Shadows of Valderia: An Urban Fantasy Detective Noir

Nairo had often found the grizzlier the crime the more excited the scene was and this one had the electric buzz of a day at the races. Nairo and Ridley hopped out of the police cart after twenty minutes of nudging and fighting their way through the gelatinous after work traffic to find a thronging mass of factory workers forming a mob around the police lines. Nairo politely shoved her way through the crowd while Ridley chose the more democratic approach of shin kicking anyone who got in his way. The sweat and chatter of the excited workers cloyed at her, drowning her in a dozen exotic languages.

“Heard they got exploded…”

“Bits of ‘em be everywhere…”

“Blew a hole a building deep, nothing but a crater left…”

“Naa they got hacked up…”

“Rip to pieces…”

“Must have been Goblins…”

“Revenge…”

Nairo finally arrived, breathless and flustered, at the police lines. Several of the VPD’s heftiest stood arms wide, chests inflated, barking at the onlookers to ‘move on,’ as there was ‘nothing to see here.’

“Sergeant Nairo.” She flashed her badge and scooped her thick hair away from sweaty forehead. “And this is…” she looked around for Ridley and moments later she heard a commotion to her right. There was loud swearing and raised fists before a melee broke out. A few seconds later Ridley came tumbling out of the brawl. He brushed himself down, swore at a Dwarf, and then nodded to the officer and Nairo.

“He’s with me.”

“Are you sure marm?”

Nairo paused for a moment.

“Yes.”

Ridley smirked impudently at the officer as they ducked under the police line and walked towards the alley. The chaos of the excited crowd shrank away. The closer they walked to the scene the more it felt like the air was being sucked from their lungs. The electric energy of the chattering crowd dissipated into a mournful hush. There were more officers but these one looked ashen faced and they barely registered Nairo and Ridley’s presence. Nairo nodded at the first couple but she began to feel like a trespasser at a funeral and eventually she too had her eyes glued to the cobbles. As they approached the crime scene there were two detectives at the mouth of the alley sharing a smoke.

“Afternoon, I’m Sergeant Nairo.”

“Izla and this is Fisher,” Izla, the taller of the two, answered.

Both of them had that weary, haunted, look of homicide detectives. Fisher was short and round with a ruddy face and tobacco stains on his teeth.

“What’s it like in there?”

“The worst one I’ve ever seen,” Izla said, running a hand through his thinning brown hair.

“Bits and pieces everywhere,” Fisher added, sipping his cold coffee and taking a thick lungful of his smoke. “Only way we could identify ‘em is through tattoos on the limbs we found.”

“Who were they?” Ridley asked.

“Don’t I know you?” Izla said.

“Could be. I’m sure we have fond memories. So, who were they?”

“Far as we can make out, they’re lads from down Eversham Hill, might be associated with The Landlord and his mob,” Fisher replied.

“All Human males in their late teens and early twenties,” Izla added.

“Possible motive?” Nairo asked.

“We ain't even sure of the method yet, sweetheart, but you could guess,” Fisher said.

“You could guess,” Izla agreed.

“So, could you?”

“Guess?”

“Yes.”

“Well word is one of Chaw’drak’s captains got mopped up a couple days ago and this is the get back,” Fisher said.

“Any evidence to support that?” Ridley said.

“Wouldn't be a guess if there was.”

“Benny?” Nairo directed her question to Ridley who nodded. “Can we see?”

“Sure,” Izla said with a shrug.

“Watch your step,” Fisher advised. “There’s… bits of ‘em everywhere.”

Nairo thanked the detectives and they walked into the alley.

As soon as she stepped into the alley she felt a damp chill claw across her spine. Nairo heard Ridley curse as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. There was blood everywhere. The walls were coated in streaks of crimson red. The still congealing plasma oozed from the brickwork giving Nairo nightmarish visions of the almost dismembered Benny. Her balance left her for a moment only for Ridley to grab hold of her and prop her up. She could feel the tremor in his hands and the thump of his heart. Nairo tore her eyes from the blood covered walls to the puddle of undefinable Human internals pooled in the crevices of the grimy alley. Dotted around were little white scraps of cloth covering, what Nairo assumed, were the dismembered limbs of the victims. Nairo felt her breath catch in her throat, she was horrified but could not stop her eyes from taking in every ounce of gore. Her eyes fixated on a little round ball with a tendon hanging from it. A human eye stared unblinking at her. Some deep instinctual urge pulled at her making her want to flee from the alley as fast as possible but her legs carried her deeper into the hellish scene.

