Chapter 14 – Prowler

In the dead of night, the portly man and his aging, suited butler traversed the empty city streets. And Suran followed. Not one sound was made from either party, the silence only being broken by the low hum of a cool wind through the city corridors. From street to street, the two hurriedly traveled. Lurking in the shadows, Suran prowled. Through the city they went, south against the wind.

Expansive estates turned into efficient town homes then to cramped storefronts. All familiar scenery dissipated the further Suran followed the two; the scent of salt water wafted through the breeze and the compact buildings evolved into wide warehouses. Past the gloomy architecture out there was a sea, gleaming under the light of the blue terrestrial and brown Jovian above.

Suran tailed them through the warehouses and an expansive dock opened up before him. Ships lined the wooden docks accompanied with the crates of all shapes and sizes. The sea reflected an indescribable and breath-taking light from the planetary duo above – Suran allowed himself to be taken for not even a moment. The portly man and his companion were not equally enthralled by the scenery and instead shuffled their way down the harbor road. They dipped back into an alley way into the building, and peering over the corner, Suran watched the two crack upon a door and disappear inside.

He waited a minute before walking up to the door and jostling it’s knob – but it was locked. Quickly scouting the exterior, he found there were no other windows or doors on its side. Except on the roof where he could barely make out skylights on the slanted surface. Standing at roughly 20 feet tall, the roof was out of Suran’s reach. So he went around back to look for a way up. He was disappointed at what he found: Smashed wooden bars and rails indicating that at one time a ladder had existed in this spot but was removed. However, it looked like the ladder was built along with the building and was removed after so Suran thought there was a possibility that other buildings would have a way up.

The next building down had the exact same situation, evidence of a ladder that was torn off. It was not until two more building down he found one intact, and promptly scaled it to the top. Treading carefully on the slope, he positioned himself across from the next building, took a few steps back, and ran forward, launching himself over the gap separating the buildings, safely to the other side. He repeated this process until he reached designated building. Acting quickly, he scaled to the windows and began trying to pry it open. The window panes were caked in dust and dirt, apparent that no one had bother to clean or maintain them in ages. Working his hand around the edge, he finally found a latch at the bottom, and with a tug he unlocked the window. Suran gently raised open the window from the latch and inched underneath. Wooden beams, constructed parallel to the ground, ran underneath the roof for support. Suran dropped down from the window onto a thick wooden platform, careful to not make a noise.

He could make out voices below, so he balanced along the wood supports, making his way to the source. Down below was a concrete floor and rows of crates stacked high, so he was very careful on not falling; tumbling down was one problem, but landing on a hard surface or on a crate risked bodily damage, alerting those in the building, or both. A cubicle set aside along the wall was the source of the voices, so Suran made his way over and lightly dropped down from the beams down onto the top of the cubicle room. The door to the small, sectioned off room was open, letting their voice ring out loud and clear.

“No more excuses, Mr. Shroom,” a monotone, cold voice said. Silence permeated the air save for the repetitive tapping of fingernails on wood. “You understand that if you want our continued support you will need to make progress, correct?”

Someone replied in a wobbly voice, “O-o-of course! You know how I have been making headway in breaking the ranks of the lords, like Reginald – I’m sure he will break any day now. Speaking of Reginald, h-how is Anna doing? Is she well –“

“Enough of the girl,” the unknown voice snapped at him. “You know full well if she is safe so stop bringing her up. You can have the dumb broad if and when you provide results.”

“Yes, yes, of course! Not a thing to worry about.”

“There better not be a damn thing to worry about. That strange man – who your men couldn’t chase down – asking about us around town after you kidnapped a guy’s daughter better not be a damn problem. The riot that started in the market better not be a damn problem. The fact some nobleman are fancying resisting better not be a damn problem. Remember, there is more on the line here then that stupid bitch you rave about all the time.”

A peculiar sound that was between a wheezing, nervous chuckle and a piggish whimper was the only response.

“If there is nothing else, then get out. I don’t have any more time to waste on you.”

The screeching of chairs followed by the opening and closing of a door indicated that the conversation was finished. Without a sound, Suran showed himself out as well, climbing back up to the supports and making his way to the window. He climbed back out into the night and closed the entrance behind him. Lord Shroom, who he could see waddling on the path below him like a kid that was scolded harshly by his mother, certainly held the information he desired. The sooner he could extort Annabelle’s location, the sooner he could wrap this request up.

Up on the roof, he waited for the area to clear before leaping across the rooftops back towards the ladder. There was no use in following Shroom anymore; he had what he needed, so he opted to make his way through the city to Reginald’s home. Now was the time for action, and he needed a plan.

A new sun was rising in the sky by the time he reached the home. Even though he had not a bite to eat or a wink of sleep in the last few days, Suran was full of energy. There was at last some real headway that could be made, and that prospect sustained him. Without another thought, he strolled up to the home and entered it. It was quiet, as usual, and Suran began making his way through to gather everyone.

“Who goes there?!” An alarmed voice rang out behind Suran as he walked through the corridors. He turned around to see Fletch brandishing a rather large sword in a fighting stance.

“Oh… It’s just you,” he replied rather disappointed. “Would you mind knocking next time?”

“Sorry it slipped my mind,” Suran said, “Also why was the door unlocked in the first place?”

Fletch gave off a very sad frown, “I was gardening so I left the door open…”

“Anyways, gather everyone up – I have news.” Suran’s eyes were wandering all over the place, completely restless.

The sword wielding man nodded and went off through the house while Suran went through the home and sat himself in the living room where he first met the Baron. A few minutes later, Baron Reginald came darting in, huffing and puffing, with Keira striding right behind him.

“What news?! Progress, anything?!” Reginald desperately asked, finding his way to a sofa and plopping down on it. The strained man leaned forward, listening intently.

“First, you daughter is safe… probably,” he added after a moment of thought. “Last night I tailed Lord Shroom and he is working with Namnoc and most likely knows of her whereabouts.”

“That fat fuck…” Reginald muttered, burning rage visible in his eyes. “So what do we do?”

