HS&S:WT Short
Jul. 15th, 2018 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabremeisterApologies that there was no short story last month.
In the Dwarven capital of Akallmil, Oryan, they liked order. They liked things to be sensible, and reputable, and that tomorrow should be much like today. The Human mafia based there? Not so much.
In fifteen years of operating here, there had been plenty of excitement and excremental situations. The Dwarven constabulary were very good at their jobs, and it took a lot of creativity to stay one step ahead of them. Nevertheless, the Human mafia had carved out a rather large niche in the underworld of the largely underground city - which, almost paradoxically, meant they lived and operated almost entirely above ground. And in those fifteen years, there had never been quite as big a clusterfuck as had just gone down.
Kek blamed it on the recent war with Ras Natara. If it hadn't been for the enforced co-operation between Elves and Dwarfs the war had necessitated, then this would never have happened. Elves and Dwarfs had always been at loggerheads, and since most of them lived in Akallmil, that was where they fought. The Elves were the majority population in the forests and lowlands of the south of the country, and the Dwarfs were the majority population in the hills and mountains of the north and east of the country. Humans were welcome everywhere, and were recognised as neutrals, as were Orcs and Kobolds, although they were considerably less welcome, what with Orcs being little more than raiders and bandits in comparison to the species who had built cities of whatever flavour, while Kobolds were regarded as little more than pests in their attempts to be a proud warrior race. So, it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that an Elf would join a Human criminal gang in the captial city of the Dwarfs, and as long as they grew their hair long enough to cover their ears, and make a few minor behavioural changes, they could pass for Human and go pretty much un-noticed. Until quite recently, Kek had considered that an Elf working undercover for the Dwarven constabulary would have been beyond the realm of possibility, and yet that was what had happened.
Tang had turned up in the city a few weeks ago, and it hadn't taken him long to make contact with the wrong sort of people. The Family had welcomed someone with his past as a valuable asset - he was a former soldier. His squad had been one of the few Elven units to suffer heavily in the war, and the Elven high command had decided that it was because of general incompetence in the execution of the tactics they had to use. In light of that decision, Tang had been made to pay the first installment of his comrades' pensions to their families. Not being rich, he'd turned to crime to get the necessary money, and had spent three months as a footpad with occasional high-value fraud sprinkled on top. He'd finally got caught, and had escaped by the skin of his teeth, so he'd headed northeast looking for people of a similar bent. Not being stupid, the Family had checked out his story, and everything he said could be backed up by people who knew people who knew people. They gave him a few tests, and when he passed them with flying colours, he was fully inducted. The only problem was his name. It was very obviously Elvish, and it wouldn't be a good idea to tote it around in Oryan. He said it translated as "tangy fruit", so now he was called Tang. And that was how an Elf had joined the Human mafia in the Dwarven capital.
He wasn't the first non-Human to join the Family. There had been a few Orcs and Dwarfs that had joined. Orcs because they liked the violence opportunities, Dwarfs because if they lived in an area where the Family operated it was almost a matter of survival. They occasionally used Elves passing as Humans for things, but until now, none had joined. Maybe that should have rung alarm bells.
It had been a simple bank job. The Leatherworkers' Guild had been a bit slow with their monthly fee, and so it had been decided to demonstrate to them that the Family got its' money one way or another. The Guild had a bank, for the use of its' members. It kept lots of gold on the premises. It was lightly guarded. Six of them would go in, a seventh would be waiting outside with the getaway cart, and an eighth would be a lookout. Tang had been the lookout - he was stationed on the roof of the building opposite, and if there was any trouble, he was to shoot an arrow through the window of the Guildhouse. The six inside had followed the plan, the guards inside had been subdued, the bankers had coughed up all the gold they could carry, and they had left, all according to plan. What had happened outside was very much not according to plan. The getaway driver was in shackles, twelve Dwarven constables were waiting outside, but there had been no arrow and Tang was nowhere to be seen. Kek, as the senior man on the scene, had yelled for them to scatter, and they had.
They'd dropped the loot. They'd dropped their weapons. They'd dropped their hoods. They'd done nothing more than run, jinking down the alleyways and backstreets, heading for two different pre-arranged safehouses. Maybe some of them had mugged a passer-by for a disguise as they went past, maybe they'd been able to steal from a washing line.
