Goblintown Justice

by Matt Forbeck

the things I knew about him and the way he’d been running dragon essence throughout the city, he’d probably have been better off watching me get murdered while he nursed a warm beer in the corner. But then he’d never been that bright.

  “Someone’s been killing guards,” I said. “They’re going to pin it on Sig.”

  “Who?” Kai said. “When?”

  I glanced around at the creatures glaring at us. “Maybe we should do this someplace more private.”

  Kai shook his head and cracked a fearsome grin. “I broke up your little dance to hear what you’ve got to say about Sig. I don’t like your song, I’ll let the music start back up again.”

  The bartender sniggered at that, and the orcs and goblins around the place joined in. I could hear the kobolds cackling by the door.

  “Walt Danson, Andrew Conners, and Paolo Cartucci,” I said. “One, two, and three weeks ago. Last night, Ames Kearns made it four.”

  “Couldn’t have been Sig,” Kai said, shaking his head. “Except for last night, he’s been helping me out every night for the past month. Last night was the first we had off in forever.”

  “Anyone besides you able to verify that?” I glanced around the room.

  “What, my word ain’t good enough?”

  “For me, sure,” I said, resisting an urge to let loose a bitter laugh. “Yabair? Not so much.”

  Kai growled in frustration, then scratched his head. “We were, ah, working security for Henrik Bricht,” he said. “Think his word’d pass muster?”

  “He a part of the Bricht family?” I asked. Kai nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  The Brichts had made their money quarrying the rock for the city’s walls. There were all sorts of Brichts running around the Dwarfheim district of Dragon City, and as a group they had more than enough clout to stand up to the Imperial Dragon’s Guard. I didn’t run much in those high-society circles, though, and I couldn’t keep track of who was on the ins and outs with the family’s elders without a scorecard. Still, it was a step in the right direction.

  I gestured toward the door. “Let’s go see Yabair then and let him know.”

  “Thought you said he wouldn’t believe me.”

  I shrugged. “He won’t, but he’ll send someone around to check with your friend Henrik.”

  Kai wavered. “Maybe I should go talk with Henrik first.”

  “Sig might be dead by the time you pull that off.”

  Kai’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “Right.”

  “Hey,” the bartender said. He brushed the bits of the shattered glowglobe out of his fur. His razor flashed in his other hand as he pointed it toward me. “How do we know this isn’t some kind of trick so you can walk out of here?”

  “You don’t,” Kai said as he shouldered his shotgun and headed for the door, which the kobolds scrambled to hold open for him. “But if you try to stop us you’ll have even more of a mess to clean up. Either way, I don’t think Max here’s ever coming back to this place.” He looked at me. “Right?”

  “Right.” I followed after him, certain someone would make a move toward me, but no one did. As I reached the door, I shot back over my shoulder. “The service sucks.”

  WE COULDN'T FLAG DOWN another ride until we reached a less green-skinned part of town. Even then, I had Kai step back into the shadows until I managed to hail us a carpet. When I called Kai out of hiding, the hack flinched at the sight of the well-armed orc, but to his credit he brought us upslope anyhow. Maybe he was too afraid to kick us off.

  When we reached the precinct house, a guard ushered us into a waiting room where Yabair kept us cooling our heels for what seemed like forever. A couple of times, I complained to the fat desk sergeant stationed there to watch over us.

  “Captain Yabair doesn’t work here,” he said. “We sent for him, and I’ve been told he’s on his way, but I have no control over how long he decides to take getting here.”

  “Can we at least visit the prisoner?”

  The man shook his head so much his jowls jiggled. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

  “Fine,” I said in a tone that made it clear that it was anything but.

  Off in the corner of the room, Kai cursed and ranted. I suppressed the urge to tell him to shut up. He had every right to be just as angry as I was about being left to pace about the room, but if we got in a brawl over it we’d wind up in the same position as Sig.

  For a few moments, I considered ignoring my own advice— starting a fight and waiting for the Guard to arrest us—in the hope that it might at least get us into the same cell as Sig, but it seemed like too much of a long shot. Kai kept eyeing me, though, and I knew he was thinking the same thing.

