“Good evening Mr. Arkin, please, come inside, please,” the man said with a voice just as smooth and friendly as his smile. Mr. Arkin? What was that about?
Monson was sitting at a table with two other boys. One was short and stocky with sandy hair and the other a tall redhead. “Arkin, good to see you again. These are my friends Casey and Author,” he said, gesturing to the two boys. He wondered if these two were going to be part of the new group or not. His question was answered as Casey stood up, followed by Author.
“Thanks for dinner Grey, Author and I are going to go catch up on our beauty sleep. Come on Author,” Casey said and Author muttered under his breath, “Don’t call me Author.”
Arkin waited for the two to be lead out by the butler, who he found out was named Brian. “I thought you said the redhead was named Author? And do you think it’s a good idea to meet at your house?” Arkin asked.
Monson shook his head and smiled, “It is, and don’t ask.” He was serious again. “I’m not coming with you tonight. That’s why I was willing to meet you at my house, no one will think anything of it. You’re going to be meeting a man of mine named Tom.”
Monson was in the loop with what was going on, one of the benefits of mental networks. “Who is this Tom guy? Do you trust him?” Arkin asked.
“I trust him. He doesn’t know too much, but he’s good at finding help. He should be a dependable resource for you.”
Arkin thought about it for a moment. Nothing about this assignment was going to be easy. He couldn’t even trust his own men. No one could know too much, it wasn’t safe. Monson gave him directions to where he was to go.
Arkin made his way to one of the business districts of Salez. He entered a costume shop and looked around. The walls were packed tight with all the garments. Arkin didn’t pay them any attention but he had to give it to Monson. This would be the perfect front. When he entered the back room it appeared to be empty. Arkin’s mind flicked out and touched the magic within him. He uttered a silent spell and four balls of green light appeared in front of him. The spell was meant to identify those that were close to him. The balls would hover over someone, but these didn’t.
Arkin spoke aloud. “Very good, but I still can see that there are four of you in here.”
There was a shuffle of sound and out of the corners from the loose boards on the wall four people came out. A tall man that was starting to bald walked up to him, running his hand over his chin, smoothing his black beard. “So, you’re Arkin huh? Don’t suppose you know a way to completely suppress that spell do ya?”
“Yes, I do. So who are you? And who is your crew here?”
A short girl with long brown hair and green eyes bounded forward. “I’m Stacy, and we aren’t his crew,” she said, tilting her head at the tall guy, who rolled his eyes.
Arkin took the girl in. She looked keyed up. She had a grin that showed all of her teeth and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Stacy, huh.”
Stacy frowned and stopped bouncing. “Rachel then? Do you like that more? How about Samantha? Or Jenni, maybe Ginger, or Clare…”
Arkin held up his hands. “Stacy is fine. I take it’s not your real name, and frankly I don’t care. Who are the rest of you? What do you do?
The tall man spoke up. “I’m Brian, I take care of the arrangements,” he said, waving his hand around the room, Arkin made a mental note. Stacy took her turn. “I’m public relations and I use magic class one.” She smiled widely.
Right, so she’s a con artist,
Arkin thought. A gangly kid with mousy hair stepped up. “Seth, retrieval expert,” which meant he was a thief. Lastly, a normal looking middle-aged man stepped forward. “I’m Tom and I take care of supplies.” This was Monson’s man and the one that found the others in the group.
Arkin spoke. “I’m Arkin, and I’m in charge.”
* * * * *
Legon’s mind was positively buzzing. They had been going the whole day. There were feasts, festivals and meetings. He was introduced to what seemed like everyone from advisors to some of the servant’s children, which he was pretty sure weren’t supposed to be in that part of the house. He walked into his apartment. The house was a palace and as such was gigantic. It was always housing an assortment of guests and diplomats, as well as family. He didn’t meet too many family members today. Sydin told him that he was going to spend tomorrow getting to know his relatives.
