The Rusty Chalice looked even shadier than the last time we'd been here, though that might have been because they'd turned the lights down even more for some reason.
The point was, Gilded, with his wine-red hair and one of his embroidered jackets, looked even more conspicuous than usual. He was sitting in a corner, nursing a glass of what looked like white wine, and looking somewhat bothered.
I'd meant to text him, but in the end we'd happened to receive a phone call from Tiernan, who agreed to coax Gilded to meet us. Apparently, Gilded had been spending a lot of time at TAPESTRY's headquarters in the last few days, intrigued by the inert artifacts.
Well, either way. Looked like Tiernan had been successful.
"You should learn to use concealment artifacts," Llewellyn said, sitting down on the bench in front of him.
"Ugh," Gilded said.
I slid in next to Llewellyn and tapped Penguin's watch form gently, so he knew to stay put.
"You know I don't have access to the System shop," Gilded grumbled. "Why am I here?"
"Maybe I have some questions for you," Llewellyn said.
I rubbed my forehead.
"Don't antagonize him," I told Llewellyn telepathically. I took my briefcase out of my inventory and slid it toward Gilded. "Here," I said. "You saved my life. I wanted to thank you."
Gilded looked surprised for a moment, then eyed the briefcase warily.
"Why does this feel like one of those gangster movies where everything goes wrong?" he said. Well. Great minds and all, I suppose. He pushed the briefcase back. "I don't need your thanks. Take your money back."
"It's not money," I said. "Open it."
Gilded seemed unhappy, but in the end curiosity got the better of him. He swiped his hand over the briefcase, as if checking if it was safe. After a few moments, he seemed satisfied with whatever he got from it and opened it.
He stared.
I mean, we'd decided to only give him one briefcase, in case we needed more negotiation power in the future, but even so, it was a lot of crystals. Gléonwon had not held back.
"Lithium Quartz," Gilded said, picking a crystal up. "This one is huge. Apricot Agate, Yellow Hematoid…" He eyed us. "How were these sourced?"
"None of your business," Llewellyn said immediately.
I sighed.
I mean, we couldn't tell him. Even taking Gléonwon out of the equation, I was fairly sure it wasn't normal to have all those different kinds of crystals in the same cave.
Gilded narrowed his eyes at us before closing them for a moment, still holding the crystals, as if he was listening to something.
"Well, they don't seem to be in pain," he said, opening his eyes again and blinking. "You have no idea of the state of those crystals at the auction. They screamed all the way home."
They what?!
No, I didn't want to know.
He rummaged through the briefcase for a few moments.
"Fine," he said finally. "I suppose I can accept these. But I'd really like to know where you—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the front door burst open.
Something was thrown inside the pub. Then—
"Get down!" Llewellyn yelled.
Fuck.
BOOM!
An explosion. Then… there was smoke everywhere.
Gilded locked the briefcase and vanished it in his inventory before diving under the table with me.
Llewellyn summoned a small tornado to clear out the area but in the meantime about twelve people had rushed in and we were already being attacked.
"I knew it!" Gilded yelled. "Why does it always end like this with you two!"
I mean, he wasn't wrong but—
"Shut up!" I told him. "Focus on staying alive!"
Phelan was yelling something, grabbing a decorative spear he had on the wall behind the counter and kicking someone.
Shit, shit.
"Alliance," Llewellyn said. "Stay here. I'll take care of them."
This again?!
They'd spotted us by now and were charging.
"Like hell," I shot back, scrambling up to join him.
"I'm getting out of here!" Gilded said. "I knew this was a bad idea!"
"You can't teleport from inside The Rusty Chalice," Llewellyn said, hitting someone and kicking another away. "You have to be outside to do that!"
I materialized my sword and went for the closest one, who was raising his hand to cast something at Llewellyn's back.
I slashed at his arm and he screamed, stumbling back.
Another one lunged at me and I barely got my shield up in time. The impact rattled through my arm but I held.
Tables were being overturned and glass shattered.
Phelan was actually holding his own with that spear, which was... honestly impressive.
Two more Alliance people came at me from opposite sides.
Wait, fuck—
Llewellyn was there before I could raise my arm, taking one down. I got the other, driving my blade through his shoulder before Gilded blasted him away.
The bond flared. I could feel Llewellyn's awareness of the room—
Three more were rushing at us from the left!
I spun and we moved together. One of them threw something that exploded mid-air. I raised my shield but the blast still knocked me sideways into a wall.
My ears were ringing.
"Ryo!" Llewellyn shouted.
I shook my head, trying to clear it. "I'm fine!"
Gilded was hanging back, occasionally blasting Magic here and there.
"Get to the door!" I yelled at him.
"I'm trying!"
More Alliance members poured in. Where the hell were they all coming from?! And what did they want?!
Llewellyn cut through two more, moving so fast I could barely track him. Blood sprayed across the floor.
One of them grabbed my coat from behind and yanked me backward. I turned, elbowing him in the face, then drove my sword into his thigh.
He went down.
Llewellyn appeared at my side. "There are too many of them. We need to get outside and draw them after us."
"What about Phelan?!"
No other TAPESTRY member was here. What if they went after him instead?
"I'll be fine!" Phelan yelled, smashing someone over the head with a chair before yelling at another one, "Get out of my pub!"
Penguin was vibrating against my skin.
"Don't even think about it!" I told him. He must have been really scared by how I'd died trying to protect him last time, because he stayed put.
We fought our way toward the exit, Gilded scrambling behind us, clearing the way with a flick of his fingers.
Someone threw another explosive. Llewellyn summoned Wind and deflected it back at them. The explosion took out half their group. And… possibly part of the plaster. Phelan was going to have a fit.
We burst through the door into the alley—
—and there were more of them waiting.
How many people did the Alliance have to be able to send so many?!
Llewellyn growled and attacked them immediately. I moved to do the same, but—
—there was suddenly a knife at my throat.
"We were tracking your fashionable friend, but what a pleasant surprise," the man said. "We meet again."
Shawn Baugh.
What the fuck. Why had they released him?!
"It's not a pleasure," I said, gritting my teeth.
"That's unfortunate," Baugh said. "Now, since we've been blessed with this fortuitous encounter. That interesting shapeshifting creature of yours. Where is it?"