Kek wanted to know how he'd managed it. From the moment it had been decided who was going to be on the job, none of them had been alone, except when on the bog, and there was no way a contact would be willing to wait concealed in one of those for any length of time. The observers were all trusted and respected members of the Family, usually older men who were no longer as useful doing stuff at the sharp end. When Tang had been inducted, he'd been searched for magical devices. Since that would have been expected, some of the boys had swung discreetly by his digs and searched that as well. Nothing had been found. That didn't rule out the possibility that someone was magically monitoring him from somewhere else, or that he was actually a mage capable of casting silently, but a mage who was skillfull enough to do that would be able to write their own ticket, there was no way they'd be working for civilian law enforcement. Although, if they were working for law enforcement, they'd be directly employed by the crown of whatever country they decided to the live in, doing things like rooting out traitors and clamping down on corruption among the courtiers, things like that.
Come to think of it, Kek recalled that a number of minor Dwarven nobles were on the Family's payroll. If that meant what he thought it meant, it meant that King Ritalin was aware of the Family's influence in his court, and had deemed it enough of a problem to ask his mortal enemies (the Elves) for help in flushing out the source.
Oh shit.
Kek was pretty sure that Tang hadn't learned much of the runecode the Family used, if he'd been shown it at all. He didn't think he would have been in only the few weeks he'd been here, but it was the only means of communication Kek could think of that still possessed a degree of security, if he was right about Tang. He slowed down as he neared the safehouse.
No one else from the job had kept up with him. Either that, or everyone else who was supposed to come to this safehouse had taken a completely different route, or been caught by the constables. He kept walking past the safehouse, not looking at it. He went round the block, checking that he wasn't being followed. He then found a way into the building opposite the safehouse, and from the shelter of a window carefully scoped it out. There didn't appear to be anyone there.
He descended to ground level again, walked around the block again, and finally entered the safehouse. When he got to the saferoom, he checked that the door hadn't been opened in some time, and drew his dagger and held it up against his forearm, before going in.
The room was empty. He sighed silently in relief. There wasn't much time, though. He used his dagger to carve a message in the Family's runecode on the back of the door.
"Traitor on job - suspect A1 penetration. Safehouse compromised. Evacuate to final contingency."
Satisfied, he carved a faint arrow on the floor, so that anyone else coming here would look at the door to see the message, then left. He had no idea where he would be going. He may have been the senior man on the job, but he wasn't senior enough to know where the actual final contingency safehouse was. He could go back to the regular hangout - pro, people would be there so he could spread the word; con, it would be compromised. He could go to his cell-leader's place - pro, his cell-leader would probably be in a position to assuage or verify Kek's suspicions swiftly; con, he would be in really deep trouble if anyone was following him. He could go to the other safehouse - pro, someone else from the job would probably have made it there; con, it definitely would have been compromised. He could go to the designated rendezvous, the one they would have gone to if the job had been successful - pro, there would be someone from the Family there waiting; con, by now they would know the job had gone wrong and would not be visible. He could go home and cower under the bed - pro, it would calm him down and enable him to pack to leave; con, everyone would think he was the traitor if he disappeared, and that would be even more trouble than if he accidentally led the constables to his cell-leader's place. He decided that the rendezvous for the successful job would be the best option.
When he got there, he did the same thing he had done at the safehouse. He made sure he wasn't being followed, he checked the place was as expected, he hid and watched it for a while, then he went in. He again checked that the door to the actual room for the rendezvous was untouched, and prepared his dagger before he went in. The moment his head cleared the doorframe, something slammed into the back of his head and knocked him out. Multiple pairs of hands dragged him into the room and closed the door behind him with barely a sound.
He woke up tied to a chair a few minutes later. The room was dark, except for one candle on a chain hanging from the ceiling at just the right height to be in his eyes.
"Hello, Kek. How are you feeling?"
There was something familiar about the voice, but he couldn't quite place it. "Who's there?" he asked.
"I am asking the questions, Kek."
Kek hesitated, thinking rapidly. This had been a trap, and now he was in a classic anonymous interrogation by people far more competent than the constabulary. He would expect this sort of treatment only from the Family, or another Family - or maybe from someone who had a Royal ton of bricks waiting to come down on him if he didn't get results. "I'm not answering any."
