209. Alliances: Tabitha

Wiremu would be the ideal person to send to spend some time with the Hazardirati, but he is too busy. He spends his days as Dianne, trying to crack this slave class with Susie’s help. He is also spending his evenings at the forge levelling his Metal Worker Class. He makes trips out to the farm to practice with his new bows. He is determined not to be lacking in ranged fighting options again.

Modrica stands out too much, and she is the enforcer type, not the scammer type. That left Ruku or me. I am the only one used to working with criminals. So much for easing my workload. Ruku came with me and played bodyguard. Ruku seems to view me like some sort of adopted daughter. I don’t let him know, but it is quite nice to be treated like that.

The goods I am receiving come in small lots. A bag here, a crate there. So far, I have been stockpiling what I couldn’t fence through I'a. I think I might need Modrica and Wiremu to extend my storage area.

I bought some goods for the Hazardirati fence, and he looked through it. He separated out a couple of ornate jewellery pieces and two enchanted daggers.

“These we can get altered to be unrecognisable and resell. The rest we would sell to the Fiske.”

“OK,” I said, and we negotiated a price. The Hazardirati only deal in high-value goods. The rest they sell to the Fiske. It concerned me both my dealers went through the Fiske, but at least I now had two streams. Money was flowing in, and I purchased a share in one of Janez’s casinos, and we became business partners. Racketeering was very pleased with this business and went up another level. Two levels in a month were unheard of for that Class. I figured Racteering takes a lot of setup work before the payoffs start rolling in.

I was visiting I'a, my original fence, with another bag to sell when she said, “The Fiske have demanded I stop trading with you.”

“Oh?”

“They said your goods are not locally sourced, so you are competing with them. Taking their business. They don’t like people taking their business.”

“And what about you? You are not a member of the Fiske.”

“No, I am not, but 70% of my business goes through them. I can’t afford to upset them.”

“I see. We have a good relationship. Can you put my business through other sources?”

“If the Fiske finds out, they will stop dealing with me at all, and I can’t afford that. It is a shame, but that is the business.”

“I guess I was always going to have to deal with the Fiske eventually. I guess the time is now.”

“Good luck,” I’a said, sounding like it would be the last she saw of me.

We left, and I noted we had picked up a couple of followers. I told Ruku, “Keep walking. I will deal with the followers.”

“I am pretty sure that is supposed to be my job as a bodyguard,” he muttered.

We moved out of sight, and Nyx mimicked me walking with Ruku while I slipped into the shadows. It was none too soon, as when Nyx and Ruku rounded the next corner, five armed people confronted them. The two following dropped to the ground to cut off any retreat. I circled behind the front five.

“You’ve interfered with Fiske's business. We are here to make you stop.” said the bulky Mer in front.

With a Mer, I need to be careful of Sonar. Shadows Embrace is good but not perfect against Sonar. If the purpose was to kill us, why bother talking? I guess some people like to instil fear in their victims. Some like the sound of their own voice. Some need to put on a show for their followers. For some, it is the opening line for negotiation. I wasn’t getting the negotiation vibe here.

I used Distract to throw my voice, so it sounded like it came from Nyx. “OK then. We will stop.”

That wasn’t according to the script in his head. I wasn’t going to stop, but there was no harm in lying to this goon.

“We will make you stop!” he declared.

“You have succeeded. We’ve stopped.” I replied.

“You need a lesson!” he declared and raised his big club, and stepped toward Nyx swinging. He used some sort of movement skill as he was very quick. Ruku turned his back on him and used his movement skill to rush the two at the rear. I moved behind the five and started slicing, calling Dusk to me.

The large Mer, and I am pretty sure he had some shark in him, was caught by surprise when his club passed through Nyx, and she disappeared into shadows. His empowered swing struck nothing, and he was thrown off balance. Only the fact that his club hit the pavers kept him on his feet.

Ruku had a small buckler on one arm and a sword on the other. He crashed into the larger of the two, following shield bashing with the buckler. The buckler didn’t have the same impact as a larger shield would have, but the guy was put off balance, and a combination of Piercing Strike and Fast Strike meant he was out of the fight. He immediately used his Water Sprint again to move to the other one.

In this time, I had sliced two throats and had just been noticed by the other two. The Mer was just getting his balance again and looking around for me. Nyx tried to blind him with Shadow Manipulation spikes, but his eyes were not human and must be adjusted to the pressure underwater as she couldn’t damage them.

