Part 4: Diagnosis

I went to see Basso after I had slept, but I didn't find him in his office. He was hiding out in Madame Xiao-Xiao's territory like many of the well-known fences of The City. With the embargo on the black tax, anyone still dealing in illegal goods and services would find themselves swinging from the gallows if they were caught. Madame Xiao-Xiao happily took this opportunity to offer sanctuary to those in need, for a price.

A ruinous cavern beside the House of Blossoms became a new black market and it was thriving as much as its predecessor. If you wanted a stall, you had to pay the Madame. If you wanted to buy something there, you had to pay the Madame. Fortunately for me, there were so many ways in and around those ruins that I wouldn't have to worry about the entrance fee.

Basso had made a small office for himself using old planks propped against broken pillars. I couldn't sneak up on him but at least he was pleasantly surprised to see me.

"Hey, Garrett! Don't tell me they chased you underground too, eh?"

"No, I was just following the stench from your other office." I took a seat on the ornate stool he had borrowed from the House of Blossoms. "Have you heard back from Illyria yet?"

His smile nearly left his face. "Right down to business, eh? No time for a little back and forth?" My stare was his answer. "I heard what happened last night. About the abandoned ship being blown into the waves... Were you there for that?" Again, my eyes told him everything he needed to know. "Jeez, Garrett... All those people... Sure, most of them were homeless leeches but who isn't nowadays?"

"I need to know what you learned about Accardi. I need to know how to put a stop to this."

Basso sighed and leaned back in his chair—another ornate loan from the House of Blossoms—then took a long drag from the pipe he kept on a chain. "Yeah, I heard back from Illyria." He shook his head and mumbled through the smoke. "Nothing real good or useful, though."

I wasn't leaving until he told me. I kept silent and waited for him to continue.

"Accardi came from the streets. He was desperate to feed his mother and sister, so he joined one of the gangs and did whatever they asked to make ends meet. Wasn't too fond of it, but what can you do in that situation, y'know?" Basso looked at his pipe as if it had lost its flavor. "From what I understand, a rival gang took out his mother and sister for payback or intimidation... My source wasn't really clear on that part. What he did know, though, is what came next."

He took another drag before he continued to talk. "Accardi snapped when his family was brutalized. His hatred for criminals reached its apex. The rumor is that he single-handedly brought down the rival gang, then turned on his own and wiped them from the streets of Illyria. With nothing to lose, he left a bloody trail that ultimately made the city streets a lot safer for the upstanding citizens."

"That's how he became a Thief-Taker."

"Not right away, no. He spent some time in Illyria's home for the criminally insane, but the public considered him a hero so he was released on the condition that he continued to work with a head-doctor to keep himself in check." Basso leaned across the large crate he was using as a desk. "Garrett, it was the doctor who recommended that Accardi become a Thief-Taker. He even helped him get all the credentials needed to start his career in Illyria."

"Then why was he allowed to leave there and come to The City," I wondered. "Did your contact find out anything about the doctor?"

"He didn't need to. We'll be able to do that part. Or rather, you will." Dust flew off the old crate when Basso dropped a newspaper between us. The headline was all I needed to see: Moira Asylum to Reopen Under New Management. Once again, the wealthy families pooled together their resources to fund a place to send their undesirables. This city never changes for the better.

"So his doctor is here..." The Thief-Taker's actions were starting to make sense, though that still left an even bigger question to answer. "I hope your boat is out by the docks because I'll need to use it."

"Whoa-ho-ho! We're not gonna be able to row casually over there this time." Basso put away the newspaper and worked on swapping out the tobacco in his pipe. "There's a whole army there right now. They've been sent to clean up whoever or whatever was lurking there after the riot. They're keeping an eye on the place while it's being refurbished."

His reluctance was irritating. "If there's an army there, then they have to be using some kind of boat to get them back and forth. I'll just have to catch a ride on that."

"Garrett, I'm not tryin' to underestimate you, but you are gonna get yourself killed if you go in that direction. We should just find out where this doctor lives and see if there's anything we can hold over his head to get things back to normal."

I wasn't above blackmail, but I still felt that the answer to all of this required a visit to Moira. Another time. I wanted to get to know this doctor, and if they were still renovating the asylum, chances were that he would be settling into his new home. "I'll let you know what I find out."


Dayport had only recently regained life. After the riots chased much of the affluent away, it took months for the Baron's Watch to clear out all the looters and squatters that wanted a taste of the so-called good life. To this day, security roamed the streets like dogs looking for anything to attack. I wasn't too worried about them. Those dogs were still too stupid to lift their heads and sniff the air.

The papers described Doctor Jordan Sarto as a true visionary in mental and physical health. It said that his arrival would herald a new age of wellness for The City. It also said that he had taken a reprieve from all his good work in Illyria to re-establish Moira, as if it would be a vacation for him. If he had seen the things I had there, he would know better than to consider the asylum something to visit on a sabbatical.

The doctor's manor stood out behind the brick and wrought iron fence that surrounded its grounds. His possessions were still being brought in at sundown and I had no trouble slipping past the servants while they struggled with a davenport. There were many decorative bushes to stand behind while the parade of furnishings went towards the front door. I worked my way towards a greenhouse that was attached to the manor's west wing. I almost made it without being detected but a very curious puppy saw me and wanted to make friends.

