Industry & Intrigue

by Ryan McCall

  Reese shifted in his seat and grimaced, he hadn’t meant to sound harsh with his question.

  “Oh relax, I did not mind,” she said. “I have put up with a lot worse from my own people, especially with where I decided to focus my vocation.” She stood up from her chair and walked over to the bookshelf on her right. Stretching to her full height, she managed to reach the top shelf and pulled out a thick, blue book.

  She placed it down in front of Reese. He looked at the title-The Gates of the World and other tales: Alkon translation.

  “That should get you started, most of the drakon myths and legends involving colossi are in there, see if it gives you any insight,” she said and invited him to pick it up.

  “Thank you professor,” he replied in excitement. He hadn’t expected her to lend him a book straight away. He eagerly picked it up and examined the cover. It had a several dragons flying in formation and large rising sun behind them.

  He turned to leave and Xerin said, “Oh and Mr. Galius, however much you study that, do not let it interfere in your regular studies, understood?”

  “Yes, of course professor. Don’t worry I won’t,” he replied and he was quickly out of the office and walking down the hall. He couldn’t wait to see what the book had to offer.

  Chapter 2

  Brenna Moreland hated the docks of Alkos City. It wasn’t the morning crowds or the fact that there was barely room to walk with all the cargo piled up or that she would often get bumped into by a seaman running to reach his ship. What she despised was the smell.

  She had never liked the smell of the ocean and it was overwhelming at the docks. In addition were the fish markets, one street over from the docks and passing by was enough to make her feel nauseous. The final layer of the dock smell was the dirt and soot mixed in from the industrial section.

  Various factories had smokestacks pumping out fumes daily, companies had found it easier to locate their manufacturing centers near the docks for ease of shipping. Not to mention the convenience of Rainac Train Station on the southern end of the docks. The station served as a hub for cargo from all over the empire. Wedged between the docks and the industrial sector was an area known as ‘The Den’. The name came from when smugglers had used the area, before the docks had become a vibrant and commercial operation.

  But the Den remained an area of cheap, low-lying buildings and vacant yards, which serviced the poorer classes working or trading in the district as well as functioning as discrete operating areas for criminals, which was what had brought Brenna here on this morning.

  Brenna was a sergeant in the Justice Branch, a specialized unit of the Alkos City Watch that focused on policing the drug and sex slave trade that flourished in the less affluent sections of the city. She had dressed down to ensure she blended in, wearing dirty, black and brown clothes and messed her dark red hair around to look ill-treated. She had skipped her usual morning bathroom routine so that she didn’t appear too clean. The snitch she was meeting knew she was a watch officer, but in this part of the city one could never know who else was watching.

  She made her way past the final section of the docks proper and crossed into the Den. It was less crowded here, but the smell was much worse. Beggars sat at the corners and here and there bouncers at doors were trying to invite customers in for whatever illicit activities were going on inside.

  She made her way evenly and slowly, ignoring the two calls of men who assumed she was a street walker. They must be desperate she thought. Normally men would wait until evening before looking for prostitutes.

  She soon came to her destination, the Steel Axe Inn, a large stone building which housed a transient clientele. She pushed open the light wooden door and was assailed with the smell of beer, wine, and tobacco. At such an hour, there were only a few staff members and minimal patrons, all four of them sitting at the bar.

  She made her way over to one of the serving staff and asked for the manager. The waitress went out the back and a moment later a large man, both in height and weight came out to see her. “I’m here to see Rengalk,” she said and she slid a silver coin over the counter.

  In places like this, it was an expected cost for the privilege of them to not ask questions.

  The man carefully pocketed the coin, “Second floor, third door on the right,” and she nodded in thanks. She made her way up as fast as she could, running into a woman hurrying in the opposite direction, but paid her little attention. She reached the door and knocked lightly. There was no response, so she knocked again, harder this time. He could be sleeping off a night of drinking.

  I shouldn’t have agreed to meet in an inn, she thought, although Rengalk hadn’t given her much choice. She tried the knob and it turned; the door was unlocked. She pulled her Hanuus six-shooter revolver out of its holster and pushed the door open with her free arm.

  Rengalk was slumped against the bed, blood pooling from a stomach wound. She stepped in and he gasped and tried to speak, but it turned into a violent cough. She scanned the room for assailants but it was clear, she bent down next to him. “Rengalk, what happened?” she asked.

  “I was too slow,” he said with his thick, orcish accent, “shoulda been more careful.” He coughed again, drops of blood spattering the bed sheet. Brenna examined the wound but could tell it was too late; it was a deep, knife wound. The blade had sliced along his green skin, then twisted around and pulled out to ensure maximum damage.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I should have got here faster.”

  He shook his head before going into another coughing fit, “Barus, he’s… he’s getting in a new shipment tomorrow night and…ugh.” He stopped and blood dribbled from his lips.

  “And?” asked Brenna, the orc was dying and but she could still get what she came here for. “At least make the last thing you do a good deed,” she pleaded.

  He looked at her, his eyes strained. “It’ll be going to a new safe house…its…ah...ugh…cor,” but he was unable to finish whatever he had been about to say, his breath stopped and his eyes were no longer moving.

