The Third Eye Initiative (4 page)

Gravelock. Some said he was the God of thieves, beggars and whores. Others said he was a gangster who secretly controlled everything that happened in the city. And still, some thought that he was a monster that lurked in the sewers, waiting to feed on helpless thieves who broke some fictional code of honor. Most people thought it was just a superstition, a name to explain the unexplained. Tsaeris considered himself a member of that camp.

No, it was the gangs and The City Watch that made Tsaeris nervous about a trip to Market, not some silly myth. The thieves’ guilds of Market did not tolerate freelance thieves and pickpockets. They would either kill or enlist anyone working in their territory. If you were enlisted, you were only allowed a very small cut of whatever you stole which meant working harder.

Darson district was poor, but safer. The night streets may be deathtraps to the unwary street kid, but he never had to worry about guilds or the Watch. The dangers he faced were worth his freedom, and he was used to it. It was a comfortable danger.

Tsaeris considered the journey. It would take two days to get there, and he would be completely out of his element. He didn't know the streets, the layout. He had only third party information about the dangers. The idea was intimidating. Was he up to the task?

He would only be in Market for one night. The two days travel should be fairly uneventful. There was a neutral road that ran through the city and connected each district to Market by passing between districts rather than through them. It was necessary to keep the fighting between nobles to a minimum, but it increased travel time greatly. It was heavily patrolled by the Watch, and was confusing to navigate. He saw a map of the Neutral Road once, and it looked like a spider’s web. It was wide and walled in on each side, with a roof making it more of a series of tunnels than an actual road. It was well lit by holes in the roof that let the sunlight in during the day, and by torches lining the walls never more than a foot apart at night. The road was maintained by its own guild, which had members numbering in the thousands. There were hostels at various intersections offering rooms as well as food and drink. He was told that walking the Neutral Road was like walking in a different world. A cold, grey world.

Five days. Two days in the Neutral Road, one day in market, two days back. If he could pull it off, that would mean five
days’ work for months of lazy indulgence. Inn beds, ale, and good food. Maybe he could even afford a whore.

He debated with himself for hours, but deep down he knew he had already made his decision. It would be exciting, and the potential payoff was just too tempting.

“I'm in,” Tsaeris said to Jason on the third night.

Jason didn't look surprised.
“Alright, good! We leave tomorrow.”

“
Let me see the maps,” Tsaeris asked.

“
Maps? I don't have any maps.”

Tsaeris stared at Jason, waiting for the boy to admit that he was joking. The admission never came.
“You're shitting me. No maps?” Jason shook his head. “Do you know Market so well that you didn't even get a map? And the Neutral Road? Remembered the entire place without ever having been there?”

“
Well, there would be signposts in the roads. Won't there?”

“
I don't know. Do you want to be two hours in with no map only to find out that there aren't any?”

“
Well...no,” Jason said weakly.

“
And if we made it to market, where would we go? How would we find our way with no map?” Tsaeris was angry.

“
I thought...”

“
You thought? Really? Because this whole thing reeks of not thinking.” Tsaeris shook his head. “I just wanted to come along. But you're so stupid that your whole plan was to march into Market and just see what happens?”

Tsaeris was getting even angrier. It was clear that Jason had been posturing, and that this whole expedition w
ould have to be planned and led by Tsaeris. He hadn't wanted to put that much effort into this.

He was committed, though.
Now that he had imagined the possibilities, there was no turning back. “Leave tomorrow?  That's a joke. We leave when I say we leave. When we have an actual plan. Now get the hell out of here.”

Jason, seeming to sense impending violence, rushed out of the tavern.

Tsaeris sighed. “Now, where the hell am I going to find some maps?”

***

After a day or so of planning and consideration, as well as acquiring some of the things they would need, Tsaeris went to the tavern to tell Jason that it was time to leave. Jason was not there, however, and Tsaeris returned several times that day, each time expecting to find the boy waiting.

             
When Jason failed to appear on the second day, Tsaeris began to wonder if the stupid boy had left without him. He felt a moment of intense anger at the thought of Jason leaving him behind, and left the tavern to see if he could locate his missing partner.

             
Tsaeris wandered around Darson, asking some of the beggars and street kids he knew if any had seen Jason.  None had. Tsaeris checked the sleeping holes he knew Jason frequented as well as a few other taverns, but there was no sign of the boy.

             
As the sun began to lower in the sky, Tsaeris sighed heavily. There was one last place he would check before he would find a place to sleep for the night.

             
Tsaeris crossed the district to the sewage reservoir, where the sewers would empty into a large stinking pool of water. A drain sat at the bottom of the reservoir and the stagnant pool of filth would slowly empty into a larger network of sewers far below, and eventually find its way to the sea. Any buildings in this part of Darson were abandoned and dilapidated, and the smell from the waste in the pool was too much for even the homeless to bear.

             
Tsaeris stood at the rim of the reservoir, about twenty feet up from the water, and scanned the surface. The reservoir was the place of choice for murderers to dispose of their victims, and Tsaeris could see the remains of several bodies, decayed and bloated, floating in the water.

             
Tsaeris scanned the water for signs of Jason, but he could tell immediately that there were no fresh corpses visible from where he stood. It was possible that Jason was in there and had sunk to the bottom, but the water seemed shallow today, and he doubted that Jason was in there.

             
He cursed, frustrated at his lack of success in locating the missing boy. He decided he would just leave for Market by himself, and if he chanced upon Jason along the way, he would give the boy a proper beating.

