Skulduggery 10: Building a Criminal Empire

by Logan Jacobs

  “Eh, I’ll miss you, too,” Dar grunted when I trailed off, and then he gave me a rough hug. “Take care of yourself, will you? Kings don’t grow on trees, you know.”

  “Neither do brothers,” I said and clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Are you ready, my king?” Ava asked as she moved forward to join us beside the portal.

  “I am,” I replied. “I want to make sure that the Capital is as well-prepared for a possible attack as Riverhome is. Oh, but there’s just one other thing, Dar.”

  “Oh?” my halfling friend asked.

  “You can tell Melia that we were very much charmed by her,” I said with a wink. “She’s a keeper, my friend.”

  “Penny will be very disappointed that she’s so perfect,” Ava snickered. “I don’t think there will be anything that she can tease you about when it comes to Melia.”

  “I’m sure Penny will be able to think of something,” Dar chuckled, “but thank you both. I’ve really started to get rather fond of Melia.”

  “Then you two take care of each other,” I said, “and we’ll see you soon.”

  I turned toward the portal, slipped my hand into Ava’s, and led the Elite back through the archway into the catacombs underneath the Capital. Once we came out of the sewers, I dismissed the Elite into their individual units to go help with the defenses of the city and with the training of the human guards, while Ava and I headed up to the Entertainment District.

  Twila wasn’t at her dancehall, but her girls told me that she had gone out early that morning to order more weapons, and none of them had seen Golierian or Cimarra since last night. There weren’t many places that Golierian could be, at least not by himself, so I figured he was probably still at the garrison in the halfling district. And if Cimarra wasn’t with him, then she was probably at Osman’s bakery.

  Ava and I headed to the garrison first, and sure enough, we found Golierian seated behind the desk in the main office, but he was slumped over a pile of papers and snoring gently, like he hadn’t slept all night. I nodded my thanks to the human guards who had escorted him here and now stood watch outside the office, and then Ava and I slipped inside and sat down in the chairs across from him.

  When the night elf still didn’t wake up, I cleared my throat.

  Instantly, Golierian sat straight up in his chair like someone had just lit a fire underneath his ass. He had drooled a little bit onto some of the papers, so now one of them stuck to his cheek, and he had to swat it away before he blinked and let his gaze settle onto Ava and me.

  “Oh!” Golierian said. “Shit, what time is it? I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but there are so many goddamn papers that I--”

  “It’s alright,” I laughed. “You’re allowed to get some sleep.”

  “Have you found anything about the elves’ secret fort?” Ava asked.

  “Not yet,” Golierian said as he wiped his mouth, “but I will.”

  “Do you think you have enough time to do something else for me?” I asked. “It would be a big job, but I’ve decided that you’re the right elf for the job, if you’d like to take on more responsibility for me.”

  “It would be my honor!” the night elf said. “Just give me a task, my king, and I will do it.”

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm,” I said with a smile. “So, I’d like you to take charge of all the elven prisoners in the Capital.”

  Golierian’s mouth fell open.

  “I’ll make sure to spread the word,” I said, “so no one wonders what an elf is doing in charge of elven prisoners, but I think you’re exactly who should be in charge of them.”

  “W-why me?” the night elf stammered.

  “You’re one of them,” I said. “You’ll understand their needs better than us, and they’ll be more likely to listen to you, especially when it comes to things like the fact that I don’t actually want to kill all the elves.”

  “It’s true that they probably wouldn’t believe you if you told them that yourself,” Golierian said.

  “Exactly,” I agreed. “As long as the elven prisoners don’t cause any trouble, I want you to see that they’re treated fairly. I’ll also give you a small unit of human guards, so you can start to sweep every elven property in the city, just to make sure that no one is hiding anywhere.”

  “I can do that,” Golierian said.

  “And when you talk to the prisoners,” I said, “try to reassure them that they’re locked up for their own safety as much as for ours, and that it won’t be forever. It will just be until the war is over, and then we can start to establish a new order.”

  “Besides,” Ava said, “with a little luck, it won’t take us long to win the war.”

  “That’s the plan,” I said with a nod. “So, do you think you’re up for the job, Golierian?”

  “Absolutely,” the night elf replied. “I won’t let you down, Wade.”

  “I know you won’t,” I said. “I’ll let you get back to your papers for now, but send me word the moment you find any mention of this secret eleventh wilderness fort.”

  “I will, my king,” Golierian said and stood up to salute me.

  After Ava and I spread the word around the human guards at the garrison that Golierian was in charge of the prisoners now, we headed over to Osman’s bakery to try to find Cimarra. The beautiful dancer was nowhere to be seen in the bakery, but instead, Selius was seated at a table, along with Osman and Chef Marver.

  “Wade!” the halfling kid squeaked through a mouthful of scone.

  “It’s been a while,” I said with a smile. “How’ve you been, Selius?”

  “Busy,” Selius said and then swallowed. “But good!”

  “Cimarra is upstairs,” Osman told me. “She decided to sleep in a little bit this morning. She said the baby needed some extra rest.”

