It was now several minutes later and we were perched on some very comfortable chairs with that same vibe of “some noble houses are missing seats” look that our hideout had as well. Steaming cups of quite pleasant tea were sitting on our laps and we were being monologued to by an extremely old and very possibly insane man who had been introduced to us simply as “The Physician.”
“And of course by smearing the affected area with alcohol one kills the tiny invisible biting demons that usually cause gangrene and flesh rot. My revolutionary process holds the key to the future of medicine in our humble world and if those FOOLS in the house of bottles can't see it... can only continue to prattle about on the job drunkenness and severe paranoia then they will rue the day when I...”
“Oh give it a rest Phys,” cut in the tall half-breed girl who was currently lounging against the wall. She pushed off with her tail and walked over to us and squatted down on her haunches just in front of my chair, “what he means is you don't need to worry she's going to be fine,” she said smiling up at me. Her voice was a husky contralto with a pleasing edge of bur that seemed to warm the air when she spoke. “Your friend is gonna make it.”
I lurched back slightly and stared at her. “How did you...”
“Because you’re shaking like a cart spring cutie,” grinned the girl. “Doesn't take much brains to realise who’s got a horse in this race, tall black seems suspicious of us, little red looks bored, but you’re worried sick I can see... but you can relax now Phys is weird as the Abyss but he's pretty smart all in all.”
“I am not simply smart... I am a genius!” Proclaimed the Physician stalking away across the floor. “The girl will be fine within the day! Her stab wounds were light and not overly numerous. Luckily for her they missed the femoral artery clusters and her gargoyle bone organ and...”
As he started to explain Lydia’s wounds using words I am certain to this day he was making up on the spot the half-breed girl smiled at us again. “See? It’s all cool little cutie she's gonna be A-ok.”
I took a few deep breaths then nodded at her. “Thank you.”
“Oh forget about it,” said the woman who had been introduced as Ara, just Ara nothing else[79] (I had already told her our codenames by this point but she seemed to prefer to make up her own nicknames for us). “And no reason to be so formal you little sweetie you.”
Without warning she leapt forwards and hugged me with (obviously) inhuman strength, it was like being crushed by a warm building but in a very pleasant way. Then just as suddenly she burst away from me and tackled Blood who squealed and froze stock still trembling slightly. “Don't think I don't see that jealous look even with that mask on,” Ara crooned stroking Blood's porcelain covered chin. “Here are lots of hugs for you too.”
I watched in astonishment as a girl I had seen catch a crossbow bolt out of the air and cut a war golem in half folded like damp paper under the barrage of pats and cooing. For a good half minute me and Skull simply stared (with surprise and amusement respectively) as Blood was thoroughly hugged, then the Physician cut in. “Ara leave the girl alone, you mustn’t be so over friendly with people.”
Ara sighed and stuck her tongue out at him but let go of Blood and smiled at her. “You’re very cute, you know? Never let anyone tell you otherwise.”
As Blood fled with an undignified squeal to hide behind my shoulder, Skull looked at the Physician. “Uh... Since we are no longer fighting one another would you mind telling me who attacked Lydia?”
The Physician turned to look at us for a moment then gestured at the grey girl. “Ara is the one who led the counter-attack that saved your friend, who is apparently called Lydia. Ask her about it, not me.”
Ara shrugged, “I did what I could.” she replied modestly. “As for who did it, that would be the Crawlers.”
“Crawlers?” I remember thinking at the time that the name sounded silly. Blood very vocally concurred.
“By Koth that sounds dumb,” Blood actually seemed disappointed. “I had hoped they would be like... I don't like The Slaughterhouse Crew or The Crimson Cleavers or something a bit more....”
Ara laughed. “Not that intimidating is it? But... these guys are nasty like stab lone housemaids in alleys nasty.”
“I thought that was the sort of thing dock gang’s did.” Skull said not quite accusatory but only a breath away. For her part Ara didn't seem to care, only smiling with what looked like genuine amusement at Skull.
“That’s what people are told about us but to be honest the docks are usually just like any other district. After all, people can't trade if they're getting stabbed or robbed every three steps.” Ara seemed slightly more serious as she said that, her tail sweeping back and forth across the rope woven floor agitatedly (the first sweeping it had had in a long time I’d say). “Even in the low copper or stone districts the gang’s patrol and keep unaligned crime down, levy taxes, control territory... everything the watch usually does. Only difference is they’re more honest about being on the take.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“So the Crawlers aren’t like that?” I asked, getting a smile from the older girl.
“Right you are honey the Crawlers are... unpleasant to say the least.”
Skull shook her head slowly and looked around the room, “I thought my rats down here had been quiet,” she murmured. “This is... alarming.”
“Don't worry tall, dark and cutieful,” winked Ara. “I’ll keep you safe.”
Skull looked extremely taken aback by that causing me to giggle slightly. As Ara turned to grin at me I finally remembered something. “Thank you Ara... for saving Lydia I mean.”
