Chapter 13 - Ester's First Tavern
"The Empire’s prosperity means even Her Eternal Majesty’s meanest subjects benefit from its bounty. Of course each region has its staples, but life in the Empire is about more than just survival. The good men of the Empire also enjoy the occasional drink when their work is done. While the nobleborn might delight in the subtleties of a fine vintage from Colonin, the Empire’s industrious commoners will enjoy a delicious and hearty mug of ale after a day of industrious service.”
Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini
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The noise and the smell of the tavern hit Ester like a blast. Shouting, laughter and the thud of boots on the straw covered wooden floor mixed with stale beer and sweat. She couldn’t help the way her nose wrinkled. She’d thought some of the inns on the way to Vass Karan had been seedy, but this was a different level. It didn’t matter though. She wasn’t going to let the unpleasantness of the place stop her.
Groups of men sat around tables or stood between them, talking, laughing or shouting. All of them with tankards in their hands. There were very few women in there, other than the serving girls hurrying around the place delivering more drink in response to the men’s calls. Ester couldn’t help but notice that their dresses showed rather more than was proper too.
It was both intimidating and overwhelming, but Ester didn’t let herself quail at the sight. Instead she quickly scanned the room, even as she headed inside, picking out a small table for herself near a particularly noisy gaggle.
“Then I headbutted the fucker and put my sword right through his gut!” A familiar voice boomed out in front of her. Surely not? Ester’s eyes landed on him, almost straight ahead of her. Towering over the circle of men he was entertaining? Boasting at? Threatening? How hadn’t she seen him the moment she walked in? What was he doing there?! She’d thought no one went to Clanis Edge by choice.
Without even thinking Ester swerved right, looking for somewhere else to sit. A moment later she cursed herself. It wasn’t like he’d recognise her under her carefully cast illusion and now she might have drawn attention to herself. Fortunately no one seemed to have noticed and she was quickly able to take a seat at a small table by the wall. The stool was uncomfortable and the table wobbled, but that hardly mattered.
Once she was sat down with her back to the wall she could relax slightly. At least no one would be able to sneak up on her. Ester took a moment to survey the room properly, although she very carefully didn’t let her gaze linger on Sir Vitaly and his group on the far side of the room. Even if there was no way he’d recognise her the last thing she wanted was to draw his attention. She was pretending to be a criminal after all.
Most of the people in the tavern had the typical, pale looks of Vass Karan and wore simple, rough clothing. Some stood out though. There was a pair of men in smartly cut blue tunics with caps on their heads talking to a heavily bearded local. There was another with pitch-black skin wearing what looked closer to a dress than anything she’d seen on a man. Foreign traders perhaps? Vass Karan was meant to be a trading centre after all, even if those who hadn’t sworn loyalty to Her Eternal Majesty were rarely invited into the more salubrious parts of the city. Then there was the man whose face and arms, the only parts of him where the skin was bared, were covered in spiralling tattoos. There was something about them. Something drawing her in. Without thinking Ester focused her mind on the man, bringing it into just the right alignment. There was magic on him, she was sure of it. She could almost make it out, but…
She was brought back to reality with a start when a gap toothed man with unkempt hair that was more grey than brown dropped himself onto the stool opposite her.
“’Ello sweetheart, what brings a pretty thing like you to a place like this?” Ester leant back from him, she could smell the alcohol on his breath even over the general odour of the tavern.
“I’m here for business goodman.” She kept her tone bland rather than hostile. She didn’t want to provoke a confrontation. “I’m looking to hire some specialists.”
“Well that’s mighty fortu… fortuit… good. I’m a specialist in many things you see.” He grinned drunkenly at Ester’s sceptical look. “In particular I’m a specialist in obtainin’ drinks right now, so what’ll you be havin’?”
“I’m not interested.” Was she going to have to defend herself from him? Would her cover be blown by a drunkard old enough to be her father?
“Come on now swee…” She cut him off.
