The Union

The grapple was slung on the window. It bit against the wood. Of course it did, Hooth had done this hundreds of times. He had been robbing and pick-pocketing ever since he was thirteen summers old. At age fifteen, he had his first throat slit when that merchant traded his gold for his life.

Now he had ascended to the top of the underground world being a leader of a gang. He was respected and his gang was one of the most notorious.

Just last night men in dark coats approached him. Their leader had a beautiful cane and an equally beautiful hat. Their offer was so ridiculous, Hooth couldn"t stop laughing at first.

"Your crimes will be pardoned if you work with us" the man said, spinning his cane as he spoke.

Hooth of course refused. Many powerful families had tried to buy the loyalty of the underworld gangs. A few did, only to be betrayed the year after. The thing is, gangs like Hooth"s control most of the city. They extort payments from the merchants. They coerce payments from powerful. The greatest source of income were a.s.sa.s.sinations. One could have a political rival"s throat suddenly slit for a small sum.

But he made a mistake then by laughing. A dozen more of the men appeared. They were more silent than a grave. Their moves were swift and smooth. His whole gang was surrounded from all sides. But the thing that made Hooth"s body turn cold was the appearance of Castonians bearing weapons of steel. Hooth was terrified. Playing with Servuses and their guards is one thing. Resisting against professional Castonian soldiers is beyond foolish.

"It"s not an offer" Their leader said "It is a command. You will help us or we will destroy you"

And so Hooth agreed. The terms were simple. His gang would keep the peace in the shadows, a.s.sa.s.sinating corrupt officials left and right. Nothing serious really. Those that are first offenders would suffer visits from his gang. If the Servus didn"t listen then blood will spill. They are also to spy for any signs of rebellion.

The bad thing was that they are to stop any coercion and extortion. In exchange the Union would pay them. The worst thing about the deal is that they would have to report and obey the commands of the leader of the men in black coats. Hooth hated obeying but what can he do?

He and his gang escaped death last night though. He had heard that Bat, Venom and a dozen more gangs were decimated in one night. There were no survivors to sing of what happened but Hooth knew those gangs foolishly refused the offer. That same fate would have befallen his gang if he refused that night.

Tonight word, command, from the shadowy men reached him. He and his gang, along with a few of the Union"s spies, were to infiltrate houses of several Servuses and find hidden wealth and any signs of corruption. It wasn"t a robbery, unfortunate thing. In fact they are to rouse the city watch and the Servuses of Justice once they find anything.

Hooth shook his head as he ascended to the window. Working with the Servuses of Justice and the city watch would be weird. Well he doesn"t care really. As long as coins flow into his pocket then it doesn"t matter who he works with.

All eight of them reached the second floor of the Servus" house. four were his and the others were Union Spies. They soon separated into small groups to hasten their operation. Hooth found himself partnered with a spy. He remembered this man to be the clumsiest of the four.

"So you have a name?" Hooth asked as he looked for a secret pa.s.sage.

The spy didn"t bother raising his chin and just read through the letters of the Servus.

"Small talks are dumb"

"Just trying to drown this d.a.m.n silence. But fine, I will not talk if conversing is not your skill"

"Conversing is my skill" The spy flipped trough the papers "Name"s Elisar"

"So what are your other skills Elisar? a.s.sa.s.sination? Sabotage?"

"Shutting talkers, especially loud ones"

Hooth chuckled "Come on, that"s just mean. Mine"s a.s.sa.s.sination so you better be nice to me lest you find something sharp stuck on your back"

"Or yours although you"ll find it on your chest as I don"t fancy striking a defenseless man"

"Heh you talk like a soldier Elisar. Oooh you are indeed a soldier, aren"t you? What legion?"

