At Large

by Andrew Seiple

  “I’m fine, thanks. It’s warm enough in here.”

  “Not what I meant. Neither of those are reasons why the windows are intact. Oh, they might be contributing factors in the abstract, but they’re not the reason.”

  “So…” Chase climbed up on the table and poured herself some water. Then she took her seat and leaned back, sipping from the oversized tankard. “They’re intact because there will be trouble. You confirmed that. Trouble from the city guards?”

  “I don’t think there are any of those that come around here,” said Renny. “Those two guys outside wouldn’t have been robbed if that was so.”

  “Four guys, actually,” Thomasi said, glancing back out the window. “No, five.”

  “We would have been tossed outside like them if things downstairs had gone wrong,” Chase said.

  “They probably wouldn’t have stripped you,” Thomasi said. “Professionals have standards, and you’re a young lady, after all. Generica’s nicely un-pervy that way.”

  “Uh, okay.” Chase felt her face redden a bit at the talk of being stripped, or not, as the case may be. “ANYWAY. You flashed gold in there… but you flashed gold after you mentioned you were working for someone. And after you flashed that gold, the crowd lost interest.”

  “They did. You’re on the right track…” Thomasi made circular motions with one hand, eyes glued to the window. “Speed it up a bit. My estimates were off. Just our luck to be the excitement on a slow day.”

  “They saw the silver and they wanted it, and they wanted to get it from you,” Chase said, remembering the scene vividly. “But then they saw the gold, and it was like… it was fear. They were afraid. Why?”

  “It’s the same reason that they’re afraid to break the windows here, isn’t it?” Renny asked.

  “Very astute!” Thomasi nodded. “You are correct.”

  Chase stared into her water, letting her mind roam. She weighed possibilities, considered tangents.

  Below her, she heard a sudden cessation. The low muttering and noise of the common room that she’d dimly been aware of through the floorboards had stopped, all at once. The door to the outside shut, but it was the only noise in the silence.

  Finally, she spoke. “The windows are intact… and people won’t rob someone who’s too rich here… because there are consequences. And that means there’s someone who enforces those consequences.”

  “Someone who isn’t the guard,” Renny pointed out.

  “Someone who is below us at this very minute,” Thomasi said, turning to face her, then looking towards the door. “And will be here very quickly.”

  “Who?” Chase whispered.

  “The local crime boss, I expect,” Thomasi said. “Someone who can get us in or through the city. Though we might not want to let him know that right away.” He smiled. “I’ve done enough business in places like this to know that you want to go slowly, slowly. Take your time. Show respect. Read between the lines and listen to what isn’t said.”

  “Why are you telling me all this?” Chase said, ears flicking. She reached for her headscarf… and blinked, to find it gone from her hands.

  “No. The ruse would be seen as rude, here. Besides, it suits our purposes better this way.” Thomasi twirled the scarf he’d pickpocketed from her and handed it to Renny. “She gets it back after this is done.”

  “Hey!” Then she blinked. “Wait. You told the bartender that you were here to facilitate a meeting between someone very important and your master.” Her mind churned overtime, chewing on a terrible notion. “And then you corrected him, because your master wasn’t a man…”

  Thomasi smiled wider.

  And then she knew. “Oh you son of a… the crime boss is the very important guy! And I’m your master! You’re going to play it like I’m in charge of you and make me do the talking!”

  INT+1

  Thomasi’s grin was all the answer she needed.

  Feet creaked on the stairs outside, and she turned, composing herself. “That’s why you gave me advice… argh! Renny, can you get back in the pack, please?”

  He complied, and she set it beside her chair, smoothed herself down and prepared for what was to come. Shooting one last sour look at Thomasi, she asked “Any more advice?”

  “Yes. Don’t get us all killed.”

  And with that comforting thought in mind, Chase heard three heavy knocks at the door…

  CHAPTER 4: A MAN OF WEALTH AND TASTE

  Chase stared at the door. Three knocks came again, a little lighter this time.

  “Shall I?” Thomasi asked, shooting her a glance.

