Chương 66: Arc 2 - Chapter 8

After an hour of trudging through the light rain, Fritz reached the seawall gates and wound his way around the fishers and labourers who were shuffling to their boats or work like a slow tide. Standing in the open-sided wooden guard house the storm guard kept the processions moving at a brisk pace, threatening to drag out the slow or anyone who obstructed the road for too long. Doing their duty they also guarded a large wooden box which had a plaque that read "Toll One Copper Triad".

With glowers and glares, they made sure that the crowd gave up their copper, directing them to place the toll into a slot on the box's lid before they passed under the tall gate. Keeping in the shadow of a particularly large labourer, Fritz dodged the toll entirely and finally got past the press of people and through the gate into the harsh breeze and salty sea air. The ground of the docks was of the same ancient stone as the gate and jutted out another hundred feet past the sea wall.

Fritz knew they were of the same construction, built thousands of years ago and now infested with many wooden piers and wharfs that had been scaffolded and stacked upon those solid foundations. They had to be as the terrible sea and eternal rain would wash away anything but that dull stone in time. The outlying circle of wet wood formed a sprawling harbour that ringed the entire island city and it was where the majority of the city's food was caught and carted in from.

It was also the hub of trade with the outside world and the mainland's Empire. Though why anyone would want to come to Rain City Fritz didn't know. In the grand scheme of things it was a backwater, in more ways than one, with only a Lesser and a Minor Spire to boast of. Hundreds of vessels both large and small, but mostly small, rocked gently on the waves and pulled on the ropes and anchors that held them. Masts stood tall and rain drummed on the sails as sailors yelled and hauled on rope.

Ignoring the sights and sounds of the boats and their dealings or departures, Fritz pressed on. He especially paid no attention to the brightly painted Jastil merchant's galleon. Its yellow sails, gold railings and red flags were a marvellous sight to be sure, but he had no time to spare appreciating their extravagances. And less than no time to be listening to the equally extravagantly dressed and styled man extolling the rare wares and 'generous' prices within.

Begrudgingly, Fritz sought out the rope hawkers with the sturdiest rope and the dingiest bait shops for something specific. The rope was easy and relatively cheap for what he was getting, but he needed a lot and it was thick heavy stuff meant for a ship's sails and one for anchors. So all in all it cost him three silver triads. After struggling and lugging around the rope for a couple of minutes he finally conceded defeat and searched for a better way to transport his burdens.

If only I had more Strength, he groused, pushing the handcart in front of him. Though that might just make me more conspicuous, he rationalised. Fritz ended up having to rent a handcart from a local dock labouring guild to get it anywhere in a hurry. They attempted to gouge him, of course, as he had no agreement or contract to work for the Harbourman's Guild, but he grinned and bore it.

Until, annoyed at all the additional fees they piled on, he spun a tale about having to move his master's luggage quickly and how it was 'no skin off his nose' as it was 'his lord's silver,' after all. That soured their faces and reduced the 'fees' considerably, no one wanted to offend a foreign lord, he might be a powerful Climber or have friends in high places.

Once he had all his rope securely in place and slipped the waterproof cover over the top of his cargo he left at a jog, the wheels of the cart grinding on the stone bricks. It was still fairly heavy and somewhat cumbersome but it was nothing compared to his struggles without it so he made his way to his next procurement. - Placing his new lidded bucket with everything else he needed, he secured the cover again and made his way towards the gates, intent on getting back into the city and back to Bert.

This time, however, when he finally reached the gates he had to pay the toll thrice, once for himself and twice for the cart.

"This is daylight robbery," Fritz grumbled slotting three copper triads into the toll box.

"Yeah, yeah. Take it up with the king," the drizzler said as if he'd heard all the complaints and curses before. Which he likely had. There seemed to be something of a commotion as over the heads of the crowd were calls of, "Make way! Stand Aside! King's business!" A squad of twelve guards, the Scale Guard much to Fritz's shock, marched through the quickly parting crowd.

"Maybe I will. Think they'll take the king a letter for me?" Fritz asked insincerely as he hurriedly wheeled his cart out of the way of the oncoming men. The guard simply scowled and said "It's your head," while a bystander hissed, "Shut up." The squad of Scale Guard strode forward, resplendent in their jade scale armour, with shields, helms and spears of what looked like burnished gold. They encircled and protected their obviously important charge.

Each had a personal weapon looped or sheathed at their sides that were not uniform as their spears were and bore little resemblance to each other. One of the weapons was a sabre with a glittering multifaceted diamond hilt, sheathed in black scales; another was bearded axe that seemed to be grown of some kind of pale blue shell or coral; there was also a dagger of grey-white marble; and many more odd blades and brutal bludgeons besides.

