Snippet #2668472

Ada Capet wandered along a lonesome hall until her eyes fell upon a hooded figure. She judged his appearance by his bare hands, his attire, and the way he stood.

"Raikyyn Duarn?"

The figure looked up, surprised, "Hmm? I'm..."

The mage watched as it took him only a few seconds before she registered in his mind.

He leaned forward, "Ada Capet?"

"Yes. Where are they?"

She was always straight to the point, never wasting a second.

"Not so fast," the Duuthesh assassin wagged a finger at her with nonchalance and a hint of recalcitrance.

"There is the issue of payment."

Ada narrowed her eyes, she half expected the full cooperation of such shady characters. Their coin based motivation made business deals with them very fragile. She retrieved a pouch from one of her pockets and tossed it to him, he caught it mid air and examined the contents.

"That's a quarter up front for staying on their tails. You'll get the rest when I've determined that you've done your job."

"That was not the agreem..."

"On the contrary, it was. Your job was to keep the girl away from the mage, the mage away from the girl, or to kill the girl. Was it not? Given the look of your blades, it appears you haven't rended any flesh with them," she glanced at the daggers strapped on his chest before continuing, "So now I must determine whether or not the girl has met the mage. Where is the girl?"

The assassin remained silent, but only briefly, "I have not seen her meet with the mage."

The flicker of silence showed hesitance, which Ada picked up without pause and spoke, "You haven't seen her then."

The assassin paused for a moment before snorting, "No."

"For all we know they may have met before you arrived," she shook her head unsatisfied.

"That can't be."

"Can't? Did you kill her? How exactly do you know that if you haven't seen her."

This was not the kind of news she needed because if that were true then it meant that Antius Geminus sought some means of escaping. Here she pegged the assassin as having thought of everything, a like minded individual as herself. She understood with clarity the difference between a profit oriented mind and a detail driven mind. Though they never strayed far from one another, but one handled certain delicate matters better than the other. Matters so delicate that a minor upset could tip a fine balance, a semblance of order predicated upon years of design.

She resolved to prevent a little girl who was in over her head and naive about the ways of the world. Every now and then the scent of magic faded, it was difficult to tell if another mage was present besides Antius Geminus.

She knew of Antius Geminus, she was an assistant to the professors while he was only beginning life as an underclassman. Now, he was different. The rigors of the world had taught him some things, she was sure. His magic, though once crude, may have improved into something else entirely.

"I do have a plan," Raikyyn spoke.

Ada listened to what he had to say.

"I've made myself a friend to the mage, and I will accompany him in a breakout from the colosseum tonight. It appears he has planned to escape his little prison for sometime now."

Ada stuck a finger through her hair and curled some strands around it, "I suppose that could work..."