Infernal Investigations

Carnly’s was just ahead on the right, and I could already hear the raucous sounds of the night crowd. Two patrons stumbled out and almost immediately began losing their meals on the side of the street. Light drinkers.

“Do me a favor and order for me if you don’t mind,” I said to Tolman. “If you’ll pardon me for being crude, I couldn’t really relieve myself in the cell either. Could you order my sandwich and drink? Mead, lightly sulfured, and surprise me on the sandwich? I’ve not been here before, I’ll trust in your experience with their menu.”

Were any of my Watch tails magically inclined? How precise were these tracers?

I’d find out the answers to both very soon.

We entered Carnly’s, walking through a haze of tobacco smoke. I barely spared a glance at the interior, just confirming it was a crowded night, and immediately headed to a doorway next to the bar. The clientele hadn’t changed much since I’d first started coming here. You went to Carnly’s because you were out of other options or for the different services he offered.

At least it was only tobacco smoke these days.

I spent as little time as possible in the public area of the tavern. Loyalty was cheap in Carnly’s, and I wouldn’t be hard to identify here. A somewhat decent dress or bloodstained clothes on there own would be remarkable here. Both? Everyone would remember that.

An employee lay slumped near the doorway, pretending to be asleep. Underneath a slanted hat, eyes would be watching me.

“I want to talk to the old man about losing some tails,” I said. My eyes flicked back towards the entrance. How long would I have till the Watch came in?

The employee looked me over, then nodded. “Door’s open. The Old Man will be able to talk to you in a bit.”

I strode through quickly, closing the door most of the way. I left a crack to peer through, watching the tavern. Tolman had settled in at the bar, already ordering his own meal and a sandwich I would unfortunately never eat.

Three of the Watch walked in a half minute later. A pair of infernals presenting as male and female, and a gnome. They’d tried to dress down to fit the district, but there was no taking the Watchperson out of some people. One of the infernals immediately went towards the bathrooms, one went towards the side entrance, and the gnome sat down next to Tolman.

Within seconds, they were amiably chatting with each other.

Sighing, I considered what I was doing. This was not going to allay watch suspicions, but Katheryn Falara was already a person of interest to them for various dealings, so her trying to ditch a tail would be expected. Going to Carnley's might suggest a level of connection to the underworld greater than I wanted, but it wasn't out of character.

Of course, it would make them more suspicious of me in the short term, but I could live with that if it meant getting rid of whatever Versalicci's box was without anyone seeing. After that, nothing I would be doing should make any more suspicions arise and I could quietly wait things out.

Hearing the sound of a wheel on wood behind me, I turned around.

Carnly had traded his cane for a wheelchair but was still a cantankerous old geezer, staring at me with squinting eyes. His skin was more brittle, and the signs of age were more visible but still recognizably Carnly. My eyes glanced at the sawed-off stumps of his horns. You never got used to seeing them on the oldest among us. A relic of a time when they’d been banned along with any other physical trace of our infernal blood. There’d be a matching stump where his tail used to be.

“You’re new,” he said.

“Kathryn Falara. I’m with Tolman, but more importantly, I am willing to pay well for a good change of clothes.”

Carnly frowned. “I don’t like new customers bursting back here, especially with Watch on their tails. It stinks of something I’m not risking my neck for. Especially when I don’t know if you’re Watch yourself.”

Maybe staying away from here for so long wasn’t the best idea. Carnly had no frame of reference for me not being an undercover watch officer, and I could hardly call Tolman over. I knew other customers of his as Falara, but I hadn’t seen any of them here.

“You can talk to Blind Marsel, Keevo, Dressa Varacts. They will attest I’m no member of the Watch.”

I received an unenthused grunt in reply. I couldn’t waste time negotiating for long. The Watch would have figured out I wasn’t in the bathroom by now. Even assuming one was grilling Tolman, it wouldn’t take long for the other two to search most of the tavern’s floor space.

“Triple your usual rate.”

He weighed the offer for a few seconds, and I became uncomfortably aware of raised voices behind me.

“Done. Dovel, open up!”

One of the large casks swung open, revealing itself as a fake. Easily large enough for someone to slip through, a door-shaped hole dominated the newly revealed surface. Another Infernal waited on the other side.

I wasted no time running for it, and it swiftly closed behind me.

