stable whistles sounded again, and I flicked the blood off my saber.

  What an unfortunate spot of bother. Typically, patrols in the Infernal Quarter, while heavier than they’d been for years, weren’t regur enough to worry about, but those sounded both close and numerous.

  he cathedral as well? Something stank. The only issue was of what in particur. In league with this human gang? Simply on Golvar’s trail? Somethiirely ued?

  Actually, that didn’t matter much. What did matter was that I o make sure I’d be kept alive, which meaing all of my ons off of me fht now. Hopefully I could get at least some of them back.

  I dropped my saber, and it nded o the package Golvar had been carrying. Ah, that's another issue.

  I sidered the package at my feet. Now, the question arose, should I hide it or leave it out for the stables to find? It was undoubtedly illegal.

  I didn’t have time to debate this. I scooped it up and moved to the rubble of the chapel. The sound of whistles neared as I buried it under some rubble. Not good enough. The coppers would be sc this pce.

  Then again, what did I care? I’d dohe minimum that Versalicci couldn’t cim I’d ha off to the Watch. Let him recover his package. There was the curiosity to open it up, but that would meaing involved, and I had enough to deal with. I would not jeopardize my reputation for my past.

  The whistles were getting closer. No one else had returned, and the inhabitants were probably hiding deep iheir homes. The fighting and now the Watch were keeping them away.

  I put on my best smile. So what if my clothes were covered in blood, I was the only survivor of this little skirmish, and the one person I’d been fighting alongside romi member of a notorious gang? I could certainly talk my way out of this and be bae with a wink, a smile, and a few well-pced words.

  Seeing the first green-cd wat e within sight, I put my hands up.

  “Officer, thank goodness you’ve e!”

  ***

  I stared at the ceiling of my cell, looking at the uneven pattern of brickwork.

  The pattern of lines and crumbling mortar weren’t particurly iing, but there wasn’t anything else to look at. Three walls of the same surrounded me and beyond the bars of my cell? The view beyond was of more brickwork.

  From my left, my neighbor in the cell started up again with a list of crude suggestions he’d been making since I’d been brought in. It was nothing I’d never heard before, although the sheer volume was a little frightening. I didn’t want to guess what crimes he was in here for.

  He was currently eing the various things he’d do to my stomach with a rolling pin and potato peeler.

  To my right, there was silence. Someone was in there. I’d seen her wheered. A dwarf who looked like she lived oreet. Ragged clothes, a youthful scarred face. Probably in here for stealing or something of the like. She definitely did not deserve to be in the same wing as the psycho to my left and a lised alchemist.

  A story there, I’d bet. The o know itched at the bay brain, a slight little urge to pursue anything to break up the monotony.

  I shoved that thought down. I wouldn’t break that easily. Just wait until they drag you out for your interrogation Mal-Fara. Hells and Heavens, this pce is as mind-numbingly b as it’s ever been.

  The Coffin hadn’t ged much over the years. I’d been in at multiple points, both as Malvia and Fara. Fara had only been brought in for questioning a few times, nothing that could be proven. Minor things, missing goods, suspicious deals. Not worth keeping. Not in a prison already overcrowded.

  It was supposed to be overcrowded anyway. I was used to sharing my cell with up to her people, so being on my o in its uniqueness. Uhey’d somehow fixed their overcrowding issue?

  I snorted. I doubted it would ever be free of that issue. Most of the criminals willing to take servi the army iurn for a reduced sentence had already signed up. Pretty sooch would either find some stru proje need of prisoners or the Queen would decide to start making servi the military pulsory.

  She’d pursued harder punishments for lesser faults in her citizenry.

  Malvia had been imprisoned here three times before and made it out each time. Malvia had a cell reserved here, right o the one bei for her boss and oime biggest target of the Watch, Averini Versalicci. Malvia would probably be due arip to whatever Questioners might still be employed in the bowels of this pce.

  Today’s watch might be a kinder, mentler watch, or so they said. There would still be Questioners. And if there weren’t questiohere would be the Grey Hats, ready to make sure no prisoner could do magic.

  They supposedly had switched to temporary tattoos or blockers in the building itself. I hoped so. I still remember the searing pain of the potions row my fingers and tongue.

  o me, the bbber from the one in the cell grew louder. Did he even pause to take a breath? The only relief from it was the squeaking of vermin, most promily the rat I shared a cell with.

