Gabriel Caine POV (Patreon)

A sigh was heavy in the air.  As was often the case when the so-called morning awoke and Gabriel stepped into his office.  It was a dimly lit alcove that had once been a cell before the boss thought it to be far too big for the likes of a prisoner and his right-hand man, got shoved here instead.  Not that Gabriel minded.  It was at least quiet in this area.  Far away from the comings and goings of anyone being bought in for processing.  If there was one thing that Gabriel needed, after all, it was the quiet.

With his morning tea in hand, and a wrapped steamed bun, he sat down at his desk.  No sooner did he unwrap his food was there a crisp rap on his door, a nameless guard bursting in.  They looked fresh-faced and young, and Gabriel was almost certain they had not worked here yesterday. Or perhaps he truly did need to sleep. It had been three days.

“I have a report, sir,” the young man said, holding himself straight and staring somewhere over Gabriel’s shoulder.  Setting down his food with a sigh, Gabriel leaned back in his chair.

“Go on.”

“There was another breach,” the man, a child really, said. “One near the gem district.  A younger person. Human we think.”

Gabriel stared at them, unblinking.  The office cell was consumed with silence that normally, Gabriel would have reveled in. If it were not for the at attention kid in his door.  He couldn’t eat while others expected conversation from him.  “And?”

“And what sir?”

He took a deep breath to keep his calm. “Why is this one important?”

Breaches were a dime a dozen now.  Gabriel had long stopped caring about the ones that came through. Not that he ever really cared.  He wouldn’t be here without a breach, after all.

“Oh, uh- I’m not - well, I don’t really…”

“Where’s Maddox? Or Celia?” They were at least competent at their job.  Gabriel couldn’t really see how any of this information was supposed to be deemed important when they sent a mere underling to deliver it.  He wondered if the guards were getting uppity again and trying to screw with command.

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Who are you?” Not that it mattered. He would forget his name within ten minutes.

“Carver Adlun, sir.  Reporting for duty.  This is my third day as a member of the Velvet Guard, our most esteemed…”

“Right.” Gabriel stood, looking at his steamed bun longingly.  It was now much less… steamy.  “Adalaine…”

The boy shifted on his feet, his demeanor breaking into something far more nervous. “Adlun, sir.”

“Adlun. Do you know how often a breach through the Night Market walls happens?”

“No, sir.”

“Once every two point five days.  Do you know how many of them we apprehend?”

“No, sir.” Adlun’s voice was far quieter now. Good, Gabriel thought. Maybe he’d think twice before stepping through his door again.

“All of them. Every last breach that is reported, we take care of. So you see, when a breach is being reported to me, I find it of very little note. Mainly because I know the individual has been taken into custody and if everyone is doing their job correctly, will be in due processing as we speak.” Stepping forward, hands behind his back, he bumped the polished toes of his boot against Adlun’s own.  When the boy flinched, Gabriel nearly didn’t waste his next breath.  It was only because of his position, his duty to explain, that he even bothered.

“It is the ones that go unreported, the ones I know are happening and slipping into our society with illegal papers and intentions to tear down the structure we have created, that I care about. Those are the ones that I take interest in. But you’re not reporting one of those to me,” he told the boy softly, his voice edging on condescending without the barest hint of regret.  “So, my breakfast has been interrupted. I hate when my breakfast is interrupted.  The reason for interrupting it better be much better than ‘I was told to come tell you’ or else you will not make it to your fourth day within the Velvet Guard.”

The boy swallowed. Sweat dripped down his temple to disappear somewhere beneath the unruly hairline near his ear. Gabriel sneered at that. Couldn’t even look presentable.

“I don’t. I’m afraid sir that I don’t really…”

Gabriel walked by him.  The boy could see himself out.  He hoped he enjoyed his last day on the job.

