-1 Malak knew he drew attention by the clothes he was wearing. No commoner wore white clothes, at least those that did didn't have it as pristine white like those he and his sister were now wearing. But for this particular mission it was kind of the point-- to stick out.
Malak angrily popped his knuckles. Damn you, Houkten. He cursed mentally at the small contingent of Houkten walking down the street. What are you doing here? You shouldn't even be here, you have no jurisdiction in Fovoham. Plus, he can't see us if he's distracted by you.
The he, in this case, being the reason for him and his sister were out in Riovanes marketplace. Malak wasn't sure what his name was, he didn't really care. All he knew was the grand duke wanted him dead and that was that as far as Malak was concerned.
This particular mission was a huge change for him and his sister. Usually they wanted to be covert, unseen, stealthy. You were only seen as the last image that your target saw before he died. At other times even your target doesn't even see your face, they simply died and presumably didn't even know why.
Malak smiled. They probably just wake up at the gate's of heaven wondering what they were doing there.
No, they wouldn't even show up at heaven's gate, the peoplehe and hissister killed were people deserving of death…and worse; therefore, they would probably wake up with the devil himself poking them. That thought made Malak smile even more.
Yes, he and his sister killed people, but Barinten, the grand duke, assured them that every single one of them had merited death and he trusted the grand duke's word. He had never imagined he would live a life like this. He had adjusted to his new life. He had, though, at times, he missed his parents.
He hadn't been born in Ivalice, he lived in what the people of Ivalice called the "Eastern Lands", but he just knew it as home. He was the oldest child in his family and only had one sibling, his little kid sister. His family, both immediate and extended, were simple people farming and hunting to provide for the village. It was a small, tight knit village, everyone was related to someone else in some way. The leader was grandpa to everyone in the village and was well respected. Everyone provided as much as they could and everyone cared for everyone else. This happy little community had come crashing down one night.
War, for him and his sister, was a far off thing. Most kids their age didn't worry about it because mommy and daddy will take care of them. As far as the village was concerned, war wasn't coming to them. They were just a small group of people trying to make their way through life. Even if war ever did come, they were sure they would be ready for it. They had magic that the outside world had never heard of and could not even wield. They had many farming implements that could be wielded as instruments of war if needed. They had sincerely thought they would be ready for anything, they had been wrong.
He and his sister had been awakened that one fateful night by what he would soon learn to be the sounds of war. The sound of metal against metal, metal against wood, wood against wood. The sound of a low rumbling fire that grew by the second, the cries of the dying…
Malak shook his head. He couldn't be thinking about that at a time like this. He had a duty to fulfill; he had a mission to finish.
Where's my target? There. Good. He nudged his sister and pointed directly at the man. He didn't have to do this, his sister knew exactly where he was, but the point was to be obvious and grab the man's attention.
The man, of course noticed this, that was because he was smart, at least that's what he told himself. He had, after all, lived this long after defying the grand duke. He was sure he could live through whatever the grand duke threw at him.
He notice the two dark complexion children point at him and he didn't have to be a genius to know they were is some way connected to the grand duke.
Grand Duke Barinten was known as a great philanthropist, at least to the people that didn't know him. He started many orphanages all over Ivalice to take care of the children that lost their families in the Fifty Years War, of which there were many. Some suspected there was something more devious behind the Grand Duke's works, but most were usually quieted by people who just couldn't understand why people had to ask questions when someone did a good deed.
If this wasn't enough to silence a critic, and they continued to snoop, many times they would end up missing. So the investigation into the duke's orphanages ended, until another unfortunate soul would pick it up again not knowing what happened to the lastunfortunate soulthat dug too deep into those orphanages.
But the man thought he was smart, he had dug and found the information he needed. In fact he had some paperwork to back it up. He was also cocky because he was from a high up enough family that the other nobles would listen to him and he would expose the Grand Duke for what he was. He probably wouldn't have felt so smart or cocky if he knew how many other people had had the exact same information in their hands and how many of them weren't talking anymore…permanently.
No, he was a smart man and he saw those two kids pointing at him. He was so smart he knew his surroundings and knew where his exits were. In fact, he was heading towards one right now. He tried to not look panicked, he was just a few meters away from it. He then tried to look inconspicuous as he ducked down a side street and then started running.
