------------- Tales of the Silver Gryphon - Amongst Thieves

They passed through what had probably been a busy road between factories, before the Foxmoor Sedition had all but destroyed business in this part of Dient. Now, it was just so much open ground to cover with huge, factory windows, most broken out now, some boarded up, watching them like the buildings themselves were alive. They moved thankfully without notice or encounter, at last reaching the doorway that held the symbol she'd been told to expect, a single, black rose laying on a barrel next to it.

Inside they were greeted by a dozen black shadows moving in the darkness. Sable raised her hands and made three quick movements with the hilt of her sword. One black clad form stepped forward.

"The assassin from the Black Mountain."

She couldn't tell whether it was a question or an observation. He looked over at JT and locked his stare on the lanky Wildrider. JT pushed the brim of his hat up a bit and smiled.

"You ain't keepin' very good company these days, Lieutenant."

Sable sneered at the figure and looked back at JT. JT pulled his brim back down.

"I'm retired."

"Up the stairs, there's a man at the door. But the lawman stays here where we can watch him."

Sable winked and started up, alone. At the top of the stairs she stopped in front of the guard who was supposed to keep her out if something went wrong. She wondered where they kept getting thugs stupid enough to think they could keep her from doing anything. She let him glare at her barely clad form for all of two seconds before she grabbed him by the throat and hefted his two hundred and forty pounds off the floor.

"You want to get out of my way? I've got a meeting with your boss."

Before he could choke out an apology, a voice came from inside and he twisted his head as far as he could to one side. Sable dropped him to his feet and pushed past. The chamber beyond the door was no less filthy than everything else on the south side of this filthy town. Smoke from lamps and somebody's pipe mixed with the stench and fog of the riverfront. Moths and tiny beetles buzzed around the lights, sending monster sized shadows flitting about the room. In one corner, not far from a window and a fire escape, stood her contact, Ellinscar Duskbringer, of the Midnight Rose, and the woman they'd come here to meet, a woman known only as Jett.

"So you're Sable, the counter-assassin. Ellinscar tells me so much about you."

"He better not."

"Well, he has been very tight lipped about your true identity, but that's not really important. Let's just say, I'm not exactly what I appear either."

"Cut the crap, Jett. You didn't come all the way to Dient to waste my time. You have some information or not?"

"Yes, actually I do. But it'll cost. But so you know its worth it, it involves an old friend of Ellinscar's, and the reason all this mess got stirred up in the first place. I can lead you to Augustus Rose."

------------- Credits

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