His heart raced as he stared into those dark eyes. It was as if he was cursed to feel his body shudder in fear every time they came around, as if they were inviting doom every time they rounded in contempt. And this time they were examining him from head to toe, partly amused and partly disgusted.
Her hands suddenly reached his waist. Rami pushed his hands out, catching her wrists almost as a reflex. Dolovan’s eyes flashed anger and he dropped her wrists immediately swallowing a gasp.
“Your tunic is untucked like a scoundrel,” Dolovan hissed pointing to his loose shirt draped over his pants.
Rami hurried to start tucking it in yet dared to retort snarkily, “Well then that’s perfect, isn’t it? Am I not supposed to impersonate a scoundrel anyway?”
He bit the insides of his cheek almost immediately after seeing Dolovan squint her eyes in disapproval of his attempt to make a joke out of it, out of all of this.
“Quite the confidence you have to speak so freely to a Commander of the King’s Army.”
“Yeah so, about that, I hear you are in fact not a Commander anymore…an ex-Commander—”
Rami immediately felt the searing burn of her deathly gaze pierce him as he stood defenseless at the edge of the empty streets of Keimitaan she had forced him into that evening.
He gestured weirdly almost in a half wave signaling her that he had indeed finally raised the white flag for he did not know why he so openly started slandering her as if he was immortal. Perhaps the weird tea Talin halfheartedly offered this morning explained it or perhaps he was finally expressing himself as he wished for in this reality he did not have anything to lose except for his head.
“I’m sorry—”
“I will not hesitate to drive my most prized dagger up your heart—”
“Yes! Of course, that was my bad. It was my fault…” Rami started to beg at this point in fear she would indeed do as she spoke, for her hand had already reached the numerous daggers hanging at her belt. It was his mistake that he had eavesdropped while pretending to be asleep while her guards exchanged gossip last night. Yet his gravest mistake of it all was that he let his mouth run and mentioned it to her now outing himself for knowing her quite tumultuous past year at her job and her desperation to restore herself.
As much as Rami understood her, if she were to suddenly have a dagger to his throat, she only ran her fingers through her daggers before reaching her pocket to pull out a deep red silky cloth in the shape of a small square, ball it up then throw it at Rami’s face.
Rami almost peed his pants, thinking he was attacked by something so delicate. He quickly caught the soft scarf before the breeze could whisk it away.
“What is this?” he asked, unable to comprehend.
“A mask to cover your face. You can’t be walking around Keimitaan so freely for all to see. You are supposed to be dead.”
Rami nodded furiously watching her grab the cloak resting by the edge of the wall and throw it at his face as well.
“Wear that and keep your mouth shut,” she instructed as she left him in the corner as the setting sun began to color the dark and dingy walls of the corner of the streets a bright orange.
As she disappeared, appeared the guard that had been nothing but cold to him. He knew that she was the guard assigned to watch over him like a hawk by Dolovan. It was too obvious. She was always at every corner with her eyes glued on Rami like her life depended on him. Her large frame cast a heavy shadow on him as she stood at ease and watched him struggle trying to fit himself into the dreary cloak while fiddling with the red scarf he did not know how to handle as it kept slipping past his fingers every now and then.
Rami looked up, watching the guard’s sharp eyes on him. Yulhan had mentioned earlier that she seemed like a descendant of the ancient giants that built castles in the mountains up North. Apparently, they were regular characters in the stories Yulhan’s mother would tell him as a child. Rami observed the woman from head to toe trying not to alert her in any sense. Yet a part of him wanted to just make conversation, push his boundaries, perhaps make a new friend.
“I’m afraid I never got your name,” he started with his meek voice cracking as it reached the end of the sentence. Despite the slightly embarrassing start he waited with a smile plastered across his face till she finally looked down towards him and sighed.
“I’m–” Rami almost fumbled his name, but quickly proceeded, “--Azul, as you might already know. I’d love to get to know the person watching over me, you know. Perhaps even be…friends?”
Her right eye twitched as her pale lips parted for the first time and she replied, “I’m afraid hunters do not intend on being friends with their prey.”
Rami couldn’t help but laugh out loud before aggressively pointing to himself, “I–I am the prey? Me?”
