Back in Lion's Arch – Kumara – Chapter 6 Part 1

With a shiver, I stepped out of the asuran gate. I would never enjoy traveling this way, I realized. It felt to unnatural. Not only did stepping through the gate just feel wrong, the sudden change of environment was unnerving.
Just like when I first travelled via this exact same gate, the large shift in temperature and humidity slammed into my senses once again. However, this time I knew it was coming, but there was something else, something new in the air that I had not prepared for.
The pervasive stench of death and decay and the chocking pressure of ash, the smell of fire and burned flesh. For a moment, I felt sick, but I managed to keep it together. Fighting the Flame legion had given me some resistance to the smells of burning, but the pervasive presence of death…
Garron let out a low string of curses as he looked around, whereas I could only stare in silence, my claw resting on Thornfang’s restless head.
Many of the buildings where damaged, although most of it seemed superficial. The closer the buildings where to the shore, the more significant the damage. Piles of rotting bodies, put to the flame, lay in the more open spaces of the city, being the source of the stench.
The largest of piles where just bodies carelessly thrown on the pile, and it was clear by their state of decay that these were the risen invaders. Other bodies lay on small piles on wood, being burned with much more respect. Among those piles where Lionguard and civilians alike. The sight of so many civilian casualties…
I shook my head and walked away from the gate, towards where Amethyst’s shop should be, with the burdened dolyak in tow. Garron followed suit, his gaze dark as he looked around.
“Yes, yes, it seems that they did quite the number on this place,” he said darkly.
“Yea… I haven’t seen destruction like this in a long time.”
“Likewise,” Garron said with a shudder.
We walked on in silence, taking in the damage and the death as we moved to the once bustling commerce area. Now, as we arrived, we saw that there were not many shoppers, instead, there were a great many tents of people who could not currently be in their home. There were also other people milling about, doctors and priests.
Eventually, we reached Amethyst’s store. The damage was minimal, it seemed, but neither of us felt at ease as we entered.
“What is it?” a tired voice greeted us.
Amethyst poked her head through a door in the back, and the moment she saw us, she started to grin.
“Well, look at that! You’re back much sooner than I had anticipated!” she said, as she came walking towards us.
“You’re still alive,” I said. “But you’re hurt,” I added with a frown.
Around her left arm, her left leg and around her head were bandages. The wounds seemed minor, but still…
“Ah, nothing serious,” she said with a shrug, wincing as she did.
“Yes, yes, we see that,” Garron said, unnervingly serious.
“It’s nice to see you worry about me,” Amethyst said, grinning, her tail making big swipes.
Rolling my eyes, I said, “How did you get hurt? Rushed into combat?”
“What?” she said. “Of course not! I only engaged in smart fights, and shielded those who could not fend themselves.”
“She rushed in,” Garron quipped.
“Definitely,” I said with a nod.
Amethyst crossed her arms and huffed, but did not deny what we said.
“It’s good to see you’re still in one piece,” I said with a smile.
“I can fend for myself, you know.”
“Oh, we know,” Garron said.
“We were just afraid you’d rush into the wrong fight.”
“I may be a bit impulsive,” Amethyst said, “but not that much.”
“If you say so,” I said.
Amethyst harrumphed and walked back to the room she had come from.
“Should we bring the furs in?” Garron asked.
She stopped at that, and looked back at us.
“You managed to get them?”
“Well, yea?” I said. “It’s what you’re paying us to do, isn’t it?”
“It is,” she said. “You just did it much quicker than I would have thought.”
“Really?” I said. “It certainly did not feel as if we were quick.”
“You see,” Garron said, “that’s just you being impatient.”
“Whatever,” I said, turning back outside towards the dolyak with Garron and Amethyst laughing in the background.

