Wednesday, March 16, 2022 Aqrabuamelu compound; Flushing, Queens, New York, United States

Arcsa, Bahu, and Zaidu all stood in front of them.

“The assassin is after Eleanor.” Bahu stood there straight, “because she is Ekerri’s heir.” Zaidu looked pissed, he was undoubtedly mad that he was the last to find out.

Another two soldiers dead last night, but the torture had stopped at least. Ella still hadn’t become inured to the descriptions since that first night, and the two additional times they had investigated a dead body, she had fought down the bile rising in the back of her throat.

“Eleanor and Davcina, step forward.” They did so smartly, the military discipline starting to become second nature.

“Davcina, you are going to be the decoy. We are going to leak your location and have the drow come for you. We aim to capture it alive, as we have never had an opportunity to study one.”

Ella suddenly had a memory, of Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner by dropping an anvil on it. She almost giggled. Her palms were sweaty.

“Ella, you need to keep your hair tied back. Davcina, we have retained a cosmetician to make you look more like Ella. She thinks you are actresses for a play. A hair dresser will style your hair appropriately. Contacts are here.”

Free balayage thought Ella, but hers was a mess since she didn’t have time or money for that sort of thing now. She saw the brand of contacts were different but close enough in color.

They went over the rest of the plan.

Ansheth kept a steady cloud of confusion around him and layered illusion on top of that. Nobody would find him even if he was here for years. Even if someone bumped into him, their mind would slide around the encounter and it would drift away.

He had been chosen for this mission because of his unparalleled ability to maintain his power in these magic-scarce times.

He had knelt before God on his throne. The onyx orcish skin, the crystalline eyes, the Crown and Scepter - the ecstasy even at the memory was too much. And God had spoken to him, had even said his name.

“Ansheth, Most Feared, stand. You will serve us. A young human named Eesha Jindal-Witten has been seen consorting with the Aqramuabelu.”

Ansheth could feel his hate for the traitors as a physical urge to kill. He wished he had time to orate on his hatred, but to speak in front of God was too much. But he could not help but take the pose of hatred.

“Slay her and any of the betrayers you can. But her most of all.”

He trembled at the ecstasy and was almost overcome by it, his vision darkening before he could dial it back and recover. He was trembling. He took the pose of obedience and then that of joy. But the pose felt inadequate to express his emotion.

“Now go… slay her and as many of the Aqramuabelu as you can.”

At that moment Eesha Jindal-Witten became the most hated one he had ever known. Her death a certainty. He had backed away from the Emperor, flawlessly tracing the steps until God was out of sight and then turning and racing to his chamber to prepare for his mission.

And now he was ready. The Aqramuabelu had made a mistake. A small one, but he had heard of a new trainee. One he had actually seen before on patrols. He found her and her group on patrol and followed them, sometimes just a few feet behind.

He walked through the hallways, sometimes even on the ceiling, his feet bare and infused with the magics of his kind. His dagger was quiet, but he could hear it singing in his mind. The soul of his wife after they had bred and then battled to carry on in service. Her voice encouraged him to go, to serve God, to slay this most hated of enemies.

He came to the hallway in front of the room where the apogee of his service would be reached. He could see the delicate magic lines, three of them in the hallway. The human had been casting the spells he had found, it seemed obvious now.

But they were so easy to see and bypass. Over one, under the next. The third was a bit more advanced, a strange spiral, but still not enough to truly cover the hallway and he slid right over it.

Ah, clever, there was a fourth right behind it obscured by physical obstruction, designed to catch whoever passed the third. A small hop and he was over it as well.

He drew his dagger and it’s voice outside the sheath, a mere echo of the divinity of God, was still enough to catch his breath.

It was night and it was silent. He ought to hear the breathing of the occupants. He frowned and froze, even as his beloved wife’s voice urged him to serve God.

Ansheth maintained discipline. He was beloved of God because he was the most feared and he was the most fearsome because he was the most careful.

And then he felt the slightest shift in the air and he knew.

He leapt backwards and began to retrace his steps. A trap and he had almost gone into the room. He could tell there was at least one more in the room, perhaps the warrior, who did make Ansheth fear failure.

His perfect movements backed him away and around the magical lines. They would not know he was here and he would kill another for now, let them dull from ceaseless vigilance or kill them all one by one until she was the only one left.

And then he cursed himself for a fool and knew his failure was complete. The end of the hallway collapsed blocking his escape entirely. He instantly reversed course and went forwards, this time plowing through the thin magical lines.

The daggers orange light began to appear, casting everything in stark relief. His target was still there and he would kill her for god.

Rocks began to collapse at the front of the hall and he managed to dodge most of them and force his way through the door. The explosions in the front hadn’t been sufficient to block the hall entirely.

He burst through the door and saw her there with the rest of her patrol and the warrior. Before they could react he threw down a vial to make smoke and dove to the side away from the gunfire. He ran at the girl with his dagger, pushing his magic as hard as it could to confuse.

And crashed into the glass-clad polycarbonate wall between them. Another sheet dropped behind him. And the chamber began to fill with another gas that mixed with the smoke he had created, that had been trapped already.

He sneered. His people were unaffected by magical solutions. He would pretend and when they came for him, he would still get his chance. He would serve God and…

He dropped to the ground out from the fentanyl laced gas.

Davcina stood there watching with a slight smile. “He did crack the bulletproof glass some - very impressive. I suppose I understand why I had to be a decoy. Ella, how are you doing?”

“Ummm okay,” said a voice from her headset. “I have never been in a helicopter before. But I guess that is one way to limit my exposure.”

“Leave the line open, vermin.”

Davcina looked around the room, “Now what?”

Bahu pulled off her helmet as did the rest, “Now we wait. We can review the footage from the cameras to assess its capabilities. They are quite impressive.”

“May I participate in the questioning.”

“Perhaps. Eleanor, I will be expecting you to also review the footage from those cameras you placed during patrol and provide insights, preferably categorized into first order, directly observable; second order, inferrable; and third, hypothesis. Enjoy your leave.”

The rest of the team and Zaidu sat down at a table to wait for the other Aqramuabelu to dig the passage to let them out. And got to their homework.