"The Big Man deigns to grace us with his presence," said Brin Jagorin, the hulking don of the fighting pits. "Guess he had to wait for his balls to drop first." I'd heard of the man and his eyepatch with the angry eye painted on – all us street kids had – but I'd never come within two blocks of the place back before I had cards. There were too many stories of kids going missing around this cavernous building, and I hadn't wanted to be one of them. In the months since becoming Big Man, there had always been twelve hundred other things that needed my attention all at once, and I'd been happy to never think about the place. I'd given the order for the fights to stop, of course, and sent my people to make sure it happened, but nothing more. So the fighting pits had festered, an unconquered corner of the Lows still run by someone who'd been on good terms with Ticosi. A mistake, I saw now, but not one I could go back and fix. Now I had to deal with a swaggering tough guy who'd want to swing his dick around so he could gain a little more power for himself, and outside the world was burning down.

"Cut the shit, Brin," I said, making my voice cold. "Now's not the time."

"The little squirt who thinks he runs the place comes running in all lathered?" The muscular man ran a hand over his shaved scalp and gave me a nasty smile. "'Now's exactly the time."

"We just need to use the tunnel," Harker said from behind my shoulder.

His lip curled. "Never thought I'd see Ticosi's favorite bitch go soft. What, you bedding the boy?"

She was past me in a flash, slamming her fist into Brin's face. With a crunch his nose folded, dribbling blood into his bushy mustache. I was surprised to see he had no cards. Apparently Ticosi hadn't seen the need to give him any.

He laughed hard, his teeth turning red as his own blood stained them. "Why you pretending to let him run things, Hark? Accepting exile, and now you come back? What horseshit. You're obviously running things."

"Pull your head out of the brothels sometime and you might learn a thing or two," Harker said stiffly. "Hull's the Big Man, real and true."

Brin made a derisive noise and hawked blood onto the floor. "I could wipe my ass with this kid."

I stepped out of the doorway, revealing the squad of hulking demons behind me. "That might not turn out the way you hope."

His sneer stayed firmly in place. "If the Big Man needs his cards to run things, it's the cards that are in charge, not him."

I went right up to him. He towered over me, but my Iron Maiden Plate gave me a comforting amount of bulk. "I can put you in the ground with my bare hands if I want," I said softly. "I don't know if you've peeked out the window in the last day or so, but Undead and enemy demons are tearing the city apart. How about we save the posturing for later?"

He grabbed his nose with both hands and jerked it back into position with a grunt. "Nah," he said. He reached behind the front desk that partitioned the room and restricted access back into the arena part of the building, pulling out an iron-studded club. "I don't think I like you. Go piss and moan to somebody else and get out of my place of business."

Brin was still living in a world where a man of the Lows had to viciously protect any bit of turf he owned, and now he saw a kid trying to stand in Ticosi's shoes and thought he could bluster his way into reopening the pits and maybe wiggling free of the fees he'd always paid to the enforcers. At some other time I might have tried to educate him more gently, but there was work to be done. And quite honestly, looking at him, I was pretty sure the conversation would have gone this direction no matter when or how I showed up.

Balling a gauntleted fist, I reached forward with intentional slowness and tapped him on the forearm that held the club. It was enough to activate the Fated damage on my soul card, delivering a full point of damage. 3 damage was enough to kill a man – maybe 4 for a fellow his size. Either way, the bones in his arm snapped, and he howled, dropping the weapon on his own foot as he clutched at the broken limb.

"You're fired," I told him, "and I'm tearing this building down. I should have done it day one."

"You can't do that!" he screamed, picking up the club with his other hand.

"You want that one broken, too?" I asked. "I won't make you leave the Lows until this war's done, but the second we have peace you're out." I gestured back at Bryll and Naydarin. "My enforcers will be watching. You make a hint of trouble and I'll let my demons eat you."

With a scream, he launched himself at me, swinging the club with his off-hand with all his might. "Eat shit, little boy!"

The club clanged harmlessly off my Plate once and then twice. I sighed. The man had no idea how to back down. He'd been bullying and torturing kids into fighting for decades and thought he was the apex predator. Of course Ticosi had left a rabid beast to run this place. I looked over my shoulder.

"Take him," I told Yveda the Endless. "Don't hurt him yet."