“What do we do?” Suran teased the answer. He had already come up with an idea that at least one person here would find enjoyable. “We visit the dear Lord and the dead of night and.. extract the information from him through various means.”

The Baron’s furious frown twitched into a devilish grin, “Ahhh! I see how it is. If you need anything, please let me know, but just one request.”

“Hmm?”

“When you visit our dear friend Shroom, please kindly give him my regards.”

“Very well,” Suran said scanning the room. It was just Keira and Reginald – no, Natalya was here as well, lounging in a chair. When did she get here? “The plan is as follows: Me and preferably two to three other people infiltrate his home at night. After taking care of any threats, we secure the Lord. At that point, I will take him away separately and begin to question him. What I want from everyone else is to search the house for any information he has.” He paused to let the information sink. Reginald was processing while Fletch just walked in. “We will continue once we know her location.”

Reginald raised his hand and said, “Question.”

“Yes?”

“After you interrogate Shroom, what will you do with him?”

“A man of worth will leverage his assets against others. A man of no worth will seek to gain value in the eyes of anyone, lest he be cast away.” It was a better option to coerce Shroom into working with them rather than offing him.

Reginald caught on to the meaning and nodded in disappointment. “As I said, if you need anything, please ask. Keira and Fletch both have various combat training and experience so you may use them if you wish. I have a few others I can call to the estate, but that will take some time.”

“No need for more people,” Suran said as he stood up. “I will look around for what I need. If I find everything, we can begin tonight.” The Baron nodded his head and left the room, leaving everything to Suran. Keira remained in the room and Suran turned to her and asked, “The Baron said you had some combat experience. Could you elaborate?”

“Of course,” she swiftly responded, nodding her head. “I was trained to be, more or less, a guard for Baron Reginald. Daggers, knives, fist-to-fist fighting, and poisons are some of the things I learned.”

“Does your study of poisons include acids?” They will need to get through doors and windows, and if no one knew how to pick locks, they would need a way to enter without causing too much commotion, such as melting the lock or integrity of the door to allow easier access.

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Do you know any that would help in weakening locks, doors, and windows?”

“A few options come to mind, but I will have to look into it.”

“Then try to see if you can secure what you think will be useful, in the event we need an alternate way to get in.” Suran thought for a moment if there was anything else to add, “And grab me some mild, fast acting poison. Nothing lethal, just discomforting.”

She frowned and her eyes looked up and to the left, thinking over the request, before nodding and leaving the room.

Fletch stepped forward and asked, “Will I need anything?”

“Tools,” Suran answered. “We need tools: ropes, hammers, crowbars, whatever you can find. Some will be for breaking in, some will be for other purposes.”

“I got plenty of equipment out in the garden shed,” Fletch said pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. “Take a look through and see what you need. I will make the arrangements to bring them along. Anything else?”

“No, nothing else. Just be ready for a fight.”

Fletch left, leaving Natalya and Suran alone. She straightened herself out in the chair and looked eagerly at Suran.

“Sooooooooo, what am I doing?”

Suran blinked at her with an emotionless face, “Nothing,”

She let out groan and sunk back in her chair, “Whhhhy don’t I get to do anything?!”

“What can you do?” Suran retorted.

“Cook.”

“Case in point,” Suran said, rising from his chair. “If all you can do is cook, then this will be too dangerous for you. You chose to follow me; if you don’t like it, then go home.”

She slipped down into the chair and yawned “Well, it’s not like I can go home anyways. Besides, it looks like you are bout to be finished here. What do you plan to do after you rescue Annabelle? Fight these Nomnac people?”

“I have no intentions of picking a fight with them. I will rescue the girl, and that will be the end of it.”

Natalya’s face scrunched up as she did not seem to like the response, “If you say so. Then what are you going to do when this is over?”

“It’s not over, yet,” Suran responded annoyed.

She groaned again, “Are you dense or something? I know that! I’m saying after this. B. Regi is gunna help you with becoming registered with that guild, but then what?”

Suran snapped at her, “Look, we can deal with that later. I’m more worried about the current situation.” Frustration visible on his face, he was in no mood to talk anymore. He left Natalya in the room and went out to find Fletch’s shed to gather tools. His mind was already set; no matter what, Lord Shroom will be getting visitors tonight.

Chapter 13 – From Down Below to Up Above

Gears turned in Suran’s head as he emerged from the cramped alleyway into the bustling street. A quick glance back over his shoulder confirmed that the five thugs were still pursuing him. Without another moment’s delay, Suran darted down the crowded street, stringing Natalya along by her hand. There was only one place he could go to that came to his mind: Baron Reginald’s home. The question became how to get there.

Steadily, the ruffians closed the distance. Suran had the stamina to run for indefinitely. The problem was Natalya was not in such a position. Lugging around her heavy backpack quickly made her energy diminish. She was already panting and starting to lag behind even though Suran was trying to pull her along. Up ahead the landscape was changing. The street was becoming wider and small market stalls were cropping up along the edge. On the left was a depression in the ground where lied a waterway. At the intersection in front of him, a carriage was pulling out right of him. If he could not outrun them, he must simply outmaneuver them.

Suran purposefully ran in front of the carriage, bringing its horses to an abrupt stop and causing its driver to shout numerous obscenities at him and Natalya. With a passing wave of apology, he continued to truck through the crowd past the horse driven carriage, and went curved to his left, aiming straight for the waterway. Right now the thugs could not see him, obscured by the wagon, and he planned to make the most of it. On his path, unfortunately, was a food vendor whose stall was stocked with round apples. He dragged Natalya up to the confused vendor, and pushed her down into the waterway below, much to her surprise. Immediately after, he drew his sword and sliced the legs of the man’s stand, causing it to fall forward, spilling all of its round red apples onto the ground. The vendor scrambled after his livelihood in pure panic while Suran dropped down into waterway as well.

“What the hell was that for?!” Natalya exclaimed, sprawled out on the ground.

