Ultimately, there really hadn’t been any other choice. If we were going to pose as members of the imperial government, then we would need to have the proper disguises.
But, as my attempts on that first night had proven, I couldn’t just go waltzing through the front gate. None of the guards knew who I was, and honestly, until I had an idea of what was going on inside the palace without me there to run things, that was probably for the best.
That meant I had to find another way inside. That wasn’t exactly difficult. I’d helped plan the construction of the palace. So I should know all of the different ways one could go in and out of it. However, I’d been in my dragon form then, and I’d never had to worry about using the secret entrances on account of just being able to fly into the damned place when I pleased.
Seeing everything from down here—at the scale of a human—was downright confusing. But, I had an idea of where to go. I’d just have to figure out the rest as I did it.
That meant I’d need more supplies. While the dagger I’d taken from the thug was handy enough, short blades had never been my preferred weapon of choice. I also didn’t want to kill anyone if I didn’t have to, as taking lives within the palace walls had the potential to create a storm of trouble for myself and my newfound allies.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much money to my name, as the small payment Henrietta gave me had mostly gone toward food and drink. Counting my meager belongings in my room, I was saddened to find I only had six Silver coins to work with. That wasn’t nearly enough to get me the supplies I’d need to sneak into the palace. I’d be lucky if it could feed me for the next few days.
“Well, that isn’t going to get me far,” I mumbled, stuffing the coins into the pocket of my pants. I needed to find a way to make money, and fast. The job with Aurelion had potential to pay off big in the future, but there was no telling how long it would take for me to see any kind of actual pay-off.
I locked the door to my room and then hurried downstairs to the inn’s common room, where I found Irinda serving some of the customers that waited there. I held up a hand to her and she hurried over, leaving an older man staring after her, his empty cup still raised and waiting to be filled.
“Yes, Miss Aria?” she asked, coming to a stop before me. The jug of ale in her hands made sloshing noises as the liquid inside struggled to break over the edge and onto the floor.
“I need to get some supplies for a job I’m doing. But in order to do that, I’m going to need to find something that pays decently well and quickly. Any ideas where I could look?”
She studied me for a moment and then glanced around the room, as if expecting someone to be listening to us. Then she leaned in close. “My cousin works for a fella down at the docks. Says they’re always looking for new blood. Pays decent, he claims. Been working for the fella a few years now, and he’s got a nice apartment in the Southern Quarter.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. The Southern Quarter was nicer than the Eastern Quarter, but not by much. Still, the promise of quick pay was enough to entice me. Something ached in my chest for the possible Gold that I could have if I followed through with her suggestion.
“Where can I find this person?”
“My cousin works at the docks from sun up to sundown. So he should be there now. He’s a big, brawny fella by the name of William. Everyone knows him, so just ask and someone will point you in his direction.”
That wasn’t much of a lead, and I wanted to ask her for more, but she was already wandering off to refill the cups of the waiting patrons.
I sighed in both disappointment and frustration and then turned toward the street, exiting the inn and letting my feet carry me toward the docks.
I’d just have to ask around about a big brawny fella named William. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be that difficult to find him.
It didn’t take me long to approach the edge of the Eastern Quarter, where the Southern Quarter and the docks began. The buildings quickly changed from the older, more-worn stone and wood structures that I had called my home these past few days, to newer and more-refined buildings that rose into the air like the towers of a keep.
These buildings had been built to withstand the strong winds coming from the Irindor Sea, which bordered the southern coast of Caelthor, so there was less wood on them than those found deeper in the city. Unfortunately, stone didn’t do much good against dragon’s flame. During the rise of the [Hero], these buildings had burned just as much as the wooden ones in the poorer parts of Caelthara.
I wove my way into the busier streets that surrounded the docks proper. Shopkeepers pushed wooden carts along the sides of the cobblestone path that led toward the labyrinth of wooden docks, which spread out like a spider web across the water. Many of them hocked wares, promising cheap prices on some of the most-wanted imports from other parts of the empire. I passed a shopkeeper who held out a scarf, his calloused hands a strange companion to the sheen of the fabric, which he claimed had been woven by the silksmiths in Aeridath.
