[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi couldn't believe what she just has heard. Night heralds wouldn't let her close to the mayor so she rushed to his office, to talk before it closed. She waited over two hours before she was let in.

The girl stormed inside, speaking - “Let my partner Arath free. He's innocent.” - her palms hit the mayor's desk.

“Evidence points to the contrary.” - Bat calmly replied.

“What!?”

The mayor didn't respond, instead, he took out a folder of papers and placed it in front of Noemi.

Noemi stared at it dumbly, so the mayor pointed at it with his hand, and said - “Please, read.”

Embarrassment worked its way through the girl's anger, so she half calmed and admitted. - “I can't.”

“Oh, I 'see'.” - The bat laughed, but Noemi couldn't tell, whether it was at her, or at his own joke. Perhaps both.

“The last person to leave the room, his stiletto, the spot of flammable oil on a backpack, the victim pointed at him...”

“That had to be a misunderstanding!” - Noemi interrupted. She had doubts, though. Why exactly Dekhan pointed at Arath? She could never know. - “He saved Dekhan's life before!”

“Then refused to do it again.”

“No... the wound was lethal.”

“According to our autopsy report, it was operable.”

Noemi was in shock. She started doubting herself and Arath. - “Why would he kill anyone? He had no motive.”

“Your 'partner' picked up a killing contract. We've caught a person who put it up. Further information is confidential.”

“I can't believe it...”

“The facts speak for themselves.”

Noemi was conflicted, she needed time to think everything through and talk with Arath, but there was close to none.

“...and you will just murder him as you did to Zahar?” - Noemi's voice and the look became fierce.

“Oh, this again...”

“I can't allow more murders to happen and you must atone for what you did.”

“You can't change how the world works.”

“I can change the person in front of me.”

“Your misguided lessons have no effect here.”

Noemi clicked her tongue. - “I will not yield! I hereby challenge you to a duel. Any stake.”

Bat ignored it and called his guards. - “The lady is leaving, please escort her.”

Seeing that the two night heralds wanted to grab her, Noemi moved away on her own, hissing - “It's not over.” - as she left.

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi visited Arath again, bearing the bad news. - “You were sentenced to death.”

“Predictable result.” - Arath answered like he didn't care.

“Why are you so composed? They want to execute you! Don't you get what it means!?”

“I understand perfectly.”

“...then why won't you do something!?”

“In my position? I already did all I could. Now, I'm counting on you.”

“Before you get my help, you need to explain yourself.”

Arath raised a brow.

“They told me you could've saved Dekhan and that you accepted a contract to kill him.”

“Lies.”

“Am I supposed to trust you over representatives of the city?”

“Trust no one.”

“Just tell me a single reason why would someone so high up lie to kill you and it might be enough.”

Arath lied on his straw bedding, looking at the ceiling and thinking. - “I don't know.”

Noemi was annoyed. - “You know what!? You're not helping yourself.”

“If I could give you an answer, I would.”

Noemi started walking back and forth, in impatience. - “Okay. Let's make it simple. What do you expect me to do? There's no time to prove your innocence!”

“On the second night, wait outside of town. Later, escort me to the boss chamber.”

“Is that it? Who will get you out?”

“I got it covered.”

“Hmpf. Do you plan to face the boss alone?” - Noemi was doubtful.

“If I have to.”

“You know that it's suicide!”

“Perhaps.” - Arath remained unbothered.

“Do you really not care If you might die!?” - Noemi was nearly angry, she couldn't believe someone could give up on his life like this.

“I don't care, but I've no better choice and I don't plan to die.”

“No, Arath. You have a choice. Do you still remember our contract?”

Arath looked Noemi straight in the eyes and replied. - “Yes and I respect it.”

“Don't take any action without asking me first. Remember?”

“Yes.”

“Do as I say. Stay and prove your innocence.” - Noemi requested bluntly. - “Make me believe in you again.”

“But I have nowhere to stay.”

“We will meet outside of the city, as you planned. Leave the rest up to me.”

[ ––––––––– Ϫ Day 86 ––––––––– ]

It was an hour after midnight, but Arath wasn't sleeping.

Hidden under the night's shadow, a small figure was sneaking between the buildings, treading with its soft, sound-damping. It snuck below the window of Arath's cell, hopped up as high as three times own size, grabbed steel bars, then squeezed through like a cat.

Inside, it didn't waste time to communicate and approached the barred door, then pulled a vial of red oil out of its leg pocket. It greased up hinges and the lock then picked it noiselessly.

Arath and his companions moved upstairs, both guards were sleeping like logs, due to a combination of sleep powder and alcohol. The little companion unlocked a box with Arath's items and they stealthily exited the building.

The team maneuvered between the dark alleys to avoid militants. It was a cakewalk, since mercenary rogue had the whole layout of the town's patrol system in his head.

[ ––––––––– Ϫ ––––––––– ]

The thief stopped for a moment and looked up. A shadowy silhouette was flying high beneath the ceiling.

“Duck, DUCK and RUN!” - Rogue shouted to Arath, who immediately dropped on the ground, evading a few darts that almost hit him. - “THERE!” - The thief pointed at a filthy pile of trash on his right, there were a few crates and animal waste. Arath jumped inside to hide.

The location was a crossroads between four buildings, with a wooden balcony above Arath's hiding place and a staircase to his left.

Arath felt somehow prepared, since he had studied enemies in a library, but he didn't expect to encounter anyone. He equipped goggles, then moved a hand behind his back, to grab three items from a waist bag and moved one of them inside his mouth, and inhaled the second one. With the second hand, the boy prepared a blowpipe.

