by Daniel Casey
Roth was relieved, “I’ll make sure you get paid.”
“If I don’t, I’m coming back here for that other forty.”
“It’ll be waiting for you.” Roth nodded and Jena seemed confused.
“In your hands or…”
“Adamix will have it.”
“Where will you be?” Jena was grave for a moment.
“If things go bad?” Roth asked. Jena didn’t break her gaze as Roth stood and said, “Elsewhere.”
Jena understood, nodding a bit while biting her lip, “I’ve not been there for a long time.”
“Let’s hope it’s longer still.” Roth extended his hand to Jena. She didn’t hesitate and clasped it firmly, pulled him in, and the two hugged smacking each other on the back quickly. Jena stood for a beat, then nodded, turned on her heel, and strode away. Walking back towards the barber’s, Roth couldn’t help but wish he could’ve spent more time with Jena under different circumstances. They hadn’t had a good time together for what seemed like years.
He thought on it as he made his way back to the wayfarer inn, snaking his way through the crowded streets. Maybe it had been in Rautia. No, that was Winterfinding, maybe three years ago but not the last time they were together. It was Imbolc up in the Siracenes, they had talked about going north. She had wanted to return to Calla, and he said he needed to leave the Cruor behind once and for all. That was the last time he had seen any of the others too. After this business, maybe he’d book passage on a riverboat in Midhalm and just float on north. He shook his head and cursed himself. He was always making ‘what if’ plans and then just floating. It was stupid, it was embarrassing, and he was already angry with himself when he arrived.
The barber’s smelled odd, astringent. Goshen was in a bed near the center of the longhouse past several other beds each draped in thin, white netting. Roth didn’t linger long; he caught the attention of a mender looking over a patient near Goshen and gave him instructions for the paladin. He left and crossed the way to the inn. It was a middling place and he'd thought it would suit Kira better than the usual places he found quarter. Inside, roughly fifteen patrons lounged in the common hall eating, drinking, and talking. Some played ranj and qipan. Roth made a mental note to come back through after he talked with Kira, maybe he could hustle a game or two for some extra coin. Roth had gotten them a room on the second floor in the rear of the building and had told Kira to stay put. He didn’t imagine she had ventured out, but he knew she’d want to check on Goshen’s progress with the menders.
Standing before a large oaken door Roth gave three firm knocks with his fist. There was some shuffling, and then Roth heard the latch lift and the door opened. He was shaking his head and pursing his lips when Kira saw him, “You ask who it is first. How can you not know that?”
“Who attacks someone in a hostel?” Kira replied as though he were a fool.
Roth entered the room, closed the door, and told her to sit. It was a small room with a single bed, a hearth, and circular table with two chairs. However, Kira stayed standing as Roth sat on the bed and explained how she and Goshen would be moving on to Bandra. Kira stared at him with a look that obliged him to keep talking—feet apart, her hands on her hips in a surprisingly commanding stance, and her expression solemn. Roth recognized this as one of the many self-satisfied and expectant poses of those of the upper classes. Although it triggered contempt in him, he still found himself stumbling somewhat over his own words trying to explain himself to her.
“And that’s the plan. I checked in at the barber’s and told them where to take Goshen. They should be heading there soon.”
“So who is this again?” Kira asked skeptical.
“Jena Char, she’s a local guide regularly traveling between here and the Spires. She’ll be able to keep an eye on you, make sure you and your friend get to Bandra safe and sound.”
“How do I know I can trust her?”
“Because I’m telling you, you can.”
“I don’t find that to be such a ringing endorsement.” Kira said wearily as she sat on the bed.
“Don’t you? I suppose I could’ve just left you both to your own devices out there, eh?” Roth held out his hands waiting for her to offer an explanation.
“No, no. I’m sorry, I mean…thank you, of course, you’ll be compensated…I appreciate…”
“Yeah,” Roth waved her off, “Look, Jena’s a ranger you can trust, this is her trade. You just make sure the Cathedral pays her promptly and without hesitation. She’s not the kind to suffer debts.”