Malak and Rafa were following behind him in a flash. They both knew they could be on top
of him right now, hell he could be dead right now, but they had been given express orders from Barinten not to kill him, well not just quite yet.
The man looked over his shoulder and noticed the two children running behind him. He ran out of the alley on to a main street. He pushed his way past people and sometimes through them when they didn't get out of his way. He continued to glance behind him. Thankfully the children pursuing him stuck out in the crowds all he had to see was a flash of brilliant white to know they were still behind him.
He looked ahead and saw a pair of Riovanes soldiers standing up the street. A wave of panic washed over him. The heat tingling his senses. So that's how it is, round me up. Making me run right into their waiting arms. They've even improved the trap by making it like the two guards don't even see me. Real slick! He smiled. He was too smart for that. The panic left as he spotted another alley way and quickly disappeared into it.
Malak and Rafa followed the man at what for them was a pleasant speed. They had learned to move much faster and quicker during their years at the "orphanage", they continued their half-hearted pursuit.
If either one of them knew how smart the man ahead of them thought he was they would have probably shook their heads. He would have been safe if he had stayed in the marketplace. After all the duke couldn't have his assassins killing people with tons of possible witnesses around. It only took one pair of eyes looking in the wrong direction to see a discrete slitting of a target's neck or the like.
No, he would have been safe with all those people, but he had made a mistake by running away from them. Not that it mattered in the long run, sooner or later the man would have been alone and he would have died then. However, he made the mistake now and he didn't even know he had made it. In fact, it was going to cost him his life in a few moments. It was sad he wouldn't live long enough to learn of his mistake or be alive to regret it for much longer.
The man stumbled out into another street. He looked up and down the crowded thoroughfare, he spotted the usual patrol of Riovanes soldiers. He darted across the street into another alleyway. He had traveled away from the more affluent parts of Riovanes into the slums. The "walls" that constituted the alleyway were crumbling and had varying sizes of holes in them. The slight wind swirled the trash that even the most poor didn't want. The filth moved from one pile of clutter that lined the alleyway to another.
The man had never traveled to this part of town. He was completely lost, but he didn't care at this point. He had to lose these two children and then he might find his way back to the part of Riovanes he knew and had grown up in.
The sounds of the market were completely gone now. The only noise the man heard now was his heavy booted footsteps and his heavy breathing. There was also the noise of children's footsteps behind him, he imagined they sounded hurried. Good, the man thought, I can still lose them.
Of course their footsteps weren't hurried, actually the only reason he heard their footsteps at all was because the two of them wanted the man to hear them. They could be completely unheard if they wanted. Malak looked over at his sister as they ran, he nodded at her and the two of them did just that-- their footsteps became completely quiet.
The man would have sighed a sigh of relief if he wasn't panting already. He thought he had lost them, but his relief soon dissipated when he looked over his shoulder and saw the two of them still behind him and a lot closer then before. The man continued to look back as he turned another corner into a side alleyway. He ran right into a dagger.
A dagger-- if he had known the story-- was given to one Gaff Gafgarion when he had been kicked out of the Touten Knights. As was the custom for these knight, you stripped the ousted soldier of everything put a dagger and then sent them along their way. It was a nice way of saying "I hope you die, but you can't blame us because we armed you before you left." It was a small tool, it wasn't very effective in building a life after being kicked out and that was the point. The tool was very useful in slitting one's own throat, a choice more to the soldiers still in the groups liking. However, an unacceptable choice for many of the ousted knight. Despite the disgrace many choose the easy way out. For Gaff Gargarion it was not a viable choice and he started rebuilding himself and a life with that dagger.
The afore mentioned Gafgarion now held the dagger that was now plunged into the man's chest. The man let out a scream, however, he was too far away from the marketplace for anyone to hear it. Plus Gafgarion's paw of a hand immediately covered the entire man's face stifling the noise. Using his strength, Gafgarion plunged the knife a little deeper and twisted it. He didn't feel the man had to suffer any more then he already was. He had been paid to kill the man not to torture him so he did just that and killed just a little quicker by his actions.
