Lucas had been expecting Kar’gandin to send someone with supplies, so he wasn’t surprised when he saw the mule emerge from the treeline a little before noon on the appointed day. He was rather surprised that the dwarf had come himself, though.

He was grateful for that, but even so, he was exhausted. He’d stayed up all night for the last two nights, and even with Adin watching Arissa during the day, he slept fitfully. He didn’t trust junkies even when they had noble birthrights, and between his worry about when Adin would rifle through his things searching for another fix, or when he would slip up and let their prisoner escape, any sleep he managed to get was fitful and fleeting, and he was bleary eyed by the time Kar’gandin reached them.

“What’s up Mr. B, he said, careful not to use the dwarf’s name in front of the prisoner. Don’t you have more important things to do then come out here all alone?”

“Lots ta do, and more ta say,” the dwarf answered with a shake of his head. “I thought I best come meself so that one of the lads wouldn’t screw it up.”

Lucas nodded at that, and left Adin with their prisoner as the two of them moved off a ways. He noticed that the noble was instantly annoyed at that arrangement, but that was just the way it had to be. He wasn’t letting her hear anything he didn’t want to hear.

Kar’gandin quickly filled him in on the particulars. Apparently, the Parin household had in fact been raided by the city watch, though they didn’t find anything after all the hard work they’d done to hide everything incriminating. They’d been looking for Lucas of course, but Danaria had claimed that he hadn’t been there in a week and that he’d gone off in search of her brother, which wasn’t the farthest thing from the truth.

“I thought they’d come back over and over again, but then, well, yer little surprise burned down half a block before they got it under control the night before last, and well - they ain’t come back since,” the dwarf said with a smile.

“I mean, one day isn’t much of a pattern,” Lucas sighed. “Maybe in a week we can talk about coming back. Did they mention anything about little miss Torvin?”

Before the dwarf could even answer that question Lucas was following up with others. “What about the fire? What are they saying about that? And sir Tristin. Is he—”

“One thing at a time, laddie, one thing at a time,” the dwarf answered, shaking his head. “Your little prisoner hasn’t been mentioned a single time. By anyone I’m aware of, but one of the people that showed up with the guard was a mage according to your ladies manservant, and—”

“She’s not my lady, laddie,” Lucas said, making no efforts to hide his annoyance, but the dwarf only smiled and continued.

“Regardless, I suspect that the mage was there to try to divine her presence for the powers that be. Since she wasn’t there, then they will look other places, but none of that’s the interesting part.” He paused, and sat down on a knee-high stretch of wall before pulling out his pipe and beginning to pack the bowl with pipeweed. “The fire like I told ye, was massive, but instead of pointing the finger at you, or even at the Knights like I thought they might, apparently they’ve decided to blame the whole thing on the escalating violence between our two favorite gangs.”

“Well isn’t that convenient,” Lucas said with a smile. Anything that hurt one of the other factions only helped them in a round about way. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of guys.”

“True, true,” the dwarf nodded after he’d lit his pipe with a flame twig. “But even if we aren’t takin’ the heat on that one, the market district and all the surrounding areas are pretty much locked down at this point. The Kinght o’ Brass actually sent us another message asking us not to try to ship anything right now because the risks are too high.”

“Oh?” Lucas asked. “Are they pissed?”

“That I do not yet know,” Kar’gandin said, “But Hura’gh and I will be meetin’ with their leader at a pub outsidde the main gates a pace to discuss things. I imagin’ they’ll want to be reasonable. Especially when i explain how the Whisperers have been spyin on them, and pretty much everyone else in the city worth spyin on.”

“Well, don’t go giving too much away,” Lucas sighed. He wasn’t happy that high level conversations like this would be happening without him, but he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about it. “Tell them about the Whisperers if you need to of course, but make sure you get something out of it.”

“Who do ye think yer talkin to,” the dwarf chuckled. “Ye don’t have to worry about me. I’ll haggle the pants right off ‘em if I have to. What about ye, Lucas? How goes yer interrogation of the woman? You must be bein real subtle, because I don’t see a bruise on her yet.”

“I’m not going to torture a woman for information,” Lucas sighed, not even sure he’d torture a guy in most situations. “It’s just not done.”

“We’ll don’t ye be forgettin’ that she already tried to kill you the once, and that if she gets away, its on all our heads,” he nodded, taking a puff from his pipe and blowing out smoke rings. “If ye like, tomorrow I could send Hura’gh up here. I doubt he has the same compunctions. He might—”

“Definitely no,” Lucas said, “But I appreciate the creativity. Just because I’m not willing to torture her doesn’t mean I’m going to let someone else do it, man.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Well laddie, you’ll figure it out,” the dwarf smiled. “Ye always do.”

The two of them chatted a while longer, about what other supplies he and Adin might need, timelines to starting production back up, and strategies about what they could do next. Lucas volunteered that they could fake his death, and come up with a new identity, but Kar’gandin put a stop to that idea quick.

