In
a time when magic and technology go hand in hand, the worst job in the world is
to be a spy. I should know that’s how I got in this situation. Falling to your
death from a flying cruise ship isn’t something you really plan. Well,
actually, it is.
It was a cold and rainy night in the
City of Towers, when I walked into my office. With my walking stick in hand, I
hobbled my crooked old body in from the weather. My front deskman Harper came
over to get the door as I sat and rested my weary bones where our clients
usually sit. I had a reputable business as a public Inquisitor in the largest
city on the country. That is when Luchin showed up. He was my boss in the Citadel.
The Citadel has two kinds of agents, the public agents, that everyone knows
about, who do public investigations and are held in the highest regard. Then
they have the spies. Luchin and I are the spy variety. I am a low guy on the
totem pole, but a low guy with one special quality. I can change who I am, how
I look, and am a master of voices, among other things. If you are a spy for the
Citadel you usually have something special, or out of the ordinary that you can
do. My boss, Luchin for example, can become invisible for short durations,
something very useful in our line of work.
Luchin spoke, “Harper, I need to
talk to Jasper a bit. Mind leaving us be?” Harper nodded and left the room. Luchin
looked my way. “Xan, I have a delicate job that I need you on. There is a
cruise ship setting off on it’s maiden voyage. We believe something is going to
happen there and it involves Citadel agents, crooked ones. I need your eyes and
ears on that ship, it is a matter of concern, possibly national concern.
Something is going to happen and I need you there to take care of it. Many
nobles, including the Kings nephew, Duke Marius, will be on this ship and security
is tight.”
“So I’ve heard. I actually had an
invite to go. Do you remember the widow who had that little ball of fur that
went missing some time ago? She thought it was a dognapping, but I happened to
run across it running wild in the Upper West Regent. Well, she was, and still
is, I guess, the Captains mother. She invited Master Inquisitor Jasper Landred
to be her date, if he could find the time.” I said.
“Xan, I have to admit, you have some
of the best cover identities I’ve ever seen, and this Jasper persona that you
play is by far my favorite. The famous old man investigator who is known for
his rare knowledge and keen eye would be perfect. The ship leaves tomorrow, try
to make sure you are set up to go and that the Captains mother isn’t quite capable
of making it.” Luchin started to leave and paused a moment, “Oh Xan, just make
her sick or something. A dead old lady would not be in good taste.” He patted
me on the back and chuckled, ”Oh, by the way, do you still have that feather
token from your last mission?” In the City of Towers a single token that keeps
you from certain death is a nice thing to have on hand. I handed it to him made
note to get one myself. “Xan, I myself may try to make it there as well, but
it’s doubtful.” He pocketed the feather token on the inside of his coat. For
some reason I watched carefully, I always made those kinds of mental notes,
even before I was a spy. In those days I was just a common thief, pickpocket,
and con man. The king saved my life and I changed my ways. I watched Luchin check
to make sure he had everything; he smiled and disappeared from sight. His
disappearing is something I had become accustomed to. Without being obvious, I
watched as his wet footprints headed out an open window. I would have to tell
him to be careful about leaving his footprints behind in weather such as this.
It wasn’t but a few hours before I
was set up to go on a cruise. I was excited, because I could use a vacation.
Since this was just a watch and learn mission, I might be able to relax a bit. My
thoughts were that this should be simple and easy. That evening, Harper was
given the guest and crew list, along their rooms, which I went over while I
finished my poison mix of Terinav Root for the Captains Mother. When morning came, I made my way to
meet the nice old lady and her pooch for breakfast and accept her offer. I was
all apologies about not getting to her sooner, but she was thrilled that I
could be her date. Unfortunately just before noon both her and the pooch became
suddenly ill. Specialty poisons were common training for all citadel agents,
some less known than others. Lucky for me she insisted I go on the cruise
without her. So I did. I’m an old man, not a saint.
The airship was not what I expected.
