Rahn was frustrated and getting angrier by the minute. Dusk was nearly an hour ago. The stalls in the market had all shut down and she could only linger here for so long before she'd stand out too much as an oddity. Her cover would be blown before it even started.
She had stalled by pretending to browse every stall while they were open, grabbing a meal from a vendor right before it closed, and then leaned against a nearby wall while eating her meal painstakingly slowly. Her meal had gone and now she had no legitimate reason to be lingering around. When an older Qarthan woman eyed her while she pushed her packed up cart down the street, Rahn decided she could linger no longer.
She let out a frustrated breath and turned down an alley, heading away from the market but not directly toward the grand hall. She didn't even know where she was supposed to stay tonight. She would have to tell the future king what she thought of his contact.
Suddenly she was pulled into an alcove, strong hands holding her arms. She began to move into a defensive position but he released her and stepped back, allowing her to see his masked face hidden below a hood. But she wasn't one to just assume this was her contact. It could be a trick. Information was intercepted all the time. She made her body slightly quiver as if she were afraid, slowly side stepping to try and sneak away from him. She made it a point to widen her eyes in fear, removing the defensive slits they'd gone into instinctually as he had grabbed her. When she got to the corner, he took a step and blocked her, crossing his arms.
"Please... let me go." She made her voice light and feminine, yet shaky and quiet. Weak. "I won't tell anyone."
The man sighed and simply used his fingers to motion her to follow him. With that, he turned and gave her one last look before turning his back to her and walking down the alley, in the same direction she had come from originally.
Sighing, she figured that was as good of a sign as she was going to get. She followed from a good distance as she watched him move swiftly down the alleyways. He walked confidently yet didn't gain much attention to himself. This wasn't his first time trying to move unnoticed, she decided. At least her new contact wouldn't be completely inept.
He walked around a small dwelling and let himself in the back door as he left it slightly ajar. She swiftly covered the remaining distance, entered the door, and quietly closed it behind her. She immediately crossed the hallway and entered the living area to create some space between the stranger as he stood inside the door waiting for her. Making sure it was locked, he proceeded to check the front door within the living area before facing her.
She watched in silence as he turned and eyed her, not hiding his intentions as his eyes looked her up and down. She stayed still as a statue, not allowing his appraisal of her to bother her. All of her earlier pretenses were removed and she was again her confident, unafraid self as she returned his stare, sizing him up herself.
He eventually gave a short nod and went to a side table, withdrawing an electronic tablet from a small drawer. He put in a code to unlock it and handed it to her before he leaned against the small dining table a few feet away. While keeping her senses tuned onto the stranger, she glanced down at the tablet. "These are copies of the official investigation on Zein and his co-conspirators." She said quietly. "How did you get this?"
He simply stared at her in response. "Right. The future king." She muttered as she continued looking through them. Most of the information she already knew, much of it had become public but then her fingers paused as she landed on a transcript of correspondence between The Premier and the Aerulian leaders. "These are from last week." She whispered. She forced her eyes away from the tablet as she looked at the strange male. "Have you seen these?" He gave a short nod in response. "Of course you have." She muttered again. "Let's just bring Rahn in blind."
"Fine." She said slightly louder, for him to hear. "I'll spend the rest of the evening going through all of this. What's the plan after that?"
He eyed her for a short moment before he simply pointed at the tablet and swiftly walked out of the dwelling, closing the door behind him.
"Seriously? A male of no words, not sure if I've ever seen such a thing." She chuckled. "I guess it's just you and me." She said to the tablet as she returned it to the drawer so she could go through the small dwelling and check every window was locked, every curtain closed, and every potential hiding place empty of spies. One could never be too careful. There wasn't much to the place. The living area held a small sofa with one arm chair diagonal to it and a small sofa table in front of it. There was a wall that separated the living area from the kitchen, which held a small table with two chairs. Going back into the hall she found a simple bathroom opposite a bedroom that held a full size bed, a small closet, and a dresser.
Half an hour later she was sipping on a vial of nourishment as she read from the tablet. She had found a note in the side table where the male had retrieved the tablet, giving her the code to unlock it, instructions to report to the future king in ten days time, and a few other details from the setup of her background. She also found her key to the dwelling. She quickly burned the note before she got comfortable on the couch for the evening.
Ten days was hardly enough time to establish good contacts and gather any useful information, but she imagined The Premier was eager for answers. She was too. As she read through the transcripts, she could hardly believe what the Aerulian leaders had claimed. After the Aerulian ship had fled back to their home planet, the crew was arrested and questioned by their leaders for their treachery. Apparently they had gone rogue and none of their actions were done in approval by the Aerulian leadership. The leaders only found out about it because one of the lower ranking crew members had felt a sense of guilt and ratted on his crewmates.
Rahn found notes scribbled along the transcript. "We can't simply believe what they claim but we can't rule it out. We need to investigate." One note had said. She agreed. As she read, she noticed all the notes were in the same handwriting. She had no way of knowing who's notes they were but it didn't stop her from wondering.
The "rogue" Aerulians claimed they had hidden themselves within the homeland and eventually made a contact that they realized wasn't happy with the current leadership. They saw the potential in using such a contact. The rebels had wanted leaders with more of a strict regime, a stronger hand. Once gaining his trust, they were able to meet with his group of rebels and they formulated the assassination plan.
"This implies the Aerulians received our message and arrived much earlier than we knew. At least several days?" Again she found herself nodding in agreement with the mystery note taker.
The Aerulians didn't give much details about this rebel group but it became clear that Zein wasn't their actual leader. Just a sympathizer to their ideals that they had used for their goals. The rebels broke him out of jail because they needed his knowledge of the grand hall's defenses. Or more accurately, it seemed they needed the guards that were loyal to him, in order for their plan to work.
"Seems what they're not saying, or perhaps not realizing, is this rebel group needed Zein and his guards to do their dirty work in case this all went south. They needed a fall guy."
"Good observation, note maker!" Rahn was impressed the more she read the notes. It seemed they were making a lot of the same deductions from the Aerulians statements. Were these notes made by the masked contact? Prince Kahal? Perhaps General Garen before his required leave? Maybe she could ask Kahal when she saw him next.
She sighed. So this was why she was called in. There was a secret group of rebels out there lurking around. A group that wasn't loyal to the current premier and weren't afraid to take action. Their use of the Aerulians and Zein, along with his men, worried her. These weren't rash people who she would easily rile up. They were smart and meticulous. Patient. The most dangerous kind of adversary. But she was confident they had to have some easier targets amongst their lower ranks. There were always the loose cannons and the loose lipped. The Aerulians managed to find contact with them quickly. So would she.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note:
Shorter chapter and I know these first few have been a bit info heavy and not much action but I promise we're going to get into more fun soon! I just needed you to be caught up on the details between the assassination attempt and now.
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Lavender & Fire
Fantasy*Sequel to Lavender & Ice* - *Read Book 1 first!!!!* Following the attack that hit too close to home, Kahal brings in Grand Hall guard Rahn to go undercover and find those responsible. Meanwhile, his mother is hounding him to find a life partne...
