As Sammy continued to watch the market, she thought, I wonder if there’s anything comparable to the Camp here. And on that cue worthy of a mediocre story-teller, a couple of boys started acting up close to a stall. When the owner chased them away, a young girl, maybe six or seven years old, grabbed a couple pieces of meat and an apple. She stuck them into an oversized satchel slung from one shoulder to the other hip. She quickly ducked around the back of the stall and ran down one of the aisles. Several other children burst into the pathway and ran past her, but then darted out of sight when several stall owners yelled at them. The girl dropped to a walk when one of the owners barked at her too.

Intrigued, Sammy pushed off the wall and began shadowing the girl. Three more times she took advantage of something that distracted the crowd around her. Sammy noted that one of the street boys had started shadowing the girl much as she was, so she shifted to shadowing him instead.

The sun was near setting by this time and the girl headed out of the marketplace. She ducked down one of the side alleys and took off running. As soon as she did, the boy following her raced after her, quickly catching her hair. The girl let out a little screech that the boy cut off with a hand over her mouth.

“What have you got there, Sol,” the boy said. With a deft hand he pulled the satchel free and danced away from her.

“That’s mine,” the girl cried out.

The larger boy held it out of the girl’s reach, opening its flap and digging into it. “Oh, really? Maybe I should call the constables just to make sure.”

The girl stopped struggling and stepped back, big tears in her eyes. “You’ll get in trouble too.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong. Yet.” He grinned at the child.

Sammy grabbed the satchel out of the boy’s hand and pushed him down. “Well now, what do we have here?”

The boy fell to his hands, but scrambled to his feet and spun around.

Sammy held her left hand out, arm bent, knife clearly visible along her forearm in a reverse grip. “Both of you just stay still for a moment,” she said with a scary smile and a glint in her eyes. “Please?”

Both children froze at sight of the knife.

“I’ve been watching young miss Sol for a while now.” She described the small girl’s deeds of the evening. “Really, Sol, you are quite skilled.” Sammy looked at the boy. “You, sir, seem to just be a bully.”

Her eyes narrowed and she shifted so her back was to one of the alley walls, sheathing her dagger. The satchel simply vanished.

Two figures appeared at the alley entrance. “Hey, what are you lot doing?” a man demanded.

Sammy could see the fear in the two urchins’ eyes. She called out. “Nothing, sir constable. This boy was just joking around scaring us, and I was giving him whatnot about it. Is there something we can do for you?”

“No loitering here. Get home immediately,” the city guardsman said.

“Yes sir,” Sammy said. She moved quickly and caught Sol’s hand. “Both of you come with me” she said in a soft voice. “Unless you want those two after you.” She caught the boy’s wrist as well before he could reply, pulling both toward the alley entrance, the two constables having moved past.

Suddenly Sammy vanished from between them. A moment later, really to quickly for either of them to take off running, she dropped back to the ground and secured them again. The vanished satchel hung from one shoulder.

Dragging the two children along as she starting going between stalls, Sammy said “Sol, I’m going to give you your satchel in a few minutes, but I have some questions I need answered. I need you two to tell me a little bit about this city. I just got here today, so am not sure about stuff.” She paused and gave the two children a smile. She could feel both of them trembling. “Boy, what’s your name?”

“Why should I tell you?” he answered sullenly.

Sammy grinned at him, but continued to maintain a loose grip on his wrist. “Because if you don’t, I will give you an unpleasant name and use it from now until forever.”

A long pause later, the boy said, “Din.”

“Din. Nice.” She grinned bigger, stopping and thus forcing Sol and Din to stop as well. “Where do you guys live?”

Sol bit her lower lip and stared down at the ground. Tears began streaming down her cheeks. Sammy sighed. She felt somewhat guilty, making such a young child cry like that. Still, she needed to get enough information to function here and she wasn’t about to let this opportunity go.

“Okay, let’s leave that one to the side for the moment.” She began walking again, still with their wrists secured. “Where can I stay tonight that’s moderately safe? I also need to earn some money. I want to know who’s in charge of the constables and who the main players on the streets are. The person in charge of the city too. Who I can sell stuff to and who I should avoid.” Sammy glanced out of the corners of her eyes at the two dumbstruck kids and grinned. “You answer those questions and I let you go.”

Din suddenly snickered. “That’s really funny. Fine, I don’t got nothing to lose. First, there’s a tavern, Gypsie’s Mane, that will let you work for room and board.” He told her how to find the tavern. “If you go down to the docks, there’s a couple of junk shops that will buy anything they can resale, Cal’s Imperium and The Rabbit’s Hutch. There are several others in the market place too, but I would stick with those two to start out with.”

