Serpent Son

by N. P. Martin

  9

  I stared at Amelia Tasar dumbly for a moment. "Work? Already?"

  Amelia sighed as if she didn’t have the patience to argue with me. "There’s a lot to do. I suggest you hurry up."

  She looked past me toward Dalia just then, who was now standing not far behind me. She didn’t seem too intimidated by the elf, and neither was Amelia intimidated by Dalia as they both stared at each other as if each was waiting on the other saying something inflammatory, just so they could begin to assert their dominance over each other.

  "I’m going with you, Corvin," Dalia said after a tense moment of silence. "I don’t trust these elves."

  I looked at Amelia, expecting her to be incensed by Dalia’s remark, but her face remained passive as her eyes went to me. "Tell your little goth friend this isn’t a group outing. I’ll wait out in the car. You have one minute to get going. Don’t make me have to come back up here." She gave Dalia a final disapproving glance before turning on her knee high boots and walking down the stairs.

  I watched her go for a second, taking in her confident gait as she moved away, not to mention her slender arse as it swung from side to side. Then I turned around to see that Dalia was fuming, her dark energy swirling agitatedly around her. "I don’t like that elven bitch," she spat.

  "No shit," I said as I went to grab my jacket.

  "You’re not seriously going to let her order you around, are you?"

  "What do you want me to do, Dalia?" I pulled on my dark jacket and tied my hair back in a loose ponytail. "I told you, this will be my way in."

  Dalia raised her eyebrows. "Your way into what, her fucking pants?"

  I couldn’t help but laugh. "Get a grip, will you? She looks like she’d fuckin’ kill me first."

  "So you want to then?"

  "Want to what? Fuck her? Jesus, I’ve only just met her. What the fuck do you care anyway?"

  She turned her head away slightly. "I don’t, I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all."

  I went to her and gave her a brief hug, the cloud of darkness around her dissipating as I did. "Don’t worry about me, I can look after myself."

  "Fine," she said. "Just don’t do anything too bloody stupid."

  "Probably a bit late for that, don’t you think?"

  There was only one car parked outside in the street: a black Dodge Charger. I’d seen enough of them on TV to know what the car was. Amelia Tasar sat in the driver’s seat staring straight ahead. "Nice wheels," I said as I got inside and closed the door. "American import? It must be great to have wealth."

  Amelia barely looked at me as she put the car in gear and took off up the street, the tires on the Dodge screeching slightly as she turned left, taking us past the fan-shaped Blessed Sacrament Chapel (which although it was Catholic, held regular Druidic ceremonies in a large chamber beneath). Even at this time of the morning, the car was turning heads. You didn’t see too many motors like it on the streets of Dublin. I got the impression Amelia enjoyed standing out though, not because she craved attention (far from it, it seemed), but because she liked to feel superior, as most elves did, the Tasar’s especially.

  "So who are you?" I asked as she turned left agin onto N. Lotts. "Are you Iolas’ daughter or something?"

  "His niece," she said.

  I nodded. "Right." Despite her beauty, it was difficult for me to feel any kind of good will toward Amelia, mainly because Iolas was her uncle, which in my mind made her the enemy, at least for now. "So what am I even doing here?"

  "You’re here because Iolas wants you here." She threw me a glance. "If it was up to me, you wouldn’t be here at all. I don’t need any help doing my job."

  "Help with what exactly? Iolas wasn’t too clear on that. Are you a debt collector?"

  "When I have to be."

  "Are you being deliberately vague?"

  "Maybe I just don’t want to talk to you."

  "Okay…" I stared out the window as we turned into Capel Street, which was lined either side with two-bay buildings that were home to all manner of shops. It was one of my favorite places to go in the city, mainly because it wasn’t as commercialized as everywhere else, with not a Starbucks or McDonalds in sight. "Capel Street, the only place in the city where you can buy a lightbulb, sex lubricant, Brazilian rice, get a pint and go to a trad session all in one trip."

  Amelia barely glanced at me, but she couldn’t hide her slight smile. "I hear you’re a musician."

