Disclaimer: The author of this fanfiction does not, in any way, profit from the story. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
The Reclamation of Paralon
by Pout
Chapter 11: Our Man Dan
“Stay here. I’m gonna go look around.”
Inui watched Momoshiro walk down the narrow street and disappear around the corner. The statistician sighed and reentered the tavern, pulling his hood down over his head. He claimed a single table in the corner that faced the door so he could keep an eye out for his companion when he returned.
They had only just arrived in the town which Momoshiro fondly called The Block. Indeed, it was a fitting name considering how the entire settlement was one small, overly-crowded square. It was a low-sider haven for those entering or returning from the Sieve.
Inui sighed once again, noting that this was his second contemplative sigh within five minutes. The men in the center of the tavern were playing a rowdy game of poker (the man in the easternmost seat was cheating) and there was a group on the far side of the room that was drunkenly harassing one of the pretty bar boys. Inui reflected silently. Once upon a time, not long ago, he had been an apprentice statistician to the Royal Advisor to the Regent of the Kingdom of Paralon. His situation had certainly changed drastically.
The recently-turned fugitive pulled out his notebook to keep himself occupied and waved to the bar boy now hiding behind the counter to come take his order.
Momoshiro was having no luck. Truth be told, it had been a while since he had last passed through the area, but he was disturbingly surprised by how much had changed without actually making anything different.
After leaving Inui comfortably situated at the Blue Balls Tavern, (a fine and esteemed establishment dating back to the founding days when the town was nothing more than a few rowdy shacks and a whole lot of alcohol), Momo had headed straight for the headquarters of the most powerful man in The Block: Bunker’s Cabin of Worldly Delights.
The owner of the establishment, Bunker, was a man who seemed to have a hand in everything in town. He knew everything that went on in The Block and was usually able to make some sort of profit off of it. He also happened to manage the business of transport through the Wilds.
Momoshiro looked up at the rowdy two story building with people overflowing from every entry portal and took a deep breath before pushing his way to the front entrance. He noticed with a grumble or two that The Block had certainly experienced a drastic rate increase. Everything went for more these days, apparently. It had taken him two silvers just to get inside where once it might have cost a couple of coppers. Feeling gypped but seeing no way around it he had paid up, only to face another weighty toll once he reached the counter. No delights, no information. So he had bought himself the cheapest concoction on the list and slammed back a pint of the most ill-tasting ale he’d ever had the displeasure of choking down his throat. It did, however, deliver quite a kick and Momoshiro had to admire the sneaky business sense of good ole Bunker, to slam up the cheap drink in order to milk out the deal that came after. Momo gave himself a good twenty minutes before deciding that he was sufficiently sober and therefore confident enough to do some business.
Bunker was a man built like a bear. He was large (really very large), dark, and spoke with a deep, growling bark. He was also very hairy.
“Momokipoo!” he greeted boomingly, twirling about and striking a pose. Despite the large, bear-ness of Bunker, his most distinguishing characteristic was that he had taken to wearing a big tent of a dress, all lace and doilies with pink trim. It frightened Momoshiro just a bit, but only because the article was on backwards and Bunker’s secretary was walking around like he’d been on a horse for the past year. “What can I do for you today, hmmmmmm?” the big bear of a man hummed daintily.
“I’m looking for Itsuki.”
“Itsuki? Oh, you mean-” and then he hopped twice, the floor shaking accordingly.
Momo nodded. “I need to get into Berridge.” The moment the comment left his lips, he gave himself a mental smack. Want! Always want! Never need!
Bunker had, of course, caught the slip-up and was smiling prettily to show off a huge, white set of chompers. “Oh. Well. I haven’t seen the little guy around in a while…”
Momoshiro sighed and slapped another few silvers on the table. Damn extortionist.
Bunker neatly collected his coins and announced, “He’s on a trip already. But he should be back three nights from now.”
“Three nights?” That would put them way behind schedule.
Bunker shrugged and adjusted the skirt of his dress. “I’ll bump you to the top of the list, of course. If you’re really in that much of a hurry though, you could always hazard one of the other guides that are left…?”
Momoshiro shook his head and Bunker nodded agreeably. Itsuki was the only man he trusted to get them through in one piece. “Where’s Itsuki stationed at these days?”
“Over by the Happy Cow. Sometimes he’s by the Giant Pickle though.” Bunker chuckled. He always liked the name of that brothel. “So, why are you headed for Berridge?” he asked because he didn’t hold a monopoly on information for nothing.
Momoshiro shook his head again and didn’t bother replying. Bunker let it go, figuring that he’d find out himself sooner or later. A few more coins traded hands to finalize the deal and soon Momo was heading back to the Blue Balls Tavern.
