What Has Come Before In Barrenhollow Blues (Click read the previous sections if you're new to Barrenhollow)
“Barrenhollow Blues”
A serial novel in progress (Week 5 of ???)
By Cliff Hicks
“Mr. Barrett,” a voice said from deep within the halls. It was a massive voice, hollow and intimidating. But I didn’t buy it for one moment. You can try and con a con man, but the only thing you’ll find is busted con game. “You look… quite a bit less dangerous than I would have expected.”
“Well, Fist, if I can call you that, you look quite a bit shorter than I would have expected.” It was true, of course, that the Fist of Barrenhollow was not a large man in any sense of the word. If anything, he was only a few hands taller than a child, and his thin and gaunt appearance didn’t help that any. “But I suppose we shall both have to accept our disappointment and move on past that point.”
The Fist sat in a small chair that was unimpressive at first glance, especially in comparison to the massive hall in which we now stood. He was, as I said, a short man and slim in build. He had hair that was black like charcoal, and smelled of grease. His skin was pale, like that of the mythical vampires that the nuns at the orphanage would tell us of in their stories every night before we slept as boys. Those eyes might once have been a soft shade of blue, but now they were dark and deep, like the water at the bottom of the Flinch Ocean. And those long spindly fingers folded together like spider’s legs spinning a web around us. And yet, despite all that I have told you, from his appearance to the dozens of armed guards that surrounded us, I had no fear in me.
You see, I could tell at that moment … the Fist of Barrenhollow was afraid of me.
At that moment, I did not know why. But despite the confidence he was trying to project, despite the fact that he was one of the most reputed criminal figures in all of Barrenhollow, despite the fact that he had a small army around us and I had but one lone girl who’d barely handled a weapon in her life at my side, despite the fact that he had all the answers to questions I hadn’t even begun to ask, despite all of these things… he was, for whatever reason, very much afraid of me.
“Yes, well…” he said before pausing for a long moment, as if considering his words very carefully. “… how can I help you?”
“Help me… now isn’t that nice,” I said. “Yes, you can tell me exactly what you know about The Lady’s Eyes.”
The Fist smiled and I knew he was going to try and make some kind of joke at Concorde’s expense. “I think the lady has very nice eyes, but I can see the wedding band on her left hand, so it would be improper of me to go into more detail about them.”
“You know exactly what I’m asking about.” I had no time for him to make glib remarks, certainly not now.
“Yes… yes I suppose I do.” He paused, as if musing the idea over. He had a few breaths to think the matter over before he spoke again. “Barrett the Balls, how proper a name for you, with your brash and confident demeanor.”
“Well, I couldn’t rightly be called Barrett the Cowardly, now could I? What kind of self-respecting thief would allow himself to be tagged with such an awful moniker? Now are you going to answer my questions or not?”
“Perhaps Barrett the Brash would have suited you better,” he replied, as if attempting to keep his cool. It was a welcome change of pace, to see someone afraid of me for the time being instead of the other way around. “But very well… I will tell you what little I know about The Lady’s Eyes, as long as you swear to keep this problem away from my House in the future.”
“What problem?”
The Fist sighed a bit, cocking his head to one side, as if the problems were complex and detailed, but he was going to try and simplify for me. I found it condescending and distasteful. “Right now, there is a covert excursion from Fellowdeep combing Barrenhollow searching for The Lady’s Eyes. Also, there are Imperial covert operatives looking for those stones as well. It seems both governments have a sincere interest in obtaining them, although I have not been able to determine as to why yet.”
“And how do you know all of this?”
“Both sides came to me and asked me to… how should I put it… look the other way? They gave me a great deal of money each to not pay any attention to their operatives whilst they went about their searches.” Look the other way. How interesting. Instead of asking him to take an active hand, they simply wanted him to bow out and avoid the problem all together. Complex indeed.
“And you’re telling me all of this because…”
“Because their terms didn’t specify me being quiet about it,” he said with a slight smile, like a barrister who was taking glee in showing a judge the legal loophole he’d found. “And because I like you, Barrett. You’ve been an interesting character to hear about these past few years, with your exploits and your escapades. Many a bar story has begun with ‘Have you heard about the last Balls & Coin robbery?’ and I always take great pleasure in hearing a new one. I take it your companion must be Concorde the Coin?”
