Chapter 13 - Snitches and Discussions

Chapter 13

Salran Mountains, Starnor Imperial Border Territories

Frontier town of Kaisersgrenze

"Hello lady Kostner. Can I help you?" Said Airah, politely, as she stepped into the shop, Stavros and his men in tow.

She'd have been tempted to think the soldiers were here to coerce here, except that she was fairly sure that if that was the intent the entire garrison would have been waiting for her. As it was it seemed to be a matter of courtesy and privacy, as the soldiers left promptly to stand guard outside, although Stavros remained.

"Lady Starfire!" Exclaimed Lenna as she smiled at Airah, and the dragon had to stop herself from looking down from Lenna's face as she turned around. Her dress was much lighter than last time, and her cleavage shown more liberally. She idly wondered if the baroness had realized that she had an effect on her, and was playing on it, or if it had simply gotten hotter and as a dragon simply hadn't noticed. "It's good to see you again. Apologies for the impromptu meeting, but I was told you were in need of some specific services?"

"Why yes, I was looking for the construction of a gate, and the accompanying gate house."

"I see." Lenna nodded. "This young man here got worried when he was asked if he was interested in building a gate...discreetly, and came to my guards, hence my presence here." She gestured at a young man, who was desperately trying to ignore Victor, who was busy staring a hole into the back of his skull.

"Yes." Said Airah. "Emphasis on discreetly." The glare she gave the young man made him take a step back. "Not that I was opposed to you being aware of it lady Kostner, but I would rather keep the location of said gate quiet, for reasons that should be obvious to you."

Lenna nodded.

"Of course. Still, when I was told of what was happening, and made aware of the client, I couldn't help but step in to offer my assistance?"

"Your assistance?"

"Why yes. These walls and my manor didn't build themselves. I have some extremely trustworthy men, who would be delighted to assist you in your...construction endeavor." Lenna licked her lips as Airah gave her a dubious look. "I can assure, my intentions are pure, I will not interfere if you chose to turn down my help and go with someone recommended by mister Victor over here!"

Airah sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

What do you think? She asked Stellyra over the mind link.

Honestly? I'd say yes. If her men can help fortify the gate house, and make it more resilient. She will track down our lair eventually, and there might be some advantages to her knowing where we live.

Such as?

Well, she could send us a messenger, or packages. Right now her only option is to wait for us to make contact.

I suppose that's fair.

Airah opened her eyes, and nodded.

"Alright. But, I will accept only if your men also use their expertise to fortify the gate. I, after all, would rather avoid unwanted visitors." The emphasis on unwanted didn't go unnoticed, and Lenna nodded slightly.

"Of course, of course! Should I have the men who will come to help...fully briefed?"

"That...would be for the best, yes."

"Alright. Well then, I believe that concludes our business, unless you have discovered another bandit camp?"

"No, I have not. But I will conduct some reconnaissance later."

"Of course. Well then, in that case, good bye lady Starfire!"

"Goodbye lady Vostner."

Airah watched Lenna and her soldiers leave, and turned back towards the rest of the store, looking at the young man, then Victor, and raising an eyebrow.

"Markus..." Growled the blacksmith.

"Look, uncle." Said the young man as he thew his hands up. "You shouldn't go asking people like that for something that sounds like shady business! Especially not in these times, and with some of your past...associations."

Esmira coughed, looking pointedly at Airah, and Markus swallowed.

"Which have nothing illegal in and of themselves, just that the other involved turned out badly in the end." He shrugged as Victor gave him a withering look. "Regardless, you know there is a standing edict to warn the barony if someone tries to build a stronghold on the sly. No one wants a repeat of Darkfort."

Victor seemed to deflate slightly at the last comment, and begrudgingly nodded.

"I suppose that's understandable." He suddenly pointed his finger at Markus. "But you still ratted us out!"

"Yes, and I apologize. Still, in the end, I believe it was the right choice." He turned towards Airah, and extended his hand. "My apologies milady. Markus Olynger, at your service. Full member of the mason's guild, and for my sin of my mother being Victor's sister, involved in this mess."

Airah rose an eyebrow, and shook his hand.

"I'm not going to say that it's a pleasure, because it is not. No offense."

"None taken, I'm well aware I have breached my uncle's trust, and by extension your own, no matter my justifications for doing so. Still, it would have dishonored the guild if I had not. Blood is thicker than water, but honor is much thicker than blood."

"Assuming you could liquefy honor."

Markus chuckled.

"No, I suppose not, although I am sure Karl must have tried at some point. He's the town's alchemist."

"I've heard of him." Even if only a few minutes ago. "Also, I'd like to ask, what's Darkfort? It sounds...ominous."

Markus sighed, and combed his hair with his hand.

