Chapter 16
She lifted her face up to where the rays of the moon lit the rooftops of Corus and smiled satisfied.
She hadn't been doing this for ages, decades and now, standing balancing in the middle of the night she felt a thrill over the fact that her skills hadn't worsen or failed her – not this very night where she needed the aid to an assignment she couldn't herself do.
Alanna needed to talk to him, needed him to spread the rumor that an assassin was on his way and must for all cost be stopped, but not killed – that was an obvious necessity. They needed him alive. They needed answers - answers to why the man had killed two kings already and where to locate his master. They knew that he hadn't acted single-handed, his services had been bought, been ordered and now a child, a boy was without a farther, without a family.
Taking a cautious step her feet slipped and her arms shot out to the sides to regain control of her balance. When she was standing yet again safely, she crawled down the roof where she knew the window was.
Finding the place where she could grip with her fingers she lowered herself down to where shutters was held open by rusty hooks and tried to see if the window was closed. As always the window was not locked, but only pushed shut so the resident inside could be sure that he always had an escape route. Smiling with content and pride over her achievements Alanna pushed the window open and maneuvered herself inside.
Her landing wasn't perfect and a small growl escaped her lips. She wasn't young anymore and her body had experienced many wounds throughout the years, such she knew that the her presence was revealed.
Standing with her feet firmly in place on the floor, she waited for the reaction she knew would come and counting down from ten to one, she only reached to seven when the reaction came, but years of fighting had left her cable of defending herself.
An arm was placed firmly around her shoulders, holding a knife and Alanna pushed it away with no effort. Her attacker growled low, cursing over his failure and grabbed her upper arm to get a hold of her, but she only twisted; turning to the right, ducking at the same time and turning in the same moment.
Her attacker lost his grip on her and she stood now face to face with him – almost laughing. The knife in his hand caught the light of the moon, yet she was the one who was unarmed. The fight wasn't fair she concluded and moved forth. He reacted as expected; but she had been the one who had trained him; pushed him in the direction where he could take over after the tumult in the streets the year before when the other one hadn't handled the position very well. Now she wanted to push him to his limit, to see if he had been lazy in his training, to see if she could still overtake him.
Alanna turned quickly around herself and lifted her right foot up mid-air for him to take a step back. He countered as she had taught him, only bringing himself forth and aimed a kick with his foot at her stomach, but she caught his foot and pushed it back so his balance became uneven. 'This was to easy', she began to think when he regained his balance. He was quick, quicker then before.
Using the firm grip on his foot she pulled, but had to drop to the floor when he suddenly twisted his body around trying to aim for her uncovered side . Rolling out of the way he launched himself at her. She twisted her body and hit his hand with her left fist and knocked the knife away.
Smiling with triumph Alanna jumped forth, turning her body mid-air with one hand on the floor and with both her feet out in front of herself. With that maneuver she knocked him over. Landing yet again, breathing hard, she grabbed the knife he had dropped to the floor beside her and threw it to her left with such force that it embedded itself into the wood of a bed.
"Nice move," the man greeted her while he came to his feet again. "No other then my aunt can disarm me such," he said grinning, fiddling with his sleeve, as if reaching for his hidden knives just to be certain if he had mistaken his guest.
Alanna smiled only half warmly, "And only your aunt knows that you carry more concealed weapons then your uncle, Liam" she replied and lifted her hand to brush the sweat of her forehead.
His fingers became still when she confirmed that it was indeed she who had come in the middle of the night and when he answered her it was with joy in his voice. "One can't be too careful these days," he said and went over to where a candle stood.
Liam took the match and was about to light it, but a violet spark twisted in front him hitting the wick and the candle burst into light, illuminating the room. He snatched his fingers away with a hiss and wrinkled his nose. "Hey! That's cheating," he told her still with his back turned towards from her.
"Only a son of Coram thinks such," Alanna snorted as he turned around, giving her an accusing glance.
"And only the page Alan of Trebond would say something like that," he countered back and came forth, lifting his small aunt up in an warm embrace. "Have you visited him lately or mom for the matter?" he asked as he lowered Alanna to the floor yet again.
Alanna shook her head, making the short red hair dance back and forth, and smiled up to her nephew. "Its been three months since I had some spare time. Jonathan is eager to maintain the peace in the country and overseeing that I don't do anything wrong," she grimaced by the sound of her own voice, "he's constantly concerned about me interfering with the pages and he uses me at his only way to example peace among the nobles, and I'm apparently it for the time being."
