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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Brekker

    The Crow Club was almost exactly what Estelle expected. A black marble exterior with a hulking crow over the entrance. A bouncer by the door crossed his bulging arms. That seemed like the similar trait in all bouncers.

Without question, he stepped aside to let Nikolai and Estelle through. Nikolai and Estelle exchanged a glance. Estelle followed after him.

Inside the gambling hall, it was dark, smoky, and loud. Crowded with tipsy and drunk people, shouts of victory and protest rang out in unison each time a hand ended. Nikolai walked straight to the bar.

"What can I get for you?" asked the bartender as she cleaned out a glass.

"We're supposed to speak with Per Haskell," he began, his voice low. "Is there any way you could point us in the direction he might be in?"

The bartender glanced around. "Sure. He had to deal with something in the back. He should be there. Last door on the right."

"Thank you, beautiful," Nikolai said with his signature grin. "I'll come get a drink afterwards."

She smiled like a lovesick girl as Nikolai turned and started towards the hallway. Once out of sight, Estelle smacked his shoulder. "Ow! What?"

"'Thank you, beautiful,'" she mocked him in a deeper voice. "'I'll come get a drink afterwards.' This is why I'm still undecided about you being no better than other men."

"How?" he asked, indignant.

"Calling a woman you've never met simply 'beautiful' is objectifying, Nikolai," Estelle explained. "I may not speak for all women, but I know that if a random man called me beautiful, I would wish more than anything to kick him where it truly hurts."

Nikolai blinked, as if caught with a conundrum. "Oh." Then he shook his head and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

Estelle hadn't seen him in a year, and still he confused her. Nikolai was a puzzling man, always with a trick up his sleeve or some angle to play. It was never necessarily a bad angle, but he always had a plan ready whenever something didn't go as planned.

The further away from the common area, the quieter it became. Eerily quiet. Estelle and Nikolai glanced at each other. At the end of the corridor, a closed door to the right.

Nikolai stopped right in front of it. Estelle nodded at him in encouragement. He knocked.

"Come in," came a muffled voice.

He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door open.

The room looked like it had once been used as a private gambling room. Now a desk sat in the middle, only one piece of artwork hanging on the wall behind it. A man sat at the desk, papers strewn messily across its wooden surface.

A kid stood in front of the desk, his back to the door. The man at the desk glanced up at him. "That'll be all, Brekker."

When he turned around, Estelle was shocked to see the boy dressed as a mature man. He leaned on his cane, a crow's head at the top, a pair of gloves covering his hands, and a scowl upon his face. Quickly, the kid limped out of the office.

Estelle and Nikolai looked at each other after he shoved through them. Strange kid to see in a gambling den like the Crow Club.

"'M sorry about him," said the man. "Business is no place for children."

"He looks like no ordinary child," observed Estelle.

"True." The man stood up. "I'm afraid I don't know the reason for this visit."

Nikolai nodded. "Of course. We're delegates sent by the Ravkan king. We've been sent to retrieve a person of interest."

Per Haskell's eyes crinkled. "I assure you, I wouldn't know anything about that."

Estelle's eyebrows raised. "You've never heard of Retribution?"

Per Haskelle's features fell. "No, I have not. What are you suggesting?"

"Nothing at all," said Nikolai. "They are simply a person of interest for Ravka."

"They are in Kerch, so why should it be Ravka's problem?"

"Many of their victims have been Ravkan. If there is any prejudice against Ravka here in Kerch, we ought to know about it," Nikolai explained.

Per Haskell fumed at them. "Leave. I have nothing to do with this."

Nikolai and Estelle left, but with a silent glance at each other, they knew. It had everything to do with him.

โ€”

"My guess is still an indentured person willing to do anything to pay off their debt," said Estelle as they walked along the waterway a few blocks away from the Crow Club. "There's nothing else it could be. I mean, did you see his face?"

"I did," Nikolai mused. "Whatever it may be, he knew about our person of interest. He may not know who they are, but he knew something."

As they walked down towards the harbor, Estelle sighed. "People like that are sick."

"They're doing what they can to survive, Estelle," Nikolai said. "And yes, maybe they have no honor, but this Retribution could be blackmailing him. They could be a rogue worker."

