At Large

by Andrew Seiple

  “They’re almost here,” Cagna said, nodding at an approaching carriage... a bit bare and plain, compared to the others in the queue already. “We should perfume up.”

  “Technically it’s cologne in my case,” Bastien said.

  “Is there a difference?” Chase asked.

  “Yes,” Bastien said.

  “No,” Cagna spoke, at almost the same time.

  The two of them shot each other a glare, and Chase bit back laughter. Cagna was definitely blushing under her fur.

  “Get it over with,” Cagna said, raising her gloves. “Then I’ll do you. I, I mean, apply the cologne to you.”

  “Of course!” Bastien said, holding his hand out to Chase. “If you please?”

  A few squirts from small bottles later, sharp scents filled the air, and a passing valet paused to glare at the little group. The glare turned to puzzlement, as his eyes fell upon Chase. After a glance around to make sure all the more important people were being attended to, he hurried over, zeroing in on Bastien.

  “Your invitation, sir?”

  “Oh, we’re with HIM!” Bastien said, pointing just as the awaited carriage’s door opened and a figure stepped out.

  Giuseppe Coltello froze, gaping in shock at the trio waiting for him. “What... do I know... wait, you!”

  “Me!” Chase bubbled merrily and bounced over to him. “Here to serve you, milord! And your lovely lady!”

  Giuseppe blanched. “Oh. Right. Yes, I did say...”

  “They’re with you, milord?” the valet asked. “Who are you again?” He pulled out a notepad, and started flipping through it.

  “Ah, well, haha, I’m actually... here, it’s easier if I explain who gave me their invitations...” Giuseppe gave Chase a quick nod, handed her his cane, and hurried over to the valet, gesturing with gloved hands as he explained the circumstances that allowed him to be here.

  But Chase didn’t move, peering into the shadows within the carriage. Keeping her face a friendly mask, and smiling widely, she tried to ignore the tension she felt from the figure still lurking within. Despite the danger that screamed its way through the back of her mind.

  “Hi!” she chirped. “You must be Tabita!”

  A pair of hands emerged from the darkness, took hold of either side of the carriage, and the occupant emerged into the lantern light.

  She was a dwarven woman, wearing white furs and strings of emerald ‘vines’ over her coat that straggled up to disappear into her ample cleavage. She was pale skinned, far paler than Chase’s own tawny skin tones, with red hair that definitely wasn’t from around these parts.

  Tabita was broad. Thick as a barrel, for all her four feet of height, with none of it fat and that was the first confirmation. The mask of her smile radiated warmth but her eyes were hot and hateful, and that was the second confirmation.

  The halven knew that death stood before her. And the only thing keeping Chase alive at this very moment was that the predator didn’t know Chase had her number.

  “And you would be Chase,” Tabita said, looking her up and down. “Giuseppe’s told me a lot about you. Though I wasn’t expecting you to be quite so... colorful.”

  Chase weighed her options and decided to play the ‘humble country girl out of her element’ card. “Ha, well...” Chase spread her arms. “I’m not normally gussied up like this, but this is a fancy occasion, and I do hope I won’t clash too badly.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it,” said the werewolf, as she turned and started toward the rest of the group.“I have a suspicion that you have great taste.”

  CHAPTER 20: A STUDY IN VERDE

  It was just like the storybooks Chase had read, so long ago. Just like the ones that had showed her that there was more to life than her little boring village.

  A stately manor that sprawled over space that would normally be filled by city blocks. A long, glowstone-lit promenade at the entrance, with a spotless green carpet stretching back to the entrance, and an arched stone ceiling above to prevent the weather from ruining the occasion. Light spilled out of windows that gleamed like emeralds set against black velvet, and the servants were liveried to complement the scheme and grandeur of the ball. A long line of carriages rattled up and were met, one by one, with the servants disembarking to the side just as Chase and her friends had.

  At any other time, Chase would have stopped and stared, enjoying the spectacle... and engaging in her favorite hobby: people watching.

