MagiStream

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The original text:

Spoiler

You are heading towards the shops near the Keep when a small movement in a nearby alley catches your eye. You glance around to see if anyone else noticed but the road is empty. You think you hear a small whisper coming from the alley and with another furtive glance around you head in.

The alley is towered by nearby buildings and you are surprised how quickly it gets really dark in it. Ahead you see a flicker of light and decide to follow it.

You bump around a corner and are momentarily blinded by a sudden bright flash from a lantern. As quickly as it appeared it's gone however, and the only thing left in its place is a note firmly nailed to the wall of the nearest building.

"If you are a worthwhile customer my previous messages should have reached you, and you already know what is going on, but in case this is not so, let me bring you up to date.

Someone, somewhere, found out my route and set me up. I have reached out to my friends and enemies looking for information on who it might have been and how they managed to do this. As I have previously provided you with wares you would not have been able to acquire otherwise, I'm now calling in that favour and require you to assist me in figuring things out. I will reward generously anyone who has any leads on the matter.

-A"

As soon as you've read the note it starts to smoke and soon vanishes up in flames, leaving only a charred shape resembling a snake on the wood underneath it.

Part one:
Quickly I wrote down some information from the note on a scrap of paper. Then I glanced around, and with no one around I tried to remove the mark. I used my dagger to carve at the wood and it worked, kinda. The mark is gone, however there is a clear divot in the wood. I turned to walk away as if nothing had happened, and I reentered the main streets.

Those words echoed in my mind, "I will reward generously anyone who has any leads on the matter."

"Hmph, maybe." I chuckled to myself, "But I doubt it's as big as mine, remember I've done business with you before old friend." I whistled to call my Coria Alagos, Nightingale, to my shoulder. Once she landed, I gave her a small treat and the scrap of paper. "Take this to him, and hurry back," I whispered to Nightingale. In a flurry of feathers, she was off.

Later on that day I found myself in a sketchy pub. I leaned backwards in my chair and took a sip of my drink.

"That damn paper had to burn up, I could have had Alethin's scent and this could be over already." I thought to myself, "Now I have to track him down the hard way, oh well. This makes the hunt more fun!"

"BLADE!" I nearly fell backwards in my chair when I heard someone shout my name. Someone walked up to my table and I glanced at him. I recognized him as the expendable when it happened.

"What do you want? I'm kinda busy," I asked as they pulled up a chair.

"Busy? BUSY?! I nearly lost my life because of you!" He yelled as he slammed his fists on the table. The loud noises made the rest of the pub glare at us.

"Relax, relax. It was all part of the plan. Let's take this into a more... private area." I casually walked into a side room of the pub; to not cause an uproar from the rest of the guests. I shut and locked the door behind my disgruntled "client." I sat down in a chair and began to pick my teeth with my dagger. "Now, what exactly are your concerns?" I asked lazily.

"My concerns are that you almost had me KILLED! And I'm pretty sure you did that one on purpose, too! I know all about you Blade, your a..."

I interrupted his angry rants, "Things may have not quite went in the direction I wanted them to, but you're alive aren't you? So everything is going great! Actually I could use your help." Of course I was lying to him, he was suppose to die. And if that rat didn't get away from me, my job would be done. I would have a fully paid for holiday right now. Rather than spending time in this shack they call a pub. I don't care much for loose ends, so this one will have to be disposed of. The first attempt was a failure, but next time it'll be a success. My job was clear, get rid of him by any means necessary and frame the other for the crime. Then simply take the cart load of gold and disappear.

"Fine, fine, you have my attention. I mean I still want paid, like you promised. And if the target got away, I bet you are still trying to get paid. And I WILL get paid," He said. Well it looks like I got some free help. Though he expected me to pay him, but I could take care of that easily.

"It's a deal..." I offered him a handshake, "uh, what was your name?"

"It's Derek." He said as he shook my hand. I could sense his uneasiness. "You have no idea where your target is at, do you?"

"Well... I uh." I looked away and scratched my head.

"Don't lie to me, I saw your Direcore sniffing about at the market. Lucky for you I might be able to help us, where is that damn bird of yours?" Derek said with a tone.

