Waking up the next day while dim light came in through the shutter, Alix’s first thought was a mental complaint about the fact that his head still hurt. But his second was that he should turn himself in.
Sitting up in bed, he continued contemplating the idea while beginning to get dressed, only to realise that he was still in the same clothes he wore yesterday. They were obviously criminals, even aside from the fact that they kidnapped me. That’s defnintely not a point in their favour, though they were strangely polite. No threats or extortion. Alix was still surprised that they’d just let him go when they realised he wasn’t their ‘Asta’.
They’d also shown him magic more powerful than he’d ever seen—more powerful than he’d even imagined. As well as downright told him that they could undo the damage the girl—Fallon—had caused to his science Medallion score. Either of those alone were massive incentives, but Alix might not be able to stay his curiosity if he tried. Just thinking of claiming his Medallion—for real, this time—filled him with a sort of hunger.
Sighing, he made the decision. He wouldn’t give any information to the Civil Guard. And—against his better judgement—he would find the address. He picked up the paper slip from where it had been unceremoniously dumped.
‘4th Marish pde. Rockvale’ it read. It was a Cityside address, further west, Alix wouldn’t have to try hard to memorise it. Then he took a small chemical igniter and turned the slip into ash, which he spread amongst a candle tray. Few people used wax candles much, though Alix found they had their uses.
But then what did he do in the meantime? I’ve decided against turning myself in, and that I will go to this address. But there wasn’t a time or date on that card. I should go sooner rather than later, but I don’t want to be entirely unprepared…
Then, uncomfortably, his thoughts drifted back to his parents. Part of Alix rebelled at how dependant it made him feel, but he needed somewhere to stay awhile—as well as a quick cash infusion before the potentially incredibly dangerous task of seeking out the ones who had captured him. He would need to make his way downtown—away from the river and deeper into Cityside—to reach their property in The Burns.
Grabbing small pouch for his money and a hooded cloak, Alix hastily left his small apartment, but hesitated at the top of the stairs. Is there anything incriminating left here? He winced at the thought—how did it come to this?—before discarding the idea and continuing down. The thought stuck with him until he banished it. He’d burned his only connection to the strange kidnappers. The information was in his still-hurting skull.
Not wanting a chat with Ellis about his exams, he locked the door and immediately crossed the road. Putting the hood up and looking busy would stop most people from taking interest. But navigating around the Burns deep Cityside has never been my strong suit, he thought dryly.
Lacurna lost much of its cohesiveness the further you got from the Kell. The river created a sometimes-chaotic but always regulated bustle of trade that let the inner city flourish, along with facilitating a lot of Crownside’s control. Boatyards and docking houses littered the side of the river, letting boats come and go from the city in a regular pattern. The deeper into Cityside you went, the harder it was to supply food, the harder it was to find jobs. And eventually—as the city petered out before the Southwestern Sykarwood—you had the slums.
They were never officially named slums, of course, because that would require some authority to admit that there was a problem. And nobody wanted to deal with the problems in the Burns. Alix’s parents lived right at the edge of that mess, in a townhouse that would be incredibly expensive in any other location. Alix was glad that he’d had his own place to live for the past three years.
Alix wasn’t sure if they were originally a district of the city, only to fall into disrepair, or a add-on built later by criminals and the homeless. He’d heard both stories, likely because they both made sense. The Burns were the dregs of Cityside, both literally and figuratively. The sprawling shanty town contained anything for the right price. And only if you were willing to deal with some… less than pleasant people to get what you wanted.
In fact, that was exactly how Alix viewed going to see his own parents.
He walked the entire way, not wanting to shell out the money for a carriage. Considering the traffic, it would have barely been faster. Alix navigated his way easily throughout the streets, weaving around bustling people. After leaving Gartmans district, he was especially wary of the purse tucked on his waist beneath his shirt. But he got no trouble from pickpockets, and the number of shortcuts he took down moss-covered staircases and rickety wooden boardwalks cut down his time. Enough to make up for not using transport. Almost.
It was half an hour. Maybe slightly more. Lacurna stretched much further up and down the Kell, rather than out from it in the Cityside. The dense buildings Alix walked between could still be navigated in discrete ‘blocks’ marked at intersections with street signs. The tall buildings continued right up until the Lacurna walls, where the outer gate sat.
Tall and imposing at the end of the Highstreet, the city proper was bordered by thick, crenelated walls built from stone and rammed earth. They continued up the North and South, eventually terminating at fortifications by the very top of Lacurna. The gate that Alix approached were the largest of its kind and served as the main civilian entrance for the city. As such it was extensively defended. Alix glanced up as he approached, but couldn’t see any archers or musketeers which were always on duty.
