15. Tatius, Take Two
Wheatie yawned and scratched his chin. He’d been waiting outside the Equestrian embassy for nearly twenty minutes. Crowd traffic must have been especially bad that morning, as Zanaya tended to be painfully prompt. She’d shown up for dinner exactly at seven, he’d been amused to note. They’d had an enjoyable time discussing the case. Wheatie grinned and tugged his collar.
In the street, the crowd of zebras was as thick as ever. He looked around idly, searching for a familiar face. The zebras weren’t impossible to tell apart, once you got used to the stripes.
“Hey, soldier boy.”
He smiled and turned. Zanaya was leaning against the side of the building and smirking. “Good morning.”
“You too. If it is still morning.”
She rolled her eyes. “There was a jam on Petra Boulevard. Took me almost half an hour to get to the precinct from my house.”
Wheatie’s eyes sharpened. “And?”
Zanaya smiled and nudged the satchel slung across her back. “Right in here.”
“I’m impressed. Less than a day to get a court order?”
“Well, I have a gifted tongue.” They both grinned at that. “The Marquis has lit a fire under their rears about the pirates. All you have to do is slap the word ‘Viper’ in your application and it cleaves right through the red tape.”
Wheatie snorted. “Well, then, let’s go have a chat with Tatius.”
The two crossed the street, dodging pedestrians. “So,” said Wheatie, stepping around a zebra with a bowl of fruit balanced precariously on her head, “how do you want to handle this?”
“You just have to stand there and be intimidating. I’ll try to coax him into giving us what we need.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Make threats. Not physical ones, please. Just let him know we can bury him in paperwork and legal fees. That usually makes them give up what they know.”
They reached the door to the Gryphan embassy. As they entered, the door swung shut behind them, muffling the noises of the city.
The griffon at the desk gave them a bored look. “You’re back.” His eyes flicked aside toward one of the two burly griffons standing guard near the door.
Zanaya scowled. “We’re here on Watch business.”
“Yes, you said that last time, too.”
Zanaya pulled out the little roll of parchment. “Do I need to read it to you? If you’d prefer, I can get a subpoena for everyone in this embassy. I’m sure the court wouldn’t mind losing another few hours of their time because you didn’t let me in.”
The griffon grimaced. “As you wish, Officer.”
Striding past him with Wheatie in tow, Zanaya moved deeper into the embassy to find the ambassador’s office.
Tatius’s secretary was doing paperwork. Her expression immediately turned cross when she saw the two of them approaching. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear. You aren’t talking to Ambassador Tatius without—”
Zanaya threw the parchment onto her desk. “Read it and weep, Sablefeather,” she said acidly.
Sablefeather's brow furrowed as she looked over the document. Leaving her to simmer in frustration, Wheatie pushed open the door and entered the office at last.
Tatius’s office was small, but opulent. Blood-red carpeting and wall curtains with gold trim smothered the room, sucking up the light from an oil lamp on the central desk. Tatius was seated behind the desk with his ambassadorial robes slung over the backrest. Wheatie couldn’t blame him for not wearing them; the tiny, windowless room felt like a sauna.
The griffon’s head jerked up in irritation. “Aetia! Who are these people? I told you I wasn’t to be—”
Zanaya stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. “The City Watch would like to ask you a few questions, Ambassador.”
Tatius’s eyes briefly shot down to the silver bracelet around her leg, before coming back up to rest on her face. He scowled. “Make it quick. I have work to do.”
Wheatie took up a post by the door, calmly watching the griffon. Tatius Gableclaw’s resemblance to his brother was slight, but recognizable. They both had the same hooked beak and narrow eyes, and judging by the ambassador’s tone, the same temper.
Zanaya began a slow pace, like a lioness stalking her prey. “We’ve been hearing interesting stories about you, Tatius.”
“Stories?” Tatius’s jaw worked in annoyance. “Skip the subtleties, Officer. What do you want to know?”
