A Bright and Shiny Life

I quickly find the yellow house the thugs are supposed to be in. The yellow isn’t from paint but from a lichen growing on the walls, which is only one of the ways the building is showing dilapidation. Really, house is too generous of term for it, it’s more of an oversized two-story shack.

Feeling I have no time to plan my approach, I move to the back under concealment and jump up to a window which I slip one of the new knives through to unlatch and open. Snoring comes from inside, so I creep a look and see a large burly man sleeping uncomfortably on a too small bundle of cloth wrapped straw.

I slowly crawl through the window and creep up to him, feeling my boons on the edge. Once I reach him, I quickly slash my palm (a little deeper than intended in the rush), apply the symbols, grab a bundle of straw and press it against his neck.

This wakes him, causing him to flail, but I quickly stab him through the straw into his throat and up into his head. He continues to struggle, but quickly settles as the ritual forces the soul from his body faster than the blood loss would.

I get a little of his blood on me, but I don’t care as I feel the power rushing through stabilize yesterday’s boons.

My sigh of relief is short lived as I hear footsteps rushing up the rickety stairs. I hide next to the doorway with dagger drawn.

A moment later another burly man around the same age rushes through the door holding a thick cloth cord with worry on his face. He speaks in a calming voice. “You having another fit Bolny? Don’t worry, Siggie’s here… oh no.”

As he stares at the blood I bash my dagger hilt into the back of the head with full force. He stumbles forward but, to my surprise, recovers after a step and snap his head towards me.

“You did this!?” He shakes in rage and lunges at me.

I slip out of the way through the door, but he catches up a moment later. I avoid his grasp, but his arm slams into my chest, sending me down the stairs.

I hit my head but shake off the pain in time to see him leap down the stairs after me. I roll to the side down the rest of the stairs a moment before impact. There’s a crunch as he lands, a foot going through the floorboard, but he quickly pulls himself free and continues to bull towards me.

I pull out one of the magic knives and throw it, lodging it into his chest with a spurt of blood. He looks down a second at the invisible object protruding from his chest, which provides enough of a distraction for me to rush up and leap on top of him. My legs wrap partially around his chest, and I repeatedly punch him in the face with god given strength.

He staggers from the blows but manages to get his arm between us and throw me off. My head hits the wall for the second time. The repeated blows are too much for my healing and so I am unable to get out of the way as he picks up a cudgel and overhand swings with both hands at my head.

The sound of bone breaking as the club strikes my raised arm and bounces off. He lifts the club to strike again but I pull out the second magic knife and jam it into his knee then quickly slash out into his other one.

He goes down like a sack of flour on top of me– the first leg nearly cut in half by the stab and slash. I push him off and stand up– still dizzy from the head blows but quickly recovering. Kicking the cudgel from his hand I straddle his chest and begin applying blood from the bones protruding from my limp right arm.

He grabs me but I stab his forearm and cut outwards, half severing it like the leg. He wraps his other hand around my throat and squeezes, but I manage to stab the wrist– releasing the grip before it can become dangerous.

He tries to bludgeon me with his useless limbs in a wordless rage, but I let the blows land as I finish the symbols and cut his throat.

I sigh deeply as the power flows through me… So much blood. Here I was hoping to stay clean for the next bit.

I douse myself with my waterskin, pick up my blades, then shove my bones back into my arm to let my regeneration deal with it as I search for the last of the trio. I quickly find him in a room smelling of burnt nightswirl leaves.

Convenient. Burnt nightswirl is a potent soporific, which explains why I only had to fight one bear-like man.

There’s a ceramic bowl with a thin plume of smoke rising from the ashes next to him. I quickly find a stash of more leaves and cram a fistful into the bowl before burning them and shoving it closer to his head. Inhaling too much can cause heart failure, but he’s a big man with a god’s boon to overcome, and I need him dead asleep.

As the smoke does its job, and my bones painfully fuse back together, I look through the house.

True to Lindrid’s description of ‘thugs’ I quickly find useful contraband. To start with there’s the nightswirl leaves. While burning them is useful, they’re a deadly poison when eaten. So, they’re illegal for non-guild members to possess in these quantities, and no one living in a house like this is a guild member.

In the basement I find a few other poisonous plants, and a stash of weapons too martial to treat as mere tools. I take some of the plants, but there’s too much to take everything. I don’t touch the weapons.

A loose stone draws my attention, so I remove it to find a stash of coin clippings and a ledger. The ledger seems to contain a list of people they extorted money from, and others they paid off. A clear reason for Lindrid to have sent me after them if they were competitors in his protection game. I feel less awkward about receiving so much from him now.

Under normal circumstances the ledger might be useful as it contains names of watch members who took bribes with details of when and how much. However most of these people will likely be killed in the riots, so I put it back. If Lindrid can use it, then his people will find it when they undoubtedly come.

Finally, there’s a chest containing a bag of coin, some fine clothes, and a clearly stolen bolt of silk. Too many of the coins are clipped to be worth going through right now, but I do find a small gold and two large silvers in good shape. I put those in my purse, and the rest in my pack to check later.

My brief examination of the ledger indicates they must have a larger stash of coin someplace, but it doesn’t seem to be large enough to be worth the time to find it. I guess a couple thousand raem at most. A sum I recently considered quite large, but now laughably small. Besides, it could be in a completely different location.

Also in the chest is a magic sword. I lack training with it, but stare longingly at the symbols anyways. Standard sharpness/toughness, self-repair and iron-phasing. Meaning it treats iron as if it doesn’t exist– very useful as most armour is made of it. Also, it serves as a weird mirror in which everyone it reflects seems abnormally pale. Less useful, but some like how they look in them.

