Monster's Mercy

by William D. Arand

  “Who are you?” Ronder asked.

  “I’m me. Who are you?” Rene replied, tilting his head to one side. He needed to establish his personality with new people, which meant making sure the first impression was always correct.

  “I’m fairly certain that’s not an appropriate question to ask the owner of the home you broke into. Is it?” Ronder threw back.

  “That’s a fair point. I don’t have a name though. My people call me boss, others call me Mask, I call myself me,” Rene said, slowly tilting his head in the other direction. “I run a gang. I’m told you’re the man to speak to.”

  “And who told you that?” Ronder inquired, the tip of his sword slowly moving down toward the ground.

  “People in my gang. I don’t know their names,” Rene said and shrugged his shoulders, moving his head back to a normal position.

  “I don’t find it particularly reassuring that my name is so casually bandied about,” Ronder groused, the sword tip falling to the floor now.

  “I’m often reassured when I make sure I have all my fingers and toes,” Rene said. “All eleven of them. Shall we count together?”

  Ronder looked rather annoyed, but he sheathed his blade. “What is it you want?”

  “To purchase your grace, of course,” Rene said. “I have a gang to run and it would be best if I made sure the right purses were filled.”

  “Four percent of whatever your weekly take is,” Ronder said.

  “Two percent, but you can come visit any brothel I run whenever you like,” Rene countered. “I do plan on reopening the one that catered to the nobility. I just need to find a new location to work out of.”

  “So… you really did take over the Jackals,” Ronder murmured.

  “Yes. Though I believe we have a new name now. I didn’t ask what it was,” Rene said.

  “Three percent, as many visits as I want,” Ronder said.

  “Three percent, five visits a week,” Rene offered.

  “Fine. That it?” Ronder asked.

  “I’m going to make a move against Rene Anatolis,” Rene said. He was watching Ronder closely. He needed to know if this was going to be a trap. If Junk really had paid Ronder to scoop the “Mask” up at the same time. “I need to make sure you don’t show up during the middle of it. How much?”

  There was absolutely no surprise in Ronder. As far as Rene was concerned, he was right. Junk was paying Ronder to interrupt the robbery of Rene Anatolis. Ronder just hadn’t known who it was he’d be interrupting.

  Safe to say he’ll need to pay.

  Both of them.

  Agreed.

  “To not show up? Hm. Well,” Ronder said, reaching up to lightly groom his hair with his fingers. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “Five hundred. I’ll make sure we don’t show up at all.”

  The lies of a lying liar!

  Pull out his tongue.

  Rene reached up and scratched at his mask as if it were really his face.

  “Fine,” he said, coming to a decision. He’d have this man replaced and used as a patsy at the same time. “I’ll have the gold brought over tomorrow. How would you like it handed off?”

  Clearing his throat, Ronder made a vague gesture with his hand.

  “Just have it brought here before dawn. The night guard is… well, he’s paid for his services,” Ronder said.

  Nodding his head, Rene stood up quickly, which made Ronder take a step back.

  Putting his hands behind his back, Rene hunched forward slightly, and then left the study. As soon as he crossed the threshold into the hall, he ducked down and immediately tried to sneak away.

  Your skill in Sneak has increased (16)

  Smirking to himself, Rene ghosted off to the back door and physically turned off the log.

  It was fun to see the messages about his improvement, but they were distracting right now.

  On top of that, he was slightly concerned that his skill had increased from twelve to sixteen in one go. That meant someone who was very observant was nearby, or there were far more people in the house than he thought.

  “Hello?” Ronder asked, looking this way and that. The man was clearly very confused.

  Not him then. Something to note.

  Time to see if we can’t find someone to replace Ronder.

  If this is anything like Laetus, that means the squad leaders would be the level directly below.

  So… let’s go find some patrols and check their ranks.

  Making his way out of the house and onto the rooftops, Rene did reconnaissance at a run. Forgoing sneaking, he was running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, looking for city patrollers.

  He did find a number of them, but they were all members of squads. No leaders.

  In the end, it took the better part of thirty minutes before he finally found what he was looking for.

  Or more to the point, what he was looking for came looking for him.

  Apparently his antics hadn’t gone unnoticed. Someone had told the guard and a patrol had been dispatched for him specifically.

  “Huh, well, this works. Doesn’t it?” Rene asked nobody. He was crouched low atop a roof. Up ahead, and behind him, five patrollers were heading his way.

  Looking one way and then the other, he spotted the squad leader.

  Patroller insignia was typically worn on the side of a helmet or a hat. A squad leader was a circle with an x in it.

  Contemplating the situation, Rene decided the best way to handle this was to follow the squad leader home and present them with the offer.

  Waiting, Rene watched as the patrollers passed right by him, all looking for him and finding nothing at all. Then they regrouped and left, only to repeat this little endeavor three more times on other rooftops that lined boulevards.

  Each time finding nothing, of course.

  Since Rene was more or less always a few steps behind the squad leader.

  “Alright, he’s gone,” muttered the squad leader once her patrol all gathered around her again, as the last person dropped down from the rooftops.

