Chapter 16: The Backstreets

Alcar raced through the moonlit streets of Katresburg. The healing potion must have worked its magic quickly, for he was running smoothly, and could barely feel the wound in his leg now. There was just a very faint numbness.

He couldn’t be sure which way that the others had gone, but he was at least fairly certain that he would notice if he passed them, despite the dim light. Warlik, in particular, would be very noticeable, as his species were so uncommon in the city.

And Olynka was very striking, too.

He hurried past the Black Mackerel tavern, from where the muted noise of drunken singing could be heard. Alcar was briefly reminded of the Khranulian barbarians that he had seen fighting in the street. Brutus’s owners... or were they? Was he the true owner of the dog now? He liked to believe that they had already formed a meaningful bond. It might only have been hours, but there was no doubt that he would be devastated to give the dog back to the men.

It was also strange to think that he had set out from that same tavern with Olynka and Etienne only a few hours ago, planning to hoodwink Maluhk into letting him back in, or – failing that – to provide the name of an alternative sorcerer who could take him in as an apprentice. Was Alcar any closer to his dream of becoming a sorcerer, and an adventurer too, he wondered? To some extent if felt as if adventures had found him lately, rather than the other way around.

And he wasn’t too sure that he liked it that way – especially if it involved getting a blade pointed towards his throat.

At least Golgrasanna’s slim dagger was now safely at his own waist, his belt threaded through its smooth black leather sheath. It was a finer blade than his own by far. And now, Alcar supposed, it truly belonged to him. Fair game, after defeating an enemy. So – at least he had some loot. And a proper weapon at last.

The thought of having to use the dagger on the dwarves or anyone else was terrifying, however. The idea had been to learn magic first, before he took on any more adventures, so that he could cast spells on enemies from a safe distance. And to gather together a group of brave adventurers that go along on quests with him, and who would take care of the melee fighting, or do whatever else he wanted.

Was that too much to ask?

A few streets on from the tower, Alcar now slowed his pace to a light run. He knew the mission was urgent, but it wasn’t as if he was being chased by a pack of swamp gremlins. Besides, he need to be careful, cautious, and to ensure that he was going the right way. It wasn’t as if this area of the city was particularly familiar to him, even by day.

At least the Duke’s palace provided a landmark to navigate by. The building was very large, roughly square, and was topped with copper panels that normally gleamed and glistened by day. Even now, in the darkness, the moonlight reflected very noticeably on its huge surface. That meant that Royal Avenue was just up ahead. Alcar would have to pass by that way – but still there had been no sign of his comrades.

This time, he thought to himself, he would need to avoid tangling with any palace guards. In fact, it would be best to avoid that street entirely. Accordingly, when he reached the beginning of the wide, tree-lined avenue where he had witnessed the brawl and had met Brutus, he walked right past, instead turning down a dingy backstreet that ran along the back of one of the rows of houses that flanked Royal Avenue.

The street was much darker, as the houses that lined it were all tall, and the street in between very narrow. All the same, it was clean, and felt much more secure underfoot than most of the streets in his native poor quarter. There, unlike in the merchant quarter, most of the roads and lanes did not have metal drains and were never swept; they were either heaped high with horse dung, or – depending on the season – a quagmire of rainwater, dirt, dung and refuse, slowly draining away towards the city walls.

If he was able to secure a place as an apprentice (and surely rescuing Maluhk would help with that goal?), Alcar knew that he wouldn’t miss his native quarter. And he didn’t think his dad would much miss him, either.

Alcar now put his hand in his pocket, clutching the vital jar of loris root as he walked on. He had only used around a third of the strands, so he had plenty to help revive his friends when he found them.

Alas, it seemed all too likely that he had missed them now, somehow going right past as they had slumped into a drugged sleep in the dark. There were, after all, a great many ways of making one’s way through the city streets of Katresburg, and being new to the merchants’ quarter, Alcar had tended to stick to the way he knew. It was more than likely that Warlik would have known a more direct route, and that the lizard warrior had led Etienne and Olynka that way.

What would happen to the three if they were found sleeping by a wall in the backstreets somewhere, Alcar mused...?

Even if no direct harm or robbery befell them, it seemed all too possible that local guards would mistake the three adventurers for drunks, and arrest them. If so, his companions could soon be waking at dawn in a cell by the city gates – the same one, perhaps, that the city guards had offered to him as an alternative to being taken home to his family to face his punishment for skipping class.

In short, tomorrow promised more trouble, and the need to execute another rescue.

But first things first...

Alcar turned again, and again. Each street he made his way down was similar – dark, high sided, clear underfoot. It was still well before midnight, but there were few people around at this hour, and the temperature had plummeted, too. The noises of the day – hawkers selling their wares, children playing, pones pulling carts – were all absent, and all he could hear was the howling of a distant cat, and his own ragged breathing. Very occasionally he passed a skulking figure hurrying by, and these were just as frequently half-orcish or elven as human. No dwarves, though.

Not yet.

Alcar knew he was getting close, but which turning was it, exactly, that would lead him to the ’streets of all kinds’ that they childen had spoken of? If only the kids were still around to help. Was it too much to ask that they could have stayed and acted as guides? Three coppers wasn’t nothing, after all. It would be a reasonable day’s wage for someone twice their age. But of course, they were no doubt expected to be back with their families, and tucked up in bed. They would all have class in the morning, right? He pondered for a moment. Yes – tomorrow was fifthday, a schoolday, and also the main market day.

The next time that Alcar turned around a corner his heart leaped when he saw the vast expanse of wall up ahead; he was close. What he could see ahead was one of the two great walls that bisected the city interior, dividing the poor quarter, the gate quarter, the merchant’s quarter and the mountain quarter. Large gated openings separated each quarter from the next, each one guarded and controlled. Locals would be checked to ensure that they had good reason to be moving from one area of the city to the next.

Or at least, people like Alcar from the poor quarter were checked. Perhaps merchants and soldiers were left well enough alone? He wouldn’t know. And sorcerers? That remained to be seen, too...

Now Alcar paused, looking ahead. A narrow lane ahead cut between two houses, one of which backed onto the wall itself, and was very low, with three front doors of separate dwellings. The other was a much larger villa with a narrow cottage garden running along the front of it. Could that one be the mansion that the children had spoken of?

It probably wasn’t, he reasoned to himself, as it didn’t back on to the wall. But it would be worth checking that there weren’t other houses that looked similar. He walked on, following the lane and passing the smaller house on his right. And then he stopped dead, hand going to the hilt of his newly gained dagger.

What was that he could hear? It sounded like a person screaming in agony, and it was coming from up ahead.

Now pulling his dagger, Alcar started to run. And sure enough, the sound was getting louder. And then – yes! That must be it. A large house like the one before, but this one without the garden, and on the other side of the lane. It was in the shadow of the moonlight, and the area around the door was almost pitch dark. There were no lights at the lower windows. But there was light further up. And as Alcar stood looking up, he heard another scream.

“Master, I’m coming,” he murmured, gripping the dagger firmly.

And he hurried up to the mansion.