Afternoon finally comes to the town of Ranstoc. Ezekeal and Jesay make their way back to the Ocean View Bar where the last of the dust has settled from the fight which took previously. The austere environment has finally returned and the regular guests have unwrinkled their clothes and go back to sipping their fine imported wine. The bar, with it's large clock face staring into the crowd, is being newly restocked.
The hostess eyes both Ezekeal and Jesay, though Jesay receives more of the tainted glares. Despite what feelings bubble up in the hostess, she greets them with a cheerful smile and Ezekeal tells her which table they need to go to. The hostess rolls her eyes and points lackadaisically toward table number 12 and then promptly helps the people behind them.
The woman that Ezekeal and Jesay approaches is first not seen from the approach to the entrance due to a large hat. Her clothing would suggest that she is middle class, but how they fit her seems like the clothing has been costumed tailored. Not to mention, the clothing looks like it had been bought recently. She is looking away from them, but from her posture and her overall presence they could tell that she was from a family who was wealthy.
Jesay decides to stay within ear shot to hear the agreement over as Ezekeal gets the woman's attention.
"I am Ezekeal Ramhor," he says as he approaches, "I hear you are in the need of some assistance."
The woman looks up at Ezekeal, her face which as once hidden is now revealed. She is a young and pretty lady, though her beauty is muted by how distressed she is. She sniffles a little but hold back the tears to say her name with a pleasant smile, "I am Vicky Billings, charmed to meet you. Please Mr. Ramhor, sit."
Ezekeal sits down in polite manner at the small wooden table draped with a simple table cloth. In front of the woman is a slender glass of a pale, translucent, bubbly drink which she sips on. She looks deep into Ezekeal's eyes and starts to tell her story, "Thank you for coming under these grave situations. I have to say, I had no idea where else to turn to except hire protection. I am deeply afraid for my life and the well being of my father, Rollin Billings. Recently he has been not acting in his usual manor, he been acting concerned and disconnected. I have tried talking to him about it, but he either ignores me or has claimed that I would not understand."
She sips from her glass again as she tries to hold back tears, "I know this maybe a little silly, but he has been gone all weekend. This has been a great concern and I fear for both our lives."
Ezekeal nods and thinks for a moment, "What has happened to make you think that danger is to eminent?"
She starts to sob a little but holds back her tears and gains her composer. "One event occurred not too long ago, my father was trying to send a carrier pigeon to someone in the dead of the night. I know that he believes that carrier pigeon is the most discreet, despite being archaic, way to send communication. He would have only done that if he thinks he is being spied on."
She takes a breath and sips more from her drink, "We also have been what appear to be threatening letters. Though, I do have to say that I do not understand what they say because the language I am not familiar with. Also, he is the lead designer for the Night Lamp Auto and Airship Company. So, more than likely he has made inventors and designers mad because he is the one who approves and disapproves all the ideas which the company looks into. My theory is that perhaps some mad foreigner who had a design did not get approved recently. And if this person wants to harm him and his family, it is not hard because I am the only other family which my father has. I... I could be kidnapped and tortured because this one man hates my father!"
"Do you know where your father is so we can assess this situation?" Ezekeal calmly asks.
She nods her head as she starts to cry a little again. "Yes, he is probably at the Night Lamp Company. He has been spending a great amount of time there. Maybe I am just getting a little too worried over nothing. Perhaps he has been working very hard this weekend."
As Jesay overhears this conversation the only things she can think to herself is, "I haven't heard an amount for the job."
Ezekeal thinks for a few moments to take in all that he has heard, "If things are as dangerous as you make them sound, then perhaps I need more than the advertise price."
She nods in agreement, "I will give you 5,000 Pres right now, and I will also give you 5,000 Pres when this is over with."
Jesay tries not to look like she is listening, but in her mind she is swimming with joy.
"The job sounds quite interesting," Ezekeal says as he keeps a solemn mask on. "I may have an associate that may be interested in helping as well."
With his finger he points in the direction of Jesay, who is only a few chairs away from them. Vicky swivels her head in Jesay's direction and looks her up and down, and then looks back at Ezekeal as if he had just wronged her.
She meekly says, "I am Vicky Billings, it is a pleasure to meet you."
As Jesay tries to introduces herself, an Authority enters the Ocean View Bar. He pushes past the hostess and marches toward Ezekeal, Jesay, and Vicky. The group takes little notice until the Authority looks at all three of them in a group.
"I there a Vicky in this group?" Says the Authority gruffly.
"Yes," chirps Vicky, "I am Vicky Billings, how do you do?"
