They are here. Alive and unharmed...
And tangled up in a pile of limps.
Dalisso transported them here as he promised, but it appears that he did not care much about their landing, opting to simply drop them on top of each other, and be done with it.
"What just happened?"
"Aaargh..."
"I can't... breath."
"Kayin, get off. You are crushing me."
There is some confusion as they regain their bearings and extricate themselves from each other. They slowly take in their new surroundings, then turn to me as get off my chair.
"Vyswe'eyaga?" Kayin says with surprise. He looks again around him then ask. "Did you... Did you do that?"
"That would be me." Dalisso chimes from behind me. Kayin shifts his attention to him, looking even more confused. Before another question leaves his mouth, however, Ike bursts out of the group and straight up at me. He firmly holds my arms while he inspects me from head to toe.
"You are unharmed." He looks me straight in the eye.
"Ah... Yes," I say feeling a bit startled.
"Umm... Where are we?" Ewa asks.
"And who is that guy?" Adds another, vaguely familiar, voice.
I understand why, now that I look at its owner. This man, I have met him before, it was that day when I had to summit Uncle Owono's reports at the research centre...
What was his name again?
As I try to put a name to his face, I realize that he is leering at me with a stunned face. His eyes go wide, then narrow in confusion as he stares at my face.
Ah. Yes.
My eyes. They are not masked anymore, that must be the reason why.
Then I shift to the other new company among them. He is a dashing young man about the same age as Kayin and the other guy, with a rich brown skin and a slender build.
He eyes me wearily when he realizes that I am observing him.
"I... Do not know."
"Where we are? Or who that guy is?" Ewa raises an eyebrow.
"No... I mean... I do not where this place is," then at point at Dalisso. "This is Dalisso. He is an Anansi."
"What is an Anansi?" Asks the man, still staring at me.
"Who are you two?" Asks Gamba, looking between him and the man I can't put a name on.
Oh. So, he and Ike don't know them as well?
His question is followed by a confused silence. It is briefly interrupted by Dalisso who is seated back at the table and loudly chewing from a white cracker. He is watching us with a most entertained expression. This, of course, earns him the weirded stares of all those present. Me included.
He can't be serious.
"Alright..." Kayin interjects. "Let's start from the beginning. Shall we?"
I nod.
Kayin begins first. Explaining who are the new arrivals; apparently they are his colleagues from the Archaeology Institution, Sazayi and N'jobu—right, that was his name—and they... tracked us? Because of some dubious suspicion about Kayin's method of acquiring the Ncharen lexicon.
N'jobu does not refute the claims, he seems to think that he is in the right, thus does not show the slightest hint of guilt or remorse for his actions... He certainly is not wrong, but still... Does he not have any decency? Here I thought him charming man on our first encounter.
His friend, on the other hand, seems to suffer from second-hand embarrassment, but mostly looks tired of everything.
Then it is my turn to explain the situation. My explanation is shorter and less convoluted than Kayin's. I tell them about my abduction by the lake and how I woke up in this very room.
I don't mention the unfortunate circumstance I had to meet him, it's way too embarrassing. Nor of his plans to supposedly keep me with him forever, he is still present with us, and I don't want to escalate the situation.
They quickly understand, then, that Dalisso is, without the shadow of a doubt, the author of all the misfortune that had happened since. The way they glance at him is laced with a lot more annoyance now... and a bit of hostility too, especially from Ewa for some reason.
The culprit in question answers their death glares with a sardonic smile. He waves his hand at hand at them while wiggling his eyebrows oddly.
"So, the reason why we couldn't leave this forest," surmise Kayin. "The monkeys, the Moyibi NKam..."
"Those machines that attacked us."
"It was all because of you?!" Ewa exclaims while glaring venomously in his direction.
"...Yes. It is."
Ewa stomps forward, then slams her fist on the table so violently that the wood caves in with a deafening crunch.
"Where is our gear?" She asks, voice grave.
Dalisso tilts his head, an amused smile dancing on his lips.
"Answer me!" She presses, "your little minions stole them, then you must know where they are."
"What do I get in return?" He twists his lips in a pout.
The face she makes is enough warning that it will not be long before things become violent.
I know Ewa is a seasoned warrior, I saw her in action after all, but Dalisso is a three-millennia-old Mystical Beast... I am not sure she could stand a chance.
"Dalisso... Please."
He sighs. "Only because you asked nicely, darling."
He snaps his fingers, and a pile of bags appear next to the table. Without a word Ewa moves to it, placidly rummaging through her belongings. Within seconds, her movements grow erratic. She begins tossing items aside with increasing urgency, muttering to herself over and over.
"No! No, no, no, no, no, no—It can't be... This, this can't be real."
At that point Dalisso has quietly slipped next to me. Just as Ewa whirls toward him with murder in her eyes.
"My bottles... Where are my bottles?!" She growls.
In a blink of an eye, she is on her feet and sprinting toward Dalisso who is now hiding behind me, using me as a meat shield. Not that Ewa seems to care; she looks ready to tackle the both of us regardless.
I freeze on the spot, bracing myself for the imminent impact.
It never comes.
I open my eyes—I had not realized I closed them—to find her thrashing in Ike's grip. He is holding her firmly by the arms and off the ground while she is screaming and kicking wildly in a futile attempt to break free.
