There were many shining rivers in the mountains that served as a fortification to the castle and city of Uopia.
"It's a large city." Jay exclaimed.
Grey nodded.
"I come from a larger city than that. I wonder what dimension this is, I was taught all their names but when I Warped here, I didn't put in the coordinates, I simply chose here." He said, confused.
Jay looked at him.
"How does Warping work?" He asked.
Grey put his hand in his belt and walked faster, the boy trailing.
"You'll find out one day." He said.
The walls were high and built on the mountainside, making the city near impregnable.
"We can't go in like this, we'll be calling too much attention to ourselves. We can't sniff out the Lion God servants all the time and I sure don't want to be kidnapped." He said.f
Jay nodded.
"Besides, this clothes smell. Do you wash yours?" He asked.
"I don't wash the coat or belt, those are supernatural objects. The rest however are disposable." He said.
"Let's find some clothes then." Jay said.
Luckily there was a small village at the foot of the mountain and Grey could see elves and dwarfs all around.
"Looks like a happy general circus." He commented.
The market was filled with people selling trinkets, items and clothes. Jay made for one of the stalls where a woman displayed clothes.
"Coats, shirts, pants, I have them here. Pick your size and wear." She sang, in perfect rhyme.
Grey let the boy do the bargaining, he didn't stay around normal society much and might have lost his skills in haggling.
"Do you have a nice shirt and trouser for me and for that lovely gentleman there?" Jay asked, smiling at her. The woman took one look at Grey and blushed. Grey pushed his hat down, embarassed.
"But of course, my wares are the finest in the market and they befit such fine young men like you." She replied, gazing at Grey while talking to Jay.
By the time Jay had finished talking, they had a new pair of clothes for just a few copper coins.
As they walked down the village looking for a place to change, Jay teased Grey.
"Pity. If you'd talked with her yourself, we might have gotten these things for free and saved us money for those roasted pork spits I saw." He said.
"It's wrong, swindling people." Grey replied.
Jay looked up at him, chastised.
"It's not swindling, it's an exchange. Clothes for the promise of a union." He said.
Men and women were barging into them left and right and Grey was focused on finding a bathhouse.
"I'm a Hunter, we don't marry." He said.
Jay smiled, mischievously.
"I'm not talking about marriage, I'm talking about another union." He said, lowering his tone.
Grey sighed tiredly.
"Aren't you too young to know such things?" He asked.
"When you're alone, you learn a lot." Jay said.
Finally, they reached a large inn with a bathhouse. The owner was an old woman who took one look at Grey and asked no further questions. They went to the inner rooms where the baths were and took off their clothes. Jay wore an underwear that was dusty and musty smelling.
"Throw that away." Grey said, after one look. When they were done undressing, their backs to themselves, they entered their respective tubs and allowed the steam boil away the dirt. They faced each other and bathed.
"It's been a month or two since I last bathed." Jay spoke.
"That's very unhygienic." Grey answered.
Jay snorted.
"It's hard to be clean in a phantom prison." He said.
Grey smiled, he liked the boy a lot. Deep in him, he knew he had someone depending on him now and that he had to win and survive.
"So, how do you plan to kill the Lion God?" Jay asked.
"That's what most companions would have asked a long time ago." Grey said.
Jay shrugged.
"I'm really in this for the fun. I'm a supernatural creature in a boy's body with a child's brain. The least I can do is try to enjoy myself." He said.
"I have to know what the demon is planning to do first. After that, I will find a way to end him." Grey replied.
"How long have you been a Hunter?" Jay asked.
"It wasn't so long until the Lion God destroyed the Smoke Tower." He said.
They fell silent for a while and allowed the bath to do it's work.
When they were done, there were towels and they cleaned themselves and then wore the new clothes they bought. When they stepped out of the inn, they looked fresh and good smelling.
"I feel free." Jay said, stretching.
"I feel wet and clean." Grey said. His belt was still around his waist but all his Hunter weapons were kept in his old clothes which he wrapped like a bag.
"So, we're going into the city to do what exactly?" Jay asked.
Grey shrugged.
"The Warp must have detected something and sent us here. Let's go into the city to find that out." He said.
Jay nodded.
"Good enough for me." He replied.
People were let into the city through smaller gates on the wall and the guards were gruff and shouted.
There was a long line from the village they'd just left, up the winding path to the gate. Merchants and their trucks, people and carriages, others on foot. Grey and Jay walked faster, carrying only little things.
At the gate, five armored men allowed people in, shouting and ordering others out of the line. Their armor bore the mark of a dragon, the same design on a banner placed on the wall.
"They don't look nice." Jay said as they got close to the front.
"That's why they're guards, they're supposed to be scary and problematic." He said.
"Let me do the talking." He said to Jay. The boy nodded.
The guard looked him up and down, unimpressed.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Grey Lanroth." He answered. The guard screwed up his face.
"What kind of a bloody name is that?" He asked.
Grey kept silent.
"What's your business in the city?" Another guard asked.
"Looking for work, sirs." He answered.
The guard shooed him away.
"Uopia doesn't allow in the homeless." He said.
"I'm not homeless, my brother's a blacksmith in the city and I'm a locksmith. I'm staying with him until I get a shed of my own." He lied.
Jay almost smiled.
"And whose the little tart?" The guard pointed to Jay.
"My son, sirs." Grey replied.
The guards laughed.
"Your son? You look like you're seventeen." They answered.
"Good genes, sirs. My pa and ma were like that too." He replied, keeping a facade of a dumb normal man.
They waved him and Jay breathed easily again. They walked down the dark tunnel and emerged the other side of the city.
Uopia was a great city and even from its first look, Grey knew it was rich. There were large buildings everywhere and soldiers patrolled heavily. Jay opened his mouth.