With a languid shrug, the foremost copy stepped in, weathering a bonk or two from the club before disarming the big guy, and then effortlessly holding both arms behind his back while he struggled and spat.

"I'll kill you," Brin hissed. "Cut off your head and piss down your neck hole."

I sighed and scrubbed my face with my hands. I didn't want to kill the man, but I'd learned my lesson about leaving enemies behind my back. I could have Yveda drag him out of the city, but that was just a slower way to die with enemies infesting the streets of Treledyne and a mass of Orcs still outside the walls. Glancing at Harker, I gestured at him despairingly. She shook her head grimly.

Catching the mood, Brin started to change his tune. "You can't get rid of me. Who else is gonna feed the fighters?"

My guts went cold. "You're still holding people here to fight?"

He looked at me like I was too stupid to breathe. "These are the fighting pits."

I felt my anger rising. "There haven't been any fights in months."

He shrugged. "Not for the public, maybe. But a man gets bored with nothing to do."

My fist clenched of its own accord, and my guilty hesitation vanished. I looked at the Yveda holding Brin. "Take him outside and kill him."

He screamed curses all the way out the door. I didn't listen to a one.

"Where are the fighters' rooms?" I asked Harker.

"No rooms," she said. "Cells."

"Of course," I sighed. "Take me there."

The cells were in a basement underneath where the indoor arena sat empty, bloodstains still visible on the floorboards. It was the meanest jail I cared to imagine. It was a long hallway of open cells on both sides, one person in each, none of the spaces more than eight feet deep and six wide, with no bed or blanket. Only a single bucket sat in each cell, and the whole place reeked of human waste. Not an ounce of privacy for anyone. A chill ran through me. I nearly ended up here.

"Did you see any keys?" I asked Harker quietly.

She shook her head.

Well, I was going to have the place torn down anyway. Might as well start now.

I summoned my Hateful Hammer. "Listen up," I bellowed. "I'm the new Big Man. Ticosi is dead. Has been for a while. I'm shutting the pits and setting you free. Things are shitty out there right now – there's an army of Undead and demons loose in the city – but we've got people gathering for safety. If you want to stay with them, fine. We'll get you some food and clothes as best we can. Anyone who has any Source will be given cards and asked to fight. It's up to you."

An absolute ruckus of questions, cries, and sobs filled the claustrophobic space. I didn't even know where to start with any of that, so I turned to the nearest cell. Inside was a man who I guessed was in his thirties, but a closer look showed him to be much younger. It was just the dirt and despair that made him seem old.

"Stand back," I told him, and infusing Nether into the blow, I shattered the iron lock plate. The barred door flew open and banged back. "Out you come," I said, smiling at him.

He darted past without even looking at me, running for the door. We let him go.

One by one I broke open the cells. Some stuck around, peppering me with questions, while others ran for it. I didn't blame either kind. I had Harker answer the curious ones. Funny how quickly I slip back into trusting her.

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Near the end I found a surprise. The boy that came sauntering out of the cell was one I knew. "Morgane," I said, jaw dropping. "What the hell are you doing here?"

It was the boy I'd met at the Rising Stars Tournament who'd been slumming, pretending to be poor in order to game the losers' bracket. He'd later helped me learn to use my new cards, practicing with me for a hefty fee. He was a shyster and a con artist, but not half bad for all that. "I might ask the same," he said. "The others said something about a new Big Man, but you're about the last person I expected." He looked me up and down in my magical armor and spared a glance for my entourage of Souls. "Looks like you've come a long way from when we first met."

"You too, and not in a good way," I said. "You're not a Lows kid – how in the Twelve did you end up in the fighting pits?"

"You make a couple of bad bets," he said, laughing as he scratched at his dirty clothing. "Next thing you know, scary folks come to collect. I could have been smarter."

"How long have you been here?"

He looked to the ceiling and thought. "A month, maybe? Hard to tell."

I shook my head. "The pits have been closed longer than that. Why did he keep bringing people in?"

Morgane glanced around, fear on his face. "Brin's not here, is he?"

"He's dead," I said flatly.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Couldn't happen to a better man," he said with a shaky grin. "He was talking about expanding once he made the new Big Man his whore."

I shook my head, incredulous. Deciding to have Brin killed had felt weighty; it was nice to have the correctness of my decision reinforced so quickly and graphically. "You heard me talk about what's happening. We could really use your help."

