Chapter 66: THE HUNT

The smell that crept into his nose had a mild floral hint though there was no hiding the caustic odor behind it. His return of the Shadows Shroud to his face had been rapid, yet he had been a slit second too late to prevent all the toxin from entering his lungs. His head spun as the disorientation set in. The aroma was too familiar, its potency a recent stain on him memory.

He knew the scent of the Cimmerian Calcify. His memory was fuzzy owing to the effects of the limited dose of poison yet he distinctly recalled the assassins trap set for him in the hedges. Even with the limited dose he’d ingested, the toxin had produced a surprising effect.

Risens felt partially detached to the reality of his position. He felt as if he watched himself from, viewing the scene through hazy lenses. The Cimmerian Calcify while widely known to people who followed his line of work was not a commonly utilized poison. The ingredients were too hard to come by and the process was too costly to undertake.

Again, like the last time, it was a curious choice among the available options. There were plenty of other readily available and far less costly toxins that would cause paralytic or lethal effects, though it was far more difficult to gauge doses that wouldn’t kill, especially when airborne means of delivery were used. The fact that two separate attacks in a matter of fays feature the same ingredients was a coincidence even his addled mind couldn’t overlook. Whomever set this trap wanted it’s prey immobilized, not dead.

Again, the thoughts turned from question to burning rage.

There was no way that any could have known he would be arriving at this location. He’d not used it for years.

Even through the fog of the drugs, the implications were wide ranging.

The network of resources he’d relied upon, that the Kingdom had relied upon had been compromised.

The cloud of blue tinted smoke that filled the room still hung heavy in the air as he stumbled forward, reaching for the handle of the door. A wave of panic ripped through him as he found the doorway locked sealed shut. Instinctively he reached for the lock picks he’d just purchased. Sounds of muffled voices from outside the door paused his movements. He pressed his ear to the panel, feverishly trying to decipher the words.

“There’s no need to rush. Let the poison run its course. The added alchemic ether the magus added will cut through the protections even our masks will afford. He’ll be sleeping like a babe in a moment.”

The confirmation was startling. Risens’s mind reeled, in his confused state taking his body back a step with it. The trap set for him in the hedges was powerful as it was well coordinated. In a shockingly short time they had analysed and adapted to their failures. Thye had in their employ at least one additional skilled magus to have altered the concoction so quickly.

Risens was convinced that the King wanted him dead.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one.

None were aware of the Shadows Shroud that he’d worn during their first encounter as none still lived. He was certain that no one had escaped the hedge maze. He had no indication of how long the lingering mists would stay their assault, but every moment worked to his benefit. The addition of the alchemic ether while it impacted their protections had no effect on his.

Time at the moment was his ally.

Having only inhaled a small dose of the paralyzing essence, its effects were limited and were fading as quickly as they had come. He was sure he could have picked the lock to the door, to have stormed the room. In the cramped confines, there would have been no room to swarm him with numbers. It was a fight he was confident he would win, though curiosity overwhelmed the fires of rage that burned inside him.

Revenge would come later.

Now he wanted answers.

Intentionally slamming himself down on the wooden stool he slapped his arms against the wall making as much noise as possible. Risens hoped to play the part as he worked to simulate the sound of his unconscious body hitting the stool and the wall. It wasn’t long before he had an answer to the success of his ruse. Laughter filtering in from the room beyond at his feigned collapse gave an easily understood clue.

“That was far easier than expected,” one of the voices from beyond the door filtered through the panel. “How long did Corvus say the calcify would last. I’d prefer he didn’t wake up.”

“Shouldn’t be long now,” a second voice chimed in.

“Make it quick.” He recognized the gruff, deep toned of the third voice. The shop keeper had played his part in this trap. “Get him out of here. His Majesty’s response won’t be kind if he find out he was here.”

Risens couldn’t help the grin that tugged up om his lips. Whether he had a moment to interrogate his would-be killers or not, they’d provided enough information to follow. The name Corvus struck a certain note of familiarity though he couldn’t place where he had heard it. That they only traveled with a pair of soldiers hinted at the random, though strategic manner of their traps. The speed that the trap had been sprung and the assassins arrived was too rapid for a message to have been received and the response been received. They were billeted among the areas where their traps lingered.

Were any of his previous haunts safe any longer?

The cloud of noxious blue smoke had settled to his shins as the sounds of footsteps echoed through the door. He could feel the individual vibrations of each of the men outside as they walked with zero regard to stealth. He shook his head at their complacency. It was a carefully laid trap, yet validation that your intended victim was truly incapacitated would have been advisable.

Risens pulled the black cloth wrap up and over his nose, hiding the Shadows Shroud from view. He rarely wore the added article beyond time when the elements demanded extra cover, yet he decided it would be an apt addition to his compliment of gear moving forward. His wrists rested against the elongated handles of the Raven Talons as he let them fall limp to his sides.

