by Eric Ugland
“None of that,” I said.
“I just, I must apologize,” the barkeep said, snatching the ale from me. “You should not be drinking this swill, my lord.”
“It was fine. You don’t need to do this—”
“He is not from Osterstadt,” the wife said to me. “My husband, I mean.”
“Ah. So he’s impressed by the title?”
“Exactly. But I have heard something about you, and I would appreciate asking one more question.”
“Sure,” I said.
The barkeep slid a small glass in front of me.
“My best spirits,” the bartender said.
“I appreciate this,” I said, putting another gold on the counter.
“Thank you, my lord,” the bartender said.
“Really, not necessary,” I said. I took a sip of the drink he’d given me. It was an amber liquid of sorts, with a smooth oak and smoke flavor to it. A slight burn as it went down, and notes of something or other. “Your other question?”
The husband shook his head at his wife, and she seemed to pause for a moment as she formulated her question.
“Are you the man who lifted a little boy and his family from squalor?” she asked.
I blinked a few times. This was getting a little freaky.
“Explain,” I said.
“We have done business with a young man at times, a rather small boy who calls himself Mouse. A bit grubby but excitable. He has brought us some meats, and we buy it from him at a slightly inflated price. We know it was likely along the lines of a five-finger discount, but looking the other way a little was not a bother. Besides, so far from the Emerald Sea, we rarely get the exotic meats from the monsters. But he came in here last week with quite a haul. Enough that he needed a hand-wagon. So I was concerned. It’s one thing to buy a stolen leg of lamb, but this, this I had to know. I asked him, and he said it was because of a friendly man who became a duke while the boy was watching. A large man with long hair and a big beard. Today, I heard that someone with the same appearance escorted the little boy and his family out of the city, protecting the boy and his sister from someone who wanted to buy them. Is this true?”
“It might be.”
“What are your intentions with them?”
“I don’t want, I mean, look. I don’t know you guys at all—”
“Do you want to know the location of the oldest graveyard?“
“Yes, but—”
She smiled. “Then you need to answer some questions.”
I grumbled, but inwardly was fine with the whole thing. I didn’t see any danger telling people the actual events that went down.
“I inherited a dukedom, not that far away, and my father wanted me to build a holding there. Someplace safe where people can come and live calm lives. And this kid, well, his family looked like they were on some pretty hard times, and I could offer them a way out. And up.”
“You are not trying to take the children?”
“No. What? No. Absolutely not. The mother is with them right now. When I left them at our camp, they were sitting around a fire having a big hot meal and watching my lutra buddies fail at flirting with a Kitsune girl.”
“You have quite the group.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said, wondering how they’d take to a manticore.
“Would you say that you are a man who tries to help? To do good?”
“Sure.”
“Then I feel I must ask you—”
“Rebecca,” the bartender said sharply, “do not do this.”
“It is not right what happens,” Rebecca snapped back to her husband. “It is evil and—”
“And it is not our fight,” the bartender replied.
“But for the grace of the gods it could be.”
I felt extremely awkward, like I’d stumbled into something intensely private. So, I sipped some alcohol and wished for an invisibility spell.
And what do you know, I didn’t find one.
“This man, if he has done what the rumors say, can help right wrongs—”
“He is a duke. He is one of the highest men of the Empire, and you are—”
“Okay,” I said, setting the drink down on the counter loud enough to get their attention. “What is it you’re talking about?”
“My lord—” the bartender began.
“Isaac,” Rebecca countered, “he has asked to know.”
Isaac and Rebecca. I had to smile at that, but little did I know how old testament it was really about to get up in this bitch.
“There is a woman who is a member of one of the founding families of the city,” Rebecca said. “And she is one of the wealthiest people in all of the Empire. In Osterstadt, she is either the richest or the second richest, depending on the season.”
“But there’s something horrible and evil about her?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Naturally.”
“She steals children. And buys them. They are playthings for her, and when she tires of them, she bathes in their blood.”
“Okay, that’s a whole lot more fucked up than I was anticipating.”
“I beseech you to stop her, my lord,” Rebecca said, eyes cast downward.
A quest popped up. Of course.
You have been offered a quest by Rebecca:
The Good. The Bad. And the Bloody
Stop Lady Von Boeks. Kill her. Arrest her. Put her evil actions to an end.
Reward for success: Unknown
Penalty for failure (or refusal): Unknown
Yes/No
Fucking great. Another quest. I didn’t have time for this. And yet, if it was true, that’d be something really good that I could do. Something that could make a big difference in Osterstadt.
“Do you have any proof of this?” I asked.
“It is all rumors,” Isaac said.
