The Reunion of Eden

The Marukan Redoubt

Their path took them north along the wide banks of the Grey River, they stayed close to the eastern shore and traveled upstream, which made their trip a lengthy one. The wooden skiff was exceptionally seaworthy for a vessel in the second age, cutting through the murky water with ease. The small dark grey sail flapped steadily in the wind from the center of the ship, dragging the wooden craft steadily along their route.

The skiff had the plain appearance of an old and mundane peasant craft, an incredibly unremarkable sight on the rivers of The Scavenger Lands. The navigator stood at the rear of the ship holding a long bamboo shoot that connected to the rudder below the waterline and allowed him to steer the nimble vessel through the shallow waters. A line of tall oak barrels was strapped along the rear of the ship, which the navigator was forced to stand on top of, and also added weight to the aft which lifted the nose slightly out of the water. Even with the supply barrells taking up the bulk of the rear of the ship, there was plenty of room for the four passengers aboard to sit comfortably for their long journey.

They had entered Marukan territory just before dawn, the rising sun on their right would be at their back to any Marukan scouts keeping an eye on the River. Though the humble skiff wouldn’t likely raise an alarm even if they were to spot it. Still several hours from their destination, The Marukan Redoubt, they would be forced to approach the fortification in broad daylight as their mission dictated that haste was of the utmost importance. The Redoubt had become an increasingly important structure in the politics of The Scavenger Lands over recent years, as The Mask of Winters increased his military and political power in Thorns, expansion was inevitable. Standing against that rising tide was The Marukan Alliance, by far the City of Death’s closest neighbor. The horse lords of Marukan had few naturally defensible locations, to the North there was the capital city of Celeren, to the east there was only open fields and The Redoubt.

What made their mission unusual, and why it required the subtle touch of The Grass Spider’s, is that their client for this mission originated in Lookshy. The staunchest supporters of The Marukan Alliance, they wielded immense power over the territory and even greater influence over military installation such as The Redoubt. In fact there would likely be as many troops from Lookshy within the fortress as there were from Marukan. So why exactly were The Grass Spiders hired to eliminate someone within a territory that Lookshy essentially controlled? Well, some questions even The Grass Spider’s didn’t get to ask…

Whitaker didn’t spend much time contemplating the task at hand while navigating the ship through the river towards their destination, instead he took notice of his companions, Circle-mates, sworn brothers and sisters, whom he got to spend time with so rarely these days. Especially all at once! It had been a long time since the five members of The Minstrel’s of Eden were gathered in one place, even longer since the whole circle had been assigned to the same mission. So long in fact, that Whitaker could not recall what it had been.

“When was the last time we were all gathered to complete a mission?” Whitaker broke the silence with the genuine, casual tone that was common for him. He broke even the heavy silence of dawn with ease.

---

The silence that followed Whitaker's question was a testament to the time that had passed since the circle had united for a job. Apollo, Basilisk, and Valen each exchanged blank stares in tacit admission that it had been quite awhile, long enough, in fact, that most of the crew didn't remember. The Fifth Mixolydian Ruby, on the other hand, seemed initially to have ignored Whitaker's question. She was busy fidgeting with a contraption she'd devised to brew coffee in a portable fashion. It was hilariously crude and amounted to little more than a tin can partitioned into two sections separated by a thin cloth membrane, but she seemed satisfied that it appeared to be working as she spent a mote to heat the water in the can. After the silence persisted for a few seconds, she spoke up but kept her gaze affixed to the warming tin can in her grasp.

"It's been 321 days, six hours, four minutes. I'm assuming you knew that and that you were just trying to start a conversation."

Ruby declined to comment further, having more or less stilted Whitaker's attempt at breaking the ice. Whitaker sighed and muttered under his breath, "Thank you, Ruby..." His tone remained congenial; though Ruby's eccentric personality didn't bother the laid-back Whitaker in the slightest, he had forgotten what trying to make small talk with her was like.

Apollo, who was sitting with his back against an edge of the skiff, cradling the back of his head in his hands, smirked and decided to resuscitate the conversation after Ruby's killing blow.

