23. Lukas
23
LUKAS
L ukas makes his cautious way through the streets of Lunatum, wrapped in his cloak and keeping a careful eye out for enforcers. The streets are busy, but the crowds give him a kind of safety. He knows that most of the people of Lunatum are too engrossed in their own survival schemes to pay any attention to the likes of him. There may be a bounty of five hundred dal on his head. But that matters not if no one glances his way.
He thinks he knows where Elric will have gone. Elric made it clear he wanted to see the luxoli house.
He doesn’t really want to go back there, a place as cruel and nasty as any other in Lunatum, not only a place where he will surely be recognised but also a place full of sour memories. But, in truth, there are few places in Lunatum that are not now full of sour memories. He should burn the whole city down when he leaves. As a monument to his miserable five years here in exile.
Lukas knows he shouldn’t go there. Not somewhere he is so known. But, he supposes, the enforcers already know he is in Lunatum. It’s not like turning up somewhere that they know his name is going to make his situation worse.
And he is certain that is where Elric will have gone.
Lukas wonders if part of him always knew Elric planned to run when they got to Lunatum. If he’d known right from the start. If some deep part of him planted the idea in Elric’s mind of the luxoli house. So Lukas would be able to find him if he escaped.
It’s strange to think of that journey now. All that work to get Elric here. All those days. Everything he put up with from that spoilt little Lordling. It was all for nothing in the end. The Plumians don’t want him. Trysta struck the deal anyway.
If he ever makes that deal. If he ever returns to the Mortingale Mountains now. With everything he now thinks is true. And after what Trysta has in store for him on her ship.
Damon. Is he really there? Does he want to see Lukas?
But before that, he needs to find Elric. If he is to ever return to the Mortingales, he needs to find out what Elric knows about who was behind Red Wolf’s spying. And perhaps for other reasons too. Reasons he isn’t fully sure about.
Lukas walks along the dockside. The afternoon sun is high and warm. The docks smell of fish and salt. They were always the freshest part of Lunatum. A fetid city with a new stink around every corner. There are many small ships moored along the dockside, being packed and unpacked for journeys around the Empire. Many of them are part of the Imperial Army. Further out in the moon-shaped bay, there are larger ships, anchored in deeper water so that smaller boats can ferry men and goods to and between their massive holds and the trading posts. He doesn’t know what the White Watch looks like. He has never been on a ship in his life, let alone possessed the ability to recognise one from another. So what is he looking for? Trysta had said that Damon’s ship was waiting beyond the horizon.
But he stares out to the water nonetheless. Thinking, is he out there? Is he really that close?
Lukas shakes himself. He turns away from the docks and walks through the punishment square. He avoids looking at the scaffold. It’s just a wooden platform. It needn’t have any power over him. This isn’t the place where his hand was taken. He wears his hook every day. He sees the place where his hand is gone every morning and evening when he tends to it.
Lukas hurries instead up the small street that leads to the luxoli house. The Exiled Emperor. He knocks on the door, gives the password to the doorman and walks straight up to the counter. Behind it is Roc. The familiarity of her face takes Lukas’s breath.
And when Roc sees Lukas she grins, “Well,” she says. “I did not expect to see you again, Lucky.”
“I didn’t expect to be here,” Lukas says dryly.
Roc looks Lukas up and down. Her eyes rest on the hook. “Heard about that. Shame. Although in this town, you’re lucky it was only your hand.”
“It wasn’t,” Lukas says bluntly.
Roc makes no particular reaction to this although Lukas is sure she knows what he means. He knows the special squad of enforcers who ruined him in Lunatum gaol are regular patrons of the Exiled Emperor, although mostly they prefer the extra discretion — and the opportunity for brutality — of the Underground. If Lukas had decided to carry out his plan to end them, this would have been the first place he’d have looked.
Roc says, “I heard they never got that fucking blade back.”
“They didn’t.”
“Also heard something about a fire at the gaol not long after. Heard that was the Mortingales.” Roc sniffs. “Using saltfire. And heard there was a price of five hundred dal for information about a sly whore called Lucky who escaped in the blaze.”
“There is,” says Lukas. “Give me a bitter argent, would you?”
Roc wets her lips and says, “I also heard about a brawl over at Sparrows’ Hall this morning. And enforcers saying you’re back in town.” Roc turns and pulls out a wooden cup that she fills from a small barrel on the counter. “Here. On the house. For you. Old times. But just this one.”
Lukas smiles at Roc. “I appreciate that.”
“And then you’re gone. Understand. I’ve already had enforcers here looking for you. They'll be back. If I was looking for you, I’d come here. Where else is a sly whore going to be?”
“Indeed.” Lukas takes a drink of the watery ale.
“There’ll be someone in here who’ll talk to enforcers for five hundred.” Roc’s meaning is clear. She doesn’t want his mess in her house. And she’s not wrong to be cautious. She’s being generous letting Lukas walk in the door. And her generosity usually has a steep price.
Lukas takes a drink. “I’ll be quick. I’m looking for someone.”
Roc lifts a dark eyebrow. “Let me guess. A tall redhead who thinks he’s in disguise as a commoner?”
“You’ve seen him?”
“Oh, I couldn’t miss him. Came wandering in here this morning with eyes like saucers. Tried his hand at pillow trade without making it right with me, then when he got caught, practically begged me to let him suck for coin.”
