Chapter Twenty Two

“W-what do you mean? I wasn’t hiding my identity.”

“Yes, you were. Do you think I can’t spot an illusion? It was obvious.”

“That wasn’t a disguise! I just uh… felt like being blond that day. It was purely for aesthetics.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday; I know a disguise when I see one. Who are you hiding from and why? You’re obviously a criminal, but are you a criminal hiding from the law, or other criminals?”

“Would you believe me if I said I was framed?”

“No.”

Shuka’s attempts at convincing Videon she was innocent wasn’t working. It was mostly because she was doing a bad job of it, but she told herself it was the curse’s fault.

“Alright fine, I’m hiding from the law. But it’s not because of anything bad I swear!”

“It’s true.” Xorvos said, finally speaking up. “She’s not dangerous and this is all just a misunderstanding.”

“I know she isn’t dangerous.” Videon replied. “I wouldn’t have gone into the dungeon with you two if I thought you were brave enough to try attacking me. Or strong enough to win for that matter.”

I mean, she’s not wrong, but she could be a little nicer about it. I’m sorry I’m not a monster who can throw fifty-pound balls through a stone door.

“But…” She continued. “You’re right. Looks to me like you are just some new assassin who messed up their first job. And if you have a Quanso as squeamish as Xorvos helping you, the job probably wasn’t even to kill someone. Either that or you are just tricking him.”

I don’t know how she got it in her head that I’m an assassin, but convincing her otherwise would probably just make things worse.

“If you think I’m an assassin, then why did you still want to work with me? Especially if I’m on the run.”

“Assassin is still just a theory. My other theory was you double crossed the thieves guild or some gang. And besides, you are hardly the first assassin I’ve worked with.”

Xorvos had a reaction to that, and it wasn’t a good one. Shock and anger laced his words as he nearly shouted at his fellow Quanso.

“You’ve worked with assassins before? But their murderers! It’s one thing to kill, but to make it their entire job? What Quanso would ever work with one of them?”

“One that wants to survive in a place that actually tries to kill you. You think this place was dangerous? You two wouldn’t even be able to scratch the weakest monster in a tier three dungeon. You can’t be picky when your life is on the line.”

“There are some things worth more than just your life. Honour is one of them. If you work with those with no honour, then you have no honour yourself.”

Xorvos seemed to have struck some sort of nerve, because suddenly Videon got angry. The whole conversation, the whole time Shuka had known her really, she had been calm. Or at least composed. But now her face twisted in a vicious sneer and her words dripped with venom.

“Don’t talk to me about honour kid. All it is, is an excuse to hate. A set of guidelines on how to be good, so you can call everything else evil. Petty, meaningless rules do not dictate someone’s worth. You don’t get to judge anyone, assassin or not, until you’ve met them face to face.”

“So what, murder and crime is alright because they might secretly be a good person on the inside? Alright, I guess I will just ignore all crimes from now on, after all, they are probably justified right?”

“Oh, so if I don’t need to know anyone’s life story before judging them, I guess the honourable thing for me to do right now is to knock you both out right now and dump you into a jail cell. Or are you and your friend the one and only exception to this rule? I mean you’re a Quanso, so obviously everything you do has to be good and honourable right?”

Xorvos didn’t really have an answer for that point, and maybe he would have conceded to her argument with a calmer mind, right now it just made him angrier. And as Shuka was about to find out, Xorvos did not have good decision making skills when he was angry.

“I AM honourable! You are just too far gone to recognise it. All you have done today is insult me and my friend and I cannot stand for that. Videon, I challenge you to a duel!”

There was fire in his eyes, but Videon had a fire of her own. The problem was she also had the skill to back up her enthusiasm, where Xorvos… didn’t. Shuka knew how this was going to end, but she didn’t think she could stop it. She was still going to try though.

“Xorvos stop, you’re going to lose! Just let it go, I don’t care about what she said.”

“I do though. Don’t try to stop me this is important.”

Shuka disagreed with that but the chances he was going to listen to her at this point was pretty slim. It got even slimmer when Videon gave her answer.

“I accept. Just try not to cry when your honour doesn’t save you from me beating the shit out of you.”

