Volume 2 - Chapter 121- Chaos Makes Opportunity

“No,” I said flatly to that encouraging piece of advice. “How would I even get in? I rather doubt Brexington would let me in even before he realizes I’m the same person who infested his hedge with a demon. And I do not feel like testing my skills against his security.”

And sprayed hellfire all over his neighborhood, and blood, and not to forget that mercenary I’d turned into a screaming skeleton. All things I was sure had ingratiated the industrialist with me.

Metrill smiled in a way I found distinctly uncomfortable, far too many teeth, even if they weren’t pointed. Outside the carriage, the yelling was getting louder.

“First, come on, you’re a member of the Thieves’ Guild now, Harrow!”

“No, I’m not. You all settled for making me an associate, remember?”

“Still, close enough. Don’t back down from a challenge.”

“Is this some kind of a stupid way of weeding out applicants who are too overconfident to be of any use?”

Her smirk became a little more genuine. “Don’t worry. You’ll go in using one of the Guild’s invitations. Probably more than one. I suspect you’ll want at least two someones along.”

Please let that just be because I’d been working closely with Gregory and Alice these last few days, and nothing at all to do with rumours about me with either of them had already started spreading. I focused on the less important but safer to comment on portion of that.

“Guild’s invitations? You must be joking. Brexington has offered the Thieve’s guild invites?”

Metrill’s smirk went to more amused than threatening, the bared teeth disappearing. “Of course he does. What better way to show he doesn’t fear us in the slightest?”

That made sense. Rich people did all kinds of nonsense, and their insanity wasn’t limited to the aristocratic bloodlines. Far from it. The city was not far removed from the terror of the patented Instant Shaving Automatons.

“I suppose that’s useful,” I said, and immediately stopped.

The flare of anger in Metrill’s eyes and the tightening of her jaw were definitely not faked as she clenched her fist. “It’s embarrassing is what it is. He doesn’t take is seriously, and showing up without actually managing anything in terms of making him actually pay just further reinforces that.”

I waited patiently while she smoothed out the anger on her face. “Of course, what matters about that is we can get you in. And I think that after we send you, we will not be receiving any more.”

“I try to be a model party guest,” I protested. “It’s not my fault the only one I’ve been too ended in a bad way!”

It actually was, the shapechangers hadn’t been my fault. Nor the host’s stupidity, nor much else of what had happened that night.

“Sure,” Metrill said. “I’m sure anyone else involved in that mess would say the exact same thing.”

I glowered. “I could always refuse to go to this party, leave it to everyone else to fix this mess.”

Metrill laughed, and my glower intensified. “Sorry, but do you think anyone will believe that? You step back from this? Be serious, Harrow.”

I couldn’t muster a denial, so instead decided to turn my attention to the outside. The prison transports did have ports you could open up, although in my previous rides I’d always kept them shut.

No matter how small, someone always tried to throw a rock.

Peering at the outside through the tiny porthole, it didn’t take long to place where we were. Heading towards my home. And since we were close to the Quarter, the streets definitely bore the signs of violence.

So far, the only victims were windows and doors. That would change as we got closer to the Quarter. Then any dead would be visible.

“No need to seclude me elsewhere?”

Metrill chuckled. “You can take care of yourself as long as it’s not a massive mob, and I don’t really need to micromanage you. Or keep you under watch as badly as your former masters in Imperial Intelligence.”

“Current masters still.”

“Formerly, soon enough. Even if the senior Voltar advocates for you, you are likely already in a file marked problematic assets. But anyway. We won’t keep a close eye on you. I’ll leave instructions on how to contact us when you want to arrange details for the party. I’d suggest by the end of today. The party is supposed to be the day after tomorrow.”

Joy. Pushing things tight. I could only hope Forcreek, Versalicci, and Timmel had as little time to prepare as the rest of us.

“Also helps you disavow me if you need to,” I commented.

“Don’t do anything egregious, and we won’t have to,” Metrill said. “Egregious being sending a giant worm crashing through his roof without a good reason.”

“I resent the implication I didn’t have a good reason the first time. It didn’t even kill the shapechanger, and now I have to suffer his continued existence.”

“Everyone thinks they have a good reason for killing someone,” Metrill said, and I snorted and turned my attention back to outside the prison transport.

“Oh,” I said as we turned onto my street and I saw the burned-out shell where Arthur Gleeson had been selling salvaged, makeshift, shoddy, and stolen furniture from. “One last thing.”

“What?”

