This one returned to the Alya-mare’s safehouse with its Companion escorts after departing Double’s home. This one wasn’t looking forward to the conversation it needed to have with the Alya-mare, but this one doubted Cold would have told this one that she knew about what had happened to the Penny-mare if it hadn’t been true. True, he might just be trying to send this one in circles with a lie, but such a thing would be a mere irritation and waste some time. Unless he had another time-sensitive plan in motion, he was most likely telling the truth.
This one was careful to put on a neutral mask as it entered the warehouse. To this one’s relief, it saw several Companion guards around the warehouse. The Alya-mare was busy talking with several of her employees about moving some product around to try and earn some money again. This one waited until she was done before approaching her. “Alya-mare, this one hopes you got a good night's sleep?”
“Not really.” She sighed and ran a hoof down her face. There were still heavy bags under her eyes, and she still sounded like someone who was, at the very least, in serious risk of burnout. “Hard to sleep with all this going on.”
This one didn’t want to hear that. We needed her alert and awake, not on the verge of physical or psychological collapse. “Hopefully we can do something about your stress here soon. The Companions being stationed here should help keep this place more secure, at the least.”
The Alya-mare yawned as she nodded. “Of course, it needed to be done.”
“That’s why this one wanted them in place,” this one said. “How is everything else going?”
The Alya-mare took a couple seconds to answer. “Stressful, but nothing's on fire.”
“And with any luck we can keep it that way.” This one gave her a smile to try and give her some confidence. “And there might be some good news: the Gustav-gryph is willing to meet with this one. We’re going to talk at his club in a few hours.”
Instead of showing any kind of relief like this one was hoping, the Alya-mare scowled. “It’s probably a trap.”
This one shrugged. “Perhaps, but the first step to avoiding a trap is to know it exists, and this one is making preparations in the event he tries something.”
The Alya-mare’s scowl deepened. “He's going to be ready for that. After working with you for years, he knows your tricks and how you operate.”
“Perhaps, but he’s also going to know the cost of starting trouble at the Goldtalon-gryph’s club,” this one pointed out. “There’s little point in winning a battle if it costs you the war. He could ambush this one at the club, but starting a fight where there will be so many influential people trying to enjoy an evening could easily cause the Council to come down on his head.”
She didn’t seem convinced as she pressed the point. “So he'll probably try to hit you before or after then, or make it look like you started it. Or something else.”
This one wondered why the Alya-mare was pressing so hard. Was it because of her harsh experiences over the past few months, or did she just not want this one to meet the Gustav-gryph? Not that she was wrong about this having a significant element of risk. Just because it would be stupid to start something at the club didn’t preclude the Gustav-gryph from trying it anyway, and he could always try something before or afterwards like the Alya-mare said. Still, this one considered it worth the potential risks if it could help this one more quickly end the infighting within this one’s organization.
“Perhaps or perhaps not. This one hopes he’ll be willing to deal with this one, and if not...” This one ran a hoof over one of the daggers at its side. “This one will make him regret betraying it.”
The Alya-mare ran a hoof through her mane. “Just be careful. You can't trust him or believe anything he says.”
This one smiled and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “This one’s been playing this game for a long time. Yes, this is risky, but if it helps us end this conflict quickly then it’ll be worth it.”
The Alya-mare sighed. “Your call, though I think it's a really bad idea.” She looked away from this one and lowered her voice. “I wish you'd trust me a bit more.”
“What would you suggest this one do then?”
The Alya-mare’s eyes hardened. “Kill your enemies instead of trying to talk to them.”
“This one's going to crack down on killing Blackwing here soon,” this one pointed out. “Give this one a couple of days and it will have dozens of mercenaries hunting him down.”
“Sounds nice, but I'll feel a lot better once he's a corpse.” She frowned. “Though you very specifically didn’t mention Gustav.”
This one shrugged. “That depends on what he does during the meeting. Once this one knows where he stands then this one can decide how best to act.”
The Alya-mare shook her head. “Just be careful. If you go down, you take me with you.”
“With any luck this will be the last time this one exposes itself,” it tried to assure her. “If things start look questionable out there then this one will be out of there in a second. This one hasn’t lived as long as it has without having good instincts for when things are about to go bad.”
She rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “Let’s hope that will be enough.”
This one shifted topics. “Though on a different matter, this one wanted to discuss what we would do any prisoners we caught. Considering we were planning on bringing those mercenaries we captured in the restaurant back here, this one imagines you had a place to put them.”
The Alya-mare nodded. “This warehouse has a few smuggler holes that we could repurpose as makeshift prison cells.”
This one gave her a smile that it wasn’t at all feeling as it slowly laid its trap. “That sounds good. They are secure, and if you line their interiors with sandbags you can insulate them to make them relatively soundproof. After all, you don’t want someone inconvenient to hear that someone is in the smuggling hole.”
“That is the idea,” the Alya-mare agreed. “You were the one that taught me that trick.”
