"Where do I even start?" Clark mused, "A lot has changed since the last time you were here after all."
"I'm only interested in finding Forester."
"War stories it is!" he concluded. "Forester and the rest of them got real big heads after they captured the Bend from the Feddies. Started thinking they could push this even further and into Federation territory, so Forester wrangled up all of the favours he could cash in and got this army together. It's his men, mixed with other nobles and platoons that owe him one."
"That's a lot of troops."
"It is. And he's struggling to keep everything under control. Forester wants them marching on Federation territory within the week, but…"
"But what?"
"The King isn't happy with him. He never gave an order to do anything like this. From his perspective – the primary goal of the army being here is just to scare away the Feddies. Forester thinks that it's better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. The more loyal nobles though, they're refusing to commit their troops to something that contravenes the King's orders. They're stuck in a stalemate. And when people get at each other's throats over this stuff information starts leaking like a faucet."
"You're telling me you have a bunch of information?"
Clark smiled, "Of course I do. They've been gossiping to anyone with a pair of ears and the patience to listen! I've never seen anything like it."
"Alright, so do you know where Forester is staying?"
He shook his head much to my disappointment, "They aren't quite that loose with their words, Ren. But I did get the impression that certain noble families are more trusted by him than others. Narrowing that down to ones who make Blackwake their home and we can start to get somewhere."
"So, who does he trust?"
"I've got four. The Delana, the Pipers, the Worthnesses and the Vanchamps. They're all traditional Blackwake families, and all of them have a history of doing what Forester demands of them."
Clark rose from his seat and retrieved a map of one of the city's districts from a drawer and a quill. He circled several large houses located near the city walls. "These are the properties that I know they own for sure. If Forester wants to be close to the army so he can keep hold of things – he'll probably have turned one of them into an officer's barracks."
"Would he sleep there?"
"Maybe. I don't know everything about the guy. He could be a paranoid nut for all I know."
"I better start scouting things out then."
Clark's face hardened, "Why are you looking for Forester anyway?"
I sighed, "I already told you, someone paid me an insane amount of money to be here, and now I'm looking for the leading officer in a new Royalist offensive. Put two and two together."
Clark nearly screeched like a parrot when he figured it out; "You're trying to kill Forester?! What the hell is wrong with you?"
I leaned back in my chair as he stormed over and got up in my face. "Nothing's wrong with me. I couldn't turn down that much cash. It'll let me focus on some other things that have happened to me recently."
"You've gone and bloody lost it, you have! I'm being serious this time. That bloke is surrounded on all sides by trained killers Ren. Not to mention that he's entangled with the fucking inquisition! If they find out that you've touched so much as a bloody hair on his head – you can kiss your arse goodbye."
Clark had gone red in the face and was breathing heavily. He was feeling very worked up about me, for some reason. He was a worrywart at heart but he knew how the game was played. Rogues who didn't take risks didn't get the big payouts. My recent successes in jobs outside of my usual wheelhouse had convinced me that I could handle this much.
"They're not going to see me."
Clark had rotated from anger to despair, "Oh man, I shouldn't have told you anything. I'm such an idiot."
"Hey, I can do as I please," I objected.
"I believe Ren is strong enough," Tahar offered. Belief wasn't what I was looking for though.
Clark knew that there wasn't much he could do about it now. I placed some money down on the table and nabbed the map he had drawn for me. We'd need to get our eyes on all of the houses and see what was what. With any luck we'd find a clue to Forester's real location.
"Don't worry about me," I grunted, "I thought you didn't like to make friends?"
"Yeah, but… I respect you. I don't want you doing anything that'll get you killed," Clark explained.
"I'll be square with you Clark – I'm already on borrowed time."
"That doesn't mean you have to kill yourself faster!"
"Sure, but if I go down without trying my best to survive, I'd be mad at myself. I can't scrape by and play it safe anymore. I need money, I need space, and I need big jobs. I'm going to cut Lord Forester's fucking head off and put it on a pike if I have to."
Clark slumped down onto his seat and covered his face, "When you say it like that I almost believe you."
"Thanks for the map. Here's a tip."
I threw my money onto the table and left, with no small amount of frustration bubbling within me.
I hated scoping out houses.
I was no voyeur. I didn't find anything particularly exciting about sitting and waiting on a street corner for someone to come through the front door. I started going down Clark's list of noble houses in the urban areas and removed several from a single glance. Why? They didn't have guards posted. No matter how discrete Forester wanted to be – he would not allow himself to sleep inside of an undefended lodging when they suspected enemy spies were in the city.
The paranoia was well placed. There were two homes that Clark fingered that came with a complement of guards by the door. Usually these were the dullards, men who couldn't be trusted to fight or live in the camps without causing problems. Since Lord Forester was allegedly staying in one of them though, those militiamen had been replaced by two knights from the Order. Crazy stats or no, I wouldn't be able to beat them in a square fight. They had weapon skills that far surpassed my self-trained shithousery. They'd best me with skill alone and cut me down with little effort.
