A Snoop Without Magic, page 23
“What about the murder weapon?” the snoop asked.
Sam pointed to the tiny fireplace in the room. “Burned, most likely.”
“So I could look for a warm hearth.”
After going to the window and pointing at all the smoke trails exiting the chimneys, Sam turned and said, “Be my guest. Those are all very warm.”
The snoop gritted his teeth. “We will do it your way, and you will help.”
“Is that an order from a fellow prisoner?”
The man shook his head. “From Glen Plunger, Captain of the Apple City Investigative Division.”
“The man who arrested me?”
“My subordinate. He dressed up in a uniform just for you.”
Sam smiled. “I feel honored, but it was only proper.”
~
Sam looked over the names, but although he could read Toraltian, he shook his head. “I can’t understand these notes. I will sit over there, and you can call me if you need me, or I can record my thoughts in Vaarekian.”
Plunger gave Sam a nasty look but nodded his head as the assistant warden gave Sam a pencil and a new notebook. He wrote down all their observations in Vaarekian cursive, knowing the chances were slim either of them could read his notes. He nearly smiled as he wrote as Effian might do, not telling them what he was doing.
The victim’s profile became clearer as they went. The man was a wealthy gang boss in Apple City. His gang collected money from hired carriages instead of damaging the conveyances and the horses.
“He has lots of enemies then,” Sam said, looking at his notes, twiddling the pencil between his fingers. “So, we look for someone in the industry or someone who has suffered a tragedy due to the gang’s actions. Would that be a good start?” Sam said innocently.
Glen Plunger looked at Sam and nodded. “You are very good at this, aren’t you?”
Sam shrugged. “I have to pick apart my opponents before I go into the ring…oh, I’m sorry, it is a dueling platform in Toraltia. So that means I have to watch them warm-up, see who they talk to before matches, and then analyze their technique before I even get to what I will do on my part. It is a puzzle to solve, just like this one,” Sam said.
Glen grunted. “Let me look at the notebook.”
Sam handed it over.
The snoop opened it up and showed it to the assistant warden before turning it to Sam. “What is this scribbling?”
“Vaarekian cursive,” Sam said. “It is how I write in Vaarek.”
Glen shook his head. “You are incorrigible.”
“Is that a compliment?” Sam asked.
“Let’s go over the notes together,” Plunger said with an air of defeat.
They identified a guard and four prisoners who might have had a motive.
“And then there are gang members’ family or friends that the victim might have angered,” Sam said. “However, with your clientele, I doubt if any of his gang’s families would be a prisoner.”
“Another guard?” the assistant warden said.
Plunger nodded. “I don’t know how we will find out.”
“Ask,” Sam said. “Talk to your guards. See if any of them have noticed a fellow guard acting out of the ordinary. I can’t do that. Captain Plunger would have to change into another kind of uniform.”
“Watch it,” Plunger said. “You could easily go too far.”
“Yes, sir,” Sam said, giving Plunger a Vaarekian army salute.
“What was that?” the assistant warden asked.
“I gave the captain a Kreb salute.”
~
“I am going to interrogate our five suspects,” Captain Plunger said as he stood at Sam’s cell door, wearing his constabulary uniform. “I want you to listening in.” He tossed Sam a constabulary uniform.
“I can’t speak Toraltian,” Sam said, smiling.
“Then we will go over the notes the assistant warden will take. Will that do, your highness?”
Sam shook his head. “No royalty in Vaarek. At least there wasn’t any talk of replacing Kreb with a king when I left.”
Plunger shook his head. “Sit next to him while he writes notes. He will do so in court language.”
Sam nodded. “What do I get out of this?”
“Freedom,” Plunger said. “We will talk of it later.”
Sam rose from his bed. “You have my attention, Captain Plunger.
“Good. Hurry and change so we can get started.”
In a few minutes, Sam sat wearing a uniform. That last time he had done so was in the final battle against Viktar Kreb.