“Eh it’s fine,” said Ara, waving the compliment away. “She's safe here until she recovers and this place is... like the only place that’s safe from the Crawlers in this district. You three can just stick around here till then.”
As we were talking the Physician had moved over to Lydia and started dripping the contents of a small jar onto her shoulder. As we spoke however he stopped and looked at the jar, then the girl, the jar, the girl and then turned away with a flourish, “I need more compound of silfium synofliade,” he exclaimed to the air in general. “We need to get moving!”
He then twirled the strange white coat he was wearing around himself and stalked out of the door without another word. After a few moments he re-entered, walked across the room and stalked out of the other door.
Ara turned to us and gestured. “You girls wanna come with? Phys needs some more medicine for Lydia and we can go have a bite at this little cafe I know on Wave-Break lane whilst Phys is negotiating... and it's right next to the gallows so if he gets caught negotiating we can spring him easily.”
I stood up and smiled (invisibly) at the cheerful half-breed. “I’d be happy to.”
“Awesome.” Said Blood sounding genuinely excited, Skull for her part just nodded solemnly.
Ara reached out and grabbed a coat from the wall, slinging it over her collection of knives. “Great! You all look like you need feeding up a bit so I’ll treat you.”
“Uh... if you’re sure?” I asked following her out the door.
She nodded. “Of course, come on, we can chat and I’ll get you all something sweet.”
Blood perked up considerably. “That sounds great!” I have always known Blood has a child’s sweet tooth. The easiest way to get her to do anything is to bribe her with cake.
“Won’t this cafe consider us rather odd?” Skull asked (which I had been thinking but was too embarrassed to ask). “I mean the three of us are in coloured coded costumes with full face masks and we’re all armed.”
“Oh don't worry about that,” said Ara loftily. “It's very discreet and they know me, it'll all be good.”
“Well... Thank you then.” I wondered just who we had met this time.
“It's just this way.” Said Ara a few minutes later leading out a little convoy of peculiarity down a dingy street. The Physician had split off from us earlier mumbling about “Fools of foolishness and foolery” And “How many copper Lire will that idiot want for a silver plated theoretic bell jar?” and other arcane or insane expressions. With him it was honestly impossible to tell which was which.
Ara had led us away from the lines of stalls he headed towards and down into a side alley that was half lost in the smoke pall of a nearby manufactory.
“Have you guys ever been here before?” asked Ara, waving at a store holder who to my astonishment waved back cheerfully[80].
“Uh no.” I said truthfully, noblewomen were not encouraged to walk around dock districts at the best of times which was with a full entourage of chaperones and their parents in tow, with only two friends and an actual smuggler? “I tend to spend most of my time around the diamond districts so I rarely come down to... is this iron rated?”
“Nah its stone,” Said Ara cheerfully then pointed at another alley mouth. “Down through this and then we turn...”
Skull was the first to recover. “STONE! What do you mean stone! How are you so casual about that?!”
For non-Prasian’s benefit I will elaborate here. All of the districts in Prasus are security rated as part of the deal the arch-dodge made to hire private security for his city, a system that determines the relative safety of those who live in each. There are numerous different factors that combine to decide the final score, how many watchmen are assigned to a district, how potent are the security systems installed around it, the quality of the various gates, the quality of any personal security forces within it, number of respectable jobs, number of nobles etc.
It’s a rather vague system and it is sometimes off by a grade or two but overall it’s actually pretty accurate. The districts are ranked from diamond (technically actually from platinum but only the Arch-Doges palace is platinum rated) as the safest districts all the way to bronze as the most dangerous.
However there is another ranking below even that, which is stone, listed in the Arch-Doges official Travellers Guide to Prasus as “District was deemed too dangerous for a watch presence and unfit for human inhabitation”. A stone district was one that was entirely abandoned by the powers that be, every service suspended from the watch, to sewage and had been left to rot and riot. Usually they were only declared stone temporarily, generally after a small rebellion or such, then the Arch-Doges pyre-guards[81] would cordon the area off and starve it into surrender, then they’d go in kill the ring leaders and deliver alms to all the starving families whilst posing for the broadsheets when the reporters turned up.
Stone districts were places of anarchy, terror and deprivation. The death toll could reach thousands and the damage to the area would be so severe that it could take decades to repair... if you could even find anyone brave enough to attempt the repair work. Ara has essentially just told us we were wandering through a combination of an active war zone, a ticksteel manufactory mid meltdown and the Abyss itself.
I looked around at the people bustling up and down the street behind us. They looked slightly furtive and more alert than normal but they smiled at one another and at Ara, they paused to inspect market stalls, they waved at old friends. From where I was standing it didn't look all that unusual.
“What could make this place a stone district?” I asked turning back to Ara who gave me an odd look and shrugged.
“The Crawlers of course,” she gestured around, “But it’s not that bad this far landwards so don't worry cutie crew I’ll keep you all safe.” She winked one pure black eye at us causing Skull to dramatically turn her head away and Blood to giggle.
“Ok,” said Skull firmly. “We need to know more about this gang.”