Chapter 21.3: Lion's Arch

Within fifteen minutes, the group was nearly ready to go. They’d gotten very good at packing up a camp, a skill Skixx had never imagined himself developing and was perfectly content to never practice again.

As the others completed their final preparations to leave, Skixx did the same, slipping down the shallow side of the bluff and around the far edge, toward the designated location for the party’s biological waste. It was a secluded spot, not far away but still out of sight from the camp.

Backing up against the palm tree that marked the spot, he took three long strides and dug. About a foot down, below the layer of sand, the moist dirt revealed his transmat disc and a small linen sack. He grabbed both, squeezing the linen between his fingers to verify the count of shards inside. Everything was there.

Stuffing the things in his pack and wriggling them all the way to the bottom, Skixx grinned something foul. He hefted the bag to his shoulders and started back up that barely visible path to the campsite, back toward three witless asura and a sylvari still packing their things and blaming his deeds on their stupid human friend. It hadn’t even been difficult. Once she’d fled, she was as good as guilty, and just as Skixx had guessed, her comrades’ first action was to search each other to prove their assertion. How predictable. Now none of them would spare him another thought as they hiked toward that ridiculous pirate-haven of a city, with the very thing they sought right under their noses the whole way.

Skixx crested the bluff, coming once more into view of the camp, and wiped the sour grin from his face, reassuming the somber posture he’d held since the human’s treachery was discovered. The others’ eyes flicked toward him as Minkus stamped out the tiny remains of a campfire. Everyone else was packed and ready to leave, so without further delay, the party began moving again, making their final leg to Lion’s Arch.

From sand to grass and grass to road, the travelers made quick time into the low mountain pass just south of Lion's Arch.

The ashy gray stone of those mountains rose into near-vertical walls that towered above them, blocking out the sun’s light and warmth for the majority of the day. Skixx didn’t mind the silence the others exhibited since deciding upon Penny’s treachery, but the general lack of conversation did make it harder to take his mind off the noticeable change in temperature in those shadows. He shivered, grumbling to himself for the first mile before finally putting those accursed boots back on his feet and trudging on in their constricting grip for the next several hours. He marched in silence with the others, setting his mind again on his objectives.

Once they reached Lion’s Arch, Skixx would finally be free of these fools. The sylvari and his band of lackeys would be on their way through the asura gate to Rata Sum—or wherever they decided to go next—and he would go through another gate to somewhere else, anywhere else. He could fabricate a story for going anywhere, and these morons would believe it. Then he’d simply have to transmat from that location to Mirkrise, the waypoint nearest to Kikka’s facility. It was at that point things would become truly interesting, as Kikka was his end-game. With knowledge of what Kikka had been doing behind the backs of Inquest command, and information on what she truly held, he wouldn’t just have power over Kikka, he would be the asura to whom she was ingratiated for contributing the knowledge she couldn't reasonably have. His mind flashed to Wepp, but he swept away his partner’s anxieties as quickly as they’d come to mind. What did that ninny know anyway? A self-impressed grin curled Skixx’s lip.

“Is something comical?” someone asked.

He snapped to, shaking away the visions of Kikka’s approaching capitulation. Beside him was the buffoon’s sister, studying him as they walked.

“You’ve been snickering to yourself for the last quarter-mile,” she complained, “and frankly I’m having a difficult time focusing my attention on anything else.”

He coughed, clearing his throat and his expression. “I— no. I just—” the lie came to him. “I was just recalling a joke my grandamma used to tell, but I apologize. This is a poor day to be making jokes.”

“Yes, it is,” she agreed, looking to her brother. She walked on, still looking at him.

“Big Brother,” she began again to the other asura, “when we reach Rata Sum, I'm sure we can locate a krewe to take you on. I know several in need of trustworthy security in both their primary facilities and research outposts.”

Minkus stopped, turning to face her and cocking his head. “Rata Sum, Jinkke? Penny won't be in Rata Sum. She’ll surely have returned to Divinity’s Reach.”

His sister stopped as well, a step or two farther on. She turned back. “Minkus,” she said slowly, “your sergeant was clear; we're—”

“I'm traveling to Brisban, Minkus.” The sylvari finished the sentence, still staring intently ahead. He stood just beyond Jinkke, sharp and tall like a Shiverpeaks pine. He turned to face them. “My mission is not jade. It's not Penny. It's the protection of Vigil forces and civilian researchers in the Duststruck Moors and surrounding areas. That is where I am going, and that takes us through Rata Sum before nightfall.”

Minkus’ shoulders fell, and he stepped forward, bewilderment dressing his broad face. It was an expression Skixx was surprised not to find on the buffoon more often. “But Penny's our friend,” Minkus argued weakly. “I know we're going to Brisban, but I thought first we would—”

“No, Minkus. We're not going after Penny.” Ventyr turned forward once more and continued up the well-worn road.

Skixx looked up. He must have been tired, focused, or both, because they’d made it through the pass without his noticing, and some distance beyond the sylvari soldier, Lion’s Arch sprawled out before them on either side of the widening harbor. He cursed his inattention. Much of the day had come and gone, and now here they were on the outskirts of the city, with the sun falling low toward the high cliffs that formed the western horizon.

“We’re nearly to the city,” Ventyr said, beginning their course along an arching westward curve in the road.