“I like the Hutch better,” Sol said in a quiet voice.

“That’s cause you like girly stuff,” Din said.

Sammy nodded. “And who’s who around here?”

“Mayor Anra controls the city,” Din said.

“I don’t like her,” Sol said. “She’s scary mean and she’s not the real mayor anyway.”

“Shh,” Din said, glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to hear. “Any, anyway.”

“Mottie is nice,” Sol said before Din could continue.

“Oh?” Sammy prompted, giving Din’s wrist a squeeze to keep him silent

The girl nodded. “He’s the real mayor.”

“Sol!” Din snapped, completely ignoring the wrist squeeze. He looked around again, then hissed, “Do you want to die?”

The six-year-old girl looked rebellious, but clamped her mouth shut.

“So is Mottie trying to overthrow Anra?” Sammy asked, intrigued.

“No way,” Din hissed. “This is dangerous. Can we please change the subject?”

“Anra is Mottie’s momma. They get along really good, I think,” Sol said. “But Mottie’s a lot nicer. I like Popara too. He’s the old mayor.”

“Huh? Are there two mayors?” Sammy tilted her head, a bit confused. “No, wait, that makes three? Ugh, this is so not good. Why should I even have to care?” She glared at Din who was about to say something. “The sooner you answer my questions, the sooner we can stop talking about it. However deplorable, I do have to care, so don’t make this harder than it has to be, sir Din.”

The boy pursed her lips, clearly still unwilling to talk. Finally though, he said half in a snarl, though keeping his voice low. “ Fine. Popara isn’t the mayor at all, but he does have a lot of clout. His great, great something or other grandfather was the mayor established by the old Count and so everyone says he’s the hereditary mayor. Mayor Mottie is the elected mayor everyone agreed to. But Anra runs things through her son for the most part, since he never goes against what she wants. People disappear if she wants them to disappear. Now can we please stop talking about this? Please.” His head had been on a swivel the entire time he was speaking.

“Yeah,” Sammy agreed. “That sounds like standard fare of its kind. Okay, then what about other people of import?”

Din let out a big breath in relief. “The city guard’s split into three sections, the gulls who take care of the docks and answer to Captain Thema, the dogs who take care of the rest of the city and answer to Captain Ulthic, and the wyrms who answer to Admiral Valanse. The wyrms can do whatever they want, wherever they want. You want to avoid them if you can.”

“You should avoid the hawks too,” Sol said.

Din sighed. “True. They answer directly to the mayor.”

“Mottie or Anra?” Sammy asked, a smile for Din on her face.

The boy scrunched his shoulders and didn’t answer.

“Papara,” Sol chirped. “They will only take orders from him, which is why he still has power.”

“Ah, that makes sense. So, what about the streets?” Sammy asked, but moved them down a mostly deserted street, having left the market by this point. No one was taking note of the three youths yet. She thought the sun would set fully in just a few short minutes and wanted to finish things before it got too dark. “Is this the right direction for that inn you mentioned?”

“Yes,” Din said. “I don’t know much about the streets. I live with my ma and dad.”

Sammy felt Sol jerk a little bit. “I so don’t believe you, but I don’t need to hear any secrets. Just tell me stuff that’s common knowledge. Things I would learn in a few days of asking around. It’ll save time.”

“Hey, what’s going on here? Din, you find a new friend?” A couple of big men came out of a dark alley as the three passed. The smaller one strode forward, his right hand hidden in the folds of his dark green robe.

Sammy released her two captives, moving to put them between her and the two approaching men. The small one taking the initiative looked fairly competent, about the level of a rank-and-file Camp goon. The larger man behind him was another matter and Sammy wanted a little more time to get the lay of the land before dealing with someone like him.

Just then Sol took off running. The two men ignored the girl, focusing on the attractive teenager.

“She interfered with me earlier,” Din said, a smirk on his face as he faced Sammy. “She’s new to the city and asking all sorts of questions. I didn’t tell her anything though.”

Sammy sighed and then bolted directly at the two men, dodging between them before running down an alley they men had emerged from. As soon as the darkness swallowed her, she jumped up the sides of the buildings. Clearing the roof, she bolted across the rooftops, jumping over three alleys before dropping back to ground level.

Coming out onto a street that still contained a fair amount of traffic, Sammy melted into obscurity. She then began asking around for a place she could stay for the night. More than one person mentioned the Gypsie’s Mane, but the streetwise girl didn’t think that would be a good idea at this point. Instead, she headed over to an inn just this side of the docks sector called The Redoubt that also got mentioned often.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Not willing to just walk into the inn, Sammy stood invisible in a dark alley across from the entrance and watched those who came and went. The smell of cooking meat filled the air, making the hungry girl even hungrier. Darkness settled over the city and the wind coming from the sea chilled.

