He hadn’t lied. None of my visages circulated within the justice system.

  It was daunting to enter a station and purchase the tickets. The act was highly unusual. I felt more at home trespassing.

  I must be as mad as him. Placing trust in a maniac who had hunted me for years.

  Naturally, there had been easier ways to catch me. He could have shot both of my knees and waited for his people to break through the partition.

  Of course, I was far more useful unleashed upon the unsuspecting world. Still. How cornered was he?

  This mode of traversing was challenging in other ways, too. My chemically pacified arm twitched at every man and woman that passed by. Luckily, the adventurers were few. And jitteriness was normal. Apparently. Everyone was tense. Distaste for travelling was more than expected.

  A snout of a service dog nudged my leg. I jumped up, then tried to make it less obvious that I almost bolted.

  An outgoing serviceman assured everyone looking, “Don’t worry, miss. He’s well-trained! I promise.”

  That was not what I worried about. Even if I wasn’t recognised as an outlaw, they’d still set me on fire for carrying an otherworldly mutation.

  I smiled instead of a proper reply. Admittedly, rigidly. The sociable soldier doubled down, “Oh, please don’t be afraid. He looks a little scary, but that’s just a Dobermann mix – not an entity. And he’s actually very friendly!”

  “Have a good day, miss,” man’s partner interceded, allowing the patrol to move on.

  The service animal trotted off first, blissfully unaware of an inhuman reek that inevitably clung to me. I all but bathed in a scent neutraliser. Much like many other wonderful and illegal substances, this by-product came from invasive animals. Even the army used it to mask their presence out there.

  “Nev, I said it before – some people don’t like any animals. Especially those who travel. Keep it to yourself.”

  “But… They should. Dogs belong here, too. They’re a part of what we’re trying to restore.”

  “God, you’re young…”

  At least nobody questioned my vials, even if the trapped beetles raised some eyebrows. All manner of weapons was permitted in a very likely event of a stranding among wild beasts.

  And, if the worst came to pass and I got cornered – I now had my lord client’s new phone number to bail me out.

  I was never going to use it. He’d probably just send someone to open my third eye for the incompetence. I’d rather just silently perish on my own. Didn’t need my pedestrian failings publicised.

  Even with passages expedited by travelling in an actual seat, gathering the intelligence still took time. I was provided with a list of households to go through. A lot of people wanted a piece of Raktkalis. As nobody was entirely upright, my endeavours were usually fruitful. The amount of political capital accumulating in that lord’s hands was a bit worrisome. Not that I wasn’t selling parts of it on the side.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  That said, I hadn’t found anyone who’d have a reason to resort to a murder. Worst of all, I still hadn’t come up with a way to catch the tail end of my more successful counterparts still within the Order. I sometimes wondered if the princeling was about to lose patience. There never was a reply to the updates I forwarded, which was disconcerting.

  Why did I bother with this at all? Nobody was actively pursuing me. Nothing was stopping me from just boarding a long distance freight hauler and disappearing from this region whatsoever. Raktkalis would eventually get assassinated, solving that end of my problems too.

  There wasn’t even a proof that he was the one graciously allowing me passage. My plundered documents were all in order, with nobody living to report them missing. Appearance adjusted accordingly. The deadweight on my left side was an unfortunate giveaway, but gloves were normal for this time of the year. Not even Raktkalis could afford to meticulously frisk every terminal. Not yet.

  I really could just leave. Had that ever crossed his mind? My abrupt disappearance probably didn’t even factor in. I was a useful tool; entertaining distraction to chase down in free time.

  Blank cheque was nice, I suppose.

  During the long hours spent in transit I had nothing better to do than ponder my life choices like that.

  “Meet me,” a notice sent to Kregzle read. Yesterday’s. Contacting me directly (tracking by location) has been out of the question.

  Tapped a finger on the side of a clunky device. Surely, Raktkalis would rather I finish the business I was already in the process of. Going back now would be inefficient – I’d need to return and complete this anyway. If this was something urgent, he’d just tell me. Right? Nobody was that stuck up. Right?

