Chapter 20

A week later Aden found himself sitting at Willa’s kitchen table with a half-drunken bottle of wine standing between them. He had requested the bottle with two chits the day before, as he planned for the worst consequences in his continued search for the secret code to the basement door. In his mind, the worst was being maimed or losing a limb, but the failure to find the answer was a close second.

He had spent most of the week scouring the library, hoping that the room held the secret code. Most of the texts were reference books or secondary references to the reference books, as he had speculated in his foray. He had been a creature of an academic institution and recognized the similarities. Nothing of interest was in the first book of the first shelf nor was there any secrets in the last book on the last shelf. According to one margin on a title page of a prominent text, Plantamas, a fellow student of a bygone day, was a ripping fart face. The sentiment left Aden steeping in nostalgia for a few moments.

With the help of a one-eyed former military messenger with a scar running from the front of his scalp to the back of his head, Aden had combed through the entire building again. The man did have a unique ability to identify little hidey-holes in the rooms upstairs but failed to find any niches in the headmaster’s rooms.

The text on molecular level resonances and destructive feedback was fascinating. After too many hours one afternoon churning through the first chapter, Aden knew he was sabotaging his own mission. Reluctantly he put the book back on the shelf and returned to searching. Another half-day was wasted trying to unlock without pain or personal mishap the secure room in the back of the library. Despite his best attempts, he got a nasty shock that left the muscles in his right arm twitching and an unmarked stubborn lock.

“Diabolical fiends or paranoid academia?” Aden asked, after explaining what he had seen and done.

“Evil scientists with masculinity issues,” Willa said before taking a big slug. “Or they were simply tired of everyone trying to steal everything and disappearing into the night. Who in their right mind would trust a wizard? Years or centuries – scurvy creatures like wizards don’t change.”

“All of it depresses me,” Aden said. “I have this huge lump of coal sitting just beneath my bellybutton that reaches all the way into my lungs, making me gasp for breath some days. This rock just sits there weighing me down, leaving no room for my innards to work.”

Willa snorted in her cup. “Harvest it and let me use it in my ovens. Smuggler’s war makes getting wood and coal expensive.”

“I’m serious,” Aden said, taking a last swallow before banging his cup on the tabletop.

“So am I,” Willa said as she reached for the flagon and refilled their cups. “They almost got in the door last night. Thom had only three darts for his blowgun and he used all three. All we got left is sticks and clubs. The battles are spilling into the daytime hours too and are cutting into our income because of rising prices.”

“What are they fighting over?”

“There is a ship in the harbor that can’t pay their customs duty,” Willa said. “It’s supposed to loaded with fabric, furs, and a chest of mixed metals. While the Harbor Master and the governor are arguing, the smugglers think they can board the ship and rob it, only there are three gangs and each lay claim.”

“Can you see the ship from the roof of this building?” Aden asked. When Willa nodded that she could, Aden concluded, “I could solve this little issue tonight, but I need to get something from the wizard school first.”

She gave him a crooked grin. “Nighttime ambush on an unsuspecting enemy behind their lines,” she said. “I like this. We’ve got a few that can help. You can really kill enough of them and get them out of our hair?”

“No killing necessary,” Aden said. “Killing people is messy and inelegant when a much more direct solution is available. Instead of trying to kill sneaky bastards that are used to dodging death, we sink the ship. Everyone goes home emptyhanded. Problem solved.”

“Unless we make sure they are on the ship,” Willa said.

“Too complicated for my taste,” Aden said as he poured his wine back in the flagon. “No need to waste this rotgut; it’ll save until we are done. Get me some people who can get me to the Hall and back in the dark.”

As Aden stepped in his second pile of ox patties, he was reconsidering his hasty decision to solve this problem. Thinking through the consequences now was a little late as they hastened up the dark street, listening to a gargled suffocation of a man kicked in the Adam’s apple. Moreover, destroying property that the governor probably wanted in his own possession was likely to bring down wrath. The week had been quiet since the last run in with the man, and Aden’s keen guess was that he was about to ruin his modest peace.

People had to eat though, he thought as they entered the square opposite the school. The three men and two women took off in opposite directions, creeping around the walls and checking for who-knows-who. A small scree sounded followed by a second one from the other side. Quick as he could be with key and phyzeec, Aden slipped inside and rushed for the weapons rack on the left. The third weapon, a long-twisted tube with a sphere on the bottom and capped with lantern top, responded best to his touch. He hoisted the weapon out of the rack and returned to the front door, locking it behind him.

The weapon began to hum in his hand as it pulled phyzeec from his fingers without prompting. They were halfway down the first street, when one of his escorts pulled him to the side into a deep shadow of the half-moon night. “We got company ahead.”

“Take another street?” Aden asked but the man shook his head with a sigh.

“I can zap them when they get closer but that kind of gives away who we are, where we are and what we are up to,” Aden said. “Unless...”

“Unless what?”

“New weapon to try,” Aden said, unable to keep the glee out of his voice while holding at the weapon. “I don’t know what will happen, but inquiring minds need to know.”

“Wizards,” the man next to him muttered with a full dose of disdain. “We lay low and wait for them to pass, if you don’t mind. Now hush and stay still.”

Six men, mostly young walked up the street without any stealth. As they drew near to Aden’s hiding spot, he heard one complain, “Why do we have to have to miss all the excitement?”