She nodded quite nonchalantly as if pleased she had managed to tick him off successfully.
“I am not the prey! In fact, I am innocent. You are as fucked in the head as your boss. Everyone is fucked in the head…” Rami fell into a mumble as he turned his back and away from the guard hoping his little outburst got muffled and away from her ears so that she wouldn’t report this to her higher-up and cause him more trouble.
“You are here for a reason. And I am watching over you for a reason. Let us both do our jobs and get it over with,” she continued speaking, quite out of the ordinary.
Rami turned immediately to see her in the same pose, stoic and unempathetic.
“Your job may be to watch over me but apparently mine is to infiltrate some bloody crime organization that I am not even a part of—”
“You brought it upon yourself, Ravenous. You made the decision to sin—”
“Sin? I—I am not even from here, you know. And I am not Ravenous, stop calling me that!”
She remained silent watching him steaming in anger as his breath faltered. It was getting to him. It was slowly creeping up on Rami, who was usually quite good at powering through the unfair treatment in the hopes things would resolve themselves eventually. But lately, he was beginning to feel his patience run out.
He was about to begin his rant again when suddenly Noor appeared shaking his head as if he had witnessed a moment similar to what Rami was going through with his guard. Noor eyed Rami’s guard and walked past her without a clue that he was perhaps intruding on Rami’s first engaging conversation with someone. He stopped right in front of Rami’s face inches away.
“This is your last chance,” Noor whispered, taking another quick glance at Rami’s guard, “You have got one last chance to make a run for it. Maybe live the rest of your life as a beggar.”
Noor’s whisper made Rami pause his thoughts. “Wha–what do you mean? What is it? Is it that bad? What about you and Yulhan?”
Noor shook his head and sighed, “We’ll be fine. I just wanted to warn you. She’s…” he stopped for a moment before continuing, “...She’s sending us—you into the lion’s den. This is your last chance. You would never be able to back out of any of this after. It will soon be your point of no return.”
Rami stared into Noor’s eyes as fear crept in. All morning he had been prepping his mind that it was all just a dream so he could do as he wished. Then as the sun was beginning to set, his guards had instructed him to change clothes and duck his head as they walked out of Talin’s smelly chambers. He had felt his legs go numb from time to time seeing that he was finally supposed to act on the plan, the very plan they had been going over and over all day. Fear was igniting, spreading in him faster than he could put it out. And now seeing Noor, the unlikely of the two of his saviors to ever come to him like this, speaking to him this way, had Rami gasping for air.
“Where–where will I go?” Rami found himself whispering back at Noor in a shaky voice.
“Anywhere but here. Once you get a chance you must run. I will do the same once we meet up with Yulhan. This might be our only chance…” Noor’s reply drowned out as Dolovan suddenly entered with a set of her guards following right behind her.
Panic started bubbling and rising from Rami’s stomach and into his throat as he watched Dolovan march forward towards them. Her guards surrounded them like an indestructible moat. Rami’s eyes scanned the giants hovering over him as he finally looked to their leader with her hands clasped in front and wearing the usual straight face with glaring eyes. Dolovan tilted her head to speak out in a low tone, “It’s time, Ascari. Your cohorts await your untimely arrival.”
#
There was solemn music being played by a string instrument of some sorts. The garden, blooming with white flowers, smelled heavenly as it stretched out from the sturdy iron gates to the large mansion situated at the end like a bride dazzling in white.
The luxurious view was quite out of the ordinary compared to the dirty, grimy streets mere feet away. Yet, seeing how the mansion was at the edge of Keimitaan's East district, where the city met the woods, the mansion and its gorgeous landscape fit like an odd puzzle piece into the vast network of city streets. The streets filled almost all of Keimitaan, leading their way north until they met another odd puzzle piece, much grander in scale. It was none other than the sky-scraping and jaw-dropping royal palace at the northern edge of Keimitaan.
The moonlight shone brighter as the clouds swept past revealing the full moon in all its glory. Dolovan’s hand grabbed Rami by the back of his neck and shoved him under as a servant passed by the well kept bushes everyone was hiding behind. They watched as guests dressed in black arrived in their carriages then made their way in through the massive front doors of the mansion in dazzling white.
