Seedra Willowflax - 2. A meeting with Weslock

A meeting with Weslock
It was the first time that Seedra had been into a brothel, but then six months of working for Wesloke had brought a host of new experiences - many of them ones that she had never in her wildest dreams imagined that she would be experiencing. The Street of Red Lanterns was quiet in the midmorning sun, with slaves cleaning the residue of the previous night’s activities from the pavement and doorways. The door of the Golden Lily was open, and she slipped in, making sure her lute was securely across her back in case it bashed into a doorpost. It was a new instrument, and had cost her a sizeable amount of her newly acquired wealth, but the sounding-board was skitchwood, which gave it a beautiful tone. The moment she had tried it out at the luthiers in Jewellers Quarter, she had known that she had to have it. There was no doorman on duty this early in the day, and she reached the lobby and had turned towards the door on the left hand side that opened onto the stairs down to the basement before a slight cough distracted her.
“Good morning, my dear. Can I help you with something? Are you looking for work?”
“Yes, always, but not the sort you are thinking off. I’m a musician, not a harlot.”
The middle-aged woman sat by the desk looked up from her paperwork, and smiled without malice. “We are both artists then, just playing different instruments. I assume you are a flautist?”
Seedra frowned. Was the woman making fun of her, or was she just an idiot? She didn’t recognise her. A girl called Tillian had been at the desk the three previous times that she had been summoned here to meet Wesloke. “I can play the flute as well. I prefer the lute, as it means I can sing at the same time. That’s why I have the lute.” She gestured towards the bulky and obvious instrument.
“Oh yes, so you do. I hadn’t noticed.” She grinned mischievously at this point. “I have jobs for musicians and singers as well, you know. They just don’t pay as well. But it would give you a good excuse to keep popping in here, you know.”
“What makes you think I need to keep popping in here.”
“Well you obviously know where you want to be going, and weren’t expecting me to stop you. Plus this is the fourth time you have been here in two seasons. And also, I was expecting you. I just didn’t think you would be so rude as to ignore me.”
Seedra blinked trying to sort and process all the information she had just been given. It was obvious that this woman, assuming that it was indeed her that she was expecting, knew something of why she was here. Trying to marshall her thoughts, she stalled with a standard response. “I apologise, my lady. I had no intention of being rude or boorish. I was merely trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible.”
“Carrying that great thing?”
“Well, I thought that a woman going into a brothel needed to look like an entertainer of some sort. I would prefer that they thought I was one that they didn’t feel gave them some sort of right to my body.’
“Your reasoning does you proud my dear. Although my girls are safe enough here in the Red Lantern district. The prince’s counsellors and guards see to that. I don’t want to keep you waiting though, as I am sure you have important business elsewhere. Just tell me - the instrument is a fine one - can you do it justice?”
“You can come and hear me play tonight at the Golden Griffon if you want. Then you can judge for yourself.”
“The evenings are a busy time for me unfortunately. Maybe you can come here after you have finished and play something for me as an audition? I shall let the door keeper know. What shall I tell him your name is?”
Seedra did a rapid mental spin through her disguises. Which one would be most suitable for this establishment? “You can tell him that it is Aderia. I am sure if you ask around you will hear good reports of me in the best circles.”
“I shall be sure to ask those in the best circles then, when they come this evening. I am pleased to make your acquaintance,“ - there was the briefest of pauses - “Aderia. You may call me Amoli.”
Seedra cursed herself for not having recognised the proprietress, but how on earth could she be expected to. Still, she hoped she hadn’t offended or made an enemy there. She bowed, and bid a polite farewell, and turned back to the door.
“Remember - come and show me how well you play. Good musicians are hard to come by, and harder to keep. I think we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Now what in all nine hells did she mean by that?
—-------
The room below was largely as she remembered it from last time. She still found current Rankan noble fashion a bit gaudy and busy, but she was getting used to it, and her exposure to better class establishments recently meant that she now appreciated how costly everything here was. It seemed surprising if it was only used for meeting lowborn agents like her, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe in the evenings, this was where the meetings took place which actually did the deals. The meetings that she was sure went better for Wesloke because of the information she provided.
