“You’re going to kill the king.”
“So how much am I going to be paid?”
“…”
“…?”
“Haaa… How did a young kid like you even become so obsessed with money? Betraying your own country’s ruler should raise more questions than how much you’re being paid.”
The old guy was being annoying again. Typical. At least there wasn’t anybody else home besides the two of us. If you could call this half bar, half living space a home.
“When. Where. You’re the one who taught me we don’t need a why gramps.”
“Hey, that’s guildmaster to you!”
Like being the head of a guild of rogues was something to be respected?
“Sure, guildmaster.”
Giving me another wistful look with his only remaining eye, I could only impatiently spin myself on the wooden stool while playing with my knife. A long scar crossed his other eye, which would have made him intimidating had I not known the true story behind it.
“Tsk. Just where did I go wrong raising you. Was it when I told you to rob the merchant caravan by yourself?”
Definitely still held a grudge about that one.
“Or was it that time we sent you to search the sewers for the runaway?”
That one too.
“Or maybe when we hid your new birthday knife inside the cake?”
That was just a plain dirty prank. I flung that very same knife towards a target on the wall. Bulls-eye.
“I don’t got all day guildmaster. You want me to kill the king, tell me how much the pay is or I’m walking out.”
“Now hold up Vas. You already know I wouldn’t waste your time with some small fry job.”
And a wild goose chase through the sewers wasn’t a small fry job?
“Two gold bars up front as their deposit. Ten on completion of the crown kicking the bucket. All payments handled through me, you won’t be seeing the client.”
“Did you say gold bars?”
“Gold bars”, he confirmed.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with gold bars? I can’t just walk into some thrifter and sell it off on him. I’ll be running from some coats in minutes.”
“Each one is 100 gold coins to the standard though. We’re already talking 200 gold coins for just accepting the job. The bars can be run through some buddies of mine. I’ll be asking for a piece of it of course.”
“5%.”
“20%”
“6%”
“… 15%”
“7%”
“Dream on kid. There ought to be a limit to your greediness. 13%”
“6%”
“Oy, don’t just go back down idiot!”
The table rocked from where he slammed his hands down, and I stopped spinning on the stool to look at him.
“I’m only going as low as 10% you little rascal.”
“9%”
“They better accept payments in hell, because you’re going to need it.”
“At the very least I’ll have the money.”
The old guy clicked his tongue again and sat back down while crossing his arms.
“Client already set up the meeting between you and the king. Three days after next week, he’s going deer hunting. As he’s returning you’re going to pretend to be hit by one of the nobleman’s horse. Black feathered hat.”
“Then I get close and slice his throat in front of who knows how many guards? I’m not doing any favors for the big man down under.”
“Let me finish. The nobleman is going to grab you as the pitiful street urchin you are and get you treated at the castle. Everything after that is up to you finding the bloke.”
Faking injury by a nobleman? As if they even cared if they ran over and killed a street kid or two.
“So I get couriered into the castle, then I find the king and off him?”
“Well, see here, this is the interesting part.”
“I don’t like ‘interesting parts’ in a job gramps.”
“… Yeah well, this king is only going to die if you stab him with his own sword.”
“What.”
…
…
Normal people die when you slip a little poison in their food and wine. Normal people die when they fall off cliffs. Normal people die from old age.
But oh no, not this guy.
“He just had to be famed warrior king with the holy sword didn’t he?” I grumbled from my hiding hole in a bush by the road. Maybe I really was an idiot for not knowing my country’s ruler was the infamous devil of the battlefield. It made sense why no one in the castle had tried to assassinate him earlier though.
You’d have to be an idiot to try and nick the guy with his own bloody weapon.
But I had already taken the money for the job, there wasn’t any way to back out now unless I wanted to be hunted down by gramps and the gang. Besides, 10 gold bars was 1000 gold coins, and with that much I could finally stop taking on these jobs.
The numbers of ways I could kill this guy was seriously limited though. First of all, I had to get the sword from him, which couldn’t possibly be easy. He probably slept with it when he hit the sheets. At least sneaking around the castle wouldn’t be an issue with my experience.