*

Xorvos was filled with righteous fury. If he was a little more level headed he might have reflected on how Validus might have the same feeling when hunting him. Instead, he was just angry. Angry at Videon mostly, but also angry at himself although he would never admit it. He felt betrayed.

How can a Quanso of all people be like this? Even Validus I can forgive, since he genuinely thinks me and Shuka are bad people, but what excuse does Videon have? She admits to helping murderers and then questions MY honour? As if she is some sort of saint? I’ve seen how she fights, she’s worse than Validus.

He thought back to the harpies. How she burned the matriarch alive without hesitation or regret. It was horrifying. He looked at Shuka’s face and knew even through the cure that she felt the same. But for Videon it was just business as usual.

She was supposed to be a beacon of morality and goodness where Validus fell short. What a disappointment.

Of course he knew he stood no chance against her, but he wasn’t thinking about that. So he took he place fifteen paces away from his opponent and waited for the duel to begin. Shuka had tried to convince him to stop, but all it felt like to him was her trampling over his honour. So here he was, with his gauntlets raised. The chest was moved from the center of the room, so there was plenty of space. He wasn’t planning on using any of it though. He was so focused on Videon that he almost didn’t hear Shuka counting down to the start of the duel.

“3…2…1… begin!”

Xorvos dashed forward and activated his new boots. The note said that upon activation he would ‘dash in a direction of your choosing with great speed.’ But he didn’t realize how far and how fast he would go. In an instant he went from the other side of the room, to bouncing off Videons shield. He expected her to at least be pushed back a bit, with how fast he was going and how much it hurt when he ran into her, but her shield barely moved an inch. Never one to miss an opportunity, Videon lashed out with her baton in a lightning quick strike to Xorvos’ head. It was a powerful blow accompanied by equally powerful jolt of electricity, along with… something else. Magic that sapped away his strength. It almost dropped Xorvos right then and there, but he just barely managed to stay standing. He stumbled back a few steps and expected her to chase him down and finish him off, but she just stood there with a steely look in her eyes. It was a bad start, but even with his head pounding in pain and his energy stolen by magic, Xorvos wasn’t giving up.

His second charge was a bit more calculated than his first. His plan, was to step into his own range as fast as possible, while keeping an eye on her baton and shield for attacks. Then he would try a low tackle to try and get below her shield. Once they were on the ground, he would have the advantage as a grappler. The plan was full of holes, but it didn’t even matter because he failed on step one. He stepped forwards in a long stride that was almost a jump, with his guard and eyes up high. What he didn’t see was Videon smash her boot against his shin with the full weight of her armoured body. If his new boots didn’t protect his shins she would have broken his leg. As it was, he was just in intense pain and couldn’t actually stand on that leg. Xorvos started falling forwards, but not content to just drop him to the ground, Videon planted her foot back onto the ground and then brought the knee of her opposite leg to smash into his face as it was falling to the ground. Simultaneous to that she also brought her baton on the top of his head, leaving it to be smashed between two very hard surfaces. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

*

Videon was gone when Xorvos woke up. She poured a potion down Xorvos’ throat and then left without a word. Even with the potion it took him a while to wake up, to the point where Shuka was starting to get worried. When he did wake up though all he had was a headache and a sore leg. Impressive considering what he went through.

“What happened? Did she leave?”

His words were mumbled a bit slowly at first, but then faster as if his brain was remembering that it was no longer concussed. Shuka was sitting on the floor looking at an arrow in her hands.

“Yes, she did. She also gave you a potion after you basically begged her to bash your face in. But I suppose she still isn’t honourable enough for you.”

“But she wasn’t honourable. Kicking out an opponent’s leg is a dirty trick and striking an unarmoured head is poor conduct.”

“If you don’t want to get hit in the head then wear a helmet!” Shuka snapped. “Don’t you think we have enough problems without you getting yourself brain damage over nothing? You’re luck she didn’t charge us for the potion she gave you because I’m pretty sure it’s a higher quality potion then what we bought.”

“It wasn’t over nothing though it was a matter of honour.”