“And you?” Kira said quietly fiddling with her tunic.
“Nobody owes me anything.” Roth mumbled as he busied himself re-ordering his pack.
“I owe you.” Kira said as Roth tossed his pack over his shoulders, then grabbed his other two, and stood to leave.
“You’re leaving now?” she said surprised.
“You know where the docks are and I’ve already told the barbers where to bring Goshen. I don’t see the point in lingering.” He needed to make this a clean break. He’d already gotten far too involved.
Kira’s eyes soften, “I need to thank you.”
Roth shook his head, “No, you don’t.”
“It was good of you to aid us out there, you deserve something.”
“No, no I don’t.”
“I’ll have the golden pagoda send you some aurei; I can send more along with Jena when she returns.” Kira was trying to come up with something, she rose and held Roth’s sleeve.
“I don’t need any of that; I don’t deserve any of that.” Roth was uncomfortable. Everything was telling him just to get away. “Give more to Jena if you need to settle your own conscience. This was nothing to me, just something I did.”
“Nothing to you?” Kira’s eyes narrowed, confused and hurt.
“Not like that,” Roth pulled his arm away from her and held his hand up, “Look, I’m sorry you two were hurt. I’m glad I was there to help. I wish you the best. But we’re never going to see each other again.”
Kira stared, her expression simply uncomprehending, “It couldn’t have just been random chance.”
“Don’t start,” Roth spoke assertively, his eyes getting bigger, “I don’t want to hear that. All things in the world are random. Even our best intentions are filled with chance; just let it be, girl. Go finish your little mission.”
Kira looked away nodding, “We do need to complete the journey.”
“Just think of me, if you must, as a little side adventure. A story you can regal the Lappalans with.” Roth patted Kira’s shoulder then spun quickly and left. In the hallway, he let out a long sigh, praying his entire way out the inn that she wouldn’t suddenly come after him. When he entered the street, he surveyed the movement of the crowd for a moment and then joined the flow heading toward the docks.
Port towns were a double-edged sword, so many faces and so much movement that tailing someone meant that you were virtually invisible, but often there were too many faces and too much movement, allowing a tail to be lost with ease. Fortunately, even though the alm and her new companion knew they had to be on guard, they didn’t suspect that someone would be there waiting for them. Nor did the bandits, who came not long after the limping trio, have any notion of Declan’s presence. It was comical, the alm looking out for bandits, the bandits lurking in the shadows, and Declan there to keeping an eye on all of them.
The new face had immediately taken the paladin to the barber’s shack. This wanderer had done a serviceable job of plugging the crusader’s wounds, although he still looked like he was plague stricken. The masked bandit must’ve gotten his poison laced bolt into the paladin. Poison was a queer instrument to use and it strengthened Declan’s suspicion that the highwaymen were looking to kidnap the two. The paladin needed more than a field mender, which was all the barbers in Anhra could offer; the paladin would have to be sent off to the nearest proper hospital in Bandra. The city wasn’t too much farther east and the fastest way
to get there would be via passenger barge. In little more than a day, the paladin would be in the hands of the best healers in the world. So Declan figured he knew where he’d soon be heading.
Bandra wouldn’t be a problem to get to, but there’d be some logistical problems. He couldn’t risk booking passage on the same kettuvallam they would choose. But the idea of following behind didn’t appeal to him either, he didn’t like not being in near his contract. He was mulling this over as he followed the new face from the wayfarer’s inn to a local brothel, which was a boon. Declan could hang around in a brothel without being noticed, maybe get a better idea of this man who had taken it upon himself to drag a near dead paladin and soft palmed alm into the city.
