Information is the greatest currency in this world

Unlike before, Eleanor had decided to begin work early in the morning today, which meant we didn’t see her for breakfast at the Dragon’s Flagon. Though, that was probably for the best. Seeing Alice and I walk out of the same bedroom would probably give the poor girl a heart attack.

Honestly I can’t say I didn’t feel at least a little guilty about… whatever it was that between me and Alice. Of course, it was down to Alice and Alice alone to decide with whom she would fall in love, but still, Eleanor had clearly loved Alice for a very long time. If this… thing between Alice and I did develop into a real relationship, I knew it was bound to hurt her.

I’m sorry, Ella. You really deserve better than second place.

Still, thinking like that was unintuitive. If everyone spends their whole life denying their own happiness to spare the feelings of others, society would be full of nothing but miserable people too polite for their own good.

Even if I knew one of my friends would end up hurting because of it, I would stay true to my feelings.

“Barry? þou hast stared blankly at þe wall for several minits. Ys someþing þe matter?” Alice asked, between mouthfuls of bacon.

“Huh- ah, yeah, just… somethin' on me mind, is all…”

I did consider confiding my worries in her, but the topic felt a tad awkward to raise, what with the inconclusive way yesterday's conversation left off. Alice’s promise was clear: we would wait one week to confront our feelings. No longer. No shorter. Opening up a discussion about it now would void the whole point of that promise in the first place.

“Ye hast kwite þe þausand yard stare þere, m’boy. As a matter of fact, each time I see ye, ye seemest to be drauning in þaut. It’d do ye some good to stop þinking for a little whyle, would ye not say, lad?”

The jovial voice interrupting my brooding of course belonged the kindly barkeep, Alphonse. As was usual of him, his smile was wide and his stature was wider, though it seemed not to slow him down in the slightest. I had seen for myself how effortlessly the man balanced his work even with an inn full of customers. I secretly hoped that I could have such a wellspring of energy when I reached his age. However old he was, anyway.

“You might be right there, Al, but unfortunately I’ve always got stuff on me mind. Bit ‘ard to get it all out, if I’m to be frank. So if you could tolerate my incessant brooding for a tad longer I’d much appreciate it.”

“Ha! Brood away, boy, if þat’s what ye will. Just forget not to pay attenshon to þe world araund ye as well as þe one in youre hedd, ye don’t wanna miss someþing important. Wiþ yer ‘ead in þe clauds, it’s too easy to lose syte of þe most valuable currensy in þis world.”

“Dramatic one-liners?”

“Informæshon, my lad. Noþing makes þe world turn more þan informæshon. Money can buy ye anyþing ye wish, but it’s informæshon þat wilt stop ye losing yer head for it. So pay attenshon to þe world, lest ye miss soemþin’ þat could spell þe deaþ of ye.”

Despite my snide remark, I actually found his words surprisingly enlightening. I imagined that, as the keeper of the busiest inn in the town, there were few people more familiar with the power of information than Alphonse. How to get it, how to use, and most importantly, how to keep it a secret.

“Hey, Al…” I said, finally breaking my long-held stare at the wall. “Reckons you could do us a favour?”

“Speak it, lad. If it be in my power, I’ll see it done.”

I looked around the empty tavern to make sure there weren’t any eavesdroppers I hadn’t noticed, before leaning over the bar and speaking in a hushed voice.

“Remember night before last, Alice got in a fight that almost got her killed?”

“Aye, ‘Twas þe talk of þe town until þe deaþs of þose men yesterday. Many wispers clamed þe lady deceased, in fact. “

“Well… that’s actually what I wanted to talk about. Reckon you could keep the rumour mill turnin' for us?” I asked, which caused the barkeep to raise his eyebrow in suspicion.

“Ye wishest þe lady to be þaut dead?”

“Aye, I concur wiþ Barry,” piped up Alice. “I wish for my deaþ to become more þan a simple rumour. I wish for it to become þe undeniable truþ to þe public.”

“And myte is ask for yer reason? I can hardly assume ye simply wishest to abandon ship and becomest someone else, milady?”

“Aye, I've no such motivation. Myne opposition to my faþer haþ braut a number of þreats to my lyfe, þus ‘twould be convenient for him to believe me dead for þe moment. ‘Twould buy us precious time and space þat we currently sorely lack.”

“Hmm…” Al stopped to rest his hand on his chin for a moment. Somehow even his thinking face looked jovial. “I þink I noe just þe ryte ears to wisper in. If I am correct, by þe end of þe week þere willn’t be a soul in town who haþ not herd about þe deaþ of þe young Edelweiss lady.”

