Blainaut swung his long legs over the side of the bed, wincing slightly, and rested his elbows on his knees, hands clasped, cradling his chin. “You know the checker will be here within the hour, correct? I don’t know what they will do, but I do know that we may wish to be gone before then.”

I rubbed my face, exhausted. “Yeah. I know. If you’re okay with it, I’d like for you to take the boys to your room until they’ve come and gone. I have a plan for this. I don’t know how well it’ll work, but I’m hatching something in my brain, and it’s best that I’m the only person in here when they come.”

Blainaut nodded. “Of course. I’ve no problem watching them for a few hours, or even through the night, if need be.”

I looked sharply at him. “I’m sorry. What?” The three boys looked at him, curious. “Did you just say that you’d be okay watching them overnight, if need be?”

The thin man’s cheeks reddened, and he raised a finger, as if to enunciate his point. “Well, ah…yes. Yes, I did. You see… when… Uh.” The finger began to curl inwards as he lost his bearings. “That is, when you were-” He folded his hands into a prayer-like position, and pressed them to his lips, his leg bouncing on the floor.

I chuckled softly at his momentary discomfort. “Blainaut? Are you telling me that you can tolerate the boys?”

He started breathing hard, his eyes rapidly darting between my face and the faces of the three children. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple. “W-well, I…” he croaked. A soft sigh escaped his lips., and he clasped his hands, head down. “I suppose…they aren’t that bad.”

I reached over and gently squeezed the man’s shoulder. “Blainaut, it’s okay. It’s okay to be wrong, and change your mind. At whatever age. On whatever subject. Look at me. Please.” His head wearily lifted, his eyes meeting mine. “You’re not a bad man, Blainaut. You may have done bad things to innocent people out of ignorance and adherence to tradition, but that doesn’t make you inherently bad. Okay?”

His eyes began to fill with unshed tears. “But, Ivor. I’ve done horrible things to slaves. Both mine and another’s. I’ve treated these three children with contempt, dismissal and hatred for the crime of simply existing. I’ve treated you as a lesser person because you’ve apparently always seen the truth I’ve only just begun to awaken to. How do I make amends for the things I’ve done? How do I even begin to atone for my past sins?” The tears fell freely down his cheeks. “These children have done nothing to ever deserve my wrath. Their forebears are equally blameless. And yet, I’ve been horrible to them.” He turned his face to the children, who were listening intently, mouths agape. “Especially you, Ahte-naah. I was terrible to you. Treated you as if you were little more than a nuisance, when you were simply trying your best to do what you were told. You wanted what any little boy wants. Just to play, and be called a good kid. And I treated you harshly for it.” His hands clenched in fists of impotent rage, then relaxed, going limp. “And I’m so sorry.” A heavy sob escaped his chest. “So incredibly s-s-sorry.” his body was wracked with sobs.

I put a restraining hand up, warning the children, who were clearly about to pounce on the man, not to move. I could see what he was going through, as his mind struggled to process the new information. Information which was at war with his previous ideals. He needed to reach his resolve on his own. Rewards would come later. The children looked ready to cry, as well. Especially Ahte-naah. I could see that the ordeal had been difficult for him.

Blainaut held his face in his hands, crying softly for a few more moments. “I will make this right, Ivor. No. I will make this right for you boys.” He looked up, seeing three sad little lizard faces staring at him with wide, watery eyes. “I will make this right for you three, if it’s the last thing I do. I swear it on my life and my place in the Guild.”

I nodded to the boys, and they crawled over to Blainaut, and hugged him.

Five pairs of eyes shed tears of peace in that room.

After a few minutes of this, I looked over at Blainaut and his bloodstained shirt. “Well, if we are going to get food, one of us needs to go down and let them know, right? I shouldn’t, in case the checker is there. That leaves you, or the kids. If the kids go, they may be accosted or worse. That leaves you. I’ll repair that shirt, and nobody will know you were stabbed. The boys can go ahead and wait in your room, if that’s okay. You can get the food, and we can eat. I've got some things to set up here, and I’ll need a full belly. Sound good?”

He nodded and I did the needed cleaning and repair of his shirt. It was good that it was a simple, minor spell. I didn’t have enough in me to do anything big. I reached into my bag and pulled out more meat. I was getting sick of it, honestly. The only good side to being capable of such magic was the fact that I’d lost somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty pounds. The downside was that I was nearly constantly filled with a gnawing hunger.

