12 A.L.
“Did Irene find you?” the blacksmith asked Ian. Ian was looking over the blacksmith’s offered cutlass. There was a slight curve to the blade but it wasn’t exactly like the ceremonial cutlass the Captain of the Speedwell carried. It was closer than the short straight sword Ian currently carried.
“No,” Ian responded. “Is she back in the settlement?” It was almost half a year, maybe more since he lost track of her at the north gate. Since that meeting, rumors indicated that the queen’s oldest daughter was no longer in Londontown. Ian wondered if Mary was Irene’s companion that day.
“I saw her about a week ago. She said you promised her dinner,” the blacksmith responded.
“Was she alone?” Ian asked.
“Yes, although she did say something about spending some time with a bear hunting group out of Moscow,” the blacksmith responded. Ian was surprised. He wondered where this Moscow could be.
“Moscow?” Ian asked. “That’s not a suburb is it?”
“No, it's a red square, far to the north and about forty stories down. Bears are common there,” the blacksmith said. The blacksmith was giving Ian a look that said, how can you not know that? Ian did not believe the blacksmith description of forty stories down. The structure was not that deep. He would send a patrol north to make sure this square was not a threat to Redfalls. “She asked where Redfalls was and all I could tell her was north.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for her,” Ian commented. “Does she visit often?” The blacksmith thought about this question before answering.
“She will come by twice in a year and then not at all the next year. I think she has a trading route that loops north to south. If you want to find her I would check the southern suburbs.” Ian nodded his head in agreement. He purchased the sword.
With his new cutlass on his hip, he headed over to Darien's ‘command center’. The map on the wall there showed the most detailed information on suburb locations. The information on the map included very few suburbs to the south. Most ‘southern’ suburbs were actually more to the west. The true southern suburbs were all in extremely poor hunting grounds and were desperately poor. One, called ‘The Heights’ was so far up it must be on the edge of dark space. Darien could see no reason why a trader would visit them.
The southwest suburbs were rich enough to support a trader's visit. Looking at them, Ian saw that some of them were rather close to Londontown. Ian nodded to himself. That was where the queen’s daughter went. She must spend time there to build inventory before running the trading route to the north. Ian wondered if Irene was actually a scout/spy for Londontown. It was a possibility. He would have to be very careful about what he told her when he finally caught up with her.
“Ian,” Darien said in greeting. Ian turned to find the Chicago leader approaching. Darien’s secretary Michael was close behind.
“Darien,” Ian responded, turning away from the map.
“Are you interested in the south?” Darien asked. It was obvious he was watching Ian examine the map for some time.
“I was wondering why we aren’t monitoring the border with Londontown,” Darien responded. “The distances between some of our eastern suburbs and Londontown are shorter than the distance to Paris.”
Ian hinted to Darien how much profit they could add if there was a tax on access from Londontown. Darien made no commitments, but Ian knew he was making progress. The current plan Ian was working on was to increase tensions between Londontown and Chicago. Increasing violence between the blue and red settlements would give him a training ground for his own men. If he got lucky some of the suburb leaders would be removed along the way, leaving a power vacuum he could take advantage of.
Ian’s next stop was the Common Room, an eating and drinking establishment set up in a suite of rooms. A set of tables filled the first room. The tables were constructed of debris and varied wildly in their quality. Usually Ian went through to the back room, with its crafted furniture. The prices were higher back there, but Ian considered the increase in the quality of the patrons worth it.
Today he stayed in the first room, claiming a primary position at the bar where he could survey the room. When the new border was set up against Londontown, Ian would need more warriors.
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Jake found Ian in the Common Room an hour after he didn’t show up for their arranged meeting. This wasn’t the first time it happened. Jake found it irritating how Ian always assumed whatever he was doing was more important.
“The leatherworker has finally gotten enough bear skins for our order,” Jake reported. “He says we can pick up the armor in six days.” Jake leaned against the bar next to Ian.
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“That’s not good enough,” Ian responded. “Tell him we have to have them in five.”
“He warned me the quality would decrease if he’s forced to rush,” Jake commented.
“It better not,” Ian said. Jake wondered what Ian would do if the quality did go down. Ian always wanted things faster than possible. It was why Jake did most of the trading with the crafters for the settlement. The leatherworker told him the armor would be ready in four days. Jake padded the number for just this occurrence. Now when the leatherworker delivered in four Ian would be in a much better mood for the trip back to the square.