Lukas raises an eyebrow. He isn’t sure why Elric would have wanted coin when he had that full purse, but he feels warmly amused at the thought of Elric coming in here, with his Rose Palace sensibilities, and being overwhelmed by it. Lukas would never admit it, but he had been too. Years ago. He nods. He knows Roc isn’t going to let an unknown Azurian join her stable until he builds a reputation for trustworthiness. But he’s already dreading hearing the rest. “What did you do with him?”
“I should have called the enforcers. That’s the agreement. Any sly whoring’s a crime.”
“Of course it is,” says Lukas. “But you didn’t. So where is he?”
“I told him he owed me and he could pay me back by going up on the auction block in the Underground.”
Lukas rolls his eyes. “Fuck’s sake. The Underground? Really?” Lukas shudders at the thought of the Exiled Emperor’s secret Underground and its cruel auctions. Male whores are offered on that auction block to a discreet audience of the wealthy of Lunatum, along with Imperial soldiers and enforcers Roc wants to keep on side. Anonymous bidding, masked buyers. And he knows that once sold the whore is little more than a slave to whoever has paid their price, from the moment they step from the block until cockcrow. The Exiled Emperor, and Roc, built their reputation on these events in the Underground. A place where one can buy something explicitly against the laws of Zai, in complete privacy. It’s hard to get in but once in, no names are taken. And Roc and her employees have always had a very lax view of what constitutes a whore’s safety.
Roc raises her hands. “Look, Lucky, I didn’t know who the fuck that bitch was. He got off lightly if you ask me. He was happy with it. He owed me.”
“Pretty brutal way to pay a debt,” says Lukas sourly, taking a long pull from his cup of ale. He feels sick. “Make a pillow slave of himself to the sadistic fucks you permit in the Underground.”
“You’d rather I sent him to the enforcers?”
Lukas sighs. “I need him back. Send someone to fetch him and I’ll be gone.”
Roc shakes her head. “You know the rules. You want him. You’ll have to go down there and buy him back. Tell you what, Lucky, I’ll wave you the entrance fee, as you're a friend.”
Lukas looks Roc in the eye. But he sighs with resignation. “You know, I fucking hate this place.”
“I do. You have told me so many times,” says Roc. “And yet, here you are again.” She slides a token across the bar. An old gold dal with a picture of Emperor Markus’s face on it.
Lukas takes it with a sour, “Thank you.”
“You know the way?”
“Of course, I know the fucking way,” Lukas says. He drains his cup and marches over to the back of the room. Muttering to himself about how much trouble this Lordling continues to cause him and wondering what he is even doing when he should be getting the fuck out of Lunatum.
Towards the back of the public room is a small archway that leads to a storeroom. Lukas walks down the stone steps, past the old boxes and towards the back. He finds the hidden door.
He trots down the narrow steps. At the bottom is a passageway lit by torches. The sight of it makes Lukas shiver. Even the smell is familiar enough to make his belly flip.
He never expected to come back here.
Through another door, Lukas finds himself at the entrance to the Underground. A stone anteroom with red velvet hung to cover the rough walls. A set of double doors is guarded by a heavy-set man sitting behind a wide wooden table.
Lukas nods to the man. He doesn’t recognise him. So that’s some comfort. No need to explain why he’s here or reminisce about old times.
The man says, “You here for the pleasures, Sire?”
Lukas supposes he is and nods again.
“You got a token?”
Lukas holds out the gold dal Roc gave him. The man takes it in an outstretched palm, saying, “It’s an auction today. You know the rules in there?”
Lukas nods but the man rattles them off anyway.
“Highest bidder takes the prize. Auctioneer’s word is final. Once you’ve paid, whore is your property until cockcrow. Take him as you please anywhere in the revels. You want privacy, there are pillow rooms in there. You want to take him off the premises, you come see me and we will come to an arrangement. Your whore will obey you, but you may do nothing that causes permanent damage, even if that whore agrees to it. Scar the whore, I scar you. Kill the whore, I kill you.” He grins and Lukas has no doubt he means it. Which is some kind of comfort. “Last rule,” the big man says. He points to a small basket on the table, full of scraps of black cloth. He plucks one out and hands it to Lukas. “You need to wear this.”
Lukas takes the cloth and shakes it out. A wide strip with two eye holes. A mask. Lukas supposes this is something he should welcome under the circumstances. He considers it for a moment, then takes a breath, “Could you help me with it?” he says. There is no way he can tie this mask around his own face with one hand, even with the assistance of his hook.
The man nods and takes the mask back without a word. Lukas turns his back so the man can tie the strip across his eyes. Lukas uses his own hand to adjust it, so he can see through the holes. When he turns back around, the man says, “There. You’re all set to buy yourself a nice sly whore in the finest auction room in the realm of Azuria.” He says this quite proudly and Lukas supposes it is the truth. There cannot be another place with an establishment like this in any land that is part of the Empire. “So get in there and find yourself a sweet thing to cheer yourself up,” he finishes. “You seem like you need it”
“Thanks,” says Lukas, slightly taken aback by this interaction, and then, jolted into urgency by the reminder of why he is here. Elric. Just another sweet thing on sale. On sale to the most brutal luxorites of Lunatum if Lukas doesn’t get to him first.
The man stands aside so Lukas can walk into the auction hall.