Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 19 Part 1

I woke up and got dressed, none of the girls questioned where I was going. Taking a trail out towards the gardens, I walked until I found a familiar pigeon. It would come find me every so often, I had trained several of them in this way. A few of my spies released them on a designated schedule. If I didn't seek out the bird it would return later, if I did it would return immediately. Removing a crude piece of coal, I wrote a message on the paper from the pigeon's leg. The message was simple, the host's address along with "Silver bedding buy."

The message had to be short, the paper was small and the piece of coal didn't write neatly. Hopefully it was legible enough. In any case I was confident they'd understand. The host was in charge of his family's embroidery business. I was happy with all of the bedding I'd seen inside. While I was sure he focused on robes, hence that gaudy thing he wore, I thought the bedding would please Silver. Maybe someday I'd commission a robe, I laughed to myself.

I headed back to the servant's kitchen. I should eat something before the Empress's servants came to find me. There were a couple simple buns leftover, I took a few, then walked back outside to sit against a tree and eat. The maids and servants were all silent as they quickly walked from building to building. The guards were on high alert, each group doubling from four to eight. No longer splitting upon reaching an intersection, they monitored everything. I watched from a distance, wondering how many more killers were hidden in the walls.

Someone that appeared to be a ghost, I thought. They were a master of the ghost image skill then. In Demon Peak the fourth elite, Spectre, could master the skill. He had an affinity with the dead, capable of pulling bits of secrets out of their souls. The information he received depended on how loose lipped the person was when they were alive. If the person was easily bought in life the person was easily bought in death. Spectre could be considered closer to Angst, they sometimes traveled together for a night of fun.

The sun moved across the sky slowly as I waited. Spectre obviously hoped to get lucky and rid himself of the Crown Prince last night but it was a plan he didn't expect to succeed, thus sending in last night's team rather than personally attending. So if that wasn't the goal, who was?

Knowing who my target was would make it easier to search. I could also rule out the scent of poison, that wasn't Spectre's style. Much like Angst, he'd want to be in the middle of things. He'd want to feed on the newly dead, specifically their souls. Making an exchange of sorts. As dusk settled I started to sense his presence in the distance.

So long as he remained away from the Crown Prince it wasn't my concern what contract he was here to fulfill. We could both easily part ways, profiting along the way. I would have to reconsider if he discovered my presence though. I wasn't ready for Angst to know where I was. At last I stood up from my spot, I needed to find some dinner and maybe afterwards check on Lei.

Halfway back, I heard a shadow tailing me, unwilling to give myself away I continued as if unaware. A shadow burst from the side and kicked me in the stomach. I fell down to my knees and held my stomach as if in pain. I looked up with pathetic eyes to find the elderly Midwife's guard staring down at me. Still testing me? I thought to myself while continuing the ruse.

"Follow me." She said. Continuing the act, I went along in a pathetic manner. For all of the times I pretended to be weak for the sake of my disguise I was sure to pay this person back ten fold in the future. Continuing quietly, we made our way to the Empress. I could sense at least twelve guards that didn't belong, but I didn't mention them to this person that was monitoring my every breath.

While the disguises of the patrol guards were good, their eyes didn't match. Lingering too much on some things and not enough on others, it was obvious they were looking for lust and riches, not the notoriety of dutifully protecting their Royalty. I nearly winced as I saw Ryce entering the Empresses' rooms. This may get tricky, I thought. It'd been ten years since he saw me, so maybe...