“That’s me, m’lord,” Concorde replied quietly. She was unaccustomed to being spoken of in such high regard, and seemed a little off-guard at the flattery and praise. She was almost standing behind me until the Fist spoke of her, at which point she stepped to stand aside me, taking more confidence in her position. When we had begun thieving together, she was convinced she was little more than eye candy, a distraction I used while I set up and executed the actual thieving myself. And while this was true at the outset, she had since become a more than skillful thief in her own right, although she lacked the confidence she was, by all rights, entitled to.
“Then you are far more beautiful than the stories portray you as. They don’t half do you justice. But I digress. I can tell you this, however… both of the government parties here searching for The Lady’s Eyes are taking great care in how they go about their searches, and going to great lengths not to make their presences known.”
“I hardly call an assassination attempt a stealthy approach,” I replied dryly.
“Ah, to you perhaps, but you need to remember that if the Empire wanted to, it could have Legionnaires searching your house and have you under arrest in a heartbeat.” It was a point I hadn’t considered, and not one I was pleased to have to run through my brain.
“Then why don’t they?”
“My suspicions are that they are trying to get the stones without anyone knowing that they have them. You see, in addition to the Imperial spies and the Provincial spies, the legitimate authorities of Fellowdeep are still investigating the case, although they have no idea where the stones have gone or even who took them.”
“I can’t believe that,” Concorde interjected. “We left our calling card, as we always do. So they may not know who WE are, but they know it was a Balls & Coin robbery. We take great pride in our work.” She almost seemed annoyed at the suggestion that we had been anything less than our usual professional selves, calling card and all. I had to conceal a smile at the pride I felt in hearing her speak so assuredly for once.
“Perhaps,” responded the Fist, “but it seems someone else does not want you taking pride in this particular work. The two brass balls and the lone copper coin were taken from the scene before the authorities ever arrived, and so the theft is, to the authorities at least, a mystery.”
“Who took our trademarks? And why would they do that?” I asked.
“I don’t know, although I suspect it was probably the Provincial spies. Think for a moment -- something you want for military use is in a museum. Instead of going and demanding that it be turned over to you, why not go through a fence and have the thing stolen?”
“Then I don’t understand why our fence didn’t take them from us in the first place.” I was thinking out loud as I tried to work through this, and didn’t really care who heard me. “We brought the stones to him as per the arrangement and were turned away. Had we simply been paid our money, the fence would have taken the stones and given them to whoever set up the job and no one would be the wiser.”
“Perhaps River got a counter offer from the other side. And perhaps he realized that if he took money from either side, he’d end up dead from the other, and didn’t want to have to deal with that situation, so he simply shirked the responsibility over to you.”
“Wonderful, but that still doesn’t explain why everyone’s after these damn things…”
“No, no, it doesn’t, but it does at least let you know a little bit about whom you’re dealing with, and unfortunately, that’s all the information I have right now.”
I paused, scratching my chin for a long moment as I mulled this new information over. What possible use could the armies of both the Empire and the Provinces have for a pair of stones? Surely there was more to this puzzle than I was seeing, but I would get no further pieces from the Fist. Except… “So why are you so afraid, then?” No point in beating around the bush about it; I figured this would be my only chance to get straight to the point.
“Because whenever the Empire and the Provinces both want something, the rest of us end up paying a price far too high for our own good. And I fear what I don’t know. And I don’t know why everyone wants those stones.”
To this I could only nod. I spoke once more, after another bout of silence. “Then I thank you for your time, Fist, and I hope to keep this as much out of your hair as I can.”
“I appreciate that, Barrett, and I hope that fortune favors you in this endeavor.”
As we were walked to the door, I stopped in the doorway and looked back at him with a smile. “Haven’t you heard? Fortune always favors the bold.”
“Mmm. And death hunts the brash. Let us pray that you are the former, and not the latter. Good day, Barrett.”
