"Bartender!"
"The usual, right?"
A word to the wise: if you enter a bar and the proprietor asks you if you want "the usual", you are probably in trouble.
I heard the door being flung open dramatically, and paid absolutely no attention to my friend as he stalked into the bar with just the correct degree of nonchalance to appear cool.
"Evening, Rodimus."
"Evening, Zolf. No luck?"
"None."
I twitched slightly. "Nobody hired you all day?"
"Oh, and what's your record for the job hunt, old man?"
"l...hate...being...called...that" I put down my glass with a meaningful thunk and leaned forward. "How many times to I have to tell you how much I hate being called that?"
"Please do not kill me."
"All right, all right You're spared." I slumped a little bit. "I'm too tired to kill anyone tonight anyway. What are we going to do about money to pay for these drinks?"
"What we always do. Dig into our savings."
"What sav - hello."
"What? What?"
"What the hell is that?"
ZoIf twisted around in his seat. "That is weird. Doesn't look like the type to patronize this place. I once heard a story that there's a guy who comes to places like this in a cloak and a hood, so you can't see his face, and then he kills everybody in the room. Oh, he's coming over here."
"That was real helpful, ZoIf!"
"Hello. Is this seat taken?"
"No, no." Zolf was a bit frightened by his own ghost story. "Please don't ki-never mind."
"My name is Zelgadiss. I'm told you people are looking for a job."
"We are," I agreed cautiously. Mysterious guys in face-covering outfits are usually a bad thing, but being jobless, broke and lacking more than one friend I knew to be worse.
"I'm looking for some loyal mercenaries who don't ask very high pay. Would you fit that description?"
I weighed the odds for a moment and then decided on honesty. "We'll fit any description for the sake of food and a roof over our heads. This hasn't been a good few months for us."
"Nor me." My comment seemed to have touched some nerve. "So, do you want the job?"
"We'll take your offer. I'm Rodimus, by the way. This is Zolf."
Zelgadiss nodded and got up. "I'm staying in the inn across the street tonight. Tomorrow morning I' ll meet you outside and we can go." He turned and walked out.
Zolf waited until he was definitely out of hearing range, and then hissed, "What the hell are you doing? A guy like that could be anyone - Mazoku, even! Can't you see that he doesn't want us to know what he looks like?"
"Of course I can see that." I shrugged. "At best it convinces me that he's not Mazoku. I've heard they can change their appearance to look absolutely normal. Did our new employer look absolutely normal to you?"
"Oh." ZoIf studied his fingernails. "Sony. But what about just taking a job without screening anything? That's not like you."
"Oh, I did screen him. Look around." I gestured at the filthy room. "I just asked myself, 'Rodimus, is the job absolutely certain to be better than this?'. And it was."
"You may be right."
We spent the night outside, walking from place to place to keep warm.
Hay carts are one of my favorite methods of travel. They're free, comfortable, and as long as you can find someone going in your general direction, you can hitch a ride fairly easily.
Zelgadiss hadn't been bluffing when he said that he couldn't pay us much. I had to admit, I had been expecting something other than this...but at least it was somewhere to sleep. Or at least for ZoIf to sleep. He is capable of relaxing anywhere.
"Rodimus?"
"Yes, Zelgadiss-sama?"
"I've been wondering something about the two of you."
"What?" Any conversation was better than nothing.
"You seem to be the more intelligent one, and the leader. Why are you just swinging a sword when you could have been a better sorcerer than your friend?"
"It's an honorable profession. The other factor is that I have no magical talent - I'm completely hopeless at it."
"I see. I used to be like that."
"But not anymore?"
"No. Now I'm.. .strong."
"You make it sound like something awful happened."
"Something awful did happen." Zelgadiss had seemed remote and emotionless when I had met him before; now he was becoming upset, and I was getting nervous. He began pulling at the corner of his mask, trying to get it off. "Look at this. Just - "
"Oh, my God," I said, without thinking. "How long have you been like this?"
Zelgadiss cradled his head in his arms. "A month."
"Who's the bastard who did this to you?"
"It's a long story..."
"I have time to hear it."
But he fell silent, and so I didn' t hear it.
There' s nothing more to tell about that day, I suppose...