Thank you for another review - yes, what a cruel and sad life he had... :( And... I'm happy about a new follower and favorite. :)
A bit of translation help came from Jenovan again. Thank you! :)
Ways of Fortune (part 2)
"New Job..." Master Antonio said in the neutral tone of a transaction. "A mage who has interfered too much in urban policy for Arainai's taste. For tomorrow his return to the circle is announced. He is accompanied by only a single guard in the carriage. That should not be a problem for you." He handed the young assassin a scroll with information on the case.
"A mage?" the Assassin asked skeptically. Einiora and Shannon were the only mages Zevran had experienced before. They dominated nature magic spells such as the induction of fireflies, they were able to use the natural environment, so they could root or paralyze their enemies temporarily. But what Zevran had heard of the legendary mages - they could shoot lightning and fire from their hands.
Antonio drew down the corner of his mouth. "Just stab him faster than he can move his hands" was his final advice.
The assassin was disguised as an ambassador of the mayor with a mandate to bring a message to the circle of the magi. It was arranged that he could travel in the coach with the mage. To his surprise, the mage was a charming young lady with reddish-blond hair and amazing long legs. She wore a richly embroidered robe of ivory and gold silk. He talked to her and her guardian, they joked a lot and drank wine. When the mage slept, her guard suddenly collapsed. Unfortunately, the dead guard fell on the mage. She woke up. Startled, the young woman screamed when she noticed that the man had not just fallen asleep, but was dead! Zevran covered her mouth. "Hush, my dear, quiet."
The young woman fell to her knees. Her eyes filled with tears, her lips trembled. "Please do not kill me, please not..." she begged him.
The young assassin was taken aback. The fact that somebody was begging for their life, was new to him. His recent victims perished in battle. Or the murder occurred as suddenly that they had no chance to defend themselves. And then a woman like this ... she might be not older than twenty, had a beautiful face, skin as soft as silk, eyes like deep green lakes of innocence; she smelled like a rose in May. Could there not be a way to spare her? "Do not worry, honey. I won't kill you."
"But you wanted, right? It was your job."
Now Zevran was confused, "What makes you think that, my dear?"
"I'm not stupid," the young mage said firmly. "I did not believe for one moment you were an ambassador."
"Why ..." The assassin came really to ponder "... have you admitted then that I'm with you in the coach, why did you not warn the guard, why did you sleep?"
She snorted softly. "I did not sleep. I waited for what would happen and when you killed my guard, I realized that I was not wrong - they had set the Crows after me!"
"How do you know so much? Whom are you working for?" the assassin asked.
She gently took his head and pulled an ear to her lips.. "Lorenzo is interested to acquire his own crow cell, he plans an open war against Arainai. You are involved, aren't you? Maybe we could come to an agreement we could all benefited from?"
Suddenly the cart jerked, the horses shied and caprioled, the coach moved forward by leaps and bounds and eventually overturned. The mage, who had almost perched on Zevrans lap, was thrown backwards with the neck against the back seat. Zevran heard a distinct crack. He himself hurtled through the air, but could absorb the fall with his arms and legs.
For a moment all was quiet. Then the assassin heard steps. Someone knocked on the coach cabine, "Oh Maker, everything all right in there?" the coachman asked in his broad provincial dialect, "Is anyone hurt?"
The young assassin looked around and found the sorceress stuck between the seats. Her head lay in a very unhealthy angle to the body. A buckle of her shoe had come loose and lay beside her on the floor. The assassin took it and put it in his pocket. He crawled out of one of the broken window, rubbing the bruises on the arms and legs, he also had numerous small cuts "I fine. but I'm am afraid the other two are dead" he said with a facial expression of deepest regret.
"Oh, Andraste! What am I doing now?" The driver was standing next to his carriage and shook his head in despair.
"Where are we, good man, and what actually happened?" Zevran asked the driver and comforting laid a hand on the man's shoulder.
"A snake, a snake was on the way. The horses went insane, they bolted ... We are halfway to Genellan," the coachman said.
"Genellan? I thought we were on our way to Treviso?" the assassin asked with unfeigned surprise.
The driver shrugged his shoulders: "It was an instruction of the young lady."
Zevran had to be careful not to start laughing out loud. Whatever the mage had planned to do in Genallan - one thing was clear - she had lied to him. What a sneaky little whore, he thought.
"I take one of your horses, my good man, I must fulfill my mission."
His riding lessons with the Crows were already a while back. There were a few months in his last training year. It had given him a lot of fun, and he could still remember everything. However, he had wondered to this day,when he would ever need it. He slackened one of the horses of the coach, swung to the saddle loose animal and tested whether it responded to the pressure of his legs. It did - it was used to a rider.
The driver stayed behind him and waved at the loss. What a mess ...
A few notes about the last two chapters: Who knows Zevran's dialogues well, will have realized that I here describe his first two missions: the Rivaini merchant prince of whom Zevran said, he was his very first mission, and when he killed him, he wore a single, jeweled earring, and nothing else. And the mage in the coach, of whom Zevran said, she was his second job.
The story of the merchant prince I have designed more detailed and wanted to give it more importance, because I needed a logical reason, why the Crows have Zevran ever accepted back into their ranks, after he had fled to the Dalish. There are basically some inconsistencies in Zevrans stories, this is one of them: He keeps saying, the Crows would treat each of their members as "expendable commodity", one would be basically worthless - if you do not fulfill a mission you are "outlaw" if you try to escape them, as well. When he was reaccepted after his trip to the Dalish, there must have been a special reason, and at least some of the "higher" Crows would have established an exception for his person. (another possibility would be, that these thoughts of being an expendable commodity only came to his mind after the Rinna-mission - it could be injured pride. Because that was his last experience with the Crows, it was not so long ago and the reason to leave them. So maybe it's just prevarication. It's a problem that we only know about the Crows from Zevran's point of view - and we know that he is not always honest...)
Second Mission - again there were some inconsistencies in Zevrans story:
1. How should it have looked like an accident when Zevran first killed the guard? - The death of the guard had to be clarified.
2. How should the driver be informed of the change of voyage, when the two were all the time sitting together in the closed cabine? I have changed the story to the effect that Zevran believed the trip would go to Treviso (I did not find a note as to where the tower of the Magi in Antiva is exactly, I have it now based in Treviso. I can change it, if it ever should be necessary;)), and the mage had instructed the coachman to drive a different route from the beginning.
3. It is very unlikely that Zevran would have admitted to talk to the mage, if she had really tried to kill him twice - one of them would already have been dead after the first attempt. I think this is so for a "dramatic embellishment". ;)
For the rest of the story, I tried to make a reasonably logical, understandable construct of it. (Of course, I could have installed a love scene - but I think, that would be the first thing Zevran would invent. ;)) In terms of the conclusion, the scene should work now: Zevran was surprised that the coach had a different destination than expected, he did not actually kill the mage, the Tower of the Magi would probably not become suspicious, because the whole thing now, in fact, "looked like an accident" (also for the guard) and the Master may have been enthusiastic.