The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 68, The Eel

I woke to a pounding headache, and two realizations.

One: I wasn't dead.

And two: I was right about the Eel's hideout.

A low, wide tank surrounded me— a long empty water storage tank— and, just as I'd thought, it had been cleared out, rugs placed on the floor, a stack of dishes piled in the corner. But I'd thought the Eel would be here alone; instead a group of men surrounded us.

Then my eyes found Dagger, face down on the floor beside me. I forced my limbs to move, to crawl to his side and shake him.
"Dag? Dag! Wake up." His eyes flickered, showing white, but he didn't wake. Fear shot through me, overriding any sense of caution.

"What did you do to him?" I yelled at the men surrounding us.

"Calm down." This from one of the men

"What the hell is—" My words cut off, my head whipping to the side so fast I saw black and tasted blood.

It took me a moment to make sense of what had happened, my mind still foggy. You're okay. One of the men hit you. The thought was disjointed, almost disbelieving, but it brought me fully awake to the danger of the situation. The cold metal of the floor dug into my flesh hand, the sharp tang of blood filled my mouth. I'd thought the Eel would be alone, hiding by himself. But he'd gathered followers. Followers who weren't afraid to draw blood.

I'd just sniffed out the hideout of a man who clearly didn't want to be found.

Make your plea, Z. It's now or never.

This time I left Dagger where he was, and climbed to my feet, wiping the blood away from my mouth. The circle of hulking men all sneered down at me, but beyond them, in the darkest corner of the room, sat a throne-like chair made with twisted pipes. And on it sat a man with dark, glittering eyes, oily, slicked back eyes and a pointed nose. An eel, indeed. I stepped forward when a hulk of a man moved in front of me.

"No, let her approach," the man on the throne called in a dry, hoarse voice that nevertheless held power. The hulking man stepped aside, and the Eel smiled as our gazes locked, his as measuring as mine. There wasn't much to him; he was older than most people I knew in the Belly, but there was undoubtedly something shrewd in his eyes. It told me both this man was dangerous— and maybe exactly what we needed.

I didn't bother with introductions. "I've been looking for you." I resisted the urge to spit blood at his feet.

"A lot of people look for me," he said, with a sly look. "Few find me. And even fewer survive that."

But I found you, didn't I?"Sure, hiding in pipes and gassing visitors is one way to do it."

"As opposed to watering them down and electrocuting them?"

The words shocked me into silence, and he smiled without humor. "Oh yes, girl. I've been watching you closely. The first ever female solo victor of the Tuv Pit. And what's the first thing you did? Brought one of them back to life." He glanced down at Dagger's form, face filled with disgust. "You should have left that one dead."

"Will he be alright?" The question was a mistake, revealing my weakness to a man who wouldn't hesitate to use it. But I had to ask.

The Eel shrugged, that sly smile back in place. "He's not used to the bad air the same way our lungs are. He'll wake up— eventually." Then he stopped, looking at me expectantly. "Aren't you at all curious where he comes from? I could tell you— for a price."

I shrugged, trying desperately for a look of cool calm, preparing myself for what I'd come here for. "I don't care where he comes from. We came here to ask you how to win the Letter Trial. The Top killed the Dead Level, and they're going to do it again. We need your help to win— "
A racking laugh, that quickly turned into a cough, interrupted me. He waved away a hand when one of the men approached, coughing deep, wet coughs until he finally stopped and took a ragged breath. "This is why you've come? To tell me the Top is about to kill some more people? The Top has been killing people since before your grandparents' parents were born and they'll be killing long after you're dead. Which I'm guessing won't be long."