Two

The woman’s name was Faelana, and it turns out my assumptions were correct. She was an elven noble, and that was gonna make things a little more difficult.

First off, it meant there was gonna be a lot of attention surrounding this case. Something I didn’t want. There’d most likely be journos hanging around, trying to get a scoop. Heck, I’d probably have one of the vultures tailing me most of the case.

It also meant because it involved a human, engaged to an elvish noble, that there was going to be some kind of political strain surrounding this whole affair. That was going to make things a little interesting. The strain on the truce was already at breaking point, once word got out about this, I hated just thinking about it.

I walked Faelana out of the building, and subconsciously gave her my coat, because of the cold rain.

We waited outside until her fancy elk-drawn carriage showed up. She used some magic speaking stone to call for it.

When the carriage pulled up, my imagination ran wild on what the worth of the thing would be. Fancy timber and golden filigree. There was precious gems all around it too. It was black and dark red in colour, not at all safe for night travelling, you wouldn’t see the darned thing until it was too close on ya.

I opened the door for her. Normally the driver would do that sort of thing, but these fancy carriages didn’t have a driver. No, the elk knew exactly where to go. And I supposed if there was a noble inside, they didn’t dare want to set foot on the cement of Edge City. To get wet and possibly cold.

“You aren’t going to come into Aerūn with me?” As she stepped into the carriage, it turned out I was right again, a rare thing for me. Aerūn was the name of the place where all these fairyfolk lived. That was its real name, or locally known as Fantasy Park, that name rubbed most of the fairyfolk to wrong way.

There was an elven noble sitting inside the carriage. A sickly-looking fella. His skin was a pale grey and he had dark rings around his eyes. His hair was platinum and he looked real bony like. Like a dried-out husk. A living cadaver.

One more thing caught my eye as I looked him over. He had on his fingers two rings with giant stones. They were so big, they was fighting for space on his hand. Why they were worn on the fingers next to each other, I don’t know. Looked a bit ridiculous, but then again, what would I know? I only ever had one ring on my finger and didn’t get to keep it for long.

“Nah, that’s okay. I prefer to go in on foot, helps me think better. Have a good evening madam, and stay safe.”

“Is this the best you could do, Faelana?” his voice had that snooty tone that made me instantly want to sock him in the face. No matter what he said, it would feel like he was talking down on ya.

“Yes, father. All the others were busy. But I’ve got a good feeling about him, I know he can do it.” I gave a grin but made sure not to show my teeth.

“If you don’t mind madam, can I please have my coat back? I’m all wet out here now, but it’ll help keep me warm.” Faelana pulled my oversized trench coat off and handed it to me.

“Oh, you poor thing. You must be freezing. Here, I can fix that.” She waved her hand and it started to glow a faint red.

I felt this strange rush of warm air lift through my body. A real gust. And in a moment, I was bone dry. As were my clothes and even my coat and hair. I quickly shouldered the coat.

“Thanks for that. I’ll be going in tonight, but I won’t come speak to till tomorrow. I’ve gotta sus the place out first. See you tomorrow, madam.”

“Thank you…I’m sorry, I never caught your name.”

“Clay. Vince Clay.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mister Clay.”

“Vince is fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, madam.”

“You can call me Faelana.” And with that, the door was slammed shut before she had a chance to sit down. The elk pulled the carriage away and I was left standing there in the rain.

“That magic sure was handy, I’ve gotta see if I can learn something like that.” I pulled my lucky coat tighter around me and walked in the opposite direction, along the wall of Fantasy Park.

After close to twenty minutes of walking, I arrived at one of the gates of Fantasy Park.

Next to the gate was a squat building that was the office for the guards. There was always one human and one fairyfolk. I didn’t recognise the human on duty, but I recognised Spritz, the purple-skinned, loudmouth gnome.

“I need entrance into Fantasy Park,” I said. The human was startled but Spritz jumped out of the glass-less window and gave me a hug.

“Hey there, Vince. It’s been a little while. How’re you going?” I gave Spritz an awkward hug back and looked down at her. Her large eyes were beaming at me.

“Yeah Spritz, I’m good. I need entrance into the Park, please.”

“Um, sorry there sir. But have you got the correct paperwork?” The human guard was a pimple-faced man that looked as though he had barely left his teens. I’d had back pain longer than this kid had been alive.

“Ah, he’s alright Jezza. This guy is good to go.” Spritz went to pull the lever to open the gate.

“Don’t call me Jezza.” This kid’s voice was so grating, it took everything I had to not cover my ears with my hands.

“Sorry, Jeremy. Look, this is Vince Clay, if I say he can go in, he can go in.”

“He needs the proper paperwork, Spritz. We can’t just let anyone in all willy-nilly.” This kid was about to throw into conniptions.

“Jeremy, my name is Vince Clay. I’m a detective, and I’ve just been hired by madam Faelana to investigate a murder. I need to be let in.”

“Oh shit, what happened?” Spritz asked.

“I can’t say, not just yet. But please, let me in.”

“Okay, fine. But Spritz can pull the lever when I’m not looking. That way I can say I wasn’t a part of it.”

“Good kid, thanks.” Spritz pulled the lever and the mechanism of the gate clashed together as the gate opened. I nodded to Spritz and entered the Park.