De'Vas Chronicles Book 3: Chapter 7

Ash and Bo stepped through the portal back into District 114. The sun had already set and the faint glow of the street lights greeted them, as did one of the 114 Pack members who gave a nod.

“The food there was pretty good,” Bo said as he patted his gut.

Ash smirked at the orc.

“Glad you had fun on your date,” he teased.

Bo blew a raspberry.

“That wasn’t a date. Ella is just a friend,” Bo stated.

“Right,” Ash said with a laugh. “Did she let you win the game you two were playing?”

Bo laughed.

“She kicked my ass. Ella doesn’t pull her punches,” Bo answered. “What did you and Selena talk about? Seemed like you two were in a deep conversation the few times I looked over.”

“Yeah, District stuff mostly. We’re trying to work out a trade deal kinda like I have with Raina, the Boss of District 71,” Ash added the last part, unsure if Bo had even met the frost troll chieftess. “I think her district could use the trade, so I’m trying to work with her.”

 Bo arched an eyebrow at him.

“Think she’s in trouble?” he asked.

Ash shrugged.

“I think her District could use some economic help, might talk to Silver about it. Selena’s pretty prideful.”

They made it to the split in the road that led toward each other’s place.

“Well, I’m going to head home. Next time we hang out, let’s not do it in an abandoned mall,” Bo said. “I bet Jacklyn is still at the slumber party, maybe I’ll make some dinner for her when she gets home.”

 Ash gave Bo a wave and turned to head towards the Flatiron. “Don’t burn the place down.”

He looked back and saw Bo flipping him off. He chuckled at his best friend before continuing home.

Ash had gone straight to the penthouse and crashed into his bed. He was exhausted after fighting the mimic at the mall, and definitely too tired to deal with the smartass goblin right now. That could wait until tomorrow, not like he was going to escape the cell. He didn’t even wake up when Naomi and Faylen came home and crawled into bed with him. Though both of them let him know how much they missed him in the morning.

The next morning Ash stood in the bathroom brushing his teeth, Faylen was beside him drying her hair with a towel. They had just finished a very active morning shower together. Once he was finished, Faylen approached him with a heated look in her eyes.

“Fay, we don’t have time to go again,” Ash said already anticipating where his wolfkin lover’s mind was.

She was looking him over and her hand reached out toward him, soon her fingers were running along the lightning-shaped scar on his face.

 “Your fight with Sero,” she said softly as her hand moved south.

She stopped at a scar near the center of his chest.

“This one is from your fight with the elemental.”

Her fingers ran diagonally from there to another faint scar.

“This one, from fighting Kate,” Faylen said looking up at him from confirmation.

“Yes,” Ash said as he felt his lover’s hand move again towards a scar on his hip.

“The djinn,” she said with a small frown but dropped it.

Her fingers ran back up his body and he saw her lick her lips as she looked at him, before giving a curious gaze.

“What about this one?” Faylen asked as her fingers rested on a scar on his shoulder.

Ash looked at it and smiled at Faylen.

“I think you gave me that one last time you were in heat,” he answered.

Faylen pouted and her ears went canted at his words. He couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction and pulled her close to him. He lifted her chin and kissed her deeply.

Faylen took a deep breath and he felt her nails sink into his skin slightly with her grip. A long moment passed before the two of them broke their kiss.

“You sure you don’t want to go again?” Faylen asked as her eyes ran along his body again. Ash smiled at her, breakfast was going to be a little delayed.

Twenty minutes later, Ash and Faylen made their way into the kitchen of the penthouse. Naomi and a disgruntled Lilly were waiting for them.

“That was a long shower,” Lilly said with a frown and crossed arms.

Naomi just gave a sly smile after she sniffed the air. Her sense of smell was almost as strong as a beastkin, but not quite.

“Sorry,” Ash said as he and Faylen shared a smile. “I missed a spot and had to hop back in the shower.”

“Oh, he hit the spot,” Faylen said with a chuckle.

Lilly pouted.

“Breakfast first, sex puns later! I’m hungry!” Lilly stated.

Ash made his way to the cabinets and took out two pans. Moments later he had eggs and bacon cooking. By the time he was done cooking and had turned the stove off, there was a knock at the door.

Naomi was the one who went to answer it and a very tired-looking Silver stood outside the door.

“Good morning, Silver!” Naomi said in her usual cheerful manner.

Silver winced.

“How are you not hungover?” she asked.

Silver walked through the door rubbing her head, Naomi followed behind her once she closed the door.

“Lilly gave me a potion that prevents it,” Naomi answered.

Silver took a seat at the kitchen table and shot Lilly a glare.

“What gives? You didn’t give me one, Turnip.”

Lilly turned and pouted at Silver.

“I’m not a turnip, I’m hungry! Also, Naomi mentioned she got bad hangovers. You, Bitchy-Bunny, said nothing. If you want one next time, ask.”

Silver frowned at Lilly, before laying her head on the table. Ash slid a plate of food in front of Lilly, who quickly dug into it. He gave Faylen and Naomi their plates next, just to keep Lilly from trying to steal anyone else’s plate.

“I can make you a hangover cure if you want, Silver?” Ash offered.

Silver lifted her head and gave him a stern look.

“I’ve seen what you and Bo consider hangover cures. I don’t feel like drinking raw eggs with orange juice.”

Ash grimaced as Silver mentioned Bo’s favorite cure. The orc swore it worked, but Ash figured the drink was so horrible tasting it made you think your hangover was better by comparison. His preferred method was more palatable.

“Yeah, I’m not Bo. My method for curing a hangover is black coffee and greasy food. How about I make you some bacon?”

“Yes, please,” Silver said without lifting her head.