I sigh, putting it back. It’s just too long to be concealed. While swords aren’t strictly illegal for travellers, magic swords are unless you are a noble, or at least a squire. I guess I’ll leave it for Lindon in exchange for the knives, which should put us at about even on that count.

Feeling my arm is fully healed, I decide the nightswirl has had enough time to work. I first carry the two bodies down to the basement, followed by the sleeper and the burning bowl. With the seven boons active the size is the most difficult thing rather than the weight, but I manage to shove them through the cramp stairs. I am more careful not to bump the last still living one.

Once they’re all down, I strip off my clothes and place them in a bucket of water in which I scrub them with some soap to get as much blood out as I quickly can. There’s a low cook fire on the ground floor so I hang them there to dry.

Going back down, I cut off the survivor’s tunic, and I cut my palm to apply the symbols on their face and torso. I wait for the cut to heal, then wash my hand of the blood. Once clean, I put on the thin leather gloves, which loosely go past my elbows. There is a large apron in the kitchen which I also don.

All set, I use one of the magic knives to smoothly cut open their belly. Even without having the specialized hook on the end, the minimal pressure needed to open him with the sharp blade allows me to easily control the depth of the cut and avoid damage to the organs. I reach in and grab the intestine.

“Nnngggh.” He groans, causing me to pause.

Having an idea, I strip my gloves off and take out the smoke catcher. I activate it to suck in all the nightswirl smoke and go back upstairs to get the rest of the leaves and put them on the basement floor. I cast lesser firestream causing the whole bunch to burst into smoke that the smoke catcher sucks. Once the leaves are fully consumed, I twist the nozzle the other way to cause the smoke to flow out again, and shove the bottle in his mouth to force the concentrated plume to go directly to his lungs.

After a few moments he becomes insensate to pain.

I quickly unspool the intestine mentally noting every sign. Once done I make an insertion higher up, and remove the liver.

He quickly pales and begins shaking, so I grab the knife and slit his throat. It’s easiest to do a reading from a living target, but a few missed signs aren’t worth missing out on the boon.

A moment later a large amount of power shoots through me. Not as much as a noble, but much more than expected. I’ll have to consult the Biblio to figure out what special circumstance might be in play here. Maybe I can replicate it.

With him dead there’s no reason to waste the nightswirl smoke so I remove it from his mouth and wash it off before proceeding to remove the man’s kidneys, stomach, gall bladder, and heart. There are some things that can be learned with the lungs and brain, but they’re difficult to get out intact, and I’m not studied on their signs. Eyes also have a use, but mostly for past events. Once everything is out, I arrange the entrails on the ground in front of me and contemplate what I’ve learned.

A few surprises, and a few confirmations.

First, Lindrid is not going to betray me, so that’s one explanation for his excessive generosity eliminated. Unfortunately, I don’t learn any alternatives.

Second, the empire is not expecting my attack, and they don’t know about the hole in the wall yet. However, following the plan will result in danger and likely blood shed either by me or of.

Third, I am still being pursued, but the pursuers have lost the trail… for now.

Fourth, returning to the sea will completely shake past bonds, but will have dangers of its own.

Fifth, I am very unlikely to gain entrance to the academy, but effort and sacrifice may change this.

Sixth, there are four people still alive who know my secrets. They are all safe, and not hostile, for now.

Seventh, good harvest this autumn, invest in wheat, beets, and sheep.

I stop reviewing when I get to information not directly related to me.

Lindrid being trustworthy is good news, though I don’t see anything about if he’ll succeed. This does suggest that he’ll at least be able to avoid capture if he fails. It’s also good to know the ship plan will completely lose my pursuit. The academy is just confirmation of what I expected. The empire not expecting the attack on the granary is a bit suspicious as they could be jamming, but that would require constant effort which would cause disruptions I’m not seeing.

The only disturbing news is the number of people who know ‘my secret’ which I take to mean my identity as tied to the resistance. Lindrid and Timos were expected, but it seems at least two people I previously thought dead are alive.

My thoughts go excitedly to Gebal. I left him for dead, but he does have squire powers, so he might have been more resilient than I thought. But no, even if he lived, he would have been captured, and the divination said they’re safe. The other possibilities would be another cell member who survived the ambush, Tanyth, one of her cell, or one of the merchants who occasionally brought us goods.

The merchant seems unlikely as I always wore a mask around them, but maybe one could recognize me. Tanyth is also unlikely. A point-blank cascade orb is one of the few things that would finish her off, and the fighting stopped completely after that. That leaves the subordinate cell members.

Members of my cell is unlikely given the ferocity of the ambush, but maybe one of the archers made it since they were farther away from the first orb. More likely is Tanyth’s cell. The people who saw me clearly enough to maybe recognize me are Cylus, the squire, the mage, and the three guards in the room when I met Tanyth.

They all seem equally likely, since while the mage and squire are harder to kill, they would also have been priority targets. I hope the squire made it as they seemed capable and level-headed. The mage… yeah maybe.

I look at the other two bodies. I could cut them open to get more detailed information, but I learned what I needed to, and looking further might cause disruptions. Learning who else knows about me would be nice, but I’m limited in what I can do about it. The divination could indicate when our paths might cross, but they’re likely under the influence of so many divinations tracking them that– unless it happened to be in the next couple of days– the information would just be noise.

So, I put the organs back into the correct cavities, take my gloves and apron off, wash myself clean, then cast firestream on each of the bodies until their fronts turns to blackened ash–using the smoke catcher and smothering them with a rug when they catch too much on fire.

That done, I get dressed, leave the house, and head to the imperial granary.