"Hello! Welcome to the Truant and Trixxi's! Would you like to rent a room or order some food?" A teenage girl greeted them from behind a counter, a cheerful smile.
Mariya replied curtly, practically snapping at the young girl, "Three nights, breakfast and dinner, no lunch,"
The girl flinched, but pointed at the stairs and spoke.
"Please choose any room on the second floor; no one's occupied any of them yet," Again, Mariya just lightly nodded, threw her a thumb-sized silver coin and climbed the stairs, a half-dead Connor on her shoulders.
-Click!-
Right after closing the door, Mariya suddenly felt weak all over, and in a flash, began to fall face-first on the floor.
"I got you..." Luckily, Connor was quick to hold her up, and after checking her injuries, he brought her to the bed.
"What's happening? Why isn't your body healing like before?" He asked urgently, face green with worry, "Oi... Mariya! Mariya, wake up!"
To his relief, she finally managed to squeeze out a reply from her lovely red lips, "Poison... stopping my..."
"I'll get you some potions," With a worried look on his face, he retrieved the Book of Fate and began frantically scribbling on it.
'C'mon, hurry up!' After seeing his words fade, he walked-cum-sprinted to the nightstand and opened its drawer. In it were two bottles of red liquid.
Briskly drinking one, he felt a burst of vitality travel throughout his body.
"These will be good enough for now," He muttered as he stared at the second bottle in his hands.
Again, he half-sprinted to the barely conscious Mariya and immediately fed her the contents of the bottle.
There was an odd silence before the room was filled with her coughs.
It took a few more seconds of coughing before she finally regained enough energy to speak:
"Hehehe... It seems there was a potion to my rescue, eh?" she turned to look at Connor, who had taken a seat by the bed.
Connor chuckled, "Never have I been so happy to eat my own words,"
She grinned, but a burst of pain quickly wiped it away.
"Whoever that guy was, he knew about your powers, and..." He started.
"He probably knew about yours too..."
"Then he should know we could easily heal from poison..."
"So the question is..."
"...Why?" And she finished.
***
"Who are you!?" Mariya screamed at the hooded man in front of her.
She had noticed him tailing them a few minutes ago, and thinking he was just a thief, she had led him to an alleyway to deal with him, only to have the tables turned on her...
'Damnit, he took a hit for me,' She glanced worriedly at Connor, who was clutching his waist. She wasn't completely out of the woods either— since the man's needle had also hit her.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Hehehe... Lord Makira sends his regards!" The man's voice was altered, sounding hoarse and dry, likely to prevent discovery through voice.
This, of course, made Mariya even more confused, 'Voice changing artefacts are only available to the wealthy or well connected! Who is he?'
"I doubt Makira would give a small-time assassin like you such a valuable artefact, and you're clearly not from any organization I know of. Now, tell me: who are you?"
The man paused at her analysis, though he recovered just as quick, "Yes, he wouldn't give it to an assassin... But you see... I'm not one. I was merely here to give your friend over there an offer, and he refused, so my work here is done,"
"Who would join their parent's murderer?" Suddenly, Connor cut in, his eyes never leaving the man.
"Many would choose that over... dying," The man shrugged.
"Is that a threat?" He snarled, hand now firmly placed on his sword.
"No no, that was merely a warning~!" He jumped back in mock-fear, "But that doesn't matter anymore; you've clearly shown your stance, and I don't need to be here any longer..."
-Poof!-
"...ta-ta!" And with that, he disappeared...
***
Mariya frowned as she tried to recall more of what had happened earlier this afternoon.
"Oi... Don't think too hard; get some rest, you can think all you want when you're back to full health,"
"I suppose..." Mariya could only relent after hearing Connor and began to focus on treating herself.
After thirty excruciatingly long minutes, both of them had recovered to a state that— although wouldn't be called good— was bearable. But more importantly, they were incredibly bored.
"I'm bored?" Connor looked at her, "There's nothing to do,"
"...We could talk," He rolled his eyes.
"We've talked for the past ten minutes," Another roll of the eyes.
"I almost died from the boredom,"
"Hey! It's not my fault all the stories I got are from one place; I just graduated school,"
"And it's not mine either for it to be killing people or drowning in booze,"
"..."
"..."
They looked at each other... then at the envelope on the nightstand... then at each other again.
"See what's in the envelope?"
"Yeah, let's do that,"
They rushed to the miniature table like a group of giddy children and began scrambling to tear it apart.
-Rip!-
Opening the envelope and turning it upside down, three pieces of paper, a small fountain pen, and a bronze pocket watch fell onto the ground with a thud.
Reading through the papers, Mariya soon realized the nature of her uncle's request:
'Inside the pocket-watch is a runebomb, and inside the pen is a dose of poison large enough to kill a person.
I want you to infiltrate the Waterfront Prison, assassinate the warden and free a certain Malkov Dietritsche.
He has paid us for our services, and we're duty-bound to deliver.
I have given you a letter from the city lord that will allow you to meet directly with the warden.
Burn this letter after you've read it; it would do no one any good should it be found,'
'Damn bastard wants me to infiltrate a maximum-security prison and kill their leader right under everyone's noses? The gall...'
"What's it say?" Without answering, she handed the papers to Connor, and only after he had put down the paper did she speak:
"We're gonna need a plan, and a damn good one at that," She looked over the other pieces of paper: one was the letter of visitation while the other was... a contract?
She smirked, "Scratch that— the old man's already given us one... typical of him to be this childish,"
He looked over her shoulder, curious to see the piece of paper, "Oh? And what could that be?"
"He wants us to pose as detectives who're investigating a case this Malkov fellow's gotten himself into," She passes him the contract, "And we're supposedly well-dressed, snooty, partners from the capital,"
He reads the contracts curiously, though she interrupts before he could even start, "And that is an order for two suits; our costumes,"
"Holy shit, they cost a thousand quid per suit?"
"Suit, cap, accessories and a 'cherry-wood tobacco pipes'," She stuck a tongue out playfully, "Whatever that 'cherry-wood' nonsense is,"
"On the contrary, my dear Mariya, it is an exquisite tool for calming oneself," Connor spoke in an exaggeratedly posh tone.
"..." There was a moment of silence between the two, a knowing look on both their faces.
"Hehehe..."
"Hmhmhm..."
Unable to hold it anymore, the room was populated with raucous, lively laughter!
They laughed so loud the whole inn heard them, and they were forced to pay for disturbing their fellow guests the following day...
They laughed so loud the teenage receptionist began questioning her own face-reading skills...
They laughed so loud... they'd still remember the sound of each other's laugh far into the future...
But that's in the future. Today... Today they laugh...