This lookout job was boring. Really boring, stuck in a tiny, shitty cave, watching the city beneath. It was even worse when she could hear the sounds from below, of people having fun, and she was having to sit up here, doing nothing. And the city was shit – the only times she’d been out, she’d immediately gotten into a fight, some stupid thugs picking on her. It had barely started, and then Kethys had dragged her out of it, and stuck her up here. It wasn’t even a nice cave!

There was a sound from behind her as Kethys climbed up into the cave, bandages wrapped around any exposed skin, her red eyes glinting. She moved as far as she could into the shadows as she could before tugging down the bandages around her mouth. Despite the precautions she took, her skin was still blotchy and discoloured where she’d caught the sun, her violet skin burning easily.

‘You got some time to talk?’

Semari shrugged. ‘Sure. Nothin’ else to do.’ She moved over to the slot in the wall, casting an eye over the city, pretending to do her job. At least if she was allowed out, she could be doing something better. Better than just watching from here, anyway. Scuffing around the docks was normally fun, and they had some nice food there normally, fish fresh from the ocean, and people to pick fights with.

‘Yeah, you’re pissed, that’s fair. Being stuck up here is shit. It’s just, well, you have been acting odd lately. I know you’re proud of your strength, but maybe use a bit less? It’s fine with people you know, but the staff here find it a bit strange. Just ask first, before squeezing quite so tightly. And you don’t have to go all out in a friendly arm-wrestle, Kalmir’s arm got pretty bashed up.’ Kethys reached out and ruffled Semari’s hair. ‘Look, I know I’m crap at this. Where I came from, if you weren’t strong, you were meat or dead, and that was that. And I don’t want you to be like that. The guys are pretty chill, they won’t mind, but just ask first. Just go easy, OK?’

‘Can I touch you then?’ Semari expected a laughing refusal, Kethys disliking anyone close to her, never mind touching her, but there was a long pause, before Kethys sighed.

‘Sure, figure you’ve earnt that much at…’ Her words were cut off as Semari hugged her, tightly, not needing any encouragement. It was strange to think of Kethys as being fairly short and slight, all things considered, not even that much taller than Semari, now she was growing. She’d always seemed so much bigger, standing tall and proud, always confident and capable, as she trained Semari to help with her heists.

Air was pushed out of Kethys as Semari squeezed, bones crunching, while Kethys managed to wheeze out words. ‘Little… looser… please.’ Semari let her go, Kethys supporting herself on the wall as she regained her breath. ‘Yeah, that’s what I mean. I appreciate the thought, but a little less tight? And when it’s some dude you don’t know, small wonder they think it’s a bit odd. Anyway, I’ve got a job for you. That’s better than being up here, although I guess that’s probably not hard.’

Semari smiled. ‘Cool. Can I go, like, punch some people now? Or do something? Oooo, can I take Hadric?’

‘No, he has something else to do.’ From the look on Kethys’ face, she had some other reservations as well, but didn’t voice them. ‘There’s a whole bunch of gangs around. I need you to stir them up. Take out the leaders, wreck anyone that gives you shit. Try not to be too vicious about it, I would prefer them intact, not crippled. Reckon you’re up for it?’

‘What do I get from this?’

Kethys laughed. ‘I really have taught you well, haven’t I? See that castle up there?’ She pointed above them, where a huge cliff hung over most of the city, a castle dominating it, high walls warding it from the city it protected. ‘That’s where I need to get into for this job. And there’s enough guards and stuff that I need a distraction to get in and get the job done. Plus, this place is a shithole, so it’ll do them good to rebuild some. That’ll get us enough gold to get out of this place, I’ve got a big debt that’ll get paid off, and then I’ll give you, um. I don’t know, what do you actually want? Some better clothes? I’d buy you a weapon, but you keep breaking them, and you’re shit with them anyway.’

‘Ooo, can I have a shirt like yours?’ Semari ran her fingers along the crisp, black silk, tracing the golden spirals along Kethys’ shoulder. ‘I might wanna look fancy at some point. And some food. We should go somewhere nice. I hear there’s some proper posh places up there, but that do proper big meals, lots of meat.’

‘I can’t really go wining and dining, least without a mob showing up, but as long as you promise not to wreck shit, I can probably arrange something.’

Semari nodded. Was there anything else she wanted? Her clothes generally fell apart after a while, weapons were fun to play with but never lasted, some fancy food would be nice. ‘I know, can I have something like one of those things on your ear?’

Kethys’ pointed ears held a number of rings and piercings, a dull grey cuff along the top, bearing some writing that had long ago been defaced. She self-consciously ran a hand through her hair, brushing white strands off a pointed ear.

‘Sure, I guess. You’re going to want something pretty tough though, maybe steel, rather than silver.’

‘Yeah, but I think it’ll look cool. I don’t want anything dangly or that might get grabbed, but something small would be nice. Deal?’ Semari stuck her hand out, Kethys taking it and shaking.

