Chapter 98: Mind Map

“I set out tonight to meet Marek, my primary contact here in Heaven’s Reach,” Harvey began by way of explanation. “He was a local, born and raised in the city, with extensive connections in the criminal underground that made him an excellent fence and information broker. I made it a habit to always meet him at a safe house, first thing on arrival, to get an update on anything important that’s happened since my last trip here: where the black markets are hosted, who’s in charge of the bribes in each sector, any new outlaws of note, that sort of thing.”

“I’ve used his services before,” Kyle chimed in. “Expensive, but worth the price, and one of the few in the business willing to make house calls. I take it he’s dead?”

“He was probably dead weeks if not months ago. I could barely identify the body; if it weren’t for the gold teeth he spent a fortune on, I might have thought him just a dead vagrant. Not that it made a difference in the end; the entire building was trapped, and I was starting to fall asleep as soon as I entered the building. I never suspected a thing until then, not when the codes we exchanged on the way all matched my expectations. Whoever took over his position was able to mimic even the functions of the System.”

“I’d have said that was impossible, but it’s not supposed to be possible to block communications with an entire city either,” Kyle shivered, making the holy sign of the System with his hands, his fingers interinked to produce a rough square.

“That’s the rule, but every rule has its exceptions, and the higher your Level, the more common they become. None of the regular skirmishers at the Wall could pull off something like this, but if we’re facing down a proper incursion, then all the usual assumptions go right out the window.”

[Changeling Skeleton stored.]

I put the skeleton away as Harvey continued talking, stifling my increasing impatience by force of will. My blood was still up from the frantic retreat through the streets, urging me to head back into the fight, but doing so without a plan was suicidal, so I could only wait and listen.

“Unfortunately, if we follow that school of thought, then we have to conclude that anything that was common knowledge to our organisation is already compromised. Marek didn’t know everything about me, but at minimum, the larger safehouses and coin stashes are either trapped, under surveillance or simply already looted and burned down in the chaos. Similarly, any other members of the local branch are either dead, under suspicion, or already fled the city in the night, because none of them are returning my calls. As it stands, we have whatever we’re carrying in person, or in the carriages out back, and one or two homes I kept entirely private; not much, but not nothing either.”

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“We’re not going to be able to move four carriages safely in an active warzone,” I pointed out.

“Of course not. We’ll take as much as we can carry - either fruit or Valkyrie Dust, both are useful in times of war - then burn the rest. Not the stealthiest means of disposal, but I’d wager the city won’t even notice another fire tonight.”

The entire inn shuddered just then, seemingly in agreement with Harvey, though the rational part of my mind told me that it was more likely caused by another shockwave from above, which was hardly comforting either way. Harvey placed his palm on the table, and a tattered old map popped into place, the parchment yellow with age and torn in more than a few places. One corner was gone entirely, except for a small stain that reminded me of coffee, bringing a twinge of longing to the forefront; what I wouldn’t do for a nice hot cup after a long night of fighting. I’d yet to find a brew in Frontier, not even when window shopping in the eateries catering to the well off, so either it didn’t exist, or the imports just didn’t make it this far. It would be incredibly expensive, since coffee beans needed tropical conditions to grow, something the North simply couldn’t provide.

Harvey was still tracing his finger along the map as my reminiscing came to an end, making me wonder if he’d forgotten the way home. Then, he finally completed a full circuit along the edge, and the page lit up. Three black dots appeared, one in the Slums from which we’d just fled, another not too far from us in the Merchant’s District, and one at the western boundary where the city met the mountain range. Only one green dot appeared, northbound and nearly halfway to the Wall, in a long stretch simply marked ‘Residential’.

“Right, we’ve got our target,” Harvey declared as his map disappeared back where he pulled it from. “Let’s go empty the carriages, then head up the mountain. Hopefully, all the big players will be too distracted to pay attention to a few hapless merchants.”

The plan was entirely light on details, which I was starting to realise was Harvey’s preferred way to do things, but nothing better came to mind, so off we went. Miraculously, the carriages were still where we left them. They laid broken against the back wall of the property, and two of them had caught fire at the edges, a few embers starting to work their way up the tarp, but that still went above my expectations, given the circumstances.

“Looks like half our job’s done already,” Harvey laughed mirthlessly. “Alright, get grabbing.”

The two burning carriages were write-offs, so we focused on the remainder; Pumpkin and I took one carriage while Harvey and Kyle went for the other.

“Ew,” Pumpkin complained, turning his nose at the thick billows of smoke mixed with old wood.

I didn’t think it was that bad, but then my nose wasn’t nearly as sensitive. Pumpkin buried his face in the back of my neck and looked to be in no mood to contribute, so I took mercy on him in the end.

[Pumpkin the Cat stored.]

With that distraction out of the way, I dug into my first crate, and began to test the limit of my inventory for the first time.