A Foul Bargain

Resplendent Air 13, R.Y. 778

Ruol had taken to running his operations out of a watering hole in an upscale town center just outside of Lookshy. The town was basically a consortium of wealthy farmers, made rich by the need to feed the growing Seventh-Legion, who had contracted the actual running of their farms to hired help and centralized their own locations to better control the market. The situation resulted in rampant price-fixing and monopoly, but Lookshy still preferred it to buying from the Guild. Opal knew the door guard at the exclusive saloon and was able to enter without making a scence, but she didn't know if her lucky contact was part of a trap or just a wild coincidence. The Veil War had made Opal so paranoid that she trusted nothing and assumed almost every event in her life was orchestrated in some way - certainly it had made her underlying psychological issues (known to very few even after seven years) even worse.

Regardless, with Naru at stake, Opal pressed forward even with the sneaking suspicion Ruol meant for Opal to find him. She subtly copped her sheathed switchklave, strapped to her thigh and concealed under a flowing skirt, reassuring herself of her armament. Moving to the bar, she took an isolated seat and flagged the bartender. At first, she was tempted to flash her spider tattoo and be shown straight to Ruol, but kept her cool and decided to take a more subtle approach. On the off chance that she could get the jump on him, it would prove useful in negotiations.

The bartender came to Opal, leaning forward to hear over the din of the patrons. Opal spoke first.

"How ya doin'?"

The bartender shrugged, maintaining his cocked ear, "Can't complain. Business is good."

Opal inquired, "Nightlife more exciting these days?" Noting the bartender's slight impatience, she decided to relieve his obligations for a while and said, "Why don't you pour two whiskeys, one neat, one however ya like, and leave the bottle next to mine? I'm here visiting a cousin, but I'm actually trying to buy out part of his farming operation - and I want to get the lay of the land so I know who I can try to partner up with if I have to." As he slowly reached for two glasses, Opal reassured him, “I tip well. Talk to me.”

As the bartender poured two neat whiskeys, Opal began her questioning. Seething with rage, it was everything Opal could do to keep her cool, but knew that a successful approach to Ruol required her to stay calm.

“So what’s got business up lately? Visitors, land changing hands, what’s going on?”

The bartender took a sip from his own glass, seemingly content that Opal was prepared to pay for her information.

“Visitors, mostly – if you’re looking for internal business partners, you might be out of luck. Everything’s family here – blood’s thicker than water, and land mainly changes hands between family members… As you know.” The bartender tipped his glass toward Opal, whose own cover was trying to buy out her cousin.

Opal smirked and replied, “Sure, but who’s getting all these visitors? Maybe I’d have some luck there, or am I not the only one trying to get into this operation?”

The bartender said, “Well, you might realize that a business venture unconnected to the Guild present an appealing option to some people. A lot of the visitors are talking to Lodja, who owns one of the larger farms.”

Opal shot the remainder of her whiskey and poured another glass. “Think you could point me in his direction?”

The bartender took a sizable gulp himself and gestured toward a table near the stairs. “Older guy, blue tunic, jade earrings.”

Opal nodded and replied, “Thanks.” She shot her next glass of whiskey and dropped a bag of jade on the table, the value of which far exceeded the cost of her whiskey. “All yours.”

Leaving her glass behind, Opal got up and approached Lodja’s table. Not wasting any time, she stopped short a comfortable distance and greeting him with a wry, knowing grin – one that suggested she knew his importance.

“Lodja, I presume?”

He nodded, somewhat unphased at this point by random strangers. “That’d be correct.”

Opal quietly slid a chair out and took a seat, leaning forward on the table. Although she tried to come off just vaguely sensual, just in case, Lodja didn’t have the look of a man who’d be terribly susceptible to such charms – particularly Opal’s; seduction was not her forte.

“I have a… sensitive issue.”

Opal let the silence hang for a moment, but continued when she noted Lodja’s total lack of interest in her suggestive tone. Ash probably would have had more luck. She forged ahead.

“I’ve got family here, and I think it’s about time I got a slice of this pie – with Legion recruiting on the up and up, my other business prospects just don’t match up. Thing is, small town you know… I have to be careful how I go about this.”

Opal, surveying Lodja for a hook, spotted a pipe in his tunic pocket. She’d been smoking with Ash and Mesa on their last job, and had some of their tobacco with her – they always sprung for the classy shit.

“I’ve got some of Chiaroscuro’s finest tobacco with me – how about we go somewhere away from prying ears and have a smoke?”

Lodja cautiously nodded, “Why not?” The farmer pushed out his chair and stood, gesturing Opal after him. They climbed the stairs of the tavern, turning left at the top of the stairs. Again, almost too perfect – Opal was mainly looking for an excuse to go upstairs without stirring up any curiosity. Still, she couldn’t turn back. They entered a seating area which overlooked the first floor, complete with padded chairs and a fireplace. Lodja sat down as Opal handed him a bag of tobacco. He began stuffing his pipe.