It was an unusually small dog with long fur that resembled a wig. I had never seen a dog like it before. Whatever breed it was, the pup definitely knew I had something for it. The tiniest paw tapped at a pouch on my right hip. A little smoked meat soaked in a tranquilizer was the perfect treat to keep such a friendly dog from following me around.

I gave the dog a pat on the neck—relieving it of its jeweled collar in the process—then skipped the treat across the yard. Once it ran away, I scaled the shaded side of the greenhouse and tipped along its iron beams to reach the window on the second level. It was sealed shut from the inside. Other windows were above me and I easily made it onto the roof of the first level with the use of Erin's claw.

Erin... Something made me think of her just then. I never really thought of her when I used the claw, though I still considered it hers.

As I worked my way towards the next window, a twinge hit me in the back of my head. I had felt it before, when Erin sent those visions that lead me to her. Was she reaching out to me again? That couldn't be possible. The ritual removed the primal.

I waited near the window for the feeling to pass. A woman was yelling beyond the curtains. Probably the mistress of the house laying into a servant.

"You impulsive fool! Look at all of the waste you have created!"

"But I did just as you said..." That wasn't a servant. There was no mistaking Accardi's accent, though his voice detracted from the confidence it usually carried. He sounded like a child berated by his mother.

"I told you to flush out the criminals, not drown them like rats in the sea."

"But Doctor—"

Doctor? He was speaking to a woman. A sliver of space between the curtains gave me a brief view of the Thief-Taker but I couldn't see who he was talking to yet. I had to be satisfied with listening for now.

"But Doctor, we pulled many of them from the waves and put them in irons. The ordeal weakened a lot of them, making the arrest that much easier."

"You attacked that ship as if you had no intention of making an arrest." The woman spoke in a dangerously calm tone. Accardi's authoritative posture had all but disappeared as he listened. "What's more, your actions afforded many of the skilled criminals a chance to escape. The petty criminals will have their uses but I need the unique and exceptional specimens for the plans to come."

He stood up straight as a feminine hand reached forward to caress his chin. Finally, I was able to get a glimpse of the woman he was speaking to. She was dressed in the finest imported fashions from Illyria, but her light complexion and auburn hair suggested a different origin. Then I reflected on the name from the article and it all made sense. Jordan was not an Illyrian first name. Doctor Jordan Sarto was a woman.

Maybe things were different in Illyria for women who wanted to practice medicine. The paper had referred to her as a man, but that could have been an error. Or a cover-up. We only knew female nurses in The City. Would a female doctor be so different from that? My mind filled with questions that kept me focused on the conversation for possible answers.

"You couldn't possibly imagine the opportunity I sense here, Francesco. For your healing and this city's. A power lingers here. It's in those beasts they found in the depths of the asylum and the ones that roam the sewers."

She knew about the Gloomlurkers in the asylum. Suddenly the Thief-Taker became the least of my concerns. No one with good intentions could want to have anything to do with those monsters.

I wanted to hear more but that twinge returned and caused my ears to ring. I recovered quickly but not quick enough to avoid the curtains being drawn back by Doctor Sarto herself. She looked pleasantly surprised to see me shaking off a momentary episode of vertigo.

"You... You're the source of the power I was sensing near me."

I saluted the good doctor and turned to run. By the time the Thief-Taker came through the window to give chase, I had already dropped down from the roof and hidden myself in the topiary that surrounded a small pond. Aristocrats were too fond of landscaping and that made it all too easy to get around their property undetected.

Or so I thought. The doctor must have done what she had before to cause my head to hurt because I nearly stumbled out of hiding. In dropping to one knee, I found the formerly playful pup asleep beneath the bushes close to me. That walking wig was going to be useful to me after all.

A light toss sent the dog rolling into a distance bush. The Thief-Taker went after the flash of movement just as I knew he would. By the time he would finish examining the doctor's pet, I would already be out of the yard and working my way along the rooftops of Dayport.


I didn't intend to stop moving until I made it out of the district. My head was pounding so much, I nearly misjudged a leap from one balcony to the next. It wasn't until I pulled myself up onto the roof of a house that I discovered something else had been done to me. A dart was embedded in the leather just below my left ribs. I spun around to see where it could have come from but by then, my vision was losing more and more of its focus.

"Be at ease, Master Thief." I could still recognize Accardi's voice even though it seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "The tranquilizer will put you in the best sleep you have had in a long time."

I had to keep going. He could have taken hold of me but he must have been waiting for me to fall. I reached the edge of the roof and could barely make out the next building. I tried to focus. A cart was coming down the street. I could hear its wheels turning when I focused on my surroundings. I could also tell which direction the Thief-Taker came from. I knocked his hand away before he could grab my cloak and he punched me in the kidney for my trouble. I should have retaliated but I knew a real fight would have worked the drug through my system faster. I used the momentum of his blow to carry me off the edge of the building in what could have been a fall to my death. Fortunately, the cart was there and I landed roughly in a thin pile of unwashed bed linens.

There was no time to think about the pain. The drug was already draining the feeling away from my limbs. I rolled sideways out of the cart and made it into a dark alley behind the very house I'd fallen from. I could hear the Thief-Taker yelling to the men who pulled the cart to stop and wait for him. By then, I had dropped to my knees and planned to crawl as far as I could—until my hand fell against my saving grace. With every ounce of willpower I had left, I worked a small grate open and dragged myself into the space beyond. There was barely enough room for me to turn around and rest against the wall I came in. I wanted to listen for Accardi's departure but the drug had finally become too much to resist. The world was black before I knew it and all I could hear was the sound of my breath.