Coming from
Gaikotsu Bay.
“Sheesh!” Misk whistled appreciatively. “That’s one heck of a city.”
Hawke had to agree. The view of the underground fortress was imposing; an homage to brutalist edges and shapes that brought to mind the home of a monstrous overlord more so than it did that of a budding ninja village. The central citadel towered over the lesser towers and blocky stone buildings below, a thorny mass of stone and metal. Two spires were perched at the citadel’s center and reached high for the winding cave shaft above that seemed to be the city’s only source of natural light. Unbelievably, a river of magma surrounded the city, rolling lazily around the bottom of the enormous cavern that the city had been cut out of. The descending light from above met the darker glow of the magma right across the cavern’s middle, bathing the city in an unnerving sheen that was difficult to describe.
Between the Brotherhood duo and the city was a great stone bridge with thick spikes protruding from its sides. It was the only way across the lava that Hawke could see. Or rather, he thought while eyeing Misk, the only way that his Brother would not whine and cry over.
“We shoulda brought more men,” Misk said again, having repeated himself multiple times since he and Hawke began their trek through the cramped mining tunnel that had led them here. “Or
different men,” he muttered sourly.
“The exercise’ll do you good,” Hawke offered offhandedly, dismissing the complaint. “And the boys’ve got toys to play with back on deck, yeah?” He snorted at his own joke.
Misk’s mumblings of agreement went unheard as Garrett took the first step of the many needed to take them to the other side, relieved to find the footing solid and unmoving.
“The ship won’t go nowhere,” Hawke shook his head and looked around, taking in the lava vents that dotted the walls of the jagged cavern. “And collecting a reward is always worth the detour. Did you bring the ledgers?”
“’Course I did, boss,” Misk held up a few of the more innocuous accounts from Erastes Fulman’s archives. They were relatively innocent, but personal enough that they would have to have been taken by force. Hawke had not brought the man’s head with him from Last Bastion, but if Red was the conniving bastard he suspected him to be then the macabre man would have long-since gotten word of the deed. “But how come I have to carry them, huh?”
Hawke just grunted and the two walked across the bridge in silence. They were passed by three tradesmen, at least from the look of them, coming the other way, but the groups did not even exchange a glance. It was not long after that the outlines of the gate guards on the other side came into view. One of the two, clearly the junior from the hesitant way he waved Hawke and Misk towards him.
“Names?” It was the older guard asking, not even bothering to look up his paper.
“Garrett Hawke and Misk, no family name” Hawke answered for the duo.
“Reason for your visit?” The question was deadpan, delivered only as one who has asked the same questions for years could.
“Hard-earned wages,” Hawke met him evenly. “So you should really send Junior here up the food chain with my name, sharpish. I got other things to do.”