Opal asked, “So, do you most of your business up here?”

Lodja nodded, puffing deeply on his pipe as it began to glow. He looked to Opal with a twinge of suspicion, asking, “Sure do. You going to join me?” The farmer gestured to his pipe.

“I’m not, actually. Really, I’m just wondering whether you realize you’re an asset or if you’re one of the blokes they don’t bother telling.”

Taking the pipe from his mouth, flabbergasted, Lodja replied, “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“I thought so. Sorry in advance by the way.”

Lodja began to stand up from his chair to return to the crowd, exasperatedly remarking, “I think we’re –“

Opal lunged quickly and silently, striking the man’s jugular with the edge of her hand. As he gasped, she struck another blow at his temple, knocking him out. She quickly grabbed his falling form and lowered it gently into the chair. She whispered, “Done here? Yes, we are. Quite... Okay, Ruol you motherfucker, where are you hiding?”

She crept silently past the staircase, entering a hallway whose configuration was all too familiar to a Grass-Spider: a hallway of locked doors. Still, the town was remote and the tavern wasn’t large – even a member of the White Veil Society could only take so many precautions. Opal, her patience at its limits, pressed her ear to each door. Finally, she got lucky – Ruol’s unmistakable, effeminate voice speaking in hushed whispers to a contact. Noting the door’s location, she crept back over to the fireplace. After checking that Lodja was still unconscious, she moved to the window, unlatching her switchklave. Using the jade blade to carve the edges of the glass, she forced the blade in between the glass and the wood in which was set and tipped inward, causing the pane to fall towards her. She caught it and set it next to the window. Worried that the sounds of the outdoors would blow her cover, she quickly slipped out of the window and onto the roof of the tavern. Focusing her personal Essence, she assumed the Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade form, crawling sideways along the side of the tavern until she was just to the side of Ruol’s window. She took a deep breath and got into a handstand position, balanced above his window with her hands holding the edge of the tavern roof. She swung downward, shattering the window’s glass as she kicked through it. Without wasting any time, she landed on the floor and turned her momentum into a roll, standing quickly with her switchklave drawn. Spotting Ruol, whose expression was somewhere between genuinely surprised and amused, she lunged for him, grabbing his despicable primped hair and shoving him against the wall. Within fractions of a second, her switchklave was drawn across his throat and ready to deliver a fatal blow. She turned to the contact Ruol was meeting with, a startled man whose lack of composure suggested he was either a good actor or not worth worrying about.

“I just cancelled your meeting.”

Ruol smirked, letting the man scurry out the door. He turned his gaze back to Opal, meeting hers. He calmly said, “He’s going to make a scene down there, you know. You’ve got a few minutes at best.”

Opal snarled, pressing the blade in deep enough to draw blood.

“You fucking piece of shit. If you harmed a hair on her head you’ll eat your fucking balls before I grant you the agonizing death you’ll be begging for by the time I’m done with you.”

Ruol playfully winced at the flesh wound, keeping his grin intact.

“Don’t forget, you have something of ours too.”

Sick of his attitude, Opal kneed his groin with all of her might, causing him to double over. Immediately, she snatched his hair again, whipping him around and bashing his forehead into the stone of the fireplace behind them. She shoved him onto his back and climbed on top of him, and he taunted her yet.

“Bit of an overreaction for a man prepared to bargain with you.”

Opal, furious, rammed her fist squarely into the center of his face, not holding anything back.

“Don’t –“

She grabbed his hair with her other hand, punching him again.

“Fucking –“

And again – Even Ruol, a Dragon-Blood, was beginning to bleed.

“Grin at me.”

She punched him a final time, then used her other hand to slam his head against the floor before returning her switchklave to its position at his throat. She asked, “Ready to talk?”

Ruol coughed, wincing.

“I suppose I am. What’s it been, five, seven years? Long time, no see. What are you up to these days? Same shit? Seriously, no promotion yet?”

Opal’s low growl was her only response at first. Finally, she replied, “Going somewhere relevant with this? If you’re not going to say anything useful, then you won’t be needing your tongue.”

“Fine. To answer your question, no, we didn’t harm her, much. We had to subdue her in several escape attempts, but torture? No. She doesn’t know anything we don’t already know. What would we stand to gain by that? We aren’t savages… Unlike some people,” Ruol muttered. He added, “Also, I’d appreciate it if you got off of me.”

Fuck. I got careless. Too fixated on Naru…

Opal cursed herself as she felt the cold barrel of Ruol’s plasma tongue repeated pressed into her stomach. He’d managed to unholster it while spewing his useless pleasantries and soaking up her blows. Opal slowly backed off, keeping the knife leveled at his throat as they both stood. Ruol let the gun fall to his waist, but kept it aimed at her. He continued talking.

“Since your organization’s intelligence gathering faculties are considerably inferior to my own’s, I can only assume the same is not true for Orchid.”

Opal pursed her lips and offered what she could.

“She’s alive.”