As he walked into the vaulted room he took off his shoes, not even bothering to notice how large the place was. He walked to a set of glass double doors and onto a patio that overlooked the harbor. He leaned against the thick rail and breathed out a sigh. He heard the door click and the sound of someone walking softly. He turned, smiling, knowing who it would be.
When he first saw Iselin he was elated, but they hadn’t gotten a chance to talk. But now the events of the day were done and no one was here to bother them. She was still dressed up from the day in lavender with her hair done like when they had gone out. If he was being honest, purple wasn’t her color, but it was house colors after all. He leaned back on the rail and she walked right up to him. His mind had been connected to her all day long, even if they didn’t have any time together. She walked up and wrapped her arms around his neck and his wound their way around her waist. He leaned his head forward and kissed her.
“Hey, how was your day? And have I told you that I love the mental networking thing yet today?” Legon asked. And he did love it. He hadn’t seen Ise in person in a while, though they’d talked a lot. Before the network he would never have kissed her, but not tonight. He knew she wanted it just as much as he did.
Iselin smiled, seeing into his mind. “Yeah, it is handy, isn’t it? My day was fine. You know, now that we’re close you don’t have to ask those questions.”
Now it was his turn to smile at her thoughts. “Really, well what do you have in mind?” he said, giving her a squeeze. She responded by kissing him again.
Her lips were perfect, and in Legon’s opinion, the softest, most wonderful things in the world. He instantly forgot all about his day. He ran his hands up and down her back. “You are an excellent distraction, you know that?”
“I try,” she said as she winked.
Iselin rested her head in the crook of Legon’s neck. His thoughts drifted to wondering what came next. She responded out loud. “It’s awkward explaining courtship to you, you know that.” He didn’t respond and she scowled. “Well, from here we do whatever we want. Obviously, with the mental network people grow close fast. Most Elves only court for a couple of months before getting engaged. We are at the point where we decide if we think this relationship has a future or not. There are no flings in our society.”
He thought for a moment before speaking. “I want to go for it, ya know, you and I. I know I haven’t been around many of the other Elvin women, but I’ve dated plenty of humans.”
“And you know what I want, don’t you?” she asked.
Legon reached in her mind just to make sure, and kissed her again.
Chapter Twelve
Pawn E2 to E4
“Once I saw a boy playing a game of catch with a dog and wondered if it wasn’t really a boy playing catch, or with a dog, or if it was a dog playing chase with a boy.”
-Tales of the Traveler
Arkin loved chess. It was his favorite game and Stacy was a worthy adversary. The little con artist was accomplished at reading people and figuring out their every move. Her face scrunched as she moved a knight. He felt a glimpse of hope.
“Check,” Arkin said with a grin.
Stacy scowled again, and knocked over one of his pieces. “Mate!” she exclaimed.
Arkin growled. “Stacy, that’s cheating. You can’t do that. Now every time I’m about to beat you, you cheat. Take your defeat like a man already.”
“But I’m not a man, thank you very much. Maybe you haven’t noticed,” she said, firing up.
Arkin rolled his eyes he didn’t buy it. “I know you’re not a man, I meant it figuratively. And you’re not picking a fight to get out of losing.” He righted his queen and waited for her to make her move.
Six moves later she actually did have him in checkmate. The whole charade was just that—a charade. “You still cheated,” he accused.
“There is no rule against using your opponent as a pawn. Chess is a game of strategy, anyway.” She stuck out her tongue and flitted out of the back room, her long hair waving behind her.
Arkin frowned, but accepted his defeat. He turned his attention to more serious matters. For the last month all he had done was build up contacts and set up front companies. So far he’d done well, but he needed more. There were still a few cities where he didn’t have people planted. The costume shop had played its role well. Brian was right to use the place. Jesters and other entertainers from around the city would come looking for various items, and when they did come in, Stacy or Brian would get information. Entertainment was a terrific way to get into places. Lords and ladies would oftentimes hire entertainers for parties or other events. Stacy had done well with this, getting herself brought on as an extra for a few shows in town. As a result, she was able to find key people and give Seth more than enough information to get into any structure in Salez.
