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Chapter 20 tangent: Assassin Absconds
Norissiel snaps her fingers to quiet-cast Vanish, then scoots back into a three-point crouch, as a puff of smoke takes her place and she is once again invisible. She quickly surveys the front row of the stands in a 180-degree arc, selects what looks like the least-guarded entrance, and makes a break for it. She throws her hands back behind her, fingers spread out wide as she can, to quiet-cast Dash - and in an eyeblink, she is at the concrete backstop. She mantles over it and slips around the guards, who are still deciding whether to deal with her or that “DJ Ragna-Phyr” guy, before sprinting silently into a concrete hall. She thanks the stars that she decided to wear flats today.
Vanish wears off as she sneaks down the passage to the T-junction - then she has a second thought, and ducks through a steel door into the maintenance tunnels. She will need a solid minute to herself very shortly, and she has plenty of mana and a potion in her pocket to make good her escape.
Norissiel jags left and right as she jogs deeper into the bowels of the stadium. When she is satisfied that the guards are well behind her, she pauses to collect her thoughts. She thinks of her deceased grandfather, Hoban Jac’kar, and his Warrior’s Creed:
Wherever I go, everyone is a little bit safer because I am there.
Wherever I am, anyone in need has a friend.
Whenever I return home, everyone is happy I am there.
Grandpa drilled the creed into them as children, and it was aspirational rather than reassuring - something to aim for, not something you can rely on. Deep as she was into Mr. Nadab’s operation, her home village will almost certainly be attacked. She ducks into a service alcove, rips free a ventilation grate, and tucks herself inside; then she whispers, “Summon Speaking Stone.” A glowing pebble presently appears in her open palm, and she whispers, “Grandma, are you there?”
“Yes, dearie,” comes the relieving reply.
Nori breathes a sigh of gratitude, and says, “I just got a letter from grandpa. Sounds like things are bad. I’m heading straight home.” Translation: My hand was forced, and I’m going to ground. I won’t be home for a long time - but the village is in danger.
“Got it,” Grandma says. “Travel safe. See you soon!” Nori takes a deep breath and pulls the bent grate into a vaguely shut position behind her before dismissing the speaking stone. A flash of doubt crosses her mind - Did I do the right thing? Was this really necessary? She shuts her eyes to banish the thought and concentrates. The next few moments are critical.
She remembers her grandmother’s words: The world is a pyramid. Those at the top are a pretty decoration - but they’re just for show. Those at the bottom are also interchangeable, but they’re far more necessary. Every life is irreplaceable, but everyone is also expendable - everyone. Nevertheless, if a pyramid’s top doesn’t match its bottom, it’s easier by far to swap out a new cap than to change the whole base.
She worms her way deeper into the crawlspace as the guards close in, pipes rattling above her head as she wriggles left and right around tight corners, staining and tearing her black dress. Then she reaches into a concealed pocket and pulls out a tiny talisman bearing a woven lock of her hair, casts Infuse Spirit on it, and drops it. This ought to keep them busy for a while, she thinks. After meditating for a quick ritual to quiet her own personal energy signature, which she knows the guards are able to track, she reaches back awkwardly to yank an ankle bracelet off her left leg and work another tiny talisman free, then rubs it with her thumb and says, “Callback.”
Her stomach turns as she is yanked instantaneously through space to a small copse of trees in an empty park on the Northeast edge of Thousand Bridges. She rises from her belly to one knee, takes a deep breath, and looks up to orient herself by the Sun. After a quick look at the bent boughs of the twisted conifer above her, she scoots around and starts digging with her hands between a pair of prominent roots. A few minutes of digging gets her to an aluminum ring, and she yanks hard - a braided Kevlar cord pulls out, inch by inch, followed by a bullet-shaped canister. She unscrews the top and pulls out a crumpled knapsack which she throws over her shoulder. Then she sprints directly away from the city.
About three miles later, she slows down and settles into a jog. Ten miles further, by her reckoning, she turns to the Southeast and heads for the Notosynoro Mountain Rim. It is not her destination, but once she is well into the foothills and can see the peaks clearly in the distance, she will loop around to the Southwest and head for Selvacero. From there, it is not fruitful to plan at present - after all, she will need to stop at many towns along the way, and change her clothes and hair color. But she is away for now, and safe.
The future will have to take care of itself.
Two days later, Runa Morrigan approaches a twisted pine in a lovely park at the edge of Thousand Bridges, a retinue of riflemen in olive drab flanking her. She sees a canister shining in the afternoon Sun, and close by, a screw-top with an attached Kevlar cord tied to an aluminum ring. She picks up the pieces, closes her eyes, and concentrates for a moment.
The Big Money guards get restless, but soon her reverie is concluded. She turns to them and says quietly, “This is the last spot. I can track her no further. She will probably be headed to the mountains, and from there to the jungle lowlands. After that, your guess is as good as mine. Are we done here?”
“Yes,” says a guard - the only one wearing a black cherry beret. “Your favor is fulfilled. We’ll take it from here.” She hands a clay chit to Runa, and bends at the waist in a half-bow.
Runa takes the chit with a nod, snaps it in half, and drops the pieces. Then she closes her eyes, lowers her head, and mutters, “Callback.”
A heartbeat later, she pops into existence in a dilapidated cell in the dungeon beneath Fort Roguelike. She finds the broken wall in the inky dark, and keeps one hand on the carved stone to her right, counting her paces to avoid the traps as she proceeds down the curvy tunnels and burial chambers to an open cavern. She strides confidently between open sarcophagi and sprawled corpses before walking around a rubble-strewn altar and past an empty iron cage. Then she places her hand on an out-of-place stone, barely identifiable in the mosslight, and a boulder slides slowly out of place to reveal a passage leading even deeper underground.
To CONTINUE READING CHAPTER 20, click here.
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