Anders shuddered as Thanquil’s will dominated his own. “I don’t know,” the man whined.
“What do you know?” Thanquil screamed back into the man’s face.
Anders just groaned on the table, the question was too open, there was no answer. Thanquil was just about to ask another when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, he struggled against the pull but he couldn’t match the Black Thorn for strength and slowly he found himself dragged away. Thorn positioned himself between Thanquil and the prone form of Anders. From his peripheral vision Thanquil noticed some of the guards taking an interest but none were investigating.
“No more of that, Thanquil,” Thorn said his face as stern and unyielding as the steely tone in his voice. “Anders might work fer Drake but he works fer me too an’ I ain’t ‘bout ta let you question him like that. Time was you didn’t like ta ask questions, as I remember it.”
“If he knows anything…”
“He don’t,” Thorn interrupted.
“I dunno,” Henry cut in. “Reckon we should let the Arbiter at him. Might finally get the truth from the little bastard.”
Anders rolled off of the table and onto the floor. “I know we’ve had our differences, my dear, but I don’t think that’s cause to want me tortured.”
Henry just shrugged.
Thanquil turned back to Thorn. The man seemed taller than he remembered, towering over him as he stood between the Arbiter and Anders. “I need to be certain.”
“Ya can be certain. I’m tellin’ ya, Anders don’t know nothin’. Good?”
Thanquil forced his breathing to slow and unclenched his jaw. He did trust Thorn, despite or perhaps because of all they had been through. He also knew there was no sense in arguing, he was a little outnumbered. “Fine,” he said. “Sorry, Anders.”
“Good,” Thorn said. He turned and extended a hand to Anders, helping him up from the floor. “Truth is we’re here on Drake’s leave.”
By the curses that erupted from the rest of Thorn’s crew Thanquil judged he was not the only one surprised.
“We workin’ fer that fuck again, Thorn?” asked the girl, Rilly.
“Nah,” Thorn said, his one eye staring at Thanquil with doubled intensity. “We ain’t workin’ fer him. But he’s knows we’re here an’ his pirates know ta leave us be.”
“Why are we here?” asked Six-Cities Ben before breaking into a grin. “Not that I ain’t enjoyin’ some of the attractions.”
Thorn sniffed and looked to Henry who shrugged back, then he turned back to Thanquil. “Reckon this is one of those things we should be talkin’ ‘bout somewhere a little less public.”
Thanquil nodded. “Lead the way.”
Thorn led them to one of the ships at Fortune’s Rest that acted as a brothel. He paid for a room, the largest cabin the ship had, and, much to both Anders and Ben’s disappointment, no women. The request was unusual to say the least but the woman in charge was compliant enough when she saw Thorn’s face and even more so once she saw his money.
Thanquil was the last into the room and the big quiet one, Suzku, closed the door behind him. Thanquil hadn’t managed a step into the room before a big hand touched lightly on his shoulder, he turned to find Suzku staring at him with equal parts wonder and curiosity. He wore a light suit of bronze-link despite the weight of it and a white robe over the top with a white wrap around his head, he was as tall as the Black Thorn and even bigger in build.
“You have no colour,” the man said with not a trace of wilds drawl in his voice.
“Um,” Thanquil grunted stepping away from the man. “Thank you.”
He moved further into the room, finding himself a wall to stand with his back to. Thorn had found a similar wall and stood with a similar posture, Anders had collapsed onto the bed headless of the sexual deviances that had no doubt been performed upon it, Henry stood in the centre of the room with her hat tilted to hide her face, Ben collapsed upon a chair and stretched with a noisy yawn and Rilly paced about the room like a caged animal waiting for a chance at freedom.
“So yeah, there’s a reason we’re here an’ it ain’t jus’ ta see how fucked up some of these folk are. Henry an’ Anders already know this; looks like we got another line on Kessick.”
A hush fell upon the room as all the members of the Black Thorn’s crew gave each other significant glances and Thanquil let out a mental sigh. Fate may have forgotten that he existed but it didn’t stop it having a keen sense of irony. He had purposefully shirked his responsibilities and his orders to come here chasing Jezzet and yet he already knew how this conversation was going to end.
“You’re chasing after Kessick,” Thanquil said, purposefully not making it a question.
“Aye,” said the Black Thorn. “Have been ever since I escaped the Inquisition. Truth is I thought he’d killed a couple of friends of mine. Turns out now they’re both still ‘live an’ at least one of them is fuckin’ Morrass. Seems he might have mentioned that last I saw him.”
