Meanwhile, during saint Jacob's day celebrations at the Milene mansion, Dorothy Milene got an unexpected guest. It was Duke Mihalh.
"It seems you had a slight hiccup a few days ago," Mihalh said to Dorothy.
"What do you want? Thought you'd be chumming in with the king at his amazing party," said an annoyed Dorothy who was drinking alone.
"Yeah, I was there. Had to leave though when Henrik Plangent came. He just hates me so much," Eivar Milhalh said.
"At least he is not getting in our way in any way."
"Yeah. His loyalty to the king would never waver, but luckily the king lets us do as we please. He is not a smart man, but he knows when it's best to just delegate a job to someone else," explained Eivar.
Dorothy looked at a document. She then showed it to him.
"This is what was stolen from here. It has the list of all the people who have had connections with my assassins."
"Are you going to dismantle the gang now?"
"No need to keep it anymore and I don't have anymore anyone to lead it. I can't be seen leading a gang. I can't be even seen to be alive. I will still keep the assassin at work. Have to just work a bit to make them listen to me when they previously thought they had worked for my sisters. "
"That is true. We have no more need for a gang, but the assassins are essential. For now, we just have to make sure to take out all the friends of the prince. He has been meddling in our jobs too long already. So, for now, just get your assassins in order. They will soon get more missions from me," Eivar said while reading the documents.
"Can't I just kill him?" asked Dorothy while turning his fingers into knives.
"No, he is still the prince. We just have to make him give up. We just have to figure out who are all his friends and companions in this crusade of his…and deal with them."
Thousands of tiny little bacteria-like creatures came from underneath the sleeves of the duke. They completely devoured the document Eivar was holding in his hand.
~~
The next morning the entire black rat gang was gathered at the bar. Haley was telling the new expansion plans for the black rat gang. Operations at the river docks had slowed down due to a lack of trade. Haley had decided to go with some of the gang members to Sofia the most lucrative and rich city in the kingdom. It was known for its large gravity ship tower that enabled gravity ships to dock on it and unload goods.
The large tower was made so that Sofia could have a monopoly on trade in the country. Large and powerful merchant guilds and independent trading companies were located also in Sofia.
Haley had an idea to scout the area seeing would there be a chance to create a new revenue stream benefiting the gang and the people of Jacobstadt.
Rufus and Edward accompanied Haley to Sofia. They were getting on a riverboat that would go straight to Sofia in just one day.
Doreen ran to the docks just as the boat was about to leave. She jumped on the boat indicating she was going too.
"Lady. What are you doing? Even if you are now hanging with us you don't have to come with us," Edward asked.
"Oh, shut up. I am not going to Sofia to indulge in your little money scheme. I have a mission from the prince. Sofia is the home base of Duke Milhalh. I am going there to collect intel on the Duke. He is now on leave from the city so it is an opportune time to collect intel, also, I am going to make sure you don't do anything stupid to catch the eye of anyone that would hinder us. He might already know that the black rat gang has started to work with the prince so no needless provocations."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Loyal as ever this lady," Edward said.
The riverboat passed the river gates heading toward the city of Sofia. After a while, the city of Jacobstadt couldn't be spotted anymore from the distance. The large grey scale mountains on the other hand could be seen rising in the distance to the north of the country. The river was not close but the mountains were the highest ones in the entire Aesis world.
The river's shores were full of small forts and any village on the shore was designed in a motte and bailey style. The walls of these were full of garrisoned soldiers guarding them all day and night long.
"This our first time I guess going this far away from home," Haley spoke to Rufus.
"Yeah. Never have we been this far away. We can even see those mountains."
"Those mountains are nice from this distance, but living near them is a death sentence," Edward said who was laying on the floor of the boat trying to take a nap.
"What do you mean?"
"The grey mountains are littered with grey skins."
Even Haley and Rufus knew who the grey skins were. They were a race of people living in the Aesis world. One of two races who were indigenous in the Aesis world. They are a warlike race who come down from the mountains regularly to raid and pillage. Sometimes a large tribe would gather a strong army and rampage for an entire season being able to reach even nations that are not in contact with the grey mountains.
That was also why there were so many forts and castles around the river bank and all villages and towns were well more fortified the more north you went. The river went near the mountains and was also used as a natural barrier to stop invading raiding parties.
~~
The next morning the city of Sofia could be seen. Both Rufus and Haley woke up early so they could see the city. Just as the city was showing from the horizon a large object flew past the small riverboat. It was a gravity ship.
A floating bark-style sail ship flew past them with all sails down. It had high sail masts and it was at least fifty meters long from the front to the back. It was amazing how such a large ship was able to float and fly through the skies and go into other worlds. Rufus had never seen such a ship so near them.
The city of Sofia was now fully visible to them. In the city, you could see a large tower from which many docks were coming from its side. Three other ships were floating near the tower almost touching it looking like they had docked onto the tower. This was the famous gravity ship tower that enabled trade to flourish in the city of Sofia.