“This look familiar?” Ridley whispered

Nairo couldn't speak. She simply nodded, her eyes stinging.

As she forced herself to calm, she looked past the gore to the deep scorch marks across the walls of the alley. Whatever had killed them had left angry claw marks in the brickwork. That familiar smell of pennies invaded her nostrils and cloyed in the back of her throat. The scale of the damage became more apparent as they walked towards the epicentre of the blast. Cobbles had been torn up and turned to rubble. There was about a four metre radius of scorch marks that looked like a sudden wildfire erupted in the alley. They came to a stop at the epicentre of the blast. There was a crater shaped hole in the alley, the fire had burned so hot here the cobbles had melted and the brickwork was cracked and warped.

“This has to be the Diamond,” Ridley said. “What happens next time it goes off?”

Nairo, who had been transfixed upon the melted cobbles, looked up at Ridley, her eyes wet. They had been told what the Diamond could do, but to see it sent shivers through her.

“I need to get out of here,” Nairo said, striding past him, her eyes fixed on the mouth of the alley.

Ridley hung about a few seconds longer before he was hot on her heels. They were almost at a run by the time they exited the mouth of the alley. Nairo sucked in the fresh air while Ridley spat the taste of copper out of his mouth.

“Here,” Izla held two hot coffees out to them.

“Ain’t right, is it?” Izla said.

“Something evil happened in there,” Fisher said.

“What gave it away? The dismemberment?” Ridley’s voice lacked his usual bite.

Nairo sipped distractedly at the coffee she had been offered, glad to feel the warmth return back to her.

“What could have done that?” Izla pondered.

“Nothing that I’ve ever seen in twenty years on the job.” Fisher offered to light Ridley’s smoke as the PI’s trembling hands struggled to keep the flame of his lighter lit.

“Any witnesses?” Ridley asked, shaking the numbness from his fingertips.

“Plenty,” Fisher said. “That factory across the road was full.”

“Shame they speak half a dozen languages and none of em ours,” Izla said. “Far as we can make out there was a big flash and a loud bang.”

“Some sort of explosion,” Fisher said.

“Great deduction,” Ridley muttered.

“No others?” Nairo asked.

“Well, we found a nasty little thing skulking about,” Fisher replied.

“Stank like rotten fish,” Izla added. “He was babbling ‘bout losing something when we found him, so we slung in the back of the wagon.”

Nairo noticed Ridley perked up like a hound.

“We’ll hose him down and take him back to the station.”

“Little nasty fella dripping in bin juice?” Ridley said.

“Friend of yours?” Izla asked incredulously.

“You could say that. His name is Ozwald and he’s a bin demon” Nairo explained.

“He’s harmless,” Ridley said.

“Well he was hanging around an adjacent alley…”

“With a lot of trash in it?”

“The usual amount I suppose.”

“He’s a bin demon, where do you expect him to be?”

Izla looked at Fisher who gave a noncommittal shrug.

“We questioned him and got a statement. Fat lot of good that was…”

“Wasn’t worth smelling him for,” Izla agreed.

“Can we speak to him?” Nairo asked.

“Sure. Feel free to discharge him on your way out Sergeant,” Fisher said.

“Right. Come on Ridley.” Nairo pushed Ridley in the small of the back and thanked the two detectives as they exited.

“Do you have to antagonise every police officer we meet?”

“I don't have to…” Ridley said with a smirk.

The coffee, and whatever he had poured into it, had begun to drive away the deathly chills of the alley.

“Hello,” Nairo greeted the officer standing outside the wagon. “Detectives Isla and Fisher have asked us to discharge their captive, Mr. Oz”

“Who?”

“The stinky little puddle of ooze in the back of your wagon,” Ridley said.

“Thank heavens for that,” the officer said. “Gonna be washing for a week after trying to put the grubby little bastard in the back of the wagon.” He nodded at them and swiftly took his leave.

“Deep breath,” Ridley warned her as he yanked open the doors to the wagon.

The smell thundered from the wagon like a cavalry charge, almost taking Nairo off her feet.

