Stalking Darkness - Chapter Nineteen
Sep. 29th, 2023 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalinara posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
i_read_whatColds suck! Fortunately, adventure stories starring moody elf thieves and their young apprentices don't suck. Last time, there was more investigation!
This time, we're going to see a familiar face!
So we rejoin Seregil and Alec as they're about to rendezvous with the thief, Tym. If you recall, Tym was the dude that pickpocketed Alec in Luck in the Shadows. Seregil was able to reach out to him fairly easily, as there's an informal network permeating the lower classes of the city. Seregil knows who to ask.
Indeed, Tym shows up and gives Seregil a deferential nod. He and Alec share in some mutual dislike:
The last time Alec had seen him was outside the city that day with Micum and Beka. Cocky with his new skills, Alec had surprised him in a crowd, hoping to pay him back for cutting his purse. Instead, Tym had nearly knifed him.
He was still thin and dirty as ever, and still cloaked in an air of hungry arrogance. Slinging one leg over the bench opposite Seregil, he favored Alec with a long, appraising sneer.
“Still with ‘im, eh? Must be gettin’ something you like.”
Seregil asks after any "queer customers", which makes me smirk a little considering why I started reading this series. But that's apparently common slang for "spy".
Seregil knows how this work and as Tym is noncommital, Seregil's apt for some healthy bribery. It eventually works, Tym tells them about a guy named Rat Tom who came by a sudden stash, then turned up dead in an alley with his throat cut.
Someone named Fast Mickle did a paper job, but now hasn't been seen in a while. Seregil takes the coins he's been offering away, saying Tym has nothing to offer them. Tym cracks and starts tlaking about the gaterunners: some show up rich, then turn up dead. Or disappear. Tym recites a veritable list of a good seven or so names.
Tym doesn't know who the killer is. No one does. Even he admits that's strange. Even "the snuffers" are claiming they're not doing it. It's making it hard to know whether to take a job.
Seregil offers Tym a job: "a snoop". He wants him to watch a nearby house and report if he sees anyone he knows, or otherwise is out of place. Tym wonders if this has to do with the killings. And his and Alec's mutual dislike rears its ugly head.
“Maybe he’s scared,” Alec suggested quietly, speaking for the first time.
Tym lurched up, gripping the hilt of his knife. “Maybe I ought to fix that pretty face of yours!”
“Sit down!” barked Seregil.
Alec stiffened, but remained where he was. Tym sullenly obeyed.
Good cop, bad cop? If so, it wasn't a discussed plan, and Seregil later warns Alec that Tym doesn't make idle threats. We get to see a hint of a darker side of Seregil in all this, as we see Seregil put the fear of god, or at least an angsty elf type, into the guy:
“You’ve never turned on me yet. This would be a poor time to start.” Seregil smiled, but that only made the threat implicit in his tone more ominous. The force of it drove the cocky sneer from Tym’s face. “If anyone tumbles and offers you more to turn to them, you smile and you take their money, then you come straight back to me.”
“I will, sure I will!” Tym stammered, wincing. “I ain’t never turned on you. I ain’t going to.”
“Of course you aren’t.” Seregil relinquished his hold at last, but the imprint of his long fingers glowed for a moment in white, bloodless stripes across the back of the thief’s hand. “The house is the tenement in Sailmaker Street with the red and white striped lintel. You know the one?”
In their discussion after Tym leaves, the one where Seregil warns that Tym isn't making an idle threat, he tells Alec that Tym only respects Seregil because he'd nearly killed the guy once. But he'd slice Alec open in a minute and worry about Seregil's reaction later. The insult, while it did help push him along, is enough to make Tym an enemy for life.
This is a nice little shift on what we saw in Luck in the Shadows. There, Tym had seemed more like a harmless bit of mischief. Actually, Seregil, it was probably a bad idea to set him on Alec to begin with. What if something had gone wrong then? (Or in the failed confrontation mentioned earlier.)
Alec accepts the warning, and realizes that he'd never really told Seregil about that time he'd tried to confront Tym. He stores away the advice and the chapter ends.