  “Tommy, would you be quiet?” a voice said from my left. It was not loud, but it still cut through the torrent of nonsense ing from the cell.

  Ah, my neighbor oher side had spoken.

  “I would appreciate it if he would as well. It’s not the kind of nguage to be speakio two fine dies.”

  The tirade turo the topic of exactly what he sidered our ces of being two fine dies. I sighed. The person who insinuates I trade sex for money is getting kicked at a minimum.

  “No, I don’t thiher of us are. Excuse me, Miss-?” I asked

  “Amna. Don’t call me Miss, it feels weird. Igommy, he won’t be quiet, and after a while, you tune him out.” The dwarf in my neighb replied.

  A smile crept onto my face even if my versation partner couldn’t see it.

  “I’ll do my best, but I’m afraid that it is a rather loud stream of…. verbiage. And not calling you Miss is also something I ’t quite do. Does he always sound like this? Or does he restrain himself?”

  “Not really. Ma told me he’s usually like this, but he’s got some friends you don’t want to cross. He doesn’t actually do anything, so people just ignore him. Mind you, it keeps getting him beat up.”

  “Oh, so you know him from outside this jail? I thought you two only became acquainted inside here. What quarter are you from?”

  “Bismuth. Not one of the fancy parts, lower quarters.”

  Huh. Of course, I’d been to Bismuth a few times, one of the old hearts of alchemical practi Dramelsen. It had been suppnted sihen by Varmouth, Ironworks, or even North Bellings as time passed on and the rise of both biosculpting and clockwork. And it had never been a pce of old magic like Silver Road, Sarbridge, or the Shadowed Quarter.

  It was still an excellent pce to visit, iate fredients, and catch up with the craft. I’d sometimes eaihe idea of moving there, but it was an idle dream. My fed lise wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny in aire quarter of alchemists, not to mention all the other barriers in my way. The fake lise was one of only a few signifit issues.

  “One of the lower quarters? So the docks se, where it borders the Nover?”

  The Nover was the great river that split Dramelsen into three distinct parts, splitting into Greater and Lesser branches.

  “Yeah. I've been w as a dockworker tely. It's not as much work as the proper docks, of course, but alchemists will still pay a pretty penny to have their materials delivered as soon as possible.”

  That made sehe potenany alchemical ingredients depended on their freshness before being added to the mixture. Wait too long to add them, and the effects of your creation will be reduced or even ruined.

  “So, where are you from?”

  I giggled, managing to keep my amusement from reag full ughs. “Do you eveo ask?”

  There was a lull in the versation filled only by Thomas' increasingly deranged ranting.

  “I mean, I know Infernals are living outside the Quarter. I’ve met a few of them. And hells, would you assume I was from the underground just because I’m a dwarf?”

  “No. I've been to the underground frequently, and someone wanting to move out of there makes perfect sense. But for us, there's only a few Infernals outside the quarter. Even if one legally move out, it’s not so easy to do. I’ve looked into moving a few times, and even moving into the Chalkhills, the Vale, or even Billsburrow would end with me in a pce much worse than I already am. I’m in the Infernal Quarter, where my money is worth something regarding real estate.”

  The versation paused again. I hadn’t meant to intimidate Amna into silence, but eventually, she replied.

  “So you’re fairly well off?”

  “Detly. Amusingly, alchemy is my trade. Although fairly well off is something of an exaggeration. Keepih is something beyo the moment.”

  “Fancy dresses or betting on horses?”

  “Fighting pits, actually.” A bald-faced lie, but I would hardly admit the true nature of my expeo a stranger.

  “You’re joking, right? You hardly look the type.”

  “You live as long as I have, you learn that looks are the most deceiving things of all Miss Amna.”

  “You look like you’re three years older tha the most.”

  “It’s not a lesson that takes long to learn.”

  “I suppose so. Is there someone else with you, by the way? They brought something alive into your cell, didn’t they? I heard something struggling when they shoved it into your cell.”

  Ah, right. I suppose I wasn’t actually the only oct of the cell. The wardens hadn’t brought food yet. When I asked, one of them had dropped off a rat in a trap. Their idea of a joke.

  I looked at the rodent, struggling in futility against the ropes they’d used to bind it. It squeaked in a mixture of terror and frustration. Hunger g the bottom of my stomach.

  I ig. I wasn’t that desperate. Yet.

  Besides, eating it would probably just worsen the Diabolism trying to escape my veins.

