Return of the Runebound Professor

It didn’t take Aylin long to reveal just how little he knew about logistics — or anything streetlord related. Vrith’s stare bored into him, making it quite clear how evident his lack of understanding was.

“You don’t know the ranks and roles of your own people?”

“Forget ranks,” Aylin said, throwing his hands up. “I don’t even know their names.”

That only made her confusion grow even stronger. “Why would you need to know their names?”

“…so I know who I’m talking to?”

“It shouldn’t matter. As long as you know what purpose they serve, a name is irrelevant. Names get you attached.”

“They’re part of my gang. Aren’t I supposed to care about them or something like that?”

Vrith squinted at him. “Why are you asking me? You’re the streetlord.”

“So are you,” Aylin pointed out.

“A streetlord that surrendered. You just didn’t take my title from me for some reason.” Vrith shook her head. “Worst streetlord I’ve ever met.”

Aylin couldn’t keep an exasperated sigh from escaping his mouth. He was beyond the point of worrying about pissing Vrith off. She was just as screwed as he was and he just didn’t have the energy to walk on eggshells anymore.

“I’m going to come clean with you. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Coming clean should imply that you’ve got something to reveal. You’re as transparent as a pane of glass,” Vrith said through a laugh, but Aylin didn’t miss the unease that settled around Vrith’s shoulders and bore down on her neck. “That’s an interesting way to break me. I didn’t see it coming. Where’s the real streetlord, then?”

“Still me,” Aylin said.

“What?” Vrith blinked and frowned. “I’m not following where this is going anymore. Are you the streetlord or not?”

“I just said. I am. I just have no idea what I’m doing. Golon is dead, but I didn’t kill him. Spider did. He just put me in charge.”

“I’d gathered that much. The part I don’t get is why you know nothing. Your reaction speed should put you somewhere around low Rank 3. I’ve seen how fast you’ve moved when you get startled. You can’t get to that rank and be as clueless as you’re acting, so what gives?”

Aylin let out a short burst of laughter. It hardly mattered if he revealed how he’d become a Rank 3 to Vrith now. She’d find out at some point soon enough anyway. Spider had only told him not to share specifics, after all.

“I was Rank 1 about a day ago. Spider made me a Rank 3.”

“He made you a Rank 3?”

“Just like that.” Aylin nodded. “Don’t ask for more. I won’t say. But I was starving together with my siblings before he showed up. He killed Golon, took over the gang, then brought me to Rank 3 and said I was in charge so he wouldn’t have to deal with it.”

“What the fuck? How powerful is Spider? What kind of demon can just… make a Rank 3 at will?” Vrith muttered. She swallowed heavily and realization set in on her features. “That’s why you were close to a bunch of weak demons. You were the same as them just a short while ago.”

“Yeah. And now I’m this.” Aylin gestured vaguely around himself. “So you’ll have to forgive me if I have no damned idea what I’m doing. Until recently, the only thing I knew about streetlords is that they were terrifying and to be avoided at all costs.”

Vrith tilted her head to the side and studied Aylin’s features for a few seconds. “And you haven’t passed out from terror yet?”

“I’m working on it,” Aylin replied dryly. “Give me a little while for everything to catch up with me and I probably will. It’s not like passing out will help anything.”

“I knelt at the feet of a street rat. How far I have fallen,” Vrith grumbled. Then she hesitated, an inscrutable expression replacing the annoyance. “Wait. You came prepared to fight me? Did you truly believe that you had the slightest chance to defeat a trained warrior if you’ve never been in a proper fight in your life?”

“I’ve been in a proper fight! But no, I didn’t think I’d win. I was hoping you’d be a big hulking demon that I had a chance of outrunning, not… well, you.”

Very eloquent, Aylin. Well done.

“You knew you were likely to die and you came anyway? You could have sent a second — or did you not know?”

“I knew, but I heard enough of your reputation to know that you’d just kill my second and kill me next. There was no reason to just waste someone like that, and I didn’t want to force my siblings to watch me get killed. Besides, I always could have gotten lucky. You never know.”

The corner of Vrith’s lip curled up. “Yes, I do. You would have died had we fought. You knew it too. I saw it in your eyes the moment we drew close. And yet you remained. Brave, for a street rat.”

“A streetlord,” Aylin corrected, a flicker of heat coursing through his chest as he held Vrith’s gaze. “I’m a street rat no more. I may not have deserved the gift, but I got it nonetheless.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

To his surprise, Vrith inclined her head in acknowledgement. “A street lord indeed. Well spoken. How old are you? You seem more… apt than I would have expected.”

“Nineteen. Violet and I used to be in a caravan and we’d read everything we could find. It helped. We had hopes of becoming merchants.”

“Merchants? Quite the change of path.” Vrith’s expression flickered. “You do not look nineteen.”

“The caravan got destroyed. We’ve been living on scraps for years, even before we got to Treadon. It’s not really that much of a surprise that I’m small when I haven’t been able to get any energy. And you aren’t that much taller than me.”

Vrith arched an eyebrow and took a step forward so they were chest-to-chest. She looked down at him, standing literally a full head taller. “Reality begs to disagree.”

She had a point. Aylin cleared his throat and stepped back, catching a smirk as it flickered across Vrith’s features.

“You’re like ten years older than me. I’ll catch up.”

“Ten? I’m twenty-one. I’ve worked quite hard to reach Rank 3 by this age, not to mention my position as Second of the Ravager gang, so I’ll thank you not to—” Vrith caught herself as she caught a small grin cross Aylin’s lips. She blinked and her eyes narrowed. “It seems your fear of me has evaporated.”

