The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1) (12 page)

Chapter 14

Largen’s castle was a bit too far to walk, and the wind was starting to pick up again even if those taunting clouds hadn’t done anything but stomp across the sky.

I fingered the sad number of coins in my pocket. If I walked there, it would take half the day and wipe me out. I debated the loss of precious coins against my time and possible safety. The neighborhood surrounding Largen’s castle wasn’t one to walk through exhausted and unaware. Speculation had it that Largen herself had created a circle of unsavory areas to guard her home. Needless to say, the other high-end homeowners fled the neighborhood within weeks of her arrival.

With a sigh, I pulled out a copper mark and waved it at one of the passing peddle cabs. The driver had been going the other direction, but quickly spun around in the mud and headed back my way.

I almost put the coin back in my pocket when the driver got closer, Max. Alejandro’s brother. Lovely. Unfortunately, waving him off now would just make things worse.

Like all jinn, Max was attractive. Mostly. The problem was everything about his face was just a bit off. As if he’d come out unfinished when he’d been born. Or hatched. No one was completely sure how new jinns were created. No one ever saw jinn children. Jinns just appeared fully grown, often stuck in a bottle, jar, or funerary urn. Finding one didn’t get you the story-tale three wishes however. If you were lucky you got whatever they’d been trapped in returned to you. Things got worse the longer the jinn had been in there.

However they came about, multiples were rare, and that most likely explained Max.

“My lady!” Max tried to make up for his looks by being gallant, or a jinn’s version of gallant anyway. “Where can my legs take you?”

I ignored his lecherous look and climbed into the small carriage. Some peddle cabs had screens so you didn’t have the driver’s ass in your face the entire ride. If this one had come with it, Max had taken it out long ago.

Another thought hit as I sat down. I didn’t want Max and his brothers knowing I was going to see Largen. They’d tell anyone and everyone, and whoever my collar was would get away. I quickly tried to think of any other businesses in the area but drew a blank. The lack of a location was starting to worry Max and in a second he’d be turning around.

“I’m meeting a long-lost cousin in Castle Park. Just take me to the edge of it.”

Castle Park had once been a lovely part of the old Castle neighborhood before Largen had moved in. Now it was a refuge for unsavory types and misplaced forest dwellers.

Max stayed silent for an entire two minutes before he started trying to catch my attention with quips about people who lived in the Castle area. I ignored him as long as I could then changed the subject.

“So, how long have you known Marcos?”

“For a while really he’s been—” He paused, even slowing on his peddling. “I mean, Marcos who?”

I should have thought of this before. Max wasn’t the most mentally gifted of the three jinns. He’d already reinforced the fact that Alejandro had lied to me.

“You know who, your tall, gypsy friend Marcos. He mentioned you.”

Not a good idea to put it that way. Max whipped his head around so quickly he almost flipped the peddle cab. “He did?”

“Yes, said you two were fast friends and he trusted you completely.” I had no idea what information I’d get out of Max, but couldn’t hurt to try. Information seemed in short supply lately.

Unfortunately, thinking and driving weren’t something Max could do at the same time. He stopped peddling to think, then smacked into a tree. Luckily we’d been going uphill and his momentum had slowed significantly. It still almost knocked me from the cab.

Max tumbled from his seat, and lay there a few seconds. His eyes closed, but he didn’t look like he was injured, more like he was thinking. Or mentally communicating with his brothers. There went my source of information.

“Are you ok?” I started to climb out of the cab, acting the concerned acquaintance, when Max’s black eyes popped open and he jumped to his feet.

“All better now. No, I don’t know your friend Marcos, the gypsy digger. Please stay inside the cab so we can finish our trip.”

Well, at least two good things had come out of this. He now kept quiet, no longer trying to figure out who I was going to see and I knew for certain the jinn brothers knew Marcos.

Blessed silence stayed the remainder of the trip. Once we got to the park he communicated by grunts and holding out his hand for the payment.

Largen’s castle wasn’t far from the park, so as soon as I was certain that Max was gone, I made my way to the service entrance. Unlike Cirocco’s elaborate and ornate gardens, Largen’s place was surrounded by high walls and dark trenches. The path to the service entrance was short and well barricaded so no one went anywhere other than where they were supposed to go.

I really hoped that Largen didn’t hire bounty hunters herself. I’d much rather deal with a middleman, than risk another confrontation with a leading citizen of Beccia’s underworld. One per day was my limit. Actually, one per lifetime would be even better.

The service door was answered by a minotaur. Or rather a mini-minotaur. This one was not much taller than myself, and was almost as round as he was tall. A mix-breed gone to seed. I still wouldn’t want to piss him off though. His horns were sharp, and his eyes had that crazy look of a long-time drug addict.

“What,” he grunted at me. At least it sounded like what.

“I’m here about the bounty job for your boss.”

More grunting in response. This sounded like “wait here” although it could have been ‘let me go see if we’d like to cut you up in tiny pieces for dinner’. It was a close call. But he had motioned me to come in.

I shifted from foot to foot hoping that he really had said wait here. A creeping nerve crawled up my back and cautiously I took a small step backwards to the door. Then another.

I’d had enough time to almost reach the door and was seriously thinking of making a run for it when a shuffling sound coming from the hall to my left grabbed my attention. Too late now, the mix-breed was back.