‘Fair enough. So, I need you to beat up the gangs, stir them up. You don’t need to actually organise much, just beat up the leaders and anyone that looks at you funny. Tell them that everything is the fault of the nobs up on the hill, mostly because it actually is, they’re gouging for all they can take. Some of the gangs are in their pockets, and our job gets a lot easier if they’re all running around and disorganised. So if you take the leaders out, then that’s most of the goons dealt with, and I can take the chance to sneak into the castle and get what I need to.’

Semari knocked her knuckles together. ‘Cool. So, who do I have to beat up?’

‘Down at the docks. I’ll give you a list, but try not to get the guards involved, and don’t get arrested. There’s a few other gangs that might be willing to help, or at least not get in your way, but you’ll have to find them. Sorry, this whole thing is a bit rushed, but it has to be done fast.’ Kethys squinted as she looked outside, looking at the angle of the sun – it must be something to do with the upcoming summer solstice tonight. ‘And stay away from the arena.’ Kethys pointed at the large circular building, isolated within its own compound. ‘There’s some monster or something they’ve got there, and they feed people to it. Any other questions?’

‘Can I have some potions? I’m gonna get smacked a bit, and this sounds like quite a few dudes to beat up.’

‘I’ve not got many, but sure. Just don’t drink them all at once! I’ve added some bitterberries to them this time.’

Semari groaned. ‘Hey, that’s just mean.’

‘You drank them all at once last time! I don’t care if you think they taste good, save them for when you’re injured.’

‘That’s no fun. Fine, I won’t chug the healing potions. So, I’m only meant to rough them up?’

‘Enough to get the leaders out of the picture. They’re just thugs, they’ll back down if you hit them enough.’ Kethys handed over a folded-up piece of paper. ‘Also, you’re taking Neitha with you. She needs the experience, and you need someone to keep you from doing stupid shit. Like starting a fight with a minotaur.’

‘Hey, I could’ve taken him.’ Semari clenched a fist. ‘He wasn’t all that!’

‘He was over twice your size. His axe alone was bigger than you! Try to not get killed. Please?’

Semari sighed. ‘Fine, I’ll take her with me, but if she poisons me again, I’ll make her eat her fingers.’

She started to squirm out of the viewing slot, taking the satchel and wriggling through the small gap, clambering down the rock wall. She could just have used the ladder, but this way was far more fun! The rock wall had enough cracks and crevices that it wasn’t that hard to clamber down, although she had to twist awkwardly and push off it partway down, landing on the roof. Beneath her she could hear the urgent grunts and gasps of fucking, someone enjoying the hospitality of the house. Staying in a brothel meant the place was never quiet, and people were into some weird stuff. The staff were pretty friendly, although she’d have to remember Kethys’ advice about not being too rough with them.

She climbed down the wall, taking a moment to look through the window. The pair inside were really going at it, the woman one of the workers, a nice one that occasionally bought Semari sweets, currently wearing half of a maid’s outfit as she rode her customer. She looked up as Semari climbed past and tried not to giggle, covering her distraction with a faked groan of passion. Semari gave her a thumbs up of encouragement, before climbing the rest of the way down, dropping to the ground.

Neitha was waiting already, face in her usual expression of sour displeasure, a reinforced leather satchel bearing her array of poisons and stuff, and hopefully some healing potions. Semari glared at her. ‘Fine, I guess you can come. Don’t mess with me, and I won’t break your fingers. Deal?’

Neitha flicker her long, black hair. ‘I’m only here because Mistress Kethys ordered me to come. And likely to avoid you turning this into another fiasco, like that incident at Huathan.’

‘Hey, that wasn’t my fault! That place was so dry, any spark would have ignited it all. And I pulled you out before the fire caught you, didn’t I?’

‘Only after dropping me in. Mistress Kethys has given explicit instructions for you to follow. So please do so.’

She was always so boring. And a complete suck-up. And did creepy-spooky things with poisons and stuff. And spent too much time looking pretty, rather than on useful things, like learning how to fight. But Kethys had said they had to work together, so that’s what they would be doing.

‘Hey, don’t be a dick! At least I can do something without spiking someone’s drink first. And I’m here to make sure you don’t get beaten up.’ She grabbed Neitha’s arm, swinging it around. ‘See? All weak and floppy. Can barely even stab anyone in the back properly. You tried poison last time and it still took almost ten minutes for that guy to die! I can choke someone out in, like, 5 breaths, 10, tops, nice and easy.’

Neitha tried to pull her arm free, without success until Semari let her go. ‘That was because you interrupted me and made me miscount the dosage. Such brute skills are entirely unnecessary with some advance preparation! I have some Wrathweed that will rouse the mob to action; while you deal with the leader, I have the more important task of ensuring the rest will be suitably angry.’

