Baby Montego
Baby Montego is a retired cudgeling world champion. He is the adopted son of Adriana Grappo, who funded his first cudgelist match, and he is also adopted brother and best friend to Demir Grappo. Despite his current fame and success, many guild-family members see Montego as well below their station because he is an orphan from the provinces, and they criticize the Grappo for their association with Montego. Montego was also the teenage sweetheart of Kissandra Vorcien, whom he has not seen and has been estranged from for fifteen years. His close friends call him Baby, while most other people call him Montego.
He is six and a half feet tall and half again as wide. He has a doughy face with small eyes and mouth. He has light Purnian skin and a thick northern province accent. He usually dresses in fine clothes and carries a silver-headed cane. He is also allergic to godglass, which makes the glassrot scales on his body itch, so he has not worn it in years. As a cudgelist, he is immensely famous, and he also has a reputation for ferocity since he kills for sport, which intimidates many people in the same way the presence of a glassdancer would.
STORY
When Capric Vorcien tells Demir Grappo about Adriana Grappo's murder, Demir insists that Baby Montego be informed as well. After paling at the mention of Montego's name, Capric explains that he sent word already, but Montego is supposedly in the Glass Isles on his yacht, which might delay his return for months.
When Demir returns to Ossa, he hires Kissandra Vorcien to investigate his mother's murder. She asks if Montego will be involved, and he responds that he will not make them work together, but she will likely see him around. When Demir asks if they are still estranged, she simply states that they have not had contact for fifteen years.
Despite Capric's estimates, Montego returns to Ossa soon after Demir does, buying every spare horse to travel uninterrupted. When he arrives at the Hyacinth Hotel, he and Demir reconnect as old friends, and Demir tells Breenen Alvari to set up a suite next to his own. In spite of their friendly greeting, Montego notices Demir looks awful and tells him to explain everything. Demir allows his public mask to fall in the presence of his best friend, and he confesses how overwhelmed he is with the tasks at hand. He also explains his need to further investigate their mother's death and mentions hiring Kizzie to do it. Montego agrees that Kizzie is a good choice, stating that their strained relationship will not get in the way of what needed to be done.
While looking for Thessa Foleer, Montego tracks down accounts of a lone woman traveling north of Grent, and Demir follows up on the lead by talking to his former spymaster Duala Jaass, confirming that someone of Thessa's description is at the Ivory Forest Glassworks. To gain access to the glassworks, Demir and Montego attend a cudgeling match at the Castle Hill Arena to con Ulina Magna out of her glassworks shares. Montego's reputation gets him and Demir through the door and into Ulina's private box as the spectators fawn over him, talking about his athleticism and supposed sexual prowess. Ulina is likewise captivated by the famous retired athlete, who helps her with her bets during the matches. When Ulina slips away to berate a porter, Montego and Demir agree to con her with a series of escalating bets, a scam they ran in their youth under assumed names, before they got famous, which got them kicked out of Blacktree Arena. When Ulina returns, Demir proposes that Montego come out of retirement and fight her favorite cudgelist Fidori Glostovika in an impromptu match, and they should bet properties instead of cash. Blinded by greed and Montego's feigned show of physical weakness and unpracticed skill, Ulina agrees. When Montego appears to be losing, she increases the betting odds and offers her shares of the Ivory Forest Glassworks. Meanwhile, Fidori taunts Montego, telling him to give up since Fidori does not want to kill the famous fighter in a mere exhibition match. As soon as Demir secures Ulina's bet, he gives Montego a signal, who fells Fidori in one impossibly precise blow to the knee, winning the match. The crowd goes wild at the upset, and Montego comments that Fidori had been an amateur.
Montego then accompanies Demir to the Ivory Forest Glassworks. On they way, they discuss how angry Supi Magna had been at Ulina's loss, suggesting that the Magna are likely hiding something there. When they arrive, Demir gets out of the carriage and flaunts his tattoo and Montego's name to gain entrance. When Filur Magna runs up to investigate the commotion, Demir asks Montego for the paperwork that indicates his ownership. Filur then takes Demir on a tour of the facility as Montego waits with the carriage. When Demir returns, he tells Montego that he met Thessa and gave her a razorglass knife. To normalize their prescence, they return to the glassworks again the next day, bringing food and gifts to the guards, including expensive bread, caviar, and a cudgel by Montego. Demir notices two guards dragging Thessa away, so he tells Montego to back him up as he causes a distraction. Demir pays a woman to start a fight, and he and Montego slip away to follow Thessa to Furnace Number Nine. Montego takes care of the guards outside while Demir goes in to engage with Craftsman Magna. When Demir is exposed to fearglass, Thessa runs to Montego for help. After assessing the situation, Montego sets the building on fire, puts a tarpaulin over Thessa to hide her, and picks her and Demir up as if they weighed nothing. He then runs outside, yelling about an accident to draw the attention of the Magna enforcers. In the commotion to put out the fire, Montego escapes the glassworks with Thessa and Demir and drives them to Wagonside where the Grappo have allies amongst the Prosotsi guild-family.
