“Good news, I found an ally for you,” I say, sliding into the chair and looking up confidently at Jack.

  Jack blinks in surprise. “Wasn’t how I was expecting the meeting to start. Who.”

  “Bad news,” I say in the same energetic tone as my opening statement, “they’re far away. Brick Boars are their name.”

  He blinks again, then nods. “Yeah, other side of the section, if I remember.”

  I nod. “Any idea how many territories away exactly?”

  He pauses, visibly going over the area in his mind before confidently saying, “Four, changing on how you go.”

  I nod. “A little better than I thought then.”

  “How’d you get them?” he asks, a note of respect in his voice that has hitherto been absent.

  I shrug. “I became their patron’s patron. A matter of coin that I hope to turn into a matter of steel. But first things first: we need to link up. So, I need to know more about the gangs on the way to them.” I pull out a sheet of paper on which I have previously drawn lines to imitate the standard street grid common to all lower sections, then have them fill in approximate territories of all the relevant gangs.

  “All right,” I say after the last gang is marked, “let’s try to make things easier. Forget the names, let’s think about them in groups. First groups are A, B, C and D. Each of which entails only gangs whose territory is part of a path to the Brick Boars that only entails four territories. A gangs are our neighbours, B gangs their neighbours and so on until we reach them.” I pause to see if he understands. There’s a slight hesitation, but then he nods. “First obstacle are the A gangs. They’re two of them, and they’re both bigger than us. A bit of a non-starter. Any insights?”

  Jack strokes his chin in thought, but shakes his head after several seconds. “The only thing I can tell you is a general rule. If you have to pick a gang to fight, usually choose the farthest from the gates, which in this case holds up well. Not only are those closer to the centre of the section usually smaller and poorer, the territory isn’t as in demand, so you won’t have to fight as many for it after you take it.”

  I nod, thoughtfully. “Good to know. I’ll label them A1 and A2 in descending order from the gates… I suppose we could abandon hope of getting to the Boars through only four gangs altogether and just dive straight through the centre.”

  He considers it, but shakes no. “The centre gangs might be weaker, but there are more of them too. We’d have to take out at least three more that way, and cutting such a long, thin line through the inner section would get them to band against us.”

  I nod in understanding. “Well then, both the direct and indirect paths are out. Where does that leave us?”

  “Forgetting the whole thing until we grow big enough for a straight fight?” Klar suggests with a shrug, sitting in the window with her legs dangling from the ledge.

  “…Maybe. How is growth coming anyways?”

  “Slowly,” Jack says, leaning back and crossing his arms. “We have a few new recruits from the territory we took back, but it was already tapped heavily for the fight with the thrushes. Plus, it’s a matter of coin. After all our… expenses, we can’t afford to pay the sign-up bonuses we would normally give out.” He gives me a meaningful look.

  “Ah,” I say, getting his meaning. I suppose that is probably what Toby meant about my taking half being higher than normal. “How much is sign-up normally?”

  “Large silver,” Klar says, “usually paid to the family.”

  I do some quick calculations and immediately see the problem. Their weekly take sounds good, but split between two dozen members and equipment, it’s suddenly not much. So, it’s clear that my take is hindering their growth, but I do need to get something out of this in the short term. The long-term benefit of having a large fighting force is good, but only if they live.

  Moreover, I feel, perhaps foolishly, that the moment I invest more coin in them than I’ve gotten back, fate – such as it is – will conspire to destroy them. As it is, I’m barely making a profit with paying for half of their gear.

  “Fine,” I shrug, “I’m willing to reduce my take to a quarter. But I’m also putting a limit on how much equipment I’m willing to pay half for. No more than half of my quarter. Okay?” A reasonable amount, I think. It’ll ensure I’ll still be making a profit, and with their recent expansion, I’ll still be making about as much as when we started.

  Jack nods. “It’ll help, but it won’t let us take on any of the ‘A’ gangs any time soon.”

