We used the plank to get back down from the fire escape and found a quiet spot in a nearby urban park. Kelly made sure to keep the cotton cloth visible on her so that we weren’t interrupted during our friendly discussion. She was shockingly cooperative for someone so inflexible.
“Go ahead then. What do you want to hear?”
“Recently your family will have been sent an offer for the purchase of your home and the land it stands on. Is that correct?”
Kelly nodded, “How did you know that?”
“A friend of mine’s brother is tangled up with it. A collection of nobles has put their money behind a plan to completely demolish Church Walk and replace it with something more palatable to the city council. To do that, they need to buy every house and building they can.”
“My Pa talked to my Mum about it a few times, but I wasn’t really listening to it. He said it was a lot of money, more than what he expected when he first heard about it, but he also said it was their final offer.”
“Missing pieces may as well make the plan impossible. They’re desperate to get all of the land around here. Those high offers were meant to make the purchase go smoothly, but your gang has been running interference to frustrate them.”
“It wasn’t just the gang. Everyone was in a right tizzy about it. There are a lot of people round ‘ere who don’t want that dirty money.”
“I imagine that a lot of them would have to find new jobs. They’re not going to risk making a small profit on their homes for that.”
“He stopped talking about it after that, and then a week later a group of his friends got killed by some lunatic with a knife. He’s not happy.”
“I’m aware of the attack. The person responsible is the most popular man in Walser, dare I say, everybody is trying to get his body for themselves.”
“Not the gang,” Kelly contested, “They were trying to get the other members’ bodies back for the funeral. It’s going to be a big procession through the Walk, and then to the chapel so that they can be buried. But I heard there was trouble when they went to the morgue this morning. Someone used magic and fired into the crowd, and a bunch of ‘em got injured.”
“You know, that sounds like something of a pattern to me. Perhaps gathering in large numbers at this point in time is a bad idea?”
She shrugged, “They’re not calling off the funeral – no matter what happens. The whole point of the gang is that they don’t back down when people get violent in the neighbourhood.”
“If they’re targeting the gang specifically, the best course of action would be to hide your affiliation and keep an eye out for who’s responsible. That implies that cooler heads prevail at the top of the ladder, and I doubt that is the case.”
If they felt that their authority was being challenged by these unknown assailants then they were only going to double down on the losing approach. The measure of a leader could be seen in times like these. Putting your followers before your pride is a difficult task. Simply removing the white objects from their person had no negative impact on them, and presently it served as a clear signal to the attackers that they were the ones they needed to kill.
Gang members could be identified psychologically by their fear of collective persecution. Solidarity was an important narrative that the leadership sold to their underlings. They had to stand firm in the face of violence and suppression. An attack on them was an attack on the whole, and a signal to double down on their dedication to the cause.
“I don’t know why you’re so interested in what’s going on in our neck of the woods. You should go back home and leave people like me well enough alone.”
“If your Father is involved, then it’s a problem for us both. Is it so hard to believe that I might have a reason to step in?”
“Whatever your reason is – it can’t be good. Noble bloodsuckers like you are always angling for something. Always trying to squeeze good people for every mark they have, and always getting around the rules that the rest of us are expected to follow.”
“Them getting their way and demolishing the entire district would be problematic for me. It’s unlikely that we’ll meet again regardless, so it may be best to cast this meeting to the back of your mind and forget all about it.”
Kelly stared at her feet and silently steamed over what I was saying to her. She was around my age, though without the benefit of a previous life lived to teach her a lot of valuable lessons. Sometimes it was easy for me to lose sight of that fact. The people around me were their real age. I couldn’t launch into a detailed explanation of what was going on and expect her to understand.
She grunted in frustration, “I thought you were just some prissy, coddled little noble girl. Where the hell did you learn how to do all of that stuff?”
“I’m afraid to report that I am indeed a prissy little noble girl. Being coddled is a problem that can be overcome with effort and experience, if only I could say the same for my diminutive stature.”
Kelly stared blankly at me; “I understood some of that.”
