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7. Hull - Allies
🕑 Added 2025-05-21 00:27:26 +0000 UTC
Chapter 7
Allies
“If both of us have realized that the sewers are the best way to get around, others will have as well, and they might not be friendly,” Basil’s father said. I thanked Fate that he’d recognized me from the Rising Stars Tournament and his son’s descriptions of me; I’d have hated to fight him, his squad of men, and all their cards in the dark of the tunnels. Despite the fact that his youngest child was perhaps my only true friend, the only time I’d ever darkened their door was during the ill-fated Gala the night this war began, and he hadn’t even been there that night, as I recalled. The man might have been forgiven for not remembering me from the tournament. No fear there – Lord Dormund Hintal was a steel-eyed, mustachioed brick of a man entirely focused on the safety of his city, and I got the sense he never forgot anything.
“Can you set up patrols down here?” I asked him.
He shot me a look that could have driven a nail into ironwood.
“...sir,” I added. Just because I was friendly with his son didn’t give me freedom to be familiar with him, it seemed.
He gusted a sigh through the thick, graying bush on his upper lip. “One thing at a time, young man. Patrols are an excellent idea, but first we have to reach some kind of equilibrium. Find out who’s still alive, where our strong points are, and keep the enemy from taking more ground.”
Who’s still alive. “Is Basil still in the palace?”
I’d only thought his blue eyes were hard before; now they looked like sapphires. “Better if he weren’t. The palace has been taken.”
“Fate’s wooly nethers,” I grunted. I knew things were bad, but if the very heart of the city had fallen…
Lord Hintal’s slap took me completely off guard. It wasn’t a little tap. “Now is no time for blasphemy,” he said crisply. “Control your language.”
Holding my cheek, I turned away so I could master my face and unclench my other fist. It wasn’t as if it had hurt, really – it’d take more than that to strip a single card even if I weren’t armored – but the good old rage leapt to the surface instantly. It choked me. I’ll kill him. Rich bastard thinks he can treat the gutter boy however he pleases. I tried to take a deep breath and only partially succeeded. This is Basil’s father. He runs the Watch. We need all the help we can get. Let it pass. Fortune’s mangy beard, you tell me to watch my tongue? I’ll rip yours out!
After a tense, silent moment in which I knew everyone was watching me, I turned back to him. The older man stood ramrod straight, watching me like a hawk. He knew exactly what he’d done, and he wanted to know how I’d deal with it. “I haven’t seen your son since Azure hid him away. If you have any information, I would appreciate it.” I knew I sounded strangled. It was the best I could manage.
He nodded brusquely. Whatever test that had been, I had passed it. “He did not remain secluded. Just after the wall was breached, my wife Tizaeli saw him dueling one of the enemy Mythics. He couldn’t best her, more’s the pity, but his mother was able to keep him alive in the aftermath. I haven’t heard anything since.”
His hand was shaking ever so slightly as he tugged at the corner of his mustache. Even as the dire news about Basil gripped my guts, I suddenly saw his bluster and reserve very differently. “I’m sorry, sir. We’ll get him back.”
“First things first,” he repeated doggedly. “We have to muster our resistance. I have a direct route back to Watch headquarters, and I’ve got it well defended. We need all the good duelists we can get.”
I shook my head. “I have to take care of the Lows.”
He barked a laugh. “The Lows? They’ll be in flames by the end of the day, if they’re not already.”
My fists tightened again. “They’re not, because we’ve been clearing the streets. Somebody has to.”
The corners of his eyes tightened as he heard the implied accusation. “Now is not the time for that conversation, young man. But surely you can see that your strength is better spent preserving the critical infrastructure of the city and keeping it out of enemy hands. Have you learned nothing in the King’s army?”
“The King is dead,” I said harshly. “I need to take care of my people.”
“Evacuate them,” he said instantly. “We’ll find hidey-holes for them until they can go back and rebuild. Your feelings of loyalty to your people do you credit, but the Lows cannot be a top priority.”
“I have a hundred or more people with a card or two able to defend themselves,” I said, intentionally not mentioning that nearly all of those people had never yet summoned anything, ever, and wouldn’t even have those combat cards in their hands for maybe another hour or two. “They can hold the streets. Like you said, the neighborhood isn’t much of a target. They can defend against whatever zombies wander their way.”
“If there were a hundred card holders in the Lows, I’d know about it,” he said, frowning.
“Really?” I shot back, unable to stop myself. “A dragon could be hiding in the Lows and the Watch would never hear a thing, seeing as how they don’t go there.”
His scowl deepened. “That many cards don’t just pop out of nowhere.”
“These did,” I said, “and I gave them to my people. This Big Man doesn’t run things like the old one did.”
Lord Hintal chewed his lip. “If that’s truly the case, then we should gather them in. The more fighters, the better.”