He took a place at the bar, paid for an amber ale but didn’t drink any of it, just held it as a prop. Not a few feet away, the man was pestering a halfling who’d surrounded himself in whores. The man didn’t want to talk inside, smart Declan thought, but the little man was resistant which turned out to be more than a bit of a laugh as the man picked up the homunculus and shoved him along toward the door. Declan didn’t follow, the halfling was cursing out all the information he needed. Roth was his name. He didn’t know it but now had a seed to plant. After a couple of moments, Declan set down his beer and left some coins as he made his way out.
Lingering outside the brothel, he waited for Roth to lead him to his next destination. It didn’t take too long, seemed the halfling was actually quite pliant. Roth left the brothel and made his way across town to the market district. Making his way through the crowd, Roth moved towards the stalls that did most of their business with the city’s free traders. Declan stayed back well enough. In fact, he noticed a popular tavern and casually staked out a space on its veranda. Another amber was ordered and again Declan merely held the tankard as a prop as he leaned over the porch’s railing. Across the way, Roth was lingering outside a small shop that had a canvas stall outside. A woman emerged followed by a vendor who went digging through his stall’s wares, as she stood silent. Declan may not have known this Roth fellow but he did know whom he was now turning to speak with, Jena Char.
Char was an active free ranger, not really one for killing contracts but an excellent bodyguard and tracker. He had served alongside her once up in Novosy as part of a cadre of riverboat guards. She wasn’t difficult to remember, a woman free ranger that far north, that near The Cathedral, stood out. Char had proved her mettle countless times fending off river pirates, smugglers, and not a few of her fellow guards who thought less of her sex. On this last count, she’d often disabuse their wrongheadedness by neutering them. He remembered how curt she was, single-minded and impatient. Char never told you to do something more than once. He saw her break a man’s nose and throw him overboard into the Falkstone River when the riverman didn’t move fast enough for her in measuring depth. She suffered no one, which made it a bit interesting that Roth seemed now to be coaxing her into something.
He could tell that the two were familiar, but the conversation didn’t go smoothly. Yet it seemed as though Roth had finally convinced her as he doled out a fair amount of aurei to her. What was a rover doing with that much coin? Declan wondered. For a moment, he seriously considered relieving Roth of the rest of his seemingly substantial purse. The two parted and Roth began to head back towards the inn where he had started. It felt as though Roth had just passed off his new friends. Declan nodded slightly to himself as a table near him was emptied. He moved to sit, setting his still full tankard down and fishing out from his inner tunic pocket a thick, folded map. He laid the map out before him. Declan needed to think about where they were going.
Now there was no chance that he could travel aboard the same vessel as his contract, too much of a possibility that Char would recognize him. Fortunately, the route between Anhra and Bandra was heavily traveled in normal times, and since The Blockade, it had increased dramatically. Declan placed his finger on an icon that resembled The Cathedral and followed the thick black line that was the highroad south as it soon was hemmed by a series of chevrons that represented the Siracenes to the west and the Glen Mark to the east until it ended at a red star that was Anhra. Declan followed the coastline of the Novostos east towards the golden star that represented Bandra. He could read words but he could read a map better than most. Declan measured some distances with his index finger and made a few marks with a thin, stubby pencil along the coast. He knew there were caches along this ship lane hidden just back off the craggy shoreline. If he found himself a fast skiff, he could probably keep a good pace with whatever barge his contract and its new companion or companions ended up on. He headed down to the eastern docks to acquire an unattended boat.
A deckhand entered the cabin, “They’ve taken the crusader to a barber.”
“He’ll need a proper healer.” Asa said not looking up as he was having the cut suffered in the marsh sewn up. Fortunately, for him the slice wasn’t deep, he had pulled back just far enough at the last instant to avoid a serious neck wound. Instead, the knife had slit him along his jaw line. He could feel the tightness and odd pain as Riv sewed him up.
“What of the girl and the other?” Asa asked.
The messenger spoke up, “She’s holed up in a wayfarer’s inn near the passenger docks. Seems the man that brought them in has her locked away, he seems to be familiar with the town.”
