Tears in the Rain
The clouds overhead boomed as this one glowered at the Alya-mare. Water dripped through the shoddily crafted amphitheater as we faced one another within its shadowed depths. The True Heir mercenaries held this one in place. Not that this one was in any condition to fight with the dagger sticking out of its guts.
“How did you find this one?” this one asked.
“You’re not the only one with access to magic. After our last talk, I decided to get some extra help.” The Alya-mare motioned at the True Heirs with an upraised hoof. “I placed a tracking gem on your gear. Originally that was to make sure you wouldn’t end up someplace where I couldn’t send a rescue team. But well...” She shrugged. “Priorities changed.”
Damn, it was a mistake to leave a set of gear at the safehouse, and doubly so when this one hadn’t taken the effort to make sure it hadn’t been bugged. This one had gotten sloppy in its haste.
This one glanced at the True Heirs that had a firm hold of it. “You had claimed you were broke, yet you seem to have pulled together enough coin to hire some mercenaries. What was it, a rainy day fund you’d hidden away, sold off some of your remaining assets or did you just straight-up steal some of the money this one gave you?”
“Didn't you always tell me to keep a hidden ace in the hole?”
“That much is true. Though this one repeats its first question, what are you doing?”
“Securing you.” The Alya-mare’s lips drew tight as she watched the True Heirs pat this one down. “Sorry, but I think we need to change the nature of this partnership.”
“So you decided to betray this one? You moved a lot faster than this one thought you would.” This one had deeply worried something like this might be inevitable, but the Alya-mare had never really been the type to act this quickly. She was the type to make careful, thought-out decisions, not spontaneous and critically decisive ones.
“You always taught me not to waste time once I'd made up my mind.” The Alya-mare sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “Look, I don't like this, but we both know you'll never treat me as an equal partner no matter what promises you make.”
Given how bad things looked, this one decided to try to convince her not to do anything extreme. Well, more extreme. “We could have come to an equitable agreement. In fact, we still can—this doesn't need to come to violence.”
The Alya-mare shook her head. “You've promised me an equitable arrangement before, and we saw how that ended. You could have told me what you were up to back at the safehouse.” She looked out into the arena pit where Blackwing’s corpse lay in the mud. “But then you ran off for a deathmatch.”
“Like this one promised, it took care of Blackwing.” This one coughed, and the taste of blood came to its tongue. “Just like how you helped take care of the Gustav-gryph.”
The Alya-mare grumbled as she rubbed her brow. “Of course he decided to tell you about my part in that.”
“He does like to brag,” this one said. “It is—was a flaw of his. So why in the world did you decide to work with him?”
Her brow furrowed. “Because Gustav needed to die for betraying the organization. Maybe you were content to let him walk around with a big bag of ducats, but I wasn’t. Letting him do that was just going to make me look weak in front of everyone else in the organization. Besides, I thought you or Goldtalon would catch Blackwing when he made his move. Shame it didn’t work out that way.”
“No, it didn’t, you badly judged that situation. There were too many variables you didn’t control, and you let a personal rivalry get the better of your judgment.”
The Alya-mare scoffed. “Oh, you’re one to talk. Besides, I have you now, and with you as my captive I’ve won the street war.”
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” This one stared her in the eye. “This isn’t going to turn out the way you think it will, but if you take this one to the hospital, it promises to forget that this little transgression happened.”
The Alya-mare’s ear twitched. “You can promise a lot of things, Puzzle, but when it comes to follow-through you don't deliver anything that would keep you from being in total control. If I want to be more than a glorified flunky, I have to seize this opportunity. Because if I don’t, you won’t give me a second one.”
This one grimaced in pain as the True Heirs started removing every bit of gear on it. This one’s weapons, potions, and bags fell away as they packed everything onto a pile. “So is this what it was all about, you being in control?”
The Alya-mare snorted. “You'll never treat me as anything more than another untrustworthy pawn to be manipulated. Forget that I've been with you forever; how long we've worked together and everything we've been through. I was with you all those years while you were in exile—helped you come back to Freeport and build this organization from scratch. But in the end I still play second banana to an EIS spy and a bucking teenager!”
“That's not true at all. This one...” This one sighed and shook its head as it realized how everything must have seemed from the Alya-mare’s perspective. There was so much she didn’t know—couldn’t know—and that was largely due to this one’s actions. “Yes, this one has not treated you as well as it should have, but there is a bigger game being played here. You need to understand, you've been manipulated, the whole organization has been.”
The Alya-mare snarled. “You've played me every day of my life for the last decade. From the very first moment we met, you’ve manipulated me.”