Morgane gave a weak smile. "Lost all my cards, Hull. I'm no use."

"I'm about to get my hands on more. A lot more. Stick with me, help me out, and I'll get you a new deck."

He chewed his lip. He wanted to say no, I could see it.

"Be a man, Morgane," I said quietly. "The city's falling. If we don't help, we're just as bad as Brin and Ticosi and the others."

The boy gave me an injured look. "Give a body a second to think, will you? I was a prisoner destined to die on the knuckles of some very scary people until just a minute ago."

I looked at the smattering of prisoners milling about – debtors and street kids, from the looks of them. "If this lot had you fearing for your life, maybe I don't need you fighting with me after all."

"No," he whispered, pointing to the last cell left unopened. "That's the one I'm talking about."

Curious, I knocked the door free and swung it open. A small body unfolded itself from the rear of the cage and came forward. It was a girl, slender and short.

I scoffed. "This is the one that scared your–"

I cut off suddenly. The dark-skinned girl, dressed in rags and her hair in a ratty braid, looked up at me with eyes that were pitch black from corner to corner. "Can I go?" Her voice was quiet, but it pulled attention somehow.

I was fascinated, and maybe just the tiniest bit frightened. "Do you have Death Source? Is that what makes your eyes like that?"

She said nothing.

"Just let her go," Morgane hissed from a safe distance. "She killed three people in the fights Brin staged just for fun."

My eyebrows went up. "If you can use Death, we could really use your help. I have a deckful from a vampire I just killed. I could let you use them; there's even a Legendary in there. I'd need 'em back, of course."

She looked at me for a long moment. My hackles rose.

"Can I go?" she repeated.

I sighed. "I said folks could go if they want, and I meant it."

She walked past me as if her question had been nothing more than a politeness and headed straight for the exit. Everyone gave her a wide berth, I noticed… even my demons. My curiosity was raging, but I had the distinct sense that she neither wanted nor needed anything from us.

"If you change your mind, come find us at the new Tender's chapel on Sunrise Street," I called after her. She never even slowed her step.

"I thought I was about to watch your throat get torn out," Morgane said, wiping sweat from his brow. "I'm not sure that girl is even human."

"I've got a full deck," I reminded him, "and some pretty good armor on top of that. I think I'd have been fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked meaningfully.

I paused, remembering the deep pools of void that were the woman's eyes. No, I wasn't sure. That was what had made me so curious.

Harker approached. "I've got everyone sorted. Most are headed to the chapel." She shook her head, baffled. "I still can't believe you're really doing this."

"Shutting down the pits? Ticosi wanted to send me here, remember? I'm a little ashamed it took me this long to realize there were people still trapped here."

"Not just this," she said, gesturing aimlessly all around. "All of it. Giving people cards. Building things. Letting people go."

I sighed. "Not all of them."

"You gave him more chances than he deserved. That man was a plague wearing human skin."

"Quite the condemnation, coming from Ticosi's old second-in-command," I said. "But enough of this. Show me the tunnel."

***

Morgane came with Harker, Bryll, Naydarin, and my demons down into the bowels of the building, where a solidly locked door sat at the bottom of an lightless earthen stairwell. Naydarin's Fire Source lit the way, and once again my Hateful Hammer proved itself to be an excellent skeleton key. It took all my Nether and several minutes to demolish the door to the point we could get through, but soon enough we were looking at a rough tunnel that I had to stoop to walk down, giving an intense feeling of claustrophobia.

"Wait," Harker said, putting a hand on my arm. "Ticosi will have left traps. Lots of them."

I stopped. "I thought you'd never been down here."

"I haven't, but I knew him. He'd have left Artifact traps and who knows what else. This was his most secret treasure."

I thought for a moment. "Yveda!" I called. "You go first."

The demon gave me a knowing look but headed down the hallway by himself. He reached a bend and turned around. "Perhaps the woman is mistaken," it said, shrugging. It shifted from one foot to the other, and a soft phut sounded down the corridor, making me jump. A feathered dart was stuck in Yveda's midsection.

With an annoyed look, it plucked the thing free. "Ah," it said. "Poisoned. Quite strong, it seems." And with that, the demon shattered into motes of light.

