Chapter 8 - You Scratch My Back

  "Many of the greatest cities of the Empire predate even its foundation and have been built up upon layer after layer of buildings, cellars, catacombs and sewers. Even an intrepid explorer might fear what could be found in the depths below these cities if not for the dedicated efforts of our rulers to clear them of criminals and dangerous beasts. Nevertheless, they are best avoided simply because it is easy to end up lost or trapped.”

  Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini

  =====

  The flickering illumination of the witchlights suspended along the road wasn’t enough to penetrate the dust that still hung in the air. After a moment Ester spoke. “Taalsoi.”

  A ball of bright light flashed into being above them, bringing the scene into stark relief. There was no sign of the thieves. Just the gigantic man standing in front of a line of broken and pulverised paving slabs.

  With a grimace Ester let the spell dissolve and headed towards the man. Her heart felt like it was trying to escape from her chest and she could feel little jitters in her limbs. That had been… incredible! She ignored the growing worry worming its way through her stomach. Not about the fact that the thieves had escaped, that couldn’t be helped, but she was starting to think she really had gone a bit over the top with the lightning. She scowled at that. Too many people had been disrespecting her and then those… those complete bastards had dropped a sack over her head. No she wasn’t sorry and maybe now people would take her a bit more seriously. As long as she hadn’t hurt the man. She wasn’t sure if he was mad or stupid, but she certainly didn’t want to have to hit him!

  Her introspection was broken with a jolt by the man’s booming voice as he turned and headed for her. “Well, that was bloody impressive young lady! Jolly good show! Damn well near soiled myself when it happened, but I can see your control was excellent. Why my armour is no more than scuffed!”

  Ester was more than relieved to see that he looked unscathed. Unlike some of the buildings actually. Ester forced her worry down, she’d been trying to apprehend thieves, it would be fine, and turned her attention back to the man. His voice… Ester realised she’d heard it during the ball. He’d been the one boasting about fighting a bear. She eyed him up dubiously as he approached her. He certainly looked big enough for it.

  “Where are my manners? Sir Vitaly Shajarian, originally of Trevayn but these days of wherever our glorious monarch needs me.” He gave her a bow with an exaggerated flourish, restricted slightly by his breastplate and the rather large sword in his hand. Why was he even wearing a breastplate to a ball?

  “Ester Mazar, Chartered Mage.” She gave him a somewhat shallower bow.

  “Of course you are!” Ester tried not to wince at the enthusiasm in his tone. “I could tell as soon as I saw you. Why I’ve fought alongside many of your kind before. Against too. Bloody pain in the arse! Hahahaha!” He broke into a burst of raucous laughter and for a frightening moment she thought he was going to slap her on the back.

  “I see…” Ester trailed off into bemused silence just staring at the worryingly enthusiastic man.

  “Indeed. Great times. I can see you’d be handy in a fight though. You damn near fried my balls off with that lightning! Why it reminds me of the Battle of Grathbridge. Explosions everywhere, bit much even for me. But there I was, practically holding the line by myself. The army was on the edge of breaking, I’d just split a Republican in half and then it really kicked off. They’d brought up some of their cannon, horrible things. No fun at all, although they do make a fantastic boom. Ha! So I…”

  Despite herself Ester felt a swell of pride at Sir Vitaly’s odd praise.

  “Thank you sir, you are too kind.” Ester interrupted him before he could launch further into the tale. The formal words felt a bit awkward in the face of his enthusiasm but at least they seemed to bring him to a stop. She wasn’t sure she could hold a coherent conversation right now. There was too much to think about. The thieves, fighting, the tricks she’d tried. Still, she had the feeling if she didn’t put a stop to it quickly she’d be hearing boastful tales about the man’s exploits until she keeled over.

  “Oh?” He looked confused for a second and then realisation made its slow way across his broad brow. “Not at all. I can see you’ve got a fighter’s spirit in you. Of course letting Mages fight is filthy cheating.” Ester felt herself starting to bristle. “But I can hardly talk. I cheat all the time. I want to win after all! Hahaha!” He burst into almost painfully loud laughter again leaving Ester feeling an odd mixture of grumpiness and pride.

  “So you are not going to try to pursue them?” He glanced down at his sword and shrugged before sheathing it.

  “No point, those rats will know the streets better than I ever could. I fight for Her Eternal Majesty and damn well too, I’m not built for chasing down rodents like them. I’m too big to fit down their holes anyway!” He looked up to the sound of running feet and shouting. “Ah, it seems we’ll have some company soon. That means it’s time for the boring bit. Talking and most likely not even a drink to go with it. Dull!” Ester wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or not.

  =====

  The next day Ester knocked on the door to Commander Savate’s office early in the morning. She felt groggy, practically exhausted in fact. She’d tried to sleep after she got back, but had just ended up going over everything again and again in her head as she tried to work out how she could have caught the thieves until eventually tiredness forced her into an uneasy sleep.

