Page 50 of Storms & Sacrifice
The rest of the day is spent running around the city, passing along information or gathering people for meetings. Even Ragnar, who I figured would go back home to finish sleeping before his shift sticks around to help. By the time Khazak and I finally leave that night, he’s still hard at work.I’m actuallyimpressed.
“So, is it just me or does it seem like Ragnar’s been working harder than usual?” I ask after starting thewalk home.
“No, I have noticed it as well. It is a nice change of pace.” Khazak grimaces at his own words. “That sounded bad. Ragnar is a wonderful deputy—he would not hold the position otherwise—but he has not always taken the job very seriously. I am happy to see him growing into the ranger I know he can be.”
“He just needed a kick in the ass to get him moving. Probably helps that we figured out our enemy might be cooking up something explosive.”Nothing like a little danger to get people acting serious.
“There is something I was curious about,” Khazak starts. “I hope this does not offend you but... how did you figurethat out?”
“Why? Doesn’t seem like something a dummy like me would know?” I look over to my right to catch the wince Khazak makes when I ask.
“I apologize. I should know by now not to underestimate you,” he admits. “Was it something your brother taught you?”
“Actually, you can thank the academy for that one.” I remember the lesson well. “Lutheria is on a really big island, but it’s still an island. Using canons is something they actually still teach.”
“I had not considered that.” Khazak tiltshis head.
“It wasn’t like we were making the black powder ourselves, but the instructors still wanted us to know how it worked.” Just one of many things they drilled into our heads. “CSS: charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter.”
“Thankfully, given our location, I do not think we will have to worry about canons much.” He’s got a point.
“No, but they could still make some nasty bombs.”That’s not what I’m really thinking about though.“But what I’m more worried about is rifles. Guns. Do you guys use those around here for hunting?” I haven’t noticed any,at least.
“Not generally, no.” Khazak frowns. “Aside from the fact that they are loud and scare off everything you aren’t aiming at, bullets have a tendency to fragment, which can leave meat inedible or damage something else. We try not to waste any part of our kills here.”
“Then hopefully our thieves haven’t taken a sudden interest in firearms.” I have no idea how difficult it would be to get your hands on one around here.
“Yes, hopefully.” I can tell I just gave Khazak a whole new set of worries. “Do you have any experience with them yourselves?”
“Not really.” Nothing more than what I’ve seen at least. “About halfway through last year the academy started to train a rifle contingent but... I don’t really know how well it was going. It was dangerous. One guy died when his own gun backfired on him. I avoided the whole thing.”
“Not the wrong idea, I think.” Glad that makestwo of us.
We go in bright and early the next morning to find Ragnar waiting for us. He looks tired, probably on his fifth or sixth cup of coffee, but he seems oddly collected. He stands whenwe enter.
“Captain.” Ragnar salutes, his turn to be in full business mode. “Mr. Grimrock is in the interrogation room. We are ready to start when youare, sir.”
“Lead the way, Deputy.” Khazak returns the salute, sharing a small look of surprise with me at Ragnar’s continuedhard work.
The two of us follow him to the interrogation room where a guard has been posted outside. He’s wearing a uniform that is different from the others I’ve seen.Must be from the prison.Entering the room reveals Thog seated and cuffed to the table, another guard in a similar uniform standing next to him.
“Are we finally getting started?” Thog grouses from his side ofthe table.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Grimrock.” Ragnar sits at the table while Khazak and I stand inthe back.
“Let me guess: I am here because of something I could not have possibly had anything to do with?” Thog asks fromhis seat.
“Not a bad guess.”Yeah, a ‘guess.’“There has indeed been anotherrobbery.”
“Well, I have been locked in a cell since I last saw you, so I am not sure what you need from me.” The imprisoned orc rollshis eyes.
“What’s interesting about this robbery is that, just like the last one, only a single thing was stolen. Want to take a guess at what?” Thog only cocks an eyebrow and shakes his head no. “Flauk. Saltpeter. Fertilizer. And the time before that, the only thing taken was brimstone. Something about that just seems really odd to me. For the last two nights, all I could think about was why would someone steal saltpeter and brimstone?”
“Now, when we include the robbery youclaimto have committed, some of my colleagues were able to make a pretty troubling connection,” Ragnar continues, sounding incredibly put together for someone who’s been up all night. “One of the things in the militia shipment you said you ‘destroyed’ was charcoal. Do you know what you get when you combine charcoal, saltpeter, and brimstone?” Thog shakes his head no again. “Black powder. Do you know what that is?” Another headshake. “It’s a powder that explodes when it’s ignited. People use it to fire cannons, or rifles, or to build bombs.”
Thog’s posture goes still, but he remains silent.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Thog. If that’s what this person or these people are doing, then I’m worried. I believe you when you say that you don’t know anything about these robberies. Really. But I know you knowsomething, and I need you to tell me whatthat is.”
