Downtown Druid

Book 3 Chapter 21: He Couldn't Show Weakness

Dantes landed on the rooftop of the Vixen shortly after. He and Jacopo had flown hard to get there as quickly as possible, but didn’t stop to catch their breath. Dantes left his audience chamber and headed for his VIP booth where Jayk was meeting with Zak, Fandal, Daisy, and Sand. He realized he couldn’t hear what they were saying as he approached and saw that Wane was sitting nearby as well. He raised a mug of ale, a little unsteadily, and gave a solemn nod of greeting that Dantes returned.

He walked closer and the ambient sounds from outside the booth ceased, while everyone within the booth’s voices became audible.

“- move his operations onto the southern side of the docks.”

“I don’t know, it may be better to consolidate them closer to Daisy’s operations. Half of what he acquired just gets moved through her routes anyway.”

The voices quieted as Dantes walked toward them.

Jayk turned around, seeing him and nodded in greeting.

Fandal, a member of the old Dock Sharks that Dantes had absorbed after having his old compatriot Grima removed in a spectacular and violent fashion, stood and approached him.

“They hit today's shipment from Frasheid. I had three of my boys arrested, and now I won’t be able to make deliveries to-”

Dantes fixed him with a stare that made him stop talking. “I know what was hit. I know who was arrested. I know what was confiscated.”

“But you didn’t know the raids were happening,” muttered Sand over the edge of a mug of ale. His fat dwarven fingers wrapped completely around the mug like a snake from Lorna’s swamps.

Dantes nodded. “You’re right. Of the many raids I have been able to anticipate and keep us safe from, I didn’t see this one coming. Of the dozens of times I’ve managed to keep our men and women from trouble, this time I wasn’t able to do so. Of the thousands of tips I’ve been able to gather and spin into gold, this one time I received no notice.”

Dantes took a few more steps toward the table and Jayk stood and gave him his chair. He nodded to him as he sat.

“You’ve all grown too reliant on my abilities. I am not a god, and even the thousands of eyes and ears I command have limits. On these places that got hit, did you have watchers? Did you have back doors ready? Or were you assuming it was all handled?”

Daisy smiled, she’d had everything he mentioned and her operations had taken only a small hit. Fandal and Sand on the other hand, grimaced and looked away.

Dantes shook his head. He was pushing some of the blame on them, but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t known they weren’t taking all the usual precautions they’d used before they began working with him. He’d been just as reliant on his abilities as they had. Still, he couldn’t show weakness, and for many in his line of work, being reasonable about blame was showing weakness.

“The men, have any of them flipped?”

Jayk shook his head. “Not one. They all know the deal. As long as they keep their mouths shut then we’ll make sure they’re well taken care of whether they get thrown into the pit or pressed into labor. We’ll make sure that their families are looked after too, within reason.”

Dantes nodded. “And you told them what would happen if they did talk?”

Jayk smiled and nodded. “That’s been emphasized many times.”

Dantes scratched his chin idly. He’d already worked out a deal with Fritz to make sure that any of his men would have access to Smallfolk Consortium goods if they were sent to the pit. The funds he’d put toward that hadn’t ever been touched, so any of his men that wound up there would be in good shape.

“We’re going to get hit sometimes. It’ll be the guard, or some new upstarts. All we can do is prepare and mitigate. So far our preparations have worked. Jayk and I will work on how to better predict what the Guard will do. In the meantime you all continue what you’ve been doing. I want us to recover and press forward quickly. Got it?”

They all nodded.

Dantes stood and jerked his head to have Jayk follow him. They walked out of the bubble of captured noise and moved up to Dantes’s audience chamber. Dantes moved to his throne and took a seat.

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He moved over to the ring just in time to hear a cry of anguish go up from the crown as the adventurer managed to slay both of his drake opponents, very much against the odds that had been given.

Alby wasn’t difficult to identify. She had her mother’s hair, including the white streak, and a similar build. The only difference was a slightly rounder face and her hair was cut much shorter. She couldn’t have been much older than twenty, and appeared fully human.

Dantes watched as she went to the bookie to place another bet, but he made a cut off gesture to him from where he was standing at the edge of the pit.

The bookie grimaced a bit, but shook his head at the girl, causing her to scream and point at him until he indicated Dantes by the edge of the pit.

Alby turned to him and walked in his direction with a scowl on her face.

“Do you know who the fuck I am?” she asked.

“You’re the girl that owes me nearly twenty gold.”

“I’m-”

Dantes held up a hand. “I know who you are. You’re Argenta’s daughter. Do you have the gold to pay, or do I need to send a bill to your mother?”

“If my mother knows you tried to bill me for this, she’ll have you killed.”

Dantes laughed. “I had lunch with your mother last week. I don’t think she’s the one to find me at fault in this situation. She’s a very reasonable woman. Though I do appreciate your bluff.”

“You’re the new Finger?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know that. I thought you were just some goon.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been an normal street thug in the past. Some things you never fully grow out of. So, do you have my gold or not?”

She grimaced, and pulled a coin purse from her hip, handing it to him.

Dantes checked the weight. “This is fourteen gold and seven silver.”

“I’m good for the rest.”

He shook his head, and pulled one of the silver from the pouch handing it to her. “Get some drinks on me, then my man Zak will escort you back home.”

“You going to send him with a bill for the rest of what I owe?”

“No, you can bring that by yourself tomorrow. No reason to bother your mother with all this, eh?”

She nodded, a look of relief on her face.

Dantes leaned in close. “Now get the fuck out of here.”