Chương 21: Chapter 20: A Place Below Ground

Elizabeth returned to Crownspire before breakfast and found Ruby waiting in the North House corridor, barefoot, half dressed and visibly annoyed.

"You came back."

"I said I would." Ruby's eyes moved over her, lingering on the fresh clothes and damp hair.

"Anything I'm going to regret asking about?"

"Probably."

"Wonderful." Ruby rubbed at one eye.

"I meant what I said yesterday. I don't want details if the details make me responsible for hiding them." Elizabeth nodded.

"Then I bought some equipment and learned enough to justify going back." Ruby stared at her for a moment, then groaned.

"I walked into that."

"You did."

"I hate mornings." She turned towards the stairs. Elizabeth followed, and nothing more was said about the Underhall before breakfast. At night, Elizabeth counted twenty-nine crowns from the allowance stored in her room and left Crownspire through the same service route. At the white-moth pawnbroker, the bald man took his nine crowns without ceremony, stamped the debt closed and returned her knife.

"The market remembers the mask," he said as she checked the hinge.

"I expected it to."

"Good. Saves me explaining it." Elizabeth left before he found another piece of advice to sell for free. Kellan was waiting several streets away beneath a sagging awning. Without the metal collar he looked less conspicuous, although anyone who knew what the dark mark around his neck meant would still understand his position.

"You found something?" Elizabeth asked.

"Five places. Three weren't useless. One's worth the money." He started walking, and she went with him.

"The canal warehouse has a local crew charging protection, so forget that. Cooper's yard has a family living directly overhead, and they wanted to know too much. The last one's an old chandlery. Burned three years ago, but the cellar held."

"Water?"

"Hand pump and municipal drain."

"Neighbours?"

"Lodging house on one side, empty bakery on the other. The lodging house is noisy enough that people don't pay much attention to the next wall."

"And the seller?"

"Widow called Mara Bell. Wants twenty-four crowns. She'll take twenty." Elizabeth looked at him.

"You're certain?"

"I offered eighteen yesterday. She chased me down the street to shout twenty-one at my back." That was persuasive. As the streets narrowed, Kellan slowed.

"You're not coming in with me." Elizabeth glanced towards him.

"I need to see the building."

"You will after I've dealt with her. Yesterday I was a former soldier with some money and bad judgement. If I turn up today with a masked child beside me, suddenly there's somebody interesting behind the purchase." Elizabeth considered the problem while they walked. Mara already knew Kellan represented money that wasn't entirely his, but knowing there was an investor was different from seeing Elizabeth herself.

"Where do I wait?" Kellan pointed ahead.

"Empty bakery has a collapsed back wall. You can see the chandlery entrance through the yard."

"You checked it?"

"I've spent the whole day checking everything." There was enough irritation in the answer to make further questions unnecessary. Elizabeth slipped through the broken bakery wall while Kellan continued towards the chandlery. The hiding place was unpleasant but useful. Damp bricks pressed through her coat when she crouched, and the yard smelled of old flour, rainwater and whatever had died beneath a stack of rotten boards. Through a narrow gap she could see the chandlery door.

Mara arrived a few minutes later carrying a lantern. She was broad through the shoulders, perhaps fifty, with greying hair pulled into a knot and a heavy brown coat patched at both elbows. She saw Kellan and immediately frowned. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it"Thought you'd changed your mind."

"Didn't say that."

"You walked off."

"You wanted twenty-four."

"And I still do."

"Then I can walk off again." Mara gave him a sour look.

"Bloody hell, you're irritating. Twenty-three."

"Eighteen."

"Don't start that again." Kellan shrugged.

"You started at twenty-four again."

"I own the place. I can start wherever I bloody like."

"And I can leave." He actually turned. Mara swore at his back.

"Twenty-one!" Kellan stopped, though he didn't face her.

"Twenty. Both cellar keys, rear loading access written into the transfer, and the strip beside the loading wall confirmed as part of the property."

"You buying the building or planning to invade it?"

"Depends how long this takes." Mara barked a laugh despite herself.

"Twenty-one."

"Twenty."

"Twenty and a half." Kellan started walking again.

"Oh, piss off. Fine. Twenty." He turned back. Mara jabbed a finger towards him.

"Registration's yours, though, and if that roof drops on your head next winter, don't come haunting me over it."

"The demolition notice only covers the upper shell?"

"Roof and front wall."

"I want the paper."

"You calling me a liar?"

"I'm spending twenty crowns."

"For a bloody burned candle shop."

"For the cellar under it." Mara muttered something about soldiers and pulled a folded notice from inside her coat. Kellan read it under the lantern while she watched him with growing impatience.

"Cellar isn't included," he said.

"Told you."

"And the loading wall is untouched."

"Also told you."

"The lodging house has bins stacked on the recessed strip."

"So? They've been doing that for years."

"Then I want the boundary written clearly before I inherit the argument." Mara stared at him.

