Four archers, four axemen, and Toad followed Narlis from Zantar's Hill into the Shitholes. They were his best killers. A fight with the Friends, or any gang really, would be a disaster. City would be ruined and he'd be out a job and a few hundred slaves. Still, Narlis intended to win any fights that broke out and that meant going armed. A not-so-secret part of him wanted it. "Ey Toad. Clean my axe, will ya? Don't want these snatchsniffers to get the wrong idea." The lizardling he roughed up earlier had some friends. Some raggedly men with knives had to jump him after, all with dog tattoos. Narlis cracked their skulls well-enough.
The Grimguts made a show of approaching the Friends' Boarding House. Too subtle and it might seem like war. Narlis gave the surly girl watching the door a leery smile. "Got ourselves a bounty here! You and yours ever laid eyes on a thousand Serenian suns? Its a pretty sight. Ya can buy a bath to wash the shitstink off, maybe eat some meat that ain't rat.
"Lady Isaura's lost one of her wards. His name is Ewan. Small, pale and spotty. Reddish hair like a girl. The runt also pisses magic and will make a stir if he ain't looked after. He's slick. Older than he looks. We're paying for him back, you like gold, and that's that."
***
Ewan's heart sank. Randal seemed on the verge of throwing a fit; these sorts probably did push him around for fun. Though he didn't seem any worse for it besides an eerie eagerness to be a villain.
The little wizard stepped forward. Now he was going to have to explain it all, again, to a skeptical grown-up. Adult! "My name's Ewan. I got slavers looking for me, and Randal said I could hide with you guys maybe? It will only be for a few days. I really am a wizard! I could mend you when you get cut up, or make you look pretty, or make your plants grow real fast!" The boy gave a shy smile, eyes just slightly downcast, in his best efforts to look helpless and winsome. That usually helped dodge trouble. But between the tattered clothes and layer of mud, Ewan looked looked more like some horrible little goblin.