The Verge Of An Empire

8

We were really lucky, so to speak. After all, Mr. Tuzz lived in Five Fingers Square, in, or rather, under the building of the workers' club. In the hierarchy of capital criminals, he occupied the place of the highest of the lowest. Old Tuzz did not make money deals, did not bribe officials, and did not rush into politics. No, this man led a street army. Performers of all stripes hung around him and got jobs, which Tuzzu in turn was ordered by someone more powerful, but not willing to risk his reputation. Tuzz was in charge of pickpockets, burglars, extortionists, arsonists and street robbers. Street army - night people lived according to his orders. Not all, of course, but in Cherni it was he who was the very spider that sat in the center of the web and pulled the threads, almost a colleague.

We entered a spacious, dark hall that smelled of sour beer and covered with soot from the floor to the high ceiling beams. Gas lamps built into the walls dispersed the gloom just enough to avoid bumping into tables. From this gloom many unpleasant faces stared at us. Crossing the hall, I knocked on an inconspicuous door equipped with a viewing window.

- Who? came a dull voice from the other side.

“Open up, I need Tuzz.”

“But I need a conditional knock!”

I knocked again.

- This is not a conditional knock!

– Sebastina, I forgot the conditional knock. Break out the door.

- Listen, master.

- Wait, wait! Yes, you stand! The door was immediately opened by a noisily breathing dahorach. “If you break down the door again, I’ll have to pay for it again!”

We barely squeezed past this big man and walked down the stairs, then one turn to the right and a long, musty corridor with pipes visible from the walls, through which gas flows. At the end of the corridor, behind a gray screen, there is another hall, almost the same as the upper one, but there are many more visitors in it, there are almost no empty seats at long tables. I walked over the dirty boards and plunged into the ocean of hostility. Surrounded by strong bodyguards of different races, a frail old man with extensive baldness sat apart.

“Tuzz, Tuzz, Tuzz… How many times have I had to go down to this cute place to see your cute face, and you constantly try to play this idiotic substitution card.

How do I know who is coming to visit me! Perhaps this is a sent assassin! - the obnoxious fat middle-aged man answered gloomily, driving the old man from the old shabby chair.

Old Tuzz's fat folds were still rippling when Sebastina pulled a chair out from under someone and gave me a seat. She couldn't let me stand on my feet while all the trash was sitting. On my first visit here, she tried to force those present to stand, but it turned out the other way around - they all lay down. Some lay down forever.

- Tan el'Moria in our hospitable mansions! We almost started to miss the last time! Tuzz took a puff on a stinky cheap cigar and smiled fakely. This person is unpleasant to me with all his being, starting with his shiny sweaty face and ending with the anger that overwhelms his insides, but what should one do who is obliged to rotate among the garbage on duty? - What brings you today?

“You won’t believe it, Tuzz, I just happened to be around and decided to visit a friend.

“And why did you bring a live-bearer?”

“Have you ever seen me without her at least once?” I leaned forward and rested my chin on the head of the cane. At the same time, the two closest bodyguards, a human and a lups, tensed a little. “It’s not pleasant to feel that if I say “kill”, and blood will flow ... Sebastina, that was said for example!

- I'm sorry, master. - The maid stepped back two steps, but the pallor of those present will not subside for several hours.

- Briefly speaking! I can't stand you here any longer than necessary! Tuzz spat out his cigarette butt and ran a greasy handkerchief over his wrinkled forehead.

“I need you to find me a man who pawned four gold pendants. These ones.

One of the pendants migrated to Tuzz's sausage fingers. The street boss put a jeweler's loupe to his eye.

- Interesting stuff! Bought at a pawnshop, you say?

- This little thing belonged to a very influential person from the top of the metropolitan society. He was killed, and our common overlord personally lusted for the blood of the guilty. Trust me, Tuzz, if I or Scoalt Yard don't find the killers, escort squads will step in. I see a huge crowd of the most vile scum around, real thugs, ready to use knives and revolvers, but how many of them will protect you when the imperial guards appear?

His face, reddened and covered with a thin film of sweat, grimaced! However, people like Tuzz, along with fear, also have anger, otherwise they simply would not have survived in the gateways of Starkrar.