“No,” I said flatly. “These are shopkeeps and barmaids, not soldiers. They’ll fight to protect their homes, but you try to deputize them into the Watch and they’ll rebel. These are Lows folk, sir. They have no love for the Watch or for any part of the city that has left them to rot for so long.”
“Fine,” he said impatiently, waving his hand. “You, at least, are coming with me.”
I laughed, incredulous. “Did you not hear me, sir?”
“Every word, much as I disliked it.” He stepped close to me, looming. “But Big Man or not, you are a soldier now, young Hull, and you will behave like it or I’ll see you stripped of your cards and jailed for insubordination one way or the other. No, I am not your commanding officer, but I’m the closest thing you’re likely to find in this sewer, and I am telling you to help me protect this city.” He gestured to Harker, who was watching us spar with an unreadable expression. “Send your lieutenant to run things in your absence. I will give her the directions to reach the Watch headquarters via the sewers so she can reach you to report in.”
He was unyielding as he stared me down. My first instinct was, of course, to tell him to stick his head up his own ass and go looking in there for somebody who’d put up with his bullshit. The problem was, as much as the man’s manner grated on me, it wasn’t bullshit he was spouting. Yes, I needed to take care of the Lows, but Ticosi’s cache of cards and the leadership of Harker, Roshum, and Bryll would do nearly as well in taking care of that as I could. The fact was that I was operating at a different power level now, and that came with a wider set of responsibilities. Lord Hintal looked like a man who understood responsibility. I had the sudden urge to ask why he’d so often left Basil to fend for himself, and why I, his son’s best friend, was only now meeting him for the first time… but I remembered that tremor in his hand and knew that such questions would push the man too far. “You heard the man, Harker,” I said. “Looks like we’ve got a change of plans.”
“I’d rather stick with you, if that’s all right,” Morgane said to me quietly. “Not that I hate the Lows or anything, but they’re not my people.”
Lord Hintal’s hard eyes flicked over to him. “Another Rising Stars competitor, yes? We’ll put you to use.”
I pulled Morgane aside so the old man couldn’t hear us. “It’ll be more dangerous.”
He shrugged, looking sour. “Things are going to be dangerous all over for a bit, I expect. I’d rather stick close to the meanest bastard I know, and since Brin’s out of the running, that’s you.”
I nodded. There really weren’t any great options at the moment, not for any of us. “Lord Hardass over there doesn’t seem likely to be handing out cards for the asking. Go with Harker first to get yourself a decent deck. Ten cards at least, fifteen or twenty if they can spare them from doubles. Then come back and we’ll see what we see.”
He nodded, clapping me on the shoulder. “I knew it was a good bet to help you out back then,” he said, smiling.
I flipped a rude gesture at him. “You charged me a crown for that help.”
“So I’m smart on top of everything else,” he said, shrugging. “Fortune blesses some of us more than others.”
One of Hintal’s men gave Harker the turnings of the sewer that would let her find the basement entrance to the Watch headquarters, grilling her on it until she could recite it back. She gave me a quick nod as she turned back the way we came from. She’d take care of the Lows. Whatever else was past for her, I felt that in my bones.
“I am trusting you with the location of my stronghold,” Lord Hintal called after her. “That is not something I take lightly.”
She turned to the older man, and for a second I thought she’d say something sarcastic and cutting. It’s what I would have done. Instead, she gave him a little bow. “Neither do I,” she said. “I’ll bring what information I can, and I swear by the Twins I’ll die before I give this secret to the enemy.”
Lord Hintal nodded approvingly, and then she was gone. I marched with his band of men back toward his base of operations, walking silently by his side. I burned with curiosity to know how a stone tower of a man like this had given rise to a sensitive, kind soul like Basil. Any question I thought of sounding insultingly familiar or rude, though, so I kept my peace. We’d butted heads on first meeting, but that didn’t mean we had to be enemies.
Then, out of nowhere, Afi appeared at my side. One second there was empty air, and then the girl was reaching forward, hugging me. “Hull! It worked! Finally.”
All around me, City Watchmen cried in surprise, one going so far as to summon one of his cards.
“It’s fine,” I said to them, waving my hands even as I tried to return the hug. “I know her. She’s safe.”
“Another soldier,” Lord Hintal said, sounding satisfied. “I knew I needed to bring you in. Already it pays off.”
Afi let me loose. “Lord Hintal,” she said, sketching a bow. “Forgive the sudden interruption, please.”
“Afi, what the hell?” I asked. “Where did you come from? What was that?”
“Let’s, uh… talk about it later,” she said, eyeing the people all around us. I’d known she could disappear into her Mind Home – she’d shown it off at the Soiree during the Rising Stars Tournament – but unless she’d been hiding in the sewers all along and just happened to pop out at exactly the right moment, this was something else. Had she elevated during the fighting? Was this some new skill of hers? I wanted to know all about it, but she, like most of the upper crust she’d spent time with – as I’d so painfully learned from Basil – got more cagey about her abilities the higher they got. It was the smart thing, and I’d likely do the same if I ever elevated to Rare and beyond, but for now it was simply an annoyance.
