She reached the window and opened it up. It was dark. Sherie sincerely hoped there wasn’t anyone in there as she poured herself through the window.
It was darker inside. She could hear the voices outside of the open window. She couldn't wait here, in case she left bloody prints going up the wall. She was sure she had gotten blood on her boots.
She had no idea where the hell she was, but she needed to find her way out, just in case. There was more light coming in from the windows on the street side of the building. She looked around and saw what she thought must be a stairwell. She stood up and tried to walk quietly, she wasn't sure that this place was empty. She guessed it probably was empty though, otherwise the window would have been open on such a hot night.
She tried to creep quietly to what looked like a staircase from here. Sherie was discovering one thing for certain; her Legion issued boots were absolutely terrible for that.
She reached the staircase and descended. She wasn't excessively loud, but she wasn't as quiet as she wanted to be. That was going to be the next thing on her agenda, new footwear.
When she arrived downstairs she could see the people on the street going by through the large windows. The street lamps were all lit, casting light into this place.
Sherie deduced that she was inside a store. It wasn’t the kind of store she had ever been in though. She could see closed glass cases and a glass counter. What kind of moron would keep their wares inside a glass counter? She wondered.
Well, she had no time to worry about that. She crept to the door and watched the Legionnaires on patrol. She felt the handle and locking mechanism. It was some kind of fancy lock with a lever here.
She waited for the Legionnaires on the street to walk away on their patrol, then she flipped the lock and heard the latch undo. She opened the door and walked out, pulling the door shut behind her.
She walked quickly down the street, trying not to seem guilty.She did kind of stick out though since she carried about thirty some pounds of weapons. She walked quickly and tried to figure out where Lucky was stabled in relation to the place she found herself.
While she walked about, she thought about the murder she just committed. Sherie tried telling herself that killing him was justice for the kid he’d killed. Maybe that was even true. But there was a darker truth that she could see now. She had wanted to kill him, for no reason other than the fact that she didn’t like the way he looked at her. She had simply wanted to see him die. She knew that it was wrong to think that he should die, but she didn’t care about that now.
She had seen so many people simply run or not come back to the line when they were sent out to hunt or to get supplies from Narin Hold while she and their brothers held the line. She knew the truth now.
The truth was most people should die. This was a fact, and there was no reason for her to feel sorry about that. Everyone who would have cared that she felt this way was dead.
Sherie decided that when everything goes sour, she was going to be the one walking over all the corpses until she became one herself.
Monday July 16th 1612th year of the First Great City Experiments
Sherie had ridden north to the address she was given. Or, more precisely, to the landmarks. It was in an alley between two streets, and the actual address wasn’t visible. The ride north had been long; it was nearly the second hour in the morning now.
The red door that Shegath described was there. She studied it and the building into which it was set, like a gaping wound. Sherie went around to the front of the building, trying to figure out which shop the door led to, and she was successful. Lodicuois Enchantment Shop.
That was so easy; she could have figured that out just by walking down the street.
She'd found it, but now what to do? This was an enchantment shop which meant there was a Wizard in there. That meant if she tried anything she was probably going to die.
She knew that the best thing to do right now was to find a place to sleep.
* * *
Sherie woke up with a start. She truly hated not drinking, she hardly seemed to get any decent sleep now. She had made a deal with the stableman that owned the stable for the hayloft. He'd grudgingly agreed.
She could see that it was at least daylight this time. The last time she had woken up it was still dark. She was starting to feel like this wasn’t the best idea, but she didn’t want to be far from Lucky.
That was when she heard the tolling of the high pitched bells; eight of them to mark thirty minutes past the eighth hour.
The first thing she did was to get herself breakfast somewhere with a few mugs of strong coffee. She found herself picking hay out of her clothing. She sat and ate her food quietly, but the other patrons kept looking at her and whispering among themselves.
Sherie was beginning to get truly grumpy about this when a pair of Legionnaires came in wearing their armor. The taller of the two men simply looked her up and down and asked, “Do you have enough weapons, woman?”
Sherie thought, “Who are you to talk?” Then when she really thought about it, she realized that she carried more than twice as many weapons as a Legionnaire. She had five daggers, a long sword on her back, two short swords on her sides, a short bow, and a crossbow. Sherie knew that she only managed it because she wasn't wearing her armor anymore.
“Maybe,” she said looking at him stubbornly while taking a drink of her coffee.
The man just smiled and shook his head before sitting down.
The first order of business for her was going to be finding some new shoes and getting some information about that Shop.
* * *
The first thing she had done was sell the long sword. She didn’t care for them all that much anyway, and the speed of a short blade would always beat the reach of a long blade in her opinion. She considered selling the crossbow too, but she did like the weapon for an indoor engagement.
She found a cobbler on the same block as Lodicuois Enchantment Shop and purchased a new pair of shoes. These shoes were softer soled and made much less noise. She tried kicking the wall of the shop while wearing them, and they felt good for that, too. The shop owner looked like she was going to scream at her when she did it, but the woman restrained herself.