The Authority pauses for a moment, as if the question of how he does isn't in the normal range of questions he gets asked on a daily basis. The Authority takes her out reached hand and shakes it awkwardly.
"I am sorry to inform you Miss Billings, that your father is dead. The funeral, as permitted by his will, will be as soon as possible."
To this news Vicky breaks down. Her tears start rolling down her cheeks and she pulls out a handkerchief which she uses to dab her face and wring in mourning. Jesay looks disgusted by the sobbing woman and steps a few inches back. Ezekeal looks slightly embarrassed and stays silent as his future employer shrieks with sadness.
"Do you think you still need our protection?" Ezekeal finally says after Vicky calms down.
She starts shaking her head and looks at Ezekeal, "I dearly more need your protection. This has made all my worst fears concrete! How could you even ask when my father just died if I would not want your protection?!"
She tries to stand up and gain back her composer again.
Jesay leans over and whispers to Ezekeal, "This funeral is bad news."
"I guess I will take you with me to the funeral." She says as she straightens her posture. "I will call my chauffeur."
She starts to walk toward the exit expecting both Ezekeal and Jesay to follow her.
"If you think someone is after you," Ezekeal points out, "I would think that a public funeral would be one of the worst place to go right now."
She shoves her chin up in the air and protests, "I must see if in fact this man is my father or not!"
"My real question is," Jesay says with a suspicious squint, "that if you're so concerned about your life then why put it in the hands of two random strangers. Why don't you let the authority handle it?"
"But that is who posted the ad for me," Vicky looks offended and adjusts her hat. "Don't you know that they can't handle anything like this which is outside the law?"
Ezekeal pauses Jesay before she could spout off anymore. As an ex-Authority, he knows that many towns do not allow Authority to go out of their way to investigate matters or protect people. They can only do things which have a written law to them, and sometimes that can change depending on the government. Unfortunately, they can do more about land disputes and destruction of property than murder. So, the Authority in many matters will post ads in specific areas for both Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries to find them.
"I am starting to think at this time," Ezekeal says as he tried to calm Vicky down before she does something rash, "that the risk is being out weighed by the price. Especially that we know so little about what has happened."
She looks almost hurt and is almost beginning to cry, "Do you want more money? I can get you more money!"
Ezekeal raises his hand, this time to Vicky. He does up to the Authority who is still standing there, "Can we go examine the body of her father before the funeral so we can see that her father is actually dead?"
The Authority shrugs, "You will have to get permission from the funeral director because I do not know what the will of the recipient of this untimely endeavor is."
Ezekeal turns to Jesay and they softly talk to each other. "If we can get this over with," says Ezekeal, "than perhaps we can still get our money."
"That would be ideal," Jesay replies.
"Do you know a way to get to the funeral dierctor quickly?" Ezekeal asks the Authority.
"Excuse me," Vicky says, "I assure you that my chauffeur can get us there better than any escort of the Authority."
They all leave the Ocean View Bar and head out to the front of the Fish Market. A nice car with a man dressed up in almost a uniform pulls up. The man jumps out of the driver's seat and opens up the back door for them. They get in one by one.
The now sober Bruno and Otis are running down the street as the walking machine of Professor Agustus Brier slowly gets away and eventually goes out of sight. They find themselves at the Clock House Square.
Here there is lots of activities that tourists are partaking in. Bruno, despite being a little self-conscious about his appearance and smell, goes in after the alluring smell of food from the street vendors. After a good run, Bruno's stomach feelings a little empty.
She searches through the food vendors. One food vendor had fried apples on a stick, another had a cook pocket sandwich full of fruit and unidentifiable meat, and another had long sticks of bread which are cooked in boiling oil and then drenched in butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Everything looks enticing. But a voice lures him to go further.
"Come here," says the woman's voice.
Bruno looks over to where the voice is coming from. There at the entrance of a make shift tent covered in decorative rugs stands a woman. She wears embroidered silks, golden chains which dangle off of her provocatively with coins on the end of each string, and several amulets. The biggest and most pronounce one is the right above her cleavage which has the image of the Negustor God on it, Cyfrin, a ever twisting serpent with a human skull for the head. Also, she has many rings and arm bracelets which look like brass snakes which are wriggling and twisting up her arm.
"Come with me," She says as she motions toward him, "I need to tell you your future."
Bruno is enchanted by the exotic lady and comes into the tent. The inside of the tent is filled with large stuffed pillows, a small table with a fancy decorative bowl, and every candles which are suspended from the supports of the tent.