This one shook its head. “You don’t understand: Blackwing played you and the Gustav-gryph. He got you two suspicious of one another and fed you bad information so that you two would end up fighting.”
The Alya-mare scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You think I don’t know that? I’ve been spending months going over everything that happened leading up to the street war. That and I’ve been collecting what information I could. In hindsight, I know Blackwing took advantage of me, and it’s more than a bit suspicious that my bank accounts got frozen right as everything went to Tartarus. There’s only so many people that could make that happen, and keep those accounts frozen while giving me the bureaucratic run around for months on end. So yeah, I know there’s a bigger game being played here. You said as much a few days ago: it doesn’t change what I need to do here.”
This one tried to appeal to her self-interest. “Haven’t you benefited from this one’s leadership? Whatever you think of this one’s methods, this one has helped to make you rich.”
“Yeah you did, but at the end of the day I was always just another pawn to you.” Getting a nod from her mercs, the Alya-mare moved closer to this one. “Did you give me any of that for any reason beyond keeping me loyal?”
This one grimaced. “You were this one's friend.”
The Alya-mare snorted. “I'm not sure you have friends or are even capable of making them. All I’ve ever seen you do is manipulate people at every opportunity for your own ends. Doesn’t matter who they are; allies, casual acquaintances, enemies, ‘friends’—it doesn’t matter. We’re all just pieces on the board to you.”
This one shook its head. “We all manipulate everyone. Some of us are just more honest about it.”
“That old excuse,” the Alya-mare sneered. “Well no. Not everyone's like you, Puzzle. Most people don’t feel compelled to make everyone around them dance like puppets. Normal people don’t just see friends and family as a means to an end. You don’t just do favors for people you like because you want something out of them later, you do it because you actually want to help them. Because that’s what good people do. But then, I’m not sure you could ever understand that. You’re so wrapped up in your rules about how people should act that you’ve lost sight of what it’s like to be a normal person.”
That cut closer to the bone than this one liked, but the Alya-mare was still wrong. “Yes, this one doesn’t act like normal people, because it doesn’t want to be like everyone else. Acting like everyone else is how you end up like everyone else. If you want different results—if you want to do something special—then you need to be willing to do things that make you exceptional. This one was reduced to nothing when it was exiled. Where most would become dejected or quietly seek a life of mediocrity in Port Nowhere, this one took chances, did what it took to prosper, and earned its way back to Freeport. And now this one is the most powerful and influential information broker in Freeport.”
The Alya-mare rolled her eyes. “And now we see where that’s gotten you: a dagger in your gut and no friends or allies in sight.”
“On that much we can agree.” This one furrowed its brow. “So what's your plan? You have this one at your mercy but you haven't killed it yet, so this one doubts you just wanted to stand around and brag about your victory.”
The Alya-mare drew in a deep breath before letting it out in a huff. “I need your list of contacts, account numbers, and everything else that lets you run your organization. If I’m going to take over, then I need to know everything you do.”
This one scoffed. “So do you plan on torturing this one? Because this one hardly feels compelled to tell you that information.”
She shook her head. “Torture doesn't work, and especially not for someone like you. But you're not the only one who knows a couple of spellcasters. I know a guy who can break into your head and take what I need.”
That set this one’s teeth on edge. “So are you planning on turning this one into a vegetable, just like what the Shimmer-mare did to Metal Mome? Because that’s what it’s going to take to get this one’s secrets. This one knows how to fight against mental intrusions, and it will break before it bends.”
The Alya-mare stiffened. “I'd rather not have it go that way, but if you force my hoof...” She let out a long breath. “You know, when I came out here, no small part of me was hoping to find you dead with Blackwing standing over your corpse. At least then it would have been easy.”
“This one’s heart weeps for you and the hard decisions you have to make,” this one said. “What will you tell the Council? They’re going to have questions, and uncomfortable ones.”
The Alya-mare sniffed. “You think the Council cares whether you live or die? All they want is this street war done with, they don't give a damn about you. In fact, from what I can tell they'd probably prefer you dead.”
That wasn’t exactly untrue, especially for some Councilors. This one suspected Cold Comfort would dance on its grave. “And what of the Shimmer-mare, or the Heartstrings-mare? You think they won't look into this?”
“I'm sure they’ll be very sad to hear about how you died of your wounds after fighting Blackwing,” she answered. “If need be, I’ll misdirect them by hinting at who was really behind this big mess. Given how much of a firecracker Sunset is, I’m sure she’ll just be happy to have a target to focus her hurt and anger on. As long as that target isn’t me, I’ll be fine.”
