This is a poorly written chapter, I know that. I've got to go back and rewrite it. Maybe I should start handwriting my fanfics first because my writing comes out better when I hand write anything. And it probably doesn't help that I haven't been feeling well. Anyway, I'll be rewriting this chapter soon. Very soon. Possibly before I post the next chapter.
(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, the major plot and some of the dialogue but most of the subplots belong to me.)
Friday, April 3, 246
It was another cold morning and I was, yet again, the first to wake up. Since I had something in mind to do today, it didn't bother me. I dressed quickly and left the inn in search of Beka Cooper. She may not have been awake at the time. Everyone had heard of how she took down Orva who was running on Hot-blooded wine. She chased that woman all around the cesspool and had to walk her back to Jane Street. Poor gixie was probably exhausted if not sore. But I have to say, I'm impressed with her determination. Beka Cooper was going to be the dog people needed to watch for. She was going to be trouble for us rushers one day.
The streets were waking up as the people set off to do their daily work. I walked around, not entirely knowing where to go. I saw a group of gixies talking; they were probably in their later teenage years. "'Scuse me," I said the ladies as I approached. They turned to me, some flirted with seductive smiles while the others blushed bashfully. It was a rather mixed group. "Does anyone know where I can find Beka Cooper?"
The ladies seemed put off that I was in search of a different gixie. One of them answered, she seemed to be the shiest of the girls but I was glad when she spoke up. "Nipcopper Close," she said to me."Off Westerberk," she clarified.
"Thank you," I said. I gave her a wink before I left. The other gixies were jealous of the attention I gave her. It wasn't much attention to be honest, I could give her much more if she wanted. She was a pretty little thing, that one was but at that moment, my mind was focused on one gixie, and that was Beka.
My curiosity was getting the better of me. I needed to know what sort of gems were in the pouch. I would be satisfied, a little, after she told me. I was going to bribe her again. When I turned onto Nipcopper Close, spotting her was not hard. She was being attacked by little children throwing rotten vegetables at her. The were yelling at her to bring back their mama.
Were these children daft? Their mother deserved to be thrown in the cages for beating them and their sad old man. I got close enough to hear Beka's lecturing, "Your mam did a bad thing when she struck a dog with a knife," she said to the oldest gixie. "There's no forgiving under the King's law. You draw a blade on a Dog, the Magistrate sends you to prison. If your mama behaves, she'll come home one day. But she was going to prison the moment she attacked Guardswoman Goodwin with steel."
I decided to step in because it didn't look like the brats were convinced with her words. "Here, you beggars – you've done enough damage! Scat!" I reached into my coin purse to grab a couple coins. It was satisfy them for a while. "Be grateful you're still alive to cry for your ma. Be gratefuller still you da has two eyes in his head yet." I flipped the coins at them causing them to each reach up and grab the copper. If it would have landed, it would have been lost in the mucky streets. After collecting their money, they ran away.
I sauntered up to Beka, who a giving me a skeptical look. Her clothes were riddled with rotten veggie. I took the charm that Kora made Aniki and I wear to keep the muck off our clothes. It was less laundry work she's have to do that way. "Here," I said to Beka. "Kroa made it for me, to get stains out of my clothes. She does very good charms, our Kora." I looked around at the houses behind her. It looked like a fairly nice place to live. I know Kora and Aniki would love it. "Nice neighborhood, this. Handy to the markets and the riverfronts." It was rather conveniently located.
Beka didn't say much just followed the path my eyes had taken moments before. She then started to work on her clothes, getting the muck off. "Thanks," she said, once she was finished, and handed the disk back to me. "Appreciate it. I don't owe you anything, though."
I waved my hand aside. "Look, Cooper, I insulted you, offering a noble last night – I see that now. I was naughty." She glanced over at me sidelong but said nothing. That cursed black cat with the purple eyes came over and stretched himself up to my thigh. He flexed his claw and hooted them into my leggings. "Look here, you, whoever you are, I am not a scratching post." I bent down carefully to loosen the cat from my clothes and held him. If this cat ripped my clothes then Kora would give me to the Black God. I rubbed the cat's ears as I looked up at the pretty Pup. "A noble and a half," I offered.
Beka nipped her lip a little then said, "You don't want to know bed enough, I suppose. Pity." Curse her.
"Two silver nobles. It had better be worth it," I said to the tricky little thing. She told me to pay up. Her cat jumped out of my arms and onto her shoulder, giving me the perfect opportunity to slip her the coins. "Interesting cat, he is." I scratched the cat's chin and let the two silver nobles slide into her hands while the people on the street thought I was just petty the cat.
"Rough, sparkling stones, very colorful, tucked in reddish rock like the kind you find all over the Lower City," she told me softly. "My Dog have never seen any like them. We had another stone like these. Crookshank's grandson gave it to his wife, who's a friend of mine. My Dogs will find a mage to see what they are." She stopped, I guessed she was finished.
"Stones that two experienced Dogs can't name? That's a curiosity. This Lower City of your is all tied in knots you know." I looked down at her. "You take care, Cooper, before you get strangled." It would be such a waste of a good face and a well enough body to be killed off. I went on my way down the street while she said sommat to me. I didn't hear it well enough but I knew it was comment on my own.
