Not long thereafter…
As soon as she opened the door, Vala knew that someone had been in her rooms. It was subtle, but things were slightly out of place, not quite where she had left them. Also, a note and small wooden box now sat on the table near the door to the bedroom; those had definitely not been there when she left. She closed her door and quickly checked through her rooms, ignoring the box and note for the moment. No, nothing was missing. It looked more as if someone had been looking for something. Fortunately, she kept nothing of value in her rooms. She then studied the box without touching it. No sign of traps. The note paper seemed very high quality. A spot of ink on the table seemed to indicate that the note had been written there; since she kept no ink in her rooms, whoever had been here had apparently come prepared to write. Curious.
With the tip of one dagger, she lifted a corner of the folded note. Nothing. She tilted the note so it slid off the box. Still nothing. Without removing her gloves, she lifted the note, opened it, and read.
Rogue, we have something of yours. You need only do a simple task for us, and she will be returned, mostly whole. Refuse, and she will be returned in pieces. The token in the box will prove our resolve on this.
The note was unsigned.
Apprehensive, struggling against alarm, Vala lifted the lid of the box. Inside, sitting atop some red silk, lay a severed finger, still wearing a carved wooden ring…a ring that matched the one Vala wore on her little finger. She staggered backward, dropping into a chair only because she bumped into it. “Jani.”
Even with the proof in the box, Vala needed to see for herself. Minutes later, she was on her way to Ironforge, to the shop there that her cousin shared with the dwarf Adalgar. Yes, Jani really was missing, and had been since early that morning, as far as anyone could tell. Vala had caught Adalgar as he was just leaving to come tell her about her cousin, after he had already spent the day searching everywhere that Jani might have gone. Adalgar tried to reassure Vala that Jani would be found safe and sound, but Vala returned to her rooms in Stormwind troubled and tense. She had not mentioned the note or box to Adalgar.
She received additional notes over the next couple of days, detailing what she was supposed to do. Ambush and assassination. And the notes warned her against getting anyone else involved. From hints in the notes, she was clearly being watched, but she had been unable to spot any watchers. So she told no-one, not even her contacts in SI:7. Alone, she tried to learn anything she could about who had taken Jani, or even why. But she found no answers. Only more questions.
If someone needed someone killed, there were all sorts of people out there who specialized in that sort of thing. Some of them even advertised the fact. So, why her? And why take Jani to get her to do the job? Why not just hire her or someone else straight out? And, while she was less experienced than many at this sort of thing, Vala had, on occasion, done these types of jobs. And probably would do so again. So why the threats and harm to an innocent bystander? And why the apparent search of her rooms? Something did not fit here, but she could not figure out what. The questions disturbed her sleep over those couple of days.
On the designated day for the job, Vala followed her instructions and arrived at the proper time in the specified back alley of Stormwind. Others were already there: several human males. They wore no insignia or tabards, but their armor all looked oddly alike. And familiar. Scarlets? Maybe. The armor did resemble armor she had seen on Scarlets. Strange.
The man who seemed to be the leader handed her a small vial. “The poison,” he said. “It will slow him down. Wait over there for my signal.” He pointed to a conveniently shadowed corner that would only fill with deeper shadows as the sun went down. Vala peered at the poison in its vial, but did not recognize it from looking at it. It certainly did not resemble any slowing poison with which she was familiar. She faded into the shadows in her corner and settled in to wait. The more this went on, the less she liked it.
While she waited, she watched the men with whom she was forced to work. They seemed unable to stay still, checking weapons, shuffling feet, and pacing. Even the leader checked his weapons more than she thought necessary. And he frequently looked around, as if not knowing from which direction the target would come. Several times, he stared into Vala’s corner for a long minute or two and then turned away shaking his head and seeming to mutter to himself. Vala reviewed the little she knew as she watched the men’s antics. The notes had never said who the target was, just that he would meet with the others at a certain place and time. And then she would do her part when given the signal. From the number of men here and their actions, she suspected that they believed this target would be trouble. She had the feeling that she was in way over her head.
