by Drae Box
“Is there somewhere criminals in Oreg go to sell illegal items or hide from the inspectors? I’m hoping some local criminals might know more about Teton’s warning about Oreg and the inspectors.”
Aldora hugged the damp towel to her chest as she waited for Sasha to think over her answer. She had noticed that about the retired royal official: she sometimes took deliberate time before answering questions or offering her opinion.
“Yes,” said Sasha finally, giving a nod. “Many of the houses here have joined attics. All it takes is for someone wanting to make an income to give people access through their house, assuming a criminal doesn’t just help themselves to an empty house and make it look like they’re supposed to live there in the first place.”
Great! “Do you know where one of those criminal hotspots is?”
“I can ask my staff. They’re sure to have heard about something like that. Give me a few minutes,” said Sasha, before turning and heading for the stairs.
Aldora joined Raneth and Pedibastet in their room. They both looked at her then glared at each other.
“Fallen out again, Pedi?” she said.
The cat strolled towards Aldora. “Yes. About the dead fence and what to do next.”
Raneth’s the one with training. He’s probably the one with the right idea, decided Aldora, nodding thoughtfully at Pedibastet’s statement.
“Whoever wrote the note didn’t sign their name,” she said. “It was probably an inspector.” Aldora placed her towel and dirty clothes in a wash basket next to the door. “Sasha will be back in a minute with some information about the criminals in Oreg. I asked if she knew anywhere they would hang out away from the inspectors. I want to ask them about Teton’s warning, the Shotput and maybe if they recognise that dagger.”
“Commendable,” said Pedibastet. To Raneth he added, “You could learn a lot from Aldora.”
Raneth scowled at the cat then took to looking out of the window.
“Raneth, are we OK to head to one of the criminal hotspots if it’s nearby? I know it’s getting dark and you’re probably still not feeling completely perfect, but we’ll be OK, right?”
“I can make do,” replied Raneth. “We’ll find more criminals if we go at night, so it’s best we go tonight otherwise we’ll have to waste a day tomorrow. We might need to rely on the Prince’s ears to keep us safe as my senses probably aren’t as alert, and I don’t trust the inspectors. They’ve already ignored Regina once.”
“I will keep Aldora safe, and you by extension, royal official.”
Sasha gave them the information they needed, so Aldora and Pedibastet followed Raneth outside. She watched as Raneth kept a keen eye on the people around them. Is he looking for inspectors or the moth dragon? Word at the brothel was that the dragon was still loose in Oreg, and yet the streets were quiet. As the three Giftens stalked their way through the streets, Aldora dodged steaming puddles on the path, Raneth and the Prince of Giften’s Cats doing likewise. They smelt like the dragon’s vomit and earth, and twice they paused so Raneth could throw up. Aldora joined in the second time as her stomach betrayed her too. Aldora coughed. “Why haven’t they caught it yet?”
“I don’t know,” said Raneth. Further along was a corpse that had taken the vomit to the face and one half of it was gone, the other half showing what was left of a woman who might have once been considered something of a Newer beauty.
“Please carry me,” ordered Pedibastet at Aldora’s feet.
Aldora picked up the Prince of the Cats and spotted a curtain twitch in a window two doors down, warning that they were being observed. Sasha’s intel had revealed that the nearest criminal bazaar was in the rooftops of a line of houses near Teton’s house, which could be accessed from a house almost in the middle of the row. Aldora stood beside Raneth as he knocked. They waited for someone to answer the door. A young woman opened the door and looked them up and down before she zeroed in on the Dagger Bearer.
“Yeah?”
Act confident and use the code phrase, remembered Aldora. She flashed the woman a smile. “I’m expected upstairs.”
The other woman nodded with a slight smile and stepped to the side, holding the door ajar for Aldora, Raneth and Pedibastet. She pointed at the stairs visible to the right of the door.
“All the way to the very top,” she stated, before strolling back to a sofa in the centre of the room and curling into its corner with a knife and whetting stone.