The last carriage rode in with its wheels going over a pothole splashing mud and whisking some towards the low bushes. Rami felt drops of mud hit his face but he couldn’t care less.
The carriage came to a stop and the door clicked open. A young girl dressed in a delicate dark dress and a black net covering her small face stepped out. She held herself together as her white handkerchief came to her nose several times within a span of a few moments before she waved to her coachmen and let the servants waiting for her guide her in.
Dolovan squinted her eyes as her face inched forward to get a glimpse of the girl walking up towards the mansion doors. “Is that…his sister?” she whispered.
Rami’s eyebrows raised in question, “Sister? I–I have a sister?”
Dolovan elbowed his stomach making him quieten down.
“Not you, idiot,” she tilted her chin pointing ahead, “Him.”
A man appeared right behind the girl dressed in navy blue. He was tall in stature and carried a thin long face with neatly combed hair sitting so properly on his head as if he took all the time in the world to place each one of them in perfect placement. He wore thin gloves and had a cloth wrapped around his neck covering half his chin as if it served as a mask of some sorts for if and when the situation would turn.
“Oh, brother!” the girl whimpered as she noticed him behind her and fell into his arms. He simply stayed still till she cried her eyes out and stood back on her feet to continue walking in.
The man too followed her as his navy coat danced with the slight breeze before the mansion doors closed behind them indicating the final guests had arrived for the occasion.
“Who was that?” Rami whispered curiously.
“That was Venom,” Dolovan replied with her eyes still glued to the door, “Your infamous rival.”
Rami felt his blood turn ever so slightly to water.
That’s my rival?
Rami thought remembering the stone cold face dripped in dapper clothing as if it had walked right out of some aristocratic film. Venom looked discerning as if nothing could ever disturb his peace. The weight of the situation was dawning upon Rami now that the characters on Dolovan’s chalkboard were slowly coming to life.
“Venom…Ah, yes! Your favorite,” Rami said in a cheerful tone, mostly trying to cheer himself up.
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Yet his words only amused himself for Dolovan simply stared back at him till he started to explain himself, “You said he was your favorite, remember?--”
“It’s time, Commander,” thankfully one of Dolovan’s guards interrupted them in time before she could have torn Rami to pieces. She pulled him by his collar and out of the bushes as her guards guided them around the garden and into the woods where they met a small man shivering in fear.
Dolovan pulled the hood of Rami’s cloak over his head and hid his body behind her frame as they reached the man.
“Is the path ready?” she asked, her voice deeper than ever almost to intimidate the poor servant possibly forced to commit treason against his master.
“Ye–yes, it is. I’ve secured the servants’ route to have your guests delivered right to the main hall where the ceremony will be conducted,” he spoke meekly as his eyes wandered in fear he might be caught by his master any moment now.
Dolovan nodded slowly, “Good good. We saw the last of the guests arrive. When is the ceremony starting?”
“S–soon. They’ve already begun to have the guests seated. They will begin the ceremony soon.”
“Well, then. I’ll have two of my men ready to follow you in a moment,” Dolovan replied coolly as she raised her arm and signaled to her guards. One of her guards led the man away for a moment before she turned around and looked at Rami, who was now beginning to form a layer of cold sweat down his back.
Rami hadn’t noticed but Noor too appeared right next to him being directed by another guard. And almost immediately upon arrival Noor nudged Rami and whispered, “I haven’t seen him all evening. Have you?”
Rami was confused but then Dolovan stepped closer and replied to Noor instead.
“Are you asking about your other spy? What’s his name, I keep forgetting…was it Carlu?”
Both Rami and Noor froze for a moment remembering that Noor and Yulhan had given fake names to Dolovan. They were perhaps lucky she hadn’t still figured out that they were deceiving her. Seeing how Dolovan was beginning to use their fake names it felt as if she had bought into the facade Rami’s two saviors were putting on.
“Ye–yes, well, the last we saw him was when we left the physician’s chambers. He should be joining us now, am I right?” Noor asked. His eyes lowered automatically partly catching onto the game Dolovan was already playing with them.
