The Beast of the North by Alaric Longward

to, but only barely. I dodged to a tiled alleyway where Bear’s two bald men were waiting.
    Kallir grabbed me and pulled me aside, his eyes seeking danger, hand on a short dagger. ‘Well?’ he asked. ‘Why are you rushing about like that?’ They were both short, powerful men. Both were well suited to Bear’s profession of robbing people out in the wide roads of the Red Midgard, but they were very much at ease in the streets of the city as well.
    ‘I went up there,’ I told him as if the world was about to end.
    ‘Lith asked you? Never asked me. Lucky boy,’ Kallir said with a leer. ‘Of course, if she were to see how ugly you really are, she’d rather not.’
    I stared at him, blushing. ‘I did not—’
    He sneered. ‘You didn’t do anything? Never mind. Makes no difference,’ he breathed, and I cursed as they rolled eyes at each other.
    ‘Something like that,’ I told him and tried to change the subject. ‘It is all set then. Did you find out what you need?’
    They nodded. Kallir pointed at the north side of the Third Ring. ‘I followed him for a week. He has keys to the mint,’ Kallir said.
    Molun continued. ‘In his belt. I know because I’ve seen them. But I also found out something more. From a doctor.’ He leaned closer, and I resisted the urge to push him back. He stank of sweat and garlic. ‘The keys are forged into a chain, and the chain is crafted to his bone. I paid silver for that bit of knowledge. This doctor once treated him and had to rummage around his rear end a bit. Saw the chain in the flesh.’
    ‘Gruesome,’ I breathed. ‘Bone?’
    ‘Gruesome? Really?’ Kallir asked, looking very confused, and then shrugged. ‘Bone, flesh? I don’t care. Anyway, this is the process: we switch you up. He or you will walk up there, arrogant as shit. You will open the first door to the mint, and then you ask for the day’s passphrase from the two guards. Then you’ll go in and tell this phrase to some fool inside. The mint’s never been robbed, and I know nothing about what is inside. But this is the way inside anyway.’
    ‘But I’ll take his face and clothes …’ My eyes went round with suspicion. ‘And the key?’
    ‘We will handle that,’ Kallir said with a grin. ‘It’s just a bone. Of flesh.’
    ‘But I don’t want it to be stuck in mine, that chain,’ I said, and half asked.
    ‘Don’t worry. We’ll just tie the chain in on your pants. Have to extract the chain first, of course,’ Molun said happily. He had a broad, simple smile, and I had to remind myself we were talking about a murder.
    ‘Won’t it make a mess?’ I asked and decided it did not matter as they looked at me blankly. I shrugged, and the rogues finally nodded, in full agreement that it was a meaningless fact. I leaned on them. ‘She says she is worried about her payment. She has been making a lot of coin off him.’
    Molun patted my back as if to calm me. It was somewhat insulting. ‘We will pay her. Pay her very well. What has she got from him? A coin or two? This will make her rich. And don’t worry about anything, the body included. It is a whorehouse. They sell corpses to strange people all the time. No questions asked, and some strange priest gets to experiment on an excellent, noble stiff. Lith will be happy,’ Molun noted and pushed me playfully, not unlike a horse would kick. After I had picked myself up, I smiled and nodded.
    ‘Tomorrow, then,’ Kallir said. ‘Let us leave. Molun will stay and keep an eye on things. And an ear.’
    ‘Fine,’ I said, and so Kallir pulled a cowl over his face and hiked me to the gates, provided false documents to the utterly bored guards, and we left Dagnar. We walked to the Haybolt Stables, saddled the horses, and rode away to the west by the wide Broken Crown Road, and soon we were heading northwest, as the road followed the cliffs over the Arrow Straits. Then, after an hour of riding, we guided our horses off the main road, skirted a tavern and a