Downtown Druid

Jacque was shaken awake by the naked woman next to him. He opened his golden eyes halfway, yawning through his tusks.

“Darling, a man only has so much stamina.”

“My husband is back. You need to leave!”

“You’re married? That’s wonderful. I bet he’s a very happy man.”

There were footsteps up the stairs heading toward the bedroom. Jacque quickly rolled off the bed, grabbing his shoes and clothes that had thrown off of it, and then slid cooly under the bed where he began slowly wiggling on different articles of clothing.

The door slammed open, and more heavy footsteps made their way in, along with the smell of fish and salt. That explained why her husband had been away.

“Gods I hate regular fishing. If only that mutt consul and his bitch would lift the moratorium on leviathan hunting then I wouldn’t have to handle these slippery little fuckers any more.”

Jacque bristled a bit as he carefully slipped on his trousers. He didn’t particularly like hearing his father and aunt referred to like that, but he wasn’t in the best position to defend anyone’s honor that particular morning.

“Why the hells are you naked? It’s freezing in here.”

Jacque very carefully slipped on his second boot. He was tall enough that if he wasn’t careful, his foot would peek out from under the bed, but he’d been in tighter spots before. They had mostly been his own fault. He did a quick check of his pockets, and his clothes. He was missing something.

The husband's heavy footsteps moved to the far wall, and Jacque risked a peak out from under the bed. He scowled as he remembered what he was missing.

“Why is there a lute here?”

“Uhhhh,” said the woman, unsure of how to answer the question and not quick enough to make something up.

Jacque rolled out from under the bed, leapt forward toward the man, yanked the lute from his hand and moved toward the window, hoping that the element of surprise would give him time to unlatch it. He realized, at that moment, that while he was a tall young man in his prime with mostly orcish heritage, the woman he’d spent the night bedding’s husband was a full orc whose arms indicated that he was a reeler on a leviathan hunter, and his arms were the size of Jacque’s head.

The man roared and leapt toward him just as he unlatched the window. He leapt out, and the man caught him by the ankle. He slapped his lute into the man’s hand, it was a gift from his father, who’d grown it as a single piece of wood, and was very strong.

The husband hollered and let go. Jacque twisted his body around as he’d learned from a friendly housecat as a child so that he could land on all fours and began running down the moss street. He dodged a carriage as he moved, spun around a changeling in the shape of a dragonkin, and dove down an alley. He stopped halfway down it and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. He wasn’t out of shape, but something about drinking and singing all night, followed by an evening of fornication, then an abrupt awakening could really tire a person out.

He looked up at a rat sitting on a vine in front of him as he finished lacing the crotch of his trousers.

“I know you could’ve given me heads up dad. Or Jacopo. Whoever’s watching things now.”

The rat laughed at him, and scurried away.

He shook his head. His father and Jacopo had been clear that they wouldn’t intervene when he made his own messes, and had held to that, Except for the few times he’d gotten into something lethal, though he’d managed to avoid that fairly well. Beatings though, he’d had a few. It wasn’t really his fault that so many people were jealous of a man with a fine voice and fingers that could dance on strings like the finest elven ballerina.

He sighed, and peeked out of the alley. He didn’t see the husband, which meant he hadn’t searched for him. That was good, but he hoped he wasn’t taking his anger out on his wife. Then again, his father would know and have the man rounded up by the guard and pressed into a work gang by afternoon.

He pulled his coat a little tighter and started walking down the street. It was still early morning, so the streetlights that the academy lit were still glowing bright and giving off the heat of the sun. Uncle Wane had once told him that the streetlight used to only give off light, but not heat before. Dantes and Merle had worked together to make them give off sunlight instead. He’d had quite a rant about the heavy magic price of that, but that let Jacque cheat a bit when they were playing dice, so he’d let him ramble. He’d still gotten caught of course, but it was best to make the attempt in the best possible circumstances.

He stopped at a berry bush that was fruiting, and started to pick a few handfuls. There were a couple small children doing the same and he shot them a smile and wink as he tossed a few of the berries into the air and caught them in his mouth. They giggled, and he waved as he walked away, continuing to munch on the berries he’d picked. All of the streets were lined with trees, bushes, vines. Some of the buildings themselves were made up of living trees, or built into complex root systems. There were still a number of the old style buildings, but even those were covered in flowers and greenery. No one ever had to go hungry, though fruits and veggies got old after a while.

Eventually he reached Midtown, the Vixen where he still lived, though in his own expansion in the back. He considered sneaking around and climbing down through the roof, but it was futile. He never had the benefit of being able to sneak out and in without being noticed. He walked through the front door with a smile and nod to the guard.

