"Feeling more like yourself, big fella?"
Kronmyr, who had propped his feet up on the round wooden table and leaned his chair back onto its two back legs, dropped his calloused, burned hand down for the hound's inspection. Instead of biting it, after a few moments of intense sniffing, the toffee colored battle hound pushed his whole head under the hand to force a pat.
"There's recognition for ya," the Drow noted, looking up at Howler as he scratched the back of the dog's neck and tugged playfully at his ears.
"Get your hand off," the Human crabbed, turning over his left shoulder and reaching the blood-covered hand out as though he were near enough to smack the dark Elf's hand away. "Don't you see he thinks he's in charge? Forcing you to pat him like that?"
"By the spinner, you're impossible," Kronmyr sighed, sitting up by pulling into a brief mid-air split and allowing the first two legs of the chair to clomp to the floor. The dog stood for a few seconds, then sat back down and laid his head on his paws.
"He snaps at us, you're angry. He seeks affection, you're angry. If he gave your bitch the biggest, strongest litter you ever had, would you still be angry?"
"He refused to mount her," Howler growled, turning back to the meat block. "Laid in a corner and turned his back, while my poor bitch's flagging and whining and pushing against him. Ignored her, and my beta was howling something miserable outside the whole time."
"He might be playing it smart," Kronmyr advised, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair and put one boot-clad foot against the lip of the table. "Check that bitch's piss. He might know something you don't."
"Look, do you wanna do this?" Howler snapped, looking over his shoulder again with the cleaver still in hand. "Because it sounds like you've gotten years of experience down in the Underdark herding- what? Your own children?"
"Least I can have children, you feckless sack of ratshit," Kronmyr replied with a slight smirk, as though he hadn't just insulted and cursed the man to whom he was speaking.
"You little-" Howler began, whirling around to threaten Kronmyr with the dripping cleaver. Surprisingly, the dog got up with perked ears.
"I would have thought you'd finished feeding time by now, Howler; is there a reason that you're finding it difficult?" Bann asked as he strode casually into the room, closing the door behind him.
"And you can fuck off and all," Howler grunted, turning back to the meat block. The dog sat down again, and after a few moments, laid his head back down on his paws.
"Mordy's late," Kronmyr offered, flicking his head toward the door, which Bann turned and cracked open.
The dog master slammed his cleaver down into the meat with obvious frustration. "Not a second's worth of help with these seepings wound you've got for-"
"You've got him sitting nicely," Bann commented, walking over to the nearly disinterested hound. When he crouched down to have a closer look, the dog stood up again, and the two looked into each other's eyes long enough for Howler to turn around and take notice.
"Since you've got him, don't let him go," the Human huffed. "He's already tried staring me down, and he lost."
"Slowly losing the war, eh, Hammer?" Bann replied, putting his right hand on his boot while his left reached out for the hound's head. There was no snapping, but again a sudden push to get under the petting hand.
"He's doing it again," Howler complained at once, putting down the cleaver and picking up the strap that matched the dog's markings. "You still think you're in charge, huh, pup? Think you're in charge?" Bending the strap over itself so that there was a loop for his other hand, the Human pulled the strap taut to get a sharp, cracking sound. Kronmyr frowned up at Howler as he let his chair sit on all four legs, but neither the dog nor Bann were moved at all, so Howler let go of the loop and simply used the strap as a whip over the hound's back.
"Hey, now," Bann countered, expertly grabbing the scruff of the dog's neck when he turned to snap at Howler. The animal's power nearly matched his own, making it difficult to hold him and impossible to push him anywhere. "Bit of help, Myr- where's his crate?"
"In the back- and he needs it too damned much," Howler grunted, turning his back to the situation to dole out the freshly cut meat.
"You're forcing him separate from the female he does want," Kronmyr managed as he and Bann coordinated their efforts against the growling dog. "I think he's doing well, considering."
Howler waited until the Human and the dark Elf had managed to drag the bristling hound toward his cage, then threw the strap down on the floor. The hound, who had seen the action, nearly broke away from both grown men in the effort to attack the offending male. Only when the animal handler finally decided to lend a third set of hands to the situation was the dog successfully forced all the way into the crate that was just big enough for him to sit down and stew in.
