"And I’m just your any, old Tinkerer, ain’t I?"
I gave him a mock glare, but did not comment further. We headed our way back to the inn to finish our preparation for tomorrow night; we were finally leaving Laxis. Personally, I did not have much to pack, but Gennady was a different story.
"So," I started, staring at the bike. "How are we going to sneak that into the docks?"
"Good question," he said, scratching his beard. "I could drive it to the docks now and stow it away somewhere nearby our meeting location ahead of time, that way we can just push it along the rest of the way on the night itself."
"Sounds good to me." I nodded.
"I’ll do that now, actually. Here,"— I stumbled back as Gennady placed his large backpack on my arms and got on his bike— "take care of that for a bit, will ya?"
"Wait—"
The Dwarf started up the bike, turning on its engine; white gas puffed out sounding like quick, short breaths and filling the air with noise and fumes.
"Sorry, can’t hear you!" he called out to me as he drove off.
I stared at his figure as it disappeared down the street, still holding his mountainous bag on my arms.
"...did he really just do that to me?" I paused, then corrected myself. "Did I just allow him to do that to me?"
After packing all our belongings, we were gone; we paid the innkeeper what we owed them— Gennady and I split the cost, of course— and headed out of the inn. It was barely sundown and people were starting to retire for the day.
The two of us kept close to the edge of the main roads, although we made sure not to stray too far into the alleyways and side streets riddled with potential crimes just waiting to happen. We finally reached the small warehouse Gennady stashed away his bike after paying off the owner; the Dwarf hefted his bag onto the vehicle, and he began rolling it alongside him as we finally reached our destination.
Darkness had taken over at this point, and apart from the glow of the nearby torchlight, there was no more light to illuminate the night; the clouds covered the glittering star light of the sky, while obscuring most of the crescent moon.
A lone person, however, waited for us in the darkness. Gennady stepped forward to approach them, but I held an arm out. "Wait," I said. "Where’s Lisa?"
The person was clearly Jack, with his broad frame and tall figure— and that was not even mentioning the way he was dressed. Gennady raised his shoulders in a shrug.
"Don’t know. Maybe she’s getting the boat?"
"We should make sure." I felt my lips purse into a thin line. "That man didn’t like you and obviously didn’t want to do the job. He could’ve very easily changed his mind after he sobered up."
"Then that means he’s just here to tell us that he won’t be doing the job," Gennady said, taking a step forward anyways. He walked past me and called out to the man. "Oi, lad, where’s Lisa? What happened to our deal?"
The smuggler glanced up and glared at Gennady. "Shut it, Dwarf. You’re making too much noise. This is supposed to be a covert meeting, and you’re over here screaming my ears out."
"Aren’t you going to answer my question?"
"Who gives—"
I quickly walked past Gennady and holding up a bag of coins, I spoke over the two before they could begin arguing again. "Jack," I said, trying not to speak too loudly. "Where’s Lisa? Why are you the only one here?"
Jack eyed the pouch and bit back his tongue; he relaxed his posture, and gestured further down the docks. "She’s bringing the boat over. We’ll be taking it to a merchant vessel anchored just outside of port."
"And are you sure we’ll be fine?" I asked, raising an eyebrow; I was not sure why I bothered doing that since my face was obscured by my mask, but I did it anyways. "If we’re just taking an ordinary ship, won’t we still be under threat of pirates?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Our ship is special. It’s used to bring a lot of illegal goods into the city from sea— most pirates will recognize it and leave it alone. That doesn’t mean we’re safe from danger, however, but we’ll be far less of a target than any old ship leaving the harbor."
"That’s one of the safest routes, lass." Gennady placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don’t worry, we’ll be fine."
I turned to meet the Dwarf’s eyes, and stared into it for a moment; I held my friend’s gaze for just a moment, and nodded. "Stop assuming I’m paranoid," I said. "I was just curious."
He grinned, and smacked me across the back. I braced for it, and didn’t double over for once.
Jack snorted. "Don’t agree with me, Dwarf. You’ll make me puke before we even get to sea."
Gennady opened his mouth to snap back, but I stopped him. "I think she’s here." I pointed at a shadow moving in the rough waves; a small boat— one that could probably only fit a dozen people— was making its way towards the docks.
"Is that her?" I asked Jack as I stepped forward to him; the man did not seem like he particularly disliked me despite his clear animosity towards Gennady whom I was affiliated with, and he nodded.
"Yes. It’s time for us to go." He stalked down the wooden platform we were standing on, down towards the small beach just below the pier. The boat had two men pushing it onto shore, as I saw the vague outline of Lisa walking ahead of them.
"Aria," the young woman greeted me. She quickly nodded at Gennady to the side, before directing her full attention on
