The King's Messenger

Chapter 5

 It was dark now. The air was still warm, carrying vestiges of the sunlight. At this hour, the refinery was empty, the workers all gone home for the night, like Kalis.

At least, it should be empty. Messenger was here to find out. Pulling out a set of lockpicks, he picked the lock on the chain holding the doors closed. The doors opened with a soft, clinking rattle, and he slipped inside.

He glided to the center of the floor. He took a deep breath and held it; all was still. He strained his ears for any sign of life, and was rewarded with a faint something coming from beneath. His hunch was right; there were people down there after all. Moonlight through the windows guided him to the door from earlier, the door to the stairway.

Messenger opened the door into yawning darkness. The only respite was a hint of a glow at the bottom. Taking a deep breath, Messenger forced himself forward. The moment he was in the stairwell, a wave of dizziness hit him. He squeezed his eyes shut, which didn't make much difference, and held his arms away from the wall. Perhaps he could trick himself into thinking the walls were further than they were.

Breathing shallowly and quickly, Messenger descended. The smell of copper hit his nose, the smell of his own blood from when he'd been run through yesterday. It was strong; they hadn't bothered cleaning the steps other than removing at least one dead body. Messenger still wasn't sure if his other assailant had lived.

The hint of light turned out to be from under a door at the bottom of the stairs, which led into a hallway. The only door Messenger could see that was lit was the one directly to the left of the steps. Messenger crept to the door and pressed his ear to it, pushing his mask against the side of his face. From inside, he heard shuffling papers and intermittent walking around. Messenger meant to wait to see if the person inside would leave of their own volition, but the creeping walls convinced him to go inside himself after mere minutes that stretched into eternities. From his eavesdropping, there was only one occupant; it wouldn't be dangerous.

Messenger drew his dagger and gently tested the doorknob. It turned without complaint; he wouldn't need his lockpicks for this one. The door swung open silently and slowly; the occupant of the room was a woman, with long black hair, focused intently on some papers at a desk, muttering to herself as she shuffled through them by candlelight with a furrowed brow. Messenger could see her profile; she was too engrossed in her work to notice him in her peripheral vision. Messenger breathed out a sigh of relief, both that she hadn't heard him and that there was light and room.

The woman whirled at the sound- Messenger cursed himself.

"Who's there?" she demanded, standing and picking up her candle holder to better illuminate him. The light caught on Messenger's raised dagger. Seeing it, the woman stiffened.

"You?!" she asked, uncomprehending. "I- I saw your body. You're dead! You're supposed to be dead!"

Messenger debated on how he should respond. In the end, he said, "The king has many Messengers."

The woman paled. Then, in a flurry of motion, she brought the sheaf of papers she had been inspecting to the flame, lighting them. Messenger burst into motion, roughly shoving her away with the back of his knife-wielding hand and grabbing the papers with the other. He slammed them on the desk, using his arm to stamp out the flames. Most of the paper was salvaged; thankfully, the woman kept hold of her candle, keeping the room slightly lit.

Messenger brandished his weapon at the woman. "Care to tell me what these are?" he asked.

She huffed. "Employee records, shipping manifests, charts; that sort of thing."