Just from a glance, Fritz knew them all to be potent Treasures with deadly, destructive magics. In the centre of the Scale Guard's circle was an exquisitely dressed noblewoman. But more exquisite than the dress was the young woman herself. She had a long sheet of raven black hair, almost as dark as the Hound's void-like pelt and eyes of startling, cold silver.

Her velvet dress was the deep blue of sapphires and revealed white-as-snow shoulders that curved into an elegant neck draped with a necklace of platinum and teardrop rubies that were matched with earrings of the same design. While the glimmering of the jewellery initially caught Fritz's avaricious eye his attention was quickly captured by her skin, dusted as it was with ridges of subtle pale scales that scintillated in faint rainbow hues.

She wore no coat and was shaded by no umbrella, the rain did not stain or soak her dress or seemingly bother her at all. She was beautiful, breathtaking and Fritz could only stare, glancing down the faint lines of gills proclaiming her as one of the merfolk. The noblewoman was flanked by two pretty women of her same age, presumably her attendants, dressed finely in blues that were complimentary to their Lady's own.

But Fritz barely paid them any heed as the noblewoman passed by, entranced as he was by some ineffable call.

"Stand back and eyes down, scum," Someone close to him growled in warning. Fritz turned his attention to the speaker and stopped his retaliatory rude remark dead. The man speaking was taller, broader, stronger than Fritz and holding out a scale-gauntleted hand that matched the green jade of the rest of his armour.

Fritz realised he had been slowly taking steps towards the noblewoman and had, in a daze, distractedly walked right into the man's outstretched palm, bumping off it with a light thud that he hadn't noticed in the mesmerising moment. He was surprised and glad he only got a warning when he looked into the man's hard gaze. He knew that this man would've spitted him with the spear currently resting on his shoulder in an instant if Fritz had looked anything like a threat.

In that moment he was supremely thankful he left all his weapons behind and looked more like a thin beggar than a muscled thug like Bert. Fritz coughed and quickly stepped back from the Scale Guard, apologising in suitably obsequious tones, "Sorry sir," He repeated as he backed into the crowd and to his cart. The armed procession continued on unchallenged, parting the crowd like an axe splitting a log.

The drizzler beside Fritz let out a huff, then frowned and ordered, "Get a move on before we fine you for loitering."

"Of course," Fritz said through gritted teeth as he pushed his lumbering cart forward and into the desperate district, heading somewhat to the left, towards Tallies Trawler. It took him the better part of two hours to come by the tavern as he couldn't take many of the shortcuts he knew with the unwieldy cart, but at least he remained mostly unaccosted. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

When he had been inevitably challenged, threatened and finally grabbed by one of the gangs' thugs he merely kicked the offender in the knee with a sweeping Gloom Strike. Then as the fool fell Fritz gripped the man's collar and pitched him head first into the cobblestone street. His face met the stone hard with a cracking of bone then the thug lay still. Fritz knew he hadn't killed the man, as the whistle of breath could still be heard bubbling from his lips.

The once aggressive gang looked on in fear and Fritz didn't have much trouble after that. He even had a volunteer to push his cart for him. Fritz mused that it was startling what a little violence could get you if you used it precisely. He smirked to cover the troubling feeling that he was already abusing his power as he strode alongside his newest, if temporary, recruit.

"Set it just over here, Carter," Fritz jovially ordered, directing him to stop beside Tallies Trawler.

"Me name's not, Carter," groused Carter as he swept a drenched lock of curly dark hair out of his eyes.

"I don't care. Now take this and piss off," Fritz said flicking a silver triad to the large framed but gangly young man. The idiot caught it, then stared in surprise at the huge sum in his palm. He looked up and back to Fritz's face smiling imploringly while saying, "Of course, Sir…. If you need anything else I'm happy to help." Carter didn't seem like the bad sort but Fritz knew that glint in his dark blue eyes for what it was, greed.

And what he didn't need right now was another greedy bastard screwing up his schemes. He already had two too many of them. Them being himself and Bert.

"What part of 'piss off' don't you understand?" Fritz said blandly.

"Go away," he added, shooing the man with a wave of his hand.

"Yes, sir. Thanks for the triad," Carter said, scurrying away and retreating into an alley. Fritz watched him go and sighed, then he strode up and into the tavern. Tallies Trawler wasn't busy this time of day as it was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. Fritz supposed only the idle rich ate between those two events. That and a lot of the place's trade happened at night, when the working girls were out in full face and full force.

