22 Under Blinding Ligh

Around sunset yesterday, while the defenders were preparing to fend off the Beast Wave, an elderly skinny man crept into the new headquarters of the Cruel Rose gang.

"Mr. Simmons!" Cruel Rose greeted him as a guest. "You came at last!"

"Yes, I have been waiting for this day for a long time!" Mr. Simmons smiled, a creepy, toothy grin. "I wanted to come earlier, but I had to wait until everyone was busy with the Beast Wave. I certainly don't want Kage to barge in on me when I take Mandy's first time! You have kept her for me, haven't you?"

"Um… about that…" Rose flinched.

"You HAVE kept her for me, haven't you?!" Simmons glared. "We had a deal! How could you offer her to someone else?! You…"

"Watch your tongue, Simmons!" Rose snarled. "I offered her to no one!"

"She gave herself away before you could get to her?" Simmons stared. "I can't believe it."

"That's… I don't know either." Rose hesitated.

"What are you talking about? You just said…"

"She's not here! She never was!" Rose let it out at last. "Someone else bought her before I could bring her to work!"

"What?" Simmons stared. "But the contract… the slave bond…"

"It triggered correctly." Rose said. "But then someone else offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. You know how it is. Business is business."

Simmons stared at her blankly for a moment, then roared. "Who? Who took her?"

"Remian Vin." Rose answered. "She is his slave now."

Simmons choked. "Who? I don't even know who that is!"

"He's a powerful mage, an agent of the Iron Legion." Rose shook her head. "I want no trouble with the Legion! If you have an issue with that, take it up with them."

"But… but that's impossible!" Simmons protested. "The Legion doesn't take slaves!"

"Tell them that." Rose snorted. "I hear they put her to work building some sort of Adventurers Guild."

"Manual labor?!" Simmons gasped. "A pretty thing like Mandy, roughening her hands and burning her smooth, sweet skin under the burning sun to do construction work?! What a waste! She should be here, for me, and… and…!"

"They're over the hills on the west side of the city. There's a trail burned into the ground leading all the way there from the south side gate." Rose told him.

"West, eh…?" Simmons frowned. "There's a Beast Wave going on at the south side right now. But perhaps my old friends in the Burning Steel could put one of those old quarry elevators to good use…"

"Well, you better hurry. There's no telling how long this Beast Wave will last." Rose snorted.

Simmons departed.

***

Upon arrival, he found the place seemingly deserted. There was only a little Tier 1 wolfcat cub playing around the unmanned construction site. Simmons took the liberty of examining Mandy's workplace, trying to figure out the easiest way to bully her new owner into giving her to him.

He did not seem like the 'powerful mage' Rose implied. Most of the construction done here look to have been done with muscles and sweat, not magic. The food stored up were smoked meats or dried rations that anyone could cook up, no different from what you could get at the market, or from any of a dozen hunters around the Frontier. They did not seem particularly wealthy either.

That was good. Simmons rubbed his hands, ignoring the furious barking of that silly wolfcat cub. Even if this 'agent' proved to be too important to the Legion to bully, Simmons could simply offer more money. Dealing with poor people was very simple that way. Put up enough coin and every problem was easily solved.

In fact, the poorer he was, the better that tactic would work. Simmons mused as he considered the half-built Hall, and the stores of meat. This was a kitchen, and a little carelessness could easily cause an accidental fire… if a fire so happened to burn everything down, this agent would be destitute… a destitute, desperate man would be a lot easier to bargain with.

A little kitchen fire burning down everything could make that agent desperate enough to accept a far lower price, even half of what he'd normally settle for. For the sake of his own purse, Simmons decided to teach that agent a lesson in fire safety by demonstrating what happened when a kitchen fire ran out of control…

"Shut up!" Simmons kicked at the Tier 1 wolfcat cub who, at this point, was barking and growling at him frenziedly.

The crazy critter wouldn't let up! It snarled and growled, and even snapped at him when he tried to set a half-bale of straw on fire. Meanwhile, Simmons looked around to see if they had any alcohol stored away. Was that a beer cask? That would be useful for a fire…

The wolfcat cub bit him on the leg.

"Aargh!" Simmons kicked it furiously.

"YIYIYI!" the cub yelped in pain.

"You filthy little…!" Simmons roared, advancing on it.

That was when a much deeper, much louder, much more fearsome growl sounded from behind him. Simmons turned to see an absolute monster of a wolfcat baring her fangs at him.

At that point, Simmons began to have a very bad day.

The huge wolfcat snarled and lunged, taking a bite at him. Simmons screamed and dropped everything, running into the Guild Hall and scrambling to build some sort of barricade.

The wolfcat kept coming. Simmons kept running. He fled out the side, and ran a whole circle around the Hall, the wolfcat snapping at his ankles the entire time.

"Uwaaaaah!" the shriek that resounded around the Adventurers Guild was remarkably high pitch and more suited to a four year old girl than a forty year old man.

