Killer

Killer

                "That's... A quite clever plan," said Tadyel's contact. It was the evening of the day she'd come up with her plan. An earlier attempt to contact her overseer had failed, so Tadyel had spent the day organising the purchase of some new clothes, and some repairs to those she had. It was something to spend the money on, at least, and it gave her an excuse to stay in the town.

                "I'll see about organising the poison," continued the contact. "You'll need something quite deadly, and that will last at least a few hours. It may take a few days. Contact me each evening, and if the poison has become available I'll tell you where to collect it. Well. This is a clever enough plan that, should it take too long, I may well extend the spell on you."

                "You can do that?" asked Tadyel.

                "Yes, as well as remove it. I will not do so if you waste time, but should it be unavoidable I can afford to be lenient. Organising such would be ... troublesome, so do not expect it.

                "Remain in town, and maintain your cover. Keep an eye on Ormgus. And remember that we are not dedicated to this plan. Should you think of another, especially one better, feel free to attempt it."

                Tadtel nodded over the talking cup of water she held in her hands, causing the gray stone to roll about inside. Her contact sounded quite pleased, overall.

                "If you have no questions -" Tadyel shook her head "- I shall speak with you tomorrow night. Good evening."

                "Good evening," replied Tadyel as the connection ended.

                She hid the stone away in her pockets, and gulped down the water. Well, I suppose I have some time to... relax? thought Tadyel. This may be quite a strange experience.

                The poison didn't arrive for three days, and it was not until the fourth evening after Tadyel's discussion with her contact that she had the opportunity to use to poison. She spent the intervening time looking at clothes (she had visited the dressmaker, tailor, and general clothier) and sampling local delicacies. To those who asked, she said she was recuperating from the trip across the desert (quite true) before likely making her way north.

                All in all, she could honestly say it was one of the best times of her life. Her childhood had been better, but only through hard sacrifices by her parents, and it had not been a long one. As soon as she could reliably cut or plough it became her job. Tadyel had even been tempted by certain... pampering services, that were the province of the rich in Green Creek (and apparently the other towns), but she had resisted the urge. She also lacked the money for them.

                Ormgus made the same speech everyday - the fourth time Tadyel heard it, he used the same speech he had on the first day (with only minor changes in the telling). It made her quite a bit more cynical about Ormgus's operation, since he wasn't truly speaking from his heart (despite the passion in his voice and the various times he said he was).

                The poison had been left on the opposite side of town, hidden under a loose gutter stone. Tadyel had decided to put off retrieving it until the next afternoon instead of spending an entire night roaming the streets. It would have been too risky.

                So it was that she dozed until the early morning of her seventh day in town, and pulled herself out of bed before even the bakers rose.

                "Uuugh," she groaned, bleary eyed. I've spent just under two weeks and I'm already soft as anything, she thought with a smile. It wasn't really true. She'd never had to wake up this early, although in the depths of the desert they had sometimes walked during the night instead of day to avoid the sun. She was also maintaining her physique through exercise done before bed.

                Despite not really being 'soft', Tadyel was very tempted to just go back to the comfortable bed she'd been sleeping in for the past week. No bed she'd ever slept in came close.

                Duty pushed her onwards, and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She wrapped herself in her new dark blue cloak (so dark it was almost black), and made her way silently downstairs. Keeping a very careful eye out she slipped into the inn's kitchen and out the back door, making sure it remained unlatched and openable from the outside.

                There was nobody in the streets of Green Creek at this hour barring two night watchmen who did hourly patrols. They had been past a short time prior, and Tadyel would be making her way behind them as they carried out their patrol. If she was fast, she'd even make it back before they finished their loop through the town.

                Tadyel made her way across town. She felt that keeping to the shadows was essential - the few lit windows she passed were given a very wide berth. Getting seen would almost certainly lead to her being caught. Getting caught would almost certainly mean her death. She frowned slightly at the thought, worried.

                Her worry over getting caught made each moment stretch into an age. Tadyel's mind seemed stuck between rapidly checking her surroundings, and careful avoidance of any light sources. There were only a few, as the town's lamp posts were doused at midnight.

                Sooner than she expected she found herself in the square. The entire space was lit only by faint starlight, as all the adjoining buildings were completely dark. Luck is on my side tonight, thought Tadyel as she crept around the edge of the square, keeping to the shadows cast by the buildings.

                After reaching the stage without incident, she took a close look at the railings. They were rough-hewn, like the rest of the stage. Tadyel pulled out her dagger and set to work, loosening parts of the wood until they stuck up slightly. Just enough to catch on a hand that passed over them.

                It took the better part of an hour for her to finish her work. On both railings, from top to bottom, the rough wood now sported countless opportunities for splinters - in both directions. Tadyel carefully poured the poison onto every last one. It smelt a little, but it was not noticeable unless one sniffed closely. That was good enough.

