Chapter Fifteen

“Did he feel your ass too when he hugged you?” Daire asked Gage.

Gage nodded. “Oh yeah. And stole coins from my pocket.”

Gage knew they should move, but he couldn’t stop looking at the beautiful long length of land stretching between the ocean and the distant mountains. The ocean… Gage had never seen it before, or such soft, fine sand. He let some fall between his fingers, appreciating the color and all the blues and greens of the water lapping it.

“I know.” Daire inhaled the salt. “Wish we could just relax here, sun showering. Well, didn’t Knuckles say time stands still here? We could—”

“We couldn’t.” Gage couldn’t go along with that. “I’m just curious. Never been here before.”

“Guardians have no jurisdiction here,” Daire pointed out, leading Gage from the sands to the sidewalk. “It’s a safe haven.”

He seemed to approve. Gage had heard rumors of the outlaw realm, but had expected mean streets—well, okay, he’d imagined a forest—full of desperados, grifters, hitmen, thieves and pimps. Not this quiet, discreet paradise for rich people. He saw no signs of authority or law, so how was it monitored, or policed?

“Did that…? Did you see that?” Daire pointed with his elbow at a statue on a plinth. He covered his mouth with his hand and continued in a whisper, “I think that statue was facing the other way a second ago. It moved!”

He was right. Each statue they passed swiveled and turned, tracking their movement and answering Gage’s question about monitoring. He jumped when a metal post with a light circle on its top bumped his head…by bending down to them as they walked by.

“You’re the avian expert,” Daire commented. “Do these birds look suspicious to you?”

“Not suspicious. Professional.” Gage was familiar with using worker avians and although these weren’t the papagae he was used to, he thought the matching blue and white birds had a similar function. Well, using an avian network was one way to keep an eye on things, and at least they were pretty.

The hedge they were walking along bore sweet-smelling pale pink flowers, and Daire picked one and inhaled its fragrance.

“Sort of coco-nuss scent,” he said. He beckoned Gage to bend a little then tucked the bloom through his buttonhole.

“What’s that for?” Gage asked. He was touched, but suspicious.

Daire grinned. “To see if that offer of a ride on your shoulders is still open. Have you seen how far we’ll have to trek along this road? These properties are set in enormous grounds!”

“And those boots aren’t comfortable?” Gage guessed. “You could always take them off.”

“You’d like that. Any excuse to get me naked.” Daire prodded him.

“What? It’s not like I suggested taking your pants off!” Gage protested. “Although…them being black leather, you do look hot in them.”

“Thank you.”

Daire pretending to take his words as a compliment reminded Gage of how the pixie had behaved when they’d met. Which…had been just yesterday? Gods.

“We need transport,” Daire complained, then looked around at a whirring noise.

A conveyance slid along the road and stopped next to them. It was somewhere between a cart and a carriage, small, compact, and…horseless. Daire looked at Gage and Gage looked back at him. Daire shrugged.

The horseless transport’s door opened, and Gage saw it was also driverless. “Should we…? I mean, it seems it’s for us?” he asked.

“Probably rude not to.” Daire pushed past him and sat in the back. “Ahh. That’s better. Third property along, please, Mr. Carriage. Gage, get in. I bet it’s a courtesy service here. All arrivals must get it, whether they’re just simply rich and have a second home here in this pretty place or…” He mouthed criminal.

“So it’s like a hub.” Gage recalled Knuckles’ words that he’d caught. “A high-end version of a seedy tavern where you go to meet contacts you need for the kind of job you need done. Ow.” He rubbed the top of his head where it had hit the roof of the carriage when the vehicle sped up and thumped over a bump in the road. It seemed the carriage was sensitive to criticism of its workplace.

“Try to blend in,” Daire whispered. “You can’t go throwing your feathers about here, remember. You’re not here as a Guardian. You have to work undercover.”

“What are we here as then?” Gage asked. He liked every detail of an assignment down in black and white and committed to memory.