“You weren’t as scary as I thought you were. Don’t get me wrong, you’re still terrifying… but Spider and his group are scarier.” He paused for a moment as the rest of Vrith’s sentence processed and he tilted his head to the side. “Wait. Second? You said you were streetlord.”

Vrith froze for an instant, but she recovered quickly. “I took over shortly before Lee’s arrival.”

Alin tasted falsehood in the air. It was so faint that he barely even picked up on it. He took a step closer to Vrith and sampled the air again. There was no doubt about it. Vrith was lying.

“That… isn’t true,” Aylin said slowly.

“Yes it is. I am the streetlord of the Ravager gang.”

“No, it isn’t.” The taste was stronger now. “You still think of yourself as the Second, don’t you? Why? If you’d actually killed Vroth, you’d definitely imagine yourself to be the streetlord. Does that mean someone else—”

Aylin didn’t even see Vrith move. One moment, she was in front of him. The next, her hand was pressed against his mouth and her side pressed to his back.

“Not another word,” Vrith hissed — but it wasn’t a threat. It was a plea. “Please. You can’t. I don’t know how you know, but you can’t say anything. Lee will kill both of us if you do.”

She pulled her hand away from his mouth and Aylin twisted to keep eye contact with her. Pushing farther probably wasn’t the wisest move, but something tugged at his chest. A desire — a hunger — he couldn’t quite place, but it was insatiable.

“Tell me. I won’t tell anyone else,” Aylin promised. “You have to follow my orders, don’t you?”

Vrith’s jaw clenched. She glanced around the room.

“Nobody is here. I’d taste them. Or hear them. One of the two. We’re alone.”

“Fine,” Vrith said, speaking in little more than a nervous whisper. “You’re right. Vroth challenged Lee when she showed up. Lee killed him. She was meant to kill the whole camp because he refused Spider’s offer, then put his head up on a stake to show what happens to those that disobey Spider.”

“Gods,” Aylin said. His stomach twisted with something new. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it almost felt good. Satisfied. “What happened? How did you survive? A deal?”

“Because Lee made a mistake. She accidentally shredded Vroth’s head, so she couldn’t stake it anymore.” Vrith glanced around the room once more, then managed to lower her voice even further. “We agreed to pretend that I’d killed him instead of her. I then obviously accepted the offer. It was that or death. But if Spider finds out…”

The knotting sensation in Aylin’s stomach released, replaced by satisfaction. It almost felt like he’d just had a full meal. Vrith’s features twisted and she sent him a shocked look, taking a step back.

“Did you just steal my energy?”

“I — what? No. I was just curious. I didn’t steal anything.”

“Yes you did.” Vrith stared at Aylin, looking simultaneously offended and impressed as she let out a whistle. “Shit. You’re a knowledge demon.”

That feeling was me consuming Vrith’s energy?

Spider’s forced advancement must have caused his Rune to advance to the point where he could start consuming energy naturally. He’d always been inquisitive, but he hadn’t imagined that he’d actually be able to consume knowledge.

I’m also pretty sure it’s a huge taboo to steal energy unless you’re strong enough to justify it.

Aylin’s cheeks heated in embarrassment, but the more he thought about it, the more Vrith’s words made sense — and the more he wanted to consume more. He swallowed the feeling down and shook his head. “Uh… sorry. You might be right. It was my first time.”

“I’m delighted to hear I was your first,” Vrith said dryly. She blew out a breath and shrugged. “Well, given the circumstances, I suppose losing a little power isn’t too much to complain about. You really do need to work out how you’re going to put on a better front with any other Streetlords. I doubt Spider is going to have all of them on as many strings as I am. They’re going to figure you out in seconds. I’ll go back to my camp and handle all the shit that you should—”

“No,” Aylin said. Two simultaneous thoughts struck him. The first was annoyance that he wouldn’t learn whatever it was that Vrith was going to be doing. The second was an idea. “I’ve got a better way to do this.”

Vrith tilted her head to the side. “Oh?”

“Stay here. We’re in the same boat. We can help each other. Become my second.”

“You mean you want to snack on my knowledge.”

“Streetlords get to choose how resources get distributed, don’t they?” Aylin asked. “I could make up for that.”

Vrith held his gaze for a second. Then she crossed her arms. “I’ve been a second for all my life. Who would choose to be a second over a streetlord? Even if it’s under you, I’d still have an entire gang.”

“What’s better? Being one streetlord out of dozens, or being the second of the demon in charge of all of them?”

She let out a burst of laughter. “You think Spider’s going to put you in charge of every single gang? What happened to all that fear?”

“This is the fear talking,” Aylin said. “Do you think I want this? I don’t — but look at the facts. Lee sent you to me. Not to Spider. What does that mean for the other streetlords? They definitely had spotters watching us.”

Vrith hesitated for a second. Then she paled. “Oh, shit. You might actually be right. But why would Spider put someone like you in charge of so much?”

Because it’s so far beneath him I literally don’t think he cares. We’re just one moving piece in whatever plan he’s got going.

“I don’t know,” Aylin said, and a hunger gnawed at his stomach. “And, as much as I’d love to find out, it changes nothing. Do you accept my offer or not?”

Vrith’s lips curled up and extended her hand. “You make a very convincing offer, streetlord. One I find myself unable to refuse. I just hope you’re better than my late brother.”

Brother? Vroth was her brother? How is she even holding it together right now? I’d be breaking down if Violet or one of the others had gotten murdered in front of me. Although it doesn’t sound like she was very close with him.

Now I want to know why… but this isn’t the time.

“My name is still Aylin, not streetlord. I don’t need an overinflated sense of ego,” Aylin said as he clasped Vrith’s arm. “And I can’t make any promises, but I look forward to learning from you.”

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