Book 2 Chapter 10: I Think We May Need to Split Up

Book 2 Chapter 10: I Think We May Need to Split Up

Vampa looked up as Dantes approached, his eyes darting up and down as if assessing a threat and quickly determining there wasnt one.

Who are you? he asked, as he began to unwrap the cloth he had around his hands.

My name is Ed. Im a friend of Veras. She asked me to bring you this.

Dantes reached into his jacket and pulled out the folded piece of paper hed been given. He held it out as Vampa met him at the bottom of the stairs. Vampas gait reminded him of watching a cat walk across the top of a fencepost. He was large, larger than even any of the fighters hed just watched brawl, but his footsteps were completely silent and every movement he made, even just taking the paper and unfolding it, had a kind of disciplined deliberateness to it. He smelled the paper of the letter for just a moment. It wouldve been too subtle to for most people to notice, but Dantes caught it.

His eyes quickly went over the letter, and he nodded to himself. I will watch over the Vixen and Vera and keep them safe. He looked at Dantes again. Leave. He walked back into the pit, and began collecting clothing and weapons.

Can I ask how you know Vera?

No, he said as he slid on a thick wool shirt.

He let out a sigh of relief, but left all of his animals there to keep watch. He could see his favor trickly slightly upward across the board as he gazed at his growing sleeve of tattoos. Not his favorite type of gold, but he certainly enjoyed having it.

He had at least partially solved his immediate concerns with the Vixen, but he still had other problems. He needed to try and locate some of the other prisoners who had escaped. If Wayne or Merle were among them, and he could somehow release them from their collars, then he would have some powerful friends on his side. He also needed to determine the status of his old garden. Now that he knew what a risk it posed, he had to find some way to manage or mitigate the danger it represented. If the escapees could give him the information on where things stood then he would be able to assess his options.

He opened his pack and began sorting through Pachas notes one by one. Over the last few weeks hed been studying them while adding information of his own. He knew where Mondegos shipments came in, how they were stored, where they were sold, and what they funded. He knew who was who and what was what. The only thing keeping him from having all of the information he needed, was the enchantments on a number of buildings that prevented rats, roaches, or other vermin from entering them. He needed to find a mage with loose morals, or that he could control by some means. Hed prefer to find the escaped collared and work with them, but he couldnt wait until one turned up, besides if he had an uncollared mage under his thumb he could use him to help the collared once he came across them.

He also needed to start looking into Danglars more. He was involved in Mondegos operation and besides that he wanted his revenge on him just as much. Pacha theorized that he was using his legal authority to somehow ensure that certain boats that came into port werent searched, or ensure that any that were smuggling without Mondegos blessing received additional scrutiny. Luckily Dantes didnt really need to figure out the exact workings of Mondegos operations. He only needed to know enough to break them, and that was a much easier task than building them up. There was a reason hed stuck to thievery with his gang rather than any deeper machinations. Harder to fuck up. Though once he was through with his former companions he would need to fill his time with something and regular thievery didnt have quite the same appeal to him as it once did.

He worked his way through everything again in his head. Spinning ideas of what to do, and what to target. He could cover a lot of ground alone, particularly with his abilities, but if he wanted to move quickly, hed need the support of an equal.

He turned his attention to Jacopo, who was gorging himself on a piece of rotten fruit.

I think we may need to split up for a while.