Chapter One : No rest for the common man.
Codius sat at the pub in the Imperial City's Market District, waiting for Baurus to show up on his 'late night runs to the pub' ; Who knows when he would be there.
A few minutes later the door opened, and in walked Baurus.
"About time." Codius chuckled.
"Yeah," Baurus fidgeted with a string on his shirt, " Came all the way from Cloud."
"Martin hold you up again?"
"Yep," Baurus laughed. "I'm pretty sure he's doing it purposely to make me late."
He took a seat beside Codius, ordered a drink and gave a sigh.
"Nah," he said. "Just gets me, how he says no if I ask him if he wants to go earlier, but as soon as I say I'm heading out.." he made some motions with his hands. Codius laughed for a few, not caring if Baurus didn't appreciate being laughed at, they both knew it was all in good fun.
"Well I'm sorry Baurus but I think Martin kept you too long; I've got to go and get some rest," He clapped Baurus on the shoulder, "I'll come up to visit soon though."
"Later," Baurus waved a hand as Codius headed out the door.
Codius traveled on the backstreets, and after a few minutes he heard some footsteps behind him; so he moved his head to look over his shoulder only to Thoronir, one of the local merchants.
"Um, Codius…" Said Thoronir, while raising an arm to wave.
"Hey Thoronir," Codius waved back "Problem?"
"No, no problems here," Thoronir said, shuffling dirt around with his foot. "But uh," He stepped closer, "Listen, Codius, I know you don't wanna hear this, but Hieronymus is looking for you."
Codius frowned and propped his arms together. "Oh yeah? Probably Grey Fox business that he thinks I'm involved in; I just can't seem to convince him I'm not in with that group. Oh well. Thanks."
Thoronir nodded, and rushed off through the doors to the city's palace.
Codius shook his head, but just shrugged it off and went on around back through the gates to his waterfront home and unlocked his front door.
He didn't worry about changing and just lounged on the bed; drifting slowly into a light sleep.
~ 1 Hour later~
"Huh?" murmured Codius, angry at the knocks on the door at 3 in the morning. It was Lucien Lachance.
In accordance, Codius grabbed his sword and opened the door, already preparing to aim the sharp end of the sword at Lucian's throat.
"Well," laughed Lucian, jokingly putting his arms up. "Hello to you too."
Codius lowered the sword.
"Damn it...why the hell do you have to visit me ONLY at night? Is there a problem with daylight? You're not Vincente you know. There isn't a problem with you stopping by during the day."
"Oh Codius," Lucian sighed. "If I came during the day, it wouldn't be near as fun." He laughed and punched Codius on the arm.
Codius gave a groan. "What is it anyway Lucien, you've wasted enough of my time."
"Fine," Lucien scoffed before making a lip. He took a package out from his robes and spoke again, "New contract, want it?"
"Sure, I guess." Codius groaned. "Feel free to stay for a bit, but I'm going on to sleep. I've been traveling a lot, and things like this don't help me."
"I understand Codius, and trust me; it's not my idea to be coming around this late. I have to head back to Cheydinhal," Lucien stretched his arms. "Oh well, best be going. Later."
"Bye," Scoffed Codius, plopping onto his pillow once again.
~ 6 Hours Later ~
Light shifted its way through the window, aiming itself right into the eyes of Codius.
"Ugh, every day," groaned Codius, sitting up to rub his eyes.
He gave a sigh and stood up, making a slow journey to the chests, to throw on some brown linens and doe skin shoes.
A man's shadow could be seen outside of the door, the hand moved towards the door to knock.
"Who is it?" Codius grumbled, guessing already that it was Hieronymus Lex.
"Hieronymus," said the voice.
"Yep," said Codius, throwing the door open and gesturing for him to come inside.
Hieronymus nodded in thanks.
"So, what brings you here, Hieronymus? Grey Fox business here on the waterfront?" Codius taunted.
Hieronymus laughed. "Yes sir, and by that I mean I think you're involved."
"I know you do Hero man," Codius chuckled, raising his hands. "And I've got nothing to hide; check everything I've got."
One of the guards, Mali, was a friend of Codius'. So if Codius had something to hide, he knew where it would be and took the liberty of getting assigned to that one area.
Mali nodded every now and then to Codius, if he found something that Hieronymus would've used to incriminate him.
Codius counted him nodding about, five times, which didn't really surprise him; considering Hieronymus would use anything he could.
After a couple of hours, work slacked off and Hieronymus was looking very displeased. He had been told to call off the search.
Codius was slumped over in the chair, dim-wittedly smiling at Hieronymus and his foolish plan to exploit Codius and his 'non-existent life of crime and thievery.'
"Well," Hieronymus muttered. "We haven't found anything; I'll be going."
"Aw," Codius whined, "So soon?"
Hieronymus didn't bother. He just turned around and left, slamming the door behind him as loudly as possible.
Codius laughed to himself, "Man, if he used that over-sized brain in his head for something that actually made sense, he'd go far."
Codius stood there for a minute pondering, and scratching his head. Perhaps he'd go see Martin tomorrow; surely that would lighten the mood.
He walked over and took a peek out the window, only to watch Hieronymus kick rocks into the river stream. It made him laugh a little bit.
After a couple of hours, it was about 11pm.
He stretched his arms out and yawned, "Ugh, I probably need to sleep, got a long ride tomorrow."
He walked on to the chests, and changed into some more comfortable Pajamas.
Giving a sigh, he plopped himself onto the bed, and drifted slowly to sleep.
A knock on the door. 7am.
"Codius! Open up." Janus barked, begging for him to open the door.
Codius rushed to the door to let him in.
"By the nine, Janus, going around at 7am! You're not Gonna be back to Skingrad till tomorrow night you realize! I can't even stay here with you, I'm going to Bruma today." Codius shook his head.
Janus sat catching his breath.
Codius could only stand and watched, still shocked at Janus' sudden appearance. It had taken him by complete surprise.
"Codius, you can't leave yet either way. I have news..." Janus spoke with slurred words. He was breathing heavily, and just about to pass out as well.
"What? Janus, I've gotta head on, if I wait too long it'll be dark before I get there."
Janus grabbed Codius' arm.
It made Codius angry to be called off of his own plans, again, but he agreed to stay for a few.
"Codius, the mages' guild in Skingrad is under attack, I can't do it by myself, I hexed it till we get back, but you've got to help me." Janus pleaded.
It made Codius groan, but he still saw the distress in Janus's eyes. Only something major would've brought a man like Janus miles away from the comfort of his castle. Or at least something that would have taken long enough to deal with that by the time he got done, Janus would have burned to a crisp (due to his vampiric-nature, of course)
"Okay Janus. I'll head over there instead," said Codius, throwing on his brown linens, grabbing a plaid shirt, and racing out.
Having said that, Janus collapsed to the floor with relief, and instead of making the effort to find the bed and pass out there; he fell asleep on the spot, leaving Codius to figure it all out for himself.
~~ Stay tuned for the next Chapter ~~