"Gods," Bann breathed, remaining in a squatting position for a few moments. "Wonder what that brigand put him through after we sold him."
"Bloody monster," Kronmyr agreed breathlessly, flopping down to the ground himself.
"Weak, the pair of you," Howler huffed, turning his back on both of them and moving away. Kronmyr had only to roll sideways and hook an ankle with the top of his foot to bring the dog handler crashing to his hands and knees.
"Lucky the beast's girlfriend gave me a work-out," the dark Elf warned. "Otherwise, I'd've put my knife through the back of your neck."
"You'd've died trying," Howler hissed, taking stock of the soreness that suddenly registered in his shoulders and knees.
"Lovers' quarrels," Bann said sweetly, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "I hope whatever woman I'm cursed to marry is as kind to me as you are to each other."
"Plague take your lungs," Howler spat as he slowly got to his feet.
"Pox on your member," Kronmyr replied, rolling onto his back and kipping up as though he hadn't just done anything physically stressful.
"We've actual work to discuss, newlyweds," Bann demanded, striding back over to the single round wooden table in the room.
"The recruit, right?" Kronmyr asked, rolling his left shoulder for a few seconds before he decided to amble back toward the table. "Does better with simple bo shuriken than kunai- but didn't learn 'em at home, since she calls them yinn and alti'ui. Exceptional katar work. Says she only worked with the chain for a few weeks, so her teacher's got to be damned good. I want twice the normal fare to train her any more."
"From your description, it sounds like I should be giving you half," Bann replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Aren't all Shadar-kai naturally good with spiked chains, you dimwit?" Howler shrugged as he checked himself for any damage. "That's knowledge so common that even you should have it."
Kronmyr flopped down gracelessly in the chair to the left of his previous place and gave a short laugh. "The same horses' asses who'll tell you that will also say that all Drow are good with rapiers and short swords. You ever see me with 'em? Twice. The. Fare, Bann. Pay it, or train her yourself."
The cracked door suddenly swung wide, and a slender, rosy-skinned Human male with a smooth shaven head leaned in the doorway with a wicked leer.
"Am I late?"
"A question that needs no answer," Kronmyr snorted, snagging the empty chair's back left leg with his right foot and pulling back so that it fell forward onto the floor.
"See that? That right there," Howler explained. "From Myr, it's annoying. From Hammer, it's unacceptable."
"That is your problem, Howler; I don't know what you now expect me to do with a dog that you told me to spare," Bann fixed the animal handler with a look of mild annoyance, then crossed to the right side of the table to pick the chair up by one rung of its ladder back with the tip of his boot. "There, Mordren; sit."
"Don't mind if I do," the emerald eyed Human soothed, making a point of dusting the seat of the chair down before he sat in it. He wisely made sure to position himself far enough away from the table so that he could keep an eye both on the animal handler and the dark Elf. Howler, in response, decided against turning his back on the mage, leaning on his cutting counter with his arms crossed instead.
"Kronmyr was just telling us that the new recruit was as good with the chain as she told me she was-" Bann began as he turned his back to walk toward the chair that was sitting in the far corner of the room.
"No, she's better," the dark Elf corrected. "And she's the first Shadar-kai I've ever seen that doesn't crow."
"Slavery will do that to a girl," Mordren noted. "Didn't have to scry; ring's still in the back of her neck. Such a shame- somebody must be missing their favorite."
"She may not be that kind of slave- did you ask?" Bann pressed, looking over his shoulder without turning all the way around.
"Do I ever outright ask any of our recruits where they're from?" Mordren shot back, as offended as he could ever be. "She's most definitely a skinmaster's little lost lamb, although she's a little too... athletic, let's say... to work with most tavern mouthbreathers. Can't imagine how she'd turn a living around here."
"Her Tiefling," Kronmyr said smoothly. "Never underestimate the fetish market."
"Hadn't gotten far enough to know about the Tiefling, actually. I got stuck on my new project's name-"
"It's bloody disgusting," Kronmyr huffed, much to Howler's poorly hidden delight. "I want the blood of mother and father both."
"Well, childbirth beat you to Darling Mumsie," Mordren shrugged, running one of his deceptively delicate-looking hands over his clean shaven head. "Based on the meaning she gave me, it should either be Jhula'unhaemriina or Jhularma'mice- absolutely, unmistakeably Drow, either way. I told her so, and got an interesting display of diversionary conversation."