She smirked. The moonlight peeking through the leaves of the trees made the display of amusement on her face appear eerie.
“I thought you two would have figured it out already? Good grief, aren’t you two a little slow? Your friend will not be joining you tonight. Let’s just say he’s insurance guaranteeing me that the moment you step out into the residence of arguably the most powerful man in all the Keimitaan, next to the King, you would not betray me and turn on me, abandoning our plan.”
Noor’s fists balled. He knew Dolovan had seen through him and Yulhan. He knew that she had the gut instinct that perhaps Noor and Yulhan were not just Azul’s spies but also two men with a past. He knew she had a hunch that if one were to fall back the other would come for him and that she could perhaps use that to her advantage.
“But our plan involved him. I–I cannot act alone as a spy,” Noor gave it a shot, threw his first argument in.
“And that I’ve noticed…,” Dolovan answered with a smile creeping up her face.
She held her gaze on Noor before he intentionally lowered his.
“...And that is also why he’d be sitting pretty in a safe house till the two of you secure Azul’s new narrative and convince the whole of the Circle of Daggers that the man supposedly dead is alive and well once more.”
Rami peeked at Noor from the corner of his eye and saw his pretend-spy’s jaw clench in anger. He wondered if they had made a mistake and not planned well in advance to run away before Dolovan somehow got the upper hand.
Dolovan snapped her fingers. Rami’s wandering eyes centered back to her dark gaze. “Let’s make sure not to make a mistake now, shall we? You’ll be departing in a moment. I suggest you go over the plan among the two of you once more.”
#
Rami tripped. His knees knocked as he lost balance and reached out to Noor’s massive back as support before fumbling to the floor. The servants’ route was a narrow hallway dimly lit by dripping candles stuck to the brass fixtures on walls. The terrified man that met Dolovan earlier in the woods was leading the two of them, speeding through, making both Noor and Rami already begin to lose track of the route. Dolovan had warned them to memorize the path in case they needed to make an exit. But that part of the plan was already a bust.
Noor grunted as Rami held onto the back of his neck. His face was only inches away from planting onto Noor’s ass cheeks. Luckily, Noor was able to pull Rami back onto his feet, covering his mouth by placing a heavy palm over the red mask that covered the lower half of Rami's face, before Rami could yell out in pain. Something had twisted closer to Rami’s ankle sending a jolt of pain through his nerves.
“This way, hurry!” the man hissed seeing Noor and Rami stall behind him.
Finally, they saw the end of the dingy hallway open up to a tiny balcony with an unsafe railing marking the end of the path. Beaming candle light and soft somber music reached their senses. Rami’s eyes widened as he reached the railing and peeked to observe the massive gathering below. The hall was filled with men and women dressed in black. The men spoke amongst themselves in threes while the women gathered in groups with handkerchiefs to their noses. There was food and drinks being served by the servants whipping through the seating that was meticulously arranged facing the main area where a man in purple robes had set up his podium and was flipping through a giant book while smoke from a large pot emanated closer to him.
Rami’s eyes darted to the portrait standing right beside the podium. It was a large painting of a man in dapper clothing. He was clean shaven, hair slicked back carrying a rough expression despite the clean image. Rami’s eye twitched as realization washed over that the portrait was in reality a spitting image of him. It was Azul in his prime.
“They are about to begin the ceremony,” Dolovan’s informant whispered. Rami nodded while Noor handed a bag of coins Dolovan had asked to hand over to the man once he had delivered the two of them to the correct location.
The man grabbed the bag hastily and shoved it in his pockets, “No one ever comes here. I suggest you stay here till you need to do whatever it is you are supposed to.”
Noor nodded and watched as the man stared at Rami, whose nose was intentionally buried in the red scarf wrapped around his face as tightly as possible. Rami immediately looked away. “Stay hidden till the right moment comes. They will recognize you instantly the moment the mask falls,” were Dolovan’s final words before they parted.
The man took a few deep breaths before looking back at Noor then scurried off while bouncing his head around to make sure no one saw him with the two intruders.
The string quartet playing at the edge of the room finished their piece with a firm ending. The sudden drop in music made the chatter overtake the room. Both Noor and Rami peeked through the decorated railing hoping to get a sense of the audience that had no knowledge of their presence.
