Spectacular Tales III Read online

  Part Three: Spy

  Before Cedric was a rat catcher, he was a beggar and before he was a bodyguard, he had been a jailor and a spy. That had been the job The Fat Man had asked him to do, spy out his enemies in the Thieves Guild. It had turned out The Fat Man was quite high up in the guild, Cedric was wise enough not to ask how high, and he suspected a rival of organising a coup against him. This rival was Warder Derikjon, the head jailor for the city dungeons and The Fat Man suspected he was coordinating his revolt from down there.

  Due to The Fat Man’s connections, Cedric was offered a job as apprentice keeper the very next week. On his first day at The Dungeons, Cedric took the dog with him, it hadn’t occurred to him not to. The grizzled old jailor, whose job it was to show him the ropes, was furious and beat Cedric all the way to the Head Jailor’s office, the dog snapping at his heals all the way. Warder Derikjon listened patiently to the jailor’s rant and then transferred Cedric to be apprentice to the Head Torturer, thinking the feisty little terrier might be a useful encourager for the prisoners to talk.

  The dog soon became a firm favourite with the guards, not in the least with Derikjon, who started leaving little treats for it for Cedric to pick up at the end of each day. Before long, Cedric was a regular visitor to the Head Jailor’s Office and he was soon privy to overhearing little titbits of information. He was finally running small errands and had become part of the conspiracy, not so much by design, more by the passive acceptance the conspirators had of his presence. By the time Derikjon had realised that he was a spy, Cedric had already fled the dungeons with a list of all The Fat Man’s enemies, forcing Derikjon to bring forward his plan to assassinate his enemy long before he was ready, a plan, as we know, Cedric was able to inadvertently foil.

  With the evidence Cedric provided, The Fat Man was able to move against Derikjon with the full support of the guild. And with the conspiracy quashed, its members either fled or killed, a number of vacancies arose in the guild and Cedric was offered a position as head enforcer for The Warrens.