While the Crimson Calling is aboard the Gilded Zephyr, Alexis approaches Rask.
“Having slipped free of the Shadow Blades, what is their next move? How long will they wait in Sutheron? How will they try to pick up our trail? Obviously, we didn’t know the resources they have in Sutheron that they might be able to call upon, but let’s assume the resources are minimal when it comes to tracking us; I want to know what the Blades will do on their own.”
“Hmm…” Rask ponders.
“They were closer in my heels than I expected.”
“It tooks us… 6 days from the feast? But we kind of circled around the Tits…”
“Fuckhead found me at Wormturds after we’d been in the Shitty for… 5 days?”
Rask shrugs a little.
“In any case, they will keep looking for me in Sutheron until they have reason to believe I’ve gone elsewhere.”
“I am a deserter and a thief in their eyes, we are all traitors and thieves as far as the Blades or the Blood are concerned.”
“We were most likely reported about when we entered the City. The guards were not on alert for you, me or Brother Blade,”
Rask nods in Ca’armine’s direction.
“But you named us and we… do stand out. Yes, Warder was already looking for you and the Star Sword, but we weren’t detained…”
“Certainly our description was shared though along with the information we gave.”
“Information moves fast.”
“I had not seen any of my former fellows since the night of fire and blood, and I avoided forts and known outposts on my path to you.”
“Could Book’s girlfriend from the pool have tipped off the blood that I had joined you?”
“Right, so, they’ll hire or commission a tracker to track us, that will get them to the lizard door, and perhaps make contact with the folks there… that may shake them from our physical trail? Maybe they will pick up our trail in the sewers and eventually find the Hooded Puppies… that would take at least a couple days, but likely more… Maybe the Hooded Puppies will sell us out… If they aren’t already working together, the blade we took in the Sewers will join the Shadow and the Blood…”
Rask shrugs,
“Best to keep a low profile in Llanos and Gahnil either way, I figure. Maybe we don’t wait for Hop, and whatever might come with him, those Westlander fires could be an interesting place to start looking for the forges we seek…”
Ca’armine laughs. “Unless Red decides to take up illusion magic, to hide us from prying eyes, I do not know how we can become low profile!”
Alexis turns to Ca’armine, sharing the joke with him.
“Easy to heckle from the long benches, priest.” Alexis says not unkindly.
“The Crimson Calling is less about calling shots from camp, and more about filling our satchels with mysteries and treasure. In the spirit of action, do you have anything to contribute?”
Ca’armine looks at Alexis with puzzlement. “I contribute to our team every day, Alexis, with my labor and my care. But the team I came to join, was not the happy-go-lucky treasure hunting gang you once were.”
“I came to you because my sources in the wild told me that you– that we– are the only people who know and care enough, to contest the rising darkness brought on by Bandesingh, the Dark Hand, and the forces of evil that now cloak themselves in the garb of the once-holy Raidensblud.”
Ca’armine grabs his sword hilt. “Do I have something to contribute? I do– my life, if necessary, if it is needed to win the battle.”
He takes his hand away, then smiles. “I am sure you have all appreciated my healing abilities these last several months we’ve been together, as well, isn’t that so? I feel sure that I am a credit to our team, Alexis.”