This one grunted and laced its words with venom. “Sounds like you have all the angles down. Congratulations, you successfully betrayed this one, captured it, and will proceed to mentally torture it until you get everything you need to live what will no doubt be a long and successful career leading the organization. This one is so proud of you.”
There was a twitch of a wince in the Alya-mare’s face. “It doesn't have to be that way. Just ... don't fight it. Make it quick and easy.”
“And then what?” this one demanded. “After you get what you want out of this one you'll kill it anyways? Sorry, but giving up isn’t this one’s way.”
She stared at this one for a long time before sighing. “Is there any way to let you live without constantly looking over my shoulder for you?”
This one seized that opening. “We can agree to go our separate ways. You do your business ventures, and this one goes on to do its own thing. We leave each other alone and forget this ever happened.”
The Alya-mare’s eyes narrowed. “Like what happened with you and Cold?”
This one shook its head. “That's entirely different. Our relationship doesn’t have to be anywhere near as destructive as that rivalry.”
The Alya-mare rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “I'd like to believe you ... but I don't. I just can’t trust someone who's a serial liar and manipulator, not after everything that’s happened. I hate to say it, but it’s over between us.”
This one’s ears wilted. “You know what this one struggles with? The pull between doing the good thing and the right thing. People claim they're the same thing, but far too often they're not.”
The Alya-mare’s head cocked to the side. “That so?”
“In this one's experience, sometimes you have to do a bad thing in order to do what's best for what you care about. The world isn’t a clean place, and sometimes you have to make messy decisions to get things done.”
“And sometimes it means screwing others over to make yourself better off?” The Alya-mare crossed her legs as she stared off into the rainy night. “You think I couldn’t tell that you were planning on giving me the ax as soon as you didn't need me anymore?”
It was true this one was planning on removing her as a problem. Things ... had progressed beyond what this one desired. Still, this one had hoped that things wouldn’t be taken that far. “If this one was merely planning on removing you as an obstacle, it would have killed you during our last talk. It would have been easy, but... this one didn’t want to hurt its friend if it could be prevented.”
The Alya-mare scowled at this one. “Yeah, but the second I became inconvenient you wanted to dump me.” She took a deep breath. “You know the ironic thing about all of this? The reason I pushed Gustav so hard and tried to take the reins of the organization was to prove to you that I could stand by your side. I thought that if I was running everything by the time you returned, you’d see that I should be your partner. Guess it didn’t turn out that way, though. Now I’m just going to have to do what I need to, no matter how much it sucks.”
“You're not going to win here, Alya-mare,” this one told her. “This one suggests you give up while you still have a chance.”
The Alya-mare quirked an eyebrow. “You're hurt bad enough that I could let you die by just walking away. I've already won. It’s just a matter of how things play out in the endgame.” She waved at her mercs. “Finish patching him up for transport, we’re getting out of here.”
This one’s vision swam from pain as the True Heirs lifted it up. “As long as this one is alive, it's still in the game.”
“Well, I'll fix that soon enough.’ The Alya-mare sighed as she shook her head. “I hate that it has to end this way, but you didn't give me any other choice.”
“And neither do you.”
This one grunted as the carriage hit another bump along the road. Each damn pothole felt like this one was getting stabbed again. The True Heirs did what they could to patch this one up, but that consisted of little more than bandaging it up so that the dagger wouldn’t shift so easily and stop the bleeding. What this one really needed was to see a doctor. But then the Alya-mare didn’t exactly have a lot of reasons to keep this one alive. Still, even in this one’s wounded state, the Alya-mare was keeping an eye on it inside the carriage alongside one of her True Heir mercs. The rest were outside guarding the carriage as we proceeded down the rain-slick streets.
This one wasn’t sure which was worse: the pain from the dagger, or that from the Alya-mare’s betrayal. We had been together for so many years, worked and prospered together, and it had come to this. The Alya-mare now hated this one so much that she was willing to break even the sanctity of its mind to get what she wanted. This one wanted to blame Cold and Blackwing for all of this, but the doubts that this one was at fault for the breaking of our friendship kept nagging at it.
This one clutched at its belly as a pothole sent another shock of pain through this one. The Alya-mare glared and slammed her hoof three times against the front of the carriage. She yelled out to the two drivers. “Careful! If you kill Puzzle because you hit every stupid pothole along the way, it’s both of your hides.”
The mercenary opposite of this one snorted. “Why does it matter? He's dead soon anyway.”
“Just...” She sighed as she fell into silence.
The merc shrugged. “You pay the bills.” He turned to the drivers. “Just slow down and watch where you’re going. We’ve got valuable cargo.”
The drivers did as they were told, and we rode for a time in silence. After our talk, it didn’t seem this one and the Alya-mare had much to talk about anymore. That and this one was just in so much pain and so weary that it didn’t particularly want to chat.
