Yes, I have more Shalebridge stuff (I'm not addicted! I could stop any time I wanted!) This one, like 'Fiery', centers on King No One. In fact, I wrote it while taking a break from Edan's extensive narratives. Writing for a sane character was pretty refreshing.
For those of you who are interested, 'Stillness' is not quite dead. Chapter seven is in the works, I promise.
An Interview with M. Craner, Docks Master, on the subject of Edan Poshtoll Jr., AKA the Tallow Man, AKA King No One.
Edan? You want to know about Edan? And you're asking me? Pal, I worked with that boy for years and there's still some things I'd like to know about him. Sure I can tell you a few things, but nothing special.
I heard he got thrown into that nut house in Old Quarter. Heard he turned out to be some kind of murderer. Papers say he was the Tallow Man, but I ain't totally convinced… though you never really know, do you? It's always the quiet ones.
Yeah, Edan was a quiet lad. I still wonder how he ended up as a Stevedore. Most of the boys down here are the rowdy types. You know, young lads with enough energy to load up the ships all day and still run around half the night tavern-hopping and scouting out ladies. Edan was always different.
I remember when he first came looking for work that fall. He just came outta nowhere. It took me almost five minutes to realize he was standing next to me. But there he was; this scrawny… well, not scrawny. Kinda wiry, you know? Plus he was always kinda short, so he looked like a pansy. But let me tell you, that boy could work. Sure I wasn't too eager to just hand him a job. I mean, most of the boys on the docks I've known since they were knee high. But here's this strange boy; short, skinny, and looking like he'd been rolling around in someone's fireplace. At first I figured he was a runaway servant, see, but after I talked to him for a bit, I had him pegged for a Lord's son. He was real smart kid. So I look at this soot-covered boy with these big scared eyes and think 'I'll give him a job.' I thought because it was hard work, this 'Lord's son' would be running back to his Dad in a week or so. I was wrong, though, let me tell you. He put the other boys to shame, what with the way he worked. He was a lot stronger than he looked, and he was always on time. He never rattled away like the other boys did. He just worked. Edan wasn't a big talker, but he was pretty damn funny when he wanted to be. So the other boys kinda liked him, and they let him be.
I think that's probably the way Edan wanted it. He was a solitary type. For a while I never once saw him at a tavern or even out on the street. You see… Edan had this weird habit for a while. For a long time after I'd hired him, he always wore a hood. Now, for the first few months he worked on the docks, we had typical cold weather, so wearing a hood wasn't that odd. It wasn't until Spring started that it began to look weird. It got warm early that year, you remember, yeah? So by March most of the boys were already ditching their shirts, but Edan still wouldn't take his hood off. Eh, it was unusual, but I never called him on it. Then, one day, he just stopped. Wearing that hood I mean. He kicked it, just like that.
True, I had been a mite worried about him. You see, I've got no sons of my own, so the boys down on the docks are like my own boys to me. Edan was still a young lad. Only about seventeen or eighteen I think, so I kept an eye out for him when I could. For those months I never saw him anywhere but at work, and I was starting to wonder if something was the matter with him. But all of a sudden, he's walking around town in the evenings, chatting with the boys. I even think I saw him with a girl a couple of times. So I just figured he'd come out of his shell and gotten on with life.
Nah, he never told anyone much about himself. Eventually he said his father had been a farmer quite a ways from the City, but that he'd died of Plague Fever. When I asked him where he learned to read (not too many farmers can afford to send their sons to Grammar school), he just said he'd taught himself. He was a smart kid, that Edan.
So, he stayed on with us for about…. Eight or nine years, I'd say. Was kinda interesting, getting to see him grow up. I mean, when he joined on, he was this scrawny teenager that looked more like a scared rabbit than a boy. By the time he left, he was a grown man, calm as water. So calm, it was a little… eh, what's the word… unnerving. Yeah.
He left about the same time the City Watch built their new station down by the Bloody Ears tavern, I think. Just gave about a week's notice, then he was gone.
We heard about the fire almost before it really happened. Bad news travels damn quick. Fires were nothing new. The real shock was when Edan's name was all over the Tribune. He had been in the Gray Mare when it caught fire, and picked up some nasty burns. Now, this bit I've really only heard about, but the story is that when the City Watch searched him, they found some kind of trinket that belonged to some minor nobleman. This poor taff had been killed by the Tallow Man, see, so they went through is stuff, or what wasn't all ashes anyway, and found more things, so… there it was. They'd caught the Tallow Man. We couldn't believe it. All this time, we'd been working and joking with a killer! One or two of the boys actually quit and went off for different jobs once they found out. It was like… well who can say? It was just plain bizarre.
I wasn't totally surprised when I heard they'd locked him up in the Cradle. Anyone who can go about cutting people up and live well enough with themselves that they can live a completely double life has got to have something wrong upstairs.
Now you're telling me Edan's had his own private revolution in that Looney bin? I guess… I guess I should be shocked, but I'm not. I'm more… well… I guess I feel kinda sorry for Edan and his crazy friends. Apparently the City Watch just went in and boarded everything up. No one is getting out of that place. Those crazy taffers probably didn't even know what they were doing, but, for better or worse, they're stuck in there forever.