  She’d been worried that she’d be the most gaudily-dressed person here. She needn’t have bothered. There were women walking around dressed in ropes of gems, with gossamer filling in the gaps in between. There was a woman with a hairdo so large that it had supporting buttresses and a small birdcage on top... complete with a very annoyed-looking parakeet in residence. There was a man whose beard was fire... not ON fire, it WAS fire.

  At first she mistook them for performers, but no, judging by the way the crowd moved around them and entourages of servants followed behind, these had to be guests.

  Fortunately, Chase had an outlet for her wonder. She walked next to her ‘new best friend’ and let her mouth go without engaging her brain.

  It was part of the plan. And kind of fun, to tell the truth.

  “Oh! Look at that one! How do you think she gets out of that corset?”

  Bemused, the dwarf glanced over then snorted. Her eyes lost a bit of their heat, as she glanced back to Chase. “I’m betting smithing tools are involved. Maybe some light surgery.”

  Chase laughed, not having to fake humor, then wound down, as she saw a set of furry outfits ahead. “Oh. Now that’s just in bad taste.”

  “What...” Tabita had been staring at Chase when she thought the halven wasn’t looking, licking her lips. She hastily shut her mouth and wiped away a string of drool, gazing in the way the halven was looking. Immediately the dwarf stopped, and her smile disappeared. “Oh no. Oh HELL no.”

  Someone either very brave or very foolish had decided to poke fun at the city’s current werewolf problem. A gaggle of nobles wore crude furs, with exaggerated muzzles and lolling cloth tongues over their faces. A few of them were stumbling around on all fours, making a show of sniffing each other’s tails and chasing servants as a nervous crowd tittered laughter at their antics.

  Chase and Tabita watched in silence for a moment, and the rage roiling off the dwarf was almost palpable to the halven’s social senses.

  She wasn’t the only one who was exhibiting anger at the display, though Chase imagined it was for different reasons...

  ...and this gave her an in.

  “I’ll tell you a secret. I’ve faced them. Twice.” Chase gestured with one hand. “Giuseppe didn’t tell you, but he didn’t know. This was on his father’s business, not his.”

  “Ah, right. Giuseppe didn’t mention that. Twice, you say?”

  There was that faint tonal shift that Chase had been watching for. Now she knew what Tabita sounded like when she was being deceptive. Forcing herself not to smile, Chase glanced away and moved her face to convey the notion that she was remembering something horrible. “They’re nothing like that. They’re terrifying and... oddly beautiful, in a way. I don’t know how to describe it...”

  “Like any predator acting out nature’s will,” Tabita supplied. “The cycle of life, nature red in tooth and claw but with its own grace.”

  “Yes!” Chase shot her a carefully-measured ’spontaneous’ smile. “Still terrifying but with a grace that THOSE morons could never appreciate. It’s a shame that we had to go up against them. But... thankfully, that’s over now.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” Tabita said. “They’re still hunting in this city.”

  “Oh. Yes. But...” Chase bit her lip. “Without going into too much detail, my obligation to Giuseppe’s father is done. He’d threatened us into service. Now we’re free, and we’ll be leaving soon. I won’t have to face them a third time, and that’s all right too.”

  “What
? Just like that?” Tabita’s face shifted, as Chase started walking again, and the dwarf hurried to keep up. “It’s not personal for you?”

  “They haven’t killed anyone I care about,” Chase shrugged... a small lie, here. She didn’t think Friatta Costello had deserved death. The leatherworker’s daughter had been innocent of all but doing a good job.

  But the lie slid past without trouble. Tabita might have been many things and charismatically presentable enough to be the social point woman in the werewolf’s scheme, but she was up against Chase.

  And Chase Berrymore had been practicing her whole life for an operation like this one.

  “No, not personal at all.” Chase shook her head. “So I’m going to take one last opportunity here to get some coin for the road and put this city behind us.”

  “It’s not personal for your beastkin friend, either?” Tabita asked, as they came up behind the rest of their crew, who were flanking Giuseppe and engaging him in conversation every time the mobster’s son tried to shoot Tabita a needy look.

