The Vampire & Her Witch

”No, you don’t need any secret knocks or code words, it’s just a common brothel,” Albyn said, laughing this time with a bit of genuine mirth at the anxious expression on his friend’s face before his voice became serious. ”One far more reputable than this place. A penny for the room and the wine, and another for the girl. Then you’ve a place to hide away the night and an excuse for where you snuck off to if anyone asks.”

”Give me back another penny,” Devlin said, holding out his hand and pointedly ignoring the disapproving look from Sir Elgon. ”I don’t want to break Anna’s heart, so I’ll take your filthy advice, but I intend to be too drunk to get it up with some random girl. I’d rather her tell the story of me needing to sleep off a bottle of wine than do something I can’t take back.”

”I’m sure Anna would understand if it kept you alive,” Albyn countered as he tossed a pair of silver pennies and a handful of tin snips across the table for the other sailor. ”Keep the rest so the girl can pick your pocket when you pass out. It’ll buy her silence better than anything else.”

”Al-er, Dawnbreaker,” Sir Elgon said awkwardly as he watched the two former captains planning a sordid alibi for a man whom he’d heard described as a loyal family man just this morning. ”Why do I get the feeling that this isn’t the first time you’ve had to do something like this?”

”Because it isn’t,” Devlin said, meeting the knight’s gaze with serious eyes. ”If we all live long enough, you should ask Dawnbreaker here to tell you what he did to earn his pardon from our lord back home. For now, trust him. He knows more about escaping pursuit than anyone I know, and even if his methods are a bit... low,” he said after carefully selecting a word. ”He has a knack for making the best of the worst winds fate can blow a man’s way.”

”Enough flattery,” Albyn said. ”You’re stalling. Go find yourself a pretty woman for the night and don’t stagger back to the manor until at least noon. By then, it should be too late for anything you know to interfere with my plans.”

”And what exactly are your plans?” Sir Elgon asked cautiously after Devlin made his exit. ”You’re acting like you’ve had this all planned out since before Blue Gull found us,” he said in a voice that contained a hint of wariness and a hint of suspicion.

”One of the first lessons a pirate captain learns,” Albyn said with a wry smile tugging at the corners of his lips. ”Know where the shoals and the shallows are. Learn how to sail the dangerous waters that more sensible ships won’t pursue you for. Learn the draft of your ship to the handsbreadth and keep the best charts up here,” he said, tapping his temple lightly.

”When danger finds you,” the former pirate continued. ”You don’t escape because you have a plan ready to go. You escape because you know a dozen routes to safety and which one the tides favor at the moment you need it. This isn’t any different, but I’d be lying if I said I was confident in how well I can navigate in waters this troubled,” he said.

”So tell me what you’re thinking,” Elgon said quietly as his eyes roved over the smoky common room, as if to ensure that no one was close enough to listen to them. ”Two minds can consider what one can’t. Don’t act like you have to do this by yourself.”

”If you say so,” Albyn said as he gulped down the last of his thick, dark ale. ”But I’ve already arrived at the destination. We just need to hire someone who can smuggle us out of the city, and that fellow by the door should be a good man to give us an introduction to the person we need.”

Albyn had heard whispers of a ’Black Merchant’ known to trade in things that were difficult or even forbidden to obtain. Whether this merchant was involved in other dark business or not, anyone who could smuggle goods into a city likely had a way to send people and goods out of the city as well.

The former pirate didn’t expect the famed Black Merchant to have anything to do with a place as lowly and seedy as the alehouse where they currently sat, but it was likely that the people who ran the establishment here could at least make an introduction. Even if he couldn’t reach the Black Merchant himself, so long as he was able to enlist the services of the man’s smuggling operation, it would be enough for the two fugitives to make their escape.

”Out of the city?” Elgon said, blinking in surprise. ”You intend to go to Lady A-, er, to the older sister? She’s with child right now, if we drag her into this...”

”No, not her,” Albyn interrupted. ”I wouldn’t mind if they thought we were running off to where she is, that’s why I told Blue Gull to say we’d taken horses to the North Gate if anyone managed to press him for information. You’re correct that we need an ally, and you’re just as correct that we can’t run to the older sister.”

Albyn had considered making a run for the Summer Villa in the hopes that Lady Ashlynn could intercede on her younger sister’s behalf, but her frail state and her advanced pregnancy made it impossible for her to come back to Lothian City until after she’d given birth. Given that, there was very little she could do from so far away, and so Albyn had moved down the list of potential allies for the next person who could help.

”We need to make our way to Hurel Village,” Albyn said. ”Compared to fetching our lady’s older sister, fetching her brother-in-law nets us a much more useful ally. After all, he’s been watching over our lady ever since she came here, and he’s one of the few people with the authority to stand up to his father.”

”You can’t be serious,” Sir Elgon said with open-mouthed shock. Anyone with the common sense that the Holy Lord of Light gave to mules could tell that there was a great deal of tension between Lord Bors and his eldest son. If they brought him in as a means of influencing Jocelynn’s matter, it was as good as throwing a bucket of oil on a fire in the hopes of snuffing it out.

”Shouldn’t we seek out his younger brother in Hanrahan Town?” Elgon countered. ”He has more sway with the Church than his brother does, and there’s another Inquisitor with him who’s from the Holy City. If anyone can get this new Inquisitor to back off...”

”It won’t work,” Albyn interrupted. ”We’d just find ourselves accused of interfering with the younger brother’s mission against the demons. That’s why we speak to the brother-in-law. He has the authority as the heir to oppose his father and enough motivation to protect his sister-in-law. He may not have sway with the Church, but...”

”But we don’t have many safe harbors to seek out, do we?” Elgon asked rhetorically. ”All right. I’m on board. How can I help?”

”Right now, you can’t,” Albyn said bluntly. ”Just follow my lead. But once we reach our lady’s brother-in-law, I’ll be counting on you to do the talking. After all,” he said with a self-deprecating smile. ”I’m still just a commoner, but you’re a proper knight. So think carefully on the words you’ll use,” he advised. ”Because it’s going to be up to you to convince the man to make a move against his own father on behalf of his wife’s family.”