“No secrets from me, girl,” Lord Hintal snapped. “I need to know what every last one of my people can do if I’m to use them properly.”
His people? The man had a grasping streak. Still, it made sense. He was trying to organize a resistance to take back the city.
Afi hesitated, looking at the cluster of spear-wielding City Watchmen. Understanding, Lord Hintal waved them away. “Give us some space, men,” he barked. “I want to hear every man reciting the Handbook section on moral certitude, loud as you can.”
With the blank faces of men obeying orders they found unnecessary, the Watchmen moved to a reasonable distance and began loudly repeating something that sounded memorized. Some of them had it down cold while others had to be prompted.
“Out with it, young lady,” Hintal said. “Tell me what house Erlun’s investment in you has grown into.”
Still looking uncomfortable, Afi sighed, speaking quietly and fidgeting. “I can use my ability to move through some other space and come back out here in the real world.”
“More,” he snapped.
She pressed her lips together, and I could tell she’d have liked to glare at him, but she was too good at handling the noble folk to ever give in to that impulse. “I hit upper Rare during the fighting. I’ve always been able to physically enter my Mind Home, but there was a door that I couldn’t ever open before. Now I can, and it takes me…” She shrugged awkwardly. “Somewhere else. Everything’s gray, no sky or ground or anything, but every now and then I come across other doors out in the nothingness.”
“Other Mind Homes,” Lord Hintal said, his steely eyes narrowing.
“Turns out, yeah,” she said. “I thought they were all the same, but after some experimenting I realized I’d come across one that felt familiar somehow. I stepped back out of the Mind Home – well, out of wherever this in-between space is, at least – and I was in the home of a girl I know in my parents’ district. She just about died when I came out of nowhere. They’re all hunkered down and hiding from the fighting. Then I thought, if I could find one person I knew, maybe I could find others.” She gestured to me. “Hull tends to get in over his head, so I thought I’d help him out.”
“Thanks,” I said dryly.
She winked at me.
“Can you target enemies?” Hintal asked.
She shook her head. “I have to have a connection to them. I was good friends with the girl when we were younger. Otherwise the door feels like nothing.”
“Still useful,” the older man muttered. “A messenger that can’t be intercepted.”
“Basil,” I blurted as soon as the thought came to me. “Could you find Basil?”
“Easy,” she said. “It might take me a while, but the doors all seem to be of people that are here in the city, and now that I’m getting used to it, I think I can draw the doors of people I know closer to me instead of having to search randomly.”
Lord Hintal had been staring at me hard since I made the suggestion, chewing on his mustache. “It’s a good idea,” he conceded. “We should recover him as soon as possible. Azure marked him out as a resource to be kept out of the enemy’s hands.”
“He’s your son,” I said, indignant.
He wheeled on me, clutching the hilt of his sword. “I know who he is.” The words were cold as the grave. I wondered if I was going to need to have one of my demons take a hit for me. Instead, he broke away as if he’d never said a word to me. “Can you go now?” he asked Afi.
She glanced at me, a hand half outstretched. “You okay?”
I put on a smile. “It’s the Gala all over again. Still bad at the dance.”
She gave me a crooked smile, and my insides twisted up all funny. “You’ll muddle through. You always do. I’ll come back and find you as soon as I have him located.”
“Reconnaissance only,” Lord Hintal warned her. “He is likely under guard in the palace. Wait until well after nightfall before you attempt to enter his space.”
“Understood, my lord,” she said crisply. “By your leave.”
He nodded, and with one more wink in my direction, she vanished again.
Hintal stared at the space where she’d been standing and whispered a few words. With all his men still filling the tunnel with the noise of their repetition, I almost missed it. Once the quiet words penetrated my skull, though, I was glad to have heard them.
“Holy Twins, protect him. Please.”
He might be a pushy policeman with a stick up his ass, but underneath it all, Lord Dormund Hintal was still a man that was worried about his boy.
Comments
Sharrif
Also nice explicit/in-text confirmation that going through the internal grade of a tier *does* give you a new upgrade/power/ability! Or at minimum some refinement.
Sharrif
Not to mention the very *visceral* showcase of Nether's influence upon Hull!
Sharrif
So much characterization in a single interaction. Some even in subtext rather than explicitly shared/spoken. Beautiful. Though Afi's interest and Hull's interaction/comfort/ease with her does seem like a sudden jump from Book 2. Might be worth considering fleshing out more/adjusting the pacing in the rewrite/edits?
Test Test
He has a duty and a hard choice to make. I don't blame the man for trying to have everything
Kris Boxall
It’s a shame Basil’s dad is a bastard but sadly not a surprise
Hailhound
Maybe one of my favorite chapters so far. Two people going against their instincts and their hearts for the greater good. Hull bending to authority, a man of duty forced away from his son but still taking a meager and potentially unwise chance to save him
