Downtown Druid

Book 3 Chapter 21: He Couldn't Show Weakness

Dantes landed on the rooftop of the Vixen shortly after. He and Jacopo had flown hard to get there as quickly as possible, but didn’t stop to catch their breath. Dantes left his audience chamber and headed for his VIP booth where Jayk was meeting with Zak, Fandal, Daisy, and Sand. He realized he couldn’t hear what they were saying as he approached and saw that Wane was sitting nearby as well. He raised a mug of ale, a little unsteadily, and gave a solemn nod of greeting that Dantes returned.

He walked closer and the ambient sounds from outside the booth ceased, while everyone within the booth’s voices became audible.

“- move his operations onto the southern side of the docks.”

“I don’t know, it may be better to consolidate them closer to Daisy’s operations. Half of what he acquired just gets moved through her routes anyway.”

The voices quieted as Dantes walked toward them.

Jayk turned around, seeing him and nodded in greeting.

Fandal, a member of the old Dock Sharks that Dantes had absorbed after having his old compatriot Grima removed in a spectacular and violent fashion, stood and approached him.

“They hit today's shipment from Frasheid. I had three of my boys arrested, and now I won’t be able to make deliveries to-”

Dantes fixed him with a stare that made him stop talking. “I know what was hit. I know who was arrested. I know what was confiscated.”

“But you didn’t know the raids were happening,” muttered Sand over the edge of a mug of ale. His fat dwarven fingers wrapped completely around the mug like a snake from Lorna’s swamps.

Dantes nodded. “You’re right. Of the many raids I have been able to anticipate and keep us safe from, I didn’t see this one coming. Of the dozens of times I’ve managed to keep our men and women from trouble, this time I wasn’t able to do so. Of the thousands of tips I’ve been able to gather and spin into gold, this one time I received no notice.”

Dantes took a few more steps toward the table and Jayk stood and gave him his chair. He nodded to him as he sat.

“You’ve all grown too reliant on my abilities. I am not a god, and even the thousands of eyes and ears I command have limits. On these places that got hit, did you have watchers? Did you have back doors ready? Or were you assuming it was all handled?”

Daisy smiled, she’d had everything he mentioned and her operations had taken only a small hit. Fandal and Sand on the other hand, grimaced and looked away.

Dantes shook his head. He was pushing some of the blame on them, but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t known they weren’t taking all the usual precautions they’d used before they began working with him. He’d been just as reliant on his abilities as they had. Still, he couldn’t show weakness, and for many in his line of work, being reasonable about blame was showing weakness.

“The men, have any of them flipped?”

Jayk shook his head. “Not one. They all know the deal. As long as they keep their mouths shut then we’ll make sure they’re well taken care of whether they get thrown into the pit or pressed into labor. We’ll make sure that their families are looked after too, within reason.”

Dantes nodded. “And you told them what would happen if they did talk?”

Jayk smiled and nodded. “That’s been emphasized many times.”

Dantes scratched his chin idly. He’d already worked out a deal with Fritz to make sure that any of his men would have access to Smallfolk Consortium goods if they were sent to the pit. The funds he’d put toward that hadn’t ever been touched, so any of his men that wound up there would be in good shape.

“We’re going to get hit sometimes. It’ll be the guard, or some new upstarts. All we can do is prepare and mitigate. So far our preparations have worked. Jayk and I will work on how to better predict what the Guard will do. In the meantime you all continue what you’ve been doing. I want us to recover and press forward quickly. Got it?”

They all nodded.

Dantes stood and jerked his head to have Jayk follow him. They walked out of the bubble of captured noise and moved up to Dantes’s audience chamber. Dantes moved to his throne and took a seat.

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“What’s the perception?” he asked.

“Some of our people are shaken. Up until the point we’ve seemed untouchable. The guard raiding us so soon after you gain the status of Finger is particularly damaging.”

Dantes nodded. Argenta could shield them all to a certain extent, but Pacha’s visibility and growing popularity among the guard as well as the regular people in the city made him difficult to deal with. Dantes hadn’t minded that, as he’d been able to stay one step ahead of him. Now though, he’d need to handle him in a different way.

Dantes smiled. “Pacha has really done well for himself hasn’t he?”

Jayk raised an eyebrow. “For a guard? Yeah. I almost think he actually gives a shit.”

“I’d think he’s ready for some more high profile work, eh? Maybe I’ll talk to Argenta to see if she can whisper a bit in her fellow councilor and Guard Captain Krant’s ears. I think someone as effective as him should get a promotion? Maybe something in Uptown where he can look into all those killings?”