“We weren’t going to outrun them,” Suran plainly commented while peering over the edge to evaluate the ongoings. His makeshift plan seemed to have work. The thugs were slipping and sliding over the apples on top of having lost sight of him. He felt bad about cutting in front of the carriage driver and destroying the apple stand, but, considering his life was possibly on the line, he felt it unavoidable.

Slinking underneath the edge of the riverside wall, Suran took a breather, finally out of sight. After collecting himself, Suran stood back up read to go, “Come, no time to waste.” He began walking down the shabby pathway back the way they came.

Natalya was confused by his choice of direction, “Isn’t that the way we came? As in, the wrong way?”

“I would think not,” Suran stated, continuing down the path that resembled more like a sewage system. “Who would think of looking back when chasing forward?” Certainly not these individuals, Suran thought to himself.

“Ooooooh! I get it!” Natalya exclaimed. Suran let out a sigh. Even though she was over twenty years of age, sometimes he could not help but see her as a perpetually excited little girl who was just a little slow on the uptake.

Suran traveled down the flowing water’s side which slowly evolved into a full-blown sewage system. It slowly delved underneath the city and snaked on. He was afraid he was going to get lost, so he scoured the sewer for the first possible exit. It was nearly pitch black in the sewer with the only light coming from the storm sewer drains up above. Natalya stuck to Suran’s back, afraid of the dark and grimy environment. It took some time trekking before a ray of light shone at the other end. Leaving his back, Natalya scrambled towards the light like a rat scurrying to food. Meanwhile, Suran took his time leaving the dark.

“Afraid of the dark?” He teased when he exited into the light of day.

Natalya flashed a blood thirsty gaze at Suran, “Say another word and I’ll poison your food and watch you slowly die.”

He blinked indifferently at her, “Noted.”

Just like the entrance, the sewer opened up into a ravine like area with the water flowing down the middle of two eroded, stone walkways. Surprisingly, the area was clean, making him think that this was more of a storm drain then a sewage line. Regardless, he crept up to the vertical ledge and peered over, examining the environment.

It was a quiet residential area. The streets were a little rundown and the houses were slightly shabby, but it gave off a homely feel despite the obvious lack of maintenance. More importantly, there were no signs of the chasing thugs. When the coast was clear, Suran hoisted himself up over the ledge then proceeded to give Natalya a hand in bringing up her heavy belongings and herself.

“Where to?” She asked while fastening her backpack.

“The Baron’s.” It was their only real choice.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna call it quits on this request? It is getting kind of dangerous…”

“I finish a job I’ve accepted,” he sternly replied while observing the surroundings to see where they were. Without another word, Suran hurriedly took off down the street, and Natalya followed.

While maintaining his brisk pace, Suran peered around every corner and stuck to the shadows. For some time this went on, scrambling through the streets, trying to garner the least amount of attention possible.

“Hold up!” Natalya shouted from behind.

Suran stopped and turned around to see Natalya standing with her hands on her hips, her eyes squinted and her mouth slightly agape. She looked extremely annoyed. “What is it?” He casually said.

“Where are we going?”

“…The Baron’s?”

Looking around with a frown, she said, “Do you know where we are going?”

“Of course. It’s just down this way.” He pointed in some direction.

“That is the same way we have been going this entire time!” Natalya ran her hand over her face. “Look around you!” She threw her arms out, “We have been here five times already!”

Suran stopped and looked around. The building did look familiar and there was a small waterway like before, but the entire city looked the same to him. There was no way he was lost, “No, no. We are going the right way. I’m sure of it.”

“Are you really? Are you really sure?” Natalya waited for a response, but Suran gave none and stood confused. She roller her eyes and sighed, “Okay then, you stand there and do nothing while I go ask for directions.”

At the moment, he jumped up alarmed and tried to stop her from interacting with anyone for fear they could be discovered, but she was already off and away before he could even manage a word. Moments later, Natalya came prancing back.

“Follow me,” she said, taking off down the street. “Unlike you, I know where we are going.” He said nothing and followed with a frown.

Rather quickly, Natalya bounced through the streets despite her backpack weighing her down. Suran never got an idea of what she kept in there, but it looked packed and heavy. Much to Suran’s dismay, the scenery began to change as they traveled the streets. The roads became cleaner and the buildings gradually shifted away from being impoverished and rundown to upscale stoned manors. In familiar territory, it was not a problem getting to Baron Reginald’s home.

Suran surveyed the street, cautiously looking behind him and around every corner; it would do no good getting here if they were being followed. Once the area was deemed clear, he felt safe approaching the door and entering the lawn of the estate. He walked up the door, knocked on its wooden surface, and took a step back. It was Fletch who answered.

“Ah, it’s you again,” Fletch said, blocking the entrance with his. “What can I do you for?”

“Need to speak to Reginald.”

“…Right this way,” he responded after a moment’s hesitation.

Once again, the two were taken through the home back towards the office of the Baron. It was empty as usual, and there was no sign of the cat maid in the home. At the old wooden door, Fletch went inside, having Natalya and Suran wait outside. The door propped open and Fletch walked outside. He motioned the two in while he left.

There was nothing different about the room save for one thing: the good Baron was in the worse shape he had ever seen him. Dark bags were under his eyes, indicating he had not slept an ounce.

“Any progress?” The deteriorating man meekly asked.

“There has been activity at Lord Shroom’s home, but that is not why I am here.”

“Then…?”

“Until further notice, we will be staying here.”

“E-excuse me?” Reginald stuttered.

“Our recent accommodations feels through; we were attacked again so the only safe place we have to stay is here. I’m sure that won’t be a problem since we are finding your daughter, correct?”

Reginald’s lips were moving but no words came out. He could only stammer out unintelligible syllables as he tiredly tried to respond to the housing demand. Clearly the stress and exhaustion were getting to him, Taking a deep breath, he collected himself before weakly responding, “Y-yes… that is fine…” Taking on the two into his home was not something he seemed keen on doing, but he was in no condition to argue.

“Good,” Suran rose from his chair. “Natalya will stay here while I go out.” She was dozing off in here chair, indifferent to the ongoings. No one said anything more, so Suran rose from his chair and made his way out of the home. There was only one thing on his mind: finding the Baron’s daughter.