"Not everybody has that flawless recall, Ruby," said Apollo, in a characteristically quiet, slinking tone that seemed well-suited to Apollo's modus operandi.

Still focused on her brewing coffee, Ruby replied flatly, "Maybe they drink too much."

Apollo shook his head with a slight laugh, pressing onward in the hope that he and Whitaker wouldn't have to carry the entire conversation.

"If you're gonna bark up that tree, there are much easier targets in the Order than us, ya know. Anyway, let's hope this run goes better than Chanta did - that business with the Forest Spirit and the dignitary's daughter really came out of nowhere. Thank gods Basilisk was around and can... talk to trees, I guess?"

Basilisk snickered, although, as usual, it wasn't entirely clear whether he was giggling at Apollo's statement or something completely irrelevant to the conversation at hand. After a pull from the wine skin he usually carried at his side, he smacked his lips loudly a few times, sending bits of pollen into the air near his mouth. He replied, "Sometimes! Sometimes I can. Other times I just run with it anyway. You know, fake it 'till you make it and all that." After his response, Basilisk continued chattering, although his muttering dropped to its usual inaudible level.

Even the stone-faced Valen smiled at Basilisk's response, recalling Basilisk's elaborate communion with the Chantan forest, an act whose authenticity even Basilisk's colleagues were unsure of. Whitaker, pleased to see a few smirks going around, decided to use the conversation as a spring board to getting some real planning done.

"Well, unless Basilisk can also talk to horses, we might not be able to count on that this time," the oarsman said. Whitaker continued, "We still have some time before we get to the Redoubt, but we should probably figure out how we want to do this. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I've ever actually been in there - maybe we could send someone in when we get there just to check out the layout?"

Whitaker let the question hang, looking to his circle mates for suggestions or volunteers. While he wasn't a master strategist, he was the group's most charismatic member and outwardly confident member, and as a result it was usually his leadership that served as the nucleation site for plan formation on those rare occasions when the circle did get together for a job.

---

As the group began to discuss reconnaissance Basilisk slowly made his way to Ruby. When he got to her, she looked up at him questioningly while he smiled down at her. Then he reached under his cloak, to about the middle of his back, and twisted. There was a snapping sound, like a branch breaking, and he pulled a long, grassy branch out. Ruby grinned immediately, easily recognizing such a mundane plant. He broke off two pieces and hand them to her, saying, "One for the coffee and one for the horses."

"Thank you, Basil!" she replied, taking them. The rest of the group watched as she squeezed the plant into the coffee that had just finished and pocketed the other piece. Slowly Basilisk made it around to each member and gave them a piece.

When he finally got to the last member, Whitaker, he was asked, "Thank you Basilisk, but, what is this?"

"Why its sugar cane, of course, you silly boy," he laughed as he shuffled back to where he had been sitting. "I hear that there are going to be horses and the fastest way to make friends with a horse is with a little sugar cane. Just squeeze it or chew it and out comes the sweet nectar."

"Hm," Whitaker smirked as they all pocketed their gift. It was surprising how often Basilisk's little insights ended up being vital to jobs going smoothly. "My first thought would be to send Apollo in quietly while I talked my way in. After getting a lay of the land, we meet back here and come up with a plan. Then the group of us move in during the night. Thoughts?"

---

Valen, who was not one to sit around while the others worked, picked up from there. "Knowing The Redoubt, and given the time constraints on our mission, I think it best that Apollo and I slip over the walls, and you talk your way in through the civilian water gate with Lydia and Basil on board. By the look of those barrels, the thought had crossed your mind before we departed."

Though Whitaker sometimes had the reputation of being an average assassin, a perception that he encouraged throughout the Order for unknown reasons, Valen knew better and frequently called him out on it. The fish barrels at the back of the boat served as the disguise he would need to make a believable story, their unusual height meant that if needed they'd be roomy enough to smuggle a body whether trying to get in or out. Valen looked around the boat to see if there were any questions or objections from her Circle-Mates.