Jayk nodded, following. “And the obvious choice to replace him would be his second, Dulles? Who you told me has a bit of a dust problem?”

Dantes nodded. “Easier to control, already less principled than Pacha by default.”

“Do you think Argenta will help like that?”

Dantes nodded. “She has no reason not to. This benefits all of us. Even Pacha will likely jump at the chance to hunt an enemy like that.” Dantes leaned back on his throne. “I’ll set a meeting with her to discuss that, among other things. You watch the others and make sure they don’t do anything stupid. Particularly Fandal and Sand, they were shaky in that meeting. I’m going to make sure our men in holding stay true and monitor things from here.”

Jayk nodded, but hesitated. “Speaking of Argenta, her daughter is here. She’s been gambling on drake fights for a few hours.”

Dantes frowned, blinking a bit. He knew Argenta had a daughter, but knew little about her.

“You’re sure?”

He nodded. “Jayson is certain of it. He says he’d seen her once during a scam he’d run in Uptown. Her name is Alby.”

Dantes stood up in his throne, the gears of his mind turning. Not many people in his line of work had children, particularly the women. He’d known Argenta had a daughter, but hadn’t factored her into his thinking. Perhaps he should’ve.

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s down right now, and will probably stay down if she keeps betting as recklessly as she has been. We figured we should just eat the cost.”

Dantes smiled. “You’ve never dealt with a spoiled rich girl before have you?”

“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.”

“Is she alone? No bodyguards?”

Jayk shook his head. “None we noticed.”

Argenta was a cautious woman. He highly doubted that she’d send her daughter out in the world without a bodyguard. That meant the she'd either slipped away from them, or the bodyguard was subtle enough to not be noticed. “I’ll handle her. You go talk to the rest of the lieutenants.”

He nodded, and they separated at the stairs down to the main floor of the Vixen. Dantes heard Sevryn singing and cast a glance at her as moved. She was wearing the dress he’d bought her, though it seemed as if she’d had some additional beading added to it, and it had been done seamlessly. He’d have to remember to ask her who her tailor was, though he enjoyed how she looked in the dress so much that the talking may wait until later. They made brief eye contact and exchanged winks before he made it into the back of the ground floor. He nodded at the bouncer who turned his key and held the door open to the den for him.

The smell of weed, sweat, and brimstone hit him as he entered. There was screaming as everyone hollered at the fight in the pit. It was a drake fight, as always, except now the drakes opponent was an adventurer. Jayson had the idea when that adventurer had claimed a lack of funds after losing his bet. Dantes went behind the smoke bar and checked Jayson’s notes to see how much Argenta’s daughter lost. She was down nearly twenty gold.

He moved over to the ring just in time to hear a cry of anguish go up from the crown as the adventurer managed to slay both of his drake opponents, very much against the odds that had been given.

Alby wasn’t difficult to identify. She had her mother’s hair, including the white streak, and a similar build. The only difference was a slightly rounder face and her hair was cut much shorter. She couldn’t have been much older than twenty, and appeared fully human.

Dantes watched as she went to the bookie to place another bet, but he made a cut off gesture to him from where he was standing at the edge of the pit.

The bookie grimaced a bit, but shook his head at the girl, causing her to scream and point at him until he indicated Dantes by the edge of the pit.

Alby turned to him and walked in his direction with a scowl on her face.

“Do you know who the fuck I am?” she asked.

“You’re the girl that owes me nearly twenty gold.”

“I’m-”

Dantes held up a hand. “I know who you are. You’re Argenta’s daughter. Do you have the gold to pay, or do I need to send a bill to your mother?”

“If my mother knows you tried to bill me for this, she’ll have you killed.”

Dantes laughed. “I had lunch with your mother last week. I don’t think she’s the one to find me at fault in this situation. She’s a very reasonable woman. Though I do appreciate your bluff.”

“You’re the new Finger?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know that. I thought you were just some goon.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been an normal street thug in the past. Some things you never fully grow out of. So, do you have my gold or not?”

She grimaced, and pulled a coin purse from her hip, handing it to him.

Dantes checked the weight. “This is fourteen gold and seven silver.”

“I’m good for the rest.”

He shook his head, and pulled one of the silver from the pouch handing it to her. “Get some drinks on me, then my man Zak will escort you back home.”

“You going to send him with a bill for the rest of what I owe?”

“No, you can bring that by yourself tomorrow. No reason to bother your mother with all this, eh?”

She nodded, a look of relief on her face.

Dantes leaned in close. “Now get the fuck out of here.”