"Wow, that's a large city." He said.
"Large yeah, but I've seen larger." He said.
They moved down the road that led from the gate where they made their entrance and made for the center of the city.
"What are we doing now?" Jay asked.
"Sniffing out things, we also need to make some money so keep an eye out for any work." He said.
Jay looked at the sheds and the artisans in them.
"Are you really a locksmith?" He asked.
Grey shook his head, weighing the weapons he carried again.
They walked in the market for a few minutes, then Jay became tired.
"Shouldn't we be lodging in one of those inns?" He asked.
"We need money for that, boy." Grey answered.
His mind was searching everywhere. His eyes and nose following everyone that passed, for even a trace of the Lion God's magic.
Suddenly, Jay left his side and made for a shed.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
The boy put a hand out and Grey waited for him. When Jay came back, it was with a poster.
"What about retrieval work? Look." He said, gesturing to the poster.
Grey looked. It was a royal decree asking bounty hunters to come to the palace for a retrieval job.
"Retrieval? What do they mean by that?" He asked.
"I don't know, but you're a Hunter. Whatever job they're giving should be in your line of work." He said.
Grey shrugged and folded the poster.
"Alright, so where is the palace?" He asked.
It took them another fifty minutes and questions to trek all the way there. Jay was almost dropping but Grey wasn't feeling a thing. His body system wasn't human at all and that meant exhaustion hit him more slowly.
"Aren't you half-elf? You shouldn't be so tired." He told Jay.
"Half, you said. My human side is the truck, my elf side the driver." He said.
The palace was made of shining blue topaz and had an equally imposing wall and gate. The dragon banner flew from the walls and from afar, it looked the most imposing structure ever.
"I hope the guards are as stupid as the ones who let us in." Jay said.
When the teenage boy and the more younger teenage boy reached the gates, there were triple guards and on the walls, almost fifty men patrolled.
"That's a lot of security." Grey muttered.
"What is your business in the Royal Citadel?" They asked, immediately they reached the gate.
"I'm a bounty hunter. I want to register myself for the retrieval that His Majesty, the King declared." Grey said, using his baritone voice. His hair had been tied in a ponytail and his eyes were hard.
The guards looked him over.
"Bounty hunter? You look like a boy and whose that boy trudging along with you?" The same guard asked, walking towards them, four others approaching.
Grey nodded and smiled.
"I grew up finding things that people needed to find and killing things people wanted dead. The boy is my apprentice." He said.
The guard snorted and Jay went red. He was face to face with Grey now and looked up at him, helmet covering his face.
"The King's job isn't for pussies, you know." He said.
Grey answered calmly.
"I do believe no job is for a pussycat." He said.
The guard laughed.
The other ones seemed bored but he could see some guards on the wall listening.
"What's in the bag?" He asked.
Grey dropped the bundle.
"The tools I use for work." He said.
The guard looked around, angrily.
"Are you trying to make me look stupid? Those are weapons." He said.
Grey replied in the positive.
"Hunter weapons." He said.
The guard looked at it.
"Open them up." He asked. Jay sucked in air and Grey opened the bundle. Inside was his clothes, hat, coat, belt, short sword, whip sword and guns. The Warp had hidden himself already.
"Strange weapons." The guard said, picking up the well tied whip.
"What's this for?" He asked.
Grey was getting exasperated but he forced himself to smile. It was taking his Hunter composure to push down the boiling teenage rage in him.
"Slicing and cutting." He replied.
Thankfully, the man kept the whip sword back in and took a measuring look at Grey.
"Alright then, you aren't carrying anything against the law and you look honest, at least you sound so. You may go in." He said.
Jay sighed in relief. His legs were about to give out.
The small gate was opened and they walked in through another dark tunnel.
"Thought he would talk us to death." Jay complained.
"Most of life is words, I believe you should be learning. My teachers at the Smoke Tower thought me that each man had a tone you should use. When a man judge you stupid, speak stupidly. Words are a weapon, Jay." He said.
"You sound like an old man, Hunter." Jay teased.
Grey looked forwards as they left the tunnel.
"I had to grow up quicker." He said.
They were in a cobblestoned street and they could see tall buildings all the way up to the palace which was an imposing structure a little far away.
"Just how big is Uopia?" Jay asked.
Grey shrugged.
A man approached them dressed in fine clothes and a hat. It was strange as the street was completely empty.
"A bounty hunter, eh." He said.
Grey turned to him.
"Yes, good afternoon." He greeted.
The man bowed and Grey found himself doing an awkward bow. He did not understand how courtesies went along in this dimension.
"I am Sir Morrok Cook, the king's protocol official. I am to lead you to the hall where the other hunters are." The man said and clapped his hands.
A boy led two horses out of a nearby stable.
"Where is everyone?" Grey asked, looking around.
Sir Morrok dipped his head.
"The Royal castle and all in its environs are been plagued by some sort of demonic attack. People prefer been indoors now." He said.
Suddenly, the many guards and questions started to make sense. Some sort of demon was attacking just the finer part of town.
He mounted one of the horses and lifted Jay on.
"Is this demonic attack the reason the King called for hunters?" He asked.
Sir Morrok sat on the other one. The nobleman was sweating profusely.
"No, the prince has been kidnapped by dark forces and we are yet to hear from him. The king is worried about his heir and want bounty hunters that can find him." He said.
Suddenly, flashes of the tower they'd been held prisoner came through Grey's mind. That was why the Warp had sent him here.
It acts accordings to the mind of its holder and the mission at heart. His teacher had told him. An apostle of the Lion God was here, spreading terror in this city.
"Well, Sir Morrok. You're in luck, I have a penchant for killing demons." He said.