Kerk can usually be found around here. As a dwa dealer he often learns interesting facts in the way of his business. Unfortunately for him, he consumes rather too much of his own product, and is therefore generally in need of money. I find him outside the tavern, leaning unsteadily against the wall. He's tall and dark but his once handsome features are sunken and undernourished and his large eyes are dull and vacant. From his eyes I think he may have a trace of Elvish blood, which wouldn't be so strange. Elvish visitors to our city are not above dallying with our whores, whatever their professions of moral superiority. #51 | | |
I ask him if he knows anything about the Cloth. #52 | | |
"Choirs of Angels," he mutters, staring at the floor. I don't know what that means. I presume he's in the grip of some powerful hallucination. Kerk's been getting worse recently. I'm surprised he manages to keep his business going. #53 | | |
"Red Elvish Cloth," I repeat. #54 | | |
He focuses on me with some difficulty. #55 | | |
"Thraxas. You're in trouble." #56 | | |
"I know that already. I just don't know why." #57 | | |
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"That's what people say." #60 | | |
"Well what about it?" I demand. #61 | | |
"Attilan was trying to get his hands on the Elvish Cloth for Nioj. Some people think he already had it when you killed him." #62 | | |
"I didn't kill him. Or rob him. Anyway, how could Attilan have had the Cloth? It isn't in the city." #63 | | |
Kerk shrugs. "Don't know. Maybe Glixius Dragon Killer's behind it all." #64 | | |
"Who the hell is Glixius Dragon Killer?" I demand. #65 | | |
Kerk looks at me. "Don't you know anything? You're not much of an Investigator, Thraxas. #66 | | |
Surprised you've stayed alive so long. Glixius Dragon Killer is the rogue Sorcerer who hijacked the stuff in the first place. He's been working with the Society." #67 | | |
Kerk holds out his hand. I press a coin into it. #68 | | |
"Choirs of Angels," he mumbles again. He dribbles, slides down the wall and passes out. I must find some informers who are not the scum of the earth. At least I now know why my name became connected with the Cloth. Attilan was after it and I had the misfortune to be arrested for his murder. No wonder people thought I'd robbed him. #69 | | |
I stare with distaste at Kerk's unconscious figure. I doubt I'm the only person he sells information to. #70 | | |
If he's been spreading what he knows it's no surprise that various other people might think I have the cloth. #71 | | |
It's hot. I want to go home and drink beer. However, with the Assassins Guild and the Society of Friends both out to get me, and two Elves waiting to pay me handsomely, I have an incentive to start work. I need to talk to Captain Rallee but it takes a while to find him. He had a cushy desk job at the Abode of Justice up till last year, which he didn't mind at all, but then he fell out of favour when the wheels of internal Palace politics moved against him. Deputy Consul Rittius replaced him with his own man, and the Captain is therefore once more pounding the streets. Which does at least give me something in common with the good Captain, because Deputy Consul Rittius, the second most important government official in Turai, hates me as well. #72 | | |
I find the Captain staring morosely at a few dead bodies on the outskirts of Kushni. #73 | | |
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"Same as usual," he grunts in reply. "Brotherhood and Society fighting over territory for the dwa trade. It's getting out of hand, Thraxas. Half the city's caught up in it." #75 | | |
We watch as city employees load corpses into wagons and drive them off. I don't bother asking the Captain if he's planning to arrest anyone. The drug barons of the Society of Friends and the Brotherhood have too much protection in this city for the Civil Guard to touch them. As for their lesser minions, there's so many of them it hardly makes any difference how many he throws in jail. #76 | | |
"Just trying to keep the lid on things till I retire," sighs the Captain. "And now the elections are about to start. More chaos." #77 | | |
He shakes his head, and asks me what I want. I explain my situation to him, without mentioning the Elves. He nods. #78 | | |
"We heard a rumour that Nioj was interested in the Cloth. The Elves don't like selling to them. They get annoyed when the fundamentalist Niojan clerics denounce them as demons from hell. Don't think the Niojans were involved in the hijacking though. We've obtained information as to who was responsible." #79 | | |
"Yeah, I know, Glixius Dragon Killer," I say, dis- appointing the Captain. "I've met him already. #80 | | |
Any leads on where the stuff is?" #81 | | |
"No," replies the Captain. "But I reckon it's long gone. Probably never reached Turai at all." #82 | | |
I ask him if the Guards are any closer to finding Attilan's killer. #83 | | |
Captain Rallee sneers. "We reckon you make a pretty good suspect, Thraxas." #84 | | |
"Come on, you know I didn't kill him." #85 | | |
"Maybe. But that might not stop us charging you anyway. If no one better comes along. Rittius would be delighted to see you in a prison galley. And he's going to have to charge someone. The Niojan Ambassador is raising hell." #86 | | |
"Don't you have any real leads?" I ask him. #87 | | |
"You expect a lot, Thraxas. Information from me, but you won't say what your involvement is. Why should I help you?" #88 | | |
"I once pulled you out from under the wheels of an Orc chariot?" #89 | | |
"That was a long time ago. I've done you enough favours since then. You got yourself mixed up in this, and now the Society's on your tail. Tough. Come clean with us, Thraxas, and I might be able to help you. Otherwise you're on your own." #90 | | |
That's as much as I get from the Captain, though he does tell me that an even more powerful form of dwa has appeared in the city, going by the name of Choirs of Angels. No one knows where it's coming from. #91 | | |
"Kerk seems to like it. Well, Captain, if you refuse to help me, I'll just have to find the Cloth myself. #92 | | |
I could do with a fat reward." #93 | | |
"Well, if we find you were mixed up in its theft, you won't get out of prison to spend your reward. #94 | | |
Still, Thraxas, maybe you should look for it. If the Society of Friends think you've got it, your life isn't worth much anyway. Not that it's going to be worth anything at all in two days' time if you don't hand over five hundred gurans to Yubaxas." #95 | | |
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"No doubt the Civil Guard will provide me with constant protection if a criminal organisation such as the Brotherhood is out to harm me?" #97 | | |
"Yeah right, Thraxas. Sure we will. Best thing you could do is leave town. Except you can't, because you're still a suspect for Attilan's murder. Looks like you're in a difficult position." #98 | | |
"Thanks a lot, Captain." #99 | | |
The heat is becoming oppressive. The sun's rays are trapped between the six-storey slums that line the streets. It's illegal to build above four storeys in Turai. Too dangerous. The property developers bribe the Prefects and the Prefects pass on some money to the Praetors" officials and then no one minds that it's dangerous any more. Stals, the small black birds which infest parts of the city, sit miserably on the rooftops, lacking the energy to scavenge for scraps. I'm sweating like a pig, the whores look tired and the streets stink. It's a bad day. I might as well visit the Assassins. #100 | | |
