Entering the reception area, Yaric was afraid he might be wrong about where to find Lloyd. Many of the comments about Lloyd’s eating habits were a joke, after all. He wasn’t always eating, and he had to miss lunch occasionally. Yaric wouldn’t know where else to look if Lloyd wasn’t at his usual table.
Lloyd was eating lunch at his usual table.
He looked up in surprise when they entered, though he seemed more concerned than anything else once he noticed the urgency with which they approached his table.
“Has something happened?”
“Not exactly. We’re here about the appeal you sent,” Yaric replied.
Lloyd leaned back in his chair, looking amused. “Well you seem eager. You do realize that you could have sent a message instead of running all the way here? I know I’ve had you here as guests many times, but this is technically for staff, not over-eager students?” Lloyd laughed.
“We want to go tomorrow,” Li Na stated, just as Lloyd finished speaking.
While Li Na’s tone was virtually emotionless, her words were rather clipped and abrupt, catching Lloyd by surprise.
“She knows the people involved,” Yaric explained.
“Slow down. That could be a problem. How well do you know them?” Lloyd asked Li Na cautiously. “There could be questions about how impartial you are.”
“Lina doesn’t know the victim,” Sven replied, answering for Li Na when he saw where Lloyd was going with his question. “She’s had experience with the people responsible. Her knowledge would be an asset.”
“Are these the same people that were involved when I helped your dad?” Lloyd asked.
Li Na simply nodded in reply.
“We only had enough evidence to arrest the people directly involved, but I always thought there were others behind them. Several people said as much. If there are gangs involved, this will be much more complicated than you know.”
“We’ve dealt with a gang before,” Yaric said.
“True. This is different though. A Mage living in Lekton once got fed up with the situation; apparently some of the gang members were getting quite brazen. He rounded up several members and raided the properties where he believed he would find evidence. There was nothing. His attempts ended in failure, and his methods resulted in punishment. He’d already left the Academy and was living privately in Lekton, so while the local authorities didn’t have the jurisdiction to try him, they were able to kick him out of the city. I’m not sure where he is now.
“Keep in mind that you four are only Novices, with very unusual privileges. If you were caught in a similar situation… well, don’t. Few civilian authorities would take kindly to arcanists interfering with their law enforcement, so don’t give them a reason to complain. That appeal is the only basis for this investigation as it is.”
“We won’t,” Sven promised.
“We just want to get started,” Lauren added.
“Maybe I should come with,” Lloyd mused quietly.
“You can’t,” Li Na immediately objected. “They’ll disappear if you show up.”
“Isn’t that good?” Lauren asked.
“They won’t disappear forever, just until Lloyd leaves. Then they’ll try and find out who called for him and make sure they never do it again.”
“Alright. Take the appeal,” Lloyd conceded. “I’ll let your instructors know. But take staffs or batons or whatever non-lethal weapons it is that you use. Make sure you’re armed. Whatever you do though, don’t take swords or anything like that, you don’t want to give anyone reason to believe that you intend to use lethal force.
“And Yaric? Keep your signal rod on you. I want you to have it within reach at all times. Only use it in an emergency, but if you need it, you can have every guard within kilometers running to your location. Use it if you need to.”
Yaric nodded, and after a few more words of warning, all four were hurrying off to get to class in time. No one was able to concentrate properly during Law. Li Na was distracted by the appeal, while the other three had a lot of questions they were itching to ask.
It wasn’t until evening that they were able to book out a staff for themselves, and the rest of the evening was spent quizzing Li Na. She seemed uncharacteristically hesitant to answer their questions. Her short answers were helpful though, even if they often lacked the context to fully understand the question.
There was only one gang in The Wake, the name the locals had given to their area downriver. The gang itself didn’t have any accepted name, but the individual members were usually referred to as ‘collectors’. Most of the collections involved goods, not money, though there was a lot of that as well. If anyone didn’t pay up, they would collect scalps. Not literally, but examples would be made. As Sven pointed out, any leniency shown to anyone, ever, would put their entire operation at risk.
The examples were often devastating, leaving those who resisted with serious injuries or loss of their livelihoods. Few resisted after their neighbor’s business was destroyed, or their home burnt down.
One positive is that there were very few murders. It wasn’t that the gang was above killing someone who got in their way, but as Lauren mentioned, a murder investigation would involve authorities from outside The Wake, and the gang seemed to go out of their way to keep things local.
The biggest concern, however, was Li Na. Her mood swung wildly between being angry, or nervous, almost afraid. It didn’t help that she was so reluctant to explain everything, though there was too much history for everyone to get caught up properly even if she did.
The weak winter sun was only barely peaking over the horizon when the four of them left the campus, striding through the main gates with their cloaks wrapped around them. Each carried a staff, but nothing else.
Traveling to the far side of the city would take some time, so they intended to leave early and walk until the central docks, at about the halfway point. There wasn’t much traffic that early, with the crisp morning air keeping most people indoors while still carrying the smells of baking bread and warm fires.
