Shadows of Valderia: An Urban Fantasy Detective Noir

Daylight had already begun to wane and Nairo was still sat at her desk shuffling through the seemingly endless pile of reports. The rain had started again, but it was a miserably lethargic drizzle that felt like it had gone on for hours. Soggy officers came and went throughout the day. The precinct was a constant buzz of activity as more and more people were being dragged in by the EIF agents. Nairo had only caught glimpses of the tall, dark suited, agents but even from her lowly vantage point she could feel the arrogance and smugness radiating off them. They snapped at officers like they were dogs and they didn’t even deign to deal with the people they arrested. Nairo noted, with growing concern, that most of those being led through the precinct in manacles were Goblins. Those officers not on the EIF’s haphazard manhunt, slumped through the precinct, in the middle of double shifts, exhausted and cagey, like they had spent the day looking over their shoulders. There was barely time for a coffee and a sandwich before they were strapping their heavy leather jerkins back on and going for their next shift. Nairo only caught the edges of conversations but it sounded like the city was boiling over with an unchecked desire for carnage. Muggings, stabbings, looting, thefts, all seemed to be widespread as chancers took advantage of the growing chaos. Nairo chomped at the bit to get out there. To help her fellow officers. But instead, she reached for the next file and flipped it open listening to the rain on the window.

After another interminable hour something caught her attention. She looked up and massaged her sore neck as EIF agents snapped at officers to gear up. She heard the word ‘explosion’ repeated. Had the Diamond gone off again? Nairo was out of her seat before she knew it and was slowly circling the buzz of activity, trying to listen in without looking like it.

“There’s been an explosion under Tolliver’s bridge,” the Sergeant on duty informed the gathered officers. “We need bodies down there pronto.”

The officers geared up and began filing out of the precinct while Nairo tagged along behind them.

“Any casualties?” she heard someone ask.

“None reported. By the sounds of it, it was a small bang, but it damaged the structure of the bridge. We need to clear the area and let EIF do their thing.”

Nairo followed them all the way to the swinging doors of the precinct floor and then they were gone. She stood awkwardly about, chewing on her lip.

When was this madness going to end?

Another hour fled by and Nairo was no longer even bothering with the paperwork. She sat listlessly staring at the board, picking scabs on her knuckles. The doors burst open and the officers returned from the scene of the explosion. They were soaking wet and looked as rankled as she’d ever seen a group of officers. In their midst were two figures in manacles. Two towering, and very drunk, Trolls shambled into the room. They looked like they had been sleeping rough for quite some time. That didn’t surprise Nairo, under every bridge in the city you could find indigent Trolls. It was another one of those problems Verdalia turned a blind eye to. The Trolls were marched to the exhausted Duty Sergeant’s desk.

“Got two more for the bang up,” the officer in the front said.

Lenny barely looked up. He had been processing new inmates all day.

“Name?” he said.

The first Troll growled something and then hiccuped wetly. Lenny looked up and sighed.

“KlackBach it is,” he said.

Nairo winced at the casual Speciesm. KlackBach was a famous Troll warrior who had his head lopped off and staked on an Elvish castle wall a thousand years ago. Since the average human knew as much about Trollish culture as they did Elvish history, the name had become a pseudonym for Troll in the City.

“I no KlackBach,” The Troll growled, narrowing his watery, red rimmed eyes.

“Then what’s yer name?” Lenny asked again, rolling his eyes.

The Trolled burped this time and his mate guffawed behind him.

Lenny sighed, then caught a waft of the Troll’s burp and his eyes teared up.

“Why are you dragging these drunk Trolls in here?” he snapped at the officers.

“They were living under the bridge when it collapsed,” the lead officer explained.

“Wouldn’t that make them witnesses?” Lenny said and the officer simply shrugged.

“Get them down to cell eight, it's just been emptied. And make sure there’s a bucket in there! I don’t want them pissing on the floor. Go on, get the pair of them out of here, they stink!”