"She was sent to deliver a message, should be back anytime now, why?" I asked.

"I have my own message to send," he said with a grin. "My contacts have some valuable information." TAP! TAP! TAP! We were interrupted by Nightingale tapping on the window. Though she returned to me empty handed, I knew her mission was successful. My apology for messing up was sent to Remy. He seemed quite keen of me 'taking care of the competition.' Derek wrote down his message and whispered to Nightingale, she took off quickly.

"I don't want to give away my contacts, should someone decide they don't like them. You are well known for being a double sided knife, Blade." Derek said sternly. I shrugged and we spent the next few hours drinking.

Part 2:
While we were having fun, Nightingale returned with a message for Derek. He insisted we go for a walk and I bring old Kodlak, my direcore, tomorrow.

I was lying in bed, waiting for sleep to come and my fateful meeting with Remy played through in my head. Nightingale woke me early that day, to give me his message:
"Meet me at Remy's Inn, in the hidden room behind the shelves with the dragon eggs. I will pay you well.
~A master wares merchant

I already had figured it was Remy, I wasn't shocked to see him standing there. I was shocked by the fact he wanted to hire me, Remy always seemed so nice. He tossed a large bag of gold at my feet.

"That's to get you interested, you can have the rest when the job is done." Remy stated.

"When what's done? And how much is the rest?" I said with a smirk.

"I need you to, well get rid of the competition. Alethin, with his rare creatures, makes it harder for me to sell my own finds," he said. "If you take care of him for me, I'll give you a cart full of gold."

"You know normally the ones who ask me to assassinate someone are a part of the more questionable crowd," I chuckled. "But a cart load..."

"No, no! Not kill, I don't want anyone to get hurt. Just get him sent to prison, life sentence, so he can't steal my customers." Remy interrupted.

"If you want him gone for a long time, someone needs to get hurt. Are you sure you're completely against it?" I'll admit, it's been a while since I had to kill anyone. I was looking for the feeling it gave, but I wasn't fully lying to Remy either. If he really wanted Alethin gone for a good while, framing him for murder is the way to go.

"Fine, do what you have to, just don't let me know. I want Alethin alive. If you kill him the deal is off!" Remy said reluctantly.

It wasn't long after that meeting with Remy that I was able to track down Alethin. He trusted me and I have done a couple jobs for him. Alethin never paid too well, though. Whatever was in the bag Remy gave me was more that Alethin would ever let go. I tracked him down on one of his routes, it was the perfect set up. He had a large, heavy cart, it was a narrow mountain path, just perfect. I figured out his route and made my plan, all I needed was someone expendable. But it all went south and now here I am, waiting to complete the job and get paid. Reminiscing of that crucial meeting lulled me to sleep and I waited for morning to come.

When I woke up to Nightingale's song, it wasn't long till I realized I was late to meeting Derek in the woods. I grabbed my gear and I jumped on Kodlak. We darted off, hoping Derek would still be waiting for us.

We arrived in the meeting spot and found Derek asleep against a tree. It would have been easy to murder him then, but to frame Alethin for it was impossible. I've never known him to go for a hike in this area. I had to wait, besides, Derek said he has some useful info. He may have known Alethin's whereabouts.

"I came all the way out here to find you asleep?" I threw a stone at Derek to wake him up.

"We were suppose to meet hours ago!" He seemed unamused by my jest.

"Oh relax," I said as I helped him up. "Now what was so important to drag me out here?"

"This way," Derek lead me deeper into the woods. The trees seemed to curve inwards and blocked out most light. You couldn't see far in either direction as the forest was dense. We eventually came to a clearing and Derek had me wait and he continued on.

"Derek?" I called out. He was gone longer than I would have liked and I could have sworn I heard some whispering.

"GAHHH!!" I heard Derek scream out, I rushed to find out what happened. After all, it's a lot of work to trick someone to trust you, especially when you plan to kill them. I didn't know what happened to Derek, but I wasn't going to take any chances. Kodlak followed closely behind and I had my dagger drawn, prepared for a fight.