Heading through the home and out to the streets, he slowly made his way back over to Lord Shroom’s estate. The residential streets were busier then normal, so Suran had to carefully walk through the streets to make sure no one noticed him. However, the street Lord Shroom resided on was quite the opposite; even though it was busy part of the morning where everyone was out an about starting their day, not a single soul was on the street nor was there a sound or a squeak.

It was strange to him, this empty street among a sea of activity. However, there was no time to waste pondering the reason so he climbed up the convenient tree he perched in yesterday. After he was settled, he began the surveillance.

Some time was lost due to the shenanigans earlier in the day, but it was of no consequence; it was eerily quiet on the street and that did not change through the day. Not a single person walked on the street below nor as there any activity in the home.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon, Suran considered leaving the tree for the day, but opted against it. His priority was finding the Baron’s daughter – doing anything else was a waste of time. Besides, there was something about the cool calm night of pure silence that was attractive to him. Suran remained camouflaged in the tree for the rest of the night.

At the crack of dawn, something was amiss. The house felt like it was stirring across the street. Windows would pop open for just a moment, their blinds pulled to the side. A man clad in full black came plodding down the empty street. Approaching the gate of Lord Shroom, he looked everywhere – but up – and tossed a parcel over the wall before hastily walking off.

The parcel sat obscured behind the door before an old man exited the home, hustled over to the package, and hauled it back to the building with a speed surprising for an elderly man. The house returned to dormancy. It was not until later in the day, where dawn turned to dusk, that the gears went into motion. The portly man from the other day came bumbling out of the home with the elderly butler in tow. They exited the home and began to walk off into the dark night lit by the two planets above and the flickering street lamps. This was the opportunity Suran had been waiting for. When it was safe, he dropped down from the tree and began his pursuit.

Chapter 12 – The Hunter and the Hunted

Through the quiet paved streets with small, gated manor homes lining the sides, Suran felt as if he was in an entirely different city. Compared to the dense, cramped city streets, the open, vibrant pathways in the upper class residential area was a nice change of pace. It was through these colorful streets that Keira led the way for Suran to Lord Shroom’s estate.

As the cat maid strolled down the road, Suran paid careful attention, mentally mapping the city streets. Understanding the city flow and the lay of the land was crucial in conducting information gathering, especially when staking out a target.

Keira stopped at the corner of the empty street, her tail ceasing its swishing and her ears standing attentive. “Around this corner, down the street, and to you right is the residence of Lord Shroom,” Keira pointed out from around the corner. Suran crept up, peering around the corner with her.

Compared to the surrounding area, Lord Shroom’s estate was younger and larger; all the other stone gates and fences were covered in floral growth, their faces weathered and dirtied by the passage of time.

“I’ll be able to take it over from here,” Suran commented, looking over the home.

“Very well then, Mr. Ibrahim.” Keira bowed her head and began to walk away, “Good luck!”

Glancing down the street juncture, Suran made sure there was no one else around before heading up to Lord Shroom’s gate. It was a solid metal gate with no way to look inside. Suran turned the handle and, as expected, the door was also locked. Patrolling the perimeter, Suran found the walls too high for him to jump or climb over, especially since they held spiked tops.

There was no way to get in, so he searched for an alternative. Even though the walls were high, there were no trees on the other side. If he could get on an elevated level, looking over the wall would be no problem. Taking inventory of the street, there were plenty of homes, but they too were also gated, making it a difficult prospect to find a home he could not only get into, but also climb on top of to see inside.

Instead, he settled on a tree. Across from Lord Shroom’s estate was another manor home that had a massive tree growing outside of its walls. It stood well above all the buildings in the area, so Suran went up to the tree and began the careful task of ascending its branches. After scaling most of the tree, he found a thick branch and perched himself on it and began his watch.

From up high, he got a clear view of the interior of the gate and the front of the home. It was a simple, open lawn without any trees or decorations. A stone pathway was the only thing of note on the lawn. The sun was past its apex and he planned to sit in this tree until night came. All the windows were shuttered and not a soul stirred on the grounds. Few people came and went on the street down below, but there was no activity from Lord Shroom’s home. Hours went by, and the sun drifted across the sky without anything occurring. However, Suran had no problem spending his time this way; he had grown to be a very patient person, so waiting a mere few hours, even days, was nothing to him.

It was at the close of the day that something finally happened. Waddling toward the gate was a portly man accompanied by an elderly man in a butler uniform and a younger, well-groomed, fit gentleman in black formal clothes. They stopped outside the gate where the round man spoke to the suited one for a few minutes. Since Suran was high up the tree, their conversation was just out of earshot, but he could make out concern on the portly man’s face as the business man spoke extremely calmly. From his coat jacket, the dandy pulled out an enveloped and handed it to his large counterpart before leaving with haste.

The portly man, not dressed poorly himself, rummaged in his coat pockets and pulled out a key and proceeded to open the gate and walk towards the home with the butler in tow. From his dress to the butler, Suran assumed this man to be Lord Shroom. After the two disappeared into the home, he waited some time in the tree, but there was no further event. He climbed back down the tree and opted to call it a day and rest, planning to resume his watch earlier the next morning.

After taking the wrong turn more times than he could count, by the grace of god, he somehow managed to get back Baron Reginald’s home. Once again he knocked on the door, but this time it was not Keira the black cat maid who greeted him, but a gruff, muscular man with tanned skin.

“Who are you?” The tall man asked, imposing his height over Suran.

“Suran Ibrahim. I am working on a task for the Baron.”

The man’s eyes lit up and his frightful demeanor washed away, “Oh it was you the Master was talking about.” He stepped aside leaving the door free to pass through, “Apologies sir, I am Fletch, one of the slaves of the Baron.”

“I won’t be long,” Suran remarked, stepping inside the home, “I simply need to collect Natalya for the day.”

Fletch sighed and shook his head, “You mean the cooking lady?”

“Yes, did something happen?”

