Triple Strength

304. Snake: Tabitha

“I made contact, and we are meeting Snake at midnight tonight in a building by the West gate,” Lee said.

I knew Snake. She was one of Longstrider's key lieutenants. There had been many a rumour about them having an affair, but I put no stock in it. I mostly only knew her in passing as she was not part of the thieving or the enforcing crowd. Her reputation was mixed. Nobody really knew what she did, hence the accusations about her sleeping her way to the top. I mostly knew Longstider, and he didn’t keep useless people around.

“Should I bring Tāoke?” Wiremu half-joked.

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Snake is only expecting me and a guard or two,” Lee said.

“She will get me, you, and Wiremu. I will be interested in seeing if she can sense Tāoke. The others can wait nearby in case there is trouble,” I said.

“How did you know Snake was female?” Lee asked. “I never said it either way.”

Lee didn’t know this was my home town or that I knew Longstrider. “I have been here before,” I said. “I have changed my mind. I want Modrica with us.”

“Snake will take that as a sign of aggression,” Lee said.

“Yes, because that is exactly what it is.”

“I thought you wanted to make a deal? I have heard what happens to people who are too aggressive to these people,” Lee was starting to worry. “I have had a good relationship here. That’s why I came, to help smooth things over.”

“This is always going to escalate to Longstrider. We might as well escalate it now and get it over with, one way or another.”

“You know Longstrider as well, don’t you?” Lee asked.

“I know Longstrider better than Snake. It is better to go straight to the head of the Snake.”

“You don’t need me here at all, do you?” Lee asked.

“You have been helpful so far with the documents for the prisoners,” I said.

“You do the introductions tonight, and Tabitha will take it from there,” Wiremu said.

“Whose Tabitha?” Lee asked.

“You really are mixing up the aliases,” I said to Wiremu. “You introduce us as the ones who can set the slaves free, and we will take it from there.”

Lee did not look happy.

Lee let us into the empty warehouse just before midnight. Ruku’s bond, Wai, is wandering around somewhere, as is Tāoke. Ruku and Umreti are close with Dusk and Težka in one of the wagons. They are our backups.

I walked beside Lee with Wiremu behind her and Modrica behind me. The three of us were armoured and masked but with no other disguise Skills running. I don’t know Snake’s role for Longstrider, but I am guessing she is part of his information-gathering team and, therefore, would have a number of sensing Skills.

“They are coming,” Wiremu said.

His Thermal Sensing reaches further than my Spatial Awareness. There were no lights in the warehouse, just the moonlight coming through an upper window. Modrica is the only one with Nightsight and would struggle the most. We all have Darksight.

“There are a number surrounding the place,” Wiremu added quietly.

Then I sensed Snake coming with three large bodyguards. Snake moved very smoothly. It is almost like she glided. She has a very high Physical Agility. They came into the large space and stopped about five meters short of us.

“Hello, Lee. We weren’t expecting you for a few months yet. What is with the animals you came in with?”

“Hello Snake. Something big happened in the Republic, and our strategy is changing,” Lee replied.

“So you are changing to animal rescues now?” Snake smirked.

“No, we are focusing on slaves now,” Lee said.

“Really? Because these are not your usual people, nor are the ones with your animals. I don’t recognise anyone, and it makes me very suspicious. What are you really up to, or are you being forced here?” Her tone started to sound threatening.

“I volunteered to come and be a liaison. We want to set up a freedom and recovery operation for Slaves,” Lee said

“That sounds like it will quickly gain Imperial attention. We won’t be interested in allowing that to happen in this city,” Snake said. “You said you are here to be a liaison. With whom?” she looked at me, “Is it with you? And why did you bring an Orc? That is just asking for trouble.”

I stepped forward, “Yes, it is with me.” I took a Granite plate from my Spatial pocket, put it on the ground and slid it over to her.

“What’s this?”

“That is one-third of an Enchantment that will remove the slave class without requiring the presence of a Taskmaster,” I replied.

The guards with her looked surprised, but she did not. She bent down and examined the Runes. I had no idea how much she understood, but I had the feeling it was more than most.

“I had heard some rumours but didn’t put much stock in them.” Snake looked back at me, “Is this a scam? It has the feel of a scam. You have a shady feel as well.”