“For starters, I’d like to know what happened to the several dozen barrels of blackpowder missing from your warehouse.”
Tatius’s eyes widened. “Missing blackpowder? I trust you have proof of this. I'll need to speak with the portmaster.”
Ignoring him, she continued, “And I’d like to know why you were meeting someone in a back alleyway to smuggle unknown items—in barrels—to a known criminal organization.”
The griffon’s chest feathers puffed out. “What? You dare accuse me of smuggling?”
“Ambassador, the penalty for colluding with the Vipers is quite steep. You’re looking at a few months in prison and a hefty fine, at least, and that’s just if you communicated with them. Supplying them with explosives, well,” Zanaya smiled humorlessly, “that’s another level of crime altogether.”
Wheatie suppressed a smirk. Maybe there’d been some miscommunication, he’d thought Zanaya was supposed to be playing good cop.
“I have nothing to do with the pirates, or this missing blackpowder. I resent this bullying, Officer…”
“Zanaya.”
“Zanaya.” Tatius scribbled her name on a blank piece of parchment. “I want the names of your superiors. This is wanton abuse of power. I refuse to be interrogated like this in my own office!”
Wheatie’s eyes narrowed. “We can take you back to the precinct, if you’d prefer.”
The griffon gave him a closer examination. “You’re Equestrian Military.” He frowned uneasily.
“Very good. You may have heard of my commander.” He tapped his chest. Tatius saw the blue star insignia and his eyes widened. Wheatie smiled thinly. “This is the second time I’ve met a Gableclaw.”
“What?” Tatius blinked in surprise.
“I met your brother when we had him locked in the dungeons of Whitewall.” Wheatie slowly made his way toward the desk. “Captain Firemane nearly lopped his head off.” He gave a wistful sigh. “I learned a lot from her.”
Tatius swallowed. “Ah. Varius told me about that.” He frowned again, but with a nervous edge. “If you lay a claw on me, I’ll have your job.”
Wheatie’s smile vanished. “Have you considered I might not care?” His eyes burned. “Your brother’s forces murdered over sixty of my brothers and sisters at Whitewall. I wanted his head on a spike. I could settle for yours.”
Zanaya cleared her throat. “Sergeant, please, you’re scaring the suspect.”
Oops. No physical threats, right.
Tatius’s head jerked back to the zebra. “Suspect? These smuggling accusations are utterly baseless.”
“Oh, yes, I forgot. I’m afraid you’re also currently our prime suspect in the kidnapping of an Equestrian military officer and Princess Celestia’s personal ambassador.”
At that, Tatius’s cool demeanor finally cracked. He choked, rubbing a claw on his throat. “Firemane’s whelp? He’s been kidnapped?”
“Along with one of my best friends.” Zanaya slammed her hoof on the desk. “Every second you waste is another chance for them to kill her. So if you don’t start talking right now, I’m going to haul you off to a cell.” She bared her teeth. “Or maybe I’ll just leave you and the Sergeant alone for some private time.”
Wheatie growled helpfully.
“All right, all right! Fine!” Tatius’s head feathers were slick with sweat. “But I swear, I had nothing to do with your friend and that little mutant.”
Zanaya’s face could have been carved from ice. “Talk. Start at the beginning. You and blackpowder.”
Tatius sighed. “A few months ago… nearly a year, come to think of it, but it seems so much shorter…” He shook his head. “The pirate attacks have hit everyone in the Carriagibbean hard, and Grypha even more so thanks to that thrice-damned demilitarization treaty.”
Wheatie stamped a hoof in outrage. “If you thought we’d let you build another army so you could—”
Zanaya shushed him, then turned back to Tatius. “Continue.”
“We have virtually no naval power anymore. Under the treaty, we’re not allowed to crew warships, so our merchant vessels are entirely reliant on Equestrian and Zyran security.” Tatius made a dismissive noise. “Needless to say, it has been insufficient. We are lucky if one ship in ten is given an escort. King Aelianus ordered me to secure more protection for our shipping lanes from the Marquis. I tried negotiating with her…”
It was impossible not to laugh. Wheatie managed to convert it into a cough. Tatius gave him a dry look. “I take it you’ve met the Marquis.”