“They are not rumors,” Rebecca said loudly, just on the edge of shouting. “That monster — my parents were — my father broke both legs in the Emerald Sea, and he could not afford a healer. We were going hungry, and then a woman appeared. This woman said she could get my sister a job as a maid. An apprentice maid really, but in the service of Lady Von Boeks. She would be paid in gold, not chits. She would have no contract, and she would be free to accept employment in other houses as she grew older. It was a dream. A lifeline in an emergency. And my parents jumped at it because it meant we other children would still be able to eat. To go to school. My sister disappeared into the Von Boeks house. I saw her one time after she left. Once. In a market, carrying a parcel. She was afraid. Terrified. As soon as she saw me, she tried to run to me, but the large woman with her grabbed my sister and took her away. My parents were told my sister fell from a high window while cleaning, and they were given a sack of coin for their loss.”
“Do you think that is how she actually died?”
“No.”
“It’s a tragic story,” I said, “but I can’t say that’s definitive proof.”
“I can get you proof.”
“Rebecca,” Isaac hissed. “No.”
“He must see her,” Rebecca countered.
“What if there is nothing to see?”
“Can you get it quickly?” I asked. “Whatever it is I need to see, it needs to be soon. I’m leaving the city tomorrow and I can’t say when I’ll get back this way.”
Her brow furrowed as she thought things through. It made me pause and wonder.
“Other kind of big question: what are the chances of me walking into this bar, and asking a question you’ve got the answer to that will make me willing to listen to a quest?” I asked. “I’m thinking rather low. So I have to wonder if something else is going on here.”
Rebecca looked over at her husband, and he looked at her. Something unsaid passed between them.
“I am with child,” Rebecca said, barely above a whisper, “and I have been praying that the goddess Zothys would send someone to save this city from the evil that is Lady
Von Boeks. And you have come.”
There was a long moment as they both looked at me. I looked into myself doing a little soul searching. That certainly seemed to make some sense, given the logic of the world and its gamification. That’d been the case with the girls in the bandit tower — their father had prayed to his god and I’d gotten a quest. But was that proof that Lady Von Boeks was engaged in the vileness she’d been accused of? What if this was a trickster god and I was just being used to kill an innocent if wealthy woman? Could this just be base revenge? Could Rebecca’s sister have died in an accident? It’s not like I’d seen much in the way of OSHA regulations being followed, and I could easily imagine a young girl being sent to clean the windows on the fourth floor of a mansion. I will say that this moment more than any reminded me of the games I used to play. Trying to complete a quest and being waylaid and delayed by side quests. Side quests which require other quests to be completed before they can be completed. Quests on quests on quests. Hell, I was here on a damn side quest, really. A quest I needed to complete for Emeline to stay with me and keep that quest complete. But that quest had already completed, so did that mean if I didn’t complete that quest that Emeline would leave—
“Okay,” I said, “let’s just say that you’re very compelling here, but is there actual proof you can show me?”
Rebecca looked at me. “Depends how you feel about magic and how much gold we have.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I will cover the costs required,” I said, “and I am actually a minor practitioner of magic, so—”
“Then come with me,” Rebecca started around the bar.
“This is madness,” Isaac said. “Going after Von Boeks is insanity. She has half the city guard on her payroll, for fuck’s sake.”
“Like, guarding her mansion?” I asked.
“She has her own private army guarding the manor house,” Isaac said. “She pays the guard to look the other way on everything she wants to do in the city. You can only underestimate this woman.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “she doesn’t worry me. If she’s doing evil shit, I’ll fuck her up.”
Rebecca smiled at that, then smiled at her husband.
“The goddess sent him to us,” she said. “I have no doubts.”
Isaac held her gaze for a moment, then looked over at me.
“Please,” Isaac said, “let no harm come upon my wife. Or our child.”
“I swear it,” I said.
Rebecca kissed her husband quickly, then darted around the bar, and grabbed my hand. She led me back to the main thoroughfare, and then we went west towards the Emerald Sea.
“If Isaac isn’t from here,” I said, “where’d you meet him?”
“He was a caravan guard.”
“From?”
“A town far to the south, below the capital, closer to the coast. He told me that he has seen the ocean there, and longed to see the Emerald Sea. We met in a tavern, and he decided he could not return without me.”
“Did you consider moving to his home town?”
“We have spoken of it, but his brothers have taken over the family business and there is little in his small town for us. My family is here, and though my mother and father have passed, my brothers still live.”
She looked up at the sun, getting low, and then at a clock.
“We must hurry,” she said, and started walking very quickly.
She had a long dress on, something that was rather common about the city. It looked like it was heavier than any of the armor I wore. Which, at that point, was basically just the leg portions of the plate mix I’d had earlier, and the metal boots definitely had a bit of a clank on the cobblestone street. Now that we were moving quickly, I sounded like a bucket of bolts falling down a stairwell.
It was a bit of a run until we got to the Magic Circle, but instead of going into the front entrance, Rebecca led me around the side and up the street to where a side entrance guarded by two soldiers.
One of the soldiers noticed Rebecca, and nudged his companion. The companion turned, and he looked confused.
“What are you doing here, Rebecca?” he asked.
