The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1)

by Marie Andreas

  Chapter 13

  Deciding against testing another lockup by running down the street screaming, I let myself wander aimlessly instead. I didn’t have a patron. No bounty job. And for once my curiosity needed a break. Funny thing, I managed to end up at the Shimmering Dewdrop. My mind might not have known what to do, but my feet did.

  The daytime regulars all crouched over the bar, muttering to each other. Took a few moments to realize they were playing a game of cards. An odd game, which included much swearing and flinging of cards over the bar, but a game nonetheless.

  I nodded at Foxy and took up a seat in the corner. Most of my friends were part of the nighttime crowd. The day timers were mostly tiny old people of various races drawn together instinctively. As if no matter what town you went into, you’d find a group like them in the local pub.

  “You look sad today.” Foxy slid over a plate of crushed cassabaa nuts and a tea. He knew I wouldn’t want an ale during the day, one of my rules even if I did spend a lot of time here. No daytime drinking.

  “Just a lot of things have been going on, ya know?” I blew on my tea to cool it and popped some of the crushed nuts in my mouth. Their crisp, almost lemony flavor cheered me a bit. My world may be going to hell, but there were still cassabaa nuts around.

  “I still need a patron.”

  Foxy’s long face drew in on itself in confusion. He wasn’t stupid—his reactions were just slower than most folks.

  “I thought Karys said someone had called for you?”

  I heard the pause in his voice before ‘someone’. Karys would have known who was on that contract, and she would have trusted Foxy with that knowledge.

  “Nope, someone’s idea of a prank.” Neither of us were going to say the name, a precaution I would have taken before most likely, but definitely would now. Someone in Cirocco’s ensemble had far more power than anyone knew. Names could draw unwanted attention.

  “A prank?” One of his droopy eyes widened. “That’s a fairly serious one, think would I.”

  “Yeah, unfortunately it means back to looking for another bounty job or two. I haven’t met my landlady’s cousin, but I doubt they are different.” Meaning sooner rather than later she’d be at my door sniffing for more coin.

  Of course, Cirocco was one of the main folks to get bounty jobs from. At this point he was ranking right down there with Alric as people I wanted to be around.

  I scooped out the last of the cassabaa nuts and dropped them in my mouth. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone else with bounties out?”

  The scowl that slapped onto Foxy’s face was quick and fierce. Actually it was quick and comical if you knew him like I did. All someone would have to do to fight him off is step outside. His phobia of the outside world had been going on far longer than I’d been living in Beccia, and would probably continue long after I was gone.

  “I know, I know. You don’t like my day job. But the fact is there’s a tiny furious dust ball that’s going to want some coins soon. If I don’t pay her, me and the girls come live here.”

  Foxy’s skin was naturally a deep rust color, like an old well-worn leather chair. I did enjoy it when I could make him turn pink in fear.

  “Exactly,” I said not waiting for him to comment. “Oh, and on another topic, have you seen a digger named Marcos around here?”

  It was true, I really did need to set up a few more jobs. But I also wanted to find out more about my cowardly, albeit very good-looking, rescuer.

  “Not that I can reckon,” Foxy said as he tugged on his lower lip in thought. “He be new here?”

  I frowned. Harlan must have hired him from here, but Foxy didn’t know him? “He’s new, but I think he’d been digging for a bit before the shutdown. Tall, handsome, gypsy of some type.”

  “Nope, doesn’t call up anything. Maybe the twins know. You know how jinns and gypsies like each other.” He turned just as one of the day waitresses brought him a steaming platter of meats and vegetables. “Never you mind about that now, first eat. Then find your man.”

  I had to admit the food smelled good, and now that the whisky was out of my system for good I was even hungrier than I’d been at Covey’s. Besides, there weren’t many folks in the pub right now to question, and all three of the twins were absent. They were so determined not to be called triplets, I didn’t even do it in my head.

  With a cheerful nod I settled in to do some damage to the food.