                She only wound up using a little more than half of the vial to coat both of the railings. Rather than risk getting caught with the poison, she rolled the vial underneath the stage. It wouldn't be found unless the area was thoroughly searched, and that would only happen when it was too late.

                Her work complete, Tadyel left the area, heading along a different path than that she had initially taken. She was very, very worried about running into the night patrol as digging up splinters had taken longer than she expected. Luck stayed with her, and she made it back to the inn without seeing a single soul (though she did once hear the guards moving the other direction a couple of streets over; something that made her realise that compared to her, they were remarkably noisy).

                After Tadyel slipped back through the back door and relatched it, she heard a loud thud come from one of the store rooms adjacent the kitchen. She jumped a little bit, her tired brain dragging itself back awake with a massive blast of adrenaline.

                Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, she thought, moving as quickly and silently as she could into the main area of the inn. A distant satisfied groan came from the store room - it sounded like the man who did the morning bar-keeping.

                As footsteps came from the store room, Tadyel was exceptionally grateful for the soft shoes she had bought. They made next to no noise, despite the fact that she took the stairs two at a time in her rush. Taking only a moment to ensure no-one was standing around upstairs, she darted back into her room.

                She sat down on her bed, breathing heavily, one hand over her heart. Her pulse slowed down from its breakneck pace as she settled down. Soon it was back to normal, and Tadyel was back to feeling incredibly tired.

                She quickly changed into her bedclothes (such a luxury!), then lay down on the bed with a sigh. That's that, she though, done. She fell asleep within moments.

                Tadyel slept very, very well that morning. So well that she was awake in time to get to Ormgus's speech despite being up half the night. As she leant against a lamp-post (again - it had become a habit) she realised it was the best night of sleep she had ever had. Probably because I had nothing else to do until now, she thought.

                The usual crowd had gathered, almost all refugees with a couple of townspeople. Ormgus's followers bunched up around the front, more than before. It had been eerie for Tadyel to watch their number increase by one or two a day. They seemed to be growing in number faster than the Magi had anticipated. It worried her. Killing their leader would make her their enemy, even if she had nothing further to do with the Magi.

                Ormgus showed up right on time, entering through the same side street as usual. He had a smile on his face, something he had first done the day before. Tadyel had amused herself by thinking of it as 'something Ormgus had finally mastered'. The smile didn't quite fit his face; and more importantly, Tadyel was sure it didn't reach his eyes.

                From afar it was hard to tell, but Tadyel wasn't sure she could keep her cool up close. A change in her 'position' could also possibly clue someone in, and Tadyel really didn't want that to happen. Her heart began to race as Ormgus approached the stage. Most of his entourage split off, and his second in command took the stage ahead of him. Neither she nor the large man following him (an advisor) ever touched the railing.

                But Ormgus, on this day as on all others, did. Half way up the ramp he stopped suddenly, and pulled his hand off the railing. He only spared it a quick glance, and after a couple of comments to the man behind he continued up the stairs.

                The crowd was the same as ever as Ormgus took centre stage. Most were muted, waiting for the speech to begin; his supporters at the front were eager, but patient. Only Tadyel, near the back with a few others who were more curious than anything else, was tense. It took a gargantuan effort to prevent her fists from clenching tight.

                Ormgus raised his hands in the air, a small speck of blood on his right hand where a splinter had obviously bit home. The few people who were chatting idly fell silent.

                "My friends," he began, "Thank you for coming before me agai- again. I'm sorry, I-"

                Ormgus's arms dropped down, and he staggered backwards a couple of steps. Suddenly his eyes went wide. "I-" he stammered.

                After a couple of moments of wide eyed silence, as both of those on stage with him looked on with growing concern, he toppled forwards.

                The loud thud made as he fell set off an immediate uproar. "Ormgus!" yelled his supporters, "What's happened?" yelled almost all, and "Victory," whispered Tadyel's quickly ended smile.

                A cacophony of voices soon destroyed any possibility of picking up one person from the mass, but the entire crowd pressed forwards, even those less interested and Tadyel. On the stage, Ormgus's two closest followers squatted over his fallen form.

                "He's dead!" yelled the large advisor, standing and backing up in shock. The crowd went silent at the news.

                "Poison," muttered the second-in-command. "But how?" She noticed the crowd standing close. "Nobody leaves!" she declared.

                Ormgus's followers in the crowd immediately began moving, but one member of the crowd - a townsperson - called out, "I'll go wherever I please in my own town, thank you very much! The town patrol will be here soon to sort this out, and if you pull shit like that you'll not be welcome - dead leader or no!"

                The woman on the stage shot a look of pure hatred at the man who had spoken up. It was strangely familiar to Tadyel, who quickly realised that it had reminded her of the Thrath. Except the Thrath gave the look to everyone, all the time.