I could still hear behind me, even if the words weren’t clear. Muffled as they were, they were definitely audible, and for that reason, my own mouth remained firmly shut.

The conversation continued. I could guess the framework of it. Someone had seen me duck back here. The Watch, not bothering with disguises anymore, would have come back here. Carnly would claim he did not know me, and invite them to search back here. They’d keep that up for a little bit.

The barrel moved a little bit, the sound of a hammer. I could make out Carnly yelling about them wasting his good liquor. There was some alcohol stored in a small section in the front for demonstration purposes.

The trackers must not be very precise. They could only tell I was still in the building.

The other infernal watched me dispassionately. A hand on a flintlock was a decent warning. Do anything to give away this back room exists, you take a bullet in exchange.

I heard the conversation trail off, the sound of people moving away. The fading squeak of Carnly’s wheelchair then the door closing.

Dovel immediately stowed his pistol away and led me inside. Wooden stalls lined one side of the room; on the other, a massive series of bins contained assortments of clothes.

Dovel shoved a piece of paper with a list of names into my hands. “You know how this operates?”

“Tolman’s told me the basics.” I’d done it myself several times before. Trade out your clothes for a new selection from whatever Carnly has. A beggar would be given the clothes a few hours after you left and would then head off, along with any trackers that might be in the clothing. Leave any other possessions and come back to grab them at a later time.

A simple but effective countermeasure once tracking sorcery had become more commonly used.

“Select a name on the list; a beggar will be told the clothes came from this person. Might want to pick a woman’s name since you’re ditching the dress

The list was people either dead or thought dead. Ah, perfect.

“Malvia…Harrow? Is that really a last name?”

“One she ended up getting for lack of an actual one.”

I did have a last name, but I could hardly argue the point. The street name had stuck more firmly.

“I’ll go with that one. I would love to hear the story of how that name-“

“Doesn’t matter. She’s dead and buried long underground. I’ll let whatever bum is willing to wear your clothes know. Take the first stall on the left and hang the clothing over the door to be collected. You have three minutes to get the clothes off, half an hour to pick out your new ones. I’ll show you the way out when you’re done. There’ll be a bin in the stall, if nothing works, I’ll have one of the girls wheel in another bin. Any weapons and other stuff we’ll hold onto till you’re ready to collect it.”

I didn’t waste any time. It was a pity to get rid of everything, but I did not want the Watch tracking me, especially to my destinations for tonight. Given a little more time, I would have seen how to find what tracers had been planted and salvaged the clothes.

Well, looking at the bloodied, torn-up nature of my dress salvage may be a bit too hopeful.

Sighing, I slid my saber under the stall door. It had served me well, and even if I had another at home, it felt wrong to get rid of this one so quickly.

“Stop getting so sentimental,” I scolded myself. “You’ll be collecting it tomorrow.”

I quickly removed my clothes and everything else on my person but my coin purses and keyring. Was there a chance a tracker was among them? It was entirely possible. Would I trust Carnly with my money? Absolutely not. The same went for my keys.

I turned my attention to the clothes bin, picking through the options.

I could do a variation of my old standby, albeit with sizes that would fit my new frame. However, best not to give Carnly any indications of who I really was. In hindsight, picking my own name had probably been a mistake.

I settled for a dull grey greatcoat, a blouse, and trousers, both in dark blue. Not the most inspired choices, they were unlikely to draw comments on the street. They generally fit and were in decent enough condition. A rather large hat that definitely did not fit didn’t help the ensemble but did help conceal my face.

My old clothes were already missing from the stall door. They were destined for some beggar in some mockery of charity.

One could only hope the Watch wasn’t too rough with him, her, or them when the coppers realized they’d been had.

I opened the stall door and was greeted by both Carnly and Dovel. The old man grinned, threatening to split his face in half with it’s wideness.

“Before we let you go, gotta cough up your pay girl. Twenty pounds.”

I reached for my purse. “I thought the rate is usually four pounds. We agreed on triple the normal rate.”

“Well, tonight it’s whatever a third of twenty is.”

“Fourteen?”

“Twenty,” Carnly insisted, and Dovel’s hand went to his pistol. “Or the watch finds out you were in my storage room all along.”

I sighed. There wasn’t much negotiation. I didn’t have enough to cover that in my usual coinpurse. I pulled out the advance from Lord Montague, and counted the coins out one at a time inside the bag. No reason to hint how many were actually in there.