  As she stepped inside he looked up from some paperwork and frowned slightly. “Ester, thank you for coming. Please, have a seat.”

  She carefully smoothed her skirt before sitting down. The Commander just leant back without saying anything more and met her eyes.

  Ester nearly looked down, but then forced herself to hold his gaze. With the help of a basic focusing exercise from her early days at the Academy she made herself relax, or at least come closer to it.

  “You wanted to see me, Commander?” His lips twitched when she broke the silence.

  “Yes indeed.” He left another long pause. This time she refused to fill it. Eventually he relented with another twitch of his lips. “So I hear you had a spot of bother at the ball last night with some thieves? Please could you tell me what happened.”

  With a deep breath, Ester started recounting the events of the night before, carefully setting out what had happened and her reasons for what she’d done. Just like she would have after an exercise at the Academy. She half expected an interrogation or a lecture and had to force herself not to clutch at the wool of her skirt, but Commander Savate just nodded along, occasionally interjecting with a quick question.

  When she eventually trailed to a halt he pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced. “Well, that could have been worse. Well done for working out who the thieves were. A pity you didn’t catch them, but no one’s managed it yet for that little gang. No way you could have known about the third one. How did he distract you by the way, you didn’t say?”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Ester felt herself flush, remembered outrage bubbling up inside her again. She nearly lied about what had happened, but knowing her luck someone would have already told the Commander about it.

  “They threw a sack over my head.”

  “Ah.” To Ester’s relief, the Commander’s facial expression didn’t change at all. “And then you decided that it would be reasonable to retaliate with lethal methods?”

  “Yes.” She absolutely wasn’t going to blush. Or admit that she’d lost her temper. “That’s right.”

  “Fair enough.” He shrugged. “I expect they’ll be a lot more wary of tangling with you if you meet again.” So they should be. Ester would have a few more tricks up her sleeve the next time.

  “So who were they?”

  “From your description, I’m fairly sure it’s a gang known as the Golden Shadows. I’ve no idea what they call themselves,” he smiled thinly, “that one’s from their victims. They’ve built a nice little reputation robbing various minor houses blind. If they’re targeting House Velia it seems like they’re moving up in the world though. It’ll probably end badly for them. These things generally do. It nearly did end badly for them when they met you.” He smirked slightly at that. “Speaking of which, I have some good news and some bad news.”

  “You do?” It sounded rather ominous, but if Ester was honest with herself, she hardly cared. It seemed like she wasn’t in trouble. The Commander hadn’t even laughed at her over the sack. What was more, now she’d been in a fight. A proper one! Well kind of, but it was enough. She’d seen what she did badly and she could improve. Next time would be better and the time after that even more so. She had to suppress a smile when she realised that she was already planning for more fights. If only the Professors at the Academy could see her now!

  “Mmm. The good news is that Count Velia insisted that he would pay for the damage you caused to the street. I expect we could have found a way around that anyway. It’s not like you were simply doing it for your own amusement, but that does solve a couple of problems.” Ester felt a little bit of tension she hadn’t even realised was there fade at that.

  “And the bad news?”

  “You seem to have attracted Count Velia’s attention.”

  Ester blinked a couple of times. “Is that bad? I thought we’d established he was probably innocent, especially after his offer to use the truth Schema.” Was the Commander worried she might be lured into working for the Count? The very idea was ridiculous, she was loyal to the Throne.

  The Commander coughed, suddenly awkward. “It’s not about the smuggling, it’s… Look… I’d certainly never say anything negative about the Count, a great man, no doubt… but when someone that powerful takes an interest in you it’s best to be careful. That’s all.” Ester frowned, that was clear as mud. It was frustrating the way that people were so oblique here. At least in the Academy people said what they meant. “Anyway it also means he’s asked for you to be assigned to hunt down the thieves.”

  Wait, what? “Me? Why me?”

  “Well, like I said you attracted his attention. Normally those kinds of nobles prefer to settle their own business, without getting the Watch involved. However, when someone like Count Velia asks us to investigate a crime, well…” the Commander shrugged. “It’s not like we can say no. Anyway, I suppose it makes sense given their woman’s a witch. Possibly the man with her too. That is part of why you’re here after all.”

  He didn’t seem particularly happy about it. Which made no sense to Ester. Surely it was their job to hunt criminals down. It hardly mattered though. It was proper work where she could truly help the Empire. She leaned forward, trying not to look too excited. It also meant she might be able to get out of going on pointless patrols.

  “Of course, it’s my duty. I’ll do it.” She wasn’t sure where to start, but information would be key. “Can you tell me everything you know about these thieves?” She was going to need to sit down and have a good think about this and what she’d need to do if she was going to hunt those thieves down. As the Commander started to talk Ester made mental notes of everything he said.

