Page 49 of Storms & Sacrifice
Her eyes go wide. “Do you think we can expect another robbery forcharcoal?”
Nikka’s words jog something else from my memory. “Actually, I’m worried it might have already happened.” I stand and motion for herto follow.
I find Khazak in the front of the station talking with some officers and tap him on theshoulder.
“What is it?” He can see that I look hurried.
“Can I see the list from the first robbery? The missing militia shipment?” I need to seeexactlywhat wason there.
“The book is locked up in the evidence room.” He turns and dismisses the officers he was speaking to. “Let me help youfind it.”
We follow Khazak to the evidence room, which only he and a few others have access to. It’s filled with all sorts of shelves and boxes, each item belonging to a currently open case. Khazak heads straight for a bookshelf against the far wall, moving his hand along the spines as hesearches.
“Here we are.” He pulls the red book from the shelf, flipping through its singed pages. “You said you wanted to know what was in the missingshipment?”
“Yes, please.”I hopeI’m wrong.
“Alright, we have two-dozen steel longswords, ten set of full-plate armor, five chainmail tunics, 80 kilogramsof fuel—”
“What kind of fuel?” Nikkapipes up.
“Hmm, it does not specify, but given where it was coming from, I would assume charcoal,” Khazak says nonchalantly.
“Fuck.” Exactly what I didn’t want to hear.
“What is it?” Khazak looksconfused.
“Well, that, plus the sulfur from the church, and the saltpeter from the farmer equals...” I count off with my fingers in the air.
“Oh no.” Khazak connects the dots the same as we did, standing up straight. “I need to contact Chief Grandtooth and Deputy Keenguard. Officer Silentfang, please gather the files we have on all three cases. David, I need you to go to Deputy Rockfang’s home and ask him to come in. Meet back in my office as soon as possible.” He pauses. “And for now, please keep this to yourselves.”
“Yes, sir!” Nikka nods and salutes.
“You got it, Sir.” I am less formal.
We split up to take care of our respective assignments. Ragnar and Nylan live in the northwest from the station, kind of between our place and the park. A bleary-eyed Ragnar answers the door after a few knocks, and I apologize for waking him early before his shift tonight, explaining as much as I can in hushed tones.Thatwakes him up, and he throws on his uniform and comes back to the station with me. Khazak, Nikka, and Deputy Keenguard are all gathered and waiting for us when we arrive, but there’s no sign of Chief Grandtooth.
“The chief is unfortunately busy and unable to join us.” Khazak sighs, answering my question beforeI can ask.
“Bureaucrat,” Ragnar mumbles under his breath.
“I will be meeting with him later to discuss what we talk about here.” Khazak pretends like he didn’t hear that. “This is too importantto wait.”
“What is going on, Captain?” Keenguard crosses her arms, lookingconcerned.
“David said you found something important related to the robberies?” Ragnar repeats the words I used to get himdown here.
“If we are to believe that all three are connected, then as David and Officer Silentfang have discovered, it is possible our assailants have been gathering the ingredients to manufacture black powder.” Ragnar and Keenguard’s eyes both go wide. “Obviously, we need to take care of this immediately, but given our lack of information, I do not wish to cause an unnecessary panic. As it is, we will need to double patrols insideandoutside of the city. Everyone is working overtime for the foreseeable future.”
“Yes, sir,” Keenguard responds. Neither deputy looks happy about the news, but there aren’t many other options. “I will ask the officers to keep their ears to the ground for any rumors.”
“Thank you.” Khazak looks at Ragnar. “Deputy Rockfang, were you able to speak with the gate guards and find out if they had seen the blackcarriage?”
“I talked to them, but no one had seen anything. They didn’t even have anything in the visitor’s logs for the hours around when the farmer was attacked. They will report to us first thing if they see the carriage or learn something. Same goes for the rest of the squad.” Ragnar sits up straight, looking serious. “Sir, I know it’s not exactly protocol, but I think we should speak with Thog Grimrock again.”
“Given the seriousness of the situation, I was considering that myself, Deputy.” Khazak sighs. “Please contact the prison and arrange for Mr. Grimrock to be brought in for additional questioning.”
“Yes, sir.” He nods.
