Connor busied himself by training vigorously every day and going over his equipment repeatedly.

He’d asked Adelia to join him for the mission during one of their sparring sessions, and she’d agreed. The informant’s requested gold had been given to him by Victor, and now rested in his bottomless bag along with some extra coin just in case the informant changed the price when the meeting came.

Everything was set, and all that was left to do was wait.

The three days until the meeting crawled by, but eventually it was time to head out.

He donned his black leather armor, adjusted his belt with his dwarven-forged rapier sheathed at his hip, and checked the throwing knives concealed all over his body.

“Meet the guy, pay him off, listen to what he has to say, and everyone will be on their merry way,” Connor muttered.

Yeah right. Like anything ever went that smoothly. Especially when dealing with lowlifes.

He double-checked his bracers and pulled on a cloak, both to ward off the cool evening air and to conceal his armor. It didn’t hide it completely, but someone would have to look much closer to notice it.

Especially once the sun set.

He smiled softly. Hopefully, this time tomorrow he’d be back in the workshop.

He drank one of his remaining vials of sense-enhancing potion and waited for it to kick in.

Thank goodness he’d built up such a large stockpile of them.

All his senses expanded, and the world exploded with vibrant colors once more. The overwhelming period before his mind caught up with the new sensations was definitely getting easier to bear.

He took one last look in the mirror, taking in his fingerless gloves, and the leather greaves on his legs with even more knives hidden within.

Yup. Everything was in order. Time to get going.

Adelia waited at the bottom of the stairs. Dressed, as always, in her dark leather armor with her hood up and her face concealed beneath a cloth mask, so only her bright violet eyes peeked out.

“Are you ready?” Connor asked.

She scoffed. “You have to ask?” she said.

Connor chuckled and said, “Ask a stupid question—”

“And get a sarcastic answer,” she interrupted.

The dark tunnels beneath the palace were entirely different with his heightened senses. It was still tough to tell which direction sounds came from, but he definitely picked up on a lot more activity.

Had the tunnels always been so… alive? Or were the monsters just getting more out of control?

At least, he could see much further in the tunnels now. Far beyond the small circle of light from his torch. If anything did come for them, he should see it long before he normally would…

“You’re awfully quiet today,” Adelia said.

Her voice was little more than a whisper, but in the oppressive silence of the tunnels, it sounded far louder. Something shifted in an adjacent tunnel. Hmm… the monsters were definitely closer than they should be.

“I guess I just have a lot on my mind,” Connor whispered.

“Care to share?” Adelia asked.

“Not really,” Connor whispered.

“Can you at least tell me more about this mission?” She asked.

“I already told you, we’re going to meet someone and pay for information,” he said.

She sighed. “Yes, I know that part,” she said, “but you haven’t told me any more than that. And since when does Victor send his precious nephew on a run-of-the-mill intelligence meeting? No, I’m guessing there’s a lot more to it than just that.”

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How much should he tell her? He trusted her, but Vadik’s involvement wasn’t for him to share.

The fewer people who knew what Vadik was doing, the safer he would be. He could tell her everything else though.

He paused for a moment and listened for anyone or anything that might be in hearing range. Though the tunnels echoed, words quickly became incomprehensible, and whispering didn’t carry far… for human ears anyway.

It was so damn quiet down here, he could probably hear a mouse breathing.

A ghoul shuffled along far down the tunnel to their right, and the low rumble of a basilisk's growl echoed from further in. It was probably almost feeding time.

But, neither of those two were close enough to hear. And, even if they were, monsters like them weren’t exactly brilliant conversationalists.

They should be safe.

“Victor’s been receiving reports from all over the world. Everything from political assassinations to the orcs to the south stirring. Even the slave trade has been booming, but so far we have no idea who’s buying them or what’s going on.

“Hopefully, our contact can help us shed some light on all this. The slavery part anyway,” Connor whispered so low that even a human standing right next to them would’ve had trouble picking it up.

Somehow, he figured Adelia wouldn’t have a problem hearing him.