The Trolls were jostled away by the officers while they guffawed and bumped into as many things as possible. Nairo clenched her jaw so hard her ears popped. She could feel the bile rising in the back of her throat. Sure the coppers of the city weren’t saints, most of them took the odd backhander, plenty of them ate and drank for free whilst on shift, and not too many of them were opposed to putting the boots to lawbreakers, but this? This was terror. There was no process or due diligence. There was no reason. There were no checks and balances. The Elves had swanned into their city and wiped their boots on law and justice. They arrested whoever they liked. They held them for questioning with no legal representation offered. Some creatures had been in those cells for over 48 hours and had not been charged with anything. The Elves could do and were doing whatever they liked. She felt the indignation burn in her chest. She looked down at the shiny badge pinned to her chest. It glinted mockingly at her. Nairo fought the overwhelming urge to rip the damn stupid piece of tin from her shirt and fling it across the precinct, preferably at one of the EIF agents. Instead, she took a deep breath, pushed her chair back and walked robotically across the precinct. She kept her eyes steady in front of her as she marched towards the doors.

“Sergeant Nairo?”

Nairo blinked and looked around: it was the first time anyone had spoken to her in days.

“Yes?”

“Message just came in for you.” A young officer held out a scroll to her.

She nodded her thanks and unrolled it.

‘Meet me down at the stream behind the pig pen - Clarence III’

“Ridley?” Nairo murmured to herself, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

She hadn’t heard from the reticent PI in days and now he was sending her cryptic messages. Sighing, Nairo rolled up the scroll, shoved it in her pocket, grabbed her cloak, and walked out of the precinct.

The rain was still coming down when Nairo walked around the back of the precinct. ‘The stream’ as Ridley had called it, was actually just a flooded alleyway that no one had ever got round to fixing. Eventually, it had eroded the surrounding walls and found its way through the city streets to the main river that flowed through the centre of the city. Wherever it rained the ‘stream’ would swell, carrying the detritus of the city on its way to the main river. Nairo stopped and looked mournfully at the water.

“I wouldn’t jump in if I was you,” the familiar voice of Ridley said from behind her.

“I doubt it's deep enough to drown in,” Nairo sighed, turning around to look at her former partner. “How are you, Ridley?”

“Still breathing,” Ridley murmured, as he lit a smoke and looked around. “You?”

“I’ve been better,” she admitted. “They’ve stuck me on desk duty. I’m pushing files around and sharpening my pencils.”

“Thought you’d love that,” he said, not missing the flash of despondence on Nairo’s face. “They still ain’t found De Woolf?”

“No, they’ve torn up half the city and arrested the other half but there’s no sign of him. Have you had any luck?”

“No, there’s no trace of him. He’s either dead or well out of the city by now.”

They stood in silence.

“Did you hear what they did to Conway?”

Ridley nodded and spat.

“I told you couldn’t trust the Cap’n.”

Nairo sighed and let her head hang.

“You were right.”

“They’ve fucked Conway,” Ridley continued. “I managed to track him down…”

“How is he?” Nairo said, looking up hopefully.

“He's not in a good way, now he really is trying to drink himself to death. They’re threatening to put him up on charges, drag up all that old shit from his past and this time they’re gonna make it stick. If he doesn’t get prison time, then they’ll definitely fire him and with that goes his pension.”

“And his dream of retiring to the Azuras,” Nairo said, feeling a spiky ball of shame knotting in the back of her throat.

“Yeah,” was all Ridley said.

They stood in silence, the rain filling the void left by the unsaid accusations between the two of them. Once Nairo was sure her eyes were dry, she looked up and squinted through the darkness at Ridley and noticed he had a fresh black eye and split lip. “Still working the case?”

“I don’t give up as easily as you.”

Nairo felt like he had slapped her. She would have preferred it if he had.

“What do you want?” she asked him sharply.

“You heard about the bang down at the bridge?”