“It was about your own goddamn pride! It certainly wasn’t about me because I told you I didn’t care and to stop, but you did it anyway! You just couldn’t stand the thought that some Quanso you met yesterday wasn’t the same kind of self righteous jackass as Validus. Guess what Xorvos, the fact that she is willing to work with criminals is a good thing right now. Want to know why? Because we are criminals! We can only get help from people like that know so you better get used to it before someone decides to stab you and not heal you afterwards.”

“She called you an assassin, how can you not care about that?”

“Why would I!? What’s the alternative, saying the grand paladin is hunting me down personally because he thinks I’m a witch? I don’t care what she calls me as long as she doesn’t want to hurt or kill me.”

The argument was getting heated, but most of the anger was from Shuka. Xorvos wasn’t used to seeing her so angry. He was also a bit burnt out from his fight with Videon, both the physical one and the verbal one.

“Look, can we have this conversation some other time? My head feels bad enough as it is, and your yelling isn’t helping it.”

“Fine. We should probably be getting back to town anyway; we don’t want to miss Ralisdor.”

It wasn’t a happy end to the argument, but at least it was over. That was enough for Xorvos, he felt crappy enough as it was.

*

Videon was not in a good mood. She didn’t always get along with the adventurers she partied with, but it had been a while since it had gone that badly.

There goes some potential customers. I didn’t even get anything good from the dungeon. A half-used spool of magic thread and a ring nobody is going to buy. At least I only had to split the gold three ways.

It wasn’t a very good day, all in all, but at least she knew she could always vent about it to books over a beer later. She felt bad doing it, but the halfling seemed to live off the gossip. Well gossip and whatever book she was reading. Videon was just about to decide that she wasn’t getting any customers and close early when someone walked through her door. It wasn’t who she expected either. Standing in her shop was the shifty human girl with the bow. This time she was back to her blonde haired disguise.

Shuka? What’s she doing back here? And alone too. Does she want compensation for me beating up her friend? I hope the potion I gave him was enough, but if he’s still hurt pretty bad she might try to guilt me into paying her for it.

“Hey, if you are here about your friend, I’m sorry for going all out on him. I’m used to fighting monsters so I kind of got caught up in the moment and forgot it was a person I was attacking.”

“Oh, uh no that’s not why I’m here. I think he’s mostly fine with the potion you gave him. Don’t think too badly of him though, he’s normally a better fighter than that, and he was just trying to do what’s he thought was right.”

He certainly wasn’t that dumb against the gargoyle or the harpies. But what’s this girls angle then? She can’t just be here as a social call.

“So, uhh… first of all thanks. For the dungeon, I don’t think we would have survived without you.”

“You wouldn’t have been in the dungeon without me either. Whatever it is you want to say just say it.”

“Right, sorry. That potion you used, the fire one. How much do they cost?”

And here I thought I scared them off for good. At least she doesn’t seem to be holding a grudge. Although considering she came alone, Xorvos might be.

“Fifteen gold. Impressed by their effectiveness?”

“More like terrified. I don’t have the luxury of being picky though.”

“Xorvos can’t have agreed to this. But I guess that’s your problem to deal with. Here let me show you how to use it.”

*

Shuka was tired. She could barely keep her illusion up and her wounds still hurt. She didn’t want to waste a potion on a few scratches. She was going to have to wash the blood out of her clothes too and she was not looking forward to that.

I should have asked Videon for some tips to get the blood out. Hell, she probably has a potion or artifact in her shop that does it with magic.

As tired as Shuka felt it was only around midday. The sun was up in the sky as bright as ever and it was starting to piss her off. She finally arrived at the hideout, where she could just sleep the rest of the day away. When she entered she saw Xorvos and Ralisdor waiting for her, with Xorvos leaning against a wall, and Ralisdor sitting in a chair reading a book.

Ah, so Xorvos did get back before me. Good, I was worried he would be limping the whole way, but I guess it’s not that bad. And Ralisdor is here too. Wait… Ralisdor!?

“Oh good” Ralisdor spoke with a slight smile “You are finally back. I was worried I would have to go into town and find you myself.”

Maybe today’s not so bad after all.