  And the squad leader was definitely a her.

  Rene had been surprised to hear her speak the first time. He’d been assuming it was a man up to that point.

  Not that he could have seen into the full steel helmet anyway.

  “Waste of time,” grumbled one of the patrollers.

  “It always is,” said a second.

  Sounds like she’s not really in ‘command’ of her unit, either.

  “Button that lip, before I fatten it,” growled the woman. “Get out of here. Go home. Day’s over. See you tomorrow.”

  Grumbling, complaining, and looking like they didn’t want to bother, the four troopers left. All heading in different directions.

  Leaving the squad leader by herself in this semi-deserted back plaza.

  It was actually the perfect location for what Rene wanted.

  Especially if he had to kill her and ditch her corpse in a corner.

  Looking one way and then the other, Rene found there wasn’t anyone nearby. Then he glanced up to his alignment bar and found it was completely blue and at the top.

  He could afford a murder right now.

  Sighing, the squad leader looked down at her polished boots. Clearly trying to pull herself together.

  Rene moved forward and got one arm up around the patroller’s throat, bringing her head backward. With his right hand, he placed his short sword at her guts. Easing the tip of it up under her breastplate, he found the bottom of her ribs without trying.

  “Hush now,” Rene crooned in her ear as the woman began to struggle, then stopped. Clearly noticing the blade. “Good girl. Come along. Let’s chat.”

  Rene began walking the patroller backward. Deeper into the corner of the plaza. Where the shadows met and the sun couldn’t reach.

  As he reached his destination, he could practically feel the anger and fear rolling off the squad leader. It was apparent she knew what happened to people pulled off into corn
ers. She’d likely come across the aftermath as a city patroller.

  Though the anger was interesting to Rene. It meant she had a spine.

  As he pulled her into the shadows, he could feel her tensing up. Clearly, she was contemplating making a move.

  Leaning a bit further back as he moved, Rene got the squad leader to her tip toes. Her boots skidded across the stones.

  Reaching his destination, he turned and pushed the squad leader face first into the corner.

  Grabbing at her sword belt, he disarmed her of her dagger, club, and short sword before she even got her balance.

  The squad leader spun around and got her gauntleted hands up, looking like she was more than willing to go down fighting.

  Then she froze, clearly recognizing who she was facing.

  “I have a proposition for you,” Rene said.

  “Yeah? And what’s that? If it’s bedding you or something like that, you can just kill me or force it,” said the squad leader. “And let’s be honest here, I’m gonna fight in either scenario.”

  Spunky.

  I like her. Reminds me of Odelia.

  “This is a much simpler proposition than that,” Rene said. “But I think maybe you doubt my sincerity.

  “So, I’ll explain myself, give you a choice, and then leave.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ll have to forgive me for not believing you have good intentions for me,” said the woman. “You don’t get dragged into a rape-and-murder corner every day of the week.”

  “You walked yourself into the situation, if you must know,” Rene said. “You had no situational awareness, had your back to a position you hadn’t cleared, and let your soldiers leave on their own. You were careless.

  “Now… shall I present my offer?”

  “Yeah, whatever, get it over with,” growled the woman.

  “Wonderful,” Rene said, nodding his head partially. “I’ve bribed one of your senior officers. They’re going to assist me in robbing someone. I think they’re going to betray me however, as they’ve also taken a bribe from a competitor of mine.”

  The squad leader’s posture had tightened up at first. Now it was starting to loosen as he spoke.

  “Oh?” she mused. “Sure, tell me all about it so I can cuff you all at the same time.”

  Rene laughed at that and then sheathed his weapon and held his hands up neutrally.

  “I’m not into being cuffed, despite however pleasant you could promise to make it,” Rene said, taking a few steps back. “Now, you’ve heard the basics of what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m going to leave you with that, so you can contemplate it.

  “I’ll return to this spot when the moon’s at its peak, its zenith. Tonight. If you’d like to discuss more of this, be here. Alone,” Rene said continuing to slowly back up.

  “Yeah? What’s to say I don’t come back with my squad?” asked the woman.

  “The fact that they don’t respect you for one,” Rene murmured. “That they’d clearly rather see you lose your position. See you fail. See you lose your title.

  “And me? Well… I just want to see those who’d work against me wronged. I have nothing against you. I don’t even know your name. You’d just benefit from my rather vengeful nature.”

  Kneeling down, the woman reached blindly for the hilt of her sword. Except she couldn’t quite find it.

  The instant she broke eye contact to find it, Rene dropped down low and did his best to sneak off to the side.

  Vanishing just like that, he wasn’t there by the time she got her sword in hand and stood back up.

  “Wha… what?” asked the squad leader to no one. Turning left and then right, she seemed ready to fight.

  Wanted to fight.

  Except Rene simply wasn’t anywhere she’d be able to see him.

  Even though he was practically in her pocket again.

  “What… I … I don’t…”

  Taking in a shaky breath, the woman sheathed her sword, grabbed her truncheon and dagger, and then hurried out of the plaza. Not waiting any longer and clearly not wanting to be there.