“What I mean to say is that I’m an athlete. I like to keep my body in good condition. I run laps around the campus in the morning, I’ve also trained my strength and agility to extensive levels.”
“Why though?”
“Because it’s useful. Good for catching pickpockets, or dealing with any other ruffians that try to pull a fast one on me.”
Kelly grumbled at that comment but she couldn’t contest the truth behind it. It was because of that training that I got my purse back and got so much useful information out of her about the Church Street gang. I was still a pale imitation of my old self in terms of strength and stamina. The biggest shock in waking up in this new world was the loss of my physical abilities. It felt like I was about to pass out and die after a few minutes of jogging.
“One more thing. Who’s in charge of the gang right now?”
“Robert.”
“Robert Van Gervan?”
“Yeah.”
“And where does he like to spend his days?”
“I don’t know,” Kelly shrugged, “He’ll probably be at the bar on Church Street. That’s where a lot of the gang members go when they aren’t busy.”
Not the kind of place I could go without being picked out. But it was unlikely that Robert Van Gervan would choose to accept his bribe money in a public place like that. He’d essentially be selling out his gang and the district by taking any more money from Cedric in exchange for staying out of his business.
What did Robert Van Gervan value more; his ability to be a petty tyrant ruling over his small fiefdom in the city, or the money that was on the line now that Cedric was handing it out like candy? There was a real chance that taking his offer would cause the Church Street gang to collapse in on itself, or for him to be summarily dismissed from his position as the gang’s leader.
Installing cronies into the highest positions and letting them take a cut of the proceeds was the best way to avoid that situation arising. You could keep a lid on it until the very last moment and get away scot-free so long as you remembered not to visit that part of the city again.
It was a productive conversation. I got what I wanted out of her.
“That’s good enough. I’ll let you go with a warning.”
“Hmph. Want me to stop picking pockets?”
I laughed, “No. Do what you like – just remember my face so that you don’t make the same mistake again.”
I jumped up from the bench and stepped away, leaving her in a confused stupor. She was asking the wrong person for a long lecture on morality. I used to kill for cash. Stealing change from someone’s pocket was hardly worth getting upset over.
Before I could reach the narrow pathway that led out of the courtyard, a shadowy figure appeared in my way and started to walk through. I stepped aside and allowed them to go first as they had no intent of stopping for my sake. They stopped in front of me and spared me a passing glance.
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“A lady of your station shouldn’t associate with criminals.”
A chill ran through my body.
That raspy voice, and a pair of eyes that spoke of a deep sickness. He was around my age and stature. He kept gliding along, towards the bench where Kelly was sitting with the white cotton still dangling from her front pocket. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
I aborted my decision to leave. Something bad was about to go down, and I got the impression that the boy was connected to all of this somehow. His skin was pale, just like the man who turned up dead after killing the gang members in Church Walk. A hand slipped into the pocket of his coat. That was all I needed to see.
I grabbed the back of their arm and pulled it towards me, pulling aside the fabric and revealing a revolver with a short barrel. Kelly leapt to her feet. I tried to hold him back, but his strength was unusual. I could barely keep a hold of him as he raised his arm and lined up the sights.
I released him and upped the ante. I threw my entire body weight into him, knocking him aside into the wooden fence that divided the area and causing his shot to go astray. Kelly took that as her cue to make a run for it, dashing past us and towards the alleyway.
I quickly discovered that my previous impression of his strength was not mistaken. For however small their figure was, every single atom of their being was pushing back against me. He far eclipsed any of the other people I’d grappled with, even more than the adult men who towered over me. This wasn’t normal – and that was further proven when they struck out with an elbow. It felt like a sledgehammer hitting me in the gut.
I staggered back. He turned on me with a malicious scowl.
“Why the hell are you protecting street trash like her?”
“It’s not about protecting her. I’m going to beat some answers out of you.”
He struck at me first with a series of punches and kicks. Someone taught him how to fight. It was still amateurish, but there was no doubt that he wasn’t doing this blindly. His footwork and momentum were too good for that. It was only when I opened a gap that I came to appreciate how much damage that single hit to my stomach had done. I could barely drag air into my desperate lungs.