“There he is,” Noor pointed at a thin man making his way through the aisle and closer to a seat at the edge, “Venom.”
“Elyan Vaheez,” Rami whispered to himself as he remembered Dolovan’s words on his infamous rival growing up in the Circle. They watched as Elyan waited standing till his sister, carrying the same elongated facial structure and sharp eyebrows as her brother, made her way to him before he took his seat and let his weeping sister rest her head ever so gently on his pointed shoulder.
“They say his sister was the reason he pursued such a high position in the Circle. He wanted to give her everything, all the luxuries in the world,” Noor said as they watched how unsocial Venom continued to be only nodding at people greeting him.
Noor suddenly nudged Rami pointing to a corner with two hefty men laughing loudly. One was bald with his head shining like a light bulb almost blinding Rami. The other was blessed with salt and pepper hair in abundance. They both snorted and grunted at something their company was mouthing off at.
“That must be Butcher,” Noor whispered, “The word has it he rubs his bald head three times before he begins to slice his victims’ fingers off one by one.” Rami gulped as a familiar cold sweat found the back of his neck once more.
“Looks like next to him is—” Noor started only to have Rami finish his sentence, “Choker.”
Noor nodded as his voice trailed off to a whisper, “They say he’s the most welcoming of all in the Circle of daggers, people often wonder if he’s even that vicious,” Noor’s eyes met Rami’s before he sighed and continued, “I suppose you’d find out soon.”
“Um…” Rami suddenly started to wonder, “…I thought you were from a village, a rural village? How do you know so much about these people here, in the city?”
Noor only scoffed to reply, “There are many stories and rumors about the notorious Circle of Daggers, enough to cover all twenty years of the Circle's rise to power. You'd be surprised to know what they say about you.”
Rami felt his knees tremble as the pain of the slight twist of his ankle began to gnaw at him little by little. For a moment he thought he could perhaps over exaggerate his pain and have Noor take him back to Dolovan and try again later.
“Just an excuse,” he whispered to himself, to which Noor knotted his brows in confusion. And almost as if Noor was reading his mind he grabbed Rami by his shoulders at once giving a violent shake before Rami found his companion’s pleading eyes.
“You must do this. Just as we planned. You must do this with confidence that you will convince them that Azul is back for good.”
“You told me to run away only a few hours ago,” Rami let his mind speak.
“That was before I realized Dolovan has slighted us, taken Yulhan hostage,” Noor spat back. He sighed with his broad chest ballooning up and down before he looked at Rami once more.
“Please, I’m afraid Yulhan’s mother will not see her son again if tonight were to end poorly.”
Suddenly, a sharp clap from the hall startled them. The man in purple robes, whom Rami thought was perhaps a priest of some sorts, had clapped thrice to get the attention of all the guests in the hall.
“Please, everyone, take your seats. The ceremony will begin soon.”
Rami panicked as he saw the movement of the crowd. His heart started racing, making the sharp pulse reverberate across his body. He felt Noor nudge him forward towards the unstable stairs attached to the side of the balcony railing. Soon enough, Rami was being hurried down the staircase, sandwiched between a wall and thick drapes that shielded them from the main hall. They were making their way down towards the entrance of the very hall they were spying on.
Rami began to hear the giant wooden doors to the entrance creak close. The string quartet began a melancholy melody to fill the silence that had overtaken the crowd.
“I think I saw Black heart,” Noor’s whisper made a jolt of shock pass through Rami’s spine.
“The overlord?” he whispered back as Noor held Rami’s head from wandering away. “Wait no, Noor. I didn’t see him. I don’t know what the head of the bloody organization looks like–”
“You’ll see him soon enough,” Noor clasped his hefty hand across Rami’s masked lips and pushed forward.
The string quartet raised their notes to an end and the priest began the ceremony. Bells were rung and a solemn speech started as Rami and Noor stepped out into the empty corridor and rushed through to the closed wooden doors with a flimsy fellow standing guard in front of it.
“...and today we celebrate the fulfilling life of one of the most beloved members of the Circle of Daggers…” the muffled speech of the priest was heard through the doors.
