FALSE GODS

16 Odds and Ends

After dropping off Felicity at her lodging and parting from Tarsus, who went home to bid farewell to his guardian, Damon returned to the Pig and Whistle Inn. The sleuth he had hired had returned with welcome news about his person of interest.

Apparently, the Vigils had found a young lad wandering in cuppa, asking for food and water. While charity was allowed, begging was forbidden in Pago and Modo by order of the City Governors. Violators were arrested and produced before the magistrate for a trial. The nomad had been found guilty of additional offenses during his trial, as he refused to reveal his parentage or citizenship. He had been sentenced to a month of incarceration in the City Vigil Prison in the Agora. It was to be followed by an appraisal after he had served his sentence.

The magistrate’s men had carried out some investigation to find that the child belonged to a Modo patrician. Through the Modo embassy situated in the Agora, they had opened up a negotiation with the party. The magistrate had demanded a hefty price for the boy’s return. If not paid in full, the child would be sold into slavery, as he had broken several laws during his time in the city. But the affair was likely to take over a month. The boy would languish in the custody of the Vigils, who were not known to be affectionate men.

But why should he care, Damon wondered. Because he wanted the mission pay of getting him back to his parents? Or that the suffering of the child was causing him a qualm of conscience? What was it that Felicity told him? ‘You are not a villain in this life.’

Damon changed into gray evening clothes and headed towards the west.

The Agora was towards the northwest of Cuppa. It was bounded on the east by the hippodrome and on the west by Palos hill, which had a temple of Aion on one side, and the theater on the other.

The place was significant because the Pago community assembled to discuss events of the day, politics, religion, philosophy, and legal matters. The Agora was a city square and hall. It was a cultivated area with trees, gardens, fountains, statues, sculptures, monuments, buildings, and elite shops selling assorted goods.

The young assassin arrived from the east entrance. There were several, considering it had passages between buildings on three sides. The enclosure formed by the buildings was quadrangular and had a length of over five hundred feet. A large fountain with three spouts stood in the middle. Musicians and singers sat on the stone benches around it, enriching the evening ambiance with their tunes.

Surrounding buildings were both private and public. The magistrate’s office was the tallest edifice, standing with its back to Palos hill. The temple of Aion was a structure carved into the hill. Then there were libraries, a museum, the City Vigil Prison, embassies of Fugi and Modo. An Ascendancy outpost stood in a corner.

Citizens stood in small groups engaged in different subjects of discussion. Like most other social gatherings, the politics of the gods was the mainstay. There were opposing throngs- supporters of Petromax and Anaximander. A faction worshipping Elektra was recruiting members.

Damon walked among the crowds. He had fashioned his clothes and gait to find a home with Pago citizens. To the untrained eye, he was one of them, out on a pleasant evening stroll.

“Attention! Attention upstanding citizens of Pago!” A voice blared from a podium set in front of the magistrate’s building. A herald was making an announcement on behalf of the city officials. Most citizens did not pay attention because the herald repeated the same message every hour.

“All peculiars entering Pago must report to the magistrate’s office without fail and obtain a mandatory peculiar seal! If caught without the same, rigorous imprisonment awaits you!” The herald repeated the declaration twice, rolled up the parchment, and returned to the office.

Felicity had shared her plans with them. To travel through Pago as aspirants of the Labors, they must first obtain the appropriate seals from every suburra on their way. Therefore, Damon had to step into the magistrate’s office the following day. It was best to keep his head down and have very few people remember his face during his perilous task.

The City Vigil Prison was two buildings apart from the magistrate’s office. Four guards were posted at its entrance. Two sentinels kept watch from its terrace. There was no way Damon could enter the prison undetected from the front.

The adjoining establishment was a commercial bank. Damon read the signboard.

PIRAEUS DIVINE BANK.

He walks through the expansive door, and a fat, balding man in a frilly tunic greeted him.

“Ave, citizen! Welcome to Piraeus Divine Bank. I, Rolus Piraeus, will be your guide,” the banker said, smiling ear-to-ear.

