Note: Follow-up to Remodeling
Sinister
A long hallway cast in shadow, with dim red light flickering near the end. Candles under foggy red glass near the ceiling provided just enough light to show that the hallway branched in two directions. Those who knew took the turn to the right, where another dark hallway led. Right again. Four times right, and then the final turn to the left. Sinister.
The room at the end of the trial was brighter, but pools of darkness lingered in many places around the chamber. It was a large, circular chamber, with a long desk. An aquarium was built into the back wall, lit from within by a red light. Dark shapes rippled over the walls as the water sloshed, predatory fish darting and swimming in the tank.
Behind the desk sat an enlil of corvid persuasion. His face was gray-black, with red eyes lit from within by a dark fire. A ruby pendant hung on his bare chest, a black overcoat draped over his shoulders. The feathers on top of his head were short, bright white, and over the rest of his body they were dark gray. Sai Shurevad, the man in charge of monitoring 'dark' bounties in the Lupanar District. A man also in charge of seeing to the execution of such bounties.
Sai tapped on the ruby at the end of his jeweled cane, a twin of the one on his necklace. "Does Guadriar know you're here?"
"No, nor does he need to." Culm growled. The enforcer stood tall, a white himation draped around his body. In the dim light, it wasn't easy to see the new scars he had acquired after his recent altercations, but his blue eyes flared with the intensity of his anger. Culm was not known to get angry, to get animated. He was known for being deadly calm.
Sai leaned forward. "Why come to me? You handle your own business, do you not? At least, that's what you told me when I suggested we could find your missing link. Chara'nira."
That caught Culm off-guard. Sai had a name, with perfect pronunciation of the Borean syllables. A sly way of proving his earlier offer had been no bluff. It was too late for that now, though. He was forced to muse on what might have been different if he had left the hunt for Chara'nira to the assassin, rather than going after the chemist and getting entangled with the guard and his damnable daughter.
"Guadriar keeps me busy," he explained in a low growl. "The Black Cats, the Audiactes, the Edict, he finds no shortage of rivalries and enemies for me to deal with. He knows what he's doing, keeping me from moving."
"Perhaps to good reason. You're pulling the basilisk's tail." The red-eyed enlil met Culm's blue-eyed glare, matching it for intensity. "Guadriar would never approve this request."
Culm strode closer and dropped fragments of vitatium on Sai's desk, the shattered remnants of the spear-head he had claimed for himself as a dagger. It was no longer worth anything as a weapon but the rare metal carried a hefty value. Gold-colored auritium exa trickled from his hand after that, the x-shaped coins thudding on the wood. "We are the Ignominious Nine, not Guadriar's Lackeys. We each of us can make our own... business decisions."
Looking at the rich pile, Sai tapped at the ruby on his cane before demanding, "Speak your request plainly and openly."
"Execute them. Three targets: Naevius Squalidus, Chiffon Columba, Keydis Lysistrata."
Sai leaned back in his chair, tapping that ruby. "Squalidus is high-born. That won't go unnoticed. Columba is an officer of the Conexus. You're treading on dangerous ground." He clasped both hands over the head of the cane.
"I'm not hearing a no, which means it's a matter of cost, not principle. Don't waste my time playing games."
"A guard and upper society. After what Lysistrata did, to you, she commands a high price all her own. This is not enough."
Culm glared but Sai met his gaze calmly and impassively. While he had no fear that Sai would go and tell Guadriar what Culm was trying to do, he also knew that the assassin wouldn't budge on matters of cost.
His anger seethed just below the surface and Culm longed to be the one to slide in the knife, but Guadriar wasn't giving him a moment to take care of his own affairs. The whispers around the Little City were growing louder, cracks in the reputation of the Nine. They let Keydis take Niketas Leon, they made a scene and Naevius got away, a guardsman was nearly killed. Then the attack on their base, a single woman breaking through all their defenses. And she still lived.
Culm reached into a special pocket sewn to the inside of his belt, and pulled something dear from it. An old exa coin, just a single coin. He stared at it for a moment, reluctantly dropping it on top of the pile in front of Sai.
A single coin of caelitium.
"Is this..?"
"Do it, by the end of the week."
The enlil's thumb rubbed over the ruby and he reached out to pick up the caelitium exa between two talons.
"The Nine needs to handle their business. Guadriar will come to his senses." Culm added a little more pressure.
It took another long moment of contemplation before Sai opened a drawer and very carefully placed the coin inside. The scattered vitatium fragments went into a different drawer, and the auritium coins went into his pocket. "Very well, it is done."
There was a quiet whisper of air against Culm's neck, and only then did he realize there was a woman standing behind him. An enlil possessed of long, fragile limbs, lacking feathers everywhere except the top of her head. Pepunef Zhuzhush, Sai's personal assassin. Culm wasn't sure how long she'd been there. She said nothing, and as the blue-eyed enforcer turned to say something to her, she was already gone.
Culm felt a flicker of disappointment that he wouldn't personally witness the thorns in his side getting what they deserved, but took some satisfaction knowing that they would pay the price of interfering with their business, the price of crossing Culm the Blue-eyed.
"I expect results," Culm demanded. "But first I go to deliver my own results to Guadriar." He turned to leave.
Let Sai Shurevad pull the basilisk's tail.
