Chapter 26: Next Steps

Evening had fallen and we had arranged for Laura and Erica to meet us at the ‘Flagon’ to discuss our steps for leaving Westfall for Sterya. Theran had sequestered us in a back room so that we could work out details away from the ears of other patrons. Erica smiled when she saw me, and I was preparing myself for a full body hug that would nearly bowl me over. But she merely grinned, shyly, and kissed me on the cheek. It was a kiss full of love and tenderness, but reserved and refined. I would have almost not believed it was the same elf.  But the relative chasteness, when compared with how she had been before, I found incredibly attractive. Something had changed, and it removed a pressure from our relationship which I had felt, but not recognised until it was removed. Erica looked back to Laura, who nodded and, at the knight’s token of approval, the elf grinned wider and moved over to talk with her sister, whom she hugged and kissed with far more unrestrained joy. Laura came up and grabbed my arm in what I can only describe as the ‘warrior’s handshake’ and then I pulled her into a one-armed hug like I would one of my mates from back on Earth.

“You did a number on Erica,” I whispered in her ear, referring to the elf’s new restraint, “How did you pull that off?”

The knight widened her eyes and blew out a breath, feigning exhaustion and rolling her eyes. “It wasn’t easy. But we might have had a breakthrough yesterday, after the market.”

I released her and took a step back. It had been a more familiar exchange than we had shared before, other than the aftermath of our argument in the forest, but she seemed to be unfazed.

“You realise that by helping her regulate her emotions, you are making it more likely that she and I will… get closer? Is that… something…” I stumbled over my words. I didn’t really know what to say. I didn’t need this knight’s permission to date Erica and Asha. But I wanted it. I trusted her. She’d proved she had the girls’ best interests at heart.

Laura smiled. Sadly, which I found odd, but it was genuine. “I never wanted to keep you apart. I just want… I want it to be done properly. I want it to be right.”

I nodded, smiling warmly. “Thankyou.”

I realised that we were becoming more than comrades of circumstance, but actually friends. Still smiling, we eyed each other for a moment, her studying my face and baggy eyes, and me noticing the obvious emotional toll that her last month had had upon her.

“How are you faring, honestly?” I asked in a low tone.

“Honestly? Pretty crap. You?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

I pulled her into a full hug, overwhelmed with care and appreciation for this knight. She had literally pulled me from an early grave, supported and fought for me, and I felt I needed to express how much I valued her.

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done.”

We separated again, but unlike last time, she didn’t meet my gaze. She was looking down at the floor, avoiding eye contact, but I noticed a smile creeping across her lips and spreading into her high, Nordic cheeks. It seemed I was right, she needed the hug.

The dwarves treated us like honoured guests. When Laura and Erica had arrived, they were led in with almost a kind of reverence. I smirked at Laura’s bewildered face as one of Theran’s clan, Rokle, I think, pulled her chair out for her and seated her like a lady, just as Gleeson did the same for Erica. Asha was similarly seated, and I, being male, was expected to pull my own seat out and in. I smirked.

Fine, I’ll do it myself.

We’d only just started discussions about when and where to meet the caravan in the morning when Theran entered, obviously worried, and he pulled a chair to the table and sat facing me.

“‘scusing the interruption, lad, but I’m assumin’ non’ye have papers, do ye?”

Laura explained that she did, but how she couldn’t use them here and Theran nodded sadly.

“Aye, I thought that’d be tha case.” He sighed. “Ye won’t be goin anywhere tomorrow then. The city watch a’plannin’ to demand papers from every person enterin’ or leaving Westfall. Officially, it starts tomorrow, but th’watch ‘ave been instructed to detain anyone who tries leavin’ the city before then. They closed t’main gates an hour ago.”

We all looked despairingly at each other.

“Well… fuck”

“Word came from James Brook?” suggested Asha, but Erica shook her head, looking to Laura.

“They would have heard about that the first day we were here, wouldn’t they?”

The knight nodded. “At the very latest it would have reached Westfall the day after we arrived. No, something else is at play here. It can’t be a coincidence that they started asking for papers just as the caravan departs from the city.” Her eyes narrowed, fixing on the Dwarf. “How did you come across this information?” she enquired suspiciously, to which Theran chuckled.

“Lass, I been in this game a long time. Knowin’ when my patrons a’likely to stay longer, or not turn up at all is part of runnin’ the business. I got ears aroun' town to give me a ‘eads up when sometha changes. I can buy or sell extra food, prepare extra beds, or tell me cousins to prepare less food.”