In fact, it was quite large and a sight to be seen. Titled the Golden Road was
almost ironic, being that it is a flying ship. I boarded the ship and got to my
room with little difficulty. One good thing about being a kind old man, plenty
of people help you with your bags, and they talk freely. You can ask and say
anything and as long as you smile and are sincere they never take offense. I
was filled with information about the ship and it’s events before I even got to
my room. When I got there, I finally got to relax. I stayed in my room for most
of the initial take off and got some sleep.
There was a knock at the door. I
woke up hastily and shifted my image to look like my Jasper persona, then
shuffled slowly to the door as would an old man. There are many small details
you need to pay attention too in order to maintaining an identity. One is to do
your best at all times during a mission to maintain your persona, even if they
cannot see you.
I
opened the door to see a ships crewman standing before me. “Mister Landred, we
wanted to inform you that we are finally maintaining altitude. Everyone is free
to move about the ship now.”
I spoke calmly and quietly. “Thank
you, young man.” I appreciated the information. “I believe I am fairly well
rested to enjoy the remainder of the day. Might you tell me where most people
congregate on this vessel?”
“Indeed. Middle deck is a dance
hall, it’s central and has entertainment and a lot of places to go and come
from.” He smiled and left, closing the door. It was a fake smile with honest
intent from a young man to the elderly. I gathered my things and glanced down
at my Citadel ring. The ring is Government Issue, and this is mission a secret.
I will have to keep it on my person. I may need it with me though just in case.
The ring allows jurisdiction to ask for aid of anyone of the nation. People
almost always assist without question since it is an honor to assist an agent
of the Citadel. I think I’ll just keep it in my pocket since Jasper is not
supposed to work for the Citadel.
It was a little while till I
finished getting dressed. When I was a youth and a con man, I recall the days
that I had to wear multiple layers of clothing and double sided coats in order
to quickly change identities. These days I am lucky, I just need one enchanted
set of clothing and it changes to look how I want. The Citadel spared no
expense in getting me that set. Now I was ready and had gathered my items and trinkets.
Then another knock came to my door. I waited bit before opening it. There stood
another ship worker. I looked him over a bit, while he spoke, “I am sorry sir,
um, we will have to ask you, uh, to stay inside until we say otherwise.” I
watched his eyes and his hands. The hands tell a lot about a person’s stress
levels. His stress levels were high. He didn’t know where to put his hands;
they fidgeted and twitched without him knowing. His eyes would go from my eyes,
down, then back up. Each time his eyes shifted direction his words would pause
and there would be an “um” or and “uh” in mid sentence.
“Son, it’s alright, what happened?”
“I, uh, I can’t talk about it, sir.”
“Oh. I understand” I made sure to
look and sound disappointed. He immediately changed his nervousness to sadness.
My guess, he had a grandfather about my age.
“I am sorry, uh, I shouldn’t talk
about it, but maybe if you can keep it a secret um, you see my job would, um,
well I could get in trouble.” Bingo, Jasper’s trust strikes again.
“Oh, of course,” I made my eyes
light up, “I have no intent on saying anything, I in fact cannot go anywhere
anyhow, right? I’ll be here on 3B all night.” The floors of the ship were
numbered, and anything below deck had a B after the level. We were the third level
down.
“Someone found a dead body near the
control room. No one knows how, the room is fully guarded.”
I nodded and took a deep breath,
then glanced up and looked him in the eyes. “You know, I could help us both
out. Remind the Captain that Jasper Landred, is on board. I am a fully licensed
inquisitor in the City of Towers and I may be of great help. Please tell him,
and you may get in well with the Captain, but you must do it right away, otherwise
the killer may get away.” He nodded and closed the door and left. I had to get
moving fast if I was to find out what was going on. Either, this death was
related to my assignment, or not. Either way, this isn’t going to be a fun job.