  Why was he being so deferential— oh, right. They’re close enough to hear us. “Let our guests in, Tom.”

  And as he moved in front of her, she took the opportunity to buff. She didn’t have many of those, but the one that came to mind might mean the difference between life and death. “Silver Tongue,” she whispered, barely on the edge of sound.

  A slight creaking from the side, and she kept her face still. That creak had been inside the room, and from the side the portrait was on. There were living eyes watching through the holes now, she reckoned. No need to alert them to the fact that she knew. It took an effort to keep from looking, though.

  WILL+1

  Once the door was open Thomasi moved back to stand next to her chair, and Chase stared at the biggest, greenest woman she’d ever seen in her life. She had to stoop down to get through the door, and when she straightened up, Chase saw that she had two large, yellow tusks jutting out from her lower jaw. Flat black eyes stared at her, then roved around the room, taking in everyone and everything. Only after a solid twelve seconds of perusal did she grunt and move inside. Her clothes were fairly fine, Chase noticed; a loose tunic, sturdy trousers with embroidery, and a fur cloak. Finer garb than any she’d seen in this neighborhood so far. Or on the road, come to think of it…

  The second person through the door was a woman with a dog’s head, a sleek Doberman’s muzzle and ears. She was dressed similar to her partner, with the cut adjusted for her figure and visible, short fur in the few places that her skin was bare. More worryingly, she also had a sword hilt visible on her belt. The green lady was unarmed but seemed like she could probably bench press Thomasi if need be.

  Dog-lady sniffed once or twice, then her eyes widened. “Wolf— wait. Wait, no. Fox,” she announced, looking toward Chase. “Faint, though.”

  The statement made the big green woman frown and scratch her head. “Don’t have instructions about that kind of—”

  “Shush. You, why am I smelling fox?”

  Chase reached behind her, and the atmosphere in the room grew hard, hard and brittle.

  An atmosphere that eased when Chase pulled out Renny and put him on the table. “One has to keep up appearances,” she said, demurely.

  The green woman laughed, and her teeth were as yellow as her tusks. She leaned back through the door. “They’re clean.”

  “Good, good,” came a man’s voice. Elderly, warm, jovial, it reminded Chase of her grandfather. “Cagna, Lachina, mind the door. We are expecting company, after all.”

  The man who entered took his time about it. A genial human, with a shock of white hair, thin on top. He was portly and walked with the help of a cane. His face seemed loose, even though he was fat. As if he’d been even bigger at one time and had shrunk down unevenly. Eyes glittered back in their hollows as he scrutinized them and smiled at Chase. “Well well.” Then his glittering gaze roamed over to Thomasi, and his breath hitched in his throat.

  “Tom, get the seat for our guest,” Chase said, steepling her fingers together. “Show some respect, hm?”

  “Of course,” Thomasi helped the man to his seat, and poured him a tankard of beer.

  The older man took it, eyes never leaving Thomasi’s face.

  Chase took the opportunity to glance away from the portrait and guards and mouth, “Silent Activation, Size Up.”

  Then she took a good, hard look at t
he stranger.

  Old human?

  Charisma – Moderately better

  Perception – Mildly worse

  Willpower – Greatly better

  Wisdom – Moderately worse

  Influencing conditions: Blessing – Willpower, Vow - Omerta

  Your Size Up skill is now level 2!

  More charismatic than Chase? That was a surprise. She licked her lips. That willpower, though… he’d doubled down on it, by the look of his condition.

  This size up skill is insanely useful, Chase realized. I should have been practicing it while we were on the road instead of playing keepaway with monkeys.

  After the old man was seated, Tom moved to stand by Chase’s side, keeping his eyes downcast and his hands folded. The old man simply drank his beer a sip at a time, considering the two of them. He seemed in no hurry to speak. Chase, for her part, drank from her water and studied him right back. He had large hands, with several rings that ranged from plain to gaudy. Though his hands shook when he moved the tankard, she could see callouses along the fingers. If she cared about halven conventional wisdom that would have meant that he was trustworthy, since he’d obviously worked for a living.

