FreeHolds Adventure, Cycle 2 Part 7a

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Part 7) Adwin

It had been nearly three eight-days since Tipper had gone on a bloody rampage in an effort to rescue Mokha. Adwin had not received too many details about said rampage, but he had read Heller’s report and by that account Tipper had fought a mage and a couple of handfuls of thieves, by herself. The report also indicated that she had been wounded in the fight but that they had left her in the care of Arcanium healers.

Nearly an eight-day after, he had received a message from Tipper and Mokha assuring him that they were in fact alright, however, they had been forced into the custody of the Arcanium for the duration of their stay in the city. They were essentially restricted to the university grounds and the surrounding streets. Adwin was just glad that his two friends were not dead.

Additionally, that message had asked Adwin to go to the Greensly manor and secure Mokha’s belongings. It had included some cryptic instruction leading Adwin to where Mokha had stashed much of his loot from the Fingures heist. The manor had been in a mess, the remaining staff seemingly had abandoned the place after the attack and abduction. With Calathy’s help they had been able to figure out Mokha’s less than direct instructions and retrieve his stuff. It had appeared that the thieves had only taken the time to grab stuff from the ground floor, Mokha’s instruments had also been recovered. He was dismayed to find that Mokha had hidden the extra gold weight with the rest of his stash, it was supposed to have been hidden somewhere else.

There had been no sign of Lord Greensly or the rest of his household, but Calathy had reminded him that his lordship had not intended on returning to the city until closer to the months end. He was still away, visiting family as far as Adwin knew.

Sadly Adwin had still not been able to go see his friends. Between the special project he and Addath were working on and maintaining their cover with the day to day operations of SkadWind, Adwin had been very busy.

Adwin was not used to First Month being so active. Typically, he would have been sheltering with the hunters at the camp on Lord Willik’s Reserve. There would have been little hunting, short trips for the most part, mostly within the reserve. The rest of the time that was not spent sleeping, usually went to a specific project or task that could be done within the shelter of the main camp. Some of the hunters would have found a lover for the winter, especially if they did not already have a serious relationship. Winters in the freeholds were long, with a lot of snow. Ranging too far from home was often lethal.

Here in GreensBridge though, for many, the winter changed very little of their day to day activities. To be sure, there were fewer people out and about and the busy areas were less active, nearly all of the night markets were not active and even the average work-day was shorter for most folks. At SkadWind though, businesses was growing and there were nearly always people coming and going. Adwin often spent most of his waking hours working.

He was nearly finished the day’s paperwork, completing his entries in the hard bound activities log he had been charged with keeping. At the end of each day, regardless what the days tasks had been, Adwin kept a record of his dealings and the people he had met and talked to. Much of it was trivial, but Roburns Trading Company had established the practice for all of its managers, supervisors and bosses. These journals were often used in conjunction with company reports, receipts and letters of promise to provide better intelligence for ongoing operations. In some cases they were used as part of the company’s legal pursuits.

Adwin often lost track of the time, the darkness came too early and he had been very busy since the solstice. Tracking time hourly, with the day being broken down into twenty-five hours was a fairly new concept to him. Something he had been vaguely aware of, but not something that had practically applied to his life until recently. When he heard the chimes of the clock in the sitting room he paused and counted them off, surprised to find that it was the twentieth hour of the day. With a sigh he resumed his entries. He would be at it for nearly another hour.

Once again he had missed having supper with Calathy, though increasingly she just waited until Adwin had finished his day. Ever since the attack on the Greensly manor she had been staying with him, here at SkadWind. It had not really been planned or even talked about, it had just happened. It was nice to have her around and Adwin had to admit, at least to himself, that he was becoming very fond of her.

Addath knocked on the door frame of his office, “I’m done here. I was thinking of going over to the tap house. Any interest?”

He smiled at her, “No, I’ve a bit more to do.”

“You saw the letter from East Dock’s Shipping and Storage?”

Adwin shrugged dismissively, “Yeah.”

“Councillor Bane owns that company.”

“I realize that.”

“He’s a powerful council member. The letter was requesting a meeting between you and him.”

“Yeah, I read the letter.”

“And…?”

“I figure we can wait on that, especially since he was not specific about what he wanted to meet about.”

“Well, I wouldn’t wait too long. When someone like that extends an invitation it’s usually good to follow up.”

“I will, just not right away.”

She paused a moment, as if she might have another point to make, but instead said, “Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.”

She left him to his work. Since the solstice Addath had been different, or more likely their relationship had been different. Addath was just more expressive and friendly than she had been before the yuletide. That had not stopped her from being very angry with him for sending out Heller and the security people to aid Tipper when she had gone to rescue Mokha. She had been livid for days, extremely upset at the prospect that Adwin might have blown the company’s chance at getting the slaughterhouse. Luckily the Arcanium had not made an issue of the sudden appearance and help from the company’s security squad, though strong suggestions had been made that the company review its agreement on the use and deployment of security personnel within the city.

Besides, Heller and his crew had since been dispatched to aid the Arcanium a number of times in their mutual efforts to thwart the Fingures. Though in those cases the company had received official notice and sanction for those deployments. In the three eight-days following Mokha’s rescue another half dozen Fingure’s operations had been raided. Dozens had been arrested, including five mages who had been operating illegally within the city on behalf of the thieves.

Five of the properties that had been raided had since been purchased by SkadWind, along with another dozen lesser properties around the city. Mostly the company was interested in the North Docks District where its main operations had been established over the past decade. However, they had no issue with acquiring any properties within the city or the surrounding west and east Marches. Eventually those deeds would make the company money.

Adwin focused on his paperwork for a while, finished the entry and slid the book aside, still open, to make sure the ink would dry. He tidied his desk and quickly dusted the office, though dusting by lamp light was a dubious endeavour. Still, he wanted things just so for tomorrow morning’s meeting, better to do it now than to not get it done later. One never knew, in this business, when an unexpected opportunity may delay ones intended activities. There was staff that would likely see it done, but Adwin was still having difficulties letting others clean up after him.

When he was happy with the state of his office he closed the activities log and locked it in the office safe. Then he snuffed the two lamps he had on his desk and proceeded to walk around the business making sure everything was ready for tomorrow. He said goodnight to the evening staff, they would be gone in another hour, or so. He also checked to make sure the security people were in fact at their posts, though Heller and his crew were very professional about such things. He could hear the kitchen staff was still busy in the back of the house, but that was not unusual.

As the clock chimed the twenty-first hour of the day Adwin headed upstairs to his rooms. He was looking forward to having a day off, but that would not be until the end of the eight-day.

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