I supposed I should start by finding out who my target was.
I finished my sugar wine and gestured the waiter over. He picked up the empty glass with trembling hands. "Anything else, sir?"
I pulled out three sheets of pressed copper, twice what the wine cost. "Do you know anyone named Lisim Sarr?"
The waiter stared at me like he thought I was playing a trick.
"Well?" I asked. "Do you?"
"No, sir."
I studied his face carefully, but I saw no hint that he was lying. No matter. I hadn't expected things to go that easily.
"Ah, well," I told him. "Thank you anyway."
I pushed away from my table and walked out of the bar, leaving the waiter shivering in my wake. I needed an inn. It was ridiculous, that I should have to stay in an inn in my own city, but under no circumstances could I return to the Order's manor house unless my commission was complete. And so I traveled through the shadows to the pleasure district, where I would have to endure filthier rooms but fewer questions. I selected an inn close to the docks and requested a room that looked over the sea. The sea and the river aren't the same, of course, but the lapping of the waves reminded me of Leila.
After I paid for my room, I asked the innkeeper the same question I had asked the waiter at the bar.
"Sarr?" he said, caught unawares.
I nodded.
"No, I don't --" His eyes flicked away from me. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of him, no."
I leaned close and drew out the shadows enough that they crawled over the counter. The innkeeper stumbled backward.
"You shouldn't lie to me," I said.
"I ain't lying, honest -- I've heard the name, but I don't -- don't know him. Don't want to know him." He tossed the key at me. I caught it, and the shadows retreated into the light.
"Where have you heard the name?"
"Here and there, you know. The girls don't like him." He jerked his head in the direction of the street. "I always give 'em a free meal if they bring their business here, and I've heard 'em whispering."
"That's it? You've only heard his name from the street girls?"
"Nah, you hear it from others sometimes too. But I don't know nothing about him, I swear. It's just a name."
"Thank you for your cooperation," I said. This had turned out more useful than I might have expected, and it made sense that an innkeeper in the pleasure district would know of a dangerous man. If Sarr was indeed as dangerous as Leila was claiming.
Doubtful.
In my room, I locked the door, took off my armor and turned down the sheets on my shabby, creaking bed. I stood in the window and looked out over the ocean glimmering beneath the stars. I was wasting time in every way I could think of. But I knew I couldn't put off contacting the Order forever.
When I finally decided to get it over with, sunlight was just beginning to creep up over the water. I fell away from the room, through shadows, through Kajjil, until I was a shade in the flickering firelight of the Order's assignment room. Zahir was waiting for me with a glass of dark red wine. Seeing him filled me with a dull, familiar dread that I did my best to ignore.
"This is taking longer than we expected, Naji."
I felt like I was a child again, being scolded for doing poorly in training.
"I encountered complications." My voice reverberated against my ears. My body was still in the inn, stretched out on the bed, surrounded by dawn's light and the scent of the sea, but my voice and thoughts, all the rest of me, were at the Order.
"Complications?"
I chose my words carefully. "Yes. Someone has helped him. He evaded my tracking spells."
Zahir said nothing.
"I'm confident I'll be able to track him."
"This was not meant to be an involved operation."
"And it won't be. It should be completed by tomorrow evening."
Zahir snorted into his glass. "Do you have any idea how many times 'tomorrow evening' becomes 'two months from now'?"
"I've already begun my investigation. I don't foresee it taking two months."
"Let's hope not." Zahir set his glass down and looked at me -- looked at my shade. He seemed bored, sleepy, irritated. Which was fair: he was an old man. I imagine he didn't appreciate staying up all night waiting for me to bring word. "I'll give you until tomorrow's sunrise. If it takes any longer than that, expect punishment."
I shivered.
"Yes, of course. Thank you, Zahir."
He snorted again and waved me away. Five heartbeats later I was back in the inn room, weak gray sunlight filtering through the window.
Tomorrow's sunrise.
One full day.
I could find the most dangerous man in Lisirra in one full day.
#
I only allowed myself to sleep for four hours. When I woke up, the sunlight was a bright, sparkling mass choking out the air of my bedroom. It hurt my eyes. But I couldn't allow myself the luxury of sleep right now.
Before I left, I cast a tracking spell to double check. According to my magic, Sarr was still nestled safely in that house in the desert. I muttered a few profanities, directing them at Leila.
Then I set a ward on my room and went downstairs. The inn's main room was empty save for the innkeeper, who wouldn't look at me. Outside, the pleasure district was just beginning to stir. It was nearly noon. I bought a meat pie from a street vendor and ate it as I walked down the street, keeping my eyes out for street girls. Since the innkeeper had mentioned they sometimes spoke of Sarr, I thought they were the best place to begin my investigation.
Without magic, I would have to track Sarr through the trails all people leave, through his connections and relationships. And right now, the only relationship I had uncovered was with the girls who prowled the pleasure district's streets after dark, providing it with its name.
However, uncovering street girls during the middle of the day proved more difficult than I thought. I wound up at a dancehall after half an hour of wandering. It had only just opened, strings of magic-cast lanterns blinking red and blue and gold, washed out in the sunlight. I went in. Most of the tables were empty and the air was thick with pipe smoke. Magic jangled in the background, emanating from an unenthusiastic band in the corner. A few women danced onstage, looking as bored as the band.
A woman came to ask if I wanted anything to drink. She wore a spangled dress that caught the light and threw dots of color across the floor. Her eyes were made-up with same dark shades that Leila favored.
Like Leila, and unlike most people in the city, she didn't act frightened of me.
"I don't need anything to drink," I told her, making sure to smile, to put her at ease. "But I do need your help."