Undercurrent: Part I

The way Adam saw it, a city was nothing but some small villages all jammed into a tight space.

Take Camelot, for instance. There were the castle folk, the merchants, the artisans, and the mariners, all living in their own areas, keeping to themselves for the most part like distrustful villagers would up in the hills.

And then there was The Hook. The Hook was a village as well, in Adam's considered opinion, but more like one belonging to the wilder clans further back in the hills where outsiders were rarely trusted. That was why Adam enjoyed the foot patrols here each night.

The Hook reminded him of home.

He chuckled to himself as he neared the Market Gate and the wall dividing The Hook from the rest of the city. It had been a quiet night except for that gang of ragamuffins throwing rocks at the back wall of Fat Henry's Tavern. Adam had broken them up with a few stern words, but he had little doubt they'd all be back at it by the time he'd cleared the Gate. That damn Cador had stirred them all up again by cuffing some boy the other day. Someone should teach that bully a lesson and Adam hoped he'd get the chance to do it himself.

He reached the Gate, exchanged some insults with the guards who'd drawn the short straw tonight, then continued on towards the last leg of his rounds. A right turn took him down a side street that led from the market place towards some warehouses by the docks. These were older buildings, falling into disuse since the docks here were for the most part those that had been at the edge of the dock fire of several years back and still needed some repair. Captain Blackthorn had added them to the night patrol lately for some reason he wasn't talking about, but that was none of Adam's business. The sooner he finished up this shift, the sooner he could go off duty and have a mug of ale with the lads.

Something moved off to Adam's left down one of the alleyways between the buildings. "Who's that?" He took a step forward, listening, then shook his head and turned away. "Nothing but a wharf rat, Adam." he scolded himself ruefully.

Then something scraped across wood, and the guardsman swore softly to himself. If it were a rat, it would have to be a damn big one to make that much noise. He lifted his torch higher and reaching for his sword hilt, took a few cautious steps into the alley.

Something hit him hard in the side of his head, and he fell forward into the darkness.

*****

"Huw? Huw, is that you?"

Jera looked out of the doorway of the Harper Hall to watch the small figure cross from out of the shadows by the Trade Home. She'd just opened the door a moment ago on her way to join Ashe for dinner at their home when the slight movement had caught the elf's attention. She smiled to herself at the boy's expression. Poor Huw had forgotten how well elves see even at night. "Well, you're out late! Did you think to visit your sister? You know they're all abed by this time of night, don't you?"

She dropped down to sit on the edge of the doorstep, leaving the door open behind her. The light from within was enough to give a clearer view of Huw's face and it seemed to Jera the boy looked paler than usual. He nodded his head, and as he did, slipped his hand towards the sling thrust through the belt of his tunic, trying to cover It up perhaps before she saw it. Jera sighed. "Oh Huw. You've been at Cador's again, haven't you? Don't you realize hate does you no good?"

Jera reached out to take his hand, but Huw shrugged away, and then bolted past her into the hall without a word. She twisted where she sat to watch him scramble up the stairs for his bed, then stood and shut the door/ "Well, that's a first. I've never had a child run away from me." She gave a perplexed frown and started up off the street, and the fact that the human boy had been standing at the north end of the Home, the end closest to The Gate, didn't cross her mind.

*****

The Lady Elspeth was the pride of the expanding O'Donnell fleet of ships, and two days later it sat at anchor just inside the northern end of Camelot Harbor by Pendragon Point. Thomas could have brought her in on the midnight tide if he'd a mind to, but a lone ship docking at night might draw attention as being suspicious and the last thing any O'Donnell ship captain wanted was to draw the attention of the BlackWatch. So he'd dropped anchor here, issued the crew an extra ration of ale, and ridden out the night here, intending to put in with the morning tide, just another ship in the day's traffic at the dock. Considering the passengers he had aboard, he was sure that was the best course of action to take.

The dawn broke warm and bright and as was his habit with the crew after they'd been drinking, he was up first to rouse the men from their bunks. But this morning it seemed someone else had awoke before him, for when he came out on deck Padraig the cabin boy was leaning over a rail and noisily saluting the dawn with the contents of his stomach.

"Padraig! Morning to you, lad!" Thomas called cheerfully, crossing over to give the boy a resounding smack to the shoulders. This brought the expected continuance of the poor boy's misfortune, and Thomas almost felt a bit guilty. But if his crew were too hung over to raise much of a ruckus when the Lady Elspeth tied up dockside, so much the better for Thomas' purpose. His passengers needed to land unnoticed.

Padraig tugged at his sleeve, and Thomas backed cautiously away lest his clothes become a target, but the cabin boy pointed over the side. "There's someone down there!"

"You're seeing things, boy!" But when Thomas looked over the rail at the water, the face staring up at him from the water below was not his own.

It was the face of a dead man, and the man was dressed in the uniform of the damn BlackWatch.