With time, he finds his own way off the boxes without too much embarrassment. “Fine, be like that. So why are you here?”
“How’s Tavos?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t seen him. Ever since you burnt down half the town it’s been chaos.”
“So you’ve been spending your time stealing from the wharves?” I look around the warehouse. There are the few boxes that Squints stands beside, but the rest of the space is empty. “I’m surprised there’re even the few crates there are. I thought all the wood in town would have been requisitioned by now for repairs and rebuilding, much less anything they hold.”
“Yeah, everything that does come in goes out almost as fast. It’s dry pickings throughout the wharves. The real fiscal opportunity is in enforcement along the quay, but without an organization to back me, they all laugh me off. They think I’m out of my freaking mind to demand protection money at the moment.”
“You are. Hey, tell me this — did you ever identify the guy I killed when we were ambushed during your request for me to visit Tavos?”
“Actually, no. Haven’t seen him before. Definitely not one of the guild.”
“What about the others at the top of the staircase? Did you recognize any of them? There was a lot less of the guild left when the ambush happened. It should have been easier to guess who they would have been.”
“Naw, didn’t recognize them either. Funny, now that you mention it.”
“It’s not funny. Anyways, empty your coin pouch.”
Squints is aghast. “What! You’re going to lift me?”
“Yeah, things are tight. Fire and all.”
“I haven’t been eating. I’m not making coin. All I got are a couple coppers.” He wipes his hands down his pants to clean them off. Looking at him now, Squints does look worse off than normal.
“You really need to find a new skill set if you’re not able to scrape up enough to eat.” I hold out my hand for the pouch.
“Seriously?”
“Unless there’s anything else you can think of that can help me. Doesn’t have to be worth much, apparently. Only a few coppers of value.” I drop my hand and lay it on a knife hilt. “And you really don’t want to lie to me over a few coppers. It would be a shame if I had to kill you over such a small sum.”
Squints looks at me hard for a while, raises his hands to show that he doesn’t know, then gives up and starts unhooking his pouch.
“You really don’t know anything?”
“What am I supposed to know? It just looks darker for Tavos, me and anyone else that backed him. I picked the wrong side in this guild war and, one way or the other, I’m going to pay for that. Not only did Amber get part of the guild to back her, but she’s got outside supporters. It’s over for me, Pinty.”
“Squints, Amber really was held captive. By a troll, no less.”
“Troll, and you’re standing in front of me still breathing? I should pack my bags and leave now.” All semblance of strength drains from Squints as he gives up on life and collapses onto a crate. His eyes are almost on the same level as mine now. Well, not quite. “But then, you’re saying the story of the kidnapping is true. She didn’t kidnap herself.”
“And that’s why I’ll leave you with your few coins and hire you as well.”
“What for?”
“To find those remaining thugs who ambushed us.”
Chapter 56
It’s pretty much impossible for me to go incognito. There are simply not enough other shortkins in the town. I enter a room and people are all, “Hi, Pinty!” and I’m like, “Hey, I’m not Pinty” and they’re like, “Sure, sure, Pinty. Whatever you say.”
So I am not surprised when, entering the Braided Raven, I get a, “Pinty! Over here!”
The Braided Raven isn’t like the Sea Maiden. Where the Maiden is a hovel on the quay, the Raven strives for something a little upscale. Located along the ever-shifting line between the merchant quarters and the upper apartments, it is a favorite place for the sons and daughters of lower nobility or upper cash.
The person who summons me is of neither nobility nor cash. I nod my recognition, head over, and settle into a chair at his table. He’s lanky, youthful, and both charming and handsome. We’ve done work together in the past. “A little upscale for you, isn’t this?”
“Nahhhh. I’m a made man now. A little coin, a reputation, a beautiful companion who is somewhere around here.”
“A reputation, eh?” I draw out the word “reputation”. “If that’s so, what name are you going by now? I know several names you’ve used in the past that have very different reputations.”