My remaining two opponents turned to me. I was dual-wielding a sword and a knife. I engaged the closest and manoeuvred so their backs were to the street, so they wouldn’t see Dusk coming at full gallop down the street. Dusk looked like a fast-moving shadow deep in Shadows Embrace, which also muffled her sound. She struck the fighter that I hadn’t engaged, and it barely slowed her charge as she headed for the Mer.

The fighter was bowled toward us, distracting the one I was fighting, and I sliced her arm and leg and then drove my sword into the head of the person Dusk charged past. Dusk crashed into the large Mer, sending him rolling. She then reared up and came crashing her hooves down onto him. Then she did it again and again.

In the meantime, I had finished my opponent, and Ruku was walking back after his. He had a cut on his arm, but I knew his Regeneration was amazing. Dusk backed off her victim. He wasn’t dead. He had several broken bones, and he definitely wasn’t getting up with his leg looking like that.

The question was, what kind of message did I want to send to the Fiske? Did I want to send a live messenger or just dead bodies? They had declared war. Did I want to bring out the Black Butcher? Would that make them try for peace, or would they try to kill her? Leaving the shark brute alive to fight again was stupid, so there was no live messenger. The message would be simple. It can always be expanded on later.

Ruku helped me load the bodies on Dusk after taking their valuables. Actually, they had no valuables. We took their meagre coins and weapons. We led Dusk through the night and displayed the bodies outside their main meeting base. We then cleaned Dusk thoroughly and confused our scent trail. We left a message for I’a that we had been ambushed from her place and that she might be a target. We then returned to the compound before dawn.

I got a few hours of sleep, and then it was time to update our allies and see how they react. I sent Julija in with a request for an urgent meeting with Janez, and it was arranged for that afternoon. For this, I took both Ruku and Wiremu, and we will relocate Modrica and Težka back to the main compound tonight. Disguising a Dire Bear as a wagon was only possible at night.

Entering the Hazardirati casino for the meeting, I identified two possible watchers. I had Body Image, so I looked like a fancy lady starting a night out. Wiremu had Veneer with a few minor changes, and Ruku had a fake beard. Ruku was teaching Wiremu Interogate Status, and in return, Wiremu was trying to teach Ruku Veneer. Ruku was not really suited to disguises, but he was doing his best. I don’t know if the watchers identified us. If they were here because they knew about the meeting, then Janez has a leak. If they had been watching the building all day to try to catch us, then that was normal.

We were led to one of Janez’s VIP lounges and offered drinks. It was at that point I let Body Image go. Janez knew Ruku, who had been acting as my guard, although I am pretty sure he knew he was more than a guard. Wiremu had not been on the scene before. I am sure Julija had seen him around, but he was always passing through. Ruku and Wiremu stayed in their roles as guards for now.

Janez came with Julija, his orc guard and another older orc lady I had not yet met. The orc woman sat at the back and didn’t speak a word. After the pleasantries, I asked about the watchers.

“Yes, from the Fiske,” Janez said. “They have been here all day. I have recently found out why.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“I had an ultimatum from the Fiske to stop alliances with strangers to the city importing goods. They couldn’t name or identify you, but it was clear they were referring to you. You have upset them?”

“They gave our other fence an ultimatum to stop trading with us and then ambushed us as we left her place last night. We left the bodies outside their little club room.”

“That would get them upset, and they had been asking pointed questions about the goods we were trading with them.”

“What do you plan to do?” I asked.

“I haven’t decided. We certainly don’t take orders from the Fiske, and we trade with whoever we like. That is what I sent back with the messenger. However, while we have defences, we are not set up for a protracted conflict. If the Fiske stopped trading with us, I do believe it would hurt them more than us. What do you intend to do? You are smaller than us, but you are showing no signs of injuries after being attacked by seven Fiske enforcers. One of them had quite the tough reputation.”

He was telling me he had information on what happened last night and about the Fiske in general.

“They attacked Ruku and me, and they were not that good. Conflict can make or break an alliance. The Fiske don’t intend to leave us be so this will escalate.”

“You killed seven with two of you, but you bring a third here?”

“Wiremu is not here as a guard. You have been under the impression I lead our clan. This is incorrect. I co-lead with Wiremu. I look after finances. He gives us direction. Meet my brother, Wiremu Hunter.”