“The Republic has used it to free slaves,” Lee said, “I saw it myself.”

“I will believe it when I see it,” Snake said. “This is even more reason for the empire to crush any enterprise doing this. I see no profit in it, only disaster.” She looked up at me, “What do you get out of this?”

“It is that warm fuzzy feeling of doing good work,” I replied.

Wiremu couldn’t help himself and snorted, holding back a laugh.

That drew Snake's attention. “Who are you?”

“We won’t bother with introductions until we meet with Adrian,” I said, using Longstrider's first name.

That drew her attention back to me. “You look familiar, and you obviously know things most people don’t. Do you have a death wish?”

“He will meet with me,” I said, removing my mask and lowering my hood. “My name is Tabitha Carter.”

“You’re the brat he spent so much time on a decade ago, and then you disappeared into the Kingdom without so much as a thank you. We heard you had died in Hrothgar. I was hoping it was true.”

“I am pleased to disappoint you.”

“Didn’t you have a brother?” Snake glanced at Wiremu.

“Warren died before we even left the empire.”

“Humph. Is this your way of crawling back to join us?”

“Ha! That's funny. No, we really can free slaves. I am currently working with the Republic, freeing slaves. While I am making coins, it is indirectly. I am doing this for my clan and for a little payback for Warren.”

“Clan?”

“That’s enough until we meet with Adrian.”

“That’s Master Longstrider to you, and what makes you think I won’t just put you down?”

I reattached my mask and raised my hood again. “You can try, but I’ve seen you spot the two bonds, and you have tried to pierce our Statuses, so you have some idea what you are up against. You four and the twenty outside are not enough.”

“It is never just a numbers game,” Snake replied. “It is a Skills game, and we have the numbers and the Skills. You walked into this place. You should not have done that if you wanted to attack.”

“I don’t want to attack. I want to talk. To Adrian.” I looked at Wiremu, “What is the trap?”

“It is just a poison vapour, slightly caustic. The only one who would really have trouble is Lee,” he said.

I knew that wasn’t strictly true, as my Poison Resistance wasn’t great. He has been telling me to raise it for a long time. I guess he will be again. Just as well, Wiremu’s Deceive is at the Master Level. As Snake said, it is about Skills.

“I believe you about the Skills,” I continued, “One thing Longstrider is known for is training his people. He trained me. Keep the plate. Have an enchanter look at it. When Adrian wants to meet, send a message to the warehouse with the wagons.”

“You expect to be able to just leave?”

“Yes,” I said. “We walked into your trap, but you are smart enough to know we didn’t do it without a backup plan,” I turned to Wiremu, “She is not wrong about them being highly Skilled. Adrian trains people thoroughly. Each of the thugs outside is probably worth three of the troopers we took down in the Free Republic. It is the reason Longstrider is still around.”

“Snake,” Lee said hesitantly. “I was there for that. You should know that it was only those two and their bonds, and they killed two hundred troopers in the one fight.” She pointed to me, “He alone killed a hundred and fifty of them.”

Snake's eyes narrowed. She probably has some sort of truth-detecting skill. Longstriders people are skilled, especially his trusted circle. Snake is probably worth ten of any of the others, and that might be underestimating her. I had been trying to pierce her status as well. I hadn’t got far, but her highest class was something like Acrobat, but maybe she was fooling me.

“That is valuable information. Thank you, Lee.” Snake said.

So, she believed Lee and planned to use that information in the future. I can see what Snake is in the inner circle.

Snake looked at Wiremu, “If you did that, then that is more than skill. That is affinity. Why are you here?”

“To free slaves,” Wiremu said.

There was a long pause as Snake considered this. “Very well, I will let you know when you can meet with Longstrider. Expect it to be two nights away.”

I nodded, and we turned and walked out into the street. We didn’t hide our trip back to the warehouse. Once we were there, Wiremu turned to me, “How do you think that went?”

“It could have been a lot worse. She figured out who you are.”

“Yeah, that was going to come out eventually. What do you think she will do with the information?” He asked.

“That will be up to Longstrider.”

“Do you think he will sell us to the Empire?”

“Depends. I trained under him for two years but was around him for almost four before he took me as an apprentice thief. I could never predict what he would do.”