“Yes.” Wheatie grinned, despite himself. “I can guess what her answer was.”
“Quite.” Tatius shook his head again. “Your government and mine are not the only ones unhappy with the Marquis. The Dromedarians in particular have been hounding her about her naval activities, and it’s made her completely unwilling to listen to any of us. I was getting nowhere with her, and my king’s missives were growing increasingly… terse. I began to fear for my political career. One night I may have, erm, had a bit too much to drink, and made my grievances known to some people I shouldn’t have. Not long after that, I was contacted.”
“How?” asked Zanaya.
“A zebra gave me an emerald necklace and a letter. She told me to wear the necklace to the diner the letter mentioned, and to come alone. By this point the letters from my superiors were coming on a weekly basis. I took the chance.
“When I arrived, I was met by a rather strange pony. He had these piercing blue eyes, and wore a bulky cloak that didn’t quite cover the scar on his side. He told me his name was Viridian.”
Zanaya raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Viridian came to you himself?”
“Only once. I think he wanted to impress the seriousness of his offer on me. Our subsequent… interactions have all been through proxies.”
Zanaya stared at him intently. “And he was a pony? You’re sure about that?”
“He didn’t have any stripes, anyway. His coat was grey, he might well have been an albino zebra. But then his eyes would have been red, I suppose.” Tatius shrugged. “I don’t remember him that well, it was a short meeting.”
“And what did you do in this meeting?”
“He knew about my difficulties, and about the Gryphan fleet’s predicament. He made me an offer: in exchange for his pirates reducing the attacks on Gryphan vessels, I was to help him obtain blackpowder from Grypha’s stores.”
“Did he say why?”
“Of course not.” Tatius’s face flashed an irritated look. “I only asked if he would use them against Gryphan ships. He promised he wouldn’t, and since I had no real other option, I accepted.”
Wheatie tapped the desk. “How did you get the blackpowder?”
“It was easier than I expected. Since the war, we’ve had giant storehouses full of the stuff, lying around unused. A year or so after the treaty was signed, some bright bird had the idea to sell it to other countries for use in demolitions. Since we’re the only nation with the knowledge to make that devil’s brew, it gives us a much-needed trade monopoly. The substance is shipped through Zyre on a monthly basis. No one misses a few barrels here and there. I used my brother’s ex-military connections to contact the captains and have the barrels moved from their ships to the storehouses by workers supplied by the Vipers. They take their cut while the supplies are in transit.”
“I need a name, Tatius. Who is your contact?”
Tatius wiped his brow with a claw. “It was never the same one, and they’re nobody I would recognize again, just deckhands and sailors.” When Zanaya’s lips pursed, he swallowed. “Wait, wait! There was one, a Captain Zara… Zaka… Zahakis, that was it.”
Her eyes shot wide open. “What was the name of this captain’s ship?”
“It was some kind of sea bird. A pelican or… Albatross, I think.”
Zanaya choked. Wheatie, puzzled but not wanting to lose the initiative, stepped in. “If your contacts were different every time, how did you know when and where to meet the next one?”
“Whenever I met with one of them, they’d give me the date and location for the next meeting.” Tatius swallowed. “There was one permanent contact, in case I needed to get in touch with them. The one who gave me the necklace.” He looked strangely embarrassed. “Her name is Zedya. She works at an… establishment, in the northwest quarter. Forty-third street. The Bareback Rider.”
Zanaya, still looking shaken, stood stiffly upright. “That’ll do for now. Thank you for your time, Ambassador.”
Tatius nervously twirled a quill in his claws. “Please, listen to me. Everything I’ve done has been to help my country. Without the trade from Zyran ports, we’d be even more dependent on Equestria than we already are. Would you do any different, were your country’s independence on the line?”
