As much as Ka’ao hated guns, he had to admit, planning an assassination without a gun on someone who carried guns around like water was not quite the recipe for smooth sailing.
Which is why the moment they’d arrived in Nihiveh, he decided he would snag one for himself the first chance he got. He couldn’t afford to be picky when it came to Pakhar; if he wasn’t precise with his planning down to the very last detail, he’d end up just like Basta; hanging from the ceiling as a corpse.
The city had been built around a giant oasis in the westernmost borders of Kurigazu, which was the only reason why the residents of the city were able to survive so far away from the Zeru River. He’d only seen the city once before. When he was very little, his mother took him and his siblings to see the Temple of Khazeru. Although there were numerous temples of Khazeru across Kurigazu, the one in Nihiveh was by far the grandest, surrounded by intricate statues of ferocious demons which guarded the temple's gates, and home to beautiful sculptures and pottery depicting the ancient god in all his glory.
It was one of the few memories he’d shared with his brothers and sisters; he had tons of siblings. Too many to count honestly. So many he didn’t even know all of their names, and even the ones he did, he was never very close too. They were sons and daughters of concubines of his father, and thus ineligible to take the throne; as a result, he’d been discouraged ever since he was a child to interact with them, and he had solemnly obeyed.
If he knew that all of them would be dead by the time he turned twenty, he wouldn’t have listened.
It was almost as painful seeing the once glorious temple of Khazeru completely transformed. It’s pristine gold coated walls and sparkling glass sculptures had been painted over and turned into a giant grey building that coughed out fumes of twirling grey smoke from its chimneys.
It was ugly.
“What in the world?” Ka’ao murmured in awe, before quickly diverting his eyes; there was a legion of military police chatting with each other near the entrance of the factory.
“It’s an abomination.” Moa agreed, her camel trotting up next to his own. “It looks like the rumors were true.”
“What should we do?” Pepi chimed in, bringing his own camel closer to the two.
“Split up, blend in, and ask around.” Ka’ao answered, his eyes locked on a rather plump and well dressed man standing in front of a stage in front of the factory; he was talking to another man, younger and thinner, yet dressed in luxurious, gentlemanly clothing.
They looked worth checking out; judging by the jovial smile on their faces, the men must have been benefiting from this factory in some way.
“He just makes riches more…accessible. It’s brilliant.” The plump one said.
“Are you sure you’re not just saying that because he’s raked in so much money for you?” The thinner one teased.
“Very. For decades, god knows how much of our taxes have been spent on temples. He sweeps in, and suddenly we’re paying the same amount of taxes, yet money is finally being poured into our welfare.” The plump one put a hand to his chest. “The people’s welfare.”
“I have a feeling your men would disagree with you.” The thinner one joked, tipping his head at the men working away tirelessly at the stage, moving boxes on and off and steadily hammering at its foundation.
“I said money is being poured into the people. ” The plump one elbowed his friend and then burst into a forced fit of laughter, so forced in fact, that Ka’ao kind of wanted to stop listening then and there.
“Sirs, may i ask for what purpose this stage is being built?” Ka’ao intervened , pulling off the hood of his cloak; he’d removed the red eyeliner he normally wore for this mission. Although he could never bring himself to stop permanently wearing it, as it was the one thing that still marked him as royalty, it was too dangerous to wear around in this city, filled to the brim with police.
They both turned to glare at him, studying him silently with their judgy eyes for a few moments. It was a good thing he’d dressed for the occasion; he’d worn a long white robe underneath his cloak, a red piece of fabric which he’d wrapped around his waist, and two shimmering gold armlets; not too flashy, but enough to pass as a noble, or a scribe perhaps.
“Good evening to you, boy. I don’t believe I've seen you around here.” The plump one said slowly.
“I’m a newly anointed scribe; I just finished my studies and thought that I might find someone to work under in Nihiveh.” Ka’ao said; it helped his story that his Kurigazan was much more eloquent than both of the men.
“Oh, a scribe! How cute.” The thinner one said. “You know, Prince Pakhar talked about simplifying Kurigazan and teaching the masses how to write and read to create a more skilled working class. If he means what he says, scribes might not exist in the near future at all.”
Oh?
“Prince Pakhar? As in Prince Pakhar Pas Gheraman?” Ka’ao gasped. “He’s in Nihiveh?”
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“Of course! I’m surprised you haven’t heard about this sooner, what with the new papyrus factory and all.” The plump one said.
“I had no idea it was a papyrus factory at all.” Ka’ao lied.
“Yes, well, it’s going to bring in a good deal of wealth for us. A huge investment on my part, of course, but it’ll all be worth it if it makes the city richer.” The plump one bragged.
“If you were smart, you’d look into securing a job at the factory, rather than writing all day, young man.” The thin one added.
“Thank you for the advice; I truly appreciate it. And pardon me for not asking, but what were your names?” Ka’ao asked, bowing slightly; he didn’t go any further than a tip of the head. He’d sooner listen to these guys brag for days on end than full on bow to them.
“I’m Mut Dhaunyat; and the mean one over there is Ay.” The plump one said with a chuckle. “I suggest you hear Ay out though; there isn’t a future for scribing. Once that factory opens, I suggest you find yourself a real job.”
