Ilysveil: Den of Delirium
by J. H. Zech
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Table of Contents parts: 1, 2, 3 |
part 1
The elf in a crisp suit set down his white cup on its saucer. “Bleh. This oolong tea as you called it doesn’t agree with me.” The lazy afternoon sun drifting through the drawing room window reflected off his pale skin, which made his long ears and combed blond hair radiate a kind of holy aura he didn’t deserve.
Tanisse crossed her svelte arms. “Dainritter, I wasn’t asking for your personal preferences. Do you think you’re capable of selling it?”
“You humans have remarkably poor taste, even eating animal flesh. I bet I could sell anything as food to you all.”
“Let’s not get into an argument over vegetarianism again. How much are you willing to buy?”
“Hmm... How about I start with two thousand kilograms of leaves? I want to test the waters with my distributors in Ilysveil before I commit to buying any more.”
Tanisse drew out an envelope and a pen from inside her scarlet buttoned coat. She unfolded the contract and laid it out on the tea table. She filled in the quantity line with 2000 and pushed the paper to Dainritter. “Sign, please.”
“You had this all ready. I have a feeling I may have agreed to this too easily. I can see why the head honchos at the Ilysveilan Trading Company were willing to let a woman handle the negotiations.” Despite Dainritter’s grumbling, he signed the contract.
“Thank you very much!” She folded up the contract and put it back in her coat with a smile.
“I signed your contract, so stop smiling like that. It’s so fake it gives me the chills.”
Tanisse laughed heartily and flipped back her shoulder-length black hair. “Coming from an elf, the masters of feigned politeness, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
A knock came on the drawing room door.
“Come in,” Tanisse said.
A short dragonborn man in a suit came in and bowed. His pointed, red-scaled ears on top of his head folded down as he bowed. It was a cute trait the dragonborns had, but Tanisse refrained from remarking, for relations between humans and dragonborns were already tense, and she didn’t want to add fuel to the fire accidentally.
“Ms. Windham, Chief Schuster wants to see you,” the dragonborn said.
“I’ll be right there. Thank you, Wudao.” Tanisse stood up and reached out her hand to Dainritter. “I’ll see you tomorrow to work out the delivery schedule.”
Dainritter stood and shook her hand. He stepped out of the room with the punctual briskness of a merchant who had another meeting on his schedule.
After he had left, Tanisse followed Wudao out of the drawing room. “How was your vacation?”
“It was good. I finally had a chance to visit my mother and sister up north for the Lunar New Year holidays.”
“Are they doing well?” she asked.
“My sister’s... been having a hard time, but I think it’s over now.” Wudao had a bittersweet expression on his face as he said that.
“I see. May the gods smile upon her.” Led by Wudao, she went up the stairs of the large office mansion to the Chief’s room. She knocked on the polished double doors.
“Come in,” a gruff voice said from inside.
She pushed the doors in and entered. At the end of a spacious carpeted room was a wide desk stacked with papers. The grey-haired chief in a white suit sat at the desk in front of the window.
“You called for me, Chief Schuster?”
“I suppose you’ve wrapped up negotiations with Dainritter?” the Chief asked.
“Yes, sir,” she said politely.
“Good. I’ve another matter for you to attend to.”
“Another matter? I thought that was the last of the contracts.”
“One of our people has gone missing. He hasn’t been seen in four days.”
“That’s terrible. I shall contact the police at once. What’s his name?”
Chief Schuster waved his hand, and his face grew dark. “No, no police.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Simon Phansby. He’s in our opium department, though on the books he’s in the tea division. From what I’ve heard, he was visiting one of the dens. But opium is illegal here in Centrosis. If we involve the police, and they find out we’ve been dealing opium, this will become a diplomatic incident between Ilysveil and Centrosis. I need you to go look for him, quietly. No one will suspect much since you’re just a secretary.” He drew out a checkbook from a drawer then slid it over the table to her. “In case you need to make someone talk... or shut them up.”
Tanisse had always known the Ilysveilan Trading Company had some shady dealings, but she had wanted to make an honest living clocking out and living it up, so she had never involved herself in those dealings. As a result, she had been able to turn a blind eye to various misdeeds. But with the Chief ordering her to rescue someone illicitly dealing opium, that was no longer possible.
Whatever had happened to Simon, he had probably gotten his comeuppance. Of course, she couldn’t say that to Chief Schuster with her paycheck on the line. “Understood. I’ll head out immediately.” She took the checkbook and put it in her coat. Missing for four days in a faraway land where many locals detested Ilysveilans. Tanisse sensed that this wasn’t going to end well for anyone, no matter what the truth was.
* * *
The scenery rapidly changed from the marble arches and brick roads surrounding the trading company’s office and the Ilysveilan exclusive zone to dirt roads with various pungent smells coming from the local merchants selling everything from pao cai to fermented soybean paste. The dragonborns mostly sat on a rug laid out over the dirt and had many foods for display in bowls and dishes.
It was nearing the end of winter in February, and the dragonborns took some extreme measures to endure the cold. They had wrapped their thick, reptilian tails in patterned cloths. One elderly man wearing a bowl-shaped black hat with his braided queue sticking out the back smoked a pipe while a younger dragonborn man, presumably his son, peddled dishware.
Against the backdrop of wooden shanties, business was booming and, while Tanisse usually enjoyed the scenery as an employee of a trading company, the thought of opium and illicit trades at the back of her mind made this street feel dreary today.
Regardless, she had not come to shop. Her destination lay beyond the streets in the public eye. Past a few alleys, there was an unlabeled wooden house with sliding doors. Even without any label, the smell of opium permeated the alley from that building. Couldn’t they at least have the decency to use some purification magic in the vicinity? she thought.