“You don’t happen to have a patrol balloon in Watch colors as well as this carriage, do you?”

***

The destruction of Gleeson’s home had been an outlier in its totality.

Most of the decent enough houses in this rather blessed little strip near the border of the Quarter were still standing. Some of them might have some smashed windows, blood on the ground outside, the occasional smashed-in door and unremoved body, and the other usual signs of a riot having entered the Quarter. All the bodies were Infernals. The rioters would have claimed their own fallen.

You live this close to the border. You either had homes that were defensible, or you were ready to pick up and run at a moment’s notice.

I could figure out which neighbors had survived at a later date. Some things were just part of life in the Quarter, and you had to accept them.

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I exhaled slowly. What a sentiment. I was beginning to understand Melissa more, and her disgust with me. The way things always were, unquestioned. Ha.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to pick through the wreckage to see what could be done. Not now. Maybe not later either. Not until this case was solved.

Melted snow mixed with blood rippled as I walked through the puddles. My own home showed signs of people trying to force their way inside. The windows miraculously were unbroken, which I’m sure had nothing to do with the blood splattered on them. I was more focused on the sounds.

Quiet on the street. Those who were still around were licking their wounds. Waiting to see if it was safe to move, safe to sleep, safe to find others to band up with in case the non-Infernal invaded the Quarter yet again. Quiet enough to make out breathing.

Someone was breathing just inside my house, next to the door. In the blind spot as it would swing inwards.

I had a knife I’d gotten off Metrill before I left the disguised carriage, gripped tightly in my only hand I could move. The other was busy throbbing in pain. I’d surrounded the bone knives in flesh, but hadn’t even started the long process of forcing them back into the right shapes. As for other weapons, the Halspusians had claimed Gregory took all of my weaponry back with him. Well.

After half an hour of finding the nearest passage to the underground, then squeezing myself through the connection to my basement, I was forced to admit that maybe the others had only exaggerated some when they’d complained about its size.

Pain distracted me as I crept up the stairs from the basement. The figure by the door noticed and ran towards the basement entrance. Cursing, I surged up, and knife me knife before we each realized who the other was.

“Alice,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”

I didn’t outright demand why she’d left the safety of the rented room. Not only would she just bite at that, but I could hardly blame her for wanting to get away from the cathedral’s vicinity once protestors started gathering.

Expressing concern about her travelling the streets where those same protestors roamed would definitely get me bitten. Even if it was against a hundred armed with firearms and swords, Alice would refuse to accept she’d ever be on the losing side.

Alice didn’t bother answering the question at first, instead shamelessly taking advantage of my comparative weakness to her at the moment. Shameless. I’d have to figure out a future defense. At some point.

My ears didn’t hear anyone nearby. Chance of Gregory, very little. I could indulge a little. Even with the little bursts of pain from my arm moving.

Eventually one use had to come back up for air. To my satisfaction, it was her.

“Wanted to see you,” she told me, cheeks flushed and with a pleased smile. “That not a good enough reason? Or would you prefer the mob gets a chance to set your house on fire?”

Fair enough. Even if they hadn’t tried to do it themselves, some idiot would have inevitably set off one of my traps.

“Malvia,” Alice said mildly, looking down. “What the fuck happened to your arm?”

Oh. Right. I’d kept it at my side, and there was no real way of hiding how loosely it was moving.

“Needed some emergency weapons,” I said. “Nothing to worry about. I didn’t lose any parts of myself. Just going to be a while to re-attach everything.”

And to reshape the bone, but she didn’t need to know that.

She stared at my arm a little while longer, then shook her head as if irritated. I didn’t say anything about it. It wasn’t an argument I was ready to have.

“Did you bring the tracker with you?” I asked her, and she had the good sense to change the subject as well.

“In the back room, and it’s moving,” she said. “It used to be pointing more to the north. Slower than earlier, but it’s hard to tell if that’s because he’s slowed down or if he’s just traveling more in a direction towards or away from it. Depends on if he’s just trying to hide or trying to hunt.”

“Hide,” I said. “If he wasn’t in on killing Gallaspie, he probably has a lot of questions for whoever is in charge of this. If he was? Whatever stability he has probably taken a hit. And the entire city is going to be a mess.”

Understatement of the year. The promise of military intervention and that the Queen was taking an interest was keeping things contained. Barely. If they weren’t able to deliver results quickly, the city would tear itself apart.

“How was it getting over here?” I asked her.

Her eyes narrowed. “It was perfectly fine.”

