The Night Court

Chapter One

The night Mikolaj jumped out the window he wasn't trying to run away, he was trying to buy drugs. He swung his bare legs over the intricate railing of the balcony, hissing as frostbitten iron kissed his skin. He slid down the lattice, touching the hard-packed dirt of a whimsical garden. All the plants were fake, of course. But Madame Kubas preferred the illusion of perfection to the real thing.

From there, he ducked under barricades of sharp-edged leaves until he found the back gates. The world lit only by distant streetlights and the obtorzys' lanterns. If he lived in the Highlands, like he used to as a child, perhaps he would still be scared of the things old women said lurked about at night. The type of things craving pale pink flesh and new blood. The Lowlands had their own breed of flesh-craving beasts. And the night was made for people like him.

Mikolaj climbed over the fence, leaving Madame Kubas' three-story mansion behind him. Only covered by a thin robe and fur-lined boots, the nightly chill made him gasp as he ran.

Summer came to Jelberok with the quickness of melting ice. Snow still dusted the pavement, even the sky was shadowed by cool grey instead of black. The stars peeked out from the wispy clouds floating by the moon. At least the Lowlands showed some subtle change in the seasons. What little trees the capital city had were green again, grass poked out from cracks in the gravel and cobblestone. The Highlands were all mountains of rock and snow. And the world seemed too large locked away in villages where he hadn't seen anyone he didn't already know for months. Years.

The world was smaller in Jelberok. Small enough he could pass common prostitutes dragging their marks into the alleyways and the ministers invite their paramours into carriages to take them home for the night. Mikolaj always sneered at common prostitutes. They infested the streets of the high-end like rats, trying to garner richer company. People like him existed for a reason. Courtesans and their abundance in Jelberok and the Lowland courts were a staple of Gegraen culture. Someone could sue or divorce their spouse for sleeping with someone else or a common prostitute, not with a courtesan.

No one paid attention to him even remarkably underdressed. The golden heart pin on his robe explained it all.

The shop he was looking for was only a block or so away from his madame's residence. A small shop locked between another madame's house, one with less notoriety than his, and a butchery. No lights lingered in the windows, but Mikolaj hopped up the stoop anyway as he ignored the whistles from passersby.

Three knocks.

He crossed his arms over his shivering chest as he waited.

When the door opened it was with a large squeal. He pushed his body over the threshold before it was even fully open. Mikolaj sighed in relief as the heat from the nearby fireplace hit him. A small girl jumped back as he forced himself into the single room.

She narrowed her eyes. "Mr. Stopa, back already?" He met her look of displeasure in equal measure. It was always children too young to drink hurda instead of sugared milk in the morning who met him with attitude.

"Where's Zyta?"

She didn't answer. Jingling bells alerted Zyta's presence. The round woman appeared from a doorway leading to a backroom. She wore bells on a sash that wrapped around her wide hips and more bobbles and jewelry than anyone he knew.

Zyta carried a crate in her hands, vials of powder clinking together. With a groan, her assistant excused herself.

Zyta set the crate down on the table before walking over to him, palming her heavy hands on both sides of his face before kissing his cheeks. "Mikolaj! I would never turn you away."

She gave him two more kisses. "But my pockets grow empty from all the times you've forgotten to pay me."

He slid past her. Mikolaj knew what he needed. Drugs were dangerously easy to come by in Jelberok. Mikolaj wasn't much of a user himself, but they came in handy for larger gatherings. Almost every week, Madame Kubas threw wild and lavish parties because she could afford to and because it was good for business.