A few drops of rain hit Alix’s shoulder and he cursed. Hopefully I’ll get through quickly, and to the family grounds before it starts raining properly.
Though it was never that easy. The passage through the outer wall was always slightly disorienting for Alix, as walking into the opening was more like entering a tunnel or elongated hall. The ‘gate’ itself was actually a series of three portcullises, spread throughout the long distance beneath the wall. Redjackets watched over each of them, but Alix was hardly the only pedestrian. He was let through after barely a glance to see he was coming from Cityside.
The echoing quality that the tunnel gave every noise set Alix on edge, but eventually he was through. The rain will begin soon, he thought.
The quality of living became noticeably worse after passing through to the Burns. The Highstreet still continued, morphing into a flat road that continued to the West through the Sykarwood. However the dodgy, earthen roads that made up most of the shanty town were completely unmaintained. Redjackets were only sent to the Burns after a certain threshold was crossed—like particularly gruesome gang warfare, or to catch escaped criminals—and downtrodden roads did not qualify.
Shrugging about the mud clumping his boots, Alix just made an effort not to be caught in the slowly building rain. The tight buildings around him were made from wood more often or not, propped up by their neighbours on thin struts or rotting beams. Thankfully, Alix’s path didn’t take him through any of the seedier alleys, though he still shied away from some of the looks that locals gave him as he pushed quickly past.
His parents’ residence was decidedly abnormal for a building in the Burns. It had a hedged fence that surrounded the grounds in a ring of green—unheard of in the area—and was simply a much richer house than matched the poverty around it. Its three-storeyed mass seemed to watch over the surrounding blocks. And its stone foundation gave a sort of weight to the faux-manor.
Alix slipped inside the black iron gate, thankfull that it wasn’t locked. Shielding his head from the rain which was only now beginning in earnest, he hurried up some steps to the porch and rattled on the thick door. Muffled steps came from within.
“Welcome, sir,” said Theo, opening the door to usher Alix in, “Your father is sitting, and your mother is downstairs in the cellar. Please remember to change your shoes before crossing the threshold.” Theodore, the family’s attendant, gave Alix a perfunctory nod as he let him inside. The man was still a completely blank slate in his eyes, reflected in the grey eyes that matched his balding hair. The servant’s white coat was spotless.
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“Thank you,” Alix said in noncommittal agreement. Slipping off his boots in favour of houseshoes, he stepped up onto the polished granite floor and began striding through the house as if he owned the place.
Because I could, if I wanted. But of course, if I wanted a life like this then I wouldn’t have set out for academia in the first place. It was why he was extorting his parents for another cheque of money, rather than coddling up to them for inheritance.
Walking through the corridors, Alix was once again reminded of how opulent it was—certainly for his standards, at least, though he doubted it would impress anyone high in Cityside, let alone over the Kell. There were light crystals in every room, maintained by one of the paltry mages that did their illicit business in the Burns. Alix took a wide stairwell up a single level. He would speak with his father first.
He found the man in an armchair by the library, book in hand. His gaunt cheeks showed a mouth pressed into a complete line. He’d noticed Alix, he knew. Then after Alix crossed an invisible line, his father blinked his attention up from the book and towards him. The grey goatee stretching from his chin always seemed more dignified than his age should allow.
“Alix? It’s only been a month since we last saw you. And you don’t look injured. Surely you’re not going soft, now of all times?”
Hello, father. How are you, father? I’m doing well, father. Though that wasn’t what Alix really wanted. Being blunt was much better for dealing with Coltrane Lanyura.
“The Medallion exams are over,” he responded simply, not deigning to share his complex and insane experience with the matter. “The results wont be released for a week, at least, but I’ve completed it now, nonetheless.”
Coltrane ran piercing eyes up and down. “And you think you’ve succeeded?”
“Do you really think it could be otherwise?” Not a lie, just a slight diversion. And of course, he should have managed it, if it weren’t for extreme circumstances.
“No,” Coltrane said eventually, “I don’t. Though it still begs the question: why are you here?”
Alix didn’t smile at the praise, didn’t show any sign of thought. His father did the same, anyway. It made for more straightforward conversation if you weren’t trying to read the other person’s face.
“I want the value of these,” Alix said, taking out his bag and dumping the textbooks he’d brought onto a coffee table. There were six in total—the science and magic ones, as well as a few on maths and literature. He’d already taken the Medallions for those subjects too. “In cash. As well as next month’s installment.”
“Hmm, I see.” Alix’s father ran an appraising eye over the books. “They’re used. I can do half the original. Why the early allowance?”
“They’re Academy-certified, so there’s always demand. Don’t sell them here, obviously. Eighty percent. And why does the allowance matter? It means I’ll be out of your hair for even longer this time.”
