Port Stone: Dangers of the Swamp (Port Stone Fantasy Book 1)

by Sheri Velarde

  Tianna nodded her head in agreement. “Yes, there is something very strange and off putting about that man, yet I sense that what he did tell us was the truth, just not the full truth. When we are investigating the Black Jackets and what happened to Phinelope, we should also ask around about Delmar. I have a feeling he plays a bigger part here than what he is letting on.” She paused for a moment, thinking about what they should do this day.

  Suddenly, she had an idea to go to the place where she would feel the most at home and where they could possibly garner some information. “As for what to do during the daylight, take me to the library. That is where I can do the most good this day. Let’s see what we can find out about all the players involved in this all too real game of danger and murder we seem to have stumbled into."

  Kara nodded. “The library is in the university district. I am sure a sage like you will find it to be heavenly. Even I was in awe when I first saw the great library of Port Stone. It is said to be the largest library this side of the Great Mountains.” She led the way through more streets, and Tianna took in just how different the Swamp was from the rest of Port Stone.

  No wonder Phinelope had wanted to help the poor and mistreated, as the rest of the residents seemed to be living a very charmed life indeed. How could people be so oblivious to the poverty right next door to them? Were they blind, or did the rich truly not care about the poor? That sort of behavior was unheard of in her kind. Elves took care of their own. That was the main reason she had agreed to avenge Phinelope. No elf deserved to be murdered and left for trash like that. No one did.

  Kara had not been exaggerating the grandness of the Port Stone Library. The Druids kept numerous texts, but they were spread about, not contained in one place like here. Her own library back home, which she considered impressive before now, paled in comparison. She could spend years in here and still not read everything she wanted. It took all of Tianna’s willpower to turn to the task at hand. What they were searching for would not be in the old books she craved to touch, but in more recent documents, in the filings of mortgages, in deeds, in merchandise records. That is where they would find out about the more recent lives of Phinelope, Delmar, and Alenon.

  Luckily for them, Tianna excelled at research. Sure, she could fight with the best of them, but give her quill, paper, and records, and she could work miracles. Soon enough, she found records on the arrival of Phinelope, the record of her buying her small home, petitions for cleaner streets and water, one to keep the gates of the wall open so that those in Swamp would not be trapped after dark. The council of the city had denied each and every request that she had made. While perusing the failed petitions, Tianna discovered that Delmar had a seat on the city council.

  “Funny how he never mentioned that,” Kara murmured. “Though that could explain where he met Phinelope. It does show that he voted for all of her petitions, even if he was often the only one who did. I take that for a good sign. He might not be a bad guy.”

  “Yes, but he hid this from us, and we both know that he is keeping something else from us as well. He might have been Phinelope’s ally, but he seemed to know about her death a little too soon. Same for where we were staying. He has to have spies around here, spies he is not giving us access to. No, there is still something more to discover about Delmar. Decent people don’t have spies for hire for no apparent reason.”

  Next, they found only a few mentions of Alenon. He had once been part of the sheriff’s service in the respectable part of the city. Then about three years ago, he resigned his post and moved to the Swamp district where he had bought up several rundown warehouse as well as several home where, apparently, he had evicted the previous residents.

  He made a play to keep the Swamp separated from the rest of Port Stone. It seemed he wanted to rule the ghetto himself. “Well, he certainly sounds like the kind of man who would run a gang of thugs. Though the only mentions of the Black Jackets are the arrests that have taken place here on the other side of the wall. Petty theft, fighting, and a couple of murders. Not nice guys either, though we already knew that.”

  “Here look at this,” Kara said as she pushed more records of deeds in the Swamp over to Tianna. “Alenon is not the only one who has been buying up land in the Swamp. See here, Delmar has been too. He owns at least seventeen properties in the Swamp. The question is why.”

  “Indeed, and when we figure that out, we might know what he has been hiding from us.”