From the look in Carnly’s eye, he already had a pretty good guess. The entire district would know about my newfound wealth by tomorrow. Had he already known, or had he just gotten very lucky in trying to pressure me?

It didn’t matter. I handed Carnly his coins and tried to resist the urge to cut into his face.

“Your Watch tails have already left, so you can leave whenever you want.”

Probably best to leave now. Even if there were other ones lurking around keeping an eye out in case I showed up again, the sooner I got this done, the sooner I’d be able to sleep in my own bed.

My stomach grumbled. Maybe I should have just let the tails follow me and head home. My lab could wait till tomorrow, and I should be trying to avoid my other destination.

At the bare minimum, I should be grabbing a sandwich.

Sighing, I turned around, considering going back and rejoining Tolman at the bar. Order a sandwich, take it easy, and leave things till tomorrow. Get drunk, enjoy some time with a friend.

Maybe another night.

***

The ruins of Halspus cathedral glowed in the night air, pure white light suffusing the surfaces of toppled walls.

I eyed them nervously as I approached. Spilling blood must have triggered some of the magic still infused in the church or an entity bound to it. Either way, no one in the surrounding buildings had kept their lights on.

They probably barricaded their windows for all the good that would do if something unleashed a wave of divine magic here.

No one appeared to be keeping watch. Perhaps the Watch had given up on maintaining a presence this deep in the Infernal District. More likely, the assigned members had decided to partake in drinking, the most celebrated of the Watch’s civil duties among its members. It used to be you’d find the Watch doing that more than their actual job.

It's less common these days, but removing all the old dregs from a barrel took time. Possibly forever.

Then again, they might just be hiding, lying in wait, and observing who came and went. At least they wouldn’t be hearing my stomach give me away. I had lingered long enough to grab a sandwich and briefly talk to Tolman before leaving Carnly’s.

Hidden away from the view of society from polite to rude on the unlit streets of the Infernal District, I’d devoured that sandwich in a way that would be declared profane if people had seen me. In my defense, it was a remarkably good sandwich. I should let Tolman order my food more often.

It was tempting to hand it off to Voltar and let him and Versalicci spar with each other while I slunk off into the distance. Delivering it to the City Watch would have the same effect and hopefully take some of their attention off of me. But that would mean antagonizing Versalicci instead.

I didn't have any affection for him, but he'd apparently known who I was and chosen to leave me alone. Delivering the box to his enemies could easily change that.

Enough debating myself. I needed to get this done quickly. I moved towards the ruins, trying to stick to the shadows. It was a bit difficult when half the ruins were glowing, but I did what I could.

The bodies were gone, although bloodstains and tiny puddles of foul-smelling dried acid dotted the ground. This close, their acrid stench burned my nostrils. No weapons, even the remnants of glass from my vials, were gone. They’d picked the scene clean.

The glowing chunks of rubble were entirely inside the old church’s boundaries. That did not include where I’d stashed the box earlier today.

I approached nervously, half-expecting the glowing white light to reach out and zap me for the temerity of spilling blood near the cathedral. Rumors abounded there was still an angel bound to it. I doubted that having Infernals polluted with the bloodline of its sworn enemies living all around them made the celestial happy.

Still, I reached where I’d hidden the box without the divine smiting me. Perhaps the gods smiled at me?

Doubtful. I’d already been born in their bad books, and I doubted that much of what I’d done in the last few years had moved me out of them.

I reached through the crevice I had put the box and found nothing but rough stone in there.

I didn’t feel around any further. I brought my arm back and quickly walked away, keeping an eye out for any surprise Watchmen.

None surfaced. Duty was indeed a dead concept to whoever was supposed to keep watch.

So, the box was gone. Someone had clearly taken it. That or it had phased through solid stone.

I suspected many things about Versalicci. His getting his claws around a phase-beast in a box was not high on the list.

My step was lighter, and my heart a bit less heavy as I walked through the alleys. I greeted a few drunks along the way with a customary greeting of polite disengagement and the occasional slap with a hand or tail if they tried grabbing me.

Whoever had taken the box was none of my concern. I could quietly slink back to my old life, thoroughly disentangled from my bloodline. It wouldn’t mean moving myself and my mother, which was a relief.

Now I just needed to check the lab and this day would finally, finally be over.