Agitator

Agitator

                It was in the early afternoon that the discussions with the guards - and gravedigger- finished. Vanna and Tadyel had eaten a rushed lunch while they figured things out; so there was nothing else to do now except discuss 'things'. Vanna seemed sure that her customers would be understanding of any delays.

                "I have... an incredible number of meetings and discussions to have," said Vanna. "But before I jump into those, we need to talk about something important. It's almost certain that we've been compromised.

                "Our... 'safety' around the refugees and Ormgus's people so far means that we were compromised recently, or knowledge was kept to their upper ranks and Thrath. They will come for us soon, and will certainly attempt to catch us off guard. Thankfully it seems that no others are compromised so we should be relatively safe.

                "We may need to flee at a moment's notice. A cover story is ready - I've rushed off to see my sick cousin in Lostdale. You accompanied me to see the town because there is little work you can do on your own. We will actually be fleeing to the fortress or - potentially - a nearby safe house. If I am killed, flee to where Mike dropped you off the first time. A pickup will be arranged if you're alive.

                "Beyond that, be careful. Avoid the known agents and sympathisers of the followers. Eden's plan at the moment is to bring things to a head - townspeople against the followers. The rest of the refugees need to be driven out or somehow kept under control. I'm not sure on the details yet."

                "Okay," said Tadyel. "What should I do right now?"

                "Watch the shop, accept people's condolences. Pretend I'm taking it hard - say I'm very invested in you and her, that should work fine," suggested Vanna.

                "Were you invested in her?" asked Tadyel.

                "Yes. And in you as well. You're the fingers of Eden's right hand," said Vanna. "That aside I'm going to be very busy - if someone insists or forces their way to my room, make sure I hear something so I can hide what I'm doing."

                "Got it," said Tadyel.

                "Thanks," said Vanna. "I'll see you tonight - possibly. Lock up at the usual hour."

                Tadyel smiled and nodded, and Vanna headed straight to her room.

                The rest of the afternoon passed slowly. A constant stream of people wandered in to share their condolences with the clothiers; saying almost the same thing again and again. Tadyel started keeping a list after the fifth (or possibly sixth - she might have forgotten one).

                Despite the distractions she was fully alert the entire time, looking out for a sneaky attack or anything suspicious. Nothing happened but her alertness stretched out the time she spent at the front accepting sorrows and in the back doing minor repairs.

                Tadyel was sitting in the kitchen, sipping a drink she'd concocted (from several local ingredients) and thinking about food, when she heard Vanna leaving her room.

                "Tadyel?" called Vanna.

                "In the kitchen," said Tadyel loudly.

                Vanna came in promptly and took a seat. "I've hammered out a plan with Eden," she said. "We're going to bring things to a head. It's quite simple, actually: we let information about half-Thrath being Thrath spread throughout town. Not just here, either, but that doesn't matter to us.

                "The second part is to cast the Followers as aggressive and Thrath-controlled. I will be working socially, and the agents amongst the refugees will be... Doing things that will not help the reputation of the Followers. The tasks we have in mind for you are a little more complicated: the first one is to place some false evidence.

                "Shortly before your arrival there was a fire in the old brewery. At the time quite a few of the refugees - and the Followers - asked for it to be torn down so a camp could be set there. There was some suspicion at the time that the fire was deliberate; but the fire was put out quickly enough that the building is still mostly standing. The guard have held off on investigating as the building is quite dangerously unstable.

                "An engineer from the north is visiting in a couple of days, however, and thanks to a little payment she is willing to advise the guard that certain areas are safe. We're going to acquire some torches made from trees that grow on the peninsula but not up here, and you're going to sneak in and hide them inside the building. Carefully. When the guard finds them, refugees will be blamed."

                "When?" asked Tadyel.

                "Tomorrow night, or the night after," said Vanna. "Depending on when the torches arrive."

                "Does anyone know the layout of the building?"

                "I've got a map drawn out that I'll give to you. Don't try to read it in the dark, though - memorise it."

