The Huntsman's Amulet (24 page)

Chapter 36

The Resident Commissioner

T
hey walked back down
the hill into Caytown. The Resident Commissioner’s mansion was a striking white building in the centre of the town, surrounded by gardens filled with exotic trees, bushes and flowers. When they got there, they asked to speak with the Commissioner’s private secretary. There was some deliberation before it was decided to only let one of them in. It seemed that the Commissioner was nervous about his personal security, perhaps more so now that he had imprisoned a member of Sancho Rui’s crew and refused to release him.

Despite the departure of the
Bayda’s Tear
a few days previously, it wouldn’t be at all unlikely for Rui to have engaged an assassin for the sole purpose of addressing the slight against him by the Commissioner’s defiance, rather than out of a desire to free his first mate.

They decided that Varrisher would go in to negotiate Blasco’s release. Soren would have preferred to do it himself, but he had to tread carefully with Varrisher. He needed him and would have to let Varrisher have his own way from time to time to ensure that they remained on good terms. While they were getting along well, Soren could not forget the man that he had met in Ruripathia and was not yet convinced by his apparent change of character.

While he waited, Soren went to the nearest tavern that he could find. It was not far — Caytown seemed to have more taverns than anything else — and gave him a view of the Commissioner’s mansion. He bought a mug of ale and sat by a window overlooking the mansion so he would see Varrisher come out.

Time passed. People came and went from the tavern. A number of them were sailors and from a little idle eavesdropping, Soren discovered that a Humberlander naval squadron had arrived at Caytown a few days before to resupply, confirming what Varrisher had thought.

They had been patrolling the region to keep Humberlander shipping safe from pirate attack in the east and south, far beyond their usual patrol areas, now that piracy was on the increase as a result of the war and the dearth of Ostian warships. Their impending arrival might have also had something to do with Rui’s sudden departure.

It was several hours before Varrisher finally came out of the mansion. Soren walked out of the tavern and waved to him. Varrisher looked drained as he made his way over.

‘What’s the tavern like?’ he asked.

‘Fine. Unremarkable.’

‘It’ll do. I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat and I’ll fill you in on my meeting.’

Varrisher tapped the last coin out of his purse. It was a silver florin, enough to pay for a meal for both of them.

Soren thought for a moment before taking a crown from his own purse and placing it on the table. ‘I’ll get this one.’

Varrisher nodded and smiled gratefully. He put his florin back in his purse. ‘I met the Commissioner’s secretary. Just as Guardsman Fynn said, it seems the Commissioner’s taken a personal interest in Sailing Master Blasco. As soon as he found out what my business was, he said the Commissioner would be more than happy to release Blasco, and would do so promptly as soon as we pay him five hundred crowns restitution. He had no interest in negotiating a lower amount or an alternative.’

‘Well… That’ll take a while to put together,’ Soren said, understating the impossibility.

‘Agreed. I don’t see any point in staying around here. There’s no way we can expect to break Blasco out of prison and get away alive; there are too many guards and soldiers here. The only thing that I can think of is to go in and lie through our teeth to him in the hope that he will give us some information that we can use.’

‘What are our chances of finding Rui without Blasco’s help?’ Soren said.

‘It’s doable, but it’ll take a long time; there are a million and one places for him to hide. By now I’m sure there are other ships hunting him and he probably knows it. We could have done without the delay, but there’s no use in getting upset about it now. Blasco’s our best chance of getting to Rui before anyone else does.’

‘Maybe we can bribe the guards to bring in some booze. If we can get him drunk, he’ll be a bit freer with his tongue. We might get something useful out of him,’ Soren said, unlikely as it seemed.

‘Perhaps. I’ll have to go back to the ship and see if I can scrounge up some more cash first, unless you have more where that came from.’ He nodded at the crown that Soren had put on the table. ‘Between bribes and buying a few bottles of something strong, I don’t have enough on me to cover what it will cost. Perhaps I can sell some of the ship’s stores to keep us afloat a bit longer; the money’s all but run out.’

They finished their meal and walked back toward the ship in silence. While the ship could be run for some time without any more money, assuming the sailors were willing to forego pay in anticipation of a share of the bounty on Rui’s head and a portion of the plunder they expected to take from his ship, there were many other things — bribes for the most part it seemed — that did require money. Money that they no longer had.

They were halfway back to the quayside when a group of men approached them. One was wearing a naval officer’s uniform, while his companions were in the uniform sea-scrubs of Humberlander sailors.

‘Gentlemen, I am Lieutenant dal Montesfort. Admiral dal Laucelin wishes to talk with you,’ the Officer said.

‘Dal Laucelin? What does he want?’ Varrisher said.

‘Perhaps you mistake my manners for giving you an option. You’ll come with me, willingly, or by force. The choice is yours,’ Lieutenant dal Montesfort said.

Soren reached for the hilt of his sword. Varrisher shrugged his shoulders and gestured for Soren to leave his sword where it was.

‘Well, if we have no choice,’ Varrisher said, ‘I’d be delighted to remake my acquaintance with the Admiral. Lead on.’

‘You come too,’ the Lieutenant said to Soren.