She makes sure Bruno is well seated in an over-stuffed pillow and sits down by the table. She fills the bowl full of water and then dramatically throws something into it, which starts to make the bowl boil, steam, and spark.
Bruno is too distracted by his own appearance to truly appreciate the performance which the lady is given. He becomes very aware that his clothing is damp and has the smell of alcohol. In his best efforts he tries to straighten his mustache so he could look appropriate for his hostess.
She looks at Bruno, and then looks at the bowl. She takes a long gaze into the hazy mist and sparks which are coming out of it. She then gasps and scoots the table aside, "You are going to die of today!"
There is a pause and it seems like silence has flooded the tent. She then takes out a giant trunk and starts to rummage through it, "For the right price, I can give you a good luck charm that will help you in your travels."
Bruno starts to think hard about this, but is taken in by the woman anyways. He looks over the medallions which she is taking out and can see that they are handcrafted, but no time or consideration has been put into them.
"30 Pres for this one," She says as she handles the medallion like a sacred object.
Bruno twitches his mustache in thought, "How about 15?"
The lady shakes her head, "No! I am willing to go down to 20."
"How about 17?"
"Okay, that is fair," She says in a huff as the goods are exchanged.
Bruno looks at his new lucky medallion. It is in the shape of a star with the body of a snake slithering around the points. In the middle of the star is a depiction of a skull.
At the Fish Market, Evelyn decides to look around too see if she can find any supplies in the shops. Around her there are Cizinec entertaining crowd, one group are playing instruments and having someone dance for money. A lone woman, who is also Ciziniec, is telling stories as her children run through the crowd. Also, the ever present gang, The Bad Hat Bullies, are hanging around a few areas but not doing much of anything else.
Evelyn decides to go into the shop Hannah's Knives. Where the lady behind the counter, presumably Hannah, is still listening to the old man rant about wars that never happened. Evelyn approaches and counter and Hannah looks relieved.
"Do you have anything of interest back in your storage?" Evelyn says after she perusing over the knives which were on display in the shop. She sees nothing that is on display which tickles her interest.
The woman looks Evelyn up and down and shrugs, "Sure, let me go back and look."
Hannah leaves Evelyn with the man who rants on about wars. Evelyn does her best to ignore him until he says, "You're Cizinec, aren't ya?"
"You got a problem with that," Evelyn says as her hand clinches into a fist.
"Don't they war all the time?" The man blurts out.
"I think they're better off pickpocketing people than waring all the time," Evelyn says with a smug grin. "But still, you got a problem with that?"
The man starts laughing insanely, "No, they were my buddies in the war."
The man keeps talking and lightly touching on subjects like the war he was in, the government which should war, and how at one point he was a seafarer in the war. Evelyn, despite her annoyance, lets the man drone on until Hannah shows back from storage. She has several items with her; a few large knives which could pass a swords, flimsy cutlery, and then a box marked in a strange language. She opens up the box, which is filled with hay for packing and four knives. The four knives are small enough that they could be concealed and thrown in an expert's hand.
She starts to inspect the box. She first looks at the box to see if she could recognize the language, but unfortunately none of the symbols look familiar. She picks up a knife and inspects it. She cannot see anything special about them. They have bone handles and are extremely sharp. The blades are hand pounded and made from a home made steel alloy. As she looks at them, she ends up cutting her finger tips. Hannah quickly hands her a rag to cover the blood.
"How much for these blades?" Evelyn asks as she presses her wounds with the rag.
"300," Hannah promptly replies.
"How about 200?"
"No, how about 350 for bleeding all over my knives too?"
"It is too steep of a price," Evelyn starts to leave.
"Hey, wait," Hannah says with a sigh. "Is 250 an all right price?"
Evelyn hesitates a little and then agrees. She takes both the knives and the box with her. As she goes back to the crowd, her mind solely concentrates on the box and the hidden meaning behind it.
After scouting out the musicians group and seeing how much money they have got, she goes up to the elder of the group who is overseeing their performance and watching the money.
"How much will is cost to get some information," She says anxiously to the elder Cizinec.
He looks her up and down and snorts for the smoke from his pipe goes through his nose. "What kind of information do you want?"
"Knowing the origin of something."
"Origin of what?"
"Of This," Evelyn says as she takes out the box.
He laughs and holds out his hand, "Pay me 50 Pres."
She give him the money and he shoves it in his pocket. "Negustor," he says as he shoos her off.
Feeling a little bit more confused but glad she had something to go off of, she departs from the Fish Market. She gets on her wolf and starts riding toward the Graveyard so she can attend a funeral of someone she does not know.