  “Cagna? Ah...” Chase sighed. “She’s more of an associate. And now that certain facts have come to light, her... work has to reassign her elsewhere. She might travel with us to her next duty assignment; it’s hard to tell. Or we might help her with some business in a different city.” Chase pulled in. “Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s kind of a mess. For her it IS personal, but she’s barely holding it together. Which is why we brought her here. No werewolf would be foolish enough to start anything HERE, not tonight.”

  “It does seem pretty unlikely. Who would expect that?” Tabita shrugged, bare shoulders rolling with muscle.

  “I know, right? Well, anyway, thank you for letting us come along on this. If you need anything, just call. I’ve got one or two things to tend to, but after that I am your humble servant, tonight.” Chase put on a wide, smarmy smile. “Got to keep up appearances, after all.”

  “Oh, I can sympathize,” Tabita said, studying her with hungry eyes... but there was no trace of the malice that Chase had seen, beforehand. “In fact, if you’re looking to leave the city, I have some friends I can introduce you to.”

  “I’d like that! I’m sure we can find a private room to discuss matters in at some point. This mansion looks like it was built for that sort of thing.”

  And then Giuseppe was hurrying back to take his lady-love’s arm, and only Chase’s finely-tuned eyes caught how she tensed, ever so slightly, as he touched her.

  He probably thinks she’s being demure.

  Leaving those two to their own charades, Chase hurried to catch up with Bastien and Cagna. They were waiting by one of the many sets of double-doors leading into the foyer, and once Chase had joined them, the three entered into the Verde mansion.

  Five stories high, stood the entry hall. A wide, double staircase rose at the back, branching out into sweeping balconies at the third and fifth stories. A stained glass skylight shown complimentary reds and oranges and purples down onto the forest green carpe. Geometric patterns that shifted and danced as the glowstone lights shifted, seeming to drift in idle, glowing courses above the high glass. To one side of the stairs, a band played a courtly waltz. Up among the balconies, scandalously-dressed performers were assembling a trapeze and tightrope rig. And on the right-hand side of the cathedral-like room, tables lay heaped with food and drink.

  It was a bit inferior to the spread in Don Sangue’s court, Chase noted with a quick glance. Nonetheless, she gravitated that way.

  Free food was free food, after all. And she was beginning to like these not-having-to-pay-to-eat opportunities that hobnobbing with powerful people provided her.

  “Those are the Acrocats!” The Muscle Wizard muttered, staring up at the balconies. Chase caught a slight hint of envy in his tone. “To land such a prestigious performance venue... ah, there was a time when I’d be right up there with them, diving off the top rope. Oh, what an elbow drop I could do from that top balcony!”

  “You may get the opportunity yet,” Chase said. “And what it took them probably days to line up? I’m about to score in ten minutes, if I play my cards right, so don’t feel too bad.”

  “You’re really going ahead with the show?” Cagna asked.

  “I have to pull attention off you somehow. And besides, Renny would be disappointed if I didn’t try.”

  “It’s just my dream and all. No pressure,” the fox stole around her neck whispered.

  “Now that I’ve taken the measure of this crowd, I’m pretty sure you don’t have to whisper,” Chase told the little golem. “Birdcage wig lady raised the bar. I’m pretty sure a talking stole is pedestrian after that.”

  “It looks like we’ve got some time,” The Muscle Wizaard said. “Now what?”

  “Go with the standard delaying plan. Make a show of being around if Giuseppe and Tabita need anything, then blend in as best you can. If I get the okay, then you’ll know it, and that’s your opportunity.”

  “Good luck,” Cagna said.

  “You know... I don’t think I have any other sort,” Chase said, tempting fate and knowing it.

  After a quick stop at the food, Chase had two rolls in her pocket and one in her belly. Next it was the simplest thing in the world to march right up to the most well-dressed servant, put on her most unhappy face, and say, “Who’s in charge of tonight’s entertainment?”