"So she's as smart as she is lovely to look at and dangerous to fight," the dark Elf noted simply. "But the name, training, attitude- nothing fits."
"Cursed," Howler huffed from the table.
"No, merely an unknown entity, at the moment- which brings us back to the point," Bann sighed as he finally put a foot in the distanced chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Sorting the lady out."
"Dangerous business, even for the likes of Mordy," Kronmyr warned. "In the training room, everybody was drawn to her. Male, female, partnered, single- didn't matter. Had to fight her like I was back home, just to keep my focus. Shadows wrapped themselves around her; they loved her. Her body- every muscle, every joint, every inch of flesh was so..."
For a few moments, the three other men watched the Drow nearly fall prey to a strange trance of memory, then snap sharply out of it as though slapped. Howler, who ground his teeth in frustration, gestured to Kronmyr as he looked at Bann furiously.
"Go on," Bann encouraged, refusing to look at Howler at all.
"I threw her to the ground, hard as I would put down a man twice her size, and forced myself to walk away. Felt myself staggering too, like I'd drunk poison. Somebody hollered after me- I don't even know who. Didn't turn around to see, in case she'd come after me. Whoever it was said she got up, checked herself for bruises, and then just walked the fight off like I'd barely worked her. She'd asked if it was common for me to leave after the first pass of a lesson- she was concerned that I'd gone 'cause I was displeased with her work." Kronmyr finished the last part of the story with a silent, bitter chuckle that rippled up from the center of his body. "I was the complete bloody opposite of 'displeased'."
"Athletic," Bann mused, nodding slowly.
"It's some kind of unnatural heat," Howler grunted, suddenly turning to flick slices of meat into the various bowls that sat around the cutting area on the counter. "The dogs smell it. I haven't seen her at all today, but it's like she's calling- not calling me. The beast. It's like one of you told her."
"I didn't," Mordryn insisted immediately. "The information flow was one way, I assure you."
"Cursed indeed- almost unbearable," the dark Elf said. While the comment had been under his breath, Howler could tell that he, not Bann, had been meant to hear it.
"Can you keep him quiet?" Bann asked quietly.
The Human male turned his head over his left shoulder with a charged sound that rumbled like a low growl.
"We should maybe keep you- and Hammer- away from her," Kronmyr offered in a strangely compassionate voice.
"Hammer is a natural dog," Bann reminded Kronmyr sharply. "Howler is... not."
"I want nothing to do with her!" the animal handler snapped, turning all the way around to glare at Bann. "I hated her the minute I saw her. But the beast- he wants- wants to change her- to sire and own her. Never felt the like of it. Splits me in half, the bloody walking curse."
"You're right," Kronmyr nodded.
"I'm sorry; what did you just say?" Bann asked, leaning forward with an incredulous look on his face.
"She is cursed; it's even in her name," the dark Elf replied.
"Get 'er out, I say," Howler grunted, turning back to the cutting table.
"She'll do, for what we need," Bann breathed, picking up the chair and moving it closer to the table before sitting down. "She can be made quite a stunning weapon- with the right guidance."
"Ah yes, guidance." Mordren smirked and shrugged slightly. "Happy to be of service, of course."
"Chuffed to bits; I hope she breaks your piece off," Howler pronounced firmly. "That female ain't natural for her kind. Or anyone's kind, probably."
"Look, Howler, better him than us," Kronmyr replied, thinking as he spoke. "If there's a body in here to resist her curse, he's got the best chance at it. What's better, he doesn't get in the thick of fights, so he's been spared some beauty marks, and it seems like the woman has a taste for fairer flesh than you, Bann or I've got."
"To be fair, if you decide to take her on, you'll be personally responsible for monitoring her work against Coalwater," Bann advised. "That third eye may get quite a workout."
"Wait, you want her against Coalwater?" Kronmyr asked, sitting up straight. "That project's too long in the set up to have some new blood ruin it all. A second thing, the she'll be useless in tight spaces, unless she either uses her secondary weapons or brushes up on changing her chain's reach quickly. For a third, you saw how she fearlessly demanded her Tiefling by name in a room full of armed strangers. Now, she won't so much as pick up her head in the middle of a fight. She might be possessed, for all we know- you want to rub Mordy up against whatever demons put the girl's lead strap in their kin's hands?"