I kept a good eye on the street, looking at the houses that people rented. I would have to look into this place a little more. Maybe I could keep a close watch on that pretty Pup friend of mine. I stopped a woman on the street. She was holding a babe in her arms while latched onto a child who was trying to get away.
"Who should I look for searching for a place to live in this fine neighborhood?" I asked her.
"The only available place tha' I know of," the woman said. "Is Mistress Trout's lodgin's. I believe what's left is a full house across from Beka's Cooper's boarding house or with the Pup. Either way, theys both Mistress Trout's." I thanked her and let her be on her way. I would have to find Mistress Trout at some point today. Renting a room would be perfect for me and my mots. I would search for the mot soon enough.
I had to get breakfast before Kora and Aniki woke up. I hustled to the Day Market and bought a few things. There was a bit of twisley in my room, yet so I didn't need to get more. When I returned, I kicked the doors and went into my room, like before. The mots came in, looking as if they'd been awake for awhile. Aniki had a fresh sheet of sweat on her, probably from practicing that sword of hers.
"I think I found us a place to live," I told the girls while we ate. "It's on Nipcopper Close, nice neighborhood."
"Is it, now?" Aniki said around a mouthful of apple.
"Indeed," I said to her. "I like the view, myself." I chewed the breakfast turnover in thought. "I'll search for the landlady some time today, before we head off to the Court of Rogue. Maybe we can fill in another job slot." We had been paid handsomely for guarding the place last time.
"Well," Kora said, standing gracefully, her dress flowing around her body. "I'd better put all of my things back in their cases." Oh Kora would unpack all of her things while staying at an inn. I rolled my eyes at her.
Later, about two hours, me and my mots set off to explore more of the city. I was waiting for the Puppy to leave her lodgings so she wouldn't see me striking a deal with her landlady. She would probably give me an earful, so I've learned last night. Maybe she'd enjoy the surprise of us rushers moving in with her. As a Puppy she would probably feel a little disgruntled because we would hide all of our less-than-lawful acts. It was what we were good at.
While we explored more of the city, getting to know it better, Kora stopped to talk to some of the people she recognized from the herbalist shops and met a few new people she could add to her list. She likes to be informed, our Kora does. We picked up something to eat while we toured the city and received some wary looks from some. My rewards were frightening to others – my scars. I prized them, remembering how I received them.
When it had become later in the evening, I departed from my mots and went to Nipcopper Close. Mistress Trout wasn't hard to find once I asked where I could find her. She seemed surprised when I came by to ask for her services. "You're needing a place to live?" she asked, eyeing me suspiciously. My clothes were too nice for her to believe I didn't have a place to live.
"Yes, me and two others," I said. "We were wondering if there was a place we'd be able to rent from you."
"Of course there is," the woman said. "I have one house with one occupant and another with no one in it." She looked at me in the eye this time. "Which do you prefer?"
"I'd like to live in the one with one occupant," I told her. "It'd be nice to get to know some people here, as we just moved here." She seemed to lap up my lies so she told me the details of the boarding home, which was surprisingly a good bargain.
I found Kora and Aniki at the Court of Rogue where Aniki seemed to be talking to the big chief, Dawull. "He's probably offering her a job," said Kora.
I nodded in understand. "I got us a place to live," I told her. She gave me a pleased smile and nodded. I was about to say more when I noticed that Ulsa mot making her way to me. Her eyes were focused on me as she sauntered up to us.
"Rosto, right?" she asked. I nodded. "Let's talk," she pulled me away from Kora who was rolling her eyes. "Hows about you work with me and my crew in Prettybone. We need a man like you in our district. And if pays fairly well. You get a third of your own work, which is better than some other districts, I'd say."
It actually wasn't bad. A third of the money or whatever it was I stole –assuming that she meant stealing. If it were killing, I'd better be paid on a whole different level than a common thief. "I guess a cove needs some work," I said. Ulsa understood that I had accepted her offer. She told me that I would join her tomorrow as today they were due to the Court of Rogue instead of their place in Prettybone.
Kora and Aniki were waiting for me in the end. Aniki seemed amused and displeased at the same time while Kora looked just plain amused. "What?" I asked them.
"I lost," Aniki said. "To that owl-man, Tunstall." Kora smiled openly at Aniki who just glared. She must have teased her. "I got work with Dawull," she informed me.
"I've one with Ulsa," I said to her. "That was fast." My mots nodded. "What of you Kora?"
"I refused my offer," she said. "I'll be around when the two of you are in need but I'm going to stick with my charms and laundry to make money. One of us needs to seem like a good one, right?" she teased. "Rosto found us a place to live."
"It's paid for the first month," I said. "Consider it a gift from me." I never gave gifts so my mots snorted in amusement. They would understand why I was so eager to move to Nipcopper Close the second they saw who we were renting with.
The night dragged. The more I watched this Rogue, the more I disapproved of him. There was something about him that made me want to drive a knife through his heart.