The Payoff


Silk slowly got to his feet, keeping his eye on the body.  He picked
up his weapon and held it ready as he approached Rasputan.  "Load
one," Silk said to his companions in the doorway.  When they had
quarrels at the ready, Silk extracted the dagger from Rasputan's hand
and turned the body face up.
	Rasputan's eyes were open and clear.  Startled, Silk worked up
his courage and checked for signs of life.  There were none.
	Silk gave the body a quick search, but turned up only a purse
with a few keys and thirty to forty crowns.  He examined the wavy
dagger, checking it for quality and waiting for the tingling that
would alert him to any magic.  After a few moments he gave up and
dropped the dagger.
	"Smash, you might want to check on those guards that were
taken out earlier.  Make sure that none of them are thinking about
waking up any time soon.  You can fetch Owl, too."  Then Silk turned
to William.  "Now to find those jewels..."
	William lit two lanterns in the back of the room, then picked
up the pouch that Rasputan had been clinging to and opened it.
Puzzled, he jiggled it a bit.  Silk's eye widened as traces of white
dust floated up from the bag.  "Huh, no jewels here," William said.
"Doesn't look like any drug I know of, either."  He pulled the strings
and tossed the pouch aside.
	"Uh oh," Silk said quietly to himself; he appeared calm to the
others in the room, but only because he was completely stunned by
William's discovery.  Suddenly Silk snatched up Rasputan's dagger and
inspected the blade, then pulled the coif from his head and examined
it closely, looking for any trace of the white dust.  His mind was
racing; "Warpstone would explain a lot of things!  Did William come in
contact with any of it?  Damn!"
	Silk tossed both the dagger and his coif aside.  Only then did
he notice how much smoke was in the room.  The fire on the floor had
burned down; however, it had managed to start a small, more serious
fire in the floor.  Smash was attempting to stomp out the flames.
	The curtain was smoldering badly and the cause of most of the
smoke.
	Silk glanced at William, who was quickly searching through the
wardrobe, just in time to see The Sharp's eyes light up.  William
quickly covered his momentary lapse, but Silk knew better.
	"Are these the ones?" he asked William, moving over to his
side.  Silk took a good look at the jewels while waiting for William
to reply.
	"Yes, it appears to be all here..."  William ended with a
cough, and the curtain suddenly burst into full flame.
	"Bash, grab a basin and get some water to put out that..."
Silk stopped as Bash, quarrel firmly embedded in his shoulder, gave
him a very cold look.  "Never mind."  Then he turned his attention
back to the jewels.  "Here let me help you with that," he said
politely as he gathered some of the goods William was trying to
pocket.
	After the jewels had been collected, Silk found a pitcher of
water near the bed and poured it over the flames.  More smoke billowed
up as the water hissed over the fire, extinguishing much of it.
	Owl and Crash arrived and immediately helped Bash out of the
room.  Coughing, William followed them.  Smash waited by the doorway
while Silk made a quick search of the bedroom.  The biggest key in
Rasputan's purse fit one of the trunks, but Silk found nothing of
interest as he threw the contents onto the floor.  Pulling open a draw
on the nightstand, he found a pouch containing what felt like coinage,
but his eye was watering so bad he could do little more than grab the
pouch and leave; down the stairs and to the front room.
	"Let's get out of here and get some help for these two," Silk
said, indicating Bash and Crash.  "There will be plenty of time to
return the valuables later."
	William hesitated, about to object, but then followed Silk out
the door.  Terrence disappeared as soon as they were outside.
	"Something wrong?" Silk asked of William, but without really
waiting long enough for a response, he turned to Bash.  "You want the
same guy that worked on me, or are you two going to be okay?"
	"Doc," Bash replied through clenched teeth.
	"Not liking the idea of following you all over this city,"
William said irritably.  "Isn't there a closer place where we could go
over the loot?  They could go on ahead to find surgeon.  And we're
going to have to stick to back alleys if you don't want more trouble;
look at you, you're covered with blood.  And he's got a bolt sticking
out of his arm!  I'm not interested in chasing down alleys."
	"All right.  Smash, you accompany Bash and Crash to a place
where they can get patched up.  And take this."  Silk tossed the purse
that he had recovered from Rasputan's corpse to Smash.  "Owl, I'd like
to have you around, if that's okay with you."  The last was directed
at William.  "Is your spy-hole reasonable for the two of us?" Silk
asked Owl.  "We might make a division of the valuables there."
	"Wouldn't work," Owl replied as the others hustled off.
	Silk gave William an inquiring look, but he only shrugged and
shook his head.
	"All right," Silk said with a sigh, looking at the building.
"Let's put some distance between us and this place first.  Let's head
south toward the docks.  We'll borrow a warehouse for the split.
It'll have to be back alleys, but it won't be as far as to Georing's."
	"Good enough."
	Twice they had to stay in an alley to let the watch go by, but
they made it to the docks.  Owl forced the back door on a warehouse
that did not seem to hold anything worth guarding, and in they went.
Owl disappeared into the darkness and soon returned with a lantern.
It was lit, but the footpad kept the fire low.
	Silk indicates a large crate and Owl places the lantern on the
makeshift table.
	"Before we dump everything on the table, suppose you describe
the jewels that belong to the mistress," Silk suggested coolly.  "In
detail.  That way Georing will be satisfied, and you and I can be
civilized about dividing the spoils."
	William's face was a mask for a moment, then he smiled and
described the jewels in moderate detail.
	"So," William finished inquisitively.  "I assume we're setting
my mistress's stuff aside.  How do you plan on cutting up the rest?"
	They turned up the lantern and set the jewels on the table.
Silk, taking William at his word, and hoping he had not had time to
examine any of the jewels, separated out Georing's stones.  It was
close to half of what they had; the better half, with several matching
pieces.  However, there was quite a little bundle of jewels remaining.
Silk pondered the treasure for a while.
	"Well, your information has been useful.  And you did come
along on the raid.  On the other hand, I did all of the dirty work,
and had to fund this venture myself.  How about this: one share for
the lads, one for my expenses, two for me, and two for you?"
	"I can live with that."
	The two of them set about dividing the loot into thirds, with
William putting considerable trust in Silk's evaluations.
	"You can mess with the rest of that," William explained,
selecting and gathering up one of the three piles at Silk's request.
	Silk took note of Owl for the first time.  He seemed to be
salivating.  Silk gave him a wink and scooped the remaining jewels
into large pouch.  "I would like to see Georing once more.  I want to
hear it from him that this business is over.  I shall call tomorrow
around noon, unless you can suggest a better time."
	"That'll do."
	Carefully exiting the warehouse, William and Silk parted
company.
	"Two questions," Owl said when William was out of sight.
"Where to, and are you ever going to dress that leg?"
	"We'll go back to the apartment.  As for the leg, I had
forgotten about it, but it's starting to feel stiff.  Half a
moment..."
	The wound was not too bad, although it looked messy.  It had
stopped bleeding on its own, but now that it was all behind him, Silk
was feeling a light-headed.
	"Yeah, I'll make it to the apartment."