"Oh, your doubt strikes me to the very quick, my man," Mordren chuckled easily. "There is no female creature, be she ever so entangled with her patron devil, that I can't wrap myself around. Watch me work; you handle that little chain issue, and I'll make sure that I'm the first and last thing she wants to see every day."
Bann sighed deeply and firmed his lips as he cut his eyes to meet the gaze of each man in the room. "I'm not exempt. I hear what you're telling me, and I've- felt- whatever unnatural power she has for myself. Trust me in this- she'll be the key to getting past Coalwater's defenses. Mordren, you must culture in her a loyalty that we can be sure of. But if she gets into trouble and it is revealed that she was in our employ, we shall beg a priest, then swear to every holy implement that we were bewitched. She shall burn, and we'll probably only be fined, if that. We'll be back to square one, but no worse than that."
"I never thought I'd see the day I'd beg for a simpler plot," Kronmyr sighed. "I feel thread about my neck even now."
"Before she burns, seal up the beast," Howler mumbled, turning his head slightly so that he didn't meet anyone's eyes as he spoke. "Don't take chances with him. True mating urges are strong in beasts that... are already... sires."
"Alright, let's bed this while you have the sense to hear me, and I have the sense to speak." Kronmyr got up and walked over to Howler so that he could stare directly into his eyeshine-touched glare.
"That bloody manipulative wench would have died even if she had made it back to the Underdark. There'd have been no place I wouldn't have searched for her, after what she did to us all. Lykan Gan actually made her death far more torturous than I could have ever managed, so I'd thank him directly, if I could. He- you- let me kill her myself, like she deserved. Without ripping my spine out after, like I deserved."
And this time, both Bann and Howler fixed the Drow with looks of absolute wonder. The naturally fearless dark Elf stood still for a few moments, then realized what the Human was unconsciously waiting for. With a short sigh of annoyance, he allowed his gaze to break off- down and to the left.
"Bullshit," Howler spat at once.
"It's a gift, Howler," Bann counseled gently. "Take it."
"You can fuck off, and all," the Human grumbled, turning back to his table to lay his hands on it, allowing his head to drop between his shoulder blades. "Just- just don't make the same mistake twice."
"I'd kill her first and fight you after," Kronmyr replied. "Regret is a weakness."
"First things first, gentlemen," Mordren said with a single, small nod. "For everyone's sake, I'll get about learning whether this 'unnatural power' is an actual physical property or some spell cast upon her for the furthering of her... intended and marketed purpose. While I do, please at least attempt to stop acting as though the undertaking and completion of the Coalwater Project is going to be the death of us all. Your collective negative energy is immensely distracting."
"Here, I'll do it this time- sit on that and spin," Kronmyr groaned, turning to leave the room at last.
"As usual," Bann sighed deeply. "Kronmyr, don't leave before you agree to train the creature. There's something to be said for mercenaries led by a mage, you know."
The Drow waved a hand over his head as though he were batting away an annoying bird as he opened the door and walked out.
"I expect his admission was too much for his pride," Mordren whispered to Bann. "I must say, I think a bit more of him for finally putting the matter to rest properly. I'll take a look, see if he's intending to agree to your normal terms or not, hmm?"
"Or you can just go ask him, and not be a peeping witch," Howler piped up. "Why do you bother whispering when you know I can still hear every word?"
"Why don't I go ask him and not be a peeping witch, then," Mordren sighed, getting up from the table. "If I meet my pet project on the way...?"
"Tell her to go be properly registered as a mercenary so that she can train above ground, and stop distracting everyone else," Bann noted. "While you're not being a peeping witch, tell the oaf that it'll be better to work with her at night-"
"No, it won't," Howler interrupted.
"-when there's no moon," Bann finished, raising an eyebrow at Howler. "And not so far away from us that you're unable to be at least a bit of a peeping witch."
"Oh, I'll be close enough to her to offer helpful advice, wash her clothes, and help her bathe," Mordren smiled. "It's all well in hand, Bann."
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