Six of Crows Fan Fiction

Chapter 5: Kaz

Some cities are alive at night, and others during the day. Awespolis was neither. The residential, business and old town districts were silent as the grave by night, dark, barely lit and peaceful. The high street and surrounding area, or 'Party Central' as the locals dubbed it, was not. It was a tangled mess of vibrant colours and smells, full to the brim with people. On most nights. On Wednesday nights, not so much. There were still people, but not the thriving masses of Friday or Saturday night. Or there weren't any thriving masses yet. Kaz Brekker looked at his watch. 11:30. If all went to plan, there soon would be many, many people out. He was sitting in the Party District's dingiest, cheapest, emptiest pub. To be fair to the Golden Peacock, it wasn't that bad of an establishment, but when you compared it to the pub across the street...well, there was no comparison. The Lucky Leopard had live music, the best drinks at the best prices, and it was generally agreed to be the best pub in the city. Tonight, even on a quiet Wednesday, the bustle of many people talking could be heard even from inside the Golden Peacock. As always, the Peacock was mostly empty, the only other people besides Kaz was an elderly man, with a dirty grey beard who looked as though he hadn't washed in a good few weeks, and a very drunk looking woman cowering in a corner. When he had entered the pub, a good half an hour ago, the barmaid was shocked to have a new customer, especially one so young. She couldn't understand why anyone would choose the Peacock over the Leopard, but she'd made up the drink he'd ordered, giving him funny looks all the while. Kaz hadn't touched his drink the whole time he'd been sitting here. He hadn't come in for the drinks. Right on cue, at 11:35, there was a magnificent crash, followed by many smaller bangs and thuds. The woman at the bar looked up from the dirty glass she was scrubbing, with a look of glee and excitement on her face. Something interesting was finally happening! She rushed outside, and joined the tidal wave of people leaving the Lucky Leopard and making their way down the now crammed street. The elderly man got up and  tottered after her, his worn face mirroring her expression of excitement. The woman in the corner stayed where she was, she didn't even look as if she'd registered something was going on. Given that, at that precise moment, the hand on her bottle slipped and she fell face first into the table, she probably hadn't. Kaz looked down into his drink, and allowed himself a small smile. The distraction had worked. People were moving where he wanted them to go, away from the Lucky Leopard and the Library, exactly as he had planned. Excellent. He wiped the smile off his face. There was no time for celebrations, this was barely the start of his plan for tonight. He stood up, snapping up his crow's head cane from the seat next to him. He had business to attend to across the street.