The sun rose on Romba, its lumbering buildings casting long shadows on the crowded city. They were jagged and twisted, as light struggled to find a way through the mess that was the city’s architecture. Ironically, Jethin’s base of operations remained covered in daylight completely. Ladun stretched as subtly as he could manage, enjoying the warmth, while the large man beside him remained as stoic as usual. Ladun drew his watch from his pocket and checked it. The two newer members were running late.

As the sun continued to rise, Kajulan came around the corner, taking her sweet time as she did so.

“You just missed Jethin,” said Ladun.

“Oh no, really?” replied Kajulan. “What a shame.”

“Alright, alright, we get it. Lucky you. But someone needs to show up.”

“So what did the bastard have to say?”

Ladun looked around. “Still waiting for Tekole. Don’t want to have to repeat myself. Do you know where he is?”

Kajulan looked taken aback. “What? No! We’re not spending all of our time together, or anything like that.”

Ladun arched an eyebrow, but chose to ignore Kajulan’s response. Tekole came around from the other side of the street a few minutes later.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, nodding his head apologetically at Ladun. “Just trying to avoid the bastard.” He quickly looked at Kajulan before smiling and ducking his head. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” replied Kajulan, doing the same and waving shyly.

Ladun loudly cleared his throat. “Ok. That’s enough greeting, I think. Now listen up.”

Ladun adjusted his shirt tie before continuing. “Jethin was right about his rackets getting poached. That barkeep was just the start. No one on that street paid their fee this week, save one. So we’re going to remind him of our dedication.”

He gave Kajulan a warning glance. “And I mean actually remind him of our dedication. Not threaten him.”

…

The four traveled down the road, Kajulan and Tekole lagging behind the other two. Their hands were entwined, and they regularly slowed their pace to whisper to each other. Ladun looked behind him, before sighing and nudging the big man.

“What?” he asked, looking down at Ladun. Ladun quickly gestured behind them, and the big man briefly turned around. “Oh.”

After a lot of awkward waiting for the younger members to catch up, the four came to their destination. It was a medicine shop, although that self-appointed descriptor was generous at best, with signs promising miracle cures and bottles in the windows containing more flash than substance. Ladun stopped in his tracks, motioning for the others to stop too. He slowly moved up to the entrance, and opened the worn door as quietly as he reasonably could. Inside were three people, leaned up against the counter and harassing the shop’s proprietor. Two were dressed simply, with roughly textured long coats and collars that covered just enough of their faces to be concealing without raising suspicion. One was a tajkin woman, with long bright hair swept behind her back, and the other was a lapmiel man, with a body made up of orange and black shells, a rare sight outside of the Red Desert. The third wore the padded jacket and kettle hat of the town guard, and rested his hand on the barrel of a shotgun leaned up against the counter. The shop owner was an elderly albi man, fear visible but surprisingly well concealed on his old wrinkled face.

“Now,” said the woman, taking his arm in her hand. “I’ve laid out a lot for you to consider. We’ve got a better price, and even some officiality about us.” She pointed with her free hand at the guard, before bringing it to rest on the shop owner’s arm.

“I’ve told you once, but I guess I’ve got to tell you again,” said the man. “I’m already paying Jethin’s people. I’m not paying you too.”

The woman squeezed the man’s arm, perhaps harder than she intended too, her temper getting the better of her. “We’ve already told you! You won’t need to keep paying Jethin’s people!” She began to glide her fingers up the man's arms and to his fingertips. “You think you can just stiff us? Let me ask you a question. Do you like having fingernails?”

At this point Ladun finally entered, flanked on either side by the big man and Tekole. Kajulan meanwhile slinked away to the back of the shop.

“Oh,” said the tajkin woman, releasing the shop owner. “Speak of the Elves.”

“I think you’ll find we don’t take kindly to thugs manhandling our people,” said Ladun. Tekole nodded and crossed his arms, in a failed attempt to look menacing.

The tajkin woman snorted. “Really? Trying to take the moral high ground? I know damn well that you’d be doing the same thing were our roles reversed.”

Ladun put his arms behind his back, and a smug look creeped across his face. “Technicalities aside, it seems we have reached an impasse.”

“How so?”

Before he answered, Ladun noticed Kajulan come in through the backdoor.

“Well, it’s three against three. And even with your longarm wielding guard to help you out, I highly doubt you’d be willing to start a firefight right in the open at this time of day.”

The woman smirked, and on cue her and the lapmiel man beside her drew pistols. Ladun, Tekole, and the big man all dived for cover as the two fired several shots, the blasts echoing throughout the shop. The guard readied his shotgun, but before he had a chance to move up Kajulan struck him in the back with a bottle of some questionable liquid, and he crumpled. The tajkin woman turned and pointed her revolver at Kajulan, but spent a second too long aiming and was tackled to the ground by Tekole. The lapmiel man responded quickly, swinging around to aim at Tekole, but was in turn lifted by the big man and thrown into the wall with a horrific smack.