They went a second round, the wolfcat's teeth so close, they began to shred his clothes just centimeters from his skin. "MOMMYYYYYYY!!!"

At the third round, a bear emerged, roaring angrily, holding its nose. Apparently there was a really bad smell coming from a certain fleeing individual, specifically from the middle portion of his trousers…

A fourth round went by and words had completely failed the unsuspecting arsonist-wannabe. The sounds coming from his throat now resembled the squealing of an immature pig…

At the fifth round, not even fear could supply the gasping fellow with energy any more. Completely spent, he collapsed at the entrance of the hall. It was hours before he could so much as raise his head and the first thing he saw was the giant wolfcat just waiting and watching him outside the hall.

That was when he crawled into a corner with both the big wolfcat and the big bear creeping closer and closer to him, fangs and claws all on display…

Once backed into the corner, he huddled there, staying very, very still, not even daring to clean himself or his soiled pants.

Such was the situation in which Remian and the others found him in when they got back.

***

"What are you doing here?" Remian asked, glancing at Carrie.

"I just wanted to see how Mandy was doing! I was concerned…"

Carrie snarled. [He tried to set the kitchen and the Hall on fire! And he kicked Vigil!]

"Guys, take a look around. Is anything amiss?" Remian sent the others out searching.

"Remian? What…?" Mandy stared, confused.

"This… BEAST!" Simmons pointed to Carrie, trembling. "This horrible beast! It chased me for hours! It's violent and evil and… and…! I demand you put it down! Kill it! Sell the skins or whatever, I don't care, but KILL it!"

"Carrie? What is going on?" Mandy asked, stroking the wolfcat gently. "You're not normally so… fierce."

"Buff? What say you?" Remian questioned.

[What she said.] Buff answered shortly.

Vigil crept up to Remian. [He wouldn't listen to me! I told him not to steal stuff! I told him not to burn the kitchen! I warned him and warned him… and then I tried to stop him… and he kicked me!]

"There must be some sort of misunderstanding." Mandy tried to broker some peace.

Vigil's brows furrowed, and then a sudden flash of memory floated into Remian's mind.

Remian viewed Vigil's memories in a split second and paused. [That does seem rather hard to misunderstand.]

"They attacked me! They're beasts! The Beast Wave… why aren't you killing them already?!" Simmons shouted.

"Because they are our friends and you tried to steal and destroy our base." Remian said softy.

"R-Remian…?" Mandy hesitated.

Remian raised a hand. In the air, he drew a sigil. "Truth!"

Light blazed. It was blinding. Everyone except Remian stumbled, closing their eyes. Mandy herself fell back, gasping.

"I… I just…" Simmons stared, struggling. "I…"

"Confess!" Remian seized the sigil in his hand. The sigil blazed even brighter until everyone had to turn away.

"I came to destroy you!" He howled. "I will destroy everything you have! And when you have nothing left, I will take her away, and she will finally be mine!"

"What…?!" Mandy gasped. "Why? I don't understand!"

"Confess!" Remian ordered.

"Because I want her! Therefore she must belong to me! She will never get away!" He shrieked. "She is always teasing me, with her looks, and her sweet, sweet body… but it's all a lie! All of it! They are all false promises! She never accepted my advances! Year after year, she rejects me, and then taunts me with a smile! No more! I did everything, betrayed everyone, sold everyone, to make her submit to me!"

Mandy's face was pale. "Simmons… what have you done? What have you DONE?!"

"Confess!" Remian roared, and the light blazed.

Simmons screamed. "I made a deal! She promised! She promised me Mandy would be mine! And so I told her… While Kage was guarding Sara, I brought Donny away from the Tavern and then I told her…!"

"You! It was you!" Mandy gasped. "That is why the Rose Gang attacked! The children… they were defenseless! Because YOU…!"

"Because I kept the peace!" Simmons shouted. "Because I am there, the Cruel Rose does not attack! I give them what they want, just a little, and in return, we have peace! I am what keeps the children safe! I am what keeps the beer flowing! I am the reason for the Ravens' survival! Because of me we can prosper! We only need to give her a little bit from time to time…"

"You're giving her our children!" Mandy screamed. "They trusted us! They trusted you! And YOU…!"

"Guahh!" Simmons suddenly choked, spluttered. Then, there was a soft groan, and the sound of something collapsing.

Hearing that, Remian stopped pouring power into the Light of Truth spell. It was a small spell, by rights, a little something the priests used in confessionals. It wasn't usually able to make people do anything they didn't already want to, but this one had been super-powered by a very stressed, very angry Remian. At least it came out as light rather than fire. The light had been blinding, and nobody could see what happened at the very end.

But when they did, they stared. "Mindy?"

Mindy was standing there, sobbing, tears dripping down her face uncontrollably, her hands white-knuckled on a knife driven straight into Simmons' chest.