Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent (Gentlemen Bastards #0.5)

In this tale from Locke's teenage years, our nervous, hormonal, romantically-confused hero spends a few months working as a bar-back in one of Camorr's most brutal Right People taverns. This is one of Father Chains' endless series of training and personal enrichment schemes; as per usual, it's full of fuckery, and as per usual, Locke is expected to work it all out himself. His only real ally of the moment is the aging mercenary Mazoc Szaba, a man addicted to risking his own life in a gambling spectacle involving poisoned wine.

As Locke's troubles boil over, so do Mazoc Szaba's debts, and when you publicly flaunt your obligations to the one and only Capa Barsavi, Barsavi reaches out to publicly remind you of them...

This short story is available in two parts in the October 2024 and January 2025 editions of Grimdark Magazine.