“So what kind of demon did you bring this typhoid pendant here, you damned son of a bitch!?” roared Old Tuzz, jumping up from his seat.

In the silence that hung, I slowly got up and took a few steps towards him.

- If we talk about the genealogy, then my mother was a noble tanya, the lady of the Voice, behind whom stood dozens of generations of noble ancestors who decided the fate of Mescia. And your mother was a whore who got knocked up by a street dog. Do you feel the difference? I advise you to remember. The next time you mention my mother, I'll have Sebastine sew up your stinking mouth and slit a new one somewhere under your third chin. I poked Old Tuzz in the chest and he fell back into the chair. “Consider it an incentive, Tuzz, you need an incentive, don’t you?” But not money and not commitment to the idea. The best incentive for people like you is a threat to your own skin. Find me a young Cardonian named Emil, awkward, thin, red-haired, and then you can continue to exist in peace in this cesspool.

- This is all? he grumbled, staring at me from under his sparse brows.

“Ideally, I need a live breadwinner. The thief who stole the jewels.

- Maybe something else? Tuzz pursed his lips. - Can I give you tea?

- With the swill that is served here under the guise of tea, I would not even wash my shoes.

- Senior! – came from somewhere from the side.

“Back off, Cherpak, I’m busy!” Tuzz growled.

- But, senior, the pipe is shaking!

In the relative silence of the lower hall, an unpleasant metallic tinkling did indeed resound.

“The raid,” hissed Old Tuzz, in which hatred and anger ignited with renewed vigor. “Did you bring them, tencris?!

“I didn’t bring anyone,” I answered firmly. - Coincidences happen. Now don't be silly and show the way.

- The road? What is the way to the shadows?!

“This is your hideout, Tuzz!” Were you really so stupid that you did not equip one or two emergency exits?

“Yes, but why should I drag you with me?!”

“Because I always have Sebastina, who will leave you and some of those present here with broken legs. And I'll tell the constables that I've cleared this nest of crime. How do you like this option? Or we'll leave together and Scoalt Yard won't know about your services to the Night Watch. We both have a reputation, but I'm inviolable, and your own people will tear you to pieces.

“Follow me,” he spat.

- Master.

- Sebastian?

“I'm pretty sure I heard Chief Inspector Wolfeld growl a moment ago.

- Tuzz, move! I ordered.

If Wolffeld catches me here, then... Nothing will happen to me. The Night Watch is outside the jurisdiction of anyone but the Emperor personally, and its personnel are solely responsible to me. But at the same time, I just can't let the Chief Inspector and the simple constables catch up with me at work. Firstly, Wolfeld will decide that he has hit the right track, and secondly, the inspector's self-conceit will rise to heaven, and I cannot allow this.

At a signal from Tuzz, the lups and a few more tough bandits literally rushed to the walls. It turned out that in some places the bricks that made up the body of the walls did not have any mortar between them, but were only covered with plaster. As a result, the bandits simply rammed passages wide enough for even a dahorach to crawl through. We rushed down the dark corridor towards the smell of sewerage and damp closeness. Tuzz's men were carrying several kerosene lamps, three running in front, two more making sure the fat freak kept up the pace. For his age and build, he moved very quickly. The bandits opened and closed several iron lattice doors along the way, and only then did we find ourselves on a wide parapet over a river of stinking slops.

“Now we’re going our separate ways, tan!” gasped Old Tuzz.

“I suppose you won’t be showing up at the workers’ club any time soon?” Where are you running?

- So I'll tell you! he laughed nastily. And I'll draw a map!

- Don't bother yourself. If I need you, I will find you no matter what.

Tuzz spat in annoyance.

- And remember, time does not endure. The sooner I get a go-between, or better yet, find out the name of the thief, the less likely it will be that you meet the hunchbacked widow! Am I explaining well?

“Quite,” he gritted his teeth, engulfing me in a wave of hatred, almost as stinking as the sewage flowing very close by.

Sebastina and I moved in the opposite direction from the one that Tuzz's thugs had taken. For some time we silently hurried, but slowed down, making sure that there was no pursuit for us. In a place like the Starcrar sewers, not even a lupse's senses could help you find fugitives.

