Industry & Intrigue (14 page)

The woman stepped forward and clasped
Isaac’s hand in the same manner.

“
Pleased to meet you
Cleric Gall,” she
said. “I’m Inissa Renoch.”

Ethan said
, “Inissa is a member of my
congregation in Oldtown. She has made significant donations to the
church over the years and is held in high regard by many members of
our church.”

“
I stand with High Cleric
McSheora. We cannot stand back and allow the Kartecs invade our
homes with their perversions,” said Inissa. “If your words can
inspire not only our church members but also others then we may be
able to stop their agenda. However the more reactionary elements
amongst the Kartecs will not be pleased at this. So I have offered
my organizational skills and network of like-minded Varonites to
provide security for your speeches.”

“
I see, well that sounds
wonderful,” said Isaac. “I hope that we can work together to keep
the Creator’s shape within the city.”

***

After
discussing the details with the two
clerics, Inissa stepped out of the church and into the street. The
sky was dark-grey and the light drizzle from earlier had turned
into a heavy downpour. She lifted her umbrella and opened it to
prevent from getting soaked.

The morning had passed and although it was
a weekend, the streets were still busy with the traffic of the
steam trams and horse drawn carts.

Inissa walked in a
no
rth
direction towards the Keys district until she arrived at the Mikono
Tojitsu Academy. The girl at the front desk nodded at her as she
went past. Inissa came regularly enough to discuss business that
all of the staff knew her face. She knocked on the closed office
door and Mikono said, “Enter.”

Inissa opened the door and
stood i
n
front of her employer. “It went fine,” she said. “The good clerics
are all too willing to stand up to the Kartecs, they despise them.”
Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Cleric McSheora was more interested
in money than his religious beliefs.

Mikono
chuckled
. “I
told you they would. They hate everything the Kartecs stand
for.”

Inissa frowned, not quite
convinced.

“
What is it? You’re still having
doubts
?”
asked the kitsune woman.

“
I
…,” said Inissa, hesitating, she had
doubts about the plan. “Look, I know the Varonites will push back
to stop tarcaine exemptions for the Kartecs. They make a strong
enough base of the voting constituency that the government still
has to pay attention to them, certainly more than the elves. But
don’t you think we’re throwing fuel onto a smoldering fire? I don’t
want to be caught in the middle if it turns into an
inferno.”

“
You don’t trust your own fellow
Varonites?” asked Mikono
.

“
I may have may have been raised
in that church and I believe in both Varos and the Creator. But I
also know what can happen when religious devotion gets taken to
extremes. The moderates end up on the backbench and the fanatics
take over. Isn’t that the whole reason Tal Feros and Ze Feros are
separate nations? The elves had one prophet, but couldn’t agree on
the meaning of his message. The result was a century long religious
war that tore them apart,” replied Inissa.

“
Not to mention how the
Varonites would react if they knew the money and support was coming
from drugs and prostitution. They would turn on us
instantly.”

“
Thank you for that
lesson professor,”
said Mikono in a sarcastic tone. “I’m well aware of the potential
for violence and it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Besides isn’t
that why you and your followers will be doing what you can to keep
everything under control?”

Inissa
replied
,
“Yes, true.”

“
Good
,” said Mikono. “We keep tarcaine out
of the hands of the Kartecs and ensure it remains illegal. Then we
all keep making money. Speaking of which, I want you to head out to
Surrin with Liam tonight. My supplier from the south is bringing in
a shipment. You need to meet him there and bring it back to the
city.”

“
Why Surrin?” asked Inissa. It
was a long
way to go for a drug shipment.

“
He wo
rks at the Night Circus. And before
you ask, yes that’s exactly how he smuggles his shipments. He’s the
elephant trainer, so he has plenty of large carts to transport and
hide the drugs,” said Mikono.

“
I presume we’ll be taking the
flare-rock carriage then?” asked Inissa. Flare-rock was a mineral
that was found in Kangur. It produced greater energy than coal and
for longer periods of time. A few of the rail companies were
starting to convert from coal, but it’s location on the frontier of
agorid land kept the price high. The first series of flare-rock
powered carriages produced by the Green River company were all the
rage in Alkos City. Barus had convinced Mikono to purchase
one.

“
Of course
,” said Mikono and narrowing
her eyes at Inissa.

She instantly regretted her question.
Mikono didn’t like to be asked obvious sounding ones like
that.

“
Ho
w else would you have brought back
the drugs? That carriage needs to start being useful as more than a
gimmick. Especially considering how much it cost,” replied Mikono.
“One other thing, the supplier’s been jittery the last few
deliveries. I have no idea why, but it concerns me. I’ve called in
an old favor for muscle to join the two of you.”

Wonderful
,
an idiotic gangster
thought
Inissa.

“
And where do I meet this
muscle?”
she
asked.

“
He’ll be waiting for you and
Liam at the north gate,” said Mikono. “He’s an old acquaintance of
mine, one of the Red Knights.”

“
Impressive
,” said Inissa, “a Red Knight,
you certainly aren’t messing around.”

The Red Knights were an
infamous mercenary company and w
ere well known for having the best
soldiers in their ranks.

“
There’s a lot a stake and I
don’t want anything to go wrong” replied Mikono
. “No mistakes.”

“
As
you say, Mikono. I will make certain
everything runs smoothly,” replied Inissa.