“Yes… was it…”

“Yeah, had to be. The place stunk of pennies, and there were scorch marks just like the alleyway.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Naa, the place was empty… but there were witnesses.” Ridley’s eyes flashed in the darkness.

“Those two Trolls!”

“You’ve seen ‘em?”

“They were just in the Bullpen. they’ve been taken down to the cells now.”

Ridley blew a thick cloud and then flicked his smoke.

“I need to get in there and talk to them, before the Elves do.”

“Did you not just hear me? They’ve already been processed, they’re sitting in the cells under guard.”

“Then you need to get me in there!”

“Is that why you called me out here?”

“Thought it was the least you could do,” Ridley said, his voice steely and his eyes were just as cold.

Nairo bit back a response. She was about to tell him she was a police officer and that she couldn’t just let him interrogate prisoners. But all that seemed so… hollow now. There was no justice. There was barely any law left in the city. So what did that make her then? Just some naive idiot pushing papers and swallowing her foolish morality.

“Do you think they saw who had the Diamond?”

“They’re the only two creatures in this whole city that have been anywhere near that damn thing and haven’t wound up dead. I need to talk to them.”

“Fine.” Nairo nodded her head and looked at him levelly. “But I can’t sneak you in.”

“But…”

Nairo raised her hand to silence him.

“You’ve been in there. There’s coppers everywhere and they're all very twitchy right now. We’re not sneaking in.”

“Then how…”

“Ridley… whatever your surname is, I’m placing you under arrest.”

“Oh… well shit.”

*

Nairo had enjoyed putting the manacles on Ridley more than she cared to admit. There was something cathartic about it. She frogmarched him, none too gently, through the doors to the precinct.

“Keep your head down and your smart remarks to yourself,” Nairo muttered to him from the corner of her mouth. “We’ve been dragging in citizens all day, so no one will bat an eyelid as long as you don’t draw attention to yourself.”

Ridley nodded and looked down at the floor, trying to hide his face behind the sopping wet collars of his coat. Nairo led him through the main hallway and past a group of weary officers marching the opposite direction. Nairo nodded at a few out of habit, only for her to be resoundly ignored.

“You ain’t too popular,” Ridley murmured.

She twisted his manacles and shoved him forward.

They walked through the hallway and passed the main precinct bullpen.

“The Trolls were taken down to the basement cells,” she whispered to him. “We need to go straight there. We can’t risk processing you or you’ll be stuck down there until they need to clear some space.”

“How long would that be?”

“Could be tomorrow, could be next week.”

“You ain’t even charged me with anything!” Ridley said indignantly.

“How about resisting arrest,” Nairo snapped back at him.

“And what were you arresting me for in the first place?”

“Not sure, but if being an annoying dipshit was a…”

“What have you got there Sergeant Nairo?”

Nairo looked around and saw Duty Sergeant Lenny standing with a steaming cup of coffee in his hands. He blinked his tired eyes at her and shook his head.

“Not another damn EIF arrest?”

“Oh… ummm… no,” Nairo said quickly.

“Oh, so has this one actually done something?” Lenny said, brightening up. “Bring him to the Bullpen and I’ll process him before I go on break.”

“Oh… don’t worry about it,” Nairo said. “You look knackered, you should go on break.”

“I can do one more…”

“You can’t,” Nairo said quickly.

“Why not?” Lenny said, his natural copper instinct, admittedly blunted after years of sitting behind desks, was growing curious.

“C’mon Len,” Nairo said, thinking as quickly as she could. “You go back in now and there’ll be another batch brought in and someone else will want something, and before you know it your coffee’s gone cold and you’re not getting out of there till quitting time.”

“That’s true,” Lenny said, nodding his head sagely.

“I can run him past you later when you’re less busy.”

“Ha! Less busy! Chance would be a fine thing!” Lenny said, sipping his coffee. “What’s he done anyway?”

“Flasher,” Nairo blurted out. “Likes to show his little tackle to Gnommish ladies.”

“What!” Ridley burst out indignantly.

