Thug

Thug

                Tadyel returned to Green Creek and almost immediately made a worrying discovery: she had a mountain of work to do. It was almost literal - the pile of clothing she had to repair was two metres tall.

                "That's my pile over there," said Vanna, grinning at the look on Tadyel's face. Vanna's pile was almost twice the size of Tadyel's; and a third, slightly smaller pile was also nearby.

                "Where - where did all these clothes come from?" asked Tadyel. "This is ridiculous!"

                "The refugees," answered Vanna. Tadyel gave her a curious look. "Some of the richer townsfolk put together the money to get 'all the poor darlings' clothes fixed up'. I pointed out that - given the nature of the work - they could do much of it themselves and it would all be done faster and cheaper, but it seems they'd rather throw money around instead."

                "Do - do we have to get them done soon?" Tadyel found the task ahead somewhat daunting.

                "By the end of the week. Otherwise we might have a riot on our hands. It's partially my fault - I said 'the fastest I could do that much would be a week' to Som Bree, and she just so happened to promise that to the refugees in turn."

                Tadyel closed her eyes and resisted the urge to groan.

                "Get right into it, Gel. The week only has four days left."

                After a quick look around, Tadyel asked, "What about training?"

                "Cancelled until this is done. Now get to work!"

                Vanna grabbed a pair of trousers from her pile and wandered through to the workroom (the hoard of clothing had been placed in the store room at the back). With a resigned sigh, Tadyel grabbed a blouse from her pile and followed.

                With Vanna's wide guidance the three of them managed to complete the work in time. Most pieces of clothing only had small tears or rips - anything too damaged had long since been thrown out. It was a bit unusual for Tadyel to work on clothing from her homeland - new clothes they made were in the northern styles, and scarcely any refugees had been able to afford repairs in the past.

                Working on them, she realised that the styles were very similar (only small differences in the normal cut), but the materials were far different. It made her wonder whether it was something that had only come about due to the Thrath's control of the peninsula.

                As the work was completed on time, they managed to avoid any fallout from the debacle that followed. The kindly folk who paid for the work had not bothered to keep straight (in any manner) who owned what, merely expecting the refugees to recognise and take what was theirs. They did - but they also took what was not theirs.

                Despite the view of the townsfolk of the refugees as one formless blob of people, they were not really one group. Many came from different countries, and some held on to traces of quite different culture. Even beyond that, most did not cling to the idea of being charitable to those who did not come up with them. Each village was insular, and many individuals or small families were interested only in their own survival.

                And, Tadyel learnt the next day, the Magi's agents amongst the refugees had helped add to the chaos. "Recognising them as individual groups will help us keep anger targeted towards only anti-Magi groups, and thus stop those from growing due to discontent," Vanna explained. "Although the general agitation caused in this instance is also beneficial."

                "You know, every time you talk to Eden you start using longer words for an hour or so," said Mavnen.

                Vanna seemed unable to respond, which prompted Tadyel and Mavnen to start laughing. After joining in with a chuckle, Vanna said, "I suppose you're right. We have something else to discuss now: we've got a new mission."

                "Already?" asked Tadyel. "We just finished the clothes!"

                "Eden pushed the mission back so we could finish the clothes in time. This one is somewhat important," replied Vanna. She gave Tadyel and Mavnen a moment to comment, then continued. "Som Bree has recently had a change of heart, and started pushing the idea of helping the refugees. She has a lot of influence amongst the richer circles, so this is a problem.

                "Our mission is to make her have another change of heart. We know that she is a coward - she fears greatly for her life. This fear was the main reason she was strongly against having the refugees anywhere near town, and many other things. Her compassion has won out, but likely only barely. We are to catch her off guard, and 'encourage' her to change her views again."

                "Won't that just turn her against us?" asked Tadyel.

                "We could try convincing her that refugees are something to be scared of instead," added Mavnen.

                "I believe that - especially after the clothing incident - she would understand that 'some' refugees are bad, but not all. It wouldn't stop her from working with those she's made friends with. This includes some of Ormgus's people."

                "Oh," muttered Tadyel.

                "I've been informed that she's visiting their camp tomorrow evening. We'll ambush her on the way, and intimidate her into reneging on her views. If we miss her, we'll pay a visit to her home the night after."

                "Got it," said Tadyel with a nod.

                "Understood," said Mavnen.

                "I'll see you guys in ten for training; I have to note some stuff down," said Vanna, heading off in the direction of her room.

                Mavnen cracked her knuckles. "Do you think I'm intimidating, Gel?" she asked.

                "Yes, but only because I know how vicious you are in a fight," replied Tadyel.

                "Good." Mavnen grinned a wicked grin.

                Crouched down amongst some convenient bushes, Tadyel fanned herself with one hand. The night was warm, and she was wearing her day to day clothes (a short sleeved shirt and pants) beneath the wrapping of black fabric that concealed her identity and a leather jerkin 'in case Som Bree panics with a knife'. She hoped that the swords she, Mavnen and Vanna had sheathed at their waists would dissuade Som enough.

                Oh water skin, how glad I am that I brought you along, thought Tadyel as she placed her hand on her water skin. It was already half empty, but the night had been cooling off slowly. The multiple tight layers were almost bearable.

                The sound of dry leaves and twigs snapping underfoot brought her back to the task at hand. Peering through the bushes she caught sight of their target - the broad, short, red-haired and pretty Som Bree. The thirty-'something' woman was tromping along, making a remarkable amount of noise on the path through the trees.

                When she reached the point the trio of ambushers had chosen earlier, Tadyel rose and stepped from the bushes. Mavnen popped out from behind a tree, and Vanna dropped down from above.

