Part 11: Trust Issues

I thought I would keep my head down and rest for the next few days though it was more for Basso's sake than my own. No doubt when Baron Stonebridge caught wind of my involvement in Galingale's escape, he would come after me by any means. I could never convince Basso to move his office—it was too close to the booze and black market goods he loved. It was pointless to hide him, anyway. His style of business always made him easy to find.

I knew sooner or later I would have to confront the Baron and that later came sooner than I expected. He sent for me the morning after the breakout. I didn't answer right away but at dusk, I tracked down Basso at one of the nearby markets for information.

I waited for him to wander by a dark alley and reached into his basket for a loaf of bread.

"THIE—" He stopped short when he saw me and coughed to cover up his mistake.

"I hope that was some sort of stutter and not a cry for the Watch."

Basso looked around to make sure no one took him seriously before he ducked into the shadows to talk. "What's goin' on with you? Did you break that Pagan witch out of The Bridge?"

"It was for a good reason."

"Treason always is, isn't it?" He spared another glance out into the open. "Well I told the Baron's associate that I'd deliver his message 'if' you stopped by, but for your sake you better leave the messages to the magpies. He may have eyes on my office."

"Or on you." I handed over a silver pocket watch from a man I sapped while hunting for him. "You were being followed."

"Dammit." Basso appraised the watch before he hid it away. "There goes that income."

"This is just between me and the Baron. He may still commission you for a lower quality thief some day." I smirked a little, then got to the point of my visit. "I need to know where the Baron may be keeping any relics he's confiscated. His manor seems a bit too obvious; there has to be somewhere else he's holding things he really doesn't want the people to have."

Basso stared thoughtfully at the bread in my hand. "I did hear that his men took a bunch of art—sculptures and carvings—from the quarantine zones and any Watchman that tried to pocket someone's abandoned valuables. A quarantine's as good a time as any to steal from the rich. You'd know that better than me." He rubbed his jowl to jog his memory. "As for where it all might be? There's an abandoned museum in North Auldale that has a suspicious amount of hammerheads visiting the property. All of the exhibits were taken out of there years ago, so I can only imagine that something might have been stored there recently."

I put his bread back in the basket. "Next time a thief steals from you, Basso, don't call for the guard. Call for me."

"Yeah-yeah. Slip of the tongue, really. Now get outta here before they send me another friend."

I was already on my way.

I knew the museum Basso was talking about. It used to house a lot of antiques from an ancient city below The City but after a thief disproved its security system and took a lot of valuable pieces, it couldn't keep any business. The whole event was before my time or I would have been glad to take the credit for shutting it down.

There were soldiers patrolling its outer gates in pairs. Their pattern was predictable as usual and it didn't feel like a challenge getting past them. I slipped in through a side door the guards weren't passing so often.

I felt odd when I crossed the doorway—like my attention was being pulled in every possible direction. This had to be where the Baron was keeping all the primal artifacts he confiscated. I wouldn't be able to tell which one was the book but I certainly had an opportunity to do some shopping.

The hallways were well lit but that didn't seem to be a problem for me. There were no guards inside—either that or they were doing a good job of hiding. Mechanical cameras were around every corner but they were primitive, and I had enough water canisters for each of their candles. I expected a lot better security than this from Stonebridge but I hadn't gotten to the collections yet.

I looked over a balcony into the first display room I found. Most of the artifacts were uninteresting but there were a few that itched my senses.

With so many primal relics in the building, I was having a hard time keeping my normal senses focused. I almost missed the sound of a curator approaching the balcony. I lowered myself to the show room before he caught sight of me.

"Good evening, Master Thief."

The Baron was waiting for me near the showroom doors—had I stumbled into a trap he set for me? I backed up to the nearest wall but kept my eyes searching every direction for a way out.

Stonebridge held up his hands and approached me. "I don't want to hurt you, thief. I just want to know why."

"Good question. Why did you lie to me about the book?" I backed along the wall until the hairs on the back of my neck told me there was someone behind me. The lieutenant stepped out of a corner that was close to me and forced me away from the wall. I started to cross the open floor but as soon as I came center, a twinge in my right eye nearly knocked me off-balance.

I held my right eye and my left was almost too blurry to see the circular pattern that lit up around me. What I thought was just a pattern of decorative symbols turned out to be a barrier in the middle of the floor. Now I was in the real trap—I stretched a hand beyond it and pain raced from my fingers to my shoulder.

Baron Stonebridge thought he might try to talk some sense into me. "I am sorry that I lied to you about the book. I couldn't risk it falling into the hands of whoever your client might be."

"It wasn't for a client, it was for me."

That took him by surprise. "What for?"

Under the circumstances, I wasn't feeling too generous with information. "It doesn't matter. You owed me, and you went back on your word."

The lieutenant barked, "That's no reason to switch sides! Don't you realize what you've done?"

I was through talking it out. Most of my attention went to the pattern around me. The symbols were written in a different style but they looked like the glyphs the Keepers used. That made me wonder if I could manipulate them in the same way.

"This curse is getting out of hand." I heard a strain of desperation beneath the calm in the Baron's voice. "That priestess could have helped us stop it."

"Under threat of torture?" I looked at him and waved my hand in front of the barrier to test its reaction time. "Lying to others is one thing but lying to yourself is a dangerous habit."

"Don't be stubborn!" The lieutenant barked again but Stonebridge raised his hand to keep things civil.

"Considering our history, Master Thief, I know we have the same intentions. We both want to keep The City and its people from being destroyed. But we have to work together on this! We have to remain on the same page."

We stood toe to toe on opposite sides of the barrier. I was ready to make my move but I had a few words for him first. "If you really want to protect this city—and not just keep the primal for yourself—you'll use what's in that book to shut it down for good."

He started to say more but his lieutenant approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. Good; I needed them together. They communicated with their eyes and I took that opportunity to act. I knelt down and pinched the symbol that marked the start of the barrier's pattern. It hurt but I grit through it and pulled the whole pattern off the floor.

The Baron and the lieutenant were fixated on the hand that held the pattern like a draping cloth. Despite the pain, I held onto it because I had another idea in mind: I whipped it along the surface of the floor and aimed for their feet.

"Shit!" The lieutenant jumped back in time to avoid it when the pattern reformed around Baron Stonebridge. It would have captured them both but I had a plan B. He tried to jump me and I lifted my left arm to block his grip. The lieutenant didn't see my right hand go for a flash bomb and I smashed it into his face before he knew what happened. Then my leg swept him the rest of the way to the floor where I knocked his head for good measure.

"Wait, Master Thief!"

I spared Stonebridge a glance on my way past him. For what it was worth he looked genuinely hurt by my actions; like a father whose son refused to take on the family business. Being caught in a trap didn't help me see things his way but I kept that look in mind. While he made his plea, I threw a rope to the balcony and worked my way up.

"You are the key to all of this! I need you with me!"

"Should have thought of that before you lied to me." I heard footsteps and reached up in time to pull a guard over the edge. It looked like he was preparing to cut the rope out from under me.

"If I thought I could have trusted you with the truth, I would have. Trust is something we all have to earn, Master Thief. Please hear my side of things before you decide I'm not worthy of yours."

I stared down at him while I pulled up my rope. I didn't have time to look as deeply into his future as I would have liked, and what I saw didn't make enough sense to be useful. The call of shouting guards told me it was time to leave.

I had to leave empty-handed and it was a sore feeling, but the building was flooding with guards and there were too few shadows to see my way around discreetly. I had a lot to think about after that encounter with the Baron but I also had an appointment to keep. It was time to rest and prepare for that.