“Hreban would never keep these contracts at his house. Too much risk,” Solentine said.
“We don’t have to look for them. I know where they are. But getting to them will be difficult, which is why I need to go to the harbor.”
“Where in the harbor?” Everard asked.
“The Ribs Bazaar.”
“I will take you,” Solentine promised. “We are dropping you off at the house, Ramond. And this time, for the love of all that is holy, stay put. If you are discovered and she is caught with you, there will be Void to pay.”
The largest aquatic animal species on Earth was the blue whale, one hundred feet long and roughly four hundred thousand pounds. I remembered those useless facts because when I was seven years old, our teacher told us that a blue whale was as long as three school buses put together. The idea that any animal could be that large had exploded my baby brain.
The largest aquatic animal in the West Ocean, on the coast of which Kair Toren was located, hadn’t been determined because the ocean was deep and liked to keep its secrets. However, this was a world of monsters, and one day, decades ago, one of those monsters had died and washed ashore at the poor section of the Kair Toren wharf during a terrible storm.
The monstrous creature was too large and too heavy to move, so the city took it apart where it fell. The fishmongers had carved off its flesh and harvested everything they could use: the scales, the protective spines, and some of the innards. The Chamber of Works claimed the head and carted it off to be displayed at Eagle Roost. The Mage Tower sent its mages for the monster’s tail and the rest of its insides, which were delivered to the Tower for research and use in protective talismans. When Kair Toren was done, only the creature’s ribs and spine remained.
Over the years, sun, wind, and rain stripped and bleached the skeleton. Eventually, a market sprouted inside of the rib cage. Sail canvas was strung on top of the bones, rugs were brought in for the vendors to sell their wares, little stalls sprang up all around it, and the Ribs Bazaar was born.
The bazaar quickly became Kair Toren’s version of a tourist trap and for good reason. I was looking at it now, and it was at least two hundred thirty feet long and thirty feet tall. The biggest blue whale in our world would be this monster’s newborn.
I walked into the front entrance of the bazaar, where the giant vertebrae sticking out above my head hinted at the remnants of a neck. Rows of vendors sat on rugs along the walls, offering baubles, cheap jewelry, talismans, phony remedies, shells, scrimshaw, weird sea creatures encased in glass and resin, and other useless oddities. In other words, tourist junk.
Next to me Solentine was doing a fine impression of a bodyguard, complete with a cloak and covered face. This wasn’t his turf. He wouldn’t be welcome.
I strolled between the rows. The air smelled of pungent incense, a poor attempt to cover up the stench from the nearby fishing dock. The vendors eyed me, trying to gauge my suitability as a potential mark, saw Solentine following me, and lost interest. His hood was up, and he walked with purpose, seemingly knitted from menace. People glanced at him once and then decided they had pressing business elsewhere.
There she was, midway on the left, a stout older woman wrapped in a shawl, with harsh features and graying blond hair. Unlike most of the vendors, who sat on rugs, she had a display table and a chair. I stopped before the table filled with sea glass jewelry.
“Greetings, Darotha.”
She squinted at me. “You look better than the last time I saw you.”
I made a show of examining the jewelry. Most of it was leather cord bracelets and necklaces with wooden beads and a chunk of sea glass in the center. The sea glass ranged from bright red to pale turquoise. There was a certain etiquette when it came to this kind of transaction.
“You told the Garden where to find me.”
“Our business was concluded, and discretion costs extra.”
I picked up a bracelet with a chunk of green glass, draped it on my wrist, and tilted my arm, letting it catch the light.
Darotha watched me, amused.
“How much?”
“Five dens.”
I could buy four bottles of wine for that price. Outrageous. Apparently, Darothawasthe Thieves of the North. All of them.
I nodded to Solentine, and he put a silver noma on the table. Before you talked to someone like Darotha, you paid an entrance fee. This was the proper way to do it, and I was very generous.
Darotha reached out, almost lazily, and took the coin off the table. A minor vendor would have snatched it so fast, I wouldn’t have even seen it. It would have just vanished. This was Darotha demonstrating her clout. She didn’t have to grab the money. Nobody would try to take it from her.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
“I’m looking for a beggar woman,” I said quietly.
“There are lots of beggar women in the city.”
“This one is worth fifteen nomas,” I said.
