Hitman's Tenet

Chapter 4

The Chairman has been in a meeting for the last few hours, and my legs are numb from standing up so long.

The Chairman asked... no, actually, he demanded rather rudely that I stand guard.

I groan, deciding to give in and sit on the ground. Then I hear the shouts.

"I'm telling you, this is working! You can try it out for yourself!"
"You are a fraud."
"Think of all the money we could make! The fame, and the power!"
"A fraud. A fake. Soon someone will find out-"
"The beauty of this, my dear friend, is that I have masterminded the whole operation. My staff is oblivious, and entirely incompetent." I snarl, wondering if that means me. It probably does.

"For goodness sake, the whole region believes me! You are a fool to not think, to at least some degree, that what I have done is genius."

I lean closer to the door, and peer through the keyhole. The Chairman, arguing with whom I can only assume is his business associate, whispers something in his ear.

"No. Never. I am telling you, Bruco-"
"You will not address me in that way!" The Chairman is really angry now, his face red, and spit flying everywhere. I watch on in morbid fascination.

"I am telling you, when we exploit the powers of the gem, you and me will ascend into status beyond imaginable. Riches, relationships, and influence that will reach everywhere."

"Once again, I am telling you that someone will discover-"
"Pah! They are all brainless, snub-nosed, indignant, filthy peasantry that will not be able to figure out a thing." By now, I'm quivering from rage.

Abruptly, The Chairman stands up from his seat, and I rush back to my position. The door clicks, like the sound of a gun being reloaded, and The Chairman steps out.

"Good-for-nothing scoundrels," he grumbles, and slams the door. He turns to me, and his already stone-cold gaze turns to ice. "Get back to work."

I scuttle away, leaving the estate and heading back to the edge of the forest. I frown, and then sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. Then, a familiar voice chirps behind me cheerfully, poking me in the back.

"Turn that frown upside down!" Jay dangles from a tree limb, dangling from a tree limb from his legs. He swings back and forth, hair flying everywhere. How could he tell, I wonder.

"You'll get wrinkles if you keep this up."
"I can't help it," I sigh. "Can't exactly tell you about it either." There's a beat of silence, and I want to say something else. But it's hard, when all that I can see of Jay is his black mesh mask.

I have a mask on too, so I don't exactly blame him. But it still feels odd.

"You don't have to tell me everything." Jay jumps down from the tree, landing at my feet. "Let's talk about something else."

He hoists himself up part of another tree, and extends a hand towards me.

I take it, letting him pull me up to a higher branch.
"Do you see those trees over there, near the red ones?" I nod, and watch as he clambers up next to me and points towards a grove in the distance.
"When it's fall, they have apples there. Don't know who planted those trees, but the apples are really good."

Tentatively, Jay slips his hand around my waist. He pulls me closer, his touch feather-light, and points in a different direction.

"A family of deer live over there. And over here..." He gently tilts my head towards a tall tree on our left. "An eagle roosts on that tree. She has two chicks."

He goes on to tell me about the wildlife in the area, large and small. There's so much around me, and I didn't even know.

It's not before long that Jay beings a smile to my face.

"...and wild asparagus grows over there, if you're into tha-"

"Thank you." Jay freezes, and then relaxes.
"I'm glad that you're feeling better."
There's a beat of silence, both of us unsure what to say.

"Well! The sun's high up in the sky now, I should probably go." He jumps from the beach, swinging from tree limb to limb, agilely darting down to the ground, and calls "Adios!" over his shoulder.

It takes me a few minutes to get back down, and by then Jay's gone.

Back at The Chairman's estate, I tiptoe around, trying to find Iva and I some lunch. I head over to the kitchen's back door, but I stop in my tracks when I hear The Chairman's thundering voice.

"I'm taking care of it!" Peeking through the keyhole, I can see The Chairman and the same man he was talking to earlier. Seems like The Chairman managed to convince him to go along with his schemes.

"I would also like to mention one detail that I neglected. There is..." He pauses, and begins to pace around the room. He's nervous, the lines around his brow have deepened, and his steps are not as confident as they usually are.

"There is a guild that is trying to steal the gem," he finishes. Slowly, I step away from the door. No.

A guild means that this job is getting dangerous. It would be impossible for me and Iva to fend them off if they attacked the vault, even with our equipment. Who knows what they would do to us when we lost...

I need to find Iva. And we need to quit this job. Immediately.

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I head back to our hideout, and back with the rest of the guild. Crow gives me a nod, and I sit down.

Prince Arthur- the real one, walks through a door on my left, ropes and chains nowhere in sight. I nearly fall out of my chair.

"Wha-what's he doing out of his..." I sputter, completely bewildered. "He could just walk out of here at any moment."
"Oh. Yeah. That." Crow tilts his head towards Arthur's direction. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"
"I'm the guy that's impersonating him, I can't do that. Besides you know that I-

"Hi! We meet again, I suppose." This time, I actually fall out of my chair. "Oh my god, are you okay?" A strong hand lifts me up, and I rub my head.
"Hello?" I look up, and stare into blue eyes, so much like mine.

"You must be Jay" he says, smiling. My hands start shaking, and I tense up. I'm not sure what to say, and I don't want to say the wrong thing.

So I say nothing.

Arthur gives me a confused look, and touches my shoulder gently.
"I guess you want to know what I'm doing here." I give him a nod. "Well, I guess it's not as dramatic as one would hope. Do you know Nadalie?" Another nod.

Nadalie joined us half a year ago. She was always quiet, but nice to everyone. Nadalie also made a killer apple-cinnamon pie for the holidays.

"Arthur? Could you go grab some cinnamon for me?" Nadalie's voice echoes across the empty, unfurnished room. She poked her head through the door frame, and waves a hand, covered with flour and brown sugar.

The way Arthur looked at her was completely different. It was almost as if... she were rain, and he was a parched flower, opening up his petals to bask in the spring shower.

"Yeah, no problem. Do I need to get anything else? Eggs, sugar, or flour?" Arthur rushed to her side, taking her hand and guiding Nadalie back to the kitchen, both of them chattering away excitedly.

Crow looked at me, and then at the couple.

"And that's why he stayed."