The man fell to the ground, dead, not any different from any other of the men that Gafgarion had killed. No sooner had the man hit the ground then two teens rounded the corner. Quickly Gafgarion brought his knife up to the ready, still dripping with the man's blood. He soon relaxed, the two fit the description of the "assistance" the grand duke told him that he would be sending.
Gafgarion pulled out a cloth and started wiping the blood from the blade and the hilt not wanting to tarnish his little souvenir.
"Is he dead?" The boy asked.
"Yes." Gafgarion stated as professionally as his associate Rad, a chemist, talked when talking about a patient. "You can check if you want, but this isn't my first. I can assure you he's dead."
"Nothing personal," the boy kneeled next to the dead man, "but this is business."
Gafgarion shrugged his shoulders. As long as I get paid ,what do I care. Gafgarion continued to wipe down his blade, curiously taking in his two "helpers."
Malak felt for a pulse on the man's neck. Nothing. Next, he rummaged through the man's pockets and pulled out a couple of folded papers. Conjuring a fire spell in the same hand, soon the papers were turned to ash. Finally, he reached into the mans pocket and extracted the man's gil holder. He tossed it to Gafgarion. "Here, take a little extra gil."
Gafgarion looked at the gil holder. It was heavy enough, must be an affluent man.
He eyed the boy cautiously, but he soon shrugged it off. He was never a man to turn down free gil.
Malak stood and dusted his hands off. He looked down at the man. Judging by the blood that covered the man's shirt and now spilled over onto the trash covered ground of the slums, no chemist or white mage could save his damned soul now.
"Rafa, let's go we have one duty left to do."
The girl nodded solemnly and followed behind her brother as they walked down the alley.
Gafgarion watched as the two of them disappeared. He looked down at his knife. It looked clean. He tucked it away underneath his shirt along with other instruments he carried. Each one different but just as deadly. This one held a special meaning to him, though it was hardly in Gafgarion's nature to be sentimental. He dropped the bloody cloth coming to rest on the man's head, covering his visage. Gafgarion turned he had his own appointments to keep as well.
xxx
Rafa walked behind his brother submissively. This other "duty" they had to perform for the grand duke was one Rafa was never fond of, but thankfully they had to rarely perform it.
For the people of Riovanes that thought they knew the siblings, knew them as the grand duke's messengers. In order for that cover to work, from time to time they would actually deliver messages for the grand duke to nobles, dignitaries, and the like with in Riovanes the city. This particular message was never fun to deliver.
"Explain to me again why we have to do this." Rafa asked. She knew the answer, but she futilely hoped that if maybe she asked, her brother would tell them that they didn't have to actually do it after all.
"Because," Malak said in a voice he only used with his sister. The rest of the time his voice was gruff and would have been exasperated to explain this point yet again. "the Capires are a rich and influential family and they don't need to learn about this from some heartless blockheaded constables. Its one of the many courtesies that the Grand Duke extends to families that are loyal to him."
"Then explain to me how killing their son is 'courtesy.'"
"Do you even know what he did?" Malak asked, he would sounded incredulous if it hadn't been his sister.
"No."
"Believe me," Malak said as he recalled the gruesome details that Barinten had laid out for him. All lies if Malak had known."you don't want to know." Malak knocked on the large door to the mansion and stepped back. Rafa took a step forward. She would be dealing with this, seeing as Malak had never quite had the tact for delivering these sorts of messages.
The door opened slightly and an elderly women peered through the slim opening. "May I help you?"
"Yes my brother and I need to speak to Sire and Lady Capire."
"Do you have an appointment?" The women eyed the two of them suspiciously.
"We have a message from the Grand Duke himself." Rafa produced a rolled piece of paper with the Grand Duke's seal on it.
The women's hand extended from the door and snatched the paper and inspected it. "Oh! I'm so sorry." The women exclaimed opening the door wide. "Please come in." The women shoved the piece of paper back into Rafa's hand. They followed the lady down hallways deeper and deeper into the cavernous mansion. "Please have a seat here, the master and his wife will be out to see you soon." The women spoke once they had entered a large, what appeared to be a living room.
"Thank you," Malak said, "but we'll stand."