"Fortune's balls," I whispered. I glanced back at Harker, who looked pale. My remaining doubts about the woman fled. I didn't know if that dart would have made it through my armor, but she'd just tried to save my life.

Another Yveda shouldered its way forward. I was about to tell it what to do when it cut me off. "Yes, yes. Trigger the traps. Be the sacrificial beast and all that." It sighed in a longsuffering kind of way. "I need you to spend some time imagining a nice fountain in your Mind Home. Something with fish in it."

"I'll do that," I promised the demon, and off he went.

It was more than an hour and a dozen Yvedas later that we finally found the end chamber. All it held was a large chest on top of a simple table. When I saw it I started forward, but a new Yveda held me back with a taloned hand.

"I'd head back to the top of the stairs for this last one if I were you," it said.

We all hustled to obey, calling down into the hole once we were clear. A few seconds later a tremendous BOOM shook the world, knocking dirt down from above. I saw the light of billowing flame from around the bend, and a rush of sulfurous air washed over us.

"Explosives," another Yveda said laconically from behind us. "An invisible Artifact on the outside of the chest. He really spared no expense." The fact that each copy of the demon knew what all the others knew was yet another way this card would eventually help us win this war. I was barely scratching the surface of what I could do with Yveda the Endless.

"Is it safe now?" I asked.

"I believe so," the demon replied. "Make the fish in that fountain tasty ones, if you please."

We raced down to the chamber, and with a flinching hand I opened the latch. Nothing happened. I threw back the lid.

Someone behind me gasped. It might have been several someones. I could only agree. There were hundreds of cards lying loose in the chest piled halfway full. I picked up a few lying on top.

"Incredible," Morgane whispered. "So many."

"They're not all combat cards," I said, rifling through, marveling at the feel of so many cards under my hands. Even if none of the cards was higher than Rare – and there might be an Epic or two in there, who knew – it was still a huge hoard of wealth. "Bryll, Naydarin. I want you two to carry this back to Roshum. He's to fit out as many people as are willing to fight and have at least a single Source with full decks. Nobody gets cards right now unless they're willing to fight. Time to worry about the craftsmen later."

Harker scowled to herself but said nothing. Just because I wasn't worried that the woman was trying to kill me anymore didn't mean that I was suddenly going to trust her to carry this chest by herself. I trusted Bryll and my other urchins completely. Still, I didn't want Harker to think I was leaving her out in the cold, either. She'd done the Lows an enormous service today.

"Make sure Harker gets her pick of the combat cards first," I said. "You're going to fight with us, right?"

Her back straightened. "Damn right I am."

I clapped her on the shoulder. "Good to hear. We could use you."

For a moment she looked like the Harker I remembered from my days on the street: fierce, brutal, and utterly fearless. "You got it, Big Man."

As we filed back toward the stairs I paused at the bend. The exploding trap had knocked loose a good amount of dirt here, revealing… loose brick.

"What is this?" I asked.

Harker scratched her head. "No idea."

Morgane peered at the spot. "We're right on the edge of the Lows here. Maybe it's somebody's cellar in Hillside or something."

I pushed at a brick, and it wiggled loosely. "Let's find out. Bryll, you two head on and take the cards to Roshum. We'll be along shortly."

It was the work of a few minutes to clear a gap in the bricks with my demons' help. A stale, sour smell of stagnant water and old shit wafted through.

"It's the city sewers," Morgane marveled.

I stepped through. My Nether Source didn't give nearly as much light as Naydarin's Fire had, but they gave enough dim illumination to catch the drift of the space beyond. It was a tall, wide tunnel much taller than me – a huge relief – with a channel of dirty water down the center and walkways to either side.

"Come with me," I told them, and we explored the sewer space, thoughts and possibilities whirling through my mind. We came to a junction, and the tunnels stretched into the dark in both directions.

"Let's head back," Morgane said. "We don't want to get lost."

"You don't understand," I told him. "This means we can reach anywhere in the city without being seen."

Harker turned, her face stretching in a grim smile. "This is how we win this war."

Suddenly torchlight flared from a cross tunnel a stone's throw away, and we heard footsteps.

"Halt!" came a strident voice as men poured out toward us. "Halt in the name of the City Watch!"

I stared wide-eyed as the head of the group approached with sword drawn and Source circling. I knew that face. It looked a lot like my best friend.

We'd just been found by the head of the City Watch. Basil's father.

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