Chapter 26: Isekai Life & Eye Contact

“So, uh, is that girl, Smokey Enna still here?”

Captain Hawkins gave me an odd expression. “Why do you ask? We don’t normally allow people to visit prisoners, least of all the adventurers who turn them in.”

I floundered momentarily. “We have questions related to the investigation that lead to her arrest, and figured she might be willing to help.”

Captain Hawkins gave me a long, studious look. “Well, even if I was willing to grant your request, she was moved a day ago. She is going to be held in Whitewater Keep until a magistrate becomes available to oversee her trial.”

“Whitewater Keep...” I mused, hoping that Hawkins would fill in the blank.

He didn’t fall for it. “You’re not thinking about doing something stupid, are you?”

I shook my head. “No, just disappointed. Sorry for taking up so much of your time.”

He still gave me a skeptical look as I left, but didn’t try to stop me.

Katriana fell in with me as soon as I left, and we walked in silence for a few blocks until we met up with the rest of the group.

“Well?” Calliope asked.

I shook my head. “She’s been moved to someplace called ‘Whitewater Keep’.”

Voss whistled. “I’m not completely sure where that is, but it’s somewhere downstream of here- a tower house on a triangle-shaped island, where the river cuts between two cliffs. Whitewater rapids on two sides, the only calm spot is on the side that faces upstream, and it takes strong rowers to escape the pull of the water.”

I sighed. “So, how do we make this work?”

“Uh, Theodore...” Katriana said, “That sounds the next thing to impregnable. Well, at least for our purposes.”

I thought about it carefully. “Well, we can’t be looking at too many guards. A completely geographically isolated place like that would have to run on a skeleton crew. If we borrow a boat, find the tower, and arrive at night, it shouldn’t be hard to, functionally, take the keep.”

“Yeah, but you’re not considering the boat,” Voss said. “Six in a rowboat? We’re going to have to travel light. No armour, minimal weaponry, maybe shields. If there are more than two guards at a time, or if we wake up the rest of the garrison...”

“You’d prefer to do a frontal assault on Gauthi’s manor?”

Voss sighed. “Fair point but ... you’re asking a lot this time, Theo. Going light on equipment, possibly killing lawful guards...”

“Yeah...” I bit my lip, before replying. “Well ... I mean, Enna was as much of a victim as anything...”

“Yeah, but she was still a thief,” Voss replied, “Sorry, Theodore, but this is a bridge too far for me.”

“Sorry, Theodore,” Calliope replied, sounding sad but still reluctant.

I looked at my hands. I sighed. “Okay.”

Captain Hawkins was a little surprised to see me enter the guard house again and march straight up to the counter.

“I’d like to post bail for Smokey Enna. Is that a thing in this city?”

Hawkins sighed with resigned exasperation.

Sometime later, he led me into the area of the cells, where a drunkard was snoring loudly in one cell, and a certain stout woman perked up in the other.

“‘Ey! It’s you! That mage! Erm ... Theodore, right?”

I turned to Hawkins. “You lied to me.”

“I am sworn to justice, not truth,” he said candidly, “And in my defence, that was before you handed me a scrap of paper worth seven hundred gold.”

Seven hundred fifty, I corrected in my head. I felt keenly the loss of my promissory note, but it was (hopefully) for a good cause. Besides, as Hawkins had explained, I’d (hopefully) be getting it back.

He went over the rules of this little arrangement again for Enna’s benefit.

“I expect her back here in a week- that’s before nightfall on the seventh day,” he said as he hunted through a large keyring, “If you disappear, you and her both become wanted criminals and I keep your money. If she gives you the slip and you report her missing right away, maybe we don’t arrest you, but I still keep your money. If you or her commit a crime, I’ll arrest you both and keep your money. The only way this works out well for you is if you return her before the appointed hour, committing no crimes. Then you’ll get your money back. Clear?”

“Yeah, we get it,” Enna replied, “I’ll be jus’ the sweetest lil’ angel, I promise you that.”

Hawkins grunted, and unlocked the cell door. “Well, she’s your problem now. Good luck, or rather, bad luck, because if you screw up then I’ll wind up richer.”

“That’s nice of you,” I nodded to Enna, “Come on, you’re with me for the next little while.”

Outside the guard station, Enna stretched. “Wow, ‘at was nice of ya. So when’re we hoppin’ a boat? Tonight, I hope.”

I shook my head as we walked over to where Katriana was waiting. “We’re not leaving, and you better behave because I do want my money back.”

Enna blinked. “Don’t tell me that promise-sorry-note ‘Awkins was talkin’ about was the real deal.”

“Real as a letter like that can be, I suppose,” I answered, “Come on, my companions and I need your help for a job.”

We gathered up the whole party, found a deserted stretch of alleyway next to a blacksmith’s shop- work was in full swing and we could safely whisper under the sounds of multiple clanging hammers and the hiss of quenching.

I explained the whole situation- the hobgoblins, the mysterious cipher, the “Purification”, and all that.

“So here’s the deal,” I said, under the clamour of the shop, “You help us stage a robbery of Lord Gauthi’s manor, so we can look for the evidence we need to accuse him of consorting with hobgoblins and whatever this Purification thing is. You get a fair cut of the loot, which we can arrange with a banker for it to be held in trust until your release, and I think we can promise that there will be plenty of loot to go around.”

Enna whistled. “That’s a fine thing you asked for. A sixth of the treasure in some bigwigs’ mansion? Well, sure, I’m piqued. Let’s do this.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, which proved to be only momentary. Calliope stepped forward. “Excuse me, but how can we know that we can trust her? She’s just some ... gutter rat who was involved in that arson, yes?”

Enna barked a laugh. “Well, a gutter rate is the kindest thing anyone’s called me all week. Tell you something, girlie, I’m Smokey Enna. My mam was a human whore and me da was a dwarf customer who liked ‘em tall. The dwarfs call me a half-human and the humans call me a Mul, kinda like the animal. Dad couldn’t acknowledge me, and I didn’t want to go into me mam’s line o’ work, so I became a scapegrace and cutpurse. I know me way aroun’ a scrap, I know me way aroun’ a set of picklocks, and considerin’ that these folks know no less’n two groups of people who’d love to have me in a cell or headless, I’d say I’ve more reason to question your loyalty than you have to questions mine.”

Calliope flushed. “Well ... I guess you’re right. Sorry, it’s just been a hard few days.”

Enna grinned at her crookedly. “Think nothin’ of it. It’s natural to distrust others when discussin’ clandestine acitivities, ‘specially new people. But these folks saved my bacon once, so I can take their word on ya.”

A Mul, I mused. Originally from the Dark Sun setting, a half-human, half-dwarf race who come with decent bonuses to Strength and Constitution, penalties to Intelligence and Charisma, and a special racial ability that they never receive penalties from physical exertion. Sleep is another factor, but when it comes to marching, working, or anything else, they can literally go from sunup to sundown.

I frowned. A race that can literally go all night long

I had one HP and got out of breath climbing hills.