180. Deal: Wiremu

The two men next door were up and moving around, and I tracked them. The wooden wall on the east side of the building started getting warm, so I knew the sun was rising. They had me in a windowless room below ground to mess with my sense of time. That isn’t going to work any more. I still had the sensory deprivation hood on with the cuffs restricting my movement. I suspect I wouldn’t have long to wait now.

I sensed the two men talking to each other by the hot air coming out of their mouths, but I couldn’t hear them. If I removed the hood, my Hearing Aid would hear them easily, but not yet. Sure enough, two more people arrived, and a further discussion. Then they came into my room carrying two bright heat sources, which I assumed were lanterns. I figured they would rip the hood off and blind me with light.

I was dragged to a seat they brought with them, and the hood was ripped off. I kept my eyes closed, and yes, there was bright light through my eyelids. I forgot that the hood was masking the smell as well, and I could smell the puddle of piss in the corner. I had been in goblin caves and dealing with blood and guts my whole hunting career, so it was nothing to me.

“You pissed in the corner? You disgusting slime!” one of them yelled at me. I had been expecting a lot of noise, so I had reduced the Hearing Aid sensitivity. He didn’t get the reaction he wanted, so he raised his hand to strike me across the jaw. I pretended I couldn’t see him and rolled with the strike right off the chair and knocked over one of the lamps. Oops.

“Enough!” commanded a voice I recognised and Gilberts. “He is playing with us.” He looked at me, “That roll was way overdone. Are you really such an amateur?”

This guy was no amateur. Maybe I should have left in the night. The lights were off me now, and I looked at them. They all had plain clothes and face coverings. I could identify them by sound and the way they move. Their body temperature was the same as far as I could tell, except one with was higher. Did they have a fever? No, I think they were an elf. The heat showed the shape of their ears. If they were disguising themselves, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion to kill me. I could reciprocate that.

They picked me up and put me back on the chair. They then picked up the lamp, but I had smashed it.

“What is it you want?” I asked, using Deceive to lower my voice a touch.

“Someone in your position should be more respectful,” growled the first speaker.

I saw Gilbert's eyes narrow. “You are either bluffing or really think you could take us.”

He couldn’t see Tāoke in the stone ceiling above his head.

“It is a bluff. Let me rough him up a bit, and he will be more compliant tonight,” Gruff voice said.

Gilbert ignored him, “Why did you break into my house?”

He is acknowledging I know who he is. I decided on partial truth. “To find out what you have against the Elemental Traders.”

“Do you work for them?”

“Probably as much as you work for the Duchess.” Let him stew on that. It is admitting getting into his safe but is the Duchess another layer of cover?

“Getting into the safe was clever, but you should have burned the clothes.”

He is telling me how he tracked me. Why is he doing that?

“Is that when you found out about the ranch?” he continued.

I saw no point in denying it, “It was all over your desk.”

“I am tempted to kill you for that. You cost me a lot of coin.”

“Not that much coin. The field is large; if you dig down enough, you will find it on your land.”

“How do you know that?” he queried. “The Prospector I hired is not due for another month.”

“You’ll just have to trust me.” I thought about this briefly, then said, “You didn’t have me killed because you are considering hiring me.”

“You have some serious gaps in your training, but you are smart and learn fast. Maybe too fast.”

“Do you think you could kill me?” I asked.

“Probably.”

That told me he had hidden talents and probably an affinity. Or he was bluffing and had a Skill that got around my Truth Sensing. What I lacked was a way to try and pierce through his Status blocking or manipulation. From this conversation, I don’t think he has got very far into my defences. Those attributes Tabitha had me put into Mental Strength are not wasted.

I figured I might as well ask my questions while I am here. “Do you know what Otto was up to?”

“So the Elemental Traders did kill him. Or did you?”

I didn’t react to that. “I was employed to find out if he had any backers with his project.”

“The only person left to ask would be Lady Mary. I am curious as to how you would do that.”

I was curious about that myself. I had no idea. Actually, I did have an idea from my recent experience, but I would need to find the right alchemist. I doubted she had a very high poison resistance.

Gilbert continued, “What would that information be worth to you?”

“The life of Lady Mary”

“It is not worth very much to you then, is it?”

“Not to me, but it is to this kingdom.”

“And so you are trying to find out if I work for the king. Not very subtle.” Gilbert continued, “You have cost me a lot of coin and some reputation. I’ll tell you what, here is a deal for you. You get to live, and I will tell you the information about Otto’s backers for the small price of a mid-sized Monster core.”

“How verifiable is this information?”

“You will have to trust me.” I guess I deserved that one.

“I will need to think about it.” I had a core I got from Otto’s safe, but getting my own information might be more reliable.

“You don’t value your life very highly, do you? You can stay here to think about it, and maybe the boys will come and encourage your thinking or kill you so you know your time is up.”

He signalled, and they picked up the lantern and left me sitting there in the dark. My Darksight meant I could see fine. It was time for me to depart as well. I picked the locks on the cuffs and picked up the mask they had left lying on the floor. On second thoughts, I left the mask. It was valuable. They didn’t leave it there by accident. He tracked me by residue on my clothes once before.

I did pocket the cuffs and climbed out through the stone ceiling. Tāoke took his perch on my shoulder, and We only had to walk a short way for Mapping to position us, and I went to the Shop first. In the basement, I stripped and bundled the clothes in a rag and thoroughly washed myself and the cuffs. I dressed as Wild Bill and packed everything, except the clothes, into saddle bags I would not be returning here.

I left by the front door whistling. My new Thermal Sense filtered for large objects like people. I would also need to get used to sensing heat currents, as that would warn me about incoming arrows. It would need a lot of practice.

I dropped the bundle of clothes off to some local street kids. They were excited. Wild Bill booked into a mid-sized Inn

That night, Dianne broke into Gilberts' house, picked up a sheet of paper from his desk, and left a mid-sized monster core in exchange. A different bunch of street kids were donated clothes.

According to Gilbert, Hale was trying to benefit from Otto’s research but did not know much. Otto was shielded and helped by Lord Patrick Onlso from Kirghiz. There was a suggested contact in Kirghiz by the name of Alfred at a tailor's shop in the capital. I wonder if this is Gilbert's boss. I am almost certain he is working for the King. I will need to verify this information.