The knock on the carriage door interrupted the silence, and one of the mercs peered through the carriage window. “We’re being followed.”
The Alya-mare’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”
“Don't know,” the merc said. “The rain’s making it hard to see anything. Pretty sure it's a changeling flying around and jumping from roof to roof. We've only been catching glimpses of it, but it’s shadowing us.”
The Alya-mare pressed her lips together. “Who's your backup, Puzzle?”
Despite this one’s pain, it started to grin. “Who said this one had backup?”
The Alya-mare scowled at this one. “Puzzle, don't make this harder than it has to be.”
This one decided to deflect the question as it looked outside the carriage door window. “Hm, looks like we're going down Sugar Row. We're going to the safehouse you have near the drydocks? The one you thought this one didn't know about?”
Blackwing might have been neglectful in his duties, but when he did his work he did good stuff. That included discovering many of the little secrets this one’s employees tried to keep from it. And now this one was going to use that information to rattle the Alya-mare a bit. It always upset people for them to find out that their secrets weren’t so secret.
The Alya-mare grimaced as though struck. “Knowing that won't change anything.”
“This one disagrees.”
The Alya-mare’s brow furrowed as she grew suspicious. “What’re you planning?”
This one wouldn’t help but add a bit of mirth to its tone. “You’re going to need to be more specific. This one is always planning, several steps ahead with several different plans whenever possible.”
“Enough of your games. Tell me—” The carriage coming to a sudden halt interrupted the Alya-mare, and she turned to the drivers. “ What's going on?! Why did we stop?!”
The True Heir merc outside spoke up again. “Ma'am, your safehouse... It's on fire.”
The Alya-mare moved to look out the front window. Beyond and down the street a warehouse that served as her secret safehouse burned. She muttered several especially foul Zebrican curses as she watched the roof of the safehouse collapse.
“Problems, Alya-mare?” this one asked.
She turned a furious glare on this one. “How did you know I would take you here?!”
This one bared its fangs in a smirk. “This one didn't.”
The Alya-mare blinked several times. “Then ... how?!”
This one leaned forward and spoke in a low, menacing whisper. “If you want to replace this one, then you need to start figuring out how to be this one. That includes knowing how to deal with a crisis. But you’ve always depended on this one to pull us out of the fire, haven’t you, Alya-mare? Well, time to see how you do on your own.”
The Alya-mare started to tremble. “What did you do?”
This one’s smirk widened. “What this one always does: it rigged the game.”
The Alya-mare sat back in her seat and her face blanched. Several valuable seconds ticked by before she started slamming her hoof against the front of the carriage. “We've got trouble! Get this carriage moving! Now!”
The drivers hesitated. “Where do you want us to go?”
“Anywhere but here!” the Alya-mare cried. “Get us out of here!”
The drivers started to turn the carriage around, but then one of them cried out in pain. He fell against his partner, who only managed to half catch him as he was nearly bowled over. The driver’s eyes widened as he saw the crossbow bolt sticking out of his cohort. All he did was stare before two more crossbow bolts struck him in turn. Both of them half-collapsed to the cobblestones as they were held in place by the carriage harnesses.
Pandemonium broke out. The whistle of more crossbow bolts sounded through the rain, and cries of pain and confusion rose up from the True Heirs. This one glanced out the window and saw that there were pegasi and gryphons perched on the roofs of the buildings overlooking the street, and they were all in the process of firing or reloading their weapons. The rain and wind didn’t do their aim any favors, and this much dampness would likely shorten the lives of their crossbows. But they were making up for these problems by reloading, aiming, and firing with the type of mechanical precision that only countless hours of practice could bring. Even worse for the True Heirs, they lacked the means and weapons to strike back at their roof-bound attackers.
The zebra in charge of the squad of True Heirs started issuing orders to get to cover, but this only drew the attention of their assailants and he was quickly hit from multiple directions. Order broke down amongst the True Heirs as panic started setting in.
“Dammit!” the Alya-mare cried as she started fumbling for her potions.
The merc inside of the carriage frowned as he watched the chaos unfold, and then winced as a bolt struck the cart right near his head. “We’re going to need to make a run for it.” He glowered at this one. “Want to just kill him and be done with it?”
“No!” the Alya-mare immediately answered. “I need him. If he dies then you don’t get your bonus.”
The merc’s teeth flashed in his scowl. “Can’t collect my bonus if I’m dead. Time to cut—”
A familiar voice from outside the carriage shouted over the merc. “Puzzle! Delta!”
