Journal of Rosto the Piper, King of the Court of the Rogue, Year of 252

July 23

The dogs of the Jane Street kennel raided the Dancing Dove tonight. I should have expected something like this. They're desperate to find the ringleaders of this new group and they don't believe that the Rogue and the Court of the Rogue isn't involved.

They'll be disappointed with what they find once they're done raiding the Dancing Dove. I refuse to let anyone involved with this mess into my court.

I suppose I should start making arrangements to bail my people out of the kennel. I need them to help me run the Court and if they're not around, I might actually miss some of them after a while. Luckily it seemed like most escaped the raid.

Still, it's going to be an expensive night for the Court.

Journal of Valeska, first queen of the Court of the Rogue, year of 158

September 26

A long day. Yet another murder and nothing to show of it. There's still no clues to who is responsible and the citizens of the city are starting to get angry. If I don't do anything soon or the guards don't do anything, there'll be riots for sure.

It's turning into one big headache.

The one murdered today was Rodon Slat. A decent man, but a little sloppy and dim. The guards are saying that he walked into a trap and I have no doubts that their words are the truth in this case. I was always warning him to be more careful.

It was Court Day for the dogs in charge of investigating these murders, so I decided it would be best if I snuck in to listen and see if they would reveal any new information. I had to go in disguise, but that easy for me to manage. A dress of a merchant's wife, a few cloths in the bosom, and a veil to cover my hair made me practically unrecognizable.

It's my hair that's distinctive. Once I cover that up, my face is pretty forgettable—a blessing at times.

I didn't learn very much in the way of the murders but I learned something else that peaked my interest—something about the investigating pair of dogs.

The first part of the Court Day was dull and predictable. I nearly fell asleep as some of the guards were making their reports for the week. The pair I was waiting for to report had been on the streets for a few years now, so they would be going after the newbies.

I saw my old trainer standing among the guards and had to turn away. If anyone would recognize me, it would be him.

Nearly two hours had passed before we got to the interesting part. The guards I was waiting for were ready to make their reports and had just been called up by the Magistrate. I was prepared to listen but then the woman beside me turned out to be more interesting.

"Poxy murderers," the woman growled as the pair stood up. She was dressed like a merchant and judging by the dyes on her fingers, I would have said that she dealt in trading fabrics.

My eyebrow raised at her comment.

"Murderers?" I asked, trying not to seem too curious. I wanted her to believe I was looking for gossip, not digging for any actual clues. The woman nodded.

"They murdered my boy a few winters ago," she informed me. "They were investigating a robbery and when he wouldn't give them the information they wanted to frame someone else, they strangled him and let their rat friends gut him. Poxy murdering dogs."

I had to hold back a smirk. My words were catching on and starting to enter the vocabulary of the everyday classes.

"And they were never charged?" I had to make sure that my voice held the correct tone and color of a scandalized woman.

"They cleaned up the scene too well," the woman replied bitterly. "They know how to make it look like someone else did it. Eventually they just pinned the murder on the old rogue, like so many other murders. Their hands are dripping with blood and they pinned it on someone else."

Her words stuck with me for the rest of the day. They cleaned up the scene too well.

That had been the most frustrating part of the murders so far. The bodies had been moved and the sight of murder hadn't been discovered. At the places where the bodies were found, there wasn't any sign of who was responsible or anything that could lead to the murderers.

It was too clean. Almost like the people who had placed the bodies knew what the guards would be looking for and what to avoid leaving behind.

Just another thing to consider in this quickly growing puzzle.