Shadows of Valderia: An Urban Fantasy Detective Noir

​​9

“Three!”

Nairo pounced at the unlocked door, slamming her shoulder into it so hard, the damp, swollen wood almost fell apart beneath her.

“Verdalia PD!” she bellowed.

Her head whipped from left to right as she waited for an assailant to meet her. A sound alerted her to the right. She spun and saw a gangly, long tusked, Goblin standing in a pool of blood next to the body of another Goblin, who was slumped over the table in puddles of blood. They stared at each other. The Goblin reacted first. He spun on his heels and leapt for the open window behind him.

“Freeze!” Nairo cried, spurring her frozen limbs into action.

She tore across the room and slipped in the puddle of gore as she followed him out of the window. Nairo realised this was one of the rare occasions of leaping before looking that they were always talking about. She was staring at a six storey drop with a trickle of crumbling masonry at her feet holding her up. The sucking wind tore at her and she instinctively tried to dive back through the window. She almost slipped, clawing at the window frame she stood there frozen.

“Sarge!” a cry from behind her.

Nairo peeked over her shoulder at Ridley, red-faced, clinging to a rickety gutter, the wind whipping at his coat.

“Was that Benny?”

“I don’t know! Where did he go?” Nairo shouted back, every muscle in her body tense and fully flexed.

Ridley pointed up. Nairo followed his finger and then groaned. With will powered only by the badge in her pocket, she gritted her teeth and reached up. She grunted and scrambled with her feet, pulling herself up over the ledge to the roof of the building. After a gut wrenching moment of her feet kicking and finding nothing but air, she crested the rooftop and saw the long doberman-like ears of the Goblin whipping out of view across the next rooftop. Nairo pulled herself over the ledge, scraping her knees, and scrabbled to her feet in hot pursuit. Her police instincts kicked in and she focused on her quarry, ignoring the howling wind and the horrifying drops all around her. Without thinking, she leapt across the roof to the next building, which thanks to the shoddy construction of the RatHole’s buildings, had wilted close enough for her to jump. She could see the Goblin now but he was already across the roof and running hard. He had great loping strides that swallowed up the roof. She sprinted after him barely registering the heavy thump and cursing behind her that signalled Ridley had joined the pursuit.

“We need to catch him!” Nairo screamed over her shoulder.

“You stay behind him! I’ll try cut him off!” Ridley veered off and leapt on to another building. There was a massive cloud of dust and timber as Ridley disappeared through the roof. “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!”

Nairo didn’t have time to see if he was alright. She kept running, trying to avoid the suspiciously sagging parts of the rooftop. She saw a fresh hole in the roof and a trail of dust spotted with blood. Her quarry must have put his foot through it. Good. That might slow him down. Nairo reached the edge of the roof and skidded to a stop. The next building was a twelve foot drop and at least ten feet away from her. There was no way he had made that jump. Nairo looked around and saw a smear of blood on the ledge of the roof. Nairo peeked over the ledge and straight into the sharp end of a crossbow. She lurched back just as she heard the twang of the bolt being fired. A second later there was a whoosh of air as the bolt flew inches from her face.

“Son of a…”

Nairo scrambled up just in time to see the Goblin smash a window behind him and fall through.

“Shit!”

Nairo looked around. She would have to shimmy over the ledge. She peeked over the edge again and the drop made her head spin. No way. She searched the rooftop for a way down. Of course there were no stairs. But then she noticed the hole the Goblin’s foot had made. There was a sagging patch of roof in front of her. Just big enough for a slender person. Nairo rolled her eyes to the sky and then gritted her jaw. She ran at the hole and jumped straight up, both her feet locked together. There was a moment where the roof flexed. Then it gave way. Nairo tore a hole in the roof large enough for a Troll to fit through. There was a mighty crash of rotting wood and mouldy plaster. Her eyes and nostrils filled with dust. Her whole world went white. She screwed her eyes shut as debris scratched and tore at her. Her locked legs hit something soft and then the next floor gave way too. Nairo couldn’t even scream. She shit something hard and almost blacked out. The whole room spun. Dust was everywhere, choking her and scratching at her eyes. Nairo coughed and spluttered. Pain lanced up her injured leg and deep into her spine. Nairo groaned and rolled out of the pile of rotten timber.

“Are you here for the rent?”

“Wahhh?”

“I put it in the post. I swears.”

Nairo blinked and looked up, scrubbing her filthy hair out of her face. A grubby, pot bellied man, wearing a stained vest, was sitting at a small wooden table tucking into his meagre dinner of something beige and boiled.

“No,” Nairo gasped. “I’m police.”