  Vision of that arrogant twit striking down a slow servant came to mind. It didn’t seem urgent. Asking was moot anyway. He wouldn’t reply, if he’d read it at all.

  Alarmed and irritated, I checked Raktkalis’s itinerary. He was traipsing all around the region these days, too. You’d think, a man with target on his bald cranium would sit put!

  Most had to be fake. The Order probably sussed out as much, because I saw no further inquiries from them. Following the double’s death, this broker’s reliability has plummeted, after all. Certainly no longer worth the price he was asking. However, I was not here to manage the lord’s shady affairs! In fact, I needed to sink this side hustle of his somehow.

  Raktkalis would arrive here in Z3 in a week. That gives me time to work, then potentially meet the Kalantan lord.

  But, how? Walking up to the main entrance to get faced with a clueless double just didn’t seem like a healthy thing to do. Did they even take off-the-street walk-ins? The valet would mace me.

  I was not a front door kind of gal anyhow.

  In Zone cities, even the most esteemed were forced to cohabit with the other mortals in the high-rises. It was both a blessing and a curse. Less personnel, fewer defensive protocols. More accessible to public. My current Kalantan visage was exactly the look to open many doors.

  Or so I thought. It did make several soft-spoken conversations simpler. Central residents have been curious about the province. But that was it. A smaller residence maintained far tighter security than a mansion.

  A week and a day later, I have decided not to storm it. I hadn’t even been able to smuggle in a transmitter. Their chamberlain was too scrupulous. One had to be in Raktkalises’ employ, I suppose.

  In the end, however, the nobleman’s abundant security detail was his undoing. The complex battle dress of the soldiers was a great place to lose some hardware in. Whilst the grunts weren’t privy to any secrets, their chatter remarked on the changes in routine.

  “Kovtan, where are we today?”

  “City hall.”

  Curious.

  A week and two days later, I tiptoed through the dark administrative offices in the dead of night. I had to wait for all the diligent paper pushers and janitorial staff alike to leave.

  The timetables here had an influx of surnames with bogus appointments. Conference rooms booked up with no notes underneath. Their attempt to be cryptic was piteous. Bureaucrats in the central lands were far too complacent. I had gotten used to a standard of people who answered for a job with their lives. This was a nice change of pace.

  Even though a mysteriously vacated mayor’s office had an adjacent room for respite, I headed upstairs towards a tell-tale shuffling of heavy boots. The topmost floor had proper guest suites for delegates who worked into late hour. I had no guarantee Raktkalis was truly here, but my suspicions were strengthening by the minute.

  I could have waited in the mayor’s office. However, with bookkeeping here as messy as it was, I could not be sure when or even where exactly Raktkalis was to pop up. It would also be less than ideal if the potential future general walked in on a stranger loitering in his workroom – with esteemed allies in tow.

  This was a good compromise. I was sure.

  In my perusals, I’ve seen my share of officers’ living arrangements. The young captain didn’t adhere to his pay grade at all. The top floor lodgings were decked out. Several wide screens, the carpet plush enough to mask my footsteps without any effort on my part. Falsely gilded mouldings that matched with the similarly embellished wooden furniture set. Place even smelled of flowers.

  I suppose, this place was outfitted to house an overworked general… but he wasn’t yet it. The unabashed abuse of privilege has brought a grin to my lips yet again.

  Heavy boots ceaselessly patrolled outside as I crept forth towards the bedroom. I would have just waited on the gracefully curving sofa or rummaged, but a faint rustle of sheets revealed the host wasn’t asleep anyway. Two. There were two people behind that door. Breathing easy, but heartbeats were gradually picking up. I’ve been spotted. Somehow. Again.

  I stood in front of an open doorway. Walked no further. He hid with a blade drawn – right behind that slab of hardwood.

  I wasn’t about to let Raktkalis imagine he had the upper hand in an ambush. How laughable.

  Instead of sprinkling an itchy pollen over the top of door, I simply tossed the whole corked bottle at the last second.

  Clink! A sword hit it dead-centre. The jar flew out, sharply smashing through a window.

  An edge of a blade dug into my neck.

  Perhaps I should have called out instead of attempting to school this man. With reflexes like these, he had little to worry about.