“What are our next steps, master?”

“Find a way out of here and not swim in the sewage.

It took a long time to get lost in endless tunnels. The sense of time in the dungeon is dulled, and therefore, when we nevertheless got out into the meager evening light, I could not decide with certainty whether it was the evening of the same day or the next.

“See those factory buildings behind the fence?

- Yes, master.

“These are Bura buildings. We weaved through the tunnels under half of Cherny and got out in the Armory District.

“Master, we should visit this facility and ask for help from the administration.

- Ask for charity?

“The el'Moria line is one of the richest in Starkrar. You don't need charity.

Someday I will teach you to recognize sarcasm.

“I beg your pardon, master. I wanted to offer to borrow a wagon from the factory park so that we could get home faster.

“Sebastina, look at the sunset!” We can take a walk!

“Master, you are a noble thane, but you smell worse than the most ordinary ratling.” It's not right for you to smell like that, so we'd better hurry.

There is no point in arguing, she will win anyway.

The Nightwatch Interrogator's Insignia can open many doors. The High Interrogator's Insignia can open almost all doors. Also, this silvered rectangle gives me the right to requisition any object and any person without explanation. I will personally give a report on what I have done to the Emperor later, if His Majesty is at all interested in my work process. In theory, I can immediately requisition a regiment of metropolitan constables or even an osh-zan-kai into personal submission, and give explanations later. I'll have to try it somehow.

It turned out to pass on the protected territory with a minute hitch. I had to wait for the factory manager, who personally came out to meet me in order to verify the presence of the insignia and my identity. We were taken to the factory steam park and given a choice of any vehicle. Then a problem arose - they do not have horse-drawn transport. The factory uses only mechanical steam wagons to transport raw materials and finished products.

"Master doesn't like steamers," Sebastina said coldly, frightening the head of the facility.

– Sebastina, let's not be capricious! We already abuse hospitality.

“You honor these people with your presence, master. They should be grateful.

I don’t know what about gratitude, but the desire of these people to stop seeing us as soon as possible is obvious to me. What can I do, I really do not like these newfangled steam carts invented by the chinops and adopted by people with such enthusiasm. Loci, airships and sea battleships are another matter, they are huge, majestic and serve as weapons of the Meskian Empire. As for the steamers, they are too fast, they often break, hiss, rumble, crush the inhabitants ... The irony of fate is that it would be more convenient for me to ride my own steamer, because the horses are afraid of me and endure through force when I'm in the crew. The factory driver, kindly assigned to us along with the car, behaved in much the same way. I don't know if it was Sebastina's wary gaze that unnerved him, or our scent...

When I got home, the first thing I did was take a bath. Sebastina often goes too far, but she is always right in one thing, tencris should not smell like a ratling, even the ratlings themselves will not understand and will not accept this. As I looked at the shiny copper pipes that lined the walls, I realized that I was living in an era of change. Of course, everything is constantly changing, but this process should go slowly, which is called evolutionary. In my life, a sharp leap in development fell - the industrial and technical revolution. The Chinops have been cooperating with the Meskia who sheltered them for a long time, but it was in my lifetime that all their latest inventions came. A new interpretation of the laws of physics and all the benefits that they gave - all this did not exist a hundred years ago. Pretty short term for tencris. Why am I thinking about this while lying in a white shell bath filled with hot water? Probably because that I am a tenkris and, like all tenkris, I find it difficult to tolerate change. We tremble for our traditions and customs, as if they make us who we are, and not the right of high blood. We love our history so much, as if our magic flows from it. What can I say, many wealthy tencrises still have not equipped their homes with central heating, which the late de Moranjak had. But the winters in our latitudes are long and cold ... Again, this collier surfaced in my head. The old man was honest, but coffins with coal do not empty in one day, even more so if the servants who have to heat the furnace are dead. many wealthy tencrises still have not equipped their homes with central heating, such as the late de Moranjak had. But the winters in our latitudes are long and cold ... Again, this collier surfaced in my head. The old man was honest, but coffins with coal do not empty in one day, even more so if the servants who have to heat the furnace are dead. many wealthy tencrises still have not equipped their homes with central heating, such as the late de Moranjak had. But the winters in our latitudes are long and cold ... Again, this collier surfaced in my head. The old man was honest, but coffins with coal do not empty in one day, even more so if the servants who have to heat the furnace are dead.