The inn’s door opened and music and noise spilled onto the street. An armed man exited, three well dressed women following him. The women chatted freely and did not seem concerned. Their guard looked a little too carefree for Sammy to credit. The women turned to the left, passing four armed men who materialized from the street shadows in front of them.

Sammy blinked, it dawning on her at this point that the streets were not well lit at all. She thought she remembered seeing lamp posts, but apparently they weren’t working.

The four men entered the inn without hesitation. The door did not fully close when they flung open again and a couple emerged. They headed down the street holding hands, quickly swallowed by the night’s darkness.

Six old geezers appeared from the opposite direction. One of them was telling a story with big, animated arm motions. All of the men burst into laughter at the same time, filling the street with merriment for a moment. As the old men filed into the room, one small waif of a girl took up the rear.

The entrance led into a short coat room with many empty coat hooks on the walls. The music had ended, but the general noise of talking banter filled Sammy’s ears. A shiver of something ran up and down her spine.

The coat room opened up into a large community dining room with large picnic type tables. Just over half of the tables were filled, but most of the others had one or two people seated. Glyphed lighting sticks anchored in the walls lit the room with the dancing light of flaming torches. Sammy frowned, keeping the old men between her and most of the people in the room. She did not really like big crowds in enclosed spaces like this, plus this was her first time staying at an inn on her own.

The six geezers did not wait at the entrance, rather heading straight to a table with a couple already seated. They asked if they could join the table and were graciously granted permission.

Sammy sighed. She rather liked those guys for some reason, but that table was filled now. She scanned the room and picked a table with two men and a woman. As she approached, she noted the woman’s short black hair and a silver bead earing. The woman wore a leather shirt which would give her some protection from knives and such. Little metal beads imbedded in the leather added more protection. She had long fingernails about the right length to be used as weapons. A small scar just above her left eyebrow did nothing to detract from the woman’s slightly round, cute face. Sitting, the top of her head came up to the shoulders of the man next to her.

That man was rather rugged looking and Sammy thought him rather attractive. Not necessarily pretty or handsome, but attractive all the same. His hair and neatly trimmed beard were a strikingly deep red that boarded on being black or purple. The color actually seemed to change several times in the flickering lighting even as Sammy stepped up to the table. He wore a leather shirt in the same style as the woman.

The other man sat across from those two. Black hair and clean shaven, he wore a cloth shirt, but had the tingle of glyph magic. As he sat on the side of the table Sammy was approaching on, she could see twin daggers sheathed along his back parallel with his belt.

“Hello,” Sammy said to the three. “May I sit here?”

The big man next to the woman smiled at her. “No problem, young lady. Sit, sit.”

“Thank you sir,” Sammy said, answering smile with smile. She sat on the far side of the table, leaving a vast gap between herself and the black hair man. As soon as she sat, a waitress appeared and asked for her order

“Just something simple, please,” Sammy answered. “Do you have stew?”

“Of course,” the waitress assured her. “Leara made it tonight, so it’s excellent.”

Sammy kept her voice firm and confident since that was the best way to avoid trouble. “I’ll have some of that with bread then. And, I also need a room. How do I arrange for that?”

The waitress pointed to a desk. “Just talk to Fred over by the entrance.”

Sammy thanked the waitress. She glanced over at the three at the other end of the table, but they were not paying her any attention. Rising, Sammy went over to the reception desk and asked the man standing behind it, “Are you Fred?”

The man nodded as he answered, “That’s me. Need something girl?”

“Yes.” Sammy hesitated, glancing around. No one was paying her any attention still. “How much is a room?”

Fred glanced around himself, “Ah, how many?”

“Just myself,” Sammy smirked. She knew he was looking for her parents or some other adult.

Fred gave her a considering look. “You run away from home girl?”

Sammy’s eyes flashed and she snorted a laugh. Being timid in this kind of situation created the very problems that worried timid people. “That entirely depends on what you mean by home and run away. I got coin and need a room.”

Fred snorted, but also smiled back at her with a non-smile. “Very well. A bed in the common rooms is three styne. A private room is two stynra.”

Sammy frowned. Two stynra was expensive, but she really did not want to sleep in a room full of strangers. She extracted the two diamond shaped coins and passed them over. “Private.”