“You have my gratitude for the kind welcome.”

Rolus led him to a cushioned lounge, and they took seats.

“May I offer some wine before we speak business?”

“That would be marvelous.”

Rolus snapped his fingers, and a tall, voluptuous woman in a flimsy toga approached and served a glass. She twinkled her eyes at him and left, swerving her haunches seductively. Damon turned his eyes away. The desire for another woman somehow made him feel guilty.

“Are you a citizen of Pago, if I may ask?”

“Yes,” Damon lied.

“May I see your seal?”

Damon twiddled his fingers inside a pocket and made a stone seal manifest. He presented the object to the banker.

“You, my friend, are a traveling merchant, Vasilis?” he read.

“That is correct.”

“Ah, you have the magistrate’s recommendation as well.”

“He is a friend of the family.”

“Excellent. Now tell me your business plans.”

“I wish to set up legumes and seeds at Cuppa.”

“Brilliant plan. The rains are coming. This is the perfect time to sell seeds. And how much do you wish to borrow?”

“Two thousand gold to begin with and five hundred every month until the monsoons dwindle.”

“Ah, I see. Allow me just a moment-”

Rolus snapped his fingers, and a clerk looked up a register and nodded back at him.

“We have the funds ready. But we will need some mortgage,” he said, wringing his hands with an enormous grin.

The bankers often profited from the ruin of businesses as they inherited all the properties as creditors.

“I have half a tonne of fish under ice in a godown at cuppa. It is worth five thousand gold.”

“Excellent. Excellent. Allow me some time to draw up the document for you. Please enjoy some more wine.”

The voluptuous woman approached again, and Tarsus tried his best not to look up her cleavage while she served. Rolus Piraeus disappeared into a back room, content to have struck a good deal with thirty percent interest on the loan.

“The wine has filled my bladder,” Damon stated with feigned embarrassment. “Is there a place to relieve myself?”

The clerk pointed towards a room in the backyard.

Perfect, Damon celebrated. Now he could go out the back, climb the adjacent wall and jump over to the prison enclosure.

As he walked out by the exit porch, he saw a little girl, no more than five years old, sobbing by a small brazier near the compound wall.

She looked up with hazel, watery eyes.

“My doll’s broken,” she said, pointing at a wooden doll whose head had come off.

“Aww, your father will get you a new one, sweet cakes,” Damon reassured her.

“But I have no father,” the girl said, sobbing.

Damon looked at her in shabby clothes. She was likely the daughter of some slave woman. Slavery was prohibited in Pago, but the wealthy and influential often kept local help at low wages and conditions akin to slaves.

“Hmm, is that so?” Damon mouthed in an exaggerated voice, “But I met your father when I was in a far-off land, and he asked me to give you a gift.”

“Really?” The girl brightened. “Please give it to me.”

“Close your eyes.”

As the girl shut her eyes, Damon manifested a doll with blonde hair. It was beautifully carved and resembled Felicity.

“Now, open your eyes.”

The girl did as she was told and squealed in delight as she saw the doll.

“She’s so pretty,” the tiny one said, hugging her gift.

“Indeed, she is.”

“When will my father come back?”

“Ah, he’s in the outlands fighting monsters with gods, so you can be safe. You can grow up and join him.”

The girl giggled and planted a kiss on Damon’s cheek. It was the second time he had been kissed that night, and he smiled.

“Now,” he said to the girl, “I am going to climb that wall and rescue a friend of mine. But that will be our little secret, okay?”

“Our secret?”

“Yes. If someone asks, then you have not seen me. Do you promise?”

“I promise,” she replied.

Damon quickly scaled the bordering wall, pausing to wink at the girl from the top. The girl waved to him.

He walked along the wall until he could see the prison compound. The only safe entry would be from the terrace, where two guards kept an oversight.

As much as Damon wanted the night to end, it was not over yet. He had miles to go before he slept.