She finally raised it when he placed the plate of bacon and a warm cup of black coffee before her. He also placed another plate of food in front of Lilly, who had requested it as soon as he turned the stove back on. He wondered where the dryad put it all.

“I think I’ll survive,” Silver said after finishing her plate.

“Darn,” Lilly said from beside her at the table. “I had just the spot picked out to bury you.”

Silver rolled her eyes.

“Please, like you have the attention span to dig a grave.”

Lilly stuck her tongue out.

It was just Ash, Lilly and Silver left in the penthouse. Faylen and Naomi had both left to check on their gangs. The Frozen Scales and 114 Pack functioned much the way the police would outside of De’Vas. They made sure things were alright in the district and tackled any problems that might arise, either domestic to the district or from other districts. It wasn’t uncommon for unscrupulous people to use the portals to visit a district with the purpose of robbing a business or just causing trouble.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Ash asked as he placed the last dish into the dishwasher.

“I’m going to finish my coffee,” Silver said with a slow sip from her mug. “Then we’ll go look at what you and Bo found.”

Ash figured as much. He was surprised that Silver hadn’t insisted they investigated everything as soon as he and Bo came back. He now wondered if she wanted to, but was just having too much fun.

“What about you, Lil?” Ash asked the dryad.

Lilly tilted her head in thought.

“I think I’ll join you,” she said as Silver started to rub her forehead. “Not like I have anything else planned for the day.”

 Ash pulled out his phone and started typing a message, he hit send and slipped it back into his pocket.

“Celeste will bring up the briefcase we brought back,” Ash said. “We can wait for her in my office.”

 Ash sat in his office chair, doing his best to ignore Lilly sitting on his lap. She was playing a game on her phone and refused to sit still. Faylen had been the one to bring up the briefcase instead of Celeste. She sat on the nearby sofa, occasionally glaring at the dryad, but not saying anything. Silver walked around the room scowling as she examined one of the pieces of paper.

“How much did I drink last night?” Silver said to herself. “I can’t make out any of this.”

“Let me see,” Faylen said.

Silver handed the sheet of paper to her and Faylen scowled at it.

“So it’s a language the translation rings don’t know?” Ash asked.

Silver shook her head.

“The translation rings don’t know any languages. They determine intent from words written or spoken, which allows the wearer to understand it.” Silver answered with an eye roll at him. “Not like the rings had all of Earth’s languages in them before the rifts.”

Faylen flipped the paper in her hand.

“Which means this isn’t a language? Then what is it?” Faylen asked.

Silver shrugged.

“No clue.”

“Well, the goblin was trying to pack these away before the floor collapsed and we fell into his underground room,” Ash said as he picked up one of the sheets and looked at the blocky script covering it.

“Wait, when the floor did what?!” Faylen asked, her attention shifting from the paper to him. “What happened during the trip?”

Ash cleared his throat and grabbed the ball from the briefcase.

“We ran into a few mimics and some runes exploded, collapsing the floor,” he said nonchalantly as he looked at Silver and held up the ball. “This looked very important.”

“It does, but I’m going to wait for Faylen to get done chewing you out before I look at it.” Silver said with her arms crossed.

Ash turned and saw Faylen glaring at him with her ears canted. He felt Lilly pat him on his knee.

“Sorry, Ash. You’re on your own,” Lilly said as she hopped off his lap.

One ass-chewing later, a very grumpy Faylen was texting Jacklyn about what had happened during Ash and Bo’s trip to the abandoned mall. While Silver examined the brass ball covered in runes.

“These are runes, not the strange script written on the papers,” Silver said. “I’ll have to show this to Raina. She might be able to tell us its purpose.”

Ash sighed as he looked out over the district from his office window.

“So we know nothing?” Ash said.

He watched as Lilly stood from the couch to most likely climb back up into his lap, only for Faylen to grab the dryad by the belt and pull her back onto the couch.

“You have the goblin. Maybe we can get a clue from him?” Faylen said, ignoring Lilly who was pouting at her.

Silver let out a sigh.

“Might as well, but I doubt he can tell us anything with the rune tattoos.”

 The four of them made their way to what the gangs and Ash referred to as the cell, which was really just a greenhouse filled with Lilly’s plants. The greenhouse was built in what had been an empty lot near the Flatiron. The gangs put up a high wall around it and stationed guards there at all times, even when not occupied by a ‘guest’.

The guards greeted him and quickly opened the door to the greenhouse. Ash, Faylen, Lilly, and Silver made their way inside. Ash spotted the goblin right away, sitting at a small table eating food the guards had brought him. The goblin turned and looked at him.

“Glad you didn’t bring the orc without pants this time,” the goblin said as he got out of his chair.

Ash felt all three of the girls’ eyes upon him at the goblin’s words.

“Orc without pants?” Silver asked with a laugh.

The goblin dusted crumbs off himself. He froze instantly when he noticed Lilly and seemed to turn a paler green.

“Dryad. Okay, that explains why you’re keeping me in a greenhouse,” the goblin said with a gulp as he looked around at the plants. “Look, I can’t tell you anything even if I wanted to. The damn runes would blow me to shreds.”

Lilly cocked her head to the side and smiled.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked as the sound of vines moving through leaves filled the greenhouse.

The goblin looked around and cursed. He looked at Ash and snarled before walking to the table he had been sitting at and taking his napkin. He wadded the napkin up into a small ball and threw it to Ash.

“Keep that safe. Keep that guarded. Don’t let it out of your sight,” the goblin said firmly. “Keep it secret.”

The goblin drew his finger sharply across his neck, then nervously began looking at his tattoos. When none of the runes started to activate the goblin let out a sigh of relief. Ash looked away from the goblin and at the napkin wadded up into a small ball.

“The brass ball,” Ash said.