“So much for my vacation.” I said as I rolled my eyes. I took a deep breath and
concentrated on the boy I just spoke to. I brought his face and physical structure
into thought and slowly adjusted it to perfection, and then looked into the
mirror to be sure I was accurate. I also adjusted my clothing’s woven magic as
well, so I now looked just like him. It was then time to tell the rest of level
3B to stay inside, get a good look at everyone, and find out who is and isn’t
in their rooms.
A standard sky ship is much larger
than a standard water sailing ship. This cruise ship was much larger than a
standard sky ship. I estimated time from my room to the ships helm a minimum of
fifteen minutes, then another fifteen minutes minimum to get back to my room, add
time for response and interruptions. All together I would be given a minimum of
thirty-five minutes to get back to my quarters, provided Captain Jareed doesn’t
send for me first. All the rooms seemed standard, one to three passengers, most
are already in their rooms. One room however had caught me off guard, after I
knocked and walked in, there I saw Luchin preparing some clothing. I know he
said he may be here, but I didn’t think he would have made it. I spoke quickly
and direct as my job as a ship crewman would be, just as I had all the other
rooms prior, “Excuse me sire, I must let you know that we are experiencing an
issue aboard the ship and ask you to remain in your quarters until further
notice.”
“What is the problem? I have an
urgent meeting I must attend to before my vacation actually begins.” He replied
to me.
“I have no idea.” I lied to him,
though he was my superior officer I needed to remain in guise. Anyone could be
watching him, or he could be testing me. He may even be here to oversee my job.
I doubt he could have heard of the murder and gotten here. “But I am sure you
will be informed when we all have the facts. Thank you sir.” I quickly shut the
door and turned as my eye caught a glimpse of myself coming down an air lift
from the floor above. Damn it, the response time was quicker than I
thought. He would hit the lobby of this
floor and head straight to my room. I would have to cross the lobby, or go
around the back way through all the rooms, and make a full circle to get there.
I had to think quickly. I couldn’t let him get to my room before I got there.
He came off the air lift and turned
just as I had thought. As I approached, I quickly had to create a different
guise, one rank higher, with the hope that in the chaos he doesn’t question me.
“Private! Have you finished checking this floor? I think there is a man in that
room, and I want you to double check his ID. I didn’t see him on my passenger
list.” I kept a stern solid tone, hoping that is all I would need.
“Sorry sir, I have to deliver this
message for the Captain, it is urgent.”
“Private, you check the room, I will
deliver the message. Where do I bring it?” I snatched the envelope out of his
hand and started walking. “Where?”
“I um, well, His mother’s suite, an
old man named Jasper, it should be on there.”
“Check that room private! I’ll catch
up to you after I deliver this.”
“Yes sir.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, as I
ducked around the corner into my room, and opened the letter. It was from the
Captain. It was asking me to meet him in a room on the top deck. I was off, but not before the door opened and
closed on its own and Luchin appeared. “Xan, how goes the work?”
I made sure to look and act
confused, by his presence, I masked my act with something that truly did
confuse me. “Why are you here?”
“I just got aboard. I made an
emergency in-port, the magic to do it cost a bundle, and it caught the crew in
the boarding room by surprise, they didn’t expect someone to arrive quite so
soon. It is a good thing they have a spot for that kind of magic to be used on
the ship. Besides, I said I may be able to get on.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“I thought you might need some help.
If not, I can just sit back and enjoy the trip.” He paused a moment then
changed the subject. “Strange thing happened just before I got to your room, I
almost was compromised in my room. An attendant came and talked with me; left,
then came back asking all kinds of questions about my room.” I tried not to chuckle
as I listened to him continue. “I showed him all my paperwork and was cleared,
but he was so unprepared and confused, I don’t think he knew if he was coming
or going.” I nodded and then interrupted him hastily.
“Luchin, I must go. I have a meeting
with the Captain. Apparently there has been a murder, and it may or may not be related.
