Chapter 1 - Silvertown
The glass front door's heavy knock and rattle pulled Elias out of his meditative coin-counting state. He swiped the rest of the heavy imperial currency from the counter. He could count the rest tomorrow. In his haste, he elbowed last week’s newspaper to the ground. It fluttered and landed face-up with bold text showing “Underground Floods Imperial City with Dangerous New Alchemical,” underneath sat a black-and-white photograph of one of IC’s many narrow alleyways. He grunted and left it, proceeding to the front door of his Alchemical Dispensary.
The door was locked more than half an hour ago. He peered through the cloudy glass at the dark, man-shaped silhouette, beyond which shone the large silver gash in the mountainside that gave the small mining town its name. He stopped on his way to the entrance, the bag in his hand clinking. He turned back to toss it into the bottom of the thick iron safe and carefully placed the small vials of the more dangerous elucidations above. He also flicked his silver Alchemist badge in for good measure, then slammed the heavy door shut and spun the rotary lock. As he locked it, he could not help but wonder why he bothered; nobody ever tried anything silly around here.
“C’mon, Elias, I can see you in there. Open up,” Albert called. The gruff voice of Silvertown’s sole Enforcer penetrated the walls.
Great, thought Elias, probably wants more distilled nigriventer venom, the poor bastard. I guess I would need it, too, if I drank more than most fish.
He proceeded to the front door, past the dark wooden shelves. Their freshly varnished scent pierced the bitter herbal Alchemicals. Each shelf in front of the till was lined with the less poisonous elucidations. Elias’s front glass door was covered in enough grime to blur Albert as the Enforcer’s steady breath fogged the glass in small bursts. Elias would have to get Virpi to clean it tomorrow and because she left early today, he would hide the alkaline extract when he asked her to do so.
He unlatched and opened the front door. The small bell at the top sent a high-pitched chime ringing through the dark, empty store.
“Evening, Albert. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Bad business, I’m afraid, Eli. Going to need you to follow me.”
“I swear it’s not my kid – looks more like you, if you ask me.”
Albert let out a small chortle, before remembering to keep it professional. His expression blanked and turned into the closest approximation of a scowl that his round face would allow. He was one of the few saving graces to Elias’s self-imposed purgatory in Silvertown, always able to hear the sarcasm in Elias’s voice. It had gotten him into trouble more than once when he first moved out here, but now all he got was an eye roll from most of the regulars.
“Sorry, but it’s nasty business. Need someone in your trade to help me figure this one out. I think someone has taken something.”
The serious tone in the jovial Enforcer piqued Elias’s curiosity.
“Fine, you got me.”
Elias grabbed his oiled coat and slipped it on before stepping out, his cheeks stinging from the late frost’s chill. He followed Albert down the grime-slicked, cobblestoned main street; hard leather soles slapped against the stone and echoed up throughout the empty town. Despite the warm orange glow of the streetlights, once the stars appeared, the town became deserted. Albert led Elias down a small alleyway. The stench of human faeces wafted over him as he crossed the threshold. With a hint of sulphur?
Albert’s mouth remained shut. He was holding a cloth over his mouth and nose. He pointed to the body slumped up against the wall with a small handheld torch. Elias winced. This sight and smell pulled him back to another alleyway, from another lifetime.
The body’s left arm protruded at an odd angle. Raised luminous green veins covered its entirety up to the sleeve. Elias motioned with his head toward the body, and Albert gave him a small nod. He had seen this reaction twice before. The second was back in the Imperial Academy – the cadaver laid out in front of the class was a perfect example of lichen allium overdose. The second was much easier than the first.
Loose faeces dribbled out from under the body’s leg and onto the alleyway floor, confirming the diagnosis. Elias slid his hand under his coat and pulled a pencil from one of his Alchemical coat’s many pockets, using it to pull down the collar of the body’s trench coat.
The man was nothing but skin and bone; pale skin shone in the moonlight. The bright green rash extended halfway along his torso from his arm. His face and hair were neatly groomed; even in death, it remained in a neat side part.
“Hells, Albert. This is Dorothy’s kid.”
“I know.”
“Where do you think he got his hands on the gear?”
“That’s why I brought you here. Alchemical?”
“Lichen allium. Only does this if the extract is pure. Only ever seen this in the Academy textbooks.”
“He didn’t get it from you?”
Elias raised an eyebrow at Albert. The lack of response made him unsure if his expression was seen in the dark.