“So this one was,” this one agreed. “Mind if we examined them? This one wants to see what we have to work with in the event we take some more prisoners.”
The Alya-mare froze for the briefest of moments before she brought herself to respond. “Yeah, sure. Over here.” She led the way to a section of the warehouse where the smuggling holes had been dug beneath the floor. They were hard to spot under the floorboards unless you knew what to look for, but this one had more than enough experience with smuggling to know all the usual tricks. The Alya-mare waved at a trio of holes. “Here they are. You can check them out if you want.”
This one considered examining the smuggling holes, but then it spotted a carpet nearby that was probably hiding a fourth one. This one could even spot the lines on the floor where the carpet had been moved. “What about that one?”
The Alya-mare went still as her eyes flicked towards it. “Huh? Nothing there. That's just a carpet.”
This one’s eyes narrowed and it kicked the edge of the carpet so that it folded over to reveal the telltale signs of a smuggling hole. “Just a carpet?”
The Alya-mare’s ears wilted as her lie was laid bare. “Look, before you jump to any crazy conclusions, let me explain...”
This one crossed its legs over it chest. “Explain what?”
The Alya-made sighed. “Merry Penny was working with Gustav—I didn't have a choice.”
The Penny-mare had been working with the Gustav-gryph? Was that true? If it was then why had the Alya-mare hidden her? “You kidnapped this one's secretary and you didn't tell this one. You had a choice about that.”
The Alya-mare couldn’t meet this one's gaze as she spoke. “I was gonna tell you once things settled down.”
This one shook its head, unsure if it could believe her. “Were you? Or was the Penny-mare going to quietly disappear?”
The Alya-mare rubbed her upper leg. “I was scared you wouldn’t understand, and of what you would do if you found out what I did. You like Merry and trust her. For our meeting I was worried you’d take it badly if I told you the truth right away.”
This one snorted. “You think this one wouldn’t hear you out?”
“I didn’t want to take the chance when I was already on the verge of losing this street war.” The Alya-mare’s shadowed eyes fell on the smuggling hole that held the Penny-mare. “And you’ve ... dealt with those who’ve done less than what I did. I was scared you might have decided that I wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping around.”
This one tried to calm its thoughts and think clearly as it pushed down its anger. “You’re making it very difficult to trust you right now.”
“And what about her?!” The Alya-mare jabbed a hoof at the smuggling hole door. “She betrayed you for Gustav. She burned down your home and your office for the insurance money so she could keep Gustav financed and in the fight he started.”
This one felt a stab to its heart. This one’s home had been burned down? This one’s office going down in flames had been bad enough, but its home too... How much of this one’s property was still left after its long absence?
“And why would she do that?” this one demanded. “Sure she and the Gustav-gryph got along, but there’s a big difference between being friends and becoming cohorts in a street war.”
She nodded to where the Penny-mare was being held prisoner. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
This one decided to do just that, and waved for the Arrow-stallion to open the smuggling hole. “Sergeant, if you’ll get her out of there.”
“Yes sir.” The Arrow-stallion and one of the other Companions pulled up the door, and the sergeant stepped down inside. Less than a minute later he was helping the Penny-mare up out of the hole. She had seen better days: the grime on her coat and her tangled mane indicated that it had been some time since she’d last had a bath.
When the Penny-mare saw this one, her eyes lit up and she ran to embrace this one, though this one’s guards grabbed and restrained her from doing so. “Puzzle! You’re back!”
“Don’t be so happy Puzzle’s returned, traitor,” the Alya-mare said, her voice as cold as a Northmarch winter.
The Penny-mare’s eyes hardened as she glared at the Alya-mare. “You’re the one that betrayed him, you bitch!” She turned back to this one. “Puzzle, don’t believe whatever she’s telling you. She kidnapped me! Gustav and I are the ones that are still loyal to you.”
“Oh you’re the loyal one, are you?” The Alya-mare scoffed. “Is that why you burned down his house and business for the insurance money?”
“I didn’t!” The Penny-mare tried to pull herself away from the guards to get closer to me, but the Companions held her fast. “I don’t know who burned down your home, Puzzle. Though I’m willing to bet it was Alya, or maybe even Blackwing.” Her eyes narrowed at the Alya-mare. “And you were the one to burn down the office. You and your goons set the whole place alight when you kidnapped me.”
“As if I’d do that.” The Alya-mare swiveled her head to this one. “Your office was already on fire when I got there. An informant of mine told me Merry was in the office, and when we went there there wasn’t a scrap of furniture anywhere. Even all the safes you had in there were empty.”
“Only because you’d cut off Gustav’s funds, you whorse!” the Penny-mare shot back.
The Alya-mare rolled her eyes. “Why would I fund his attempts to take over the organization?!”
“Take over the organization?” The Penny-mare barked out a laugh. “As if! You’re the one that started all of this when you threatened to cut off Gustav’s funds unless he did what you wanted him to do. You just wanted the organization for yourself!”