The man accepted the money and passed a key over. “The room number is stamped on the key. Three twenty one is up the stairs,” he pointed to the far side of the bar, “to the right. If you have questions or needs, ask any of the staff.”

Sammy nodded and slipped the key into her money pouch as she returned to her table. Two additional men were sitting next to the black-haired man, so Sammy switched sides.

The closer of the two men looked her up and down as she sat. “Well now, you’re a pretty one. Where’s your mommy and daddy, little girl?”

Sammy speared the man with a deadly look. She was not all that little, so the comment irked. But even beyond that, she really did not like this person, and so answered with a bit of snap. “Dead.” She shifted on the end of the bench to marginally turn her back on the man, hoping he would leave her alone.

The two men glanced at each other. The spokesman began to say something else, but Sammy cut him off. “I really do not want to talk to you, sir.” She did not turn to look at the man as she spoke.

Flustered, the man jerked to his feet. After a pause, he and his companion moved to another table.

“Whoa,” the short haired woman said. “You shut those two down hard. I kind of like it.”

Sammy glanced at the woman, shrugged and then grinned. “I don’t like being targeted.”

The big man laughed as he looked at her over the woman’s head. “I see. I’ll have to be careful then.”

Sammy blushed. Was the guy actually interested in her, or was he just teasing her? For some reason, she could not tell. It bothered her in a different way than actually being targeted. She decided to just set that can of worms to the side and said, “If I might ask, what do you guys do around here?”

The woman glanced at the black-haired man opposite of her. “This and that.”

“Ah, okay.” Sammy glanced over at the bar, knowing when to drop a subject. The door into the kitchen swung open revealing a quick view. A big man swung and hit a boy, knocking him down. As the door swung closed, a girl appeared to stand between the man and boy.

Sammy looked away and let out a big sigh. She always got into so much trouble getting involved in stuff like that. Everyone always ended up blaming her for some weird reason. Still, there was something in that kitchen that attracted her interest and she felt disinclined to ignore it.

A man announced that the band would be starting to play again. Sammy blinked and glanced over at him, surprised. She had not even noticed that several musicians had once again taken up their instruments, ready to play already.

The street wise girl gave a shudder. How could she be so unobservant? As the band began to play, several patrons moved toward an open area on the far side of the room and began dancing. Sammy grinned. This would work after all.

Rising, Sammy moved over to the bar. The kitchen door swung open again, a waitress laden down with a large tray of food exiting. A quick glance around to make sure no one was looking her way and Sammy slipped into the kitchen.

The full power of delicious smells nearly overwhelmed the hungry girl. The floor was a little slick with the invariable greasiness of a kitchen’s floor. The kitchen was a large room containing several tables with a plethora of ingredients arrayed for the cooks. Cooking utensils hung from racks above the tables, while pots & pans sat on shelving to Sammy’s left. Two ovens, each having two doors apiece, were stacked on top of each other. A large griddle and stove took up the rest of that wall. A super large door with a smaller, man-sized door beside it took up the back wall. The man-door had a small, round window to the back alley. Several racks of boxes and dried goods filled the space to Sammy’s right.

Two women worked at one of the center tables, intent on cleaning vegetables. The girl and boy Sammy had seen earlier stood at the other table, heads down. Even with their heads down, Sammy could see the swelling cheeks. Apparently. the girl also got hit after the door had closed earlier. The abusive man stood with his back to the intruder, berating the two youths in a low, intense voice.

Sammy stepped to the right so the racks of dried goods obscured her. She murmured the activation for her stealth stapha and her body became fuzzy and obscure. Climbing the sturdy racks, the small girl lay on the top shelf. She blinked and thought defensively, Seriously, I’m not that freaking little.

No sooner did she get settled than two waitresses entered with more orders and the man left, going into the dining area. Sammy let out a breath of relief. She did not particularly like the man for some reason. As soon as he left, the pressure in the room lightened. One of the two women moved to the girl’s side.

“Are you okay, Miss Jace?” she asked in a soft voice, all the while keeping a close eye on the dining room door.

The girl gave a brave smile, but it was a bit weak. “Yes ma’am. He didn’t hit me hard.”

“Be careful.” With that, the older woman returned to her place.

Sammy focused on the bruised girl, now that she had a clearer view. Sure enough, she had the same flavor the rebellious arch-duchess had sensed back with Merele and team. And the ovens and stove had the matching flavor.

Sammy sighed again. This was going to be such a hassle. She dropped down to the floor again. As soon as one of the waitresses headed back into the dining area laden with food, Sammy followed her out, melting into the crowd as the band began playing an upbeat song. The noise in the dining hall was nigh intolerable and Sammy grimaced.

