A high percentage of Antivan Crows are elves. A high percentage of Antivan humans are but little taller than elves. Gathered outside the Antivan Royal Palace on the day of the coup, Loghain and Maric stood out. Their fellow assassins, who likewise awaited the order to move out, stared quite unabashedly at the tall Fereldans.
One Crow stared quite fixedly at Loghain. "Haven't I tried to kill you before, Gringo?" he asked.
"Doubtful. People who try to kill me don't usually walk away," Loghain said.
"Tough talk, hombre."
"If you think you tried to kill me then you know that I'm nothing less than tough."
"I didn't think the Crows had started hiring Dog Lords," another Crow said.
"Think of us as contract players," Maric said.
"Just don't get in the way, Gringos," the Crow said. "You're outta your league here."
"We'll see," Loghain said.
Maric was surprised, and a little appalled, by the festival atmosphere of charging the palace. The Crows whooped and hollered and bayed like sick dogs and there was a great deal of laughter as they raced each other through the corridors and rooms.
"I might have expected this to be a more…stealthy affair," he said to Loghain as he followed him through the twists and turns.
"They want their target to know they're coming. They want him afraid," Loghain said.
"I would think they want him to escape."
"Difficult, with this number of assassins. The castle map we received showed all known entrances and exits, and I'm sure they're all covered. Places like this always have secret passages but no doubt the Crows have had occasion over the centuries to become acquainted with most of them."
"Sounds like you take your life in your hands when you enter Antivan politics."
"That's true of every nation. You don't know how many times I've foiled attempts on your life."
"And I…don't want to know."
"Let's try this way," Loghain said, as they came to a fork in the corridor. He led Maric down the left-hand hall. The corridor ended in a line of connected rooms, and in the first of them they nearly ran headlong into another Crow, coming from the other direction.
"Fereldans? Well. This operation just got…weird," the blond elf said in Common.
"Contracted," Maric said.
"Coerced, more like," Loghain said.
"Hm? Well, I suppose there is something to be said for the element of surprise. I know I would certainly be surprised to be expecting the Crows and find instead two Fereldano Gringos. Zevran Arainai." He stuck out his hand. Maric shook with him, Loghain did not.
"I see, my friend, that you are the strong, silent type," Zevran said. "That's not a bad way to be in this business, surely, but I will warn the both of you: with so many guilds contracted for the same mark, there is no such thing as professional courtesy. It can get…cutthroat. Quite literally."
"But you don't operate that way?" Maric said.
"I have no need to. The rest of my team is still after the mark while we stand here, how you say, 'chewing the fat.' Besides, I am a 'people person.'"
At that moment, a small group of assassins burst into the room. "Ah. Now it gets interesting," Zevran said, and drew a dagger. The newcomers already had their blades out.
"Draw your sword, Maric," Loghain said, as he drew his own. The newcomers rushed them.
There were five against them, hardly long odds by their usual standards. At some point during the battle Zevran ended up getting pushed out the window. The splash that followed told that he landed in the river that flowed past below.
"He'll be fine," Loghain said, as he cut the head off the last attacker. "Assuming he can swim."
There were several other pods of assassins they were forced to deal with before they found their target. The target himself had already taken on and successfully defeated several pods himself, with the aid of his own team of hired killers. These were ruthless, well-trained individuals, but they hadn't reckoned on, as Zevran said, the element of surprise. Having two Fereldans burst in on them with swords drawn was far from anything they expected.
"What the hell?" the Prince said. They were his last words.
"Nothing personal, Your Highness," Loghain said, and stabbed him in the heart. With similar dispatch, he and Maric executed the killers who unsuccessfully protected their charge.
"That…was distasteful," Maric said. "I don't ever want to do a mass-attack assassination again. How do we prove it was you that killed him?"
"Hell if I know."
Someone burst in. Loghain and Maric spun to face them, swords out, but the assassin stopped in the doorway. He was looking at the bodies on the floor.
"Damn it all. Who you working for?" he asked.
"Cacioppo," Maric said.
The assassin turned around. "Cacioppo gets the kill," the man called out, using his hands as a megaphone. "Cacioppo gets the kill."
"Well, I guess that answers that question," Maric said.
"Good to know there's some code of honor with these cutthroats," Loghain said.
"Yes. Very comforting," Maric said. "Can we go home, now?"