The lady seemed much happier when Sherie tipped her a silver when she bought them. She wouldn't normally tip that high, but when she looked in the thug’s purse she’d taken, there were six gold coins in there, plus an assortment of change.
Then she decided to go ahead and ask this woman, “What do you know about Lodicuois Enchantment Shop?”
“Not much that isn’t common knowledge really. Why do you ask?” The woman inquired suspiciously.
“No reason. I’m just a bit curious, but I’d appreciate you keepin’ it to yourself,” Sherie said as she teased the older woman with another silver coin.
The woman looked at the coin and back into Sherie’s eyes. “Well, I’d be happy to tell you whatever might help, and I’m always discrete about my customer’s business.”
Sherie sat the coin on the counter between them and said, “Alright then.”
There was no one else in the shop to overhear, but the proprietor leaned close to her anyway and spoke in a low tone. "Lodicuois's shop has been there for years, it was there when I set up this shop, in fact. It used to be run by Thorin Lodicuois. He seemed to be a nice man, considering he was a Wizard and all. He died about five years ago, they say from an illness. I watched his kids grow up around here. Both of them from a different mother, but somehow he got to raise them. People say the blood of whores runs strong in their veins if you know what I mean," she chuckled.
Sherie almost told her, ‘Only what you know, ma’am,’ but she let her ramble instead. It seemed the woman truly enjoyed telling the tale and she continued breathlessly.
“Well, now his daughter Vera runs the shop. Her brother, Shegath helps out sometimes, but I only see him there once in a while. He joined the Legion and she went to the Academy for Wiza
rdry. Old Thorin was so proud when she got her staff that he personally bought a bottle for every shop owner here on the block and had a drink with each of us to celebrate." She giggled and added, "I know he made it down both sides, but the Legionnaires were the ones that dragged him back to his shop!"
Sherie couldn't help but smile at that. Dealing with people that had drunk too much actually seemed to be the primary job of the Legion, despite what the Legion oath said. She said, "I'm surprised they didn't take him to holding in the nearest Tower instead."
“Oh no, he lived on top of his shop you see. And really, tryin’ to lock up a Wizard would be bad business for the soldiers, don’t you think?”
“I suppose,” Sherie said. Yes, it might not be the safest thing in the realm to do, but this was precisely the reason the Legion had their own Wizards. “Do you have any more info for me?”
“Yes. Vera isn’t like her father. She doesn’t care about anyone. When you talk to her, she says all the things that she’s supposed to say, but she’s lying. She doesn’t care about anyone, besides her brother.”
“How do you know that?”
“I saw ‘em once when I worked late through their upstairs window. It looked like he had her up against the wall and was just havin' his way with her," the woman told her in a conspiratorial whisper.
“Eww!” Sherie exclaimed reflexively as she tried to hold her stomach down.
“I know?! Makes me want to scrub up just remembering it!”
* * *
Now that Sherie had been thoroughly disgusted by what she had heard about this Vera Lodicuois, she decided to go into the woman’s shop and look around as a curious shopper. She wasn’t sure how much info she would actually get this way, but she decided to give it a try.
Sherie fought down some trepidation and just walked into the shop.It was just after the tenth hour, and it looked to her that the door was just unlocked. Sherie took a deep breath and walked inside.
This place looked like a flea market to her. There were little knickknacks all over the place. There were racks filled with drawers.
When she peeked into one, she saw various sizes of stones in it.She heard someone on her blind side and turned quickly. Her hand dropped to a weapon automatically.
Sherie saw a woman who was a bit taller than she was, wearing a black robe that covered her from neck to foot. She held a thin, smooth piece of wood that rose to about her shoulder in one hand, and was fastening her cloak’s collar with the other. She had long dark hair that was like Sherie’s own before she cut it; her hair must have gone to the middle of her back. She was pretty, but her hard angular features were too severe to be considered truly beautiful. She had a look of anger on her face that was only slightly reduced when she smiled at her.
“Greetings, and welcome to my establishment. Is there anything in particular, I may help you locate?" she asked smoothly.
“What?" Sherie asked since she didn't understand the words establishment and particular.
“What can I help you find?” The Wizard asked her, this time her eyes were lit with a faint amusement. Sherie was sure that was at her expense.
This wasn’t a question that Sherie had really given much thought to. So she just asked; “Do you mind if I just look around, milady?” She remembered the honorific this time, and hoped fervently she wouldn’t be offended by her forgetting before.
The woman's smile went cold. "Yes, I do mind. There is nothing here that someone like yourself could just browse for purchase. All the materials of that type would require an enchanter's degree, which you certainly don't have, either that or you are extremely unfortunate to find yourself without a spirit. In which case, it wouldn't help you anyway."
“What do you have that might help a mercenary, milady?” Sherie asked, not caring for this woman’s attitude.
