25. The Golden Girl

"Rachael would you mind showing me towards the administrative area of the city. There is a magistrate that I need to speak with."

The girl froze. Then she came to realization that Peter must have given him her name since he was bringing the gift to her. "It is not far from here. When the capitol was just starting out it was an outpost for the church and it expanded from there. That means that the two parts of the city were closely connected when it was built and have continued to stay that way ever since."

Novum walked beside her but his eyes were scanning constantly. He was worried about the three men. Not that he could not take them but if they surprised him three on one was a tough fight. The two young ones he was not that concerned with but their uncle was high enough in the church to have some experience. With the two acting as a distraction he would be in big trouble. Even if one attacked Rachel the old man might be good enough to take him with one one acting as a distraction. It would be best to not get caught flat footed.

Rachael led him to the building that the magistrates worked out of. There were a lot of people working in the front and they all had a name on the desk of the person that they reported to. "Rachel this is a sensitive topic that in all honestly might get you killed if you knew about it so could you wait out here for me?"

"Of course Novum. I will be on the bench in the park across the street."

Once she was gone Novum walked over to a desk that had the name he was looking for. "Could you please tell Magistrate Long that a representative of Mr. Stewart in Three Mines is here to see him?"

"Pertaining too?"

"A specific silver coin. He will know what it means."

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"Sir you have a visitor out front. He does not have an appointment but says he represents Mr. Stewart from Three Mines."

The man broke out in a cold sweat. "Did he happen to say what it was about?"

"He said a specific silver coin."

"Send him back right away."

The man was about to throw up. He had been so far in debt that his only option was death but he had been to big of a coward for that. Now the greedy bastard that had him over the barrel was coming back with an even more ridiculous and dangerous request. He was going to have to turn himself in and take the punishment.

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Novum saw the clerk coming back in a hurry move towards him. He seemed like the magistrate wanted to see him sooner rather than later. "Please follow me. He will see you right now." Novum gave the man a nod and fell into step behind him. It was a short walk and the man at the desk was already sweating.

"Good afternoon Magistrate Long."

The man looked to make sure the door was closed and then flipped a stone to give them quiet. "Just get to the point what does Mr. Stewart want this time?"

"Oh Mr. Stewart is dead. He tried to kill me a couple of weeks ago and it did not work out in his favor. Him and his four lackeys bit off more than they could chew." Novum saw the man physically relax at those words. "But Magistrate before you get to relaxed I am here for some information."

"Why should I help you?"

"I have the Lions family coin and the letter saying that you were the one to unlink it from the property in the palace courtyard so it can be used again."

"By the gods."

"Listen I do not care what you did or why you did it. I have taken it upon myself to destroy everything that the man held dear as retribution for what he tried to do to me. Is that petty, maybe a little but what can I say." He could not say a magical system created by a god of another world told me to find out what is going on. That would just sound crazy and decrease his chances of getting help.

"What do you want to know?"

"I would love to now the location that they are hiding the golden girl. That way I have something concrete to work with. But if you do not know that, then the name of someone that would know. Or where I can find Henry."

"Either way I am a dead man. You do know that right?"

"Honestly I am not sure how things are going to play out for you. If you work it carefully right now and start doing a few things that would be against his interests behind the scenes you might have a chance. But they will probably put you under the zone of truth of a powerful priest. But you could do the right thing now and start making a plan to get away if I win and if he wins you could beat him all by yourself. That is all up to you."

The man looked defeated. "The family owns several warehouses behind the market place. The are closer to the livestock area so the smell is worse. They might have taken her there since not a lot of people go there. He does have guards in the area but they are mostly there to provide lost people with directions to keep them out of the area. They will even tell stories about a funny smell in a building so that people go away. If she is not there then she is probably hidden in or under one of the multitude of buildings on the back of the Earl's estate."

"There are a lot of buildings back there and the property is huge. The back half has some stables with a small herd of horses that have been a big money maker for the family for generations. There is also a small millhouse back there as well. It used to be heavily used before the family took it over a few generations ago. It is old but it was well built and has stayed up despite time."

"And as far as Henry goes good luck with that maniac. He is not very stable and even though he is very committed to the James family he never seems to be at the house. I do not know where he lives or where he is from. He just showed up about ten years ago and started working for the family. That is about all that I can tell you. I don't know what helps and what hurts but it is all I know."

"Thank you Magistrate. I do not plan on mentioning you but you should probably be ready for the worst." Novum stood up without another word and headed out of the office. When he stepped outside he saw Rachael sitting on the bench and then he saw the man sitting beside her. The former priest must have been following them since they were kicked out. He could see the glint of a dagger in his lap reflecting the sun behind him. He could also see the glint of the dagger that Rachael flashed him to make sure he knew that she was okay.

Novum started towards them without any hesitation. He was almost to within throwing distance of a dagger when he heard a bellow from his right side. Novum turned to see the former knight charging towards him much like the attack the he had used earlier in the day. With a thought and a snap of both hands he turned to meet the man but this time in full armor with his shield and sword. He waited to the last second and sidestepped the blow and his the sword with his shield to knock the man off balance. He launched three quick attacks and the former knight was on the ground dead.

The former priest tried to drive the dagger into the girls side but she shifted and grabbed his wrist before he could react to her sudden movement she drove the tip of her dagger straight up under his chin and the long stiletto dagger came out the top of his head. Rachael let go of the dagger, leaned away, and threw up from the warm blood that was running down her hand.

A knight came running over to them. "Are you okay priestess?"

"Yes I am okay. I did not think they would actually attack us. I, we had no choice."

"I saw it but it was all over before I could intervene. These were the two that were excommunicated today, right?"

"Yeah it was them and a higher level priest."

"I will take care of the situation and write up the report since I saw everything." He pulled out the dagger and wiped it on the man's clothing and handed it back to her. She almost threw up again but she got it under control.

Novum willed his stuff away and pulled out a pre-rolled cigarette and lit it. He took a deep breath and then blew it out. "I am sorry that you had to do that. If you had waited about two seconds I would have hit him with my dagger. I know you didn't have two seconds but I am still sorry."

"I am not. He has harassed and tried to abuse me for two years. Finally today after two years I don't have to be afraid of him touching me. I mean was it disgusting absolutely but I will not regret it."

Novum realized that she was made of tougher stuff than he thought and he gave her a nod of his head. He would have offered her a drink and that was when he realized that he had yet to pick up a flask. He would have to get one before he left the capitol. "Still it is probably a bit of a shock to your system. So how about I walk you back to the church for the night and I will check on you tomorrow. Is that okay? If you want me to leave you alone so you can process that is fine as well."

"No please walk with me. I do not know what to be feeling right now. But I do not think feeling them by myself will be good until I figure it out."

Rachael stood up and went to a small fountain and washed the blood off of her hands. The two of them started back towards the church. Novum broke the silence. "Does the church teach self defense and how to use multiple weapons?"

"Yeah we spend time everyday on weapons training. Why?"

"Well why do you think that is?"

"So that we can protect the people from the evils of the world."

"And did they teach you that some of the most evil creature in the realm are simply men and women who like to do evil?"

"Yeah they mentioned that a lot. They told us early that we should always fight the good fight to protect the people and that our hardest fight would always be against the men who commit acts of evil on their own behalf."

"Okay you need to remember that tonight when you start thinking about the man that you killed and why. He was an evil man pretending to be a good man to get what he wanted. I know you say you are fine but in a few hours you are going to need to hold onto that thought."

"Thank you Novum. I will try and remember that."

Novum left her at the temple and headed back to his inn to get something to eat before he set out again. He had a warehouse to explore.