Breakfast was quick and mostly silent, after which they started running the rest of the way, traveling far faster than they had at the start. There were far fewer open stores from here on out, allowing them to augment themselves for a bit of extra speed.
The Wake was as far downstream as it was possible to get while remaining within Lekton. No one wanted to live near the smell of a tannery, so they all tended to clump together, as far from everyone else as they could get. Many of the chemicals involved in tanning also colored the water and made it smell, so the only place for the various industries situated in The Wake was downstream. Far downstream.
Yaric had always known that this area of Lekton wasn’t as well maintained, but he’d expected the transition to be gradual. Instead, there was a stark contrast between one block and the next, until they suddenly found themselves running on roads with uneven paving stones and visible ruts from wagon wheels.
The buildings were more basic, lacking much of the decorations and ornamentation of the buildings in the center of Lekton, and there wasn’t a single garden to be seen, but Yaric was surprised to note how well-maintained they were. They were cheaper and simpler but in very good condition.
Unlike the center of Lekton, traffic-clogged the roads. Li Na had warned them before they left, but it was still a marked difference. As she had explained, most of the people here worked during daylight hours only, and so the shorter days of winter tended to be more frantic with people rushing to get their chores done before darkness fell.
Still, it didn’t take long for Li Na to find the exact location of the arson. The building took up a large area, but it seemed to have a small storefront with a very large warehouse at the back. Yaric could see where a wide doorway connected the warehouse directly to the street.
According to the official reports, the fire was an accident. Negligence was listed as the cause of the fire, and without the appeal, no one would have thought any different. Especially with the owner now languishing in a jail cell, as the fire and damage to nearby properties had been judged to be her fault.
That didn’t mean that Sven hadn’t found an issue with the original report himself.
“This business repaired barrels and secured seals for the transport of chemicals used in the tanneries,” he said, frowning over the appeal.
“So?”
“So those chemicals shouldn’t cause accidents. Some tanneries might use oil as an extra treatment after they’ve finished treating the leather, but that’s hardly going to make up the majority of the chemicals. Chromium sulfate doesn’t burn easily, and the most common chemical by far are the tannins, and they are actually fire resistant. An accidental fire just doesn’t make sense.”
“I already told you it wasn’t an accident,” Li Na protested.
“I know. I’m just saying that the official report doesn’t make sense. No one should suspect negligence caused this fire.”
The four students walked through the burnt-out frame of the building while trying to build a clearer picture of the premises. They didn’t know enough about fires to be able to say how the fire started, but Lauren did notice an issue with some panels on the wall, right by the large doorway.
“Come look at this,” she called. “These planks have been cut.”
“Chopped,” Sven corrected. “It looks like they were chopped through with an axe.”
“Could an axe have done this as well?” Yaric asked, holding up a long, blackened chain. He had to twist several links around to find them, but there were clear indentations in the metal.
“There’s no way anyone chopped through that chain,” Sven replied.
“No, but it looks like someone tried.”
“The chain was probably secured to something on the wall,” Li Na said, pointing to the panels Lauren had found. “I bet it kept these big doors locked.”
“This does look like a loading area,” Sven acknowledged. “And it’s easily big enough to bring wagons in for loading and unloading.”
By now a small crowd had formed on the road, though Yaric noticed that people weren’t stopping to watch so much as slowing down to have a quick look. The people in the crowd were constantly changing. He also noticed how Li Na seemed to be very conscious of the onlookers, frequently pausing to scan the crowd.
“I think we should find where the owner is being held and see what she can tell us,” Yaric suggested.
“Definitely.”
Sven didn’t seem as confident as Lauren, however. “What about questioning the neighbors? They might know something too.”
“I doubt they would be very eager to answer questions with so many people gathered,” Yaric replied, gesturing to the small crowd behind them.
“They don’t have a choice,” Sven said confidently, already moving through the blackened skeleton of the warehouse.
Everyone followed him as he walked straight to the door of the business across the road. It wasn’t open yet, but they could easily see the people moving around inside. Apparently customers for wagon wheel repairs didn’t usually stop by so early.
Sven knocked loudly.
“We’re open, hold on,” someone shouted in reply. The door was pulled open by a man in an apron. He was covered in wood shavings and stood blinking for a second in the bright daylight.
“You’re here for a wheel?” he asked suspiciously, noting the quality of the student's clothing.
“No, we’re here about the fire across the road. We have a few – “
“I ain’t got nothin’ to say!” he declared loudly, slamming the door in Sven’s face.
Sven knocked again. “Sir, you haven’t answered our questions yet. If we have to leave without answers, we’ll only be coming back with guards. If you won’t answer here, you can answer at their station. I’m sorry, but this isn’t really a request.”
The door was flung open. “I didn’t see a thing! Old Mandy left a candle burnin’ or somethin’, I don’t know. You can’t expect me to answer questions when I don’ know the answers!”
The man was talking very loudly now, no doubt for the benefit of those on the street.