There was a loud snap and Kodlak yelped. I turned to see him trapped under a metal net. When I turned back around, Alethin held a sword to my face. I gasped and he swept my legs out from under me. Nightingale retreated,I knew I couldn't trust that bird.

"Do you like my contact?" Derek chuckled, "He was very helpful, especially when you nearly killed me." I glared at Derek.

"You set me up! You said you'd help me find Alethin." I yelled at Derek.

"Well here he is. You also said you pay me handsomely if I did as you say." A frown grew across Derek's face, "Let's just say, I 'repaid' your hospitality."

"Why? Why did you attempt to kill me?!" Alethin shouted.

"Not you, I was to only frame you. For murdering him." I nudged my head towards Derek. "But that didn't go as planned..."

"You mean when I was driving my cart back to town," Alethin started.

"And you lost control, it almost seemed like you sped up," I continued his statement.

"You wanted me to hit Derek?!" Alethin yelled.

"No, I needed you to hit Derek. Right in front of that guard, he would search your cart and find the map of the 'traveling merchant', notice some illegal items. Then he would put two and two together and realize you wanted the treasure on the merchant." I explained trying to buy myself time to make a getaway.

"The merchant being me?" Derek asked. "Is that what you payed me with? Then promised more after it was over? But you lied, there is no more."

"Not for you, no." I said.

"If I hadn't acted fast to avoid hitting Derek, I'd be in jail for murder!" Alethin exclaimed. "Lucky for me that bump in the road gave me just enough of a lift to miss Derek. I was able to line up my wheels with that bump and just miss Derek as he dropped to the ground. But now they are after me for attempted murder!"

"When you hit that bump, my map fell out. The guard, who happens to be an old buddy of mine, picked up the map. He realized it was tracking a merchant holding a particular item, an item Derek happened to receive as payment. My guard figured it was all part of the plan, so he marked you as wanted for trying to kill Derek and steal this valuable treasure." I explained while trying to get up, only to have Alethin push the sword closer to my face. "Uh... I am curious though, how did you hide from the guards? And how did you two meet up?"

"Easily," Alethin began, "as you know, the guards can be paid. A little bit of gold got them to turn the other way whenever one noticed me. I didn't actually kill anyone, and you forget how large of a role I play here, Blade. I sell many unobtainable items to many, many people. Why would anyone wish to no longer receive their rare artifacts? Add a little gold and that will silence any loose tongues. I offer a valuable service."

"And like I said, I knew you tried to kill me." Derek spat out. "I hunted down Alethin and told him the story you told me. The one where you said you were going to assassinate Alethin and how something seemed off by your story. Then we devised a plan, to take care of you. I met you in that grimy old pub before, I knew you'd be there again. So I waited and once you arrived I used your own bird to tell Alethin."

"The only question left now, is who paid you to get rid of me?" Alethin demanded.

"I'm sorry, it seems I forgot." I challenged.

"I'll pay you twice as much as what they offered if you tell me." Alethin bargained, "I know you always go for the highest bidder."

"We've worked together before, Alethin, you would never part with as much gold as they would." I laughed.

"I'll only let you live if you tell me, I know how determined you get with finishing a job. Letting you live without getting you on my side will only result in my own demise..." Alethin paused, "You know, that dumb beast of yours will fetch a hefty price once I sell him." Alethin gestured towards Kodlak.

"Attempting to scare me wont help you any. If I fail in my mission, I'd rather die and I don't make attachments even to my own beasts. I mean, my own bird gave you a message, whilst I was looking for you. Pretty loyal, eh?" I chuckled. I could see Alethin's patience wearing thin, I wasn't sure how much longer I could entertain him.

"Why wont you just tell me?!" Alethin shouted.

"You said it yourself, the type of rogue I am. I'm Blade, the double edge sword, and what can I say? Money just talks to me." With that Alethin plunged the sword into my chest. I gasped for air as I felt the immense pain. I realized there was no way out of this situation, I was just buying time. Now, however, I could only accept my own death. I guess my greed had finally caught up to me.

FIN

I guess I didn't need this... oops

It's now completed

I'm always open for constructive critism!