The guard spotted Noor and Rami shuffling towards him. His eyes bulged, baffled that he had locked some guests outside.
“I’m sorry, I thought we got everyone walking inside the hall–” the boy started only to suddenly get pinned to the door by Noor’s heavy forearm, almost crushing the poor boy’s windpipe.
“Open the door,” Noor hissed.
“Be gentle,” Rami squirmed.
“...A young life lost so quickly. A loyal friend, a capable leader in the making, and a brilliant dagger fighting for all…”
The guard choked, “I–I can’t. We are not allowed to open the doors once it’s begun–”
Noor pressed harder, making the boy’s face turn blue. Rami somehow found Noor’s arm and pulled it away from the boy’s neck. The boy fell to his knees, choking, as the keys to the door dangled from his pockets. Noor pulled the boy back up to tear the keys away when Rami, unwittingly, stopped Noor at once, pulling the red mask covering half of his face free. His fingers reached the boy's chin and forced the boy’s eyes on him.
“You need to open the door now. They cannot mourn my death without me, now can they?”
It was as if time stopped as those words rolled off Rami’s tongue. He watched as the boy’s eyes widened in shock and his body froze for a moment as the priest's words echoed inside the hall, “...a man protecting the Circle till his death. Today we celebrate Azul Ascari, most well known as Ravenous of Keimitaan.”
The key clicked, and the heavy wooden doors, carved with the most beautiful designs of vines running across them, began to open majestically. Rami gave a final push, opening the doors fully and revealing the world hidden behind them.
A few confused, unexpecting, and annoyed faces first met his gaze. Soon the number of eyes staring at him multiplied as the priest quietened and confusion overtook the entire room before a wave of gasps spread across the hall.
Noor, only a step behind Rami, nudged him forward. Rami thought his knees would stop working then and there. He feared he would stumble into a laughable fall and end it before it had even begun. But a sudden surge of adrenaline took over his body, propelling him forward. His shy self, often wanting to run away into the shadows, suddenly embraced the shocked audience of perhaps a hundred faces staring back at him. He began to trot down the aisle.
A sudden squeal from a woman screaming, "A ghost?!" made Rami push his shoulders apart and stare directly at the priest, who was staring back with his mouth agape. He spotted Butcher by the edge of a row and Choker at the front. He even spotted Venom's prickly head with his eyes glaring back at him as his sister's jaw was slowly descending to the floor. But they weren't the ones that stopped Rami on his walk to conquer whatever it was he should be conquering with such an entrance. It was the shadow that moved so gracefully in the front row before appearing in full form at the top of the aisle to meet Rami's gaze that halted Rami in his tracks.
There stood a much older man, taller than anticipated, with a belly pushing against his buttons and a gray mustache curling its edges springing into life. A smile crept on that face as those dotted eyes landed on Rami who had stopped halfway through the aisle. Silence graced the audience as his first steps towards Rami reverberated against the sturdy walls as if an earthquake swept past them.
Rami gulped, seeing the gentleman walk so confidently towards him without even a slight hint of confusion on his face. He strode all the way to Rami and planted himself right in Rami's view, as if to block the world away from him. It was as if he demanded Rami's whole attention.
And Rami knew it instantly. He knew this was the man himself. The one man feared by the entirety of a city, heck, even an entire kingdom. It was the man Dolovan had warned him about multiple times for his ruthless and cutthroat behavior. It was the man he should be fearing right now. And that man was smiling at him.
“I knew you would make it out one way or the other. A dagger would never give up so easily,” he spoke loudly. Every word striking Rami against his skin. Nanji Kaalu, overlord of the Circle of Daggers, was speaking to him.
Nanji opened his hefty arms wide and pulled Rami into a crushing hug as the crowd surrounding them suddenly sprouted to life in shock and cheers.
Rami felt it to be a warm embrace, like that of a man who had suddenly discovered his dead son returning home from war in one piece. Rami felt it was a warm, fatherly embrace until Nanji brought his lips to Rami's ears and whispered,
“Welcome home, Azul, my favorite, most prized dagger.”
They were words of joy and pride, yet Rami felt the contempt writhing beneath like maggots in a festering wound.