While Vaozey wiped herself off with the dead mercenary’s clothing, I cracked the front door open and looked into the street to see if anyone had been alerted by the sounds of fighting. The stone walls apparently were thick enough to block the noise, because the foot traffic didn’t look disrupted and nobody was paying much attention to us. I carefully shut the door, then began searching around for a rear exit, but found that the building didn’t appear to have one. Even the second floor was actually just an attic; The ceiling of the main room had been raised to approximately one and a half stories tall which took up much of its space.

“We’re going to have to run as soon as we leave,” I said. “I might be able to blend in, but you’re covered in blood, you’ll be spotted immediately.” Vaozey appeared to be in a bit of a trance, and it wasn’t until I walked closer to her that she snapped out of it.

“Right,” she grunted.

“Do you know the way back to Roytmay’s building?” I asked. Mentally, I had a route plotted out, but it was more of a general one than anything specific.

“I’ll be fine,” Vaozey replied, standing up and wiping her face again with a torn-off piece of the mercenary’s shirt. “Let me go first, you run out after me.”

“I was about to suggest that,” I nodded. “We’ll meet up on the roof of Roytmay’s place.”

“Got it,” Vaozey nodded, then she grabbed the mercenary’s rapier, wrapped the bloody cloth around her face, and walked over to the door. “Wish that seytoydh club was a bit more durable,” she grumbled, and before I could reply she shoved it open and broke into a sprint.

The reaction in the street had been more confused than hostile at first which gave Vaozey a decent head start and ended up making things a bit worse for me. By the time I saw a good opportunity to move out into the street a minute or two after she left, my single bloody hand was spotted near-instantly and people began trying to capture me unsuccessfully. It wasn’t particularly hard to avoid the average citizen of Towrkah, even the Rehvite ones, but the sheer number of them made trying to kill my way through the crowds a useless tactic. Therefore, using a combination of force magic and my own dexterity, I ended up running across the heads of the group that tried to surround me, then rapidly climbing to the rooftops to make my escape.

Once I was on the roofs and out of the streets my escape was all but assured, but several times I had to either drop down a few meters from one building to the next due to the destination rooftop being below me, or jump directly into a wall then scramble up the side with magic due to the destination being above me. In the former case, I made a large amount of noise from the impact and usually broke my ankles, necessitating a multi-second wait as they repaired themselves. In the latter, I was essentially a defenseless target for a few seconds and had to spend a not-insignificant amount of magic. I took a few crossbow bolts when climbing, but nothing serious or poisonous thankfully.

The chase broke off somewhere around the halfway point of my route as the guards lost me, unable to keep up once the heights of buildings started to become more constant. Before heading back to Roytmay’s building, I took a few seconds to check my magic reserves and found that I still had forty percent left, more than I expected. All in all, this could have gone worse, I thought, checking the medallion and papers to confirm there was no damage. Compared to the total screwups of Vehrehr and Owsahlk, it looked like my first assignment using Vaozey as a partner had been much more successful, though exactly how much of that was because of her and how much was because of my own skill was hard to determine.

I was beginning to worry that Vaozey hadn’t gotten away when she threw open the stairwell door and joined me on Roytmay’s roof. It must have been almost an hour’s wait, I thought, measuring the position of the sun in the sky with my fingers. Vaozey, without saying anything, sat down and took a few seconds to catch her breath, since she was breathing fairly hard.

“Roytmay isn’t in,” I informed her.

“Yeah,” she huffed, “I noticed on the way up. Guy outside said he’d be back before sundown.” It was the same thing I had been told, but Vaozey apparently didn’t realize that. Wiping some sweat from her forehead, she flopped onto her back, still breathing hard.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I had to take the long way back,” she chuckled breathily. “They tried to corral me so I ended up kicking down a few doors and then-”

“No, what happened with Awptheyn?” I corrected. Vaozey’s breathing abruptly paused, but other than that she didn’t react.