This one recognized the Free Companions' signal to get down and immediately fell down to the floor of the carriage. Doing so caught a flash of pain that resulted in spots in this one’s vision, but it didn’t take long for this one to see it had done the right thing.
A second after this one hit the floor, a flaming broadsword slashed through the side of the carriage like it was paper. The True Heir didn’t even realize what was happening before the burning blade popped off his head. The Alya-mare was luckier. She was on the far end of the sword’s arc, and quick reflexes let her dodge under the swing. Though the top of her mohawk was still taken off, leaving singed ends to her mane.
The Alya-mare scurried back and started grasping for the door handle in a panic. “That's Dawnbringer!”
Platinum ripped open the door and flashed the Alya-mare a cold smile. “Nice to know my reputation precedes me.”
This was a welcome sight. Platinum took a step into the carriage, but she turned when one of the True Heirs shouted a battle cry and charged her from the side. The True Heir didn’t reach her before a bolt punched through his armor and into his flank. He staggered and threw a half-hearted jab at Platinum. She easily parried the blow to the side and then swept Dawnbringer back around to take the merc’s head off.
The Alya-mare took the invaluable distraction and opened the carriage door opposite of Platinum. She hopped out, but instead of running for her life, she grabbed this one around the head and started dragging it out of the carriage. This one tried to fight against her, but pain and weakness prevented it from putting up too much resistance. Still, this one gave her a swift punch to the face that made her head rock back. She responded by pulling a knife out and putting it to this one’s throat.
“You’re coming with me!” Throwing her full weight behind it, she dragged this one out of the carriage and into the torrential downpour outside. She attempted to get this one back on its hooves, but its legs were like jelly by this point, and it didn’t particularly want to go along with her. She should have made her escape, tried to get out from the aim of the crossbows and danger, but instead she dragged this one along the cobblestones.
All about us were dead and wounded True Heir mercs, most of them with crossbow bolts in them as at least two dozen Free Companions continued loading and firing down on them. The Alya-mare didn’t get far before Platinum flew over the carriage and landed opposite of the Alya-mare to block off her escape. She leveled Dawnbringer on the Alya-mare, and its blade hissed as the rain fell upon it.
“This is as far as you go,” Platinum declared. “Drop the knife and give up. It’s over.”
“No!” The Alya-mare tightened her grip on this one and pressed her knife against its throat. “Come near me and I kill him!”
Platinum’s eyes narrowed. “Kill him and you’re dead in five seconds. We’ve all got a big bonus tied up in keeping Puzzle alive, so if you open his throat every Companion here is going to have a very personal reason to fill you full of holes.”
The Alya-mare’s teeth showed as she scowled down the length of Dawnbringer’s blade. “How? How did you know how to find us?”
“You’re not the only one with access to tracking magic, Alya-mare,” this one told her. “This one activated a tracking gem back at the amphitheater. It was only a matter of time until they found this one. You’d lost before you even got started.”
“No, nonono, this can’t all be part of some plan of yours.” The Alya-mare shook her head to herself. “You can’t always win. It’s impossible!”
This one moved in to shatter her shaken morale. “What did this one tell you? It rigged the game from the start. You see, this one wrote a little contingency into its contract with the Companions—several of them, in fact. It was always a possibility that this one would need to destroy the organization, either because it was unsalvageable or because one or more of its lieutenants had taken it over and planned on using its full resources against it.”
The Alya-mare grew terribly still as she contemplated this one’s words. “No, you wouldn’t do that. You couldn’t. We spent years building the organization. You wouldn’t just destroy it all in one night!”
This one did its best to look her in the eyes as it spoke. “Oh, but this one would, and it has. After Blackwing’s stunt and your lack of loyalty, it became necessary. The Council is going to be ticked at this one come morning, and so this one will have a sacrifice ready to pacify them. By morning the organization will be gone. This one told the Companions where to find everything: the warehouses, the safehouses, personnel—everything. They’re setting torch to it all and everyone who works for the organization will be given one of two options: take a severance package and go into exile, or suffer much more severe and permanent consequences.”
“He’s right, Alya,” Platinum said. “I’ve got every Companion and several subcontractors running around the city destroying your organization. Nothing is going to be left by the time we’re done. Even if you somehow escaped from here, you’ll have no resources, no place to hide, and no one left working for you. You’ve got a losing hand. Fold before you make this worse than it has to be.”
The Alya-mare’s face paled as her eyes flicked to her burning safehouse and then to her mercenaries lying on the ground around us. She swallowed and muttered a curse to herself.
“Guess I should've known I couldn't beat you. Stupid to try. Still, I've got one move even you didn't see coming.” The Alya-mare pulled out a vial of green, luminous liquid.