“She’s not…”
“S’not the issue. Bastard still took my eye an’ I mean ta pay him back fer that. An’ I made a deal a while back. Still lookin’ ta hold up my end if you’re still good fer yours.”
“My end…” Thanquil repeated.
“I kill Kessick,” the Black Thorn said, his one eye staring at Thanquil, “an’ you get me that pardon. Don’t much like these Arbiters comin’ after me.”
“You were never… There aren’t any Arbiters hunting you.”
“Aye? You tell that ta the one that killed Rilly’s da’ an’ Ben’s brother. ‘Cos the bastard was after me an’ no mistake. Don’t much want any more bein’ sent.”
Thanquil nodded.
“Good,” continued Thorn. “Man here who knows where Kessick is goes by the name of Carlston Barrow an’ it jus’ so happens we got some unfinished business with that fuck too. Now we were lookin’ ta go at him the hard way with a long session of arduous torture. Reckon Henry was lookin’ forward ta it but I know fer a fact Suzku ain’t too fond of the torturing.”
The big man by the door nodded solemnly. “Seen it once too many times in my life.”
Six-Cities Ben leaned forwards on the chair, rubbing his hands together with a wide grin. “Oh I’ve been waiting fer this, a few gritty details from Pern’s past. So how many times you seen men tortured?”
Suzku shrugged. “Once.”
“It ain’t an issue no more,” Thorn continued. “Seein’ as you clearly don’t mind askin’ questions these days, Thanquil, reckon you could do the interrogatin’. Use that compulsion of yours fer good.”
“Wait,” Rilly shouted. “We workin’ fer the Arbiter now?”
“The Arbiter’s workin’ fer us,” Thorn shouted back.
Thanquil snorted. “The Arbiter’s working with you.”
“Same bloody thing, Thanquil.”
“Nah,” Rilly was still shouting. “Don’t trust ‘em an’ neither should you. Fucks tried ta kill you. Killed my da’. Killed a lot o’ folk.”
“Rilly would you jus’ shut up,” Thorn said his voice taking on a commanding tone. “’Cos if you don’t, by the hells girl, I’ll…”
“What?” Rilly asked. “Ya ain’t gonna hit me.”
“I’ve hit girls younger an’ prettier an’ who deserved it a damn sight less.”
Thanquil looked at the young woman, her delicate features were at war with her posture, her attitude and her appearance. Bright red hair cut to various maddening lengths, piercings through nose, ears and lips, a scrawl of ink across the base of her neck disappearing below her bulging jerkin. She also had the foulest mouth Thanquil had ever heard on a woman and he had lived with Jezzet for over a year.
She snorted. “Da’ never fuckin' hit me. You won’t neither.”
“Ya da’ shoulda taken a fuckin’ lash ta ya back on his boat. Might have taught ya a few manners.”
Rilly sneered at Thorn. “What makes ya think he didn’t?”
The Black Thorn let out a groan and shook his head. “Henry.”
The little woman turned and Thanquil saw a grin from underneath the hat. She advanced on Rilly silently, her hands open and ready. Rilly backed away, her anger and courage both forgotten.
“Alright,” Rilly said as she bumped into the far wall. “Alright. Enough.”
Henry tipped back the front of her hat and Thanquil could clearly see the sneer on her face and the scarred lip that created it. She was pretty in a strangely feral sort of way but Thanquil knew just how dangerous the little woman was. “Glad we had this talk,” Henry said with a wink and walked away. Rilly quickly took to sulking.
“Right we are then,” Thorn said eyeing each person in the room. “Any other questions.”
Thanquil held up a hand. “I’m wondering what it is this Carlston Barrow does for Kessick.”
“Oh, I know this one,” Anders said from the bed. “What we know for certain is he’s providing Kessick with people.”
Thanquil waited for the man to elaborate. He didn’t.
“That can’t be it.”
“Might be there’s more to it than that. These folks he’s sellin’ ta Kessick they all got what you Arbiters call potential. Swift used ta work fer Kessick doin’ the same thing up until Henry gutted him.”
Henry spat.
“Well Suzku used ta work fer Swift an’ he said Kessick gave Swift some sort of jewel or somethin’ which set ta glowin’ ‘round certain folk.”
Thanquil’s hand reached into one of the hidden pockets of his coat but came out empty, he had lost his own gem to the witch's daughter back in Fort Talon.
“Near as we can figure it he’s recruitin’ folk with this potential. Creatin’ an army of evil Arbiters or something.”