The Pipers and the Vanchamps were the last two families in contention for biggest brownnoser. The buildings were originally constructed as small businesses meant to attract travellers coming through the nearby gates, but they had been recalibrated into houses presumably on Forester's orders. The metal poles that hung above the front windows had been stripped of any signage. The windows had been reinforced with iron bars screwed into the timber.
It wasn't pretty, and it probably felt like a prison on the inside – but it did make my job harder which was the main intent. I'd need to slip in through the doors. That meant causing another distraction or getting through when nobody was looking. It would be tough. These guys weren't going to move come hell or high water; they were charged with protecting a man of significant influence and power.
My considerations were brought to a screeching halt by the arrival of another figure to the building's main entrance. I'd recognize the slimy pile of human refuse anywhere, it was the officer who had tried to sucker punch Cali back in the tavern months ago. I grabbed my two companions and dragged them back into hiding. He'd recognize us for sure.
"Why him of all people?" I grunted. This made things even trickier than they were already. What were the odds of this guy still working in Blackwake? He stuck around like a bad smell.
"Who is he?" Cali enquired.
"What? He was the guy who tried to kill you back in Exarch's Bend, remember?"
Cali looked like a confused puppy, tilting her head to the side and activating the full volume of her brain to try and recover the long-lost memory. How did she forget something like that so easily?
"No. I do not recall. He must have lacked impact."
I sighed. Only Cali could say that someone trying to murder had 'lacked impact.' She must have seen him as such a non-threat that it didn't even register with her. I could understand, Cali was a deft hand with a halberd and a terrifying force of nature when she used her magic. But she didn't have the crazy HP and stat modifiers that I had, a lucky blow could have caused serious damage.
His arrival was helpful in one sense; "I think this is our house, he was one of the people who Forester associated with when he attacked the Bend." The Vanchamp family had come out on top in the ass-kissing competition. This was one of their old businesses, now turned into a hidey hole for royal officers.
The layout of the house was now my primary concern. There was one door out front at the top of a short set of steps. The foundations hinted at a basement down below, though it was unlikely that there would be access to the cellar through the house itself. Most people didn't like having the cellar stairs taking up floor space inside. There'd be access through another, exterior entrance for when you needed to store booze or food.
There were twelve windows, two on each side of the façade in three rows. All of them had been locked tight by wrought iron bars and screwed into the timbers. I could conceivably pull them from their places by using my strength, but it would make a terrible racket inside as the structure of the building rumbled and cracked. That meant that we needed to get in through the door. I led Tahar and Cali around the block and to the backstreet.
The house here all came with small urban gardens. Tall brick walls prevented visual access and provided a small amount of privacy to the occupants. There were weak wooden doors at the far end of each rectangular plot. Only one of those gardens was guarded by two burly looking soldiers with armour and spears. Not one for subtlety, this Lord Forester.
I already saw my 'in' to the house. Between the target building and the next block over there was a tight alleyway. The guards were too busy looking after the door, but what if I didn't need to go through the door? I was agile like a cat. I could easily jump up and over the wall from the side without anyone seeing me.
That was the first obstacle, but there were many more factors to consider. I needed to be careful once I was inside. I didn't know how many people were occupying it. I also needed to know when Forester was present and accounted for. It'd be no good breaking in and getting myself into a world of shit when the guy I'm supposed to kill isn't even there. Enclosed environment with blind corners and a large number of occupants. I had to consider some other options. Would Forester put himself into a more vulnerable position if I shadowed him?
My ideal scenario would be getting Forester somewhere in the urban tangle with few guards to protect him. I could kill him and slip away using my thievery skills. Wait for the heat to die down a little, and then get out of dodge by running back across the border. I told myself to dream on. This wasn't going to be that easy. The entire thing could get blown to hell suddenly when I least expected it.
"What are we going to do?" Tahar asked, breaking me from my reverie.
"I'm gonna' have to stake it out, see when Forester comes and goes. Then I know the best time to break in and deal with him."
I needed to find a good spot to hide and spy on them. We returned to the main avenue. There was an alleyway on the opposite side that could offer some good shade cover, but it did run the risk of someone coming up to me and asking questions…
"Hey, you!"
Just like that, actually. I turned to face the voice with an excuse already leaving my mouth, but I was silenced when I saw who it was. It was Danton, the guy who has berated me the last time I was here. His house was near here, he must have been passing by at the time. I rolled my eyes and stepped up to face him.
"Danton, to what do I owe the displeasure?"
He didn't find it half as funny as I did, but he didn't open up with a barrage of complaints about my presence. He was much more pensive than the last time I saw him. "Give it a rest lad. I just wanted to ask you for a favour."
"A favour?"
"Nothing big, it's about Sakura. I was wondering if you've seen her lately."
"Seen her? Why are you asking me?"
Danton grunted, "She's gone missing, you big bloody fool."