“Ahh, hush. Everyone knows me as Prusur. Prusur, the Minstrel of Renown.”
I grab one of the beers off a passing tray and point to Prusur for the responsibility of paying. The waitress nods and continues off. “Renowned for what?”
“My music! I have a patron!”
I blow beer and foam all over the table, some of it on Prusur. “Bhaa haaa ha ha ha! I’ve heard you play. You couldn’t drive rats from a sinking ship!”
“Not true. Well, anymore. I’ve become much better in the time since you’ve heard me play. I’ve even mastered a second instrument.” Prusur gives off a glow of self-righteousness.
“You said you have a patron. You didn’t specify what your patron is paying you for. Your music or for something else?”
Prusur’s look immediately turns into a glare, but then he relaxes. “Yeah, well, maybe for something for more than my music. It’s interesting how many places one can get into as a renowned musician though.”
“I wouldn’t bet against that. I would likely lose.” I pull another swig of beer. This one I get down.
“So what are you doing here? Looking for a new direction for the Bottom Up? Come to give up the swill you serve and drink some respectable beer?”
“Naw, it’s nothing like that. The Bottom Up is doing fine and if you really can play, come on over one night.” Prusur nods to my invite. “What I’ve been doing these last days is tracking down some new people playing the guild game, people doing it freelance outside of the established one. At least two females: one in the lead and two males. But I suspect they’re just the muscle, not the brains. Ring any bells? Anything unusual that you’ve overheard between, um, sets?”
Prusur thinks for a moment then shakes his head. “Not that I’ve seen or heard. I’ve been hanging out here for a couple fortnights and nothing like that rings a bell. Sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am. I’m running out of ideas and my contacts have run dry on leads. It’s turning out to be more difficult than I had imagined to track them down. Of course, I imagined the first place I looked would end my quest.” I finish the beer and stare into the bottom of the stein. I could lose myself in this and just forget about everything.
“Hey, speaking of the devil. Pinty, may I introduce my beautiful companion —”
I look up. “Caia!”
“Pinty!”
Prusur’s stammer is adorable. “You, you, you know each other?”
I answer while looking Caia straight in the eye. “Absolutely! You gut anyone with that sword of yours recently, sexy?”
“Not a single one, you ugly stump, but I say that because no man I ever gutted has lived to tell the tale. No witnesses means you can’t prove me wrong.”
“That’s my girl!”
Caia drops heavily into a chair beside Prusur and gives him a huge, two-handed kiss on the mouth. She looks back to me. “So, how do you know Prusur?”
I give her a giant grin. “Prusur I’ve just met this night.”
“Oh, really? You’re looking like you’ve met him before, my mischievous cat.” There’s a twinkle in her eye.
“Could be, but does he know how his life is forfeit if he even looks at another woman in your company? You had one of your suitors drawn and quartered if I remember correctly.”
Prusur is getting noticeably paler. “What?”
“Pur
sur, may I introduce to you one of the finest black widows plying her trade today, the exquisite Caia. Seriously though, you may have bitten off more than you can chew.”
I can see his Adam’s apple bobbing in fear. “Wait, what?”
Caia leans over and puts a finger to his lips. “Save your breath for your beautiful songs. I’m just innocent me. Plus, Mom would be all upset if she lost her favorite musician.”
If I had more beer, that too would be all over the table. “Mom is your patron! Dude, you are in so much trouble right now. Might as well just hightail it this moment. Like right now and here, and never turn back. If you don’t, well, give up. Because if you realize it or not, you are owned.”
Now Caia gives me the glare. “You’re too loud, Pinty. Hush. Mom isn’t happy about how you stepped out on her last time. She’s forgiven you because she doesn’t hold a grudge and she knows the type of shortkin you are. But don’t ruin all my surprises or Prusur’s innocence. Anyways, what are you doing here?”