"Okay," the voice said. "Try this." Kek could just make out a shape moving beyond the candle-light, and thought he could see a dark lantern and a hand. The hand made several quick motions, and the dark lantern flashed a quick pattern of light. "Will you answer now, Kek? How are you feeling?"
"Headache. Nervous. Bit dizzy still." Kek tried to clamp his lips closed before the words escaped, but he couldn't stop himself.
"That'll all pass, don't worry," said the voice. "Let us have your full report, please."
Kek started talking. He told the semi-familiar voice in the darkened room about everything that had happened to him in the last week, including the last-minute details of the job, how it had gone, and his actions since then, along with his thoughts on the situation.
"Thank you, Kek. I'm glad you're so co-operative. When you next see the pattern of lights, you will go to sleep again, and when you wake up, you will not remember any of this, nor will you report any of this conversation to anyone, ever." The hand and the lantern moved again, and Kek passed out again.
The elderly Human in the dark clothes with a constables' badge pinned to the inside of his shirt sighed quietly and looked at his companion, a Dwarf scribe who was sitting behind Kek and writing from the light of the same candle that had effectively blinded Kek. "I take it you got everything?"
"Yes, sir. This will prove very valuable to the investigation."
"Good." He pursed his lips and frowned. "I wish we didn't have to do it this way."
A door opened, and another Dwarf stepped into the room. "He volunteered. He wanted to be like you. You remember how keen he was to follow in your footsteps, surely? You both knew it was a dangerous task that would take several years."
"It's getting harder each time, though," the Human said. "Each time, it takes a little longer to achieve co-operation. The hypnosis is losing its' effectiveness. We're losing him, one day he'll wake up and no amount of lantern-flash will get him to talk."
The Dwarf put his hand on the Human's arm. "I know it's hard, and I know you worry. But trust me, this has worked before, for much longer, and the volunteers all made a full recovery."
"When they weren't killed."
The Dwarf nodded solemnly. "That was always a risk." He paused, allowing the Human a few moments for contemplation. "Starrock and I will return him to the correct room, he is our burden."
"Not mine?" asked the Human.
"It is a father's burden to worry," replied the Dwarf, "surely that is heavy enough."
It Runs in the Family
In the Dwarven capital of Akallmil, Oryan, they liked order. They liked things to be sensible, and reputable, and that tomorrow should be much like today. The Human mafia based there? Not so much.
In fifteen years of operating here, there had been plenty of excitement and excremental situations. The Dwarven constabulary were very good at their jobs, and it took a lot of creativity to stay one step ahead of them. Nevertheless, the Human mafia had carved out a rather large niche in the underworld of the largely underground city - which, almost paradoxically, meant they lived and operated almost entirely above ground. And in those fifteen years, there had never been quite as big a clusterfuck as had just gone down.
Kek blamed it on the recent war with Ras Natara. If it hadn't been for the enforced co-operation between Elves and Dwarfs the war had necessitated, then this would never have happened. Elves and Dwarfs had always been at loggerheads, and since most of them lived in Akallmil, that was where they fought. The Elves were the majority population in the forests and lowlands of the south of the country, and the Dwarfs were the majority population in the hills and mountains of the north and east of the country. Humans were welcome everywhere, and were recognised as neutrals, as were Orcs and Kobolds, although they were considerably less welcome, what with Orcs being little more than raiders and bandits in comparison to the species who had built cities of whatever flavour, while Kobolds were regarded as little more than pests in their attempts to be a proud warrior race. So, it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that an Elf would join a Human criminal gang in the captial city of the Dwarfs, and as long as they grew their hair long enough to cover their ears, and make a few minor behavioural changes, they could pass for Human and go pretty much un-noticed. Until quite recently, Kek had considered that an Elf working undercover for the Dwarven constabulary would have been beyond the realm of possibility, and yet that was what had happened.