Is it just coincidence that she’s sharpening a knife, or is that a subtle warning to be on our best behaviour? Best keep clear of her if she comes upstairs after us.
Pedibastet jumped down from Aldora’s arms onto the carpet, so Aldora walked up the stairs, but Raneth grabbed her wrist halfway up.
“Have the Dagger out. This doesn’t feel right,” he whispered.
Aldora plucked the Dagger from its sheath and continued up the stairs. “If it makes you feel better about where we are,” she uttered. On the landing, a staircase led to the attic so Aldora climbed up and stepped on a creaky floorboard. She smiled at the men and women who were nearest her and looking her way. A few held drawn weapons, one of which was a scimitar. Best show them I’m not a threat. They’ve not immediately attacked us, so I just need to prove to Raneth that I can read situations and protect myself just fine. She slipped the Dagger back into its sheath and strode up to the man with the curved blade. Raneth prowled to stand quietly behind Aldora. Pedibastet stood with him.
“So you’re the Dagger Bearer, huh?” asked the criminal Aldora had greeted.
Aldora nodded.
“You did quite the number on the arena.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” uttered the scimitar owner, resting a hand on Aldora’s shoulder.
Raneth took a step closer to Aldora’s side, catching the man’s attention.
“But you got Teton killed,” continued the criminal, his focus flicking briefly to Raneth.
“How do you know about that?” asked Aldora.
“Who doesn’t?” asked the scimitar owner, frowning at Aldora. “You have a royal official and a talking cat for back up. You catch attention, especially when they’re not with you.”
Aldora turned, viewing Raneth and Pedibastet curiously, then she turned back to the scimitar owner. “Can you help us? We’re looking for something.”
“I’ve heard what you’re looking for. I can’t imagine your king sent you.”
Aldora frowned then noticed how the man was eyeing Raneth. “It’s my partner’s assignment,” she said.
“I won’t help a royal official,” stated the criminal firmly. “If I was in Giften, he would have killed me already for talking to you.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” said Aldora. “He’s a good person.”
“Aldora, it’s fine. He’s not going to think highly of a Giften law enforcer,” stated Raneth.
“You’ll wanna speak to Antonio,” stated the scimitar owner, pointing his sword towards a blond male standing at the other end of the long attic, deep in conversation with three other men. “He knows more than anyone else about what’s happening in Oreg.”
“Thanks,” said Aldora.
She turned and headed between the groups of men and women chatting and selling items to one another, some of which, Aldora noticed, were severed heads that were too fresh to smell just yet. She tried not to pay the woman holding the severed heads any attention, nor the red tattoo lines across her face. The group beside the head slicer was swapping black and silver items Aldora didn’t recognise, so she edged a little closer.
“Hey, you’re new,” uttered a woman holding one of the items. “Ever held a Southern Kingdom gun before?”
“That’s their version of the bow and arrow, right?” asked Aldora.
“Aldora,” whispered Raneth.
She ignored him, stepping closer to the woman.
“Snatched a few of these from the inspectors’ headquarters when they were out
looking for the moth dragon today. Got out just before they came back. Want one?”
“No, she doesn’t,” snapped Raneth, stepping up and resting his side against hers.
“Raneth,” uttered Aldora, widening the space between them. “Don’t. I was just curious.”
Raneth swallowed and his blue eyes skittered across to the woman holding the gun, before he glanced back towards the man with the scimitar and the woman with the heads. He’s anxious, realised Aldora. “Calm down,” she added softly to him.
Whilst she strode towards Antonio, Aldora mulled over the scimitar wielder’s familiarity with who she was. She glanced briefly at Raneth. What must it feel like for him, walking into a den of criminals who don’t act like he’s a threat?
When she was within spitting distance of the man she had been directed to, Aldora greeted him with his name. Antonio turned away from his conversation and trailed his attention from her boots to the top of her head, before glancing in Raneth’s direction.
Aldora could make Antonio out by the candles in the rafters above them, though some gaslight from the newspapered up windows crept in. She cleared her throat. “I need your help.”