  Just as I was sure that Kai’s patience had run out and that he was going to jump me to force the sergeant’s hand, Yabair strolled into the room. “Good day,” he said as he arched an eyebrow at Kai. “I’m told you have something for me.”

  “Sig couldn’t have killed those other guards.” I jabbed a thumb toward Kai. “He was working with his cousin here every night for the past month.”

  A thin smile played on Yabair’s lips. “And you believe we can find an arbiter who would release your friend on his cousin’s word?”

  “We were working for Henrik Bricht,” Kai said, stepping up and cutting in. “He’ll vouch for it.”

  Yabair turned toward Kai as if he’d only now seen him for the first time. “You’re sure of that?”

  “Sure,” Kai said, his voice wavering just a bit. “Why wouldn’t he?”

  Yabair shrugged in way that suggested he was humoring a dull child. “Of course. Why wouldn’t he?”

  He summoned the desk sergeant to his side and the two exchanged whispers that grew more heated with every moment. At one point, Yabair glanced at us, then grabbed the sergeant by his fleshy arm and marched him off into the farthest corner of the room. The conversation grew from whispers to muted curses, and Yabair led the sergeant to the room’s rear door, opened it, and shoved him through.

  Once the door had shut behind the sergeant, Yabair turned toward us, and the expression on his face horrified me. I’d rarely seen it on an elf before. He was so embarrassed he was actually blushing.

  “I’m afraid that I have some—” He stopped himself and tried again, this time looking directly into Kai’s eyes. “Your cousin is dead.”

  Kai’s jaw dropped, but no words escaped his mouth.

  “He had a knife on him that the Auxiliary Guard missed. He stabbed himself through the neck with it.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I shouted. “You know damned well that’s not what happened.”

  Yabair turned toward me, glowering. “Are you calling me a liar?”

  “If you believe that story, I’m calling you an idiot,” I said, stepping straight into his face. “He was locked in a cell, by himself, with no witnesses around, accused of killing guards, and you want me to believe he killed himself with a knife he couldn’t possibly have had?”

  Yabair might have been embarrassed by what had happened, but he wasn’t about to put up with any abuse from me. “Out of respect for your loss, I’m going to give you one chance to step away from me.”

  “Or what?” I said, bumping my chest against his. “You going to find a knife on me and arrange for me to fall on it? How many times do you think it’ll take?”

  Yabair’s hand snaked out faster than I could see, even though I knew it was coming. His fingers wrapped around my throat and started to squeeze. I tried to pull away, but he yanked me closer to him with all his might, so I used the momentum to charge in and head-butt him in the nose.

  Blood spurted from the elf’s face as he released me and sat back hard on the floor. Free from his grasp, I had my wand out and pointed at him before I took a fresh breath. The words to a nasty spell were the first things on my lips.

  Yabair clutched at his ruined nose, blood running through his fingers. I couldn’t help but notice it was the same color as mine. He glared up at m
e and gurgled a condescending laugh.

  “I’ll give you that one, Gibson,” he said. “Self-defense. I was strangling you. Sure.”

  His eyes focused on the tip of my wand. I’d stopped shy of uttering the spell’s last syllable, holding it there on my tongue, where it burned like a hot coal as it begged to be set free so it could finally serve its purpose.

  “Don’t do it, Gibson,” Yabair said. “For your sake, back that spell down and put your wand away.”

  At the moment, I wanted nothing more than to let loose with my wand and blast Yabair into pieces so small and burnt that they’d never be able to find all of him. I would have done it too. I came this close.

  But Kai put a hand on my shoulder. “Forget it, Max,” he said. “The elf’s right. Sig’s dead. You kill Yabair here, in the precinct house, you’ll wind up the same way.”

  I tried to tell myself that didn’t matter, that I had to do it. My sense of justice demanded it. But I looked down at Yabair, and I knew it was wrong.

  He hadn’t killed Sig. The Dragon City had, and we’d all been a part of it.

  I lowered my wand and spit that final syllable onto the floor.

  Kai stuck out a hand to Yabair, but the elf ignored it and rose under his own power.

  “This is over,” Yabair said as he wiped the blood from his hands onto his crimson uniform. “Leave now, and it stays between us.”

  “You don’t want to know who killed your guards?” Kai said.

  Yabair wrinkled his nose and winced at the pain. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face clean. “More than