"Rooster"

Hooth clicked his tongue "You lie. Rooster legion is composed purely of brutes they say. No offense but you don"t strike me as a man who can stop a cavalry charge"

"And you are a fool if you think strength is the only basis of an army"s effectiveness. I"ve seen big men with round arms run from midgets. Have you been in a battle? No, not the cheap scuffles between gangs. A real battle friend, is a terrible thing. When everyone is bleeding and dying around you, would you still be able to hold your spear forward? Most men can"t and most men rout. But the Rooster would always stand their ground, willing to die for the Union"

"Fine" Hooth shook his head in resignation "You can raise your chin and look down upon me if you like" He gave up finding the secret pa.s.sage and trotted towards Elisar "Did you find something?"

"Many things. Evidence and a lot of them. This Servus is a halfwit if I should guess. He kept signed letters of bribes. A whole stack of them. His head will roll soon"

"El" someone called, another Union spy "We found it"

"What did you find?" Hooth asked, a little annoyed that he was not the hero of the hour.

The spy just smiled and led them to a room downstairs. The others were already inside.

Hooth"s eyes balled. There were mounds of copper and silver just scattered around. A whole stash of gold coins lay without care on the side.

"d.a.m.n" Hooth blurted "I thought we were thieves but this Servus is something else. Thousands of golds by the look of it"

Elisar looked at him. "Inform the city watch"

"Oi, can"t we take a portion first? A few gold coins wouldn"t hurt"

"You wanna bleed?"

"So uptight. We would divide it equally. n.o.body would know"

"Should I kill him El?" asked one of the spies to Elisar. Hooth saw that the spy was serious.

Elisar stepped towards him. One on one and Hooth could win. Elisar, after all, was the weakest among thr bunch. But there was something about the spy that scared him.

"If you disobey us, I will kill you right where you stand. If you manage to kill me instead then my mates will capture you and make you watch as we execute every last one of your gang. n.o.body survives Castonian steel. You know that you are but a rat playing with lions. Be grateful that the King is willing to overlook your past crimes. Now if another word of disobedience comes out of your filthy mouth, we will slaughter you all. Do you understand?"

Hooth licked his lips as he looked at the coins sprawled on the floor. Gold was nice. But a man only had a single life.

He turned to one of his men "You heard him. Go!"

**********

For the past days, Avery had seen how rotten the Republic is. They scammed common workers with their wages. Accepted bribes from smugglers. Just now, Mechi was haggling with a smuggler of basilisk root.

"Five gold is pure robbery!" exclaimed the man carrying a bag of roots on his back.

"Take it or sell your root elsewhere. You can"t get pa.s.s the city watch now that they are on alert"

The merchant grimaced "Three gold and fifty silvers is the best I can do"

"Five gold" Mechi insisted.

The merchant sighed and weakly handed Mechi five gold coins.

"Pleasure working with you. East wall. Shout "Garot" to the guards and they would let you inside"

Mechi then smiled and flicked a gold coin to her.

"See that Avery? Don"t sell yourself low. He knows that basilisk root is illegal. It makes a man crazy for a while. Dangerous stuff. Don"t accept a bribe less than three gold coins in peacetime and five in wartime"

It was good money, Avery thought. In just the past five days she earned six gold coins already. Apparently business for corrupt officials was bustling during wartime.

But it was terrible. She never knew that her beloved Republic would be so dirty. Bribes were exchanged like common payment. Smugglers ran rampant. She couldn"t take this anymore.

She ran. She didn"t know why she ran but maybe it was of pure impulse. She found herself panting after a while. She had ran for a few blocks. She would never return there. They were sc.u.ms, lower than worms. She felt anger surge through her very bones. No wonder the Republic has degraded over the years.

"Yes, it is rotten. The Republic you all love is being devoured by corrupt Servuses!"

As if by mere coincidence, she heard a confirmation. She looked and saw a man standing on the platform, preaching in front of many.

"Last night, another Servus was found with undeniable evidence of corruption. Open your eyes people! See the truth"

Avery was drawn to the speaker. She agreed with everything he said so far.

"That"s right. They have deceived us for a long time" The speaker looked at her, directly at her "And I say enough!"