The city’s easy access to the Irindor Sea had helped it birth one of the biggest harbors in the empire. That, as well as my choice to call it home, had helped turn it into one of three major trade hubs that imported and exported goods from all over the empire.
Its access to the Irindor Sea allowed ship captains to effortlessly connect with almost every other major city in the Imperial Lands. That connection meant more imports and exports, both of the useful kind—like exotic materials and foods that couldn’t be grown this far north—as well as the not-so-exotic kind, that preferred to call the city’s underbelly their stomping grounds.
It was the latter that I was hoping to take advantage of today.
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I left the crowded passageways of the city streets and shuffled out onto the wooden docks which housed several large trade ships, their sails pulled and their anchors lowered. I found one of the beefiest-looking men I could and approached him slowly.
“Excuse me,” I said, holding up a hand in greeting. The man eyed me for a moment, looking over a half-unrolled manifest in his hand, and then shrugged.
“Looking to book passage? The Seafarer’s Daughter will leave port this evening and we'll be heading west.”
I shook my head. “No, no. Not looking for a way out. Looking for a friend, actually. I was told he works down here. Fellow named William.”
“William?” the man asked, running dirty fingers across his chin. His fingernails made a scratching noise as he brushed at the stubble that spread across his face. “Eh, Doris?” He called out to a woman who looked almost as big as he was. She had a large sword stretched out across her back, and her arms alone were larger than my entire head. She peered down at me, and then at the man who was closer to her size.
Half-giants, I realized, watching them. I hadn’t thought about it at first, but the docks here were home to one of the biggest mixing pots in the empire. That meant people of all races passed through here. I wondered if there might be other lesser races within the city.
I tried not to cringe outwardly as she looked me over again.
Dragons and half-giants hadn’t been on the best terms for a few hundred years. They lived under our rule, true. But they usually lived on the fringes of society. To find one, let alone two of them working out of my city was unexpected. Most hadn’t forgiven what happened to their Elders when we’d come to call this planet ours. I felt extremely naked without the ability to change into my true form.
“What’s de issue, Dem?” The woman asked, her words broken by her accent.
“This lass here is looking for some fella called William. Know anyone like that?”
“William?” She repeated, peering at me again. Her eyes sparkled with what I thought might be suspicion, then she perked up. “Wait, you mean ‘Oddjob Will’? Big fella?”
“Maybe?” I responded, drawing out the word. “A friend of mine said I could find him down here. Just said he was a big fellow named William.”
“Ye, only ‘Will’ I know is Oddjob Will. He’s a real big fella, usually in port most days.” She pointed a hand—that was large enough to cover my entire face and the side of my head—toward a large ship a few docks over. “Should be working outta de Siren’s Curse.”
I nodded, along with a quick “thank you,” and hurried away as quickly as I could without looking like a serving boy trying to hide from a taskmaster.
The Siren’s Curse was larger than the ship that Dem and Doris had been standing near. In fact, it was probably larger than most of the ships that I could see in the dock at that exact moment. Its hull was painted a dark red, and the carved figurine of a man with a spear thrust out in front of him stretched out from the bow of the ship. The sails were also dyed a dull red, which made it stand out more among the other ships at dock.
At the top of the center mast, a large flag flapped in the wind. The breeze caught it, stretching the fabric out just enough that I could make out the entirety of the image sewn into it. A large shirtless man with a dark-colored spear stood over the corpse of a woman with a long, fishlike tail—a siren.
“Guess that explains the name,” I muttered to myself as I approached the boarding ramp. A lone figure stood at the top, a skinny man with close-cropped hair that you could just barely see beneath the large hat he wore atop his head.
“Eh, eh,“ he said, holding out a hand as I approached. “‘Fraid we ain’t taking passengers today.”