“Quiet!” Nairo cuffed him around the ear hole and looked back at Lenny who was shaking his head.

“The sickos in this city nowadays,” he shook his head and gave Ridley a look of disdain. “You’d have it chopped off, if it were down to me. Go on Sarge, sling him in the cell block…” he gave Ridley another cold look. “Might take a couple days to get his papers filed. He should have plenty of fun in there with the Goblin boys.”

“Cheers Len.” Nairo shoved Ridley hard enough to make him stumble, and then quickly dragged him away.

“A pervert!” Ridley hissed at her once they were out of earshot.

“You could be for all I know,” Nairo replied breezily. “Why else would you wear that coat?”

“This is a detective’s coat, not a pervert coat!”

“Tell it to the judge.”

“You’re enjoying this too much.” Ridley scowled and then shut up as they passed another group of officers.

After four flights of stairs they came to the basement cellblock. The cell block was usually quiet. Most of the people that found themselves here were drunks or similar lowlifes who knew better than to be rowdy once they had been caught, less they get an officially unofficial kicking. Today was different. Every cell was packed to the brim and their occupants anything but demure. She could hear the howling and cursing from the other side of the heavy double doors.

There was only one guard on duty and she vaguely recognised him, thankfully he didn’t recognise her.

“I’ve got a prisoner here that needs locking up,” she said to him.

He barely looked up from the book he was reading. He acknowledged her uniform and then held out his hand.

“Papers?”

“He hasn’t been processed yet,” Nairo said.

“Why not?”

“Lenny’s on break. You know what he’s like when it comes to going on his break on time.”

“Sergeants,” the officer snorted with a roll of his eyes. He pushed himself back from the desk and waddled over to the wall box of keys. “Reckon, there’s space in cell four, it’s mainly Humans in there…”

“He needs to go in cell eight,” Nairo said.

“Cell eight, why? We just slung two drunk Trolls in there.”

“He’s a pervert,” Nairo said quickly. “Flashes young girls on their way home.”

The officer’s lips curled.

“Oh does he now?”

Ridley lips pressed together like he was physically stopping himself from cussing out both of the officers.

“I’ve got a lovely cell full of Goblins he might be more suited for.”

“No… I want him in with the Trolls. Can’t have anything happening to him before he gets processed,” Nairo said.

The officer thought about it and then nodded.

“Alright, we can sling him in cell eight. I’ll take him from here.” The officer reached out to grab Ridley.

“No!” Nairo said, pulling him away. “I mean… I want to do it. I want to see the look on this scumbag’s face when he sees his new cell mates.”

The officer nodded approvingly and handed her the key.

“Thanks,” Nairo said as he unlocked the heavy double doors and stood aside as they passed through.

“I’ve got a young sister,” the officer growled at Ridley. “People like you should be hung.”

Ridley looked him up and down and shrugged.

“If she looks like you, then I’m sure she ain’t my type.”

Nairo shoved Ridley through the doors before the officer could ‘accidentally’ kick shit out of him. The noise, and the smell, of the cell block was like a physical force. She had never seen the place so full. Every cell was overflowing. And every occupant of every cell was indignant.

“When am I getting out of here?”

“I ain’t done nothing!”

“Damn pigs! You ain’t got no right to lock me up!”

“Wait till I get out of here!”

“I’ll find you!”

Nairo heard someone spit and then felt something hit her shoulder. She kept her eyes focused on the floor in front of her and hurried Ridley as quickly as she could to the end of the block where cell eight was. Nairo fumbled the key in the lock and yanked the heavy metal door open. She pushed Ridley through and then stood around for a moment before deciding she would be safer in the cell and followed him in, closing the door behind her. The din died down a bit as they disappeared into the cold, concrete cell. It was dark. The glowstone had gone out weeks ago and no one had bothered to change it. In the gloom, she could barely make out two lumpen shapes in the back of the cell, but she could definitely smell them. It was like a mix between sour milk, urine, and paint thinner. The Trolls had hunkered down in a way that only Trolls could do. They were so still they almost looked like a pair of boulders on a mountainside.