Apollo nodded in confirmation, quietly slipping in his words, "I'm game."

Basil chuckled and tucked his own piece of sugar cane into the corner of his mouth and began chewing. There was no actual reply, but Valen figured that was good enough.

Whitaker humbly shrugged off the accusation that he'd already planned for a similar plan to what Valen had proposed, "I have no objections, you're the one volunteering for the hard part." He paused and smirked before continuing in his amicably humble tone, "And as long as these two don't mind trusting me to secure our entrance."

Ruby responded in a matter of fact tone, "Your plan implies you have some familiarity with the fortifications, state them so that we may more efficiently accomplish our mission." Like Valen's plan, Ruby's reply wasn't so much a question as a statement.

Whitaker pushed at the rudder, gently merging the vessel away from the eastern shore and into the stronger current at the center of the broad river. Though the sail still billowed in the wind, their progress upstream essentially came to a halt, but the voyage across it went smoothly and quickly until they started to near the western shore. Once they were out of the strongest current at the center of the river their advance towards the fortress picked back up and Valen expanded upon her plan and knowledge of The Redoubt.

"Unlike a typical fortress, The Redoubt isn't constructed to defend a ruling class or small portion of the population, rather it is designed to defend the surrounding territory and offer the surrounding population a safe place to retreat to in the event of an emergency. This should suit us well, as the defenses are not concentrated in a single small stronghold behind the walls, rather they are spread around the perimeter of the structure and held near the boundaries. At the center is civilian housing, the market, and other utility structures which should be relatively abandoned, as there are no circumstances within Marukan territory that would dictate the population to retreat to it. I suggest we re-convene in the market." Though notoriously blunt, no one took their job more seriously than Valen, and it showed in her preparation for every mission she is assigned to.

---

Whitaker nodded in agreement and said, "The market works. Depending on how abandoned it is, I might dip into the mission fund and rent us a booth at one of the open stalls for the day. Many of them have cellars for cold storage; we can use that as our temporary hideout. Apollo, Valen; after you two scout out the surroundings, find my market stall and we can go to the cellar to map things out once you get there."

To her delight, Ruby's first cup of coffee was finally done. She held a small porcelain cup under the contraption she'd rigged up and smiled as hot coffee dripped quickly into the cup. Before too long, it had filled up, and she set it down on the floor of boat. Swiftly, she reached into the brown leather bag sitting next to her and produced another cup, repeating the procedure. Eventually, she had five cups of coffee lined up neatly on the boat floor in front of her, their contents swaying curiously in unison with the boat's rocking. One by one, Ruby picked them up and passed them around, doling out coffee for everyone. As she did so, she offered further commentary on the plan.

"If we can catch a few fish on our way to the Redoubt, it won't be hard for me to make these barrels look full - at least you'll have a convincing shop then."

Whitaker nodded in agreement with her as he accepted the dainty porcelain cup being passed his way. The cups seemed oddly out of place on the utilitarian skiff loaded with knobby fishing barrels. Nevertheless, it smelled wonderful; Whitaker inhaled deeply before taking a measured slurp of the hot beverage.

"Wow, Lydia. That's actually not bad."

Ruby was busy cleaning out the soaked coffee grounds from her brewing device, and replied to Whitaker without looking back up at him.

"I'm pleased that you like it. It's made from coffee beans farmed out of bat dung."

Whitaker quirked a brow, looking down to the coffee with considerably more suspicion. He should have known better than to expect anything standard from Ruby. Still, he'd consumed stranger things. Reactions to Ruby's coffee source were mixed; Basilisk seemed hardly to mind, and while Valen also remained unphased, Apollo, with a raise of his eyebrows, tipped his cup gently behind him while Ruby was occupied with her brewing device, emptying the contents overboard.

Whitaker smirked, having spotted Apollo's jettison out of the corner of his eye. He decided to get back on topic.