When they arrive, Montego helps Thessa take charge of the Wagonside glassworks by ordering the siliceers to clear out and make sure there is enough firewood for Thessa to work in the furance. He also orders them to find cureglass for Demir. As Thessa prepares to counteract the fearglass, she realizes who Montego is, which he boasts about to Demir, who calls Montego a needy prick. Thessa sets to work as Montego carefully monitors Demir's condition, talking to him to keep him grounded and awake. When Jona Prosotsi returns to his glassworks, Montego explains the situation to him so Thessa can work uninterrupted. Eventually, Thessa crafts a piece of high-resonance braided godglass, saving Demir from the fearglass's influence.
Back in Ossa, Demir sends Montego to go talk to Capric to have the Vorcien help smooth over the mess they left behind at the Ivory Forest Glassworks. While he is gone, Kizzie returns to report her findings to Demir, telling him about Churian Dorlani's involvement in Adriana's death. At the end of her report, she asks if Montego is well. However, when Demir tells her Montego is not at the hotel at the moment and that he approves of her investigating their mother's death, Kizzie feels many complex emotions arise, and she leaves the hotel before Montego returns so she does not have to face him. Later, when asked by Gorian about her history with Montego, Kizzie admits that they were teenage sweethearts, but her older brother Sibrial Vorcien caught them making love once under a tree on Family Hill. Sibrial tried to drag Kizzie away by her hair, yelling at her about debasing herself by sleeping with a lowborn provincial, so Montego defended her, beating Sibrial almost to death despite the fact that Sibrial was much older and armed while Montego was only fourteen and completely naked. The embarrassment that the situation would have caused her family prevented Kizzie from ever facing Montego again, especially once she believed Montego would have been angry at her betrayal for siding with her family.
When the Dorlani enforcers attack the Hyacinth Hotel at night, they try to drug Montego to prevent him from interfering by slipping a sleeping agent into his tea. Thessa finds him slumped on the floor with a tea tray spilled next to him. Luckily, she is able to rouse him on the account that the Dorlani had not given him a high enough dosage. He tells Thessa to wait in his room and to not look out the window as he runs to her workshop and kills every Dorlani agent with his cudgel. Pari later comes in and agrees that Thessa should not look out of the window until the hotel porters had a chance to clean up the mess Montego made of the thieves. He soon returns, covered in their blood, and explains that they had been trying to steal the phoenix channel and that they had killed several Grappo enforcers. Thessa asks Pari if she is okay, and Pari explains that she has no words to describe what she saw Montego do to the Dorlani.
After Demir's duel with Capric lands him in the Maerhorn dungeons, Montego goes with his carriage to pick up his brother. He asks if he needs to kill any Vorcien on behalf of Demir's blood-feud, but Demir explains that he was forced to accept a Vorcien deal. Montego realizes it is a marriage contract, and when Demir admits it is to be with Kizzie, Montego acknowledges the match would be good for her since she always wanted legitimization more than anything. He then states plainly that he would never get in the way of any deal that would secure the Grappo family's future, including this one, but he would have to leave Ossa if Demir married Kizzie. Demir notices Montego's lack of an angry outburst, a reaction that shows his deep hurt. This wounds Demir more than a violent reaction from Montego would have, and he realizes that such a marriage would drive an irreparable divide between them. Demir then realizes that Father Vorcien is simply playing with all of three of them and angrily promises to renege on the deal, especially since the Vorcien patriarch never got the terms of the deal in writing. Demir then decides to keep his political engagement to Kizzie a secret until after the war.