The creature of night landed. - “Don't hide, I can smell a Lynnian from a mile.” - The bat man tossed a couple of smoke bombs and all vision in the streets was completely removed.

“I've killed hundreds of you... there's not a lot of challenges lately, so my skills are getting rusty, but I can still tell all of your next moves... you must know about the smoke... so just like me, you've inhaled echeveria powder.”

Bat moved to a pile of garbage and removed a plank with a left hand, revealing Arath's face. A poisoned needle left the blowpipe, but the attack wasn't accurate due to surrounding black clouds. Bat effortlessly blocked it with a steel contraption of his wrist.

Arath noticed a white, amused grin on the mayor's face. - “...Here you are... Yes, I know about your stealthy weapon.”

A sharp, hidden blade ejected from the bat's armguard, purple venom was dripping down its edge. It was unseen by Arath, but the boy heard a noise of steel springs. He quickly dropped his weapon, jumped out of rubbish, and grabbed his nearest bag, while the enemy's hand was still in motion.

The blade arced down at the boy, only to be blocked by a leather pouch. Vials inside broke, leaving a foul smell on bat's dagger, as they were filled with sewer water.

Arath ran three meters away before his back was struck by a dart, then rolled behind a building at the crossroad to find a temporary cover and put his hand on an antidote.

The veteran hunter confidently followed to a corner. - “Are you preparing explosives or flaming oil? You're not the first person trying this.”

Right as bat's feet could be seen from behind a corner, Arath moved a wooden whistle, that was concealed in his mouth, between his lips. Sharp noise created a disturbance that impeded the bat's hearing and jammed his echolocation to some degree.

Night hunter retreated, expecting Arath to attack with an explosive. It was not the first time that trick was tried on him, so he was cautious and focused his senses. He could tell that a silhouette was leaping out of the window, about to assault him from above.

The bat quickly blocked an approaching blade with his steel armguard, then punched the enemy in the guts.

At the same time, Arath simply applied the antidote and retreated far away from the smoke cloud.

“Two versus one.” - Bat fixed his neck and drew an extra short sword from behind his belt. - “I've used to be in worse situations.”

Arath's partner prepared daggers in both hands, bat attacked and steel clashed against steel. The thief was backing off step by step, unable to withstand a flurry of blows and afraid of the poisoned blade. Soon, he received a kick to the chest and landed in the mud.

“One gone!” - Bat shouted, as his sword thrust down.

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

A large part of the smoke was blown away by a sudden gust of wind.

'Cling' – Bat's blade was deflected away by a tip of the spear.

“I told you. We are not over.” - Noemi declared in a serious tone.

The bat moved a step back, then spoke - “You, here? I could've expected that.”

Noemi retracted her weapon. - “We should talk.”

“Huh. We've got plenty of time, but I won't allow any of you to get away.”

“Arath claims innocence. Time is needed to prove it. That's all I ask for.”

“Don't be so desperately naive, when all evidence speaks against him. Your 'friend' is from Lynn, I can assure you, people like him always are liars, manipulators, and dangerous criminals. What reason do you have to blindly protect him?”

“Intuition.”

“You must be kidding.”

Arath approached and spoke calmly. - “There's more to that.”

Bat was nauseated, hearing the Lynnian speak wrecked his innards. - “Silence, worm.” - He raised his blade, threateningly.

Arath, however, ignored it and continued. - “Spot of oil on my backpack was freshly wet, but I didn't leave the kitchen for over sixteen hours. How do you explain it?”

“I assure you, my blade will strike him down If he continues to speak.” - The bat told, angrily.

“Arath, don't interrupt.” - Noemi asked and the boy retreated. - “Can please you explain his point?”

“Another lie. It was never covered in the report. Don't waste my nerves on this insufferable little rat.”

“Dekhan was also attacked by assassins with smoke bombs and venom like yours, did you know about that?”

“Yes...” - The bat's expression became grim and attentive - “...but whatever conclusion you draw, I can only say that they're wrong and the matter is confidential and taken care of.”

“After that Arath saved my life, fixed Dekhan, and investigated what he could himself. Does that look like the behavior of a culprit to you?”

“Lynn scum will only do what benefits them at the moment. He changed his mind as soon as the money came into the play.”

“Arath isn't stupid. If he were to do it, he wouldn't leave such obvious evidence to get caught... and he had a stable source of income. He had no motive to incriminate himself.”

Bat had these doubts himself. An outrageous sum of ten gold coins was enough to buy any criminal, but not many would give their skull away on a silver platter. The payment also seemed uncannily high, guilds were certainly involved and who knew what they would plot.

It didn't matter, though. He hated Lynnians wholeheartedly. He learned the hard way, at cost of his own daughter and wife, that none is without guilt. In Zurno, there was no single exception, every single one deserved death for their crimes at some point and any would commit horrendous crimes given a proper opportunity.

“You really don't understand what those despicable people are. There is no point talking.” - Bat assumed a fighting stance. - “Bring it on, all three of you. I can handle it.”

“No! There will be no bloodshed!” - Noemi shouted, preparing a spear and shield.

“You leave me no choice.”

“There is one! Give us the last chance!”

Bat gave the girl the time, but he was waiting with a grim expression.

“Accept the challenge to a duel. Any stake. If one of us loses, there is no need to die.”

Bat thought for a second. In his opinion, there was no way he could lose. Not against one person. Not as the hero of the darkest night. - “If you lose, you all will be judged under the town's law... or lose your heads right here.”

“If I win, I'll brand you as a murderer and you let us leave.”

“You won't win.”

“Accept the conditions.”

“I hereby accept.”