“Get these off me,” Ridley snapped at Nairo, shaking his manacled hands.

“Say please.”

“Don’t push it,” Ridley growled back at her.

Nairo freed him and then looked at the two Trolls.

“Are they asleep?” she whispered to Ridley.

“Dunno,” Ridley replied. “Oi!”

“Waaahhh!” One of the Trolls came to life with a grinding howl. His massive limbs unfurled and his eyes blinked heavily. “Wot you want?”

“I didn’t say anyfin!” The other Troll mumbled, still half asleep.

“Hello,” Nairo said, smiling disarmingly at the Troll. “My name’s Sergeant Nairo, what’s your name?”

“Youse a police?” the Troll asked, still blinking and rubbing his head.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Wot you been arrested for?” the Troll asked.

“Oh, I haven’t been.”

“Wot you in ‘ere for then?”

“He’s been arrested,” Nairo said, pointing at Ridley.

“Oh… wot you done?”

“He’s a…”

“I ain’t done nothing,” Ridley snapped, cutting Nairo off with a scathing look.

“Me neither!” The Troll said.

“Me aswell!” The other Troll said, sitting up and scratching his potbelly.

“Damn pigs,” Ridley said and the Trolls muttered their agreements.

“I’m Terry,” Ridley said.

“I’m Bok and that’s Fick,” The first Troll, Bok, replied.

“He’s Fick?” Ridley asked with a smirk.

“Yep,” Fick said proudly, a crooked, nearly toothless smile on his grey face. “Least that’s wot everyone calls me.”

“Right,” Ridley said, nodding his head. “So what did the pigs grab you two for?”

“Nuffin!” Bok said indignantly.

“We woz just minding our own businesses, ‘aving a likkle drink,” Fick said.

“Just a likkle one,” Bok agreed. “Under the bridge, like we always does.”

“We wosn’t botherin’ no one,” Fick continued. “An’ we wosn’t even goona ‘ang round long, coz the place stunk.”

“Smelt awful down there,” Bok agreed. “So we woz just ‘avin’ a likkle drink and then we woz gonna get on our way.”

“And a little toot?” Ridley asked, winking and tapping his nostril with his index finger.

“Well…” The two Trolls guffawed and gave matching shrugs. “A likkle drink is better with a little blast of Slug, ain’t it?”

“Too right,” Ridley said, grinning at the Trolls. “Then what happened?”

“Well we was ‘avin’ a likkle drink right,” Bok said.

“Only a likkle one,” Fick said.

“And a couple blasts of Slug, right,” Bok said.

“Only a couple,” Fick added with a wag of his thick digit.

“And then there was a bang?” Ridley asked impatiently.

“‘Ow did you know that!” Fick said, slapping his thick hand to his forehead.

“You saw the explosion?” Nairo asked.

Instantly, the two Trolls shut their mouths and glowered at her.

“Don’t worry about her,” Ridley said, giving the Sergeant a look that said, ‘shut up!’ “There was a big bang though, right?”

“Well, at first we thought might be bad Slug,” Bok said, still eyeing Nairo suspiciously.

“Happens,” Fick said. “I ‘eard ‘bout this one fella getting ear banged off by some bad Slug.”

“It’s terrible really, they cut it wiv all sorts of fings,” Bok said.

“Is terrible,” Fick agreed.

“But it wasn’t the Slug?”

“Nooooooooo,” Bok said, shaking his head. “Coz if it was, then how did it knock down that whole bridge?”

“Slug don’t do that,” Fick said. “No matter what they cut it wiv.”

“So what happened… with the bang?” Ridley said, trying to keep them on track.

“Everyfin’ just went all bright and den dere was a big whoooooosh and bang!” Bok clapped his thick hands together making Fick giggle.

“I like that! Do it again!”

Bok slammed his hands together again and they both guffawed.

“Did you see anyone? Before the bang?” Ridley asked, excitement growing in his voice.

