According to Isabur, the assassins were Disciples of the Mountain, a cult-like organization that made it's revenue through contract killing. All of its members were fanatically loyal to their mentor, The Old Man of the Mountain. On reflection, I should have recognized it immediately, the hit was exactly their style, get close to the target, dispatch them with a dagger, and use explosives or magic to blow themselves and everyone around them sky high to make sure the job was done. It was obvious in hindsight.

Presently, the most important thing was the fact that Isabur hadn't only enchanted one person, he'd enchanted four.

Cassie took the reins as I leaped into the chariot, the ride bumpy and uncomfortable, but that didn't matter. We needed to get Livia and get her behind my villa's walls. The Vi Tempestatis legionnaires I'd given her were good, Tempests were the best that the Empire had to offer, but even they couldn't stop an exploding infiltrator in a crowd. My estate was far more defensible, layer after layer of security made it almost impossible to infiltrate.

Cassie pushed an image into my head, and I prayed for the Lady's mercy. Smoke was rising above the rooftops in the direction of Livia's home. Cassie was pushing the horses as fast as possible without overwhelming them, I just had to hope that we weren't going to be too late.

Cassie's home was a decent sized home of the Domus style that had been popular for a time. Meaning that it was a single story and made up of four sections surrounding a central courtyard with a reflecting pool.

One side had collapsed and was on fire, the source of the smoke, and a crowd had gathered in front of it, held back by City Guardsmen.

As soon as Cassie brought the carriage to a stop, I leapt out and made for the Guard perimeter, slipping through the gaps as they appeared with the expertise of someone used to navigating the dancefloors of the Emperor's Galas. It took me less than a minute to reach the front of the crowd. I knew Cassie was a few minutes behind me, it would have been prudent of me to wait for her.

I've never been one for prudes.

A guard halted me on the edge of the grounds. He was somewhere in his thirties and dressed in the light leather armor of the Guard, dyed bright blue to distinguish them from the Legion. On one side of his belt sat a sheathed sword, a truncheon hung from a loop on the other as both a symbol of office and a nonlethal weapon. They'd set up temporary barricades on both sides, one set facing the house, the other facing the crowd, and filled the walkway between with guards.

The guard held up a hand, "I'm sorry ma'am, we're securing this area, please step back."

I scanned his face, hoping for recognition, I found none. I kept up on the rolls of the Guard, but the rolls didn't include renderings. He had a slight roughness to his voice, the kind that came from a late-in-life basic education, that meant he was from the Waterfront. He wore his armor comfortably, that and his age told me he'd been in the Guard for at least five years, a veteran, bluster wouldn't work. Green cords around his neck told me he was wearing an Amulet of Mara, that meant married. There was a small bit of pink in his beard, right where a set of tiny lips covered with a bit too much cheap makeup would have planted a kiss on her father's cheek before he went out to work. A father then, and a doting one at that.

That was my in. "Officer," all members of the Guard were considered officers, apparently to give them authority over rowdy enlisted legionnaires. "You will fetch me your captain, and you will have one of your juniors brief me on the current situation." I shifted my voice to sotto vocce. "I am Lady Bella Augustus, if you do what I tell you, your wife will be offered a position as a lady's maid by a prominent noble family, paying fifty thousand septims per year, that combined with your thirty thousand will bring you up to eighty, enough to move out of the Waterfront to somewhere more respectable. And, your daughter shall be provided a sponsorship from the Temple of Dibella to the Imperial University."

The officer was taken aback by my blunt quid pro quo, but then seemed to think for a moment. Then he straightened up and took on an authoritative glare. For a moment I thought he was going to decline, angered at the bribe. Instead, he turned toward a younger man a few paces down the line and shouted, "Officer Mosich!"

The younger man snapped to attention, "Officer Meres, sir."

Meres, the apparent name of my new asset, glared even harder at the poor boy. "You will allow her ladyship through the barricade, you will brief her on the current situation, and you will maintain my position in the line while I secure the attention of Captain Maxentius, is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" The young officer saluted smartly and moved to shift the barricade for me.

"My Lady," Meres gave me a nod and went to get Maxentius. Buying Meres was expensive for a man of his likely low position, but I was in a hurry.

"My Lady," Mosich chose to bow instead of salute. The crowd seemed a touch unhappy that an exception had been made, but these were mid-level nobles, not dockside thugs. They weren't going to try overrunning the line.

I stepped between the barricades, and the officer put it back into place. Once it was back in place, I stepped towards the next barricade. Eyeing the domus, I couldn't see much more than I already had. I was mentally tallying a likely body count. Livia's home was always open, there were almost always a dozen or so of her circle there, she had a staff of just under a hundred servants, and she was supposed to have been holding another party today. Still, Livia was irreplaceable, the others were acceptable losses.