“She took over the kitchen,” he replied with a nervous laugh. “That girl can whip up a mean dish and Keira hasn’t been too happy about it since she is the cook around here.”

“Then I shall do Keira a favor and get Natalya out of her hair.” Suran walked through the bottom floor of the house until he found the open kitchen with Natalya making a huge mess. “What are you doing here?”

Natalya was beating some dough when Suran called out. “Cooooooking~” she replied in an up beat, musical tone.

“Wrap it up. We are leaving for the inn.”

“Okay!~” She responded in too good of a mood.

Suran was completely thrown off. There was no fuss, no hassle. “Wait, are you really ready to go?”

“Yup! I finished cooking a long time ago. All I was doing was screwing around with Keira since she seemed to despise me being in the kitchen.”

Of course there was an ulterior motive, Suran thought. Without another word, he left the house without reporting to the Baron with Natalya just behind him, back towards the inn. With the sun completely set, it was the first time he was actively traveling during the night in Valcadia. Lining the streets where lamp posts illuminating a strange white glow. Electricity was not something he had observed in this world yet, so he was curious at how these contraptions were giving off light. His first thought was of magic, but that was an alien subject to him. Eventually, he reached the inn, grabbed himself a late dinner, and headed off to bed to prepare for the next day.

He was woken in the morning by a heavy knock on the door. From the window were small cracks of light that indicated it was just past sunrise. Natalya was still sound asleep in the bed across from him. Lumbering out of bed, he approached the door and answered it to find Jerin on the other side.

“You got five lads out in the front asking for you.”

Still half asleep, Suran took a moment to process the information he was told, “Wait… there are five people outside for me?”

“Yup, and, by the looks of it, they aren’t up to any good either.”

Suran thought for a moment, “Is there a backdoor we can use to get out?” It was likely that these men are following up from the attempted assault from yesterday.

“There is one behind the door next to my counter. You can use it to leave.”

Suran nodded in thanks and indicated he would be down in a minute to prevent the possibility that anyone from outside would be able to overhear. Jerin left and Suran went to rouse Natalya.

“What is it…” She mumbled, trying her best to ignore him and fall back asleep.

“We have more trouble,” Suran explained, peering out the window down below, “Pack your bags, we are leaving as soon as possible.”

She lazily got out of bed, her hair in a total mess, “What’s with you and trouble?”

“It’s not like I look for it,” Suran said as he checked over his few clothing, “If I had it my way, I would want no one to bother me..”

A few minutes later and Natalya was set to go. Taking one look out the window, Suran noticed that Jerin was attempting to hold the five men at bay outside. He was an intimidating man, but five against one was not the best odds. Doubling his pace, Suran and Natalya hurried down the steps towards the door behind the counter.

Suran flipped up the counter divider and darted to the back door. As he was opening it, the front door burst open and the five men began piling into the inn.

“Look! There he is!” They immediately saw Suran and pointed him out.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Suran kicked open the door, grabbed Natalya by the hand, and led her out. The room directly attached was a kitchen and supply room, and Suran navigated through it to another doorway on the opposite side. He could hear the clamor and ruckus of the five men chasing behind him. Swinging the next door open, a narrow alley way opened up before them, and, while grabbing Natalya’s hand, ran as hard as he could.

Glancing over his shoulder as he sprinted down the alley way, he could see the five thugs chasing right after him. Suran eyed the sword on his hip, deciding if it was possible to simply turn and fight. He quickly opted against it. With Natalya close by without any information of where they are or where they are going or even if there are more criminals, it was a risky choice. His only choice was to run.

Chapter 11 – On the Trail

Suran floundered out of bed, soaked in water from the waist up. On the ground, he coughed up water and rubbed his eyes to clear out the water. Taking a moment to collect himself after the shock, he looked around the room and found Natalya standing with a grin from ear to ear and hands on her hip, clutching a bucket in her right hand.

“The hell was that for?” Suran gasped out, shaking water out of his ears.

“Well, you weren’t waking up,” She replied with a sly smile.

“Did you even try anything else? Like shoving me or making noise?”

Somehow her grin grew larger at the response, “Would you believe me if I said I tried?”

Suran realized this was the exact same situation as yesterday. Was she testing him? He thought long and hard on how he should answer, and finally said “…Yes.”

“Wrong choice!” She gleefully exclaimed, tossing the bucket to the side. “So what’s the plan for today?”

While dipping wet on the ground, Suran silently wished Natalya had never come along, but he felt he couldn’t just leave her now; it was hard to imagine Natalya could take care of herself over a long period of time. “We eat breakfast then leave for Reginald’s,” Suran announced.

He got a spare set of clothes from his small sack and changed in the bathroom. After thate, he and Natalya went down to grab food.

“Look who decided to wake up!” Jerin greeted the pair in an unusually upbeat demeanor.

“What do you mean?” Suran asked walking up the counter, thinking that it should be early in the morning.

“It’s already noon,” He replied with a chuckle. “Missed a lot while you were snoozing. Like breakfast.”

Suran’s eyes lit up. How was it already noon? Then he considered what happened yesterday; he was feeling great considering he nearly got trampled to death at the market. Sleeping in might have been his body’s way at coping with the damage. “What did I miss?: He asked, thinking breakfast could not have been Jerin’s biggest news.

Jerin chortled while shaking his head, “That little riot you created resulted in a big mess. I heard seven people died, about 32 were injured, and over 50 got arrested.”

Suran looked on in astonishment, afraid he might have made a big mistake.

“Not to mention all the damage done to buildings and shops…”

Suran did not want to hear anymore on the subject, so he thanked Jerin for his information and promptly went to the lounge to eat food. Since he woke up late, Natalya had to skip out on breakfast and go straight to lunch much to her dismay, but Suran was content in simply drinking tea and eating bread.

As usual, Natalya scarfed down her food while Suran casually sipped on his tea. Today, Natalya was eating a stew. A simple meal compared to yesterday’s. When it was all said and done, the pair headed out of the inn to begin a new day’s search for the missing girl.