                As soon as it had appeared, it was gone. "Fine," said the second-in-command. "But someone must pay for this!"

                An angry confirmation came from Ormgus's supporters and some of the refugees. Quite a few others were moving away from the crowd - a few sat down to recover from the shock. Some of the leaving refugees, including one Tadyel recognised as being quite critical of Ormgus, were being obstructed by Ormgus's people.

                "Cut that out right now!" came a voice from the far end of the square.

                Running into the square - likely summoned by someone who had left the square as soon as Ormgus collapsed - came seven of the town patrollers. Their leader, a raven haired woman, had yelled at those who had moved to obstruct others.

                "Alright," the woman said, "We need the names of everyone here in case we need to ask you questions. You two on the stage stay put, and anyone who thinks they can add anything to our investigation hang around."

                She quickly jogged up to the stage as her people spread out among the dispersing crowd. Tadyel caught a faint bit of what she said to those on the stage ('So what exactly happened this morning - full detail, as if I didn't know about these speeches') before one of the patrollers approached her.

                "Your name, ma'am?" the patrolman asked, giving her a respectful nod of his head.

                "Tadyel," she replied.

                "Do you come to these speeches often?" he asked.

                "Yes, just out of curiosity," she replied.

                "Thank you, ma'am," he said, moving past her towards someone else.

                Tadyel looked around. Some more patrollers had arrived. A few were offering comfort to those quite shocked by Ormgus's death, and a couple seemed to be calming down a heated conversation between a townsperson and two of Ormgus's followers (Tadyel was pretty sure she'd head it start - the townsperson had said, "Good riddance!")

                No-one seemed about to stop her from leaving, so Tadyel took one last look at the stage (upon which the patrol leader was taking a look at the body) before taking her usual route away from the square. She headed straight back to the inn, fended off questions about what had happened by looking distressed (how the barkeep already knew was a mystery) and returned to her room.

                Once there, she immediately dropped the stone into the cup of water she had left behind that morning. It took a few moments, but the stone began to glow.

                "Well done," came the voice of her contact. "Very well done. I think you've gotten away with it too - I just heard that the poison was found at the scene of the crime, and that any one of a couple of dozen people could have done it. A couple of dozen that doesn't include you, and is mostly townspeople.

                "I should be clear. Ormgus's people think a townsperson did it; and the townspeople don't care if it was. They're at each other’s throats already. It's pretty much as we expected things would play out, assuming you didn't get caught. So congratulations. You've done very, very well."

                "Thank you," said Tadyel, somewhat solemnly. That she had just killed someone was starting to sink in. It felt... Bad, but she didn't know how bad. She hadn't liked Ormgus, and she had done it for good reasons. But she hadn't done a good thing.

                "I'd give you some time to... Fret about killing Ormgus, but I have something else to discuss with you first. I'm allowed to make you an offer, about -" began the contact.

                "About continuing to work for you and the Magi. I know. I accept," said Tadyel. She had already decided that. She'd have a far better life than she would otherwise working for them - especially if they defeated the Thrath. If they lost, she would be far from the fight and able (and probably helped) to flee. And those she had chosen... They'd be guaranteed a good life.

                "Well, that's good. It's good to know you've decided already. I did hear that you had quite a chat with Carmichael. Alright. This isn't something you can back out of - are you sure?"

                "Yes," said Tadyel with a curt nod.

                "I'll see you in the inn around lunch. Keep an ear out. Oh - and don't say anything stupid when we meet, okay?"

                "Okay." As soon as Tadyel had responded, the connection ended. She took the dull gray stone from the water, then gulped it down. I guess it's finally time to meet my contact, she thought. Then she settled onto the bed with a soft groan, and thought about what she'd done.

                The eventual realisation Tadyel had was that, as cold-hearted as it was, she didn't care too much. Not enough to make her feel that it hadn't been the right thing to do. It was how she felt at the moment, at least. She wasn't sure if it had all... sunk in yet.

                She sat downstairs in the inn, idly swirling her drink. It was the juice of several fruits grown nearby, and really tasty. She'd never had anything like it before she came to Green Creek, but it had quickly become her favourite drink. Mmm, she thought, taking a sip.

                Half an hour had passed since it was roughly 'lunch' time, and Tadyel was still sitting alone in the inn. A handful of patrons, mostly other lodgers, were about. None had expressed any unusual interest in Tadyel. She'd caved and placed a food order a few minutes ago; soon it'd be ready and... Well, she could hang around idly, but it might attract some unwanted interest.

                The clatter of the door made her aware of someone entering the inn. "Hey," the woman said, "I heard there's someone who saw Ormgus bite it here?"

                "Yeah," replied the barkeep, "Tadyel, she's over there." He pointed.

