Read Online D& D - Greyhawk - Night Watch by Robin Wayne Bailey - Free Book Online Page B

north side of Black Gate?” Her voice was sharp and ice-edged. “Five bodies have also been found recently in Old Town, too, or did you overlook that coincidence?”
    “That’s Old Town,” Rudi interjected disinterestedly. “Bodies turn up there all the time. It’s the Thieves’ Quarter, for all the gods’ sakes, and the Slum Quarter. Those people will kill for a scrap of food.”
    Garett turned a sharp eye toward Blossom. “Five in the New City and five in Old Town. Are you suggesting there’s a connection?”
    Blossom frowned again and slumped back against the wall, resuming her former relaxed posture. “I’m not suggesting anything, Captain,” she said wearily. “But that kind of attitude really yanks me off. Five poor souls wind up floaters in the south stream, and it’s a normal night in Old Town, nothing to get excited about. But a few wealthy fortune-tellers get capped, and the city wets all over itself.” Burge balanced his right ankle on his left knee and held it there as he leaned forward. “You’ve got that look, Cap’n,” he said quietly.
    Garett looked at each of them. “I wonder if Blossom’s on to something,” he answered with a look of calculation. “Five and five. It could be coincidental.” He gave a shrug. “Then again, I don’t believe in coincidence.” He faced Blossom. “This was your idea. You locate the watchmen who found those bodies. I want to hear their reports personally before I leave here in the morning.”
    “Some of them were daylighters,” Blossom responded. “I’ll have to wake them up.”
    “Wake them up,” Garett ordered. Most watchmen of enlisted rank lived and slept in the barracks just off the High Market Square grounds. Only officers and those granted special permission had private apartments. Blossom could rouse the sleepers just before their shifts began. “Have them here in my office just before dawn.”
    Blossom nodded. “Anything else?”
    “Yes’’ Garett said. “Any of you. By reputation or report, these were the five best seers in the city. Their visions were the clearest. They saw farthest into the future. Even the Attloi, Exebur, if he was as good as his people claim. Now with them out of the way, who else would you go to if you wanted to know what the future held?”
    “Duncan, in the River Quarter on Queer Eye Street,” Rudi answered, then hastily amended, “but most people say he’s a fake.”
    “The Cat,” Burge suggested thoughtfully. “He’s an old man who lives in the slums. On Bladder Lane, I think. He’s supposed to have the power.”
    Rudi snorted. “How much power can he have,” he queried, “if he can’t make enough money to get out of the Slum Quarter? Or maybe he likes living with the mice?” Burge turned one eye toward Rudi without altering his posture in the least. “Perhaps he prefers the mice of Old Town,” he suggested evenly, “to the rats who live in better places.”
    “Well said, elf.” Blossom nodded appreciatively to Burge before she looked at Rudi and addressed him steely-voiced. “You insist on reminding us of your youth at every opportunity.”
    “I’m not an elf,” Burge muttered, running his gaze calmly up her seven-foot frame, “you unfortunate, mixed-up mass of glandular confusion.”
    “What do you mean by that?” Rudi asked Blossom indignantly.
    Garett interrupted before an argument broke out. These were his chosen officers, as well as his friends, but they didn’t always get along with each other. Rudi was the youngest and sometimes said thoughtless things, and both Burge and Blossom had tongues that could cut stone or tickle silk, however they chose to employ them.
    “That’s enough.” Garett rapped once on his desk with his knuckles to draw their attention. “Rudi, you take a patrol to Queer Eye Street. Find Duncan and ask him to come to the Citadel. Tell him I need my palm read, or my tea leaves studied, whatever it is he does.”
    “It may take a little time,” Rudi