“Seventy percent for the books and I’ll have the sum now. The allowance is fine.”
Alix allowed himself a small internal applause for fighting the uphill battle. It had taken some time to get used to Coltrane’s transactional matter, but dealing with it like a business partner might do had helped.
“Deal.”
They didn’t shake. Alix began to speak up when his father began penning a note, but it was just permission for Theo to fetch six hundred Marks from a safe by the hall.
“Will you notify us of your rankings in the Medallions?” Coltrane asked as Alix began to leave.
Alix thought for a moment. He hadn’t thought about his schooling ever actually ending. “I might. Would it really change anything?”
His father didn’t speak. It was answer enough. Alix slinked down the stairs and left the man to his reading. His mother was next.
Alix found her downstairs, just as Theo had said. Passing into the belowground cellar, he made his way between shelved boxes in a maze-like pattern before giving two sharp knocks on a discrete door and entering without waiting. The underground chamber hadn’t actually been an addition made by the Lanyura family when they had come into possession of the grounds. There is probably a large market for secret, underground rooms in the Burns. Especially with the watertable so much higher near the Kell.
Light crystals around the room showed Isha Lanyura bent over a large stone table, studying a map of the Burns. A giant arc representing the outer Cityside wall sat on the left side, winding streets spreading out from it like corrupted veins. On the right were green and grey patches representing the known and unknown portions of the Sykarwood. Everything between the two natural borders was a complete mess of crammed architecture.
“Mother? It’s Alix.” Her head shot up immediately. “I have a request to make about—”
“No no! None of that,” she interrupted, walking over to him and stopping just shy of his personal space. “How have you been? The Medallion exams are all done, right? That’s why you’re here, of course.” She rambled some more about his living standard and daily life, not letting Alix get in a word edgewise. Then she suddenly remembered something. “How did the exams go? In the end, I mean.”
Her dark eyes flicked over him throughout the conversation, taking in minute details which churned through the ferocious machine which was her mind. Dark green garb hung close around her body, cloth cut in swathes around the legs to create a sort of faux-dress. It was probably fashion, though Alix hadn’t been keeping up with the season’s latest trends. Her black hair matched Alix’s own.
“I’m fine,” he insisted. And even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t come to you for help first. “I am confident in my success for all the Medallions.”
It wasn’t really a lie. He was still clinging onto the hope—the tiny, fragile thread of hope—that the strange mage named Karsus could fake his records. Isha was astute, though, and noticed.
“Interesting.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not lying. Well, the rankings aren’t released yet, so I suppose neither of us can know.” She shrugged. “What does that mean for me, then? Why are you here?”
Alix licked his lips. This will be tricky. Mother doesn’t miss a thing, and I’ll be completely transparent if I just outright ask. I’ll need to proceed with caution.
“I need help finding some locations.” He led her over to the map that she’d just been pouring over and gestured toward it. “Could you help me.”
“Interesting,” she repeated, looking at him with a predatory gleam which Alix maintained composure throughout. “Go ahead.”
“Sixteen Larringsale street.” It was a random location. Something he’d dredged up from his deep memory to be one of many diversions. Isha pointed at a spot on the map a hundred or so metres away.
“Innsmark grocers.” Isha frowned. Alix definitely knew where that was. But she said nothing, pointing to a small lump in the middle of the Burns.
“Pilton on Heptuns.”
He continued like that for a few more locations, none of which he was actually interested in. The Burns had many establishments which Alix could possibly be interested in, so he led his mother’s finger on a trail between them. It was six or seven before he dropped the place he was really after.
“Fourth Marish parade, Rockvale.”
Nothing about the intonation had been different from before, not his rhythm, not his cadence. Nothing. He made sure to say the next location right after, not letting his posture differ while memorising the location that Isha had pointed at. He listed a few more addresses, but finished concisely.
“You’re never usually quite so… opaque,” Isha said eventually, gaze lingering between the locations that Alix had named. It had been a gamble asking his mother for help finding where to meet Karsus, but it could’ve been worse to ask someone else—or a Redjacket, for that matter.
“Though you’re still mostly transparent,” she continued. Alix’s heart froze. “I’ll see you at Heptuns.”
“Maybe you will.” Alix shrugged but allowed himself a grin. That was just a guess. She has no real idea.
“Well,” Isha gave her son an appreciative look, “You’ll fool me yet. Say, in return for such a fun exercise, why don’t I pay for a carriage back to your apartment, hmm?”
I want nothing less, he wanted to say, There’s so much wrong with that, I can’t even begin to explain why.
But instead he turned back, giving his most agreeable smile.
“Why, thank you, mother.”