I’d need an assassin I could stop. For that I would have to treat someone in this house or another to be the pawn in the chess match that I found myself embroiled in. If they worked for this house for too long than I would have no chance in not incriminating the Portage family in colluding with the assassin. However, if I targeting someone that was new I would have a chance to make it seem like it was an outside influence.

I knew just enough of the kingdom to the south that I could instill the customs of those memories into my pawn with magic and give him the mission from the enemy to assassinate members of the royal house. As far as I knew that would require some members of the royal family to come to this dinner. With the knowledge that the Duke Portage was trying ot marry his sister into the family meant there was a good chance this could work.

Time to find a pawn.

I approached the cook first of all people. Him speaking a separate language meant that he would be more isolated and easily manipulated by someone that could communicate with him better than others in the house. It would reveal that I knew he had a low opinion of me but maybe I could change that with some choice words and maybe a couple friendly sit downs with him.

The eastern places in the world favored green sweeter teas than those of the more robust palates of the people in this Kingdom. I raided the pantry and found a hidden stash of the teas that might suit him best. I assumed that the master of the house had begun to favor the tea as well since he seemed to have exotic tastes in his vices. I took just enough to make a pot of tea and prepped it as best as I could.

I snuck up behind a female servant and placed my fingers on her temples to raid her mind of information. This would leave her dazed maybe for a day or so but I had little time to prepare and accomplish my goals. I would have to be rough and quick with my actions. With the minimal use of magic I delved into her mind. Searching for what she knew of the foreign chef.

His hands are so strong, the way he chops the heads of the geese and chickens in one fell swoop is fascinating. You would think with the power in his arms he would be a brutal chef but those moments of violence were betrayed by the swift and smooth motions he took with his other knives. The way he could gut and filet a fish in just a handful of smooth strokes was a sight to behold.

Momma always said I had a thing for men with skilled hands and his exotic background made him someone I wanted to know better. I couldn’t master the blasted tongue he spoke of and the Master wasn’t fond of teaching any of us the language unless we did… unsavory things with him.

I liked to drop in on him though from time to time. In his secluded little section of the house that smelled so strongly of spices. He knew very little of our language and was always eager to practice with me. Maybe this was how I would get into his better graces and try his food.

Maybe I should visit him tonight…

I pulled my hands from the woman and left her dazed and befuddled by my intrusion. She didn’t even recognize I had moved away and would no doubt be stuck in her stupor until someone came along and shook her out of it. I snaked through the hallways in the dead of night and used my nose to find the powerfully scented room. The smell of strong incense and foreign spices filled the air as I approached the door.

I modified my ears to listen inside and heard a man quietly praying to the strange gods of the east. I had the pot of tea with me and waited until I heard his prayer end. With a light knocking on the door I introduced myself in his language through the wooden barrier.

“It is I the minstrel you have served this day.” I knew the language he spoke was full of flowery prose and structured much differently than the local tongue. It was a pleasure to tell stories in it.

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The man seemed startled and I heard his heartbeat through the door quicken. In a halting and stumbling tongue he responded, “I understand not. Who comes to door at night?”

“Dolan Talespinner the minstrel you served with such a fine meal earlier today.” I stood with the tea and waited as he collected himself. I could hear the shifting of fabric as the door opened.

“No visitor, bed time approaches.” Again he was using the local tongue and poorly at that.

I laced my words with magical influence and pushed against his mind. “You’ll let me enter and we will have tea. You will answer my questions.”

His eyes glazed over as he looked at me and opened the door wider. The plan room held no chairs and the only table was small enough to only seat two people. A small shrine holding a scroll hung on the wall open. The pillars of the case were ornately carved depictions of lions standing and holding up the sky. He moved back and sat down at the table. I entered in and closed the door behind me as I placed the tea set down and poured him a drink.

“What is your name?” I asked while he was under the influence of my magic.

“They call me East here for my name is too hard for them to pronounce. I hate the name, I am Zileenges Yaksbeater in my home country.” His voice was much more fluid in his home tongue and he seemed more confident in his words this way.