Tang had turned up in the city a few weeks ago, and it hadn't taken him long to make contact with the wrong sort of people. The Family had welcomed someone with his past as a valuable asset - he was a former soldier. His squad had been one of the few Elven units to suffer heavily in the war, and the Elven high command had decided that it was because of general incompetence in the execution of the tactics they had to use. In light of that decision, Tang had been made to pay the first installment of his comrades' pensions to their families. Not being rich, he'd turned to crime to get the necessary money, and had spent three months as a footpad with occasional high-value fraud sprinkled on top. He'd finally got caught, and had escaped by the skin of his teeth, so he'd headed northeast looking for people of a similar bent. Not being stupid, the Family had checked out his story, and everything he said could be backed up by people who knew people who knew people. They gave him a few tests, and when he passed them with flying colours, he was fully inducted. The only problem was his name. It was very obviously Elvish, and it wouldn't be a good idea to tote it around in Oryan. He said it translated as "tangy fruit", so now he was called Tang. And that was how an Elf had joined the Human mafia in the Dwarven capital.
He wasn't the first non-Human to join the Family. There had been a few Orcs and Dwarfs that had joined. Orcs because they liked the violence opportunities, Dwarfs because if they lived in an area where the Family operated it was almost a matter of survival. They occasionally used Elves passing as Humans for things, but until now, none had joined. Maybe that should have rung alarm bells.
It had been a simple bank job. The Leatherworkers' Guild had been a bit slow with their monthly fee, and so it had been decided to demonstrate to them that the Family got its' money one way or another. The Guild had a bank, for the use of its' members. It kept lots of gold on the premises. It was lightly guarded. Six of them would go in, a seventh would be waiting outside with the getaway cart, and an eighth would be a lookout. Tang had been the lookout - he was stationed on the roof of the building opposite, and if there was any trouble, he was to shoot an arrow through the window of the Guildhouse. The six inside had followed the plan, the guards inside had been subdued, the bankers had coughed up all the gold they could carry, and they had left, all according to plan. What had happened outside was very much not according to plan. The getaway driver was in shackles, twelve Dwarven constables were waiting outside, but there had been no arrow and Tang was nowhere to be seen. Kek, as the senior man on the scene, had yelled for them to scatter, and they had.
They'd dropped the loot. They'd dropped their weapons. They'd dropped their hoods. They'd done nothing more than run, jinking down the alleyways and backstreets, heading for two different pre-arranged safehouses. Maybe some of them had mugged a passer-by for a disguise as they went past, maybe they'd been able to steal from a washing line.
Kek wanted to know how he'd managed it. From the moment it had been decided who was going to be on the job, none of them had been alone, except when on the bog, and there was no way a contact would be willing to wait concealed in one of those for any length of time. The observers were all trusted and respected members of the Family, usually older men who were no longer as useful doing stuff at the sharp end. When Tang had been inducted, he'd been searched for magical devices. Since that would have been expected, some of the boys had swung discreetly by his digs and searched that as well. Nothing had been found. That didn't rule out the possibility that someone was magically monitoring him from somewhere else, or that he was actually a mage capable of casting silently, but a mage who was skillfull enough to do that would be able to write their own ticket, there was no way they'd be working for civilian law enforcement. Although, if they were working for law enforcement, they'd be directly employed by the crown of whatever country they decided to the live in, doing things like rooting out traitors and clamping down on corruption among the courtiers, things like that.
Come to think of it, Kek recalled that a number of minor Dwarven nobles were on the Family's payroll. If that meant what he thought it meant, it meant that King Ritalin was aware of the Family's influence in his court, and had deemed it enough of a problem to ask his mortal enemies (the Elves) for help in flushing out the source.
Oh shit.
Kek was pretty sure that Tang hadn't learned much of the runecode the Family used, if he'd been shown it at all. He didn't think he would have been in only the few weeks he'd been here, but it was the only means of communication Kek could think of that still possessed a degree of security, if he was right about Tang. He slowed down as he neared the safehouse.
No one else from the job had kept up with him. Either that, or everyone else who was supposed to come to this safehouse had taken a completely different route, or been caught by the constables. He kept walking past the safehouse, not looking at it. He went round the block, checking that he wasn't being followed. He then found a way into the building opposite the safehouse, and from the shelter of a window carefully scoped it out. There didn't appear to be anyone there.
He descended to ground level again, walked around the block again, and finally entered the safehouse. When he got to the saferoom, he checked that the door hadn't been opened in some time, and drew his dagger and held it up against his forearm, before going in.
The room was empty. He sighed silently in relief. There wasn't much time, though. He used his dagger to carve a message in the Family's runecode on the back of the door.