Sven tried several times, but the man was remarkably uncooperative. Eventually he had no choice but to give up. Worse, every neighbor was the same. Most of them seemed fearful, and they all got very frustrated when Sven refused to let up, but not one person offered any helpful information at all.
“Maybe the business owner will be more helpful?” Yaric suggested. “I’m sure she’s angry. And she’s already had her business burned down, what can they threaten her with now?”
“Her home,” Li Na said quietly.
Yaric shared a glance with Lauren. Sven strode through the street with a deep frown on his face, unable to understand why people would help protect those who were preying on them. Meanwhile, Li Na constantly scanned the people around them.
She was currently acting as their guide, taking them straight to the nearest station. Even if the owner wasn’t held there, they should know where they could find her, and Li Na had indicated that the station was only a twenty-minute walk away if they went straight there.
They didn’t get the chance.
“Lina?! It is you!”
A small old woman stood in the doorway to her house, almost as wide as she was tall, waving cheerily at Li Na as they walked past. Li Na had snapped her head around frantically when she heard her name, but she visibly relaxed when she saw the old woman.
“Hi, Aunt Josie,” Li Na replied shyly.
“Who are your friends? Are you visiting your parents? Come in, come in. I’ll get us a pot of tea.”
Josie disappeared back inside before anyone could say a word, leaving the door wide open behind her. Left with little choice, Li Na led her friends inside.
“It’s been too long dear. How has your new school been?”
“Yes, Aunt Josie. My new school has been fine.”
“And I see you’ve made new friends? It’s good to see you with people your age after all that nonsense before you left,” Josie added, pouring everyone a cup of tea as she did.
Her house was small and cluttered, but there were plenty of chairs for Yaric and his friends to sit on while Josie made small talk with Li Na. She did speak with the others as well, but her attention always shifted back to Li Na immediately after. Yaric also noticed how she was more interested in how Li Na was doing than anything else. She seemed genuinely concerned.
Li Na was interrogated for almost fifteen minutes before Josie was satisfied. No one wanted to push Li Na to leave, especially when they saw how much Aunt Josie seemed to care, but luckily they didn’t have to.
“Could you maybe help us with something?” Yaric asked respectfully once his tea was finished.
“Of course, ask away.”
“We’re here about the recent fire, and I just wanted to know if there is anything you could tell us about the gang responsible.”
Josie stared at him for a moment. “Oh, we don’t talk about that dear.”
“But surely there –.”
A disapproving frown silenced him immediately, causing a tiny twitch at the corner of Li Na’s mouth. It wasn’t much, but it was more than he’d seen all day.
“Now I best be getting on with my chores. It was lovely to see you Li Na. Say hi to your mother for me.”
“Yes, Aunt Josie.”
Li Na and the others were led back to the door where they said goodbye. Only seconds later they were back on the road, again heading to the nearest station.
“Aunt Josie seems nice,” Lauren offered, trying and failing to break the awkward silence.
“Yeah.”
Thankfully they didn’t have to go far before arriving at the station. The two guards at the front desk weren’t particularly helpful, but they did know the location of the woman they were looking for.
“Gone. Taken for her pretrial hearing. Come back tomorrow.”
Yaric was starting to get fed up with the attitude. They had hit a wall when trying to find out if the neighbors had seen anything, and now the guards in charge of security were being extremely unhelpful as well. It wasn’t their fault that their prisoner wasn’t available, but it shouldn’t have been so difficult to get an answer out of them.
Without the victim, the next best option was to try all the major businesses in the area, anyone who would be a significant target for protection money. Either that, or they could go for the head.
“Lina, who leads this gang? Do people know?” Yaric asked.
“Yeah, everyone knows. Mark. No one knows his last name though.”
“Where can we find him?”
“At the warehouse, but no one would let us get near him. It’s where the gang takes most their stuff.”
“Isn’t that the best place to search then?” Yaric asked in surprise.
“Nah, the whole gang hangs around there. They would all fight, and we’d just get in trouble for trying to force our way in.”
“Not if we find something.”
“We won’t. Guards will get there long before we can fight through everyone. Do you think they’ll let us go inside to find evidence? They’ll charge us and demand proof without letting us inside.”
“Why do they keep everything in that warehouse?” Lauren asked. “Wouldn’t they prefer money?”
“The warehouse is on the river. Boats can go straight in and load stuff to sell somewhere else. I think they make more money that way.”
“I still think that’s the best way to go,” Yaric argued. “Instead of running around trying to get people to talk to us. We know the stuff is there, we just need to get inside.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Sven objected. “Remember what Lloyd said about that Mage? We’d end up in the same boat.”
“Boat!” Yaric exclaimed. “We can go in from the river. We won’t have to fight our way in!”
“No, we’d have to fight our way out,” Lauren pointed out.
“Yeah, they’d be fighting to kill us then,” Li Na said, agreeing with Lauren.
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“So we keep trying to get information on them? What for? What can they tell us that Li Na can’t?” Yaric asked.