Wesloke was already there, obviously.
“You’re late.” he said without rancour or emotion. It was a statement of simple fact, rather than of reproval.
“I got into a conversation above. With Amoli.”
“Ah, I wondered how long it would take her to take an interest in you. She is a perceptive woman.”
“She offered me a job. Well a possible job.”
“She probably would pay more than I do. I am surprised you would consider that though. I pay you enough to keep you out of the poor house surely?”
“No - not that sort of job. As a musician.”
“You would fit in well. I heard you last night at the Golden Griffon. Your playing was very good. It sounded different from before as well. And you use that new flute well.”
“Yes. I saw you. And I think Commander Vordenheim with you, and some others I didn’t recognise. Thank you for the flute. The illusions are very useful to draw attention away. And help make Aderia very distinctive. Plus the magic from that hides any other magic. I have been practising those exercises you taught me.”
“Good, good. You are proving a promising pupil. Hopefully you won’t throw it all in to become a musician full-time. If you are tempted, there is one coin I have which Amoli has no idea of. Plus I doubt she would be as tolerant as I am of you filleting all her customers. I’m not sure you have the right temperament to work for her without trouble brewing. And you know me, I don’t like trouble.”
“I don’t think I do know you, and I doubt anyone else does either. I think we all just know the you that you want us to know.”
“Very true.”
“Anyway, I haven’t taken out too many people, and none of them have been your customers.”
“Maybe not, but the last one was a captain of the watch.”
“A captain of the watch with very wandering hands, and a rather high view of his own impunity. It turned out he wasn’t as immune to the consequences of his actions as he had thought. But yes, it means Samarra has had to flee the city, unfortunately. It’s not like you have had to cover my tracks or anything.”
“I have put a few rumours on the street to corroborate that Samarra was seen fleeing. And I arranged for a horse to be conveniently stolen.”
“Thanks, I guess. But the bastard still deserved it. I’m working on some of the invocations you taught me though. I can put off the weak-willed now, either get them to lose interest or think that they have had their jollies. He was just a bit too strong willed for me, and wouldn’t take a simple no for an answer. He did take six inches of cold steel through his scrotum though. Good thing he had a thing for high boots.”
“I don’t understand though. You were quite happy with the mission I set you to find out where Molin Torchholder was keeping that scroll. I expected you to balk at it, or for him to end up dead.
“I didn’t realise I could refuse anything you asked me to do. Or that you wanted him dead. You should have told me. He was a decent bloke, anyway, as they go. Nothing weird or kinky, and he be honest, he didn’t have a lot of energy at his age, so I didn’t need to do much. I think he really just wanted the companionship. Someone he could trust, ironically. Anyway, it’s completely different. I was in control of the situation. Nothing was being forced on me. You didn’t actually tell me what I had to do, merely what you wanted, and a suggestion as to how I could go about it. I’m guessing that you had already tried sending someone to just directly steal the scroll.”
“Very perceptive.”
“I’m guessing someone called Silent, or Slithery, or Scout. What is it with you and names starting with S? Is it because we are all spies for you? Nah - I think it’s more than that. I think that actually, your memory isn’t as good as we all think, and you don’t want to write any of this down in case someone finds it, and you have agents like Shadow and me in a whole bunch of cities. I reckon if I went to Ranke, then I would be working with someone called Rapier, or Rascal. It’s how you keep track of things.”
“An interesting idea. Potentially critical information. Today’s lesson - don’t offer information for nothing. In this city, information is power, just as much as money is - maybe even more. You just gave me something for nothing, just to flatter your ego. That’s bad business.”
“I think I was just trying to show you that you don’t hold all the cards. I’m not just some lackey who is just there to take orders. I can think as well.’
“Hmm, but I still hold the trump card, don’t I. Having people working for you who can think is good, up to a point. I wouldn’t want you to run away with the idea that you can strike out on your own. And don’t think that you can ever piece together anything that can be more valuable to the Quarls than what I know. And only I know.”