“He needed killing,” she replied. “You said to kill him if I saw an opportunity, and if it looked like he wasn’t going to cooperate with us. I saw an opportunity, and he wasn’t going to cooperate. It worked out, we got the things we needed, so the rest doesn’t matter.” You would be right in most circumstances, I thought, but in this case, I need to avoid causing something unexpected like this in the future.

“He was going to give us everything willingly when I left the room,” I countered. “What exactly transpired in that room to make him suddenly not want to cooperate? Even the mercenary he had outside was certain there would be no fighting.” His actions make no sense unless he truly believed there would be a peaceful resolution, I thought, Rehvites have been suicidal, but not pointlessly. “Did you say something to him?” I asked.

“I didn’t say anything to that piece of-” Vaozey snapped, sitting up and glaring at me.

“You have a history, even just considering today, of being unable to contain your aggression,” I interrupted. “In my mind, it is highly likely that you said something to sour the deal, resulting in a communication breakdown, and then you assaulted Awptheyn.”

“That zeyngyaal belonged to a religion that tortures and maims people for fun, and you think it was me that did something to cause a ‘communication breakdown’?” Vaozey shouted back, baring her teeth in anger. “I’m the madwoman so of course it’s my fault, right? It couldn’t possibly have been something he did.”

“Enough,” I growled, making a cutting gesture with my hand. “I am ordering you now: Tell me what happened in that room. If you do not recall in detail, summarize. I want the entire conversation.” Surprisingly, Vaozey didn’t get angrier, and instead, her mouth snapped shut. Her body language changed as well, from open and aggressive to more withdrawn.

“Don’t make me say the whole thing,” she muttered. Instead of demanding to know what happened again, I just stared at her. “Look… he asked for something… seyt,” she swore, speaking in fragments. “Do I really have to explain this to you? Shouldn’t it be obvious?”

“You said you would follow my orders,” I reminded her. “I need to know what happened so that I can avoid it in the future. I am the superior, thus it is my responsibility to command you effectively and understand how best to apply your skills and… personality. You are correct that, for the most part, our success makes the exact situation in the room irrelevant. However, in order to avoid this situation potentially happening again in the future when it could affect the mission outcome, I need to understand what went wrong.”

“You’re a seytoydh grown man,” Vaozey sighed, “and a soldier, at that. Shouldn’t it be obvious, considering the circumstances that led us to him?”

“It isn’t obvious to me,” I replied. Some cultural thing then, I thought, yet another piece of “common sense” that is only rational to people as insane as these ones. Vaozey looked at me, eyebrow raised, then wiped her hands down her face, sighing again.

“He asked me to-” she stuttered. “When you look like me… or like I did… people don’t really want to… Gods, do you really need to hear this? Yes, I struck first, so you could say that most of it was my fault. I panicked and froze up, then he just kept going like I was okay with it and… I was too surprised to say anything before his face was right in front of… before I knew it I was pushing him away and… I didn’t even mean to use magic.” Piecing together what I could from the incredibly unhelpful summary, I tried to understand the situation.

“So, he asked you something that unsettled you-” I started, trying to pick the right words.

“I was not afraid of that shehplao nayraym,” Vaozey snapped, her anger spiking for a moment.

“I didn’t say that,” I replied.

“You were thinking it,” Vaozey muttered.

“Then why won’t you just tell me what I ordered you to-” I shot back, getting cut off by the sound of the stairwell door opening. “We’ll discuss this in detail later,” I said, watching Roytmay and two armed guards, one with a crossbow, walk out and approach us. Vaozey got to her feet, gripping the handle of her stolen rapier nervously.

“At what point did I tell you two to attract enough guard attention to put nearly the entire city on effective lockdown?” he raged. Vaozey and I were both momentarily taken aback and shared a short glance at each other.

“There were complications,” I explained. “The target was not in the specified location, and we had to pursue him on our own. Things went poorly, and we ended up having to kill him and another Rehvite mercenary in some kind of museum before escaping. The building had no rear or alternate exit, so we had to use the street, which inevitably attracted attention.”