I will keep you posted.” I quickly closed the door behind me without looking
back. I almost feel bad ditching my boss like this, but he and I have two very
different sets of skills. I headed down the hall to get to the meeting
destination. I then took the air lift up to the upper level, had to show about
a handful of people my papers, and thought it was interesting how the cooks and
cleaners on the lower levels were still busy running around, yet once I got up
to the upper levels, there was none to be seen. Then my mind went back a few
steps, hopefully Luchin forgives me for ditching him like that, but the mission
comes first.
Eventually
my mind shifts to another set of thoughts. I started to question the legality
of holding every passenger in their rooms; of course I eventually dismissed the
thought in order to come to the full scope of events in hand. First thing first,
who was murdered and how they were murdered, and are they involved with my
mission. This ship is locked up tight, and security is high. We are also miles
in the air, so jumping ship is out of the question. How does the murderer plan
on escaping? I know I would just blend in and walk out. If that is the case,
they will be casual, and likely have no connections to the dead. Soon I can get
some facts, and then see how that theory goes.
I arrived at two guards in front of
a doorway. I only needed to show them my papers from the Captain for them to
let me in. The moment the door opened I took my time. The slow hobble of the
old man down the room was always a perfect excuse to take my time perceiving
the surroundings. The room was clean as could be, no dust, no dirt, the lights
were bright, the door didn’t creak, the decor was in mint shape, and everything
was as if this was a ship on its maiden voyage. Only two doorways the one I
came through and the one leading to the murder. I entered the next room, the
doors were open and there were four men. One of which was undoubtedly the
Captain of the ship. Another of them was an officer of the ship. The third,
however, was a young agent from the Citadel. Earlier I mentioned that there
were two kinds of agents, I am the spy kind, he is in the other. He held his
Citadel ring proudly, this was an easy indicator. The fourth man in the room was
a dead Citadel agent, covered by a white cloth. This was not going to go well.
I ignored the body and introduced myself to the Captain.
“Ah, Captain Jareed, I am Master
Inquisitor Jasper Landred of the City of Towers. I heard you had something that
required my expertise.” Quickly, the
young Citedel agent next to him spoke up.
“We should be fine to conduct the
investigation ourselves sir.”
“You mean you should be fine
conducting it yourself,” I retorted pleasantly “As by which stating, ‘ourselves’
meant there would be more than one of you conducting the investigation. Where
as your senior partner is in fact the victim.” All three men looked at me in question.
They were caught off guard by my statement. I was used to this kind of reaction
and continued. I only smiled innocently like an old man who is always content
would tend to do.
The younger naval officer whom I
soon recognized as first mate spoke out of turn. “How would you know this?”
“Very simple, when I arrived you and
the Captain are obviously part of the ships crew, I had already heard that
there was a murder from the various crew. Anyone who was here in this room
would either be part of the investigation or a suspect. Since the man here wears
the illustrious Citadel Agent ring, that tells me he is investigating and not a
suspect. The man covered, still has a hand visible on the edge of the covering,
he also wears the ring of an agent. His hand aged and weathered. Telling me his
age is older than the young man, so the dead was likely senior to this mans
junior in rank. It is doubtful that two agents are here on separate business,
so must be his partner.” I stepped over to the body and pulled the cloth away
and looked at the corpse for a few moments.
“My friends, I need a chair.” They
looked at me with curiosity. I walked over to the next room in line and opened
the doors. There stood again two guards just as the other doorway. I passed
them, and looked about the dead end room until I came to a chair. The others
followed me, as I took a seat by the only window in the room and looked out of
it. The sky was vast.
The young agent stepped up, “So what
does a chair have to do with the murder?” he asked.
“It doesn’t, I hiked a long way up
here in haste and needed to rest my back. Now if you want me to solve this, I
will need the letter you took out of the pocket of the deceased.” I said
casually as I looked out the window to the vast endless sky.
“I have no idea what you are…”
“It is in poor taste to lie to your
elders, young man, especially when they are here to help you.” I interrupted
him in a disappointed tone.
“The name is Darius,” he responded, “and
if you would explain yourself?”
“Yes, we are very curious what you
know?” The Captain said.