“Good day to you, Fist.”
“Barrenhollow Blues”
A serial novel in progress (Week 5 of ???)
By Cliff Hicks
“Mr. Barrett,” a voice said from deep within the halls. It was a massive voice, hollow and intimidating. But I didn’t buy it for one moment. You can try and con a con man, but the only thing you’ll find is busted con game. “You look… quite a bit less dangerous than I would have expected.”
“Well, Fist, if I can call you that, you look quite a bit shorter than I would have expected.” It was true, of course, that the Fist of Barrenhollow was not a large man in any sense of the word. If anything, he was only a few hands taller than a child, and his thin and gaunt appearance didn’t help that any. “But I suppose we shall both have to accept our disappointment and move on past that point.”
The Fist sat in a small chair that was unimpressive at first glance, especially in comparison to the massive hall in which we now stood. He was, as I said, a short man and slim in build. He had hair that was black like charcoal, and smelled of grease. His skin was pale, like that of the mythical vampires that the nuns at the orphanage would tell us of in their stories every night before we slept as boys. Those eyes might once have been a soft shade of blue, but now they were dark and deep, like the water at the bottom of the Flinch Ocean. And those long spindly fingers folded together like spider’s legs spinning a web around us. And yet, despite all that I have told you, from his appearance to the dozens of armed guards that surrounded us, I had no fear in me.
You see, I could tell at that moment … the Fist of Barrenhollow was afraid of me.
At that moment, I did not know why. But despite the confidence he was trying to project, despite the fact that he was one of the most reputed criminal figures in all of Barrenhollow, despite the fact that he had a small army around us and I had but one lone girl who’d barely handled a weapon in her life at my side, despite the fact that he had all the answers to questions I hadn’t even begun to ask, despite all of these things… he was, for whatever reason, very much afraid of me.
“Yes, well…” he said before pausing for a long moment, as if considering his words very carefully. “… how can I help you?”
“Help me… now isn’t that nice,” I said. “Yes, you can tell me exactly what you know about The Lady’s Eyes.”
The Fist smiled and I knew he was going to try and make some kind of joke at Concorde’s expense. “I think the lady has very nice eyes, but I can see the wedding band on her left hand, so it would be improper of me to go into more detail about them.”
“You know exactly what I’m asking about.” I had no time for him to make glib remarks, certainly not now.
“Yes… yes I suppose I do.” He paused, as if musing the idea over. He had a few breaths to think the matter over before he spoke again. “Barrett the Balls, how proper a name for you, with your brash and confident demeanor.”
“Well, I couldn’t rightly be called Barrett the Cowardly, now could I? What kind of self-respecting thief would allow himself to be tagged with such an awful moniker? Now are you going to answer my questions or not?”
“Perhaps Barrett the Brash would have suited you better,” he replied, as if attempting to keep his cool. It was a welcome change of pace, to see someone afraid of me for the time being instead of the other way around. “But very well… I will tell you what little I know about The Lady’s Eyes, as long as you swear to keep this problem away from my House in the future.”
“What problem?”
The Fist sighed a bit, cocking his head to one side, as if the problems were complex and detailed, but he was going to try and simplify for me. I found it condescending and distasteful. “Right now, there is a covert excursion from Fellowdeep combing Barrenhollow searching for The Lady’s Eyes. Also, there are Imperial covert operatives looking for those stones as well. It seems both governments have a sincere interest in obtaining them, although I have not been able to determine as to why yet.”
“And how do you know all of this?”
“Both sides came to me and asked me to… how should I put it… look the other way? They gave me a great deal of money each to not pay any attention to their operatives whilst they went about their searches.” Look the other way. How interesting. Instead of asking him to take an active hand, they simply wanted him to bow out and avoid the problem all together. Complex indeed.
“And you’re telling me all of this because…”
“Because their terms didn’t specify me being quiet about it,” he said with a slight smile, like a barrister who was taking glee in showing a judge the legal loophole he’d found. “And because I like you, Barrett. You’ve been an interesting character to hear about these past few years, with your exploits and your escapades. Many a bar story has begun with ‘Have you heard about the last Balls & Coin robbery?’ and I always take great pleasure in hearing a new one. I take it your companion must be Concorde the Coin?”