This one’s teeth clenched. “What are you trying?!”
“Deathfog,” the Alya-mare said through staggered breaths. “One whiff of this, and ... well the name says it all, doesn't it?”
Indeed, deathfog was every bit as nasty as its name suggested. It was very difficult and expensive to make, and this one didn’t have a clue she had any of it.
Really, most would consider it too dangerous to keep around on their person. Deathfog was notoriously deadly, and once its mixture met the air it spread fast and in a very wide area. It was unlikely anyone on the street, roofs, and probably anyone in the surrounding buildings would survive if that bottle broke.
Had the Alya-mare’s experiences driven her to the point of even contemplating using such a dangerous weapon? We couldn’t exactly take the chance that she wouldn’t use the deathfog, because what else did she have to lose by this point?
Platinum hissed and her stance shifted so that she could strike at the Alya-mare at a moment’s notice, but even then she wouldn't be able to reach this one’s traitorous lieutenant before she broke the bottle. “There's enough in there to—”
“Yup.” The Alya-mare flashed a tight smile. “You're right, Puzzle. I can't win. But we can still all lose together.”
This one thought very carefully before it spoke in a calm and neutral tone. “So let's make a deal.”
The Alya-mare’s nostrils flared as she glared at Platinum. “What kind of deal?”
“You leave Freeport with a severance package and never return,” this one said. “This one makes sure you also get everything from your bank accounts and anything else that can be salvaged. That should be more than enough to start over in the Zebrican Empire, especially when you’ve been sending money back home to help your family build up its business there.”
“You think I would just give up that easily?” The Alya-mare tried to sound determined, but this one could hear the waver in her voice.
This one shook its head. “There's nothing left for you here. This one made sure it’s all burning. What will you gain from spite, Alya-mare? You can kill this one and everyone on this street, but to what end? You’ll still be dead. Why not go back home to your family, live a long, happy and productive life? You’re smart enough to rebuild and you’ll have plenty of money to make it happen. You’re taking a loss here, but part of life is knowing when to accept your loss, pick yourself up, and start over. Choose to start over. Don’t die for nothing here.”
The Alya-mare sighed and shook her head. “There you go again, manipulating me. You’re so damned good at this: making what you want sound so stupidly reasonable that it seems like the only right thing to do. So let me ask you, you'd really just leave it at that? After everything that’s happened, you’d just let me walk away and live that long, happy, and productive life you talked about?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? No small part of this one wanted to kill her for betraying it. She had planned on turning this one into a mentally broken vegetable, and then let this one bleed out on the inside so she could present a corpse to the Council. This one had every reason to be furious with her.
But ... she had once been a friend, even if that was over now, and there were practical concerns to worry about. None of us gained anything if we all died here and now, and at the end of the day, this one was a practical changeling, first and foremost.
“For you, yes.” This one slowly moved its leg to motion at the gathered Companions and even the wounded or captured True Heirs. “This one is making a promise in front of everyone. If it breaks that promise, everyone will come to know about it, and then this one’s word will no longer be trusted within Freeport society.”
The Alya-mare’s ear twitched. “Or you're just playing me. You can pay your mercs to stay quiet and silence the True Heirs.”
“This one can try, but it doubts it would work,” this one said. “There are too many witnesses here to keep rumors from spreading. All it would take is one set of loose lips from one person, and then the secret would spread to all of Freeport by the end of the day.”
“Besides, I’m not in the habit of slaughtering prisoners,” Platinum said. “Surrender and I promise you fair treatment. As Captain of the Free Companions, you have my word on that.”
The Alya-mare stared at us as the rain continued to soak us. She straightened herself and her grip tightened on the deathfog. “So what—”
A flying dagger slammed into the back of the Alya-mare’s neck. She staggered a step and her hoof shot to her throat.
This one moved to catch her as she started to fall, but then the deathfog fell from her hoof. This one’s hooves shot towards the potion instead to try and keep it from hitting the ground and killing us all.
It bounced off this one’s right hoof, its surface slick from the rain, and its left hoof knocked it back into the air. This one scooped the potion to its chest as it fell to the ground. Stars flashed in its vision at the impact, and this one held the potion close to its chest.
Long seconds ticked by as nothing happened but the continued pattering of the rain. A flurry of questions ran through this one. Had the glass broken? Who had thrown that dagger? Why? Was the Alya-mare dead? Were we all dead? Had the deathfog slipped from this one’s grip?
This one took in a slow and reluctant breath. This one didn’t immediately suffer a sudden and horrible death, so it peeled its eyes open. Shifting its forelegs revealed that the potion was safely nestled against its chest, unbroken. The Alya-mare was not in nearly so good a condition, down on the ground, her eyes wide with terror as she clutched her bleeding throat.