  Well. That’s a start. Let’s follow her to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.

  It’d be a pity if she tried to spoil my plans.

  Checking a sigh, Rene ghosted after the squad leader, intent to see this through all the way to the end.

  Wherever that might lead.

  Chapter 21

  Having followed the squad leader, Rene felt like he knew her rather intimately.

  He’d been there when she’d bought a few things on the way home. And when she’d gone through her home with her sword out looking for him, which wasn’t that hard since her home was rather small.

  Though it was still impressive that she had a home at all and lived by herself.

  Rene had watched as she made dinner, randomly talking to herself about what’d happened and what she should do as she did so.

  When she’d gone to use her chamber pot, he’d looked through some of her possessions.

  From what he could tell, she was the lowest one could possibly be in the nobility social hierarchy without falling out the bottom of it.

  To her credit, it seemed she’d graduated from the Felicie university and earned her position through merit, rather than connections.

  None of that seemed to matter, however. There was nowhere else for this young woman to go simply because she wasn’t higher up in the peerage. It was likely she’d be tasked with marrying, retiring, and pushing out children at some point.

  Evening eventually rolled around, and then the deep part of the night. When no one on good tidings was out conducting business.

  The squad leader had often stuck her head out a window to look up at the moon. Apparently trying to judge where it was and how much time she had left.

  Each time, she’d shake her head, as if telling herself she wasn’t going to go.

  Right around the time Rene judged that she wasn’t going to leave, she grabbed a cloak from a hook, threw it on, and bolted out the door. Faster than Rene had expected and leaving him alone in her house.

  Thankfully, she hadn’t gotten far, and he’d caught up to her rather quickly.

  Apparently being a squad leader meant she knew how to move throughout the city without being seen.

  And which areas to avoid altogether.

  She’s going straight to the plaza.

  Let’s go ahead and check it out. Make sure we’re alright.

  Always a good idea to prepare the stage. One can never tell who or what the audience will be.

  I mean, after all, we might have to go into a rage. To slaughter merrily any and all who’s there with glee.

  After watching the squad leader for another second, Rene made up his mind and then ran ahead.

  Moving quickly, he hopped and clambered his way over the roofs. He found that the more he did it, the easier it got.

  In fact, he was almost positive that if he checked his log, he’d see an increase in climbing, agility, and endurance. He didn’t have the time to look right now, though.

  Not that it mattered.

  He’d turned it off earlier that evening, he’d been blessedly free of skill-gain messages. He’d simply been far too busy to enjoy the messages right now.

  Vaulting over another wall, Rene came to a dead stop and then practically flung himself to the ground.

  Up ahead was a shadow darker than a chimney deserved. It was pressed in close to the bricks and in a position that could see the plaza perfectly.

  Truth of the matter was that Rene had wanted to go to that exact position to watch the plaza for a time. Which meant whoever this was had instincts that were quite similar to Rene’s.

  Inspecting the shadow, he wondered about who it was.

  Assassin? Hm.

  I wonder if this is the contract Davis mentioned or something else?

  Curious. Very curious. However did they find me? Let alone that, how did they know I was coming back here? I was with our sq
uad leader this whole time. It wasn’t as if I was out and about or that I told anyone what I was doing.

  Something else going on here.

  I’ll have to take care of them and figure out how they found me. I’m sure I can make them talk quick. I just need to get it done before—

  Walking out into the plaza was the squad leader. She was ahead of Rene’s estimation of how long it would take her to get here.

  She must have thought she was late and started running.

  Damn it all.

  I’ll have to take care of this one after.

  Later.

  I’m looking forward to it already.

  Moving backward, Rene slunk away. He didn’t want to alert the assassin to their being found out.

  Dropping down from the roofs, Rene entered the plaza from a different side entirely.

  Unfortunately, the amount of cover in the plaza was limited. Or at least, it was limited when taking into account where the assassin was posted.

  Sliding up to a pillar nearby, Rene leaned his shoulder into it. Unfortunately, this location made exposure to the rarely used street nearby much more likely.

  But it kept him out of sight of the assassin.

  “Good to see you,” Rene said. He was loud enough to get the squad leader’s attention, but that was about it.

  “Wha… huh?” replied the woman.

  Rene heard the soft click of her boots as she came over to where he was.

  “What’re you doing?” she asked, peering at where Rene was hiding.

  “Holding this pillar up. What does it look like?” Rene explained while gesturing at said pillar. “Someone’s gotta do it, ya know.”

  Frowning, the squad leader looked ill at ease.

  Rene stared at her head-on as he gave her a full once-over. All throughout his tailing of her, he’d kept to her sides and behind her. He wasn’t about to risk being spotted if he didn’t have to.

  She wasn’t pretty.

  Nor was she built in a womanly way.

  The squad leader was a woman of athletics, fighting, and activity. She was very fit and very lean.

  At best, she was “cute” and enough for a handful, but that was as far as the compliments went.

  Her black hair was cut to several inches in length, and her dark brown eyes were more like hard stones than anything else.