Walking through the cavern halls, Gabriel made his way downwards, towards the section of tunnels that branched.  One led straight, a row of thick iron doors housing the prisoners of the Night Market. He could see a few guards coming and going, starting the processing for the bail block that evening. Other doors remained tightly shut, red sigils marked on their outside.  Looked like they had quite a few they would be dealing with at a later date.

Turning down one of the tunnels, he walked through the dirt caked halls until the ground beneath him became stone.  The walls began to smooth into something more palatable and the lights that flickered ahead were bright. He supposed it was a sad imitation of sunlight.  If born within the market, it probably sufficed as something dazzling. To him, it looked to be nothing more than a smear of gleaming white with an edge border of gold.

“Warden.”

Gabriel sighed. “Cecil. Thank the Knowing.  Why did I have a child come into my office to tell me about a breach?”

She smiled at him a little, something more akin to playful.  Her steel grey hair was pulled back into one long braid down her tanned back.  “Why do you assume that anyone new to the Guard is a child?”

“They are all children compared to me.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a shrug. “At for him coming to you? Ambition. That and the gang wanted to see if you’d fire him.”

“Of course I’m not going to fire him.” As of right now, that is, the man still had a job.  He could dismiss him tomorrow.  “Why was he there, Cecil? Standard breaches are not my protocol.”

Her face quietened at that.  With a shift, she motioned for him to come closer.  “Something different about this one.  Was all the standard signs.  Guards were there before they even cracked through.  But this one. This one came through a new door.”

Gabriel frowned. “Concerning but not entirely unheard of.”

“The door then disappeared. Moved completely.”  The rigidity within the wardens form was unsettling for anyone that knew him.  Cecil had the benefit of working with him for the last few years and becoming one of the few members of the guard who wasn’t offended by his blunt nature.  It was the only reason she didn’t turn away at the line of his jaw. “I already sent a small group out to look for it.  The signature they received though doesn’t track.  By all intents and purposes, it was never there.”

“That’s impossible.” When a door opened, even if it was shut again, a tear within the fabric of their dimension was made. It may not be accessible any longer, but a blemish would still remain.  For it to smooth over as if nothing had happened was concerning at best.  “What cell were they put in?”

“47B.”

“Well,” Gabriel said, “looks as if I will be heading out to do a bit of processing this morning.”

Cecil had suspected as much, and only nodded. “Would you like to go eat your breakfast first?”

“No. No a matter like this better be addressed sooner rather than later. I can buy another bun this evening.”

She nodded.  “Of course, sir.  Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Making his way back down the hall, Gabriel stared ahead. Beneath his feet the ground became dirt once more and the sconces of runic firelight lit his way.  Up ahead, he could see a cell door opening. A blond man was being escorted out, his wispy blonde hair in disarray, his shirt and jacket missing.  Reese escorted him with a hand to the back of the man’s neck.  It wasn’t an unusual sight to see, but he certainly did not like seeing it so close to the cell he was heading towards. Towards 47B.

“Evenin’ warden,” the dark skinned man said, his hold still on the shirtless form of the prisoner he just released.

“Anything I need to know about, Reese?” Gabriel asked. Reese and Caliban. They were not a good combination.

“Oh, I’m sure there is.  But don’t you go worrying your pretty head about it,” Reese drawled.

“Hey,” the blonde haired, blue-eyed man looked up at Gabriel, rocking back and forth on his toes. “You going in there?” When Gabriel didn’t say anything, he took it as confirmation. “Go easy on them. They’ve been through a lot.”

Reese rolled his eyes, shoving Caliban along down the cell, not giving Gabriel a chance to answer. Not that he would have.  Instead, Gabriel looked at the twin cells.  The open door and the one shut, housing 47B.  Of all the cells they could put them in, it had to be the one next to the eyes and ears of the market itself.

Gabriel watched as Reese and Caliban left, heads ducked together in conversation.  He would wait.  47B had probably gotten an earful already.  He wanted to go take a look at the breach before he entered into that cell, after all.

Because whatever was in there, didn’t belong.