The man who’d just came downstairs was tall and thin, to the point of looking almost emaciated. He had long blond hair and black eyes, and was dressed as a well-to-do merchant, in a tooled leather vest over a finely woven white cotton shirt, a pair of pants dyed a deep blue, and an expensive looking pair of well-polished boots. It was a far cry from the silk he’d worn the last, and only, time I’d seen him, and I remembered his hair as being dark and close-cropped, but I still had little trouble recognizing Simon White, the heir to the White family.

The barkeep was obviously aware of Simon’s identity, as he immediately closed his mouth and went back to filling mugs of ale for his customers, who quickly lost interest in us and went back to the important job of getting drunk as quickly as possible.

Doreen, who’d probably recognized Simon as easily as I did, took Mable arm and turned around immediately to head towards the exit.

“Please don’t,” Simon pleaded as a pair of Marksmen, the rank III Archer Shapes, showed up at the entrance. “I really think the two of you and myself need to talk.”

I had serious doubts about our ability to defeat two rank III Shapes with what we had available, even if I could get the Marine to close to melee range before the ranged Shapes could take it out, and I was sure that these two weren’t the extent of the forces Simon had available. Doreen, who probably shared my assessment of our chances, turned back with Mable and started to cross common room towards the stairs, and I walked close behind them.

“Bring over some ale for my friends,” Simon told the bartender before turning around and leading us up the stairs and into a private dining room.

The room looked significantly more lavish than anything I’d expected to see in the Rickety Rukh. Comfortable looking leather cushioned chairs surrounded an oak table, and tapestries depicting the White family Patterns hung on the walls. The room had no windows, but glass lanterns hanging between the tapestries provided enough light to easily see the four Marksmen who were guarding the room, one in each corner.

We entered the room in silence and Simon gestured at the girls to sit. A couple of minutes later, one of the harried looking serving girls entered the room with three mugs of ale, which she placed in front of the three living inhabitants of the room, before leaving and closing the door behind her.

“Now that we have some privacy, let me introduce myself. My name is Simon White. And you are?”

“Mable Wilson,” Mable answered. “And this is Doreen…”

“Swift!” Doreen interjected before Mable could speak her surname. “Doreen Swift!”

Simon raised his brow curiously at Doreen’s interjection. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Wilson and Miss Swift. I was hoping Jack Baker would come here after we failed to bring down his boat, and I have some questions I would very much like answers for. And I’m fairly sure I can also answer some of your own questions in turn.”

Neither Doreen nor Mable said anything, or touch their ale, and after a few seconds Simon sighed and continued.

“Look, I know you two are working with Jack baker and the dwarf Marjory, who I’m told are vicious pirates who’d just razed Gerald’s Rest to the ground. Now personally, I have my doubts about that, which I’m hoping you’ll help me solidify. But if you aren’t going to talk to me, I’m going to have to turn you over to my family, and none of them have any doubts about it.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Doreen finally answered, “but I have no idea who you are talking about.”

“I am a White, Miss Swift,” and this time I could hear the emphasis he gave Doreen’s fake name, “and we take our duties seriously. I know of every single Pattern in the kingdom, and this one,” he pointed at my Marine, “is a Shape I can’t identify. And the two of you showing up with it mere hours after we ran off the dwarf’s flying boat, which was crewed with more Shapes I’ve never heard of, can’t possibly be a coincidence.”

If the Marine’s face was even a little mobile, I would have winced at that now glaringly obvious flaw in my plan. Of course anyone who was really familiar with Shaping would be able to tell that the Marine didn’t come from any of the known Patterns. Then again, I truly didn’t expect Simon White to wait for us in the Rukh.

“Look,” Simon continued, “We got word that Gerald’s Rest was destroyed about a week ago, when the first merchants started to return after seeing the ruined town. Which means that the attack took place between three and four weeks ago. Then just two days ago we get word from the capital that the town was destroyed by pirates using a flying ship. And since there just aren’t any more flying vessels around, that immediately pointed at Jack and Marjory.

“The thing is, word from the capital arrived surprisingly quickly. The news only reached us a week ago, and none of the merchants could tell us anything about who did it. So getting that information from the capital a mere five days later? Smelled a bit funny to me. Add that to the fact that Jack seemed to be on fairly good terms with Darren Forrester, and that those two didn’t seem like they had even close to the force needed to raze a town? Something is definitely fishy.”

“So why did you attack us?” Mable asked, and this time I did wince hard enough that the Marine twitched.

“Because while I am fairly sure that someone else must have razed Gerald’s Rest, the rest of my family haven’t talked to either Jack or Marjory, and are both loyal subjects of the king and very protective of our city.

“Now, seeing as I’ve probably just answered the main question that brought you two here, how about you tell me what really happened in Gerald’s Rest?”