  Having garnered all that they could from the library, they left, Tianna rather reluctantly, to find a place to lunch and perhaps see what the residents of Port Stone had to say about Phinelope, Alenon, and Delmar. Kara led them to a quaint and friendly bakery where the food and sweets surpassed anything Tianna could have dreamed of.

  The owner was an acquaintance of Kara’s and was more than happy to share some of the town gossip. “That Phinelope seemed to be a nice lady elf, not snotty as her kind tends to be, begging your pardon,” she nodded to Tianna. “She spent most of her time with humans and tried to clean up the slums here. She cared about the poor, especially the increasing number of poor and parentless children in the Swamp. The violence over there is creating more and more orphans every day.”

  “As for Alenon, I knew him when he lived on this side of the wall. He used to be kind and respectful, but then something changed. He became corrupt and violent. Then the next thing we knew, he moved to the Swamp with a gang of thugs called the Black Jackets. Oh how I hate it when they come to this side of the wall. Nothing but trouble makers, the lot of them. Phinelope tried to stop them, tried to kick them out of the Swamp and out of the city for good. That put a big target on her back. Can’t really believe she is gone.” The woman hung her head in a moment of silence.

  After enough time had passed, Tianna cleared her throat. “What about the merchant Delmar. We hear that he and Phinelope were pretty close, and that he was one of the few trying to help her clean up the Swamp. That must make him a pretty good guy.”

  The woman huffed. “Yes, he and Phinelope were close, not that I approved. She was too sweet for that man. On the surface he appears great, but I don’t trust him. Delmar is from here, grew up in the Swamp, though. No one knows how he came into all the money that he has now. One moment he was poor and hustling, the next he opened one of the most successful shops in the merchant district. Mighty fishy if you ask me. Plus, whenever he stops in here, he gives me the creeps. Oh, that man could be as bad as Alenon for all I know. How does one become rich overnight unless they did something illegal or immoral?” she concluded as she hustled off to wait on other customers.

  “That was not all that I expected, especially the part about Delmar. Yes, we suspected he held something back, but the fact that he became rich so quickly? I never suspected that,” Kara said.

  “Yes, it looks like we need to find out more about him. For him to be compared to Alenon himself, makes me wonder what his true part in all of this is. And why members of our Orders associate with such a person. I do not imagine Shea could know about his past and condone it, if there is indeed something uncouth in his past. I sense that there is a deeper connection here between Alenon and Delmar. I just wish I could talk to Shea, ask her why she really wanted me to come, what is really going on. I don’t believe that we were just sent here to act as bodyguards to Phinelope.”

  “Nor do I,” Kara said, worry seeping into her eyes.

  Chapter Three

  Back to the Swamp

  After spending the rest of the afternoon asking around a bit more about their unforeseen mission, Kara and Tianna found out some rather disturbing news. The wall had been closed. It appeared that with royalty visiting the city, the council wanted to hide the slums and keep the poor in the Swamp. That meant if they wanted to get into the Swamp, they were going to have to get creative or wait at least a week for the gates to reopen, and they didn’t have time for that.

  “If we can’t go through it, then we will have to go over it,” Tianna said wit
h confidence, even though Kara showed a little apprehension.

  “Some of us aren’t as nimble as you. How are we going to get over the wall and not be seen?” Kara questioned.

  “First, we watch the guards and find their weak spots. Next, we use a grappling hook and climb on over. You can do it. Trust me. Then our real work and investigation can begin,” Tianna said, making her way back towards the wall.

  They needed to find a pub where they could watch the guards and pick their moment. The answers they sought would only be found in the Swamp. Alenon currently lived there. Phinelope had been murdered there. And Delmar had gotten his start there. Yes, the Swamp was where they would find answers and avenge the murder of a good elf.