"Of course." The maid scurried off down another hallway. Both stood and clasped their hands at the small of their back, they moved their feet till they were shoulder width apart. They stood like statues, looking very dutiful. Their eyes set on the hall the maid had disappeared down.
Soon they spotted two figures moving down the hall. A man, the taller of the two, walked with a walk that would only be acquired after years in the military. The women seemed to be fidgeting with her hair, it appeared she wanted to look good for a message sent by the Grand Duke.
Once the two Capires spotted the two of them standing in their living room. Lady Capire leaned over to her husband and whispered. "Oh how nice the Grand Duke gives his little orphans jobs so they feel important."
Rafa, of course, heard these word because of her honed hearing. She looked out of the corner of her eye to see if her brother had heard the comment. His face remained blank, but after years of training that meant very little. Despite the training Rafa could still read her brother and there was a glint in his eye.
Malak leaned over and whispered into Rafa's ear. "Oh look at the two condescending nobles, aren't they cute, if they only these two 'orphans' could have them dead right now."
"Malak!" Rafa hissed through her teeth as the Capire family entered the living room.. Soon the two nobles were seated in front of them on a blush couch. Two fake pleasant smiles plastered across their faces.
"You have a message for us?" Lady Capires asked.
"Yes ma'am." Rafa responded respectfully. "I'm afraid it's bad news…" She paused. She had been taught to always pause after informing a family that there was bad news. It gave them time to properly brace themselves, although there was never a way to properly brace oneself for this kind of news.
"It's about your son," she had been told to pause after this statement as well, but as far as she was concerned it just drew out the inevitable. It let the mind of the family run wild with what sort of bad news was associated with their son. She just assume tell them immediately what the connection was between the two statements. "He was found dead not to far away from the marketplace earlier today."
"No," the women half shrieked, "it can't be true. I just saw him this morning."
Denial. Rafa thought as she looked at the two of them sympathetically. She had no words to convince them. Instead she knew her look was enough to show that she wasn't kidding.
"No!" The woman screamed as she fell into her husbands arms.
Acceptance.
The man held his crying wife. "What happened?"
"We aren't sure, but rest assured that the Grand Duke will launch a full scale investigation into your son's death." Rafa hated saying such a bald face lie to a grieving family, but this was duty. There would be no investigation. If the Grand Duke had any say, which he did, the constable's office wouldn't even hear about this death. Seeing that paying off low level officials to keep quiet did cost money. Sometimes too much money for their own good, and killing constables did launch full scale investigations.
"Why are you here? Why aren't the constables informing us of this news." The man said slowly losing his composure as well.
"The Grand Duke is immediately informed when crimes such as these occur on his land." This wasn't true either. Seeing as most of these sorts of crimes were commissioned by the Grand Duke himself, all the others he really didn't care about. "These kinds of crimes are very troubling when it happens to such a high ranking nobles such as yourself in his city. He would like to express his deepest sympathy to both of you. He will be overseeing the investigation personally. Don't hesitate to contact him with any questions or comments you might have."
After all, the grand duke couldn't have them going to the constable's office with questions about an investigation that wasn't going on. If such an incident were to occur the duke, well not the duke himself, but one of his messengers, would say that he had his own personal investigator looking into it. If further explanation was needed the messenger would usually imply the reason for the personal investigator was because there was a suspicion that the constables office was in some way tied to their son's death. But, of course he could not delve into the specifics.
"If you have an information, such as any enemies you have," which was a silly question seeing as nobles always thought someone was out to get them. Sometimes imagined other times not, "or any projects he was working on, please don't hesitate to come to the castle immediately."
"We'll do that." Mr. Capires said looking down at his wife holding her close.
There work here was done. "We're deeply sorry for your loss." Rafa said as she and her brother turned and exited the room and then the estate.
xxx
"Here's the remaining amount of your payment." Barinten handed Gafgarion another small sack of gil.
Gafgarion took the gil and weighed it in his hand. Seemed to weigh the right amount. He was about to turn and leave, but he paused. Something was worrying him. "Who was he?"
"Come now Gafgarion you know better then to ask questions like that."
Gafgarion nodded. Yes, he knew better and that wasn't what was bothering him. "It just seems strange to me that you would hire a mercenary such as myself. Can't your little orphans handle a job like this?"
