Chương 97: Chapter 96 - Rescue

Atzi lead Vance and the girl out from the southern gate. She hadn't seen any camps when approaching the city, so it must have been to the northwest. She traipsed around the perimeter until she spotted it. A raised section of land, dryer than the surrounding swamp, was spotted with a large number of tents. People milled about between them. The refugee camp where the Ancestor had taken his people after the Serpent's takeover. The group approached. Atzi turned to Vance and said, "See signs of Marco anywhere?"

"Nope."

"Well, see anyone you recognize?"

"Oh, yeah!" He pointed over to a woman. Atzi vaguely recognized her too, the refugee woman who'd tended to the wounded warrior just outside her shack, before the loops began. She was still wrapped in several layers of cloth. She spotted them, too, and immediately walked over. She put a fist against her hip and asked dryly, "Vance, are you here to join us?"

"Nah, nah." He waved it off like it was a silly idea.

"Then what brings you here?"

"His sister's the Ancestor's prophet, he gets the easy life in the temple," Atzi spoke up.

"I'm just looking for Marco. He here?" The woman shook her head.

"I haven't seen Marco in a while, even days before all this began."

"You haven't?" She shook her head again.

"Shit."

"Is he missing?" The woman asked.

"Yeah. Right around the time that the Serpent, y'know."

"I'm sure he would be fine. He doesn't seem like the sort to riot. Perhaps he found himself inside somewhere, and simply cannot get out?"

"Probably, yeah, but I got no idea where. I thought he might have come back here and got caught up in this. Guess we won't know till the lockdown ends." Suddenly, there was a loud grumbling noise. The refugee woman immediately looked down at the girl clinging onto Atzi's pantsleg. She asked, "Do you need food, girl?" The poor girl shyly nodded.

"We've managed to catch some animals. You may join us." The refuge woman motioned over to a campfire, over which people were grilling meat. The poor girl looked between the woman and Atzi. Atzi scratched her scales.

"Oh, yeah. I was just gonna bring her back to the inn I'm staying at." She looked down at the girl.

"I gotta head back into the city now though, so your call. You wanna stay here, just stay here." The girl's eyes went wide.

"I've never gotten to eat inn food." Atzi grinned.

"It's great, Hemm's a real good cook." The girl remained clinging onto her. The refugee woman smiled faintly.

"Take care of her, then." Atzi vaguely realized the consequences of her words.

"Alright, I guess she's coming back with me. Yeah." - On the way back, Atzi remembered she didn't even know the girl's name.

"I'm Atzi, by the way, what's your name?"

"Mala."

"You know, the inn does have pretty good food," Vance added idly.

"Well, yeah," Atzi said. Then she added, "I still can't believe you still got caught."

"It wasn't my fault!"

"Where's the other one, Kain or whatever his name was. Not gonna try and bail him out?"

"I mean, how? I don't think my sister would help out Karl. And I don't have any pull myself. Unless you want to help him out?"

"Nah, I'm good. I need to get my own warrant cleared, doing that as soon as we get back to the temple district."

"You have a warrant? What'd you do?" Vance asked. Mala looked up at Atzi curiously.

"Broke into the Branek bank." Atzi grinned. Then she added more quietly, "And didn't get into the vault." Mala suddenly asked, "That was you?"

"Me and the others in the crew, yeah. Kinda awkward after it went wrong." Atzi laughed nervously.

"I heard stories growing up about how dumb- um, nevermind."

"Wait, what stories?" Mala whistled very poorly. Atzi defended herself, "Look, you have no idea how tight the security there is. And I could pull it off now! If there wasn't bigger stuff going on." They finally reached Hemm's inn. Hemm was wiping down the counter. Atzi knew it couldn't be that dirty given the lack of customers, so she wondered if Hemm just did it to keep it herself busy. The cyclops woman looked over at the three.

"Atzi? Vance? And who's she?"

"This is Mala. I'm buying room and board for her for a while. She helped with the search. I didn't find Marco, though. He's not been back to the slums, that's the only lead I had."

"Oh." Hemm sounded worried. Then she added, "Well, hopefully he's okay."

"He's probably fine, just stuck somewhere. I'm gonna ask about the curfew, see when it's gonna end. Vance is fine, as you can see. His sister's the prophet of the Ancestor now, so I've gotta take him back to the temple. Mala, this is Hemm, she makes great food, you'll be fine here." Hemm reached under the counter and pulled out some bread. She motioned for Mala to come over. Immediately, the poor girl ran over. She ate it so fast she started coughing. Hemm got her a glass of water, and she drank it greedily.