Just as he was coming around the corner, the sound of rowdy bellows and boisterous laughter filled the air. With a sense of dread, he noted that the crowd was gathered around the doorway of the Blue Balls Tavern where he had left his apprentice statistician companion. He hurried down the street and forcibly shoved his way through the throng, and promptly stopped short when he reached the action in the middle of the room.
A head hit the table in the center of the ring with a dull thunk and the crowd bellowed in amusement. They pulled the unconscious man out of his seat which stayed empty for only a moment before another man took his place, slapping about a hundred and fifty silvers on the table.
In the opposite seat across the table sat Inui scribbling furiously in his notebook with a gigantic pile of coins stacked haphazardly before him. Momo’s eyes bulged out of their sockets and he had to swallow hard to prevent himself from drooling at the sight of all that money.
Just then, a bar boy came scurrying out from the kitchen to Inui’s side bearing a large mug that was frothing at the lip and giving off what looked like blue steam. The crowd was murmuring and laughing and shuddering simultaneously.
“Ah, good,” Inui said, taking the drink out of the boy’s hands and setting it down on the table. He motioned to the boy and he came closer for Inui to whisper in his ear. There was a shush as the room went silent and the crowd tried in vain to hear what he was saying. The boy’s eyes grew and his face twisted a bit and the crowd gulped in unison. The bar boy scurried away and Inui turned to the man facing him. “Shall we begin?” He began to deal a deck of cards.
“What’s going on?” Momoshiro asked his neighbors, but they were all too busy heckling the players to answer. Momo watched as they played a quick few rounds of blackjack, wondering how Inui kept winning as he didn’t strike Momo as the cheating type. After the sixth round, Inui’s opponent had already lost all his money. The poor man looked as if he was about to be castrated, such was the fear in his eyes.
Across from him, Inui’s odd glasses were glinting more than usual and a disconcerting grin was on his lips. Even Momoshiro gulped. Almost happily, the apprentice statistician picked up the mug and offered it to the other man. It was loud in the bar, but Momoshiro was sure he had heard the man whimper.
Eyeing the mug as if it were filled with sewer rat droppings, the man lifted it to his lips and chugged the concoction down. He slammed the empty cup onto the table and promptly passed out, his eyes rolling up into his head. The crowd roared with both hilarity and pity while Momo stared hard and wondered cautiously about what had been in the mug. Inui was already scribbling like a madman in his notebook.
Momoshiro shook his head and stepped into the ring. The crowd cheered and he waved them off as he walked over to his companion.
“Oh, Momoshiro. You’re back. How did it go?”
“How did it go?” Momo repeated in a daze as he looked down at Inui’s bounty. “Oh, it’ll be another three days before Itsuki gets back.”
Inui frowned up at him. “Three days? Can’t we get someone else?”
“Not if you actually want to make it to Berridge with all your limbs intact.”
Inui shrugged. “Point taken.” He looked down at his notebook. “I have two combinations left.”
“Combinations?”
Just then, the bar boy returned, another mug in his hands. This one, however was not steaming and when Momo looked inside it, he noticed the way the drink failed to slosh about but rather seemed to ooze slowly from side to side, always a step or two behind the pull of gravity. It was also an awful yellow-green color.
“What’s in this?” Momo asked, horrified. Inui turned and looked up at him and smiled that creepy smile of his, glasses flashing ominously. Momoshiro shivered despite himself.
A mere ten rounds (and two more unconscious victims) later, Inui packed up his winnings and the crowd begrudgingly dispersed.
Once the tavern had reverted back to its usual ambiance, the owner of the establishment came over to them and offered them drinks on the house for bringing in such a crowd. Momo somehow even managed to get him to provide a night of free board upstairs.
“Waiting for Itsuki is going to cost us another four days.”
“And there’s no one else who can guide us across?”
“Well, not safely at any rate. Itsuki has the highest-”
“Um… Uh…” They were interrupted by the bar boy who had catered to Inui during the blackjack game. He was carrying a tray with two glass mugs.
“Ah, thank you, Dan,” Inui said, relieving the boy of the mugs.
The boy’s eyes were wide, whether in awe or fear, Momo couldn’t tell. In any case, he wasn’t leaving. Inui finally noticed and said, “Ah.” He pulled out a good number of coins and set them down on the boy’s tray. “Thank you for all your help before. I was able to collect some excellent data. You have my gratitude.”
Momo eyed Inui suspiciously but turned his attention to his little helper. “So what was actually in those drinks?” he asked.
A gold coin was placed on the tray. “For your silence.”
Momo shot Inui an incredulous look and was about to say something when the boy suddenly blurted out: “I-!”
The two men looked over at the nervous bar boy, surprised at his outburst.
The boy chewed his lip and said in a much quieter voice. “I... I need he-”
Just then, the manager’s annoyed growl rang from the kitchen. “DAN!!!”
With an ‘eep,’ the boy turned on his heel and ran back to the other room.