The Alya-mare’s hoof lashed out and slapped the Penny-mare across the face. “You liar! You spend so much time in Gustav's bed you don't even bother thinking for yourself anymore!”
“You heartless, backstabbing nag!” The Penny-mare spat in the Alya-mare’s face.
This one stepped between them and waved for its guards to put some distance between the two mares. To a degree, this one had been content to let the two of them yell at one another in order to gather more intel, but this one had to step in before they ripped each other’s throats out. “That's enough!”
So, both of them were claiming to be loyal to this one. This one tried to put its personal feelings aside to try and look at the situation rationally. They both had motives for claiming to be so, especially the Penny-mare when she was at this one’s mercy. From the sounds of things, at some point the Alya-mare and the Gustav-gryph had come into conflict and the Alya-mare had threatened to cut off the Gustav-gryph’s funding. A critical problem for him when he needed that money to pay for his soldiers. Though it was still unclear who had started it, and this one doubted whoever wasn’t telling the truth would suddenly change their tune without pressure being put on them. Still, it was worth seeing what else this one could get out of them. Given their heightened emotional states, they might let something slip.
This one faced the Penny-mare. “So it’s true you’re working with the Gustav-gryph?”
The Penny-mare sniffed and nodded. “Y-yes I was helping him, but he didn’t want to get into a big fight with everyone! That was all Alya’s doing. She was trying to take over everything for herself! She tried to leverage her control over the organization’s finances to make Gustav bend the knee to her.”
“Please, I only started cracking the whip when he started trying to throw his weight around.” The Alya-mare crossed her legs over her chest. “Your boyfriend was the one who attacked first, and I’ve just been trying to keep him from ruining everything.”
“Wait, boyfriend?” This one frowned as the Penny-mare flinched at the question, then blinked when it noticed the love emanating from her. It was the affection one had for a lover, but the Penny-mare hadn’t been in love when this one had left Freeport. “You and Gustav are dating? When did this start happening?”
The Alya-mare flashed a smile that wasn’t at all pleasant to look at. “Now there’s a good question. One second.” She walked away and rummaged through a chest for a moment, pulling out a necklace that she then presented to this one. “She was using this to hide it from you.”
This one took the necklace and studied it. This one recognized the necklace as belonging to the Penny-mare. It had a minor luck enchantment placed on it, so this one hadn’t considered it odd that she always seemed to be wearing it. But after studying the necklace closely this one noticed that there was an additional enchantment on the jewelry: one intended to prevent a changeling from sensing love.
This one’s teeth started grinding together. Yet more lies and deception within this one’s organization. “You were hiding your relationship with the Gustav-gryph?”
The Penny-mare’s shoulders hunched. “W-we were worried you'd react badly. Puzzle, please understand, I really like being your secretary. We were worried that I might lose my job due to a conflict of interests if it got out that we were dating, so Gustav got me the necklace to hide the fact we love one another. We didn’t think it’d be a huge deal! At the time we weren’t even sure if this was something that would last.”
The Alya-mare glowered at her. “Please. You were just sharpening your knife and waiting for a chance to plant it in Puzzle's back so your lover could take over the organization.”
The Penny-mare shook her head. “No! She's lying, Puzzle! Gustav was just protecting himself and his part of the organization.”
The Alya-mare corrected her glasses. “If all you wanted to do was protect yourselves, you went about it in a very strange way. You and your boy-toy have done a lot of damage to the organization and to Puzzle himself. You’ve smashed half of our businesses, sold off or destroyed Puzzle’s property, and got us on the bad side of the Council. You even sold Puzzle’s yacht!”
This one blinked at that. “Wait, she did what?!” This one’s yacht was one of the few luxuries it had granted itself. The thought of losing the Trustworthy wrenched at this one’s guts.
“Oh, it gets better from there.” The Alya-mare’s lips twisted into a nasty smile. “You need to hear who she sold the Trustworthy to: Cold Comfort.”
For a moment, this one didn’t understand what the Alya-mare said. Cold now owned this one’s ship? No, it couldn’t be. It had to be a lie. But one look at the Penny-mare’s face confirmed the truth. She winced when the Alya-mare had said Cold’s name, and now she couldn’t bring herself to meet this one’s eyes
This one started trembling as a terrible pressure built up in its chest. “You sold its ship to Cold?!” this one bellowed. “This one can't believe you! Where did you get off selling this one's yacht to Cold?! After all this one has done for you, this is how you repay it?!”
This one could imagine Cold’s smug smile. He knew about this, all of this, and he wanted to rub this one’s nose in the fact he had stolen this one’s ship right out from under it. Cold was going to brag about this for years, and every time this one looked out into Freeport Harbor it was going to see its stolen ship and be unable to do anything about it. This one had lost its home, its office, and now its yacht. Did this one have anything to its name now?
All it wanted was one little yacht that it had worked hard to earn, and a nice small home to enjoy at the end of a long day. Was it so wrong for it to keep that much?
