Shady Impressions: Of Mouthiness, Monologues and Mountains #4
#7 of Shady Impressions
As Russo, Jem, Morgan and Zane are forced to flee, two less than friendly entities observe and gauge their progress, and potential threat levels.
Pretty short and wimpy compared to my previous chapters, I know. Thought the same thing back when I first wrote this... argh. Years ago.
Chapter 8
As the deluge of rock and granite came to a halt over the town of Letum and its inhabitants looked on in disbelief at the damage done to their town, two observers silently watched on from one of the few small hills in the otherwise flat land. Had any of the town's denizens been looking anywhere else other than the now ruined town, they may have spotted their silhouettes against the skyline.
"Well that was a wasted venture," the observer dressed in a purple and black robe plainly stated, his face obscured by his hood.
"We both knew this was a risky plan," said the other who was clad in black and orange knight armor, his face completely hidden by his helmet, though eerie yellow eyes could be seen glowing through the slits in his visor.
"So many precious resources wasted," the robed one said as he let out a sigh. "It'll be a good while before I can scrounge together enough dark mages to recoup our losses. We were fools to have lobotomized them and sent them Wexter's way, we could have found somebody else far more capable of 'indirectly' retrieving the artifact for us."
"True, but it's not very often you come across someone as powerful... and stupid as he was. Even with the power it afforded him it would have been far easier extracting the artifact from him than it would have anybody else. We made a gamble, and it didn't pay off, simple as that. It's a pity about the loss of the dark mages, but this venture wasn't a total loss," the armored one replied.
"Oh?"
"While we may have lost some mages and the artifact, we did gain precious knowledge. Specifically, we know now that those four guild members can be considered potential threats to our plans. If they were able to destroy the artifact, then they are capable of disrupting our operations."
"Too true. The lot of them appeared rather exhausted and weakened as they hobbled out of town not too long ago. If we were to address this new problem, now would be the time when they are incapable of defending themselves," the robed one coldly stated.
"I agree, but we can't exterminate all of them right now. It would arouse far too much suspicion if the heroes... or pariahs depending on who you ask, who were able to destroy Peccamen and what was housed within it were all to suddenly disappear. This is something that requires subtlety," the armored one replied.
"A tragic and completely unplanned 'attack' by highwaymen on their return trip home sounds ideal to me. It'll be such a shame that they happened to be exhausted and spent of their energy when they were ambushed. What do you think?" The robed one inquired of his partner.
"Perfect. Still... we need to issue some restraint for this. From the looks of it that collie and human were traveling together, back to Tedrah I believe, if my information is correct. They're the ones we should target first. Nothing will seem out of the ordinary if a small group like theirs were to be attacked in the open country, that and opportunity to destroy half of the new threat to our operations quietly and easily is an opportunity we can't afford to pass up."
"Very well then," the robed one said quite pleased as he turned away from Letum and began walking down the hill. "I'll leave control of this province in your capable hands from now on, I need to be getting back north and tending to our main operations."
The armored one stopped still for a moment, his posture may not have showed it but he was genuinely shocked.
"Don't act so surprised," the robed one said as he turned to look back at his associate. "You have proven yourself to me time and time again in the past, and I know you will continue to do so. Our expansion into this province is crucial to our continued operations as I'm sure you are aware. Just continue on as you always have, with an eye on the details and NEVER leaving anything to chance." With that the robed one's shadow spread out across the ground in a large circle around its master. Black flames flit upward from the dark seemingly depthless ground around him and in an instant the robed one sunk into the ground. The depthless shadows on the ground dispersed once he had completely submerged.
The armored one continued looking at where the robed one had stood just stood for a moment and then set about getting to work. "Leave nothing to chance... understood." The armored one opened his right hand and concentrated as a small orb of dark energy began to swirl in his armored palm. Once it had reached an appropriate size he crushed the orb in his hand and slowly unfurled his fingers to reveal the shape he had willfully melded the dark energy into, which was a small bird. The shadowy bird looked up to its creator and tilted its head from side to side; inside of it the armored one had magically inserted information about the collie and human that would reveal itself to the proper individuals.
"You know what your purpose is. Seek out your targets and reveal to them the information contained inside you. Make sure they know who to kill and along which path to ambush them."
The shadowy bird hopped inside his hand to convey that the message was received and took off, becoming little more than an inky blot against the backdrop of the grey canvas that was the sky.
The armored one turned his back to Letum and slowly made his way down the hill. "...The assassins shouldn't have any trouble taking care of that human and collie... but still it would be in my best interests to have a backup plan at the ready, in case the unthinkable does occur." He crafted another bird from the shadows and directed the next one to go directly to Tedrah and keep watch. Should the human and collie somehow make it back there the bird was to return to its creator and inform him of the failure of the assassins.
Once all was said and done the armored one continued down the hill and away from Letum, his thoughts preoccupied on the tasks at hand. "That venture in Peccamen may have been a loss, but there were many others that were much more low risk. I suppose it's time to check up on them and see how they are progressing along," he said to himself with grim determination as countless plans and statistics circled through his head.