If I stepped back too far – he’d pull the gun and shoot me. I was stuck.
I could use nihility magic and kill him on the spot, but that would snuff out an important lead on what Cedric was involved with. That was an absolute last resort. He wasn’t interested in letting me get the opportunity. There was a sudden flash of anger on his features. The air around us crackled with an uncontrollable energy. It was the unmistakable sign of someone about to unleash a powerful spell.
“Go away!”
A sonic blast consumed me, emanating from where he was standing and knocking back whatever stood in its path. I was flung through the air and into the fence, the aged wood shattering into dangerous shards as the weight of my body broke through it. I fell onto the concrete beyond in a daze.
Happy that I wasn’t going to pursue him any further, the boy didn’t even stop to finish the job. He was single-mindedly focused on tracking down Kelly and killing her. I reached into my coat and tried to draw my gun, but my limbs weren’t cooperating with me.
My ears were ringing from the wave he sent out, and at that moment I couldn’t step back and be astounded at how much magical energy he released in one go. That would have killed any normal person and it would have killed a grade five mage like me.
I was pissed off.
It was rare for anyone to get the upper hand over me. The easiest shot I had at figuring out what was going on had just slipped through my fingers. I forced my body back up, leaning back against the nearest solid wall and taking a moment to collect myself. I was hurting all over. It was lucky that I hadn’t broken anything from the fall.
“Son of a bitch, wait until I get my hands on you, asshole...”
Samantha was probably relaxing at home, unaware of what was going on in the East.
----------------------------------------
Samantha stared at the newly constructed barn with a terse frown upon her brow. It had taken a significant amount of time, money and effort to clean up the mess caused by the Scuncath attack on their home. Animals, tools and machinery needed to be replaced, and a large quantity of other useful items were lost in the fire too.
Mercifully – the machine that her Father used to plough the fields was only damaged on the outside. There were some dents to the panels that covered the internal workings and a few melted pieces, but the company was more than happy to take the damaged tractor and repair it while giving them a replacement for a fee that was significantly less than purchasing new.
That was a miracle for their finances. It was also a small miracle that nobody in her family was harmed, and that extended onwards to the other hostages who were taken by the cult and kept so that they could be used as human sacrifices. Maria’s timely intervention prevented the worst from coming to pass.
For all of her doubt and unwillingness to accept it, Maria was always there to do the right thing in the moment. Samantha had thought long and hard about what she said to Adrian at the time and realized that she saw violence as a burden, or as a line that one could only cross once. The way she normally spoke about it portrayed herself as someone who relished violence for its own sake. Samantha disagreed with that characterisation.
Samantha couldn’t imagine doing the same, but she knew now that Maria didn’t want her to. Maria comprehended the true horror of taking a life and tried to keep others from doing the same. Wasn’t that the just course of action in the end? Defending others, being concerned for their wellbeing, and shouldering a burden that would haunt them. Those were not the decisions of an amoral person.
Samantha held Maria’s most closely guarded secrets, but there was still a lot she didn’t know about her. A burgeoning teenage mind was starting to sow the seeds of a more nuanced view of the world. Maria was righteous, yet couldn’t accept that she was. She decried those who would harm her friends and family, yet engaged in a pattern of retaliation that she was clearly ashamed of.
“I hope she isn’t getting into trouble right now,” Samantha mumbled.
“Hey, Sam, are you done mucking out the pen yet?”
Samantha returned to reality with Tobias walking down the hill to her rest spot by the tree.
“Naturally. I might be attending the Royal Academy, but I’m not too high class to do my usual chores.”
Tobias sighed, “Brag about it a little more, why don’t you? I hope you don’t forget about us honest folk when you’re a famous doctor in the city.”
Samantha laughed, “I never said I was moving into the city. I could make a living out here just as easily. They’re always looking for more doctors at the local clinics. I looked into it.”
“If I were you – I’d jump at the chance to get out of Channery for a while. Bless this town, but a change of scenery would be nice every now and then.”