“Ah! A þousand þanks, Ser Alphonse!”

“Ye needst not say so much, þis be’þ as much a meshure to protect myne inn as to protect ye. If þose Edelweiss savages faund þat ye wert staying here, I’d have hell to pay. Offence not intended, of course, milady.”

“Offence not taken. I am in þy debt, good man.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. With Alice’s ‘death’ being made official, it’d keep some of the prying eyes off our backs. That was some much needed breathing room. There was one thing that bothered me a tad, though.

“What if they ask what 'appened to the body?” I asked Alphonse.

“Ah, I have an easy solution to þis issue. Witnesses sayeþ þat þe lady was carried away by a kweer jentleman wiþ þe stranjest manner of speech. I will simply tell folks þat man lykely buried her alreddy.”

Seriously, why does everyone keep calling me queer?!

***

“Ah, I wondered if þe two of you wouldst show up today. I half-considered coming to wake you myself,” said Eleanor, as Alice and I wandered into her smithy. I tried not to make it too obvious how relieved I was that she hadn’t come to wake us up

“Heh… sorry, it’s my fault we’re up so late. I… had some trouble fallin' asleep…” I said.

“I… suppose þat’s to be ekspected. Was yester eve youre ferst?”

“…yeah.”

An awkward silence fell amongst us. Part of me wanted to be upset that the subject had come up again, but that wouldn't have been fair. It was my sin. My cross to bear. I simply had to accept that.

“I fear þe purpose of our being here be’þ not a soeshal visit today, þough I wish 'twere,” Alice piped up, seemingly wanting to quash the heavy atmosphere. “I left someþing wiþ þee yester eve. A dokyument. One I stole from þat dreddful sellar. Dost þou have it to hand?” She asked the blacksmith.

“Aye, þe parchment you snagged, yes? I hid it away, in case þe investigator came asking kweschons about yesterday’s happenings, but I shall retrieve it for you.”

Turning away from her workbench, Eleanor began rifling through her storage area in search of the paper in question. Considering the sheer amount of stuff she had back there, I was honestly amazed how effortlessly she navigated it all. It looked like chaos to me, but she must have had some sort of organisation system I couldn’t comprehend. I had noticed her incredible efficiency on the day I had worked for her too.

“Ah, þis be it. A purchase report of some kind, it seems?” Eleanor said, handing þe parchment over to Alice.

“Aye, I believe so. I had little chance to read over it yester eve, but a wayward glance was enough to tell me ‘twas of great import. I þank þee for holding onto it for me.”

“þank me none, milady. þough, while I have you, þere is a matter I’d like to discuss,” Eleanor said, lowering her voice despite there being no one but the three of us around. “I have herd wispers þat þe church be organysing an investigative party into þe deaþs of þe þree Edelweiss men. I have seen such ‘investigation’ before, and it be’þ noþing more þan a crule witch-hunt. Once þey determine a party gilty, þey will act wiþ ekstreme prejudis even wiþout due process. If þe two of you have no oþer obligations to attend to, myte I ask of you to monitor þis ‘investigation’ ware possible? Whyle I have some consern of myne own name being implicated, I primarily fear for Arþur. Master Barry’s acshons yester eve may hath kwelled þe church’s anger for þe moment, but þat priest is rarely one to let a gruj fall to þe waysyde. We cannot allow Arþur to fall victim to a surprise inkwisishon.”

Inquisition. The word alone was enough to make me wince.

I was no expert on history, but even I knew about the cruelty of inquisitors. Church-backed murder, torture and mutilation for any perceived slight against the faith. Among the many barbaric practices that society had moved past in the industrial era, this was one of the cruellest. A multi-century long atrocity that stained the hands of the church in blood, a stain they never truly washed off.

If Arthur was to be left at their mercy… well, the consequences didn’t even bear thinking about. Plus it would spell the end for us as well, unless the old man could endure torture until death to protect us.

Either way, inquisition was a death sentence.

“We wrapped the old boy up in this, least we can do is try and keep the chap safe. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open where we can, never you worry yourself,” I said.

“Aye, we will do as we can. Arþur is a brave man, a loving faþer, and an important ally. No harm shall come to him if it ys wiþin my power to stop.”

“þank you truly, boþ of you. I owe þat man more þan I can count, and I have hardly begun to pay it back,” Eleanor said. “þat is all I have to ask of you. I’ll leave þe two of you to go about your day.”

“Let us speak agane þis eve, dear Ella. For now we shall take our leave.”

“See ya’s in a bit, Eleanor, toodle-pip.”

Document now in hand, Alice and I left Eleanor’s smithy to study its contents. After all, information is the greatest currency in this world.