  I was just eating a last bit of gravy-soaked bread when Alejandro came in. While unusual to see him alone, it probably just meant his brothers were out casing some joint. There was sweat on his skin. Ah. His legal job was as a bike rider—he peddled a small covered cart around for folks who couldn’t afford to hire a horse carriage but were traveling too far for walking.

  With a heavy sigh he flung himself into a chair, briefly reminding me of Marcos. No wonder jinns and gypsies got along, I’d bet the bloodlines crossed more than laces on a wench’s bodice.

  I debated letting him rest before I asked about Marcos, then decided getting him when he was tired would lead to more answers. Jinns lied for no reason but a tired one might be prone to lie less.

  Alejandro’s deep rich brown eyes narrowed as I approached. It wasn’t that I didn’t get along with the jinn brothers—we were all on a mutual ‘I don’t trust you’ basis—it was that he was so used to Max being at his side he was uncomfortable when people approached him when he was alone. Abhijeet and he were rarely together, since even Alejandro didn’t like Abhijeet.

  “Rough ride?” Better to start with small talk.

  “Large couple wanting to go uptown, to The Hill. Money carriers,” he said with a sneer. Jinns liked moneyed folks, when they were relieving them of it. Otherwise they had almost a universal hatred of the rich. “Made me do a full lap of the big houses, then drop them off at one.”

  That was unusual. Rich folks usually had their own carriages and crews, the pedicabs were for middle-class folks. Hopefully it wasn’t the start of a trend. More business would be good for most folks but jinns liked to do just enough to get by. And for some reason the pedicab drivers were almost all jinns.

  “Sorry to hear that,” I said as I pulled up the chair furthest from him at the table. I wanted information, but I didn’t want to get too close to him. Safer for me and the few coins I still carried “I was wondering if you knew of a new digger in town, a gypsy.”

  Alejandro froze, but didn’t look up. Curious.

  “His name’s Marcos. Black hair, dark skin, tall?”

  He finally looked up and an odd look flashed across his face. One I’d have to figure out later as it quickly turned into a leer. “A handsome man perhaps?”

  Amazingly good-looking one actually, but honesty around jinns was bad form regardless of the topic. “Passable. I’d say most people would call him handsome. He helped me yesterday, then left before I could thank him.” I refrained from adding, fled like a screaming five-year-old girl. Clearly Alejandro knew the man.

  “I think I may know him. He is a digger of renown as you say.”

  I hadn’t said any such thing, there wasn’t anything renowned about him except his looks and his sprinting speed.

  “He is usually about at night. He is working during the day.”

  Working when the ruins had been closed? I wanted to ask Alejandro, but figured too much prying would cause him to do the same. Asking about who his patron was would be equally out of bounds.

  With a sigh at the extreme lack of information I’d been given, I nodded. “Thank you. If you see him please tell him I’d like to thank him in person.”

  The jinn’s eyes lit briefly when he thought I was going to ask for a favor. I may not have grown up in a town with jinns, but that didn’t mean I was stupid enough to ask for favors.

  “If I see him I will tell him.” With that he returned to his drink. I was dismissed.

  Muttering under my breath about cranky magical beings, I wandered back to the bar. Until I found a job
or a patron I was sort of at loose ends. But I really should be doing something more constructive than sitting here.

  “What do I owe you?” I asked Foxy.

  As expected he just gave me an insulted look and shook his head. He had a soft spot for me, so when I had no job, I didn’t pay.

  I leaned over the bar and planted a kiss on his weathered cheek. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. And here,” he said as he slid a piece of scrap parchment toward me. “These three have calls out for bounty jobs.” He did it reluctantly, but he always managed to find me something. I never asked about his sources.

  I thanked him and headed into the murky sunlight of a late-fall day. It had the threat of rain out and about, waving it like a child with a new toy. But the streets were still dry and filthy.

  There were three names on the list, and none of them were anything to cheer about.