Kunai lept from the top of the carriage to land on the street next to the Alya-mare. Her target barely had time to register her presence before another thin knife slammed into her throat, plunging upwards with a single motion. Before any of us could react, Kunai twisted the knife and the Alya-mare’s head around, a violent crack echoing in the air.
The Alya-mare went very still, and the spark of life left her eyes.
“Endless night that was close,” Kunai said, visibly slumping as she sighed.
“You could have gotten us all killed pulling that stunt!” Platinum growled. “We were in the middle of negotiating!”
“She was about to kill herself and take us all with her with that deathfog.” Kunai pulled her dagger out and cleaned the blood off of it. “You do remember that part, right?”
“Sure,” Platinum scowled. “This was not worth subcontracting—”
“Yeah, you’re welcome for saving your overdressed rear from deathfog, as well as the rest of this city block,” Kunai snapped. “This one hopes you believe in hazard pay. And this one thinks it should be worth something when it ended this street war by killing the Alya-mare, and saved Puzzle’s life.”
Platinum grumbled something under her breath as she knelt next to this one. This one wanted to pay Platinum to kill Kunai right then and there, whatever it cost. We had been so close to ending things peacefully—as peacefully as they could be resolved after the massive bloody mess that had occurred. Then Kunai killed her, just like that, and now she wanted to be paid for the pleasure of killing this one’s friend. Was Kunai right about not taking a chance with the Alya-mare? Were we talking her down, or was she a mere second from killing us all with her bottle of deathfog?
Whatever the truth was, we would never find out, and this one knew it would be going over what happened over and over again for a very long time from now.
This one’s heart clenched. The Alya-mare was dead. All of this one’s lieutenants were dead. The street war was over, but this didn’t feel like a victory.
The Alya-mare had made her own decisions, but this one had made many decisions since returning to Freeport that contributed to this series of events. No small one being to hire Platinum to destroy the organization, and she had subcontracted other mercs like Kunai to make it happen. Cause and effect.
Who was most to blame for what happened? This one for setting up the organization in a way that allowed for it to fall into infighting and the Alya-mare to turn on it? Cold for plotting against this one? Blackwing for his manipulations and selfishness? The Alya-mare’s ambitions?
And did it really matter who was most to blame for the destruction of the organization? What had happened had happened, and if this one survived, it would do what it was going to do in response to the events of the past few days. And as this one had already said, it was ultimately a practical changeling at heart. Even if some days this one hated itself for it.
“You’ll get your check by the end of the week,” this one croaked through clenched teeth. With any luck, Kunai would merely chalk up this one’s discomfort due to its wounds. Killing Kunai wouldn’t fix what had been done, and doing so would offend the Doo Clan. This one might need to hire the Doo Clans services again someday, not to mention the problems it would cause with Kukri. Likely she would never forgive this one for killing her sister, and that in turn would cause trouble with the Shimmer-mare. Damaging that relationship would cause yet more trouble this one could ill afford down the road.
And at the end of the day, you didn’t punish someone for saving your life and killing one of your enemies. You rewarded such behavior to encourage it in the future.
Platinum glared at Kunai’s back before shaking her head and returning her attention to this one. “Just relax Puzzle, we’ll take it from here.” She squeezed this one’s hoof as the medic went to work. “It’s all over now.”
“Yeah, it is.” This one leaned its head back, but its eyes kept flicking to the Alya-mare’s corpse. “Can you ... store her body somewhere? Until this one can see to it? She doesn’t have any family in Freeport, and ... no friends either, anymore.”
A flicker of emotions flashed over Platinum’s features as her beak twitched. “We’ll let you handle her body. But that’s for later. Right now I want you to rest and hang in there until we get you to a doctor.”
“Right. This one is ... just so tired right now.” This one closed its eyes as the rain continued pouring down over us, washing all the blood off the streets. This one hurt so much that all it wanted was for the whole world to wash away.
This one’s tears were drowned in the rain.
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Man, what a climax. There's too many words to put to pen about what occurred, but one thing's for certain; this is gonna lead to an interesting future indeed.
Alya.....
Damn. I knew it was over, I knew Alya was going to meet her end, but then it seemed like she was going to get the deal Puzzle offered. I knew Kunai was out there; Puzzle had spoken to her. I was just wondering when she'd show up. Though I figured it was likely her when they said a changeling was following.
It is good to see that Puzzle really did care about Alya, even with her betrayal. If it were not for him really truly caring for her, he wouldn't have felt so bad about her death. Practical as he is, even Puzzle has a heart.