Thanquil thought about telling them all the truth but decided against it. The Inquisition’s dirty secret, its connection to the demons was something he wanted to keep hidden if possible. It was something he had to keep hidden, something all Arbiters had to keep hidden.
“No more questions?” Thorn asked. “No more whining?” he looked at Rilly. “Good. ‘Cos I happen ta know jus’ where we can find Carlston Barrow.”
Thanquil hung back with Rilly at Thorn’s request. Carlston kept guards and the Black Thorn’s cunning plan was to simply take them by surprise and, as he was quick to point out, Arbiters were not entirely inconspicuous. Though as far as Thanquil could see, neither was a tall, one-eyed, heavily scarred Black Thorn.
“Got a hole in ya coat,” Rilly said. She was leaning against the wall of the boat,
the Very Same
, in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Thorn.
Thanquil looked down at the bottom of his Arbiter coat. She wasn’t wrong. He shrugged. “Dragon bite.”
Rilly snorted. Thanquil ignored her.
The Very Same
was a fat bottomed craft better suited to transport of people or cattle. It had plenty of cabins varying from cupboard-sized to inn-sized and held regular bare knuckle fist fights. It was also one of Carlston Barrows most popular places and where he conducted much of his business. He was a loaner and a fixer and a bookie and a hundred other things as well. He was extremely well connected and had a small army of tough, violence-inclined bodyguards all willing, able and more than willing to kill or maim on his command. Despite this the Black Thorn had not seemed particularly troubled.
“You an’ Thorn go a ways back?” Rilly asked staring at him from her section of wall. They were waiting in one of the cupboard-sized cabins until one of Thorn’s crew came to give them the good news.
“We… we fought against each other for a while, then fought with each other for a while longer. I was the one who sent him after Kessick. Just assumed he’d run off back to the wilds afterwards.”
Rilly spat. “’Stead Kessick beat ‘im, ripped his eye out an’ kept ‘im prisoner at your Inquisition.”
“That certainly seems…”
“An’ you jus’ left ‘im there,” she snorted. “Fuckin’ witch hunters.”
Thanquil shot her a sidelong grin. “You’re almost like a little Henry.”
Rilly’s expression darkened even further. “I’m taller than her.”
A brooding silence settled over the cupboard as they waited for word and Thanquil almost started to fear Thorn’s plan had failed, that the rest of the crew were dead and he would be stuck in the cupboard with the angry little woman for even longer. Then the door opened to the moustached face of Six-Cities Ben.
“Were you two getting’ friendly in here?” he asked.
“Fuck off,” Rilly said bashing into Ben’s arm as she barged past him. He only laughed in return.
“Believe it or not, Arbiter, she’s usually very cheerful.”
The room was carnage. Carlston Barrow had his own cabin on
the Very Same
and he had it decked out with a wealth of finery. Most of that finery, from the desk to the paintings to the rug to the devilishly pretty whore in the corner, was now speckled, or in some cases covered, with blood. Four bodies lay on the floor inside the room and another one lay outside with a steadily seeping red wound on her back. Carlston himself seemed uninjured for the most part unless one counted unconsciousness as a form of injury. He was an ageing man, round but thick with long disused muscle, with a healthy colour to his skin and reek of smoke about him even when unconscious.
“Taking them by surprise seemed to work,” Thanquil mused as he stepped over the body of a tall, slim man with hair tied into a tight warrior’s tail.
The Black Thorn rasped out a laugh. “Aye, didn’t work so we resorted to aggressive negotiation. Reckon it did the trick.”
Henry sucked at her teeth. “’Cept fer Anders almost stabbin’ me.”
Anders was busy uncorking a bottle from one of the wall cabinets. “Almost, my dear, almost. You will note that I managed to avoid such a costly and messy mistake.”
“Well in that case, all is forgiven. Come over here an’ fuck me,” Henry spat with a venomous stare.
Anders tutted. “I would love to, my lady, but we have company.”
The Black Thorn sighed. “I preferred it when they were fuckin’.” He looked at Thanquil. “Ya ready ta find out what this piece o’ shit knows?”
“Thanquil glanced down at the prone form of Carlston slumped over his wooden desk. “He needs to be awake.”
Thorn reach out and slapped the man across the face with a free fingered hand. Carlston groaned in response and his eyelids began to open. “Done,” Thorn said with a grin.
“Carlston,” Thorn said to the man as he started to come around. “Hey, cunt. Remember me? Remember her?” He pointed towards Henry as she stood, grinning from ear to ear with her twin daggers glinting in the lantern light. “You tried to have us killed.”