"It sounds like we have a plan, then. In a few hours, Valen and Apollo will get off and make their way to the fence on foot." Whitaker looked to the pair, who nodded in confirmation. "From there, I'm assuming you can two can put together your own scouting plan," Whitaker said.

Valen nodded again. Whitaker pointed to Ruby and Basilisk and continued, "Then, I'll stow you two away in the fishing barrels as we make our way to the water entrance. I'll take care of getting us in and set up in the market. Once I get these barrels into the cellar, you two can spring free."

For entirely different reasons, neither Ruby nor Basilisk replied directly to Whitaker. Ruby seemed to be digging through her bag again, while Basilisk, as was often the case, remained deeply engaged in an inaudible conversation with intangible entities, real or not. Whitaker sighed slightly, prompting a response from Ruby.

"Relax, Whitaker. I heard you. Try not to keep us in the barrels too long; Gnotch is a bit claustrophobic."

Ruby pulled her rat familiar, Gnotch, out of the brown bag, along with a small biscuit, which Ruby herself took a large bite of before letting Gnotch nibble the remains from her open palm.

Whitaker did his best not to roll his eyes, deciding to indulge Ruby, even if momentarily. "Gnotch is a rat, Ruby."

Ruply replied simply, "Yes, he is a rat."

"Nevermind. Anyway, folks, we got about two hours of travel 'till showtime, about four more of daylight, and a couple dozen fish to catch. That gives us about two hours of fishing. Even Ruby can't create a barrel full out of nothing. So get fishing!"

Whitaker smirked, gesturing his head toward the fishing poles he'd brought along and propped against the starboard edge of a row of barrels. At the same time, he pulled sharply on the oar controlling the rudder and eased the ship to a halt, parking to give the Circle some time to catch a few fish for their market stall.

---

As Ruby and Basilisk slipped below the water, their breathing tubes bobbing up and down, Whitaker sealed the barrels back up. Minutes later the ship rounded a bend and the Redoubt was in sight. Then he steered the boat to the fastest part of the river and made his way to the Watergate.

A little while later...

"What do you mean 50 jade?" Whitaker argued with the guard.

"You heard me fisherman," the guard replied calmly as he hiked up his belt, causing both his sword and gut to bounce around.

It wasn't that Whitaker couldn't easily pay the bribe, it was just that everything about the man disgusted him. "After paying for a stall, the docking fee, the entrance fee... I won't have enough to buy food." But the guard was simply ignoring Whitaker's complaints at this point. "Fine," Whitaker sighed, tossing the guard a bag. The guard caught it, gave it a jingle, and then nodded.

A half hour later Whitaker finished loading the barrels into the cellar below his stall. He cracked open the barrels holding Ruby and Basilisk, and Ruby immediately stood up. "Look at poor Gnotch, Whitaker! What took you so long! He looks like a drowned rat." She jumped out of the barrel and quickly found some cloth to try him off with. Whitaker raised an eyebrow at the drowned rat comment, but it seemed that she wasn't aware of what she had said. Oddly, Basilisk wasn't coming out of the barrel. Whitaker reached in and pulled Basilisk up.

Basilisk blinked a few times before smiling at Basilisk and saying, "Good morning, Whitaker. Where are we again?"

Whitaker sighed and helped him out of the barrel before answering, "Marukan." Basilisk nodded and took a seat in a nearby chair.

Shakily he pulled a flask and took a swig. After wiping his mouth and replacing the flask, he asked, "Have we heard from Valen and Apollo yet?"

"Should be a few more hours. Traveling on foot is slow, and then they have scouting to do. Let's get the room set-up."

Meanwhile...

Valen and Apollo quickly approached the wall of the Redoubt on the Marukan steeds they had requisitioned. Their cloaks matched the cloaks of the fortresses scouts, so they would be ignored by the spotters in the towers. Once they reached the wall, they rode along it until they were directly under a tower. They quickly dismounted, gave the horses they last of the sugar, which they ate greedily, and sent them running along the wall. The assassins quickly activated their form charm and started scaling the outer fortifications. Between good timing and their speed, it was not difficult to make it to the roof of the tower unseen. From their vantage point, it was easy to survey both the Redoubt and the surrounding territory. Employing basic memory techniques, they memorized they layout of the city.

