Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

“Before we visit the catacombs, however, what do you say to our getting you some new attire?” Will suggested as he looked me up and down.

I followed his gaze and beheld my frumpy attire. “That would probably be a good idea. Nobody would be caught dead marrying me in this.”

A muffled guffaw came out of nowhere. I blinked at Will whose eyes twinkled. They also darted upward and to the front of the carriage. I lifted an eyebrow and shook my head.

Will lowered his voice to a whisper. “Raines.”

I blinked at him for a moment before realization struck me. “Did he just laugh at my joke?”

Will raised his voice and a sly smile curled onto his lips. “You may be growing on him yet.” A muffled harumph was the reply.

“Probably just a fungus,” I quipped as I pulled aside the curtain and looked out. The busy streets flashed by with its myriad of citizens, all of whom wore something just a little different from the others. “So what’s the style nowadays?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” Will admitted with a shrug. “But we’ll get you something that suits you at Madam Andwis’ shop.”

“Madam Andwis?” I repeated as I turned back to him.

“My seamstress when I’m in town,” he admitted as he folded his arms over his chest. “My reclusive lifestyle means I visit her but rarely, but she always makes room for someone willing to pay upfront for any extra work.”

We rolled our way through the streets and eventually stopped somewhere in the depths of its commercial district. Shops lined both sides of the street and the faint scent of perfume permeated the air. People hurried to and fro with hat boxes and paper-wrapped fabric tucked under their arms.

“Is this all clothing stores?” I asked my guide as Will stepped out.

“For the whole street until it turns to the butchers,” he told me as he nodded at a shop in front of us. The sign read Original Outfitter with a date below that which read Established 137 AF . “This is our shop.”

“So what’s the year refer to?” I wondered as we sauntered through the open door.

“After the flood, of course,” a young voice spoke up, and the owner popped their head out from behind a stack of fabric. She appeared to be about twenty-five with her red hair in curls that framed her face. Her eyes widened as she beheld Will. “Lord Thorn! What a pleasure to see you!”

“The pleasure is all mine, Madam Andwis,” Will returned as he moved over to her.

I took in the sights of the strange little shop. There were the usual dozens of rolls of fabric and mannequins advertising their wares, but what I didn’t expect to find were the swords. The wide assortment of weaponry lined one whole wall of the shop, their blades shimmering against the fresh sunlight. There was everything from tiny throwing knives to hulking broadswords that looked like they could drag my arms off my body.

I tried to catch Will’s attention as he spoke with the seamstress about sewing some new threads for me. “Could you have them ready in a day or two?”

She wrinkled her nose without looking up from cutting some fabric off a roll. “I could but it’d cost you extra.”

Will smiled. “I’m willing to pay the price.”

I waved my hand and that caught his attention. He raised his eyebrows and I nodded at the swords. His eyes followed where I indicated and his smile widened. “It appears my companion is very interested in your other sale items.”

Andwis looked up from her work and wrinkled her nose at me. “She doesn’t look fit enough to hold a butter knife.”

“I was just curious why they were here,” I explained as I nodded at the bolts of cloth. “I mean, is that normal?”

“As normal as a red sky,” Andwis admitted with more than a bit of pride in her voice. She sauntered around the racks of cloth rolls with her chest puffed out a little and stopped at my side where she admired her collection. “But it’s a beautiful collection. My pride and joy.”

“So you don’t sell them?” I guessed.

She scoffed. “Not on your life. I hang it only to let others admire their beauty and to warn thieves not to come into my shop.”

“How many was it last month?” Will inquired as he joined us in viewing the wide assortment.

Andwis sighed and shook her head. “Only one and I hardly had sport with him. One look at me holding my tournament blade and he flung himself out the window he’d come through.”

“Which one is that?” I asked her as I looked over the dozens of weapons.

Andwis stepped forward and took a thin, long blade off its hooks. She turned to us and held the blade in her open palms. “This little thing here. It could have hardly scratched him, much less run him through.”

“You have a wonderful collection,” Will spoke up as he half-turned toward the bolts of fabric. “But we still have a fitting and styles to banter about.”

The seamstress scoffed before she put the blade back. “Hardly. Your friend here could use a nice dress or two for the balls you’ll no doubt attend, but I’m sure you’re also looking for something more comfortable in whatever trouble has brought you to the city.”

“How do you know it’s trouble? We could have just traveled here for your fine clothing,” Will countered.

She waved one hand in his face as she passed by him and returned to her rolls. “Nonsense. Raines is a good enough tailor to fix you up with a leftover or two. That must mean something happened to bring you here.” She paused at the fabrics and turned around to study me with one hand settled on the rolls. “And I’m guessing it has something to do with your new bride here. You haven’t been joined very long or I would have heard about it.”

Will smiled. “As astute as ever, my dear Andwis, and unfortunately very correct. We came here looking for the Agency.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “That old place? Your friend Torch has been looking for those fiends for an age, hasn’t he?”

Will nodded. “You wouldn’t happen to have any sources that could point us to its location, could you?”

The seamstress shook her head. “I don’t dabble in murders. Your best bet would be to look in the lowest parts of the city and see if you couldn’t drag out some of those scum, but it would take a while. Things haven’t improved in the Depths since my grandmother’s time.”

“We’ll be sure to check there should we get that desperate,” Will assured her as he nodded at the fabrics. “But how soon can you have the clothes ready?”

“Come back tomorrow and I’ll have something for you,” she replied as she disappeared behind the rolls.

I stretched out my arms and looked down at myself. “Don’t you need to measure me?”

Andwis peeked over the top of the fabric and scoffed. “What do you think I’ve been doing all this time? Chattering away like an old hen? I have your measurements, now off with you so I can get some work done.”

Will caught my attention and jerked his head toward the door. I followed him outside onto the bustling brick path that acted as the sidewalk to the cobblestone road. A steady flow of people hurried past us and I couldn’t help but take a step back to avoid being bowled over by the more enthusiastic shoppers. Someone knocked into me from the side and I would have crashed to the ground if Will hadn’t caught me.

I turned my head and found myself staring at a young man of twenty. He tipped his hat that covered his short dirty hair. “Sorry about that.”

He tried to veer around us but Will grabbed the back of the man’s collar and held him in place. The man whipped his head around and glared at him. “What’s the problem?”

“You would do well to pick the pockets of less perceptible people,” Will warned him.

The man shrank from Will’s accusation before he stiffened his chin. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about-”

Will reached into the man’s left pocket and drew out a string of pocket watches and wallets. “This is what I’m talking about.”

The thief’s face turned a wonderful shade of ghost and he quivered in Will’s hold. “P-please, mister! Please let me go! I swear I won’t do it again!”

Will studied the man’s face for a moment before he opened his hand. The stranger shot off down the street but didn’t make it more than a dozen steps before someone in the crowd grabbed his arm.

“Hold it right there!” the newcomer commanded.

The captor dragged his captive back to us through the crowd and I had a good look at the man. He was a little above average height with short black hair and a stern expression on his face. The man wore a stiff uniform of drab gray with a buttoned flap across the chest. His high collar surrounded his neck and was made of a lightweight metal that shimmered in the morning light. He had a long sword on one hip and a pistol on the other. A name tag on the breast revealed his surname to be Folcred.

The man stopped in front of us and narrowed his eyes at Will. “You are under arrest.”