I put on a pair of white gloves and paused
a moment, then reached up to the windowsill to pull myself slowly to my feet. I
was relieved that the first mate came to helped me to my feet. I nodded a thank
you to him, and then turned to the rest. ”The man was stabbed in the back, the
weapon hit major arteries. This is why there is so much blood. The victim did
not see his assailant, since the assailant snuck up on him from behind. The
murderer laid the victim down gently on his back, in order to keep any blood
from going anywhere but down. Why would he do that?”
“Respect?” The agent stated. I shook
my head and moved closer to the body.
“There is one side of his arm that
has a thick amount of drying blood on it. Meaning someone rolled him to his
side, then rolled him back. Inside his coat he has an undone hidden pocket,
this particular coat is designed to reveal the pocket only after a small thread
is pulled from in back releasing the sewn closed pocket. Had the murderer done
this he would have done it before laying the man down.”
“Perhaps he couldn’t find what he
was looking for and searched for it and figured it out and then flipped him
over when he did.” The agent tried.
“Except if he had been searching the
body, both sides would have blood, and the opening of the coat would have hints
of blood. There would also be blood in quite a few other places. Also, the
blood would be thin, here it is thick, as if the body were already dead for
some time. If he were searching the body he would have searched more than one
direct place. In fact the murderer did not search the body at all.” I turned to
the young man and looked him gently in the eyes. “So, Agent Darius, if you
would hand over whatever it is that you took from your par…” I paused for a
moment looking at Daruis’ small but unmistaken trio of pinhead sized birthmarks
at the upper base of his thumb. I recognized them from earlier, back on the
deceased.
I began again “My mistake, and my
apologies to you young Darius. Allow me to try again, if you would hand over
whatever it is you took from your fathers coat, I would more easily be able to
identify the man who murdered him. I understand how hard this must be to lose
your partner, mentor, and father all in one series of events.” I whispered
quietly to him. “Young man, I am your best chance of catching the one who did
this.”
The young man gritted his teeth and
held back a frown that was trying to form past his lips. I could see him
holding back tears as well. His eyes darted from me to Captain Jareed, to the
first mate. Then he took control of his emotions. He held up his ring. “Master
Inquisitor Jasper, I hereby requisition you as an official agent of the Country
and King to aid in the investigation of this murder and that all information
you obtain remain in the secrecy of the government and those witnesses here.”
As was standard format for our
countries customs, and what is normally considered the highest honor to be
requisitioned by an agent, I kissed the ring and swore to the guidelines set by
agent Darius, as did the first mate and Captain Jareed.
The agent reached into his left
inside pocket and pulled out an envelope. I took it, and looked at the three
men. “Where were each of you individually when the murder took place?
The first mate responded, “Agent
Darius, myself, Captain Jareed, and about six others were at the helm of the
ship. The agent here was asking us questions about security.” I glanced at the
agent.
“What security should you need know
of?” I slowly opened the unsealed letter that he had given me.
“Any place that breaches in security
could form. I wanted to know about people who could get onboard, maybe stowaway,
or lie about their identity. How well guarded the Kings Nephew is.” I nodded
still listening and glanced down at the letter. I remained calm, though
disturbing the letter was. It was a letter to the King, warning about corrupt
agents in his government. This is definitely part of my mission.
I then looked up, “Let me guess, you
had hoped to get the Kings favorite nephew to give this in secrecy to the King.
This way you two could avoid anyone who might intercept it before it got to the
King. Since you are not high enough in your agency to be given an audience with
the King, without going through proper channels? If you went through these
channels, the information would likely get to the corrupt agents.” I glanced at
the letter again. “Apparently you unsure exactly who the corrupt person is,
only that they are of high rank.” The
young man only nodded. “Well, it’s obvious whoever you are worried about, knows
you are here. It is clear that we have very little time. The Kings nephew is in
danger. We must go now.
