The Mythril Malice

[Rayse Valentino]

Closed to Lye.

The waves lapped gently on the shores of the estuary, with the Testhan river visible from the front of the villa Rayse was staying in, and the endless ocean on the left. He sat in a straw chair on the front patio, sipping coffee from a mug with a cigarette between his fingers. To the denizens of Salvar, Rayse had been gone only a mere month, but he had spent many months in the planes, searching for a way back. When he went to Corone and subsequently Fallien for answers on how to get rid of the curse he acquired in the planes, he only found more questions. While in Fallien, he received a missive from home, begging him to return to deal with a rather sordid matter.

A blonde woman walked down the pathway to his house, passing by gardens of tomato and cucumber. None of it was maintained by Rayse of course, and this house represented nothing more to him than a meeting place. His true home was buried under a pile of debris in Knife's Edge, and no matter how lofty the penthouse apartment, no matter how extravagant the sea-side villa, he never felt like he belonged.

The woman bowed and took a seat next to him, already with a hot cup of coffee presented before her by a maid. She wore a red dress, and Rayse couldn't tell whether it was preference or some attempt to impress him.

"Aquila," he said. "You were a foreman over at the mine, were you not?" He put down the mug and looked her in the eyes. Despite his relaxed posture, his eyes were cold and ruthless. She could tell that he was hiding how livid he was.

After all, just hours ago he was informed that his mining operation in the Ahyark was 're-appropriated' by The Company a couple weeks ago.

"Yes sir, I was. Until that day. I did not go along with the plan and fled, waiting for your return."

"I don't like hearing bad news, Aquila. The last person to give me some left with a broken wrist."

"Of course," she said calmly, unfazed by the threat. "The one in charge of the takeover was Maxwell. He was there only briefly, but I saw him. I don't know which of The Family he's working for."

"Maxwell..." Rayse mused. "I know who he works for... damn it. This is going to be more complicated than I thought."

Aquila crossed her legs and took a sip of the coffee, "Who, sir?"

"Dolores."

[Lye]

Over the past several moons, the ravens had brought The Order numerous requests and peas. Each cycle the numbers grew. Though their quantity was great, the jobs they offered held little to no interest to the Crimson Hands. The assassin, Lichensith Ulroke, spent many restless nights slouched upon his ivory throne. He brooded and seethed for an opportunity to leave his mark - an opportunity to begin his game of shadows within the Salvan Government. Yet with all his efforts, all his espionage and subterfuge, he had yet to scratch the surface. These facts clawed at the back of his mind, and stirred his hunger.

"Sir," shouted a voice that interrupted Lye's fragile internal calm. "Sir, the ravens have brought another request."

"They bring hundreds..." he replied with irritation. The messenger became unnerved.

"I think... you might want to see this one."

Lye offered him his silence and a ferocious glare. His face rested upon his hand with an expression of growing irritation glazed with boredom. The messenger clutched the parchment in his hands, and remained at a distance with wary eyes.

"Bring it here," Lye beckoned with a gesture of his hand.

The boy, only a few months old within their ranks, began to step toward his leader. His steps were soft, and his posture was submissive. Rumors of the previous messenger ran repeatedly in his head the closer he became. No head, no organs, a room draped in intestines, and hands stitched to a charred heart... In these halls, a messenger's fate relied upon the whatever words they held in their hands.

"I don't have all day..." Lye scoffed.

The boy snapped to, and quietly handed him the parchment. Then, he waited. He waited for judgement to pass between life and a gruesome, painful death. His judge, jury, and executioner scanned the document with his cold, ghastly eyes. Then, the paper crumpled in his grasp. The boy jumped. Lye smiled.

"Tell them to ready my horse," he instructed. The weight of suspense lifted from the boy's shoulders with a deep sigh. This caught his master's fierce gaze.

"Y-yes right away!" Like a rodent fleeing for his life, the boy dashed for the doors. A blast of Skavian wind swept the hollowed halls and the echoes of shouts bounced back to the throne.

"Finally..." Lye muttered, and lifted himself from his seat of human remains. A grin spread across his lips.


*********

The assassin rode along a small road that ran along the ocean side. At the end, merely minutes away, stood a solitary home. Its unassuming structure stood in contrast to the lapping waters of the nearby ocean and lush vegetation scattered along the Testhan River. As he arrived to the destination described in the message, Lye swung his leg wide to dismount. He took a deep breath of the salty air before he tied his his horse to a post.

Lye couldn't see any immediate sign of life nearby, but remained alert. He took the first few steps up the warn white boards of the patio before a shuffle from within stilled his movement. Though he stood straight and rigid, the assassin leader of The Order, slipped a poisoned blade from his sleeve to his gloved hand.

"I'm here about a message," Lye spoke aloud. His trained eyes stayed sharp, but his body did not move from the shadow of the awning. Isolated from his brothers, and miles from civilization, no one could know what to expect from meeting a stranger for the first time. Ambushes were not uncommon considering the types of people who requested aide from The Order of the Crimson Hands.

[Rayse Valentino]

The door was opened, and a servant girl politely lead Lye into the lounge, where Rayse sat sipping from a mug. Lye took stock of his surroundings, ever at the ready for treachery, but nothing jumped out at him. The floor was well carpeted with Coronian markings, the furniture had a dash of Aleran architecture in its black color and sharp, pointed style, and the aroma from the pot of coffee felt natural and warming.

"Come now," Rayse grinned. "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't get my rug all bloody." Lye sighed and sat down in the chair opposite Rayse, eyeing the prepared mug for him. He wasn't interested in touching that.

The assassin folded his arms, "Apparently, you're my best customer." The document that was brought to him had the request on it, but it also had a lot of ancillary information, in the form of aliases; Dozens of names that were used to commission jobs from The Order. The only way to know all those names and their connection with the order was either to have full coverage of The Order's activities, or be the source of all those names in the first place. In essence, Rayse had been purchasing The Order's services for months. To finally reveal himself like this meant that a level of trust was needed for this job that the other jobs did not.

Rayse put the mug down, "I called you here because this is more than just a job. I want to talk to you about the future. I want to know if you're someone with ambition." Lye sat silently, waiting for him to continue. "If we put our resources together, we can do more than smuggling and assassination. We can go... bigger."

Lye would never give any sort of answer right here, right now, but the thought was now implanted, "What do you need? The request mentioned a mine." The Contractor decided to give him the full story.

Months ago, new prospecting technology allowed previously untapped resources to be accessible in the Ahyark mountain range. Various parties started to race for new deposits of rare minerals, including Rayse and The Company. The Contractor found a large amount of iron, some coal, and most notably, a mythril deposit. He kept the details a secret while he assembled the proper infrastructure and built up the location, including digging roads to it. A month or so ago, Rayse went missing, and in the power vacuum The Company seized the mine, going back on a previous agreement to not interfere with Rayse's business.

"Why would they betray you now?" Asked Lye. "I heard that you were instrumental to their founding."

"Apparently, they were concerned that they weren't getting a cut, and of course, the moment I leave go to anywhere, they figure I'm dead and move in."

"Did you explain that you were, in fact, not dead?"

"Sure, but expecting them to give back anything that they believe is theirs now... that's where you come in." Rayse explained the details of the job, and what Lye stands to gain out of it. "Basically, I need every aspect of your services to get the mine back. Are you in, or out?"