“My my, a beauty is in tonight, boys!” called Antonio.
Feeling heat curling in her ears and knowing it would be accompanied by a blush on her neck and collarbones, Aldora tried to ignore the unwanted attention as Antonio’s voice carried along the attic and caused other men and women in the long room to laugh. Why are they laughing at me? I know I’m not drop-dead gorgeous, but I don’t deserve laughs as if he doesn’t mean it. She focused hard on the blond dreadlocks that dangled from the top of his head; there were red wooden beads near the bottom of each. His green eyes were focused equally hard on her, making her rub at her collarbone, feeling a little too exposed even though she had barely any skin showing under her neck. His smile revealed perfect teeth above a chiselled jaw, and she noticed a small scar on the right side of his chin. She flinched as he pulled the gun at his waist from its leather holster and pointed it to her right. Aldora observed where it was pointed. Right at Raneth, and he hasn’t even done anything! Irritated, she stepped between Raneth and Antonio.
“You dared to bring a law enforcer up here,” explained Antonio.
“I’m one too,” stated Aldora.
“No, you’re a girl with a magic dagger. Totally different. He can wait downstairs or I won’t tell you anything. You too, cat.”
“Excuse me!” protested Prince Pedibastet. “That’s Prince Pedibastet to you, you filthy Newer.”
The criminal ignored Pedibastet, focusing his gaze on Aldora. “Your lackeys will leave or we will kill them,” he stated, pointing the gun skywards and circling it around.
“How do I know you won’t hurt Aldora?” asked Raneth.
“Because if I wanted to kill her, she would already be dead. See how everyone is watching?”
Aldora turned around and observed that the men and women who had been spread out along the attic were surprisingly a lot closer than before. She looked up at Raneth. “Maybe you’d better do as he wants,” she said.
A frown slid into place on his brow and he shook his head. “No way, Aldora. They could do things to you,” he growled.
I need to reassure him. She gave Raneth a smile, hoping it looked confident and genuine enough that he would be fooled by it. “Hey, I’ll be OK. You don’t have to protect me all the time. I can protect myself too.” The soft whisper of the Dagger of Protection leaving its sheath accompanied her words. “If they try anything, the Dagger can fry them.” A few of the criminals murmured.
“But–”
“Come, royal official,” ordered Pedibastet, turning away from Antonio and Aldora and heading towards the stairs. “It will do Aldora no good seeing you killed.”
“Fine,” grumbled Raneth. He gently gripped Aldora’s nearest arm, the one that held the Dagger. “Be careful. Stab first and ask questions later.”
Aldora nodded.
Raneth gave a tight smile then followed Pedibastet back to the stairs.
The Dagger Bearer turned to Antonio. “Alright, so spill. We’re looking for the Shotput of Power – do any of you know anything about it?”
“I don’t know anything about that per se,” uttered Antonio, giving Aldora a smile. “I do know you and your royal official dog got one of my fences killed – Teton. What did you say to him? He ended up being killed by an Eastern Barbarian.”
“Nothing,” said Aldora. “Nothing I thought dangerous, anyway. I asked him about the Shotput and he said he didn’t feel he should talk about that, and he got nervous. He added that the inspectors weren’t in charge of Oreg.”
“They’re not,” uttered one man, stepping a little closer.
Aldora eyed him carefully. Unlike Antonio and a few of the other men around her, this one didn’t have defined muscles, but his brown hair swept towards his eyes, catching his lashes with every other blink. At his slim waist was a thin sword, thinner than most Aldora had seen.
“That would be Lodema,” he added, his voice low.
“Oh, not her again,” grumbled a man leaning against the wall a little closer to the stairs than Aldora. At his feet were patches of material with weapons displayed across them. “She’s a bogeyman from Tren City. Probably doesn’t actually exist. Rumours involving that name came about after some arrests were made when every criminal arrested in Tren was found in the cells with their throats slashed.”
“What makes it seem like she isn’t real?” asked Aldora.
“Nobody’s ever seen her. At least, nobody I know. Antonio?”