“Sam,” Rebecca said quickly, “I need to get inside.”
“Why? And who is this following you?”
“The Duke of Coggeshall.”
“Never heard of it or him,” Sam replied.
“I need to talk to Pripiat.”
Sam shook his head.
“You have the money for him?” Sam asked. “I know you have had trouble, Isaac spoke to me.”
“I—” Rebecca started to answer, but I held up my hand.
“I’m paying for this,” I said.
“Who are you, really?” he asked.
I sighed, pulled my shirt over my head, and flexed the indicium.
“Weird flex,” he replied, “but okay. You have a family crest. Does that impress me?”
“Don’t you have one of those little books to tell you who I am?”
“Those are for the wall guards. I guard the Magic Circle. We have no need to know about your kind.”
“No need for that,” I said. “Then just know that I’ve got coin, okay?”
“Whatever you may be, know that if you hurt my sister or scam her, I will kill you.”
“I’m trying to make sure I’m not the one getting fleeced. And if I do somehow wind up hurting your sister, I will submit myself to you for killing.”
Sam nodded, then looked at his sister.
“You are set on this?” he asked.
She nodded.
He sighed, then said, “You know I disapprove—”
“Yes,” Rebecca replied. “But please.”
Her brother unlocked the door, and stood aside.
“Thank you,” Rebecca said.
“Just,” Sam said, stopping to search for his words, “please cease this.”
Rebecca shook her head. “You know I cannot.”
“If you continue down this path, it can only lead to ruin,” he said, hand out to her.
She just nodded, pushed past his hand, and we walked inside.
This area of the Magic Circle was different than the lobby. Not purely because the lobby had been a lobby and this was basically a long hallway leading into a small room. While the lobby had been exceedingly grandiose, where we were designed purely for function. It lacked any real sense of decor. The floors were stone, and the walls were stained wood. Stairs went up and down from the room, and a number of unremarkable doors led off it.
Rebecca seemed to know where she was going, and headed upstairs without hesitation.
It was quiet. Walking up the staircase I heard my feet on the treads, and I felt like a lumbering oaf. It wasn’t deathly quiet or eerie or anything like that. Rather, it had the same sort of atmosphere as a library. The sort of place where the smart kids all went to hang out and read together. Which, to be fair, I suppose might be something along the lines of what was happening here. If intelligence was the stat for mages and mancers, there probably was more studying happening here than most places in Osterstadt.
“Where are we going?” I whispered as we went up another set of stairs.
“Quiet,” she said. “We are not supposed to be in here.”
I tried to take lighter steps.
About three or four stories up, Rebecca pushed open a door, then peeked out into a hallway. She waited a beat, then gestured for me to follow. The hallway had carpeting, which was nice, though it was rather threadbare. Magic lanterns hung at regular intervals, providing steady illumination. No silly flickering flames here. Also, no shadows.
While she walked, Rebecca counted the doors on the left, then found the one she wanted ten down from the stairs. She knocked politely.
A moment.
The door squeaked open a hair and a half. I could see an eyeball peeking out.
“Who is that with you?” a timid voice said from inside.
“The Duke of Coggeshall,” Rebecca answere
d.
“That means nothing to me.”
“You and me both,” I said quietly.
Rebecca shot me a dirty look, but the voice on the other side chuckled.
The door shut, and I heard locks being undone. The door opened wide, and a young woman stood in front of her small quarters. Little more than a bench, a bed, and a desk. The woman was human, a bit plump, a good smile, but her skin was pallid and her hair rather stringy. This was someone who needed to shower more.
Which, I mean, I’m one to talk. But we can smell our own. Mainly because we all stink.
The girl leaned into the hall, looked around, then ushered us into her room right quick.
Rebecca sat down on the bench, further evidence she’d been there several times before.
“Do you have the gold?” the girl asked Rebecca.
Rebecca pointed to me.
“He does.”
I reached into my bag, and I pulled out another stack of gold. It wasn’t as big as I was hoping, and that was probably the best indication I was just about out of money.
“How much do you need?” I asked.
“70,” the pallid woman said.
“70? For what?”
“Well, my lord duke, this good woman wishes me to cast a rather dangerous scrying spell so that we may see somewhere we should not.”
“And that costs 70 gold?”
“You are not paying for the spell. You are paying for the education required to cast the spell and the willingness to cast the spell. Should you find my prices unreasonable, may I suggest finding another divinomancer in Osterstadt.”
“Is this where you tell me there are no others?”
“There are, they are just less willing to traffic in casting illegal spells for the general populace.”
I could see why Isaac and Rebecca were having money troubles. I took a moment to count out the gold and set it on her desk. I was left with a fortune of six gold. I needed to get the treasure sold somehow. Maybe melt it down or something.
The girl swept the coins into a tiny pouch, far too small to hold the coins I’d just given her, and she looked at me as if I’d be impressed. I wasn’t.
She frowned.
“Normal attempt, Rebecca?” she asked.