Inside was busy, as it alway was at the second consul’s personal club. Jacque slipped smoothly between a number of people and onto one of the stools at the bar. He was comfortable in the Vixen, it had been his home since he was born after all. Though, it had certainly been through a number of changes.

“Good morning Auntie Z, what’s for breakfast?”

She shook her head. “Some judgemental looks from me and likely your mother, not to mention Vera. Sly winks from Felix and Jayson who think they’re too slick to be noticed, and a hearty embrace and praise from your father and step-mom.”

Jacque frowned. “Hmmm, not very filling. Do you have anything else? Something with a bit of protein. None of the whey shit though, I have no idea how the Academy mages can stomach that shit.”

She reached across the bar and ruffled his hair roughly. “Eggs and bacon, with,” she sniffed the air around him, "water.”

He sighed, doing his best to push his hair back out of his eyes. “That would be lovely Auntie, thank you.”

She slid him a water and he glanced around the bar as he sipped it. Felix was in the corner, making a deck of cards dance across his palms for a few of the younger whores. He was nearly sixty at this point, but Jacque had never known him to be anything other than a lecherous old man. He respected it, few were so certain of themselves as he was.

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A cat leapt onto the stool next to him and he reached out to pet it absently until his food was plopped in front of him. He thanked Zilly, and tucked into it.

Halfway through his meal he felt a familiar grip on his shoulder as Vera sat next to him on the stool not currently occupied by a sleeping cat.

“Couldn’t make it home for the evening?”

He held up a finger and washed down some half-chewed bacon. “You know, it’s great living with so many people who care for me. It means I can get lectured twenty times before midday.”

Vera chuckled. “Lot of good it does us, not as if you change your behavior much. Opal was looking for you last night you know.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh?”

“She says you owe her five silver for not managing to go drink for drink with her.”

He sighed, he’d forgotten about that. “How exactly is one meant to beat Decker’s daughter at a drinking contest?”

“That’s a question you should’ve asked yourself before agreeing to the challenge.”

He sighed.

“And no, I will not loan you five silver.”

“Come now auntie. My father is a Consul, I was fostered by Argenta for five years, and my step father runs the gambling for this establishment. I won’t have any trouble paying her five silver.”

She smiled. “Alessa and Jayson’s wedding. Such a grand affair. Jayson was so terrified of what your father would do, though I suppose that’s where a lot of the spice came from between the two of them. Of course he’d known all along and was proud to be his second man after Jayk at the wedding. The dress Alessa wore… the gods got a fantastic deal the day her seamstress died.”

Jacque used Vera’s rambling to finish his meal. She’d always gone off on tangents like that. Not unusual at her age, and it wasn’t as if she didn’t still have a sharp mind, just a nostalgic temperament.

“Your brother Zak was looking for you by the way. Wanted to practice sword fighting again.”

“Half-brother. And can’t great uncle Vampa do that with him?”

“No, I wore him out far too much last night for that.”

Zilly and Jacque shared a frown as she refilled his water and took his plate.

“If you want to earn the five silver I know you don’t have, you can sing here for the night.”

“You know I don’t like to play here.”

Vera sighed. “Come now, is it so hard to share a stage that your mother and step-mother both frequent?”

“None of us are good at sharing the spotlight, you know that.”

She shook her head. “Between Alessa, Dantes, and Syn, I don’t suppose you ever had a chance with that.” She waved him away. “Go, go, I’m sure you want to head to the bathroom and clean up, you stink of woman, the gutter, and booze.”

He wrapped her in a hug. “I’ll talk to you later, Great Auntie.” He slipped through more of the morning crowd, a mix of regulars there to eat, uncomfortable politicians there to petition his father, and degenerates. That was pretty much the standard crowd.

In the VIP booth he saw Jayk, sporting his handsome gray mustache and meeting with petitioners one by one. He had all the authority that Dantes gave him, which was most of it, so he was able to end most problems before they reached his father. He gave the man a respectful nod, he was just about the only man he would regularly give one. Something about him seemed to command it.

He moved to take the servant hallway to the inner chambers where his, his mothers, and his fathers separate chambers all were to finally cleanse him of the stink of the previous day, but there were a half dozen women already there trying to move a large couch out that appeared to need some reupholstering after, what he’d guess, was a savage attack by one of the many wolfhounds that roamed.

He opened the door to the audience chamber instead, where he saw his father sitting on his throne with an older elven woman with long dark hair lounging across his lap, he was playing with her hair as they chatted, and didn’t seem to have spotted him through the thick canopy of vines and leaves between them.

“So, with binding we have with Chitlan’s royalty on behalf of Lorna, we can force them into an agreement to stop the trade of their messenger birds to keep them from going extinct.”

“It shouldn’t be hard. Their Emperor’s practically a nameless with how easily Celeste worked him.”