Wiremu stepped forward and greeted them.

“What direction is your clan heading, Wiremu Hunter?” Janez asked the obvious question.

“That will become obvious in a few weeks. What I am more interested in is a joint response to the Fiske.” Wiremu said.

“Why a joint response?”

“Because this alliance is important to us. I believe we can do great things together, but it will involve us trusting each other a lot more than we do at present. I believe the Fiske can be the stepping stone to that trust. Where are the Hazardirati heading?” Wiremu asked.

Janez looked at the older lady. She nodded. He spoke to us, “The Hazardirati had been content for a number of years. This means we have stagnated. Coin, we have plenty of. We, and especially the younger generation, have lost the drive, ambition and the will to fight. We are fat and rinding on our past achievements. This will be our ending in a few years.”

“What do you want from this alliance?” Wiremu asked.

“We want a fire put under our youth. You are young. You both are young,” he included me in that even though he was talking to Wiremu. “You have set a high example. You scammed the king! You don’t get higher. That has already inspired many, including my daughter.” He nodded to Julija. “We want more of that.”

I decided to join the conversation again, “Do you want to hear what we would recommend we do about the Fiske?”

“Go on.”

“If you have some capable young people, then I suggest we get together and take over the Fiske. But it would be your people that would need to be put in charge,” I said.

“You don’t think small, do you? Why would you put us in charge rather than you take over?” Janez asked.

“Two main reasons,” Wiremu said, “First, we are too small, and second, we are not staying in Kirghiz.”

“If you are not staying, why the alliance?”

“We will always have a presence here. The Elemental Traders will be based here. I have information and goods arriving most weeks,” I explained. “We need allies we can trust to look after this for us, for mutual benefit, of course.”

Julija joined in, “Do you really think we can take over the Fiske?”

“It will be dangerous. It is a risk, as all things are in business. It is a matter of how far you are willing to go.” I said.

The old orc in the back cleared her throat and said, “She’s done it before.”

“That's a surprise,” Janez said. “Very few hear from Babica. She is an Oracle. She sees the now rather than the future, but nobody has got anything past her yet.”

“What does she mean you’ve done it before? You’ve taken over a gang?” Julija queried.

“I have, yes. That is where I met Modrica for the first time, as she was the head enforcer. It was later we became Krvne Sestre. Taking over the gang is not the hard part. The hard part is keeping it together and functioning.”

I could see Julija had doubts.

Janez stepped in before I could continue. “This is your chance to step out and lead like you have been wanting, Julija. Are you going to step up or let it pass?” I could see her uncertainty. Janez continued, “You have watched me run the Hazardirati for three years. You know what to do.”

Julija turned to me, “What are the risks?”

“There will be deaths on both sides; don’t think you are safe. If we fail in the takeover, our fallback position is to wipe them out. Modrica and us three can do that without your help, but that is bad for business and would create a power vacuum. The objective will be to take over the leadership and make the rank and file fall in line, but that is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is keeping their business contacts and smugglers working for you. If you can’t do that, you just have another street gang rather than a criminal syndicate. You might as well have wiped them out. Their business partners will need reassurance about their agreements and the flow of coins and goods. You will need a team.”

“How big a team?”

“You have specific roles you need to have filled. If you are the leader, then you set the direction, as Wiremu does for us. You will need a Head Enforcer. You must show strength by bashing a few heads, but after the first few, it can be delegated. You will need a Coin Master. If you can’t keep track of your coins, you will not last very long. This is your core team, and you must be absolutely loyal to each other. Other positions will depend on the current structure of the Fiske, and you may decide to use existing people. I am sure you can figure out the advantages and risks of that. The Fiske have traders in the Mer islands and in the City States to the south, so you will need to send representatives to them to keep the flow of goods happening. Finally, you will need your own troops to back you and to do this. You don’t really want to get into a big fight, but you may not have a choice.”

“Did you end up in a big fight?”

“Yes, and this is something you all need to know about your alliance partners going forward, although you should not spread it around yet.” I took a deep breath, “The fight I got in is now known as the ‘Month of the Black Butcher.’” I pulled out the Blacksteel knife and laid it on the table. “Modrica and I both carry the scars. I still have nightmares. Hopefully, we will help you avoid those mistakes.”

The room was silent.