—

This was my first time in the back room of Amethyst’s shop, and there was no shortage of things to look at. As Amethyst was sorting through the furs, I had the time to take a good look around.
There were all kinds of fabrics, a few scraps of furs and leathers and many types of threads. Not just plain cloth, but there were various frills and such as well. What caught my eye the most, however, was a stand with charr armor on it. It was heavy, metal plate armor with various pieces of mail. My guess was that she had used it recently, for the armor was damaged in various degrees.
“Your armor sure took a beating,” I muttered.
“Hmm? Oh, yes, it was quite the fight,” Amethyst replied.
“You should get that armor repaired,” I said.
Garron gave me a knowing glance as Amethyst gave a nod.
“I know,” she said. “There just aren’t that many smiths around here that know how to properly work on charr armor.”
“Really?” I said with genuine surprise. “Would that be lucrative?”
“What, a smith with knowledge of charr armor?” she said, finally turning in my direction, a ponderous look on her snout. “I don’t know, to be honest. They might get some customers, but if charr armor is all they’re doing, I doubt they’ll make a living.”
“What if they made weapons too?”
Amethyst had returned to her furs, as she said, “Oh, yes. Making weapons in Lion’s Arch always makes a killing.” She chuckled at her own word play, before saying, “Sometimes I do wish I’d sell weapons. It’d attract a lot of customers.”
“You know,” I said with a sly grin, “that could be arranged.”
She stopped what she was doing, and slowly turned towards me, looking puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, that if you get a forge and anvil, I could be a smith.”
For a minute she stared at me. Just… stared. Not giving any clue as to what was going on inside of her head.
Finally, after that time, she said, “You intent to stay?” with obvious surprise.
“If you want me to,” I replied with a shrug.
“A chance to have my eye-candy stay around to shop and work for me?” she said, her tail rapidly thumping on the floor. “I’d never pass up on a chance like that.” Nodding towards Garron, she said, “What about you?”
“Yes, yes, you see,” he said, scratching his chin. “I need to keep an eye on this one here,” he said, pointing to me. “He tends to attract trouble.”
Amethyst chuckled, and my frown was undermined by my own smile.
Gesturing with my claws at the wall, I said, “We’ll need to expand if we’re going to fit a forge in her. A stone extension, preferably. Or just outside with a roof and a floor, that’d work too.”
Staring, she tapped her chin with a single claw, thinking.
“You know what,” she said. “I might have a few connections that can help.”

—

It had been two days since Garron and I returned to Lion’s Arch, and as Amethyst expected, her connections came through. The Lion Guard was more than eager to have another smith in the city. After I had proven my skill by repairing Amethyst’s armor, they gave us all the materials to build a smithing area.
That part of the shop was now complete, and Garron, Thornfang and I were now heading back there with our first, modest shipment of ingots. I did most of the lifting, but Garron insisted on coming along. He had offered to help, but I had no real trouble hauling the iron by myself. After all, it was only enough to make a few weapons, so we could start showing customers that we were now dealing in metal goods as well.
As we entered a narrow alley which served as a good shortcut, I suddenly felt as if we were being watched. I glanced to my side, to make sure my sword was there and I switched the bag from my right claw to my left, so that I could draw the blade in a moment’s notice. I did not place my claw on my pommel, as that could tell whoever was watching us, that I knew.
Thinking about it, I could not find a way to tell Garron without being too obvious about it. Thornfang, however, seemed to notice my change in mood and his ears pricked up as he looked around more actively.
It was not until we were in the middle of the alley that a shadow emerged in front of us. I had my sword drawn before the sack of ingots hit the ground, and Thornfang shot into a low crouch, baring his teeth at whoever barred our way. To his credit, Garron reacted quick, jumping backwards and holding a fancy staff that he had bought with the money from our fur trip.
The shadow, however, raised its hands before stepping into the light. It wore black and red clothing, with buckles of brass.
“Greetings, Lightforge,” it said, pulling down the cloth that obscured its face.
“Human,” I growled, my muscles tensing.
“Wait,” Garron said. “Let him speak.”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I grunted.
“Thank you—”
“How do you now my name,” I bit at him.
The man blinked, before saying, “Oh, my order knows a great deal of things. But that is not why I am here.”
Gripping my blade more tightly, I said, “Speak quickly.”
For a second, the man seemed to weigh the situation.
“Very well,” he said. “My order wishes to enlist your help, Kumara.”
“If your order knows so much about me,” I said dragging out my words, “then they knew they shouldn’t have sent a human.”
“Alas,” the man said, “I was the most qualified to talk to you.” Fixing me with a stern gaze, he said, “We need you to help this city.”
“Yes, yes, you see,” Garron said darkly, “why would he help you?”
“We’ll pay,” the man said. “And you’ll help save this city. You seem quite keen on heroics, don’t you, Lightforge? Or, heroics seem keen on you. Whatever is the case, the city is in danger and we need your specialty.”
The urge to gut the man where he stood was strong, but something nagged in the back of my head that told me that it would be a poor idea. Whatever his order was, if they knew so much about me, they must be quite powerful.
With a snarl I said to him, “Explain yourself.”
Crossing his arms, he said, “The problem is, since the attack on the city was driven back, it seems Zaithan is even more bent on destroying us. As such, we’re rather sure that it has another agent, currently in this city. His minions make far too calculated attacks for it not to be.”
“Yes, yes, and it seems you are unable to find them?” Garron said with a mean smile.
The human frowned, and said, “Indeed. Who or whatever the agent is, it knows enough of our order to avoid detection.”
“So?” I said.
“Your expertise in tracking and solving mysteries is thus highly needed,” he said with a sigh.
With a frown I said, “Not interested. Now, move aside.”
The human puts his arms behind his back, and stared thoughtfully at me.
“You’d rather see this city burn than help it?”
“I’d rather see you ask somebody else.”
“We would,” he said, “if there was somebody else.”
“Kumara…” Garron said softly.
“What!”
“Let’s help them out.”
With a sigh, I rolled my eyes.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Tell us what this is all about, then.”