“Go. Away.” Perhaps she should have put a hint of magic into the words for emphasis, but she didn’t want to try that while she was holding the illusion over herself. Too much risk of it going wrong, or just giving her a splitting headache. Fortunately the man didn’t seem inclined to press the point.
“Whatever.” He made a show of scraping back the stool and standing up. “Not like you’re all that anyway.”
It wasn’t long after his huffy departure that a harassed looking serving girl hurried up to Ester.
“What can I get you?” Ester had a moment of panic and then mentally kicked herself. She’d already thought about this before she left the Watch.
“A cup of ale.” Really she wanted mead, but she wasn’t sure if they would have it somewhere like this. It wasn’t like she spent much time in low class taverns. Ale though, she knew everywhere had that.
“That’ll be two p…” Ester cut her off as she pulled out her purse and a couple of pennies.
“And some information. Who do I speak to if I want to hire some specialists in recovery of difficult goods?”
The woman gave her a blank look and Ester sighed.
“I need to hire a thief. A very good one. Who do I talk to?”
“I dunn…” Ester pulled out a dernier, the silver glinting in the flickering light. “I means I’ll find you someone. Of course!” Ester hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should only pay later and then put the coin in the woman’s hand.
“See that you do.”
As the serving girl headed off Ester could only hope that she hadn’t just wasted her money.
It didn’t take long for the girl to return with a mug of ale.
“Here ye go.” She practically dropped the mug on the table, slopping ale onto it then, before Ester could say anything, she winked. “Don’t worry, someone’ll be along to speak to ye soon.”
“Thank you.” Ester couldn’t do much more than murmur the words before the serving girl had headed back into the fray leaving her to her ale. She eyed the mug dubiously before glancing round the room.
People were definitely looking at her. Not staring, but shooting glances out of the corners of their eyes. It was worrying. She was fairly sure she was the best dressed woman there. Actually, other than the serving girls there were very few women and she didn’t think those few looked at all respectable. The men weren’t exactly smartly clothed though. Was that why they were staring? She tried to ignore the nervous shiver that went through her. Had she given herself away? Was this a worse idea than she’d thought? Or maybe it was just that she wasn’t drinking her ale.
Ester picked up the mug and took a sniff. It smelt sour. Yeasty with a hint of something she couldn’t identify. After a moment’s hesitation she took a reluctant sip. It… wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. That didn’t mean it was good, certainly not, but at least she could resist the urge to spit it out. Was this really what all these people drank all the time though? The men in the tavern were showing every sign of enjoying the stuff. With a sigh Ester took another sip.
Left alone with her thoughts Ester had to wonder whether this had all been a waste of time. Had she just come here to be taken advantage of? Her supply of derniers wasn’t unlimited.The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Being among so many rough, violent looking men was more frightening than she’d expected and things would only be getting more dangerous if she succeeded. If she couldn’t speak to anyone worthwhile then the worst she’d lost was some sleep and a couple of derniers.
As the wait stretched on, she decided that she’d give it a bit longer. She hadn’t been there all that long after all. Then if nothing had happened she’d leave and rethink her plans. With that decision made, Ester took another sip of the ale and resisted the urge to grimace at the taste.
It took most of the mug before anything happened. An unpleasant time spent alternating between sipping the unpleasant brew and fretting about the way people were looking at her. In fact Ester was starting to think about just giving up, she certainly wasn’t going to order another ale. Or give any more money to anyone.
“You the one that’s looking to hire?” A middle-aged, moustachioed man stood over her table, his olive skin marked him as not being native to Vass Karan. The scar across his face made him look even more villainous than the sneer on his lips.
“Yes.” Ester forced herself to meet his eyes. She couldn’t afford to show her nervousness. “What are you offering?”
“Specialists, right?” His voice cut through the noise of the tavern, deep with menacing undertones.
“My… employer has some specialist needs, yes.” Ester kept her voice steady.
“You’ll be coming with me then. The boss wants to see you.” He met her eyes without blinking. Had she struck gold? It seemed like this was someone who could actually give her what she wanted.