"So how much?" Atzi asked. Hemm just waved her hand.

"She's covered."

"Hey, can I have some money?" Vance turned to Atzi.

"Ask your sister, not me."

"But she won't give me any!" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Too bad."

"It's for a good cause. I'll give it to the people back at the camp. Promise." Vance held out a large hand.

"Talk to your sister about it, geez." Atzi folded her arms.

"You think that charity stuff works on me?" Vance's eyes flicked between Atzi and the girl devouring bread at the counter.

"Yeah?"

"She helped, you were useless. Now c'mon, I gotta get to the temple district anyway."

"Hey! I'm super useful. What if you need my help in the future?" Vance followed Atzi out of the inn.

"Consider it a down payment."

"I won't." - He tried to wheedle money out of Atzi eight different ways before they reached the temple. She dropped him off, glad to be rid of him. She was just about to leave when Jewel ran up to her.

"Atzi, before you go." She held out a silk cloth that looked heavy with something.

"Thank you. It's not much, but please take this for helping to find my brother."

"Oh?" Atzi took the cloth and opened it up. Inside were bronze coins, maybe about fifty. Seems her brother isn't worth that much. Can't blame her. Well, money's money.

"Thanks. See you around, Jewel." Jewel waved her off. Atzi strode across the nearly empty temple district as she headed for the Serpent's temple. She inhaled and readied herself. Hopefully, she would be able to leave it, too. Just as she was about to push open the front door, a number of people started coming out. They wore well-pressed robes, and a few guards were escorting them. They looked between each other as though sharing an awkward feeling.

When Atzi entered the building, the first thing she noticed was the stacks of paperwork on the floor. Sat in the middle of them was the Serpent's prophet, Andrew. He looked tired, staring down at a piece of paper like he couldn't read.

"You look dead," Atzi remarked. He looked up at her, His one good eye conveyed a simple wish. A wish that her words were true. Must be rough. He basically has to run everything on behalf of the Serpent. He stood up and shuffled over to the door to the back, opening it.

"The Serpent is eating more than anyone should." Then he stared at Atzi, like she was the page of paper from before. Atzi looked away, nervous, and quickly went into the back. The Serpent was, indeed, gorging herself on a feast, thankfully of regular food. It was just one of her bodies as far as Atzi could see, though. The goddess made a slurping noise before looking up.

"Ah, Atzi! What brings you back?"

"A couple little things. I've still technically got a warrant I think, can I get that wiped?"

"Easily." The Serpent waved a claw.

"Not that anyone would try to collect even if you still did."

"Cool. There's something in the central guard house I need to take out of there. It's something that shouldn't have been there to begin with, don't worry. Can I walk in and take care of that?"

"Of course! Of course. Here." The Serpent picked up something off the table and threw it towards Atzi. It was a badge that said 'Head of Guard'.

"The last one betrayed me." Atzi gulped.

"Thanks." Then she bravely added, "One last thing before I go. I was in the slums looking for someone and it turns out there's barely any food left, people can't go out to get any more with the lockdown."

"Huh?" The Serpent said while her mouth was full with a whole bird. She swallowed.

"Why would they need to go- oh silly me, people can't deliver food, either!" She sighed.

"Sure, sure, I'll get that fixed. So much work you're giving me."

"Sorry, I just promised I'd pass it along. And it's better if people are fed anyway, yeah? Then they can't be bribed with food or anything." The Serpent's prophet walked back in. He set several more plates on the table. One of them was a big plate of jewel beetles. Atzi glanced down at them hungrily. The Serpent said, "Andy, be a dear and make sure people have food." Atzi glanced away. He really must not like me for this.

"Yes, Goddess of mine. Who I love waiting on, claw and foot."

"Well, see you around for now." Atzi started creeping towards the exit.

"I'll let you and yours get back to it." The prophet groaned. Atzi scarpered. - Atzi approached the central guard house. A guard standing outside looked up at her, and then made a face of realization.

"Oh, Saintess prophet! You need something?"

"Yes. I need to come inside, the Saintess has revealed something else to me about a problem here. A lot of the guards have been sick recently, right?"

"That's right. Terrible stuff."

"She thinks she knows the cause, I need to take a look for her."