  “Yes… I’m thinking about that… let’s move on to the others, and maybe the solution will reveal itself… It’s really just a matter of reducing the integer. We can trust the Boars to remove one of the D gangs, but we need to know which route we’re going for so they know which one. So, let’s see if anyone wants to do the work for us. Who looks like they’re about to fight each other?”

  The gang’s leaders in the meeting confer among themselves before Klar answers, counting on her fingers as she clearly struggles with my designation system. “Gangs… A1 and A2 have beef. So do… B3 and C2.”

  I glance at the crude map and smile. “It looks like both A1 and A2 share a border with B3; is that correct?” I say, noting how small B1 and B2 are in contrast to the general trend.

  Klar hops down off the window and bends over the map as her eyes flicker as if trying to remember. “Yeah… should be.”

  “And is it accurate to say that we’re at least one territory closer to a gate than C2 and two closer than B3?” She nods. “Excellent.” I smile. “The solution may be easier than expected.”

  “You intend to start wars and pick up the pieces?” Jack asks, arms folded sternly.

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  I smile disarmingly. “You’re half right. Make war with one group, make peace with the other. The plan is simple: Make contact with B3 and say we can offer assistance to them should they make war with C2, but only in the form of allowing our merchant to sell to them at a discount, for which we need to share a border for it to work.”

  “You want them to team up against an A gang?” Klar asks, eyebrows scrunched.

  I shake my head. “No, for the A gangs we try what you did with the mage. Ask the weaker of the two if they would like to cede a strip of territory along their border to grant us passage to B, thus preventing them from being attacked by the stronger.”

  Jack shrugs. “They might go for it, sure, but it’ll be expensive.”

  “Which is why we’re having the B gang pay for it. In fact, have them be the one to negotiate with the A gang. It’s elegant. We get closer to our goal and get territory without any risk or cost. In fact, it might solve the whole problem if we can leverage the negotiation with B into letting us move armed fighters through their territory when we need to, assuming they win the war decisively enough.”

  “That… could work,” Jack nods, stepping forward to peer over the map, “but it’s dangerous. First, what if the stronger A gang decides to attack us when we take the territory from their rival? A1 is probably the largest gang in two territories of us. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  I shrug, projecting non-concern. “Then include in the negotiation a defensive treaty between us and A2. That if A1 attacks us, then they’ll come to our defence. It should be obvious that it would be in their best interest to do so, since if they don’t and we lose, then they’ll be coming for them next, and made stronger by absorbing us. But we can include stipulations that they’ll end up with more territory than they have now if we defeat A1 together.”

  He nods. “It might work… but what about this access through B3? It sounds dangerous. Fine in theory until they cut us off when we need it the most.”

  “Then make it not just access. Have them become an ally of their own. In fact, include them in the defensive treaty with A2.”

  “They might need more than just cheap wares for that,” Klar says, lightly biting the side of her mouth in thought.

  I raise a questioning eyebrow. “It was my understanding that reducing the effective number of territories between you and a gate was a big deal. We’ll be reducing the territories for them by two.”

  “Even so,” Klar says, “there’s matters of metal and matters of blood. If we’re to rely on them in times of blood, then we may have to give them blood.”

  I lean back, bite my lip gently and nod. It’s a bit of a problem. I don’t want them to be caught up in another gang’s war. It would leave them vulnerable both to their neighbours and might provoke other gangs to ally with the other side. So, the natural thing would be to second a token force to help them. But…

  Fear suddenly tightens my chest, taking me unexpectedly. If I send them into the fight, then I would have no ability to prevent them from getting killed. I could lose them with nothing I could do to stop it. They’re my assets, but their preservation won’t be dependent on my strengths honed during years of fighting, but on a general strategic decision made now. Something anyone could decide even without my experience. A complete gamble. It’s a bit daunting.

  I feel their gazes on me as I think of a solution that will get us what we want with minimal risk… “How is the training with the slings I showed you doing?” I ask, finally, finding a way to maybe get what we want.

