De'Vas Chronicles Book 3: Chapter 4

The slumber party was in full swing and Faylen was surprised by how much Lilly’s weekly get-together of the girls had grown. A dozen girls had shown up this week and Faylen watched them from her spot on the couch.

 Naomi was standing beside Coral as they chatted with Haylee and her sisters. The ice salamander and fire dragon were no doubt giving makeup or fashion advice to the trio of otterkin sisters.

 Just past them, a nervous Mei waited her turn to throw darts. The dark-haired rabbitkin anxiously watched Silver make her throws. She and Silver had teamed up against Celeste and Faylen’s sister, Luna. Silver and Celeste had started trash-talking each other after the first throw.

 Faylen’s wolf ears twitched as she heard popping coming from the kitchen. It seemed Lilly and Jacklyn, Bo’s girlfriend, were making more popcorn.

 A faint smile was on her face as she watched everyone before she took a sip of her fruity mixed drink and checked her phone for the third time within the last half hour. Even going into her messages and typing out one to Ash before pausing and deleting it.

 Naomi had talked her into going to the slumber party in hopes it would keep her from worrying about Ash. The girls had done their best to drag her into the slumber party activities, sometimes even distracting her for a bit before her mind would go back to Ash and she would worry.

 Faylen kept recalling what Lilly had told her and Naomi about what had happened in District 44. Ash had made a reckless gamble and intentionally brought his elemental out to fight the deranged djinn. A shiver ran down her back as she thought about what would have happened had the elemental attacked Ash instead of the djinn.

 She started typing on her phone again, only to feel something hit her head and a piece of popcorn fell into her lap. Looking up she saw Lilly holding a bowl of popcorn, Jacklyn beside her.

 “Like I told Jacklyn, Ash and Bo are fine,” Lilly said as she plopped down on the couch beside her.

 Jacklyn moved over to Faylen’s other side taking a seat. She gave Faylen an understanding look before reaching past her and snagging some popcorn from Lilly’s bowl.

 “I’m worried too, but Bo will call if there’s trouble,” Jacklyn said as she threw some popcorn in her mouth. “He better anyways or I’ll kick his green ass!”

 Lilly gave a nod of agreement.

 “It’s a shame Ella couldn’t come,” Lilly said with a devious smile. “Then we could have both of Ash’s girlfriends and both of Bo’s in the same room.”

 Ella was the desert elf bodyguard of Selena, the boss of District 208. She had recovered in District 114 when the djinn’s had tried to kill Selena, and during her stay had befriended Bo. There was chemistry between the two of them, but Bo insisted they were just friends.

 Jacklyn laughed.

 “I’m not dense or in denial like my boyfriend. I know full well Ella’s intentions. She recognizes me as the Alpha,” Jacklyn said proudly. “She has my blessing.”

 “Oh? Do you know when she’s thinking of making a move?” Lilly asked.

 Faylen gave the dryad a smirk.

 “Is this genuine curiosity, Lilly? Or do you have bets already going on Bo and Ella?” Faylen asked.

 Lilly didn’t respond, instead, she just smiled as she got another handful of popcorn.

 Jacklyn let out a huff.

 “How many bets like that do you even have running?” she asked the dryad.

 Lilly swallowed her mouth full of popcorn.

 “What? Can’t a girl have a side hustle?”

 Faylen shook her head at Lilly before looking back at her phone. She hoped Ash was safe.

 “She stressing about Ash?” Silver asked as walked over. The game of darts was done with the winners, Celeste and Luna, celebrating. Mei was trying to nonchalantly, work a dart out of the wall.

 “Yes,” Lilly answered.

 Silver gave her a reassuring smile.

 “The last few missions I sent Ash on turned out to be a bust. Either the suspect was selling fake reagents or legitimately gained ones due to the new rounds of rifts. The lead he and Bo are checking out now is old and was a low priority on the list,” Silver said.

 The list was what Silver called a massive collection of information that followed reagents bought by WillCo from De’Vas. It was an extensive list and one Silver had been shifting through looking for clues to a theory of hers; WillCo shared a connection with members of the Council.

 “They’re probably done and Bo’s dragged Ash to have a beer or get pizza,” Jacklyn said.

 Silver clicked her tongue. “Always a safe bet that Bo will think with his stomach.”

 A smile crept on Faylen’s face. Silver and Jacklyn were right. The boys were most likely fine and just having some fun like she was at the slumber party. Well, like she should be.