“Well I seent ‘im,” Bok said, pointing at Fick.

“I seent ‘im too,” Fick giggled.

“No, I mean someone else! Did you see what went bang?”

“Oohhh, little feller ‘e was. Looked all sorts of trubbled. Didn’t really wanna get too close to ‘im. Kept mutterin’ and making weird noises. Fink he was doolally.” Bok scratched his protruding stomach and belched.

“What did he look like?”

“Dunno. He was wearing a big robe, but he was only little.”

“Did he have anything with him?” Ridley asked. “Something shiny?”

“Ermmm… I dunno.”

“‘E was holding sumfin real close,” Fick said. “Like it were a baby or sumfin. ‘E kept talking to it.”

“What happened before the bang?” Ridley said, leaning towards the Trolls.

“Ummm… nuffin really. The little fing just kept mutterin’...” Bok said.

“Sounded like ‘e was arguin’ wiv himself,” Fick added.

“Yeah, that’s right. An’ then he got all ummm… wotsitsname…” Bok rubbed his head. “Like nervous or aggidated and then there were a bright light… and bang!”

“It was there!” Ridley hissed at Nairo, his eyes shining bright in the darkness. “It was there and it’s bloody Active! Lying fucking Elves!” He almost shouted that last statement.

“Shhh!” Nairo hissed at him, looking around the cell block.

“Did you see where the creature went?” Ridley asked.

“I dunno. After all the white had gone, the bridge was all broken and there woz coppers everywhere,” Bok said.

“Everywhere!” Fick nodded his head, his eyes wide.

“Then they give us a kicking and locked us up! We didn’t even do nuffin!”

“Nuffin!”

“Come on Sarge, we need to go,” Ridley said, standing up and dusting himself down.

“Thank you both, you’ve been very helpful,” Nairo said to the Trolls.

“When we gonna get out of ‘ere?” Bok asked.

“We ain’t done nuffin!” Fick wailed.

“The EIF agents are going to want to talk to you first,” Nairo replied.

“EIF?” Bok repeated slowly. “Them Elves?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t wanna talk to no Elves! I ain’t done nuffin!”

“Me neither!”

“Good,” Ridley said. “Don’t tell ‘em anything that you just told us. Tell ‘em there was a big bang and you didn’t see nothing or no one else. Understood? You tell ‘em anymore and they might wanna keep you for longer.”

“Longer?” Bok said, visibly gulping.

“They might even want to take you back to the Elvish Kingdom for questioning,” Ridley said darkly.

“I don’t wanna go there!” Fick howled.

“Good. Keep your mouth shut and you’ll be fine.”

The Trolls nodded dumbly and hunched over, pulling their legs towards them and returning to their boulder-like state.

Nairo locked the cell behind them and let out a deep breath.

“They’ve been lying the whole time,” she said through clenched teeth.

“I only told you,” Ridley said, his eyebrows knitted in thought. “And it sounds like the Diamond is getting more out of control.”

Nairo nodded. She had seen the destructive power of the Diamond and the idea that whoever had stolen it was losing control of it made her stomach twist in knots.

“Come on, we have to get you out of here,” Nairo said.

“Gonna look weird if you take me back out again.”

“We can use the back door,” Nairo said, nodding to the door at the end of the cell block. “It's where we discharge prisoners.”

She led him quickly through the door and down an empty corridor where a bored officer was rubbing at his sleep deprived eyes. Nairo nodded at him without breaking her step.

“Hold on, marm,” the officer said. “Is he being let go?”

“Who? Him?” Nairo said, pointing at Ridley.

“Yes marm.”

“He’s not a prisoner, he’s a consultant working a case for the Cap’n. Needed to talk to one of our prisoners.”

“Oh right, sorry marm,” the officer blinked drowsily and then forgot all about them.

“That was easy,” Ridley muttered as they made their way down a flight of stairs.

“For you, surprisingly, it’s harder to get into the precinct than out.”