The Captain’s response was immediate,
he obviously didn’t understand how I knew this but if the Kings Nephew died on
his ship, during his watch, on the grand opening of this ship, it would be
certain doom to the Captain, and his family. Jareed lead the way through the
ship rushing through the hallways, corridors, kitchen, decoration and storage
areas, through side employee rooms, all the way to the grand suite. The royal
guards here did not allow us in, until the young agent showed them his ring
stating emergency, and they immediately stepped aside. We were quickly ushered
through the door to see the Duke and his wife were just sitting down to eat. The
Duke was startled and immediately got to his feet and looked at the group of
us. “Excuse me?”
I stepped forward calmly and quietly
and smiled with a practiced bow. “Your grace, I apologize for the interruption,
please allow me to introduce myself. I
am Master Inquisitor Jasper Landred of the City of Towers. This is Citadel
Agent Darius. I am sure you know the captain and his first mate. We have it on
good suspicion that you are in danger of your…” I stopped mid sentence as my
eyes had finally registered everything in the room. The events that occurred up
until this point came together with dots connecting. I then spoke again. “Sir,
Madame, do not eat your food it is poisoned.”
The sounds of people caught off
guard and in disbelief filled the room. I ignored it and continued, “We just
came through the working quarters and through the cook’s area, and if they had
cooked this meal for you then they would have been cleaning the kitchen area as
we passed. In fact there were no workers to be seen in any of the areas we were
just at. The cooks and servers are all in the lower levels. I highly doubt that
they would have cooked your food in the commoner kitchen or in the dining hall
kitchen since that would have been too much work to haul it to you, especially
with the security locked down. This food however had to have been cooked in one
of those places, and somehow brought to you through the ship undetected.” I
walked over to the plate of food and looked it over. I saw nothing. I smelled
nothing. That was the key, I smelled nothing.
“Agent Darius if you would hand me
that candle there.” The young agent did as I asked. Slowly I lowered the open
flame to the food and immediately in one quick poof, the entire tray ignited in
flames for a brief few seconds, then the flames died out.
“What on earth was that?” The Duke
had asked.
“Fillimores Toxin.” Darius responded
as he slowly drew his concealed weapon. “Master Landred, how is it that you
know of Fillimores Toxin?”
I ignored the fact of a weapon being
drawn “My young man, do you think this is the first time I have worked in my
long life with Citadel Agents?” I responded. Then I turned to the Duke. “Your majesty,
Fillimores Toxin is a poison that the Citadel developed during the last war, it’s
a highly kept secret poison. The poison is part alchemical and part magical. It
has no flavor and no scent and kills almost instantly on contact or ingestion.
It’s best advantage is also it’s best hindrance, no scent. The poison is also
highly flammable, and once it is used it tells the one who applied it that it
has been used. Few know that if it is destroyed it will still notify as if it
was used. Which means…”
“…the murderer thinks you are dead.”
Darius finished my sentence.
“Captain Jareed, whoever the
murderer is, he will have had to have gotten on board after we took off. We
will need a list of everyone who has used the boarding room today.”
The Captain responded quickly.
“That’s easy, none, the boarding room hasn’t been finished, its magic doesn’t
work, even if forced by outside magic, people would be refused entrance for
security reasons.”
I nodded, “then the answer is a
simple one, Agent Darius go with Captain Jareed and find the one or ones
responsible for ticket acceptance for level 3B. Arrest them immediately; I need
to get something from my quarters. My lord Duke, if you would stay here and
increase your guards.” They all nodded and we all headed out.
I hurried quickly to make it to my
level. This was far too frightening; I had to report this immediately. I got to
my floor and immediately went to Luchin’s room and opened the door. There he
sat in a chair looking over the ships layout with the warm sunlight coming in
from the open window. He looked up at me. “Jasper? What’s going on? I have been
waiting here forever.”
“You are correct, there are corrupt
citadel agents involved on this ship, and one has turned on the rest of the
agency. There was an agent found upstairs dead.” I stated pacing a bit. I
stopped and poured myself some wine to calm my nerves.
“Settle down Xan, did you find the
man, the killer?”