Sam had to admire the way Captain Plunger interrogated each suspect. He was better than Dickey Nail, who always seemed to have an edge. The irritability that the snoop had exhibited to Sam disappeared. Plunger used a soft technique. It was similar to what Harrison Dimple might employ.
The third suspect, a guard, showed the most stress during the interview. Sam wrote that down to show Plunger. The captain nodded and shooed Sam back to his seat.
The man’s eyes shifted even more as the captain put on the pressure. Sam could tell the man was going to do something. He glared at Plunger, even though the snoop had his head turned, saying something to the assistant warden. Sam saw the glint of a knife and created a pollen shield in front of the snoop. The knife sunk into Sam’s quick work. The guard gasped and struggled to retrieve the knife, but Sam stopped him with a pollen block binding his arms to his chest. He fell over with the additional weight.
The guard stared at Sam. “You were the one who freed the prisoners with the transparent pollen.”
“What?” Plunger and the assistant warden jumped to their feet as the guard struggled with the block of invisible pollen. The snoop looked at Sam. “You did this?”
Sam nodded. “It was do that or let the man kill you,” he said.
The snoop grabbed Sam’s shield, with the knife still embedded. “Rikard Hand did the same thing, didn’t he?”
“No. My back was turned. He acted before anyone could stop him. I had to do it with a knife in my back. I didn’t want another person killed the same way right in front of my eyes.”
Plunger ran both hands through his hair. “I believe you if no one else will. Now, what is this about freeing prisoners?”
“The guard can tell you,” Sam said.
The guard was still on the floor. The assistant warden had to run his fingers around the block to find out where it was.
“I’ve never seen anyone make a thick block of pollen so quickly before,” the assistant warden said.
“I told the captain that I am better than most with pollen. It’s just that my pollen can’t be seen. It is a disability.”
“It works. What can I say to that?” Plunger said. He turned to the guard. “You are the murderer.”
“He turned my nephew into a drug addict and then forced him into his gang,” the guard said. He was clearly distraught, and Sam could see his position, having seen people controlled by pollen made into a drug. He had seen yellow, pink, red, and green pollen used to manipulate people and knew it was an awful thing.
Sam felt sorry for the guard, but the captain was an innocent party and could have been killed if it wasn’t for Sam.
Plunger coaxed the guard to describe what he saw the night Sam had freed Harrison and Faddon Bentwick.
“You did all that?”
Sam nodded. He was caught out. Effian Walk couldn’t do what Sam had done that night.
“I knew you used Dickey Nail and Faddon Bentwick’s name, but you are also allied with Harrison Dimple?”
“I am,” Sam said. His heart sank now that he was at the mercy of the three men in the room, but he wasn’t desperate enough to harm them the way the guard had been.
“I didn’t believe you escaped from Lord Hand’s jail the way he described, but you must have.”
“I am proficient at wards, as well,” Sam admitted.
The assistant warden’s eyes grew. “You cleared out the warded forest!”
Sam smiled. “I said I am proficient.”
“He made stink wards that made it impossible for a squad of our dogs to proceed,” the assistant warden said. “The wards he laid to delay the guards were very weak they said. You did that on purpose?”
“I didn’t want them hurt, just to stall them long enough so Faddon and Harrison could escape.”
“You did all that and managed to clear out all of Faddon’s men in the old fort to the north?”
“I helped,” Sam said.
“He blew out a barracks wall and saved a bunch of Faddon’s men.”
Glen Plunger waved his hand. “I know what happened to the north better than you do,” the snoop said, looking at the assistant warden. “You were helped by an ex-army healer.”
“She was very ‘ex,’ Sam said. “She did her best, and I left as soon as I could.”
“With an arrow wound you suffered at the fort. I wondered if we would ever find you.”
Sam shrugged. “Am I to be moved to the third floor?”
“Not at all,” the assistant warden said. “I kept leaving the prison assignments on the top of my papers when someone would be around to free Dimple and Chief Bentwick. You did a marvelous job since the warden had Faddon and Dimple moved to a different room after I had left for the night.”
