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Mara clenched his jaw. “Okay.” I’d like to do you.
“Stay low, and stay quiet.”
Favian was right. The two men were easy to kill. Throats cut, they lay slumped against the crate they’d pushed into the corner. They had the same look in their eyes that could be seen in anyone who smoked the red stuff.
Back in view of the ship, Mara looked around for the Beast and then for Favian, but couldn’t see either.
“What’s going on up there?” someone shouted from the ship.
The lines of tables were piled with the Red Mist, especially at the end where it should be getting put in the new crates by the men Mara had just killed.
“Where are they?” a man shouted. “Hurry the fuck up, you two.”
Mara saw three people, crouched and hooded, moving quickly toward him. Shit. They slowed until they hardly moved with each step. The shouting in the room stretched into long, deep sounds. The Slow had come at the perfect time. Do I run or try to kill them?
He squeezed the handle of his blood-covered blade. The front person’s head rose to look at him. The man from the corridor. As the man’s crooked smile appeared on his face, time returned to normal.
“Nice work,” the man whispered, as all three of them passed by, toward the ship.
Mara stepped forward to follow them. Then stepped back. He hadn’t been told to do anything else. I’m staying here. Last time he did what he thought he should do, he got in trouble.
Favian appeared on the ship. He held a knife at another man’s neck.
“Stop what you are doing,” shouted the man Favian held.
The workers by the crates did so, and all turned to face Favian.
The man with the crooked smile and the other two hooded men came up behind the workers and started slitting throats. A fight broke out as some workers tried to defend themselves, but it didn’t last long. Even when the workers gave up, kneeling with hands on head, they were still killed. All the while, the naked people faced the tables as if nothing happened.
Favian handed over the man he was holding to one of the hooded men and returned to Mara. He looked at the two men Mara had killed, smiled, and walked on. “Come on then. No wine to be drunk in here.”
Long rows of noisy, people filled, wooden benches were stacked high around three sides of a big square platform. Mara and Favian sat at the very top of the left-hand corner. Several places in front of them and to the side – where people could have sat – were empty. Must be because people don’t like Favian and all the smoke he keeps blowing out. The square had dark stains across it, reminding Mara of the courtyards in the Shadow Castle.
On the side where there were no benches was a raised area, and a long table with a guard stood at each end. There were several high-class-looking people sat at the table, all with the same red coat and same style of grey hair cut. The middle chair was empty.
“All rise,” a guard shouted.
Mara copied Favian as everyone stood and went quiet.
Another high-class man, with the same coat and hairstyle, joined the others at the table. “Be seated,” he said like he talked through his nose.
The noise began again instantly as everyone sat down. What is this place? Mara wanted to ask what was happening, but knew Favian would just call him an idiot.
A woman dressed in shiny brown leather walked into the middle of the square. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,” she shouted.
The crowd cheered.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention to the announcement from the honourable Duke Veltwin.” The woman turned and bowed at the table of high-class people.
The duke stood and read from a piece of paper. “You are in attendance this day in accordance with our city’s anti-dispute law. Our city’s famed law that continues to protect us from chaos and squalor. Following your city’s laws will continue to provide you with the protection you so need in a time of uncertainty. As you bear witness to the following proceedings, know your city continues to support all its citizens in all and every way.”
“What bollocks, the same old speech every time.” Favian took a swig of wine. “You know how much money they make from this? Supporting its citizens, they think we’re all fucking stupid.”
“What’s happening?” Mara asked.
Favian blew out some smoke. “All the city’s problems, arguments, or whatever, have to be settled here. Rather than fight it out themselves in private. This way, those high-class bastards make a shit load of coin, and the locals are kept in entertainment.”
“What about what we did today?”