Just at dusk, another person slipped out of the shadows not too far from her. Hells! The target was another rogue! And an elf, too! Vala continued cursing to herself as she applied the poison to her blades. The notes had not said the target was a rogue. He probably already knew she was there. Never stopping her silent cursing, she studied the newcomer as he walked over to where the others waited. Judging by the way he moved, he probably had many more seasons of experience than she. This just kept getting worse.
Then he turned his head slightly and she got a better look at his eyes, the only part of his face visible above his mask. Golden eyes.
She froze. No! She’d heard of him, heard the tales. This was suicide! She wondered what they had used to inveigle him into this meeting. Then she saw her signal.
She hesitated. She couldn’t do this. Even if she had a chance, she couldn’t help them against him. But…Jani! Her signal came again.
She made her decision. A step through the shadows put her just behind the other rogue. For his ears only, she whispered, “Trap.” Then she attacked. She deliberately targeted the strongest parts of his armor, trusting to that and his reflexes to keep her from doing serious harm.
The next she knew, she lay sprawled on the ground, gasping from pain and tasting blood in her mouth. Fighting the pain, she pushed herself up enough to watch the other rogue swiftly and efficiently cut down the humans, taking few wounds himself. Then he turned toward her.
Vala glanced at her fallen daggers…too far. And a stupid move, anyway. She remembered then the healing potion she carried…too close to another of her daggers. He would probably think she was going for the knife instead. So she simply met his gaze, silvery eyes above her mask locked onto his golden eyes.
“So, is this the part where you kill me?”
Tygr was early but the men he was supposed to meet were there before him. He watched them as he examined each rooftop above the alley. They seemed clear. The men however had the appearance of Scarlets. The way they moved, their armor, weapons. Perhaps they were the men he arranged to meet. Maybe they had the tome of rituals. Or, they knew he was looking for it and hoped to ambush him.
His suspicions were confirmed when one of them continuously glanced into one deeply shadowed corner. He was making his way around the roof and was planning on checking that corner before dropping down. He was pretty sure he would find another human there, rogue. It was looking more and more like ambush.
Tygr silently dropped from the roof above, daggers in hand. A quick glance to the shadows beside him revealed a surprise. A very young elf, barely an adult, laying in wait. He studied her as she watched the men. She had not noticed him yet. She looked like she could be one of Shaw’s men. But, why would the Scarlets know she was there?
Interesting. He continued to watch her as the sun began to set. Well, he knew she was there. Time to shake her up a little, just in case.
Tygr appeared from the shadows beside the girl, smiling under his mask. He walked towards the men. The leader raised his sword almost immediately. Tygr chuckled, ready to slit the elf woman’s throat. But, the attack didn’t come. The leader raised his sword again.
“Trap.”
He parried where the blow should have come, but she was aiming for the strong points in his armor. He adjusted, ripping the daggers from her hand one after another then tossing her to the ground.
He whirled bringing his dagger up to parry a sword blow, and began to dance through the Scarlets, dealing death in his wake. When they all lay dead, he turned, his smile hidden beneath his mask.
“So, is this the part where you kill me?”
He paused, then picked up her daggers. They had a strange smell. “Lethargy root, fadeleaf, something else.” He wiped some off and slipped it into a vial that was quickly produced from his carefully stowed gear. He would get Nayerilo and Giraud to check it out for him later. The daggers clattered on the cobblestones next to the girl.
“This is the part where you tell me why such a lovely young elf is working for Scarlets?”
“So they were Scarlets!” Vala murmured. “This doesn’t make sense.” She frowned to herself at the ‘lovely young elf’ comment. With her mask almost completely concealing her face, she doubted he could know whether she was lovely or not.
Vala glanced at her daggers, but made no move yet to reclaim them. Her mind raced as she considered how to answer him. This job was obviously a shambles. Would that mean more harm to Jani? Maybe not. Chances were, any possible watcher would have difficulty attributing the mess to Vala. To such a watcher, she should have appeared to be doing exactly as instructed. And it should have been clear to these people from the beginning that she was no match for this target. But what about telling no-one? She snarled to herself. She hadn’t brought him into this. The kidnappers could just live, or die – preferably die, with the situation they had created. And she had been unable to learn anything on her own. Since she was certain that this rogue was the one known as Lonetygr, she thought maybe he could offer an idea or two. She just hoped she could figure out something quickly so she could get Jani out of this before they hurt her any more.