“Marvelous,” the snoop said. “I’m not in Faddon’s inner circle, but I am sick of all the acts of the Court of Noble flunkies in Toraltia. Apple City’s lord is unique, but your Lord Hand?” The snoop shook his head. “Typical.”
“Did you suspect me?” Sam said.
“No,” the snoop said. “I wanted to verify that you were innocent before I let you go, but the bird came back with a message from Dickey Nail, saying to trust you, and it saved my life. What is your real story?”
Sam looked down at the guard. They had been speaking in Vaarekian, so Sam continued. “I am Sam Smith. I was an apprentice-constable, working with Dickey Nail in the Royal Constabulary. I was exiled by the king because of my pollen disabilities and ended up in Tolloy. I did attend the University of Tolloy, but I fought against Viktar Kreb, not for him.”
“That is good enough for me,” the assistant warden said. “I think we should continue what we were going to do before these revelations.”
“I do, too. As for the guard, I will have to insist he resign from the prison force,” Plunger said. He leaned over and talked to the guard in Toraltian. “I hate to tell you, but that gang probably already has a temporary leader in place who will get the permanent job when they hear their boss is dead. If you want to fight against the gang, see me in Apple City.”
“I-I-I will. You aren’t going to hang me?”
“Effian Walk not only saved my life, but he saved yours.” Plunger looked at Sam. “Now how do you get that thing off him?”
“I’ll need a gold Lion,” Sam said.
~
The Apple City tournament was over, but Sam’s companions had waited until one of Plunger’s men told them to stay for a bit more. Sam and Plunger rode a carriage into Apple City, and the snoop dropped Sam off at the plush inn.
“Should you ever want a job as a snoop in Apple City, let me know. I would have solved that crime, but not as fast without your help.”
“I was happy to have been some assistance.”
“I’ll make sure Effian Walk was the person we worked with. The guard, the assistant warden, and I are all Dimple supporters. We will keep our mouths shut. As for Lord Hand, it only took us a few hours to verify your story about how vicious little Rikard was. You won’t have to worry about the noble unless you foolishly trespass on his domain. Now, get out of here and see your friends.”
Stefen sat in the lobby reading a newssheet and was the first to greet Sam.
“I’m glad to see you were released. Was it a trial, sitting on your hands worrying if Lord Hand’s influence might win out?”
“Anything could happen,” Sam said, “and it did. I ended up solving a crime and saving lives. I guess it was less a trial than I thought it would be. My cell door wasn’t even locked.” He laughed along with Stefen.
“Let’s find the others,” the butler said.
It was close enough to dinner time, so they sat down in the dining room, where Sam quietly described his few days in the prison. Stefen gave Kened a running commentary.
“We go to Mount Vannon next,” Kened said. It is an even bigger tournament than Apple City. I hope you are up to it, mentally.”
“I am,” Sam said. “I had a chance to win the tournament before I was arrested.”
Worren chuckled. “Being pulled off by constables after you won your quarter-final match was even better than a win! You have only enhanced your reputation and now, only two more tournaments before the Baskin Trials, Mount Vannon and Cherryton.”
“Cherryton doesn’t have a dueling tournament,” Sam said.
“Oh, yes, it does,” Worren said. “The lord of Cherryton has sponsored a tournament ever since he was given the domain.”
“I knew there was a new lord, but I was never told about a dueling tournament.”
“How long were you in Cherryton?”
“An afternoon,” Sam said.
“Another day and you wouldn’t have missed hearing someone talking about it,” Worren said.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing my parents again.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~
M ount Vannon was still larger than Mountain View or Cherryton, and Sam still remembered the feel of the town. As the carriage entered they rode past the brothel where Sam had first encountered Ionie Plunk, Banna’s sister.
They stopped at another nice inn one day before the tournament was to begin. Sam jumped out and pulled his coat closer to him. Mount Vannon was clearly higher in altitude than the last place they had stayed, and the air was definitely chillier. They stepped inside. Sam stood apart as Kened negotiated for their rooms.