“Me, I’m looking for a new group in town that thinks it can displace the existing guild. With a woman that likes to do the speaking. Your height, maybe a little heavier, muscular. Voice is a higher octave. Ring any bells?”
“Yeah, I totally know about this. We’ve got a group meeting tonight. Wanna come?”
“You bet.”
Chapter 57
We leave the Raven and hoof it through a reasonably respectable part of town. Reasonable, in this reference, just means the locals tend to clean the dead bodies off the street before sun-up. The crime rate in this neighborhood still sucks, like most everywhere else in the city.
Caia is moving at a good clip, but my little jackrabbit legs keep up. “What exactly did you mean with the ‘we’ part of ‘We’re having a meeting tonight’?”
“As in I’m a member of this group that you’re seeking. You should really think about joining. Word on the street is some insane shortkin has killed most of the existing guild and set fire to their headquarters. Made it real easy for the right organized group to simply walk right in be the new dog in town.” Caia gives me a big wink. “No telling who the shortkin was, eh Pinty?”
I roll my eyes. “If you’re thinking about a career as a court jester, may I suggest you work on better material? With jokes like that, matched with the wrong audience, you might find yourself with a very low-placed knife in your back. But, tell me, how are you wrapped up in this?”
“You mean other than the attractive and rapid upward mobility within the organization due to the significant number of recent deaths? I gotta say that Mom put me up to this. Something’s been brewing concerning the guild for a while and she wanted someone on the inside. You know how she hates to have business ruined.”
“And what, exactly, is business?”
“Girls, as always. Once in a while some illegal import-export smuggling, nothing to worry your pretty little head with. Speaking of import-export, why have we never hooked up? It would be fun.” A wiggle of her bum has my whole attention, along with Prusur’s, who’s lagging in the back.
“Because I prefer to live after sex?”
“Well, I don’t kill them all after the first time. That would really dampen a girl’s spirit.”
“Not to mention the man’s.”
We hold up a second at a street corner, wait for a few tipsy revelers to cross and then continue on in the shadows.
“Caia, I have a second favor to ask. I’m kind of fond of Prusur. He’s helped me out a few times in the past. It would be a shame to see him gone because of a fun night’s entertainment. Anything I can do that doesn’t involve my own skin to dissuade you from ending his promising musical career early?”
“But everybody loves a musician who dies young! All kidding aside, I’ve got plans for that one. Want to make him a real man. So you don’t have to worry about him for a while.”
“Not holding my breath there, either about him becoming a real man or you not killing him.”
“Ye of little faith.” Caia holds up her hand and we stop, slinking further into the shadows. A few seconds later a small contingent of city guards walks by on the other side of the street. We wait a good while after they pass and continue on our way.
“Okay, the house is just ahead. I’ll go with Prusur and get him inside by introducing him as a new recruit. I’ll leave you to your own devices.”
“Fine, but I’m likely coming in hot and ready. It’s not like people would expect anything else of me.” I take a moment to readjust the straps of my leathers. With a final tug to tighten them, I give Caia and Prusur a thumbs-up and step away, finding a covered spot to hunker down in.
The two of them move forward and, fast as that, they are in the house.
Now all I need is a plan. I make it simple: I count to one hundred and go for the door. Hey, it’s not like they’re going to fail to recognize me.
Chapter 58
I knock nicely on the door. A moment later it opens and the guard, who certainly doesn’t expect any trouble, starts to welcome me in until she realizes who’s standing in front of her. I don’t provide any opportunity to raise an alarm.
I lodge the end of my blade through her rib cage and into her lung. The wound makes a burbling sound as air instantly escapes her chest. “You’re not the one I’m looking for.” And I use both hands and a foot to pull it out of her chest. She collapses and I grab what I can of her, slowing her fall and quieting the thud that would otherwise alert everyone.
The popped lung prevents her from drawing enough breath to call for help or raise the alarm. I pause and watch as she flails away at the wound in a futile attempt at stopping what little breath remains from wheezing out.
