The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

"I was born into the merchant life, you see. Followed in the path of my father, and his old man before him. But when I was younger, I was filled with ambition. I wanted more. Wasn't enough for me to have a big fancy wagon, or a healthy bank account." Elijah chuckled and shook his head. "Guess I wanted to be the biggest, richest merchant in all the land."

Essine moved around to the edge of the well and took a seat on the sculpted stones. Her ears twitched, listening intently.

"So, when I took the reins of my father's business, I set about expanding. Buying more wagons, hiring people to work for me. And, gradually, it all built up to what would come to be known as the Venture Company. It was as my business was getting big enough that I met the woman who'd be my wife: Rebekah."

Smiling at the memories, he crossed his right foot over his left knee. "Well, eventually, we had our son: Zeke. Thinking back, those years we had together were the happiest of my whole life... But, Rebekah sadly passed when Zeke was just a lad, which left me as the one person to raise Zeke. He became my apprentice, set to follow in my footsteps in the same way I followed those of my father."

The kobold nodded along to his explanation. She noticed the happiness in Elijah's voice as he spoke, the twitches of a smile at the corners of his mouth. And the tears that were slowly starting to wet his eyes.

"Then the revolution happened. Zeke, a young man at the time, and I had been in Sentinel when chaos and violence swept through the streets. The guild halls, we heard, were serving as safe havens for civilians. So, we tried to make a break for them. Easier said than done. Seemed there were soldiers and revolutionaries on every corner, and the gutters were running red with blood. I'd walked the streets of Sentinel countless times, knew them like the back of my hand. But between the screaming, the roaring, the flames, and the smoke... felt as if the city was some alien landscape to me."

He sagged as he spoke, a glassy haze falling over his eyes as if he was looking thousands of miles into the distance. "You... do not need to speak more, if you do not wish to," Essine told him.

The older man offered her a wan smile. "It's fine. Haven't told this tale in so long, and since I brought you to this cursed place... Guess I owe you some truth in exchange, lass," he explained. "So, we ventured toward the Mercantile Guild's hall. But the fighting grew thicker, more chaotic, until we tried to cross one thoroughfare and..." He swallowed harshly. "And my boy was cut down by crossbow fire, only a few paces from the guild hall."

Essine's ears flattened. She had a feeling the story would go that way, but it still stung to hear Elijah's woes spoken aloud. "This one is sorry for your loss," she replied.

"Thank you lass, truly. I... I did what I could to drag him into the guild hall, into shelter, but... it was too late. He'd bled to death in my arms before any help could be given." A long, shaky sigh escaped him. "Don't know if the people who killed him were loyalists or rebels. Frankly, their cause doesn't matter. Just their callous actions..."

He looked wistfully up toward the windows of the inn, focusing on Coin's room. "Losing him broke my heart. Damn near broke my mind too. I was in no shape to lead the Venture Company, and my other apprentice snatched it out from under me in my absence."

Essine was silent for some time, digesting all of this. "You see Coin as being... like your son?" she asked.

"Well I... maybe not quite that close. I care for him a good deal but he's not Zeke. I know that. It was just... the heat of the moment, you know? Of course, it doesn't help that he actually looks a bit like Zeke." He reclined on the bench and folded his arms. "It was like I was there all over again. Trapped in that moment. Like I am every time I try and sleep at night."

Essine understood the feeling all too well. Few understood loss in the way a kobold could, where their lives were seen as disposable in the eyes of humans. More than once her own nightmares were filled with dead siblings and family members. Iya'Shae would one day bring salve to her spirit.

"He's an interesting lad, isn't he?" Elijah abruptly asked.

"Coin?" Essine glanced to the window above them. "Yes. He truly is." She smiled without even realising it.

"Odd, certainly, but... He has a good heart. One of a kind, frankly," he said with modest chuckle. Grunting, he rose from the bench with great effort and slowly paced toward the inn's door. "Try and get some rest, lass. It's been a long day. But... a word of advice."

The kobold turned toward him, tilting her head to the side. "Hm? What is it?" she asked.

"Just this: It's unhealthy to bottle up your feelings. If there's something you wanna say to someone, it's best to say it before it's too late," he said as he strode past her.

Essine's fur fluffed outward, her cheeks growing red hot. "W-what is that supposed to mean?!"

Night fell, as night tends to do. The town was even more imposing in the dark than it was in the daylight, the ruined buildings forming into misshapen looming silhouettes. The group moved through the inn with lantern light, but it felt as if the choking blackness would swallow the light at any given moment.

At least they were given the chance to cook a proper meal. A nice, spiced pottage that warded away some of the chill of the night. The creaking ruin of the inn, unsurprisingly, did not have great insulation against the elements.

Coin had not awoken, but his fever was growing weaker. Slowly, gradually, the emerald venom was being purged from his body. Elijah reasoned that, come tomorrow or the day after, he could wake up.

And for as good as that news was, he was troubled by the speculation.

Even if a human survived exposure to emerald venom, they'd be out cold for about a week.

Essine stumbled upon Pearl in one of the rooms. The bard was seated in the frame of a window, lazily tuning her lute. "Ah. Your cooking was wonderful, as ever."

"This one thanks you," Essine replied, venturing inside. She hesitated. "You could perhaps flee, if you wish. Your steed followed us all the way here, and this one doubts they will seek to pursue you on your own. Assuming they tracked us out here."

The bard shrugged. "Safety in numbers, I suppose. Seems our handsome friend will survive, and my odds of making it to Sentinel in one piece would be much higher with him around," she explained.

"There is logic to what you say. Coin, blessedly, will be fine from the look of things," Essine said.

The two were silent for some time. Pearl, eventually, looked up and managed to meet Essine's eyes. "I was perhaps not the... kindest to you when we first met, Essine, and I apologise for that. I have rarely been close to kobolds, and let unsavoury tales colour my perception of you."

"It's fine, truly," Essine replied, trying to wave her off. She was so used to humans thinking ill of her that it didn't really surprise her when it happened. And while it did still hurt emotionally, the pain had grown duller over the years.

"No, it's not. I was a boar to the woman who saved my life regardless. It would reflect rather poorly on me if I did not change my way of thinking." She managed a small smile. The kobold could tell the bard was being sincere, but it was still a shock to hear her speak so candidly.

"Well..." Essine trailed off, uncertainly.

The clouds outside began to part at that moment, revealing thin slivers of moonlight. The glow spread out, providing a faint glow to the remnants in the town. And, in doing so, Essine's eyes behind something that made her freeze in place.

The moonlight caught tendrils of shadow winding through the cold night air, like masses of smoke moving deliberately toward the heart of the town. Essine moved to the window for a better look and felt her jaw gradually dropping. A shape loomed in the darkness, a spire-like wound in space. It was wreathed in a shimmering aurora of green and white light, luminous as it seemed to actively soak up the moonglow.

Essine swallowed harshly. "What... what is that?"

Pearl glanced to the glow in the distance and looked marginally more nonplussed by what she saw. "An echo," she remarked. "Portals to the Bleak tend to leave an echo in the world, usually only visible under certain conditions. The longer a portal was open, the more power was put into it, the longer the echo will remain. And the portal of Charnyll was... quite exceptional. Even many decades later, it still lingers."

The kobold stared at it for several moments, her discomfort rising by the second. This whole town, from one end to the other, was a festering wound.

But, as fixated as she was on the shadow of the portal, the rest of Essine's senses were focused elsewhere. One of her ears suddenly twitched.

Somewhere, in the darkness of the silent corpse town, a figure was moving around.