Ignite the Sun
Chapter 71: Street rat

Chapter 71: Street rat

Once both the advance party and the installation crew were out of the tunnel, Gary approached Calen and his companions.

"Good work, we need some time to reorganize before going into the second one, so take a break." He nodded at them and quickly left, already yelling something at the workers.

"I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda hungry." Maya said.

Alison looked at the group of workers transporting the monster bodies and nodded.

"We can go get something to eat I suppose."

"Great! I know a good tavern nearby-"

"No alcohol on duty."

"Damnit."

***

They did end up going to the tavern Maya suggested - Alison was just going to make sure her friend doesn’t get intoxicated.

Considering it was mid-day Calen was surprised to find the place quite busy, but he could see why - for a tavern in the middle of a apocalypse the place was pristine, as in everything was relatively clean. It also didn’t hurt that the food smelled rather appetising, and there was a lot of space inside, it had to be one of the biggest buildings in Mountainfall.

"It’s the only place that has been continuously open since before the invasion." Alison informed them. "Also the people who travel between settlements usually stay here, so it’s a hotspot for news from outside. Even Alfred opted to rent a room here despite the fact that we offered him one in the fortress."

"Your cooks aren’t nearly as good as the ones here." The knight shrugged. "Besides once the construction is over I’ll go back to twiddling my thumbs, at least here I’ll have some company."

The waiter came by their table and collected orders - instead of paying with coin, Alison took out seven paper cards and handed them to the man, who accepted them gratefully.

"What’s that? I thought you had money here." Calen asked, slightly confused by the strange tickets.

"We do - those were work passes, when you work for the city you get one a day and can exchange it for a meal at any tavern or pub, I collected ours from Gary before we left."

"So you get paid with food?"

Alison chuckled.

"No, they are complimentary to your regular salary - it would be a pretty poor economy if half of the people in the city didn’t get paid."

"Speaking of which." Isara interjected. "How do those tickets work? Do the taverns exchange them for food or something?"

"Not quite, but close - the owner of an establishment can go to a special office, that will reimburse them for all the meals purchased with the tickets."

"That seems like a really good deal for everyone involved." Cassian commented. "Why doesn’t everyone work for the city?"

"Because some of the businesses are simply more lucrative to do solo than under the watchful eye of the government." Maya answered. "Food is good, but money is better - at least as long as money can buy you food as well."

The server came back with their food and promptly left to deal with another table.

"Right, I did promise to take you two out for dinner, right? I guess I fulfilled that promise." Maya grinned at Cassian and Elira."

"You didn’t pay though, I don’t think that counts." Cassian deadpanned.

"Yeah, I agree." Elira nodded. "You could maybe tell us your story instead? I’ve been curious ever since Antonio brought it up, but if you’re uncomfortable and don’t want to I’ll understand it."

Maya’s smile fell a little, and Alison carefully studied her friend out of the corner of her eye.

Finally the blonde guard sighed.

"It’s not a pretty story." She insisted.

"The complicated ones are the most interesting." Elira smiled.

Maya eyed each person sitting with her before finally responding:

"Alright." She exhaled sharply. "But we have to start from the beginning..."

***

The Pit wasn’t a forgiving place, and Maya knew it better than anyone else.

She was born to a family in charge of the first and only organised crime syndicate in Mountainfall.

One would think that it gave her a better life than other people from this sunken hellhole, but no, her childhood was arguably worse.

Maya not only had to steal, cheat and lie like any other orphan born on the street in order to survive, but she also underwent brutal training to ensure she was ready to serve their her family’s cause - and when the time comes, take it over.

She was 10 the first time she killed a person - it was a homeless person drugged into near unconsciousness by her ’loving’ father.

"A test of courage." was what he said.

All these years later she could still remember the warm blood pouring down her hands, just a thought about it made her sick.

From that point onwards her her training routine got exponential more demanding - she was expected to train from dawn till dusk, and then at night she had to complete missions for the family.

At first they were simple and short, find a stolen object, deliver a message, small acts of sabotage, things like that. However as she got older, her missions became more... dirty.

Assassination. Poisoning. Arson. Interrogation and torture.

By the time she was seventeen her kill count reached a hundred - she was good at her job, and it earned her respect amongs the rank and file members of the organisation.

She thought she also earned the approval of her parents.

But she couldn’t have been more wrong.

The head of the syndicate felt threatened by her position, and decided to get rid of her.

***

One night after a particularly difficult job Maya got accosted by two men dressed in black and wearing her family’s crest.

"Did father sent you as reinforcements? No need to bother, I’ve already felt with the target."

They both took out their daggers.

"I’m afraid that’s not the case miss."

Maya immediately understood what was going on and let out a pained laugh.

"So that’s it, huh? Pops got scared I would take the business from him prematurely and decided to ’deal with the problem’?"

"Please don’t hold it against us, if we disobey his orders our families will die, and he’ll send someone else in our stead."

"I understand."

She took out her weapons - two twin sickles still gleaming with the remnants of blood from her last kill - and jumped.

Her blades rang against her opponents’ daggers and the fight officially begun.

Maya was fast, faster than any other operative of their family, but not enough to instantly take out two people in an open fight.

The ringing of steel disturbed the silent night, announcing to all people of the Pit that come morning, there would be at least one body to burn.

Maya was locked in a fierce dance of blood and blades, the only objective on her mind was to survive, to kill those who came to kill her.

By the time the first of the masked men fell she was covered in deep cuts, barely standing on her feet - her opponent, while definitely not unscathed, was in a decidedly better condition than her.

I’m a desperate attempt to deal with the enemy she struck out with all her strength, hoping to get him, but it was all for naught.

He easily deflected the blow, disarmed her and threw her to the ground.

"I’m sorry." He said breathing heavily, and raising his dagger for the last strike-

Suddenly a long blade pierced through his chest from behind, when the body fell it revealed a young girl around Maya’s age with red hair. She had a scowl on her face and was wearing a badly disgusted guard’s uniform.

"Are you alright?" The guard asked.

"Peachy." Maya responded, and promptly passed out.

***

When she came to, she was lying on a straw bed in a small empty room.

Maya noted that her wounds have been professionally treated, and that the was feeling much better despite the significant blood loss she suffered.

Just as she was thinking of an escape route, the redhead from before entered the room.

"You’re up, good." She leaned against the doorframe and studied her. "Would you care to explain why were you attacked by assassins from black rose?"

Maya laughed, and immediately regretted it because of the pain it caused her.

"You know who I am, I know who you are - we don’t need these theatrics. In fact I’m surprised you haven’t arrested me yet."

The guard absorbed her words and observed her very carefully.

"Why did your father put a price on your head?"

Maya shrugged.

"I outlived my usefulness I suppose - you don’t want a knife that can be turned against you."

"Are you?"

"What?" Maya frowned.

"A knife that can be turned against your father. Are you someone who would go against your own family?"

"Maybe." She chose her words carefully. "But if you’re planning on taking them down I don’t know if someone motivated by revenge is a good partner."

"I don’t care about the motivation, just the results." The guard crossed her arms. "Well, will you help me then?"

"I don’t even know your name.*

"Alison." The guard offered Maya a handshake. "My name is Alison."