1        Soul Bound 1.3      Making a Splash 1.3.3    An Unrequited Love 1.3.3.8  Civilised words

9:15 am, Sunday June 11th, 2045

1 bell of the dog watch

Morday full, 17th day of the month of KrevinBelember, A2F1600

CHANNEL : Hachiko and Friends

"Live broadcast from the Ghetto"

Ueno: [Tagging the stream as 'breaking news' is working. Audience size jumped by another 200,000 viewers in just the last 5 minutes.]

He'd been uncertain about using an expert system to prompt him when he'd started broadcasting his gaming sessions. But after a few months they had adapted to each other, and now he couldn't imagine trying to do without her support.

Hachiko: "For those of my friends just joining the livestream, the carts surrounding me are not blocking this road because there's a traffic jam - they're being used as stalls and this is The Crush - the open market at the heart of Torello's industrial area where anyone can just turn up to offer things for sale - no fees and no guarantees."

Rather than carry on explaining, he moved towards an old man with a long grey moustache that drooped so much that the ends nearly touched the shoulder straps of his leather apron. The man was using a knife to carve something rather than dealing with a customer and looked like the sort who'd be willing to chat; Hachiko had learned the hard way that when he found a good story, his friends wanted to experience it rather than listen to him talking. Better to ask someone the events were affecting, than to provide his own summary.

Hachiko: "Sir, I was observing how skilled you are. I am Hachiko. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions? What is your name? What are you are making?"

The man gave a coy smile, and beckoned Hachiko closer.

Petrovich: "Petrovich. Petrovich the toy maker they call me now. Used to be a Bosun Petrovich, on the fairest ship to ever sail from Rovograd. But I'm retired now and Torello's warmth is kinder on my old bones."

He held the object in his hand for Hachiko to inspect. It was a wooden doll, unpainted, but with a face full of personality. Behind him, on the cart, were dozens more, each unique.

Petrovich: "Sailing leaves you a lot of time to practice whittling and I found I had a talent for it. So I make toys."

He shrugged.

Petrovich: "And why not? Wooden shacks in the Teeter may be crammed on top of each other, and so flimsy they'd crumble at a sneeze if they weren't learning against the city wall, but the rooms are cheap. I could stay there for years without having to work. But who wants to spend every day indoors, just drinking yourself senseless until the curfew bell rings out and it's time for everyone to damp their hearth lest it spark as we sleep, and roast us all like a Yule Fire?"

He sounded defensive so Hachiko nodded reassuringly. The man leaned in, as if confiding a secret.

Petrovich: "Kids are good customers, you know? They may only have bronze coins, but when they first take a doll and know it is theirs now? You can see that, to them, it is worth more than the golden crown of Kyiv itself. Makes me wish I'd had a family of my own. Imagine, a little Petrovich, calling me Papa?"

He leaned back again, and added with a self deprecating laugh.

Petrovich: "And, unlike getting drunk, I do not regret toy-making in the morning!"

Hachiko: "You are a wise man, Petrovich. What do you think about today's events?"

Petrovich: "Ach, they are fools. Workers should work, and if they do not like one place they should move elsewhere. Rights? You get what the person with the biggest stick says you get. Always have, always will. Why shake your fist at the sky?"

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Ueno: [Alert: Composite map is warning of a large armed force approaching your location.]

Hachiko: "And the man with the biggest stick would be Lord Pazzi?"

Petrovich grimaced.

Hachiko: "Poxy Pazzi, Count of Basso? Perhaps if he counted more than the number of debtor's daughters he could console in his bed each night. No, I meant the true power around here - the guild masters."

Hachiko: "I guess we'll find out. Look after yourself, my friend."

He bade Petrovich farewell and scanned his surroundings. The composite map was a new service being offered by The Burrow and he trusted it. It allowed any member to link in a data stream from their tiara and, in return, get access to an anonymised composite of data from all other adventurers in the region doing the same thing. People had tried the idea before on XperiSense's previous game server, but fake data from griefers had quickly made it unusable; yet so far the Wombles' version hadn't steered him wrong. Were they doing something differently? Perhaps he could interview Wellington?