Tanisse slid the door open and entered holding her nose. A middle-aged centaur in red robes at the front counter looked up and scanned down. “You sure you want to wear that here? The smell will get on your nice clothes.”
“I’m not here to smoke. Have you seen a human man within the last four days? I’m his secretary and can’t find him anywhere. I fear he may be playing hooky and whiling his time away at a den.”
The centaur chuckled. “Have I seen a human man? Yes. Several of them, in fact. You may not know this, dearie, but it’s quite common for humans from the Ilysveilan zone to come here for a smoke. I don’t remember everyone that comes and goes here. You’re free to look around, though.”
“Thank you... er?”
“Madam Ningli. And if you want to thank me, recommend my den to your associates. More business is always welcome.”
Tanisse advanced into the dark wooden corridor next to the front counter. There were several rooms on each side of the corridor, each with a single reddish magitech lantern lighting up the room just enough to see some figures with shadows cast over them. From the silhouettes of their ears on top and tails, she could tell they were dragonborns, and there was a centaur among them too.
She glimpsed some of the dragonborns’ reptilian eyes; they were glazed over, giving the faces the impression of dead fish. Tanisse had known it on some level all along, but seeing it up close, she understood that the “light of civilization” Ilysveil was spreading in Centrosis was nothing more than the glow of a dim lamp in an opium den.
Further in the back was a room with human shapes.
“Simon, are you here?”
No one answered, though even if Simon were here, he might not be in a state of mind to respond. Tanisse bent over and examined each person’s face closely. None of them was Simon. Maybe he’s at a different den,” she thought.
“Simon? Simon. Simon!”
Tanisse jumped back at the sudden outburst. A disheveled man in a stained white shirt was skittering towards her feet. Disgusting. She stepped in front of his face to prevent him from advancing further. “Who are you?”
“Ma-matthew.”
A little embarrassed at her knee-jerk reaction, she lifted her foot and helped him sit up against the wall. “Alright, Matthew. Why were you saying ‘Simon’ just now? Do you know him?”
“That bastard! He tricked me! Evil. Evil. Won’t forgive!” Matthew shuddered.
Matthew wouldn’t be of much help in this state. Tanisse returned to the front counter. “Do you know any magic that can make the opium wear off?”
Madam Ningli put her hands on her hips, or at least where the hips would be were she human. “Now, listen here: just because I’m a centaur, you can’t assume I know shamanic magic or anything.”
“So, do you or don’t you?” Tanisse did not have to say what she thought: I don’t have time for nonsense.
Madam Ningli sighed. “I do, but using it really tires me out, so I’d rather not. If you’re in such a rush, why not use one of those magitech devices you Ilysveilans are so proud of?”
“Such technology doesn’t exist yet. I need to talk to Matthew now.” Tanisse pulled out the company checkbook and scribbled down “One Hundred Golds” then tore it with the satisfying ripping sound of a check and handed it to Madam Ningli.
Her face lit up, and her horse-like ears on top of her head wiggled with joy. “I’ll see what I can do.” Madam Ningli clopped into the corridor. “Where is he?”
“In the back room, around the corner.”
When they entered the room, Matthew was where she had left him, sitting against the wall, hugging his knees.
“It’s him.” Tanisse pointed.
Madam Ningli went up to him, then bent down to examine him. She forced open his eyes.
“Ugh...” Matthew groaned.
“He’s quite the heavy user. I’ll try my best, but don’t expect a miracle. This spell only accelerates his own body’s recovery process.” Her fingertip glowed with green energy, and she drew a sigil in the air with the trailing energy. She blew on the sigil, and Matthew glowed green briefly. “Give it a few minutes.”
He gradually regained his senses and blinked.
“Matthew? Do you know where you are?” Madam Ningli asked.
“Yes... I’m at the den. My head feels light.”
“Thank you,” Tanisse said to Madam Ningli, who took the hint and graciously gave them some room. “If you want to talk in private, the room next door is empty.”
Tanisse helped Matthew up, and they relocated to the next room over.
“Now, tell me what your relationship to Simon is.”
“He and I are rival distributors to the opium dens. On the best days, we didn’t exactly get along, but we tolerated each other. Fair’s fair in business, and there’s no sense in holding grudges. Both of us were aiming at a large contract with a new den that had opened up recently.
“Out of the blue, he asks to talk to me. I knew he was likely trying to trick me into some kind of deal that favored him, but I at least wanted to hear him out. I couldn’t have imagined that he would go so far as to spike my tea. He must have brought me to this den and drugged me up more with some opium. I can’t remember what happened next until you brought me to my senses.”
“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?” Tanisse asked. His dislike of Simon sounded genuine, but there was no way to verify his story. In fact, he could have embellished it to hurt Simon’s image, not that Tanisse had any interest in that matter.
“With me out of the way, he likely visited the big den down two streets to secure the deal. What a scoundrel.” Matthew struck the wall. “Wait... who exactly are you?”
“I’m his secretary. The boss sent me to look for him. Do you remember when you met Simon?”
“What’s today’s date?”
“February 23rd.”
“I met with him on the 20th, so I’ve been out for roughly three days.” He sighed and brushed his hand against his short, shaggy beard. “I must look awful right now.”
Simon had been last seen on the 19th, so if Matthew’s testimony was true, then he was at least alive on the 20th. Simon seemed to be quite the schemer; she didn’t care much to help him, but it was going to be trouble later if Simon’s body turned up somewhere and the fault was put on her negligence. Tanisse decided to find him as quickly as possible, clock out, and wash her hands of this matter. “Where will you be staying? I may have to get in touch with you later.”
“The Ilysveilan Imperial Hotel.”
“You can clean yourself up there. Good day to you.” Tanisse exited the den and headed for the large den Madam Ningli had spoken of.
* * *
Copyright © 2021 by J. H. Zech
