Ati finished ‘interrogating’ the man in half an hour. His distant screams echoed from another tunnel in the cave, but everyone ignored it and packed most of their merchandise on to their pack animals. A little while later, Ati came back with a few bloodstains on his shirt.
“I learned everything we need from the serial killer. Let’s escort the caravan back to Tyr.” He said nonchalantly.
“What did you learn from him?” Nisos asked through the conch.
We all waited anxiously to hear it.
“Let’s wait until we’re back together. This is the kind of information that needs to be discussed in person and behind closed doors with privacy enchantments.”
“Didn’t you already get the killer to spill the beans in the open? That cat’s out of the bag already.” Jezibel asked.
“I know, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. They might’ve not been scrying on us earlier, but they could be now.”
“Alright. Escort the caravan back home then regroup with us. A few day’s travels won’t harm us.”
“Who said anything about going back to Tyr?” a chuckling voice said from behind me.
It was Jezibel’s dad.
“What do you mean? Where else could you possibly go?!” I asked in shock.
“Why, to our client, of course. We’ve still got business with a trade partner.”
Another voice behind the merchant shouted to us from the back.
“We’re merchants, young miss! We’ve still got money to earn and items to sell. We’ve got to fulfill our end of the deal; we’ve got a reputation to maintain!” the merchant said, carrying crates to her sled.
“But you got captured and almost killed! How could anyone blame you for going home?!”
The woman laughed.
“You think customers care about that?! They want their package when they were promised they’ll get it, and not one second later, no matter the reasons. Besides, I meant that we could leverage this to advertise our reliability, and by Maalqert’s ancient bones, you can bet we will!”
I was baffled but ultimately let the matter go.
“Does that mean we can just fly straight home? Won’t they still be at risk?” I asked Ati.
“We can. Our enemies are based in Tyr, not in Tamery, and we’re already on the border between the two.”
***
After parting ways with the caravan, we flew straight to the Hiram estate. It took about three hours to get there, and the sun was beginning to rise from the horizon. We entered the manor, where Jezibel led us to a room with privacy enchantments that was normally used for negotiations.
“We’re all together now. What did the two of you find out?” Nico asked, and I shrugged.
“Ask Ati; I am just as clueless as the rest of you.”
The falconman nodded and laid a few papers on the table.
“While I don’t actually know what the Assassin’s Guild is trying to accomplish, I found out what they were doing in Tyr and why they ambushed Jezibel’s father. The assassin I interrogated said that they were ordered to interrupt any trade or travel between Tyr and Tamery through the desert for three weeks to limit the flow of information between the two nations.”
“Why would they want to do that? And why did they demand a ransom from us if they were just trying to disrupt travel?” Jezibel asked.
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“It would be suspicious for a caravan to simply disappear in the middle of the desert, so a plausible explanation that wasn’t immediately alarming to the authorities had to be provided. It also explains why they sent a ridiculous ransom demand; they didn’t actually want you to come and pay it.” Nicotris answered.
Ati nodded and carried on.
“The documents listed a number of individual travelers they had killed, though people go missing in the desert all the time. A caravan is a different story, so they had to do something different, and that’s where we came in.”
“Then how did they get influence over the authorities? I can’t imagine the councillors taking bribes from a guild of killers.” Nisos said.
Nico chuckled.
“You’d be surprised, Ionian. My goddess and her people pass judgement on nobles who make use of hired killers and think themselves smart enough not to get caught. They never are.”
I raised an eyebrow at that.
“But you don’t know how many you didn’t catch, right? How would you know if they never get away with it?”
“That’s… We’re getting distracted with tangents, let’s get back on track.” She said and I giggled before she continued.
“I doubt government officials are fully in on a plan of this kind of scale. This wasn’t a targeted attack, and it only harms the members of the council. As the nation of trade and commerce, intentionally hindering their own merchants would be too foolish. I can’t imagine any party besides the Latium Republic benefitting from this, and they wouldn’t benefit much from interrupting land trade between their two enemies for a mere three weeks. The only thing that I can think of is that the assassins did this unilaterally.”
“I can already hear your next question; ‘But how could they influence the authorities to drag their feet with rescue efforts?’ Remember, council elections are coming up soon and councillors can be bribed now more than ever.”
We all fell into a contemplative silence.
Moments later, Ati spoke up.
“This is why I said I can’t figure out what they were trying to accomplish. Disrupting travel, bribing officials, killing adventurers; I have a feeling they’re up to something particularly heinous.”
“At least it’s not all bad news. The Hiram family isn’t being targeted specifically, so we can rest easy for now.” Nisos added.
Nicotris shook her head.
“That should be the case. If all they care about is making sure whatever they’re planning doesn’t get out too early, then they have no reason to continue causing problems for the Hiram family. The guild probably assumes the Hiram family isn’t even aware of its involvement. But just in case we’re wrong: Jezibel, have your siblings take a ship to Tamery. Send them to my family’s estate in Thebos; I’ll write a letter explaining the circumstances in it. My family will also get someone to let your father take refuge in our property while we get this mess sorted out.”
Jezibel’s eyes widened in surprise, then the girl lowered her head towards the noble.
“Thank you for your generosity, Lady Sept. I won’t forget this favor!”
Nico chuckled.
“In for a copper, in for a platinum, I suppose. Besides, I told you that I am with you until justice is served.”
“That’s fine and all, but what are we going to do from this point onwards? It looks like our leads dried up to me.”
Nico shook her head.
“No, Kiara, we still have a lead left. Remember the councillor who interfered with the search and rescue effort? We can get more out of him.”
Nisos looked rather nervous at that, before interjecting.
“How do you propose we do that? I can’t imagine we have any kind of leverage or offer for a Tyrian Councillor.”
“That’s where Kiara and I come in. A Tameryian high noble and the daughter of the Azure Dragon have enough authority to demand an audience with a councillor. We can sort something out with him.”
“And if he doesn’t want to play along with us?” Jezibel asked.
At that, Nicotris beamed with confidence and sported a malicious smile.
“Don’t worry about that. I can be very convincing when I want to be.”
***
The Hiram siblings agreed to what we told them; Nico handed them an envelope addressed to her family, and they boarded a ship belonging to a business partner of the Hiram family.
“Are you sure that no assassins will be on this boat?” I asked Jezibel.
She nodded.
“I am certain of it. The ship only has crew onboard that has been working there for years, we made the request for my siblings to board at the last minute, and the Assassin’s Guild doesn’t have a branch in the middle of the sea as far as I am aware. They’ll make it to Hebnopet and go from there to Thebos, at which point there should be no point in going after them.”
The ship pulled up its anchors, and the two sea monsters attached to the ship began moving forward. As the ship disembarked from the dock, the siblings waved at us from on board.
“Thank you for rescuing our father!” Adonya yelled, and Arvad followed suit.
“We will pay this debt back – I promise!”
Even little Tanni yelled out a goodbye.
“Thanks for helping us, everyone! Visit us soon, Jezibel!”
We waved back at them, and soon enough, the ship had finally moved over the horizon. When that was done, I felt eager to go and get started.
“Let’s go, guys. We’ve got a meeting with a councillor to attend.”
“Wait, when did we schedule one? We haven’t split up since we decided to go and see him.” Nisos asked.
Nicotris smiled at that.
“Councillor Gebal has an appointment with us shortly. He just doesn’t know about it yet.”