“But Penny,” Minkus broke in again. He was fidgeting with his sleeve, clearly nervous, but it didn't seem to stop his infernal complaints. “We can't just leave her, Ventyr. She's your friend. We need to see if she— I mean, even if she did what you say, don't you want to know—”

“No,” the sylvari said flatly, continuing his course and glaring straight ahead. “Justice will find her, as it finds us all, but she is not our concern.” He breathed deeply, seeming to collect himself. “With any fortune,” he said, changing the subject, “we’ll make it to the asura gates before they’re disabled for the night.”

Yissa glanced at him quizzically, hands on her hips. To that point she and Jinkke had remained silent, clearly not wanting to interrupt, but now she had a question she couldn't contain. “what do you mean disable? They deactivate the gates at night? My ears, whatever for? I can think of at least a dozen perfectly valid reasons to necessitate access to a gate after dark. For instance, what if—”

“Security,” Jinkke said simply. Stepping up behind Yissa, she placed a hand on her brother's shoulder as she passed him. They exchanged a glance, and Jinkke continued her response to the scholar. “Under-guarded gates under the cover of night pose an incalculable threat to the surrounding community. They do it in Rata Sum as well. Haven’t you seen it?”

“I suppose that’s sensible,” Yissa acknowledged. “Annoying and inconvenient, but sensible.” She mused for a short moment. “It’s been so many seasons since I saw the world through such a cautious lens. The Priory will do that to a person: make them stop seeing dangers as anything more than challenges in the grand adventure of discovery. Perhaps if others could experience the wonder of discovery, there would no longer be need for such a wary outlook on the world, because there are such marvelous mysteries yet to be unearthed out there. I would say we’ve made such a discovery already on this venture, if it weren’t for having lost it this morning when—”

A look from Ventyr silenced her. It was one of very few times Skixx was thankful for the sylvari.

Following that long arching road, they soon passed under the eastern portcullis of Fort Marriner, the garrison guarding the interior of the bay. Lionguard of every race, size, and shape passed around them, heading this way and that in their golden uniforms of leather and plate armor. Alongside them scurried dozens of vendors and shoppers in search of foreign armor and weapons that traders had brought from the four corners of the continent and beyond. People struck final bargains as the sun continued to sink in the sky, and the quickest among them were already packing their things and forming a procession out of the fort and back toward the city. It was a procession the five travelers were quickly part of, merging into the growing exodus of people that pounded out hollow rhythms on the thick wooden bridge arching across the bay to the Grand Piazza.

It was longer than it looked. They’d only just reached the second bridge that extended from the piazza to the asura-gate hub, when the sun ducked fully below the cliffs that overlooked the city.

Yards ahead of the others, Ventyr found a white-haired human man drawing a chain from one post to another at the near end of the next bridge.

“Gates are closed for the night, folks,” the man said as they approached. Skixx scowled for an instant. It didn’t sound like they were the first ones he’d turned away. “Come back tomorrow. The operators fire them up nice and early.”

“If we could slip through, sir,” Ventyr pressed gently. “We’ve traveled all day to—“

The man leveled his gaze more intently on the sylvari. “Tomorrow, mister. If it displeases you, the lionguard should be able to sort this out.”

“Lionguard?” Skixx snorted. “Are you—“ A hand landed on his shoulder, gripping him until his words fell off.

“We understand,” Ventyr replied to the man. “You’re only doing your duty.”

With a huff, Skixx wrenched himself free from the sylvari. The salad had actually tried to corral him. Still, he turned around and started moving toward the core of the city, he and the other three asura on the heels of the vigilman. Their pace slowed from what it had been to that point.

“It appears we’re here for the night now,” Ventyr said, looking ahead. “We had better find a room.”

Even in the shadows of twilight, Skixx could make out the odd structures that made up the city’s center. Against the darkening blue sky, he saw the outlines of capsized ships stacked one on top of the next, several stories high. Candles began flickering to life in some of the windows.

He might have squinted to see it more clearly, but he didn’t care to see such wanton idiocy. The story went that all the housing, eateries, shops, guild halls, inns—all the buildings in the city—were made of sailing vessels shipwrecked in the harbor when the long-dead kingdom of Orr rose from the bottom of the sea. It was an absurd story, made only more absurd by the fact that it was true. Skixx had heard people tout the city and its architecture as a symbol of Tyria’s resilience, but it looked to him more like a failure to forecast outcomes. The way those vessels were stacked and stitched together, it was only a matter of time before the whole place came down like so many playing-card houses. Anyone with the slightest degree of intelligence would have imported materials better suited for longevity and built in sturdy patterns, like pyramids or cubes.

Minkus interrupted his train of thought. “Even in the dark, it’s amazing, isn’t it?”

“No,” Skixx replied bluntly, “it really isn’t. It’s a series half-concocted plans that will eventually end in its ruin.” He gazed into Minkus’ big, dumb eyes. He was so close to being done with them, so close to being done with the faces he’d had to wear in their presence, but he wasn’t there yet, so he followed his comment with a smile and a pat on Minkus’ arm. “Just a joke, my friend. It’s a lovely city, and I’m sure it will be here for years to come.”

The sergeant walked on into the city, and the four asura followed behind once more. From the corner of his eye, though, Skixx noticed that Minkus still watched him, with what seemed to be unsurety. He shouldn’t have been surprised, though. The lumbering oaf never understood what was going on.

Skixx glanced again. Perhaps It wasn’t unsurety in Minkus’ eyes, after all. Was it skepticism?