 “Okay,” Faylen said as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. “Let’s have some fun.”

 Silver turned and looked towards Celeste.

 “Hey, Celeste! Rematch! Faylen is going to stop being a stick in the mud!”

 Faylen laughed as she stood up to follow Silver towards the dart board.

***

 One of the mimic’s spider-like legs pierced the ground where Ash had been standing. He sent a weak Bolt at the monster to antagonize it, then kept leading the monster in a circle on their side of the room. The mimic lunged for Ash. He sidestepped the attack and retaliated with Riptide. The sword left a gash along the side of its vending machine body and it began oozing dark blood.

 The mimic’s hide was tough, a trait Ash had learned was common with monsters aligned with Earth Magic. The intelligence of the monster, though, was nothing impressive. The mimic used the same repertoire of attacks over and over again and Ash had adapted to the point he was easily avoiding them.

 “How’s it going, Bo?” Ash called out as the orc came back into his field of vision.

 Bo was chasing the goblin around the other half of the large room. Bits of reflective tape waved behind the goblin as he tried to find a hiding place among the rubble where Bo couldn’t get him.

 “He keeps breaking the tape!” Bo called out.

 “Why didn’t you bring a rope?” Ash called out.

 Ash dodged another lunge and hacked at one of the mimic’s back legs, the mimic let out a sound like a hissing insect before skirting away from him, its wounded leg twitched as it curled closer to the mimic’s body.

 “The package of the tape said reflective and strong! It’s not my fault it lied,” Bo answered.

 “Well figure something out and get over here to help me kill this thing!” Ash responded back as the mimic charged again.

 Ash pulled on his magic and cast his Lightning Shields. Summoning two balls of floating lightning that hovered around him.

 The mimic did its usual attack pattern, trying to strike at him with its front two spider legs in quick succession. The lightning shield blocked the first strike while Ash dodged the second and followed it up with his own strike, leaving another deep cut in the mimic.

 “Get some distance,” Bo called out to him.

 Ash kept his eye on the mimic as he moved away from it. The monster turned and readied itself to charge at him. Ash watched as Bo’s battleaxe twirled through the air and slammed into the mimic’s side.

 The blow from the battleaxe combined with the mimic’s injured legs threw it off balance and it fell to the ground. Ash rushed forward at the opportunity and stabbed Riptide down into the mimic’s body repeatedly before it could right itself.

 He kept his eye on the mimic as it twitched. When he was sure it was dead he relaxed.

 “Thanks for the help, Bo,” Ash said as he turned back to the orc. “Were you able to get the goblin—”

 Bo was standing there in a pair of boxers with images of pickle jars on them. He looked past Bo to the goblin on the ground, tied up with a combination of tape, torn jeans, and shoe strings. He looked back at Bo and raised an eyebrow.

 “Don’t say anything,” Bo said sternly. “I don’t want to hear it.”

 Ash just let out a laugh.

 Bo huffed.

 “Hey, I didn’t say anything,” Ash said as he laughed. “Let’s check this place out, Pickles.”

 “They were a gift from Jacklyn,” Bo said defensively.

 Ash’s mind made the connection and he shook his head.

 “Okay, did not need that mental image.”

 Ash made his way to the workstation the goblin had been hiding under. The desk was littered with schematics and notebooks. Nearby was a suitcase that looked like it was being quickly packed.

 “Bo, any chance one of those runes upstairs alerted him to us?” Ash asked as he picked up one of the sheets of paper and looked at it.

 “It’s possible, though I don’t think the runes belong to the goblin,” Bo answered.

 “Why do you think that?” Ash asked as he turned and saw Bo looking at the goblin.

 Ash started walking towards where Bo was guarding the goblin and noticed tattoos on the goblin’s face. Dozen’s of the tattoos covered his body and Ash realized what they were.

 “He’s tattooed in runes?” Ash stated more than asked.

 “I’ve seen this before back on Vas. The runes are connected to information he knows. If he reveals that information the rune goes off, violently.” Bo said.

 Ash grimaced at the thought. They wouldn’t be able to use the truth-sayer potion on the goblin, at least not without killing him.

 “I’ll give you some information,” the goblin growled. “The orc needs to back up a few feet.”

 Bo looked down before remembering he was in his boxers. He grimaced as he backed up a few feet.

 “Anything you can tell us? My translation ring isn’t translating your notes,” Ash said to the goblin.