  The first one was a known lecher, part dreg and part selkie and all slimy. Literally, not only was he an icky person, his selkie-half kept his skin clammy and damp.

  The second one was a witch I’d done some work for a few years back. She was nothing but bad news. The collar she’d wanted me to get had been a drunken pixie with hygiene problems. Not only did I have to burn all the clothes I’d been wearing when I brought him in, the nasty witch paid me in coins that vanished. When I rushed back to her house she’d walked it off to another town.

  The third was Largen. I sighed and looked at the other two names again. Maybe those choices wouldn’t seem so bad the second go around. They didn’t actually. They were worse.

  Crap. I’d never worked for Largen, she usually being on the opposing side of Cirocco in the crime-boss hierarchy. But the two had supposedly made up and ended their turf war a few months ago. Then again the fact that two of her people had found Alric before I had, meant she and Cirocco were still looking for the same things. Or the same people.

  I debated prowling around some of the low town dives and seeing if there were any other jobs. Problem was, Foxy would have only given me the best available. Which meant this was it. Pervert. Cheater. Or Largen.

  Muttering under my breath, I crumpled the paper as I shoved it back into my pocket and turned toward Largen’s castle. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. I just hoped I didn’t come out of there looking like some unnatural creature. Or worse, not come out at all.

  Chapter 14

  Largen’s castle was a bit too far to walk, and the wind was starting to pick up again even if those taunting clouds hadn’t done anything but stomp across the sky.

  I fingered the sad number of coins in my pocket. If I walked there, it would take half the day and wipe me out. I debated the loss of precious coins against my time and possible safety. The neighborhood surrounding Largen’s castle wasn’t one to walk through exhausted and unaware. Speculation had it that Largen herself had created a circle of unsavory areas to guard her home. Needless to say, the other high-end homeowners fled the neighborhood within weeks of her arrival.

  With a sigh, I pulled out a copper mark and waved it at one of the passing peddle cabs. The driver had been going the other direction, but quickly spun around in the mud and headed back my way.

  I almost put the coin back in my pocket when the driver got closer, Max. Alejandro’s brother. Lovely. Unfortunately, waving him off now would just make things worse.

  Like all jinn, Max was attractive. Mostly. The problem was everything about his face was just a bit off. As if he’d come out unfinished when he’d been born. Or hatched. No one was completely sure how new jinns were created. No one ever saw jinn children. Jinns just appeared fully grown, often stuck in a bottle, jar, or funerary urn. Finding one didn’t get you the story-tale three wishes however. If you were lucky you got whatever they’d been trapped in returned to you. Things got worse the longer the jinn had been in there.

  However they came about, multiples were rare, and that most likely explained Max.

  “My lady!” Max tried to make up for his looks by being gallant, or a jinn’s version of gallant anyway. “Where can my legs take you?”

  I ignored his lecherous look and climbed into the small carriage. Some peddle cabs had screens so you didn’t have the driver’s ass in your face the entire ride. If this one had come with it, Max had taken it out long ago.

  Another thought hit as I sat down. I didn’t want Max and his brothers knowing I was going to see Largen. They’d tell anyone and everyone, and whoever my collar was would get away. I quickly tried to think of any other businesses in the area but drew a blank. The lack of a location was starting to worry Max and in a second he’d be turning around.

  “I’m meeting a long-lost cousin in Castle Park. Just take me to the edge of it.”

  Castle Park had once been a lovely part of the old Castle neighborhood before Largen had moved in. Now it was a refuge for unsavory types and misplaced forest dwellers.

  Max stayed silent for an entire two minutes before he started trying to catch my attention with quips about people who lived in the Castle area. I ignored him as long as I could then changed the subject.

  “So, how long have you known Marcos?”

  “For a while really he’s been—” He paused, even slowing on his peddling. “I mean, Marcos who?”

  I should have thought of this before. Max wasn’t the most mentally gifted of the three jinns. He’d already reinforced the fact that Alejandro had lied to me.

