Ten days, it took ten whole days to arrive. For the first track of the journey Eigil had been lucky but after crossing the narrow path the wind had gone still adding three days by boat to arrive at port in Atrix.

This was the original crowned city, capital of the kingdom and as such the architecture at the northern city was ostentatious to say the least. Everything near the docks was what you could expect of a port city, mostly wooden structures; taverns, inns and markets filled this area. As you moved north, however, wood disappeared from the architecture replaced by stone. The city was basically divided into two districts; the stone hill and bay side.

The assassin’s guild headquarters were located in the border of this areas; close enough for wealthy clients and lowlifes looking for work. It was comprised of a whole block of houses and establishments connected underground by a series of stone tunnels and catacombs.

Eigil entered by the northern most entrance, normally used by the wealthiest of clients. This was his first time in the city, he had spoken with some members of the guild and part of his training had been done by Garlin himself but that had been done in the empire.

The tunnel was dark; all the lanterns that should have illuminated the area were down, not only turned off but missing. After a minute or so in the darkness he found one in decent enough shape to illuminate the rest of the way.

Aside from the lack of light nothing seemed out of place. The area outside the headquarters seemed to be undisturbed and there was no evidence of a struggle through the corridor. As he approached the detailed wooden doors, he smelled something putrid. Preparing himself Eigil knocked on the door and waited.

Three large clubs came swinging down towards him; each one with a different angle and speed. With a single movement Eigil dodged all the weapons and knocked again; this time a deep voice answered.

“You must be Good to still be in one piece, who are you?” This was de voice of Garlin asking in Zibish.

“Are you out of servants Vex? Or have you fallen low enough that you answer your door yourself?” Eigil responded, his Zibish was a little rusty from disuse.

The sounds of locks disengaging filled the area before the door swung opened. At the other side Garlin was standing alone in a poorly lit room. He was a strong man, his build similar to that of Cadem but more impressive considering he would be around fifty years of age.

His skin was a dark copper like most citizens of the southern sections of the world. Around this area people tend to tan easier due to the climate, Eigil would need a way to not rise suspicion as an outsider.

Garlin was starting to show his age with white areas beginning on his beard although he had shaven clean his head since last, they saw each other. His bronze skin was complemented by a pink shirt and white pants with a detailed leather armour on top.

“Where are your manners boy? That is no way to greet your old master” He responded while placing his left hand on the scabbard of his sword that hanged attached to his hip.

“I only respect the gods and my grandfather” Eigil said in a serious tone, taking a step forward towards the guild master.

After a few seconds staring to each other both of them smiled.

“Come here boy” Garlin opened his arms and embraced Eigil.

“You look old” Responded Eigil as he hugged his master.

“That is what happens when you don’t see your teacher in ...” He took a couple of seconds to think “Close to eight years I’m going to say; come in I will turn the lights on”

As he said this Garlin pulled a lever behind the door; immediately several metallic sheets moved to let in golden lights throughout the room. By the looks of it natural lights channelled with the use of gold and mirrors to reach this underground location.

The round room was as luxurious as you could get, golden decorations and ceramics placed on every surface; mirrors and expensive tapestries covered most of the walls. The two chairs and sofa were placed surrounding a glass table with each side depicting a different animal of the region.

Eigil selected the most well decorated chair, the one that clearly belonged to the guild master and sat on it.

“Sorry to cut our meeting short Vex but we need to get to business.” His tone had changed from the familiar one he used with his friends to his serious one. “We have lost all communication with the guild and with it all other business in Ria. I want your report as we have less than three days to send a hawk to my father with a letter explaining what happened and how we have solved the issue.”

Garlin walked slowly towards the sofa with a grim expression on his face.

“Well, you better get comfortable and call your dad to bring an army.” He said in a flat voice as he sat in the sofa placing his hands on his face.

Eigil looked at him without blinking, he took a long pause before taking a deep breath and began to speak.

“You will need some context for this to make sense. As you might know even if the cities have been at each other throats since they divided, our religion has always been one of the only focusses of faith and unity. The thirteen have looked over the kingdom for a millennium and even if other religions entered the area and their worship was protected by law; no other could take their place. Each of our cities has its own patron deity, Atrix has always been looked over by our lady Qhistia.”

Eigil knew all this; all gods were celebrated in the kingdom but each city gave in to a specific one for patronage; only the god of death and the underworld whose name was taboo had no territory to claim for obvious reasons. Qhistia goddess of family and the ocean was the leader of the gods. It was pretty normal for a coastal city to pray to an oceanic god but Eigil kept his thought to himself; respecting others believes was something he had always done no matter his own thoughts on the subject.

