Dead centre of the northern district the ‘royal palace’ of Atrix was more of a pyramidal stone structure with golden details and decorations. Its walls were not a flat, inclined surface; it looked more like a set of stars on each side with every step made of stone walls close to three meters high.

It was outlined by beautiful gardens and four enormous guard towers, one at each of the pyramid corners. There were no walls or gates surrounding it but the number of guards was absurd.

The gigantic structure dwarfed all other buildings on the city and could be seen from almost anywhere in the capital.

That is not to say the royal family of Atrix possessed all the wealth in the city. They had complete control over the area but the wealth was divided more equitably than in the majority of the world; the palace was built over eight hundred years prior, a relic of old times and old politics.

It had been several hours since Eigil had left the assassins guild to scout the city. Before he sends a letter to his father, he wanted to evaluate the situation for himself. The city felt quiet; the closer to the palace he got, the less people he saw around on the street as if all the wealthy and powerful were hiding.

It seemed like after they were given free reign over the city the children of the garden started an inquisitorial patrol. Groups of three to five people roamed the streets of the stone area with a sense of bravado.

By what information he could gather they served as extra guards with the authority to arrest any ‘evil doers’ and take them to be judge by the priests. The laws they enforced were mostly the laws of the kingdom; however, there were two additional laws that meant trouble for him and his allies.

The first one was that any association to any criminal activity was punishable by exile. This meant that any family member of any criminal would be forced out of their property and any valuables would go to the church.

Most nobles were given an out with a pardon if they gave all the information they had on any criminal activity and paid a fine. This was the reason the members of the guild and other associates were missing, the nobles had given to the demands and rated them out to the church.

Exile in this part of the world would probably mean death due to the tropical wildlife so Eigil understood why the nobles did it, but he would not forgive them for betraying the organization so casually.

Even if they knew nothing about it

The second law consisted on a complete ban of the worship of Ulborh, god of death. For most people this was no big issue, only the priests at the cemeteries prayed publicly using a placeholder name for the god. To the guild however, this was closer to home; Eigil also took this personally. To him Ulborh was the Rian equivalent of Sithir, God of shadows and patron of assassins; his patron.

They had messed with the wrong sort of people.

The patrols of this ‘children of the garden’ where organized, more like a military force than a regular citizen patrol, they followed the city’s streets with at least five different patterns. For some reason they avoided the cemeteries but this could be because of their believes. Each group had a leader marked by a white and gold mark in their chest and a captain guided the movements of all groups from a central position.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Just after twilight there was a patrol shift. Eigil followed one of the leaders that left their post. He walked the streets confidently, never looking back, without a care in the world. After a communal dinner for all the guards leaving this shift, the man walked towards a house near the eastern wall in the border between the stone and wooden sections.

The house seemed normal for the area, mostly wooden structure with a stone base and plastered walls. No markers made this distinguishable in any way. No one else entered or left the building meaning, no one would notice this man was missing until morning.

Eigil entered easily through a third story window, he used one of his needles to move the hatch and opened slowly so to not make any noise. As he looked in, he noticed the house was empty, no sign of any furniture or people.

The property seemed abandoned; except that every surface was clean, no dust, grime or grease. No ordinary house should be that clean, least of all one where a single guard lived alone.

The third and second floors were in the same condition, clean and empty. To ensure he left no trace Eigil had taken off his shoes and socks, placed them in his bag and put on a fresh set of socks. Markings of old furniture and scrapings covered the floor, most of the damage recent as if everything was taken away in a hurry with no regards for the wooden floors.

As he approached the stair for the ground floor, he noticed a faint light. He waited placing his body against a wall to hide if anyone came up. After a minute of silence, he approached the stars and slowly went down. Two of the steps threaten to groan in response to his weight but he was able to avoid anything substantial thanks to his training.

The light source was not in this floor; when he turned the corner and peered around, he saw an opened hatchet half covered with a single rug. There was nothing else in the kitchen to his left nor in the open space in front of the chimney to his right.

The hatchet was relatively small, fifty by fifty centimetres at most, with a ladder going down to the basement. There was movement down the hatchet; the sound of two adult men came out in an echo.

“… You forgot … the entrance again …” His was the voice of a different man, not the one Eigil had followed.

The man approached the hatchet quietly, not speaking to his partner. The other man had answered something but the sound was distant. Eigil placed himself hidden behind the hatchet door and waited.

When the man had risen his arm to close the door Eigil acted. In one fast, fluid motion he grabbed the man’s arm; pulling him upwards and delivering an electric shock that would make him tension every muscle in his body cutting the scream before it began.

Once outside the hole one punch was all it took to knock him out. Moving as fast as he could without making much noise Eigil moved the man to the side and gave him another shock to ensure he would be down for a while.

The man was bald with a deep scar covering his left cheek; by this appearance he was not a local, his pale skin and ginger beard told Eigil this man came from either the Duchy of Veneta at the north east or the Kingdom of Sivat north.

He was wearing a set of white and green robes; he had taken the upper portion and tied the arms in such a way that he left his torso bear. Several scars marked his body, most of them were old but some looked fresh. This matched the description of the attire given by Garlin. This man was a priest of ‘the children of the garden’.

Moving fast to avoid suspicion Eigil enter the hatchet after taking a quick look to ensure he was not being watched, he closed the door so that the man inside heard.

The inside consisted of three rooms divided by wooden doors; one of them opened revealing bed and armoire the other closed. All the walls were stone, some of them covered with religious symbols he did not recognize but what caught his attention was a wooden table at the back of the room filled with papers and maps.

Before tackling the treasure-trove of information, he had to take care of the other man. Eigil approached the door and knocked once.

“What do you want? I am sleeping” Sounded the patrol leader with traces of annoyance in his voice.

Eigil knocked again; this time harder; once, twice. Footsteps sounded as the man complained.

“I just got here from patrol Simon; I don’t care what you want ju…” He was cut short; Eigil had thrown his needles the second the door had opened. The man was left unconscious after a shock.