It had been a long
morning. It was Malleck’s third recounting of the previous
evening’s events before he snapped. Liara called him in first thing
in the morning and she interrogated him herself. She had everyone
separated and would make everyone else would go through the events
three times. He would go through them until he broke and Liara
understood exactly how to do so. It reminded Malleck of his lessons
growing up.
As wards of the
guild, the orphans had been walked through a room and asked to
recount everything they saw. Details were important, as they told
truths which were otherwise concealed. The children who had performed
the best were rewarded with easier chores or more allowance.
Those who excelled
at the challenges graduated to being assigned longer conversations
and advanced observation and analysis. They learned to read people.
Malleck was also a trained in deception, intimidation, linguistics
and in the art of engineering. He understood the world around him
with the finest education available.
Liara was a precise
woman, and she took in every detail when someone spoke in her
presence. Every pause, every tonal shift, every body language cue
spoke volumes to her. Each telling of the story provided more
information. Malleck was a talented liar, but that was partly why the
repetition was so critical. It was hard enough to lie to Liara once;
three times was a gauntlet.
Liara’s wards went
from destitution to the best of everything. Those that could keep up
were given increasingly difficult lessons and responsibilities.
Regardless of success or failure they were all still Liara’s
children, but Malleck didn’t want that. Malleck was no child, each
test made him stronger, he was determined to make Liara proud, to be
seen as an equal.
To Malleck every
smile told a story. Liara seemed to have a thousand different smiles,
but Malleck felt she reserved one just for him. The first run through
of the evening’s events her smile told him she was being supportive
but concerned, the second telling her smile was the one she wore when
she was plotting something, this time she wore a smile that told him
he was going to be tested soon.
She liked to ask
questions after the first walk thru. She used a raven awakened and
endowed with telepathy on her other guests, partly to unnerve them.
For Malleck she whispered in his ear. It was intimate and awkward for
Malleck.
Liara always looked
the same, like a fresh lovely young maiden. Her beauty hung on a
razor’s edge of being ripened. Her look fell short of the self
assured confidence of a matured beauty, instead she seemed unspoiled
like a spring meadow untouched. It made it easy for fools to
underestimate her.
Those soft full
lips whispering in his ear sent a shiver down his spine. Her
impossibly delicate hands touched his shoulder when she spoke in a
gesture of comfort. It created a sexual tension that was spoiled by
maternal memories, and it was entirely on purpose.
“After Zool
deflected the bolt, five men with blue hatchets rose and drew their
weapons. I looked for the exits and spotted Lazeron coming in. At the
time I thought him the Chaos Man.
My eyes swept the
room for the crossbowman and I saw him calmly reloading his weapon on
the far side of the bar. Human, dark hair brown eyes.
Someone shouted,
“Shenanigans” and the voice was masculine and deep, likely from
an ogre or minotaur. It was loud and high in the room, I couldn’t
place the voice to a spot were someone stood. I suspect
ventriloquism.
Everyone else seemed
to pause in that moment except for us and the strike team sent for
us. Our waitress Bellanie tripped in such a way that tied up three of
the four intended attackers.”
“That sounds
rather convenient.” She distrusted Bellany’s presence and
motives. Malleck could understand that position, he suspected the
girl was either Music Guild or some kind of professional cutter and
possibly both.
“An ally with a
sense of timing is a treasure indeed.”
Liara nodded to
concede the point. It was a merchant guild proverb, one she likely
authored.
“Zool seized the
moment to close the ground by leaping upon a table and stabbing the
one man not tied up.
The crowd seemed
about to rush the entrance which Lazeron discouraged with a fireball.
Bellany lit one of
the four men on fire and I used magic to improve my aim before firing
on the crossbowman.”
“What of your
training? Why did you not see this coming?” Liara may as well
have stabbed him. Malleck couldn’t stand disappointing her, and the
quite true reasons felt like empty excuses in that moment.
A silence hung
between the elf and the bad blood, but their body language betrayed a
litany of emotions. She was genuinely surprised at his lack of
vigilance, his shame quickened to anger for a moment as his mind
raced through it all. The bar was crowded with nearly two hundred men
and a third wore the blue axes. Liara waited as Malleck thought it
through to the logical conclusion.
“I wasn’t the
main target, I was a secondary target.”
Liara nodded for
Malleck to continue.
“Whoever this was,
they hired a bunch of men and got them to stuff that bar for the
meet. That means either we have a leak or the Mage Guild does.
Lazeron was the main target though, the majority of cutters went
after him, tried to get him flanked. We actually got lucky on those
five jumping the gun, had they not…”
“They would
have killed Lazeron, and managed to flank you instead. They’d have
separated you from Zool and cut you down.”
“Got to be a new
player in town, one with coin to burn and likely they were the ones
that set the fire. They failed to kill Lazeron but still managed to
make the Mage Guild look bad and probably are using the damage to
recruit more in the labor guild.”
“You see what
must happen, my darling boy.”
Malleck did, his
vision blurred a second as he realized what it meant.
“Careful what
you wish for.”
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