Honor among thieves

As Zed walked away with the merchant, L'abbee turned back to the task of loading their materials into the village transport. Since he didn't have passage into the village yet, he had to organize with the gate guards to make sure they would direct his materials to the right location. He had trouble memorizing the address Zed had told him to send the goods to, but it wasn't as if he'd need to remember it until the next morning, anyway. He'd wait until tomorrow to get lost in the village streets.

As the last of the goods were carted away, L'abbee noticed the glint of actual gold coming from inside the last crate, tempting him to take some. He turned back to the small bag of chips in his hand and sighed. Zed had insisted these would be more important than the gold for now, but he found it difficult to stomach when he didn't have any money to his name anymore. He hoped Tina was doing alright in her mission to get them a little bit of money, because he was having his doubts that Zed would be able to come through for him.

As he looked down at himself, he was at least grateful for the robe the old merchant had casually given him, more likely out of disgust than pity. It was a fine garment, thought anything would look like a fine garment compared to the leaf diaper he'd been wearing before. Still, his bare chest and feet as well as the thinness of the robe still reminded him of his near-nudity, and he shivered.

Tina and Hilda were likely worse off than him, but it wasn't much comfort knowing that others had slightly less to their names than him when he was being loaned the only possession he now had.

L'abbee sat for a while in the wagon, wrapping the robe around his knees to stave off the cold, waiting for Zed to come back. The night breeze, for it was in fact night now, made it difficult to stay comfortable, but at least he wasn't likely to fall asleep and miss Zed's return.

It felt like hours before the human boy returned to the cart, and L'abbee blinked at the sight of their boss, **** and drooling, slung over the small boy's shoulders. "Hey, give me a hand over here, will you?" Zed whispered, knocking L'abbee out of his shock. The skinny drow didn't provide much help in lifting the man into the cart, but together they were able to lay him out inside.

"What happened?" L'abbee asked, dumbfounded.

"Just a night of drinking with a little bit of added supplements." Zed pulled up his sleeve to reveal an empty pouch with hints of white powder on the edge. "He's a strong drinker, but this will keep him out for a while. It'll buy us time to get things rolling. More importantly," he turned back to the drow, "You got the chips?"

"Right here." L'abbee held up the back, hearing the clacking of wood from inside.

Zed greedily snatched up the sack and pulled out a single chip. Tossing it to L'abbee, he said. "I'll send you a message tomorrow about where to go. You'll have to take that chip to my contact in the morning and he'll figure out how to reverse the spell that's on it. But you need to have it back by nightfall tomorrow, or when the boss wakes up to count the chips, he'll notice one's gone."

"He's that thorough?"

Zed nodded. L'abbee replied, "Well, what about my entry fee? I can't get into the village without the money."

Zed reached into his pocket and tossed the drow a gold coin. "I know you said you needed three, but that's all I could get away with. I don't get paid enough to spare much of my own money, and the old man is stingy with his spending cash. Sorry."

L'abbee shook his head. "I'll just have to hope my wife and mother-in-law were successful enough that we'll all be able to get inside." He reached for Zed's hand. "Thanks for this."

"Hey, don't get all sappy with me. This is a partnership of convenience, nothing more. Let's not get personal, alright?" He climbed into the coachman's seat of the wagon and hitched up the horses. "Just be ready when morning comes."

L'abbee nodded and let the boy bring the cart into the gates before walking back to the meeting place, hoping that his family had made at least as much gold as he had.