“I heard a rumor today about a red square to the north,” Ian said. “Someplace called Moscow.”
Jake heard that rumor two or three years ago. It was very far north and deep. The area was very dangerous. The green it was on was heavily occupied by bears. The bear hides the leatherworker just received probably came from Moscow. When Jake first heard of it, he tried to talk Sophia into trying their luck up there. They just found Redfalls and Sophia was newly committed to staying with Ian. Jake didn’t understand Sophia’s devotion. They met a lot of forceful personalities over the years and it was usually Sophia’s council that they stay away from them.
Jake accused Sophia that it was sexual attraction that drew her to Ian. She emphatically denied it. She went on to physically prove it to Jake that he was the only man she wanted. Jake enjoyed her attention, but still he doubted.
“Do you want me to investigate?” Jake asked.
“Ask around and find out where it is,” Ian ordered. “Send out a patrol and make sure there is no threat to us.”
“Will do,” Jake responded. He didn’t see how a square over month’s travel north could be any kind of threat. He’d go through the motions and have the scouts report directly to Ian.
“Keep your eye out for new men,” Ian ordered. “Darien is going to put up border stations on Chicago’s southern flank around Londontown. I want at least one man on each one.” That explained why Ian was out here with the working men, Jake thought. Ian excelled at recruitment. He had a knack at spotting people whose greed often overwhelmed their good sense. People like that were easy to buy.
“I secured your room in leadership housing,” Jake told Ian, before rising to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Ian demanded to know.
“To talk to the leatherworker and see if I can find out the location of Moscow,” Jake reported.
“Yes, get to that,” Ian replied. “I’ll be dining with Darian tonight, see about feeding the men while you’re at it.”
“I will,” Jake responded.
Jake escaped the Common Room. He headed back over to the leatherworker's shop, not to put pressure on the man, but to ask him where he got the bear hides. If they came from Moscow, whoever brought them would be able to tell him the square's location.
“Back again already?” John asked.
“Can you tell me where you got the bear hides?” Jake responded.
“I bought them from a circuit trader. She comes by every other year or so. She is the only one I know who goes as far north as Moscow and as far west as Waymarket,” John replied.
“Waymarket?” Jake questioned. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that settlement before.”
“It's about a month and a half travel to the west, past Londontown, about twenty stories down. It’s very lightly populated. I think it was settled three or four years ago, but I only heard of it two years ago.”
“What about Moscow? I’ve heard it’s a month north and about forty stories down. Is that accurate?” Jake asked.
“As far as I know. I’ve never been to either. You need to talk to Irene if you want better instructions,” John responded.
“Irene?” Jake asked. “Is that the trader?”
“Yep,” John responded. “She was through here a week ago. I don’t expect her back for at least a year. She will be making the run to Waymarket next year.”
“I knew an Irene in the early days,” Jake said. “She was a wizard.” He gave a brief description of the woman he knew. “Is that her?”
“Sounds like it. She carries a black walking staff with her. She usually wears handmade leathers, although I’ve seen her in hunter's greens a time or two. Once she was wearing red wizard silks,” John responded. That was odd, Jake thought Irene was a blue wizard.
Jake saw her cast both ice-bolt and fireball during the trip in from the Speedwell. He assumed she was blue because he saw the ice-bolt first. If she was actually a red wizard that could explain why she left Londontown with Sophia and him to go to Chicago. Jake never understood why she did that. If it was his family ruling Londontown, he would have stayed.
“Do you know of anyone else who might have better directions to Moscow?” Jake asked.
“Sorry, no,” John responded. “I’d check with the travel food vendors. Most of the traders stock up here.”
Jake worked his way around the food vendors. None of them gave better directions. He found out from them that there was another blue square in the north called Liberty. Their rather vague description placed it even farther north than Moscow but a little to the west. Jake decided not to mention it to Ian. All these squares made Jake realize just how large the ruins were. He remembered thinking about finding a new square in the west for Sophia and himself to settle in. That plan was scrapped after they left Irene. She did a lot more damage with her spells than either of them realized at the time. When they traveled with her the halls didn’t seem that dangerous. Once they left with Kyle to go to his suburb, they found the halls far too difficult to travel through with just the two of them, especially at night.
Jake purchased food for their group from the vendors for the next few days. Travel food wasn’t that flavorful, but it was affordable. It was very unlikely he would get reimbursed for the expense.