Shadow's Rose [Slow updates]

Chapter 11

Lucien's POV

The fort's walls seemed to be closing in on me as I paced its length wondering if I'd done the right thing. I'd half expected Caia to ask for visitation rights at the Sanctuary and who was I to say no? So long as the job got done in a timely manner she was free to do as she wished in between her contracts. Another thing that bothered me was the dead drops... Should I rather have told her to return to the fort after each assassination? It was a waste of time but with the recent murders of Brothers and Sisters I couldn't help but worry that I'd sent her to her death.

"She's a big girl," I snapped, condescendingly, "a well-equipped, three-hundred year old girl and she can look after herself." I forced myself to take a seat at my desk, staring hard at my paperwork but the letters swam before my eyes. Pressing my palms to my lids, I let out an almighty groan and sat back. Sithis, I wanted to bash my head in against the wall. Was it too late to call her back and change the contracting method? "Stop it," I pushed back from the table and simply stood, a statue trapped in my own home. She would be on her way to her next dead drop by now. Or maybe even the contract. From Anvil to Leyawin and from there to Bravil. I had yet to leave instructions in the poor town but they were written and it was only a matter of sending the courier. Admittedly I should have done it already but I was hesitating on whether I should call her back.

'It'll make me look like an indecisive fool,' I bit the insides of my cheeks, leaning against the centremost pillar. The stone was delightfully cool but it helped my thoughts none. My mental musings were interrupted though by a voice that snapped like a whip.

"Lucien," I turned slowly to face Arquen. The high elf was standing beside the rope ladder, her eyes a dull brown today instead of their usual gold. She looked gaunt, thinner than she normally was and her robe hung on her frame like a sack.

"What's happened?" a cold fear gripped my heart, my breath hitching in my throat. Pathetically I feared if she'd personally brought me news of Caia's imminent demise. If they'd seen something, they would have sent a note as they had last time. No one knew about my attachment to my current Silencer. No one would care.

"Five more," she rasped, pulling a scroll from in her robes, "we've found five more. It's getting worse and we're no closer to finding the bastard." She stuffed the note into my hands and helped herself to the open seat at my desk. I hastily unrolled the scroll, my eyes scanning the names and their respective Sanctuaries. There were none from my own other than the first victim, Maria, and we weren't even sure she was related to our current problem or if it had been an accidental death. Sithis, we'd never even found her. I voiced this to Arquen and she snatched the paper back, scanning the details. "And from the previous murders?" she asked sharply.

I shook my head slowly, "Only Maria has gone missing."

"No burnt corpse?" Arquen practically spat the words, a renewed anger claiming her as she slammed the paper onto the desk, "What makes your Sanctuary so special?" I did not like what she was implying with such a simple statement.

"I don't know," I replied shortly, "I'm not the traitor." Her eyes narrowed at me.

"No but someone in your Sanctuary is," she drawled, "so it's either your judgement was sorely lacking in a recruit or..."

"Or?" I hissed, my posture straightening as my barriers went up. Arquen dusted her robe off and stood, making her way to the rope ladder.

"We'll give it a while, see if any of your Brothers and Sisters turn up dead," she pursed her lips, eyeing me for a moment longer before disappearing through the trapdoor. The anger that was vibrating through me gave way as quickly as it had spawned and I snatched the parchment up. Five more murders in such a short space of time? It was enough to convince me I had been an idiot, sending Caia on dead drops instead of insisting she return to the fort. My newfound panic was also enough to make me forget Arquen's assumptions. I made quick work of scrunching the old instructions up and re-writing them, telling Caia very clearly to return to the fort the second she was done reading. Sithis forbid she make any side stops when I'd instructed her not to. With the note stuffed in the coin purse and the coin purse hidden in a rough sewn sack, I sought my most trusted courier out and sent him off with strict orders. The waiting was the worst and I found there was no amount of work, administrative or investigative, that distracted me sufficiently to make the time pass quick enough for my liking. Even my hobby of making poisons became distasteful, an unheard of feat for an assassin like me. It was the most disconcerting feeling ever...this impatience mixed with overwhelming worry. Never before had I experienced an actual emotional attachment of any sort with anyone, I'd honestly come to the conclusion it was merely beyond my capacity. Permanent commitments to anything but work were dangerous in my profession; assassins never knew when they, or their loved ones if they had any, would meet their end so it was strongly advised against. Naturally my attachment to a girl who held a serious animosity toward me at best was becoming rather worrying...