  “You know who, your tall, gypsy friend Marcos. He mentioned you.”

  Not a good idea to put it that way. Max whipped his head around so quickly he almost flipped the peddle cab. “He did?”

  “Yes, said you two were fast friends and he trusted you completely.” I had no idea what information I’d get out of Max, but couldn’t hurt to try. Information seemed in short supply lately.

  Unfortunately, thinking and driving weren’t something Max could do at the same time. He stopped peddling to think, then smacked into a tree. Luckily we’d been going uphill and his momentum had slowed significantly. It still almost knocked me from the cab.

  Max tumbled from his seat, and lay there a few seconds. His eyes closed, but he didn’t look like he was injured, more like he was thinking. Or mentally communicating with his brothers. There went my source of information.

  “Are you ok?” I started to climb out of the cab, acting the concerned acquaintance, when Max’s black eyes popped open and he jumped to his feet.

  “All better now. No, I don’t know your friend Marcos, the gypsy digger. Please stay inside the cab so we can finish our trip.”

  Well, at least two good things had come out of this. He now kept quiet, no longer trying to figure out who I was going to see and I knew for certain the jinn brothers knew Marcos.

  Blessed silence stayed the remainder of the trip. Once we got to the park he communicated by grunts and holding out his hand for the payment.

  Largen’s castle wasn’t far from the park, so as soon as I was certain that Max was gone, I made my way to the service entrance. Unlike Cirocco’s elaborate and ornate gardens, Largen’s place was surrounded by high walls and dark trenches. The path to the service entrance was short and well barricaded so no one went anywhere other than where they were supposed to go.

  I really hoped that Largen didn’t hire bounty hunters herself. I’d much rather deal with a middleman, than risk another confrontation with a leading citizen of Beccia’s underworld. One per day was my limit. Actually, one per lifetime would be even better.

  The service door was answered by a minotaur. Or rather a mini-minotaur. This one was not much taller than myself, and was almost as round as he was tall. A mix-breed gone to seed. I still wouldn’t want to piss him off though. His horns were sharp, and his eyes had that crazy look of a long-time drug addict.

  “What,” he grunted at me. At least it sounded like what.

  “I’m here about the bounty job for your boss.”

  More grunting in response. This sounded like “wait here” altho
ugh it could have been ‘let me go see if we’d like to cut you up in tiny pieces for dinner’. It was a close call. But he had motioned me to come in.

  I shifted from foot to foot hoping that he really had said wait here. A creeping nerve crawled up my back and cautiously I took a small step backwards to the door. Then another.

  I’d had enough time to almost reach the door and was seriously thinking of making a run for it when a shuffling sound coming from the hall to my left grabbed my attention. Too late now, the mix-breed was back.

  He paused just before the entrance to the room, as if being around me again would be a bother. He stepped aside for Grimwold. Grimwold?! Did the man have less brains than the thing standing next to him? Not only had he gone behind Cirocco’s back, but now he was working for the enemy?

  He nodded to the doorman, then shuffled into the room.

  My eyes widened in horror. It was far worse than I’d even imagined, I should have ran when I had the chance. Grimwold hadn’t betrayed Cirocco, he had a twin brother.

  This man looked just like Grimwold, except he was smiling.

  I was actually grateful that Grimwold did very little of it based on the hideousness of the attempt on the copy of him before me.

  “Hello,” he wheezed as he sat down across from me. Didn’t offer me a chair, just sat. Closer look made me realize he probably was Grimwold’s older brother rather than twin. “From the look on your face you have met my brother.” The sneer on his face came through clearly in his tone. Maybe this one and I would get along.

  “Yes, I’ve had that honor.” I didn’t try to hide my feelings about Grimwold.

  “Very good, you and he don’t get along, which means I would definitely like you working for us.” The grin was gone and he frowned as he pulled forth two scrolls. “We have two people who need to be brought in. They aren’t together, nor should you bring them in together. I just see no point in waiting for you to finish one job before assigning the other.”