Then I had to fatally injure him. It’s all nice and simple for those paying me, but having a guy meet his maker isn’t as simple as just stabbing him. Well it kind of was, but he had to be stabbed in a vital area. That said, I have no experience using a sword, which made downing him in one blow even less likely. Then assuming he quietly goes down, I have to escape the castle.
There was an infinite number of ways this could go wrong, and only a few where I’d be getting out alive.
The sound of horse hooves and men chattering echoed from far across the rugged forest trail. It was just about showtime. Like the old man had said, there was a noble with a black feathered hat riding next to the king, both of them wearing casual huntsman gear. The king had the sword latched to his waist, and behind the two followed soldiers and squires.
They seemed to be riding in a stretched out formation, probably with the spoils of the hunt in the center. Must be fun to be able to hunt for fun and not to survive huh?
There was already a slight problem with this scenario. While the king was coming from the north, my hiding place was to the right on the east side. The feathered noble was riding to the king’s right, which is to say, my far left side. I had to pass by the king’s horse before pretending to be injured by the noble.
The client had planned an accident with the noble’s horse, so I wouldn’t be injured in the process. If the king’s horse were to rear at me though, I could actually be seriously injured.
“Just have to run fast then”, I said muttering to myself. What a pain this job was already.
Right before the procession was going to pass me, I leaped out of the bushes, like a rabbit scurrying from its hole. Bewildered faces were what I saw as I passed by the right side, catching the surprised look on the king’s face as I slid in front of his horse, stopping to face the noble’s horse. It was pretty satisfying.
The thing was, even the noble looked surprised by my entrance. The frenzied horse reared up, with the nobleman sliding off its back, then it brought its feet down, the hooves clipping me in the head.
“Huh?”
It had to be a concussion. My field of vision was already rapidly shrinking, and had turned red, no doubt due to the blood streaming down my head. The pain was minimal, but that likely meant I was going into shock. There were already people rushing towards the incident, probably to administer emergency aid to the noble.
As if they would treat some crazy kid leaping in front of a horse.
…
…
I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a horse. Because you know, I had been. Someone seemed to be tending to my head wound, but I couldn’t yet see anything out of my bleary eyes. Whatever they were doing really eased the pain though. Blinking my eyes, I closed them again, leaving only a small gap. A deathly white clinic area with the smell of disinfectants was where I appeared to be. Pretending to still be unconscious was the best plan for now though.
Seems infiltration into the castle was successful.
On that note, what the hell happened back there? Wasn’t this whole accident supposed to be staged? That noble certainly didn’t look like he knew anything. It was the idiot client’s fault wasn’t it?
A cool, soft hand suddenly measured the temperature of my forehead.
“Vaaaaaas, I know you’re awake! Your eyes flickered for a second.”
What? Was my cover already blown? There shouldn’t be anyone who knows my name in the castle! Moving my hand to cautiously rest on the handle of my concealed knife, I opened my eyes to see the voice’s owner.
“Laine?!”
“One for one hotshot.”
“B-but what are you doing here?”
Laine was one of the girls from the old orphanage which I still visited from time to time. It was where gramps had ‘reappropiated’ me and changed my life. My last visit had been some time ago, but I still recalled my feelings for her. Laine and the orphanage were the real reason I wanted so much money in the first place.
“I should really be asking you the same thing.”
There was one drastic difference between old Laine and this new one. She had on a very nice dress. Looked very beautiful if I might add.
“That’s a very pretty dress…”
Then the gears suddenly fell into place for me. I grabbed Laine by the shoulders and stared into her eyes, hopefully giving off a reassuring look. Her cheeks flashed red for some reason I couldn’t understand.
“Even if the nobles sully you, I’ll always be there for you Laine.”
Her cheeks flashed an even brighter red and she pushed off my arms and backed away, her arms crossed over her chest.
“For spirit’s sake Vas, what the hell do you think I’m here for? It’s exactly like you to jump to conclusions!”
“Now, now, you don’t have to lie for my accou-”
“I’m the King’s daughter!”
“Yeah, whatever you say princess.”
Errr. What.
“… King’s daughter you say?”
“Yeah.”
I swear to whatever god is out there, stop screwing around with my life on the last job I’m taking. All I wanted to do was commit regicide.
(May be continued.)
Recastdev 