"Traitor on job - suspect A1 penetration. Safehouse compromised. Evacuate to final contingency."
Satisfied, he carved a faint arrow on the floor, so that anyone else coming here would look at the door to see the message, then left. He had no idea where he would be going. He may have been the senior man on the job, but he wasn't senior enough to know where the actual final contingency safehouse was. He could go back to the regular hangout - pro, people would be there so he could spread the word; con, it would be compromised. He could go to his cell-leader's place - pro, his cell-leader would probably be in a position to assuage or verify Kek's suspicions swiftly; con, he would be in really deep trouble if anyone was following him. He could go to the other safehouse - pro, someone else from the job would probably have made it there; con, it definitely would have been compromised. He could go to the designated rendezvous, the one they would have gone to if the job had been successful - pro, there would be someone from the Family there waiting; con, by now they would know the job had gone wrong and would not be visible. He could go home and cower under the bed - pro, it would calm him down and enable him to pack to leave; con, everyone would think he was the traitor if he disappeared, and that would be even more trouble than if he accidentally led the constables to his cell-leader's place. He decided that the rendezvous for the successful job would be the best option.
When he got there, he did the same thing he had done at the safehouse. He made sure he wasn't being followed, he checked the place was as expected, he hid and watched it for a while, then he went in. He again checked that the door to the actual room for the rendezvous was untouched, and prepared his dagger before he went in. The moment his head cleared the doorframe, something slammed into the back of his head and knocked him out. Multiple pairs of hands dragged him into the room and closed the door behind him with barely a sound.
He woke up tied to a chair a few minutes later. The room was dark, except for one candle on a chain hanging from the ceiling at just the right height to be in his eyes.
"Hello, Kek. How are you feeling?"
There was something familiar about the voice, but he couldn't quite place it. "Who's there?" he asked.
"I am asking the questions, Kek."
Kek hesitated, thinking rapidly. This had been a trap, and now he was in a classic anonymous interrogation by people far more competent than the constabulary. He would expect this sort of treatment only from the Family, or another Family - or maybe from someone who had a Royal ton of bricks waiting to come down on him if he didn't get results. "I'm not answering any."
"Okay," the voice said. "Try this." Kek could just make out a shape moving beyond the candle-light, and thought he could see a dark lantern and a hand. The hand made several quick motions, and the dark lantern flashed a quick pattern of light. "Will you answer now, Kek? How are you feeling?"
"Headache. Nervous. Bit dizzy still." Kek tried to clamp his lips closed before the words escaped, but he couldn't stop himself.
"That'll all pass, don't worry," said the voice. "Let us have your full report, please."
Kek started talking. He told the semi-familiar voice in the darkened room about everything that had happened to him in the last week, including the last-minute details of the job, how it had gone, and his actions since then, along with his thoughts on the situation.
"Thank you, Kek. I'm glad you're so co-operative. When you next see the pattern of lights, you will go to sleep again, and when you wake up, you will not remember any of this, nor will you report any of this conversation to anyone, ever." The hand and the lantern moved again, and Kek passed out again.
The elderly Human in the dark clothes with a constables' badge pinned to the inside of his shirt sighed quietly and looked at his companion, a Dwarf scribe who was sitting behind Kek and writing from the light of the same candle that had effectively blinded Kek. "I take it you got everything?"
"Yes, sir. This will prove very valuable to the investigation."
"Good." He pursed his lips and frowned. "I wish we didn't have to do it this way."
A door opened, and another Dwarf stepped into the room. "He volunteered. He wanted to be like you. You remember how keen he was to follow in your footsteps, surely? You both knew it was a dangerous task that would take several years."
"It's getting harder each time, though," the Human said. "Each time, it takes a little longer to achieve co-operation. The hypnosis is losing its' effectiveness. We're losing him, one day he'll wake up and no amount of lantern-flash will get him to talk."
The Dwarf put his hand on the Human's arm. "I know it's hard, and I know you worry. But trust me, this has worked before, for much longer, and the volunteers all made a full recovery."
"When they weren't killed."
The Dwarf nodded solemnly. "That was always a risk." He paused, allowing the Human a few moments for contemplation. "Starrock and I will return him to the correct room, he is our burden."
"Not mine?" asked the Human.
"It is a father's burden to worry," replied the Dwarf, "surely that is heavy enough."