 “Oh, I can tell you lots of things. Whether you hear them before the runes blow you and me to bloody bits is another thing!” the goblin snarled.

 “Let me see the notes,” Bo said and took one of them from Ash.

 The orc squinted at the notebook before rotating it as if the change of position would make the text legible.

 “What the hell is this?” Bo asked.

 The goblin only smirked from his position on the floor. Ash knew it was pointless to ask him, they would just have to bring it to Silver and see if she could decipher it.

 “Alright, let’s get what we can and get the hell out here,” Ash said as he made his way back to the workstation. He took a stack of the papers on the desk and went to add them to the goblin’s briefcase. That was when he noticed a small ball sitting in the case. It was brass in color and about the size of a baseball. He picked it up and saw small runes covering the object. He turned and looked at the goblin. His smirk was now a look of worry. Ash figured the ball was something important to whoever tattooed the goblin. He gently placed it back into the case and continued moving papers over.

 They had to climb out of the underground room since the collapsed floor blocked the entrance. The rubble acted as stepping stones and they managed to make it back to the mall without much trouble. Ash watched over the goblin by the mall entrance as Bo called Ella. They both agreed it would be a good idea for the orc to have pants before they made their way to the portal.

 “Hey, Ella,” Bo said on the phone, his tone chipper. “Oh, I’m doing alright, how are you?”

 “Pants,” Ash reminded Bo.

 “Good to hear. Hey, listen. I need a big favor,” Bo started to say.

 Ash shook his head and started texting Silver that they had found something.

 Ash: Got the goblin.

 Silver: Finally a break! Let me know when you are back in District 114.

 Ash slipped his phone back into his pocket and his attention turned back to Bo. The big orc was smiling.

 “Good news. Ella is on her way with pants!” Bo stated.

 “Oh, thank the gods!” the goblin said from where he was tied up.

 Not even twenty minutes passed when Ash heard the sound of an engine. Vehicles were something extremely rare in De’Vas. The council limited the import of any motorized vehicles to businesses. Lilly was the only one in District 114 with a vehicle, a sports bike she used for deliveries.

 Both Ash and Bo turned to where the sound was coming from. What was coming towards them looked like a luxury car designed by a post-apocalypse warlord. The convertible car made from Frankenstine parts slowed down and Ash saw a kobold in the driver’s seat with Ella and Selena in the back.

 “Bo!” Ella shouted as she jumped out of the car and raced towards the orc with a pair of jeans in her hands.

 “Ella!” Bo said as he raced to meet the desert elf.

 Ash smirked, he would need to see if Lilly was taking bets on when Bo and Ella became official. His smirk shifted to a professional smile as Selena exited the car and made her way towards him.

 “District boss Ash, it’s good to see you,” Selena said.

 “Good to see you as well, District boss Selena,” Ash said.

 He was still not sure how to interact with Selena. Their history together was complicated. He had killed her father, she had plotted to kill him and they had saved each other’s lives. The longest conversation he had with the unicorn ended with her slapping and then kissing him.

 “I see you found the smuggler Councilwoman Blackthorn was looking for,” Selena said as she gestured to the goblin.

 “Yes. Hopefully, she’ll stop having Silver run me all around De’Vas,” Ash said with a faint smile.

 Selena looked at him with a more serious expression and he felt a knot in his gut.

 “I suppose you wouldn’t be able to tell me why she sent you instead of relying on me? This is my district after all,” Selena said with an edge to her voice.

 Ash kept a fake smile on his face and shook his head.

 “No. Sorry, Selena. I just do what I’m told,” he answered.

 Selena huffed.

 “Figures, since you’re her attack dog,” Selena said softly to herself.

 Ash gritted his teeth, feeling less and less welcome within the district.

 “Ash!” Bo called out to him. “Ella and Selena are inviting us to dinner!”

 Ash turned to tell Bo they were leaving, but the big oaf looked so excited to have dinner with Ella.

 “We have the goblin, remember,” Ash said.

 Bo waved it off.

 “We can drop him off through the portal and one of the gangs can handle him.”

 Ella had a pleading look on her face as well, but it wasn’t directed at Ash. He turned to see Selena looking wide-eyed at Ella before she turned and met his gaze. A sigh escaped her.

 “We would love for both of you to join us. Ella rarely shuts up about Bo,” Selena said with a faint smile on her face.