“So that’s why innkeepers have a reputation for knowing all the local gossip?” I surmised.

“Aye.”

Laura thought for a moment and then looked up at me ruefully. “This has the Iron Shield all over it,” she grumbled. “There's no way the city watch would do identification checks on caravan departure day, it will clog up the city gates for hours and cause chaos across Westfall. The city guard would never employ this tactic on a day like tomorrow. It’s absolute madness. The streets will be gridlocked with carts and people.”

“But the Iron Shield wouldn’t care,” I added, continuing her thought. “If it were me, I would pick the caravan departure day, expecting to cause chaos and hoping that those they are after are desperate enough to make a break for it, or try something risky. I just had the thought that the chaos might be a good cover to allow us to sneak through, but that could be exactly what they want. They’re giving us the opening in the hope we’ll take the bait.”

Theran nodded. “If I were addin’ m’council, I would advise lyin’ low and not stickin’ yer head out. Ye can all stay ‘ere fer free without a worry. I got beds and no-one ‘ere will bother ye. But if ye try to sneak through, ye’ll be caught as sure as me whiskers are going grey.”

We discussed the situation at length, going back and forth and exploring all our options, with the ultimate decision being to lay low for another few days.

“Tradecraft,” I said after a pause.

The others looked confused.

“In my world, tradecraft refers to the skills employed by thieves, spies and assassins. Espionage and counter-espionage. I think we need to employ similar skills.”

Laura seemed to think about this. “Do you know how to do this… tradecraft?”

I chuckled. “I was a musician, music teacher and a volunteer EMT. I’ve never had to use tradecraft before…”

Theran eyed me knowingly… “But…”

“But,” I continued, “I spent a lot of time thinking about it in my spare time. What if I had to... xyz? How could I… disappear, disguise myself? What lies would I tell to protect my cover? It was a silly little intellectual exercise that I would go through when doing mundane repetitive tasks.”

“But you think it’s relevant now, Master?” Erica asked, hopefully.

I sucked in my lips as I thought and let them out with a small popping sound, followed by a resigned sigh.

“Yeah. At least the basics. I wouldn’t know more than that anyway. Listen, if I were a law enforcement agency about to cause chaos throughout the city, I would be looking for people who suddenly extended their stay in their inn.” I looked to Laura and raised an eyebrow. “I’m assuming your innkeeper knows you’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“Yes,” she said, realisation dawning over her face.

“So if you suddenly turn up tomorrow morning hoping to extend your stay indefinitely, all it takes is for the watch to check with the innkeeper for anyone who has done exactly that… and you’re compromised.”

Theran nodded. “Ladies, move yer things across t’the Steel Flagon tomorrow. It’ll appear yer leaving yer inn as normal. I’ll ‘ave you moved into one’o’tha rooms by noon.”

“And,” I continued, “if Theran says that everyone who stayed here either left as normal or was already booked through to the end of the week, it won’t look suspicious. I can’t imagine it will take more than a day for the watch and Iron Shield to make enquiries through the inns. They will have their suspects and answers by tomorrow afternoon. As long as we’re not a part of those answers or arrests, we’ll be safe.”

Gleeson, who had been quietly standing by the door for the entirety of the conversation, finally spoke up.

“Sir, if I may, I know cousin Theran suggested you seek employment with the Blades of Mondarin. The Commander there is a former associate of mine, someone I trust with my life and would stake my reputation on his. If we can convince him to hire you on as a white blade, you will become invisible to the Iron Shield and City Watch. The Blades of Mondarin will undoubtedly be used to make up the guard shortfall in the next few days. Hell, they might even get you involved in the search for… yourself.”

A grin spread across my face at the irony of it all. I felt it was safe to assume that a ‘white blade’ was some sort of new recruit or initiate, like an Iron Shield ‘bedpan’ but, more than that, I liked the idea of being inside the system of law enforcement. The obvious upside would be the access to information but, more practically, it would reduce scrutiny.

“Ok, but tomorrow would be a bad day to go and apply, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh aye,” replied Theran, “But Gleeson could simply ask Commander Thorpe ‘ere fer a drink. He’d be ‘ere within the hour.”

Laura rolled her eyes in disbelief, “You’d be able to get a Commander of the Mondarin Blade Corps here in under an hour? What could possibly bring the ranking officer of an entire chapter running across town to an inn in the middle of the night?”

The dwarf smiled smugly, obviously knowing something the rest of us could only guess at.

“Hope.”