  “It’s a rodent. A rat, to be precise. I asked for something to eat, and they replied by givihis. I’m quite sure they expect me to eat it.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “It depends on how long the Wats to keep me here. If this is the only food they serve, I will have to make do, although the least they could do is cook it.”

  The rat’s struggles and squeaking grew even louder as its head whipped around. I raised an eyebrow. They hadn’t put a Shifter forced into the form of a rat in here, had they? Some kind of cruel punishment for both them and me? I could only hope not.

  “It’s been mostly some terrible gruel for us. The Warde us fed at least. I am curious about oher thing. What could a dy like you have doo end up o us?” Amna asked.

  “Oh, nothing illegal. I just happeo fall in with a rather unfortunate sort, tried to help him, and got involved in a fight. All a little bit out of my fort zone, but I think I acquitted myself well.”

  “Seriously? You helped defend someone, and you turned yourself in? That ’t be all, it.”

  I frowned. “I don’t follow your implications, Miss Amna.”

  “I'm just asking you to be ho. You wouldn’t be thrown in here if you were just defending yourself. You know, there isn’t anyone around listening. It’s not like I’m going to squeal.”

  My expression remaihe same, but my attitude did not. That stank. Why would someone be so curious about the reasons for a stranger's impriso?

  Then again, I was restraining myself earlier. She might just be as bored as I am. Besides, this is too obvious. If she is an undercover watan trying to get information out of me, why be so forward?

  Uhey couldn’t hold me for long. If they didn’t have anything crete, it might not be long for me to be ba the streets. The jails were too full to justify throwing me in for what they couldn’t prove was anything but self-defense. A o find some kind of crime I’d itted before they’d be forced to let me go?

  I knew my activities as Fara wereirely above the board, but not enough to require this amount of effort. It must be the Versalicci e.

  “Alright, I’ll whisper it to you. Get to the er of your cell.”

  I leaned my head against the bars as close as I could get to Amna’s cell. Iher oommy had gone quiet, tapering off his test tirade. aking sure he didn’t obscure what I was about to say.

  “The man I fell in with art of an old Infernal Gang, the Bck Fme. Still powerful. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a favor. Or at least at a bare minimum, not give them a reason to stab me.”

  With that little s of information tossed either to an undercover copper or an i street girl, I pulled back from the bars.

  Amna remained quiet for several moments. Her silence was only made more obvious by Tommy’s ck of ranting about ‘taking you red-skinned devil with a full set of cutlery to help ease me into it’.

  If he wasn’t already part of the watch, he certainly had the mihey looked for.

  “That’s y secret? You didn’t want to get stabbed by his mates?”

  “I guess it’s not too exg. But it is all I have.”

  From there, the versation turo idle chit-chat. She was from a family who permaly lived on the surfaow, immigrants from Azraden, driven here by the test round of underground wars. Her parents were masons, which was of stant use in Dramelsen. The city always grew these days, never shrinking.

  It tiill a pair of watch members came by, going into Amna’s cell. The time had e for her interrogation, or her debriefing.

  “Stay strong, Amna!” I said.

  She gave me a firm little nod. Was she a pnt? I couldn’t tell. Were the coppers better at disguising themselves, or had Fara actually made me weak?

  The two officers marched her off, leaving me along with Tommy. He immediately unched into airade of slurs, profanity, and lewd suggestions.

  As time passed, Tommy’s ranting actually began to fade in my mind. It helped that he ran out of material after a certain point, and the repeated material had less effect. My mind was occupied by other things. Such as how I hadn’t asked how long Amna had been in here.

  Depending on how long I was stu here, it could bee an issue.

  I’d done up my form-ging sculpting just before meeting Lady Karsin nearing two weeks ago. They’d hold for maybe another day before I’d o redo them. Hopefully, I’d be out by then, and there’d be no risk of reverting back to a thought-dead member of Versalicci’s criminal empire while ihe Watch’s jail.

  I should just make the oo bee Fara’s baseline form perma instead of temporary ones I o redo every few weeks. Finally bite that bullet. I shouldn’t need nor want to be Malvia again.

  Ah, the sound of boots on stone came once again, stomping ever closer. I used a cw to slit the rat’s bindings, watg it scurry into the darkness.

  The Watch officers went past Thomas, stopping at my cell. “e on, Foulhorn. We need you to answer some questions for us.”