"Who would do that?" she wondered. "That's possibly even worse."

Nikolai hummed. "This is the world we live in, Svjetlo."

"Shouldn't be," she muttered. The sea came into view, the familiar salty smell invading Estelle's senses. She saw the Izoฤ‡eici with its purple flag held high in the air. A particular flag, however, was missing below it.

Estelle held her hand out to stop Nikolai. She grabbed his arm and pulled him behind a building.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something isn't right," she said. "I told Leaz to put up a blue flag three bells after I left. It's been much longer than that."

"Maybe she took it down," Nikolai suggested.

Estelle shook her head. "I told her to keep it up until I came back. And that's not my crew."

She peeked out from behind the wall to look again. At least a dozen men she didn't know patrolled on and around the ship. She couldn't see any of her crew.

"Who could they be?" asked Nikolai.

"I don't know," Estelle said. "Maybe this Retribution decided to take care of us. Or maybe the old captain's loyalists have finally decided to strike back."

Nikolai frowned. "Why would they want that? From what I hear, you're a better captain than he could have ever been."

"I appreciate the positive reinforcement, but they've been adamant ever since I took over the role as captain. Attacks, ruined jobs, even near-death experiences." Estelle sighed, trying to smooth the crease in her forehead. "I should have known it would all lead to this."

Nikolai leaned against the wall across from her. "Okay, let's think about this. There's no way the two of us could beat all of them, and that's assuming they won't have back-up on the ready."

"My crew are probably all tied up below deck," Estelle mumbled. "And I'm not sure how many friends you have here in Ketterdam, but I have none. None who'd be willing to help, anyways."

Someone walked in between them. Someone with a limp and a cane.

Estelle stopped and stared at the boy, Brekker, from before. He paused in the middle of the alley, glanced back at them, then gestured for them to follow.

Estelle and Nikolai glanced at each other briefly before hurrying to keep up. He might have been a teenager, but he was certainly quick.

They walked behind buildings and through deserted areas for a few minutes in silence, the only constant being the soft thumping of the boy's cane on the cobblestone.

Finally, they stopped. Estelle recognized the quiet area as the warehouse district. The sun was beginning to set, sending an orange glow on Ketterdam. The boy looked ruthless, as if he had years of experience in the Dregs. He looked like a worse man to deal with than Per Haskell.

"What do you want, kid?" asked Nikolai.

"I heard you two asking about Retribution." Brekker said it so casually, like eavesdropping on a conversation with his boss was normal. "Normally, I'd keep this to myself, mind my own business, but I can't."

Estelle frowned. "What is it?"

A figure dropped in next to Brekker. They had a hood obscuring their face, but they looked female. "Meet Retribution," said Brekker. "Otherwise known as Ana Arbana."

The figure pulled her hood down. She looked like a wreck, deep circles under her eyes and sunken cheekbones indicating a lack of sleep and nutrition. Her brown eyes seemed even darker with the lack of light.

"Howโ€“?" began Estelle.

"She's indentured to Per Haskelle," explained Brekker. "Instead of using her for other...purposes, he's decided to use her to eliminate his enemies."

"Typical," Estelle said under her breath. "Can she...talk?"

"Ana can't hear," Brekker said. "But she can read lips excellently."

"So what do you want us to do?" Nikolai asked.

"Pay off her indenture," he said nonchalantly.

Estelle narrowed her eyes. "Why do you care? You don't strike me as the caring type".

"I'm not," Brekker said. "But I'd be lying if I said it was a fair fate. Besides, with the rumors around Retribution in Ketterdam, it's scaring off customers. Paying customers."

Nikolai chuckled. "Of course. Grow up in Ketterdam, become a businessman."

Brekker took in a breath. "Well, this is where I leave you. Pay off the indenture, Ana goes free. If not, I'm not quite sure how that little problem of yours on your ship is going to be worked out."

"How much is the indenture for?"

"You can expect it to be expensive." Brekker turned around and began to walk away. "Per Haskelle is an idiotic man, he doesn't think how Ana is driving tourists away, only how he is driving the competition away. If I want to not be laughed at for being a part of the Dregs, I need to do something about it."

He disappeared behind a large silo, the thumping of his cane slowly fading away. 



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