Later, when Kizzie's friend Gorian is killed by the Tall Man, she is forced to go to the one person she fears more than the Tall Man in order to finish her investigation: Montego. She goes to the Hyacinth Hotel and finds him exercising in the gymnasium. Seeing his impressive feats of strength, she remembers all the lies in the newspapers that reported about him growing fat and lazy in his retirement, but she admits to herself she knew "her Montego" would never do that, and her long-buried emotions toward him return. When he notices her cheering for him, he states bluntly that she has been avoiding him, and she admits that she had not been ready to see him again. Misunderstanding her hurt, he apologizes her beating up her half-brother in front of her, but she corrects him, saying she was so ashamed for never contacting him again because she was worried about what her family would do if they ever discovered what Montego had done. Instead, she covered it all up like Sibrial asked, and she never reached out to Montego again. She thought he would be angry at her for such a betrayal, but Montego reassures her he is not because she simply acted in her family's best interests. He also admits he was a coward for never reaching out to her either, though he explains he has wanted to beat Sibrial to a pulp again many times over the years when hearing how his treatment of Kizzie grew worse. After realizing how they had both been acting like scared children, they embrace. Kizzie then explains she needs his help, and she apologizes for being so much of a coward that it took the Tall Man killing her friends before she dared approach him. She also promises she is not manipulating him, and he agrees to help her get to Aelia Dorlani, explaining he has a grudge against the Dorlani anyway for killing Adriana and their attack against him at the hotel.
They make a plan to stop Aelia's carriage on her way home from the Assembly by causing a distraction in Waterside Park. From the top a tree, Kizzie drops the bodies of the Dorlani enforcers Montego killed on top of the carriage, startling Aelia's guards long enough for him and Kizzie to kill them all. Montego then rips the door off its hinges. Aelia aims a pistol at him until she realizes who he is. Kizzie wrenches the gun from her hand, and Montego states Aelia has been accused by her grandson Churian of instigating Adriana's murder. Instead of answering, Aelia insults Montego and threatens to crush the Grappo, so he threatens to use shackleglass on her. She initially does not believe him, knowing how submitting a member of the Inner Assembly to a shackleglass interrogation would get him executed. However, Montego assures her he would be sure to drown her so as not to leave any witnesses, and Aelia confesses to the crime. She also tells them about Aristanes, that she was simply following his orders, and that if they wanted more information, they could find him at the Zorlian Mansion. Montego offers a final threat to Aelia before he and Kizzie leave. After the event, Kizzie's hands shake from the shock of having just attacked an Inner Assembly member, so Montego holds them. She asks if he was serious about his threat to kill every Dorlani enforcer in Aelia's army, and Montego admits it was a bluff, but he still would get pretty far if he tried it.
At the abandoned Zorlian Mansion, Montego and Kizzie see that there are renovations underway, suggesting someone has been living there. Montego offers Kizzie an expensive piece of high-resonance forgeglass to use in the case of an emergency, and they approach the workers, who all have Glass Knife tattoos on the backs of their hands. Several workers try to block their entrance and send them away, but Montego pushes past them. A man appears at the door and claims to be Aristanes' majordomo. He knows exactly who Montego and Kizzie are, and he invites them in. As they walk through the maze-like hallways of the mansion, Montego threats to kill the man if he does not take them to Aristanes quickly, and the majordomo reassures him that it will not take long. However, as they enter an office, Kizzie realizes that the majordomo is Aristanes. Despite their threats, Aristanes remains calm and stalls the conversation until the Tall Man arrives. Kizzie reflexively shoots him, which distracts her long enough for Aristanes to escape through a trapdoor. The Tall Man then begins removing his flesh covering to reveal his monstrous form underneath. As Kizzie backs away in shock, Montego attacks the Yuglid with his cane. When the Tall Man catches the cane, Montego punches the creature with his other hand before headbutting him. As the creature removes more of its flesh covering, Kizzie screams to run, and they bolt down the endless hallways. The Tall Man and dozens of Glass Knife acolytes follow them, cornering them in a room. Montego suggests Kizzie slip through the bars on the window to go get help, but she refuses to leave him alone, so he asks her to keep the acolytes off his back as he fights the Tall Man. After limbering up, he challenges the Tall Man for the title of greatest killer in the world, and they fight. Meanwhile, Kizzie slips the forgeglass earring on and goes after the acolytes. After she kills all of them, she turns in horror to see the Tall Man, who claims he just killed Montego and the Yuglid will sing songs to remember his fighting prowess. However, moments later, Montego gets up and slits the creature's throat with Kizzie's fallen stiletto before ripping its head off and claiming he will sing his own songs. Despite the morbid situation, Montego asks Kizzie out for tea sometime before collapsing from blood loss. Kizzie puts her cheek against his mouth to ensure he is breathing before saying she would like to go with him.
Sometime later, Sumala Volos finds the two of them lying wounded amidst the Glass Knife acolytes' corpses. Kizzie asks for help, and Professor Volos agrees only after seeing Montego fighting to stay alive, noticing that he seems to have a godglass allergy. However, Aristanes approaches them, threatening Professor Volos harm if she interferes. She eventually chases him off with talk of her sister ruining his plans should he harm her. Professor Volos then hauls Montego and Kizzie into her cart, planning to take them to her lab for surgery.
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