The Penny-mare tried to wilt from this one, but this one’s escorts held her fast. “B-but we needed the money to—“
“No!” This one snapped and jabbed her with a hoof. “This one trusted you, both of you, and you deceived it!This one trusted all of you with its organization, and look at the mess all of you caused! A few months away and this one finds all of you at each other’s throats and tearing down everything it built. This one should never have hired any of you!” This one’s eyes narrowed as its throat let out a growl. “It was a mistake to ever take you into this one’s confidence.”
The Alya-mare moved to stand by this one’s side. “What can you expect from traitors?”
“Puzzle ... you can’t listen to her.” The Penny-mare sobbed, tears running down her face. “Please, I’m not your enemy!”
This one stepped away from her and shook its head. This one was done talking with her for now. “Sergeant, place her under guard. This one will figure out what to do with her later.”
“Yes sir.” The Arrow-stallion pulled the Penny-mare to the side to start talking with his fellow Companions and make arrangements for the Penny-mare’s imprisonment.
Once they were out of earshot, the Alya-mare nodded to it. “What do you plan on doing with her?”
That was a very good question, but this one wanted to wait until it had had time to cool down before it made a decision. The Penny-mare may have betrayed this one’s trust, but a corner of this one’s mind reminded it that she might have had good reasons for doing so. If the Alya-mare had tried to take over the organization while this one was away then the Gustav-gryph would have desperately needed money very quickly, and when one was fighting for survival then a great many options could be put on the table. Not that this one was ever going to be thrilled with all the property it had lost. And that assumed the Penny-mare was being honest.
The problem was this one didn’t trust anyone anymore. Both the Penny-mare and the Alya-mare claimed they were loyal to this one, but they had come to fight one another for control of the organization.
That could mean a couple of things: either the Gustav-gryph or the Alya-mare were lying to this one, or they were simply fighting one another because they wanted to expand their influence within the organization.
And what role did Blackwing play in this? Neither the Penny-mare or the Alya-mare had mentioned him during their fight. Had they simply forgotten about him during their argument, or was there something else there?
The Alya-mare had lied to this one, even if she might have had good reasons for doing so. In any event, she was on the in while the Penny-mare was on the outs. Though this one had to wonder how it would all turn out in the end. There was still much this one didn’t know, and thus far everyone around it had proven untrustworthy.
“We’ll just hold onto her for now,” this one decided. “This one will decide what to do with her after thinking about it for a bit.”
“Alright then.” The Alya-mare frowned. “Though I hope all of this proved that Gustav can’t be trusted, and that meeting with him is a bad idea.”
This one shook its head. “This one is still meeting him. There’s still a lot this one might be able to learn by talking to him, and it might even be able to convince him to stand down. This one can point out that it has the resources to crush him. This one has the money to hire a fresh merc company while his own mercs and coin must be exhausted after six months of street fighting.”
“Or he’ll try and take you out to preemptively prevent you from crushing him,” the Alya-mare countered. “He knows the score. His only way to beat you is kill you, and you’re presenting him with a golden opportunity to do that.” Her frown deepened. “And you still don’t seem to be convinced that he’s your enemy. Remember how he sent those mercenaries after us?”
“We’re not sure that they were Gustav’s people,” this one said.
The Alya-mare grimaced and her ears flattened. “What are you saying? That you think I set up a false flag? I thought I'd earned a bit of trust after how long I've worked for you, and how loyal I've been all these years.” She looked away from. “I guess I was wrong.”
This one took a deep breath as a stab of guilt ran through this one. Little surprise, the Alya-mare didn’t like the suggestion that this one thinks she might be lying. Though she had lied to this one a few minutes ago... “What this one is saying is that it doesn't know what to think until it has more intel. It could be those mercs were lying to you and setting up a false trail for us to follow. If Blackwing hired them then he could have told them to blame Gustav-gryph for the attack, or someone else could have hired them and done the same. So this one wants to give the Gustav-gryph one chance to step back from the cliff.”
This one flashed her a grin. “Besides, now this one has a hostage to use against him. If they are lovers, then the Gustav-gryph should be willing to go through a lot to get the Penny-mare back.” This one frowned as it thought of something. “Though that does raise the question of why you didn’t do that yourself.”
The Alya-mare let out an annoyed huff. “I tried that when I captured her. I said I’d kill her if Gustav didn’t give up, but he didn’t and the street war kept right on going. He must have just been using Merry and was stringing her along while pretending to love her. He’s not the type of person that can coldly allow the mare he loves to die like that.”
This one pressed its lips together as it mulled that over. “But the Penny-mare is still alive even when Gustav didn’t give in. Not following through with threats is a good way for enemies not to take you seriously.”
“I didn’t...” The Alya-mare trailed off before shuffling in place. “I was worried about how you would react if you heard I had killed Merry. Look how much trouble it caused when I’d just captured her, even after all she’s done. How would you have acted if I had actually killed her? I figured once things settled down you’d be able to interrogate her and find out the truth yourself, so I just locked her away and called it good while I waited for you to return.”