“Short answer: wasn’t my idea. I didn’t even know they were. Scarlets, I mean. They’ve got Jani.”
Realizing that she probably made little sense, she started to explain further and found herself telling him all about the last couple of days, succinctly but thoroughly, starting with her discovery of the box and note in her rooms. For some reason, she trusted this rogue with her story; consciously, she had no idea why, but such instincts had served her well before. The other rogue turned out to be a good listener, not interrupting as she told her tale. Vala found it something of a relief to be able to talk to someone about this odd situation. She also realized, as she reviewed the contents of the notes, that everything that indicated she was being watched related to things that had happened near her rooms. Nowhere else. Well, she knew what she’d have to do later. A change of residence was obviously needed.
Just as she started to explain about how Jani was and briefly why, to help clarify her concerns, she thought she heard the faint sound of a horn. She glanced in that direction, although all she could actually see was a wall of the alley, and listened for a repeat of the sound. When it came, a little louder than the first, she looked back at the other rogue, who also seemed to be listening. “Sounds like the guard. Better finish my story another place. If that’s alright with you…”
She stifled a groan at the lingering pain as she grabbed her daggers, clambered to her feet, and wrapped the daggers in an unused bandage pulled from a pouch. She would clean the blades later. She wanted to have someone check out that poison, and the little left in the vial that she had been given might not be enough. Also, she did not want to get any of the unknown poison inside the sheaths. While doing this, she kept an eye on the other rogue. “…Assuming, of course, that you have any interest in listening more, after all I’ve babbled on already.”
She quirked an eyebrow at him, then slipped into the shadows and away from the blood-spattered alley.
Tygr kept pace with her and they quickly distanced themselves from the mess. Once they were far enough away, Vala continued her tale in a low voice, only pausing now and then when they passed too close to any possible eavesdropper. She had no destination in mind; she just kept walking until she had finished what she had to tell.
“So, there’s the long answer. Probably much more than you wanted to hear. You’re probably sorry you asked.” She let her gaze wander across the lantern-lit canals.
“Well, anyway, now you know why. Feel free to ask me stuff, if you want. If not, I’d better be getting to some things. And you don’t have to wonder if I’ll be coming after you again…not that I even would have this time…if I had known who they were after. And had a choice. You are this Lone Tygr I’ve heard about?” It was more statement, than question. She glanced at him. “I’m curious what they used to lure you to that meeting.”
Why was she telling him all this? Some of it really hit close to home. Few people knew of Tygr’s past. He hadn’t discussed it at length with anyone except for Aimi and Khadgar. Aimi of course thought he was delusional, but she said so in a diplomatic and non-judgmental way. Khadgar believed him and had even given him multiple avenues to pursue his problem, which of course set him on a path working for the Alliance.
Maybe it was a trap. Perhaps that is why she was telling him everything. Get the girl close. Get her in his good graces then she could strike. No, she was too scared to even stand and pick up her daggers. Maybe someone was still watching them. Tygr’s eyes shifted to the rooftops again, nothing. He continued to listen as she suggested leaving.
Tygr turned and looked frequently as they walked the canals. Maybe those weren’t Scarlets. If someone asked around in the right places, they would know the Scarlets were after him for that little misunderstanding on the docks months ago. Then again, maybe they were. He looked for anything out of the ordinary. Other than a lack of city guards, nothing caught his attention. So he just walked and listened.
It was mostly a sad tale, like many he had heard. There were no indications of why they had chosen the girl. Surely they knew whom they were up against. Maybe the poison would have done him in. She was good enough to get a cut or two in. She did know who he was. He chuckled.
“I am Lonetygr, Knight-Captain of the Alliance among other things. I was hoping to purchase a rare book from those men back there.” His voice was quiet, barely a whisper as he glanced at her thoughtfully. “One of these days I will make a smooth business transaction without bloodshed.”
His golden eyes sparkled like the torchlight on the canal water. He didn’t even believe that himself. “I don’t know what’s going on here. I am wanted by Scarlets for hindering their righteous onslaught. But, I’m certain there are others that would want me out of the way as well. To go through such lengths. Could be the book.” He wondered if she knew what lengths he went through to get these things.
