What should you do if you are forced to deal with someone who cannot be bought, threatened, cajoled, or extorted? I’m not sure. It’s never come up.

* Correspondence between a Master Shadow and a trainee.

“Have you done anything like this before?” Carrus asked the young woman in his office. She had just shown up looking for work, Carrus wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting herself in for at the Snake Pit.

“No,” she said, hesitating slightly. Her lip trembled a little. “I’m afraid I have nowhere else to go. My family farm was attacked by bandits and I have nothing. But,” she looked Carrus in the eye. “I’m willing to work hard.” She slightly accentuated the last word. So little that she probably hadn’t even noticed that she did it, but it was definitely there. She was a pretty young thing. A bit dirty, and wearing travelling clothes, but she would scrub up well. She would definitely be in demand. Carrus didn’t want to take advantage of someone after their family had just died though. He didn’t fool himself that everyone in the whoring life was there by choice, but that didn’t mean he had to contribute.

“Listen,” he said. “Why don’t we set you up working the bar for a few nights and see how that works out for you? If you really want to get into whoring, a couple of days to think about it isn’t going to hurt. If not, well, we could use some more barmaids. Had a couple quit not too long ago.”

The girl looked a little confused, but a knock came at the door before she could say anything.

“Your Lhintish friend is here,” Eve said from the other side of the door.

“Send him in,” Carrus responded. Sal entered and smiled at the girl. Carrus turned to her. “I need to talk to this gentleman. Would you mind waiting in the bar for me and we can continue this discussion later? Eve will get you some bread and hot soup while you wait.”

The girl smiled broadly. “Actually, I need to talk to Saladeen here too.”

Carrus’s smile dropped. Sal’s head snapped round.

“Who is this and why does she know my name?” Sal asked.

“This is Kalissa, and she was looking for a job. Or, at least, that’s what I thought she was doing.”

“Oh yeah,” Kalissa said with a grin. “Sorry about that. Just needed to get in the room before Saladeen arrived. I already have a job. I’m a Shadow of Inveritus and I was here to steal the Frozen Dagger from Saladeen here.”

“Well you’re too late,” Sal said, spreading his hands. “Some Yarrls jumped me at the handoff. That’s actually what I came here to tell you. It’s gone.”

“I know,” Kalissa said. “I was following you. Thing is, those Yarrls killed a friend of mine too. So, you two are going to help me recover the Dagger.

“Wait,” Carrus said. “You never told me the artefact you were selling was the Frozen Dagger. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

“Of course. Why do you think I wanted to be rid of it so badly? Anyway, why should we help you?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m going to let Lhint know exactly who stole the Dagger. And I imagine Philious Bracken would be mighty interested to hear where you’ve been staying and whose been sheltering him after how poorly that deal went. Also, I gave this information to local contacts who will see it delivered if I don’t check in, so don’t go getting any ideas.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Sal let out a low whistle.

Sarina came in and eyed the three of them.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Kalissa.

“Hi Sarina,” Kalissa said with a smile. “The short version is I’m a Shadow and I’m blackmailing these two into helping me.”

“That’s a shame,” Sarina said. “I rather liked you. I might have to kill you if you’re blackmailing Sal though.”

“Apparently she’s already thought of that,” Sal said. “She has us over a barrel.” He turned to Kalissa. “So, what is it that you want?”

“Easy,” she said. “I want to track down those Yarrls, kill the lot of them, and take back the Frozen Dagger.”

“I’m not an assassin,” Sal said. “I’d rather take my chances with the Tower.”

“Me either,” Carrus agreed. “Plus, you’re not the only one blackmailing me. If I just up and leave, things are likely to get bad for me.”

Kalissa waved her hand at this. “I don’t want you two actually along. No offence but a brothel owner doesn’t sound particularly useful on this kind of job, and I’d have to be an idiot to trust a thief with one of the most valuable objects in the world.”

“Oh,” Carrus said, feeling slightly affronted at being called basically useless. “Then what do you want from us?”

“First, I’d like to borrow the skills of Sarina here. Having a fada-sur along would certainly make the task at hand easier.”

“I am not theirs to lend,” Sarina said flatly.

“Of course not. But would you consider working a job to help them out? Paid at fair market rate of course.”

Sarina seemed to chew on this for a moment before speaking. “That I can do I suppose.”

“Excellent, as for you two—”

The door opened and Tarmigan stepped in, looking like he had gained quite a lot of weight. “Am I interrupting?”

“Sort of,” Carrus said. “Kalissa do you mind finishing your blackmail later? I need to have a talk with Tarmigan right now.”

Kalissa arched an eyebrow at him, then shrugged. “I guess so.” She got up and walked to the door. “That soup still available?”

Carrus chuckled. “Sure.”

Kalissa nodded her thanks and left.

“Where have you been?” Carrus asked. “These thieves you hired are a bit expensive for me.”

“Well, I am the best,” Sal said.

“And I’m not a thief,” Sarina added.

“Ah right,” Tarmigan said sheepishly. “I forgot I hadn’t actually paid them yet.”

“You forgot?”

“Well I’ve been busy,” Tarmigan said with a shrug. “Big plans, lots of moving pieces. How much did Saladeen end up charging you?”

“I hadn’t actually given him a final quote yet. But, based on how today went, and that fact that tracking the Dagger with a philoweasel is out the door, it’s going to be two thousand eight hundred and seventy-two brightmarks and five dull. Minus whatever my tab at the Snake Pit is.”

Carrus took note of the fact that Sal clearly knew the conversion rate on vi to brightmarks very well and that his earlier use of vi was probably just to annoy him.

Tarmigan nodded. “Okay. I’ll send someone over with three thousand brightmarks tomorrow.”

“Just like that?” Carrus asked.

Tarmigan shrugged. “I suppose so, yes.”

“Well I do like getting paid,” Sal said. “But I dislike not knowing who I’m working for.” He turned to Carrus and jerked his thumb at Tarmigan. “Who is this guy?”

“He was working here as security the past few months,” Carrus said. “But apparently he’s a skard with an awful lot of money. Beyond that, I don’t know.”

“The short version is I have plans for this city,” Tarmigan said. “Carrus here has a role to play in those plans, and Philious Bracken most certainly doesn’t.”

Sal shrugged. “Sounds suitably dubious. Good enough for me.”

“Was that girl really blackmailing you?” Tarmigan asked.

Carrus nodded, Sal shrugged.

Tarmigan seemed to chew this over for a moment. “Did she say if she had established contingencies in the event of her death?”

“She did,” Carrus said. “She’s a Shadow of Inveritus apparently, probably has contingencies for her contingencies. Also, I’d appreciate you not murdering anyone on my account.”

Tarmigan muttered something under his breath, then said, “There’s no point killing her if she’s already planned for it. Can you handle this?”

Carrus nodded.

“Then I’ll leave it to you. I only stopped by to see if you need anything else from me to deal with your Bracken problem. So, apart from the money we discussed, do you need anything?”

“Ah, no, I don’t think so,” Carrus said, a little confused by his and Tarmigan’s relationship.

“Then I should be off. I’ve got plenty to do.” With that he turned on his heel and left.

“Any idea why that guy is helping you?” Sal asked once Tarmigan was gone.

“None at all. But I’m glad I’m not stuck with your bill.”

Sal laughed a little at that. “Well, I suppose we should go talk to our new blackmailer. What do ya say?”