Chapter 269: Lamb Stew

"It's not often that we see a ship like yours come to our shores," the man standing on the boat said to the captain with an easy smile. He had a long face and sharp eyes.

"We're just here looking to buy a few items unique to Coop," the captain replied.

"Any friends around here waiting for you?" The man was indirectly asking the captain whose protection his crew was under. Ordinary ships didn't just get to Coop unmolested by pirates unless they were carrying a token from one of the factions.

"Yes," the captain replied. He wasn't obliged to tell the man which faction he was paying off. That was a rule set to protect trading ships from being attacked, not that it worked if the pirates of a faction were inclined to cause trouble for a ship. Still, it was mostly peaceful because maintaining the status quo benefitted the factions. Aside from small fights that often broke out, major wars were avoided. Those only happened when takeovers took place.

The man on the boat smirked. "Right, how long do you intend to stay here?"

"A day or two. We'll get our items and leave as soon as we do."

The man looked up and down the ship and at the few crewmen that were standing with the captain. "Gate?" He asked.

"One."

It was a good response. It showed that the captain knew how things were done here and that he had money. Rich traders. The man on the boat made a note of the ship's name, Strider, and decided he would make enquiries about which faction it was dealing with.

A very large sum of money was handed over to the man. The captain paid for two days of anchorage. He then caught a gold token that the man tossed from the boat. "Bella welcomes you to Coop. Stay safe, sailors." It was an ominous warning that came with a chilling smile. The boat slowly drifted away, its passenger standing like a statue facing the Strider.

"What a creepy man," Syryn remarked as their ship headed towards its destination.

Rowan lightly placed his hand on the small of Syryn's back. "Toss him over with a wave if you feel like it, water mage."

Syryn grinned. It sounded like a good idea. Rowan was an enabler giving him bad ideas that he very much liked.

____

The docks were a bustling and noisy place filled with shouts and whistles. Syryn saw dockers carrying loads, and fat wharf rats scurrying around looking for food. Their ship had no unloading to do so the crewmen stayed aboard while Rowan and Syryn disembarked.

Being a pair of very attractive people, the duo fascinated the people at the docks. It wasn't often that they saw such clean and good looking folks come by their island.

Rowan had decided to step out of the ship without any disguises because it was his objective to be seen and talked about. If word spread about him and Syryn, Artemus would no doubt heart about it and find them from wherever he was hiding at. The blond didn't intend to stay at the island a minute longer than necessary. As soon they were found by the dark-haired anti mage, they would leave. But he would also have to do some shopping so as to not make the pirates suspicious. After claiming that they were here to trade, if they left the island without any goods, there would be trouble. As it was, they were already deliberately attracting the attention of everyone with their stunning good looks.

"Stick close to me, Ryn," Rowan told the mage while pulling him closer.

Syryn interpreted the words literally and walked beside Rowan like a Siamese twin.

"Where are we going?" Syryn asked Rowan.

"A pub where we can buy information," the blond replied.

"What information?" Weren't they here just acting as bait to attract Artemus?

The blond stopped in his tracks and looked down at his feet where a trail of blood began. His eyes tracked the blood that led down the path they were walking on and turned around a corner into a dirty alley. It wasn't his business.

"We're being followed," he mouthed to Syryn though it was likely that the mage had already noticed. Being followed while walking the streets of Coop was an expected and normal occurrence. 

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Syryn and Rowan stuck out like sore thumbs. Every step of the way, they were stared at by the locals. Too fine, too confident, too suspicious.

"Should we kill?" Syryn asked. He was of the opinion that they should kill in front of eyewitnesses so that people knew not to mess with them.

Rowan shook his head. "We don't want trouble, Ryn. If we strike first, they will consider it a provocation and we'll have our hands full of hostile Queensmen. Attack only when attacked first."

Syryn accepted Rowan's reasoning. The blond was capable of ploughing down all the Queensmen but chose subtlety over a show of power. He had to learn from the man. If Rowan wasn't around, Syryn thought about what he might have already done to the person stalking them.

"Isn't stalking considered a sign of provocation?" He said in a low voice.

"We're going in here," Rowan wisely redirected Syryn's attention to the pub. Coop island was a violent place. But Coop was a violent place filled with rich criminals and folks whose lives revolved around stealing and spending money on alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes. It wasn't the run down decrepit town that the mage had imagined. The island was an amalgamation of rich buildings rising above shanty looking buildings.

The pub they entered was one of the nicer ones. Rowan and Syryn took a seat against the wall that was next to a window and afforded a clear vision of the door.

"What can I get you, gentlemen?" The man at the bar asked as he used a brown cloth to wipe down a glass cup. 

"Honey mead, and some food. Lamb stew if you still have some," Rowan answered.

The man continued to wipe his cup. The pub was mostly empty save for another customer who was seated in the shadows.

Syryn thought it was oddly specific that Rowan was ordering lamb stew.

"That was last week's speciality," the man replied without glancing in their direction.

"We've been out at sea for a month, caught by a squall. It's unfortunate that you've changed the menu but I'm craving lamb stew and will pay good money for it," Rowan said as he looked straight into the bartender's eyes.

Silence stretched between the two till the bartender finished wiping his glass. He put it down with a thud.

"Newcomers?" He asked Rowan.

The blond dipped his head.

"I hear that there's to be a hanging tomorrow. It's a good omen for a newcomer."

"How so?"

"Public executions like this are rare because Bella prefers that her men take care of business privately. There hasn't been a public execution since the Queensmen took control. It's a good omen, isn't it?"

Syryn didn't think so.

"What crime is this person getting hanged for?" Rowan asked. If Bella was making a spectacle of it then it meant that the criminal was special.

"The crime of spying," the bartender replied, picking up another glass to wipe. "A sanguine spy that Bella has been sniffing out for many months."

Syryn stared at the ugly writing gouged out on the table. Artemus was Sanguine. Rowan had told him so. But hadn't Artemus arrived after Syryn had gone missing?

The blond chuckled.. "A good omen it is."

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