Lannon was as scant as smoke. There was no sign of him in Debtor’s Down. No one had seen him in the harbour. He didn’t turn up to make a second, reckless attack on Coin Hill, and the sizeable bounty on his head went unpaid. While a few guards remained posted in Lannon’s neighborhood, many others were tasked with patrolling the streets of the city. The private guard groups and the various mercenaries of Soros grew embittered, but, if anything, Farek hoped that would incentivize them to seek the would-be assassin as well.
Simi had spent the last several days in her quarters, finally released from Devender’s care. Farek visited her daily, while also trying to keep up with his financial responsibilities. On the 17th, Jannia called him to her office for a meeting in the morning. They discussed the expenses of the investigation—but Jannia wasn’t suggesting they decrease. She was willing to commit far more if Farek thought it justified.
A guard came to the estate to report to Farek that afternoon. It was one of the men assigned to Lannon’s neighborhood. They spoke in the courtyard. The bearded Raderan took a deep breath after his salute and then stammered out his report. “W-We were approached by a businessman and his guards, sir. The… man claimed to run his business in Debtor’s Down—clearly suspicious. We were well aware.”
“What did this suspicious man have to say?” Farek asked.
“That Lannon is headed for Bogtown.” The guard nodded as though his very words needed asserting. Bogtown had a reasonable harbour for the squalid swamp village that it was—maybe Lannon intended to flee Var Nordos. “Of course, we did our best to check this ‘businessman’s’ story. We checked with some travellers recently arrived and some mercenaries based near the south gate. Several people agree that they saw a man of his description.”
Farek raised an eyebrow. “Truly? This is a real lead?”
The guard nodded. “It seems so, sir.”
“I want a full troop of guards in the courtyard immediately after dinner,” Farek replied. “You’ll be marching for Bogtown until you camp for nightfall.” His only other plan for the afternoon was to drop in on Simisar. He specified a few supplies and the presence of Matek to the reporting guard, and then returned toward the Keep.
Dorean had just emerged from the front doors of the Great Hall and watched the guard hurrying across the front courtyard. “News, Farek?”
“Our suspect, Lannon, seems to have gone to Bogtown,” Farek replied. Dorean’s angular jawbone was unkempt with brown and red whiskers. “I’ll be dispatching a troop under Matek’s supervision.”
“Dispatching…? I’m going along,” Dorean replied.
Farek raised his hand. “That’s not necessary. We should be here for my sister, not out risking our lives after they were already risked by this psychopath.”
Dorean trembled. “Simi doesn’t need both of us here. She needs one to be here for her. She needs the other to get vengeance for this.” Dorean looked past Farek, after the guard, and ground his teeth with fury. He had not reached a point of clarity like Farek.
Damn, thought Farek. He would not let Dorean get himself killed, not on his watch. While he could order Dorean to stay, Farek didn’t want to get on the man’s bad side—not when Simi meant so much to the angry suitor. Farek sighed. “I’ll go then,” he replied. “You must stay for her.” He would need to cut his time with Simi a bit to ensure he had time for dinner and packing.
“Fine,” Dorean replied. “Bring this man to justice, Farek. Please.”
“I will,” Farek replied. He patted Dorean on the shoulder as he hurried past.
The Great Hall was nearly empty. Farek’s footsteps echoed off the arched ceilings as he marched through the room. He looked across the room at the scorched sill of the kitchen serving window. He couldn’t pass this place without feeling the jarring impact of the explosion in his teeth or smelling the reek of scorched skin in his nostrils.
Farek found his sister in her quarters, sitting in a band of sunlight cast from the lancet window of her living area. She had a book on her lap, but was looking out across the rooftops until Farek stood beside her. She smiled to him and he piped up, “Ah, I’m glad to see I can offer more than a humble book.”
Simi laughed. “Depends on the book really. You need to shave.” She showed him some mold caked to the cover of the book and gave him a wink. “But so does this.”
“I’ve been told rugged is rather fashionable right now,” Farek hummed.
“Have you talked to Dorean? He said you had better find Lannon soon, and stormed out.”
Farek leaned against the window sill. He could see the top of a canvas-covered wagon rolling up Coin Hill. “Yes, we had a lovely chat. I dare say he might be even more stubborn than I.”
Simi grinned. “I highly doubt that.” Her smile faded, and she looked back out the window. “He’s so mad still. I just want things to go back to the way they were….”
“It’s hard to forget how bad it was… trust me.”
Simi snorted and waved a hand to her dark red face with its deformed skin surface and chapped lips. “It is hard to forget, but it’s easy to want to.”
“Of course, if we got everything we wanted life would be, well, pointless I think,” Farek said. “But I want to see you smile, and I’ve done a poor job so far.”
“I’m sorry.” Simi nodded and looked down at her book. Then, seeing the decayed cover, she brightened once more. “You made me laugh earlier, at least.”
Farek scoffed. “I can make a donkey’s arse laugh from a mile away. Easy.”
Simi smiled at him again, genuinely. But Farek watched the bitterness seep into her eyes as she kept silent. Though she had expressed a lack of pain from her injuries, Farek could only imagine the agony when he looked at her. Devender had claimed that the Eye of Maga, a distant lake, might be able to heal the scars. He was looking into its potential.
Farek eyed the book she was reading when he couldn’t look at her cheeks any longer. “Poetry? History? Or, dare I say, a dreaded romance?”
“History,” Simi said. “Back before Old Noress fell, Soros was a village called Son’s Stead. I’ve mostly heard stories about the founding of Noress-That-Was, not our city, but Devender was reading this one and it surprised me.”
“I didn’t know you liked history. I thought I had inherited all the brains and the charms.”
Simi rolled her eyes, but Farek’s smile brought out hers once more. He would spend another half hour chatting with her before going to prepare his things. Simi need Dorean to help her smile too, and bringing Lannon to justice was the first step to getting them all closure—a chance to move on. If Farek had to go to Bogtown to accomplish it, then so be it.