I finished bathing, dried myself with a towel and got dressed. Sebastina tries to storm the bathtub from time to time, because she thinks she absolutely must serve me while bathing. I hold this line of defense firmly, bathing is a time of loneliness. But, of course, when I go out, she is already waiting at the door.

Louis asks permission to serve dinner, master.

Let him start, I'll be there in a minute.

- Following the letter of etiquette, food should not wait for you, but you should wait for food.

- Then let him not apply, I need to go to the office.

There was a screech and a thud behind him. Which left us completely indifferent, because Melinda always slips when she comes in to clean the bathroom. The only thing I fear is that she will hit her head.

Opening the office door, I cried out loudly:

- Freeze!

The red-haired tani froze with her hand outstretched to the shelf on which, next to the books, I had a wind pipe.

“Don’t touch the darts, tani, please.”

She meekly removed her hand.

Are they poisoned?

- In a way. - I was able to enter the office, feeling my heart continue to beat. - This thing was brought to me from a long journey by one of my friends. Doracia, do you know where it is?

“No, my thane,” she said hesitantly, “for the first time I hear it.

– Dorakia is one of the many colonies of Mescia on the hot southern continent of Nyumbani. Yes, the empire has huge holdings there, even in comparison with all the other powers of the North. But even we know little of the recalcitrant peoples who live deep in the lands we so presumptuously claim to be ours! And in those wild lands live completely wild intelligent creatures. Those darts are from there. The one who brought them told me that evil spirits slumber on the tips of these darts. Loa. They doze in anticipation of blood, and as soon as they taste it, they torture in a terrible way the one whose blood awakened them. This is the magic of wild shamans, spellcasters, birds and animals.

She, after carefully listening to my ranting, turned around and threw a new look at the souvenir.

- This is true? About spirits?

- I don't know. But I know I don't want to know.

- I can't believe it.

- Why? Don't you have any idea what a real magician is capable of?

She frowned.

“To tell you the truth, I am not, Thane el'Moria. And you?

“I must know such things. Magic can become a weapon of crime, and this is my area of ​​interest. But there is another kind of magic. When I served in Maldize, I didn’t see anything like that ... - And then I abruptly cut myself off. I felt ashamed, because like some crazy old man, I almost started talking about the horrors of war! And to whom! Pretty Tanya, which I don't even know! What should I tell her? How do Mescia's battlemages turn enemy companies into pools of boiling meat broth? This, at least, is an act worthy of an idiot. – Tanya, what are you doing in my office?

“Sorry, tan, but no one told me that there are rooms in the house that are closed to the public.

I don’t know if she accidentally chose this particular phrase to “slap me with a stack in the face.”

“Of course not! The whole house is at your disposal, but some rooms, like this one, are filled with all sorts of dangerous things. For your good and your safety, it would be better...

“Good thane, why do you need so many dangerous things?”

She examined the walls, the shelves, the racks filled with curiosities from different parts of the world. Quite understandable daggers, knives, revolvers, old single-shot revolvers and things that are completely harmless in appearance: a blowpipe that looks like a flute, a box with a hidden poisoned needle, rings, quills for writing, glasses in a strange frame, brooches, cufflinks and so on. All these things were made for covert killing, and I found a special charm in them. To my surprise, I sensed neither fear nor disgust in her, only curiosity.

- Someone collects thoroughbred horses, someone, sorry for the vulgarity, thoroughbred women, someone likes paintings, and someone likes musical instruments. As for me, I am not nice to horses, as well as to most women, to whom I pay in return. The bow breaks from my fingers, the keys change places, as soon as I sit down at the harpsichord ... Everyone should have a hobby. Mine is right here.

“I was just looking around,” she finally said. “Sorry if I violated privacy. This won't happen again. You are a hospitable host, and it is inexcusable of me to abuse your hospitality.