I move into the next room.
The living room connects to a kitchen and a cellar door. From the sound of it, the meeting is going on below. There’s a voice louder than the others and I’m sure it’s the one who spoke to me before, when I went to visit Tavos. Time to chill down in the basement.
Halfway down the stairs I can peek below the ceiling and count Caia, Prusur and eleven others. They are sitting on stools and benches, facing the speaker and three chairs. The one I’m looking for is definitely the woman addressing the crowd.
At the foot of the stairs is another guard, his back to me. They are definitely complacent in their security.
This is going to be easier than I thought.
Like the first, this guard doesn’t have a clue that he’s experiencing his last few minutes of life. That is, until I put the dagger directly into the middle of his neck. With the blow, I’m sure of two simple things.
First, I hit the spinal cord and he’s never going to walk again. Second, I missed both carotid arteries so, instead of quickly bleeding out, he’s going to experience a terrible, suffocating death. I leave the blade in as he falls and draw a new one from my belt.
This interrupts the woman’s speech. Obviously miffed, she addresses me directly. “You’re not supposed to be here, Pinty. This isn’t the right place or time.”
“That’s twice now you’ve tried to reschedule our meeting and both times I’ve just gone down some stairs. This has grown tiring.” I step over the man I just stabbed. “There are three chairs up there with you. Assuming you’re important enough to rate one of them, tell me who the people are that fill the other two.”
“Really, you need to leave now or this time it will be your body on the end of my sword.” With a motion betraying real skill, she draws a long rapier and levels it towards my head. “By saying that, I’m not trying to rile you up for a fight. It’s just what’s going to happen.”
I look around the room. For a cellar it’s large, but it’s still not big enough for the number of people gathered. If everyone gathered drew swords and fought, it would be a very cramped, very messy fight. That’s okay with me. Being so short, I have the advantage in such cramped quarters.
I stand up straight. “The odds don’t look too good for you. What, there’s twe
lve for you? Three for me?”
She scans the crowd assembled, but none move, including Caia and Prusur. Great, I may have overestimated the strength of my hand. Traitors. “Three? Care to explain?”
“I’m bad at math, so forget I said anything. There’s fourteen of you and one of me. I would say that’s still not enough to take me. So, why don’t we just exchange information?” There’s just enough room between us that I feel comfortable resheathing my knife. “See. Unarmed.”
“I’ve seen you fight, Pinty. It’s not an understatement that you’re exceptionally quick. I guess I’m going to have to test that out. With all fourteen of us at once.”
“Hey! I’m only quick when it counts. If you want, we could take this real slowly.” I give her my best “come hither” look.
She takes a step forward and starts to issue commands to have me run through, stabbed and otherwise maimed when a concealed door slides open and in walk two gentlemen. The first is carrying a large tower of stacked clothing that blocks his vision. Everybody freezes and the room becomes utterly quiet except for his voice. “Alright, I’ve brought new leathers for everyone, including patch insignias. If we’re going to be the new guild in town, then we better start looking like one.”
He puts the leathers down by the three chairs and turns to face the crowd.
He loses all color in his face. “Pinty.”
Tavos. And the man with him is Andeos, the head Goblin.
Chaos ensues.
Chapter 59
To my great relief, they are not traitors.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Prusur and Caia throw themselves into the other recruits, bringing many of them, and the benches they were sitting on, down in a tumble of arms and legs.
The sudden attack from within their ranks gives me the half-second I need to bound away from the stairs, hit the closest upright bench, and propel myself into the air at the speaker.
At mid-arc Tavos intercepts me, his boot connecting directly with my chest, driving me well wide of the woman and into the wall. Again, it surprises me how fast Tavos is.
Bouncing off the wall, I land on all fours before springing forward into a roll. The space where I landed a moment ago is pierced with a large-headed quarrel.