“Alright then.” This one leaned against a crate as it gathered its thoughts. “Still, she might be useful. We’ll see.”
“How can I help, partner? If you’re going to insist on being a big dummy about this, then I can play my part to try and pull your bacon out of the fire.”
This one considered how it could keep her busy, and thought of something useful she could do. “This one has a list of people it wants to meet, and this one would like for you to schedule the appointments. We need people who can hunt down Blackwing.” This one frowned. “And deal with Gustav, if need be.”
She nodded. “I can do that.”
This one nodded. “Jump on that. This one needs to clean up for a meeting.”
Considering this one’s home had been burned down for what was sounding like insurance fraud, this one made do with the Companion’s office to clean up and make itself presentable. It had been a trick to find an appropriate outfit for the occasion, but ultimately this one had found an azure jacket with fur trim, a white shirt with frills along the sleeves, and a matching pair of azure pants. The person who had commissioned the outfit had refused to pay for it upon its completion, but with a bit of transforming it fit this one just fine. That was fortunate. The Goldtalon-gryph’s club served the cream of the crop of society, and it wouldn’t due to appear as a pauper. This one had owned outfits appropriate for such places, but they had gone up in flames like so many of this one’s possessions.
This one wanted to lash out over what it had lost. It would be so easy to give in to this one’s base instincts and drench itself in the blood of its enemies. This one knew how to kill, and in such a plentiful number of ways. Stabbing, bludgeoning, drowning, poisoning, strangling, accidents—the list went on and on. If this one wanted to, it could cause this whole city to fall into chaos. And it was oh so tempting to take the easy route and just eliminate all of its lieutenants to give itself a fresh start, especially after recent developments.
But this one reminded itself that it wasn’t that type of changeling. It wanted to make Freeport a better place, and there were better ways to solve its problems than with violence. Or so this one hoped. For the past couple of days this one couldn’t help but wonder if it was a particularly clever fool.
Once the appointed hour came, a carriage arrived at the Companions’ office, and this one transformed into its roguish zony disguise for the occasion. The Companions made sure that there wasn’t any kind of trap before allowing this one to enter the carriage, and we then made our way to the Golden Ducat. The jazz club was a large building, its front made of white marble with great pillars decorating its exterior. Beyond the entry gate was an elaborate fountain with marble sirens at its center, and a rich garden laid out in a patchwork of squares led the way to the building.
This one’s escorts made a show of making sure that there wasn’t any ambush lying in wait. They were just as aware of the risks of this rendezvous as this one, and it wasn’t until they were as sure as they could be that it was safe before this one was allowed out of the carriage. Not that Goldtalon was bound to allow any of his guests to be harmed. Goldtalon’s own guards prowled the property, making sure no one could cause trouble, and helping guests when needed. Dressed in gold-painted armor with baggy black-and-white striped shirts and pants, they were well paid for their loyalty and discretion. They took particular note of this one as it approached the gate of the club. Little surprise, if there was going to be trouble tonight then this one was probably going to be at the center of it.
This one passed through the arches of the doorway to enter the club. A band was playing on a central stage, swaying to a catchy jazz tune, and around the stage was a marble-tiled dance floor where several couples were enjoying themselves. Much of the rest of the interior was filled with tables being served by attentive waiters as the finely dressed elite of Freeportian society ate, drank, and talked. The architecture and decorations of the club were all intended to speak to the Goldtalon-gryph’s considerable wealth. Statues and paintings lined the walls, and the pillars supporting the roof had flowered vines carved into them.
This one didn’t get far into the club before a familiar face approached it. The Goldtalon-gryph was a portly gryphon who tried to hide his girth inside long flowing robes of midnight blue silk, and was wearing enough jewelry to make any pirate king jealous. He flashed this one a wide smile as he approached and spoke in a tone as though we were old friends meeting for the first time in many years. “Puzzle, my old friend! It’s so good to see you!” We shook hoof and claw before the Goldtalon-gryph wrapped this one up in a hug that this one made itself go along with. As was the Goldtalon-gryph’s way, he liked to be overly familiar with his guests.
“It’s good to see you too,” this one said as it patted his back. “This one trusts you’re well?”
The Goldtalon-gryph nodded. “As well as I can be, though by the sound of things you’re in a bit of a spot.” He loudly cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to pry, but word gets around, and I do learn things through the grapevine.”
This one didn’t let its discomfort over recent events show on its face despite the fact the Goldtalon-gryph had just poked a recent wound. “It’s quite alright, and with any luck some of those troubles can be fixed here, assuming the Gustav-gryph has arrived.”
“He has, he has. Come with me, I’ll show you to the booth he’s sitting at.” The Goldtalon-gryph started leading the way before leaning in to speak more quietly. “And I trust you two will behave while in my establishment? I realize you two are in a bit of a tiff, and while I’m always happy to arrange meetings between, I don’t want my other guests to be disturbed when most of them are just looking for a nice evening out.”