"You always this much of a pain?"

"When money's involved."

"You quartermaster?"

"Once."

"Knew it. Miserable bastards, the lot of you." Kellan smiled.

"Twenty crowns."

"Yeah, yeah. Come look again before I remember I hate you." They disappeared inside. Elizabeth stayed where she was. Waiting without being able to see the inspection irritated her more than she expected. She heard footsteps, the occasional scrape of something being moved and Mara shouting, "Mind that beam, you daft sod," followed by Kellan's indistinct reply. They emerged less than ten minutes later. Mara locked the door.

"I'll be at the Lantern until ninth bell. You want it, bring the twenty and the registration fee. You don't, leave me the key under the brick."

"Boundary wording."

"I heard you the first six bloody times." She walked away. Kellan waited until she turned the corner before calling quietly, "Crow." Elizabeth came out from behind the bakery wall.

"You enjoyed that," she said.

"Twenty crowns instead of twenty-four."

"You smiled."

"She called me a miserable bastard. We bonded." Elizabeth ignored that and followed him inside. The ground floor deserved the description burned. Part of the roof had collapsed, several beams were black almost to charcoal and damp had worked its way through the exposed masonry. Kellan kept them against the surviving wall until they reached the cellar stairs. Below, the damage eased. Two stone rooms survived beneath the shell.

The larger chamber had enough space for several benches and storage racks, while the smaller rear room held an iron hand pump above a covered drain. Damp darkened one corner, but the air smelled of stone and old smoke rather than sewage. Kellan worked the pump until rusty water spat into the basin.

"It'll need attention." Elizabeth crouched beside the drain, then examined the ceiling and pillars.

"And a mason before we put anything valuable down here."

"Already planned on it." She activated Mana Sensitivity and found nothing beyond the ordinary background presence of Aurelia. For the first time since entering, she allowed herself to picture the room in use. The larger chamber could hold the main work area without obstructing the loading doors. The rear room gave her water and drainage, and the burned shell above discouraged casual interest far better than a functioning shop ever would.

"Buy it," she said. Kellan nodded.

"Stay here. Mara hasn't seen you, and there's no reason to change that now." Elizabeth waited in the bakery again while he completed the transfer at the Lantern. By the time he returned, darkness had fully settled over the street. He carried two keys and a folded deed.

"Twenty crowns. Alley strip included. Registration paid." Elizabeth held out her hand. Kellan looked at the deed before giving it to her.

"It's in my name."

"Well obviously."

"That doesn't bother you?"

"The arrangement requires it." His eyes dropped briefly towards the command crystal hidden beneath her coat. Elizabeth saw his expression close and realised what answer he had expected from her only after she had already given her own. She read the deed, confirmed the boundary wording and handed it back. They returned to the cellar. Without Mara there, the place felt quieter.

Water dripped somewhere inside the pump, and the lamp threw uneven shadows across the pillars while Elizabeth paced through the larger room for a second time. Kellan leaned against the wall.

"Now that I've bought a ruin for you, I need to know who I'm buying things for." Elizabeth stopped. He was right. Keeping her identity hidden had been useful while he was only scouting locations. From this point onward he would be dealing with suppliers, registration offices and merchants who might recognise House property or connections that meant nothing to him without context. She reached behind her head and removed the crow mask. Kellan straightened slightly.

Elizabeth removed it, then pulled the cloth away from her hair.

"My name is Elizabeth White." He looked at her. Nothing happened at first. Then his brow creased.

"White?"

"Yes." Kellan stared for another second before recognition settled across his face.

"Your brother." Elizabeth waited.

"The one who was in the papers." He pointed vaguely at her, as though the resemblance had only just become obvious now that he knew to look for it.

"Alexander White."

"Yes."

"Bloody hell." His eyes went over her again, differently this time. The pale hair probably helped. So did the name. Whatever image of Alexander had appeared in the papers had apparently been memorable enough to connect the two once Kellan had a reason to.

"You're his sister."

"I am." Kellan looked around the cellar. Then at the deed in his hand. Then back at Elizabeth. For several seconds he said nothing.

"So you trust me now?"

"No. I need you informed." Kellan gave a weary laugh.

"There she is." Elizabeth put the mask back on.

"You can stay here once the upper structure has been inspected and one room made habitable. Until then, use an inn and record what you spend. Food and necessary treatment will be covered."

"And freedom?" The question came quietly enough that Elizabeth paused before answering.

"It isn't part of the arrangement." Kellan briefly touched the mark around his neck, then looked away.

"At least you don't dress it up." Elizabeth took one of the keys and opened the rear room. Crude Light formed over her palm, spreading a weak blue-white glow across the rusted pump, the drain and the driest section of wall. There was barely anything here yet, but for the first time Crownspire, House White and her father were all somewhere else. She studied the empty space, already measuring where the equipment would fit.

"The first workbench goes there."