Kael pushed open the door to the smoke filled back room of the gristle house. The butcher front the howlers used for jobs, stash goods and other quiet buisiness. The scent of old blood clung to the walls
Three young howlers leaned against crates in the corner throwing dice. They barely looked up when Kael entered. One spat on the floor
Kael walked past them without a word and headed through the red curtained doorway into the back office
Torvin, his employer sat behind a butcher's block. Using a knife to peel an apple like it was a job that demanded focus. He didn't look up when Kael stepped in
"I was there," Kael said "There was men already there, The man went with them."
Silence. Torvin kept peeling, long curls of skin drooping to the floor
Kael shifted."you knew they were going to be in the lower ward?"
Still nothing. Just the steady scrape of blade against fruit
After a moment, torvin set the knife down, placed the naked apple on the table and finally looked up "You come back empty?"
"I wasn't going to pull him out of their cart" Kael said
Torvin's eyes narrowed "but you didn't try either"
Kael didn't answer
Torvin stood, brushing the apple peel from his apron. "If Word gets out Gallow's mercy took him clean. That makes us look soft. Makes me look like I send boys who can't finish a job"
"I did the job you gave me"
"No," torvin said calmly "you walked past it"
Torvin grabbed a blood slick rag off the butchers block, wiped his hands slowly. Then turned and tossed the rag over a meat hook by the door a casual motion like clockwork.
Kaels eyes tracked the movement, he didn't say a thing
Torvin didn't offer anything more
"Am I done" Kael asked, voice flat
Torvin gave a nod "you're done"
Kael turned and stepped through the red curtain boots scuffing the floor
The three howlers looked up as he passed, dice forgotten
One of the young men smiled, just slightly
He left the gristle house without a word the air outside colder than before. Kael looked back one last time seeing the young howlers step through the red curtain to talk with Torvin
Kael left he headed towards the dock he liked listening to the sounds of the water, calming. Not too loud but never silent. Eventually he reach the dock. Kael leaned against a low wall watching the fog roll in over the black water
Below lanterns swayed all over the dock casting yellow over crates and hunched shapes unloading them. He could hear the muffled groan of rope under tension, boots on wet wood, and somewhere distant a man laughing too hard at somthing that wasn't funny
He'd been in Daggerfall for two months. Long enough to know where not to sleep, not owe anyone anything, and how many steps it took to disappear if someone was following you. Still too new to know anyone important, most importantly still too unknown to make enemies that mattered. That wouldn't last.
The city stank of sweat, smoke and salt, it had a distinct smell like something trying to rot but not quite getting the chance. Every corner looked like it wanted to bleed
He glanced down at the sword hanging at his hip. It wasn't pretty, not balanced, right hilt was too big. But it hard enough when it needed to. He'd found it the day he came here. Just past the old road, a smashed cart in the weeds. Torn up boots in the mud. Blood dried in lines and puddles. No one came back for it. That told him everything he needed to know
Kael exhaled, people thought cities lived and breathed. Daggerfall didn't breathe, it fed swallowed folk in pieces. He wasn't planning on being one of them
Not yet.