“The grass is always greener on the other side. The city is maddening. The smell is terrible. There’s smoke in the air all the time and it clogs up your nose, and don’t get me started on the noise. It never stops!”
Tobias wasn’t so easily convinced, “Sounds like fun to me.”
“If you say so. I’d bet good money that you’d be begging to come back home within the week.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“You would.”
The petty argument continued even as Samantha picked up her tools and returned them to their designated places in the barn and shed. This was Samantha’s home life in a single moment. Tobias refusing to act his age, picking a fight that was meaningless while she was trying to focus on her chores.
The bucket meeting the floor signalled an abrupt end to their debate about how much of the city lifestyle he could handle.
“This Doctor thing – do you think you can make it work?”
Samantha wasn’t sure. She still wanted to try.
“Dad was pretty upset with me when I told him.”
“Was he?” Tobias frowned, “I thought he said he’d support you no matter what.”
Samantha rolled her eyes, “He might have said those words, but he looked like he was sucking on a lemon. The idea of one of his children leaving the family business and taking on a new type of work is hard for him. All that time spent teaching us the ropes, he must feel like the effort was thrown away. I’m not going to be mucking out stables or clipping hooves if I become a Doctor.”
“You make him sound so selfish.”
“It is. I mean, I’m not judging him for it. He’s worried about me getting my qualifications and launching into a field he isn’t familiar with. He can’t really support me in the same way if I do that.”
Tobias and Ben were waiting in the wings to inherit the farm. Samantha knew that she wouldn’t get a look in if it came down to making that decision in the future. Her brothers were carefully moulded into a pair of practical, physically active men who could handle whatever the farm threw at them.
“He’ll come around to it eventually. Remember when Ben said he wanted to take over the farm and he broke out into tears? It’ll be the same as that.”
“You’re never going to let that go.”
“Nope. Not in a million years.”
Samantha kicked the mud from her boots and considered all of the challenges that faced her on the path to becoming a Doctor, and how amazing it would feel to be regarded as such a highly skilled individual.
“My healing magic is a big advantage, but it’s only as useful as what I know about the human body. I have to do a lot of studying to make sure that I best understand how to use it.”
Samantha was starting to feel a lot more confident in her intelligence and ability, in no small part thanks to what Maria said to her about effort defining those who succeeded and those who failed. If there was ever an aspect that she couldn’t remember – that simply meant she needed to dedicate more time to it. She even suggested a helpful tip in regimenting her learning to two hours every day so that she wouldn’t burn out.
Tobias yawned and stretched out, “What do all of your noble pals at the academy want to do?”
“They don’t have a choice. Most of them are going to inherit the family empire and spend the rest of their days managing factories and the like. Not that it’s a bad thing. They have more money than we could ever hope to earn.”
“But if you had that much money, you wouldn’t have to worry about paying your bills. You could do whatever you wanted.”
“All the money in the world isn’t enough. They could do that – they could say that there’s no need to keep on fighting and clawing to the top, but that isn’t what they’re taught to think. Time spent resting on your laurels is time in which someone else could steal it all away from you.”
Tobias grimaced, “No wonder they’re so paranoid in the city if that’s what their parents are teaching ‘em.”
When not facing hardships people seemingly created them on their own terms. Samantha was astounded at the level of paranoia and misbehaviour that was caused by the line of thinking instilled into the students by their families. She couldn’t wrap her head around why they cared so passionately about ascending even higher than they already were. Money was no object, they had the ears of the major political parties, and in many cases they could get away with murder and face no repercussions from the law.
Samantha sat on the steps that led to the porch and pondered the issue whilst staring at the new barn.
The new barn was nothing unusual, but it did sting to lose a structure that had been on the property for decades. There was value in the old building. It represented the effort that her Grandparents had put into building the farm before Eugene took over with their passing.
“You know, I guess it’s pretty natural to not want your stuff taken away,” Tobias mused, “Old folk love to talk about letting go of your attachments and crap – but it’s hard to disconnect your head from your heart.”
Samantha huffed, “That’s the most profound thing you’ve ever said, Toby.”
“Make sure to savour it then. Those intelligent thoughts don’t come around too often!”