191. Sneaky: Wiremu

Kelda went back to work. She would resign with a minimum of one month's notice in five months' time. That is when things will get interesting.

Rodion handed his notice in that day and is required to work out his month, so he could only help me during his off hours, with Kelda as his commanding officer, which was quite frequent. I introduced him to Wild Bill, and he thought it was hilarious. He was also a bit envious, “They don’t teach us disguises in the Army, not even in MI.”

Wild Bill took him out drinking and meeting people. “Come meet my new partner. Once he is done with the army, we are going Monster Hunting!” We even formed a Mercenary Team together and took some small jobs. The Wild Wolves had arrived.

Rodion’s first class was Pack when he ran with the gangs, but it worked well for him in the army as well. He had the Warrior Class and had specialised it into Skirmisher, which had given him a Skill called Triple Slash. It could be used with a weapon or claws. When he was promoted to Corporal, his Pack Class specialised into Pack Leader, with the Skill Howling Stun. It was a sonic attack which deafened with a fear component.

Rodian loved to spar, and that was very good for my Level 1 Warrior Class. Rodion was fast and specialised in quick strikes before backing off to repeat. The secret was not to let him back off. He loved to spar with Modrica as well, and he was a bit faster than her, but he couldn’t do much damage.

Rodion really wanted to bond with the last wolf cub, but my skills said they were incompatible. I think it would have worked OK because he was Wolfkin, but it would never be great. I advised against it, and he backed off. I promised I would look for a more compatible bond.

Rodion has not been introduced to Puia, and I hope that will wait until we leave Kirghiz. Tabitha has introduced Nyx and given them each a small piece of Blacksteel. I have been expecting a visit from Kelda and being grilled over the changes to my affinity, but she has been very restrained so far. I think she is aware the less she knows, the less she can reveal.

I spent my time at the Lore Society, working at the smithy, drinking with Rodion as Wild Bill, and doing the occasional job as Dianne. I had left the Duke to Tabitha and Kelda. Tabitha was performing thrice a week, and she had to attend other promotions and socialising events. I figured she would tell me if she needed help.

Modrica went for her two weeks of training assessments. Kelda, or more specifically Liten, would keep an eye on her. We set up a message system anyway, in case she needed extracting. Modrica was working on the Skill Earthquake, but she finds it very difficult to learn new skills due to her low Mental Agility. She is strong, not agile.

Kelda and I did meet for lunch occasionally. She could put it down to ongoing negotiations, but really they were dates. We stayed away from sensitive topics, but it was nice to catch up. We talked a lot about her and only general stuff about me. She was smart to have bonded with Liten and to steer away from the fighting. Liten was very sneaky, had learned her Blend Skill, and blended into the background very well. They had something I hadn’t heard of called Share Senses, where they could do just that. When I first met Kelda, she had Darksight, and I encouraged her to pick up Farsight, which she did. Since then, she has also picked up Keensight. She and Liten are really the Observers at almost any distance. She also had Thermal Sensing (Air). She always had Tasty from her Chef’s class. And she promised to be the party chef when we left the city. When she could get another Physical Sense, she was planning on getting Hearing Aid. Kelda was going to try to get a Royal Decree through the Military channels, but she didn’t thing the chances were very high.

My mind was mulling over what else I could encourage her to learn. I will look up Fire Affinity in the Lore Society and see what classes and skills might be compatible, especially non-combat and observation focussed.

It was the evening after Modrica returned from the army that George made his move. I am sure he timed it for then. The trouble is I am probably to blame. I was dressed in stolen clothes and returning from a particularly frustrating kill as Dianne. I had been at it every night this week, and even then, I had to kill three of her bodyguards to get to her, and I had to do it in such a way I didn’t leave evidence of a snake or an affinity. Stone buildings don’t usually burn, so I couldn’t just turn them into molten rock. It turned into a bloodbath. The guards were highly trained, and I was limping. It is my body temperature that gave them warning. I must work on that more, but I couldn’t let that clue get out. I bound my arm and leg and washed in the river, leaving my clothes tied to a rock underwater. I stole some temporary clothes as I couldn’t be Dianne naked. I went through two smell-diffusing areas before returning to Dianne’s place to redress in her clothes and complete the contract at the Mercenary Guild. At least my Assassin Class had levelled again.

I checked my signs before entering. I had learned from Gilbert. When I went in, there was a note that had been slipped under the door. It was from the Mercenary Guild letting me know there was an open double assassination contract I was eligible for if I was interested. Only those with at least one Efficiency Mark were eligible, and the Guild did not recommend one of the targets suitable for solo assassins. This had an ominous feel about it. I dressed as Dianne and went to the Guild before dawn.