Ka’ao nodded , making his eyes as bright and naive looking as possible. “Understood!” He answered dutifully.
“And you know what,” Mut patted Ka’ao’s shoulder; Ka’ao immediately crossed his arms behind his back to keep himself from slugging the man in the jaw. “Come find me and we’ll work something out. A boy with a good family like yourself deserves nothing less, Mister…?”
“Anek.” Ka’ao replied. “You can call me Anek.”
“Weird name.” Ay muttered.
“Right. You come find me during the opening, and I'll find something for you to do.” Mut grinned.
-
By the time he’d regrouped with Moa and Pepi, the sun had set. Both of them had managed to find jobs to gather information. Moa had entered a nearby doctor’ s clinic under the guise of looking for work and had secured herself an apprenticeship underneath the head doctor. Apparently, there was going to be a grand party in celebration of the opening of the factory in a week; and Pakhar, along with the sponsors of the factory, would deliver a speech on that stage. And fortunately, the head doctor was acquainted with Pakhar, and had been invited to the event; and Moa was planning on convincing him to allow her to tag along.
Meanwhile, Pepi had managed to secure himself a job as a guard for the mistress of a noble. Apparently, she was close friends with Pakhar, and had left home without her lover’s permission to see the opening of the factory. As a result, she was rather anxious, being almost friendless and guardless in a foreign city, and had almost instantly offered Pepi a job when he’d scared off some bandits looking for easy targets.
Everything was going according to plan.
The opening night of the factory would be the best time to strike; when he would strike was something Ka’ao still hadn’t figured out yet, there was something much more urgent he needed to attend too.
Creating an alias.
Specifically creating one of significant wealth and social status; of course, at the moment he had neither of those things. So the only option left to him was to create an illusion of those things.
And to do that, he would need Mut.
Mut was one of the few people, even amongst nobles, to own an automobile; it was a pristine white, parked close to the stage, but not too close (so that the dirt-poor workers didn’t get it dirty, Ka’ao assumed). So, while Mut dutifully watched the workers slave away at the stage with a jolly smile and a lighter in one hand, Ka’ao and Pepi, under the cover of night, stationed themselves in an alleyway only a few meters away from the automobile.
“You know that once we do this, there’s no going back, right?” Pepi whispered. “If we proceed, we will be going ahead with the plan to take Pakhar’s life. And there will be no going back.”
“Of course.” Ka’ao replied, running his fingers over the sheath of his blade. “I’ve come to terms with my fate. I will kill Pakhar; and Moa will teach me how to reach the Underworld. Or I’ll die.”
“Then I will support you as best I can.” Pepi replied.
“I’m truly grateful for your loyalty, Pepi.” Ka’ao murmured. “Your devotion to your duty is commendable.”
Pepi said nothing; Ka’ao glanced at him, trying to see what he was thinking, but it was too dark for him to make out the subtle nuances of emotion in Pepi’s stone cold expression. Once again, he had no idea what Pepi was thinking, which was weird. Still, he had more important things to worry about at the moment. He shifted his gaze back over to Mut; the man was yelling something at one of his workers; and the automobile was in his blindspot. Two guards were posted near the car, armed with hefty looking firearms; Ka’ao didn’t know what type they were or what they were capable of, and he didn’t really want to find out either.
They’ d have to be swift about this.
Just as planned, Pepi came out from the alleyway and walked around the automobile, waving at the guards as if he were just passing by. At the same time, Ka’ao slid underneath the automobile, unsheathing his sword as he did so; and just as he expected, sliding underneath an automobile while unsheathing a blade wasn’t exactly a silent maneuver. The guards immediately whipped around to face the car; and Pepi closed in on them, wrapped his arms around their throats, using the sheer force of his muscles to choke the life out of them.
As Pepi strangled the guards, Ka’ao emerged from underneath the car, and silently drew his blade across their throats; they hadn’t done anything wrong, but he couldn’t risk them spilling the beans if he let them live. He didn’t like it; killing the soldiers that had been sent after his life was one thing, but killing innocent bystanders was another thing. It was beyond cruel, completely tainting his once innocent view of the art of the sword; but it was necessary.
He couldn’t cut corners if he was going to kill Pakhar.
Quickly tossing the bodies in the alleyway, Ka’ao sent Pepi off. Although Pepi argued at first, when Ka’ao brought up how suspicious the woman he was guarding would be if he vanished the whole night without a word, Pepi didn’t refute, and left silently, leaving Ka’ao in the passenger’s seat of the automobile. His sword in his right hand, and a firearm he’d snatched off one of the guards in his lap.
And then he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And then finally, the sounds of yelling outside began to dampen, and the sound of footsteps grew louder; Mut was coming. Mut stopped in front of the car, his hand reaching for the door…and then he paused. The absence of his guards soaking in; and then his eyes drifted over to a few blood droplets on the side of the car.
Ka’ao had done his best not to make a mess, and Pepi had stopped most of the guards’ bleeding, with his arms wrapped tightly around their throats, but it looks like they’d still left a bit of a mess behind.
Oh well.
Ka’ao rolled up the window and let Mut peer into the barrel of his gun.
“Get in and be quiet about it. We have a lot to talk about, Mister Dhaunyat.”