When he left the inn, he found three men loitering across the street in long black coats. He let out a heavy sigh as the trio noticed him and began to menacingly approach him. It seemed his accidental riot did not go unnoticed to the powers that be.

‘Natalya, stay back,” Suran instructed, stepping forward to separate her from the oncoming three, “If goes wrong, go back in the inn and get Jerin. He might help.” She nodded and stepped back in turn.

“Can I help you?” Suran placed himself in the middle of the triangle the trio coated men formed.

“Perhaps you can,” The one directly in front of Suran inched closer, standing nose to nose with him, starting him directly in Suran’s eyes. “You can tell me what are you doin’ round these parts.”

“You know, little bit of this, little bit of that. Looking for work,” Suran replied, retaining his calm demeanor and returning the man’s gaze.

“Then why don’t you look for work else where, yeah?

“I think I’m fine just where I’m at.” Suran had no intention of backing done, especially when he already accepted the rescue job. Besides. Being visited like this must mean that he was on to something.

“Afraid we are going to have a problem then.” The trio began to close in on Suran while Natalya ducked into the inn without them noticing. It was still broad daylight and the streets were packed, making it difficult to start a fight. The hooligans knew this, and were making Suran back up with their advance. Normally, Suran would want to avoid any hostilities, but with their aggression, it did not look like they were going to back down, so he instead opted to go with their flow, and deal with them in the alley way now rather than them cause him trouble later.

The only exit was blocked by the three enforcers; a thick wall hanging between the buildings imposed itself on the shaded street. Suran hovered over the sword at his hip but would only use it as a last resort. Killing people in a city alley was not something he was keen on doing,

So, when the thugs approached with simply their fists, he was relieved. Unlike his flimsy swordplay, close quarter combat and fisticuffs was something he was well versed in.

Space was limited in the alley, so the thugs proceeded to funnel in. The first bandit came swinging in with a heavy right-handed punch. Suran undercut the punch with his arm, directing it up, ducked underneath the opening he created, and smashed his elbow into the neck of the thug, forcing him to stagger forward and past Suran.

The next ruffian reared up to jab, but Suran took the initiative, putting up his arms to by his head and crashing into the thug. He banged the man’s knee, slammed the man’s shoulder with his body, and stretched out his arm and clutched the thug’s face. With full control over the criminal’s body, Suran placed his right foot forward and behind the thug’s foot, then drove him back with his hand. The criminal lost his footing, tripping over Suran’s foot, and had his head plowed straight into the ground by Suran.

To Suran’s surprise, the head slam cracked and dented the ground. He didn’t think he used that much force. As he rose from the ground, his thoughts were cut short as he was grappled from behind, one of the thugs grabbing him from under his arms.

While the one on the ground seemed knocked out, the third member of the group came in fresh and began to wail on Suran. A flutter of punches came in, hitting his face and stomach. Each hit stung but did not leave lasting damage.

Suran was not in any serious pain from the punches, but he was not in a mood to play around. His head was not locked down, so he swung it back and head-butted the one holding him, staggering him and forcing him to loosen his grip. Then, shifting his weight by leaning forward, he hoisted the thug on his back. Pivoting one foot back, he lowered himself even further, reversing the grab and tossing him right into the last thug.

After taking a few steps back, Suran readied himself and waited for the ruffians to make their move. However, they were slow to get up, acting as if they were in intense pain. They collected their knocked out companion, took one good look at Suran who stood unfazed at the scuffle, and darted out of the alley.

Suran brushed the dirt of his clothes and walked out to the street. Considering it as pass noon, it was not possible for him to pick out the thugs from the crowds of people on street. As he went back into the inn to collect Natalya, he was confused on how anti climatic that fight was.

Inside, he found Natalya chatting at the counter with Jerin.

“Natalya, let’s go,” he called out to the lounging girl.

She lazily turned around, “Done already?”

“What do you mean? I just got jumped and instead of getting help you chatted inside.” Suran responded annoyed.

“Eeeeeeh, I thought you would take care of it, and you did anyways!”

“Don’t assume anything. Let’s go before we lose any more day.”

Natalya left Jerin at the counter and joined Suran as they hit the streets to travel to Baron Reginald’s home. During the walk, Suran went over the events in his head, trying to tie everything together. So far, it was obvious the key to all of this was grain. Reginald was in debt because he had to borrow for his failing grain business. Then, when he started the riot the other day, the primary reason was the grain prices. While the bars not knowing anything might have been a coincidence, but getting roughed up by thugs first thing in the morning must mean that he one of his actions was on the right path.

Reginald’s home was in a relatively far place; it was located in one the richer districts, nestled deep in the city. The pair came up to the gate of the estate, and hastily entered the lawn. Suran was on edge since of the earlier scuffle, and did not want to be in the open any longer. Fortunately, while the estate was not massive, it was well made. Surrounding the perimeter was light gray stone walls covered in moss that gave ample privacy to the area. Accompanied with several trees along the edge, it would be difficult for anyone to see inside.

Passing the fountain on the path, Suran trotted over to the large wooden door and knocked heavily. After waiting for a moment, Keira answered the door with her black tail swishing behind her.

“Welcome, Mr. Ibrahim! What can I do for you?”

“We need to speak to the Baron.”

She took a step back to the side and bowed, “Right this way,” gesturing the path with her hand outstretched.

Suran and Natalya followed her inside where she led them through the house to the upper levels. It was not a large house; space was a valuable resource in the city, but it was homely and elegantly crafted with the room it had. Keira stopped the two outside of door and went inside.

The door swung open to reveal a study with Henry Reginald siting in a red chair behind a wooden desk with Keira to his right.

“Please come in,” Henry asked, sitting uncomfortably in his chair.

Suran walked in first and seated himself in one of the two chairs in front of the Baron’s desk with Natalya following suit.

“Any progress?” The Baron asked while he leaned forward with concern all over his face.

“We have a lead…” Suran answered vaguely. The response did not illicit any joy for the Baron who probably expected something more than a lead. He continued, “If you want us to get any further, you have to tell us the full story.” It was a hunch that there was more to this story, but calling him out on it was a gamble. Suran felt if he normally asked for any other information, the Baron would be hesitant on sharing. By already establishing there is something more, Suran was aiming to eliminate any leeway for Henry to save face.