“
Good
,” replied the kitsune. “You had best
get going now. It could take a while for that carriage to start
up.”

Inissa nodded and excused herself. She
couldn’t help but shake a strange feeling that something was going
to go wrong. Call it a vibe, instinct or an innate magical ability
but whenever she felt like this, chaos would follow. She pushed the
feeling down and tried to ignore it. At least for tonight, backup
from one of the Red Knight mercenaries should be more than enough
to take care of anything that went wrong.

Chapter 13

Brenna and Snar were
waiting for several
hours before there was activity from the house. It was night by the
time their quarry emerged. “There,” said Brenna, pointing out the
man she had seen earlier today. He was emerging with an older,
distinguished-looking woman. “We need to follow the two of
them.”

Snar
nodded and the two watch officers
followed the other pair, maintaining a discrete distance. The two
figures walked through several streets until arriving at another
building. A set of double doors large enough to fit a train through
covered the street side. The pair entered at a small door beside
the larger ones. Brenna put her hand up, and stood in
place.

“
Now what?” asked Snar. He
sounded impatient.

“
We wait
,” she replied. “If they don’t come
out soon, we go in.”

No sooner than she had spoken and the
large double doors creaked and slowly slid open. Brenna ducked
behind an unoccupied tram stand and gestured at Snar to join her.
He made his way behind, the mass of his bulk barely able to hide.
Brenna craned her neck around the corner to see what was
happening.

A large powered
cart was being
wheeled out by workers and the two they had been following were
climbing up to the control section. “Dammit,” said
Brenna.

“
What
is the problem?” asked
Snar.

She pursed her lips
together.
“That carriage is powered by steam.”

Snar took a quick look and then ducked
back down. “I’m afraid not sergeant. That cart is a more recent
invention. From what I can see, it appears to be one of the new
flare-rock powered engines. I recognize the design, it’s from the
Green River Engines company.”

She was impressed at Snar’s
general knowledge.
“If they’re taking a flare-powered cart they must be making
a pick-up or delivery of drugs. But we can’t stop them without
knowing which. If they don’t have any drugs on them, we’ll have to
let them go and we’ll have tipped them off we’re on to them. We’re
going to have to follow them.”

“
That could be difficult, given
the speed with which one of those carriages can
reach
,” said
the agorid.

Brenna
nodded
. “My
guess is they’re heading out of the city. If we want to keep up
with them we’ll need our own transport.” She looked Snar up and
down. “The watch can requisition horses fine, which means I’m
sorted. But what about you? Can you even ride a horse?”

“
If you requisition a Kangur
pony then I shall be fine,” he replied. Kangur ponies were twice
the size of other horse breeds and used by the agorid
tribes.

“
If we can find one,” said
Brenna. “I’ll get the horse. I know a dealer nearby that I’ve used
a number of times. You stay with them until they get to a city
gate.”

She pulled a metallic disc out of her
pocket and handed it to him. “Then use this to indicate which gate
they’ve gone through and I’ll meet you there.”

He t
ook it from her and turned it in his
paw, examining it carefully.

“
It’s a magical
compass
,”
she explained. “One of a pair, press here, like this.” She showed
him by pushing the engraving marked south. “The one I have will
glow telling me which gate you’re at.” She pulled out the other
disc she had and the south position was glowing a light yellow,
highlighting the direction.

Snar said
, “I will see you at the gate
with the horses.” He walked slowly in the direction the steam cart
was headed. Brenna headed the opposite way in a sprint; she needed
to find a horse fast. If they fell too far behind, they could lose
Mikono’s associates.

She handed
the horse trader her watch
receipts and she felt the compass glow. She pulled it out, the
northerly direction was glowing.

She thanked the man and
climbed
onto
the smaller of the horses. She was lucky, he only had one Kangur
pony left in his stables. She sped them along as fast she could
without endangering herself. It was no easy task to pull along the
gigantic pony while riding another horse.

As she pulled up to the north gate, Snar
waved her over. She pulled the reins of the Kangur pony towards him
and he lifted himself up on it, expertly.

“
They left no more than ten
minutes ago, it should not too difficu
lt a task to keep up with them,” he
said.

“
Good, let’s go.” She kicked the
sides of her horse and it galloped past the open metal gates and
out of the city, Snar following close behind.

***

Reese
walked with Cassandra and Michael
among the stalls of the outer section of the Night Circus. The many
stalls were arranged in a semi-circle shape in front of the main
tent, which could be seen rising up above them.

Dazzling
, multi-colored lights lit up
the walkways between the stalls and the smell of cooked meat,
freshly baked breads and sickly-sweet candy wafted through the air.
The sound of people enjoying themselves was an ever present
background noise. Shouts of delight from children and adults alike
mixed with the mechanical noises of the metallic spinning rides on
the east side of the stalls.

The stalls
catered to all needs. There
were stalls with games of skill and chance, stalls selling food and
one large display area had several wild beasts in cages. Animals
imported from foreign locations like Kordatia and Weicarus, there
was even a red colored Arc creature.

Reese
thought it looked pitiable. It was
slumped against the cage and not moving. He looked at its black
eyes and he felt he could see an intelligence there that went
beyond that of a beast. The poor animal shouldn’t have been treated
like this. Reese reached out to the bars but there was a loud snap
of a whip from the animal master as he slashed it across the
cage.

“
I wouldn’t do that if I were
you
boy.
That beast will take your hand clean off if you get close
enough.”