"Darkfort is...complicated, to say the least. A few years ago, a group of particularly enterprising bandits managed to pass themselves as some local noble and his entourage trying to settle a feud over domain borders, and managed to convince a syndicate of builders to construct a fort for them. They then proceeded to use that fort, who was quite well situated and supplied, as a base of operation for a vast series of raids. It took almost five years for them to be finally thrown out, and in the end it required an intervention by the Imperial Army."

"That is indeed a bit worrying." Said Airah. It would be like pirates managing to have someone sell them a star fort. That would have been a royal pain in the ass to deal with.

"And what the youngster forgot to say is that most of the bandits escaped too. Had some sort of tunnel dug under there, although if it was present before they had the fort built or if they made it themselves no one knows, and they evacuated before they could be overrun."

"Ah. I assume the local lords weren't pleased?"

"To say the least! They had the building syndicate dissolved, and almost executed the owners for treason. In the end they settled for confiscating all of their local assets, and banishing everyone above the simple grunts."

"Ouch."

"Ouch indeed. But it could have been worse. Back in the day, they'd have hanged everybody, and damn the rest. Fortunately times have changed."

"Truly?"

"Yep. Corporations and syndicates are starting to pull some weight now, and lords can't just confiscate and execute as they please, or no one will do business with them and their fortunes will evaporate. You can't just make all of your money from artisans and taxing the peasants now. If you don't have them companies and guilds involved, you're screwed."

"That's good to know." That was exactly the kind of stuff that had happened during the industrial revolution...and part of the reason most monarchies had descended into blood and slaughter. Some hadn't fallen, but there was no hiding the fact that the transition hadn't been pretty regardless. "So, will you be able to build the gate? And for how much?"

"I should be able to." He looked at his wife, who stepped forward.

"The price would be three hundred gold coins for the gate. I had also taken your budget into account, and set aside a hundred gold coins for the gate house, as well as fifty or so gold coins for transportation."

"I can handle transport, provided it is delivered outside of the fields." They gave her a strange look, and she shrugged. "I have my ways, and as I said I desire privacy."

"Right." Said Esmira as she checked a small book. "Should I start allocating the time for it? We'll ask for half of the payment upfront, and half on delivery."

"That will do nicely." Airah pulled out her bag of currency from her backpack, and began quickly counting coins as she put them down on the counter. "There. This should do it."

Esmira chuckled at the rather impressive pile of coins.

"It should." She scribbled something on her notebook. "It should be ready by next week. Although of course, installation might take longer, and it won't begin until the gatehouse has been built, and I don't have any power over that."

"Of course. As long as it is ready on time."

"It should be. Now, I believe that is all?"

"It is. Good bye, Esmira, Victor, Markus." She waved at them as they returned her goodbyes, and stepped out of the shop.

So much for keeping things quiet. She sent over the mind link.

That's the risk we take whenever we ask for things to be done on the hush. Alright, time to go home?

Yep. And we'll do some recon tomorrow. With this we'll need more funds, and, well...

The bandit camps are a very good source of wealth.

Yep.

*****

Airah watched as the bandits geared up.

It had taken less than three hours to find another bandit camp, although this time was considerably smaller than the last one. Only a dozen bandits inhabited it, and they didn't have a single prisoner, although poles had been arranged to tie people to. Either they'd sent their captives to a larger group, or they'd sold them. Which implied that there was some kind of slave trader nearby. After all moving prisoners any large distances was a pain in the ass. It was odd as well, as the larger camp she'd visited seemed to have exclusively used their prisoners as either outlets for their baser instincts, punching bags, or slave labor. Or all simultaneously, according to some of the things she'd heard while the prisoners were rescued by the guards.

Sometimes she really wished she could bring those bandits back from the dead so she could kill them again. She was perfectly aware that she could be rather...detached, a consequence of having spent so many cycles on the edge of human space, fighting a seemingly endless war, which had left an imprint on her psyche even memory wipes couldn't erase, but even she could get pissed off at the mistreatment of her kind. Er, old kind. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that she wasn't technically human anymore.

They seem to be preparing to move out. Attacking a village, you think? She asked over the mind link.

Possibly. But probably not as an outright raid. They might grab some isolated people, and attack some convoys, but given how heavily armed the people around here are, attacking a village head on would be suicide for such a small group.

So...so we intercept them now?

Do we stand to gain something more from stopping them before they attack someone?

Time, I suppose.

Fair. But we should probably wait until they're launching their attack. That way they'll be caught between the hammer and the anvil. That'll mean less potential runners, they probably won't be able to do much harm, and you'll get seen being the big hero.

Sounds like a plan. Airah reached back, and touched her bow, smiling. And that'll let us give this bad boy a test drive, with some live targets this time.

She felt more than saw the AI's own wolfish grin. Time to teach those bandits a lesson they'd never forget, because they wouldn't live long enough to do so.