  "Yeah, singer songwriter. You like music?"

  "No."

  I stared at her a second, taken aback by her bluntness. "So what do you like then?"

  "That’s none of your concern."

  She pulled the Dodge up outside one of Dublin’s last remaining pawn shops, a place called Haknet’s. The shop was run by a goblin of the same name. I’d done business with him a few times in my college days. Like most goblins, I remember him being sly and twitchy. When Amelia cut the engine, she turned to look at me fully for the first time, her blue eyes stunning in the bright morning light. "This is us," she said. "Keep your trap shut and stay out of my way, you understand?"

  I nodded. "And if I don’t?"

  She sighed. "Are we going to have a problem? If so, I’ll have to call Iolas and let him know."

  "No," I said shaking my head. "We won’t have a problem. I just want to know what the fuck I’m doing here, that’s all. You clearly have everything in hand."

  "That’s right, I do. Don’t do anything to fuck that up."

  "Fine, lead the way then."

  As I got out of the car, I squinted up at the three golden balls set into a wrought iron frame hanging above the shop doorway. Historically, this was how you recognized a pawn shop, by the three golden balls, which had something to do with Saint Nicolas—good ol’ Santy Claus—supposedly saving three girls from poverty by secretly throwing the golden balls in their window. Although, if you ask me, the whole story is a load of balls, as St. Nick was too busy being a Christian in Turkey to worry about three poor little Irish girls, but anyway.

  It was just after 9.00 a.m. so the shop was open already, as were most of the other businesses, going by the crowds assembled in the street so far. Amelia paused with her hand on the door. "Remember," she said. "Stay quiet and let me handle this."

  I couldn’t help but frown now. "Handle what exactly?"

  Amelia ignored my question and went inside.

  10

  The inside of the pawn shop was like a treasure trove, and pretty much how I remembered it from the last time I was in a few years before. Nearly every available space was taken up by things like guitars, electrical appliances, bikes, video game consoles, antiques and even racks of clothes thanks to people coming in and selling their Sunday best. Over by the counter in the back of the shop there was wracks of jewelry, with the more expensive items—the Rolexes and diamond rings—kept under the counter itself, protected by thick glass. Standing behind the counter was a rotund man, small in stature but with a head that seemed too big for his body. His dark, gray-streaked hair was greased across his skull and he wore a gray shirt, waistcoat and black tie. A gnawed, unlit cigar nearly fell from his thick lips when he set his large, squinty eyes upon Amelia. From his face, you would think he just shat himself behind the counter.

  "Amelia," he said, taking the cigar from his mouth and holding it between his gnarly fingers. "What are you…"

  Amelia was about to speak, before I butted in. "Awright, Haknet," I said. "I pawned a guitar in here once. Don’t suppose you still have it, do you? I should never have sold it, to be honest, but I was hard up at the time, and well…you know the score, right? Needs must and all that."

  Turning her head slowly toward me, Amelia gave me a look that said she would kill me if I didn’t shut the fuck up. "What did I say?"

  I smiled slightly and nodded. Is she aware I’m just testing her out? I wondered. If she was, she didn’t seem to care. "Sorry. Please, go ahead."

  She shook her head at me and turned b
ack to the goblin behind the counter. "You know why I’m here, Haknet," she said. "Iolas wants his money back. You said you would procure a certain item, and you didn’t."

  Oh yes, I’d forgotten the pawn shop also traded in rare and valuable artifacts of the magical variety, a fact known only by the Touched, for the most part anyway.

  Haknet did his best to give Amelia an appeasing smile, though the bead of sweat running down his forehead said he was far from relaxed. "I’m having a little trouble procuring said item," he said. "If you just give me another week or so, I should be able to—"

  "Forget it," Amelia said. "Iolas doesn’t want it anymore, he just wants his money back."

  The goblin’s chest seemed to sink as he struggled to maintain his smile. "About that…"

  Amelia walked closer to the counter. "You better have it."

  "I do, I do, it’s just…"

  "Just what?"

  "It’s a little tied up at the moment."