“We need corroboration. If enough people confirm the same story, we can get a proper order issued by getting the Academy to put pressure on the city authorities. It’s just harder when our evidence is word of mouth,” Sven replied.
“How many do you think we need?” Lauren asked.
“As many as we can get. At least a dozen.”
“Not going to happen,” Li Na mumbled.
Still, they tried. The rest of the morning was spent going into various businesses and knocking on doors, trying to get people to talk. Most looked fearful, but a few actually got angry.
Yaric had just walked out of a general store with Lauren, ahead of Sven and Li Na, when they bumped into a group of at least twenty people outside.
“Stop harassing our customers,” the one in front declared, before Yaric or Lauren had even realized they were waiting for them.
“Harassing your customers?” Lauren asked, sounding confused.
“These people are under our protection. So is everyone else, but we hear you’ve been goin’ around an’ buggin’ everyone you can. It stops now.”
“Ah, you are part of the gang,” Lauren realized.
“Ain’t no gang around here.”
“So you protect these people?” Yaric asked. “From yourselves? Because I bet if they don’t pay, you burn the place down, just like you did last week. You’re those collectors, aren’t you.”
“No idea what you’re talkin’ about, but you better leave. Now.”
“Sorry, this is an official investigation. We have received an appeal.”
“Who sent the appeal.”
“That has nothing to do with you,” Yaric replied.
“I’d like to see this appeal. Ain’t no appeal if you can’t prove it.”
“I think you’re confused,” Sven said, coming out of the store behind Yaric. “We don’t need to prove anything to you. You’re just someone standing in the street, making demands. You have no right to the appeal, and no authority to make demands.”
“I ain’t makin’ demands, I’m just givin’ you a friendly warnin’. Folks here don’ like it whe… Is that Lina?” he asked, cutting himself off to try and lean far enough to see past Sven. “Useless came back?”
Li Na stepped around Sven defiantly. “Rupert.”
“Your fancy magic school finally kicked you out? Took long enough. We all wondered how you stayed so long when you couldn’t pass normal school.”
Most of the gang started laughing.
“Lina is one of the top students in our year,” Lauren retorted.
That only made them laugh louder.
“Useless is a top student? How sad is your school?”
The gang members were really enjoying themselves by now, though Yaric felt like most of them had no idea who Li Na was.
“Yeah, if you did so well at school, how come you ended up as a nobody in a gang? Working for a nobody, beating up your neighbors and taking their coin - your parents must be real proud.”
Rupert stopped laughing. “Ooh, look at you, talkin’ like them up at that school.”
“Where’s Llewelyn?” Li Na asked, ignoring him. “Beating up children?”
Rupert’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “He was sent to work in a different city.”
“To do what work?” Yaric asked.
Rupert only hesitated for a moment before smiling widely. “Volunteer work. He was sent to protect the good folks who live there.”
“Sent by who?” Yaric followed up.
This time Rupert’s glare was directed at Yaric. “None of your business. You have no right an’ no authority to ask those questions,” he smirked.
“Actually, we do. As representatives of Lekton we can also take you back to the Academy for questioning if you don’t cooperate.”
It took Rupert a few seconds to think it over, while the rest of his gang talked quietly amongst themselves. “He sent himself. He was a volunteer you see? He went where he wanted.”
“Right,” Li Na scoffed.
“Are your parents proud?” Rupert suddenly asked Li Na, changing the subject. “You said you thought mine were, but you never said anythin’ abou’ yours. I still remember where they live, maybe I should go ask.”
“Is that a threat?” Sven asked, stepping forward protectively.
“No threat, just bein’ friendly. Like my friendly warnin’.”
With that, Rupert turned around, along with the other gang members. “Bye Little Lina,” he called back with a wave and a friendly smile.
“Who was that?” Lauren asked once they’d gone.
“Someone who used to be a friend.”
“What?!”
Lauren wasn’t the only one staring at Li Na.
“What? We were kids. Him and Llewelyn changed, and they became collectors, me and Malcolm didn’t. Now we aren’t friends.”
“So Llewlyn is the one who got sent away?” Lauren asked. Li Na just nodded. “Where is Malcolm then?”
“Gone,” Li Na said stiffly, pushing her way past the others.
“Lina?”
“Just leave it. We have more people to find.”
Yaric didn’t want to admit it, but Li Na was right. Only four people had been willing to talk so far, and two had made it perfectly clear that they would deny saying anything if anyone found out. Collecting witnesses had not been going very well.
From then on, they had a small and ever-changing group of people following them wherever they went. The collectors always kept their distance, but they also went out of their way to make it obvious that they were watching. They would occasionally shout at passersby as well, complaining loudly about the students from the Academy and how they were harassing locals.
“Do they really think they can intimidate us?” Yaric asked. They had just left another processing plant, their tenth stop in the last hour and the twelfth since Rupert had given his little ‘warning’.
