Cinnamon Bun Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy-Eight - Pay for It

Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy-Eight - Pay for It

We walked into Thorades Munitions and discovered the front lobby was empty.

Or at least, empty of people. There were lots of things to poke at and see. The walls had racks and racks of different tools of war. Most of these were crossbows and the like, with one wall displaying individual bolts with a variety of an-looking heads.

There was a counter to one side laden with teeny-tiny miniature ships that had teenier-tinier ballista on them, clearly as the focal point of the models, as if to show prospective ship captains the kinds of armants they could buy here for their own ships.

Oh, Awen said. She pointed to sothing and I followed her finger to a wall with diagrams.

What is it? I asked.

That kind of repeating crossbow chanism? Thats whats at the front of the Redemption, she said. It must have been made here.

Hrm, Tharval said. Thats the little skiff tied up in your airship? Then thats possible. Thorades Munitions make cheaper gear, but the quality isn't terrible. Plenty of smaller ships carry a couple of their emplacents.

That made so sense, I figured. Do you know anything else about them?

Tharval stroked his beard, then shook his head. Not much. Respectable mid-level crafters. Good at mass-producing things. Not the most ingenious bunch, but theyve made a decent thing or two.

Right, that made sense. The dwarves especially seed really fond of chanical workings.

Just then, a dwarf stepped into the room from the back. They looked a bit frazzled, with tufts of beard sticking out this way and that. They paused on seeing us, scanned over our entire group, then locked their attention onto Amaryllis.

Then, they let out the kind of sigh that only soone working in custor service could before muttering, another one, under their breath.

Hello! I said, summoning up as much good cheer as I could. You look a bit busy, but, ah, we had a question or two.

Hello, and welco to Thorades Munitions. Were a little busy at the mont, they said, trailing off leadingly.

Were looking for a Baron Vonowl, I said.

They winced.

To arrest him.

That cheered them right up. Oh, really? they asked. Well, I cant imagine what the good baron has done, but I can lead you right to him.

I blinked. "Wait, he's here? Now?"

"Yes indeed!" The dwarf seed unable to contain his grin. "Please, follow !"

He began striding toward a door labelled EMPLOYEES ONLY.

I traded glances with my friends. Awen and Caprica looked surprised, while Amaryllis was grinning viciously and Tharval rubbed his hands together.

"Well, let's not keep the poor kid waiting," he said. "We ca here to stop Vonowl from buying weapons, and the easiest way to do that is to deal with him before he can buy them, isn't it?"

That got us moving.

As soon as we crossed the doorway, the nice veneer of the storefront disappeared. Pretty stone flooring was replaced by tal grating and the walls lacked any decorations other than posters of scantily clad dwarves using their beards to cover themselves up and gazing at the viewer in ways that made blush and look away.

The main factory floor of Thorade's Munitions was a busy, loud space, with dozens of dwarves and a few elves working big, complex machines. It slled nice though. A lot of the ballistae they made had wooden fras, and a whole section of the shop floor was dedicated to woodworking, so despite the dusty air, the scent of freshly sawn wood was pleasent.

We passed a machine that seed entirely built to raise up an anvil-sized hamr and sent it down onto a car-sized anvil, and another which consisted of a whirling ss of interlocking gears and spokes just asking for soone to stick their fingers in.

I imagined that they didnt have much by way of safety regulations in the Storm Towers. Or if they did, they werent being applied here.

We found the baron, as well as a pair of harpy guards and a small gaggle of unhappy dwarves standing at the back of the shop.

kicking up a fuss, wings flapping as he hurled a lot of not-very-nice words at a shorter dwarf, one with a long dark beard densely woven with beads. The dwarf's stern face and twitching eye told they didn't appreciate the Baron's spittle-heavy style of debate.

Thorade! the dwarf guiding us said. We have more guests. They were clearly working hard to mask so of the glee in their voice.

Thorade, who seed to be the one Vonowl was lecturing, looked over our group with brows knit and mouth set in a frown. Then they spotted Tharval and Willowbud and their eyebrows rose up.

Im quite busy at the mont, the baron said. Im sorry, but your business with Thorade will have to wait. He looked right in the eye, then turned back to the dwarf he was talking to.

Did he not recognize ?

I was a little upset, actually. I thought I was a pretty morable kind of person. Oh well, that was okay. Maybe not being recognized just then was for the best?

Im sorry, Mister Thorade, I said. We didnt an to intrude or anything.

Vonowl snapped around and glared at .

Oh! He recognized my voice!

"You moron!" Vonowl spit out, "Can't you see that this is a lady?"

Or maybe he didnt. I was having a lot of highs and lows at the mont. Um... actually, Im really bad at telling dwarves genders apart.

He sniffed, then pointed to Miss Thorades shoulders. The hips and shoulders on a female are wider. Theyre very slightly shorter as well. And, of course, the hair of a female dwarfs beard is curly, whereas that of a male tends to be straighter. How can you not know this?

Thats... actually really helpful, thank you, I said.

As thanks you can leave to my business, he said offhandedly before turning back towards Miss Thorade.

"Um, actually, our business is with you," I said. See, uh, we want to arrest you? Please?

The baron paused, then turned to give a stare. You what?

