Mike Wild - The Clockwork King of Orl

To get inside, Kali needed help. And she knew exactly where she was going to find it.

She continued on, breaking at last from the warren of small streets and out into the centre of Andon, a thronged circular marketplace filled with stalls, vendor carts and street performers surrounding the towers in a hub. Already gearing up for the day's trade, it was where the true hubbub of Andon was to be found and, as a consequence, where those who fed upon that hubbub could also be found. The largest and most successful thieves guild in Andon — the Grey Brigade — were based somewhere here, and it was no small measure of their presence and influence in the area that their playful nickname for it had been adopted by the city's inhabitants, thereafter referring to the place as the Andon Heart.

Kali weaved her way through the milling crowds with no particular destination, at least none she yet knew. Her attention fixed seemingly on the endless array of gaudy stalls and goods, in actuality she had her senses trained on every subtle movement around her. She felt herself accidentally jostled or pushed once, twice, three times, and on each occasion felt hands slide gracefully into the pockets of her furs or vest, each of which she had filled with some coin. She had to admit that the dippers working this patch were very good, but when someone knew what to expect — in fact, hoped for it to happen — they had to be very, very good indeed if they wanted to go unnoticed.

Kali let the plunder continue until the fifth dipper made his move, and then she made hers. The boy's hand was sliding towards her side when her own lashed out and grabbed it tightly by the wrist.

"That's ten full silver your people have taken from me," she said, smiling. "Even accounting for your share, that's enough to buy me an audience with your boss, don't you think?"

"B-boss, Missus?" the boy said, struggling against her grip. "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Jengo," Kali said. "I'm here to see Jengo."

"Jengo?"

"Jengo Pim."

The boy smiled slyly. "So, you knows his name, eh? That counts for something, I suppose. But who's to say you ain't bringin' him some business old Jengo might not be inclined to undertake?"

"Who says I'm here on business? I'm his sister."

The boy guffawed. "Jengo ain't got no sister. Everyone knows he ain't got no kin and was dumped on the streets like the bastard he is."

Kali leaned closer, looming down on the boy, and tightened her grip. "Then I guess that makes me a bitch."

The boy swallowed. "A-all right, Missus — ah'll take you to him. But I tells you, it ain't no worry of mine if he slits you from ear to ear."

"From where to where?" Kali said, smiling.

"Eh? Oh, never mind. Just follow me."

Kali did, finding that the entrance to the Grey Brigade's den was hidden almost in plain sight, yards from where she stood. Nevertheless, it would have been impossible to take advantage of without her escort. She was led between two market stalls, the owners of which were obviously guild stationed as sentries, and then along a tight alleyway that jinked away behind them. Kali looked up as she walked, saw that she was being watched from a number of windows above. Clearly, no one who wasn't welcome could approach the guild unseen, and Kali suspected that for any particularly unwelcome visitor those who stared at her now, casually crunching fruit, might simply substitute the fruit for a loaded needlereed and the unwanted visitor would be incapacitated before they could take two steps. She guessed the resultant body — unconscious or otherwise — would be spirited away into one of the apparently sealed doorways she passed, there to be stripped, dumped in the river and never seen again.

She reached the end of the alleyway safely, however, and after the boy gave three irregular raps on the solid wooden door that terminated it, found herself inside the den of the Grey Brigade.

Impressive, she thought, as she was led through its busy interior, not only in the number of guild members she passed but also in the facilities provided for them. Everything the Andon thief could desire was provided here, from equipment and training areas to common lounges, dormitories and bar, all of them converted to their present use from the rooms of what looked to have been at one time a large hotel, an enterprise she imagined had been starved of business during the siege.

Grandly enough, Jengo Pim had chosen what had once been the hotel's ballroom for his court, and it was obvious which of those gathered within was he. The thieves guild leader was draped in an ornate, red upholstered chair in the middle of the room, swigging from a bulb of wine and gnawing meat he skewered on a dagger from a serving table beside him. As Kali was brought in, the appropriately roguish-looking man was conferring with two of his lieutenants, but as she approached he dismissed them and turned his attention to her. He jabbed the dagger into the table and wiped his mouth before speaking.

"So — I'm told I have a sister I never knew about," he said, blatantly looking her up and down. "Seems you got the genes I didn't. Nice. Very nice."

"Thanks. But I hear incest makes your bits shrivel and die, so I'd keep your hands off if I were you. The name's Kali Hooper. I'm here on business."

Pim sucked his teeth and spat a piece of gristle across the room. "Figured you might be. But as I have no shortage of business of my own, why should I have an interest in yours? What, in fact, stops me having you killed right here, right now?"

"Because you run a thieves guild, not an assassins guild. You'd need a good reason to bump me off and so far I haven't given you one."

"No," Pim said, lecherously, "more's the pity." He waved a hand at her striped tights and furs. "I could, of course, consider your current outfit a capital crime."

"Yes, well, that's a long story." Without being invited, Kali grabbed Pim's knife, stabbed a piece of meat and bit it off the blade. "Come on, Pim — aren't you just a little bit curious why I risked coming here?"

Pim took a swig of his wine, studied her, smiled. "Let's stick with mildly stimulated. Very well, you have a minute. How can the Grey Brigade be of service to you?"

"I need your help. To break in somewhere."

Pim pulled a face. "Oh, Miss Hooper, after so much promise you disappoint me. Pretty lass like you, what is it? Heard you can recruit some of my people to do an ex-lover's house? Perhaps empty his strongbox of compromising documents?"

"Actually, no, I need to do the job myself. And it's the League of Prestidigitation and Prestige."

Pim spluttered on the wine he'd just consumed, stared at her incredulously. "The League?" he repeated. He laughed out loud, and then with a bouncing of his palms invited the others in the room to join him in his jollity, which they duly did. "Bubbling pits of Kerberos, woman, that's impossible."

"Nonetheless — "

"Nonetheless, nothing. It's bloody suicide. Have you any idea what kind of traps are in there? Those sorcerous psychopaths have wired the place with every kind of thread threat you can imagine, and more. There are things that'll fry you, things that'll crush you, things that'll drown you, things that'll make your heart go boom." Pim slumped into his chair and swigged from his wine again. "Listen to me — only three men in the entire history of our guild have tried the towers. The first we found flapping around with his bones gone, the second was last seen ascending to Kerberos before he died, and the third came back in a bottle no bigger than this one." Pim shook the wine bulb he held. "No chance. Go home, girl. Go home."

Kali stayed where she was and folded her arms. "Actually, it isn't just the towers I need to gain access to, it's the Forbidden Archive itself."