It's another short chapter, but I've got the excuse of hacking up a lung to justify my laziness. So we'll continue next time.
This time, we're going to see a familiar face!
So we rejoin Seregil and Alec as they're about to rendezvous with the thief, Tym. If you recall, Tym was the dude that pickpocketed Alec in Luck in the Shadows. Seregil was able to reach out to him fairly easily, as there's an informal network permeating the lower classes of the city. Seregil knows who to ask.
Indeed, Tym shows up and gives Seregil a deferential nod. He and Alec share in some mutual dislike:
The last time Alec had seen him was outside the city that day with Micum and Beka. Cocky with his new skills, Alec had surprised him in a crowd, hoping to pay him back for cutting his purse. Instead, Tym had nearly knifed him.
He was still thin and dirty as ever, and still cloaked in an air of hungry arrogance. Slinging one leg over the bench opposite Seregil, he favored Alec with a long, appraising sneer.
“Still with ‘im, eh? Must be gettin’ something you like.”
Seregil asks after any "queer customers", which makes me smirk a little considering why I started reading this series. But that's apparently common slang for "spy".
Seregil knows how this work and as Tym is noncommital, Seregil's apt for some healthy bribery. It eventually works, Tym tells them about a guy named Rat Tom who came by a sudden stash, then turned up dead in an alley with his throat cut.
Someone named Fast Mickle did a paper job, but now hasn't been seen in a while. Seregil takes the coins he's been offering away, saying Tym has nothing to offer them. Tym cracks and starts tlaking about the gaterunners: some show up rich, then turn up dead. Or disappear. Tym recites a veritable list of a good seven or so names.
Tym doesn't know who the killer is. No one does. Even he admits that's strange. Even "the snuffers" are claiming they're not doing it. It's making it hard to know whether to take a job.
Seregil offers Tym a job: "a snoop". He wants him to watch a nearby house and report if he sees anyone he knows, or otherwise is out of place. Tym wonders if this has to do with the killings. And his and Alec's mutual dislike rears its ugly head.
“Maybe he’s scared,” Alec suggested quietly, speaking for the first time.
Tym lurched up, gripping the hilt of his knife. “Maybe I ought to fix that pretty face of yours!”
“Sit down!” barked Seregil.
Alec stiffened, but remained where he was. Tym sullenly obeyed.
Good cop, bad cop? If so, it wasn't a discussed plan, and Seregil later warns Alec that Tym doesn't make idle threats. We get to see a hint of a darker side of Seregil in all this, as we see Seregil put the fear of god, or at least an angsty elf type, into the guy:
“You’ve never turned on me yet. This would be a poor time to start.” Seregil smiled, but that only made the threat implicit in his tone more ominous. The force of it drove the cocky sneer from Tym’s face. “If anyone tumbles and offers you more to turn to them, you smile and you take their money, then you come straight back to me.”
“I will, sure I will!” Tym stammered, wincing. “I ain’t never turned on you. I ain’t going to.”
“Of course you aren’t.” Seregil relinquished his hold at last, but the imprint of his long fingers glowed for a moment in white, bloodless stripes across the back of the thief’s hand. “The house is the tenement in Sailmaker Street with the red and white striped lintel. You know the one?”
In their discussion after Tym leaves, the one where Seregil warns that Tym isn't making an idle threat, he tells Alec that Tym only respects Seregil because he'd nearly killed the guy once. But he'd slice Alec open in a minute and worry about Seregil's reaction later. The insult, while it did help push him along, is enough to make Tym an enemy for life.
This is a nice little shift on what we saw in Luck in the Shadows. There, Tym had seemed more like a harmless bit of mischief. Actually, Seregil, it was probably a bad idea to set him on Alec to begin with. What if something had gone wrong then? (Or in the failed confrontation mentioned earlier.)
Alec accepts the warning, and realizes that he'd never really told Seregil about that time he'd tried to confront Tym. He stores away the advice and the chapter ends.
It's another short chapter, but I've got the excuse of hacking up a lung to justify my laziness. So we'll continue next time.