Maria Korolov

Ellison put his hands in his pants pockets. He could feel the notebook in one of the inside side pockets of his jacket, just under his left elbow. “What’s in the notebook?” he asked. “Nothing that anybody else would care about,” said Rodge. “Just a record of transactions between me and Elea.” “Sounds very romantic.”

Why would Rodge hire someone to steal a blank notebook? Ellison stopped under a streetlight and pulled it out of his pocket. He felt the pages. There was still nothing hidden in them or between them. He put the notebook away and continued down Leadenhall back to the Barley Mow Inn. Maybe Harmen Chapman stole

Quimby Plummer, owner of the Barley Mow Inn, refused to tell Ellison where Donna lived. “I know you’re working for that Rodge guy,” Quimby said. “After you two dragged my customer right out of here, I’m seriously considering kicking you out. Next time, drag them out after they’ve paid for their meal.” Ellison sighed, then

Matilda left, to put up more reward signs and to listen for gossip about the jewel. Ellison stayed behind. With Rodge down in the basement, whipping the thieves, it could be a good opportunity to talk to the guild members. And have some chamomile tea. Danmak had a pot going in the break room and

“Wait at the entrance,” Matilda told Ellison as she walked into the inn. “Don’t let him go upstairs or into the kitchen.” She pantomimed a knife across her throat. “You want me to slit his throat?” he whispered. “No. If he gets to the kitchen he might slice his own throat and we’d lose him

The city hall was, in theory, a great place for secret meetings. Krim administrators didn’t allow any hanky panky inside the building. They had no problems with their residents being subject to grotesque acts of violence, but didn’t want to become victims themselves. Any user who violated the rules could be permanently banned from the

Rodge Bannister didn’t want to offer a reward for the return of the Jewel of Rhotar. They’d recovered everything except a dozen or so of the smaller, less valuable previous stones and historic artifacts. The Gang of Four had either hidden them somewhere where Rodge and his mercenaries couldn’t find them, had already sold them,

On the way back through Krim’s welcome area, Ellison took the opportunity to reset his avatar, so he wouldn’t have to go back in wearing his old, dirty clothes and his old, tired, body. He still kept his same look. The body was his, back before the explosion that killed him a little more than

Ellison didn’t stick around for any of the torture. He didn’t think it would be particularly useful, first of all. Back in the old day, people would confess to just about anything for the torture to stop. But also, it just didn’t sit right with him. Sure, it wasn’t real. Not really real. But it

The rain had ended by the time Ellison left the guild and he went straight back to his room at the inn and fell deep asleep. He slept through breakfast, and through lunch as well so by the time he made it downstairs all that was left was cold cabbage that the cook was about

“I suspect that Gervis has been finding opportunities to climb that back watch tower and drop the stolen goods down to one of his accomplices standing outside the wall,” Ellison said. “It’s hard to see who’s going up and down because the guild house and the stables are in the way.” “Well, now that’s all

The four thieves laughed in relief when Matilda left with the two other warrior women and ordered another round of beers for the road. Then Gervis stood up and walked over to Ellison. “I saw you sitting over here with Matilda,” the stablemaster said. “At first I thought you guys were here to arrest me,

“Don’t look now, but there’s a table at the back with four guys at it,” Matilda told Ellison in a low voice. “I know. My guy is there,” he said. “The one who just walked in?” “No, the one he kissed when he sat down.” “That’s Trozganoth the Anointed,” she said. “He knits scarves and

Two Toe Toe continued his circumnavigation of the Armstrong Guild compound, but Ellison had had enough. He was tired, and his bones hurt from having fallen on the stones and then being crushed under Tom. He retraced his steps through the alley back to Knots Hollow. As he approached the street, he saw Gervis the

Ellison stepped out through the front gate of the Armforge guild, onto Knots Hollow Way, and debated about whether to head straight back to the Barley Mow for some dinner, ale, and a good night’s sleep, or to try to catch up with Matilda. On the one hand, Matilda could be just about anywhere. On

“I really thought you were onto something there,” Two Teeth Tom told Ellison. “One of the maids saw Gorehair and the other two walking back from this direction. Plus, Gervis is the most antisocial of us all. He could easily be replaced by an impostor and we wouldn’t notice.” “Hey,” said Gervis. “I’m standing right

“They’re the Gang of Four,” said Matilda. “They’re famous. They case their targets, figure out who has access but doesn’t interact with other people much, and steal their identities while the commit the crime. They usually knock their victims out and tie them up somewhere, but getting Hellcut, Gorehair, and Rainbow Squirtle passed-out drunk was

It was getting late in the afternoon, but Derek decided he had enough time to walk them down to Lothbury Street. “I haven’t had a chance to visit the wine shop yet,” he said. “I’d like to see how Lucy and Lora are doing.” They walked east along Marylebone to Aldwich, then followed Lothbury Street

Marylebone Place was a street of ill repute. Not because of its various houses of prostitution but because it was a street that saw a great deal of vehicle traffic but was located far enough from city center that Krim administration kept forgetting to do repairs. The cobblestones surface was torn up, making it a

Before leaving, Ellison and Matilda had a chat with some of Rodge’s security team. They weren’t happy that Rodge had brought in outsiders to deal with the problem. “It’s almost like he doesn’t trust us to do our jobs,” said Two Teeth Tom, newly back from the dead. “Just because someone got the drop on

“Well, I’ll leave you to do whatever it is you need to do. Let me know when we can move the body.” Rodge frowned at the corpse. The flies had found it, and were beginning to buzz around it. “Hold on, what do you expect us to do?” Ellison asked. “Well, you know,” Rodge waved

Rodge Bannister led them to the other side of the room, where heavy curtains hung across the entire back wall, a guard at each corner. Rodge nodded at the guards to open the curtains.

“The man had me kidnapped and tortured.” Ellison tried to dig his heels in but Matilda easily dragged him out of the Barley Mow Inn and onto Leadenhall Street.

One benefit of dying, Ellison thought, was that he got a fresh new avatar. A washed avatar.

An avatar wearing new, clean clothes.

Ellison walked away, not glancing back. If Usman was going to stab him in the back, Ellison wanted it to be a surprise. He didn’t want to see it coming. It was the anticipation that was the worst.

“World of Battle doth have much to be admired.” The speaker raised his flagon of ale, spilling some on the bar patrons around him. “To the World of Battle!” Someone tossed a fried skirret at his head.