Tygr paused, glancing around again. “Maybe they were scared of poisoning themselves and just needed a rogue. I don’t know. Either way you and your Jani are involved. I need to know who those men were and why they wanted me dead. If anyone was watching back there they will know you are talking to me now. I can only hope that does not end badly for Jani.”
Tygr grabbed Vala’s shoulder and spun her back in the direction of the ambush. “I will do my best to help you.” He led her back as he talked. “If they contact you again tell them you failed. I tried to get information out of you but you told me your sad past. And that I turned you over to the guard but you escaped.”
None of those were lies. Hopefully the girl could dance like a flame. There were voices up ahead as they came upon the alleyway, so he lowered his voice even more.
“I recommend shoving the guard into the canal and then evading them. Shouldn’t be too tough. Head home, I’ll be watching you.”
Tygr whistled then raised his voice. “Sergeant Mathers. Nice to see you are investigating this. I found this one fleeing the Alley. She might know something. Take her to the stockades for questioning.” He chuckled to himself, if she wasn’t able to evade the guards, Warden Thelwater would release her in the morning. “Tell Thelwater she’s a Y-6. You’ve had your chance, it’s sad you came all this way to get involved in such crime.” Tygr shoved her towards the Sergeant. “I’m going to go look into this a bit more.”
Tygr vanished into the shadows.
Vala shrugged her shoulder against Lonetygr’s grip. No, she wasn’t breaking free easily, if at all. So this was helping her? Turning her over to the guard? She was too surprised to properly object. And annoyed. She didn’t need to be dealing with the guards right now. And what was a Y-6 anyway? And then Lonetygr vanished, leaving her with several rather irked-looking guards. Yes, this day just kept getting better.
She didn’t even try a sweet, innocent act. For one thing, she knew she didn’t look the part right then. She looked like a rogue and they treated her as such. But acting scared worked, a little anyway. It probably didn’t hurt any that it was exactly how she felt right now. Didn’t matter that she was scared and worried for Jani, not herself.
The guards searched her, naturally. They found the two poison-coated daggers, and the vial, and the other daggers she carried in reserve. That didn’t help her in their eyes. But they did seem confused about the poisoned daggers being wrapped in cloth and tucked away, rather than sheathed on her belt. Not to mention the lack of blood on them, and the clean part on one where Lonetygr had scraped off some of the poison. They tried to get her to talk, tried to learn who she was, but she kept her mouth shut, and just looked from one to another with wide eyes. One pushed aside her hood and mask and brought a torch close to examine her face.
“Anyone recognize this one?”
They all shook their heads.
She would have been very surprised if any of them had known her. She did very little of her work within the city proper, and none recently. And, when traveling about Stormwind, she kept much of her face hidden and nearly always moved wrapped in the shadows.
“Looks pretty young. Even for one of them elves.”
“Could’ve been lookout.”
Vala stood mutely through their scrutiny, watching and thinking. Too many to deal with. And, they weren’t the enemy, after all. The last thing she wanted to do was fight them. SI:7 wasn’t going to like this. She had no doubt they’d learn all about it, if they hadn’t already.
Finally, the sergeant sent her off to the stockades with only two guards as escorts, a man and a woman, apparently thinking her scared enough to be no trouble. The man grasped her upper arm firmly and led her off, the woman following behind, but they failed to otherwise restrain her in any way. She continued to act her part until they were well away from the large group in the alley.
She decided that Lonetygr’s recommendation was good, but she needed to break the guard’s grip on her or she’d go into the canal with him. Something sudden and unexpected. The best thing she could think of was the tiny gnomish device secreted in her belt buckle. She had foolishly agreed to test it sometime for an associate. Well, if it was going to work, now was the time. With her free hand, she worked it loose and held it ready.
As she and her escorts crossed one of the city’s numerous bridges, Vala tossed the device down in front of her and quickly closed her eyes. Even through her eyelids, the flash of light hurt. Definitely brighter than flash powder. But purple?! Her guards cursed in surprise and the man’s grip on her arm loosened marginally. It was enough. She broke free and shoved him hard. All that mining had made her stronger than she looked. The guard lurched back, off-balance, and fell over the short wall into the canal. Vala dodged the other guard’s blind grab for her, and gave the woman a well-placed push before she could regain her balance. The woman followed her partner over the side.