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“Our first king and by consequence the current royal family are said to be direct descendants of Qhistia and her husband Ittyx. The blessing of our goddess has always accompanied the royals, no death has occurred during childbirth and no sickness has been recorded on a child before they come of age since the founding of the kingdom. At least that had been the case until this generation. Some say the bloodline has gone thin from mixing with normal humans, others say the gods have abandoned the kingdom, and there is a group who say this blessing has never existed and records have been faked.” Garlin gave out a long sigh before he continued.

“Whatever the case, in the last decade there had been three deaths and four sick children between the royals of the cities.” He paused, the expression on his face showing this was a delicate subject; specially to someone dedicated to his faith.

“Around three years ago a new religion entered the kingdom. Even my sources could not determine the location of origin but they seemed to have entered all the cities around the same time. They believe in a single god that created all before becoming the earth itself. At first, they seemed harmless they helped the poor and treated the sick no matter their social or economic standing. The believes of this group that called themselves ‘children of the garden’ coincide with several or the thirteen in a way or another so most had no issues with them. We even informed you of their presence and we were told to leave them be.”

“I understand” Eigil interrupted being as polite as possible. “Interfering with the religion of any group is an easy way to make enemies; we have a policy to contain them but never fully oppose new or stablished religions.” He continued before signalling his old master he had finished his interjection.

“Well, this time you were wrong to let them roam free” He responded, his tone heated with anger. “They steadily grew for some time, nothing special, that is until two of the princes of the cities grew steadily sicker. Prince Laure from Nahua and crown prince Gard here in Atrix came down with similar symptoms. They both had fought this disease since birth and by their twelve and seventh birthdays respectively thew have grown weak to the point they were both bed ridden.”

Eigil moved on his seat, it was common knowledge that aside from the university the best healers were either Rians or Zybyns. A mysterious sickness leaving two royal children in that state would mean trouble.

“No healer was able to help these boys? What are the symptoms?” Eigil asked concerned. If a disease had destroyed their network, it would take much longer to reconstruct it.

“Some symptoms were controlled or reduced but no cure appeared. The boys started with physical pain on the knees and elbows, from there a fever appeared and was maintained without breaking. Constant pain in different areas was normal, and finally the most advance stage included sudden bleeding that could not be stopped by normal means. From what I could gather any bleeding, even from the smallest of cuts could go on for days.”

A disease with no known cure and the possibility of bleeding to death with a paper cut was more terrifying than anything he had expected to hear. But something did not add up, the port had been in full working order, a thousand people moving around with nothing out of the ordinary.

“How many infected?” He asked Garlin.

“Just the two boys” He answered casually. “No other has presented symptoms since.” He saw Eigils confused expression, paused for a second and continued.

“The issue is not the disease but what happened due to these boys’ status and condition. Most god-fearing folk started taking; rumours spread that the blessing; the gods themselves had left the kingdom and as the children grew weaker the people began to get unstable. Finally, five months ago a high priest of the children of the garden, Roderik if my contacts are correct, came into the royal palace here in Atrix. He believed his religion had; no, his religion WAS the cure for the boy; he asked the king and queen to leave any treatment given to the boy by the healers and for the entire family to transition to the new religion in a ceremony. They were reluctant at first but with the only heir to the throne in danger they agreed to the terms and the ceremony took place on the main courtyard of the royal palace.” Garlin stopped.

He rose suddenly and walked towards a dresser. He took out a bottle and two glasses. Eigil stared at the man waiting for him to return to the story but he didn’t, he placed the glasses on the centre table and poured what looked like a yellowish liquid.

“It is pulque, you can call it the local liqueur by excellence.” He told Eigil as he drank from his glass and he sat once more. Garlin waited for Eigil to drink; it was a strong drink with a fine after taste.

“So; what happened? Did the boy die or something?” Eigil asked.

“The opposite, since this ceremony took place, the boy has been constantly getting better. He was even present during the festival last week. The queen has given the children of the garden free reign over the city and there are plans to change the official religion. The number of followers has gone to the roof, around half of all the citizens have transitioned.”

“It was not a political rebellion but a religious one” Eigil interjected. This would make things more dangerous; people can go crazy when religion is involved.

“You could say that, and things got worse as Gard got better. The king of Nahua is deeply religious and so he denied any help from the children of the garden and so his son became weaker and weaker.” Garlin finished with a grim expression.

“What is the current condition of the boy?” was the immediate response from Eigil.

“He is dead”