With a nod, they both ran and jumped from the roof of the tower. Then, using strands of spider silk, they slowed their descent until they could fall gracefully to the street.

As Ruby finished setting up her coffee machine, Whitaker led Valen and Apollo down into the cellar. "Ok, everyone is here. What's next?"

---

The group took their places in the cozy, cool cellar to resume their planning session. Ruby was sitting atop the barrel she'd arrived to the Redoubt in, her feet dangling above the ground; beside her on top of the lid of another tall barrel Gnotch was sprawled out like a cat in the sun, attempting to dry out, as well as her coffee device and several freshly brewed cups. She was already sipping from her own. Apollo wordlessly passed by the brewed coffee without taking his own this time, learning his lesson from the last one, and took up a spot along the perimeter of the room, leaning against a wall. Probably near the darkest corner of the room. Valen too passed by the coffee, though not because of her disgust in the brew, but because too much caffeine could cause jitters ans she was always aware of her exact physical state during missions. She took a seat on the packed earth floor of the cellar, neatly and effortlessly folding her legs into an almost meditative pose. Whitaker shut the cellar door behind the trio, though didn't take the care to lock it, before descending the final steps and taking up two cups of coffee from Ruby's barrel. He handed one to Basil, who was perched on his own barrel on the other side of the room, before taking up a spot standing near the stairs.

Valen answered Ruby's question before Whitaker settled into his spot, "The Redoubt's layout is as expected. Tall, thick walls line the perimeter. They are in good repair and designed to withstand a supernatural siege if necessary. Numerous arrow ports line the interior, as well as several other more significant siege defenses, confirming that at least some amount of the military is at least capable of residing within the walls themselves. The tops are flat to allow scouts to occupy and traverse then entire perimeter, parapet walls line both sides, and a covered structure every 100 yards serves as the guard posts. There's only two gates, the river gate, which you entered through." She paused her report just long enough to gesture towards Whitaker before continuing, "And the main gate, where defenses are most centered including a small fortress, built attached and above the gate so that you pass under it when you enter the Redoubt. No doubt military command operates from there."

Whitaker nodded thoughtfully, prompting a bit more information from their recon, "And inside the fortifications?"

Apollo chimed in from there with his quiet, unassuming tone, "Not much. A large garden along the river wall seems well tended and could provide a significant amount of food to withstand a long siege, there are several well constructed resident towers near the main gate where most of the permanent occupants seem to reside, though the buildings are far from full. A large amount of small, poorly constructed shelters take up a significant amount of the remaining acreage, and of course this market at the center."

"Good job." Whitaker nodded again in approval, his compliment sincere.

Neither Grass Spider responded to the compliment, and Whitaker could sense the eyes on the room were on him to continue from there. "Our target, Mayhiros Raygar, is the heir to leadership in Marukan. He is a young, but powerful Terrestrial Exalt, with a reputation as a formidable warrior and a desire to distance Marukan from it's allies and make it a stronger independent nation. Speculation of course, but smart money says that is why our friends in The Seventh Legion would like to see him eliminated. Obviously, if you're going to assassinate the heir to a nation in an attempt to become a closer ally, it's important you not get blamed for it."

Whitaker paused and sipped on his coffee again, mostly that wasn't news to the Circle. Apollo though, who was the only member who was not at The Range Homes for the briefing and instead met up with the group along The River, spoke up.

"Simple enough, why send the whole Circle?" Apollo's displeasure with pure combat missions was well known to The Circle, even the whole organization, so his frustration with the surface implications of the mission were to be expected.

Basil chuckled to himself, seemingly having forgotten that Apollo wasn't present when The Fiends briefed the group, "Because of the Solar, silly!"

Apollo raised his eyes in surprise, surveying the Circle for further explanation, which Ruby obliged, "Raygar is only at The Redoubt, to have a clandestine meeting with Remus, the powerful Solar exalted diplomat and friend of the Mayhiros Clan..."