“Politicians bumping each other off, folk whispering about another blood war, and slavers being slavers. Sounds like the same old story to me,” Adelia whispered.

“If it were, Victor wouldn’t be so concerned,” Connor whispered, “we’re not talking about the normal stuff. It’s a huge increase. Started off slow, but it’s picking up speed. Victor thinks all of it’s connected and I doubt he’d be thinking much about the orcs if it were just the whispers of hot-blooded youths and senile old men.

“Somebody out there is up to something, and hopefully, you and I are about to find out a piece of that puzzle. Once we know what’s going on, we can work on putting a stop to it.”

“How do you know that we’ll want to stop it?” Adelia asked.

“Anyone that gets involved with slavers can’t be up to anything good,” Connor said.

They continued in silence after that.

It was a long walk through the tunnels toward the nearest exit to the east side of the docks. They took a path few outside of Victor’s circle ever used, or knew existed, and reached a solid iron door covered in runes.

Connor touched the runes in sequence. The door clicked and swung open. A gust of air washed over them, and they stepped inside. It sealed behind them with another soft click.

The room around them was well lit, clean and filled with bookshelves despite the already modest space.

An elven man sat behind a desk going through a ledger.

He looked up at the two of them and smiled. “Ah, Connor and Miss Adelia too?” he said, “so good to see you both. To what do I owe the pleasure? Should I have one of the servants bring us tea and perhaps something to eat? Crumpets maybe? I just got the most delicious blackcurrant jam. Absolutely scrumptious!”

“Afraid not,” Connor said, “official business up above.”

“That’s too bad,” the elf said, “Victor was more than generous with this library, but I do find myself getting lonely from time to time. There are the other spies of course, but it’s always a little odd asking someone who works for you to keep you company.”

“You just have to lay low a little longer. Duke Bernstein’s wanted posters are getting less like you by the day. He didn’t get the best look at you, and his memory isn’t what it used to be,” Connor said.

Illyian sighed. “He’s persistent isn’t he?” he said.

“To be fair, he thinks you were the one that got his wife involved in demonic rituals,” Connor said.

“I suppose there is that… but it won’t be long before folk don’t need a reason. Have you seen what’s going on out there? Taxes on non-humans keep getting higher, their shops get vandalized, nobody will hire them, and if they do it’s only at a fraction of a human’s pay, and it’s only getting worse.

“It won’t be long before they start stringing people up based on the pointiness of their ears. When did such pointless hatred take root? I remember a time when we all fought together as one in The Great War…”

Connor chuckled. “Come off it. I know you’re not nearly that old. Not even close,” he said.

“Well… I’ve heard the stories anyway,” Illyian said.

“Who hasn’t?” Connor said, “but I know what you mean… we’re working on it, but it isn’t easy. People love to hate.”

Illyian sighed. “That they do… that they do…” he said, “By the way, it’s still some time before my next report is due. But, when you next see Victor maybe you could tell him I’ve got the tavern in the black this month? It astounds me how anyone would want to drink such swill, but they’re draining it by the barrel. We’re making a tidy profit!”

Connor chuckled. “You know it’s just a front right?” he said.

Illyian shrugged. “If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right,” he said.

Connor smiled. “You’ve been spending too much time with Victor. I can hear him speaking through you. I’ll tell him though. I’m sure he’ll be pleased with your hard work,” he said.

Adelia and Connor climbed the stairs up through the trap door into the floor above, and then another set of stairs into the cellar, and finally into the tavern’s kitchen.

The servants paid them no mind and worked around them with a clean, military efficiency, and the two stepped out into the tavern proper.

A crowd of sailors filled the room, downing one tankard of ale after another and talking at the top of their voices about anything and everything to anyone willing to half pay attention.

Connor smirked. Illyian was doing well indeed. Victor was right to place him here… though an elf running a tavern just seemed… wrong somehow.

They pushed their way through the crowd and stepped out the tavern into the fading evening light. It was a short walk from there to the docks.

They were well ahead of time, which gave them time to scout it out and assess the situation.

Maybe he was being too cautious, but was there such a thing in this business?