"What ever do you mean?" Barinten's voice didn't display the confusion such a comment should have had. Barinten stood from his huge dining table and walked to his window and looked out of it.
"Come now Grand Duke, you can't possibly believe that I don't know what those orphanages are for." Gafgarion smiled. He knew the duke couldn't help but tell stories especially when it came to how smart he was.
"Plausible deniability." The duke said facing the window
"What?"
The duke waved Gafgarion over to the window next to him. Gafgarion stepped forward as the duke started his rambling. "It's called plausible deniability my boy."
Gafgarion breathed out trying to control himself. He was far too old to be referred to by anyone as 'boy', especially by someone similarly close in age, but he continued to look at the duke with no expression on his face. Listening to the duke's continued babbling.
"My assassins didn't kill their son, some random thief did. I mean I don't even have assassins." The duke looked at Gafgarion and smiled. He turned his gaze back to out the window. Gafgarion looked out the window. Directly below them was a courtyard filled with children running around and having fun.
"Beautiful aren't they? So young and innocent and pure. Running around without a care in the world. It's when night comes that things are harder to handle. They slow down and then start thinking about their parents. It's heart breaking really. I have to hire help just for the nights to help comfort them. I've spent many a sleepless night myself going room to room comforting their sad little hearts."
"So you don't trust your assassins to keep it quiet?" Gafgarion directed the conversation back to the information he needed. Sure he might feel bad for those orphans down below him, but they weren't his concern nor was there much he could do about it. Hell, there wasn't any money in helping orphans.
"Oh not at all I have the utmost confidence in my assassins, but I prefer to use them out there." The duke waved his hand at the window. "I'm afraid I've had to use them too often this close to home. I can't have too many mysterious deaths happening in my city. It makes me look bad in front of the other nobles. You know how the others can be so vain worrying about the murder rates in their providence. And then there are the commoners, they start to wonder, people start prodding, and then, sadly, even more people start dying. But if this death isn't mysterious, just another random robbery well then… there isn't much I can do about random crime."
"Still," Gafgarion hated to pry. He hated even more appearing to be actually interested in the Grand Duke's affairs, but it was his neck on the line. He needed to understand why he was chosen, and paid, to do this job.
The duke had many resources at his disposal for a job like this, resources he had already paid for. Gafgarion didn't want to end up mysteriously dead. He continued to prod only because he wanted to be absolutely sure he wouldn't be dead as soon as he walked out that door.
Should have thought about before you took the job. Gafgarion knew he was a fool, but when so much gil was waved in front of his face he couldn't help himself. "I don't understand why your assassins couldn't have done the job."
The duke sighed.
Gafgarion cringed. The duke doesn't want to talk about his brilliance. Something has to be up.
"Gafgarion, my boy…"
Gafgarion cringed again. Don't call me 'boy!' He raged keeping his blank look on his face.
"…you prod too much." Barinten sighed again. "Yes, my assassins could have killed him. Yes, my assassins could have made it look like an average robbery. But I created my assassins for work out there." The Grand Duke gestured out the window again. "At Ivalice at large not for domestic problems. I didn't pay all that money to build all those orphanages to play around with them at home. They need to be sent out into Ivalice. In fact, many of them already are. I was just lucky enough to have two of them here at the time.
"Yes, they could have killed him and cleaned it up so it looked like someone else did it. In this particular case I was willing to pay someone else to actually do it, not just make it look like someone else did it. I'm not worried about any investigation, there won't be an investigation, but I like to dot all my i's and cross all my t's."
Gafgarion sighed inwardly. It wasn't really an explanation at all, it was just average noble double talk, but it was all he was going to get. At any rate, it really didn't matter, if the Grand Duke wanted him dead as soon as he left it didn't matter if he understood why or not. He turned and made it half way to the exit until he stopped and turned around.
The duke was now turned facing him an unnerving smile on his face. "Thank you, Grand Duke Barinten, it was a pleasure working for you." Gafgarion said his usual spiel when he finished a job for anyone. He bowed and then walked out of the room. I need to get Rad, Ramza, his friends, and get the hell out of this city.