“They’re not here to intimidate us, they’re here to intimidate them,” Li Na replied, nodding her head towards the people they’d just spoken with. “They’re making sure no one talks to us. Come on, let’s go get lunch. Those idiots can wait while we eat.”
Li Na led them off the main road and into a series of smaller streets lined with houses, walking quickly until she came to a stop in front of a small house in the middle of a block.
“You should take off your shoes inside,” she said quietly as she opened the door.
“Mom!”
“Li Na? Is that you?”
“Yes. Lauren and the boys are here too.”
Jolene rushed down the stairs to pull Li Na into a hug.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were comin’? Your dad would have taken off work.”
“I didn’t know until yesterday. And we’re working too.”
“Come, you must be hungry. I’ll make you lunch.”
Jolene prepared a massive plate of sandwiches for them while Li Na showed them around.
The house was small, even smaller than Yaric’s with two small bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, along with a living room, small storage room, and kitchen downstairs, but it did feel very cozy. Li Na’s room was filled with tin figures of knights and dragons, which she seemed to have forgotten were there if her expression was anything to go by.
They all ate downstairs while trying to come up with a new plan.
“This is so ridiculous,” Yaric complained. “We know where they are, Lina can just take us there.”
“They’re hiding in plain sight,” Sven admitted. “But you know it’s not that simple. We’ll be charged with breaking and entering if we can’t get inside before guards arrive, and their warehouse will be filled with gang members. It’s too risky. You keep forgetting what happened to the Mage Lloyd told us about.”
“I’m not forgetting, but he tried to find evidence at their homes, not the warehouse. We need to focus our attention there. Using the river is still a good option.”
“We need to focus on homes,” Li Na said, contradicting Yaric and surprising everyone by making a suggestion. Up till then she had mostly waited for everyone else to come to a decision, then just helped them do whatever they were trying to do.
“Why should we focus on their homes?” Lauren asked.
“Not where the collectors live, everyone else. Three of the four people who spoke to us were at home, and we mostly stopped inside workshops and stores. If we talk to everyone inside their homes, no one will know what they said. And we can make sure they know that we’re stopping inside every home.”
Lauren smiled, “That’s a good idea Lina.”
“And if we get all those people to come forward?” Yaric asked. “What then? Even if we get the city to issue an order for us, these people will hide everything before we get there. We need the goods they extort to prove the extortion, that’s the whole point. Even that will take weeks, matching items and proving where they came from, but by that point there is no way the gang can hide. It’s just a matter of time. And we have to do all of that before we can build an arson case."
“I know it’s frustrating,” Lauren said, placing her hand on Yaric’s shoulder. “But this is the smart way to do it. Don’t forget that if we go right in and fail, they will get away with everything as well. Lina’s method had less risk.”
Yaric wasn’t confident, but he relented, and with their plan decided on they decided to get started.
Lina turned out to be correct. People were still hesitant, especially when they saw the group of collectors watching, but they were far less aggressive. Things changed even more once they were in the privacy of the resident’s home. Knowing that they were stopping by every house gave many people the confidence to talk, and Lauren soon started adding conditions whereby they wouldn’t use any information or call anyone forward until and unless they had a minimum number of people to call forward, enough to guarantee success.
The afternoon went much more smoothly, and they already had an additional eleven people willing to come forward when finished the last block on the road and moved further up.
“Those people look like they’ve renovated,” Yaric said, pointing to the house on the corner. It looked much newer than the houses around it, even when comparing things like roof tiles and the front door.
Li Na just stared at it, looking conflicted.
“We should split up,” she said, grabbing Lauren’s arm and dragging her to the other side of the road. “You guys take that side.”
Sven and Yaric looked at each other silently before walking toward the renovated house.
“Hello ma’am, we’re students from Lekton Academy, currently conducting an official investigation. I’m afraid we need to take a few minutes of your time.”
The woman who’d answered the door glanced down the road to where the watching collectors were gathered. She made eye contact with a few of them and very obviously and deliberately shook her head, right in front of Yaric and Sven. Then she surprised them by stepping back and inviting them in.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” Sven began, “but what was that about?”
“From what I understand, I can’t turn you away, so I’m just letting those boys know I won’t be telling you anything,” she replied, not even bothering to hide what was going on.
“Excuse me?”
“They wouldn’t be following you if you weren’t a problem for them, so I’m making sure they don’t think I’m going to help you.”
“You do know who they are?” Yaric asked. “What they do? And who we are?”
“Of course. You’re trouble, but they’re bigger trouble. Don’t think you can force me to put myself or my family in danger just because you’re from that magic school. I know what happens to people who get involved in these things.”
“Ma’am, we’re collecting a large number of testimonies to put them away, there won’t be any danger. Even if they did damage your home or your business, the Academy would cover any costs as we would consider it to have occurred due to our investigation.”
“Ha!” the woman laughed contemptuously. She had stopped just inside the front door without moving or inviting them further inside, and she didn’t seem to have any intention of introducing herself either. It was clear that they weren’t going to get anything from her.