The lobby was filled with people Sam recognized from Apple City. He leaned over to Worren. “Does the field expand as we get closer to Baskin?”
Worren gave Sam a half grin and nodded. “The competition gets tougher, and the purses get larger.”
Sam hadn’t even thought of the money. “We were paid for placing in the quarter-finals in Apple City?”
“That we were,” Worren said. “Your earnings made our path to Baskin a sumptuous one.”
And that was needed to feed Effian Walk’s reputation, Sam thought. The rooms were allocated as before, except Stefen and the driver would be staying at a cheaper inn close by, not because the rates were less, but because they took the last available rooms.
“Maybe we should get rooms for Cherryton now,” Sam told Worren with Kened in hearing distance.
“Already done,” Kened said. “The desk clerk needed to be paid a little extra, but our rooms are secure.”
Worren translated, and Stefen carried the bags, with Sam handling two of the swords. Sam could hear a few of the comments about his being arrested and surprise that he was here in Mount Vannon. The fact that anyone talked about Effian Walk was still unsettling. Sam stood up a little straighter as he preceded Stefen up the stairs, but he felt as if resentful eyes followed him.
They wouldn’t be spending as much time in Mount Vannon due to Sam’s unexpected incarceration at Apple City, but he looked at his arrest as a positive thing. Now they could report that there were allies in Apple City. Kened sent a bird to Faddon Bentwick with the information that Sam was released and signed up for the Mount Vannon tournament.
Sam looked out his window onto the busy street. People were bundled up with the cold. If he looked out the right edge of the window, he could barely make out the Mount Vannon constabulary. He wondered if Tom Elbow was still the chief constable. He would have liked to talk to the man, but that wouldn’t happen on this trip.
The midnight fight, years ago in the constabulary, was one of the most harrowing moments of Sam’s young life. The battle of Shovel Vale started from here. He really hadn’t spent a lot of time in the Mount Vannon area, but he remembered those times were full of action.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Sam unlocked the door to let Kened and Worren in.
“Time to go to the venue.” Worren picked up Sam’s swords. Kened carried a long bag with other swords and supplies. “You should change your clothes.”
Sam nodded, and a few moments later they walked to a large, newly constructed building. “This is called the Sheep Palace,” Worren said. “Mount Vannon has become a center for buying and selling sheep.”
“When I was here last, a lot of flocks were driven north to Gruellia.”
“No longer. The Court of Nobles has made it a crime to move sheep to our neighbors to the north.”
And Sam now knew another reason the Gruellians wanted to change their country and support Harrison Dimple. “Has the Court also restricted trade with Norlank and Wistall?”
“They have,” Worren said. “I suppose it is all coming together for you, isn’t it? Harrison asked me to let you find out what is happening for yourself.”
“The more I think about it, I think the Court of Nobles is trying to out-Duar Duar. One central city surrounded by a country of fiefs paying taxes to the court. It is hard for me to comprehend how stupid that is.”
“Why?” Worren asked.
“It is fine to be a nation and promote culture, but when you fragment it so finely that each fief generates its own laws, you lose touch with civilization. Enterprises need to be a certain size to grow larger. If you cut off those opportunities, societies shrink. It is what holds Duar back from being a real country.”
“But, you see, Sam, the Court of Nobles doesn’t care. They want to bleed the countryside of tax money, paying for it by establishing many small domains. If they can get sufficient money since they have always lived off the commoners, what do they care?”
“I suppose they don’t. I thought they were envious of Viktar Kreb and were preparing to expand Toraltian influence, but they want to do the opposite, don’t they?”
“They do. Gruellia and Wistall have nothing to fear from being taken over, but Gruellia wants to progress, and Wistall and Norlank see advantages to trading. An insular Baskin makes Toraltia shrink in importance, the exact opposite from what Viktar Kreb wanted to do.”
