“Why the rush? Is someone looking for your blood? I assure you, I have the resources to conceal you until I can properly discharge my financial obligation to you.”
“And have that deducted from my pay?”
Roder’s smile now reached his eyes. “Well now, I am a business-troll after all…”
“No, thank you, just the gold, if your eminence would please.”
The troll’s smile vanished. He tsked at her, shaking his head. “Such a pity, Banbrig, or should I say Illannis Revlin?”
Illannis felt the shiver at her name more than she showed it, but the troll saw the subtle shift in stance, the mock reaction that came a second too late for it to be natural.
“Who?” asked Illannis.
“Dear me, dear me, Mistress Revlin, do you not think that I would enter into a business arrangement without knowing who I was working with? Did you truly underestimate my network of information? Did you not realize that I have built my humble empire by sending the random scrap to the city—“ Roder paused, then shouted one word:
“GUARDS!”
Boot steps clunked heavily against the wooden floorboards. The once raucous and now silent patrons slowly filed out as four of the city’s watchmen entered through the kitchen and the front door, surrounding Illannis.
“More profitable to turn me in without paying me, and then collect my bounty?” She asked.
“Double the profits, dearie. Standard economics.”
“And you would have kept me in debt, staying here, hiding me?”
“Very smart dearie, only a bit too late. Captain, would you do the honors?”
A guardsmen with a badge sewn to his brown cloak stepped forward. “Illanis Revlin, for crimes against the crown and for the murder of Bontag of Ghas’Nokor, among many other heinous acts, I place you under arrest by the authority of the city watch.”
Illannis’s grip tightened around her sword again. It had shattered in the flight from the merchant’s home. All that remained was half the former blade length and the hilt. It would have to do.
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