“Lucas Parin is a lot more valuable to the operation than Lucas Sharpe or Lucas Smith or any other damn Lucas you care to name,” the dwarf sighed. “Hell, the rumors likely to spread from all of this will just make ye seem even more shady and dangerous.”

Lucas just nodded. The dwarf had a point.

“Maybe if they start putting up wanted posters with yer name on ‘em we can look at that, but until then,” Kar’gandin said, finally standing. “I say we stand pat and stick to the plan. Until they give real charges ye aren’t more than a person of interest, and with a high-born hostage, well, who knows what we can accomplish.”

“Yeah, there is that,” Lucas agreed. “She’d probably be worth a hell of a ransom if we could ever figure out how to spend it.”

They chatted a little more, but by the end of the conversation they were already walking back to unload the mule. Once that was done, Kar’gandin said his goodbyes and left the three of them to fend for themselves once more.

“What’s going on,” Adin asked after that.

Lucas shot him annoyed look, but said, “Lots. I’ll tell you later.”

When Adin looked like he was about to express his annoyance in more words than Lucas wanted their charge to hear, he dug out a vial of midgrade blue from his belt and tossed it to the man. “Go on, Lucas said, take the edge off. We can catch up later.”

At this point Adin was down to a vial every three or four days, thanks to dosing with the dilute stuff that was destined for the streets, and not the high test product that Lucas reserved for selling to Lordanin’s finest.

“Yeah, later…” Adin said, getting a far away look in his eyes, “Later we can… But shouldn’t you be sleeping? This can wait if you want to try to get another nap before it gets dark. We can—”

That he even managed to resist temptation enough for a pretext warmed Lucas’s heart, but he just shook his head. “Nah, man. Knock yourself out,” he insisted. “I’ll nap in a few hours while you make dinner.”

Adin smiled at that, and then made himself comfortable before he popped the cork and downed the blue potion in a single swallow. At this point it wasn’t enough to put him under completely, but as a goofy smile spread across his face and the warm tendrils of narcotic bliss snaked deep inside of him, he was basically dead to the world for the next hour or so.

As soon as Arissa finished watch that display with disgust, she said, “So that’s how it is? You dose your own people to ensure their loyalty, but you expect me to believe that you’re only after money when it comes to selling it to the scions of important noble houses? That’s such bullshit coming from you.”

“You think that’s what’s going on here?” Lucas asked, as she realized the woman was exactly right, at least in Adin’s case. For that man, blue was a leash, and he was the one holding it.

“Isn’t it?” She shot back.

“Not even close,” he lied. “Adin… he had an injury I guess you might say, and it just so happens that my product helps with the pain. We’re trying to ween him off.”

“There are other potions to deal with pain,” she shot back, “And he looks rich enough to afford real medicine from a reputable member of the guild instead of trash peddled by trash.”

“Woah, woah woah,” Lucas smiled. “Talk shit about me all you want, but leave the Blue out of this. Its pretty much perfect.”

“Is that what you’re going to do with me?” she asked as fear bloomed in her eyes for the first time, “You’re going to get me hooked to make me work for you too?”

In her eyes he could see a whole chain of fictions and intrigues playing out behind her eyes in some social Rube Goldberg chain of unlikely events, but rather than try to deny it, he just laughed. “That would be easier, probably,” he agreed, “My dwarven friend thought I should torture you for what you know and then kill you.”

Arisse paled at the casual threat, and swallowed hard before she asked, “and are you?” in a wavering voice.

“I’d like a better option,” Lucas nodded. “Got any?”

The conversation the followed was tense. She admitted that he had no reason to trust her, and that she had no reason to honor her word once given, which made everything that much more complicated.

“I… I could betray the Back Alley Whisperers and tell you things that I shouldn’t,” she said eventually. “Things that would get me killed if they found out. Would that be enough leverage for you?”

“It would if they were true, but I have no way to verify that you aren’t just feeding me a line of bullshit to save your own skin,” he sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. “Shit would have been a lot easier if you would have just left us alone, to be honest.”

“Well, if you expect the Whisperers to just let you move in our turf, then—” Arisse said, gesturing at him in frustration with her bound hands.

“Bitch, were you dealing drugs? Or were you stealing secrets and using them to blackmail people for favors?” Lucas yelled back, “Because I’m pretty sure you were doing that second one, while we were doing the first. You guys are the ones that decided we were stepping on your toes. You weren’t even invited to the damn meeting you crashed, and look where it got you! Right at the end of a hangman’s noose!”

Lucas wasn’t sure what to expect in response to that, but sudden sobs were officially not one of them. Part of him was tempted to berate her further for crocodile tears, but somehow he didn’t think they were. She might be part of some secret society and have access to murderous magical items, but deep down she was still just a young woman, and it was only now that she realized she was untouchable, and that her daddy’s name might not be enough to save her from the horrible fate she’d found herself in.