“May I ask why you stay here in the employ of the Portage family? In fact how did you come to work for him?” I sipped the sweet green tea and let the grassy scents invade my nostrils. Sighing contentedly, I listened to his tale.

“The master Portage found me in an Opiate Den spending my life’s savings every week on getting my next dose of the magical medicines. It washed away all my worries every day and it is the most pleasant thing. Though I was wasting away, I had lost nearly all the fat and muscle on my body and grew agitated every time I wouldn’t have a week profitable enough to afford my next session at the den.” His eyes grew glassy and hungry at the thoughts of the drug that had swept through the East. It had ended so many lives while the people learned how to properly dose the ‘medicine’.

“What brought you away from that life?” I prompted to bring his mind back to the story.

“The master took me from the den one night while I was too drugged to fight back. He locked me in the basement of his fine home for I was known to be one of the best chefs in town which is why my drug use had been so ignored. My work contract had ended rather suddenly a few weeks before. I howled and cried as my body begged for more of the drug. I couldn’t eat, could barely drink but the Master with his own hands fed me broth and bread. Comforted me when I was at my worst and even offered me supreme mercy. Though the gods would damn me forever and rend my soul apart to never be reborn again. He helped me greatly through that time and I wept at his feet.” The tea was growing cold in his hands so I pushed it to his lips to prompt him to drink.

“You didn’t want the drug anymore?”

“It took months for me to recover to anything worth living for. He kept me trapped in his home with a guard always with me to keep me from going back to the dens. He fed me, clothed me, and even bathed me with his own hands when I would soil myself in my weakness. His caring love made me think life was worth living again. So I promised him my life. He took me far from my lands a few years ago and brought me to this cold place.” The man drank a full cup of tea and set the thing down. I dutifully refilled it.

“Who else is newer here. Anyone at all that is in poor favor of this house in general?”

“You, none of the servants like that you are taken on board. Though more than just one of the man servants have laid with the Lady Portage though usually she takes them on her moonflow as to avoid the dangers of pregnancy. She loves to trick the new servants into doing so and torments them with threats of betraying them to her father. She is a sadistic and cruel woman.” The man stroked the table absently with one hand as he thought. “There is one more, he is another foreigner like me though from another country. Taken from the east to be a tender to the ‘exotic crops’ the master plans to grow this year when the weather permits it. I don’t think it will succeed. Fool saved me from such medicinal things yet his taste for them grows.” Again there was a longing in his voice for the life he once lived.

“Who is he? When will he be here?” I probed further.

“His name is Yurksneed something or other. I never bothered to learn his last name once I realized he was from the blasted lands. Full of barbaric raiders and thieves.” Zileenges made a spitting sound without actually sullying the floor. “Damn the fool anyways. Has nothing to offer the Master and his family besides his medicinal crafting abilities.”

I had my target in my sight. I would need to find him alone and implant the ideas and false memories that would lead him to explain his betrayal of his new employer. It would be best if I captured him alive when I foiled his assassination attempt. That way he could spill the information on who had ‘hired’ him.

“Is the man here in the house already?” I asked hoping that he was. Maybe I could do this all in a night.

“He lives in a small farm outside of town to give him the space and time to prepare the soils and everything else he has said to be needing when the time comes.”

Damn, I’d have to find a reason to go out to this farm before the dinner. Or sneak out in the dead of night. “Forget this conversation ever happened and go back to praying.”

“Yes,” His eyes remained glazed as he went back to the shrine and started up his chanting once more.

I took all the evidence of my coming here with me and went back to the kitchen. The maid I had ambushed still stood there stupified by what I had done and once I had everything clean and put away I shook her gently to break her out of the trance that she found herself in.

“Wha… where, oh it’s you,” She sneered when she looked at me but I only smiled at her in return.

“You seemed a little lost in thought so I just wanted to make sure you were okay?”

“That is none of your business, Pet.” She actually looked disgusted with me and stormed off without another word.

Now, how am I going to get out to that farm by next week?