  “I took breakfast up and left it outside her room,” Marver said, “so don’t worry, we’re taking good care of her.”

  “I know you are,” I said and then took a seat at the table beside Ava. “Has there been any news since the last time I saw you?”

  “No news on my end,” Selius said. “I’m just running back and forth between cities and going wherever Cim needs me to. Oh, and I saw Skam last night!”

  “He’s not here, is he?” Ava asked.

  “No,” the halfling kid said and took another bite of his scone. “He’s still setting up all the defenses in one of the cities, but I went to tell him what Golierian said about the wilderness forts and everything.”

  “How did he take it?” I asked.

  “He didn’t seem surprised,” Selius replied. “He just took it in stride, kinda how he takes everything, and he said that they would be ready.”

  “I have no doubt that they will be,” I said. “What about you, Marver? And Osman? Anything new in the Capital that I should know about?”

  “Everything’s still good here,” Osman said as he stretched his blue arms above his head, “but there is one thing that I think we might need to start thinking about before too long.”

  “It’s about our food supply,” Chef Marver added. “We’re not short on anything yet, but some of the farmers outside the city have started to get really nervous that the elves from the wilderness fort might come attack them, or that they might send orcs after them, that kind of thing.”

  “A few of them have abandoned their farms,” Osman said, “and more of them have threatened to, if they don’t have proper protection.”

  “That’s understandable,” I said. “They’re in a very vulnerable position, after all.”

  “So what should we do?” Marver asked. “They’ve raised their prices at market, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to convince them to stay on their farms.”

  “Especially because most people in the city aren’t able to pay their increased rates,” Osman said.

  “That’s a fair point,” I said, “and I definitely want to make sure that there are no problems with the food supply to the city. Can you get me a list o
f farmers and the locations of their properties outside the city?”

  “I’ve already written one down for you,” Cimarra said from the kitchen.

  “You didn’t have to get up,” I said as I stood up and went to greet her. “You can keep sleeping if you’re still tired.”

  “I’m alright now,” the raven-haired dancer said. “The baby feels awake, so I decided to come downstairs, and then I heard your voice.”

  “Maybe your baby heard Wade’s voice while you were still upstairs,” Ava said with a smile.

  “I wouldn’t doubt it,” Cimarra said as she sat down beside the blonde assassin. “But about the farms, I’ve got the list right here. Most of them are to the east of the city, but there are a few to the south as well.”

  “Thanks, Cim,” I said as I took the piece of paper from her. “I’ll task a unit of human guards to serve as escorts to and from the farms on market day, and in the meantime, I’ll also post guards at the villages themselves.”

  “That should relieve a lot of people,” Osman said.

  “And one more thing,” I said. “Osman and Marver, I’d like you two to take charge of the food supply as a whole.”

  “How, exactly?” the halfling chef asked.

  “If there’s a farmer who insists on higher prices,” I said, “and if the price is still fair, buy his goods and then distribute them to those who can’t pay.”

  “Sure thing,” Marver said. “What else can we do?”

  “Start to keep an inventory on dry and preserved goods,” I said. “I don’t think we need to worry about anything like a siege, but it won’t hurt to make sure that we have plenty of food supplies just in case. After all, if the elves do attack us here, we won’t be able to get food in until we defeat them.”

  “That’s not a problem,” Osman said.

  “We also have the river,” Selius piped up, “so fresh water shouldn’t be an issue.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “We’re pretty well-situated here, but I don’t want to take any chances, so if you two can handle that, I’d feel a lot better.”

  “Leave it to us, Wade,” Chef Marver said. “We’ll make sure everyone has food and drink.”

  “And when this is all over,” I said with a grin, “we’ll make sure everyone has a little whiskey to celebrate, too.”

  “That day will be here before you know it,” Osman said. “You’ve already done more than we ever dreamed of, Wade.”

  “And it’s still just the beginning,” I said. “Just wait until the kingdom is completely under our control. Then we can really start to build the world exactly how we want it to be.”

  “Then may the Ancients bring you swift victory,” the blue-skinned djinn said, “because I, for one, can’t wait to see the human kid who I used to give free coffee to take his rightful place as king.”

  “Did you ever think that he was destined for anything like this?” Cimarra asked with a smile.

  “I didn’t know what was in store for Wade’s future,” Osman replied, “but I always sensed that there was something magic about him. I just didn’t realize quite how much he possessed.”

  “Well, I’m just glad that you’re around to help me build this new world,” I said, “because it’ll take hard work and more than a little bit of magic to get it done.”

  “Then it’s a good thing you’re our king,” Cimarra purred, “since you’re the hardest worker I know.”

  “And you have more magic than I’ve ever seen in anyone before,” Ava added.

  “I appreciate that,” I said with a smile, “but I couldn’t have done any of this without you all.”

  Ava and I stayed in the bakery long enough to eat a quick breakfast, but once we had finished, we left Osman and Marver to start their work on the food supply for the city. Selius offered to come help us inspect the fortifications around the Capital, but Cimarra told me that she needed him to send another message to another city again, so I told him better luck next time.

