He was driving, because he was in charge. Valentinian was willing to admit to a certain degree of being a control freak. His parameters were just wider than most people like him. As long as things stayed with certain bounds, he could relax some.
That meant Kyriaki with the turret. Dave with his sniper rifle. Bayjy with the plasma rifle, and Glaxu with a petite weapon similar to a shock pistol, plus those shock bracers on his dewclaws.
Valentinian had gone into the armory for more detonators before they left this morning. He had three and the other three each had one, just in case. Glaxu would just have to feel left out for today if he noticed. At least until they knew which way the little birdman would jump in a crisis.
Another crisis.
The city was quiet, but the sun was only thirty minutes above the horizon now. The humans that stayed up all night had gone to bed, unless they were intent on making trouble. The natives were slow setting up their sooq, but that might be the excitement last night.
He did drive at a restrained rate this morning. Circled off the plateau a whole new direction and went around some nearby hills to come into town from the east, with the sun at his back and in the eyes of anyone feeling obstreperous.
Let the locals react to him coming into town in their own way.
He hadn’t been here long enough to know the species breakdown in the region, but it felt about even, from what he’d seen. Of course, he and his crew had done a significant amount of damage to that equation last night. Someone might be upset.
And the natives might vote him a medal, because Valentinian had the feeling that Truqtok hadn’t been the most popular person in town. Gut instinct, you know.
People in the roadway froze as the truck approached, then scurried madly for cover, like Kyriaki was going to open fire. Someone else would have to fire first, but he had no doubts that she’d return the favor one hundred-fold at the slightest provocation.
The main road was empty by the time he got to the edge of the market square. There was a huge spot where he just settled and hopped out of the vehicle, one step behind everyone but Kyriaki.
Since everyone else was armed to the teeth and openly carrying a weapon of some sort, Valentinian just walked. He could always quick-draw if he had to, once he knew where the ambush would arrive from.
Half the merchants they passed looked like they wanted to dive under their tables at the first loud sound, which didn’t help Valentinian’s nerves one bit. The others had hard, stern faces, staring but not nodding and not greeting him.
“Bayjy,” he said just loud enough to catch her ear as she walked out front. “Let’s stop in and see Marduk first.”
She nodded stiffly and turned that way. The merchants around them all flinched visibly as she suddenly altered course.
Marduk’s small store was open. Valentinian entered alone, with the rest taking up guard positions out front.
“Good morning, Marduk,” Valentinian nodded to the man. “What is the news around the sooq?”
The Jynarri grimaced sourly for a second, and then smiled a weak smile.
“A local businessman named Truqtok was apparently killed in a wild firefight inside his compound last night,” Marduk said in a vague way. “Possibly a palace revolution got out of control. Many others died with him, and the palace subsequently burned enough to collapse in the darkness.”
Valentinian couldn’t see either of the man’s hands behind the counter, so he had to assume that at least one held a weapon right now. This town had probably never seen major violence on that sort of scale. Probably just the odd mugging and occasional murder. Little things were easier to ignore as you slowly boiled a frog.
“How does your cousin feel about the outcome?” Valentinian asked obliquely. “My crew and I were all set to buy a few, last-minute things, and then head off into the desert.”
“Basuk thinks that it will eventually settle back down,” Marduk opined. “Other factions have considered going to rather extreme ends.”
“Such as?” Valentinian twisted his shoulders just enough that he could dive behind a pillar and get to his flamer pistol in a hurry, if the need arose.
“One group advocates hunting down all of Truqtok’s people and killing them like dogs,” Marduk shrugged. “A more vocal splinter asks why to stop with just the bad humans, when perhaps all humans could be expunged.”
“I see,” Valentinian said. “And you?”
“Violence is always bad for business,” Marduk shrugged again, perhaps less ambivalently. “Not everyone always recognizes that.”
“Are we likely to be poisoned by the fruit Bayjy is set to buy?” Valentinian asked.
He would feel bad, dumping it in the desert on the vague risk of danger, but he would. They had enough food to last long enough to get elsewhere and resupply.
“You should be safe,” Marduk said. “Few of the traders around here had any sympathy for Truqtok, but they also weren’t usually the fire-breathers.”
The bookseller paused in thought and rose, stepping around the counter and slipping a pistol into his pocket with a grin.
