Chapter 330: Gildusi Noir (2/2)
The cry was quickly taken up by others, and Julia saw a few people running in the direction of the nearest White Lion guardhouse.
”Good thinking. With this we can establish ourselves as witnesses and eliminate the chance of being considered in league with the perpetrator. Now we can take a look at the crime scene and not have to worry about being treated like criminals when the guards show up.” Dorn said cheerfully before waving for her to follow. ”Come on. I'd like to get my hands on the handler's secret messages if I can.”
She looked at him like he was crazy, and had every intention of telling him as much, but felt the words die in her throat as she saw just how livly he looked. How intense the passion displayed in his features. Could she really hold him back from this? Even if it was dangerous, she realized, he would charge into this situation headfirst without any fear.
Besides, a small part of her was beginning to worry that his delusions might not be far fetched after all.
[No, that can't be the case. Surely it's something unrelated. A jealous husband or former business rival that wanted to have him killed...in broad daylight...in front of several witnesses.]
”Are you sure that's a good idea? Shouldn't we let the Lions do the investigation?” She asked, suddenly terrified of getting involved. Reflexively, she grabbed onto his sleeve as if attempting to hold him in place.
He scoffed. ”They don't have anyone that could break a cipher, let alone one devised by such a nefarious group. No, they need the assistance of a trained scholar like myself if they ever hope to head off the coming devastation. And yet, in their pride, they would never accept my help until it is too late.”
”But…”
”Julia, I need to go.” Came his quiet, but emphatic, reply.
He pulled away from her flimsy grasp and was halfway across the street before she mustered up the courage to follow. When she reached the cart, she did her best to look away from the corpse of the fruit seller. This was the first time she'd seen the body of another human, and every instinct was yelling at her to run away or vomit or both.
”No...no...come on. It's got to be…” Dorn was muttering as he dug through the miscellaneous materials stored within the cart.
Swallowing hard to suppress the bile in her throat, Julia thought to ask, ”Would a spy handler keep his codebook with him? Wouldn't he try to hide it somewhere else?”
[Somewhere there isn't a dead body staring at me with lifeless eyes, hopefully.]
”That would make sense. A good spy would probably have a number of safe locations where they could stash their materials.” He murmured while moving over to check the fruit seller's pockets. ”However, if they are as close to accomplishing their mission as I believe them to be, then they'll want to be ready to act as soon as the message arrives...Ah ha!”
He pulled a small, leather bound book out of the dead man's apron, briefly examining its contents. Julia could just barely see the tiny handwritten symbols, in neat rows that seemed to fill the pages.
Dorn quickly pocketed the book and began searching the body again. ”Now I just need to find the message and we'll be good to go.”
She didn't respond, since she was unable to speak as the scent of feces suddenly entered her nose, and it took all of her willpower not to begin gagging.
Evidently, her distress was apparent enough that it caused him to look back at her. After a few seconds of curious staring he nodded in realization. ”Ah. Sorry, I should have warned you. It's not uncommon for people to release their bowels on death. The smell can be quite overpowering.”
”*Cough*....Oh gods...How are you alright with this?! Ah, my eyes are watering!”
He went back to searching while he explained. ”If you recall, I was apprenticed at the Healer's Guild for a time. Apparently I managed to offend my sponsor there, since I was assigned to the morgue shortly after my arrival. I spent about a year dealing with dead bodies before I'd decided I'd had enough, and left to join the Merchant's Guild. While it is not a very productive period of my life, it did leave me a bit desensitized to corpses, so I guess there is an upside.”
”Hurk...haaa…” Julia wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, feeling relieved that nothing had leaked out. ”You told me that you left when you got tired of dealing with terrible patients and didn't think you could tolerate working as a healer.”
He shrugged. ”I didn't want you to worry. Besides, it wasn't a complete lie. My patients were the worst part of my job there. They just also happened to be dead.”
A commotion down the street got her attention, and she saw the glint of armored figures approaching at a jog. The Lions seemed to have sprung into action a lot faster than they normally did.
”Dorn! The guards are coming! We should probably stop hanging around the site of a recent murder.”
”Just another...got it!” He announced excitedly, holding up a small roll of parchment. ”Can you believe he was hiding this in a secret compartment in his boot? It's downright impressive how he managed to slip it in there-”
Knowing that he would probably continue in this line for a while, Julia decided to take matters into her own hands. Literally in this case. Picking up her friend bodily, she slung him over one shoulder, and while ignoring his protests began quickly walking away from the crime scene.
She only looked back after a few blocks, and then only to confirm that they'd escaped notice. Nevertheless, she didn't put Dorn down until she'd reached the safety of her shop.
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A hooded man watched the strange couple leave, taking note of their faces. He slipped back into the alley he was hiding in as the Lions finally showed up and began cordoning off the area.
The intruders had complicated what should have been a simple situation. Local law enforcement should have recovered the fruit seller's code book, which in turn would have led them to the spy ring operating in this city. Unfortunately, the intervention of the pair had made such a scenario unlikely. Now he would need to use another way to spark the chaos he needed.
As he walked through the shadowed alleys, the light from the afternoon sun briefly penetrated the gloom of his hood, revealing the mangled horror of his face and its weeping, permanent smile.
The sight went unnoticed and the figure himself soon vanished into a dilapidated doorway.