                "Is anyone watching the brewery?"

                "No. It is quite close to the Nameless pub, though. Try not to get seen by a half asleep drunk."

                Tadyel paused for a moment, then smiled slyly. "One last question," she said.

                "Yes?" asked Vanna.

                "What do you want to eat?"

                There was no part of town that hadn't heard the rumour (or news) by lunch the next day. Half Thrath could be Thrath? Something more than distaste coloured the glances thrown at the refugees - fear. A whole lot of fear. The horrors in the south were common knowledge, but now the Thrath were here.

                Not just the townspeople were scared. The refugees, too, looked at each other in fear. Some had become instant outcasts - those of uncertain parentage, those who made the journey alone. All looked at those they had not grown up alongside with distrust.

                Strangely, Tadyel herself wasn't given worried glances. Perhaps they just weren't aimed at her face - or maybe Vanna's judgement was trusted. Perhaps the townspeople had forgotten she wasn't one of their own or just believed that since they knew her, a bit, she must be okay. Trusting surface appearances wasn't a mistake the refugees would make; and given Mavnen, it was darkly amusing.

                It made Tadyel smile though. She felt accepted even as anti-refugee sentiment was growing rapidly. The Followers, on the other hand, were not having a good day.

                Right along with the information about the Thrath came a rumour that the Follower leadership had a Thrath member. Or two. Or all of them were Thrath. It depended on who you asked.

                That rumour spelt trouble for the followers. The ordinary refugees were disliked but allowed to go about their business. Those openly Followers? Tadyel saw them almost come to blows with a rude drunk while she was lunching at the pub.

                For Tadyel to leave the shop at all had taken a bit of convincing. Going out in the open when the Followers knew she was working for the Magi? When they might try to kill her? It had seemed almost insane, but Vanna had pointed out that changing her habits on the day the Thrath rumours spread would be a terrible idea. She had 'nothing' to hide.

                The torches arrived that day, as Vanna had hoped. Tadyel didn't know where they came from - Vanna went out and returned with a strange case. Inside were six burnt torches. A very particular and strong scent marked them as having been made from a tree species that grew only on the peninsula. So long as the guard recognised it, there'd be no doubt that these were refugee torches.

                It wouldn't be quite enough to make the case open and shut, but it would certainly cast suspicion in the right direction. All that remained was for Tadyel to plant the evidence in the burnt out shell of the building.

                Getting to the building was pretty easy - Vanna had made Tadyel memorise the routes the wandering night guardsmen took through town weeks ago. Getting inside was proving to be tougher.

                The main door had been damaged by the fire, so it was boarded up. The back door was undamaged, but it was also small, tough and locked tightly. That left clambering through one of the broken windows.

                All the broken windows on the ground floor were rather... deadly. Sharp shards of glass surrounded small openings that Tadyel would be hard pressed to squeeze through. Risking injury was out of the question, and so was smashing out the shards (too noisy).

                That left the second floor windows, or possibly getting in through what remained of the roof. The trouble was that Tadyel wasn't a very good climber. She was on the short side and stocky - strong, but without reach.

                I should've brought a rope. Oh, or the key! I'm sure we could have acquired the damn key, she thought, staring up at her best option. It had been a window on the second floor, but the area beneath the window had burnt away in the fire. The hole extended up through where the window should be, and a little beyond that.

                Here I go, thought Tadyel. She ran at the wall, then a couple of steps up it and grabbed at the charred edges of the hole. She felt parts of it giving away in her hands - but it held. Enough for her to adjust her grip and haul herself up into the hole.

                She heard the crack of charred glass beneath her as she pulled her legs inside. Ignoring it (she hadn't felt anything stab her) she looked at her hands in the starlight that came through the hole. Damn lucky I wore gloves, she thought. Both the palms of her brown leather gloves were completely covered in black soot. She resisted the instinctive urge to wipe it off on her pants.