  "Tied up?" Amelia suddenly shot a hand out and grabbed Haknet by his tie, pulling him right into the counter. "Are you telling me you gambled Iolas’ money?"

  Haknet shook his head vigorously. "Of course not, I would never—"

  "Don’t bullshit me!"

  "I’m not! Look, I’ll get the money. I have a reserve in the back."

  Amelia didn’t let him go as she continued staring at him. "If you’re fucking with me, you’ll be sorry."

  Haknet glanced at me for a second as if I could help him, but I merely shrugged. If he was dumb enough to get into business with someone like Iolas, that was his problem. Same it was my problem if I got into business with someone like Iolas, which of course I had in a way. "Pay up," I said as I strummed one of the acoustic guitars hanging on the wall. "Or not, and then I get to see Amelia there go all medieval on your ass, which I have to admit, I’d like to see."

  "Go get the money," Amelia said to Haknet as she finally let go of him.

  As Haknet went to walk through a door behind him, Amelia stopped him in his tracks by saying, "No tricks, goblin, not if you know what’s good for you."

  Haknet forced a tight smile. "I’ll just be a moment."

  When the door closed behind him, Amelia turned to me as I stood admiring an abstract painting on the wall. "What did I tell you?"

  "To keep my mouth shut," I said casually.

  Amelia sighed and shook her head. "You think you’re some kind of rebel, don’t you? Some immature little twat who thinks it’s cool to rage against authority."

  I smiled again. "You really have me down to a T, don’t you?"

  "Shut up."

  "Sure, I will, but there’s something you should know, something I’m shocked you don’t know already."

  "And what’s that?"

  "Haknet doesn’t have Iolas’ money, and there’s a back door in this place."

  Amelia stared at me a moment, her beautiful features gradually hardening into stone. "Motherfucker."

  She leaped over the counter then with all the grace of a gazelle before aiming a perfectly timed kick at the door in front of her, which despite its heavy appearance, flew open, the frame splintering in the process. "Haknet! You better be in here!"

  But of course, he wasn’t. I knew the second the goblin disappeared that he’d be sprinting for the back door. It was well known that Haknet had a gambling problem, and he had clearly misappropriated the money Iolas had given him. I could’ve warned Amelia of this sooner, and she probably would’ve caught Haknet before he left the building. But then if I’d did that, I wouldn’t have had the chance to catch him myself and foster some good will with the Tasar’s.

  So as soon as Amelia went out the back, I immediately said the words, "Nebulam, fumum, vaporem tu debes evadere!" This was a spell that permitted me to slip into the Astral Plane, becoming like vapor in the process, and thus pass myself through solid objects such as the ceiling of the shop. Fairly quickly, I rose up through the ceiling and into a storeroom above, continuing to pass through boxes and other objects until I rose through another ceiling into an attic room filled with more stuff, and then finally out onto the roof, at which point I made myself solid again.

  After looking around for a second, I smiled when I spotted Haknet running across the roofs of the other buildings at top speed. Goblins are agile little bastards, even the more portly ones like Haknet. As there was a ladder out the back of the pawn shop which lead to the roof, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Haknet would try to make his escape across the rooftops rather than through the streets.

  I tried the obvious Halting Spell first to stop Haknet in his tracks, but it didn’t work, probably because the goblin had warded himself against low level magic attacks, most likely through the use of a talisman or similar item. In the meantime, he kept running at a surprisingly fast speed, leaping from one rooftop to the next.

  "Fuck it," I said as my adrenaline started to pump. "I’ll catch you the old fashioned way."

  The morning sun beat down on me as though warming me up for the chase, and then I began to sprint across the rooftops after Haknet. When I’d covered three of the buildings, I became aware of another presence behind me, and I looked to see Amelia hot on my trail, or at least on Haknet’s trail.

  No way is she beating me…

  I increased my speed as I kept my eye on Haknet, who had almost reached the last building. After that, there were would be a considerable jump to the next row of buildings, though I had no doubt the goblin would make it, especially given his motivation to avoid capture. He would then probably go down a fire escape and drop down into one of the narrow alleyways, disappearing before I could catch up to him. I couldn’t let that happen. I had elves to impress, after all. Speaking of which, Amelia was catching up on me fast. She would reach Haknet before I did if I didn’t do something, so I used a Distraction Spell as I ran, aimed at Haknet.