“Come,” he said, slipping past Valentinian and smiling at Bayjy and the others. “Let us talk with some of my fellows.”
Valentinian followed the man across the courtyard and into the rough middle of the tables. Everyone picked a direction and kept weapons ready for violence, but the muttering around them never rose above a low rumble.
No accusations or calls for violence.
Bayjy walked up to the merchant sitting on a big trunk with a cold smile on his face. Valentinian was on her right, and Marduk her left, like an inquisition sitting in judgment of a wrong.
“Morning,” she said with an amiability he could tell was forced.
She understood the tides and currents around here today.
“Greetings, pretty lady,” the merchant replied. “Have fruit. Still interest?”
“Am,” she said. “Can I see?”
The man rose gracefully, despite what appeared to be advanced age, and opened the trunk. Several cotton bags had been loaded into it.
Marduk walked around the table and opened the second bag, grabbing a dried fig out and inspecting it. He looked at the merchant with a hard grin.
“These are our friends,” he said bluntly, taking a bite.
The merchant watched with a grin.
“Amissh and Diallak wanted to poison them, but they hate everyone,” the merchant said with a low chuckle. “You owe me a dinar for the fig.”
“I just wanted to make sure everyone understood where the lines needed to be drawn,” Marduk said around a mouthful of chewy fruit.
“Tomorrow, maybe a week,” the merchant said airily. “At some point, there will be violence. Truqtok’s fools will try to assert his power. Others may try to usurp it. Amissh and Diallak will demand it be revoked entirely. Your cousin will do good business with stock on hand. But Bayjy has nothing to fear from us. Her friends give us the option of freedom from the thugs. Too bad they stopped killing when they did. Some of the rats will no doubt escape.”
“Send them to me at the South Pole,” Valentinian said loud enough to be widely overheard. “Three degrees north, seventeen degrees west. They can take it up with me directly, so you don’t have to.”
“Is true, the story?” the merchant turned now to fully face him. “Secret Urlan base left over and never found?”
“That’s the story,” Valentinian smiled at the man.
He noted that Marduk and the man shared a secret glance. Marduk would know the truth, but as public lies went, it would get troublemakers out of town for a while.
Who knew what might have changed by the time they made it back? If they did. Maybe they would no longer be welcome.
“Is good,” the merchant decided. He bowed to Bayjy with a broad grin. “Same price, with discount for favorite customer. Forty Union Krodageni include box.”
“You sure?” Bayjy asked.
“Merchant’s Guild make contribution for betterment of city,” he laughed harshly. Others around them joined in. “Trunk maker too stingy.”
Valentinian watched the woman pull out notes and hand them to the man.
“Good,” he said, pocketing them uncounted. “Now, box heavy. You have hand truck?”
“Here,” Dave suddenly stepped around the table and closed the trunk, latching it while he slid his rifle around his shoulder.
“Is heavy, human,” the merchant decried. “Seventeen anath. You need help.”
“No,” Dave smiled at the man and picked it up, slinging it onto the shoulder opposite the rifle and holding it by a side strap.
Even Dave grunted under the weight, which Valentinian guessed to be around fifty-five kilograms, but that was a damned impressive way to get people’s attention.
Jaws dropped open. Valentinian’s grin was almost as big as Dave’s as they departed, with Valentinian leading and Dave in the middle.
Marduk had walked with them, either as an escort or just to be friendly.
“Radio ahead before you return,” Marduk said quietly. “Basuk or I will be able to let you know how safe the city is.”
“Understood,” Valentinian said. “Thank you.”
He held out a hand and the man shook it.
“The violence was unintended,” Valentinian said. “But perhaps you can make something good of it. This could be a useful base of operations for us, trading in some of the more obscure corners of Wildspace.”
“And sending fools to their deaths in the polar wastes, when they seek you out?” Marduk grinned.
“Anyone like that probably has it coming,” Valentinian said sharply.
“Agreed, my friend, agreed,” Marduk said. “Best of luck on your mission.”
He departed and they got everything loaded into the truck.
More people were out now. And more relaxed than they had been. Troublemakers would still hide in the shadows, but a city like Meeredge might be able to contain it.
Or put it to good use.
He’d be elsewhere, trying to get rich.