  They found a pub with an excellent view. They would have to wait until very late at night, so they ordered dinner and drinks and tried to appear as casual as an elf and a warrior woman could in a city of trade. Still, other than a few curious looks, no one paid them much mind. They were able to discern that there were two set of guards patrolling the wall at night, with a half hour window between them when Tianna and Kara could make it across. They had also discovered that a changing of the guards took place at midnight, and they picked that as their time to enter the slums.

  As midnight approached, they found a dark and mostly hidden spot to make their attempt. “You carry a grappling hook with you all the time?” Kara teased as Tianna prepared to make her throw.

  “I’m a woodland elf. Sometimes going up is the fast way from one point to another.” Tianna shrugged as she made a perfect throw and began to climb immediately. “As soon as I reach the top, start to climb, I will help pull you up if you need it.”

  Tianna made it to the top in no time and began to help pull Kara up as she climbed, time was of the essence, and humans really weren’t as nimble at climbing she learned. As soon as she had pulled Kara over the ledge, they moved to the other side and began their climb down. Once they were both on the ground, Tianna did a series of tugs, and the hook came tumbling down moments before the guards came walking by. They hid in the shadows until the guards passed and then made their way into the depths of the Swamp.

  ****

  “Where should we start?” Kara asked in a whisper, despite the streets being deserted around them.

  “Let’s go back to Phinelope’s. I want to see if we can find anything on Delmar there and more about the work she did. It might hold some clues, and it’s the best place to start in the middle of the night. Tomorrow, we can hit the ground and talk to people here on this side of the wall,” Tianna answered, leading the way as she had already memorized all of Port Stone that she had seen. Having instant recall being one of her many gifts that made her valuable to her order.

  As they approached their destination though, they heard a disturbance in an alley along their way. Luck would have it that a rat came running out into their path. Tianna stooped down and called the creature to her, a familiar here in the Swamp was exactly what she needed to help her on this quest. “Hello my little friend. Can you tell me what is going on in the alley?”

  “You speak to me?” the rat asked, confused and interested at the same time.

  “Yes, I speak to animals. Tell me, what did you see down the alley?”

  “Two bad men hurting a woman. They are doing bad things to her even though she says no. Ara ran away. Ara did not want to hear her so sad.”

  “Ara? Is that your name? Don’t worry. We will stop the bad men. Please, wait here for me. I will come back for you after we stop the bad men, and then I will find you some cheese,” Tianna said, turning to Kara. “Come on, there are two men attacking a woman down there. We have to stop them.”

  Kara nodded and took off in a run. “You learned that from the rat?”

  “Yes, talking to animals can lead to many discoveries,” Tianna said, running alongside Kara. When they turned into the alley, they saw two men in black jackets holding a woman down on the ground, trying to push her dress up and have their way with her. Kara swung her war hammer and sent the one man flying into the wall where he bashed his head and fell to the ground, not moving.

  In the meantime, Tianna jumped on the back of the other attacker, pulling him off the girl and letting her dagger dig into his neck. She barked at the girl. “Run! Get away from here. We will take care of these two. Go home, somewhere safe.” She then turned to the man in her grasp. “Didn’t anyone teach you that rape is wrong? Well you are going to learn that lesson right now.”

  The girl, with a look of relief in her eyes, composed herself and ran. Kara knelt over the man she had hit, “Black Jacket. He’s dead,” she said matter of fact.

  “Good. This one will soon be joining him, unless he wants to give up some information. If not, then I will have no problem slitting his throat. Rapists are akin to murderers if you ask me. No one will miss either,” Tianna said, pushing her dagger deeper into the man’s skin. “Now, how about you tell us everything that you know about Alenon and the murder of an elf named Phinelope. Think wisely before you answer, for whatever you say might be your last words ever.”

  “If I tell you what you want to know, I am dead anyways.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard that before, but I am sure that I know more ways to cause pain than the man you are so afraid of. Plus, if you give me the information I want, no one has to know where the information came from. Now talk,” Tianna said, an evil growl in her voice.