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I looked at the boys and hoped I’d be able to see this through. I truly wanted to see them make it to their people and to be reunited with their parents. I began to mentally prepare myself for what needed to be done before the checker got there. They needed to be able to verify that I had been killed and that the boys were long gone. The checker could be absolutely anyone. Blainaut gathered the boys, and took them to his room, reassuring them all the while. Ahte-ukum waved a sad goodbye to me, which I returned with a smile and a wave of my own. Such a sweet child.

Once alone, I let the fear and anxiety overtake me, and I shook violently, sweat pouring off me. I have always had to rein in my anger and violent tendencies, and it had gotten extremely easy in the last twenty years, but I almost slipped tonight. I almost allowed the Beast within to have his way with the assassin. He wasn’t dead. Just asleep, and I fear this situation may have awoken Him. “give in, Ivor. you know you want to. know that you want nothing more than to destroy any that oppose you, any that get in your way. just give in.”

I closed my eyes, and began my breathing exercises, trying to bring my pulse back down to normal. After a few minutes of this, that internal voice died down to a faint buzz, but this time, it didn’t go away. Not like before. He was awake, and He hungered for vengeance. I just hoped it didn’t destroy me.

I looked around the room, at the bloodstain on the floor, and I figured I could make the checker believe that he saw a streak reaching the bed, with my corpse atop it. I walked over, and touched the still-slightly-tacky bloodstain, and began to Duplicate it, painting a streak to the bed. I got down and inspected my handiwork. It looked believable. The hard part would be convincing them that I was dead. I picked up the assassin’s knife from where it lay against the wall, inspecting it. I could work with this. Gripping it at the blade and the crossguard, and whispered “Sever.” and the seven-inch blade came off into my hand. I tucked it into my Bag, as I had some ideas for it.

I took the hilt, and placed it in the approximate location I would have been stabbed had I opened the door. I Fused it to my shirt in that spot, and fused the shirt to my skin. It hurt, but it had the effect I wanted. The blade looked to be buried in my chest. I Duplicated more of the blood, and smeared it on my shirt, looking like I’d been stabbed. I shrugged. It would have to do.

I heard a knock at the door, and Blainaut’s muffled voice came through. “I have dinner, Ivor.” I opened the door, and he backed in, carrying two trays. He pushed the door closed with his foot, and sat them both down on the desk. “And oddly enough, Miriam did cook her fruit pies tonight!” He turned around and gasped loudly. “Ivor! What happened? Did the checker already come in? Are you okay?” He rushed to my side, and I waved him away with a laugh.

“No, everything is fine. I made this so that I could hopefully fool the checker. It looks pretty convincing, then?” I smiled, which looked terrifying with what looked like a knife sticking out of my chest.

“Goodness, yes.” He shook his head. “Anyway, this is for you. I have the maid bringing my dinner up later. I told them you were exhausted and ravenous from your trip. Since most of the Guild can do magic, they took me at my word, and sent up enough for a starving Mage.”

I winced internally, knowing I had destroyed his ability to do magic. “Listen, Blainaut. I’m sorry that I took that from you. I-”

He held up a hand, ending any argument. “No. You did right. I have used magic terribly. I would have tried to kill you and the boys, otherwise. No. Don’t worry about it. Besides, I can drink again! I haven’t had any alcohol in the past twenty years. I’ve missed my liquor. But, not tonight. I’ll buy a bottle, and I can have it on the road. No sense in endangering all of us here.”

I sighed and nodded. It was a good thing I didn’t drink much. “Don’t worry. I’ll have my gun trained on anyone who enters this room. I can weave some sort of magic that will awaken me if I fall asleep beforehand. I have this in hand. Hopefully, I can put the checker off with some sort of illusion or something.”

“It would need to be a strong one. They may check your pulse or try to stab you more. Be careful.” Blainaut shook his head and moved to the door. “Be safe, Ivor. I shall see you on the morrow.”

I moved to the chair and began to devour the meals. A hearty stew with a small boule of bread, and three fruit pies. I had two full meals, and I would probably finish all of it. My stomach gurgled happily.

Around a half hour later, I had eaten both meals, and my body felt amazing and full of energy. I moved back to the bed, and lay down, speaking a new spell into existence. “Fool eyes, confuse touch. See the corpse.” I felt a shiver and saw the air shimmer before me. I figured it had worked. No way for me to tell just yet. I looked at the door and spoke yet another spell. “Entry is forbidden, wake from sleep.” I figured that would do the trick if they came in that way. Looking up at the window, I Locked it, barring entry that way.

Now, I just had to wait.