Asa furrowed his brow, “Then he’ll go to Meg’s to get information.” His eyes moved to Riv, “That is, if he’s looking to keep aiding the two. If not, he’ll still go there to pawn them off on someone.”
The messenger thought Asa was addressing him and asked, “We should cut him down there?”
Asa cursed and Riv stared at him, “You think this is easy? Be glad you’re not dead…”
He grimaced and looked hard at the messenger, “No. Don’t harm him. Shadow him but don’t kill him.”
“Why not?”
Riv’s eyes narrowed, he spat and barked at the deckhand, “Our concern is the girl not some gadfly. There’s no profit in going after him if we needn’t. If he insists on obstructing, then we’ll end him. But we don’t need to bring more notice upon ourselves than necessary.”
“So, the girl…”
Asa grabbed a tin cup near him and threw it at the messenger, “Monitor the paladin’s progress and have eyes on the girl. We need to split those two up. We just need to wait and see what is happening.”
Riv laughed a bit with a needle between his teeth as the deckhand ducked the cup and shot out of the room, “Yeah, I think we need to look into finding a couple more competent lieutenants.”
Closing his eyes, Asa winced a bit as Riv pulled the stitch through his skin, “How much longer with this?”
“If you want it done sloppily, I’m done now.”
“And if I want it done well?”
“Then I’ll fucking let you know when I’m done.”
Asa smirked a bit, “This contract is getting complicated.”
“They always do,” Riv patted the cut with gauze then spread some kind of salve over the line of stitches. He finished tying a neat knot and then patted Asa on the back, “There ya are.”
“Finally.”
“Let me wrap this.”
Asa turned and grabbed the bandages from Riv, “I’ll take care of it. I need some time.”
Riv nodded and stood, “That’ll be tight for a bit so don’t go jerking your head all over the place. Deliberate moves.”
Waving him away, Asa moved to the back of the cabin latching the blinds of his great window dimming the room, “Need a bit of a rest. Let me know when that fool returns.”
Riv didn’t linger and left the cabin. Asa laid down on the short bench below the window and closed his eyes. He kept making fists and after perhaps a few minutes shot up, spun around and moved towards the table at the center of the room. His eyes had adjusted to the dim light as he grabbed a squat bottle of wine, flicked the cork out with his thumb, and drank. It was a sour vintage, but
he was glad to have some heat in his gut. He sat and finished the bottle, slowly letting it lead him to sleep.
The door to the cabin flew open and hard white light filled the room. Riv stepped inside with some of their men. Asa’s head flew up off the table surface; he was disoriented for a moment then felt the tightness at his neck.
One of the men was talking to Riv, “He passed them off to another ranger. A woman.”
Asa raised an eyebrow, Riv strode through the cabin quickly throwing back the wooden blinds and filling the room with a proper amount of light. Asa rubbed his eyes, and then looked at the one who had been speaking to Riv, “Really? That’s odd. A woman free ranger delivering a wounded paladin to the Cathedral. He must have paid a lot for that.”
The sailor turned to his captain, “The girl and the paladin are going to meet her over at the eastern docks.”
“Ranger woman hasn’t seen the two yet?” Riv interjected.
“Doesn’t seem like it.” Said another of the men.
Asa nodded and smiled, “Well this works in our favor.” He stood up, arching his back and twisting side to side, “We can, at the very least, purchase more time for ourselves and, if things go well, completely erase our presence.”
The men looked confused, “Does that mean more coin?”
“It certainly does.” Riv said off-handedly.
Asa pointed at Riv, “We need to get to the girl and the paladin before they meet up with this ranger. We put one of ours in the girl’s place and in route or once they get to Bandra, we have her kill the crusader. Make it look like the wounds took him.”
Riv agreed, “The Cathedral will sentence both. But where are we going to find a woman willing to die?”
“This port reeks of whores, just find one. Throw some gold at her,” Asa tossed a pouch of coin to one of the men, “and make sure she knows she just needs to end the paladin.”