Ester shook her head. “No, I won’t be going anywhere. We can talk here and arrange something, but I’m not foolish enough to just leave with someone I don’t know.” The man smiled, it wasn’t a friendly expression.
“You can come on your own two feet and let the boss decide what to do with you, or I can sling you across my shoulder, dead or alive it doesn’t matter much.” He gestured and three more men came forward to stand by him. “Don’t think you’ve got any tricks to try to escape.”
“If my employer finds that I’ve been harmed, there will be consequences.” She didn’t try to keep the hint of nervousness out of her voice, even while she was struggling not to smile. It was frightening, yes, but it was also exactly what she’d wanted. Well, it would have been better if the Golden Shadows had turned up to negotiate with her, but going to speak to someone who could actually help her was almost as good.
“Sure there will. You walking or being dragged?”
“I’ll walk. Let me just finish my drink.” Ester downed the rest of her mug as casually as she could. It was even more disgusting than when it had been fresh, but it was the sort of thing someone who was used to these situations might do. Doing her best to look satisfied by the ale Ester stood and smoothed down her dress. “Right, I hope ‘the boss’ is going to be able to satisfy my employer, he is a rather demanding man.”
The moustachioed criminal just grunted at that. A few people glanced at Ester and the men escorting her out of the tavern, but carefully looked away as they passed. Outside, the men took up position around Ester and headed down the boardwalk. Soon they turned down an alleyway and then turned again before beginning to climb the sides of the valley. They didn’t go far, but with the number of turns and dark passages Ester quickly lost track of where they’d been. Not that that would be too much of a problem if she wanted to leave. Just head down to get back to the boardwalk and then she could find her way back to more salubrious parts of the city.
The tumbledown wooden building that they stopped at didn’t look like much. It pressed into the hillside, climbing up to three floors with open windows showing movement and torches inside, but not much else. She wouldn’t have picked it out from any of the other decrepit constructs of Clanis Edge. The only thing that really distinguished it was its size and the small group of surly looking men hanging around outside it. They looked like they were just lounging around, but Ester couldn’t help but notice that all of them were armed and none of them were small.
As soon as they saw Ester and her escorts approaching they straightened up, suddenly looking more alert.
“Alright Larza?” One of them spoke to the moustachioed leader of the men around her.
“Aye, got one for the boss here. Says she’s hiring.” The guard smirked at that.
“Well better take her in then.” With a dismissive look the guard turned back to his friends and a not particularly gentle push from behind got Ester moving again. She was once again starting to wonder whether this had really been a good idea or not. Still, she was committed now.
To Ester’s surprise the entrance to the building led to a hall with a rather grander pair of doors at the back. They were metal, iron she thought, rather than wood and looked rather more solid than the outside. A pair of guards stood at the door. They looked as rough as any of the others, but actually carried spears and wore chainmail. Clearly more serious. What had she gotten herself into? This seemed like more than just a gang of thugs.
The doors were open, and as she went through them she could see some simple runes carved into them, although she didn’t feel more than a glimmer of magic. Probably they’d thought a Schema was a good idea and then found they couldn’t keep it properly maintained on a sub-standard metal like iron. The moment she had to glance at the doors told her they should have been strengthened to almost unbreakability by the Schema, but clearly not in its current state.
Ester almost missed a step when she found herself in a much larger room. Almost a hall. It was huge. Well, it was much bigger than she’d expected here. Wooden walls, just like the rest of Clanis Edge, except at the back, which seemed to be the bare stone of the hillside. Coloured cloth hung along the walls, covering much of them and guttering torches were dotted around the room illuminating it in flickering light.
Tables were arranged around the hall, with rough-looking men and women sitting at them. Eating and drinking, or just talking. However, it seemed to be centred on the man lounging on what could only be a throne on a raised wooden platform at the back. He was tall, Ester could see that immediately. A lanky man with long arms and legs and sallow skin, paler than was the norm even in Vass Karan. His dark hair flopped across his brow and unlike most of them his clothing was excellent. An almost skin tight parody of the dark outfits favoured by the nobility of Vass Karan.