“That’s me, m’lord,” Concorde replied quietly. She was unaccustomed to being spoken of in such high regard, and seemed a little off-guard at the flattery and praise. She was almost standing behind me until the Fist spoke of her, at which point she stepped to stand aside me, taking more confidence in her position. When we had begun thieving together, she was convinced she was little more than eye candy, a distraction I used while I set up and executed the actual thieving myself. And while this was true at the outset, she had since become a more than skillful thief in her own right, although she lacked the confidence she was, by all rights, entitled to.
“Then you are far more beautiful than the stories portray you as. They don’t half do you justice. But I digress. I can tell you this, however… both of the government parties here searching for The Lady’s Eyes are taking great care in how they go about their searches, and going to great lengths not to make their presences known.”
“I hardly call an assassination attempt a stealthy approach,” I replied dryly.
“Ah, to you perhaps, but you need to remember that if the Empire wanted to, it could have Legionnaires searching your house and have you under arrest in a heartbeat.” It was a point I hadn’t considered, and not one I was pleased to have to run through my brain.
“Then why don’t they?”
“My suspicions are that they are trying to get the stones without anyone knowing that they have them. You see, in addition to the Imperial spies and the Provincial spies, the legitimate authorities of Fellowdeep are still investigating the case, although they have no idea where the stones have gone or even who took them.”
“I can’t believe that,” Concorde interjected. “We left our calling card, as we always do. So they may not know who WE are, but they know it was a Balls & Coin robbery. We take great pride in our work.” She almost seemed annoyed at the suggestion that we had been anything less than our usual professional selves, calling card and all. I had to conceal a smile at the pride I felt in hearing her speak so assuredly for once.
“Perhaps,” responded the Fist, “but it seems someone else does not want you taking pride in this particular work. The two brass balls and the lone copper coin were taken from the scene before the authorities ever arrived, and so the theft is, to the authorities at least, a mystery.”
“Who took our trademarks? And why would they do that?” I asked.
“I don’t know, although I suspect it was probably the Provincial spies. Think for a moment -- something you want for military use is in a museum. Instead of going and demanding that it be turned over to you, why not go through a fence and have the thing stolen?”
“Then I don’t understand why our fence didn’t take them from us in the first place.” I was thinking out loud as I tried to work through this, and didn’t really care who heard me. “We brought the stones to him as per the arrangement and were turned away. Had we simply been paid our money, the fence would have taken the stones and given them to whoever set up the job and no one would be the wiser.”
“Perhaps River got a counter offer from the other side. And perhaps he realized that if he took money from either side, he’d end up dead from the other, and didn’t want to have to deal with that situation, so he simply shirked the responsibility over to you.”
“Wonderful, but that still doesn’t explain why everyone’s after these damn things…”
“No, no, it doesn’t, but it does at least let you know a little bit about whom you’re dealing with, and unfortunately, that’s all the information I have right now.”
I paused, scratching my chin for a long moment as I mulled this new information over. What possible use could the armies of both the Empire and the Provinces have for a pair of stones? Surely there was more to this puzzle than I was seeing, but I would get no further pieces from the Fist. Except… “So why are you so afraid, then?” No point in beating around the bush about it; I figured this would be my only chance to get straight to the point.
“Because whenever the Empire and the Provinces both want something, the rest of us end up paying a price far too high for our own good. And I fear what I don’t know. And I don’t know why everyone wants those stones.”
To this I could only nod. I spoke once more, after another bout of silence. “Then I thank you for your time, Fist, and I hope to keep this as much out of your hair as I can.”
“I appreciate that, Barrett, and I hope that fortune favors you in this endeavor.”
As we were walked to the door, I stopped in the doorway and looked back at him with a smile. “Haven’t you heard? Fortune always favors the bold.”
“Mmm. And death hunts the brash. Let us pray that you are the former, and not the latter. Good day, Barrett.”
“Good day to you, Fist.”
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