I watched as the other guards then attacked the drider who realized that it was an ambush. The wererats were summoned to aid him and there was a full-on battle in the street. I closed my door and watched from the 2nd floor window. All the guards were able to quell the small force of wererats. The drider managed to escape. The guards thanked me for my cooperation and then left. I needed to go to the market to get food for the centaurs. There was a basic dietary need for the centaurs to be able to eat since they were half horse. They did not eat meat. It was not very considerate for me to starve them. I bought vegetables, grains and fruit for the house. On the way home, I heard a familiar voice. As I turned to face the voice, it was Arza standing there. He did not look happy to see me. "You seem to be having fun with the guards." he said with venom in his voice. I looked at him and said "If I was not threatened by your goons, things might have been much different. What did you really want!?" He just looked at me and said "I want you. You're the one that brings the most fear in the city."
Vexxing Arza was probably not a good move at the moment. "I'm just a gladiator and fighter. No one in the city is scared of me. In fact, they might just flat out hate me." I told him. He rolled his eyes. Arza said "You cannot really believe that. If they actually hated you, they would be trying to burn your house down as a mob. You are just as much of a demi-human as I am." That was true. I did live in a good area of the city, but the neighbors were not that nice to me when they met me on the street. There is nothing stopping me from calling the guards if something goes down, so I never thought about it that way. Whether or not I was actually the symbol of fear in the capitol was still a matter of debate, but the possibility was there. "Even if it's true, why would I join you in a thieves' guild when I get all the money I could want fighting in the colosseum?" I questioned. He just smirked. "Who said anything about joining us? I want Szicut back. You are going to give him and the rest of his offspring to me." he said smugly. That was unlikely. "What about the diadem!?" I shot back. He was shocked.
When he said "How the hell do you know about that! You haven't even been to the lair," I knew that this was truly secret information. "You need to keep a better lid on all of your agents. They leak secrets like crazy." I said. He glared at me and I went quiet. "Whatever the case may be, make sure you stay out of our way," he snarled. I just nodded. He rolled his eyes and said "Stop pretending to be scared of me. We both know who the better fighter is between the 2 of us." I shrugged and said "Listen. Stop sending guild members to my door. I just want to know what the real reason you want me is." He looked at me carefully for a bit and then said "The real reason was to kill you or make you into a new wererat. Then you'd have to do what we said." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is that really the reason?" I probed. "Why would I lie to you now of all times?" he replied. That did not seem totally right either, but I did not know Arza well enough to know how his mind worked. That might be the real reason or maybe this was just another side benefit of trapping me. "I am leaving now. Goodbye." I said.
