126

"I wonder where he got that scar?"

"Right? It's like someone tried to skin his face."

Finn gave Patrick a horrified look. "People do that?"

Patrick snorted. "There was a guy in the Hearthland who used to kidnap travelers that stayed at his inn. He'd drowned them in a vat wine, skinned them served them to other travelers in meat pies."

Just the idea made Finn queasy. "That's disgusting. And probably made up."

"It is not!" Patrick argued. "He was only caught a few years ago. Apparently, he was doing it for decades."

Finn's stomach roiled and it had already been upset from that disgusting, chunky mead Emmy had made him try earlier. "Let's just follow him. Come on, we're going to lose him if he gets any further ahead."

The scarred man was already halfway across the bridge and Finn didn't know the buildings in the Southern area very well.

"Where did Emmy go?"

"No idea." Patrick grunted, jumping over a questionable looking puddle.

Finn slowed down. "Should we go back for her?"

"Emmy can take care of herself." Patrick shook his head, grabbing Finn's arm to pull him along. "She probably fleecing one of the game tables."

"Ah, she seems like she'd be good at that."

The scarred man reached the end of the bridge and turned down an alleyway. Finn and Patrick sprinted to catch up to him and rushed around the corner, expecting him to be further down the alleyway, except he wasn't.

He was at a doorway only a few feet down and neither Finn or Patrick were capable of stopping so suddenly or silently.

A hand sudden appeared over Finn's mouth, one of Patrick's flailing limbs caught him in the stomach as they were being dragged back.

Terror tore through him, like a cold blade in his stomach as he struggled against the hand and the body it was attached to. He tried to reach for the blade at his hip, but he didn't have enough room or coordination to draw it as he was dragged backward with enough speed that he couldn't even stay on his feet.

Patrick's cries were muffled, the two of them bumping into one another as they were dragged back around the corner.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped with Finn and Patrick slammed into the wall so hard they lost their breath.

The cold stone dug into his back as Finn tried to push past the panic and focus.

Next to him Patrick suddenly went still, and Finn tried to turn and look at him, but the handheld him in place and sweat and tears blurred his vision.

"Quiet, both of you." Fox's voice was low, barely a whisper.

Finn's hammering heart started to slow.

"If I let go, will you both be quiet?"

Finn nodded against his hand and took a deep breath when Fox finally let them go. Patrick collapsed against the wall, catching his breath and Finn did the same.

Fox stepped away, peering around the corner into the alley.

***

The scarred man had heard something, but Fox had pulled them back fast enough that by the time he'd looked in their direction, they were out of sight.

The scarred man looked around the alley one last time before ducking into doorway.

Fox memorized what he could before turning back to Finn and Patrick.

Both of them were pale, staring up at him in fear. The Vermeer even looked like he'd cried.

He grabbed them both by the arm and hauled them up. "Let's go."

Neither of them argued as he dragged them back across the bridge.

"What the hell were you two idiots doing?"

"We were trying to help!" Finn muttered, scrubbing his sleeve over his eyes.

"Help with what?"

"Aren't you investigating?" Patrick was still a bit wide eyed and pale.

"Investigating what?"

That just left them both looking confused and Fox sighed.

"Were you following Snake?" If she'd gotten so sloppy that these two had made her, then she wasn't going to live long enough for Fox to deal with her.

Patrick shook his head. "We were getting a drink, and we saw her come in."

"Then we saw you." Finn added.

Fox released them and ignored the prick to his own pride. "And you decided to put yourselves right in the middle?"

"We weren't in the middle!" Finn argued. "We were just trying to help. Are you still investigating Chenzhou's mother's pendant?"

"Lord Ye." Patrick hissed.

Fox sighed, weighing whether or not to tell them the truth.

Or rather, what lie to tell them.

Letting them think it was about the pendant pretty much guaranteed they would continue to stick their noses in whatever they saw Fox or Snake doing.

But he was also starting to suspect that their curiosity would be too much to keep them out of anything they deemed remotely interesting.

Too young to fear death. Fox could barely remember when he was that young.

Or how he'd survived it.

"It's just a routine check in with a source."

"A source?"

"You have sources in the Camelia?"

"The Camelia sees a lot of travelers. Do you think we just ignore everyone once they're inside the walls?"

Neither of them should look as surprised as they did, but for some reason a lot of people never stopped to think about the need for intelligence at home.

Finn perked up. "So, who's your source? The guy with the scar?"

They were nearly back to the pub, but Snake was most likely long gone. Fox needed to get these two out of the way so he could figure out who the scarred man worked for, because nothing about him suggested he had the gold to buy intelligence and Snake wasn't stupid enough to meet a buyer face to face anyway.

"Tell you what. I don't need your help with him." Their faces fell. "But I could use your help with something else." They perked up again. "You were down in the vault, right?"

Patrick nodded as Finn answered. "Yeah, helping Eirian figure out the miasma. We found where the pendant was supposed to be."

"Good. There's been a growing market of stolen items going from the Camelia into the borderlands. Did you check the Inventories while you were in the vault?"

Finn started to look wary. "Yes, but just the ones Eirian and Lord Rong gave us."

"Lady Ye." Patrick hissed. "How come you get it right for Lord Rong but not her."

"She said I don't have to!" Finn hissed right back.

They fell silent at Fox's loud sigh. "I need to know what else has gone missing."

"But…but the vaults are a mess." Finn whimpered.

"It'll take forever." Patrick added.

"You said you wanted to help."

"By doing something cool, not checking…lists." Finn slumped.

"There's a lot of menial work before you get to the cool stuff." Fox gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I'll check in with you in a few days. Find out as much as you can."

"We might as well live in that stupid vault." Patrick whined. "Emmy's not going to be happy."

~ tbc