“No. Nobody I know,” stated Antonio. “And I’d know if someone was real or not. I have an extensive network of spies. Maybe not as many as Commander Pompy-Face, but I still know a real person from a fake one used to hide someone else’s identity,” said Antonio.
This sounds like something that might be worth pursuing just to check whether there’s a connection to the Shotput’s whereabouts.
“Let’s pretend Lodema is real for a second,” said Aldora. “How would she take control of Oreg?”
“Easy,” stated another man. This one had ginger hair that sat on his head with an exact parting down the middle. “Blackmail the inspectors to do what she wanted.”
Inspectors again. We seem to keep circling back to them whilst we’re here. Aldora rubbed at her collarbone as she tried to decide whether Raneth would pursue the lead. He’d probably say it was weak, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. We have to find out if the inspectors might have had the Shotput and if this Lodema person is real and is using it to control Oreg.
“How would she get information on the inspectors here?”
“It’s easy enough,” said the man with the scimitar. “I’m a blackmailer by trade and all it takes is to follow someone for long enough that you find out their secrets. Your royal official probably knows that from his hunting. Our bounty hunter might know a little more – there’s been a new Eastern Barbaric face in town since the inspectors stopped making arrests that made sense.”
“Hey,” growled the woman with the red tattoos across her face. “Just because I’m Eastern Barbaric, doesn’t mean I know everyone with dark skin or colourful hair and faces.” She pointed to the purple streak in her hair. “One thousand people killed by my hands or weapons, don’t forget, Chargrey. I can make you next so I can add some new colours in. I just need one more.”
“No thanks,” said Chargrey, strolling nearer the stairs again with the scimitar gently tapping against the outside of his thigh.
“There was Eastern Barbaric written on a blade we found,” said Aldora, stepping closer to the Eastern Barbarian.
The woman eyed Aldora a little more intently, her focus straying to Aldora’s belt. “Do you have this blade?”
Aldora shook her head. “My partner has it.”
“The royal official?”
Aldora nodded. “He read some of it. It said, ‘Never seen. Never,’
but he didn’t know what the fourth inscription was.”
“That’s easy,” uttered the bounty hunter with a smile. “That’s a motto of one of the assassin guilds over in the Barbaric East. Oi, Antonio, why are we telling this law enforcer whatever she wants to know?”
“Because she’ll pay us,” stated Antonio. “And she or her royal official will have to help us when we ask it of them.”
“Whoa, wait a minute,” uttered Aldora, turning to face the blond male. “I didn’t realise you were charging for talking.”
“You’re after intelligence, Dagger Bearer. It’s not free.”
“What sort of things will you ask of me?” asked Aldora warily.
“We may just ask you to ‘accidentally’ teach someone a lesson, or to borrow your royal official’s killing ability.”
“No,” growled Aldora. “I won’t let you use Raneth that way, and I’m not comfortable with you using me like that either.”
“Then no more information for you,” stated Antonio. “Off you go.”
“But–”
“Bye bye,” added Antonio.
Aldora frowned as the criminals all looked at her expectantly.
“Fine,” she grumbled, before heading down the stairs back to Raneth and Pedibastet.
“Ooh, yes, that’s perfect,” purred Pedibastet as Aldora joined him and Raneth in the living room downstairs.
The Prince of the Cats was sitting with the young woman who had let them in, his furry body sprawled across a brown sofa, whilst Raneth stood near the front door, his arms folded and the sole of his left foot resting against the wall behind him. Aldora gave him a brief smile before strolling into the centre of the living room.
“I’ve always loved the idea of talking cats,” uttered the woman, grinning as she stroked the underside of the cat’s chin. “But you are magnificent.”
“I am,” said Pedibastet.
Raneth stepped silently to Aldora’s side.
“How long has Pedi been pampered?” asked Aldora in a soft whisper.
“Since you dismissed us,” said Raneth, watching Pedibastet purr and reposition his head so the woman could stroke his white cheek. “Did you get anything useful?”
