The Mistakes Of Misfits

     Today was it. In a few hours we would reach Durik. Not too much changed in the last few days. Same training as usual, same late night fires with alcohol, Kerrigan still acted like a dick but he seemed to be less confrontational than usual. The only difference was Varrin. He seemed distant. Every day he spent studying some kind of notebook and during the night he decided to take his night shift with Otah! The mage gets caught once and suddenly he wants nothing to do with me… fucking coward. He talked to me like normal in front of the others but any free time we had he seemed to avoid me. It was almost like he was hiding something from me. 

     The only real good to come out of the whole thing was that on my watches I got to know the prince much better. He actually wasn't that insufferable when we talked. I actually think he was growing on me. Not that I would tell him that, no need to inflate his ego any further. 

        We rode on the cart, once again everyone on the outside of the cart instead of using the actual seating. The massive onyx walls of the city made every member of our merry little band shutter. Kasious was probably the worst. The second that wall came into view his knuckles had turned white and he was perpetually looking like he was about to vomit. 

      He was almost unrecognizable with his faded leather armor and lack of joyful energy. He had thought it best to not wear the shiny ceremonial armor into a stealth mission. It made sense but it felt so weird to see him like this. It's not like the rest of us couldn't feel the pressure of what we were about to do. We were about to charge into that city and take down its king. Seeing the massive wall that the city was contained in made that task all the more daunting. 

        Marline thankfully met us a bit outside of the city. She rode on horseback with a wide smile. “I'm glad you made it.” She said, “Are you ready?” Technically she was asking all of us, but her eyes were on Kasious the entire time. 

     Kasious tried to smile but it looked like the weight of the world was bearing down on him. “Ready as I'll ever be.” He answered. He grabbed the reins and nodded to her. “Lead the way.” 

Marline did as ordered and led us around the city to the west side of the wall. It wasn't damaged but the entrance we approached seemed… old. Like it was in dire need of renovations compared to the spectacular front entrance the people were meant to see. Marline approached a guard who was posted at the gate. The guard put up his hand. “Halt! State your business.” He told Marline. 

      We stopped behind her as she pulled out some kind of crest and held it out toward the guard. I couldn't see the symbol on it from my angle but it clearly wasn't the crest of the templar's. She smirked. “We're here to exterminate some pests.” She quipped. “Lord Rycard is expecting us. The guard smirked, he clearly knew the truth behind our deception. He was most likely one of Marline's contacts. He pulled a lever and the gates came down, welcoming us into the capital city of the human lands. 

       The city that welcomed us was not the capital city that we were told about by Kasious. Most of the buildings that we saw were nothing more than hovels that barely stood. Hell some of the houses we saw were nothing more than rubble. “What is this?” Varrin asked. 

      Kasious looked around in horror at his former city. “This… these are the slums. They were always here but… this is so much worse than when I left.” He looked around like he was seeing ghosts in the streets. 

     Marline nodded grimly as she rode beside us. “These slums have grown since you were here last. Almost a quarter of the workers quadrant falls into here now, and the areas that were already slums… well they are barely livable.” Civilians ran from the road out of our path. Some came to the side of the road to beg. I tossed a few coins to them. I wasn't usually one for charity but these people looked like they were in shambles. They needed our help in more ways than one.  

      “How could he let it get this bad? Kasious asked Marline. There was a fury in the prince I don't think I had ever seen from him. “How can he stand by and let his people suffer like this!” 

       Marline for the first time seemed to feel sorry for the prince. “Kasious… I don't think the king has left his castle in two years, he sure as hell hasn't come down here. He's become paranoid and he lets the cult run almost everything.” The words hit Kasious harder than any blade ever could. Marline put out a hand. “I'm sorry prince, but the man you knew is gone. Your father is gone.” 

      Kasious shook his head. “Just lead us to your safehouse.” He said coldly. “I’m done speaking about this.” It looked like Marline wanted to say more, wanted to comfort the prince, but she nodded and led us down an alleyway to her hideout. 

      The warehouse Marline had led us to was nothing spectacular like we were told Durik would be. But compared to the slums this was a fortress. It was hidden under a small abandoned store and had at least five different locks to get through to enter. There were five open rooms in the warehouse, something told me this wasn't the location the revolution met, this was simply our first stop before meeting them. Marline looked at all of us. “Stay here for the night. I need to meet with the other elders to decide our next course of action.” 

      Usually one of us might argue about wanting to meet them now but we all knew the revolution would want to test our loyalty first before they gave up any information. “We'll meet you in the morning.” Kasious said as he walked to his room. 

      Varrin walked up to Marline and asked her something quietly. She sighed but nodded. Varrin smirked as he pulled his bag over his shoulder. “I'll be back soon.” He said as he made his way to the door. 

      I grabbed his arm. “What the hell do you think you're doing? If you're caught out there were all fucked.” What the hell could be so important he had to go into the city now of all times? 

      He smirked. “I've got something important to do. Trust me… I won't get caught.” His smile was mistivious, as if there was no real danger out there He snapped his fingers and his entire body went completely invisible. I stood stunned for a moment, long enough he was able to slip out of my grip and exit with Marline. 

     Marline laughed. “I'll make sure he doesn't get himself killed.” She said as she slammed the door shut and left us in the warehouse.