  “That would be the major domo,” said the nonplussed waiter, staring down at the scowling halven.

  “Well I haven’t received a schedule, and I don’t know WHEN I’m due to perform tonight!”

  “Er...” the waiter stared.

  “What? You think I’m wearing this costume for my health, here? I have a job to do, and Madame Mysteria is NOT to be kept waiting!” She leaned in. “Between you and me I saw your mistake coming. It was in the cards.”

  “My mistake?” The waiter looked around, nervously. A few other servants were finding their way over, looking to back up their obviously-troubled friend.

  “Look, I know it’s above your pay-grade. Just tell me who’s running the entertainment and I’ll go take the issue up with him.”

  And in roughly ten minutes she was talking with the major domo, a harried-looking elderly woman who kept getting interrupted by servants running up to check with her on the thousand-and-one little details needed when you’re running a grand masquerade ball and given roughly three days’ notice beforehand.

  Chase was kind Chase was polite, and the woman’s moxie was already down quite a bit thanks to the myriad troubles and problems that she’d had to solve tonight. It didn’t take much more beyond a minor exertion of charisma and a quick demonstration of her talents to get what she wanted.

  She returned to the foyer smiling, even though she had to navigate a full crowd to get to where she needed to be. The band was playing louder now, and a few couples were waltzing around the floor. Chase noted with amusement that Cagna and Bastien were doing a few turns, and she smiled to see that the beastkin was leading. They looked happy.

  Above, the Acrocats had finished their preparations and were limbering up, the first few out on the trapezes, swinging in brief, gentle arcs. Every time they completed a set, some of the supporting crew would work the pulleys above them, and the trapezes would slide lower.

  But Chase had no time for that. She had her window of opportunity, and the more she waited, the more likely it was that the major domo would come to her senses.

  Chase found the stage she had been told to go to, one that had missed her attention during her initial assessment of the room. A small dais, about big enough for a harp or some other large instrument and a single player. It added three feet to her height, and for the first time she was grateful for her ridiculous turban, and its big, floppy feather.

  The stage is set, Chase thought to herself, as she looked around. The growing crowd was gathering into cliques and pools, some dancing and others noshing on the food. It was much more relaxed than the gangster meeting had been, a
nd why wouldn’t it be? These were nobles and social climbers, and didn’t have the werewolf threat to unify them. That was for the little people to worry about, and nothing to concern themselves with.

  “It’ll be their problem if the city riots and their villas burn,” Chase muttered. There were some definite similarities between these people and the stuck-in-the-mud ignorant farmers of Bothernot, though both would be offended at the comparison.

  But she didn’t see who she was looking for.

  “Are we ready?” Renny asked.

  “Not yet. Where’s Tabita?”

  “Um...” The fox stole twisted as Renny raised himself up and looked around, and she got a mixture of admiring and confused glances from the nearest passerby. “I don’t see her.”

  There was Giuseppe, against the wall and desperately trying to talk up a bored-looking noblewoman. But no dwarf. At least not one with red hair. Had she switched costumes?

  Then Cagna’s voice whispered in her ear. “Tabita left with the fake werewolves. I think she was pretending to seduce them.”

  Chase’s eyes went wide. She stood on her tiptoes until she found Cagna, caught her eyes, then gave her a nod back to show the message had been received. Thank goodness for good perception. Now why would Tabita have dragged the fake werewolves off to a private place?

  The obvious answer seemed to involve a lot of blood and pain and screaming, but... no. No, it was too early in the party. They weren’t the werewolf’s real target anyway, just a means to an end. There was more here.

  “We need Tabita here before we can start,” Chase said. “Be ready. I’ll give the signal the second I see her. She has to come back here.”

  But did she? Did she really? The werewolves obviously had a plan. They’d had a plan the last two times, and it had been pretty effective. They weren’t stupid, and there was a chance that their plan involved ditching the party and getting in and out as quickly as possible.

  So Chase waited, watched, and hoped. It was a matter of luck now.