Sinister
Wordcount: 1,072
A long hallway cast in shadow, with dim red light flickering near the end. Candles under foggy red glass near the ceiling provided just enough light to show that the hallway branched in two directions. Those who knew took the turn to the right, where another dark hallway led. Right again. Four times right, and then the final turn to the left. Sinister.
The room at the end of the trial was brighter, but pools of darkness lingered in many places around the chamber. It was a large, circular chamber, with a long desk. An aquarium was built into the back wall, lit from within by a red light. Dark shapes rippled over the walls as the water sloshed, predatory fish darting and swimming in the tank.
Behind the desk sat an enlil of corvid persuasion. His face was gray-black, with red eyes lit from within by a dark fire. A ruby pendant hung on his bare chest, a black overcoat draped over his shoulders. The feathers on top of his head were short, bright white, and over the rest of his body they were dark gray. Sai Shurevad, the man in charge of monitoring 'dark' bounties in the Lupanar District. A man also in charge of seeing to the execution of such bounties.
Sai tapped on the ruby at the end of his jeweled cane, a twin of the one on his necklace. "Does Guadriar know you're here?"
"No, nor does he need to." Culm growled. The enforcer stood tall, a white himation draped around his body. In the dim light, it wasn't easy to see the new scars he had acquired after his recent altercations, but his blue eyes flared with the intensity of his anger. Culm was not known to get angry, to get animated. He was known for being deadly calm.
Sai leaned forward. "Why come to me? You handle your own business, do you not? At least, that's what you told me when I suggested we could find your missing link. Chara'nira."
That caught Culm off-guard. Sai had a name, with perfect pronunciation of the Borean syllables. A sly way of proving his earlier offer had been no bluff. It was too late for that now, though. He was forced to muse on what might have been different if he had left the hunt for Chara'nira to the assassin, rather than going after the chemist and getting entangled with the guard and his damnable daughter.
"Guadriar keeps me busy," he explained in a low growl. "The Black Cats, the Audiactes, the Edict, he finds no shortage of rivalries and enemies for me to deal with. He knows what he's doing, keeping me from moving."
"Perhaps to good reason. You're pulling the basilisk's tail." The red-eyed enlil met Culm's blue-eyed glare, matching it for intensity. "Guadriar would never approve this request."
Culm strode closer and dropped fragments of vitatium on Sai's desk, the shattered remnants of the spear-head he had claimed for himself as a dagger. It was no longer worth anything as a weapon but the rare metal carried a hefty value. Gold-colored auritium exa trickled from his hand after that, the x-shaped coins thudding on the wood. "We are the Ignominious Nine, not Guadriar's Lackeys. We each of us can make our own... business decisions."
Looking at the rich pile, Sai tapped at the ruby on his cane before demanding, "Speak your request plainly and openly."
"Execute them. Three targets: Naevius Squalidus, Chiffon Columba, Keydis Lysistrata."
Sai leaned back in his chair, tapping that ruby. "Squalidus is high-born. That won't go unnoticed. Columba is an officer of the Conexus. You're treading on dangerous ground." He clasped both hands over the head of the cane.
"I'm not hearing a no, which means it's a matter of cost, not principle. Don't waste my time playing games."
"A guard and upper society. After what Lysistrata did, to you, she commands a high price all her own. This is not enough."
Culm glared but Sai met his gaze calmly and impassively. While he had no fear that Sai would go and tell Guadriar what Culm was trying to do, he also knew that the assassin wouldn't budge on matters of cost.
His anger seethed just below the surface and Culm longed to be the one to slide in the knife, but Guadriar wasn't giving him a moment to take care of his own affairs. The whispers around the Little City were growing louder, cracks in the reputation of the Nine. They let Keydis take Niketas Leon, they made a scene and Naevius got away, a guardsman was nearly killed. Then the attack on their base, a single woman breaking through all their defenses. And she still lived.
Culm reached into a special pocket sewn to the inside of his belt, and pulled something dear from it. An old exa coin, just a single coin. He stared at it for a moment, reluctantly dropping it on top of the pile in front of Sai.
A single coin of caelitium.
"Is this..?"
"Do it, by the end of the week."
The enlil's thumb rubbed over the ruby and he reached out to pick up the caelitium exa between two talons.
"The Nine needs to handle their business. Guadriar will come to his senses." Culm added a little more pressure.
It took another long moment of contemplation before Sai opened a drawer and very carefully placed the coin inside. The scattered vitatium fragments went into a different drawer, and the auritium coins went into his pocket. "Very well, it is done."
There was a quiet whisper of air against Culm's neck, and only then did he realize there was a woman standing behind him. An enlil possessed of long, fragile limbs, lacking feathers everywhere except the top of her head. Pepunef Zhuzhush, Sai's personal assassin. Culm wasn't sure how long she'd been there. She said nothing, and as the blue-eyed enforcer turned to say something to her, she was already gone.
Culm felt a flicker of disappointment that he wouldn't personally witness the thorns in his side getting what they deserved, but took some satisfaction knowing that they would pay the price of interfering with their business, the price of crossing Culm the Blue-eyed.
"I expect results," Culm demanded. "But first I go to deliver my own results to Guadriar." He turned to leave.
Let Sai Shurevad pull the basilisk's tail.