Wheatie well-remembered the desperation of fighting for Equestria’s continued freedom from Grypha. He gave Tatius an even look. “I suppose not.”
Zanaya nudged him. “Sergeant, let’s go.”
They left, passing a glowering Aetia Sablefeather on the way out. That is one angry griffon, Wheatie thought with amusement. If looks could kill, Zanaya would be leaving the embassy in a bag.
Wheatie waited until they had reemerged onto the street before he spoke. “When he mentioned that Captain Zahakis fellow, you looked like you’d swallowed dragon piss. Mind telling me what’s going on?”
Zanaya shook her head. “I’m not sure. But that ship… the Albatross was destroyed when its cargo of wine and rum exploded on board two weeks ago, and Zahakis was killed. That’s the case I was on when Tyria disappeared.”
Wheatie looked at her sharply. “Wine and rum?”
“So we thought…” Zanaya swallowed. “It gets stranger. Tyria was on the ship just before it blew up. She was guarding Ambassador Milliden, who was having a meeting with Captain Zahakis.”
Wheatie instantly thought back to the Ambassador boarding the Dromedarian ship near the Gryphan warehouse. “I’ll be damned. You think Milliden’s involved in this somehow?” Or Tyria? Wheatie knew better than to say the latter.
Zanaya bit her lip. “For now, let’s focus on this contact of Tatius’s.”
Reluctantly nodding, he asked, “Do you know where this place he mentioned is?”
Zanaya’s nervousness vanished as she snorted. “It’s a brothel on the upper west side. Popular place. Exceptional service, with a price to match.”
Wheatie bit his tongue before asking how she knew.
“I doubt we’ll be able to get in to see this ‘Zedya’ before nightfall. The Watch isn’t very popular in the red light district. We’ll have better luck if we wait until nightfall and pose as customers. Nopony will look twice at a soldier and his girlfriend.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Still, you'd better leave the uniform. Wear something casual.”
“Wonderful.” Wheatie hated nighttime missions. He always ended up red-eyed and grouchy the next day. “Do a lot of couples end up in these places?” he asked dryly.
“You’d be surprised.” Zanaya gave him a cheeky grin. “Want to head back to my place for some coffee?”
“Sure. I have a feeling we’re going to be up all night anyway.”
She winked at him. “Oh, yes.”
Definitely a good catch, Wheatie. He grinned back. But which of us is holding the net, I wonder? After a moment’s consideration, he decided he didn’t particularly care.
They set off into the streets. Wheatie found himself whistling. And to think, he’d expected this assignment to be boring.
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
879 users online
1,149,015 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yes! An update!
dammit celestia when rye gets back you'd better heal him. don't give us the excuses we know you can and at the end f this he's earned it twice over.
3124091 Heal him of what? Being a pegacorn is a bit more fundamental than being healable.
3125779 the branding... the entire reason for his character break down, a central point to the last few chapters centering on him?
3125781 But the brand itself isn't really the cause for the breakdown or problems, that was the feeling of betrayal that he got when Tyria did it. Pretty much entirely mental and not really able to be healed accept through time.
3125786 the physical mark itself still presents an issue. it's degrading and his life is degrading enough without it.
I'm pleased you're back DSNesmith, and with a good couple of chapters to boot
Although I must admit, it is a bit weird to have perspective flips between torture and borderline flirting. Since Rye got captured several chapters ago, this story's lost its romance tag in my mind -- sure, the romance is there in writing, but the torture completely kills any sort of romantic feel.
Now, call me crazy, but your books are feeling an awful lot like the Earthsea Cycle.
3205768
You know, I've never actually read them. I've been meaning to get around to it.
3206609
You should! They're all kinda short, but they're very, very good. ... just don't read the last one, Tehanu. It's like Dune. Stop at Children of Dune and you can still hold the books in a high regard.
Wheaties gonna get laaaaaaaaaaaid~