“Phwoar! Bloody hell Oz! Did you take a shit in here?” Ridley cried, gagging as he finished his sentence.

“Mr. Oz?” Nairo called into the dimly lit wagon, her eyes watering, as she peered into the gloom.

“They mustn't find him… How could I lose him…”

“Mr Oz?”

“Wah… who’s that? Bloody pigs come for another go?” The little ball of slime and rags leapt to his feet wagging his bony fists causing gunge to be sprayed around the wagon.

“It’s us Mr Oz, Sergeant Nairo and Ridley.”

Oz stopped his cussing long enough to allow his eyes to adjust to the daylight.

“Well stone me and call me a carp’s nanny!” Oz’s face brightened momentarily before a deeply suspicious scowl returned to it. “Wot d’yer want?”

“Real nice way to greet your rescuers,” Ridley said.

“Rescuers? I don’t need no rescuing… ‘specially by the likes of you!”

“Well, we’ll just leave you here then,” Ridley said and without missing a beat he began to close the wagon doors.

“Wait! Hold on! I didn’t mean it! Just a joke between mateys.” Oz scrambled to the mouth of the wagon and gave them what he must have thought was an endearing smile. Nairo felt her stomach churn: she could have sworn she saw something wriggle in his yellow toothed smile. Oz hopped out of the wagon before Ridley could change his mind. He flopped to the cobbles like a creature in prayer and kissed the grimy stones. Ridley pulled a face and lit another smoke.

“Ummm… Mr Oz, what were you doing here?” Nairo asked.

“Yeah, this ain’t your usual scene,” Ridley said.

“Oh… ermmmm… The lunch these foreigners in the factories throw out is delicious,” Oz replied.

“Lovely,” Ridley said.

Oz gave him a weak smile and then seemed to hesitate, looking at Ridley curiously.

“Did you see what happened here?” Nairo asked.

Oz hesitated again and then shook his head so hard an insect flicked out from somewhere.

“Just heard a big bang, then all these coppers grabbed me up.”

“You didn’t see anyone running away or anything?” Ridley said.

“No! And even if I did I ain’t no grass!”

Nairo sighed and gave him a small smile.

“You’re free to go Mr. Oz,” Nairo said.

Oz looked at her and then at Ridley almost as if he wanted to say more but then he changed his mind.

“Corse I am,” he snapped at her. “I just want his ciggie.”

Ridley blew a cloud of smoke and offered him the remnants of his smoke.

“You gotta chuck it on the floor.”

“What? Why?”

“Once any discarded item touches the street it’s considered trash. Demon laws say so.”

“Do they?” Ridley asked, looking at Nairo who shrugged nonplussed. “Fine.”

Ridley tossed the cigarette butt on the floor. Oz leapt the second it hit the floor and licked it up from the cobbles.

“So… what happened with the case you woz on? Benny an’ all that.” Oz asked as he happily chomped on the butt like chewing gum.

“Dead end,” Ridley answered.

“Literally,” Nairo said.

“Wot d’yer mean?”

Ridley drew a finger across his throat and gave Oz a wicked grin.

“We found Benny murdered in his flat,” Nairo said. “Would you know anything about it Mr. Oz?”

“Me?” Oz blanched as he went a paler shade of urine yellow. “Why would I? Ain’t been near them Rat‘Oles in a cuppla weeks. I stays away from lowlifes like that!”

“Bit rich coming from you, no?”

“Wot d’yer mean by that!” Oz snapped, wagging a dripping fist at him.

“Ignore him,” Nairo said. “You’re free to go Mr. Oz and if you do hear anything please be sure to contact us.”

“Yeah… right. Maybe.” Oz glowered darkly at Ridley.

“Have a good evening and…” Nairo’s eyes danced across the mouth of the grizzly alleyway. “Make sure wherever you rest your head tonight it’s safe.”

Oz followed her eyes and he turned an even sicklier shade. He nodded and without another word he scuttled back into the detritus of the city and vanished like a mouse in a hole. Nairo didn't notice him slither away as she was transfixed on the sight of white sheets draped over lumpen body parts being wheeled out by the coroners.

“Come on, I need a drink.” Ridley nudged her lightly on the arm.

“Yeah.”

She followed Ridley as he swept away leaving the horrors in the alley behind them.