"You idiots," Kora whispered, her voice trembling with a fear that seemed entirely out of place on her hardened features. "Do you have any idea what you've just brought to my door?"
The tavern noise seemed to dull, pressed into the background. Lee's attention tunneled onto the woman behind the counter. Her eyes had gone sharp, wild, as if expecting blades to leap from every shadow.
Silas frowned. "It's just a pendant. Dead man's trinket. What's the harm in—"
Kora slammed her hand down, cutting him off. The mugs rattled. Her gaze darted across the room, scanning faces — the drunk miners in the corner, the card players, the girl sweeping near the hearth. Each one seemed, in her eyes, a potential threat.
"Not here," she hissed, snatching up a rag and slamming it over the Sun-and-Gear pendant, hiding it from view. "Stars above, do you want the whole damned town to see? To hear? You think you can waltz in here, wave that mark around, and not get your throats cut before morning?"
Lee stiffened, hand drifting toward his sword hilt. He had fought monsters in the pits, assassins, but this fear in her eyes felt different. It wasn't the dread of claws and teeth. It was the kind of fear that hollowed out the soul.
"Explain," he said simply, his voice low.
Kora leaned in, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of the counter. Her words came out as a hoarse whisper.
"You're dealing with the Iron Sun. Now forget I ever said that name."
The words hung heavy, like a curse.
Silas's usual humor faltered. His smile vanished. "The Iron Sun…" he echoed, tasting the name. "Never heard of them."
"You wouldn't have," Kora said. Her eyes burned with warning. "That's the point. You don't hear their name unless it's already too late. You don't see their sigil unless they want you to. And if either happens…" She glanced around again, voice breaking to a near-inaudible rasp. "…then you're already marked."
Lee's gut tightened. He had seen the assassin's precision, the cold emptiness in his eyes. Whoever the Iron Sun were, they weren't common killers.
"But who are they?" he pressed.
"No." The word cracked like a whip. Kora's face hardened, but there was no strength behind it — only terror. "That's as far as I go. You've already wrung more out of me than is wise. Ask again, and you'll be digging your own grave… and mine beside it."
She shoved two rust-flecked keys across the sticky counter. The motion was abrupt, almost desperate.
"Room three. End of the hall. The lock works. Use it. Stay quiet. And when you leave this place, you never repeat that name. Not here. Not anywhere."
Her hands shook as she shoved the rag harder against the pendant, as though the mere sight of it might summon death.
Lee exchanged a glance with Silas. For once, the archer had no quip, no smirk only a steady, assessing look that told Lee he understood the weight of the moment.
Kora turned away sharply, pretending to fuss with bottles on a low shelf. Her shoulders were rigid, trembling despite the mask she tried to pull back over herself. The conversation was over.
Lee's vision flared with cold light.
[Quest Updated: Sigil of Fear]
[Objective: Discover the identity and purpose of the Iron Sun]
[New Hint: Their name is spoken only in whispers of fear.]
[Failure Condition: Capture or Death]
He exhaled slowly, forcing the tension from his chest.
They had a name. It was barely more than a ghost, but it was something.
The Dusty Flask didn't stay quiet for long. The moment Kora stepped away, the tavern's noise roared back like a tide returning to shore. Laughter, dice clattering, a lute strumming near the hearth. But it all felt different now a veneer stretched over something sharp and watching.
Silas downed his ale in one long pull, then set the mug aside. "Well," he muttered, "that's one way to make friends."
Lee didn't answer. His eyes kept straying to the corners of the room — the men hunched over their cards, the cloaked figures who'd been silent since the moment they walked in. He could feel it now, the way Kora had looked at the shadows. The Iron Sun wasn't just a rumor whispered in fear. They could already be here.
The thought made the pendant in his cloak burn like a brand.
"Come on," Silas said after a moment, his voice quieter, serious now. "We've got what we came for. A roof and a name. Let's not push our luck."
Lee followed him toward the narrow stairs, but he couldn't help glancing back at the bar.
Kora had her head bent low, murmuring something to the girl sweeping near the hearth. Too quiet to hear. But when the girl turned and glanced at Lee, her eyes lingered too long, too sharp, before she went back to sweeping.
A tingle ran down his spine.
The room was cramped, its walls warped with damp, the air thick with dust. A single oil lantern burned on the table, throwing more shadow than light.
Silas dropped onto one of the two beds, boots still on. "Alright. Ground rules. We sleep in shifts. I'll take first watch. You rest."
Lee nodded, but his body was coiled too tightly for rest. He sat on the other bed, staring at the faint glow still flickering in his vision.
The Iron Sun.
Even thinking the name made the room feel smaller.
Down the hall, the tavern carried on. Coins clinked, chairs scraped, laughter rose and fell. But in the shadow of the bar, Kora stood with her back to the wall, her fingers brushing the edge of the rag that still covered the pendant.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Not from fear of the Iron Sun.
From fear of being caught helping them.
She clenched her jaw, drew a slow breath, and slipped into the back room. From her apron she pulled a small, worn coin — stamped with a sun burning inside a jagged gear.
She turned it over in her palm, the weight of it heavy, damning.
"They'll know," Kora whispered, the words drowned beneath the tavern's false cheer. Her heart hammered as her hand slid under the counter, fingers finding a hidden slot carved into the wood. Only she knew it was there.
From her pocket, she drew a small coin — stamped with the sun and jagged gear. With a steady push, she slid it into the slot until it clicked into place.
The signal was sent.
The Iron Sun would not wait for morning.
The hunt would begin tonight