Chapter 28
For the third day in a row, I was going to go out into the city and explore... again. I felt I needed to find the good and bad neighborhoods. I felt that I needed to see how my people lived.
Yesterday, I had spent the day at the docks. It was a bustling place. The dock area was divided into sections. Cargo vessels were assigned to one section, fishing boats were assigned to another area. Commercial sailing vessels were fewer, but had a place with privately owned ships.
Finally, the Landkur navy had a large section all to itself. Rude cranes were erected. They were powered by trained oxen. They walked, and reversed, in a circle. A multi-pulley 'block and tackle' was used to make the rope on the crane go up or down. It was just simple gears and pullies, really. But it worked. This was how cargo ships were loaded and unloaded. It was cumbersome, and mistakes were not uncommon. However, shippers were aware of the situation, and provided packaging that was appropriate. Truly fragile shipments were clearly labled, and were always either 'hand carried', or were handled by special teams.
After a cargo was unloaded, it was sent to a warehouse for storage, until it could be dispersed to where it was supposed to go. Most of the warehouses were individually owned by the ship's merchant owner. Another solution, was that several merchants pooled their money and bought a warehouse, or had one built.
A whole host of boys had jobs as 'runners'. Their only purpose was to go to establishments, businesses, inns, and a host of other places. These runners were very knowledgeable of the physical make-up of the city. That was what had brought me here to the warehouse district, today.
I wanted a guide. Who better, than one of these boys who ran their legs off, with messages that a cargo or shipment had arrived? I had already ruled out the cadets that were here for the Navy. I could have had one of them, easily. But I wanted someone who could blend in with everyday folk.
Also, the boy whom I hired, was going to be well paid. The Navy took care of a cadet's needs.
No, I wanted a youngster who would work for ME. I was going to over-pay him, shamelessly.
I was walking toward the runner's portion of warehouse row, when I heard a commotion. Curious, I walked around a corner, and was confronted by two large boys giving a smaller boy a beating.
I looked again. Correction! They were giving a girl a beating! I decided to find out what this was about.
"That will be enough," I said to the boys holding the girl.
They looked at me. The biggest boy glared at me.
"This is none of your concern. This girl has stolen from us," the boy said.
"I did not! I worked for my money, same as you," the girl said in a shrill voice.
"You stole from us, by working here! Everyone knows this is for boys, only!" the older boy said, slapping the girl.
"You hit her just one more time," I said in a nasty tone, "and I promise you, you will regret it," I finished.
The boy actually sneered at me.
"'Twas the run-master who told us to settle her, and you don't want to interfere with him. Now YOU begone, or it will go hard for you. The run-master has ways of dealing with dandies like you," the boy finished, turning his attention back to the girl.
I took a couple steps, and pulled the girl away from the boys. I put her behind me.
"Don't you boys have anything better to do than beat on girls? Isn't there a helpless old granny you could be picking on?" I asked them, with a sneer in my voice.
The older boy reddened. He didn't like what I had said to him. Good. I didn't like what I had seen. He put his fingers to his mouth, and three piercing whistles were produced.
"I never could do that," I said admiringly.
While I could whistle a tune by puckering up, I never did learn that finger in your mouth trick.
I started walking back towards the main gate to the docks, with the girl in tow. A man stepped out of the door of a building, and blocked my path.
"Master, this man stopped us from lessoning that girl. He as much as said we hurt old grannies," the boy said indignantly.
"You two go inside and wait. I will handle this," the man told the two boys.
While he was telling the two boys to go, I took a moment to study him. His clothes, while rough, were clean and serviceable. He was a bit shorter than me. He had sandy colored hair and a thin sharp nose. His eyes were blue.
"Sir, while you might think you have helped here, you have actually interfered. She presented herself as a boy, and took a job from a boy. For over a week, now, she has done this. She has to learn her place," the guy said in a tone of voice that suggested I should understand this.
"Well, I object to seeing big boys beating on little girls. I will not permit this type of behavior. I will stop it when I see it. Further, I came here in search of hiring a youngster to show me the city. I will hire this one," I said.
"Really? You want to hire me?" the girl squeaked.
"You can't hire her. You can only hire a boy," beak-nose said to me.
"Actually, you seem to have fired this girl. Since I am now dealing with a free agent, you have no say," I told him.
I fished a silver piece out of my pocket, and handed it to her. Her eyes widened to enormous pools of green.
I know, it was a very large over-payment, but I wanted to piss off this run-master.
"I will also buy your meals while you guide me. When our business is done, I will pay you another silver," I told the girl.
The run-master was shaking his head.
"You are not allowed to hire her. All who work as runners here, go through me. If you wish to hire a boy, I will let you have one of mine, but you cannot hire that girl," he said with a tone of finality.
"Strange. I am sure I just did," I said, pulling on the girls arm to get her started.
The man moved in front of me again. I stopped. I cocked my eyebrow at him.
"I told you. You cannot hire her," he said again.
"And I told you, that you have no say in who I hire. I came to hire a boy, but I did not like what I found. I found two much older and bigger boys roughing up a girl. That is not behavior I approve of.
"Now, you say she no longer works for you. Fine. She now works for me, and who I hire is none of YOUR business," I finished.
"All is my business in this place, when it deals with hiring runners. Guides are the same. None may be hired in this shipyard without my say so," he said and gestured.
Suddenly the girl and I were surrounded by several young men. They were thugs, by the look of them. The girl gasped and clung to me.