  Jack shrugs. “We don’t have time to constantly train, but a few of us have thrown a lot of stones at a target we set up in one of the halls. The best of us can hit it maybe one in five times.”

  I nod. “I think I might have a way to get that up a little bit. Besides, they only have to hit in a volley against a group of enemies. It should be easier. If we can get them up to one in four or three, then I authorize you to send a group of our six best slingers to fight along them. Just make sure they understand that they’re to prioritize their own lives and retreat the moment they’re in danger.”

  Jack nods. “That might work, if they’re as deadly as you make them out. Shall we start training more openly then?”

  I nod. “Yeah. Probably best to set up some mounds of dirt in the courtyard. Anyways, I authorize you to negotiate whatever terms you think will get us the passage, but I don’t want the whole gang to join the fight. Offer six slingers, no more or less. Understood?”

  He nods, then pauses. "Just one question. What do we do if the B gang doesn't take the deal? Or A2 for that matter?"

  I shrug. "Then we wait. Consolidate our territory until our neighbours fight each other, then decide what to do after that."

  He nods, and we move on to other things – healing the wounded and helping the slingers. I cast multi-guidance and share the effect to them, which they throw while under. They hit the target’s chest dead centre with every shot, precisely as I direct them. Then I remove the spell and have them throw again, this time trying to emulate how they threw while under the spell.

  The effect is drastic and immediate, increasing their accuracy to hitting the target one in four times, with one of them hitting one in three. Very impressive with only a few weeks of training. More than enough to shoot in volleys at least. Maybe after a month of this, they could even start hitting more often than not.

  Once I’ve let the entire gang experience throwing under the guidance spell, I take Jules, the two other potential apprentices who achieved a magic effect plus Klar to my new house. Klar, just so she knows where it is, since it’ll be a new rendezvous point should we need to meet – though the need has been significantly reduced with my remote sense spell.

  Jules and co are enamoured with the house, particularly with the small garden in the back. They’re also delighted when introduced to the servant who will be taking care of them, finding the prospect hilarious. Though they do calm down some when I explain that the servant is in service to me, and will only follow reasonable instructions from them within the scope of her employment.

  Marcus has been busy purchasing clothes and furniture in my absence. The latter isn’t ready yet, but he has at least bought cushions and blankets for them to sleep on. The trio of apprentices all say they’re used to worse, but I tell Marcus to make it a priority anyways. After all, better beds makes negotiating with the eye so much more bearable.

  As for the clothes, they all stare dumbstruck at them before putting them on, then stare dumbstruck at the provided mirror. They remind me of my reaction when I got new clothes in Fluemberb. The clothes are about the same level of quality, too. I wonder what their reaction would have been if I had gotten noble-quality clothing.

  As they’re setting in, I take Klar to the inn where I left Toby and find him getting drunk again. I cast gather water and shove his face into the liquid orb, which I adjust to be as cold as the spell allows. He sputters indignantly but compliantly follows out of the inn. We wait a few minutes in the alley as he drinks water from a new orb, which I mix with a quickly grown plant that induces vomiting.

  After he hurls then drinks another orb, I finally introduce him to Klar, whom I will be using as a messenger to him to coordinate between us. He’s still drunk though, so I have her escort him home, then sigh when I see him leer at her.

  “You are not under orders to entertain him,” I clarify to Klar.

  “And if I want to anyways? He is somewhat handsome,” Klar asks with an amused smirk as she traces a finger along his chin, laughing as he blushes.

  I shrug. “Do as you will. He is fairly easy to take advantage of, so it might be worth more to you than the hassle it’ll cause. His father seems like he’ll be harder to deal with though, so be advised. Try not to get in over your head, but tell me if you do.”

  Ignoring Toby’s reaction to calling him an easy mark, I leave them and go back to the house, where I spend an evening session training Jule and the other two.

  Gazing at the last traces of the day’s light, I sigh, knowing that I’ve completed all the little tasks I wanted to do today, and so I have no further reason to delay going back to Allan.