“Attracted attention by, and I quote-” Roytmay said, pulling out a piece of paper, “-‘Racin’ through the streets like a mad zhaatpaangeym, then flyin’ up an alley and taking off like a bird’ while your partner ‘Rampaged through a dozen houses covered in blood, destroyin’ thousands of ngoywngeyt worth of possessions and traumatizing several young children’.” When he finished, Roytmay crumpled the paper with his hand, then threw it at me ineffectually. The crossbow enforcer kept his weapon lowered but angled it so he could point it at me quickly.

“I didn’t fly,” I said after a second, “as far as I know it’s not possible to fly using force magic. There’s no way to move enough air to-”

“So now the Rehvites are looking for the jhaoyeyl,” Roytmay continued. “They’re tearin’ apart the southwestern quadrant at the moment, findin’ nothin’ of course because you’re over here, but makin’ it very difficult to confirm exactly what you did while you were there and arrange for the goods you are deliverin’ to me to reach their proper location. You did obtain the goods, right?”

“Yes,” I said, withdrawing the medallion and paper. Roytmay stomped over to me and practically ripped them out of my hand. After a few moments of furious shuffling through the papers, he looked up at me again, then snapped his gaze over to Vaozey.

“This is in seytoydh code or something,” he snapped.

“Holy Inscription,” I corrected. “You’ll need a Rehvite to-”

“I know it’s in seytoydh Holy Inscription you idiot,” Roytmay snarled. “I can read Holy Inscription. The contents of it are encoded.”

“I told you it was useless you stupid teylm,” Vaozey retorted. “You wanted it, you got it, now get us out of this city before you end up being the next one turned into a pile of broken bones and splattered brains.” Neither of Roytmay’s enforcers liked that statement much, and as the crossbowman pointed his weapon at me the other draw a sword. In response, I drew my sword, and Vaozey pulled out the rapier, holding it awkwardly.

“Is that how it’s gonna be?” Roytmay asked menacingly. Though he didn’t have a weapon and was well within the range where I could kill him with a single swing of my sword, his confidence made me falter for a moment. He must have something I don’t know about, I thought, there’s no reason he’d be this confident otherwise. Scanning the scene again with my eyes, I noticed that the tip of the crossbow’s bolt was discolored. Poison then, I thought, not blue leaf though, something else.

“You told us to give you the goods, we gave you the goods,” I said, trying to moderate. “Hold up your end of the bargain, no matter what you have on those weapons it won’t be enough to stop me if this comes to blows.”

“Oh yes, the big scary jhaoyeyl is gonna murder a bunch of lowlife criminals just like he did in Vehrehr, right?” Roytmay taunted back. “I’ll bet you had a good laugh today about me not recognizin’ you, huh?”

“You didn’t ask,” I replied.

“See what I don’t understand is that you’re supposed to only have half an arm,” Roytmay continued. “So, maybe you’re not the jhaoyeyl after all, maybe you’re just someone who looks like him, and somebody is ztpowoydh around with me. Maybe that’s it, hm? Did Shahpoyzeyl send you over? I’ll bet it was him, the npoyt. After I’m done with you, I’ll send you back, and you can tell him-” Roytmay paused as I ignited a small light orb over my hand.

“This conversation is not productive,” I said. “We have delivered your goods, secure our transport. I won’t ask again.”

“Gods and spirits,” one of the enforcers muttered. Good, they’re all looking at it, I thought, and I saw Vaozey getting ready to shield her face if necessary.

“Most of the magic I know is considerably more destructive or dangerous than this,” I said. “I trust that this demonstration is enough to convince you that I am legitimate and that honoring your agreement is the best course of action for both of us.” Roytmay tore his eyes away from the light orb to meet mine once more, looking nervous. To try to calm him down, I put my sword away. Not that I need it to handle these three, I thought, but they don’t know that.