“I didn’t do it!” The man held up both hands and then dropped his spoon like it was a deadly weapon. “I found those Grubnucks on the floor… after they fell off a wagon!”

Nairo heard the pounding of running feet. She dragged herself up, kicking away debris, and stumbled for the door.

“Oi! What about my ceiling!”

“Send us an invoice!” Nairo fell through his door and limped down the hall as fast as her battered body could.

At least this building didn’t feel like a sunken tomb; it had some life in it. She stopped to catch her breath and tried to pick up the Goblin’s footsteps. Luckily, being light on their feet wasn’t a Goblin speciality. She heard the heavy thud of running feet. He was just below! And there sounded like a second set of footsteps. Ridley must be on him! Nairo limped to the stairs. She hopped down, leaning heavily on the bannister. As she reached the halfway point there was a creak and then a crack as the rotten wood gave way.

“Oh no…”

Nairo tumbled down the adjacent set of stairs, slamming into the wall and bouncing straight through the next set of railings.

“What the…”

A familiar voice.

As the world spun all around her, Nairo caught sight of Ridley’s coat, then she splattered on top of something… or someone. He grunted under Nairo and they both went down the rapidly crumbling staircase, rolling until they hit a landing.

“Sarge!” Ridley cried out as he huffed down the steps, his arms going like pistons.

Nairo groaned and made no attempt to get up. That was it for her. She was done. She couldn’t even figure out what hurt anymore. The Goblin stirred and then pushed her off of him. He was strong. Nairo fought weakly but was tossed aside like a wet rag. She saw the glint of a blade. Desperation forced life into her broken body. She flailed at the Goblin trying to grip his arm. He slapped her hand aside with a cold, calculated fury. He brought the dagger down and Ridley leapt. He jumped from about four steps up and flew at the Goblin. His face smashed into the back of the Goblin’s head as he drove his own body into him, knocking him off Nairo and sending the blade skittering across the hall. Ridley grunted and wrestled with him, his face bloody from a gash on his eyebrow. In the debris of the collapsed staircase they struggled to find their footing. Scrabbling, punching, headbutting, biting, and cursing, they fought desperately. Fortunately for Ridley, the cramped hallway took away the Goblin’s natural size and strength advantage and the debris of the collapsed staircase made it difficult for him to find purchase. Their battle was savage and cramped, all elbows and knees. But the Goblin was still armed; Goblins were always armed. He snapped his head at Ridley’s face, trying to gouge Ridley’s eyes with his curved tusks. Ridley instinctively snapped his head down and their skulls banged together. Ridley stumbled back against the wall. The Goblin lunged, tusks lowered and aimed for his neck.

Nairo snarled as she willed her body to move. On her hands and knees, she threw herself at the Goblin’s feet, tripping him up. They went down in a heap. The Goblin clawed at Nairo as she hung desperately to one of his thick legs, distracting him long enough for Ridley to kick upwards with the heels of his feet. He caught their assailant full in the face. The Goblin grunted and stumbled backwards over Nairo. There was a moment of weightlessness. His eyes went wide and he clawed at the air before he disappeared backwards down the stairs. There were sickening crunches and thuds as he barreled down the stairs until there was a final splatting noise as he hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs.

“You okay?” Ridley gasped as he tried to help Nairo to her feet before they both collapsed in the rubble of the staircase.

“No.”

“Me neither.”

They sat, leaned against each other, gasping for air. Nairo closed her eyes and willed the room to stop spinning.

“Is he dead?” Nairo asked.

Ridley peered down the stairs at the still Goblin. After a few seconds he heard the creature groan.

“Naa.”

“Good.”

“That’s wasn’t Benny,” Ridley panted, spitting a mouthful of blood on the floor.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, one of Benny’s ears is ripped in two. Plus, he’s the wrong colour.”

“What colour is Benny?”

“Like a mottled grey.”

Nairo groaned.

“I think I found him then.”

“You did?”

“You’re not gonna like this…”

*

With the unconscious Goblin trussed up and none too gently dragged up six flights of steps, Nairo, battered and covered in dust, once again found herself in Benny’s flat. Ridley was bent over double with his hands on his knees looking at the body slumped over the table, a waterfall of blood lethargically dripping down into puddles around his feet. It was a Goblin with mottled grey scales, thin and wiry, his head turned at a grotesque angle, a stupid lopsided grin plastered across his face. One of his ears was ripped in half. Beneath the macabre grin was a gaping red maw where his throat should have been. The wound was so deep that Nairo could see the white of his neckbone.

“Shit,” Ridley groaned. “That’s Benny.”

“Damn,” Nairo felt the bile rise in the back of her throat.

“Might be time to call for that back up, Sarge.”