A woman stood by his side. Like him she was better dressed than the rest, although in the simpler clothes favoured by the merchant classes rather than the silk of the nobility.
Ester’s guards urged her up to the foot of the platform. “Boss, got one for you. Says she’s looking to hire. Not sure I believe her.”
“Thank you Larza.” The ‘boss’’ voice was deep and rich with vibrating undertones that sent shivers through Ester. He didn’t move as he spoke, other than to turn his head towards her. “So tell me why you’re here young lady and tell me the truth or it’ll go badly for you.”
“Thank you my lord, I’m here to…” Ester started to tell him exactly why she’d come before cutting herself off. There was something about his voice. Her mind was already focused, in tune with her magic, from holding the illusion spell over herself. She turned her attention on him, pulling herself back to reality. His voice… Magic of some kind, although not one she’d encountered before. Once she really focused it was easy to feel, but she’d nearly blurted out exactly why she’d come! “To hire some… recovery specialists on behalf of my employer. Your associate said you’d be able to help.” She nodded at the moustachioed man.
A smile slowly crept across the ganglord’s face. “Well for a price I’m sure that could be arranged, why don’t we…”
“She has the Talent master.” The woman beside him suddenly cut him off. Her eyes narrowing as she focused on Ester.
Bother! She must be some kind of hedge witch, but it shouldn’t have been obvious. Was it because she’d shaken off the compulsion in his voice? Ester thought fast, keeping her brewing panic under control.
“Indeed, I’m an Adept in service of my employers. They’d hardly send someone who was unable to defend herself into Clanis Edge after all. I find it makes certain things go more smoothly. Now, you were saying my lord?” She looked away from the hedge witch as if the woman was below her notice and back to the ganglord. All while praying that the woman wasn’t good enough to see through her illusion. She shouldn’t be. Ester might not be able to fool professors at the Academy, but that was a far cry from some ganglord’s witch.
“Is that so?” He looked more amused than worried. There was something not quite right with his smile though. Ester couldn’t quite put her finger on what… “You must be very useful, scurrying around for your lord. Wouldn’t you prefer to stay here and work for me instead?” His voice rolled over her, but now that she knew what it was she could shrug it off and ignore it. She couldn’t help but worry though. He shouldn’t be able to do that, it didn’t make any sense. Why did the witch call him master too? It was wrong.
“Thank you my lord, but my word is my bond and I’ve already promised my service.”
“Hmmm.” His eyes narrowed a little. “Very well Adept. Tell me exactly what you need and I’ll tell you the price.” There was definitely something not quite right about him, but she couldn’t work out what.
“My employer has lost a valuable item. A family heirloom.” Ester launched into the story she’d put together before venturing into Clanis Edge. “It was a valuable Schema created for his family in return for loyal service and it has been stolen from him.”
“Stolen you say?” The ganglord’s eyebrows rose. Was he mocking her? Ester ignored her irritation. She needed to work out what it was that was bothering her about him. The witch was watching her too. Frowning as she did so.
“Yes my lord, stolen.” She gave him an exaggerated shrug. “A man of power like you would understand the games that are played. Unfortunately my employer’s power doesn’t quite extend to reclaiming the item itself, not without engaging in less subtle methods.” Ester grimaced in feigned disappointment. She sounded ridiculous to her own ears, but he was nodding at her words.
“Mmm these things can be difficult, do continue young lady.” He looked incredibly smug, unlike his witch who was worrying Ester more and more. She tried not to look at the woman, but the way she was staring straight at Ester and muttering something under her breath was concerning.
“Yes, so um, my employer is looking for ah recovery specialists.” The witch’s stare was starting to distract her from her pre-prepared speech. “He um needs contacts who can arrange for a more subtle way of returning his property.” It wasn’t just the witch that was distracting her though. Ester stared at the ganglord, letting her eyes go slightly out of focus, there was something about him, she just couldn’t quite…
“Master!” The witch’s shout broke Ester’s train of thought. “She’s wearing illusion!”