I automatically adjusted my glasses on my nose, looked at my desk and thought that if I made Louis wait even longer, it would be fraught. When he is worried, he shakes, and more salt, flour, pepper, and sugar is poured into the food than is required.

Sebastina had ordered in advance that dinner be served in the grand refectory. Louis did his best, sparkled with his culinary art. When cooking for me, he can't turn around wide enough because I'm a fussy eater. In other words, I am a real nightmare for a cook whose delicacies become nightmares for me.

- Tanya, let me ask you. - I took advantage of a break during the meal change - How is your memory? Did you remember anything?

She paused for a second and shook her head. At the same time, cute wrinkles appeared on her nose.

- You don't have to answer.

'I really didn't remember anything, Thane el'Moria. Sorry.

“Based on some of the medical writings that I have been able to study, we should not expect changes immediately. However, it's not worth running. I mean…

'Why are you smiling, Thane el'Moria?' she asked, embarrassed.

“I must apologize for this liberties. You see, your appearance in any other Starkrar house would no doubt cause a huge stir. This is natural, because you are Tanya - the bearer of the noblest blood, lost, deprived of memory in the middle of the capital of Mescia. You would not be left for a second by legions of personal maids and reverent hosts, you would have to accept the best doctors and healers who would try to correct the situation with your memory. But the Moon ordered that you ended up in a house where, through my fault, they seem to be isolated. In this house, secrets and mysteries are as common as five o'clock tea. I am very ashamed that, choosing between taking care of you and public service, I dared to choose the second ...

"Then I am very glad that of all the houses of Starkrar I ended up in yours, Thane el'Moria," she said confidently. - I feel completely safe here and, to tell the truth, I do not want to meet strangers. Perhaps it sounded strange?

- A beautiful stranger visiting me is a strange event in itself, tani. But I promise that I will definitely take the time and deal with the issue of finding out your identity. All departments at Scoalt Yard and the Night Watch are already working on it. Therefore, I assure you, Tanya, if you were not born the other day, then we will find out who you are. In the meantime, I am tormented by my conscience because I do not take a direct part in this issue ...

“Countess el'Moria assured me that you would make things right, she has no doubts about you. Besides, I'm staying here for such a short time that it can turn out to be so... Did I say something wrong?

Fear, embarrassment, remorse.

- No, no, Tanya, what are you! It's just that I wasn't aware yet that my dear great aunt had the honor of arriving today while I was away.

I squinted at Sebastina, who pretended to be a statue, but didn't ask anything. If I ask now, she will just apologize for her "incompetence". And if there was no charming stranger nearby, the maid would answer that she did not want to spoil her appetite. The Countess el'Moria was at my house while I was away, the very thought of it sending goosebumps all over my body.

“So she, my dear grandmother, came to visit me?”

“No, Thane el'Moria, she said she came to see me. According to her, the whole capital already knows that ... I really feel embarrassed. I've brought unwanted attention to your house.

Yes, as already mentioned, if it were any other house, then it would already be bursting with an abundance of visitors who want to look at the new silver star. But this is my home, the home of Brian el'Moria, High Interrogator, home of the bearer of the cursed blood, and the tenkris of ill repute. And just a few minutes walk from my doorstep, the gates to the Shadow Quarter rise. All this in total saved me from visitors, but how long will the effect last? The old cobra crawled first, to reconnoiter the situation, she is not afraid of me, she is an older relative and can come to me at any moment, I have no right to refuse or argue. And she is also a great intriguer, having both weight at court, and influence, and real power.

– Surely my kind grandmother suggested that you move to her palace, tani?

- Oh, she was so sweet that she even insisted! the nameless beauty rounded her huge silver eyes. - This is the cutest tanya I have ever met! Frankly, I was both delighted and discouraged by her care, but I was able to defend my decision!

- It looks like her.

“She said she would introduce me to the Emperor!”

And she can do it.

"Does Tany el'Moria know the Emperor himself?" I don't know who he is, but I'm sure he's a great man...

- Tencris.

– Tencris! That is, of course, I didn’t think that she was lying to me, but still I didn’t fully believe it ...