Still, there were a smattering of drunks already in their places at the bar or at one of the many solid wooden tables. It was quite a large establishment, and Fritz wondered how it managed to stay open let alone thrive in the desperate district as it obviously did. Though maybe it had something to do with the many pretty waitresses. He didn't wonder for long though as his eyes and attention were drawn to the towering, muscular form of Tallie behind the bar.

Fritz wouldn't describe the woman as handsome, not if he wanted to keep all his teeth, rather he would call her august. She had strong features that weren't exactly unappealing and had elegantly styled pale blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders. Her eyes were as black as coal and scanned the room for trouble or work for her waitresses as they bustled about in their cream-coloured dresses and brown aprons.

Tallie herself wore a dress of dark green and an apron of pristine white with a low neckline that presented a bosom as prodigious as her musculature. Fritz strode up to the bar assuredly and met her gaze as she asked in a surprisingly sultry voice, "What can I get you?"

"I'm looking for Bert. Is he still around or did he leave a message?" Fritz asked, realising just how tall the woman was, having at least a foot on his own height.

"As I told him, I'm not a notice board or a messenger. But Vee told me to keep an eye out for you, Fritz," She replied with a small smile.

"Ah... hopefully in a good way," Fritz said with an ingratiating smile.

"In the best of ways," She nearly purred.

"Have a drink on the house, you look like you need one."

"Oh, I could go for a glass of red. A Merlot from Portus Hai maybe?" Fritz said without missing a beat. Naming a drink that would be at the top, if not out of reach, of this tavern's price range and far too expensive for regular consumption. Tallie rolled her eyes but reached under the bar and brought out a dark bottle of exactly what he asked for. It was as if she was prepared for his outrageous order. She quickly produced two crystal wine glasses and placed one in front of herself and one in front of Fritz.

Tallie twisted the bottle's neck, the cork was pulled free with a satisfying pop and she poured a glass for each of them. Fritz took his and swirled it within the crystal, pretending he knew what to do with good wine and acting as if he enjoyed the bitter fragrance. Tallie just smirked and swallowed hers down as if it were a shot of the roughest swill in the district. Shrugging Fritz followed suit, gulping down a mouthful of the fruity, sour wine.

He found he liked its flavourful, berry notes immensely and soon regretted drinking the whole glass so quickly. He gave the bottle a longing look and suppressed a sigh. Tallie laughed and went to pour him another drink then paused as if having a thought. Once she'd seemingly made up her mind she pushed the bottle towards him and said, "Take the whole bottle. Anyone who goes 'gallantly' saving my waitresses deserves more than just a free drink or two."

"You know about that do you?" Fritz asked more than a little surprised. Tallie nodded and her lips formed a thin line.

"The gangs should know better by now than to abduct my girls for that wretched Spire. But every Tolling it seems I have to break the skulls of those who don't get the picture," She said, seemingly exasperated.

"I thought we weren't meant to talk about, the Spire," Fritz said as he leant over and whispered the last word.

"Just don't go yelling about it, you'll find there's a lot who are in the know or have gone through it themselves," Tallie said.

"What's important is that you don't tip off the guard or the nobility."

"Seems like a difficult secret to keep though," Fritz said hesitantly.

"Not when you're the Nightshark," Tallie said with a resigned sigh.

"Their grip on the Sunken Ring is absolute."

"So absolute that you can go around breaking skulls?" Fritz replied.

"I'm an exception, they don't mess with me and I don't mess with them. And if any of their minions break the peace I can deal with it myself," She said with a smirk and a subtle flex of her mighty physique. Definitely plenty of points in Strength, Fritz thought.

"But we're straying from why you're here, Bert's in the building across the street. Third floor, room five," Tallie said brusquely as more rough people entered the tavern and sat at the bar. Fritz nodded, and corking the bottle of Merlot he took his leave with a thank you that Tallie waved off with a smile. Fritz strode back out into the street to find someone messing with the cover of his cart and peeking into his lidded bucket.

"Oi! Leave my cart alone!" Fritz yelled as he stomped toward the pole-thin man. The beggar turned and fear entered his one good eye, he began to splutter, apologise and limp away. Fritz sighed, pity running rampant in his chest and souring in his mouth.

"Wait," He ordered in a gentler but still stern tone.

"Here." Fritz held out a handful of copper triads to the man, who held out his bony hands and received the coins gratefully. The man shuffled off soon after with many thanks and blessings. With another sigh, Fritz made to go find Bert but then thought better of leaving his bucket for anyone to steal. He wasn't too worried about the cart or the rope as it had little worth relative to the effort of moving so much weight, that and he could easily track down a cart by the lines its wheels left in the mud.