"Of course. You can head in." Atzi didn't even need to show her badge! It was ideal. She didn't really like the idea of waving it around unless she had to, because she didn't want any responsibility. Once she was inside, she immediately saw Brea, the local commander. The woman should have been out of commission due to Atzi's poison, but she was working for some reason. She was the only guard in the open office, looking over almost as much paperwork as the Serpent's prophet had been, and looking about as good.

A crazy person to be working, clearly.

"Hey, can I get a sack?" Atzi asked her. Brea looked up at her. She blinked twice, thrice. Then she said, "Wait a minute. You. I know you." Atzi chuckled.

"You're not just the Saintess's prophet we were told about, you're on wanted posters! From that bank robbery! You broke out of jail!"

"The Serpent's pardoned me, isn't that great?" Atzi grinned.

"Some people are lucky," Brea added sourly.

"Hey, I spent years hiding in the slums, I earned a break."

"You earned-" Brea pinched between her eyes.

"Nevermind."

"Anyway, I need a sack, Saintess thinks she knows the source of your problems." Brea shouted upstairs, "Get this woman a sack!" Then she coughed repeatedly. This feels pretty great. I'm ordering around the guard commander and she can't arrest me! This is cool. A moment later, a guard came down with a sack and handed it over to Atzi. She headed upstairs to the kitchen and opened the cabinets. She couldn't quite remember which cups were which, so she just took every single one, dumping them all in the sack.

On her way back down, she said to Brea, "Need the ones in your office, too." Brea groaned as she got up. She walked over to her office, unlocked it, and headed inside. Moments later, she came out with her cups and threw them in Atzi's sack.

"Get new mugs, should be fine. You don't look great."

"So, what, someone poisoned our mugs, somehow?" Atzi shrugged "It's what the Saintess divined. She's been right about everything else so far. I've been a prophet for a week, I don't know how it works. I just listen."

"Sure. Whatever. Farewell, your holiness." The last word was heavy with sarcasm"See ya. May the Saintess bless you." Atzi replied, matching Brea's tone. - Atzi sat down the sack on V's wooden desk. They looked at her pensively.

"You retrieved the cups?"

"Got em all, yeah." V still looked skeptical, but took the sack anyway.

"Couldn't tell which ones were the poisoned ones and which weren't, so I had to grab them all." They took out a cup and lifted it. Then they smashed it against their desk. A lead sphere rolled out from the shards. They smiled.

"There's approximately a hundred fire gems hidden in Branek bank. It will likely not come as a surprise to you, but that was my true target."

"A hundred?! That many?"

"A dedicated collection effort over a year. Stolen from the empire's sources." Atzi paused.

"That kinda sounds like you were stealing them back for the empire." V laughed.

"No."

"Oh. I just wondered how you landed on your feet after everything a couple years ago, I guess. My warrant's finally cleared, it's great."

"Unfortunately, it is not in the terms of our agreement that I tell you how I 'landed on my feet'."

"Alright. So the next thing you wanted help with was getting out of the city, right?"

"Yes. I had originally attempted to escape through the sewer, but the normal exits were closed off."

"I walked out of the city earlier today, I can just take people in or out."

"Then could you return tomorrow morning? I must finish packing the essentials."

"Sure. You know about any other gem stockpiles?" Atzi tried her luck asking. V looked at her. They seemed to consider something before picking up the lead sphere. They silently held it aloft.

"What about it?" Atzi tilted her head. Then her eyes widened.

"Wait. There's a gem in that?"

"I am not well versed in magic, but I do know a few basics. For example, lead counteracts the magical energy that air gems would normally give off. And the gems also accelerated its poisonous effects." Atzi tried hard to remember how many spheres there had been.

"There were thirteen air gems just sitting in those all this time? Wow. No wonder you wanted them back."

"Part of a plan far larger than a poisoning. A plan that is useless, now."

"Sorry," Atzi instinctively apologized.

"Hey though, look on the bright side, you're now close personal friends with the prophet of the Saintess, that's gotta be helpful in the future right?"

"We are not friends."

"Guess not. I'll uh, be back tomorrow." As Atzi left V's, her mind was already excitedly working through the implications. If I could break into the Branek Bank alone, I could eat a hundred fire gems. That was rank four fire magic! Plus, she finally had an easy source of gems every loop, so long as she could steal back the cups. She clenched a claw as she thought of more of the magic power flowing through her. Finally.