I handed in my contract and got the details of the other one. Ominous was right. It was an open contract on Skygge of the Elemental Traders and Modrica of the Elemental Traders. The pay was enough to tempt me, so Dianne signed on. The reward for Modrica was three times that for Tabitha because Modrica had a known affinity and a Dire Bear Bond. It was a double contract because they were known to be Krvne Sestre, but you could be rewarded for just one kill. Known addresses were given as our residential compound and warehouse. They didn’t know about our new farm, and of course, by now we had a couple of off-the-books safe houses. Tabitha was listed as potentially having some illusionist skills and was a known actress and Merchant. Modrica was listed as having an Earth Affinity, and was a high-level close combat fighter. Tabitha is therefore the easy target.

This has to be George. I told the bastard Adam to try the Mercenary Guild for theft, and that must have given them the idea. Assassination is a whole different level than theft, and the pay is at a whole different level. That is the key mystery here, Where is the money coming from? After the fiasco in Dohovno, nobody would trust George with that amount of money. Maybe it isn’t George.

The Empire placed a bounty on me for capture or kill back in Jern, It maybe still active, but they do have our recorded deaths in Hrothgar. The advice I received at the time from Koza was that I could either pay the bounty, avoid it or kill the one who issued it. You can’t really buy your way out of an assassination contract, so we must avoid it or kill the one who issued it. To kill the one who issued it, you must find out who that was first. In the meantime, we have to avoid being killed or stage a killing with enough evidence so that Dianne can get paid.

I got back to the residential compound well after dawn, and I immediately sensed it was too quiet. I was dressed as Quinn, so I started stealthing my way through the property, hoping I was not too late. No lions on patrol. Hearing Aid did pick up Težka’s breathing. He was asleep, so that was a good sign. When I got to the house, I heard Tabitha’s voice, speaking normally. I dropped out of stealth and entered.

Tabitha, Modrica, and the Canine Queens were in the rear living room. When I entered, I saw a familiar piece of paper on the table in front of Tabitha.

“So you know,” I said.

She handed me the paper. The contract was issued to Black.

“You took out a contract to assassinate yourself? Isn’t Black too obvious an Identity?” I asked.

“Of course I did, and yes, it is a bit too obvious. I blame Gwaed’s influence. How do you know?”

I handed her my paper.

“Dianne Prints?” I could see her trying not to smile.

“Careful,” I said, “I would get paid if I killed you.”

We both smiled. This also broke some tension in the room.

“So what is going on, and what is the plan?” I asked.

“I sent the Catkin out to the farm before dawn. I am just discussing it with the Canine Queens and giving them a choice to sign on as personal protection or to walk away because now is the only chance of avoiding being in the crossfire,” Tabitha said.

“She is right,” I said to Skavt and Co. “I finished the Lady Loreta contract this morning, and I had to kill three of her personal protection people to get to her. Death is a real possibility.”

“Death is a real possibility in any contract,” Skavt said. “Let’s skip the rest of the ‘you might die’ speech and start talking tactics.”

“Ok, then. I am listed as the soft target here, so they will come for me first, with the added bonus of enraging Modrica.” Tabitha said. “Nobody can get close to me without me knowing, so ranged attacks are the weak area.”

“Or large-area attacks,” I added.

“Yes,” Tabitha said. “Blowing up a building or a block is also a tactic I have used.”

“It is also the best tactic against Modrica. It was tried in Beitemark,” Skavt said.

I looked around the room, “Damn, I quite like this house.”

“It would be hard to plant explosives here without our bonds sniffing them out,” Najprej said.

“Which makes them the first target. What is their Poison resistance like?” I asked. “We might be better to abandon this place in the short term. But back to Tabitha for now, She has Social engagements and performances she has to be at.”

“Nyx can muddy the waters about where I am at any given time. The performances are difficult though I can’t do it during them.”

“At least there won’t be an explosion in the performance, too many important people. Just a thousand strangers with a clear line of sight to you,” Skavt said.

“Yes, but my chances of avoiding a shot or two are quite good as long as someone takes care of the shooter quite quickly,” Tabitha said.

“I imagine there will be several normal tries before someone attempts the theatre.” I said, “But we won’t count on that. Being on alert all the time is going to be very tiring. You will need to limit your time out.”

“Modrica and Težka are a different thing altogether.” Skavt said, “Hard to kill, but hard to hide.”

“If Black and Dianne formed a Mercenary Team together, would it be believable for them to take out Modrica and Težka?” I asked.

“We could make it believable,” Tabitha said, “After all, it would be a shame not to take the coins on offer, and it would solve the army problem.”

“I can register the Mercenary Team tonight,” I said, “It will take a bit of set-up, but we can plan for their deaths after the weekend performances.”

“Yes,” said Tabitha, “I can then go into mourning and restrict my social appearances.”

“We will need to assume we are being watched from now on. I won’t be here again,” I said. I looked at Modrica, “That sound alright with you.”

Modrica grunted.