“What was that all about?” Momo asked. Inui shrugged but kept his eyes on the kitchen door for a moment longer.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do but wait until your friend returns.”
Momo nodded, then smiled. “Hey, so how much do you think you can make tomorrow?”
Inui and Momoshiro were returning from the bathhouse later that evening feeling blissfully clean. As they approached the tavern, a group of men came barreling out through the doors, laughing and looking mighty pleased with themselves. They sauntered off and disappeared into a brothel down at the opposite end of the street. Moments later, the doors were flung open once again and someone came charging out into the night, running blindly.
The boy ran right into Momo and rebounded, finding himself sitting down in the middle of the street with tears streaming down his cheeks.
Inui recognized the boy now, seeing him clearly under the moonlight. “Dan?”
“What’s wrong?” Momo asked, pulling the boy to his feet.
The young bar boy looked up at them, large, round eyes shining pitifully. “I…!” he sobbed. “He’s gonna…” And then he broke down, crying outright.
Some of the men walking by looked over at them with suspicious eyes and Momo shifted uncomfortably. “Er…uh. There, there?” He looked over at Inui helplessly.
The statistician adjusted his glasses and said, “Maybe we should take this inside.”
A few minutes later, Dan was leading them up the stairs to the second floor and their room for the night. He was still sobbing.
Momo hastily pulled them all into the room and closed the door as Inui guided the boy to sit down on the bed. The two older men simply sat and watched the boy cry for a good few minutes before Momo thought to ask, “So…do you want to talk about it?” And then it all came pouring out in broken, half-sob-half-whimper sentences punctuated by compulsive hiccupping sniffles.
As it turned out, Dan was the manager’s second-nephew. His mother and father had died only three years ago and since then, he had lived with his paternal uncle working for him at the tavern. But the tavern was hardly a successful business being situated in such a town as The Block and Dan admitted to being more of a klutz than a helpful employee. Furthermore, his second-uncle had been less than thrilled at being saddled with the young man from the get go. Consequently, the manager was in the middle of negotiations with a man named “Sleazy” Sal who owned the brothel across the way to take Dan off his hands and for a good price. Presumably, he was the leader of the group Inui and Momo had seen earlier.
“I don’t want to! I can’t-! I can’t be a-!” and then the boy broke down into full out sobs once again.
Inui adjusted his glasses once more and said plainly, “Even if you are under his guardianship, he can’t legally sell you.”
Dan sniffled and answered, “He’s not selling me. He’s getting paid to fire me.”
Momo sighed and shook his head in sympathy, but Inui was not following. “If he gets kicked out, he’s got no where else to go. They’ll blacklist him. He’ll never get hired by anyone and he’ll be harassed until he gives in and contracts into the brothel. That’s the way people do things around here.”
Inui nodded in understanding. “That is a problem.”
“Please!” Dan cried suddenly. “Take me with you!”
Momo and Inui exchanged stunned glances. “Whoa, hold on a minute,” Momo said, putting his hands up.
“Please! I can’t stay here! I have to get out!” Momo was shaking his head. “I know you’re going through the Wilds! I heard you say you were looking for Itsuki and-!”
He was cut off when Momo clamped a hand hard over his mouth. “Keep your voice down!” he hissed. Dan nodded and Momo finally let him go.
“If it’s simply a matter of getting out of this town, we can help pay for transport out to another city,” Inui said.
Again, Momo sighed. “Yeah, right. Two seconds out of town and he’ll get robbed and thrown back to the brothel steps. A kid like this is easy prey.”
Dan sniffled indignantly. “I’m not a kid. I’m sixteen years old.”
At that, Inui’s mouth opened in disbelief and Momo somehow managed to slide right out of his chair. “What?! Are you serious?!” The boy looked like he was twelve.
Dan blinked and pouted adorably.
Momo picked himself up and sat back down in his seat. Looking over at Inui, he said carefully, “Well…we can’t just leave him here.” Dan immediately perked up and turned his puppy dog eyes on full strength.
Inui ran the calculations in his head and ultimately decided that the boy, er, young teen, would probably be better off with the two of them until they reached Berridge and he could find a more suitable place for himself. “Very well. You can come along.”
“Thank you!!” Dan cried, catapulting out of his seat to hug Momo first, then Inui with all his might, his tears flowing now from relief and happiness rather than despair. “I promise I won’t be a bother! Thank you so much!” After an inordinate amount of thanking, Dan finally dried his eyes and announced that he still had to clean up the kitchen. With another hug for each benefactor, he wished them a good night and bounced on out the door.
“He’s so cute,” Momo said with a smile.
“Yeah, he’s a good kid.”
Momo nodded as he got ready for bed. “You’re right. He’s much too young.” Then he promptly fell asleep.
Inui regarded him impassively for a full minute before turning out the lamp, firmly denying that he had been thinking the exact same thing.