                There was very little light inside the building - a little coming through some holes above, and the other damaged windows. It was enough for Tadyel to see her surroundings dimly, and to be very worried.

                Large sections of the floor were missing, holes where the fire had burnt right through. A lot of the rest looked quite precarious, as if the slightest weight would cause it to collapse.

                Shit, thought Tadyel, I have to get down to the ground floor, too. At least that floor will be safe.

                The map she'd seen of the building had shown a storage room for miscellaneous things where she was; and beneath it one for brewing supplies. Those had been kept on the same level as the stills for convenience (much of the miscellaneous stuff was for the offices, kitchen and staff room that were up stairs as well). The back supply room was a pretty good choice for starting a fire, so...

                Tadyel peered at the nearest hole carefully. She reckoned she could make the drop unharmed, as long as the edges didn't give away. Actually, breaking part of the building was right out - too noisy.

                Fastest way down, thought Tadyel. She gently move towards the hole, slowly putting her weight down with every step. Step, step, step. Once she was close she carefully sat down and started to wriggle forwards, legs first. With her legs dangling into the hole, she pushed herself forwards and dropped.

                She landed gracelessly with a loud thump on the floor below. Ow, she thought. She'd managed to land awkwardly on top of her legs; she'd definitely bruise. A quick feel didn't find anything broken or painful so she carefully rose to her feet.

                The lower storeroom was large yet very dark. A little light came from above, and some from cracks through the soot-stained windows, but not enough to really see by. Tadyel closed her eyes for a minute, waiting for them to adjust.

                When she opened them she could see, kind of. Enough to see burnt out barrels and shelves lined up through the rooms, along with tons of unidentifiable ash.

                Alright, she thought. Where do I put the torches.

                Vanna had discussed with her the likely spots a fire might have been started. The store room was one option - a couple of torches through the windows could easily have started the blaze.

                With that in mind, Tadyel checked the windows. There was enough damage that they could easily have been smashed a little before the fire, which meant-

                Tadyel froze completely still as part of the floor above her creaked. The entire floor seemed to groan, as if the weight of the building was shifting. Panic tried to grip her but she pushed it back. Wait, don't do anything stupid, just wait, she thought.

                A soft rumble came from the far side of the building, and then nothing. It was anti-climatic, but Tadyel was thankful. Probably just the building getting blown about by the wind.

                Everything was safe, but staying any longer than necessary had completely lost its appeal. Tadyel found a couple of good spots that torches could have landed after sailing through the broken windows and placed the 'evidence'. She moved a bit of the ash and voila - somebody had deliberately lit the fire. It wasn't enough to fool an expert, but the guard didn't have one. More so, Tadyel was pretty sure the guard leader worked for the Magi.

                With her job done Tadyel headed for the back door. If it was like the other local doors it would be possible to unlock from the inside, and she could slip out that way. The mental image of the map in her mind she moved through the remnants of the store room, into the main brewing floor, and into the back room.

                The back room had been another storage room, although empty bottles and barrels were stored there rather than ingredients. Precisely why it had a door leading outside Vanna hadn't known; it might have just been because it was at the back.

                Unlike the main brewing floor and the ingredients store room (and the entire top floor, from what Tadyel had seen) the back room was relatively undamaged. Stacks of empty barrels took up most of the room; the few crates of bottles looking lonely by comparison.

                Tadyel headed straight for the back door and sighed with relief. It was, as she'd expected, unlockable from the inside. She twisted the locks and pulled it open, grateful to be getting outside.

                Realising that rushing out was a bad idea she stopped herself just before she stepped outside. She peered out carefully instead, checking for anyone nearby. She saw nobody - not even a drunk - so she twisted the locks back and stepped outside, pulling the door shut behind her with a soft click.

                Success, she thought happily. Getting back was as easy as getting there; but on the way a thought occurred to her. I wonder what I should do with my clothes? Washing clothes covered in ash might be a bit suss...

                She mentally shrugged. It's not like they're my only clothes any more.