Officer Mosich took my silence as a queue to begin, "Milady, the situation began roughly twenty minutes ago, Lady Cerona was hosting a gala of some kind, then there was some kind of explosion, witnesses say that came from the central courtyard. About two minutes after we arrived, so about eight minutes ago, a second explosion collapsed the east section of the house. Since then, we've held the perimeter, we're waiting for the captain to give the order to enter, so we don't have any knowledge of what's happening inside."

I nodded, Maxentius was a decent man, but he had no taste for blood, he wouldn't risk his men. I'd arranged an early honorable discharge from the Legion. Officially a wound taken in battle with a bandit lord had left him incapable of the long marches that Legion campaigns required. In reality, the bandit lord had been a man on my payroll, the body Maxentius returned was a recent dead from the Waterfront, bought anonymously from the family for a substantial price, manipulated by a face sculptor in my employ, and the bandit horde he and his men supposedly routed had actually initiated a well planned retreat, leaving behind more face sculpted dead as they went.

Maxentius had received a commendation for it and on discharge was offered a captaincy in the Guard. "Lady Augustus, a pleasure to see you, though under strained circumstances."

I turned to see Meres and Maxentius, I was starting to believe that every guardsmen was required to have a name starting with an M. "Captain, may I ask why you haven't secured the interior of the house yet?"

Captain Maxentius held himself at his full height, I was quite tall thankfully, so he only came even with my eyes. "I'm afraid that we don't have the intelligence required, there are explosives in that building and until we can ascertain if there are anymore, I cannot risk my men."

"Alright Captain, my coachwoman should be a long soon, let her in after me. I'll handle the situation presently." I gestured for Mosich to move the inner barricade.

Maxentius seemed ready to protest, but decided against it. He knew that he owed me too much to deny my desires. Finally, he shrugged, "It is your choice Lady Augustus, but I cannot force my men into unnecessary danger."

Mosich went to do as I bid him, content with his commanding officer's approval, Meres on the other hand seemed less than enthused at the idea. He took a step closer and lowered his voice, "My Lady, I understand you must have a good reason to be so eager to go in there, but I cannot allow a young woman to put herself in such danger."

I had to fight hard to keep from smiling, such chivalry, it was adorable. Still, I kept a serious tone, "I thank you for your concern officer, but I can handle myself quite capably."

The officer was undeterred, "My Lady, I'll be blunt, I was the first on scene. I wasn't able to see much before the explosion pushed us back, but from what I did see…" he paused, swallowing hard at the memory. "It's a charnel house in there ma'am, not just the explosion, slit throats, mutilated corpses, bodies pinned to the wall." He shook his head, "I've been in the Guard half a decade, it's one of the worst I've seen."

That made me want to curse, I'd been worried about that. The Disciples usually operated on their own, but at times they were known to move in packs of six. Only one in these packs would make the kill and blow themselves up, the others made up for it by racking up collateral damage. If there four were rigged to blow, that meant twenty others. Two explosions, one I'd taken out at the party, that left one more suicide bomber.

I looked up at him, as I noticed for the first time, Meres was actually quite tall, a half head taller than me. "Still, I must persist, as you said, I have a very good reason."

Meres didn't look happy at this, but not in the manner of stopping me, which would have forced me to hurt him, but rather in a kind of grim determination I'd seen on the faces of soldiers holding a line they believed untenable. He spun on his heel to face his captain and snapped off a smart salute, "Sir, I volunteer to accompany Lady Augustus inside, sir."

Maxentius didn't look too enthused at the idea himself, but he nodded, "At your discretion Officer Meres."

I decided against arguing, the man was a knight errant in the wrong profession, ready to throw himself in front of a blade for to protect a damsel. Mosich had moved the barricade, so I proceeded through with Meres in tow.

There wasn't a point in attempting to sneak in, it would take too much time, therefore the direct approach was called for. When we stood at the front entrance, I reached under my skirt to draw my daggers.

Meres's eyes bulged at the action, "My Lady!"

I shook my head and pulled my blades free, they were long for knives, with curved blades, each intricately detailed with a design of lilies. The handles were carefully crafted in the image of naked women. Each was enchanted so that each cut would take life force and stamina from my enemy and grant it to me. I called them the Lily's Thorns.

Entering the vestibule, I could immediately see what Meres had been talking about. A footman was pinned to the wall, hanging from a dagger pinning his hands to the wall, his guts spilled out from his slashed-open stomach like a kind of macabre tapestry.

I grimaced in disgust, the Disciples considered such acts as tribute to the Old Man. The Lady sometimes required deaths, but never such pointless brutality. Meres whispered a short prayer to Stendarr and we continued into this hellish plane of Oblivion.

...

Hey guys, this one's a bit shorter than the past few, but I've been in a bit of a rush lately.

The real action starts next chapter, blood, combat, all of that delightful business

Until Tomorrow guys,

R&R people.