Chapter 145: Running Girl (2)

Chapter 145: 145: Running Girl (2)

"Recent deaths. Strong beasts seen near the outer routes. Hunting groups that returned with wounds. Hunting groups that did not return. Anyone selling maps. Anyone selling lies. Anyone who controls the red-scarf men outside."

Her eyes changed when he mentioned the red scarf.

Lucard noticed.

She tried to hide it by looking down at the coin. "That is more than one gold coin of information."

Lucard placed a second gold coin beside the first.

"Then speak carefully."

The serving girl stared at the coins for a moment longer, then picked them up so quickly that her fingers almost shook.

"I will bring the owner."

"Good."

She left.

Lucard leaned back and looked across the tavern. Several people had stopped pretending not to listen. A hunter with a missing ear watched him from the far table. A man with a broken spear leaned closer to his friend and whispered. Near the back, two red-scarf men sat with cups in their hands. They had not joined the chase. One of them had seen Lucard place gold on the table, and greed had already entered his eyes.

Lucard looked at him once.

The man looked away.

Better.

A few minutes later, the serving girl returned with a thick man in a brown vest. The man had gray in his beard, old scars on his fingers, and the careful smile of someone who had sold too many dangerous things to too many dangerous people.

"I hear you want information," the man said.

Lucard answered, "I want correct information."

The owner sat across from him without being invited. "Correct information is expensive because it keeps people alive."

"Then wrong information must be cheap because it gets fools killed."

The owner looked at him for a moment, then laughed softly. "You are not a first-time hunter."

"No."

"Good. First-time hunters ask where to find treasure beasts and which cave has sleeping monsters. Then their friends come back carrying one boot and crying."

Lucard said, "Tell me about the Broken Maw Range."

The owner’s smile faded a little. "Outer forest is busy but safe enough if you are not stupid. Gray tusk boars, iron-claw wolves, bone rabbits, blood stags, a few cave lizards. Good for Rank One and Rank Two groups. Deeper in, the ground breaks into ravines and old towers. That is where Rank Three beasts appear. Sometimes worse."

"Recent deaths?"

"Many."

"Useful deaths."

The owner leaned back. "Three days ago, a six-man group entered the Black Teeth Path and only two came back. Both lost too much blood and kept saying something was laughing in the trees. Yesterday morning, a Rank Three hunter party found half a camp near the old border fort. No bodies. Only blood dragged toward the rocks."

Lucard’s eyes became calmer.

Blood dragged toward rocks might mean beasts carrying prey. It might also mean collecting bodies.

The owner continued, "And this morning, before you came, a girl ran through the city with Red Hook men chasing her. Since you asked about red scarves, I assume you saw that."

"Who are they?" Lucard asked.

The owner’s smile faded.

He looked toward the back of the tavern first, then toward the front door. Only after making sure no red-scarf man was close enough to hear did he lower his voice.

"Red Hook," the owner said. "They are not common street thugs. People like to pretend they are, but they are not. They belong to the city lord’s side."

Lucard’s eyes did not change. "The baron family?"

The owner’s face tightened. "I did not say that."

"You said enough."

The owner swallowed once. "Then understand enough and do not ask loudly. In Stoneford, the guards look away from Red Hook because Red Hook does not move without permission from above. If they chase someone, most people open the road. If they drag someone away, most people forget what they saw. That is how this city stays quiet."

Lucard thought of the gate guard looking away.

That explained it.

"The girl?" Lucard asked.

The owner shook his head at once. "I never saw her before."

Lucard looked at him.

The owner held his gaze for only one breath before looking down. "I mean it. I do not know her name. I do not know where she came from. I do not know what she carried. I only know Red Hook chased her, and that is enough reason for me not to know anything else."

"What did she steal?"

"That is what they shouted," the owner said. "People shout many things when they want others to help without asking questions."

Lucard rested one finger on the table. "You advise me to ignore it."

"Yes," the owner said quickly. "You came for the Broken Maw Range. Stay with beasts. Beasts kill with teeth. The city lord’s people kill with papers, guards, and witnesses who suddenly remember lies."

Lucard thought of the way the girl had held something against her chest.

It might be a stolen item. It might be proof. It might be bait. It might be nothing.

For now, it was only a thread.

Lucard did not chase threads before seeing where they were tied.

"Maps," he said.

The owner looked relieved by the change. "I have three. One safe, one risky, one stupid."

"Bring all three."

The owner looked at him. "The stupid one is called stupid for a reason."

"Good. Fools die there. That means something lives there."

The owner studied Lucard again, as if he was trying to decide whether this young man was brave, foolish, or something worse.

Then he stood. "I will bring them."

Lucard watched him leave.

Outside the tavern, Stoneford continued making noise. Somewhere beyond the eastern gate, a frightened girl was still running from the city lord’s people. Somewhere beyond her, the Broken Maw Range waited with beasts, blood, and perhaps something better than ordinary prey.

Lucard picked up the wooden cup and drank water. He had come for information.

The city had already given him a chase, a baron’s hidden hand, a girl, and a direction.

That was enough for a beginning.