“I’ll figure it out as we go.” Daire patted Gage’s knee, his hand making Gage’s skin warm, even through the thick fabric of his mountaineering clothes. “We could be fraudsters, intriguers, mercenaries…generally sleazy individuals evading the law. Let me think…”

Gage wasn’t reassured.

The carriage turned into the well-maintained drive of a luxurious pastel-pink and baby-blue property, where uniformed doormen gave small bows and opened the wide doors for them. The same pale colors were used in the marble and glass atrium, and the few people idling about were well-dressed. A circular desk stood under a round skylight. The place, whatever it was, whispered money.

“May I help you?” asked a woman Gage thought might be human. The touches of lemon yellow on her uniform matched those of the men at the door. “Sirs?” she prompted.

Now was the time for Daire, who’d been figuring it out, to speak up, but he was too busy gawking all around him to answer.

“Have you booked?” the woman asked.

Oh, was this place a hotel? That made sense! “No,” Gage admitted. He tried to make a rough estimate of what a stay in such a classy place would cost and arrived at above my pay grade. Now and forever. He looped an arm around Daire to keep him close and not let him wander off and get into trouble that they’d have to buy their way out of. No way would the Guardians honor that chit when it came due, apart from the fact that a corps captain shouldn’t be here.

“We’re not here for that,” he continued to the assistant.

“Oh, of course.” The woman looked from him to Daire, looked Daire up and down, then back to Gage again. “You came up and in the main entrance, didn’t you?”

Gage replied with a gesture that could have been a nod or a head shake. He wasn’t going to commit himself.

The receptionist bent across her circular marble counter to them. “I know what you’re here for,” she whispered. “You came in the wrong section. It’s happened before. Guests are eager, but nervous.” Her smile looked designed to comfort those eager, nervous, section-mistaking guests.

Gage made the same head-wobble gesture again.

“You want the Dungeon,” she continued, her voice low.

“Dungeon!” Daire echoed, nudging Gage.

Yes, dungeon, where kidnap victims are probably held. Gage got it.

“I’ll get a member of staff to walk you around to where you want to go.” She straightened up and dinged a bell, the sound musical in the large atrium.

Well, this was easier than Gage had expected. Things were very organized.

“I bet with this realm being the way it is, people here to rescue the nappee probably meet with the nappers under very civilized conditions,” Daire guessed. “There’s maybe a mediator or middle person?”

“Could be. Let’s get there quickly and bring this to a close.” Gage prepared to hustle.

“Sirs, you do know magic is not permitted on the premises?” the receptionist said. “So I’m afraid I’ll just have to check if you’re bearing any. Should that be the case, it will be removed, placed in safe keeping and returned to you when you exit the premises.”

She dinged the bell twice and, with a slight buzzing whir, a tiny elemental creature peeled itself from the glass skylight above. Gage wouldn’t have seen it even if he’d been searching, because it was transparent, looking like a figurine made of crystal or frozen water. It dipped lower, to whirl around Gage, who resisted the temptation to swat at it, or scratch the slight itch he felt—inside his head.

It turned grass green, then pulled away, hovering in the air until it returned to its original translucent state. The assistant smiled her thanks at Gage. He’d barely understood what had happened when the elemental whisked around Daire and turned from grass to pea to orc-green within a heartbeat.

“Oh, I see you divested yourself well prior to arrival. Good idea to give yourself time to get used to it, hm?” The receptionist gave Daire a smile too.

“But… I—” Daire had turned almost as green as the creature had. “I have no magic?” he whispered.

“It’s fine,” Gage reassured him. Maybe pixies were sensitive about it. Like orcs were about the size of their—

“Oh, it’s really not.”

Gage couldn’t understand the expression on Daire’s face. His color was draining, leaving him paler than he had been. Wait…color. Gage whipped his head around, assuring himself he could see the lemon yellow of the place’s corporate livery, and the pretty pinks and blues of its décor. He’d seen the honey brown of the sand too. And yet Daire had no magic about him. So how could Gage be seeing colors? What did that make him think of—some griffin myth or story—

“Ah. Here he is. Pleasure to assist you.” The receptionist’s final smile was one of dismissal.

