The Broken Song

Chapter Thirty-Two

—The Well, Lower Town—

Master Talleron lived in the heart of Lower Town. He wasn't an elderly man, perhaps only in his forties or fifties, and he had lived in the same house all his life; his father, and his father before him, going so far back that no one in Kiverryn could remember a time in which a Talleron hadn't lived in the house with the red door.

Lulu had never met the man, but Thancred had. He told her about him as they made their slow progress through Lower Town. He told her of the suffering and pain Master Talleron and his forefathers had inflicted within Lower Town.

They were all expert alchemists, their talents far superior to anyone in the region. But rather than using such knowledge and talents for good, Master Talleron helped only a very specific set of people. Only if one could prove to him their lineage was rooted in pure-Iskendryn blood would he even consider offering help. And even then, Iskendryn blood was not enough in some cases. If their skin color was anything but pale white, their pleas for help would be denied.

Master Talleron was a racist son-of-a-bitch who was perfectly content to let people suffer on a good day. Gold was only an extra incentive to a man like him. From what Thancred told her, he would be a difficult nut to crack. He was hateful, spiteful, and nothing could scare him. Others had tried to intimidate him through brute force, but never once had he relented. It was rumored he couldn't feel pain.

Lulu had never heard a more ridiculous rumor. Everyone felt pain sooner or later. Those who had tried before just hadn't known where to hit. So, Lulu told everyone to wait outside. She would deal with Master Talleron alone. Thancred had tried to stop her, a hand clasped around her elbow as he pleaded with her to reconsider. Lulu only offered a small smile and an amused shake of her head. This was only going to take...

...less than a minute, it seemed.

Knowing what she was walking into, Lulu wasted no time with words. He wouldn't listen, and she sure as fuck wasn't going to give this waste of flesh a single gold coin. Instead, she gave him exactly what he deserved. A few punches and the man uttered not a sound. Just as she expected. A few more and he was on the floor, looking up at her with a smug expression that made what followed all the more satisfying. She withdrew a knife, and, before he knew what was happening, she sliced so close to his groin that the man let out an undignified scream. Lulu tilted her head as he scrambled away.

"So, I guessed right. Your dick does matter to you," she nodded, pleased with his response. "Get to talkin' before it comes off."

By the time she emerged, she had a location, a detailed list of what they would most likely find at the Well, and a severed appendage that she left sitting on his doorstep. Ori and a few others had looked at her, flabbergasted by what she had done, but Lulu just stepped past them and said to her cousin, "He deserved worse."

The stories of what he had done, of what he had seen happening in that Well, there wasn't a just enough punishment to fit the crime. The others gave her what space she needed, save for Teressa, who still didn't know any better. She came to her side, fingers threading through her own as though that was enough to chase away the horror of what Master Talleron had told her. It wasn't.

It would never be enough.

Lulu untangled her hand from Teressa's as she spotted the sign at the end of the street. The Well was around the next corner. The rancid, rotting smell reached them long before then. By the time they reached the street's end, it was so powerful, so overwhelming, that a few of the Light Wardens had to stop to empty their stomachs on the side of the street. But Lulu steeled herself and was the first to see the Well.