The Raven and the Swan: Devin
Devin walked into the bar as silent as a shadow and took a seat at a table next to a window farther along the wall by the door. The people here did not look intimidating and those who could cause trouble were occupied in the opposite corner in a drinking contest. A few people glanced at his presence, but went back to talking to their companions. Just like the gatekeeper had said, there were many mercenaries at the counter showing off their abilities to catch the eyes of commoners. He ordered a drink when asked, but kept his hood up risking whether he would appear conspicuous or not.
“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in?” a woman with her blond hair pulled up in a bun sat down in the seat across from Devin. She smiled revealing pointy eye-teeth, which accentuated her pointed ears. One of her eyes was hazel with flecks of gold, the other so bright a blue it was almost white. “Or shall I say the devil himself?”
“Good evening, Miss Stella.”
“Quite some manners this evening,” she motioned for him to follow her to a table within a circular alcove in the corner. Once he had sat down, she pulled the curtain shut around the alcove and sat down again.
“What do you need?”
“I want to know about Munus.”
“There’s quite a bit going on,” she said leaning back in her chair. “How about fifty gold? That’s enough for any questions you might have as well as full background on the town.”
“That’s a ridiculous price.”
“Well, knowledge isn’t cheap.”
He put down a bag of gold on the table. “Only because I can trust you and only because no one else would know as much.”
She smiled and blushed, emptying the bag on the table and counting it. Once she had reached fifty, she returned them to the bag and with a snap of her fingers made the bag disappear.
“Let’s start at the beginning shall we? Munus started out as a small village in the middle of two mountain ranges: Helios and Lunos. A road runs through the path between them and the town blossoms around the main road. There are even a few houses and businesses on plateaus in mountains. Farms are practically non-existent, but you can find a few as you get closer to the city. They pay a lot for guards to take in their wares into town, by the way.
“The government started with the town’s inn keeper as he was the one to see all of the visitors to the small town. In a way, this hasn’t changed. They decided on a monarchy and made an entire palace the town’s central inn. There are two others, but they’re mostly seedy taverns set up for…well.
“Rumor has it that the current king was disrespectful to a pseudo-god and was given a curse: he would have two children complete opposites of each other. Neither would be set to rule or wish to continue the kingdom and thus the town would fail. The only way to break the curse was for one of the daughters to fall in love. Seems simple, but the pseudo-god designed it so that one child would be enamored of his or her reflection and the other would be ashamed of it. This didn’t mean one was ugly or not, just that the one who would never look at him or herself in a mirror would need to step outside and fall in love.
“So we come to the current political situation: suitors for the two lovely daughters of King Nicolas. The vain one is Gwendolyn. She’s quite a lazy one and very…how shall I put it…loose. The bright one is Carey. There are very few people looking for her since she has a bit of a reputation of being a shrew. When you get there, you’ll find out who’s who.”
The woman smiled. “I hear Carey’s quite a pretty girl. Are you thinking of courting her?” Her voice had become harsher all of a sudden, but her expression still remained light and her stance like she was in charge.
“I’m not paying you to ask questions,” Devin said.
The woman smiled. “Yes, then.”
Devin decided not to answer. The truth of the matter was that he was hired to assist a government coup, but he was given complete confidentiality and if his informant wanted to lead herself on the wrong path, it was better that way. “What should I expect on the way there?”
“The usual little creatures. Nothing you can’t handle.”
“Is the curse foremost on everyone’s mind?”
“Pretty much. The young men are involved in courting the princess; the king wants and end to his curse so he’s set up a reward for marrying the other daughter, only she’s turned it into a contest. Security is a bit lax right now, you’d want to be careful for pick pockets.”
“Any one I should see if I’m there?”
“We don’t have anyone stationed there,” she said. “Too risky right now and there’s really no reason. King Nicolas has everything public.”
“Do you have a map with you?”
“Do you want to spend more gold? You can just find a cheap one at a merchant stand.”
“Do not try to fool me, Stella,” Devin said leaning forward. “Your guild has the most precise maps around.”
“They take more time to make than you think.”
“I’ll do without, then.”
“Everything is very geometric. It shouldn’t be too hard to get around.”
“Is the sewer system the same way?”
“Goodness, why would you want to know that?”
“Remember what I said about questions.”
She sighed. “There is a complete underground road system under the regular streets in case of emergencies. The sewers are under that. No one gets underground without a key. No one has a key if they’re not royalty. Simple as that. And I’m not giving you the map.”
He laughed. “We established that already.”
She blushed. “Anything else?”
“I think not.”
She stood up and opened the curtain. She took a couple steps and stopped before turning around to face him again. She brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and blushed again. She gave him a look that seemed tired but she smiled softly and handed him a fold of paper.
“It wasn’t doing very good in my pocket anyway,” she whispered before turning quickly to walk away.
Devin opened it and examined the lines. The city map looked like large compass rose with the road moving straight through it. The castle sat just west of the road and consisted of many guesthouses apart from the main building.
“Alia,” he whispered. The buildings faded to a series of passages and chambers in a perfect grid. The king’s treasury was under the castle and a few basements lead to other places. He repeated the word again and the map changed to an underground sewer system with various points marked off on the map. As far as he could tell, there were two paths, presumably one for clean water one for waste. He closed the map and tucked it into a belt pouch.
He looked around again. People were still laughing and enjoying the conversation. The drinking contest in the corner ended with loud cheering as money changed hands to grumbling. He took a sip of ale. He would leave at dawn. He was already a couple days late.