  But they were very far from Bothernot, and she was pretty certain that whatever crime he was bossing, this man wasn’t trustworthy.

  But then, neither am I.

  He seemed patient to wait, and that was fine. She had formulated her first few moves in this game, and Thomasi had said that he’d back her.

  So here goes… “Signore, I am thankful you came to dine with us,” she said, putting on her best smile. “It is a fine day, and I am grateful that you accepted my invitation. May I ask your name, nonno?”

  Nonno was the old word for Grandfather, and it was a gamble.

  “Don’t call me signore, I work for a living,” the man said, but his eyes twinkled. “Nonno is fine. You remind me of my youngest, once upon a time. Mind you, she wasn’t halven.” He smiled. “Buzo downstairs told me that your man was setting up a meeting between his master and someone of importance.”

  “He did. And all are here, now, Nonno.” Chase stood on the chair, leaning her elbows on the table, steepling her fingers below her chin. “Tom works for me, you see.”

  “Ah…” Nonno leaned back in his chair and chuckled. “There are less expensive ways to meet with me, you know.”

  “Your pardon, but I didn’t know them. And I’m willing to believe that most of them would take more time. I felt it worth the expense.”

  “Ah, but some things are not to be rushed. We have a saying in Arretzi. Piano, piano. You know it?”

  This one was a struggle. Chase ran back through her lessons in the old tongue… there were a few words that were all about the context, and this one hadn’t come up often. Still, she could guess. “It means slowly, slowly,” she decided.

  Nonno’s smile had missing teeth. One of the sockets was stained black, and Chase kept the disgust from her face. How could anyone let their teeth get that bad? It would make it hard to eat, and that’s terrible!

  “Slowly, slowly,” Nonno said, tapping his fingers on the head of his cane. Just a simple bronze ball, that had nicks and tarnish on it. “Yes. That is the way I would prefer to do business, most days. For those I do not know so well, at any rate.”

  “I apologize, Nonno,” Chase lowered her gaze to the table. That vow he’d taken nagged at her. The word ‘omerta’ meant something like humility, so perhaps he’d appreciate a display of the same? “Like me, time is short.”

  The self-deprecating humor got a chuckle. “But not too short to have dinner with your Nonno?” he asked.

  She didn’t look up. “For that honor, I make time.”

  “Then I think perhaps we can have dinner. Anything else… piano, piano. Yes?”

  “Yes,” she said, smiling.

  So she chatted with Nonno, asking questions about the city, and listening attentively as he spoke of his family, the weather, his business down at the wharf, and the prices of olive oil these days.

  Honestly, after weathering a decade and a half of having to listen to halven farmers talk about things that absolutely didn’t change over and over again, it was refreshing. She found herself leaning in, and the old man grew more animated as the discussion went on, waving his hands and laughing, and telling stories that she was pretty sure had never happened… or had been so exaggerated that the truth they were built upon was a distant memory buried somewhere deep into the details.

  But not once did he ever mention anything illegal. Not once did he talk about any sort of crime.

  Chase was starting to wonder if they had the right fish on the hook, so to speak. But a quick glance back to the door, and the two inhuman and dangerous figures guarding it, allayed those doubts.

  As the food finally started to arrive, Nonno leaned forward with a sharp look in his eyes. “And where were you from again, mia piccola nipotina?” Nonno asked.

  His willpower is massively good. I can’t lie to his face. But his perception is bad, so some deflection could work. After chatting with him for so long, she thought she had a feel for his ways. “I’m from the north, Nonno. Not far, as it goes.”

  “But you are south now, not north,” he said, accepting the plate of prosciutto and olives that the dog lady handed him. “Thank you, Cagna.”

  “Ah. I’m attempting to start my own business. Following the family path didn’t work so well, in my case. Thank you Tom,” she said, accepting a plate full of hammy goodness from her own ‘servant.’ He also handed over a set of silverware, honest-to-gods fancy silverware that didn’t match the rest of the taverna at all. Probably stolen, she realized.

