'What I am to tell you must be held in the strictest of confidence,' Allek said, his eyes set upon Jinn's, one of the few humans who could endure the deva's golden gaze without flinching.
'You have it,' Jinn said, growing more excited, his heart once again racing with hope, though he suspected whatever answers he sought had been bought at a great price.
Allek nodded and took a deep breath. 'Over a month ago, and each night since, I and a handful of Watch patrols under my command began an investigation into several murders occurring in Sea Ward,' Allek said, looking over his shoulder hesitantly as he spoke.
'I recall some news about it, though the broadsheets at the time were lacking in detail,' Jinn replied.
'Aye, that they were.' Allek nodded. 'And not a word about them since, with good reason. The bodies… gods.' He paused again, collecting himself. 'Specific mutilations, identical in each case with varying degrees of defensive wounds, struggle, and so forth. The scenes left in full view, no attempts being made to hide the bodies. No witnesses or at least none willing to come forth. And I…' Allek's voice trailed off as he shook his head, speechless.
'Pardon my assumption,' Jinn said, 'but you have surely handled such cases before. Strange deaths in Waterdeep are nothing new.'
'My niece,' Allek said, his hard eyes dry but reddened with a sorrow Jinn hadn't noticed before. 'My brother. His wife. All slain.'
'Suspects?'
Allek smiled sadly. 'There's a bright coin of a question,' he answered. 'We have almost as many bloodstained killers in custody as we do corpses.'
'Gods,' Jinn whispered, thoughts racing, trying to understand. 'Why have you come to me with this?'
'We've known each other for a long time, Jinn. I trust you and I know you've dealt with these kinds of things before.' Allek seemed tired, at the end of a long rope and exploring resources beyond the Watch. 'I need your help.'
'But surely there are others more qualified, wizards perhaps, the Watchful Order must-?'
'No wizards,' Allek said swiftly. 'Not yet at any rate. Magic, so far, has failed us in this.'
At first Jinn wondered if Allek suspected a wizard was involved, but there was a general mistrust of arcane magic since the Spellplague. He understood the rorden's hesitation to employ such spells, though distrust could hold for only so long before necessity demanded extra measures be taken.
'I am at your service,' he said, adding, 'Specific mutilations, you said?'
'I can show you.'
'Tonight?'
'As you wish.'
Feeling refreshed and ready to accompany Allek immediately, Jinn found himself walking a fine line between respect for the rorden's loss and his own fierce desire to view the bodies, to discover the source of the bloody river on the map upstairs. Instinct told him he was close, that Sathariel was near.
Mara appeared as if on cue as the two men approached the front entrance.
'I apologize for so brief a visit, dear Mara,' Allek said, 'but duty seems determined to keep me busy at every bell this day.'
'No need, Allek,' she replied, placing a hand lightly upon his arm, a motion that both amused and at the same time sickened Jinn as he imagined the gnarled, clawed fingers hiding behind her delicate skin. 'Visit when you're able and worry not between.'
'At evenpeal, then?' Jinn said.
'Aye, Pharra's Alley,' the rorden answered, adding, as he stepped out into the street, 'Fair evening, gods will it.'
The doorbell sang as he left, and Jinn stood pondering why they should meet at Pharra's Alley, so close to the House of Wonder's wizards. At length he caught Mara staring him down, one eyebrow cocked. Jinn cursed the hag's impatience, knowing she'd been listening the entire time.
'Pharra's Alley?' she said, turning back to her books. 'Interesting.'
'Indeed?'
'They say it's haunted,' she replied ominously with a little grin. 'Well, those that survive say so, at any rate.'
Jinn's furrowed brow at that news did not leave him as he ascended the stairs, picking apart the rorden's tale, turning it over, looking for something to match all that had gone before. He took his place by the window again, watching the world go by as he pondered and waited for sundown and answers.
It was not quite evenpeal. A cold wind whistled through the streets, bringing with it scents of snow. Layered against the chill, Jinn strolled beneath the blurry light of a half-moon. He appeared neither wealthy nor informal but bore enough of both to walk where he liked in whatever company.
His step was smooth and sure; he knew the city by heart. Shops were closed and quiet, and the taverns were growing louder. He was more comfortable with his off-human appearance at night. His pale face and skin sigils tended to make those who hunted the dark think twice before confronting his golden gaze.
Somewhere, somehow, a life would soon end, the chill and night's shadows told him as much. The chill wanted a better cloak or coat, warmer boots, and a warm meal. Shadow gave that want a place to hide a knife.
'Need a guide, saer?'
Jinn turned, startled from his thoughts by a child's voice.
'Find your way through the city, I can!'
A glance at the boy, out at night and alone, told him much that the boy's thin clothes and thinner health had not already declared, though the child's bright eyes held a wisdom beyond his young years.
'You know these streets well?' Jinn asked.
'Well as any man o' the Watch, saer!' the boy answered excitedly.
'What is your name, young master?' Jinn asked, kneeling down and receiving the usual shocked stare as the boy looked into his eyes in wonder.
'Tombil,' he said, taking half a step backward nervously.
'Well, young Master Tombil, I am Jinnaoth, and I have no need of a guide this night.' He stood but swiftly produced a large, platinum coin, called a sun, and let it shine before Tombil's eyes before adding, 'But should we cross paths again, I may have need of your mastery of the streets.' He pressed the coin into Tombil's hand and grinned, letting the boy get a good look at him. 'Remember me well.'
'Aye, saer. I will, saer!'
Tombil ran off, clutching the coin tightly. Jinn watched after him a moment, always fascinated with children of all races, as he had never been a child and could not fathom the games and rituals of childhood and growing up. Several of the shadows in Tombil's wake, along the walls of closed shops and noble mansions, shifted slightly, huddled figures sidling away from his sight.
It wasn't long before he arrived at the outer walls of the Saerfynn Manor. As he entered Pharra's Alley, he studied what details could be made out along the walls, on the cobbles, already assuming the place to have been the scene of one of Allek's mysterious murders. The alley was wide and clean, as was most of Sea Ward, the wealthiest in Waterdeep. It was decently lit save for the middle and the end, the latter of which bore the gates of the House of Wonder. A Watch patrol made its way by at the far end, one man separating from the group and offering Jinn a wave.
Jinn paused close to the wall across from the Saerfynn grounds, finding a spot that had been missed when the scene was cleared. A thin splash of rust lay in a short, straight line on the stone at shoulder height. He studied the angle and direction of the stain as Allek approached, reading a piece of the tale of what had occurred there.
'Jinn, well met,' the rorden said.
'This was recent?' Jinn asked, pointing to the stain and noting the look of surprise on Allek's face.
'Yes,' he answered. 'Last evening, roughly four bells before sunrise.'
'It was a long blade,' Jinn said, tracing the arc of the splatter with a gloved finger. 'A shallow cut, imprecise and unpracticed. Possibly a defensive injury, not a killing wound by any measure.'