Gage lost his train of thought as he tracked the progress of the staff member making its way toward them. “It’s a kura-kura,” he said a little redundantly, of the large, low and long-necked reptile, its hard shell painted the hotel’s yellow, still making its way to them. Its slow way to them.

“Good thing time stands still here,” Daire muttered.

They followed the animal through the atrium and had run out of polite conversation to make by the time they’d reached a side corridor. The kura nodded his agreement to their “lovely place” and “nice décor” slowly and shook his head to their “is it far?” even more slowly.

“Here?” Gage looked at Daire when they stopped in front of a door. “Well, thanks.”

The kura didn’t move. It would be rude to reach and step over him, wouldn’t it?

“I think he wants a tip,” Daire whispered.

“Oh…” Gage patted his pockets. He had things to survive in the wild with, but something a hard-shelled reptile would eat? His fingers landed on the blossom Daire had picked for him and the kura’s beady eyes brightened. “Really? Here.” He bent to offer it, sad to see it go, and jumped back at the snap of the kura’s jaws grabbing for the bloom. Munching, the reptile ambled off.

“Here goes…” Gage pushed open the door, steeling himself for— A spa? A health club? Some place with lots of soft green climbing and trailing plants, the tinkle of water and the waft of nose-pleasing herbal scents.

“Sign in, please!” called a receptionist who could have been twins with the one they’d just left.

“Give a fake name!” Daire reminded him, and Gage’s mind went blank. He cast around for any other name than his.

“Commander Slate? Really?” Daire griped, from where he stood next to him filling in his own form.

“Yes, Adam the Dwarf.” Gage rolled his eyes.

“And that’s your real age?” Daire sniggered. “I didn’t know that. You don’t look a day over sixty.”

“And what did you put under allergies—work?” Gage tried to see.

“It’s not an allergy. More a sensitivity. It’s a species thing. You wouldn’t understand.” Daire huffed.

“Fine…fine…” The receptionist cast a glance over their forms. “And the payment… Fine, fine.” She took the entire pouch before Gage could tip out any coins. “Go on through!”

“Well, I like how calm and civilized this is,” Gage remarked. He pushed at the far door into what waited beyond. “It’s all—”

“Black. With flashing lights and pounding music,” Daire finished for him, shoving him inside whatever the room beyond was when he stood stock-still.

“But this isn’t a dungeon!” Gage protested. One look around told him that.

“No, it’s the Dungeon!” replied a staff member popping up…in an outfit that made Gage’s assless pants look like parade uniform. “Let’s get you through to the preparation and waiting rooms, shall we? Dom or sub?”

He addressed this to Gage, who tried to answer, only he’d forgotten words. And how to make his mouth muscles work.

“Dom or sub?” the assistant asked, louder. “Dom? Sub?”

“Sub?” Gage started to ask what the employee meant, and the assistant nodded.

“Well, yes.” The guy smiled knowingly. “With tonight being the night it is! But we always check,” he said. “Now, prep…A, B or C?” This was to Daire.

“Prep?” Daire looked lost. “Well, see—”

“Uh-huh.” The assistant winked. “Come along then. Let’s take you through.”

“Daire?” Gage asked. He took another glance around at what the people were wearing—or not wearing—and caught the distant sound of whips and chains. Those things, added to the moans that were more pleasure-drenched than pain-wracked—although there was some of that in the mix—gave him a lot of clues as to what the Dungeon was. Who it catered for. And gods in a cave, he was…intrigued.

“We-we should stay, to see what we can find out, right?” Daire asked, his pupils huge as he looked at Gage. He licked his lips.

Gage nodded, his dick stiffening. “We…should.”

He didn’t think they’d learn any information useful for the assignment, but he was eager to see what the place had to show him…