  “Your own business? Makes sense,” The old man nodded. “Many young people chafe under the yoke of their elders. Sometimes a walk about is enough to cure that, or sometimes it does turn up new opportunities.”

  CHA+1

  Chase turned her sigh of relief into a small moan of appreciation. The prosciutto was quite good. The thinly sliced uncooked ham made for a good contrast against the bitterness of the olives, and the vegetables and bread that Cagna laid out shortly thereafter made the meal a good elevenses. Not a solid halven lunch, but as short as food had been these last few days, it made Chase less worried about all the weight she had been losing.

  A few muttered words from the doorway made her glance back in time to see the thin woman staring disconsolately into the room, holding up another tray and glancing back and forth from Cagna to Thomasi, her face forlorn.

  “No,” Lachina told her, and plucked the tray from her with ease. Without missing a beat Cagna moved over and deposited it on the table, scooting it a bit closer toward Chase. Biscotti, Chase recognized, and swallowed a sudden burst of saliva. She’d rarely had the thin cookies. And that bottle in the center meant oooh, dessert wine, too!

  That was dangerous. And expensive too, wasn’t it? Wine was supposed to cost more in the cities than back at home. “I have to admit, I’m impressed by the fare,” Chase said, pushing aside the stack of emptied plates next to her.

  “Ah, I told Buzo to give you your money’s worth for the meal. As for the room, do not worry, it is my gift to you, for such pleasant company.” Nonno smiled again.

  Wait, we paid for that. We paid gold!

  And against Chase’s better judgment, her self-control slipped. She felt her face flicker in surprise, felt her mask slip—

  —and the gleam in the old man’s eyes showed that he’d caught that shock. She hastily reassembled her smile, but a trickle of fear oozed through her heart. Low perception or not, there was nothing wrong with his mind.

  “Something wrong, signora?”

  Signora, he calls me now. Not tiny granddaughter, like he did earlier. That’s a bad sign. She took another pull of water. “Nothing, Nonno.”

  “It occurs to me, that I never did ask what business you wished to start. I am very interested in the answer you have to that, my dear. I am in business myself, you see.
And like any honest Merchant, I can tell the difference between true coin and false.”

  He reached into his pocket, and Thomasi tensed beside her. But all Nonno did was put a gold coin on the table.

  A very familiar gold coin.

  And Chase’s heart sunk as she remembered one of the Grifter job’s basic abilities.

  Fool’s Gold. Oh Tom, why? I know you have real gold! I saw some in the wagon!

  The tray of cookies sat so close to her, and Tom was filling a small cup with sweet, sweet wine that she had only heard about before, never tasted, but her mouth felt like it was filled with ashes.

  And the old man’s eyes were boring into her.

  Nonno was waiting for an answer.

  And he would be very, very good at catching any direct lie.

  “I apologize, Nonno. The business I am planning to start does not involve false currency. I thought this room rented with real gold. It was my mistake.”

  The old man was silent for a moment. He chewed a biscotti as he thought, slurped at his wine through broken teeth. “I do not think it was your mistake. I know well the Grifter’s gold. And this coin is truly an amazing example of it. If the circumstances had been different… if things had been less strange… I think even I might have been fooled.” And slowly, his eyes lifted from Chase to Thomasi. “She is not practiced enough to make such a thing, is she?”

  Thomasi looked to her.

  “Answer him,” Chase said, and forced her trembling hand to take a biscotti. If this went bad, she’d at least have a cookie for the road. Or before she died.

  “No, she is not,” Thomasi said. “Not in my career, at the least.”

  “Ah… Much becomes clear,” Nonno said, leaning back. “Your servant has done you a disservice. But he has done it in your name, Nipotina.”

  Chase weighed her options. Nipotina was back, and she hadn’t missed that hint. The old man liked her, at least a little. Audacity. Try audacity. But first… She took a pull of water, and hiding her lips, mouthed, “Silent Activation, Foresight.”

  Time froze. Everything stopped, and noise faded. In that silent and still spot, inside the beats between the seconds, she saw a blurry outline in front of her. The outline leaned forward and said the words she’d decided to say.