"I will warn you one time, only. Do... not... screw... with... me. I am not in the mood," I said a bit darkly.
Beak-nose smiled at me. "Then you should have thought of that before you started this trouble. To satisfy me, I will take all the coin in your pocket, including the silver you gave the girl. Let this be an easy lesson to be learned by you," he told me quietly.
It was my turn to gesture. I cast a sleep spell. All the thugs dropped. Beak-nose gasped as he saw his people fall.
"I am a bit higher up the food chain than you thought. Your bullyboys will be all right in a while. I just put them to sleep for a short time," I told him.
"I see. Well, I want no trouble from one such as you," he said bowing slightly, and moved off.
So it was, that my guide and I finally left the docks. As we exited through the main gate, we had our choice of three roads. One I knew fairly well, already. It was the one I had traveled to get down here to the docks.
I told my guide that I wanted to go to the 'lower city market'. She nodded, and we set off.
My guide's name turned out to be Trayla. She told me she had gotten the job as runner, because her dad was now dead, and her mom needed help. Her older brother was in the army, and had told her about being a runner a few years ago.
I told her my name, but noted no reaction to it. Well, she was a child after all. It was a brisk walk to the 'lower city market'. We went through the market after we arrived.
The 'lower city' was the poorer section of the city. The houses were old. In some cases, they just held up, because they were leaning against their neighbor's house. I saw a recipe for disaster here.
As for the market... well, the selection was not that good. While there were vegetables enough to go around, they were just barely this side of rotten. The meat was of poor quality, also. I only saw one stand that held any fruit at all. Even there, there was not much to choose from.
I shook my head. We walked slowly through the market. It was about two blocks long, and had plenty of stalls, just not much to go into them. Part of the market street was just hard compacted dirt. Why hadn't the street here been finished?
We went deeper into the lower city. I noticed we were being paced. I am not sure when I first noticed it, but I had become uneasy. I now saw several people who seemed to have been with us for some time.
We came to a solid looking Inn. I took the opportunity to try to slip away from our escort. While we were inside the Inn, I smelled food. It actually smelled quite good. I kept an eye on the door, and actually hoped we had lost them. But, I soon saw we had not.
After ordering, we sat down. I chose a table towards the rear. This was good, as I had a wall at my back. My guide dug in with an appetite, and didn't seem to realize we had been followed.
Just as we finished the bowl, another two people entered. One was 'beak-nose', from the docks. Another was a middle-aged man, in good clothes. They looked around and spotted us, and started walking to our table.
I could see the power sputtering in this man who walked next to the 'beak-nosed' run-master. So, he had a magic user in his pocket. Well, something told me it wasn't going to do him much good. I could see the power this man had. It was nothing, next to mine.
I stood, told my guide to say there, and went out towards the pair. I stopped about two feet from them.
"You are now starting to annoy me in a serious way," I told 'beak-nose'.
"That is a shame. You have something for me. You forgot to give me the coins I asked for. This is now going to cost you even more," he said, and nodded to the magic user.
With a sneer, the magic user cast a spell which rolled off me like so much water. He looked startled. I quirked an eye at him. He cast another spell at me. This one more serious. If it had actually taken effect, it would have hurt me, possibly have killed me.
I yawned, and brushed at my shirt. That was when they noticed the dragon emblem on it. Until now, I had hidden it from their view. They looked at each other, and paled.
I looked around. The place had cleared with that mysterious way places did, when trouble was present. So, they had known that these two, or at least one of them, was a troublemaker.
"My name is Paul Landkur. I am the Duke De Landkur. You have just committed treason by attacking me. Now we can do this one of two ways. One, you can turn around, and leave my guide and myself alone. Or, two, we can continue this. I assure you that you will lose.
"As a matter of fact, I have changed my mind. I want you both to wait here. I will send for the watch. I think you're in for a bad time," I finished.
To insure they stayed, I cast a sleep spell on the both of them. They fell to the ground. I then cast another spell on them, to keep them contained in a barrier. Nothing could get at them, nor they out if they recovered, somehow.
I located the innkeeper, and had him send for the watch. It took them a while to get to the inn.
I paid my guide another silver. I told her the job was finished. I didn't want her to get involved. I teleported her to a place by the market, that I had noticed.
I waited and the watch finally showed. They were sloppy. Boots were scuffed, and the uniforms were dirty. They were also trying to intimidate me. I silenced them. I gathered Power, and teleported us all to the palace.
"My Lord Duke! What has happened?" Lord Segleman asked me.
"Get me the watch commander. Tell him to bring someone who can restrain a magic user," I said grimly.
I went to my office, and waited. I had the guards come with me, and they were standing uneasily against the wall. Shortly, the watch commander and a wizard came into my office.
"You sent for us my Lord?" the watch commander asked.
So I spent ten minutes telling them about my day. I waxed eloquent. I paced back and forth in front of them. I told them of the boys attacking a young girl. I spoke of a man who threatened me, and of a guild that was not in existence. I spoke of people showing up to attack me and my guide, and of how they had decided they wanted my money.
I then pointed at the guards standing against the wall. I pointed out the filthy uniforms, the scuffed boots, and the general attitude. I informed the watch commander where we were when they eventually responded, so he could take appropriate action.
I was assured that action would be taken. The guards were formed up, and were marched out by the commander. The wizard went off to deal with the magic user, and the watch commander and his guards took 'beak-nose' with them.
I sighed. What a day.
Edited by TeNderLoin