I held a hand up placatingly. “Not questioning you coming here. I want to know how bad it is out there.”

“Bad,” she said bluntly. “Apparently there were devils in the city earlier, and they know who to blame when that happens. It’s worse on the other side of the Quarter.”

The one furthest away from the Coffin and most of the city’s Watch presence. Not that I thought the Watch particularly cared for Infernals, but they would care about the riot spreading. Along with fire.

“It’s going to be a good day for that death-cleric involved in this,” Alice stated. “It was concentrated around the Quarter, but then it started spreading out. No one is quite sure why, but of course it started fucking calming down once they were risking their own fucking houses.”

“Did Gregory tell you what happened with Bishop Gallaspie?” I asked her.

“That someone put a bullet between his eyes? Yeah. Good news, in different times.”

“Someone released copies of his confession to the newspapers,” I told her. “And if I had to bet, more than just those.”

Alice froze, then chuckled bitterly. “Well, guess those fucks are finally getting a taste of what we’ve been suffering this entire time, huh?”

“Not to that extent,” I said. “I doubt they’re having to deal with murders. Yet. Sounds like the threat of the army is keeping everyone in line.”

Alice shook her head. “That won’t last.”

“Probably not. And the news gets worse. We lost another priest.”

I told her what Metrill had communicated to me. And where one of the last required for the sacrifices might be.

“A party?” Alice said. “He a fucking idiot?”

“You could say the same about half the people involved in this,” I said. “No, he’s just extremely confident in himself and things turning out right. He wants to maintain his image.”

She nodded. That was an easy concept for both of us to get. Even if you were bleeding out and could barely stand, never give a hint how hurt you really were.

“The three of us helping to cover might end up causing more harm than good,” Alice said bluntly. “Assuming your friends in Intelligence are going to be covering this. We might be distractions they can’t afford.”

I laughed. “Given the events so far, I’d rather us there and potentially being distractions than just Imperial Intelligence being involved. But also, there will be distractions aplenty. That damn confession spells out close to everything. Everyone is going to know what needs to be stopped, or, if they have the stomach and fire for it, an easy way to be on the right side when that portal is open.”

Alice sneered, then paused. “No one could think that would last. One hellgate isn’t going to last long.”

“Probably not,” I agreed. “Especially with the military already on its way. Depends on how you see things, though. We’ll know for sure if they keep trying to kill the clerics or if they’ve decided to cut and run.”

“You think they don’t care if the portal actually opens or not.”

“I already thought as much regarding Gallaspie and Timmel,” I replied. “Some of the others, depending. If they just want the reward for opening and think they can escape without issue? Yes. If they just want chaos or to strike at the Empire? Nothing better than Her Majesty and the government failing to stop a Hell-portal in the middle of the city. Either way, we can’t know if they’ll keep on trying.”

“So,” Alice said. “We will be going to this party.”

Yes, and not just because we needed to. I would attend at least one without some kind of calamity occurring before I died. This might actually be my chance.

“Gregory has a contact for dresses,” I told Alice. “Money might be tight. I burned through most of my reserves, and while I have some left, it might not be enough to cover multiple ones.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress,” Alice said in a curious tone. “I think it promises to be an interesting experience.”

Oh. Right. I was going to invite both of them. I felt an impending sense of doom building in my stomach as I realized exactly what that would mean for trying to keep them secret from one another. I had to tell them at some point. Just… maybe not when the threat of a hellgate was active.

Coward.

“What kind of dress were-”

“Hold up,” I said, ears perking. “Someone is coming.”

I could hear someone running down the road, hard. I looked through the window and frowned. Tolman was sprinting down the street, panting heavily. No one I could see was chasing him as he made a beeline for my home.

I had the door open as he stumbled inside, face pale. I looked him over as he panted, out of breath. No visible wounds, no leaking blood, no abrasions, no signs he’d been in a fight. His eyes were the most disturbing. I wasn’t used to seeing him afraid.

“Tolman,” I said firmly. “What happened?”

He got his breath back, hands still trembling as his eyes met mine. He did have the presence of mind to know people would be watching and possibly listening

“Edwards sent his newest employee, my cousin, out to handle getting supplies for the Hells’ Own. Right before the riots. He’s missing.”

I tried to keep myself from paling.

“Can I trouble you to-”

“Not a problem. Alice, can you keep an eye on the tracker? Thank you. Tolman, where was your cousin heading?”

Who had taken Mourner Kelson?