  The defenses that my troops had started to erect all around the city looked at least as good as the defenses in Riverhome, so I knew that we were well on our way to my goal. Before too long, the Capital would be as well-fortified as possible, and hopefully by then, my soldiers would all be more or less ready to fight elves on horseback.

  There was already a wall around one quarter of the city, the river and the woods bordered over half of it, and the remaining portion of the city was bordered only by farmland. My men had built the same kind of wooden-spiked wall around the exposed border, and my patrols continued to report back from the countryside beyond the woods, so the moment there was any sign of elven troop movement, we would know about it.

  When we passed through the human district, I saw that the new archery units were busy training, and there was even a unit of pike-men that had already received weapons. One of the former dwarven guards had taken charge of the pike unit, after he pledged his loyalty to the new human king, of course, and he had brought in a number of his dwarven friends to help with training and to recruit more members of every race to our cause.

  It seemed like the whole damn city had come out to train, to build, and to fight for their new human king.

  We spent most of the day on our inspections, but by mid-afternoon, I decided that we should head back to Twila’s dancehall and see how her latest weapon order had gone, and how long it would take our troops to receive these new weapons.

  Ava and I had just entered the Entertainment District when I heard someone shout up ahead. I immediately started to reach for my sword, but as soon as I looked up, I saw that it was only Golierian, only he was headed toward us at a run.

  “My king!” Golierian called.

  I strode toward him with Ava right behind me, but the night elf kept moving toward us as fast as he could, so he jogged for a few steps and then sprinted, and then he jogged a few more steps and then sprinted again. And the whole time, he just grinned and waved a piece of paper in the air like it held all the secrets in the universe.

  “Tell me you have some good news,” I said.

  “Yes!” Golierian gasped as he reached us and bent over to catch his breath. “I’ve been looking for you for the last hour, so I could tell you that I found it!”

  “The secret eleventh fort?” Ava asked.

  “Exactly!” the night elf said. “It took me forever, but that’s because Tevian kept half of his notes in his secret code, so I had to translate it for myself.”

  “How did you know how to translate his code?” Ava asked.

  “I figured it out when he was still captain of the guard,” Golierian said with a shrug. “It’s not hard, but it just takes a minute to actually do the translation bit.”

  “Nice work,” I said. “So where is it?”

  “Do you still have that map on you, Ava?” the night elf asked.

  The blonde assassin took out the map from inside her vest and rolled it open, so I held up one corner, and she held up the other. As we held it in front of the night elf, Golierian rubbed his hands together and scanned the landscape on the map, until finally, he skimmed his fingers across the parchment and landed on one spot.

  “It’s here,” he said. “It’s at the base of these mountains, so it’s bordered on one side by the mountains and on the other by a river.”

  “That would make it pretty hard to attack,” I said, “but the good news is that it’s not close to the Blood City or the City of Slaves, so Tevian probably hasn’t had a chance to get there yet and tell them what’s happened.”

  “What is the closest city?” Ava asked as she twisted her neck to look down at the parchment. “Oh! That’s where Skam is.”

  “Do you know anything else about the fort itself?” I asked Golierian.

  “Right, yes,” the night elf said. “So I was able to decipher the rest of Tevian’s notes, and it looks like there are five-hundred elven troops stationed at this secret stronghold.”

  “That’s not terrible,” I said. “That’s actually a lot
less than I thought.”

  “Well, um, it’s not just that,” Golierian said. “I knew there was something special about the stronghold, but I didn’t know what until I read Tevian’s notes.”

  “Go ahead,” I said. “I’ve braced myself.”

  “Half of the elves stationed there are magic casters,” Golierian said, “so you’d be up against two hundred and fifty elves with magic and two hundred and fifty regular elven soldiers.”

  “Just how magic are they?” Ava asked. “Are they on the same level as the temple priestesses or Clodia? Or are they more low-level?”

  “Most of them seem to be low-level,” Golierian replied, “but Tevian did list a few higher-level magic casters, and that includes the general in charge of the fort.”

  “Okay,” I said and then took a deep breath. “The good news is that they’re positioned between mountains and a river.”

  “That’s good news?” Ava arched an eyebrow.

  “It means that for one thing, they won’t expect an attack,” I replied. “They probably think they’re completely secure, especially if they don’t know about the revolution yet.”

  “The river would allow us to sail down from Skam’s city basically right up to their front door,” Ava said.

  “Yes, exactly,” I agreed, “and if we can get our troops set up in the mountains, then we might be able to funnel the elves into a mountain pass and kill them all as they retreat.”

  “Wouldn’t it just be, uh, easier if you didn’t attack them at all?” Golierian asked. “You just said they might not even know that the revolution has happened, so--”

  “It would be risky,” I said, “but it would be more risky to wait until they know that something is wrong, or until they can join forces with Tevian.”

  “I guess I can see that,” Golierian said. “That’s just a lot of magic to go up against.”

  “Then it’s a good thing we have Wade and Clodia on our side,” Ava said, “even though it will still be a hard fight.”

  “Thank you again for this information,” I told the night elf. “You’ve more than proven how valuable you are to this new kingdom.”