Soren expected they would be frog marched back to the Commissioner’s house, but were surprised when the Lieutenant and his men escorted them instead toward the quay. They stopped outside an inn and the Lieutenant gestured for Soren and Varrisher to enter. When they hesitated the Lieutenant nodded to his men, one of whom shoved Varrisher forward. Taking the cue, Varrisher opened the door and went in. Soren followed, realising any resistance was pointless.

It was an expensive looking place; far removed from The Old Emperor and the tavern they had just come from, and definitely not the type of establishment that either Soren or Varrisher could afford to patronise right now.

The Lieutenant and his men followed them in. ‘This way,’ he said. He led them through the foyer and down a corridor to a small salon at the back. There was another man sitting there reading through some letters whom Soren took to be the Admiral.

‘Good afternoon, Captain Varrisher,’ the man said.’ A twist of tobacco twitched in the corner of his mouth when he spoke, but it somehow remained where it was.

‘A good afternoon to you too, Admiral,’ Varrisher said.

Soren noticed an edge to his voice that told him a pleasant afternoon was the very last thing Varrisher wished for the Admiral.

‘You do recall me, I presume?’ the Admiral said.

‘I do,’ Varrisher said, his voice cold and his demeanour verging on openly hostile

‘And your associate? Who are you, sir?’ the Admiral said.

‘Banneret of the Duke’s Cross Soren.’

‘An Ostian! You do keep the most unlikely of friends, Captain Varrisher. I must say that I hadn’t expected to see you in these parts, although with recent events I imagine a great many Ruripathians have fled to Valkdorf.’

‘What do you want, Admiral?’ Varrisher said.

‘Sad days for your country,’ the Admiral said, deliberately ignoring Varrisher’s question. ‘Trying times make the best of us consider work that we would not otherwise.’

‘What exactly are you implying?’ Varrisher said.

‘You sail into a known pirate haven, albeit one enjoying the benefits of flying the flag of Humberland, in a heavily armed warship with a crew far larger than is needed for sailing alone. The evidence only points to one thing. Turning to piracy is a sad fate indeed for a former doyen of the Ruripathian navy.’

‘I’m not a pirate, Admiral. Call me one again and you’ll have to back your words with steel.’

There was a tense silence. Soren grimaced. Having things get ugly with the Humberland navy was the last thing they needed, and would mean they could forget about Rui, the bounty, the booty, and his sword. He was about to speak up in the hope of calming the situation when the Admiral responded.

‘The only steel I’ll back my words with is the steel of the manacles you’ll be wearing in the town gaol.’ He cast a glance at Soren. ‘Both of you. And your crew.’

The Admiral removed the twist of tobacco from his mouth and stubbed it out on an ashtray. He smoothed his thick salt and pepper moustache with thumb and index finger before continuing. ‘There is, however, something that you could help me with. Something that would make me overlook the highly suspicious nature of your behaviour and circumstances.’

Varrisher smiled ironically. ‘You expect me to help you?’

‘I thought that you might be less than agreeable, considering the particulars of our previous meeting. Before you reject the offer I’m about to make, I’ll add an incentive for you.’

Varrisher remained silent, his jaw clenched. Soren was not sure what was going on, so he kept his mouth shut.

‘My lieutenant informs me that you were trying to negotiate with the Resident Commissioner for the release of a crewmate from prison. He tells me that the Commissioner demanded an extortionate amount of money for the release of your friend.’

Varrisher remained silent, as did Soren.

The Admiral sighed. ‘Very well. I’ll continue. Help me and I’ll have your crewmate released.’

It was a surprising development, and an attractive one. Soren wondered what the Admiral wanted in return.

‘You’re not the only people that the Commissioner, Canning dal Camperey, has tried to extort. Extortion is one of his more charming foibles. Embezzlement, murder, fraud, theft. The list is quite eye-opening. Were it not for you Ostians and Ruripathians scrapping, we would never have had to send a fleet out to keep our trade lanes clear, and like as not the Commissioner would never have had his litany of nefarious deeds discovered.’

Soren wasn’t sure he liked where the Admiral was going, and he couldn’t see how they would be able to do anything the Admiral’s men would not.

‘”Discovered” is perhaps too strong a word, however. I’ve a list of crimes as long as your arm, both against the individual and against the state of Humberland. They could only have been carried out with the complicity and most likely the involvement of the Commissioner. I don’t have anything that directly incriminates him, however.’

Soren looked over to Varrisher and raised his eyebrows. It looked as though this was where they were going to fit into the plan.

‘I plan on bringing dal Camperey to justice, and to clean out this rat infested shithole of a town. The first problem I have is that the Commissioner is not an idiot and proof is thin on the ground. The second problem is the Camperey family are well connected, and although I suspect the reason Canning is down here is because his own kin know him for the deceitful little shit he is, I can’t treat him as I have threatened to treat you: on suspicion alone.’

‘What possible use can we be in this?’ Varrisher said.

‘I’m glad you asked, Captain, I’m glad you asked. Simply put, I couldn’t give a fuck who dal Camperey bumps off in the middle of the night, or who he screws out of a few crowns. However, someone has pulled a stroke that I’m not willing to let go unanswered and it has his grubby mitts all over it.

‘Two of my frigates called here a few weeks ago to take on fresh supplies from the crown dockyard. All crown dockyards are required to maintain stores and all supplies are requisitioned locally but paid for by the crown. All of those supplies are certified as crown property and fit for consumption as soon as they are.