The Long Game

In the morning, we wake early. I haven't slept this well in some time, but I can't say the same for Djhuety; he looks as if he barely slept at all.
After a breakfast of bread and fruit, a young girl, loose-limbed and silver-haired, shows us to the door. Beside it, Linhahn stands. She smiles. "This will take you back to where you need." She opens the door onto another long corridor. With a deep bow to her, I step through, followed by Liam. Djhuety moves to follow us, but his grandmother holds him back. She murmurs a few words in his ear, and kisses his brow. Then she stands back. With a last glance over his shoulder, Djhuety follows us.
We come out in a part of the Nightside that's raucous with the cries of street vendors as they pander to a crowd watching a fire-spinning exhibition, with extra lurid parts, of course. It wouldn't be the Nightside if the woman wearing a flaming crown weren't doing something lewd as well as dangerous. I turn away, getting my bearings. We aren't too many blocks from Dusk street. "So, where from here?" I ask Djhuety loudly over the catcalling crowd.

"Anywhere you choose... They may be watching, but they'll never come after a pack at Lenhahn's front door." I stretch and yawn. "So, maybe we make sure Ignacy hasn't burned down the barrow?"

I frown. "We left him and Kaija both in there asleep. We'll be lucky if the place is still standing." Then I glance at the expression on Liam's face, and can't help but laugh. "Okay, let's go home just to prove to you that nothing terrible has happened. To anyone."
We wend our way through the crowd, around a pair of dragons having an argument, down another side street, and up the stairs to my flat.
To my dismay, there is smoke wreathing out when I open the door; cigar smoke. I cough, waving a hand to clear the air, and peer in. At my kitchen table sits Ignacy, his hat hanging from the back of his chair, studying the sheaf of cards in his hand. Across from him...
They look like metal spiders, and every one is holding its own cards. I cough on the smoke in the air.
"Ignacy, did you have to make the place smell like the ashes on the day after the Samhain fires?? Open a window!" I push open a few windows, then turn, studying the group. All three spiders are staring at me. "Who's your friends?"

i excitedly say "this is tom dick and harold" i point at them and then say "i havent decided which one is which yet".

I raise a brow. "You don't know which is which and yet you invited them into our home?? Ignacy, isn't that a little foolhardy?"
"We'll she's a right aggro, ain't she?" one spider comments, its voice high and squeaky, with a cockney accent. I frown at it. "Sorry, but I have no love for house-pests."
"Ooh-ahh!" the spiders say in unison, then snicker and turn back to their cards.

"i didnt invite them per se they kinda snuck in" i up the stakes and continue "besides they cant be that bad i mean they play poker".

"And you gamble with the best of them, it seems," I stare reproachfully at Ignacy as one of the spiders pipes, "Like hell; much more and we'll own the house." and giggles like a wind chime.

i look at it with a sarcastic smile "you realize i dont really have to pay up? i mean what are you gonna do? break my thumbs?".

I roll my eyes. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes, Ignacy. How you survived in an army I'll never know." Still shaking my head, I step into the kitchen, setting the kettle."How did yo meet, if I may ask?" I throw back over my shoulder. "And by the way, none of us are responsible for him, strangers."

one of the spiders say "we stowed away in his coat while he was in the engineers workshop" another chimes in "almost got crushed when he started that damned barfight!" the third one chimes in "well if you were being chased by that giant i would wager you would be desperate too governor".

I frown, turning back. "Creations of the Engineer, are you then?"

They nod in unison as they all move their piles of chips into the center.

I nod. "Well, welcome, and don't break anything."
"Right luv!" says the spider on the right. The one on the left leans conspiratorially over to Ignacy. "She's a right peach. She your old girl?"
I snort derisively as I lean against a wall. "In his dreams." Then I turn away, back to more important matters.

i lean towards the spider "i totally tapped that".

I turn, growling low in my throat, and slap him hard across the back of the head. "I heard that. Next time you want to play cards and be a pig, do it at a bar, not in the apartment. Got it?"

"i see you are gripped with the red rage" i say as i pick up the cards and the spiders and walk into my room to continue the poker game.

I shake my head slowly. "Some people. Think we should up the wards on the entries? They shouldn't have been able to trogan horse like that." I sigh as I watch Liv take deep breaths. "He really doesn't mean any harm, you know."

I sigh. "I know. He's just good at pushing my buttons." I mutter a little abashedly, taking the kettle off the heat and pouring three cups. I hand a cup to each lad, then take a seat, wrinkling my nose at the musky tobacco odor. "When we're ready to go out and fight, somebody should tell him, I suppose. He'll like that."

i shout "were fighting? sweet! i finally get to try out my sword!" i hop up and down like a little girl until i remember the spiders "cor blimey governor! give us some bleedin warning next time!".

I can't help it; I burst out laughing. "Yes, we'll be fighting soon. Once we figure out where Djhuety's enemies are." I turn to Djhuety. "What about it? Where should we start? I still owe them on my own account for the indignity done me, as well as on yours. And I'd like to settle that debt."

"I'm not sure I would wish him on the black coats," I smile, "They might protest under the articles of war." Pausing to think, I take a deep draft of the tea, feeling it warm my throat, then chest. "I'm not sure I want to fight until they provoke us again... They're probably back on watch duty and shouldn't be to to eager to attack again."

I nod consideringly. "I suppose...but I'd rather it were us that struck first this time, than them. The best way to kill an eel is when it's in its den."

i chime in "no the best way to kill an eel is to burn down the den with napalm and proceed with bombardment from several kilometres away"-

I roll my eyes. "Does everything have to involve explosives?"

"Hush you... Its not honorable to launch long range campaigns," Turning to Liv I sigh, "What would you have me do? I don't want to fight these guys if I don't have to."