“This one completely understands.” Indeed this one did. In and of itself, the Golden Ducat wasn’t much of a profit maker for the Goldtalon-gryph, at least in comparison to his other enterprises. The real value of the Golden Ducat was how it let the Goldtalon-gryph network within Freeport society. It was one of the reasons why he let this one meet with the Gustav-gryph in his establishment, being a neutral meeting place for people as highly placed as this one made it all the more important within Freeport society. The Goldtalon-gryph had great skill in collecting objects to sell in his auctions or even in private transactions, and the club helped him find both buyers and sellers. As a de facto place of business, one of the last things he wanted was for the Golden Ducat to become a battlefield.
Well, besides the little fighting pit he had out back, but that was for in the event a couple of his patrons thought the only way to deal with some dispute was through a measured amount of bloodshed, or to host a little bit of more sanguinary entertainment for his guests.
That aside, he definitely didn’t want anything ruining the evening for his fine guests when it could destroy the reputation of his establishment. In addition to his guards, he had other ways to mark his displeasure. All his networking made him a very influential gryphon in Freeport, and anyone that started a fight here could easily find themselves on the bad side of the Council.
“If there’s going to be trouble, this one won’t be the cause of it,” this one assured him. “This one can’t speak for the Gustav-gryph, but this one imagines you’ve had a word with him as well.”
“Just a couple.” The Goldtalon-gryph waved to a booth. “He’s right over there. I’ve made arrangements to make sure you two can speak alone.”
Indeed, this one could feel the magic around the booth to help keep anyone from listening in on us. Given one of the functions of the club was to allow the Goldtalon-gryph to facilitate meetings, it wasn’t surprising to see he had arrangements to allow for private conversations.
At that we parted company, leaving this one to deal with the Gustav-gryph. This one could see him at the booth, and a squad of his guards standing nearby.
“Ready, Sergeant?” this one asked.
The Arrow-stallion’s eyes examined the area for any threats, and took particular attention of the Gustav-gryph’s guards. “As I’ll ever be, sir.”
This one could sense that he wasn’t entirely happy with this plan, but this one had come too far to back down now. This one didn’t see anything that seemed out of place, but just because this one didn’t see a threat didn’t mean it wasn’t there. It might have been foolish to start a fight here, but just because something was foolish didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.
But this one couldn’t allow itself to seem afraid, so it approached the booth with confident steps. The Gustav-gryph was in his own black-and-white suit tailored in the elaborate Westmarch fashion, with his high collar and fashioned buttons on the front. When he looked up at this one it saw the bags under his eyes, and while he tried to keep up his usual jovial attitude, it was clear his spirit wasn’t in it. “Puzzle, have a seat. We went to a lot of trouble to set this meeting up.”
“So we did. This one hopes this will be a pleasant meeting.” This one moved to sit opposite of the Gustav-gryph but then pointedly stopped short of actually doing so. “This one would be most upset if you were to break the truce. Especially in such a public place, and in the middle of the establishment of such a well-connected individual as the Goldtalon-gryph.”
The Gustav-gryph let out a breath and shook his head. “The last thing I want is to start a fight with you.”
That response made this one curious, and it sat down. “Is that so? That's quite the thing to claim given the circumstances.”
The Gustav-gryph snorted derisively. “Let me guess: Alya said I was plotting to murder you and take over the entire organization for myself?”
“In so many words, yes.” The question of the hour was whether it was true, and this one carefully studied the Gustav-gryph’s body language as we talked.
“Well, that's not the case.” He picked up his glass and took a swig before continuing. “Honestly, at this point I'd like to just call the whole thing off.”
This one raised an eyebrow. “What whole thing?”
“Let's just say the last few months have made me reevaluate some life choices.” The Gustav-gryph’s wings wilted. “Especially after Merry died because of this stupid war. After that bitch Alya killed her, it hardly seems worth fighting.”
This one believed him, at least the part about loving the Penny-mare. The love he felt was as real as any this one had felt, and it was laced with the pain of loss. What’s more, the Gustav-gryph had never been a particularly good liar. He was quite competent muscle, but he left most of the skullduggery to this one and its lieutenants. Still, it would be best to learn as much as it could from him to see how much aligned with what the Alya-mare and the Penny-mare said.
“From the sounds of things the Penny-mare was guilty of betraying this one's trust,” this one said in a neutral tone. “For one, you hid the fact that you two were intimate.”
He winced as though slapped. “Alya told you about that, did she? Well, what am I supposed to say? We wanted to be discreet. Merry was scared she’d lose her job if you found out we were together, so we kept it secret. It wasn’t like we were hurting anyone. We weren’t even sure if things would work out when we first started dating, so it didn’t feel like something worth killing her job over. Though as things went on...” He let out a long sigh and took another sip. “We were going to tell you eventually, it just never seemed like the right time. And … now…”
“And now it’s too late,” this one finished.