Arkin pulled out a crystal from a box in his pocket and placed it on a large sheet of parchment, pouring some ink from a bottle on the paper. “Operamo,” he said in a soft voice. The ink flowed across the page into lines and dots that then settled into words, revealing the document. He was given the idea for this by Iselin. She was an avid reader, but known for keeping books for too long, and she liked to mark them up with notes. Subsequently, she didn’t borrow books from anyone, but she developed an fascinating little spell that would copy any sheet of paper with ink on it. Arkin had made a few alterations to the spell, and then placed it with one other spell in a few crystals. Seth would place the crystal on a sheet of paper and say a command. There was power in the crystal, so Seth didn’t need to be a magic user. The spell copied the sheet’s contents into the crystal so that later Arkin could make a copy. The crystal on the page now could hold the contents of about fifty sheets of paper.
Arkin blew on the wet page, letting the ink dry. Seth had managed to get his hands on land holding’s records and Arkin studied them eagerly. He was starting to figure out all the workings of the city and those who controlled it. Seth didn’t know why he was ordered to obtain certain documents, but he did as he was told. Arkin liked Seth. He was a good kid, barring that he was a thief. The records that Arkin held now would be noted for later use when it was time to assassinate people in the Cona government.
Over the course of the next few weeks, Arkin was able to compile a clear picture of everything he needed to. He found the corrupt and those that could be blackmailed and some that just needed to be taken care of. Ivy and Richard had done their part as well, helping with other front companies and staffing. Arkin had to admit that if they wanted to go straight they could do quite well.
Tom walked in, sweeping his hand through his brown hair. He sat down and spoke. “I’ve been at it all day, but I think I found a potential one for you.”
Arkin’s eyebrow rose. “Tell me about it.”
Tom looked across the room at a bottle of cider and raised a hand. The bottle glowed red and flew across the room into Tom’s hand. Tom was a class two, just like Arkin, and while he wasn’t as knowledgeable as Arkin, Tom liked to use magic. He was of the mindset that magic was to make the world a more accessible and easy place to live. As soon as he was out of the public view, he used magic for just about everything.
He took a long drink and started. “Ok, so they are looking for this killer. His method is to break into a house, tie up his victims and bleed them out.”
Arkin nodded and Tom went on. “There are a few others in the area, but this guy is the only serial that the authorities know of. He doesn’t stick around long, and he’s clean.”
Arkin responded “That’s good. How does he tie them up? We don’t want anything too complicated. Who are his victims? Do the authorities have any leads?” He stopped when Tom waved a hand.
“Hold up boss, I’m getting to that. His victims look random, but we know they aren’t, They never are with a serial. Here’s the great part though—the authorities don’t have a clue who this guy is or what type of person he likes to go for. They are just starting to suspect that he is a serial killer. They don’t even know if it’s a man or not. They don’t know anything. I’m sure the Iumenta could figure it out, or if a few Venefica were tasked with finding him, but the local law enforcement doesn’t have those kinds of resources. Right now they are standing around twiddling their thumbs.” Tom smiled.
“Who is he?” Arkin asked.
Tom scowled. “How did you know I figured out who it was? You just took my big reveal.”
Arkin shrugged, not answering the question. “Sorry, that was wrong of me.” He finished with a smile.
Tom laughed “Whatever. His name is Henry Punpkin, odd name I know. Anyway, I think he is targeting people who have wronged or upset him in some way. It’s hard to tell. He lives just north of the river.”
“Have you taken him out yet?” Arkin asked.
Tom blanched. “No.” Arkin wasn’t surprised. Out of the little band that he had, none were killers. They all fought the Iumenta, but none killed. That was fine. Arkin did kill, so it didn’t matter.
The team took a few days to compile lists and information about local murders and rapists, the trash that had escaped justice. Legon was clear about this; they only killed those who had it coming to them and those who were a continued threat to the innocent. Arkin then selected a few officials that needed to be removed. Stacy helped him plot everything out. They bribed some people and finessed a few others. By the time they were done they had a small list of assets that just needed to move up in society. Now it was time to make that possible.