The Debt

At least something good happened that day. The coffee Herderg had made was strong enough that it counted as a deadrouser's concoction. With the invigorating dark liquid she served homemade apple pies, tiny enough to eat with one hand, but large and creamy enough to be filling.

They almost kept Serenica's thoughts from turning towards Helen's fate.

With a full stomach and a heavy heart she left.

She had nowhere to go. She had a feeling she'd been in that situation for way too long, but now she began to have ideas about what to do with it.

Her pistol was in her bag.

She'd heard of a certain two-faced dressmaker who was likely to have some money.

Under normal circumstances robbery would have been unthinkable. Now, though, it began to have some resemblance to a solid plan.

Serenica was too anxious to stay still. She had to do something. She was already a murderer – what difference did it make if she robbed a dishonest man at gunpoint? Swordly deserved everything she was about to give him. No, the robbery was not a mere idea anymore. It had become a plan.

She didn't even fantasize about bribing Kinley. She couldn't afford that, no matter how many people she robbed. She just wanted enough to pay her way into the Blue Girl. Surely Theod would come back, even if Gadfly would break his promise, and she would get a job and a ship out of Neul. She hated how she didn't feel safe enough to check on Helen, but everything the woman had said made her keep going.

Swordly opened the door, apparently surprised to see someone he barely knew.

"I see you're in dire need of new trousers. What century are you from?"

Serenica made her way towards the uncomfortable chairs in Swordly's living room and made sure to watch the man move as he made coffee.

There was something very twitchy about Swordly. He licked his lips often and touched his nose. While these were not sure ways to tell if someone was hiding something, they contributed to a nervous display of personality and no amount of perfectly matched mustard yellow garments could hide that.

Serenica decided she'd had enough coffee.

"Give me all your money, a pair of trousers and two shirts," she said and drew her pistol.

"Oh, that isn't loaded," Swordly laughed.

His laugh seemed insincere.

The man was standing a few feet from the kitchen. He had no time to grab a knife, and it was quite likely it wouldn't have done him much good against a flintlock pistol.

Serenica was sitting too far away from him, and he had no chance of wrestling the gun away.

Her timing was perfect.

"You're counting on me being generous about your life," she said. "I've killed before. And frankly, I considered killing you anyway. I don't place much value on the heads of traitors."

"I only do what I must," Swordly said, but it was obvious his courage was wearing thin.

"Money. All your money."

Serenica followed the dressmaker with the gun aimed at his midsection at all times. She chose to point the barrel towards his belly as she knew from her job what stomach wounds did to people and it was easier to shoot in his torso than it was to go for a headshot.

She didn't get much gold. Just enough to stay somewhere for a week sober or two nights drunk. The clothes Swordly gave her were much better, though. She had to settle for two way too large shirts, but the trousers fit her just right, at least on a quick glance.

Even while faced with danger, Swordly seemed to be satisfied that his creations were favored over the clothes Herderg had given to Serenica.

Serenica admired the shirts, black with yellow embroidery, and a plain green one made of a shiny material.

Swordly wanted to have a cup of coffee with her anyway. Serenica suspected it might have been poisoned. She thought she should have killed the man. Instead, she left towards the Girl.

She and her money were well received in the Blue Girl. There was no sign of Theod, let alone Gadfly, but there was booze, and Serenica bought enough that the memories in her head began to pale next to the buzzing sensation.

Her room was cheap and awful and smelled like urine, but it was a calculated move to get the one that cost the least. After waddling through excrement she had grown quite a tolerance for seedy places.

She didn't say anything to anyone that day, or that night. When she wanted more, she caught the eye of the lady and got what she was craving.

As she was crawling under the covers with no thoughts in her head, the plant that was hung from the ceiling opened up its flowers and drowned out every other smell. The fragrance of the flowers wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't good for hungover people, which Serenica would soon be.

Morning came. There was a single window on the eastern side of the room, and it was small, but there were no curtains and it was placed in such an unfortunate manner that every ray of light came rushing in, stabbing Serenica in the brain through her eyelids.

She did have a headache that morning.

She was nauseous as well.

Taking advantage of the chamber pot in her room, she threw up. As she was doing so, the harsh acidity of the matter making its way back up burned her throat.

She sacrificed a piece of fabric from her old shirt to tidy herself up and went downstairs.

The stairs were steep and Serenica had to wonder how she had managed to climb them up in her drunken state. She still had some money left. It would have normally been unthinkable to start a day that way, but now, things being what they were, she got herself some rum with her coffee. She didn't feel like eating.

"I heard you throw up," the lady of the house said.

"Great."

"All right, don't talk if you don't want to. But I've been hearing you are in trouble. I may know something that will please you and ease you."

"I'm all for good news," Serenica said, not really believing that anything good could happen to her.

"Gadfly is coming. He's only taking a quick smoke break from drinking."

Serenica had to physically force her heart back into its proper rhythm. This kind of excitement was dangerous when hungover.

Gadfly. Gadfly the pirate. Gadfly the money man. She could get a job, she could get away from Neul. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

Serenica felt the need to go for a pipeful herself. She had to calm herself somehow.

As she was taking long drags from tightly packed tobacco from the northern islands she saw someone greatly resembling the man she wanted to meet.

She looked again, and it was Gadfly, indeed, with a pipe so unlike the one she owned, a hastily crafted wooden thing.

"Hello, friend," she said to him, but his eyes darted in all directions as he examined her face and he did not seem to recognize her.

"My mind is weary," he said. "Tell me your name, if you consider me a friend."

"I healed your knee a few days ago. I'm Serenica Ingram."

"I do know my knee is no longer troubling me. What I do not know is your face and name."

Serenica was disappointed. She had thought she'd made a friend.

"Don't be mad at me, please. My brain can't keep up with all the people I meet."

Serenica began to get angry. Gadfly owed her. It had been a mistake, yes, a bad mistake to treat a stranger and a pirate.

"You're in debt to me, you know," she said, trying to make herself appear bigger and more threatening than she actually was. "If you do not pay today, I doubt you or your crew will ever find a healer in Neul."

Gadfly laughed. "Do you even know what crew I am in?"

"You're the fourth most feared pirate around. I think I'll quickly figure it out."

Apparently her cold stare did awaken some feelings of anxiety in the man, as he twitched a little and fixed his position so that his arms hid most of his soft, weak spots.

"Look," he said after a long period of silence. "It may well be that I owe you. I'm not in a position to argue about that. You don't happen to know where Spade is?"

Serenica had her mind emptied by that name.

"Captain Spade? You work for Captain Spade?"

"Yes, I'm his boatswain. I need to find him before noon. He'll hang me if I don't."

Serenica didn't see how Spade could hang Gadfly if the two didn't meet, but she wanted to help anyway.

"See, here's the deal. I can't pay you nothin' if I don't find him. He's got all my money."

A red flash appeared in Serenica's field of vision. She had grown too accustomed to the presence of anger. It would only get worse, she felt it, and she alone was guilty of letting that emotion fester inside her. Nonetheless, this information was enraging. "What?!"

"You heard me. You gotta help, Surmica, or whoever you are."

"I'll get my bag."

"We need to search every tavern and inn starting from the most expensive ones."

"Not the brothels?"

"What would he need brothels for? He has a woman, unlike most of us."

Serenica shrugged. She didn't want to argue with the only man who was on her side.