“Fool. They come to kill you and you pretend to slumber. Take them. We are not content with remaining idle.” 

He wanted to curse at the insatiable longing of the blades to demand their silence, yet, in part it was aligned with his desires. He only needed one to live to extract what information he could. With his back wedged into the corned of the walls, his head slumped forward covering the upper half of face in the deep shadows of his newly acquired hood, he could clearly see the entrance to the room.

As they had waited for the toxin to dissipate so too had he. Though he might be a touch slower, he was prepared. Risens’s attention was drawn to the grating sou d of wood against wood. Peering discretely through squinted eyes he watched as the rectangular depression in the doorway opened slowly, an unfamiliar pair of eyes viewing his from the hall. 

“He’s out,” the voice chuckled. “Open it.”

The slot slammed shut as the jingle of keys again signaled the struggle with the locks. The door swung inward a moment later, the inside arresting its inswing as it rested against his foot.

As Risens had expected there were only three men in the narrow hallway before him. Owing to his size, one, the shop keeper alone could have made the corridor feel cramped with out the presence of the other two. Like the assassins that had waited for him in the bends of the hedge maze, they were cloaked in black, hoods drawn with masks covering the lower half of their faces.

The room was small enough so that only one of the assassins could enter at a time, the man rudely squeezing past the shopkeeper to access the narrow chamber and their incapacitated prey. As soon as his body cleared the doorway Risens straightened his leg slamming the door behind him. Entering to collect he target, the man wasn’t afforded the time to reach before the talon pierced through the soft flesh under his chin punching through the back of his neck and into the wooden wall behind. The flashing symbol of the blade in his vision increased a digit while the screams of ecstasy roared through his mind with the kill.

The light in the man’s eyes flickered out as his body gave into a silent death. Held in by the inside of his mask the blood poured down his neck and chest instead of painting the room in a speckle of crimson with his wet cough. Commotion from outside the door hinted at the surprise of the slamming door while the reality within was still lost behind the wooden panel.

Risens was on his feet and ready when the sliding panel scraped open. This time it was a familiar set of eyes that greeted him. They shifted from surprise to an expression he recognized all too well—fear in the final moments before one’s death. The shop keeper wasn’t able to react before the second talon punched through his eye into his brain. For a moment, the perpetual berating of the blades silenced as he provided them exactly what they wanted.

The remaining killer behind the doorway cursed as he realized the tragic error in their judgement. Wrenching the blades from both the dead men, Risens felt the heat of the fire in the hearth as he pushed himself back against the back wall. Using it for leverage he lunged forward, leading with his boot into the center of the door where the lock met the wall. The sharp splintering sound of wood overwhelmed the profanity that spewed from the mouth of the assassin.

Risens had kicked in his share of doors in his days in the service of the king and realm yet none that carried the heft of this one. Burdened by the weight of the dead shop keeper the force necessary send the mountain of a man spilling back into the room behind in a shower of splinters. In the cramped hallway there was no escaping his uncontrolled fall as he brought down the assassin who now tried to desperately flee the scene.

Dropping his shoulder and ducking his head, Risens exploded through the jagged remains of the door, feeling the pull of the wood on the fibers of his new clothing. Struggling to his feet, whatever fight had filled the assassins intent departed as he raved down the hall.

Risens let the dagger in his right hand fly. Releasing at an awkward angle, the throw was never meant to kill. The scream of pain that registered from the man’s lips signaled that it had done exactly what it needed to do. Leaping over the corpse of the colossal vendor he reached the man just as he entered the main store.

For a trained killer, he was surprised that the fight had departed him so rapidly as their careful failed detailed before his eyes. He reached down to collect his spare, blood stained dagger as he tracked the man into the opening of the room. Grabbing him by the back of his hair he hoisted him.to his feet before slamming him into the wall using his own body weight to propel him. With a whimper, he crumpled, bleeding from the knife wound to the back of his leg and his newly shattered nose.

Risens flipped him to his back as he drove him to the floor pinning him to the ground.

“Who were you sent here for?” He demanded.

The man blubbered for a moment before regaining soke semblance of composure. His attempt to strike out with a blade he had secreted on his side was admirable though far too predictable. Risens ended his attack by disabling his arm with a vicious slash of his talon.

“Who?” He demanded.

“You. Rightmaker,” the man cursed.

Now we’re getting somewhere, he grinned as the confirmation spilled from the man’s lips.

“How long have you been waiting?”

“In shifts. A week or so. Since the execution.”

His pitiful racking sobs between his answer were grating though at leat his answers seemed to bear a measure of truth. Whether it would hold would be determined later. The disarming ease at which he gave up the information prepared him for the attempt that followed.

Again, another failed strike and another useless limbs as the small blades skipped across the floor.

“Who sent you?”

For the first time, the icy chill of determination registered across his pain and blood-streaked face.

“The Hunt will find you. There is no escaping.”