  Brenna stood up and swore, “Fucking damn it!” She had been this close to getting Barus’s drug operation. She should have known better though, this was the reason it was so hard to get information about the drug operation run by Barus Asulius.

  Informants were killed and witnesses were intimidated. There had been a particularly nasty shoot-out a month ago, between Barus’s crew and one of the smaller gangs, which left five dead, including two innocent bystanders. Not a single suspect had even been arrested. Barus controlled a significant portion of the tarcaine trade in Alkos City.

  Tarcaine was a powerful drug that induced hallucinations and a near comatose like high, and it was highly addictive. It was smuggled into the Alkon Empire from Ze Feros, where it was legal, albeit only for high ranking members of the Kartec religion. That didn’t stop entrepreneurial criminals from obtaining it, which left little chance for it to be cut off at the source. The Zefey were zealots when it came to their religious practices.

  The recent drug reformation under the new legislation had changed the situation. Brenna’s unit didn’t have to go after the small time drugs anymore, as they had been decriminalized or even legalized, which at least gave the watch more resources to focus on the tarcaine trade.

  As she went to leave she suddenly realized she may have passed Rengalk’s killer. He had only been stabbed a short time ago and she had passed a woman on the way up. She ran downstairs and burst out the front door, no longer caring about attracting attention.

  She looked down both ways of the street but she couldn’t see her anywhere. There was no one other than the usual vagrants. Fortunately her memory was incredibly keen, part of what made her such a good justice officer. She would get down everything she could remember about the possible killer once she returned to the station.

  After finishing with the station’s facial artist, Brenna took a good look at the picture; it wasn’t much to go on. Human, light skin, average
height and weight, no distinguishing marks.

  “So how’d it go?” asked one of the officers who was under her command, George Thorndor. He typically did street work, arresting drug dealers and prostitutes and bringing them in to pressure them into spilling the beans on their superiors. Despite his age and long service in the watch he had no problem working under Brenna. Unlike a few of the other older officers who didn’t appreciate being told what to do by a less experienced member who had yet to earn their respect, on top of being a woman in the male-dominated city watch.

  "No good,” she replied. “One of Asulius’ people beat me to him. Guess he must have made them suspicious, said or did the wrong thing.”

  George grimaced. “Damn, that’s rough, I thought this informant of yours had finally cracked the armor of Asulius’ operation.” Then he noticed the picture she had in her hands. “And that’s the killer?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, at least I think it is. A woman that bumped into me while I was heading up to meet Rengalk. She was in a hurry, so she’d be my best guess.”

  “Not much to go on, in this city there’s hundreds of people that match that picture” said George as he held up the drawing.

  “I know, fucking useless.” She grabbed the picture from his hands and threw it onto her desk. “I better go and tell the captain.”

  “Oh right, that’s why I came over, he wants to talk to you about a case involving Imperial Branch,” he said, in sudden remembrance. “And before you ask, no I don’t have the details. He also has a rookie he wants you to try out.” He snickered as he finished his sentence.

  “And why in the hells is that funny?” asked Brenna in an annoyed tone “Something up with the new meat? Oh fuck. Don’t tell me whoever it is, is a fanatical Varonite.”

  “Absolutely not!” exclaimed George, “So soon after the McWilliams Scandal. Do you think the captain would let a Varonite rookie into our unit?”

  Varonism was a large, monotheist religion that was conservative and strict. It had once been the main religion of Alkos before the empire had secularized, but there was still a significant amount of the population that were belonged to its church. They were well known for being vocal about their beliefs even in fully secularized workplaces where speaking out in such a way could have legal repercussions.

  A few months ago a watch captain named Kenneth McWilliams had been fired in scandal. He had delayed an investigation on a murder case, due to the main suspect being a high standing priest in his local church. It turned out that the suspect had been guilty but by the time the watch had enough to charge him he had already fled the city. Captain McWilliams had been crucified professionally and in the papers for delaying the investigation out of religious privilege.

  “No nothing like that,” replied George, “but you’ll see soon enough.” He walked away from the desk still chuckling to himself.

  Brenna shrugged and headed towards the captains office. As she walked past the other desks, she noticed grins and odd laughter from several other officers, clearly George wasn’t the only one in on whatever the joke was about the new recruit.

  She reached the large glass doors that had Captain Niko Tolov written in bold, black letters. She knocked and the captain looked up and waved at her to enter. She walked in while saying, “Captain, I’m sorry, the informant had been attacked by the time I arrived. He died before he could tell me anything useful. I should have been more careful.”

  The captain was immaculately dressed in his suit and tie as always and his heavily greying, dark hair was cut short. He leaned forward and Brenna could smell his aftershave. “Anything on the killer?” he asked.

  “No sir, nothing beyond the brief description I have when she passed me. But I will do everything I can to find her and then I’ll get Barus Asulius if I have to beat it out of her.”

  The captain leaned back and put his hands together with his fingers laced. “It’s doubtful you’ll find her. From what we know of Asulius, his enforcers are careful and even if you do, I doubt she’d talk. Not with the amount of pull Asulius has in the city prison. No, I think you need to take a step back until we get in from the other angles, besides I need you elsewhere for now.”