Liam nodded in understanding and trudged over to the door, opening it up he shouted down the stairs for refreshments. Turning back the King of Rogue smiled mischievously, "You know" he said while his pulled his hand through his short brown/reddish hair. "When the former page Alan comes to visit the Dancing Dove in the middle of the night there is usually a reason," Liam smiled over the fact that Alanna shook her head as he lowered himself down into the chair. Once seated he continued, "one have to think that something is up?"
Alanna sighed loud. Why did everyone know her so well? She sat down hard on the edge of the bed before she replied with a warning tone in her voice, "Something is up Liam" she said and almost winched over the name as she addressed her nephew.
Ripash and Coram had named their sixth child after the Shang Dragon that had accompanied them in her quest for the Dominion Jewel. It was years now since her former friend and lover had lived, but the pain of losing him was still inside her. Also Coram's and Ripash's naming of their sixth son was another reason for being the one training him into the position he had now.
Her fingers was intertwined as she continued while she looked into the eyes of dark brown. "How well do you trust your men?" she asked while the door was opened softly and closed by a young woman, blond and well-curved. Looking up she smiled to Mira who was the Queen of the Ladies of the Rogue and Liam's wife.
As Mira placed the tray on the table Liam rose and placed a firm, but quick kiss on the woman's mouth. It was well-known that the Queen of the Rogue had a thing going on with the King, but few knew that they was actually married. They never slept in the same room or showed the kind of affection to each other when they was surrounded by the Rogue, but in private it was a different matter.
Liam turned and took Mira's hand and pulled her down beside him with a short, "Stay a minute."
Alanna could only smile as a memory flashed into her mind; the day when Liam was presented to Mira by George, the former King of the Rogue stood clearly in her mind.
George had trained her in secret as Alanna had trained Liam. As soon the former King of the Rogue had been killed by the hand of her nephew, Alanna and George had introduced the young woman to their nephew. Only a few months had passed when the message came that a wedding was to be expected and it had been held under secrecy in a small village not far from Corus.
Alanna and George had hoped that love would florist between the young couple, but the companionship they had developed where a welcoming fact.
"I trust my men to such an extent that I would die for them and the other way around," Liam told her and smiled a wicked smile. "Uncle may have collected ears in his time," he continued and glanced to his wife who only wore a blank face, but Alanna knew that underneath it lay a brightly intelligence, "I collect other, more important body-parts if they stray from my roles."
Alanna nodded. She had encountered the victims and knew exactly which parts he was referring to, but in her position she had no say in how he ruled the Rogue, just she had no say in the matters of helping a girl wanting to be knight.
"But I'm sure that you didn't came here to talk about my collection or my way to manage things – what's up Alanna. I know you well enough that this nocturnal visit held more then a family gesture?" he asked as Mira rose and purred some tea into two cups and handed one to Alanna.
She took it and stirred with the spoon. As Mira handed the other cup to Liam, Alanna spoke; "A man is on the way to Corus and will arrive maybe tomorrow or the day after."
Liam smiled roughly as he sipped the tea, "And you wish me to make him non-existent?" he offered as his wife left the room, waving goodbye to Alanna, who returned the wave.
"No Liam," Alanna shook her head. "We need him alive or as much as you can make him being that," she told him simply.
That seemed to impress the young man and he leaned forward interested. "Why alive?" Liam asked with a frown. Being King of the Rogue didn't mean that Liam only restricted himself or his men to live only by the things they stole. Other services, other unorthodox services could also be purchased for the right amount of coin of course, but it was extreme rare. It was only used in cases where a person had done something that couldn't be forgiven.
"Have you heard the rumors about King Angus?" Alanna asked him instead of answering his question.
Liam nodded confirming that he had heard about it. In his position is was a important treat to be enlightened of the matters of any noble or royal. "Him and the other one," he said and leaned back against the back of the chair. "So this man...What has he to do with the two dead kings?"
Alanna sighed loudly, "He has to do with the fact that he is the assassin and he's coming here to get rid of the Black robed mage."
That seemed to shock the Rouge and Liam almost dropped his cup of tea as he choke out the words. "Kill Master Salmalin? You must be joking! No one can kill that man – trust me, the previous Rogue tried once or twice, but in vain."
"That I am aware of," Alanna replied and moved on not wanting to linger of the subject of Numair killing thieves wanting him dead for yet unknown reasons. She was tired. Being back for only two days didn't give her enough time to rest after the amount of healing she had performed and she had even failed to inform Numair about the odd signs his wife showed on her back. She had been close during the conversation with him, but she had decided against it. " Anyway we need him alive, but be careful – he's gifted, extremely gifted and extremely skilled in the art of fighting."
"So my men must be the best?" Liam asked with a frown, a slight concern lingering in his voice.