Sweat beaded on Henry’s forehead, “W-what do you mean?”

“I know there is more to this. I got assaulted this morning after asking around for Namnoc. There are so many indicators that I don’t have the full story: The kidnapping while going to the part, the grain market fluctuations, the large debt from the company no one knows about.”

“So that’s how it is…” he wiped the sweat off his forehead, “Very well. There was one thing I neglected to tell you: Namnoc lent out money to many of my fellow nobles who were unable to get funding, putting us all under their influence. They began to bleed us dry so may of us wanted to get out of this and our only option was to band together.”

“Is that why your daughter was going to a party?”

“Correct. After much consideration, I decided to marry her off to gain financial assets so we could get out of debt. I received an offer from Lord Shroom, but I rejected him in favor for the son of Lord Pease. No one should have known about the arrangement but…”

“So either someone has been watching you, there was a leak somewhere, or Lord Shroom sold you out.” Suran leaned back in his chair. None of the answers gave him much to work with.

“Again, correct.”

Out of the three possibilities he drafted, the only one he could follow-up on was Lord Shroom. Trying to find someone watching him would be like looking for a needle in a haystack and smoking out a spy would be even trickier. “Tell me where Lord Shroom is.”

“Do you have something in mind?”

“I’m going to stake out his home.” This was the only real thing he could do. There was no guarantee that there was anything to find, but if Lord Shroom did have connections to Nomnac, he had to discover them somehow.

“Very well. Keira will show you the way,” He responded with a nod in her direction.

Suran stood up from his chair, “No time to waste, let’s go.” Natalya also got and Keira left from behind the desk to show the way. As he was walking out, he turned to Natalya, “Natalya, it would be better if you stayed here; it would be difficult to run reconnaissance with you around.”

She pouted and puffed out her cheeks, “I see how it is! You don’t want me around!”

“While that is true, the main reason is that you would make it difficult for me to scope out the Lord.”

“You don’t allow any fun!” She stomped in place.

Suran went for the low blow, “One day when you become an adult you will understand.”

Jaw agape, Natalya went back to a chair and slouched in it, totally defeated.

“Right then. Keira, lead the way.”

Keira strolled out of the room and Suran followed.

Chapter 10 – Road to Riot

Slouched in a tavern on a small street attached to the main road, Suran began to regret his choice as he slammed down his seventh drink. The copper hued ale had a biscuity, nutty flavor with a dash of caramel., but Suran did not enjoy a single sip; alcohol had never been his cup of tea. He came here for information, but the publican ignored his requests for not purchasing anything. Not to mention Natalya was sour after Suran forbid her from drinking. Drinks weren’t cheap at 20 copper a piece, and did not want to imagine how Natalya would act with some drinks in her, especially if he wasn’t sober to control the situation.

“Bartender, over here!” Suran called out, raising his hand.

The bartender shimmied down the bar, serving drinks along the way. “Fancy another drink, lad?” He asked with a warm smile.

“No, I don’t want another drink,” Suran set down his glass with Natalya staring daggers at him, “All I want is to ask you a few questions.”

“You sure you don’t want another drink?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Suran replied irritated.

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged, “So, what do you want to know?”

“How is the grain market?”

“Not good…” He responded with a heavy sigh. “It’s starting to hit us real hard; we are going to have to start raising our prices sooner or later…”

“Any chance of it getting better?”

“Not with Earl Thatch Haywood as Deputy of the Land. After he was appointed, all sorts of taxes and regulations on grain, farming, and transportation came out of the woods. The farmers and common folk get shafted, and since Lord Treasurer sees the coffers filling up, no one is fixing to change a thing.”

“That’s unfortunate. I have a friend who deals in grain, and if things don’t pick up, he is going to have to borrow money to stay afloat.”

“Good luck with that,” the man snorted, “All the major banks have been turning away any small timers away, giving out loans only to the upper class. Even then I heard they were selective.”

“What about smaller banks?”

“Well… It’ll be difficult. The competition for some coin is so high, even the smaller banks are running dry.”

“Then what about a company called Namnoc?”

“Say again?”

“My acquaintance was offered a line of credit from the company Namnoc, but had not heard of them before.”

The publican crossed his arms, “Can’t say I’ve heard of them. If I was you, I would tell my friend to be wary of em”

“So that’s how it is…”
Suran paid the tab and gestured Natalya to leave with him. One bartender not knowing did not mean anything. A worrying trend, perhaps, but Suran decided not to make any judgment until he could verify the situation. The dainty street had other bars and pubs and he would keep searching until his pockets ran dry.

He strolled into the next tavern and went to work. Unlike the other publican, this bartender was willing to share some information without having to buy and down seven drinks. However, when the second bartender also had no knowledge of Namnoc, Suran began to feel this to be a worrying trend.

His next two stops served him no better. In fact, at the mention of the name Namnoc, both bartenders turned him away and didn’t even offer to serve him. At the fourth stop with no results, Suran opted to change gears. Besides, Natalya was moping around behind him like some four-year old child being dragged around town on errands while also being denied in purchasing candy she saw passing by. He could only ignore it for so long before it started to bother him.

“Natalya, we are leaving,” Suran said.

“You done drinking and wasting your money?” She flippantly responded.

“While it is true I don’t want to spend anymore money, it is because we won’t get any more information here.”

Suran began to lead the way out of the side street and back out to the main road.

“Yeah, I got to sit there and watch you drink while you learned absolutely nothing.”

“Make no mistake, I did not enjoy drinking,” he clarified, “Also, I did learn something.”

“What do you mean?” She asked with confusion in her voice as she trotted behind Suran under the evening sun.

“Oh come on, think about it.” Suran asked, wanting to test her.

“Hmmmmmm… I’m guessing the fact they knew nothing at all is important?”