“What good would that do us when we’re dead?”
“Ma’am, the collectors don’t have a history of killing people. They injure people, sure, but we would be able to provide protection.”
“That tells me just how well you’ve been investigating,” she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “People disappear all the time. How do you think I got this place? The people here died in a dispute.”
“They opposed the gang and were murdered?” Sven asked, shocked.
“No, the boy was in the gang. He died in a fight. They even buried him in Executioners Cemetery, along with all the other criminals. I’m just saying that there’s plenty of killing going on, you just don’t usually find bodies. And my family won’t be one of them. Now get out of my house.”
The woman looked determined to keep silent, but she had inadvertently given them a lot of new information.
“Sorry to have bothered you,” Sven mumbled, turning to leave.
“Actually, just one more thing,” Yaric said quickly, turning back. Li Na’s reaction when she saw the house was still bothering him.
“The gang member that used to live here, did you know him?”
“Not personally, but I knew of him.”
“Was his name Llewelyn?”
Sven stiffened beside him.
“No, though I knew that boy too.”
Both Yaric and Sven relaxed. The chances of it being Li Na’s friend that she was talking about were slim, but he had to check.
“It’s a good lesson to both of you,” she continued. “The boy who lived here was such a nice kid, but those collectors turned him into a murderer. He died a criminal, and no one mourned him. And when he died everyone just said it was an accident. How do you expect to protect people when everyone pretends the murders didn’t happen? And that boy died fighting for the collectors. Not even they are safe.
“No, it’s best to not get involved. Let the criminals kill each other and give them no reason to look your way. Malcolm should have done the same, but he chose to join them instead.”
Yaric froze.
Sven was about to open the door when the woman dropped Malcolm’s name, stopping him in his tracks.
‘Malcolm? But that’s the name of the friend that stuck with Lina? She said that he’s the one who didn’t join the gang.’
Yaric hoped to speak with Li Na when they went outside, but she was either still inside the first house or had already moved on. With nothing else to do, Yaric and Sven moved to the next house.
They covered the entire street and the next three as well before getting to another road with warehouses and workshops. Lauren and Li N would occasionally be moving to another house at the same time as them, but neither made any move to cross the road. They both seemed to be in a hurry to collect as many names and testimonies as possible.
The timing couldn’t have been better. All four of them finished within five minutes of each other, and they finished the residential blocks just as it started getting dark.
Unfortunately, the collectors didn’t seem to care. They had come up with their own counter, and looking back Yaric could see dozens of collectors knocking on the doors of people they had already spoken to.
“This isn’t going to work,” Li Na said miserably. “Most of those people are going to change their minds.”
“We don’t know that,” Lauren replied hopefully.
“Yeah, we do. Look, even more are coming.” At least fifty people were crossing the road where Li Na pointed, heading further into the residential area they had covered that afternoon. “I bet they will start threatening people we haven’t spoken to as well.”
“Lina, can we talk for a second?” Sven asked tentatively.
“Yeah.”
Li Na looked dejected, but she still followed Sven as he led everyone into the shadow of a warehouse. There were good sight lines up and down the road, but no one was following them anymore. The collectors were all intent on intimidating the locals, obviously deciding that it would be far more effective. Li Na hopped up onto a crate that was leaning against the wall, and Lauren joined her.
“So, we spoke to the lady living in the house on the corner, just before we split up.”
Li Na looked up with a miserable expression on her face.
“Was that where your friend Malcolm lived?” Sven asked softly.
“Yeah,” Li Na whispered, looking down at the ground below her feet.
“Why didn’t you tell us he was a collector?”
Li Na’s head snapped up. “He was not!”
“The woman living there said-.”
“She lied, Malcolm never joined them.”
“Lina, he was buried in Executioners Cemetery. Only criminals get buried there.”
“They’re wrong,” she replied, almost pleading.
Lauren wrapped an arm around Li Na’s shoulders. “Maybe you should tell us what happened?” she suggested gently.
“Why did that Rupert guy get so angry when he saw you?” Yaric asked.
Li Na stared at the ground for a moment before she answered.
“We were friends for as long as I can remember,” she said quietly. “Even in school, when they were a year ahead. I’ve always been bad at learning things, but Malcolm always helped me, like Lauren does.”
“What do you mean?” Sven asked. “You’re one of the top students in our year.”
“Only ‘cause Lauren helps me. You can tell them,” Li Na added, glancing toward Lauren.
“Tell them what? That we study together before going to bed? That’s not even an hour a day.”
“It’s the only reason I pass.”
“That’s just not true,” Lauren said firmly. “You always know most of it before we even start.”
“Lauren, I almost failed in every subject at school. I only pass because of you.” Lauren started shaking her head and opened her mouth to reply, but Li Na continued on regardless. “We did everything together, Malcolm, Llewelyn, Rupert, and me. The collectors leave kids like us alone, but we still knew about them. They were everywhere, and our parents always complained about them as well.