“I wish I could get anything this pure out here. Takes weeks to deliver, and don’t get me started on the transport costs. No one wants to bring it out ‘cause they think they’ll get jumped if anyone knows what they’re carrying.”
“Then how the hell did he get his hands on it?”
“Beats me. Moved out here to get away from all that crap. The most exciting thing I do most days is aiding a miner out with his crotch rot.”
Elias’s eyes had started to water from the smell. He was thankful for the cold night. He did not want to think how bad it would have been in the middle of summer. He nodded to Albert about whether he could remove himself from the alleyway.
“Sure, but don’t go too far; I’m going to cover him up and I need someone to stand watch while I get the Mortician,” Albert said.
“Thought I was off the clock for the night.”
“Don’t give me that; you know what it’s like out here.”
“Fine.”
Elias watched Albert disappear down the main street, his portly body cutting through the clouds of steam rising from grated sewers.
Elias hid his hands inside his cloak, against the subalpine cold. His foot tapped on the cobblestone. He could only wait so long before his nerves started to get the better of him. All this waiting; he was never any good at it. His hands slipped under his coat and he pulled out a small cigarette. His infusions added to the tobacco immediately stopped his foot from tapping. It also covered the smell, which either had gotten worse or stuck in his nose. He was too tired to tell or care.
He lost track of time, stomach rumbling to tell him he should have had dinner in him a while ago when he saw Albert return with two people in tow. He recognised the first one immediately: the Mortician, Vladimir, his gate awkwardly changed by the wheeled stretcher he towed behind him.
On Albert’s right, a woman went in and out of the streetlights so Elias couldn’t get a proper view. He can’t have brought Dorothy; even Albert knows it would be stupid to show her son to her in this condition. When she came into view, her black tailored uniform sat snugly on her body. Something about the way she moved caused a small twitch in the back of Elias’s brain. He noticed a badge on her left breast pocket, and a heavy black revolver hung from her left hip. The belt it was attached to was covered in small red vials and extra bullets. As she walked, her arm dangled lazily over the heavy black revolver. Each stride caused a soft slap of the leather holster against her tight, velvet-covered thigh. Another IC professional.
“Didn’t think it would be a party, Albert.”
Albert’s face did not crack into a smile this time. He nodded at Vladimir as the Mortician walked past him and into the alleyway, then turned to the lady on Albert’s right.
Her badge was now close enough for Elias to see what it was, and he immediately knew why Albert’s tone had changed. This lady was trained in IC like Elias but was part of the military-turned-police. Their official title was Adjudicator, but due to their exploits, everyone else had another name for them: Devil.
She looked oddly familiar, but Elias could not place her until she opened her mouth. Her smooth voice reminded him of life now long past in IC.
“Hello, Elias. Long time no see.”
Elias’s mouth instantly dried, feeling like it was caked in the spent ash of his cigarette. His lips moved without noise until he felt his voice catch in his throat. As much as he wanted to act nonchalant, he was an Alchemist, not an actor.
“Laila . . . Last time I checked you avoided the Silvertown at all costs. Even with an invitation,” Elias said.
Albert’s eyes widened at the venom that exited Elias’s mouth – something he usually saved for the more annoying of his patrons, that he would dare to direct in at an Adjudicator. Elias ignored him and steeled his stare directly into the eyes of the Devil before him.
“Times change, Elias. You should know that,” Laila said.
“Eight years will do that to you. Still, could’ve had the decency to wait for another eight before coming out here.”
Elias saw Albert’s slack jaw join his wide eyes; nobody ever talked to a Devil like that. But to Elias, they were as human as the next person. Laila’s face stayed the same – perfect impassivity as she glanced over the verbal barb.
“I couldn’t have you enjoy yourself too much out here. Nice beard, by the way.”
Even after all this time, she still knew how to get to Elias. She had always hated when he grew his facial hair out, against the fashion of IC at the time. His anger was not all aimed at her, though; there was anger at himself that he’d stopped shaving out of spite as soon as she’d left. The fact that a part of his self-identity was still tied to the Devil was not lost on him.
He must have been quiet for too long. She started up again.
“It’s just a compliment, Eli. However, I’m going to need you to follow us to the station.”
“For what?”
“Where else would this boy have gotten the extract?”
“Beats me, I already told Albert –”
“Well, if you can think of a better explanation, I am ready to hear it.”