  Her ferocity must have convinced the man, for he pissed himself and began talking. “The bitch elf and her rich boyfriend were butting their noses into places where they didn’t belong. Her boyfriend bought up property we wanted, causing trouble and angering our boss. Alenon is not someone used to being denied. No one stands up to him and lives. The Swamp is his. If you want respectable, then you can go to the other side of the wall. Here, the Black Jackets rule, and that elf didn’t understand that.”

  “Tell me more about this Alenon. Who is he really? He’s from the other side of the wall. What is he doing here? What brought him here? Where can we find him?” Tianna said, Kara keeping an eye out.

  “I told you about the elf. That is all you are getting. If I talk about Alenon, I am willing to bet that he will do more to me than any elf ever could. You talk a big game, but your race is peaceful. I am not scared of you,” the man spat, trying to throw her off his back.

  “Oh, that is where you are wrong. Not all elves are peaceful. You won’t be the first man that I have killed, and you won’t be the last. I have no qualms about harming you.” To prove her point, she lowered her dagger from his throat, only to stab him in the shoulder before he could even make a move. As she twisted the blade, he screamed at the top of his lungs, which brought a slight smile to her face. “Now what were you saying?”

  “Giving up information on Alenon is a death sentence. He runs the Swamp for now, and I will not be the one to betray him. He will go after my family if I do. I won’t risk them.”

  “What do you mean he runs the Swamp for now? Who else wants to run the Swamp? Speak,” Tianna said, already getting a sense of who he was about to name.

  “That rich merchant the she elf slept with. He has been buying up property here like crazy, supposedly to help clean the place up, yet nothing has changed. He wants to own the Swamp. Then he has his own army of desperate people who will do anything to keep their homes and food in their stomach. Word has it that he wants to take over all of Port Stone. He just wants to use us poor to help him. He wants to make himself the mayor of Port Stone, but he’s not popular enough to get the title from the normal means. He may not have been the one to kill the she elf, but he’s the reason she is dead. Alenon sent him a message.”

  “Delmar? You are saying that Delmar is using all of this to create an army of the poor?” Tianna asked in shock. She had thought the man off, but she had never thought him some sort of diabolical tyrant trying to use the less fortunate for personal gain. Had Phinelope been just a pawn to him? Or had she been in on this scheme the whole
time? These were questions that she needed answered. What the hell had Shea gotten her into? Did her friend and one of the leaders of her Order know about any of this, or was there something deeper here that she had been sent to uncover?

  “Alenon is the one who had Phinelope murdered in cold blood. As a message? He had a problem with Delmar but decided the best way to make a point by killing an innocent woman who wanted to make the Swamp a better place? Sounds like your boss is a despicable human being as well. Now tell me where I can find him. I will deal with Delmar later, once I ascertain that what you say is true. I find that rapists are often liars as well,” Tianna said, once again digging her blade into the man’s neck.

  “I told you that I won’t tell you nothing!”

  “Well then I guess I have no more use for you do I? And I will not let someone who rapes women go loose. See, told you my kind are not always pacifists.” With that, she slit his throat and let his body drop.

  “That brought up more questions than it answered,” Kara said, breathing a little heavy from the shock of killing two men Tianna expected, holstering her war hammer as they headed back out of the alley.

  Tianna knew that someone in Kara’s position had to have been in combat before and must have killed, but she could still see the sideways glances she threw Tianna’s way. An elf that killed was something that most could not wrap their mind around, but Tianna had her own moral code and had to live with it.

  Getting back to the matters at hand, Tianna continued as if she had not noticed her partner’s reaction. “Indeed it did. We got more confirmation that Alenon is the one who ordered Phinelope to be murdered, and he must be someone these people deeply fear for no one will give up his whereabouts, but what about what was said about Delmar? We know that he has indeed bought up a lot of property here, and I cannot see that much has been cleaned up, but there could be other reasons for that, like the Black Jackets blocking attempts to remodel. Still…” Tianna trailed off, lost in her own thoughts.