Seizing the bucket by its slightly rusty handle he hurried into the stone tenement across from the tavern, quickly found the squeaky stairs and took them carefully up to the third floor. Standing in front of the door of room number five, as proclaimed by the number carved into its wood, Fritz knocked. There were voices one of which was Bert's but the other two were feminine, one high and one low. With the creak of wood and heavy thumps of footfalls on floorboards, a lock snapped and the door swung inwards.

Standing in the doorway was Lynn in a thick white nightgown that fell to her knees, she glared at him with her burgundy eyes until a flash of recognition entered them and she smiled sardonically.

"Come to join in the fun?" She asked, smirking as the smell of beer and cheap wine wafted from the room.

"Looking for Bert. Is that idiot here?" Fritz replied with a bland smile.

"No idiots here! Just drunks!" Bert yelled as Lynn opened the door further and ushered Fritz into the room. The room was small, having little in the way of furniture. However, it had a small table with an abandoned game of cards and was littered with empty bottles. Fritz somewhat expected what he was about to see. But he was still annoyed to find his friend, shirtless but thankfully not pantsless, lounging on the large bed that took up one of the room's corners.

He was grinning dumbly from ear to ear and had one athletic arm wrapped around Veronica's slim waist. She was in a thin, green dress, her bright red hair was in some disarray and she had a relaxed smile on her lips. Cradling a half-full bottle of wine, Veronica waved at him, lifted her drink and loudly proclaimed, "It's our hero! Hurray!"

"Hurray!" Bert agreed raising his own bottle in salute. Lynn also gave Fritz a "Hurray!" and a light shoulder barge, that nearly bowled him over.

"Enjoying ourselves?" Fritz asked the room as if it wasn't apparent. There was a chorus of "Yays" and Veronica got up from the bed pattered over to Fritz, wrapped her arms around him while he lifted his arms like a scarecrow to avoid dropping what he had in his hands. She hugged him tight and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek, whisper-mumbling, "Thankyouuu," into his neck.

"No problem, it's what heroes do," He stated trying to contain the heat rising to his face. He found the room was stiflingly warm, and that's probably why everyone else had discarded their heavier over-clothes.

"Not even a hint of modesty," Lynn laughed heartily.

"What have you got there, Fritz? A bottle of wine and what's in here?" She asked as she pulled the bucket free from his hand and opened the lid. Her mischievous smirk turned into one of bemusement as she saw what was within.

"Mackerel? You're into some weird stuff, Fritz. What do you say, want to try some Vee?" Lynn teased as she shook the bucket of fish at Veronica, menacing the poor woman with the not-too-fresh fish smell.

"Ewww noooo," Veronica cried as she let go of Fritz, running from the offending odor and back into the awaiting arms of Bert who grunted as she landed on him. Lynn laughed again and replaced the lid quickly when she herself gagged from getting a whiff, her dark skin paling slightly. Fritz just stood there wide-eyed as Bert and Veronica cackled. Then he joined the laughter.

After the excitement had died down and the bucket was placed outside the room where it could no longer injure their sense of smell, Fritz asked, "So you've been celebrating ever since you got back?"

"Yeah I was having a grand old time at Tallies, then I found these two last night," Bert happily.

"More like we found him," Veronica supplied with a smile.

"We heard some golden-haired bastard had celebrated for a night and a day so we came to see if it was who we thought it could be."

"You'll never guess who the golden-haired bastard was," Bert said.

"It was Bert!" Veronica laughed.

"But Tallie wanted him out. Said she'd had enough of his voice," Lynn explained.

"Also I spent all my silver," Bert lamented.

"That too," Lynn agreed.

"So we told Tallie to keep an eye out for you if you turned up and we've been celebrating your miraculous survival since."

"I can see that," Fritz said looking around at all the empty bottles.

"Say, once you're sobered up do you want to help Bert and I out?"

"Whatever you want, Fritz," Lynn said throatily while Veronica licked her lips and leered from the bed. He felt a shiver run down his back that wasn't at all unpleasant but shook his head, "Not like that. I have a plan that might need some extra hands," he said adjusting his damp and suddenly too tight collar. Lynn nudged his elbow with her own while Veronica and Bert were about to say something lecherous before Fritz cut them off quickly, "I said, not like that. It has to do with the Treasure me and Bert hid."

"Sure," Lynn agreed with a shrug.

"Of course," Veronica stated.

"I'm in," Bert rejoined, though he didn't need to. With that, Fritz explained the bones of his plan.