“I thought he seemed very nice,” Aris said. Soraya sniffed in response. They were all back in the hideout, telling Soraya how the ransom note drop had gone.

“You must think the world of him, seeing as he managed to spend ten minutes in a coffee house without killing anyone,” she said scornfully. “Truly, my eyes are opened.”

“I just… he said he loves you,” Aris said. “Wouldn’t it be worthwhile hearing him out?”

“Absolutely not,” Soraya said. “I don’t want to give him a single chance at snatching me for himself. And as for marriage, it is out of the question. There’s no possible way that I could live with having my children depending on a killer’s income. Not that I’d expect you to understand.”

“You were eating human flesh only this morning!” Aris protested. “I don’t think you’re in any position to comment on my morality.”

“I didn’t kill it, did I?” Soraya replied. “It was served to me by your— whatever it is that Kelsey is to you. It would have been rude to refuse.”

“That’s not—”

“Not the time for this,” Anton interrupted. “Al-Kadir is going to be a huge problem for us. He didn’t make any secret of his plans to hunt down your kidnappers, Soraya.”

“Well, if I should end up in his clutches, I’ll be sure to mention just where they can be found and what they look like,” Soraya said sharply.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to go home, say you escaped and try to convince your father not to marry you to Al-Kadir?” Anton asked. “It didn’t sound like you had a bad relationship with him.”

“I don’t,” Soraya said wistfully. “But I’m not sure that the decision is up to him anymore. Al-Kadir may be threatening him.”

“I don’t think—” Aris started to say.

“You don’t know his history or his reputation,” Soraya said, cutting her off. “I wouldn’t put it past him to kill off my entire family and then marry me, “for my protection”. There are few in court who would gainsay it. Staying hidden may be the best protection I can give my family.”

“What are you thinking?” Anton asked Kelsey, who had been watching the discussion quietly. She shrugged.

“It’s basically double or nothing, which is a hard bet to pass up,” she said. “Al-Kadir raises the stakes and makes everything more difficult, but it seems like he’s already proving helpful.” She held up the piece of paper from the post. “You’re the local, Soraya, what do you make of this? Is the Kingfisher gang asking for help?”

“I did make some enquiries before I decided to use the post for communications,” Soraya admitted. She took the paper in her hand and examined it.

“It’s not from the Fishers,” she said. “If it were, the symbol would be on the front. That space is reserved for either the sender or the recipient.”

“How can it be both?” Anton asked. “It seems confusing.”

“It’s meant to be opaque,” Soraya told him. “The sender knows who put the note up, and the recipient can work it out. Since the space is blank, the note is not for anyone in particular.”

She unfolded the note. “Classically—the post has become much more diverse since it gets used for more than just assassinations— the inside would show the target and the price.”

“So, the… Fishers are the target, and whoever put up the note is asking us to do it for free,” Kelsey finished for her.

“That would be my understanding,” Soraya agreed. “There might be other meanings, but given it is addressed to anyone, I don’t think they would have wanted to get clever with the code. The Fishers are a gang… on the east side? Not a nice part of the city. I don’t know much more than that.”

“That’s fine,” Kelsey said. “Zaphar can probably find out more. And, as it happens, one of the guys from last night had a kingfisher tattoo.”

“I didn’t see it,” Tyla put in from the edge of the discussion.

Kelsey smiled. “It was under his clothes,” she said. “It wasn’t visible until I stripped and cleaned him.”

“Are you going to bring him back to life and question him?” Tyla asked.

“No, he died outside, so I can’t do that,” Kelsey said as Soraya goggled at her. “But I do know what tavern he came out of.”

----------------------------------------

“I don’t like this,” Anton said to Kelsey. She was sitting across a small table from him in a crowded tavern.

“What don’t you like?” she asked from the depths of her hooded cloak. It looked suspicious, but most of the people here looked equally unsavoury.

“Everything!” Anton said. He refrained from shouting it. “I don’t like how my first heroic act is probably going to look a lot like that vigilantism that you were talking about before. I don’t like that we’re in this skeevy tavern. And this… wine… is spicy.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Kelsey grinned. He couldn’t see it, but he knew. She took his cup and topped up her own, and then hid his in the folds of her robe.

“The difference between heroism and vigilantism is pretty thin,” she admitted. “When it comes time to act, you’ll need to go with your gut and the feelings that your Class gives you.”

She looked out across the room. “As for what we’re doing here, we’re making sure Zaphar doesn’t run into trouble while he asks questions for us. How does your class feel about that?”

Anton thought about it, listening to, as Kelsey said, his gut.

“Looking out for people is heroic,” he admitted. “I’m getting… less than a trickle because nothing has happened, but the thought…”

Kelsey held out his wine cup again. “And if you didn’t like the wine, you should have said something.”

Anton looked at her carefully, but took the cup and had a sip. What filled it now was a much more familiar vintage that tasted of home.

“That’s a lot better,” he allowed. Kelsey raised her cup to his in a toast.

“To each their own,” she said. They nursed their drinks for a while before Kelsey perked up.

“Looks like he’s finished,” she said. Anton saw that Zaphar was headed to the door. He got up to follow him, but Kelsey held him down.

“Not yet,” she said. “Give him a little space, see if he picked up anything.”

Anton looked at her quizzically but stayed in place until two more men had left. Rough-looking men, but that applied to almost everyone here.

“Oho ho ho,” Kelsey said. “Let’s go.”