"Scary human woman..." Dalisso mutters next to my ear, which makes me flinch.
He is perfectly capable of protecting himself. Why is he acting like can't? And did he have to hide behind me?
"What bottles?" Kayin asks once she has calmed down a bit.
Ewa grits her teeth. "I had prepared three bottles of whiskey before departing for this journey. I was waiting for the right moment to finally enjoy them. But they are gone. Not damaged and spilled in my bag. Gone."
"Ah-ha. So that is why she was in such a hurry to find the horses." Azikiwe says quietly.
"I drank them," he says matter-of-factly. "I got bored, so I rummaged through your stuff to pass the time. They were really tasty—But hey, at least nothing was wasted."
Ewa answers him with a sharp shrill. He yelps back, trying to make himself smaller behind me. There is no doubt that if she was not restrained at the moment, she would already be assaulting him.
But why is he acting so defenceless?
"Do you really have to try murdering him?" Asks Ike with some struggle. Restraining Ewa is not an easy task, it appears. "It's just some alcohol."
"It was wine from Akwa!" Ewa belows, "I had to call in favours to have it shipped to me. It had cost me a lot, a lot of cowries."
Then she goes limp, and only the sounds of her heavy breathing echo across the room. It looks like she has tired herself out. But it does not stop her from glaring daggers at Dalisso.
"…Damn." N'jobu says a second later. His face is twisted in a pained frown.
Hmm?
The atmosphere has changed, the others who were exasperated at Ewa's antics now wear expressions of pure sympathy and sorrow—Even Ike was given pause.
No but seriously, do have to be this solemn? If I had not been present I would think that the loss of a cherished relative was announced.
Were those bottles that expensive?
~~~~~~~~~~~
"W-Why don't we forget about that regrettable incident."
Now that Ewa has calmed down it seems that Dalisso has decided it is time for him to withdraw from his earlier silence. He should have not. Because she refocuses on him with renewed hatred.
"Forget?"
He recoils back. "I mean… You must be so tired—After walking around all day and fighting for you lives. Here, you can stay in my abode. To unwind and everything."
"Wasn't it your fault that that we had to walk in circles and fight for our lives?" N'jobu asks dubiously.
"That's an unimportant detail, what matters is that I am extending my hospitality to you."
"Hospitality, huh?" Ewa says. At some point Ike had let go of her, but he stills keep a cautionary hand on her shoulder, in case she attacks.
"Yes, yes. I am so regretful for drinking your wine, my lady, I wish to be forgiven. You can… Have a relaxing bath… Eat a warm meal, and sleep soundly."
"Why should we trust you, what tells us it is not a ploy to lower our guard, then attack?" Kayin ask.
Dalisso slowly turns his head to Kayin. But his face is different. Two additional pairs of eyes appear on his face. They are all the same golden colour, but the gold is not just that of his irises, it has spilled to cover his six eyes completely making them look like immaculate golden jewells.
They shine ominously as they all focus on Kayin, which makes him balk.
"If I wanted you dead, you would have long been. Human."
His tone was calm, friendly even, his words had sounded like it was just a joke, but I felt that he was serious, and I think Kayin—and the others—felt it too.
Ever since I have met him, I had felt that there was something wrong about Dalisso, the way he behaves is not quite normal, not quite… natural, like he just playing a role, holding a facade. For what reason? I don't know. But that act of his just cracked, and everyone saw it.
He has this glint in his eye, something that I cannot quite describe but which I find deeply disturbing, I feel my hair stand all over my body when I look him in the eye.
He realizes that we are all staring at him. His face change back to its first form as his eyes lock on me. I try to not show that I am scared as I maintain eye contact.
"Was that a threat?" Ewa says coldly, she looks ready to act at a moment's notice.
"What? No, of course not. You are friends of my darling; I just want to be nice. That's what humans do, right?"
He grabs my hand, leaving me no choice but to follow him as he leads me at the exit of the room. There is a large, illuminated corridor, at the end of it is a junction which spreads into two opposite directions.
"Turn right, at the end of the corridor you will see the baths, further down will be a similar area for the men. Take your friend with you and enjoy yourselves."
I feel his thumb moving over my held hand, slowly, softly. I twist and meet his gaze, feeling the goosebumps rise.
"Ewa l-lets go."
"Haah?"
"Come one, it will do you some good. I promise."
She observes for me a second, then sighs as she walks over me.
"Fine." She snatches my hand from Dalisso's, passing it over hers so that we hold each other elbow to elbow. "I have been needing a bath for a while now."
"W-what, you can't really be going?" I turn to N'jobu who is gawking at us incredulously. "This is stupid, we don't even know him."
"Whatever," his friend, Sazayi, says. "I am too tired to care, and I want to remove all the dirt and grim. You said it was the second room after theirs, right?"
He moves past us and through the corridor. Gamba exchange glances with Azikiwe and Kayin, shrugs, and walks over, the others follow suit not long after. N'jobu as well, albeit reluctantly.
Internally, I breathe a sigh of relief.
We are in Dalisso's abode, which means that this place must be packed to the brim with Defensive Wards and other Arrays meant to enhance his sorcery, and even if we outnumber him it would not be wise to antagonise him here. The best course of action is to play along whatever Dalisso says.
This… is for the better.