‘Sure, whatever you say. Pouring some crap into their beer, that’s hard, important work, but beating up the leader-dude, that’s just easy. Hey, wanna swap roles? You beat the dude in the face, I sneak in and do, like, 5 seconds of work?’

‘No, I think we should keep to our strongest skills, so I will do the poisoning, and you deal with any needed violence.’

The bouncer shooed them away from the gate, letting paying customers enter. ‘Blessings of the Solstice on you. And you two, bugger off, or Miss Kethys’ll have my hide!’

Semari set off down the street, immediately breaking into a run, ignoring the curse from Neitha behind her. She dodged around other people, coming within bare inches before jinking past, leaving profanities in her wake, although she didn’t touch anyone. It was fun practice, and all the hustle and bustle meant it was easy to lose herself in the crowd. The city was a dump, but it was a busy one, with every street corner filled with someone hustling, all sorts of dodgy goods getting traded. She’d tried a few of them before, sneaking away and buying a rolled-up bundle of weedy leafy stuff, setting it alight and inhaling the smoke. It had given her a headache and made everything glow with a fuzzy, glowing afterimage. And then Kethys had found her, and been disappointed at her. Hadn’t really been worth the effort, when she could get booze far easier, which Kethys didn’t mind. Or something off Neitha, but most of her stuff was creepy and weird.

A few of the hustlers beckoned as she ran past, but she ignored them, gathering speed. With the busy streets, it gave her a chance to dodge and weave, ducking around people at the last second, sliding underneath a cart, then leaping over a stream of slurry flowing out from an abattoir. As she ran through a marketplace, she grabbed an apple from a stall, eating it as she moved, core and all, then running even faster as she came onto a wide street running down to the docks, large enough for wagons to move along, shifting cargoes.

Here things were a bit less shitty, with fancy merchant’s houses lining the road, where the fancy could look downhill and see their stuff being unloaded. Still, most had a heavy or three outside, even if they were dressed up fancy, always ready to beat up anyone that got too close. But another stray running around, with a satchel in hand, just looked like another messenger-brat, out on business. Which she kinda was, but Kethys was way cooler than some random rich dude, she had magical powers and purple skin. And had looked after Semari for years, which was nice of her. Far better than when she’d been a street orphan.

The sea breeze pushing back the stink of the city was a nice change, and some money had actually been spent on the docks, with the place being functional, even if still kinda crappy. The various thugs and goons were easy to spot – all the ones lazing around not doing work, mostly, and with weapons close at hand. Green and grey seemed to be the colours of preference. Several minutes later, Neitha caught up, having to take a break to get her breath back, speaking between pants.

‘Damn it, Semari. Don’t goddam run off like that! This is meant to be working together, there’s too many people to just punch all of them, you idiot. And you’ve not even got the list of who to go for first. For once, just slow the hell down and listen to me.’ She pulled out a list, covered with the neat spikes and lines of Kethys’ handwriting, all in the script of her homeland, and generally a pain to convert into proper names. ‘First off, we’re looking for Korran Bacryn, who runs the stupidly named “Lowdock Sharks”. Because I’m not an idiot, I have prepared a way for us, so I can get in and dose their drinks, and you can do whatever stupid stuff you need to do, before punching him out. Everyone is going to be really, really angry, so you might want to redirect that somewhere else. Wrathweed might make them try and tear you apart, so you might want to have a speech or something in mind.’

‘This sounds a bit crap as a plan. I don’t like the sound of getting ripped into bits, that sounds painful.’

‘It sounds like your problem, rather than mine. Figure something out.’ She took a moment to rearrange her hair, trying to make it look tousled, rather than a mess.

‘See, shit like this is why I don’t like you. Fine, let’s go do this. Ooo, does this secret entrance let me drop down from the ceiling? That’d be pretty cool.’

Neitha sighed. ‘No, you dolt. I just charmed one of the thugs, who is eager to show off his new “friend”. And you are my idiot cousin from the country.’ Her sour expression changed to a smile, as she waved at a passing thug, who swaggered over. He was trying to make himself seem as big as possible, shoulders swinging, and Semari had to resist the urge to punch him in the crotch. Still, there would be time for that later. He smiled back at Neitha.

‘So, this your country friend? Not as pretty as you, but most ain’t.’

Neitha simpered and giggled, taking his arm. ‘Oh, she wanted to see where a big, scary gang lives.’

He managed to swagger while standing still, rolling his shoulders. ‘Hey, we practically run these docks. Nothing comes in or out without us getting a slice. Come on in, and I’m sure someone can keep your coz company.’

Semari resisted another urge to violence. Just one punch, straight to his crotch, was so tempting, but Kethys had given her a job, so she’d have to do that first, dick-shots later. She tried to look like a slack-jawed yokel as they were led away, gawping at the surroundings, into a shady and tatty building.