Alanna nodded, "Yes."
Liam pressed his lips together, "If I am to use my men, they want something in return. It's a highly risky business they are taking on and if he is that gifted, my men can't catch up – there's a reason why they are thieves and not mages making a living from their gifts." Liam placed his empty cup on the table before he continued, "They will ask why they have to go after this man and not someone else," he turned to his aunt and met her violet eyes, "and what shall I tell them?"
Alanna pressed her lips together into a thin line. "Certainly not he truth," she told him coldly, "otherwise they will try to kill him and they will suffer greatly." Alanna turned her cup in her hands and looked down at the leftovers from the leaves from the tea. Frowning she halted the cup in one position and looked down; was it her imagination or could she see the sign from the girl's back in the tealeaves? She memorized the sign before she lifted her face, her violet eyes ablaze as she looked up towards the man standing, waiting for her to answer his question. "Tell them that the man is coming for something, something all of them want to steal, but can't."
"The only necklace that can never be stolen?" Liam offered and smiled wikedly. "That would give them a good reason for not to let him escape or let him near the palace. The mere thought that he would succeed in taking The RavenWaves," he was referring to a necklace at this point, "would give them blood on their teeth."
"Use whatever you seem fit," Alanna replied as she nodded in agreement. She knew the necklace. It had been in the family of Conté since the time the family took over the royal throne in Corus. It contained seventeen large green emeralds, each was surrounded by twelve small white diamonds along with a promise that with it around ones neck, the wearer would be impossible to kill. It was worth a fortune and it was priceless. Not even she knew where the necklace was hidden and Alanna actually doubted that Jonathan knew where it was. "But they only know of it by rumors," she pointed out to Liam.
Liam flashed a mischievous smile, "Yes," he agreed, "but it only takes a slip of the tongue to get them to do what you want," he said, "but we still have the man's gift to consider."
"That's taken care of," Alanna took up a small bag and produced two small bottles of glass; one containing a blue liquid and the other one was clear. She placed the blue one in Liam's waiting hand.
"This is a very strong anesthetic," she explained, "and this," she placed the other, the clear one in his left hand, "is the antidote."
She pointed to the clear liquid. "The men you choose have to take a sip of it to not get infected by the anesthetic. They only have to smash the blue one into the ground and he will drop on the spot."
Liam raised his eyebrows impressed. "That's some serious stuff," he said. Liam met violet eyes, "I take it that this is your doing?"
Alanna smiled, "Mine and Master Salmalin's – only the best to the best thieves in the town."
Liam weighted the bottle in the hand. "How many men does it affect?"
"I have calculated that there should be enough for at least fourteen men. They better not take large sips or there is only enough for four men," she told him and rose. From the small bag she pulled another small purse and Liam turned to the sound of coins when it hit the hard surface of the table. "A small gesture from Master Salmalin," she explained calmly.
That only brought a huge smile on her nephew's face. "I have to meet that man one day," Liam retorted as the picked up the purse and peered inside. He looked down startled when gold peered back up at him.
Alanna laughed knowingly as she moved to the window yet again.
"Not taking the front door?" Liam questioned roughly behind her.
"And have my reputation ruined?" Alanna turned to him shaking her head. "It was still night outside and I know what services you have downstairs." She wanted so much to get some rest. "Also I think that one day soon you'll get the introduction – just sent word when you have him." She jumped into the window and smiled roughly back to Liam, "I think that you and Numair would be an interesting pair, but be careful with your purse," she smiled warningly, "he's a player by hand."
Liam laughed loud, a happy laughter that filled Alanna with hope. "I have a feeling that I'm going to like the man and don't worry aunt – I'll send word when we have him safely secured."
She smiled concerned back to him. "Don't partake in the chase yourself, Liam. Tell your men to be careful - we don't know how he looks like or even how much gifted he is."
Liam scratched his nose before he replied, ""Don't you worry about that Aunt Alanna. I inherited my mothers nose for magic – I'm going to be the one who points him out for my men as soon he enters through the gates and then I'll be gone," he told her.
Alanna turned abruptly and stirred at him with narrowed accusing eyes. "Why didn't I know that?" she demanded.
The Rouge shrugged, "Not everyone has to know our secrets, do they?" he said and referred to the fact that Alanna once had been a boy in disguise.
That got her to chuckle. "So your mother knew of my secret before George?" she asked while her cheeks was hurting from her smile.
Liam smiled back. "That you have to ask her the next time you see he,r" he simply told her and held out a hand to steady her balance when she moved her body out the window.
"That I shall," Alanna replied and slipped away into the night, that was slowly turning its blackness to be mixed with more light.