He paused just before the entrance to the room, as if being around me again would be a bother. He stepped aside for Grimwold. Grimwold?! Did the man have less brains than the thing standing next to him? Not only had he gone behind Cirocco’s back, but now he was working for the enemy?

He nodded to the doorman, then shuffled into the room.

My eyes widened in horror. It was far worse than I’d even imagined, I should have ran when I had the chance. Grimwold hadn’t betrayed Cirocco, he had a twin brother.

This man looked just like Grimwold, except he was smiling.

I was actually grateful that Grimwold did very little of it based on the hideousness of the attempt on the copy of him before me.

“Hello,” he wheezed as he sat down across from me. Didn’t offer me a chair, just sat. Closer look made me realize he probably was Grimwold’s older brother rather than twin. “From the look on your face you have met my
brother
.” The sneer on his face came through clearly in his tone. Maybe this one and I would get along.

“Yes, I’ve had that honor.” I didn’t try to hide my feelings about Grimwold.

“Very good, you and he don’t get along, which means I would definitely like you working for us.” The grin was gone and he frowned as he pulled forth two scrolls. “We have two people who need to be brought in. They aren’t together, nor should you bring them in together. I just see no point in waiting for you to finish one job before assigning the other.”

Straight and to the point, clearly not like his brother. Working for criminal factions was never fun, but if he was this cut and dry perhaps it would be bearable.

“The first,” he said while unrolling a crisp parchment, “is a gambling debt. He’s pushed the limit this time, and Largen wants him brought in. Name is Gorgeous Sammy, works in the Red Light District when he’s not lying in a ditch. Height two-foot, six-inches, weight seventy-five pounds. Has wings but can’t get off the ground much anymore. Here’s his address and work place.” He glanced at me up and down. “We need him alive.” The last part sounded more formality than an actual fear that I would kill his quarry.

Great, a cherub. I hated cherubs. An entire race of nasty little beings flying around trying to spread love. Whether you wanted it or not. Twisted little bastards one and all. And it looked like I was going to get to bring in one of their fallen angels.

I took the scroll and rolled it up. The Red Light District would have to wait until tomorrow. The day was mostly gone, and I wasn’t going down there at night.

“The second is,” he paused and tilted his graying head as if hearing something only he could hear. “I’ve changed my mind. I’d rather you bring in Gorgeous Sammy first, then we’ll set you up with the second one.” That death’s head grin flashed again. “I wouldn’t want to scare you off.”

I tried to pay attention as he briefly set up the collar requirements, five days or no pay, and the pay. Not much, but enough to see me through a few more weeks of room and board. His pulling back the second collar did scare me a bit, but there wasn’t much I could do. The other two bounty jobs were out.

My escape from Largen’s castle was fortunately quick and painless. The interaction did, however, make me walk far quicker than I thought I could. I also tipped the pedicab driver to get me to the pub quickly. I could go home and fix something for the faeries, but they were usually fine on their own. Besides, they had planned on spending the entire day resuming their battle with a family of squirrels in the park.

The pub was far more active and cheery than it had been earlier in the day. Karys and her young pirate friend were in the corner. I thought about saying hi and finding out if she knew who dropped off that fake summons from Cirocco, but one look told me she was distracted. Very distracted. Most likely whoever set me up had just used some poor messenger to run the contract in anyway.

Harlan was holding court in the middle of the room. Having spread himself and his cronies over the prime real estate in the pub, the rest of the patrons were forced to participate in, or at least listen to, his debate.

I thought about turning around. Harlan was in full form and I just wasn’t up to a knock-down, drag-out verbal fight over some minutia of digging. But I really didn’t feel like going home. So many people had been breaking in there lately it didn’t really feel safe. Besides, most likely all of the folks at the table had been allowed back in the ruins today. If I couldn’t be there, I might as well hear the details.

With a nod to Foxy, I pulled up a chair. Two of Harlan’s cronies moved aside quickly. But it wasn’t out of chivalry; the looks they fired my way told me they still were unsure on the whole murder charges against me. Come to think of that, I really should do something about it. The court system in Beccia was just this shy of a total breakdown; my case wasn’t even going to be heard for at least a month. But I should probably try to resolve it before then.

Shaking off the pointed looks, I gladly took a cool mug from Dogmaela’s hands. The cowardly diggers cringed back even further as she stayed to make small talk. Now her they should fear. There were bouncers in seedy underground bars who were afraid of our barmaid, Dogmaela. Trolls have that effect on folks. Luckily, she and I had always gotten along.

“There you are, my dear. You missed all of the excitement. Where have you been?” It had taken Harlan almost a full five minutes to slow down in his tirade long enough to notice my arrival. I hadn’t even tried to follow his previous conversation as it was clearly something between him and the crotchety old digger woman to his left.

“Out finding work. So what’s the news?”

Even though I sometimes had to bounty hunt for a living and many of my past patrons were dead or missing, I usually was treated as one of the digger group. Something had changed tonight. Maybe that murder charge was affecting more than just the cowardly. The glass in my hands dropped a few degrees in temperature just by the looks that came my way.

If Harlan noticed the cold reception from the others, he made no comment. Just leaned forward as if he was about to tell me the secrets of the empire. “They found elves.”

“What?!” I spit part of my ale over the table. That certainly didn’t soften the looks on the faces around me. “They found an elf? A real elf?”

The fur on Harlan’s brow ruffled as it did when he was caught embellishing. “Well, not exactly. But we believe they found an elven skull. That’s why they closed the dig site.”