Friends in Low Places

The bitter sting of ignominious defeat numbed Lucius’ mind and threatened to dull him to the point of breaking. Rage burned brightly within his core, urging him to take immediate action against the one who had implicated himself in Hana’s sudden disappearance. As much as he would have liked to chase down the nobleman and pound the answers from his stupid skull, the rational parts of him demanded caution. If he approached this the wrong way, then a small scar on his cheek would be the least of his potential punishments.

“Relax, take this one step at a time. First, observe. Look at this rationally, ask the questions that most others do not.”

Taking a deep breath, Lucius carefully looked at his surroundings and the situation that had unfolded to get him here. The street had largely emptied, with few people wanting to stick around a place where blood had been spilt. Even the sympathetic guardsman had quietly fled the scene, leaving him almost completely alone.

Almost. He spied a small figure slinking around a corner into a small alleyway, an oddity that caught his attention. Quietly following, Lucius peeked around the corner to see the figure disappearing around another curve. Increasing his speed, he gave chase to catch up to the shadowy person. His quarry seemed to notice that they were being pursued and took off at a run, leaping over scattered crates and piles of refuse with surprising nimbleness. But what his quarry had in speed, they lacked in stride. Lucius was simply bigger, and was able to gain ground just by virtue of having longer legs.

He grew closer, almost close enough to reach out and grab the person, but they slipped from his grasp and skidded around a sharp corner. In the same motion, they grabbed and pulled down a pile of forgotten lumber, blocking Lucius from following cleanly.

“Huh, resourceful. Let’s change tactics.” Lucius pulled up short at the mouth of the alley and called out, “Hey, kid! I got an offer for you! There’s coin in it if you listen!”

The figure immediately halted and turned about slowly, staring at Lucius from the shadows. Just as he had suspected, a young boy peered at him suspiciously from underneath a ragged robe that had been poorly stitched together from many pieces of scrap cloth. Lucius guessed that he was somewhere between ten and twelve years old, but it was hard to tell beneath the grime on his face. They boy’s blonde hair was long and jagged, as if it had been cut with shards of glass, and when he opened his mouth to talk, he could tell that he was missing several teeth,

“Wotcha want, mista? I ain’t done nothin!”

Lucius did feel bad for what he was about to do, but he needed to make use of every resource at his disposal, and people were the most valuable resource of all. He needed information on what had happened to Hana, and to be technical, he knew that he could ask anybody. But most people were too busy with their own lives to see the lives of others, and those that did see, likely did not care so long as their own lives went undisturbed. No, he needed to find those who were ignored by all of society, the people that saw everything but were asked nothing. The forgotten castaways that possessed unimaginable power, but they could only be harnessed by those who knew how to use them.

Remembering this lesson from his old weapons tutor, who was himself an ex-adventurer, Lucius plied the young boy for information,

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to cause trouble. I want to ask you a couple of questions. Is that okay?”

The boy hesitated, his body language showing that he was halfway between listening and dashing off to where Lucius would never see him again. Reluctantly, Lucius pulled a few coppers from his purse to show to the child, “How about now?”

Lured by the prospect of coin, the child approached cautiously, stopping just beyond arm’s reach, “Alright.”

“Have you seen a woman walking about? She’d be a bit shorter than me, bright red hair, probably looked like she was upset?”

The boy scrunched up his face, apparently trying to look thoughtful, “Yeah, I bet’cha I know this woman. We wuz gonna go pick ‘er over, ‘cuz she looked real easy. But then we saw ‘er all sad like. We don’ pick sad people, ‘less they’re bad people.”

Lucius decided to ignore the fact that this boy was planning on picking Hana’s pockets, not that they would’ve found anything of value. He pressed further, “Good, yes, she and I came to the city together and we got separated. I’m looking for her, did you see where she went? Did anything happen to her?”

The child grew quiet, fidgeting with a piece of his cloak and refusing to look at Lucius directly. “As I thought, she didn’t just wander off somewhere. Just need to sweeten the deal a bit.”

He dropped another two coppers into his open hand, which the boy eyed hungrily. But Lucius wasn’t about to just hand over the goods without getting what he needed, which he indicated by partially closing his fist over the coins. The child grimaced, then looked over his shoulder to see if there was anyone listening to this odd exchange. When he was confident that nobody was watching them, he crept closer, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper,

“Yeah, we saw somethin’, somethin’ real bad. Afta we said not to pick ‘er, we saw someone walk up behind ‘er. She wuz lookin’ around all confused an’ scared, so we don’ think she ‘eard ‘im. Big guy stuck ‘er with somethin’ and she fell over. He picked ‘er up an’ walked away. Nobody saw nuthin’, ‘cept us. We ran afta that.”

Lucius sat back on his heels as the pieces clicked into place. Hana had gotten herself turned around, and hadn’t recovered her senses nearly enough to stop her unseen assailant. With the din of the city all around, it would’ve been impossible for her to pick out the singular footsteps that could’ve warned her of the impending danger. Lucius’ mind raced,

“What could’ve caused her to collapse like that? A poison, maybe? No, they didn’t want to kill her. No reason for that, especially as this kid says her attacker carried her off. Things are making sense now, but I need one last piece of evidence to close it out.”

“You said you ran off after seeing the attack?” The boy nodded emphatically, perhaps wondering if Lucius was going to blame his own misfortune on the child. But Lucius had no intention of doing such,

“Since you didn’t see where they went, can you find me someone who did? I need to know where she was taken, it is very important.” To show how important it was, he took out his last silver and laid it among the coppers in his hand. The child practically salivated at the meager fortune being offered to him, and Lucius knew that he had him.

“Yeah, yeah! We can find you someone! We know someone! They can help!”

“How long?”

“Not long! Maybe one bell chime? Maybe two?”