“I’m thinking we ignore the revolution in Tymond. We may lose a bound monarch, but the point is only to keep them from disturbing us anyway. If they become a problem again, we’ll send more changelings in their direction. Or have an assassination or three if things get too difficult.”

Dantes blinked a few times. “Son! Good morning.”

Jacque pushed through the foliage. “Good morning Dad, Syn. Do you two always talk about such pleasant things in the first part of the day?”

Dantes smiled widely. “When I was a petty criminal, killing, stealing, bribery, extortion, it was all an evil I had to do to get by. Once it gets to a certain level though, it’s just politics. Turns out people don’t really bat an eye about it when things get to this point. Your Aunt Argenta taught me that, and I’ve found that it’s much easier to talk about with that perspective.”

“That sounds like her.”

Syn sat up and transformed into a massive dragonkin to wrap Jacque into a big bear hug and twirl him before setting him down.

He shook his head, and fixed his clothes. “You don’t have to do that every day.”

She laughed. “Yes I do. You made me promise I would when you were little.”

“You can’t have pacts with me, I know that.”

She winked at him. “Are you so certain?”

“So, your uncle tells me you had quite a night,” said Dantes pointing at his head where Jacopo resided. Jacque’s father was wearing black trousers threaded with golden leaves all throughout, tucked into high and fine brown boots the color of rich earth. He wore only a vest and sleeveless shirt under it, showing arms that were covered in golden tattoos. When Jacque was a child, he’d run his fingers over them with fascination. There was a rat bite, a batwing, a cockroach, a pigeon foot, a dog paw, a cat paw, crab pincers, fish fins, raccoon markings, squirrel teeth, horse hooves, goat horns, spider legs, moth wings, and maybe a dozen more. His arms, chest, back, and even part of his neck were absolutely gilded. His face was still youthful, looking no older than thirty, and his muscles were strong and wiry. Uncle Jacopo was the stronger fighter, but he’d seen his dad spar opponents far more powerful than himself and win without issue. When Argenta died, which he hoped would not be for a long time as he loved that cold woman like family, he was certain his father would change from being one of two consuls, to the sole ruler of Rendhold. He didn’t seem in much of a rush though. Why would he? He’d live forever as far as Jacque could tell. What would it be like when his father looked younger than he did?

“Well, tell him he’s an ass for not giving me a heads up this morning.”

Dantes laughed, and responded in a slightly different voice than he’d been speaking with. “There’s no shame in being an ass. They’re powerful, sturdy creatures.”

Jacque shook his head. “You’re purposefully obtuse, uncle.”

Dantes shrugged, his voice shifting back, “It’s part of his charm.”

“Ah, well I need to bathe. According to auntie V, I smell like all the worst parts of a night out.”

Dantes held out a hand. “Wait. I have something I want to talk with you about first, and I’ll be in meetings with Orebus and Merle for the rest of the day after this morning.”

“Oh? Will you be spotting them?”

“No, discussing the practical applications of undead workers in the farms outside the city, but don’t worry about that. It’s a full moon tonight.”

“The druids are visiting?” he asked excitedly. He’d always loved spending time with them. He had fond memories of riding Beast, getting fed treats by Mor-Gan-May, and hearing stories from Traizen. His uncle Murk visited all the time, he’d taught him how to howl, not that he got much use out of that.

“Yes. We’re initiating a new member, a young orc from a very distant land.”

“Oh?”

“Her locus is a city, much like Rendhold, though more advanced in a lot of ways. We’re going to be discussing what we can do to help her, but I want you to help.”

“Help? I’m certainly happy to entertain.” He strummed his loot.

“No son. Once I’m clear on exactly where her locus is, I’m sending a ship with a diplomatic entourage to her city. Changelings, diplomats, mages, traders, priests, the works. I want to make sure that she succeeds as I have.”

“What would I have to do with that? I’m a bard.”

Dantes smiled. “Yes, a fantastic one. You’ve also been fostered, trained, and taught by the most capable and powerful people in Rendhold. I want you to represent me, the city.”

Jacque stood still, his eyes wide. “I uh, don’t want to do that.”

Dantes raised a hand. “I won’t make you. You can spend the rest of your days here in Rendhold if that’s what you want. You can play songs, bed beautiful women, enjoy the company of people who love you. I certainly wouldn’t mind, the idea of sending you away… is hard for me. I don’t think that’s what you want though. I think you’re hungrier than that.”

Jacque stood there for a moment. He had been feeling bored. Was that why? Was he hungry? Did he want more?

“You don’t have to make a decision right now, son,” Dantes stood up and walked toward him, wrapping him in a powerful hug, even though he was a head shorter than Jacque. “Go get cleaned up. Just think about it, there’s a whole mortal plane out there to spread our roots to. I’d rather not have to do it all by myself.”

THE END

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