Murder of Crows - A Kingdom of Crows Book the First

Chapter 4 - The Senator's Request

The guards of one of the Senators of Grayhelm knew Knox by this time. Senator Lucian was one of the reasons no authority can ever touch the Mythmire Shack. The senator managed the place many years ago, along with his best friend, Theo's father. Both of them were born to a family of criminals, but despite that, Lucian had managed to climb up the ladder of power and success. Theo's dad remained in the shack until he died five years ago.

Knox presented himself to the head servant and was led to Lucian's quarters. When he entered, there was another lad in the room. He passed a glance at the taller, blond teen but gave him no further attention. He bowed his head and turned to the Senator, his lips pursed in annoyance.

Lucian, despite his initial serious expression, burst out laughing. "You sure take after your father."

"Please don't mention the rotten old man in my presence," Knox grunted, averting his gaze. "What do you want me to do?"

The man clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his knuckles. "I want you and Arthur here to investigate one of Ernridge's Procurators." He took a paper inside his drawer and showed them a sketch of the target's face. "Arthur had been hired by the same man to kill me, but he's switched sides."

Knox turned to the teen beside him. The lad locked gazes with him and smirked.

"You'll help him." Lucian leaned on his chair. "You can share the price money afterwards."

Arthur scoffed. "I thought you had better ideas. I don't need this lame sissy to help me. And I want the full payment, old man. Half's not gonna work for my rates!"

The Senator didn't heed his request and faced Knox instead.

"Don't ignore me, goddammit!" the blond boy grumbled.

Lucian sighed. "Procurator Pirix had been kidnapping and torturing children around the district, by the orders of one of the Consuls. That's the façade he wants to show anyway. Rumors have it that he'd been using his captives for other purposes. His reason for hiring Arthur to kill me is because I had planned to expose him for his crimes. I want you to confirm if the rumors are true. Other than that, confirm if there are Coordinators among the children."

"And if they're true?" Knox asked, as if it still wasn't obvious.

"Kill him."

***

Arthur left the senator's manor first. Knox got the sketch of the Procurator's face to memorize it.

According to the information Lucian had given him, Pirix Hanesvelle is in charge of Ernridge's food supply and distribution. During the past years, he and his wife have been smuggling all kinds of food, mostly those they believe were medicinal. The data also said that his wife was ill with some incurable disease. When one of the country's Consuls had ordered him to check on children for potential Coordinators, they took the chance to kidnap the young ones and use their blood to "extend" their lives. At least that was what they were told to believe.

As far as Knox knew, Coordinator blood didn't do any healing magic. He stared at the paper in disgust. "That's some fucked-up shit."

"Yo."

He looked up and then turned to his right to see Arthur leaning on the wall of a tall edifice. Knox's features darkened when he saw the other lad swinging his knife around. "What do you want?"

"I want the whole-ass money, punk. You'll just get in my way." He grabbed the hilt of his dagger and pointed it at Knox.

Knox sighed. "Yeah, sure. The job's a request. Even if you throw a petty fit right now, I won't back out from it."