                "Good evening," the three of them said at once.

                Som Bree leapt in the air with a short scream. "Blessed crap!" she yelped.

                "Quiet down, please," said Vanna. Her voice was two octaves lower than usual, and her accent was gone. Tadyel still thought of it as the voice of her 'contact'.

                "Who are you guys?" asked Som Bree, guardedly.

                "Concerned citizens," said Vanna. "You've become a bit too friendly with Ormgus's crew of late."

                "Are you trying to threaten me?" asked Som Bree. She sounded like she was trying for an incredulous tone, but instead she just sounded afraid. Even if she had succeeded, her quivering would have given her fear away.

                "Yes," said Vanna, blatantly.

                "Aaah, why me!" bemoaned Som Bree. "You want to know why I'm out here? Because a bunch of those bastards cornered me a few weeks ago! I don't want my house to get burnt down!"

                Vanna chuckled. "We're much more of a threat than they, Som Bree. Let the guard handle the followers," she said.

                Som Bree stared at Vanna. "Whichever idiots from town you are... The guards can't keep me safe. I tried that first! One of them got into my room when the guards were 'on watch'!" ranted Som.

                "Then I guess we should give you a little bit of proof," said Vanna ominously.

                Som's face assumed the look of a rabbit frozen by lamplight. As her ambushers closed in, she winced and whimpered.

                Whatever Vanna had in mind (Tadyel had just guessed rightly that it was time to close in) was interrupted by a new voice. "So, the Magi strike back!" it said.

                Tadyel and the others whirled around. Up the path, just barely visible in the dark, stood seven people. Each wore a sash that marked them as a member of Ormgus's followers, and most were armed with simple clubs. A man, standing just forward from the rest, had spoken.

                "Your paranoia is delightful," said Vanna. "But we are just concerned citizens."

                "We know the Magi are working against us, even if you aren't working for them!" proclaimed the man. "Now sod off. We have business with Som Bree."

                Tadyel wasn't quite sure how, but she would have sworn that Vanna's face had adopted her occasional predatory smile. Perhaps it was a slight movement in the wrinkles of the cloth covering her face? "Oh no, I don't think we will," said Vanna. "I think we'll have a fight here and now."

                "You think you can take on seven of us?" asked the man.

                "Seven untrained thugs? Oh yes. Easily," said Vanna. "Watch, Som Bree: this is all the proof you should need."

                Vanna drew her sword and stepped towards the followers; Tadyel and Mavnen did the same. This is a little crazy, thought Tadyel.

                "Arrogant townsfucks!" yelled the man. "Kill 'em!"

                As the followers charged, Vanna loudly whispered her order as well. "Kill."

                The fight was a complete blur for Tadyel. She and the others stood their ground, and when a woman reached her, club-raised, Tadyel buried her sword through the woman’s gut and all the way up to her heart.

                As the woman fell aside, Tadyel blocked a swing from the man behind, then another from a man who came from the right. She dodged aside and sliced a deep gash into the second man's thigh as the first toppled screamed in pain. Tadyel just barely caught sight of the fact that his right arm had been severed at the elbow before her opponent took another swing at her.

                She stepped in and let the man's club slide useless away as she brought her sword tearing into his gut. Another step took her past him, and her sword slid free as he toppled forwards with a pained groan.

                In front of her stood a woman who seemed to be fighting Vanna; Tadyel slashed her sword upwards with a final forwards step. The woman blocked the blow; but this left her open to Vanna - who took advantage of it with a hack that dug through the woman's rib cage. As the woman collapsed Tadyel turned around and took the head off the man she had gutted.

                Just like that, the fight was over. Tadyel had no idea what had happened with Mavnen, but the only 'survivor' was the man missing half of one arm. He was rolling back and forth on the ground screaming incoherently.

                Vanna moved to give a killing blow, but Mavnen suddenly said, "Leave him alive."

                "Why? And voice," asked Vanna.

                "Uh, because he can make them all scared of us, oi," said Mavnen, putting on a strange voice. It wasn't very good at concealing who she was. A brief glance let Tadyel know that, quite luckily, Som Bree had backed off enough that she likely hadn't heard it.

                "They'll be more scared if we kill them all; and we should not risk revealing how we operate," said Vanna. She jammed her sword through the man's neck (he had stopped rolling in favour of holding his stump and groaning). With a slight shiver, he died.

                Mavnen seemed a little off put by the whole business, but walked with Vanna and Tadyel back over to Som Bree. That's an odd response for Ven, thought Tadyel. Normally she's pleased to be violent. She was certainly eager to hurt Som Bree...

                Tadyel pushed the thought aside as Vanna began to speak. "There is your proof. They were untrained; but it only serves to underline the fact that we have training. Talk to the guard about their threats, and cease whatever 'business' you have with them," she said.

                "I - yes. Anything you want," said Som Bree.

                "Then leave," said Vanna.

                Nodding excessively Som Bree turned and scampered off, back along the faint path to the village. "Don't speak out in favour of mercy on a mission like this again," said Vanna.

                "But G- she did, last time," said Mavnen, pointing at Tadyel.

                "The guard, had she been spared, would not have been living in Green Creek!" said Vanna, forcefully. "We'll finish this when we get back. I don't want to fight a camp's worth of people, even untrained and unarmoured. Let's go."

                Tadyel and Mavnen nodded, and the three of them made their way back with only a brief stop to remove their disguises. The cool night air actually reaching her sweat was a great relief. It helped her avoid thinking of the killing they had just done (although, for once, it seemed almost proper - not a cold blooded murder).