Silk went over the goods thoroughly and with great care.  The light
was not good in the apartment, but he could not sleep without at least
getting a rough estimate.  He put the worth of the jewels in the one
to three thousand crown range, and had another dizzy spell as he
momentarily pondered the worth of the entire stash.
	"That's a nice range," Owl said with heavy breath when Silk
informed him of the take.
	The purse from the nightstand held fifty-eight crowns, and two
score in assorted shillings and pennies.  More expenses covered.

Silk slept until noon, and when he woke, all the footpads were there
and asleep.  He rose and did his best to get the worst of the blood
stains out of his clothes.
	His leg was stiff and the wound was somewhat swollen,
obviously in need of treatment.  Silk woke up the boys and informed
them that he was going to the temple of Shallya.  Bash and Crash both
looked at him with puppy-dog eyes, though neither seemed worse off
than Silk, the surgeon not having been drunk last night.
	"Come on then!"

Bash and Silk were fit and well when they left the temple, though
Crash was still a little sore and Silk was thirty crowns poorer.
	"I'd like you two to accompany me on a little errand," Silk
told the footpads.  "I want to make certain that this matter is
settled.  We can even grab breakfast on the way."
	Silk purchased some bread, cheese, and fruit on their way to
Georing's.  Silk desperately wanted some new cloths, too, but did not
feel he had the time.  The footpads were rather proud of their badges
and showed no interest in such expenditures.
	At Georing's, they went to the side entrance and asked for
William.  He arrived shortly and ushered them towards the house.
	"Anything on your mind before you see the boss?" he asked.
	"Nothing in particular.  As I said last night, I just want to
confirm that our business is at a close."  As an afterthought, Silk
added, "Although if any of those toys are unbecoming of you, I may be
able to find new owners for them.  Just keep it in mind; you know
where to find me."
	Georing was waiting in his office, standing in front of his
desk.  He got right to the point.
	"Mister Silk, I do not like your business or what you
represent; however, I offer you my apologies for having you abducted
and nearly executed.  I also offer you my thanks for returning my
wife's jewels, along with this finder's fee..."  He handed Silk a full
purse.  "Thank you, and I hope our paths do not cross again," Georing
finished, offering Silk his hand.
	"I understand your position, and am glad this matter is
closed.  I too, will be happier if we do not meet again," Silk said in
a manner that was not unfriendly.  Shaking his hand, Silk gave Georing
a nod, and allow myself to be ushered out.
	Silk smiled slightly as William suggested that certain jewels
in his possession might have less appeal than others.  Using a
connected fence could cause William some obvious problems.  Silk asked
Bash and Crash to meet him at O'Malley's at their convenience, then
turned to William.
	"What exactly do you have in mind?  Funding this effort has
drained my cash reserves considerably.  It may be a while before I
will be able to provide, umm, adequate compensation.  If you wish to
entrust me with your problem, I should be able to take care of it in a
couple of weeks."
	William gave Silk a very long, hard look.  "Hmmm.  If you had
a reason to stay in this city, I'm sure I could run you down again.
However, considering your potential gains if you skipped town, I think
it would be best not to test our relationship just yet.  Send a
message round the side gate when you feel you are better equiped to
deal with my problem."
	Silk shrugged.  "As you like.  Until then."  He gave William a
slight wave and left the premises.  He immediately headed for a
tailor's shop on Straight.


						Jeff Stehman