You really dont recognize ? I asked. Last we saw each other was at that big tower with all the pirates working with you. Youd kidnapped a bunch of nobles and stole a few ships, and I was there with my friends and the sylph army? This was only like, a few days ago.

Vonowl narrowed his eyes at , his feathers ruffling up. Thorade threw so sharp glances between us, and my friends all spread out behind .

Miss Thorade gave the baron a very hard stare. Pardon , baron, but when you ntioned that you wanted my equipnt for the purposes of pirate defence, did you an defending against piracy, or were you planning on using our bows to defend the pirates?

"Are you accusing of lying?" he snapped at her. "Don't listen to these fools. The noble house of Vonowl would never stoop to piracy." He turned back to . "And you! What is this slander? Arrest ? I've done nothing wrong."

"Well," I began, "You did kidn-"

"Stop lying!" he cut off. "You whiny little rabbit-eared child! I strive only for the betternt of harpykind, and I won't let you stand in the way of that! If you're talking about arrest, then I ought to have you imprisoned for defaming my good na!"

Oh, shut up, Amaryllis said. Your nas good for nothing.

He squinted at her. Who are you?

That got Amaryllis to bristle quite prettily. ? Im Amaryllis Albatross, you feather-brained incompetent.

I had never been happier in my life to hear Amaryllis drag soone into a bickering contest. Very deliberately, I refocused on Miss Thorade. Sorry, you dont mind if we arrest him, do you?

The dwarven lady tugged at her beard, but then shook her head. No. My Business Sense was hinting that I wouldnt be paid by this man, in any case. Though you are distracting my workers.

That was true, I noticed a number of heads poking up from around and above the various machines in the shop. It seed that even dwarves were keen on being busybodies when there was good gossip about.

Were sorry for the likely loss of this contract, Willowbud said. Is there anything we can do to help?

Youre Willowbud, arent you? she asked. And that makes the irritable grump next to you the infamous Tharval.

Infamous is still famous, whelp, he grumbled at her.

She sniffed. I heard that youre insane, with the occasional flash of genius only a madman would dare to have.

Hear that, Bud, Im a genius.

Yes, that was the part of the statent that really caught my ear, Willowbud replied. In any case. We should take the baron sowhere a little more discreet, I think.

Where? I asked. We dont exactly have cells on the Beaver.

Bah, we have cells at the Exploration guild, Tharval said with a dismissive shrug.

There was a pause.

"Um, why?" Awen asked. It seed like a very sensible question to ask.

Because so of us arent good with our drinks, he said. And that seed enough explanation for the rest of my friends. Except for Amaryllis, of course, who had devolved her argunt from a catty back and forth to a tirade of insults which was gaining in loudness with every ntion of soones hatching and the quality of their plumage and ancestry.

I patted her on the back. Hey, its okay, were going to arrest him now.

Arrest implies a certain amount of legal authority, Caprica said. This is more of a... citizens detention.

But were not citizens here, Awen said.

A... non-citizen detention. You know what, Im just going to work hard to not think of things in legal terms for a while. I feel like doing that might be bad for my ntal health.

Thats the spirit, princess, Calamity said.

Seeing as how we were more or less all in agreent, I turned to the next potential source of problems. The barons guards. Hi, I said to the two. I know that youre basically being paid to take care of the baron here, but we kinda need to take him away for a while. And wed much rather not have to fight.

The two bodyguards looked to each other, then to our group. I imagined that even though we were mostly a friendly bunch, we might have been a teensy bit intimidating, under the right light.

Also, your boss is broke, Calamity added. Unless nya got paid in advance? No? Oh, that stings. Well, live and learn, huh?

I walked up to the baron, and then patted him on the shoulder. He flinched back. Dont touch , he said.

Oh. Well, okay. But only if you agree to walk ahead of us and not kick up a fuss. Youve done so very an things and I think we should do sothing about that.

If you want, my boys can whip up a pair of cuffs or fetch so ropes real quick, Thorade said.

Youd betray , Thorade? After I brought you so much business? Baron Vonowl asked.

You havent paid yet either, she said.

I made an itty-bitty ntal note to make sure I paid people in the future, because it seed like not doing so led to people being rather unhelpful.

The baron protested quite a bit as we tied his wings up against his sides (Amaryllis suggested against tying them to his back, harpy shoulders not being the sa as human ones, apparently). We wondered about gagging him for a while, mostly because he was being extrely vocal about... well, everything, but that felt a little rude, especially when the only thing we could gag him with were the socks that Calamity volunteered with rather more glee than appropriate.

With the baron all tied up, we pushed him along ahead of us. Willowbud apologised to Miss Thorade, who charged us a token sum for the ropes, and then we were off.

Crossing the Storm Tower with a rather unwilling, tied-up baron in our midst, one who constantly shouted about how we were scoundrels, kidnappers, and other more vile things, was a little tricky.

We tried to stick to less popular routes, but that only helped so much.

What helped a lot more was the strange amount of authority Willowbud could exude whenever he wanted. I had to wonder if it was a skill when we ran into so guards and he persuaded them that this was all Exploration Guild business and that they should keep on doing their jobs... but elsewhere.

Once we have you in a cell, Amaryllis said. Were going to have all sorts of questions for you.

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