Elias’s mouth moved wordlessly. He wondered where Dorothy’s boy got his hands on anything so strong – not with the amount of money that family had. He certainly had not made any enemies that Elias knew of. And it was not the work of a drunken miner – theirs was usually messier.
“Just come to the station and answer a few questions. After that, you’ll be free to go . . . provided you answer them to my satisfaction.”
Elias sighed and took a last drag on his cigarette before flicking it onto the cobblestones and rubbing it into the road with his heel. It earned him a dirty look from Albert.
“Don’t pretend like I’m the only one who does it, Albert.”
The Enforcer just rolled his eyes as he got out of Vladimir’s way. Elias did not know how the Mortician could stand to do the job, but he had already gotten the body onto the small stretcher and was wheeling it away toward his crypt. Laila had already started walking toward the station, and Albert motioned to Elias to come along.
“You know the Devil?” Albert asked, his hushed whispers low enough to be lost at the edge of the vapour emitted from his voice.
“Knew. Thought I managed to get away, too.”
Albert took a few steps more before he slowed down. His whisper was even quieter than before. “She seemed interested in you before she knew about the body.”
“Sounds like her. What does she want to ask me?”
“Said something about only one Alchemist out here, and that she can’t see how it could be anyone else.”
“If I didn’t know her, I would say that makes sense. Reckon there’s anything I can do to get out of it?”
“Nope.”
“Shit.”
Laila shot the pair a glance with a raised eyebrow and the pair followed in silence. They stopped at the bottom of the shallow hill, next to the Enforcer station marked by the thick black iron bars that covered the windows. A heavy wooden desk covered in paperwork greeted them beyond the door – as it was the Silvertown, there was only the need for one, and Elias had the feeling Albert liked it that way. The Enforcer led them to one of the back rooms. He made to go in before being stopped by Laila.
“Mind if I ask him a few questions myself?” asked Laila.
She did not wait for the response and strode inside the room, leaving Albert at the door. Elias and Albert both gave a look to the other that said Sorry, buddy. Albert shut the door and Elias heard his footsteps grow fainter.
“Sit,” Laila said.
Laila motioned to the chair on the other side of the desk in which she had taken up residence.
“You’ve changed,” Laila said, her eyes flicked down to his beard and much softer body than when they had last seen each other.
“You haven’t,” Elias said. Laila’s body was still in as athletic shape as ever, her stark white hair in the same straight, fringed bob.
Silence sat in the air as Laila’s eyes looked him up and down.
“All right, out with it. I am starving and I haven’t got all night,” Elias finally said.
“Well, I do, and I plan to use it. Where did he get the extract?”
“No idea. Stuff that pure would have come at a high price. You saw the body. If he had the money, I’m sure he would have fed himself first.”
“You did not give it to him?”
“No.”
“And you’re sure.”
“Yes.”
“Elias . . .”
Elias raised an eyebrow; eight years of not talking to his Devil of an ex-girlfriend and his hungry body did not make him feel like breaking tradition now.
“Elias, I know you didn’t do it. . . .” Laila placed her hands on the back of Elias’s and he snapped them away. “However, it does not look good.”
“How so?”
“Where else do you think he would have gotten it from?”
“Isn’t it your job to find out?”
“Just stop, okay?” Laila reclined in the wooden chair and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I came here looking for you; this was just a handy excuse to get you in here, as I knew you wouldn’t talk to me.”
“Got that right.”
Laila sighed; she looked down at her desk. Elias had forgotten what she looked like when she was not the steel-faced Devil she trained to be.
“All right, what is it?”
“I need help. Things are happening in IC, and we need an Alchemist. There is no one else we can trust. Out here, I can at least be sure you aren’t working with them. The Underground has a group of Alchemists in the city. Things are happening, much worse than what happened here tonight.”
“And what makes you think I would up and leave the Silvertown to return to that heaping pile of filth?”
“Because you can either listen to me and come and help, or I can make it look like you were complicit in the boy’s death. I have the delivery manifest here to your shop; the ingredients listed are enough to make the extract in question. I know it is false; you know it is false. But it is damn sure enough to fool Albert and the rest of this time-forgotten town.”
Elias stared right into Laila’s cold eyes; she was still the same person he left in IC all those years ago, but she had never used her talents against him like this. He knew she would do it. He had seen her do it before. No sane person questioned an Adjudicator’s will once it was made public, even if it culminated with the body of an innocent bystander on the street.
“And if I do it, you’ll leave me alone?”
“Absolutely.”
“Fine.”