady stream of alms, buying their eyes and ears on the street - so most Rakdos establishments don’t take alms or trust those with ‘em. Of course Syndicate businesses’ll take whatever coin they can get their greasy hands on, as usual,” she added.

“Good thing the Legion pays us in zinos and zibs, then.”

Nodding, Nadine fished through her belt pouch for the 25-zib cover charge. Lilla did the same, and the line began moving faster in front of them. After they paid the door fee, the tattooed guard let them in.

The smell hit as soon as the door shut behind them. Lilla suppressed the urge to gag.

“It smells worse than the locker room at Sunhome,” she hissed to her friend. Nadine's face twisted in disgusted accord.

“What did they do, leave a pile of sweaty jockstraps in the sun all day and swim in them?” she returned.

They stopped at a quiet place near the door to collect their bearings. The dim lighting disguised the true size of the grimy dive, Lilla realized. To their right, a line of rowdy people called bets to workers behind black iron bars, while others traded paper slips for a fistful of zinos. To their left, a full-service bar stretched from floor to ceiling, staffed with a team of bartenders working like clockwork to fill shouted drink orders. Just ahead, spectators crammed together in what resembled a dancefloor, throwing elbows, knees, and punches as they lost themselves in bloodlust. Lilla wrinkled her nose at the familiar, distasteful sight. Beyond the churning melee loomed cages of twisted black iron, fighters gleaming under the only bright lights in the place.

“This way,” Nadine gestured to the left, pointing out a path to the seating area and a smattering of open tables on the far side of the fight cages. “I want to sit, not brawl.”

Lilla followed in total agreement, suppressing the urge to cover her nose to protect herself from the smell of unwashed humans, goblins, imps, and worse.

After a few steps, Nadine hesitated, then turned back toward the bar counter, motioning for Lilla to do the same.

“Drinks first,” she yelled to be heard over a round of cheers. Lilla paused for a moment, agreeing with Nadine when she realized the lines would be shorter while a fight raged on. Together, they squeezed through the crowd to the bar, Nadine slinking under tipsy half-giants and drunken ogres while Lilla weaved through them.

They called out their orders when a fiendish, horned bartender focused on them for a moment.

“Us girls gotta stick together in a place like this,” Nadine commented while they waited. “Keep your eyes on your drink, too, even when you’re holding it.”

Lilla noticed Nadine never took her eyes off the cups in the bartender’s red hands as he mixed their drinks, chatting and flirting with customers all the while. We have to worry about being drugged here? Geez Mav, what kind of guy are you? Inviting ladies to a place like this...

When he finished crafting the drinks, the bartender handed them over the counter with a wink, and Lilla led the way to the seating in the back, racing ahead of another group to claim the last empty table. The girls plopped into their chairs and put their feet up on the others, ignoring the irate stares and whispers of the group they beat.

“Do you think flower boy got the note you sent?” Nadine asked, craning her neck to check newcomers by the door.

“I hope so,” Lilla lied, checking the door too.

“I hope he’ll recognize you even though it’s so dark in here! The suspense is killing me,” Nadine exclaimed with dramatic exaggeration.

“Killing you?” Lilla squeaked, “It’s agonizing! I mean, he’s not the first secret admirer I’ve had,” she lied again, “but it’s nice to know he’s at least handsome, and an officer.” He better be handsome, anyways. Those mailroom hens better not have lied to me.

Suddenly Nadine straightened, pointing at the center of the room. Lilla followed her gaze and saw the next set of fighters entering the rings, including Mav in the cage closest to them. He’d changed, trading his pressed uniform for serviceable leather pants that hugged his waist. Beyond that, he only wore boots and a handful of weapons strapped onto his muscular body. Gross, put it back on!

Nadine leapt to her feet, screaming and cheering along with the crowd as the Rakdos announcers introduced the combatants. “-let’s hear it for... the Handsome Hero!” the announcer called, his voice projected by enchantment throughout the bar. A few Rakdos hecklers booed the term ‘hero,’ one shouting they came to see a fight, not a fairy tale.

“Cheer louder!” Nadine shrieked over the jeers of the crowd, and Lilla obliged her with half-hearted shouts.

The announcer paused, assessing the crowd’s reaction to the first name, and tried again. “Just making sure you’re paying attention out there, haha! Again, after a looong break training with the Legion, this fighter has returned to the Guts and Glory, to be once again baptized in glorious carnage! I give you …” The announcer paused again, cobbling a nickname on the fly. “The Boros Bachelor!”