“When we were very little, we promised each other that we would never be like them, and obviously we’d never join them. Some of us took that more seriously than others…” Li Na said, trailing off.
Lauren squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. “What happened Lina?”
“I borrowed Rupert’s old textbook, from when he was in my year, so I could copy the answers,” she explained, glancing up at Lauren and waiting for the admonishment that never came.
Seeing that, Li Na quickly continued. “I went to the shop his family owned, to give it back. Two collectors were there, shouting at Rupert’s dad, telling him he had to start paying more. Rupert was there as well, and his mom, holding his baby brother and trying to get him to stop crying.
“They sold stuff for other crafters, like wood and metal… and steel… I don’t know what they’re called,” Li Na added, looking up at Sven for confirmation. Sven just nodded for her to continue. Yaric could see the lights from further down the road reflecting in the tears that had built up in her eyes.
“I thought, this was it. This is when we stop them. So I picked up one of these thin metal bars they sold and hit one of them on the back of the head. I thought it would be like in the stories, you know? Hit someone on the head and they fall down - but he just grabbed his head and started swearing.”
“Lina, how old were you?” Lauren asked.
“Ten.”
“And you hit…” Lauren sighed instead of finishing her question. “What did you do?”
“I shouted for Rupert to take the other one, and I tried to hit the first one again.” Li Na’s voice started trembling slightly. “He didn’t do anything, he just watched. The other guy grabbed my bar and held me down, so the one I hit could ‘teach me a lesson’. I couldn't even sit up after they were done. No one said anything after they left, Rupert’s dad just dragged me to the door and threw me out. He shouted that I wasn’t welcome there anymore, so everyone could hear.”
Li Na’s tears spilled over as she continued. “He stopped talking to me at school, and Llewelyn too. Malcolm tried to talk to both of us, but he started hanging out with me more and more, and then Rupert and Llewelyn stopped coming to school. The next time I saw them they were with a bunch of collectors, trying to get Malcolm to go with them.”
“Did he go with them?”
“No,” Li Na replied, shaking her head, her face hidden in shadow save for two glittering lines. “But they started threatening his family if he didn’t meet people, so he had to go to their warehouse a couple of times. That’s how I know how they use it,” she added weakly.
“Malcolm said they kept trying to get him to steal something, that they were getting more and more angry every time he refused, and he didn’t know what he was going to do.”
“I thought they only extorted people, but they rob people too?” Lauren asked.
“Not here. Here they just make you give them stuff, but they go outside The Wake to rich areas and steal things from people there,” Li Na explained hoarsely.
“It’s a common tactic,” Sven added. “Some gangs try to get you to commit a crime, because then they have you. If you don’t do what they tell you to they simply threaten to turn you in.”
Li Na nodded, though Yaric couldn’t tell if she was agreeing with Sven or just acknowledging his point.
“Did he steal something in the end?” Lauren asked tentatively.
Li Na shook her head firmly. “No,” she croaked. “He kept saying no. But then he came late one night to talk to me. He’d been so scared before then, because of his family, so my mom let him in.”
“What happened?”
“He came to warn us. Said some people weren’t paying and they were looking to make an example. That they were talking about who to target, and they decided to burn down my dad’s tannery.” Li Na’s face scrunched up and her breath shuddered. “He said even though Dad was paying Rupert had insisted it be us.”
“I’m sorry,” Lauren said, pulling Li Na closer.
“But they didn’t burn it down,” Sven pointed out.
Li Na shook her head but stayed silent, choosing to rather breathe deeply and get her voice under control. “Dad called everyone. They have a group who teams up to put out fires, and Dad had everyone waiting with buckets before the collectors got there.”
“So everything worked out then? You and Malcolm stopped them?”
Li Na shook her head, taking shallow, shuddering breaths. Tears streamed freely down her face. “They knew it was him. They knew Malcolm told me. So they went to his house instead.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Lauren repeated. “Did he blame you?”
Li Na shook her head again.
“At least that’s one good thing,” Lauren said consolingly, squeezing Li Na again.
But Li Na shook her head again, her breath stuttering violently. “They… th… they… locked him… inside.”
All three of them needed a moment for the implications to sink in.
The arson attack, the much newer looking house, the death of her friend.
Lauren pulled Li Na into a hug as soon as she realized what had happened. Li Na sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder, while Lauren used her eyes to gesture frantically for Yaric to sit on the other side.
Yaric wrapped his arms around both of them, with Li Na sandwiched in the middle. It took ten minutes for Li Na to get control of herself again.
“Sorry,” she whispered, sitting up and wiping her eyes.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Lauren replied firmly.
“This isn’t your problem.”
“Lina,” Sven said, speaking up for the first time in fifteen minutes. “Your problems are our problems.”
Yaric didn’t see what happened, but one moment Li Na was sitting next to him, and the next she was standing in front of Sven with her arms around his waist. Sven held her for several minutes before speaking up again.
“Come on, let’s get you home. You’ll stay there tonight instead of going all the way back to the Academy.