Vala stepped into deep shadows then, and pulled up her hood and mask while she watched impatiently to make sure both guards surfaced. Briefly she wished Lonetygr was there – so she could shove him over the side, too. Turn her over to the guards indeed! Yeah, so it probably looked right to anyone watching, but that didn’t make her happy about it. And it had cost her several daggers. And now she’d definitely better find somewhere else to call home. When both guards’ heads broke the surface of the water, Vala sprinted further into the shadows, then took to the rooftops. Of course, the two guards started shouting, but she was already well away from there.
– – –
Vala took her time returning to her rooms. The city guards were now in an uproar, so she used extra caution to keep from being noticed. Also, something about a never-seen spy nagged at her and she wanted time to figure it out. Just when she had decided to give up, she remembered the tasks she had done a while ago for that mage in the Tower of Azora, tasks that involved placing items near another tower, in sight of it really, to allow the mage to spy by magical means. What if that was how they were watching her? Could be.
If so, that could mean something outside near her rooms, or maybe even within her rooms, that allowed them to spy on her. She sighed. Outside first, she decided. Fortunately, the moonlight was just bright enough that she would at least have no trouble seeing what she was doing. She started her search on the rooftops closest to her rooms, after she first stopped by her rooms to grab a couple of daggers. She disliked going unarmed. She also changed into a different set of armor, an older set she kept around for times when she needed to look different as quickly as possible.
Near dawn, she felt that she had found anything and everything that she was going to that had line-of-sight to her one window, and was reasonably close. Most of the stuff was obviously junk; trash tossed away by others who had occasion to roam the rooftops and back alleys. She had found one small pearl, though. Junk, or not, it all went into a single bag – something she had also found on the rooftops – which she then stashed in a little spot that she had used before for hiding things. She would have liked to drop the bag into her vault, but felt it unwise to visit the Stormwind Counting House anytime soon. Still, tucked away like that, it should make it difficult to spy, if any of that stuff was even being used that way. As she finally headed back toward her rooms to begin the search through them, she chuckled to herself. Stormwind ought to owe her something for cleaning up the area.
(Elsewhere. Early that same morning.)
“Captain. A word with you.“
“Sir?”
“I heard your report in there. Was this action your idea?“
“Not really, sir. Aernson proposed it, but I gave him leave to pursue this course.“
“I see.
“It seemed a good opportunity, sir. Occupy the elf-girl so she wouldn’t come after her sister. And possibly eliminate that…elf in the process.“
“I see. You are aware that the sister we are holding has a mind like a child’s? And she is stubborn like a child, determined to keep her ‘secret’ safe. Her secret…the book that asinine adventurer traded to her for some jewelry.“
“Yes, sir. That is, I knew about how she is, and the trade. I didn’t know that she was resisting. Since our searchers have not found it, surely one of our methods will get her to tell us where she hid it?“
“Possibly. But it has been decided to try getting the other elf-girl to retrieve it for us. Sending her against ‘that…elf‘, as you called him, could easily have gotten her killed. She is not as skilled as he is. Much as we’d all like to get rid of him, he will wait.“
“Yes, sir. All she had to do was get a scratch on him. The poison would have done the rest.“
“Well, she wasn’t able to do that, was she? I can understand you wanting such an accomplishment credited to you and your command, but you merely provided him an opportunity to kill more of us. Your men, captain. But you can see your blunder now, I’m sure.“
“Yes, sir.“
“Fortunately, your actions did not get the elf-girl killed. We can do that ourselves when it becomes necessary. Unfortunately, it might have gotten ‘that elf’ involved. Time will tell. In the meantime, Captain, you and your men are to take no further action regarding either of these individuals. Unless specific direction is given from higher-up. Is that clear?“
“Yes, sir. It is entirely possible, sir, that he is after this same book already.“
“I am aware of that, Captain. And you and I will meet in one hour to discuss disciplinary action, Captain.“
“Understood, sir.“
“Oh, and Captain… Very clever, what you did with the finger. Such cleverness could serve you well.“
“Thank you, sir.“
((Continued in Part 2))