The man Navelwort had called Coddle lived in a house in the Beggar’s Alley. It was quite a big and nice house for the neigborhood, though it had deteriorated due to lack of care and one of the windows was broken. Delioron waited in the shadows for some time after Coddle returned home from the Pony. The man didn’t seem to have any intention of going to bed in spite of the late hour. The windows were lit by light from candles and lanterns, and Delioron could hear sounds of singing and boiling water from the broken window. Coddle was preparing himself a late night meal.
Delioron went to the front door. It had been left ajar. The king of the underworld didn’t have to fear thieves in his own kingdom. Delioron slipped in through the door and entered into a dark hallway. The sound of singing was louder now, and Delioron followed the voice to the stairs leading up to the second floor.
There was a man with dark and curly hair bustling around the hearth in the kitchen, cooking something in a large pot of boiling water. The smoke hole was apparently blocked, for the smoke from the pot wafted out through the hole in the window. Coddle was singing a lewd tune, and his singing voice left much to be desired. Whatever else Coddle might have been, he did not have the talent for being a minstrel.
Coddle must have sensed a presence in the kitchen, for he looked over his shoulder and saw Delioron standing there. Coddle looked amazed for a second or two, but the baffled expression soon gave way to indignant one and he picked up a kitchen knife. Delioron made a feint attack. Coddle swung clumsily with his knife. Delioron kicked him in the buttocks, and Coddle’s both arms sunk deep into the boiling water.
Coddle screamed and pulled his hands off the water. He raised his hands into the air and stared at them in terror, screaming like a banshee. His hands were bright red and badly scalded, blisters forming into the red skin like bubbles.
Coddle kept screaming. Delioron took a rag and shoved it into his mouth to shut him up.
”Tell me about Paladin Took.”
Coddle struggled himself out of Delioron’s hold and glared at him, squeezing his scalded hands into tight fists. Coddle was a tough guy, and Delioron understood why he had risen to be a top man in the criminal underbelly of Bree. It would not help him now.
”Tell me about Sharkey and the plan to kidnap Paladin Took.”
Coddle spat the rag out of his mouth and took a quick step towards Delioron. Delioron shoved him towards the hearth. Coddle rammed onto the cauldron and boiling hot water splashed all over him. He screamed as Delioron dragged him across the kitchen floor. The stench of charred flesh was nauseating. Delioron propped him onto a chair. Coddle’s face was as badly scalded as his hands and arms.
”Tell me about Sharkey”, said Delioron.
Coddle made a hissing sound as he breathed through clenched teeth, staring at Delioron with eyes full of hatred.
”Tell me about Paladin Took”, said Delioron.
”Go bugger a rotting orc-corpse, you maggot”, Coddle said. His voice was almost steady. Coddle had a high threshold for pain. It would not help him now.
”Tell me about Sharkey and the plan to kidnap Paladin Took.”
”Go fuck yourself!”
Delioron pulled his dagger. ”You will tell me everything I want to know.”
Coddle made an obscene gesture with his scalded, skinless fingers. Delioron struck his dagger onto the chair, half an inch away from Coddle’s scrotum. He pulled the knife off the chair and prepared to strike again. ”Tell me about Sharkey.”
”I guess I have to tell you then.”
”Don’t make me ask again.”
Coddle smiled, and his smile was full of scorn and contempt. ”Nobody knows who Sharkey is, not even me. Nobody has even seen him here in Bree. At least I don’t think so. But he has a man here, a servant – a man who represents him and acts as his agent.”
”What is his name? Where does he live?”
”Nobody knows his name, or where he lives. He comes and goes as he pleases. We… I know him only as ’The Southerner’. A foreigner. Dark man, mean-looking. Walks with a limp.”
”So Sharkey is a foreigner too? A Southerner?”
”That’s what I think. Perhaps ’The Southerner’ is Sharkey himself. But why would he claim to represent someone else if he’s not what he says he is?”
”Where is he now?”
Coddle flashed a smug grin. Blisters were still forming on his arms and face. ”I heard he went to Archet. To keep an eye on the hobbit.”
”Who else is involved? Who else knows ’The Southerner’ and the plan to kidnap Paladin Took?”
”Only me. I mean, some of my lads know that I’m up to something, they know I have plans for the hobbits, but they don’t know about the details. Nobody knows ’The Southerner’ but me.”
Delioron punctured a blister in Coddle’s neck and it sprayed blood. ”Do not try to lie to me again. I know about Bill Ferny. Who else knows ’The Southerner’ and the plan to kidnap Paladin Took?”
Coddle screamed with pain. ”All right, you worm! You got me with Bill Ferny, he’s with me in this but that is all, I swear! He’s the only one who knows about ’The Southerner’ besides me.”
”And the other Southerners? The other foreigners in Bree? Who are they?”
Coddle was shivering. ”What fuggin’ foreigners? I don’t know about any other foreigners than you, The Southerner and that damn Sharkey.”
”Then explain me the plan. Why do you want to kidnap Paladin Took? How and when are you going to do it?”
Noise and ruckus from the front of the house forced Delioron to turn his head and look out of the window. All the screaming had made a lot of people gather outside. They were confused now, but they would rush inside any time now. Delioron could escape from the back door and across the roofs, but he didn’t have much time left with Coddle. He knew that Coddle was lying about something, and torture wasn’t the best or most reliable method of interrogating someone anyhow, but the other methods took more time than he had. And now the time was up.
”Well?”
Coddle sneered. ”You’re not going to get another word out of me. Your time’s up, buster, and you know it. You’re going to kill me anyhow, so why don’t you get on with it – you shitbird!”
”As you wish.”
Delioron killed him then. He gutted Coddle like a fish – to send a strong message.
The ruffians of Bree needed to know that the hunting season was open and that they would not be safe. He wanted them scared and confused.