He could think about that later. For now he had higher priorities. He moved into the mouth of an alley then, on hearing the number of horses hooves, decided it wasn't quite safe enough and climbed up to a balcony just in time to get a good view of a company of 200 or more horsemen arriving, led by a man full of contradictions.

The man wasn't particularly tall, but his wide shoulders and outsized arms made him appear big. His face was ill-favoured, with jug-like ears and bulging eyes, but there was something about his considering gaze that spoke of cunning and decisiveness. His cloak was beautifully tailored, held closed by a ruby clasp shaped like a bird, but his chestnut hair was unkempt and looked like it had been hacked short with a dagger. He could be mistaken for an arrogant popinjay, yet he wore a well-cared for suit of armour like it were his natural skin, and there was no mistaking the genuine respect and camaraderie the other soldiers treated him with.

He was a fox in peacock's clothing and, for a moment as every merchant and customer in the Crush froze in place, Hachiko saw them not as people but as hens in a hen house.

Lord Pazi: "Law abiding goodmen of Basso District, bear witness to how nobly I suffer under the whip of the imperious Lady Duty, that she doth use to drive me to stern action despite my natural shy and gentle inclinations."

Some of the younger guards sniggered, and then hastily turned it into fits of false coughing at a glance from their lance-sergeant.

Lord Pazi: "I am Basso, and I feel the pain you have been caused by these building-burning lordless layabouts, as sharply as I would a nail hammered through my loins."

With poorly acted modesty Pazi placed one ham-sized fist protectively over his groin, right next to where a forearm-length curved blade was attached to his waist. Was that a kris knife or a khukuri? Hachiko wasn't good with the names of non-Japanese weapons but what he did know, just from the way red lines threading through metal pulsed like blood-filled veins, was that it screamed "danger!" to his skill-enhanced instincts so loudly he could barely stand to look at it.

Lord Pazi: "Therefore let my watchers of the night carry forth the following proclamation, and repeat it in every square that none may rightly claim ignorance of my words."

Lord Pazi: "Firstly, for today and until I deem this mutinous mind-plague purified, curfew shall be rung at 3 bells of the dog watch, that peaceful people be freed to guard their homes against deliberately started fires, and so that my guards may be free to act on the assumption that any still out on the streets after that time are not peaceful people."

Lord Pazi: "Secondly, to make up any loss of profits from shortened work hours, I am offering a bounty to any person, be they goodman, mercenary or even priest-summoned questing spirit, in return for information that results in the capture of those who've caused such grievous insult, in word, in deed and above all, in rejecting the legitimacy of the authority granted unto my House by Cov, by Tradition and by our city's beloved Marquis, Lord Trinci."

Hachiko could see eyes glazing over and people shifting uneasily in the street below. Why was Pazi speaking so long-windedly? He didn't let the thought intrude on the stream being broadcast, but whispered a request for updates to Ueno.

Lord Pazi: "On the subject of divine advice, and taking lesson from how much slower the Red Death spread in those parishes which suspended all events involving the gathering of many people, I am advised by our own Fra Meschino that the best weapon against the lies of these 'Chartists' will be the glorious knife of vigilant supervision, with which we shall stab dead the faithless heart of ill-informed gossip. For this wise and benevolent reason, I am sure you will all give your full support to my third and final temporary protective arrangement."

Ueno: [One report of guards securing a warehouse 500 meters north along Heddle Drag, just inside the Rooks parish. One report of a grumpy contingent heading this way from the Carters Guild, after their guildmaster emerged from a private meeting with someone.].

Lord Pazi: "In Torello under normal circumstances it has been customary to afford to even commoners the privilege of being permitted to freely arrange, travelling to or attending a meeting of more than eight persons in a public place, even meetings that have not been authorised beforehand by a representative of House Pazi as would be required in many other dominions. With regret I inform you that I do not currently deem circumstances to be normal. That privilege is hereby suspended."

A mage whispered something to Pazi, who tilted his head and grinned. His voice changed.

Lord Pazi: "In other words, this market's closed. And I mean immediately. Anyone who argues or loiters will be treated as a sympathiser. Leave your carts where they are - my men will deal with them in accordance with the law, so no delays. Move it!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.