“Exactly. Look at it this way: a lender appears and offers a large line of credit and no one knows about said lender. Possessing large amounts of money to loan out and not being known of it suspicious in its own right. On top of that, the fact that two bartenders actually turned me away after hearing the name makes me suspect that some people do know them but don’t want to talk about them, which is doubly suspicious.”

“Makes sense, but then we still don’t know where they are located or where to find the girl.”

“Unfortunately, that is true. But now I have an idea that this Namnoc might not be a legitimate business. In any case, there is one more thing I wanted to explore.”

Suran had led Natalya back to the massive market entrance. The day was slowly coming to a close, but the streets still teemed with merchants, vendors, and shoppers.

Walking down the streets and scanning the vendors, “My hunch is that the key to all of this is grain,” Suran postulated. “If many grain related business are going under and conventional loans are not available to the vast majority, it allows this unknown group to ease its way in without anyone asking too many questions.”

“So you are here to question the local grain vendors and see if they know anything?”

“Correct,” Suran replied pleased that Natalya was catching on. She seemed like an air-head, so any progress he considered good.

At the back of the market was where the grain lie. With its positioning, it was almost as if all the vendors and their products were forgotten about and cast in the back in hopes people would simply forget about them. Someone had to be specifically looking for this collective to notice them.

‘Excuse me,” Suran called out, walking up the first vendor lined up.

“What do you want?” A seated man gruffly called out with his arms crossed. “Here to buy some grain?”

“Er, no. I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Pfft? Questions? Does it look like I got time for that sort of thing?”

Suran looked left and right. No one was even remotely close.

“Sir, no one is here.”

“Fine, fine,” the man lumbered out of his chair, “Don’t go rubbin’ it in, mate.”

“Have you heard of a company called Namnoc?”

“Namnoc? Who the fuck is that?”

“It’s a group that has been loaning to a friend of mine due to the grain business. Needless to say, things aren’t going so well between him and that company.”

“Well I’ll be damned! Another one of us folk getting turned upside down by some bloke,” he shook his head in frustration. “Henry, Roland, Jacob, boys get over here,” the man shouted out to the area. Moments later, several vendors started gathering around. “This lad’s friend is getting demolished by a shark named Namnoc. Anyone head of em?”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd as individuals conferred with one another, but there was no affirmative response to the question.

The man sighed at Suran, “See lad, this is what the world has come to. We are simple people. Work off the land, take the grain to market, and sell our wheat and barley. But noooooo, we can’t have that now can we?”

In response, shouts arouse from the crowd in agreement.

“We sit here and toil away, and all we get is a steaming pile of crap named taxes dumped on us by the so-called ‘Deputy of the Land’,” he continued, his voice increasing in volume.

“Yeah, the government understand nothing!

“Our lives are ruined!”

“We need to make them listen!”

Anonymous members of the crowd replied back to the man leading the dialogue. Energy was boiling in the crowd as it became restless.

“And look what we have here: A poor lad’s friend getting devoured by those sharks and you know why? Because the government could care less about us!”

The crowd roared back in response. More and more vendors began to join into the fray, becoming a huge crowd of people, blocking the street. Suran grew uneasy. He did not like where this was going.

“You know what I say?!” The ringleader man shouted to the crowd at the top of his lungs.

“What?” A unison response from the crowd came back.

“We show them what we are made of! Show them that we, the people, are not to be messed with!”

“YEAH!”

With that, the man left his post at his stand and began marching down the street towards the main portion of the market. The swelling crowd filed in behind him, shouting anti-government chants and viscous insults towards banks and creditors.

In attempt to appease the crowd, Suran tried to wad through the surging crowd to the makeshift leader he just created, but it was no use; every step was met with resistance that jostled him around. A push to the back made him lose his footing, and he toppled to the ground.

A raging mob was walking right on top of him, so he curled up in a defensive ball, wondering how in the hell some simple questions sparked a riot in the middle of the market. People stomped on his back and every exposed portion of his body. Dying by sword sounds pretty heroic, but to die being trampled by a riot he accidentally created? Suran was not so happy about that.

Just as when he thought all hope was lose, some tiny little hands came down and began pulling him up from the ground. Somehow in the mess of people Natalya got to him and was saving his life. A few heaves later, and Suran was on his feet. Still in a daze from being trampled on, Natalya stringed him along and out of the rampaging crowd.

Suran doubled over, catching his breath and easing out his strained body. He was no particularly fond of having Natalya tag along, but in this instance it paid off. The crowd in front of him surged past, passersby joining as it moved along. Down the market road, he could hear the clamor of the rioting mob and screams. It sounded like things were getting violent, and he had no intention of sticking around.

“Natalya, we got to get out of here!” He gasped out.

She pointed down an alley way, “Follow me; I think this should take us out.”

Natalya hustled down the alley and Suran followed. To his surprise, her words were true and at the pathway connected to a larger road in the city.

“So what’s the plan now, Suran?”

“No one seems to know of this company. I think out only option is to go back to the Baron and question him so more.”

“Right now?” She asked. The sun was setting and dusk was creeping into the sky.

“It can wait till tomorrow. Lets head back to the inn, grab some food, and rest up.” Suran really wanted to rest. His body was screaming in pain from being stomped on by a swarm of people.

The pair headed off down the road in search for their inn. It took some time as they were on an unfamiliar road, but eventually, it took them to the main city road which led them back to their inn.

When he walked in to the inn, he was, for once, greeted by the inn keeper.

“What happened to you?” Jerin questioned with an amused face

Suran began, “Well–”

“He got drunk and started a riot at the market place,” Natalya nonchalantly answered, cutting him off.

Suran turned to her in bewilderment, “No, that’s not what-”

“Ahahahahahahahahah!” This time Jerin cut him off with a full-bodied laugh, slapping his leg. This was the most emotion he had shown in the last few days, but Suran was not so pleased at the circumstances.

With no one wanting to listen to what he had to say, he gave up on trying to clear up the situation and dragged himself to the lounge to grab some food and then go to sleep. Tomorrow he had to go back to the Baron and see if there were any other leads since everything he had in mind led to a dead-end. Natalya followed behind him, giggling all the way.