Kajulan smirked, evidently pleased with her own quick thinking. The guard tried to rise, but Kajulan tore his helmet from his head and quickly struck him with the bottle once more. Meanwhile, the tajkin woman sunk her knee into Tekole’s groin and shoved him aside. She transitioned to a kneeling position, but before she could finish standing she heard the rotation of two revolver barrels as Ladun and the bigman aimed their guns at her head. Her brow furrowed, and in one swift motion and a flash of silver, she drew her thin blade from her side and swung, knocking the guns from the two’s hands. She shifted to hold the jian in both hands. Her eyes darted, first to the lapmiel man laying on the ground, and then to Kajulan, who was fumbling to try and figure out how to use the unconscious guardsman’s weapon. She slashed at the air, causing ladun and his large partner to recoil, before fleeing from the shop.

Tekole slowly rose to his feet, clutching the bottom of his stomach, while Kajulan threw down the shotgun in frustration at its complexity. As soon as it thudded on the ground, the lapmiel man began to scurry across the floor, but Kajulan responded quickly, drawing a knife and throwing it into the man’s wrist. He screamed, more in shock than in pain.

“Get rid of the guard,” ordered Ladun. The big man walked over to the stirring guard, grabbing him by the back of the uniform and bringing him to the entrance.

“Hope it was worth the payday!” he shouted as he tossed him into the street.

Ladun faced the other two. “Kajulan, Tekole, bring the other guy out back. We have some questions for him.”

The two complied, lifting the lapmiel and putting an arm around either’s shoulders.

“Thanks for that,” said Kajulan. “I was nowhere close to figuring out that thing.”

“No problem, Kaji,” replied Tekole. “Guns tend to have safeties you need to turn off, by the way.”

“Oh,”said Kajulan as the two walked out the back door. They slumped the lapmiel up against a wall.

“You don’t know how to use a gun?” asked Tekole. “Haven’t you been at this a while, being an outlaw, I mean?”

“Yeah, but I’ve always been more of a knife person.”

“I know,” replied Tekole. He suddenly froze. “Wait, so when you had that mercenary at gunpoint, you didn’t actually know how to shoot him?”

Kajulan thought for a moment. “I guess. But at the time I didn’t know I didn’t know,”

Tekole chuckled, and Kajulan joined him, and the man with the knife in his wrist threw his head back and groaned.

The two others entered the alley, and Ladun pushed past Kajulan and Tekole, looking down at the lapmiel man. “Alright, talk.”

“About what?” asked the lapmiel man facetiously. Ladun slapped him.

“You know damn well what I want! The basics! Who do you work for?”

The lapmiel laughed. “Now look, I may not have fingernails, but there are still plenty of little bits of me the boss could rip off if he so pleased. So I think you’ll understand if I choose to bite my tongue.”

Kajulan shoved Ladun out of the way and crouched down to look the man in the eyes. “Now listen buddy, I may not be an atomist,”

“Anatomist,” corrected Ladun.

“Unimportant,” snapped Kajulan, giving Ladun a surprisingly venomous glance before looking back at the lapmiel. “Now, I may not be an atomist, but I’ve been in enough brawls and knife fights to know that for a lapmiel like you, that knife is going to hurt a hell of a lot more coming out than going in, especially if I just rip it out here and now.”

He had no skin, but the lapmiel’s eyes implied that if he did, it would’ve turned white. Kajulan grabbed the handle, and he squealed.

“Alright! Alright! It’s not like your boss isn’t going to figure it out eventually!” Kajulan released her grip, and the lapmiel took a few deep breaths before answering. “It’s the Unknown”

Kajulan unfurled and turned to face the others. “Who?”

Ladun took off his hat and scratched his head before answering. “The Unnamed King of the Red. The Lord of Sword and Board. Lotta names. He runs a mercenary group called the Sapphire Crest. They take jobs all over the place.” Ladun looked down at the lapmiel. “Hey! What are you guys doing working with the city guard?”

“The Unknown’s got connections with the law all over the place. Lot of job overlap. Not to mention good pay.”

Ladun put his hand to his brow, shaking his head.

“You feeling good enough to run?” asked Ladun.

“I guess,” replied the Lapmiel, confused.

“Then I suggest you start running.”

It took a second for the command to settle in, but when it did the lapmiel bolted.

“I suggest you let your boss know that some of his people have itchy trigger fingers!” Ladun shouted after him.

Tekole took a step toward Ladun. “So this Unknown guy. Is he bad news for us?”

Ladun shook his head. “Not as much as Jethin’s going to be. He’s outmatched, completely and utterly. But I have a feeling he’s not gonna accept that.”