“Well, The Duke, he was also
poisoned. The murderer used Fillimore’s Toxin.” I stated.
“It makes sense, a rogue Citedel
Agent. How many of them are aboard.
“Well, there were two, each
partners, now one of the partners is dead.”
“Good job, Jasper I take it his
partner, the murderer, is now under arrest?”
“Not yet, the murderer, well he
almost escaped.” I paused calmly.
“Really? That’s good news.” Luchin
said smiling.
I spoke again calmly, instead of
irrationally as I had when I answered. “You see, the victims partner was his son,
and he wasn’t actually there during the murder. It would have to have been one
of the other two agents that are on this ship.” I stated directly, he didn’t
seem lost yet so I continued. “We both know it wasn’t me who murdered him.” He
nodded listening carefully. “The room where the murder took place was heavily
guarded, and had only two entrances. One entrance had the doors completely shut
and two guards watching at all times. If the door had been opened the guards
would have seen it. At the other entrance, however, the doors were opened but
still guarded, and lead to a dead end room; a room with only a window that led
to nowhere but open sky, much like yours. The window edge however was covered
in dirt, and scuffed gently. Likely from the bottom of some ones boots. This is
a maiden voyage and everything else was spotless. That window should have been
also been spotless,” I held up my white glove to him that was covered from when
I pulled myself up by the window. “Had someone come in through that window the
guards should have seen them still.” I watched his reaction. “Luchin, the dirt
is from your shoes, left there when you came in through the window invisible. You
walked right past the guards, snuck up behind the agent that was on to you. You
knew he was here to see the Duke. The idea was to frame his partner. He being a
citadel agent could have used that poison to kill the Duke, and you wanted me
here as the Master Inquisitor to figure that out. You knew I would be able to
identify the poison as a mere investigator, all evidence would have pointed to
the only one on the ship left alive who was an agent.” I gritted my teeth, “However,
Luchin your one flaw, was that you told me you came through the boarding room
when you got here, the only thing is, the boarding room isn’t working, so you
have been here since the ship left port.” I tossed the glass of wine to his
feet covering his feet and dark red wine. Immediately he went invisible with
the intent to escape. I felt him charge into me, he was smart enough now to know
the red wine would leave a trail I could follow. Now his only option was to get
rid of me and escape.
We struggled back and forth, he constantly got
the upper hand, hitting me, striking me, I was a bit preoccupied. He knew the
old man was a disguise, but I could still seem weaker than I was. I tried to
get my bearings straight, that is when he shoved me and I tripped grabbing him
for leverage and we both went falling through the open window to the outside.
We
tossed and tumbled through the air miles above ground. Plummeting to our death,
finally he got a hold of me and kicked me away and started to laugh at me. He
yelled across to me “Sorry Xan, but I had to get rid of them, and now you will
fall to your death. You were a great agent, maybe the best. Now they will
figure you as the murderer, since you will be dead from the fall. I will head
up the investigation myself! All fingers point to the rogue agent who can
change his shape and form” He reached into the inside of his pocket then paused
and started patting himself down frantically. I smiled as I fell, calmly
watching him panic. It was the moment he looked at me that he realized his
mistake.
I
yelled back to him “Sorry, but I knew how you planned on leaving the ship if
things went bad. It’s the only reason you asked me for my one feather token
back. What do you think I was doing when were fighting in the room?” I reached
into my coat and pulled out the feather token that I pick pocketed during our
fight. I guess being a thief in my past had its advantages. He screamed in
terror realizing he was now going to fall to his death. I wasn’t sad about his
death, I simply smiled at him and enacted the magical token that slowed my
decent to that of a falling feather. I would land on the ground safely, just as
planned. Of course I would have a lot of explaining to do, but Agent Darius
with the aid of the Duke will be able to clear the mess up, and Jasper, the
well known Master Inquisitor will still be just an Inquisitor. It’s the perfect
cover for a spy like me.
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| A good visual aid of Jasper (Xan's Character) |
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