“What about Shadow? She might know, or might be able to piece it together.”
“Shadow is a master of discretion. I think she can actually tell herself to forget things. Plus, secrecy is her default mode. Anyway, how do you know about Shadow?”
“You told me.”
“No I didn’t. I do remember things like that.”
“OK. So when you first found me, I wondered how you had tracked me down. So I did a bit of inquiring of my own. You’re not the only one with contacts in this city. I guessed that scumbag had followed me from the Vulgar Unicorn so I asked a few questions. People remembered him, and that he had been with a woman. So I kept a watch out for her. I guessed you would put a tail on me. She was good at being discreet, but not quite good enough for me to not spot her. It’s interesting though - she has a sort of instantly forgettable face doesn’t she. Even now, I don’t think I could describe her to you. Anyway, I cornered her a couple of days later and we had a chat.”
“She shouldn’t have told you her name though.”
“It took a while to find it out. Maybe one day, I’ll let you know how I found it.”
“Hmmm. She never told me this. I obviously need to have words.”
“I suspect she was embarrassed that I spotted her.”
“Well, she will be annoyed now that you have told me, I am sure. You obviously don’t fear her wrath. Weren’t you afraid that talking to her would make her more likely to make the connection.”
“I figured she either knew already, or wasn’t going to work it out.”
“A risk, none-the-less. Which reminds me why I asked you here. I have a mission for you. I need a message taken to the Mayor at Sandsford. While you are there, I want you to see what you can find out about a merchant called Drayson.”
“You want me to take a message for you, and then sniff around a merchant? What am I looking for?”
“I’m not sure, so spend a week there, or so. More if you need it.”
“A week! Plus the journey there and back? You have plenty of messengers, Wesloke. And I am sure someone local who can ask questions. What’s going on? You’re trying to get me out of Sanctuary for a couple of weeks, aren’t you?”
Wesloke ignored her question, and continued to look levelly at her. “The message is urgent. I need you to leave tomorrow. First thing.”
“OK. So you want me out of Sanctuary. Not just lying low. I haven’t done anything recently that could but heat on me, or at least not that sort of heat. So it must be old heat. So that means it must be the Quarls. Old man Quarl is coming to Sanctuary. That’s it, isn’t it.”
Wesloke said nothing.
“Hmmm. Maybe I should try and collect the set. Someone needs to show old man Quarl some justice of the type he would understand.”
“No. That’s not happening. To start with, you wouldn’t get anywhere near him. And you certainly wouldn’t get away with it. Secondly, Lord Quarl is a major Rankan nobleman. It would reflect badly on the prince if he were to be assassinated while he was in Sanctuary. To say nothing of the upheaval it would cause between the noble houses. I could do without the uncertainty. Lord Quarl may be a little old-fashioned in the way he acts, but he is a predictable quantity, and I like predictability. Thirdly, he’s not coming to Sanctuary.”
“Oh. So why are you sending me away?”
“Vordeck, his master of assassins, is coming, I suspect to keep tabs on the prince, or do a bit of agitating of his own. Whatever, some of the men with him might be men who were with Alogard. I don’t want the chance that someone might recognise you.”
“They wouldn’t.”
“Serpent did.”
“Yes, by my playing style. It takes a practised ear to hear that. Plus I have changed my playing style. You noticed it.”
“Well done - I know that is hard to do. But whatever, there is no need to run the risk.”
“I can look after myself. I don’t need you to protect me. You’re just making sure that I remember the hold you have over me.”
“You can’t and you do. And I’m not. You are a useful asset that I don’t want to waste, just as you are starting to learn your craft. The trip will do you good, anyway. Enjoy the change of pace. Fresh air. Drinking water you can see through.”
“Country wine…”
“Well, obviously not everything is perfect. But I do genuinely care for your well being. You could do with a change of pace. I think part of you still misses the forests.”
“Oh I know you care for me.”
An eyebrow was raised.
“Your first reason for not wanting me to kill Quarl was that I might get hurt. The hassle it would cause you was only reason number two.”