  She wasn’t exactly happy but she replied, “Yes sir. What do you need?”

  He passed her a sheet of paper. “Imperial Branch has requested a member of our unit to advise them on a suicide, so I need my best sergeant to go.”

  “A suicide sir? Since when does Imperial Branch investigate suicides and why do they need our help?” she queried.

  Imperial Branch was a small, elite part of the watch that dealt with high-profile murders, thefts and political crime. The branch took orders directly from the justice minister rather than the watch commander. On the street they were called the Blackwatch. It was never a good sign for a criminal if they heard the phrase ‘The Blackwatch is coming.’

  “I know, it’s not normally an area for either branches but I suspect the victim is someone high profile which is why they’re involved. As for us, well it’s a drug overdose so they asked for the experts.”

  Brenna nodded, “Where is it?”

  “The victim was a student at Warded Spirals, the scene is at the campus housing, block five, room two-zero-one. But before you leave, we have a new rookie,” said Niko.

  “Yes, so I’ve heard,” said Brenna. “Those guys can’t keep their mouths shut about anything.” She pointed out at the officers in the main room. “You want me to take the rookie along to the scene?”

  Niko nodded, “Yes. He’s waiting in the conference room, I’ll get you introduced.” He stood up from his desk and let Brenna leave the office first and followed her out. As they walked towards the room, Brenna could sense the same level of humor from the other officers again.

  “What’s the big joke captain? Something to do with the rookie?” she asked.

  “Don’t mind them,” said Niko. “They’re wondering what your reaction will be.”

  “Reaction to what?” she asked, more annoyed than ever now. They were coming up to the conference room door and Niko said, “The new rookie, he’s… well he’s an agorid.”

  Brenna was shocked, “What! An agorid! Are you fucking joking?” Her surprise was only natural. Agorids were a savage bipedal race from the Steppes of Kangur that lived in numerous nomadic tribes. They were made up of five sub-races, bear, bovine, goat, lupine and tiger, each sub-race looking like bipedal versions of the respective animals and having different cultures and traditions. The one trait they all had in common however was violence.

  The tribes near the borders of civilized nations constantly conducted raids against them and never cared how many of their own number they lost in the process. Many experts thought that if it were not for the tribes warring against each other so often they would be able to conquer all of Maceon, so great were their numbers and expertise at waging war.

  “Calm down,” said Niko. “I know what you’re thinking. I thought the exact same thing when the commander asked me to consider him for our unit. Meet him, take him out on this simple case with you and let me know what you think. That’s all I ask.”

  Brenna was still shaking her head. “Fine sir, if you say so,” she replied and pushed open the door to the conference room. There was a podium at the front and several small chairs messily spread throughout the room. Seated at a large, empty desk was a bear agorid in the red uniform of the Alkos City Watch. It must have been custom made; the department certainly didn’t make a common size large enough to fit him. In addition to the uniform he had metallic armor covering his left shoulder.

  He stood up as they entered the room and he looked even bigger. He was at least seven and a half feet tall and Brenna had to look upwards to make eye contact.

  Then he spoke and surprised her, “Greetings captain, am I to assume that this will be my training officer?” He held out his huge paw to shake her hand.

  She was stunned; he spoke with a flawless and upper-class, Alkon accent, and it was di
sconcerting to hear what normally came from the mouths of nobles and government officials to be spoken by this beast.

  Upon seeing Brenna’s hesitation the agorid said, “I assure you I will not damage your hand sergeant, I have been trained to control my greater physical strength when interacting with humans.” She slowly moved her hand out and grasped a part of the agorid’s paw and shook.

  “Sergeant Brenna Moreland,” she said, “I’m sorry for my uh… hesitation.”

  “No need to apologize ma’am, frankly your reaction is minor compared to many of the other officers when Captain Tolov first brought me into the station this morning. I have grown accustomed to people’s reactions upon viewing me but I also hope that the contributions that I can make here in this branch will go in towards alleviating the intimidation that my physical appearance can bring,” he replied. “My name is Snar Bruce, a pleasure to make your acquaintance Sergeant Moreland.”

  Cogs whirred in Brenna’s head, the name sounded familiar. “Snar? Wait you’re not Snarly the Bear Agorid are you?”

  “One and the same I must confess,” he said with a smile, or least what she assumed was a smile on the jaws of a bear.

  Brenna grinned, “I still remember the day my parents took me to the Garud Brothers Circus twenty years ago and seeing you.”

  Brenna’s memory of the time was excellent. It had been her first visit to a circus and the attraction of a live agorid had been heavily promoted by the circus. Snarly the Bear Agorid was a small toddler during the circus’s heyday and was a big event. No one had ever had the chance to see an infant agorid up close before.

  He had been captured after a battle, west of Fort Naikos at the edge of the steppes and brought back to Alkos City. At least that was the tale that the circus narrator had told. He had performed a small show of little else besides acting as his natural self and engaged in in mock fights with magical light constructs that looked like soldiers.

  “But you were only this big,” she put her hand about three feet above the floor.