Sven held Li Na close to his side while they walked back, carrying both their staffs and flanked by Lauren and Yaric.
They were almost back at her house when a collector walked out of a nearby house, having finished making whatever threats they were using on the locals.
“You guys need to pay a toll if you want to be out this late,” he called out confidently the moment he spotted the students. He swaggered halfway toward them before he spotted the staff in each hand.
“Hey, you’re those Academy fools. Then the tipsy one must be Little Lina. What’s the matter, can’t handle –.”
He never got to finish. Yaric had had enough by now, and besides, who could even prove that he was responsible for a strong wind?
Twin blasts of air struck the collector at the same time, the hurricane-force winds and unexpected impact knocking him backward and onto the ground. The hapless gang member rolled several times before coming to a stop, but both Yaric and Lauren directed their spells downward. Powerful wind pulled the collector’s lips back as dirt on the road became stinging projectiles. The skin on his face fluttered almost as fast as the clothes he wore, whipped by the wind that tried to peel him off the road.
Sven hadn’t slowed down in the slightest throughout the altercation, so Lauren and Yaric cut their spells once Sven and Li Na got close to the torrents of air.
Hacking coughs echoed down the street behind them as they finally arrived at Li Na’s house.
“Li Na, what happened?!” Jolene cried when they entered the kitchen.
Loud thumps thundered down the steps. “Princess?”
Jolene sat on the bench in front of the kitchen table, with both her arms wrapped around Li Na. Yaric had never seen Li Na look so helpless or vulnerable as she did while her mom gently rocked her.
Yaric and the others quietly left the kitchen when Bruce came in. They tried to give Li Na some time with her family, but Jolene called them in for some dinner. It was more of a gesture than anything else, as no one did more than pick at the stew she served them.
Jolene had gone to get Li Na’s bed ready when Lauren took Yaric’s hand and pulled him out of the kitchen. She didn’t stop until they were in the storage room with the door closed.
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell us about this,” she said the instant the door was closed. Lauren clearly had a lot of things she wanted to say, so Yaric just kept quiet.
“She was ten Yaric, ten! And she’s been keeping this to herself the whole time. She must have joined the Academy right after everything happened, but she never said a word!”
This time it was Lauren whose eyes were tearing up.
Yaric pulled her into a hug. “But she’s told us now. She’ll be okay.”
“Will she?” Lauren asked after a moment of silence. She pulled away to look Yaric in the eyes. “Do you remember when we were on different teams in the first competition, and we joined up at the end? You asked me if Lina had been acting weird. And I told you I’d seen the same thing. I was with Lina, and you and Sven were on a different team!”
It took Yaric a moment to understand, but he finally got where she was going. “I’m not so sure that -.”
“And when Andrew attacked Sven. You saw her face when we watched what happened again.”
Yaric thought back to her reaction and felt cold. There were dozens of times over the years when Li Na had acted out.
“Every time one of us gets hurt, or we get split up, Li Na behaves strangely,” Lauren continued. “Remember when we were in the tavern on the way back from fighting those skathári, and we were talking about how close we came to being hurt?”
Looking back, Lauren had a point.
Then Yaric remembered Sarton and their fight with the gang. It was the first time he’d ever properly used magic in a fight, but he’d never gotten over the look on Li Na’s face when they faced the gang down, the look on her face as she had stared at him.
‘You can’t win. We could burn this whole place down with all of you in it.’
Yaric felt sick.
“What’s wrong?” Lauren asked, noticing how pale Yaric had gone.
Yaric had just opened his mouth to answer when there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Lauren called.
Sven opened the door, but he didn’t walk into the storage room.
"Jolene just told me about how Lina discovered what had happened to Malcolm."
"Her parents didn't tell her?" Lauren asked.
"No. They wanted to thank him for warning them, so Jolene got Lina out of bed early and they made cookies and decorated them. Jolene went with her to deliver them. She said they saw a small crowd from far away, but she didn't realize what had happened until they got close enough to see the house was burnt out... it was still smoldering. Jolene needed help to keep Lina from running inside."
"Lina had to... Jolene told you this with Lina there?" Lauren asked.
“Lina’s gone to sleep, she’s upstairs. Jolene said you should sleep there as well,” Sven informed them, saying the last part to Lauren. “We’ll sleep downstairs.”
“We’re not going back?” Yaric asked.
“No. We need to start early tomorrow.”
“But Lina was right. This isn’t going to work. No matter how much canvasing we do, or how many doors we knock on,” Lauren admitted.
“We only need to knock on one more door,” Sven replied.
Yaric stood up straighter. “You want to go to their warehouse?”
“We’ll go straight there, first thing in the morning.”
“That’s what I wanted to do in the first place,” Yaric pointed out.
“Yes, but Sven was right,” Lauren said. “It’s extremely risky. If they stop us before…” Lauren trailed off, looking between them. Sven just nodded.
Yaric and Lauren both spoke in unison.
“But they’re not going to stop us.”