The Gustav-gryph’s grip tightened on his glass. “So tell me, would you have had us keep our jobs if you found out we were dating?”
Considering the circumstances, it seemed best to be honest with him. “This one probably would have done some reshuffling within the organization to remove any potential issues, though this one would hardly have needed to fire either of you if you had come to this one and explained the situation.”
The Gustav-gryph studied this one and tapped the brim of his glass. “You know, I actually believe you.” He shook his head. “It makes me feel a bit dumb about hiding everything.”
“When has this one ever not been reasonable?” it asked.
The Gustav-gryph brow furrowed. “You're reasonable as long as we do what you want us to. Once we go off script...”
This one crossed its legs over its chest. “Like burning down this one’s property for the insurance money and selling this one’s yacht?”
“We didn’t have a choice!” He slammed a fist onto the table. “We needed the money if we were going to stay in the fight. Alya left us high and dry when she cut off our funds. We didn’t like doing all of that, and for that I’m sorry, but what would you have done in our place? As you’ve told us: when you go to war, do what it takes to win. We needed money to keep paying my boys, so we got what money we could.” His ears wilted. “And in the end it cost me Merry. Alya caught her at your office. Damnit, I should have sent more guards in with her than I did, and now...”
This one decided to withhold the truth about the Penny-mare for a little bit longer. “And now?”
His wing drooped. “If I’m being honest, when I heard you’d returned to Freeport I was pretty sure I was doomed. We’d messed everything up while you were gone, and it didn’t seem like something you’d just let us walk away from. You’ve killed for less than your lieutenants messing up your entire organization. Half of me was convinced I’d be killed when I got here.”
“That must have been doubly true after you sent those mercenaries after this one and the Alya-mare at the restaurant.”
The Gustav-gryph’s brow furrow and his wings flicked. “I don’t know who was responsible for that attack, but it wasn’t me.”
“And why should this one believe you?” this one asked cooly.
“Because if it was me I would have led the charge,” the Gustav-gryph growled. “I may tire of this street war, but that doesn’t make me a coward. If I could have taken a shot at that bitch who murdered my Merry, I would have.”
That did sound like the Gustav-gryph. He was the type of hippogryph that like to lead from the front, sometimes distressingly so. This one could easily imagine what it would do to someone if they killed the Heartstrings-mare. The only difficult part for this one would be deciding on the type of horrible death to inflict. So unless the Gustav-gryph had had a major personality shift while this one had been away from Freeport, it couldn’t imagine him taking the Penny-mare’s death lying down.
Though these facts led to a couple other problems. “So why did you come if you were so worried this one would kill you?”
He stared at his drink while he collected his thoughts. “Because I want out. After Merry died... I just want to be done. I’m sick of Freeport, I miss home, and there’s nothing here for me anymore. But you’d hunt me down if I ran. If I stayed to fight you I’d just get my people killed for nothing. I want revenge against Alya, but it’s not the same as getting Merry back. At least if I tried to meet with you and got a crossbow bolt to my back it’d be over quickly.”
This one sat back as it digested his words. Indeed, this one was deeply tempted to just kill him, but ... that wouldn’t be practical. The Gustav-gryph had never been the best liar, and this one didn’t detect any deception in his words. “And if this one was willing to consider letting you walk?”
The Gustav-gryph’s ears perked. “You’d be willing to do that? Even after … everything?”
“Yes. Money and property can be recovered with time and effort. And as for this one’s reputation, this one can blame Blackwing for everything. As long as you’re willing to play along that Blackwing manipulated you into doing what you did, we can look past what happened. Especially when you’re planning on leaving Freeport for good anyways.”
“I can work with that.” The Gustav-gryph ran a claw over his face, looking ten years older than when this one had gone to Northmarch. “I just wish Merry could have gone with me.”
With this one now convinced that the Gustav-gryph did really want out, it decided to close the deal. “And what if she were alive?”
He blinked a few times. “What?”
“The Penny-mare isn’t dead,” this one explained. “Alya fooled you and kept the Penny-mare as a prisoner. This one saw her with its own eyes.”
His eyes widened and he snatched this one’s hoof, causing all the bodyguards around us to shift and tighten their grips on their weapons. “She is? Puzzle, this better not be one of your tricks, because if it’s not...”
This one looked him in the eyes. “This one is telling you the truth. This one will release her to you if you disband your mercs and then leave for either Westmarch or Equestria. None of you are ever to return to Freeport.”
In truth, this was ... convenient for this one. While this one was mad with the Penny-mare, deep down it didn’t want to have to kill her. But after the extensive damage she had done to this one’s organization, this one couldn’t just let her off the hook. It would make this one seem weak, and potentially encourage others to hurt this one in similar ways, thinking they could get away with it too. But if this one could make it look like releasing the Penny-mare was just part of a deal with the Gustav-gryph to bring the street war to an end then this one might be able to save face.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but then most solutions to life’s problems weren’t.
The Gustav-gryph ran his tongue over his beak as he considered this one’s proposal. “And if I refuse?”