  =====

  Sergeant Etroan had been having a good day. Supervising the Watch’s armoury and the little courtyard they called a training ground was a pretty easy job, certainly better than the patrols he still had to do. Today was particularly good because no one at all was bothering him and he could sit back and play cards. He glanced down at his hand again, took a puff from his pipe, and reached down to place a card with a smile that was carefully calculated to get young Peren worrying.

  Only Peren wasn’t looking at him, but rather over his shoulder with wide eyes. A moment later the fresh-faced Watchman sprang to his feet, shock on his face. Sergeant Etroan turned more slowly. He was a veteran with almost three decades of service in the Watch, he didn’t jump for anyone.

  He was confronted by the Watch’s newest ‘member’. A pretty young lady, shifting from foot to foot and looking about as awkward as anyone he’d seen. With a grimace at the aches in his back, Etroan got to his feet. He might not jump for anyone, but he certainly stood for a Mage. Any man with sense knew you showed respect to a Mage. Even if she did look more like a nervous girl rather than someone who could end you with a thought.

  The real question was, what was she doing here? There was nothing he could think of that a Mage would want with him. Nevertheless, he gave her a careful bow, ignoring the way his back creaked.

  “My lady. What can I do for you?” She glanced at the cord marking his rank and inclined her head back at him. Polite at least.

  “Ah, I was hoping um sergeant…?”

  “Etroan my lady.”

  “Sergeant Etroan, thank you.” She seemed to gather herself. “I was hoping to, I wanted to… I wanted to learn how to fight.”

  Etroan froze. Had he heard that right? Why would she…? Absolutely not. It was ridiculous, no one would dare raise a hand to her anyway and the whole idea was mad! But he needed to be careful. He didn’t want to make her angry. “That… That may be, by which I mean… that is to say…” He trailed off in the face of her raised eyebrows.

  “Please, it’s important.” She sounded painfully earnest. It was somehow more uncomfortable than if she’d tried to order him. At least he knew how to deal with foolish officers trying to throw their weight around. “I need to get better if I’m going to serve Her Eternal Majesty. I can’t just rely on other people to protect me.” Well that was easier ground he realised with some relief, it was just a flight of fancy. Typical youth. Farhad had never bothered to learn, despite being a man, but he’d been older, more sensible.

  “Of course you can. Your job isn’t to get into fights, you shouldn’t need protecting and if you do the men of the Watch are ready.” He winced at the scowl he saw forming on her face. He’d had two girls, both older than the Mage now, he could sense an explosion coming.

  “I have been in two fights to the death already in a matter of weeks.” To his mild surprise her voice was completely even. There wasn’t even a hint of anger in it. But when he tried to meet her eyes he flinched away from her flint-hard stare. “Two days ago I would have caught one of the most pernicious gangs of thieves in the city, but I was caught out and ambushed by their third member. If he had wanted me dead I would be dead. So do not tell me about my job. I need to learn.”

  Etroan had heard that she’d had a sack thrown over her head. Not that he believed that of course! He hurriedly added that mentally and tried not to look too nervous. Some stories said that Mages could look straight into your head. Superstitious rubbish, Mages were bad enough… good enough at everything they did without ridiculous ideas like that.

  “We can’t teach you my lady. What would we even teach you? The very idea is…” he fished for the right word, “improper.”

  “I think I can decide what is and isn’t improper.” She took a step forward, almost close enough to touch. Etroan was no coward, but it still took an effort to hold his ground. He’d no desire to find himself cursed due to a fit of teenage temper. Then, with some relief, he thought of a different approach.

  “Have you asked the Commander?” If the Commander was mad enough to order it then he’d have no choice but to obey. But Etroan knew what youths were like and, given she hadn’t mentioned the Commander, he suspected she didn’t want to bring it up with him. She winced slightly and Etroan felt himself sag slightly with relief. He’d been right.

  “I do not want to bother the Commander with trifles.” Now this was something he could deal with. He smiled helplessly and gave her an apologetic bow.

  “I’m truly sorry then my lady, without orders from the Commander,” which he didn’t think she’d get, “I can’t help you.” There might be a bit more back and forth, but he knew he’d won. However, she didn’t seem to agree. Instead a small smile grew on her face. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach she was far too confident.

  “What if I helped you?”

  “What do you mean my lady?”

  She shrugged delicately. “Well, friends help their friends.” Her eyes flicked up and down his uniform before landing on his battered breastplate. “Have you heard the stories about the Fists of the Throne?”

  Etroan nodded. “Of course my lady.” He wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but polite agreement was normally the way to go with officers and nobility.

  Her smile widened. It was a nice, open smile actually, it didn’t belong on a Mage. “Well then, perhaps we can help each other.” That sounded worryingly ominous. Getting involved in the affairs of officers and highborns never ended well for men like him.