Feral Mage Book 3: Chapter 7

Bryce chuckled as Vex knocked down the set up dominoes, her tail swishing happily as she watched the chain reaction of all of them falling in line. She had made it through two games of the regular bones before deciding it was time to play her way. Not that anyone was complaining, even Callie had joined in on Vex’s version.

“I brought some more dominoes,” Alice announced as she returned to their table. “The guild is pretty empty today. The city guard offered patrol contracts after what happened last night. A lot of the mercenaries took the offer, even though the pay is small.”

Bryce couldn’t blame them. Patrol contracts were easy coin. All it involved was a few mercs following one of the city guards around the city. Rarely did it lead to any fighting, and it was done more as a deterrent tactic to make the guard appear larger than it actually was.

“I’m surprised you girls didn’t take one,” Bryce said.

Janna’s tails brushed against him, a book in one hand while her other was rubbing his thigh under the table. He could tell from the title that this wasn’t her usual monster hunter stories and was instead a romance novel. Given the motions of her hand, he wondered just what kind of scene she was currently reading.

“We wanted to be here once you returned,” she said.

Callie huffed.

“I would have taken one, but your mutt was being unreasonable,” she answered, placing one of the dominoes on the table.

Vex placed one beside Callie’s.

“I was very reasonable,” Vex countered.

Callie rolled her eyes at the wolfkin before turning to him.

“So where is the Princess planning to drag you today?” she asked. “Or did you finally tell her you weren’t playing bodyguard anymore?”

Alice paused in placing her domino on the table to look at him.

Bryce sighed, wishing Callie hadn’t said that around Alice.

“Nowhere,” Bryce answered. “Today I need to go see Isabelle.”

He felt Janna’s hand grip his thigh as she set her book down.

“Why?” Janna asked, her ears canted.

For once, it wasn’t Vex with the reservations. Instead, his wolfkin lover smiled excitedly.

“We’re going to see the funny elf?” she asked.

Bryce nodded to Vex before returning to Janna.

“She helped me recently, and I promised I would do a contract for her. Also, I want to talk to her about the puppets from last night. Isabelle knows the underworld and might have information the Duke won’t be able to find.”

Callie let out a groan.

“So we’re going to go meet that crazy elf in her brothel?” she asked.

Alice dropped the domino she was holding, setting off a chain reaction with all of them on the table to fall over.

“A brothel!” she exclaimed.

Vex tilted her head.

“What’s a brothel?” she asked.

***

An hour later, they were walking through the Rim. Bryce had tried to dissuade the girls from coming with him, but after Callie mentioned he was meeting Isabelle in a brothel, Janna insisted.

“Were you worried your family’s weapon would get stolen?” Callie asked the kitsune.

Bryce looked to see that Janna had brought the spear she bought to use for practice, or at least that’s what she had originally told him.

I don’t think I’ve even seen her hold her naginata since we fought the Red-Shield Company.

“It would stand out too much,” Janna answered.

Bryce watched as her tails flicked with agitation and knew the response had been a lie. He knew her family’s weapon wasn’t normal. It has always felt off to him whenever he was around it, and the fact that Janna was acting this way made him wonder if something had happened.

I’ll need to talk to her later about it.

When they arrived at the Red Lace, Vex growled while she glared daggers at the scantily clad women waiting outside the establishment. Callie wore an amused smile, and Bryce wondered if the snow elf had just come with them to see the wolfkin’s reaction.

“This is a brothel,” Callie informed the fuming Vex.

The catkin from the last time he visited Isabelle waved and started to approach him, but Vex stepped between them with her ears flat and tail bristling.

“The boss said you might swing by,” the catkin said, coming to a stop as she nervously watched Vex. “You can head on up to her office.”

Bryce put an arm around Vex to keep her from causing any trouble as they entered the building. She clung tightly to his arm as if she were afraid he would suddenly try to run off without her. Thankfully, she relaxed once they arrived on the second floor of the building, which had Isabelle’s office and was mostly empty of people. Bryce approached the double doors and knocked.

“Come in,” Isabelle answered.

Bryce opened the door and saw the redhead gang boss grinning from behind her desk.

“Darling!” she greeted. “Oh! You brought your girls! How are you, Wolfy, Snowy, and Foxy?”

Once they entered, Vex began looking around Isabelle’s office at all the weapons displayed on her walls.

“We decided to accompany Bryce once we learned where he would be meeting you,” Janna said dryly.