Wow, Puzzle just lost everything he spent years building in just a few days. It wont be easy but he needs to bounce back from this.
9983483
Is the Deathfog flask a wink to Divinity Original Sin 2?
10001091
Yeah, it was. I do love that game.
goddamn...
Dammit, Kunai, what happened to situational awareness? She was about to surrender and the only reason they didnt all die was the injured and bleeding employer catching the bottle.
You don't get hazard pay when you make the hazards yourself.
10001208
Kunai's situational awareness was flawless. Ayla was literally tightening her grip on the bottle of deathfog and Puzzle's perception of the matter is twisted by its affection for the Alya-mare.
10001448
I suppose that's fair. At least things are over, now.
10001538
Not yet, he still needs to answer to the council and keep cold comfort from convincing them to make things even worse for puzzle.
10001571
Yeah, it's not quite over yet. But we've reached the endgame, certainly.
And so it ends. What a shame about Alya. It looked like she was seriously considering Puzzle's offer. Even though one of the mercenaries noticed a Changeling following them, I still wasn't expecting Kunai since Puzzle hired her to take out Blackwing and ended up doing it himself. Wonder how Puzzle rebuilds. By "Old Wounds", Puzzle seems to have connections and resources again, so he must have been prepared for this scenario.
10001571
What are they going to do? They threatened to sweep Puzzle's organization away if he didn't get it under control and he ended up burning it to the ground anyway.
A fitting end... sadly
Brilliant chapter,as usual
And so it ends, the only way it ever could've. I know Puzzle feels bad for Alya, but she dug her own grave, really. All of Puzzle's lieutenants betrayed him to varying degrees, and all of them ended up dead because of it. It's fitting. No loose ends.
Now only Cold remains.
I was waiting for Kunai to pounce, even before the driver mentioned her. Kukri has no idea how ruthless her sister is, but we've seen it firsthand, so I just knew there'd be a dagger in the dark at some point.
So that was Puzzle's contingency plan (one of them at least). Pretty drastic but there wasn't much left to salvage out of this mess by now, not with all of his lieutenants dead and their followers pretty unhappy with him (after how Gustav and now Alya died). Probably better to just make a clean sweep and start over by now.
I was wondering when Kunai would pop up again considering Puzzle had to personally kill Blackwing. That's probably most of the physical work done with (and Puzzle's in no shape to keep fighting anyway). Though Puzzle's going have to be more careful about employing Kunai for future sensitive jobs after this.
So at least the street war is over with but its still mostly Cold's victory, for now at least, with Puzzle pretty much ruined. Dealing with the fallout from all this isn't going to be easy. Puzzle's probably still got a lot of resources but he'll be mourning all the lost friends (and I think he did view all his lieutenants as friends or at least colleagues) for a while. Not to mention mulling over all the what-ifs and maybes he could've done to avoid this catastrophe.
Great final confrontation (and this story is probably nearly over?). I'm eager to see how Puzzle wraps up this one and then moves on to whatever's next. As well as how badly this slows down his war against Chrysalis. I hope we someday hear when Puzzle started that audacious plan.
Fairly disappointed at this ending to Alya's story. No long comment this time, I'm too unhappy with how the chapter played out to want to spend the time.
Kunai better not get that hazard pay.
10002342
Gonna be honest with you, I believe that all of Puzzle's lieutenants got the short end of the stick. Gustav was supposed to be the muscle of the organization and he was killed pretty easily. Blackwing was supposed to be the intelligence but he made so many stupid decisions that resulted in his death. And Alya was so put off by Puzzle's focus on Sunset and Strumming that she was willing to destroy years of hard work just to gain control. All of this could have been avoided if Puzzle interacted with his lieutenants more on a personal level instead of treating them as regular employees. Puzzle would be right to blame himself for everything that happened.
10002679
I know. I meant it would require ignoring canon more.
Right now Puzzle is hurting. Tomorrow though I think Puzzle will make Cold pay for lighting the fuse. And Cold will regret ever having considered doing so.
I'll just say, Damn it Alya-mare. Why couldn't you have been a practical Zebra.
I was so hoping that she'd have helped oust Cold to the Council. I'm just going to have to hope that Puzzle can still pull something off to salvage something, anything now. 
Well done, that was a really enjoyable chapter! It's amazing how many contingency plans Puzzle manages to pull off. Every time you think he's helpless, he finds a way. As others have said, it does make me curious as to what his plan is for taking out Chrysalis now that the organization (which I'm guessing was one of his only sources for funding the project) is up in flames. Can't wait to find out!
This chapter nearly made me cry when Alya died. Even though she made a lot of mistakes, I could still sympathize with her.