Once they were out on the dimly lit street, Anton looked around. He couldn’t see Zaphar.

“He’s gotten ahead of us,” he complained.

“We know where he’s going,” Kelsey said. “And look! Those guys are headed in the same direction!”

Sure enough, the two guys were headed in the direction of the hideout, moving at a quick pace. Anton and Kelsey hurried to follow them. They hadn’t managed to catch up when a voice came out of the darkness.

“Hello, hello, you are following me, yes?”

The men came to an abrupt halt, and Kelsey grabbed at Anton again to stop him. The pair started approaching more cautiously, as the two thugs addressed the thief.

“You’ve been asking a lot of questions, friend,” one of them said.

“I think I’d remember if I had a friend as ugly as you,” Zaphar said lightly. “And what if I did?”

“Our boss is going to want to ask you questions, once he hears what you’ve been talking about,” the tough said. “Figure we’ll save everyone some time and take you to him now.”

“Alas, I find myself otherwise engaged at the moment,” Zaphar said. “Perhaps you could leave a card? Ut! Ut!" he exclaimed. “Not so close!”

Anton and Kelsey were closer now, and Anton could make out the form of Zaphar. He’d climbed halfway up the sheer wall of one of the houses and was haranguing the toughs from six feet up. The toughs seemed to have run out of patience.

“You think we can’t jump that high and peel you off?” One of them shouted. They both pulled out curved blades that were about a foot and a half long.“You— what the?”

Kelsey had decided to light the pair up with her “torch”. The pair of them swung around, unthinkingly making the mistake of looking directly into the bright light. Anton wasn’t going to get a better opportunity.

Leaping Attack.

He didn’t draw his sword. Not only did he not want to kill some nobodies in an open street, but he knew that Kelsey would want to ask them questions. So his first attack was a flying kick. When the man went down, Anton could use the graceful landing part of the Trait to get on top of him.

The man didn’t go down. He folded under the impact, he grunted in pain, but he didn’t go down. Anton realised too late that these thugs probably had progressions that focused on strength and toughness. The one he’d kicked had felt even stronger than Anton, and the other one was probably the same.

Then he remembered that he had a way of checking for that exact thing, and he kicked himself. Before he could use it, he needed to dodge the return swipe of the guy he’d kicked. The other one was still blinking from the light and hadn’t realised that he’d been attacked, but that would not be the case for long.

The swing that came at him was wild, unaimed. That seemed to be the guy’s Trait, though, as it moved towards Anton’s head with unerring precision. Still, he had a way of dealing with that.

Uncanny Evasion.

Anton swayed easily away from the blow. They might match him for strength, but they didn’t have his agility. Feeling a little more secure, he activated Delver’s Discernment.

Esra Hatun, Level 18, Human, Thug/Bruiser/Enforcer, S: 27, T: 30, A: 10, D: 14, P: 8, W: 2, C: 5

Kemal Beyazit, Level 20, Human, Thug/Bruiser/Enforcer, S: 27, T: 31, A: 18, D: 13, P: 6, W: 4, C: 4

Anton winced. The other one, Kemal, was much closer to Anton in Agility and Dexterity. He started to question his decision to not draw his sword.

It was dumb, but a sharp whistle from behind him made everyone pause and look that way. It was Kelsey, trying to attract Anton’s attention.

“If you won’t use a sword,” she said, throwing something at him, “Try this.”

Anton snatched it out of the air. It was… a club? But not like any club that he’d seen before. It was made of steel, narrow at one end that was covered in some soft material. The other half was thicker and heavier, more than two inches wide. The weight wasn’t distributed evenly, the striking end was much heavier.

Louisville Slugger, Weapon, Perfect Quality, Tier 2, Properties: Impact Reflection.

“No more sticks,” Kelsey called out to him.

Anton nodded and brought the club down on the hand of Esra, who had recovered and was slicing at him with his curved dagger. The slugger smashed into the man’s hand and Anton could hear the sound of breaking bone over Esra’s strangled scream.

Kemal was ready to fight now as well, but he was no match for Anton, who used Uncanny Evasion to avoid the thug’s overhead strike. It looked strong, but it was predictable and Anton had the reach advantage now. He swung down with the slugger, aiming for the man’s knee.

Kemal tried to move it out of the way, but Anton still managed to clip it. The glancing blow sent more force into the leg than it should have, but at the same time, something absorbed the extra force. It must have been a defence Trait that the man had.

“Looks like this won’t be a quick fight,” he remarked, taking a step back, and giving the club an experimental swing.

“Yeah, I—” the man said, before quickly bolting.

Anton blinked. Esra was also taken off guard but was quick to follow Kemal. Anton looked over to Kelsey for guidance.

“Eh, let them go,” Kelsey said. “It’s not like you were going to torture them for information, or anything.”

“No. I was not,” Anton said firmly. He wasn’t above questioning a prisoner, but dragging those two, unconscious or struggling, back to the hideout… it didn’t sound like a good idea.

“More importantly,” Kelsey said brightly. “Did you get any experience?”

“Yeah,” Anton said, focusing on the feeling. “More than I would have expected for a fight where they got away.”

“It’s coming to the rescue of a comrade,” Kelsey speculated.

“And, and, I am grateful for the rescue,” Zaphar said, dropping to the ground beside them. “But, but, it seems my bait was wasted? We have let the prey escape.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kelsey said. “You know where they live now, right? We’ll be seeing them again.”