“Okay I get it,” he replied. “But you’ve gotta understand that what happened today makes getting’ you outta the city more difficult.”

“I don’t care how hard it is,” I said, angling my head so it was more apparent I was physically looking down at him. “We held up our end of the deal, now you do yours.” Roytmay grimaced, then clasped his hands nervously.

“I’ll just need to you kill one or two more-” he started, but before he could finish I blew out the light orb without warning. Both of the enforcers, who had still been looking at it, flinched back and made pained noises. Roytmay caught the light indirectly, but still winced and ducked backwards, guarding his face. Vaozey wasn’t ready either, but it looked like she had only been hit in one eye.

“You seyt-” the crossbow enforcer swore, swinging his weapon to the position he thought I was standing in before stepping backward and catching his foot on the slightly raised edge of the roof. Without his eyesight, he lost his balance, and the crossbow fired high into the air as he fell from the roof. By the time the loud thump of his body impacting the alley below sounded out, I had grabbed the other enforcer by the throat and disarmed him, then forced him over the edge as well, leaving my grip as the only thing keeping him from a five-story fall.

“What are you doing!” Roytmay yelled. I looked back to see him squinting at me.

“Making a point,” I replied, and I let the second enforcer go. Unlike the first, he screamed on the way down, then went silent on impact.

“You think killin’ my men will get me to help you!?” Roytmay shouted.

“That wasn’t a fatal drop unless one of them landed headfirst,” I countered, walking up to Roytmay. He drew a small knife, dripping with poison, and swung it at me. I caught Roytmay’s hand, briefly considered using his own weapon to cut it off, then came up with an alternate plan. Using magic, I heated the blade of the knife until it was glowing, burning whatever was coating the blade off in the process. At the same time, I kept Roytmay from releasing the red-hot metal, melting his palm to the weapon’s grip.

“You seytoydh-” Roytmay groaned.

“I have wasted enough time due to the whims of people like you,” I growled, interrupting him and lifting him off the ground by his melted hand so his head was at the same level as mine. “If you are going to waste my time, I might as well make an example of you, so the next idiot I’m forced to work with knows not to try it.” I hadn’t intended to get truly angry, but I could tell that I was by the time I finished my sentence.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Roytmay groaned.

“Yaavtey probably thought that too,” I replied, bringing Roytmay’s face even closer to mine. “Right up until the point that I killed his whole family and every person in his organization, just because he pissed me off. Have you considered that you might be pissing me off right now? Have you considered that, if I had to fight myself from back then, I would be able to kill him in seconds with my current strength? Have you considered how little value your life has to me if you refuse to be useful?” To punctuate the point, I placed my hand just above Roytmay’s liver and started to cook it with magic.

“You zaeternaaf ngaazmayjh!” Roytmay screamed in pain, all semblance of his dignity vanishing.

“Will you honor the deal?” I demanded, ignoring his pain.

“YES!” Roytmay cried. “Gods, I’ll do it! Just let me go!”

“Good,” I smiled, stopping the magic and dropping the short man, who fell onto his knees and began throwing up blood. “Voazey and I will be remaining on the roof until transport is secured. If I see anyone approaching this building with hostile intent…”

“Seyt,” Roytmay coughed. “I get it.”

“You had better,” I warned him. “You’ll also be coming with us to the caravan meeting point as a hostage. Now go, I expect to leave before sunrise.” Roytmay pushed himself to his feet, then staggered over to the stairwell, giving Vaozey and me one last look before descending back into the building. I shouldn’t have done that, I thought immediately, if he betrays me, it’ll be my fault. I went too far.

“Why couldn’t we have done that to the Rehvites?” Vaozey scoffed, sheathing her rapier. “Not that I disapprove, that was pretty satisfying to watch.”

“You take the south side,” I ordered. “Watch for anyone approaching, keep quiet, and try to listen in. Don’t assume we’re safe until we get out of here.”