The next morning, they awoke fairly early. They rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to see if they could find something decent for breakfast. It was hardly surprising to see the bar regulars already drinking their way through the day.
The door to the kitchen flipped open and Inui and Momo blinked to see an old, bearded man come sauntering out, tottering dangerously with an empty tray on one shoulder. Realizing he had forgotten something, he slowly tottered back inside.
“Where’s Dan?” Momoshiro asked when the manager happened to pass by.
The man looked them up and down then shrugged and went on his way.
Exchanging worried glances, the two men dashed out the door and down the street.
The brothel was called the Grape Lounge, but was often referred to as the Raisin Lounge because most of the prostitutes were old and heavily wrinkled. That was part of the reason why the owner was trying to bring some new blood to the lineup. It was obvious that the new waiter at the Blue Balls Tavern had been an old Grape Lounge retiree.
“How do we go about doing this then?” Inui asked under his breath.
“Oy! Where’s the kid?!” Momo had one of the Raisin men pressed up against the wall. One of his hands was clenched around the other man’s flabby neck, holding him up so that his feet dangled off the ground.
Immediately, the man pointed upstairs and choked out, “Forth room to the right.”
Momo dropped him with a gracious smile and thanked him before heading up the stairs. Inui followed after.
They disposed of the three men standing guard outside without any problems and hastily kicked the door open. What they found was hardly the heinous scene they had prepared themselves for.
“Get down right now!”
“I told you, I can’t! I don’t know what I did!” Dan was yelling.
“Who the hell are-?” The rest of the question was cut short when Momo unceremoniously knocked “Sleazy” Sal out. The brothel pimp fell over and stayed down.
Inui stood in the center of the room and looked up. “Hm.”
“Inui! Momoshiro!” Dan cried out happily.
“Call me ‘Momo,’ kid.”
“You came for me!” There was sniffling and tears began dropping from the ceiling. “I can’t believe you came for me.”
“Hm.”
“Er, so what exactly happened?”
“I was sleeping. I was so happy, you know? And then suddenly, someone’s hand was over my mouth and they tied me up and brought me here. That was only a few hours ago.”
“Right. And what about…this?”
“Ah…”
“Hm.”
“Well, I’m not really sure,” Dan laughed nervously. “I’m not very good at magic.”
“I can kind of tell,” Momo said without malice.
“I bit the guy that untied me and then I…did something. I was trying to blast him away! I saw my mom do it once when this guy tried to steal his moneybag on the way home from the market. Anyway, I guess I didn’t get a good enough look at it when he was doing it. I don’t know what happened. One second I’m making the signs and then the next, I’m flying up and…well, yeah.”
“Hm.”
“Will you stop that?” Momo said rolling his eyes at Inui. “Get him down.”
Inui was still looking up at Dan who was currently plastered to the ceiling. The boy smiled down at him and he smiled back. “Well. I’m no mage, but I did take a class on Unworking at Iso.” He hm-ed a little bit more then rolled up his sleeves and made an elaborate signograph that etched bluish-green lines in the air above his head. The signograph floated up towards the ceiling and with a bright flash, and a tiny yelp from Dan, the boy was released and found himself lying in the cradle of Inui’s arms.
“Good work,” Momoshiro said. “Now, we’d better get out of here.” He headed for the door then promptly slammed it shut and slapped a weighty locking spell on it. “Looks like the bodyguards are up.”
“Window.”
Momo nodded, “Window.”
“You can put me down now, Inui,” Dan said sweetly.
The statistician blinked behind opaque glasses. “Right.”
Momoshiro brushed past him with a smirk on his face. “Right.”
“Hm.”
“Cut it out!” Momoshiro hissed.
“What are we going to do now?” Dan asked in a whisper.
“I don’t know. Itsuki isn’t back yet and we can’t stay in town anymore. This sucks. And my leg’s cramping.”
It was, by now, mid-morning. They had already returned stealthily to the Blue Balls Tavern to retrieve their things, but as they were sneaking back out, one of “Sleazy” Sal’s goons had spotted them and there had been some running and chasing. At present, the three men were huddled down in some random dark alley, keeping on the look-out for their pursuers. The town was already abuzz with its daily business so there really wasn’t any reason to whisper, but it seemed like the right thing to do seeing as how they were supposed to be hiding in fear of discovery.
They were watching the street in front of them and so were naturally surprised to hear a curious voice from behind suddenly ask: “What are you doing?”
Dan yelped, preparing to make a run for it, and Inui was already halfway through a signograph before the man, crouched in a squat like a frog, put up a hand in greeting: “Yo.”
Momo gasped and jumped to his feet with a shout and Inui’s magic petered out. “Itsuki! You’re back!”
If you would like to provide feedback on this story, please feel free to e-mail me at: poutonly@gmail.com.