Ruby explained more than she needed to, her superior intelligence often meant she underestimated the knowledge of others, but any self respecting Grass Spider knew of Remus by now, his influence in The Scavenger Lands was to great to ignore.

Valen interjected with annoyance in her voice before Ruby could go on, "Skip the politics and get to why it matters."

Ruby shot a glare at Valen for her annoyed tone, and Whitaker spoke up quickly before anything could come of it.

"The success of the mission depends on not only Marukan, but Remus carrying no suspicion of Seventh Legion involvement. Additionally, their meeting is expected to take place at sunrise tomorrow and Raygar must be dead before the meeting..."

Ruby pulled a pocket watch from her dress and held up a finger as she corrected him, "Not tomorrow anymore, today."

Apollo had produced a cigarette from inside of his cloak and ignited it as they filled him in on the details, he exhaled a plume of smoke with a heavy sigh as they finished up. "Easy as pie then..."

---

A frustrated silence hung momentarily in the air as each member of the Circle mentally vacillated between delivering a witty reply to Apollo and a more serious reply designed to get planning back on track. The decision was clear to Valen, at least, who ignored Apollo's comment entirely.

Valen cut the silence with a question, though the inimitable severity of her tone made it sound more like an order.

"How long until sunrise?"

The question was clearly directed at Ruby, although there was no indication of it. Ruby, for her part, was well aware of her status as the group's chronometer, and replied without hesitation, "Six hours, twenty-four minutes."

Apollo spoke from behind the rapidly dispersing mask of smoke he'd blown a moment before. "Do we have a sense of where he might be? The command fortress seems like an obvious guess, but maybe it's too obvious."

Whitaker indulged in a protracted sip of coffee and pondered the issue for a moment. "That's going to be the hardest place to create an accident, given the heightened security, but luring only him out could be equally problematic. He's likely under heavy guard as the heir, especially given Tesos's waning health."

Basil shrugged and said, "C'mon, it shouldn't be that hard to get everyone outside. The question is what we'd do with the throngs of heavily armed people once we drew them out into the night."

Ruby nodded excitedly at Basil's suggestion, and it was clear to everyone that a lamp had lit in her mind. She searched excitedly through her seemingly bottomless courier bag and produced two small tins, one green, one pink, each covered in arcane scribbles. She took a seat on the floor, cross-legged. Taking notice of Ruby's revelation, the group watched intently as their resident illusionist carefully removed the lid of each tin and set them a fair distance apart. The open tins revealed brilliantly colored powders matching their containers in hue. After placing the lids gingerly to her side, she took a pinch of powder in each hand and sprinkled the pink powder on top of the green one. The silence that followed was even less comfortable than the earlier pauses on Whittaker's boat that had reminded them of the infrequency of their gatherings. Each member of the Circle watched with bated breath as the powders sat idly on top of one another. Suddenly, a barely perceptible noise permeated the room, a sound that most closely resembled sand pouring out of a small hole in the corner of a bag. Apollo winced visibly; among the Circle he knew better than any how wrong some of Ruby's schemes could go - to this day he occasionally suffered strange rashes from an ill-fated 'invisibility potion' that Ruby had insisted on trying on him.

Fortunately, the reaction between the powders seemed unlikely to be a precursor to itchiness - rather suddenly, the pink powder seemed to drain into a hole centered on the green powder mound, and the entire pile went up in flames. Ruby smiled, taking a moment to admire her work. Her obvious delight was accompanied by a collective sigh from her circle mates, who knew all-too-well that her smile indicated this was probably her first test of the concoction. Valen, eager to play the part of the cynic, inquired, "So, what, you made self igniting fire dust?"

Ruby pointed to the ceiling with her index finger as she replied, "Ah-hah! But not quite so, I'm afraid. Watch." Ruby slowly and deliberately moved her index finger side-to-side, across the small pillar of flame into which her powders had erupted. She raised her index finger again, revealing to the group that no damage had been done. "See? No burn in sight."