“I’m not looking for passage. A friend said I could find her cousin down here. I need to speak to him. Fellow named Oddjob Will?”
The skinny man tsked and spat off to the side. “Ol’ Oddjob, huh?” He took a long look at me, his eyes scouring every part of me that he could see. He licked his lips.
“What’s a lady like you want with a man like that?”
“Personal business, I’m afraid. I’m sure you understand, a lady needs to protect her interests.”
He smiled at that, his mouth a mess of missing teeth and blackened gums. “I knows all about taking care of ladies,“ he boasted.
“You get tired of ol’ Oddjob, you just let Richter here know.” He stepped out of the way and motioned toward a door that looked to lead belowdeck. I nodded my thanks and crossed the deck, peering into the darkness of the doorway.
“Hello?” I asked, cautiously pushing deeper into the room beyond. Instead of actually leading belowdeck, it led to a small room, with a long table on one side and several wooden crates on the other. A large, bulky man stood at the back, peering into another crate, which looked to have been pried open.
“Who the hells let you on board?” He asked, turning to face me. He had a sword tucked into the side of his belt, which almost looked like a knife compared to his size. His simple shirt and pants looked cleaner than any of the others I’d seen so far while looking for him, and he had well-groomed dark brown hair that had been pushed back out of his face.
“Richter?” I said, though with less confidence than I had wanted to. “Looking for William.”
“Aye, you’ve found him. Now why’d you come looking?”
I took a step closer and his hand found its way to the hilt of his sword. I held up my hands slowly.
“Not looking for trouble. Irinda said you might be able to connect me with some easy work.”
His shoulders dipped and his hand dropped from the sword hilt. “Seven moons,“ he muttered. “That girl is always trying to get me into trouble.”
He leaned back against the crate he’d been inspecting and looked me over. Unlike Richter, his gaze felt less like gawking and more like a jeweler inspecting a new piece that had just found its way into his hands.
“Suppose you can use that needle there, can you?“ he asked, motioning toward the thin dagger at my waist.
“I can,” I assured him.
“Don’t suppose you have any references?”
I laughed. “Not unless you can talk to the dead.” I offered him a smile with that.
I’m pretty sure he shivered, but he shook the movement off too quickly for me to say for sure.
“Good enough for me. Suppose we’ll see just how good you are with it.”
Pushing off the crate, he lumbered past me, his footsteps shaking the deck slightly. While he didn’t appear nearly as big as the half-giants had been, he was still a quite large and muscular man. I almost felt like a child following after him.
We crossed the main deck, up to the bow of the ship, and he looked out over the water, toward the city.
“Job is simple. It’s happening tonight, just after dusk. Feel up to getting your feet wet so quick?”
“Quicker the better,” I said, nodding. “I need money.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Well, this won’t make you rich, but it’s honest enough—the money, that is. Not the job.”
Will ran a hand through his hair, messing it a little, and then shrugged. “Idea is to rough up a couple folks that have been giving the captain trouble. Some dock scribes. They’re not the kind of folk to fight back, necessarily, but we might still get our hands dirty.”
“That’s fine,” I lied. In reality, my stomach turned a little at the prospect of roughing up innocents, but I didn’t have much choice.
I wasn’t playing on the same scales that I had been before. I couldn’t wave my hand and simply get what I wanted, now. I had to take every opportunity that was placed before me, even if it got my hands a little bloody.
Gold shimmered in the corner of my vision, and I focused on it.
Quest detected: Shipmaster Woes
Quest description: Convince the dock scribes and the shipmaster to leave the captain of the Siren’s Curse alone.
Accept?
“Shall we wait?” I asked, looking up at Will.
He gave a quick downward motion with his head. “In the meantime, you can help me sift through the ship’s inventory. I’ll give you a few Gold for the trouble.”
My eyes probably gleamed at the mention of Gold. “Absolutely.” I said, following him back into the ship.