I shrugged. ‘Now, please, it seems you’ve heard of the Skull and Jasmine troupe. Tell me more. I’m particularly keen to know their recent movements.’
He sighed and drew a chair up to one of his round tables. Leana and I remained standing – I didn’t have any intention of remaining there for longer than I had to.
‘Actors is actors,’ he sighed and spread his hands out on the table. ‘Weird bunch at the best of times. Can’t understand any of the fancy Detratan-style shows that you often see. You know, real culture lovers’ stuff. But the Skull and Jasmine’s more popular with the public you see – they do things involving recent happenings, and the likes. You know, they do plays of local news or gossip, that sort of thing. I like them stories – real easy to understand.’
‘Have you seen many of their performances?’ I asked.
‘Couple. There’s a tiny amphitheatre only a few streets away. A lot of the travelling performers go there before they perform in the likes of Polyum and Regallum. Keeps them in touch with the common folk, they say, but I’m sure that’s because it’s cheaper to drink and bed someone around here, heh!’
‘Has there been any behaviour that you might think was odd, or out of character?’
‘You tell me what’s odd for the likes of them!’ He started laughing but when he saw how serious I looked he began to concentrate. ‘Well, it’s funny you say this about their behaviour. As a matter of fact, there’s been all sorts of gossip in here. Weeks ago one of them, so I’ve heard tell, was spreading gossip of how he was all intimate with King Licintius. Tell you what, that’d explain why at his age Licintius ain’t found a wife.’
It was common knowledge that Licintius had quickly divorced his first wife many years ago after she had an affair. Would he be the sort to turn to the affections of an actor? It seemed unlikely – though not improbable. There had been more eccentric royals in the past, but one didn’t often see them mix with the lower classes.
‘What were this man’s assertions?’ I asked. ‘In fact, what was his name?’
‘Can’t remember what he was called, but this was just talk – you know how it is sometimes. Some of them were bragging about it beforehand, saying how they were getting paid a lot of coin for this production at Optryx – we’re talking in the hundreds of pecullas.’
‘This place doesn’t seem to be the regular haunt of a king,’ I said.
‘Aye, I’ve no idea how their paths crossed.’
‘What have you heard since the night at Optryx?’ I asked.
‘Since Lacanta’s murder, you mean? That why you’re here?’ His expression betrayed his hunger for gossip.
‘Answer the question.’
The man looked down at the table with a wry smile that soon faded. ‘No one’s heard much since, it’s as if they’ve gone into hiding. It’s all a bit strange, but then I’ve always said, these actors are weird people. Worship strange gods. Their lives are full of debauchery. They all bed each other, taking it in turns or going all at the same time probably, I don’t know.’
‘Who they choose to bed does not make them strange people,’ I replied. ‘It depends on one’s preferences and one’s gods, of course. Why do you honestly think they were strange?’
‘Just their behaviour, like. You know. Always going around drunk, being everywhere and then – all of a sudden – being nowhere. That’s strange for them, at least.’
‘Do you think they left the city?’
‘Not to my knowledge. Think they’re just staying quiet. If they killed anyone, they’d need to stay out of sight if you ask me.’
For such social creatures to cease being social, something must have happened, but what could it have been? At last, I felt we might have found a genuine lead. I reached into my pocket, drew out the folded-up paper and placed it before him. ‘How far away is this place?’
He scrutinized it in the half-light. ‘You’re reasonably close.’
I looked to Leana with a smile. Sometimes I could gain no end of pleasure in proving her blunt doubts to be wrong.
‘Guesswork,’ she said.
I turned back to the manager. ‘Well?’
‘Two streets down if you head left out the door. Turn right at the broken fountain and walk about a hundred yards down the lane. There is a place large for the district, and the Skull and Jasmine actors all live in there together.’
‘Thank you.’ I was about to leave when I thought I would test out the name. ‘Oh, I don’t suppose you know of a Veldrum Hecater, do you?’
The panic in his face told me all I needed to know.
‘I can’t help you there, mate.’
He wouldn’t make eye contact after that. ‘I appreciate your time,’ I replied.
We turned and left the tavern, heading back out into the bright, hot day. Compared with the relative calm inside, the street seemed a dozen times busier than previously.
‘That was good,’ Leana said. ‘You did not even have to bribe him.’
‘He was so scared, he’d tell anyone anything they wanted. I don’t know how much to trust him given how quickly he wanted us out of there.’
The Skull and Jasmine House
A river of stone, the buildings and streets of the city were constantly transforming. Everywhere around were statues or structures either in various stages of decay or being constructed with bright, new stone; though as we moved further down-city we saw much more of the former.
We followed the tavern keeper’s directions to the broken fountain, which three men were repairing while another was rebuilding the road around it. There on the corner of the street, side by side, stood crumbling statues of the gods Trymus and Festonia. They were posed to represent the story of the founding of the city, where these two gods – man and wife at the time – established the first few buildings that would eventually become Tryum. Together they organized a small army to fight off strange creatures that besieged the settlement, and their heroic sacrifices later made them become gods. Though the statues had lost their shields and swords, they still stood tall and defiant, inspiring everyone in the neighbourhood on to greater acts.
Leana bought a quick snack from a street vendor and offered me a bite, but I never wanted to eat at a time like this. I prepared myself to be ready for whatever these actors would do. The house turned out to be on a quiet street. There was a battered red awning outside and on the door was a painting of little white flowers curling in an S-shape with a skull set on top.
They looked over the looming, pale stone structure. As the tavern keeper had said it was large for the district, which made me think the Skull and Jasmine troupe were not doing as badly as many actors. I suspected that royal money might have gone into helping them live here.
‘No windows or doors anywhere down the side,’ she said. ‘This seems the only way in and out, from the front at least. Do you think they’ll run from us?’
Memories of Venyn, where every other person we sought out tried to flee on our arrival. ‘I doubt it. Not if they’re in favour with the king.’
Knocking on the door, we stood back and waited. At the end of the street a priest walked by chanting his morning prayers. A dog sifted through the detritus that had gathered around the base of the buildings.
Leana moved in and banged the door again with her fist several times. Eventually someone came to unlock it.