CHAPTER 34: OFFER

The air was dense and hot as Hadrian’s eyes fluttered open.

The lighting was warm and he could see the fire dance on the walled firesticks. Shifting, he felt his body clamped down to the metal seat. All his vessels. Well, that of the three skinny men, at least.

Elsewhere, outside, the main and Alia vessels came to and so did some rats that had still been in the sewer.

His horse vessels weren’t lucky. Actually, he didn’t know what had happened to them, but he could not sense them.

Did people steal them while I was unconscious? To move two full grown horses.... Tsk.

Inside his prison, a toothless grin came into his vision. The face had wrinkles and the eyes were closed. They weren’t regular, some kind of deformity. The left was smaller than the right.

"Faster than I thought." The old lady said in a creaky tone.

All his three vessels had been clamped down, back to back, on metal chairs.

"At the same time too." Hadrian heard the familiar voice. "They keep surprising us."

Haldon stood with his back straight and black hair flowing down his back.

Hadrian scanned the room, noting the other faces inside. There was the mage he’d been hunting, the other female mage from that night, two other new faces and, leaning against the concrete wall, was the bearded man.

Huh. So, he did make it out. But what is he doing here?

"Magic and mages are a good thing." Haldon spoke as he took steps around the three Hadrians, not taking his eyes off of them with his hands behind his backs.

The rest were silent and the hot air was dense with tension.

"There’s an order to it. You know what magic a mage from a particular path is capable of, and you know what they’re all capable of."

Stopping his steps, he took a sharp turn facing the Hadrian vessel he’d stopped on and smiled.

"However, when met with something we do not quite understand.... " he gestured with his hand to the old lady. "its best to adapt and rely on new methods."

Haldon took two steps forward and went to one knee in front of the Hadrian vessel so that they were eye level. "Sorcery." He said as he tapped the Hadrian vessel’s knee. "Some say, witches I should say," he winked at Hadrian as he muttered the last part, "that sorcery predates even the first of the mages."

Supporting himself on the Hadrian vessel’s knee, Haldon brought himself back up to his two feet.

"Like I said." Haldon pressed his right palm on his chest and put on a sincere look on his face, "we very much love adapting. If you tell me what it is exactly you want, perhaps, I could help you and you could help us."

The Hadrian vessel’s eyes narrowed, "where’s Bagdona?" He asked.

Haldon’s brow furrowed. "Is that it? What you want has something to do with him?"

"No. Not at first, or for now, at least." The Hadrian vessel shook his head.

Haldon looked around the room and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, Bagdona is quite busy right now. But, word will be sent to him."

He hasn’t told him yet.

"You shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to meet with Bagdona. You might not appreciate his.... methods."

The Hadrian vessel leaned back into the metal chair and exaggeratingly relaxed himself.

"Not scared, are we?" Haldon chuckled. "You should know, I also have my methods."

"You’ll find them rather useless on us." Hadrian said.

Haldon’s eyes narrowed, "I’d like to think differently, but why don’t we get to it. What is it you want?"

"You." Hadrian said.

There were shuffles in the underground room. Or Hadrian imagined it was.

Outside, in a safe space, the main and Alia vessels sat calmly.

Hehe, I might as well see to what end their game runs. I’ve also learned something. If two of my vessels, even when in range, are completely lost from each other, unless I know where I’m looking, it’s hard for me to know where they are.

Right now, all Hadrian could tell was that they were still in range, unlike the horse vessels.

So about a hundred and fifteen metres.

Where they were in this range, he could not tell and the market area had resumed its activities.

He spotted the small wooden store his vessel had crushed in and knew they had not made it far from where their fight had taken place.

"And what would you want with me?" Haldon asked, maintaining his smile.

"Your body." The Hadrian vessel said sharply.

There was a laugh in the underground.

Haldon silenced them with a wave, "I’m afraid you are not my type."

"Your head then."

Haldon’s smile faltered for a moment.

"So, the typical." He said. "Well, at least let me know who you are, maybe I’ll remember what I did to you."

"Calos district." The Hadrian vessel said. Hadrian did his best to control his flaring emotions. Confronting someone so ignorant that caused your death was not easy.

"Williams inn. Your fight killed three innocent bystanders, one of them was a boy."

Actually, Hadrian had not wanted to admit this, yet. At that moment, however, he wanted to see Haldon’s raw reaction.

Haldon’s brows pinched. "Calos district

.... Calos district.... " he muttered, as if tasting the name.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he broke the silence of the underground room.

"Oh, that. I remember now."

He scratched his chin.

"Actually, it isn’t entirely my fault. I assume you already know, though. If you want I could help you get the head of the main culprit. Now that I think about it, that must be why the others had been at the metal workshop."

Hadrian’s vessel’s lips twitched.

"Both of your heads will be fine." he said.

"Come on now." Haldon still spoke in his playful tone, "the other guy is a real bastard, I understand why you’d be mad at him."

Seeing the man’s face remain serious, Haldon dropped the playful tone and his shoulders fell. "Fine, fine. You want my head for Truston killing your little friends. I’d like to keep my head of course, but, as someone who truly understands what you feel, I imagine your hard set on obtaining it. Or my body as your tastes align."

Haldon clapped his hands together. "So, I’ll trade you. In exchange for truston’s head, and head alone, how about you tell me, us, about that strange sorcery you and your comrades perform."

Hadrian did not respond and Haldon let out a sigh.

"My own head, after you tell us about the magic, I’ll let you fight me for it. Fair, isn’t it?"

"I have a better idea." The Hadrian vessel said.

"Oh, and what is that?"

"You’ll find out soon enough."