This one’s eyes narrowed and its voice darkened. “Then this one will kill you all. You, the Penny-mare, your mercenaries—everyone. This one will hire out the other merc companies and crush you. It won’t be cheap and it won’t be pretty, but this one will win.”
The Gustav-gryph paused. “I just want enough safe passage and a good enough severance package to take care of myself, Merry, and a family. I also want the same for my soldiers.” He raised a finger before this one could object. “If I’m going to convince them to stand down they’re going to have to get something out of it. Money goes a long way to help with that. Besides, this deal will still cost you a lot less than buying half the merc companies in Freeport to crush us.”
It seemed the Westmarchian in Gustav wasn’t willing to let him walk away without getting something out of our deal. Part of this one wanted to tell him to be happy that it was willing to let them all walk away without harm in the first place, but then that would likely bring negotiations to a crashing halt and the street war would be back on. No, spending a bit of money now to save trouble later seemed best here.
“This one can agree to that,” it said.
“Then it seems we have a bargain.” The Gustav-gryph offered a talon to this one, and the two of us shook. “Though if I might offer some free advice?”
Curious what he wanted to talk about, this one asked, “What's that?”
The Gustav-gryph growled. “Don't trust Alya. She’s the one that started everything.”
This one frowned. “From what she said, you started the fighting when you attacked her first.”
He shook his head. “Only as a preemptive strike. She thinks me not immediately doing everything she says is treason. She threatened to cut off my funds if I didn’t do exactly what she told me to, and said that she could hire other mercenaries to take over my duties within the organization. She all but spelled out how she would have her own hired goons destroy me and my people if I didn’t toe the line. It was either submit to her or go on the attack before she could act on her threats. So I tried to capture her before things could get out of hoof.”
This one frowned as it didn’t like what it was hearing at all. “But that plan went awry?”
The Gustav-gryph rubbed his brow. “Alya escaped the net somehow. She’s a tricky one for sure. I thought we were done for when we failed to bag her, but then to my surprise the hammer didn’t immediately come down. No waves of hired mercs came down on us. From what I hear, Alya’s having her own money troubles. Lucky for us.”
“Or perhaps it was more than luck.” This one crossed its legs over its chest as it thought about who was probably behind the Alya-made getting her bank accounts frozen. “What was Blackwing doing during all of this?”
The Gustav-gryph snorted and waved the issue off. “Blackwing, pah! He’s off playing his own games. He nicks at me and Alya now and again, but he never committed to anything. Maybe he was planning on knocking both of us off once we had weakened one another enough for him to do the job. But if that was his plan he waited too long, because now you’re here and you won’t be so easily beaten.”
This one inclined its head in acknowledgement. “That much is true, his day will come.” Even if this one didn’t think that was going to be an easy task.
The Gustav-gryph grunted with a nod. “Blackwing is dangerous in his own right, but it’s Alya you should be watching out for. She ... doesn't make much distinction between loyalty to you and loyalty to her. I worry just how far her ambitions go.”
This one had to admit to itself that the Alya-mare certainly had ambitions. She had talked about wanting to become this one’s partner, not just one of its employees. That was ... a complicated scenario to consider. This one was going to need to placate her in some manner, and soon.
Of course, that depended on if this one could really trust her. If the Gustav-gryph was right then she had started the whole conflict, either intentionally or accidentally depending on how one viewed things. Could it be that the Alya-mare had wished to prove herself as this one’s true partner within the organization by making a power play with her fellow lieutenants, or had she shot for a higher goal and fallen on her face when her bank accounts had been frozen?
But this one didn’t want to seem weak in front of the Gustav-gryph at such a critical juncture by suggesting that this one couldn’t deal with the Alya-mare, so it instead flashed him a toothy grin. “This one knows how to deal with the Alya-mare. This one has known her for a long time, and we’re friends. We can come to an amicable agreement that leaves everyone happy. Just like we’re doing here.”
The Gustav-gryph frowned as he tapped a finger on the table. “Just be careful you're not being too clever. We all slip up sooner or later, and the consequences for you doing so can be rather severe.”
This one felt a bit insulted by that. “Would this one be alive if it did that?”
“Perhaps not.” He shrugged. “You’re one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever known, and I think you know just how clever you are. But that can lead to arrogance, and arrogance can lead to a nasty fall.”
This one let out a huff. This one didn’t need to be lectured on its limitations when it was already well aware of them. Things were tricky with the Alya-mare, but they were manageable with a bit of time and effort. Two things this one would have once this front in the street war was closed up. “The point is taken. But in any event, this one believes we need to arrange an exchange. We’re going to need to get you your severances, and you’re going to want the Penny-mare back. And then this one is going to want you on the first ship out of Freeport.”
He nodded. “Agreed. Meet here again tomorrow?”
“That would be fine.” And once this one was done getting the Gustav-gryph out of Freeport, this one could concentrate on doing what it needed doing with Blackwing and the Alya-mare.