A man and two women had joined her table in the meantime. Unfortunately, this left Sammy sitting close to someone no matter where she sat. In fact, the dining room had become much more crowded everywhere. Having no real alternative, Sammy took her seat again.

“You have returned,” the big red-haired man said to her in a voice just loud enough to be heard, that to say he practically yelled at Sammy. “You keep getting up like that and you’ll lose your place entirely.”

“Right, right,” Sammy said, though her voice vanished into the noisy room. Just then a waitress appeared with her food, setting it down and leaving again before Sammy could say anything to her.

The girl sniffed the stew and used her finger to taste just enough of the food to check for drugs. Satisfied it was clean, she began eating heartily.

The band began playing what was apparently a popular song as nearly the whole room began singing with them. Sammy finished her meal and headed up to her room. She just could not take the noise level anymore. As soon as she entered the stairs, she felt the tingle of glyph magic and the noise nigh vanished from behind her.

Though curious, the glyph hungry girl forced herself to keep moving. She could feel more than one set of eyes on her and that made her nervous. Darting down the second-floor hall to the right, Sammy found her room and ducked inside, locking the door behind her.

The room was quite simple, a rectangle with a bed and dresser. The far wall had a curtained window and a door to Sammy’s right led into a bathroom with a shower. After checking the room for shenanigans, Sammy jumped into the shower. She scrubbed her clothes clean with soap before taking them off, finishing by scrubbing her own body and hair. After ringing her clothes out, she dried them by finger drawing yghsh.

Curling up on her bed, the cautious urchin slept with one eye open.

Sammy sat up disoriented, a feeling of unease troubling her heart. A glance at the curtained window, she could tell it was still dark outside through the middle where the curtains did not quite meet. She dressed quietly and then slipped out of her room, going down the stairs into the dining area, where only a few people still remained.

The nervous girl frowned and glanced over at the kitchen door. Something flashed in the upper window. A moment later, a loud crash made nearly everyone in the dining area jerk.

“You bitch,” a man’s voice shouted, his voice hardly even muffled by the closed door.

The kitchen door slammed open and the bruised girl fled into the dining area, the man hot on her tail. He grabbed the girl’s hair and yanked. Her feet shot out from under her and she fell to her butt.

The man glanced around at the eyes on him and then snarled low into the girl’s ear. “I’ve told you before not to come out here.”

Sammy frowned as the nice aura she sensed from the girl flickered as if dying. Dang it, she thought, I am getting more and more involved in this kind of thing no matter what, huh. Her eyes widened. “Dammit,” she mutterer. That cursed disease thing was super insidious for real.

Sammy strode over to the man as he began to drag the girl back into the kitchen by her hair. Without pausing, she kicked the side of his knee. On the rebound she swung her leg high over her head so that her whole body spun around, the motion ending in a solid drop kick on the back of the man’s neck that poleaxed him to the ground unconscious.

Those still in the dining area all turned to stare at her. Sammy ignored them.

“Wha?” the girl said staring first at the felled man and then at Sammy.

“What’s your name,” Sammy asked.

Answering on reflex, the girl said, “Gypsa?”

Sammy blinked and then snerked. “You sound like you’re not sure.”

“What the hell happened,” a very large man demanded as he stared down at the unconscious man lying on the floor.

Sammy had noted the man earlier dozing by the front doors. Probably the bouncer or something. She sensed a low level stapha starting to surge through him. “That bastard was abusing this girl. I stopped him.” She glanced at the girl, who seemed confused and at a loss for action. “Gypsa, come with me for a moment.”

“Um, I still have morning prep,” the bewildered girl said in a quiet voice.

“Gypsa, you should get back into the kitchen or Danas will,” the bouncer began, but Sammy cut him off.

“He’s going to beat her or something, right? Gypsa, he’s going to do that no matter what at this point. I know his type. See ‘em all the time on the streets, here and there. In any case, I want to talk to you about some things, so please come with me.”

“You have no idea what you’re doing,” the bouncer snarled, though he did not actually move to attack Sammy or force Gypsa.

“That goes without saying,” Sammy said. She glanced around the room. Lots of eyes, but no one was taking action. She really wondered what that was all about. Whether they thought the man was in the right or they were on her side, someone should have done something. This place was really weird. “Anyway, Gypsa, let’s go.”

Sammy grabbed the kitchen worker’s wrist and dragged her past the bouncer to the front door. Said bouncer watched them for a moment, but then turned his attention to the unconscious man.

Leaving the inn, Sammy let out her own bewildered sigh. Even the bouncer wasn’t going to stop her? So weird. Really.