Whittaker smirked. "Fake fire," he said. Valen, not entirely convinced, continued her interrogation. "Okay, yeah, but you're a Fire-aspect, Lydia, and this floor doesn't look too flammable either. How do we know this stuff actually works?"

Ruby considered Valen's point for a moment and conceded, "I suppose you're right. That wasn't a fair demo. Basil, may I see your hand?"

Basilisk raised both hands defensively and shook his head.

"Oh-ho no, I'm afraid not. Fool me once, dearie... "

Even Valen couldn't help laughing at Basilisk's isolated moment of clarity. Whittaker, still chuckling, stepped forward and squatted in front of the fake flames, still burning brightly. He peered at it for a second and donned a playfully serious expression.

"Alright, I'll do it." Whittaker cautiously waved his right hand, palm flattened, across the flame's width. He nodded, impressed.

"It works. Not even warm." Ruby grinned at his validation of her work. Whittaker stood up, and after a purely vestigial dusting off of his hands, steered the conversation back on track. "I think I see where you're going with this. We make it look like the command fortress is on fire to scare everyone out, but nobody gets hurt. One problem - what if someone notices the fire isn't hot?"

Apollo replied as he rolled another cigarette, "We'd just need to keep it advancing slowly enough that nobody bothered to check. Fear is a primal thing; people are going to run from the flame, especially if we don't give them any reason to stay."

Whittaker and Valen nodded in agreement, though each had their reservations that this might be a weak point in the decoy. Still, the idea was interesting enough that Valen was willing to roll with it despite her initial skepticism. She looked to Whittaker, who, officially or not, seemed to have taken point on the plan making.

"So let's pretend that we do scare everyone outside, and also that Raygar actually is in the fortress - which, by the way, we'd have to confirm - what do we do then?"

---

Whitaker glanced around the room, accessing each of his companions for a moment, as if refreshing himself on their various unique talents as he considered Valen’s question. “Well, assuming all goes according to plan.” Whitaker couldn’t even finish his thought before a slight chuckle to himself at that statement.

“We have ourselves two broad options.” As he spoke he held up his hands and digits to illustrate his point, “One, kill him and frame someone other than Lookshy, or The Order… obviously. And two, in more traditional fashion, kill him in what appears to be an accident. Take into consideration that young, powerful Dragon Blooded Princes don’t just die by accident all too often.”

“Yes, of course.” Ruby continued on Whitaker’s train of thought, “The easy stuff is out, we don’t want to look like a bunch of amateurs trying to cover our tracks. No poison that looks like illness, no random falls down a flight of stairs, or drowning in the hot springs. Even getting caught in the fire at the fortress wouldn’t believably kill a Dragon Blood of that stature.”

Valen nodded in confirmation, and Basil just giggled, though probably not at what the rest of the group was talking about; meanwhile Apollo, generally more of a pessimist, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in mild dismay.

“This is why I don’t like killing people…”

“You do realize that you’re an assassin, right?” Valen chirped back at Apollo with gruff annoyance.

Whitaker was quick to get the conversation back on track, he disliked allowing the group to get tense with one another, and besides they had no time to waste. He went with a simple coping mechanism, and one that he frequently had to use among his Circle.

“Now that we’ve got a better idea what we are trying to accomplish, why don’t we split up to make more progress? No matter our plan, we’ve got to make sure we know where he is. Basil, you take the garden and the crop fields. Apollo, you sneak into the command center. Valen, search the perimeter walls and outposts. I’ll take the market and shanty town. When you find him, send a message to the group and we’ll converge on him there. I’m sure a suitable method will present itself.” Whitaker enthusiastically clapped his hands together once, as if to give everyone the signal to go.

Ruby just blinked at Whitaker for a moment, not sure if he had some other task to suggest or had simply forgotten her, it was of little consequence to her in the end, she’d find something in her bag to keep her busy. Just as she began rummaging around in it, Whitaker’s voice broke her concentration.

“Lydia… you better get to making a whole lot more of that fancy fire of yours, I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”