Nadine’s face crumpled with dismay, and she stopped cheering at once. Lilla cheered even louder to avoid laughing at Nadine’s misfortune; then the rest of the bar joined in and whistled enthusiastically. She missed Mav’s reaction to the nickname, but now saw him glare at the announcer, who grinned back without mercy.

Lilla whooped and called out encouragement as the fight started. Nadine joined in once she recovered, cheering Mav on as the sparring began. As Lilla paused to wet her throat with a sip of her drink, a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped up, spinning around to face the aggressor.

She looked up into a pair of piercing eyes set in a handsome golden face. His dark hair gleamed even in the dim light, groomed just as perfectly as the day they met. A pit opened up in her stomach - she recognized the man, the handsome officer, her mysterious admirer.

Sergeant Ouain Airicson, it turned out, was the man who unwittingly allowed her to escape the Boros garrison with the experimental weapon all those weeks ago! Somehow, someway, he’d found her. And if he found out she wasn’t really a nurse in the Legion, her revenge would be ruined.

Her mind spinning, trying to think of a way out of this situation, she held her tongue and gazed up at him. He smiled, producing a bouquet of flowers.

“Nurse Arven. Lilla. If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I’d be walking in my garden forever.” He spoke in a gentle, rehearsed manner. Lilla heard Nadine sigh beside her, no doubt imagining Mav saying the same to her. Lilla’s eyes lowered to the flowers he held out to her - a large bundle of pale roses. She took the bouquet and slapped it down on the table, glancing up at him through her narrowed lashes. She’d spotted several other uniformed soldiers in the bar, but this Ouain looked out of place here, in a dingy bar with poor lighting. He seemed almost too crisp, like the angels cast him from the mold of the perfect soldier.

“Shuddup and siddown,” bellowed a one-armed minotaur from the table behind them, and other nearby patrons joined in, booing and catcalling.

Feeling trapped, Lilla sat down and Ouain took the seat next to her, looking at Nadine with plain curiosity.

“I’m Nadine, Lilla’s best friend,” Nadine introduced, leaning across the table and offering her hand to Ouain, who shook with a firm grip. “We thought a double date would be a great way to get to know you! My man is over there, in the ring,” she explained, pointing to Mav again.

Ouain nodded. “Oh, cool,” he noted, assessing the audience over his mug, taking a drink. Lilla caught the odor of mead from his direction. “Rough crowd tonight, huh?” he commented.

“It’s like this every Razisday, Sergeant,” Splatz piped up behind them, before taking the seat next to Nadine. He slammed a large mug of ale down on the table. “Only Raksday is busier, you can probably figure out why.”

Splatz took a long drink of his ale and Nadine stared at him, annoyed. She cleared her throat to say something, but the announcer drew their attention back to the ring. In the cage, Mav gleamed with sweat. He’d pinned his opponent against the iron bars of the cage wall, one arm twisted behind their back in a position Lilla recognized as a classic Boros hold.

Around them, the audience applauded the contest of strength and will, bloodthirsty and eager to see if the man could escape Mav's hold or if he would tap out before his shoulder dislocated.

Lilla grimaced. This is so not what I expected. Looking over at Nadine for support, she instead faced another unexpected turn: Splatz now sat in Nadine’s lap, the girl smiling as she stroked and played with his pointed green ears. Nadine watched Mav fight with enrapt attention while the goblin closed his eyes in distinct pleasure. Wow, way to abandon me when I need you, Nadine!

Lilla whistled at the pair. “Oooo, don't let Mav see the two of you like that,” she teased over the noise of the crowd. Nadine glanced over at her, startled. Splatz cracked one eye open to look at her and cackled.

"What, you think Mav likes Nadine? Good one, Lilla!" he shouted just as the cheers subsided, his voice loud in the sudden lull. Nadine's expression shifted to the same horrified hurt she exhibited when Mav turned down her advances after Senator Orric's party.

Lilla watched as Nadine's eyes darted toward the sign pointing the way toward the bathrooms, and felt her own eyes narrow. Oh no you don't. What happened to 'us girls have to stick together'? Betraying their solidarity, Nadine moved her hand to her drink, shifting to rise and leave Lilla behind.