BETA READ
Date 12th October 3852 A.C.E.
Myst and Nessa met late in the afternoon.
“Are you ready?”
“I am,” replied Myst. “Who are we visiting today?”
“We’re going to see Zamir. He’s the leader of Dartrin’s Teleporter Guild.”
“Are all the teleporters in Dartrin part of this Guild?”
“They are. Except those working directly for the Trinity.”
“Why is the Guild next?”
“They’re the biggest information network in the city,” said Nessa. “They see almost everything since they’re the quickest way to get around. Not to mention the Guild runs a huge smuggling network. From people to forbidden cargo in and out of the city. Even from the outer parts to the inner city.”
“How are we going to get information from them? They don’t sound like they would willingly give up information.”
“Not for free. Luckily the Guild has an obsession with money. They’ll sell any information they have to the highest bidder.” Nessa rattled the bag she had slung across her shoulder. “That’s why Al’s given me this. Hopefully, it’ll be enough for us to ask at least a couple of questions.”
“And if it’s not?”
“That won’t happen. Not when you’re with me,” she said, gently nudging Myst.
Nessa knocked on a large door. A small peephole opened and revealed a pair of pearl-coloured eyes glaring out at them.
“Who is it?” growled a man from the other side.
“We’re here on behalf of Al. Zamir is expecting us,” said Nessa. “I am Nessa, and this is Myst.”
The bright eyes on the other side of the door scanned back and forth between Nessa and Myst before the man slammed the peephole shut. Myst heard clunks coming from the other side of the door. It opened to reveal a dark, smoky room. The man quickly ushered them inside and escorted them to another room. Standing behind a large desk at the back of the room was an older man. His greasy brown hair showed streaks of silver as it caught the dancing light of the fireplace he was facing.
“Welcome,” he said. Turning to face them. “Please take a seat.”
“Thank you for seeing us, Zamir,” said Nessa. “We’re hoping to ask you a couple of questions about—”
“Firstly. Before asking anything. I need one hundred coins to… get me in the talking mood,” said Zamir.
“Of course,” replied Nessa. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a pouch, placing it gently on the table. “One hundred coins, as Al promised for our time.”
Zamir reached for the pouch and poured the coins onto the table. Myst watched him as he counted them. He felt the weight in his hands as he stacked them in piles. Once he had counted all the coins, he looked at the piles and gave a slight nod before filling the pouch again and placing it in a drawer next to him.
“What questions did you have for me today?” said Zamir, leaning back in his chair.
“Has anyone transported anything suspicious to the inner city recently?” asked Nessa.
“You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“Anything out of your usual cargo. Weapons, poisons… Or has the Guild been approached by anyone to potentially transport this type of cargo?”
“No. There has not been any of the sort moving to the inner city. Nor has the Guild been approached by anyone to move that sort of cargo. Outside of the normal import allotments.”
“What about people? In particularly an individual named Shadow. Has the Guild dealt with him?”
Zamir sat silently, stroking at the grey stubble on his chin.
Nessa reached into her bag again. She took out a smaller pouch and placed it on the desk.
Zamir counted the money again before placing it in the drawer.
“I have heard of Shadow,” he said. “There has been increasing talk of him throughout the city. He has not come to us for our services though. It’s a shame. We would have charged him a small fortune to keep him out of the public eye.”
“Thank you, Zamir,” said Nessa, standing up. “Those were all the questions we had.”
“Thank you for your time,” said Myst.
“Not so fast,” said Zamir. Two guards moved in front of Myst and Nessa blocking their way out of the room. “Those payments you made were for your questions. Now we need to settle a couple of other things.”
Myst and Nessa slowly sat back in their seats. The two guards stood directly over them. Myst could feel their presence pushing him down into his seat.
“Now. If you would like to keep our conversation safe from those that may come snooping. I will need another payment,” said Zamir
Myst watched as Nessa pulled the last pouch from her bag and tossed it onto the desk. It landed with a loud rattle in front of Zamir.
Zamir again counted out the coins and placed the pouch into the drawer. “That will cover it,” he said. “But only just.”
“Are we done now?” asked Nessa. Her eyes sharpened on him.
“That brings us to our last order of business.”
“What payment do you need now?” snapped Nessa.
Zamir smirked. “The last payment I require is to keep the whereabouts of your friend here a secret.”
“Why would we need that?” asked Myst.
“Well, it’s not every day we Flaresai see a man with emerald eyes walking around. Never actually. There are plenty of people in Dartrin obsessed with the gods and would pay a few hundred coins to get their hands on you.”
Myst glanced at Nessa.
She shook her head slightly, her hand resting against her empty bag. “We have nothing left to pay you,” she said.
“That’s a shame. You better watch your back, Myst. It won’t be long before someone asks me what I know.”
“What if there is something we could do for you? To cover our payment,” said Myst.
Zamir sat back and stroked his stubble again. “I do have one job that I could offer you. Do this for me and I will consider your payment settled.”
“Agreed. What do you need us to do?”
“There is a Teleporter that arrived in Dartrin a few days ago. They aren’t part of the Guild and I need them out of the city before they start offering their services to anyone. I need them gone. Any means necessary.”
“How can we find them?”
“They’re staying at an inn near the north-western part of the city. You shouldn’t have any problem picking them out from the crowd. They have an eye patch covering their left eye.”
“Give us a couple of days to get it sorted. We’ll let you know once it’s done,” said Nessa.
“No need,” said Zamir. “I have someone tailing them. I will know you’ve done your job if they can’t find them anymore.”
Nessa stood. “Thank you, Zamir,” she said through gritted teeth before bumping past one of the guards on her way out.
“Thank you,” said Myst, rushing to catch up with Nessa.
Out of earshot from the Guild’s house, Myst asked, “What’s wrong?”
“We got played!” said Nessa.
“We didn’t get any information, but that’s still something. Isn’t it?” Myst reached for her hand, trying to ground her.
“Not that. He waited until he knew we were out of money before springing that last one on us.”
“He wanted us to do this job for him?”
“Exactly! And we walked right into it. Now we’re stuck doing his dirty work and I have to explain to Al why we’re delaying talking to our next person.”
“Surely, he’ll understand. Not everything can go exactly to plan. Why don’t we go deal with this Teleporter now?”
“No. Not now. We’ll call it a night. I’ll scope out the person tomorrow and we’ll deal with them the day after. I don’t want to get outplayed again. You rest tomorrow and I’ll get you when it’s time.”