Lucius was slightly impressed that this boy knew his basic numbers, “Fine, that’s good enough, I guess. Where do I meet this person?”

“Ermmm…big statue?”

“You mean the statue of the First Emperor? Yeah, I can find that no problem. So, you’ll have the person that can find out where she’s been taken meet me at the First’s statue in less than two hours?”

“Yeah! Promise! Can count on me, boss!”

A part of Lucius felt ill at using the child’s desperate circumstances to his own advantage, but he didn’t see another way to quickly find the answers he needed. Such transactions happened all the time, he told himself, and he was just doing business.

Lucius extended his hand and dropped the coins into the boy’s waiting palms. Staring at the pieces of metal in his hands, the child stood transfixed at the beautiful sight until Lucius prodded him along,

“Go on then! Time’s ticking! If you can get me what I asked quickly, there’ll be more where that came from.”

Spurred on by the prospect, the boy dashed off into the gloom and was quickly out of sight. He stood up and sighed, dusting himself off and briefly mourning the loss of what little coinage he had. But if this plan worked, it would be well spent indeed. There was nothing left for him to do now except for get to the supposed meeting spot. As he walked, he recognized that there was a small chance that the child would simply run off with his money and not follow up on his promise. He wondered what had caused him to put so much trust in a complete stranger, one that had nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking advantage of Lucius. But it was too late for second thoughts, and he would have to hope that this gamble would bear fruit.

It was a simple matter to find the statue in question; a large and imposing marble edifice depicting a stoic man atop a mighty steed, a sword in one hand pointing out towards the ocean and a brazier of flame burning in the other. To some, the First Emperor was a semi-mythical figure who had tamed the lands and united the squabbling petty kingdoms of his homeland. But Lucius, and anyone who read the histories, knew that he was a very real figure. Unfortunately for the story tellers, the man was hardly the god that some have made him out to be.

No, the hard part was the waiting. Finding it difficult to sit around, Lucius would constantly find himself pacing about the square, jumping at the slightest provocation and constantly on the lookout for anybody that seemed to be walking in his general direction. It was nearly impossible to keep his mind from wandering to all sorts of unsavory outcomes, and he struggled mightily to keep them in check.

Somewhere deeper in the city, a series of bells tolled the passing of the hour. He looked up towards the sky and found it beginning to change its hue, signaling the descent of evening. Frustration almost gave way to despair, until something caught his eye.

A woman walked by wearing perfectly ordinary clothes, and she could have easily been one of the dozens of citizens that Lucius had observed while he had been idling around. But this one was different, the way she walked was far more confident than even the patrolling guards, the steps of someone who had places to be and things to do. But despite this outward attitude, she sat down on a nearby bench and crossed one leg over the other. Lucius finally understood when he saw her face, she wore the eyes of someone who was expecting something serious.

“Me. She’s waiting for me.”

He walked over as his nerves took hold, yet he was somehow able to maintain a semblance of composure as he sat down next to her. The woman in question was fairly average by all accounts, likely somewhere in her early thirties with long brown hair tied up in a simple, yet fashionable bun. She addressed him in a off-handed manner, as if she had known him for some time,

“I hear you were the one who took care of one of our boys. We appreciate your kindness.”

A tingle ran up Lucius’ spine. Judging from the way she was speaking; he was fairly sure that this person wasn’t the mother of the beggar child. This raised more questions, but he resolved to keep his tone as neutral as possible,

“I figured it wouldn’t help me to threaten an innocent kid. Besides, there’s enough abuse in the world. No reason to add to it.”

“Hmm, indeed there is. We understand that you’re after someone, someone who ran into a man named Salerius. Is that correct?”

He tried to keep the anxiety from his reply, “Yes, that’s correct. I hear you might be able to help me with this?” “Perhaps. But we will ask for something in return, is that agreeable?”

Red flags went up in his mind, “Who is this ‘we’ you keep talking about? And what exactly would you want from me?” She glanced sidelong at him, “Are you sure you’re in a position to be making demands? I could simply walk away and be done with you. And then where would you be?”

Lucius spied an opening, “If you’re here to do business, shouldn’t we both be honest about what we want? You already know what I need, but what about you? They say honesty is the best policy, after all.”

That got an eyebrow raise, “Honesty, hm? You’d be surprised how much honesty costs people, but very well. Suffice to say that I represent a group of people who have not taken kindly to Salerius’ actions in the city. His crimes are many, but the worst among them are his treatment of the women of the city. He is of the mind that because he is of such a lofty post, he can do as he wishes. We seek to correct this.”

“You don’t mean…”

“No, we do not seek his death, simply his humbling. With your recent interaction, we figured that you might be willing to take up our offer. So? How does that sound?”

Was that even a question? “I’m in. What do I need to do.”

She smiled at him, though there was little by the way of genuineness to it, “Simple. Your friend was likely taken to Salerius’ mansion in the northern ends of the city. He likes to be separate from the rest of his family and away from prying eyes, you see. We can arrange for a door to be unlocked tonight, after which you will enter the mansion. By all means, seek out your friend. But we ask that you not leave without clear, indisputable evidence of Salerius’ misdeeds. If you do this, we will reward you appropriately.”

“And if I decide to not find this evidence?”

A sharp glint shone in her eyes, “Then we will seek you out and demand recompense. But surely, it won’t come to that, right?”

He gulped, “N-no. Wouldn’t dream of it. When do we do this?”

The woman glanced at the sky, “The sun is about to set, so we are prepared whenever you are.”

He recalled what Hana had told him, about how long she could completely disguise her animal features. A knot formed in his throat as he realized how much time had passed since her disappearance,

“Now. I’m ready now.”

“Wonderful,” she stood up and smoothed the front of her skirt, “Then let us be on our way.”