Eh so here's the stuff I wrote last night, was going to try to finish this story and read through/edit it before posting, but I've got not much writing done today.
Niko was feeling much better by the time they reached the dye works. He’d been sick twice, both times spattering the bandit which Gill had found both amusing and a cause for concern. Gill seemed nice, so Niko had told him so. Repeatedly.
The dye works had turned out to be, well, a dye works. A fairly standard workshop, as well as Niko could tell; there were vats for water and vats for dyes, there were bolts of cloth to be dyed and there were dyed cloths left out to dry. The place was largely empty at this hour, although there were a couple of elderly servants who seemed to have been waiting for their master’s return. One was a man, introduced as Oswald, the other a woman named Hilde.
Oswald, Gill and their master soon disappeared with the captive, apparently to secure him in a cellar and question him further. Hilde was asked to tend to Niko, and told he seemed to have a serious concussion.
“Come along then” she said, leading him towards a table with a large bowl of steaming water and various implements laid out upon it “sit down now.” He took the seat she offered and studied her closely.
Her voice was not thin and wavering as he’d expected and she sounded utterly unperturbed by the arrival of her master with two bloodied men and a vomit flecked captive. Her hair was grey, thin and wispy and her face was deeply lined with wrinkles. Her frame was frail looking, but there was no weakness in her keen grey eyes or her leathery little hands which searched around his head for any lumps.
Suddenly her hands stopped and she drew her face close to him, sniffing at him.
“Wynd’s mists, but you smell like a brewery lad, if I didn’t trust master Aldhiem’s word I’d guess you’d been hit with vodka rather than a club.”
Niko shifted his feet uneasily “err, well actually to tell you the truth wise lady, I have been drinking tonight and I don’t think I received any blow to the head. I don’t usually buy strong drink but I, I..” he faltered, not wanting to say why things were different these days.
“Huh, well I’ve seen plenty of men in your state before, but it’s a nice change to see one who’s ashamed of it. Well I think we can deal with that, you go into the next room along there and get a kettle of water from the hearth, I’ll prepare an infusion to settle your belly and maybe clear your head.”
Niko wandered off in the direction she’d pointed towards, coming to an open doorway beyond which was a dark room, ill lit by a small fire huddled into the corner of a large hearth. It was only then that he thought to wonder at how Hilde’s room was lit so brightly. He turned back and looked to see that hung above Hilde’s table was a small glass sphere with a strange grey smoke inside which seemed to be emitting a steady white light. He’d seen such lamps before, but was surprised to see one now as they were very rare, and very costly.
He shrugged and turned back to the hearth, there was indeed a kettle sat there steaming away fiercely. He lurched towards it, glanced around and found a length of thick, charred cloth to wrap around the kettle’s handle. Carefully he lifted the kettle, and with just as much care he walked back to Hilde and set the kettle down. She smiled at him, amused at his caution. She dropped a posset of herbs into the kettle, almost immediately releasing a scent that was familiar to Niko, although he hadn’t smelt it for a long while.
“Liquorice?”
Hilde nodded and he smiled wide, sinking into his seat feeling truly grateful. He was half way through his second mug when Oswald arrived with a clean jerkin and cloak in his arms. “Master Aldhiem sent these if you wish to change, and requests your presence if you are recovered enough.”
“Thank you sir, and thank you too wise lady, I am feeling much better than I was.”
“Bah, Oswald is no sir and I am no lady, Hilde is I and Oswald is he. Here, wash your face if you wish” she nudged the bowl of steaming water beside here.
Niko thanked her again and dunked his head into the warm water with glee. He scrubbed roughly at his face and tore off his bloodied clothes, revealing a lean torso and bronze hued skin marred with many scars, some pale and thin, others thick and ropy. He dressed quickly, bowed to Hilde and followed Oswald into the hearth room. Oswald led him across the room to where an open trapdoor led down under the floor. Niko headed down the steps alone and came into the cellar, which was lit by another glass lamp and smelled of many strange things. Crates and barrels were stacked along all the walls, but one corner was clear and here sat Aldhiem and Gill, with their captive now gagged and bound hand and foot lying nearby.
“I have learned much of use from this vagabond, but he seems to know nothing about you, mysterious Niko. So tell me, who do you serve and what was your purpose tonight?”
“I have no master at this time, and really I had no purpose.”
“So why were you at that warehouse and why did you attack these bandits?”
Niko thought quickly, and tried to remember what little he had heard that night. “Well, I was in the courtyard as I’d overheard them plotting and was curious to hear more” the lie came smoothly. “I attacked them as it was clear they were up to nothing good and I feared they would kill me once they’d noticed me.”
Aldhiem studied him intently. “So what did you overhear, and what were you doing in that area in the first place?”
“I was simply taking in the city and had lost myself, I am new to Wyngard. As to what I overheard, I’m afraid I do not know for sure, but it seemed to be that they… that they had kidnapped a woman and were holding her ransom” he was guessing now, pretty much shooting into the dark.
His guess turned out to be more accurate than he could have hoped, for Aldhiem nodded and simply said “yes.” He was then quiet for a while, before he looked up at Niko as if weighing him up.
He nodded again, and bade Niko sit beside him and Gill.
“Yes, my daughter has been taken from me. She disappeared this morning, and soon we received a message from these scum that if I met them in that warehouse tonight with no more than one man and with no less than one hundred schillings I would be told where she was. And then you showed up, and saved me one hundred schillings it seems, for which I am grateful and for which I owe you.” He reached into a pouch by his side and withdrew a handful of silver coins “ten schillings for you now, and more if you can help me further.”
Niko thanked him, took the money and then chewed his lip. “What sort of help do you now need? And why do you need my help, surely there is a Watch in this city?”
“Yes, there is a Watch here, of which my brother is a captain. He has been inquiring quietly all day, and it seems a young watchman was seen leaving the city in plain clothes at dawn, with a woman all bundled up with her head covered. I think this woman was my daughter, and I know already some of the watchmen are in league with thieves and bandits. My brother can be trusted, but the others may send word to the kidnappers if I ask for their help. So this must be done quietly, using my own folk and some of my brother’s people.”
“I am neither, so why use me?”
“Because you say you are new here, so the kidnappers should not suspect you work for me, and you are clearly not working for these men. However, I cannot be sure you do not belong to one of my rivals within the city, so I will need to know who you travelled in with, and where to find them.”
“I was escorting a caravan, led by a merchant called Fiere Roen. Last time I saw him he was at an inn, the Armoured Hog.”
Aldhiem nodded and rose to his feet “Gill will go there now, and check with this merchant” he took another small handful of coins and handed them to Gill “I doubt he will be impressed with being woken at this hour, so offer him some recompense.” Gill bowed his head to his master and strode off with a wave of the hand to Niko.
Aldhiem now turned to Niko again “you will stay here tonight, and keep watch of our captive. If your story is true then you shall leave the city at dawn with some of my men.” He went to leave, getting as far as the steps before turning back “oh and Niko, as you do not know the city, you will not know me. So let me tell you now, serve me truly and you will be rewarded well. Betrayal I will reward too, as it deserves.”
He left with that, taking the glass lamp with him. When he reached the trap door it was swung shut, leaving Niko and the captive in complete darkness. From above he heard a dull thump, as if something heavy had been dropped onto a trap door.