             
Tsaeris was just about to leave when he heard a man whistling. Tsaeris looked around desperately for a place to hide. There were only two buildings close by. One was too far to reach in time; the other was in the direction that the whistling was coming from.

             
He was just about to make a run for it and hope for the best, when a man appeared from beside the dilapidated wooden structure. He was carrying something over his shoulder. Tsaeris stiffened, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, but feared that running before any sign of a threat could provoke a chase that might otherwise be avoided. The man didn’t seem interested in him. Nevertheless, Tsaeris had his knife in the palm of his hand, pressed against his wrist.

             
Tsaeris kept a distance of about fifteen feet between himself and the man, and he knew he could escape if he needed too. The man was large, with more fat than muscle, and Tsaeris was certain he could outrun him. His large round face was covered in a patchy black beard and his head was bald. He grinned at Tsaeris as he passed the boy.

             
The sun was still high enough in the sky that the area was well lit, though slightly dim, and Tsaeris finally got a good look at the burden on the man’s shoulder. His eyes went cold. It was Jason. His face and hair were covered in blood, and his naked body had been mutilated horribly. It was clear that Jason’s death had not been swift.

             
Tsaeris didn’t know why, but he felt a sudden rage at what had been done to Jason. Usually Tsaeris could detach himself from the horrors that befell his fellow street kids, but this was different. He knew Jason, and though Tsaeris considered him a tad on the stupid side, he had been a decent enough companion at times.

             
“Did you know him?” The man asked, grinning, as he lowered Jason’s body to the cobblestone at the rim of the reservoir.

             
“Yeah…” Tsaeris replied, gritting his teeth.

             
“I knew him in the end. Knew him better than anybody. He was a sweet kid.” The hideous grin never left the man’s face.

             
After taking a moment to catch his breath, the man dragged Jason to the edge of the reservoir and, with some effort, pushed the body over the side.

             
As Tsaeris watched Jason’s naked body slide down the grimy stone wall of the reservoir and into the foul pool, his rage exploded into a white hot fury. Before the man could recover from the effort of disposing of the body, Tsaeris ran at his back, drawing his second knife in his left hand, and began stabbing him over and over again. The man cried out, bleeding from half a dozen wounds in his back and neck. The man spun to face Tsaeris, but the boy’s fury had not yet played out, and the man could do nothing but beg as the flurry of slashes and stabs weakened him with pain and blood loss.

             
Tsaeris had no idea how long he had cut away at the man, but when his rage had finally cooled into an angry simmer, the man was lying on the ground in front of him, whimpering. There was blood everywhere. Tsaeris’ knife was short, and none of the wounds had penetrated the man deeply enough to kill him. At least not right away, but the man would no doubt bleed out from the many dozens of wounds.

             
“Please. Please, stop,” the man begged, weeping blood and tears from his damaged face.

             
Tsaeris stared down at the man, his eyes cold and as grey as flint. The man must not have liked what he saw in the boy’s eyes, because his weeping and whimpering increased.

             
Without a word, Tsaeris bent over the man and, after several heaves, pushed him over the side into the reservoir. The man screamed and cried the entire way down. Tsaeris waited until the man hit the water, then turned and walked away from that foul place, leaving the man to die from blood loss and the inevitable infections from the filthy water. It was time to find a place to sleep.

***

Tsaeris had a bit of coin and spent the night at an inn. By morning he had almost completely disregarded the events of the night before. All emotion and rage was gone. Any effect that Jason’s death had had on him had played itself out completely, and would soon be forgotten.

The only thing he felt for Jason at that moment was annoyance.
Tsaeris had spent all this time stealing enough coin to purchase some cheap maps from a general goods stall, and for sleeping accommodations while on the road, and that little bastard goes and gets himself killed. He couldn't ask any other street kid to join him on his journey to Market. It was too dangerous. If the take was really good, a street kid might decide he didn't want to share, and Tsaeris could find his head smashed open with a piece of wood or a stone. Jason, at least, would have been decent enough to not try and kill him.

He was still going, however. He had invested far too much time and effort into this
endeavor to just quit now. It didn't take Tsaeris long to find the silver lining in his partners untimely death. Now his cut would be much bigger, and in the end he would rather work by himself. Yes, maybe this was all for the best.

He took a day to gather his supplies. He had more t
han enough coin for the journey, and now that Jason was dead, he could afford a new shirt as well. He replaced his colorless ripped smock with a lightly used grey workman’s tunic. He purchased an old water skin and a loaf of day-old bread, and stuffed it in a tattered old pack he had purchased from another street kid.

When morning came the next day, he stopped for a quick breakfast at the tavern, and set off for the Neutral Road. It wasn't long before he could see the structure of the tunnel in the distance, like a long stone worm stretching as far as the eye could see.

When he finally reached it, he was shocked at the sheer size of the road. The structure of the tunnel loomed high above any of the surrounding buildings. It looked old, but well maintained, its stone walls smooth and worn but lacking any cracks or fissures.

Tsaeris approached a large iron bar
red gate. It was open, and The City Watch guarded the entrance, hands always close to their swords. Tsaeris had to wait in line to get into the road. The watch asked each individual or group a few questions before letting them in. Some were turned away. Tsaeris was getting nervous. He hadn't been expecting to have to answer any questions. What if they turned him away?

It was finally his turn, and he stared up at a large man with a serious, no-nonsense expression. Tsaeris felt like he was in the presence of giants.