Ruol nodded, replying “That’s good enough. I’m assuming you want to make this quick. I figured somebody would come for me, and I sort of figured it would be you. I wasn’t quite expecting that entrance, though…”

Ruol touched his blackening eye gingerly and wiped some of the blood from under his nose, continuing, “Anyway, the deal is simple. Naru for Orchid. I won’t even bother asking for the chest, since I doubt you could give it to me even if you wanted to.” Opal narrowed her eyes, “What are you saying?”

Ruol replied, “This is between my organization and you – not the Grass-Spiders, you. Do you seriously think they’d trade their most concrete link to my organization – a high-ranking member of it at that – for a mortal associate, however prized?”

Opal sighed, her eyes tearing up slightly – she was furious at herself, although she didn’t understand why. For some reason, she felt responsible for Naru’s kidnapping – she felt responsible for everything that happened to Naru, even since they’d split up years ago. Panting from her earlier exertion, she took a moment to catch her breath. Ruol was right, though. There’s no way the Fiends would authorize that trade. Orchid was the only concrete asset of the White Veil Society they had, and since she was a former Grass-Spider, she was a particularly good catch. But Naru…

Ruol cautiously smiled again, half expecting Opal to lunge at him.

“Naru is alive and well, but for the same reason, she’s also useless to us except as a bargaining chip, frankly. If this deal is going nowhere, we’re going to dispose of her. You know your Order won’t do it, so it’s up to you. Right here, right now. What becomes of precious Naru?”

Opal, nearly losing it, half-spewed and half-sobbed, “You fucking piece of shit. Some day I’m going to kill you. Mark my words, I don’t know when it will be, but I swear on my ancestors and all five Dragons that my face will be the last thing you ever see.”

Ruol, unphased, waited patiently. Opal sighed, running a nervous hand through her hair. The Fiends literally might kill her for this, but this wasn’t Naru’s fault. It wasn’t her stupid war. She was just collateral. Why did Opal still even care? It could have been a number of reasons, but Opal was too much of a wreck to contemplate them. Deep down, she knew the moment she decided to approach Ruol she’d be making this deal.

“Fine. Fuck, fine. I’ll do it. How do we want to do this?”

Ruol smirked. “You tell me, princess. You’re the one smuggling out a prized prisoner. I’ve got permission on my end.”

---

Resplendent Air 18, R.Y. 778

Five nights later, rain pelted the freezing ground. Opal pulled the green cloak over her head, walking briskly to the Range Home’s holding cells. Orchid’s was sealed with sorcerous means, but with her circlemate (Ash) being one of the organization’s premiere explosives experts, Opal wasn’t going after the lock. She smeared a thick red paste on the side of the holding cell, placing a thinly wrapped blob of firedust with a fuse on the paste. It stuck to the side, and Opal struck a match against her bracer, lighting the fuse. She then banged loudly on the door to the cell, waking a groggy Orchid, who was thoroughly bound and savagely beaten. Opal called a warning to Orchid.

“Crawl to the other side of your cell and do it quick. Don’t ask questions.”

Orchid obeyed, just in time. The explosion rocked the cells, obliterating the side wall of Orchid’s holding chamber. Knowing she had to act quickly and under the cover of the considerable plume of smoke, she snatched Orchid, throwing her onto the back of a horse and tossing a black blanket over her barely conscious form. She hopped onto the horse and began furiously riding toward the forest. Despite her speed, Ryn was already outside, his blade drawn. He shouted to Opal.

“What the fuck is going on?!”

Opal cursed under her breath and lied, “I don’t know! Somehow Orchid got out! She made a break for the woods, but I lost her in the chaos. Take north, I’ll take south!”

Opal spoke with convincing enough urgency that Ryn began to untie his horse despite some logical problems with her story. Without giving Ryn a chance to respond, she rode off towards the south woods, hedging her chances that Ryn would listen and head north rather than follow her.

After riding furiously for ten minutes, Opal came to a clearing, where Ruol stood next to a black horse. On her knees next to him was Naru, a black hood pulled over her head. Opal dismounted hurriedly and pulled the blanket off of Orchid. She cut Orchid’s bindings, prompting Ruol to do the same for Naru. Orchid stared blankly at Opal for a moment, confused and almost with pity, before limping toward Ruol. At the same time, Ruol pulled the hood from Naru’s head, and she immediately ran to Opal. Ruol was wise enough to know that his successful escape still depended on considerable haste. He immediately helped Orchid onto his horse and the two rode off. In the meantime, Naru silently embraced Opal, the two women standing silently in the rain. Somehow, Opal became the weaker of the two in that moment, breaking down and crying into Naru’s shoulder, not even sure why she did what she just did. Naru held her tightly, keeping her composure but simultaneously grateful and almost guilty – even Naru knew that her life came at a cost to the Grass-Spiders that far exceeded its value; she also knew Opal had put herself in considerable danger doing this. But, still, they would worry about the consequences tomorrow. Each too tired to contemplate the complexities of the situation, they stayed locked together in the rain, embracing silently.