  "Aversum!"

  The second the spell was cast, a ball of fiercely bright light exploded with a bang right in front of Haknet. This happened just as he was about to make his leap to the next building. A shocked cry erupted from him as he jumped off the rooftop to get to the next building, but the distraction caused him to mess up his jump and he ended up slamming into the side of the adjacent building, just barely managing to grip the roof before he fell to the street below. "Shite!" he cried out as he struggled to pull himself up, unsuccessfully.

  "How’s it hanging there, Haknet?" I shouted over, unable to help myself.

  "Damn you!"

  "There’s your man," I said to Amelia as she appeared beside me, my face slightly flushed, though she hadn’t even broken a sweat. Neither was she out of breath.

  "You knew he was running up here, didn’t you?" she said.

  "I might’ve had some idea," I said smiling.

  "Help!" Haknet shouted. "I can’t hold on much longer!"

  "Well, you should’ve thought of that before you ran," Amelia said dismissively, as if she didn’t care if Haknet fell two stories and broke both his legs.

  "I’m sorry! Pull me up, please!"

  "In a minute…maybe."

  "You’re just going to let him fall?" I asked her.

  "You think I should?"

  I shook my head. "It’s just money. I think he’ll find it a lot harder to pay his debt if he can’t walk, don’t you?"

  Amelia stared at me a minute. "I suppose so."

  She then leaped across to the other building without taking a run at it first, once again impressing me with her physical prowess. A smile appeared on my face as I couldn’t help but wonder what she would be like in bed with such athleticism. Then I watched her roughly pull Haknet up by the scruff and dump him down on the rooftop like a piece of trash. My thoughts turned from sexy to violent in an instant, and the smile soon dropped from my face.

  "I’m taking you to see Iolas," she said. "You can explain to him in person why you don’t have his money."

  Haknet knew there was no point in arguing. He looked deflated as he ha
uled himself to his feet, and more than a little fearful. So much so I almost felt sorry for him.

  "I’ll see you down at the car," I shouted across to Amelia.

  Amelia nodded, and unless I was mistaken, I thought I even saw a modicum of respect for me in her face.

  11

  "So satisfy my curiosity for me," I said to Amelia as she drove us to Iolas’ mansion. "Are you carrying under your jacket?"

  Amelia gave me her by now familiar deadpan stare. "Carrying? Do I look like I need to carry a gun?"

  I shrugged. "I’m not saying you’re not capable, far from it. I just thought maybe you liked to carry a gun, you know, to make you feel more like a gangster and all."

  Her stare hardened. "You think I’m a gangster?"

  "I think all the Tasar’s are gangsters," Haknet said from the back seat. "I think it’s in your blood."

  "What would you know about it?" Amelia said as she stared at Haknet in the rearview mirror.

  "Plenty," Haknet said. "I’ve worked with your family for years."

  "Stealing their money?" I said.

  Haknet made a face at me. "I didn’t steal anything. That money is just tied up, I told you."

  "With which bookie?" Amelia said. "I bet if I asked that dwarf who owns the betting shop on the corner of Leary Street he’d tell me you lost the exact amount Iolas gave you."

  "So what if I did? It doesn’t mean to say I won’t get it back." Haknet paused. "I’ve a sure thing running in the three-thirty at Ascot today."

  "A sure thing?" I said smiling. "Aren’t they all?"

  "This one is," Haknet said.

  "Tell it to Iolas," Amelia said. "I really don’t care."

  We arrived at the mansion ten minutes later and two orcs met us in the driveway. Amelia handed Haknet over to them, and he despondently walked with the orcs inside the mansion. As I watched the door close behind them, I wondered if I’d ever see the goblin again, at least in his current state. I had visions of walking into the pawn shop one day to find Haknet was missing a finger or an eye…or worse.