She just looked her up and down and said, "Well, I have a full selection of enchanted goods, from speaking stones to glow stones, light rods, heat stones, cold stones, viewing stones, record stones, and note stones. Any one of these could be useful to a mercenary, it depends on what you are doing of course."
Sherie asked, “Do viewing stones bring things closer to you so you can see them better, milady?”
The woman just smiled, “No. They allow a person to view the images that have been recorded on a record stone. I think what you are looking for is a telescope.”
Sherie mentally flailed at this idea and asked, “Couldn’t you make something smaller and better than a telescope, milady? Like a special order item?”
Miss Lodicious actually looked to be thinking about it. She said, "It hasn't been done before that I know of, but I can see how it might be accomplished. I would have to charge you at least four gold coins for the research time though, and charging you that is no guarantee that it is in fact possible."
“Well, I have the coin milady," Sherie told her as she pulled them out of her purse. The Wizard looked surprised when she did.
She nodded, looking much more impressed now than she did before; “Well then. My name is Vera Lodicuois, and I am the owner. What is your name?”
“Jirai Sonom, milady," Sherie told her smoothly.
“Well, let me go and draw up a contract. Please, feel free to browse at your leisure.”
“Thank you milady,” she said, trying to get a good read of this place.
* * *
Sherie spent nearly forty minutes in the shop trying to gather information on the overall layout, but it only helped a little. She was appalled that she’d just given that woman four of her gold coins to do research for her, but she did get a good chance to see what there was to see inside the shop.
There was a pair of half doors that went to a back area similar to that of a restaurant or bar that seemed to have a workshop in it.
She saw it when Vera had gone in there for a moment. That must also be where the stairs to the upper levels were.
From the outside, she could see that there were three stories in this shop. There was a thin gap between this building and its neighbors. It was only about two feet wide. That would be perfect for her to climb though. She could easily hold herself up and get herself up onto the roof.
The real question was, “What do I do then?” She wondered while she sat at the cafe down the street watching the shop from the outdoor patio.
That was when she saw the Wizard woman walk out of her shop and lock her door. Sherie watched closely. It looked as if she had placed some sort of sign on the window of the front door. Then she saw her hail a carriage. This was her chance, and she knew it. She got up and walked quickly over to the alley that ran behind her shop. When she found the building with the red door, she took her bow and quiver of arrows off, because she couldn’t push her way up the wall with those on her back. She hung the case of crossbow bolts on her belt and put her arm though the crossbow to use the space between the bow and the string to hold it there.
She put the bow and quiver halfway between the street and the back of the building to keep it from being noticeable. From there she looked up the wall, and picked a spot that went directly to one of Vera’s third story windows from the ground, and began pushing herself up.
She put her hands as high as she could onto each wall and splayed her legs between each surface. She held onto her bare finger hold of purchase and pushed her body up with her feet and knees on each wall. She pushed herself up, inch by inch. This was both easier and harder than she thought it would be.
It was easier than she thought it would be to push herself so high this quickly. It was harder because it worked her muscles in a way that they had never been worked before. By the time she reached the window, her muscles were sore and she wasn’t enjoying the way the thick string on the crossbow was digging into her.
She looked inside the window and saw little. She slid the window open, and carefully took the crossbow off of her right arm before she put it inside. Then she grabbed the window’s sill and both pulled and pushed herself in. When she actually p
ulled herself far enough that her feet were off the wall, she fell forward into the small room.
The first thing she did was push the falling broom, mop and everything else that was in here back up. After a minute or so, her eyesight adjusted and she found the door. She tried to push it open, but it was latched on the other side. She could see the latch, because there was dim light on the other side of the door. So she pulled one of her daggers and lifted it up.
The light from a curtained window dimly illuminated the room, and that's when she saw the cages. The smell was horrible in here. She could see six cages, only two of them had people in them though.
They looked like paupers by their dress. The cages were too small for them to lie down in, and they had a bucket to use as a toilet.
Sherie crept out of the closet. One of them noticed her immediately. He was a middle-aged man. He didn’t say a word, he just watched her. It looked to her like he was afraid to even hope. The other cage had a young girl in it. She was either a really small woman or a teenager. Sherie couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or dead.
Sherie whispered, “She’s gone,” as she pulled her lock pick out of her pocket and began work on the cage’s padlock.
“Thank you for saving me, woman! I will do anything I can for you, I swear it by our Lord Josko!" He said reverently.
“Josko?” She asked, remembering what Gerald had said. “I thought he was a prophet or something...”
“Well, yes he is. But he is also the Lord of all Lords," the man said with a disturbing certainty.
“Yeah, whatever,” she said as the padlock popped open. The man paused and put his hands together, and began mumbling under his breath. Sherie grabbed the girl in the other cages foot and shook it. She woke with a start and a scream.
Fugitive: A Prequel to Spirit of Magik Page 14