Isabelle smiled as she gestured to the chairs in her office, though there were only two.

“My girls know Bryce is off limits,” she said.

Bryce and Janna moved to take the seats while Callie joined Vex in looking at the weapons.

“These are trophies,” Callie stated as she stared at a large battle axe.

Isabelle hummed as she looked at Bryce.

“Wonderful memories, each and every one,” she said before pointing to the wall opposite the one Callie was looking at. “I think you’ll recognize that one.”

Bryce looked where Isabelle was pointing and saw a lantern with a long chain. He realized it was the weapon belonging to the assassin Callie, Isabelle, and he had fought in the drow tunnels under Witchbrook.

“But you didn’t come here to look at my collection. So what can I help you with, Darling?” Isabelle asked.

Janna placed her hand on his knee, and he saw her staring at Isabelle with her ears flat. The gang boss just smiled at her.

“I promised you I would take one of your contracts,” Bryce answered. “I was also wondering if you knew anything about the musicians from Duke Leon’s ship.”

Isabelle's smile grew when he mentioned the contract, but her expression dimmed at the mention of the puppets. She opened a drawer and pulled out a few sheets of parchment, sliding them across the desk to him.

“That move was a damn shit show, and nobody wants to get pinned with any of the blame. The nobles, the guilds, merchants, and even the bosses of The Rim are working with the city guard on this, even me,” Isabelle said. “This is a copy of all the information I was able to find for the city guard on the matter.”

Bryce took the papers and examined them. At a glance, he could tell that Isabelle had written down anything that might be remotely connected to the event.

“As for the contract, I’m sorry to say it’s not another date,” Isabelle said with a pout. “Some fences haven’t arrived in the towns I sent them to. They could have grown a pair and tried to scam me, but I doubt it. I think something happened to them while on the road,” Isabelle said.

Bryce scratched his chin, recalling the Duke’s letter.

“I have another contract starting in three days.”

Isabelle smiled.

“I believe this will only take about two days for you to complete, Darling,” Isabelle replied. “The fences took the same path from Witchbrook, but should have split a day’s ride from the city.”

Isabelle pulled a large roll of parchment from her desk and unraveled it, revealing a map of the Kingdom of Brook. She placed her finger near a garrison town just south of Witchbrook.

“They should have split here,” she said. “There’s an old logging path that bypasses the garrison used by the fences to avoid being searched.”

Bryce looked at the map, as did Janna.

“It looks like a wooded area with a river passing through it,” Janna stated.

Bryce nodded.

“Good place for bandits or a monster to set up a den,” he added.

“Normally, I would send some of my own men to check out something this close, but with the city guards in a huff, it’s probably best I lay low and let others investigate this,” Isabelle added. “More so since a Princess arrived in port today.”

Bryce looked up from the map at her.

“Princess?” he asked.

“It must be the season for them in Witchbrook or something, there seems to be a lot of them lately,” Isabelle teased. “I know she’s a daughter of the sea elf Queen. Supposedly, the Queen of Saltland has several children, and it isn’t uncommon for her to send one as an envoy.”

Bryce heard the faint rattle of armor as Callie left the wall of weapons to approach Isabelle’s desk.

“She does, but only for important envoy missions. Which raises the question of why she is sending one to Witchbrook,” Callie stated with a scowl.

The gang boss shrugged.

“The only thing I really know is there’s a growing demand for steel and weapons in the Saltland Kingdom within the last month, and the months before that, there was a high demand for sailing cloth in the Frozenveil Duchy,” Isabelle said. “It doesn’t take much thought to connect the two events.”

Callie sneered.

“Frozenveil is a fool if she believes she can match the Saltland Kingdom at sea. Their naval might is only rivaled by the Selkie Isles,” Callie said. “I hope the sea elves sink her to the bottom of the North Sea.”

Isabelle tapped her fingers on her desk.

“The Duchess is a slippery one. Many thought the rebellion in the north would spell the end of her, but she came out on top in the end,” she said, then looked to Bryce. “Almost as if she had a divine watching over her.”

“What does the job pay?” Bryce asked, pulling the conversation away from Frozenveil.

Isabelle batted her eyes at him.

“Dinner on me?” she asked in a sultry tone.

Janna cleared her throat as she returned to glaring at Isabelle.

“Fine,” Isabelle said with a sigh. “Fifteen gold?”

Bryce nodded.

“Sounds good,” he answered. “We’ll leave today.”