                "Thanks!" said the woman. Tadyel caught a bit of her smile as she span around and began making her way between the tables. Her voice was too high to be Tadyel's contact.

                Tadyel almost grimaced as the unwanted socialisation opportunity made her way straight towards her. She maintained her composure - she recognised the woman. She was the general clothier, proprietor of one of the shops Tadyel had visited.

                "Oh, I recognise you," said the woman as she came close. "You came to my shop the other day!" The woman took a seat without asking.

                "Yes, I did," said Tadyel. "I'm not sure what you want but-"

                "Oh, I just want to know if Ormgus's death was as horrible as it sounds," asked the woman. "The word is it was quite dreadful."

                Noticing that the pretty much every other patron - and the barkeep - were paying attention, Tadyel answered, "It wasn't nice but it wasn't really that horrible - he just stopped... Speaking, suddenly, and then fell forwards. His second-in-command said something about being poison, and then the town patrol showed up and dispersed the crowd. I - I saw worse on the road, and in the south." The last bit was true, unfortunately. The flight from the peninsula had taken the refugees past some truly terrible acts committed by the Thrath.

                "Oh, how macabre," said the clothier. "Alphonse, can I get one of your spring sandwiches and a pint of cider?"

                "Of course!" hollered the barkeep in reply. Having heard what they wanted to, the other patrons returned to their conversations.

                Before Tadyel could speak - she had a quite sharp comment to make - the clothier continued. "Sounds like he got what he should have," she said, her voice dropping a full two octaves. The intonation was different as well - a different accent altogether. The clothier sounded exactly like her contact. As Tadyel's eyes went wide the woman added - and, Tadyel noticed, without the local accent of her contact - "So, are you going to be in town much longer? I suppose you have to stay until at least the investigation is over."

                "I - yes, I do need to stay in town for a while. I'm not really sure about leaving, in fact. This is a lovely place," replied Tadyel.

                "I quite like it myself. It was enough for me to move my whole life here, ten years ago," said the clothier with a smile. "I moved here from further out east. Oh! I haven't introduced my self. My name is Savannah, although I usually go by Vanna instead."

                "Pleased to meet you. I am - as you've been told - Tadyel. Back home I would often go by Gel, at least among friends."

                "Well then, Gel, I'm feeling very generous today. I happen to have an opening for an apprentice clothier... And I'd be happy to take on a young lady such as yourself," said Vanna. Tadyel examined her as she spoke, taking in her appearance properly.

                Vanna was someone smiles graced naturally, rising easily and seemingly perfectly suited. It was no twisting of the face, unlike Ormgus's. Even at rest, the corners of her mouth seemed to be turned upwards, perpetually cheery. Her eyes, though - if Gel had not known what she was looking for, she'd have missed it. Vanna was very, very shrewd. Her sea blue eyes caught every single part of Gel's examination (though Vanna's smile grew as she watched Gel, thankfully).

                Gel suspected Vanna was in her mid-thirties, a decade and a half older than Gel was. Her brunette hair was done in a respectable braid, although some had broken free to frame her face. She was probably slightly taller than Gel's one hundred and sixty-eight centimetres, and was svelte and very fit. While Vanna probably lacked Gel's strength (and years of farm work), she looked as if she more than made up for it in gracefulness. Or she would, if Gel wasn't surprisingly graceful for her stocky build.

                All in all, Vanna looked like someone who could be an agent, but she was too... Cheerful. Too friendly. She was definitely Gel's contact, and even her demeanour matched. It was just bizarre. It made Gel wonder if Vanna was secretly far, far more vicious than she seemed. "Ah," replied Gel after some time, "I'm not sure. Would I have somewhere to stay? I'm afraid to admit that I can't afford to stay here much longer." Gel waved to indicate the inn.

                "Oh, of course, of course! The shop is also my home, and has several spare rooms," answered Vanna. Her smile was very broad, but it beamed with happiness - not even a hint of a hidden threat.

                "Then I guess I accept," answered Gel with a smile. Vanna held out her hand, and Gel took it. A quick shake sealed the deal.

                "Well then, I suppose... I suppose we should eat lunch," said Vanna, smiling at the barkeep as he brought the two women their meals. "Then we'll see about getting you moved."

                "Alright," said Gel. She had already transferred her attention from Vanna to her meal (a roast lamb sandwich). She didn't notice, but it made Vanna smile again.

                Vanna raised her glass of cider. "To your new career!" she said.

                Gel looked right at Vanna. Her smile was knowing, and her eyes were exceptionally shrewd and... Pleased. Gel was unsure if it was about the success of the assassination or about Gel agreeing to work for her. But Gel was fairly sure it was the pleasure a mastermind feels when a plot has borne fruit.

                "To my new career," Gel answered, raising her glass as well. With a soft chink, a drink, and two friendly smiles the real offer being made was finalised.