Redemption In The Shadows

The house felt caged as although the candlelight glimmered against the stone walls a long flickering shadow. Damien was seated at one end of the table and with steel-gray eyes, he scanned the faces of the members present with him. Amara had on a leaning position against the far wall with two daggers sheathed but in easy reach, while Carys was sitting very stiffly, with her entrapped green eyes on the map opened on the table.

"We were played," Damien admitted, cleaving it's still air. The long, inherently quiet voice sometimes seemed buried beneath a load. "Elyas knew we'd be there. He wasn't just waiting for us; he was playing us."

Amara snorted, sharp blue eyes narrowing. "He wanted a show, and he got one. Half the city probably knows we've been around now."

Carys folded her arms and looked grim. "And now he's got exactly what he was after- us exposed and the nobles even more under his thumb."

Damien's jaw tightened. "Not for long. Elyas has made his gamble, but that doesn't mean he's invincible."

Amara raised an eyebrow. "Plan, Your Grace? Because I sure am out of ideas that do not involve stabbing someone."

Damien leaned forward, tapping the map with his finger. "We have to turn his whole chess game against him. If he's always a step ahead, we will throw him a move he can't see coming."

Carys scowled. "And how are we expected to do that?"

"By going after those he relies on," Damien said. "The strength of Elyas is fully in his vast network of nobles, spies, and mercenaries. Breaking this network would expose him for all that he is."

The Amara smirked, fingers now tapping on the hilt of her dagger. "Now you are lingoing me well. Who is the first hit?"

---

They studied everything they had managed to gather about Elyas's network over the next hour, among which stood out Baron Elliron, a cunning noble with deep ties to both House Falcrest and Reynard's rebellion.

"Elliron has funded Elyas for years," Carys pointed to a spot on the map representing the baron's estate. "Depriving him of that will cripple Elyas financially."

"And send a message to the rest of the nobles," Damien added. "If Elliron goes down, they'll start second-guessing their loyalties to Elyas."

Amara grinned. "Sounds like fun. Let's go pay the good baron a visit."

---

The baron's estate was located on the outskirts of the capital; it was a sprawling manor surrounded by high walls and dense forest. Under the cover of darkness, Damien, Amara, and Carys approached the estate, moving silently and deliberately.

The guards patrolled the walls. They were many and yet were pampered enough by their overconfidence to hold no focus.

"Amateurs," Amara whispered, the smirk she wore clearly visible even in the dim light.

Cautiously signaling for silence, Damien moved his steel-grey eyes across the perimeter. "We'll need to get in without raising attention," he said, "Carys, can you take care of the gate?"

Carys enslaving her head at him, then produced a set of lock picks from her satchel. "Just give me a minute."

While Carys worked, Amara moved to Damien's side, her voice low. "Do you think Elliron will talk?"

"He'll talk," Damien said coldly. "They always do when they realize they're on the losing side."

Her smirk broadened. "Good. I've been itching to pick a fight."

--

With the gate now opened, the trio slipped into the estate and glided away into the shadows. The estate courtyard was eerily silent, with the ambient glow of lanterns casting long shadows on the cobblestones.

As they approached the main structure of the manor, Carys signaled them to a halt. "Two guards by the door," she whispered. "We're going to have to take them out quietly."

Amara said, already holding her daggers, "Leave it to me."

Before Damien could say anything, she had burst off in a flash, stalking straight through with almost no sound. Within seconds, the guards were sprawled out on the ground, their throats slit before a single noise could escape.

"Clear," Amara whispered while waving them forward.

Damien and Carys followed, slipping through the heavy doors of the manor and into the dimly lit space of the entry hall.

---

The inside of the manor was glittering and shining in gold-framed furnishing and beautiful tapestries hung along its walls. But Damien couldn't stop to admire the place.

"The Elliron study is upstairs, two floors up," Carys whispered. "There he has his records-and probably his hiding place."

Damien nodded. "Let's move."

Muffled voices reached their ears as they ascended up the grand staircase. Damien motioned them to stop while his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

Near the study did those voices increase, all of a sudden, to give Damien a squeeze of expectation. Peeping through the crack at the door, he saw Elliron sitting behind a large desk, the company of two guards.

"Looks like he was expecting trouble," Amara murmurs.

"Not enough trouble," Damien replied. "Carys, stay here and make sure no one else comes up. Amara and I will handle this."

Carys nodded into position near the stairs.

As though dancing with the sound of slapping feet upon marble flooring amid the sultry winds blowing through the house, Damien and Amara burst into the study, weapons drawn. The guards reacted quickly and followed after the two with swords drawn.

Damien went directly to the first guard. Their swords collided and the sparks flew. The second guard leaped at Amara, only to catch her step as she empowered her dagger side into the man's guts, preempting any action or any kind of reaction.

It was a really quick and very brutal fight. In just a few moments, both guards were lying still on the floor.

Elliron, now white and trembling, backed away. He only took two steps before he found himself right in front of Damien.

"Don't move," Damien said, sword raised and hovering dangerously close to the baron's throat.

"W-what do you want?" he managed to stutter between gasping breaths.

"We are interested in Elyas," said Damien bitterly. "And you will share with us every little detail you know about him."

Elliron swallowed hard and cast his eyes questioningly between Damien and Amara. "This isn't what it appears to be; Elyas will kill you for this."

"Let me deal with Elyas," Damien told him. "Start talking, or you're really going to regret keeping your mouth closed."

Amara stepped forward, her smirk razor-sharp. "You shouldn't wish to ignore him. He is the nice one."

---

Elliron held all the cards under Damien's steel gaze and Amara's not-so-subtle threats. Finally all at once, sure enough, Elliron blurted out everything he knew about the operations Elyas ran; from hidden caches of gold to secret meeting places and even including some names of other noblemen who made their loyalty to Elyas known.

"Please," Elliron pleaded with a quiver in his voice. "I've told you all. Just let me go."

Damien's steel gray eyes hardened further. "You're going to be in custody here and if you even think of running away or warning Elyas, I'll make sure you pay for it."

Frantically nodded Elliron, flesh rooting while sounding of palpable fear.

---

Outside the study, Amara turned toward Damien and caught him with the slightest satisfied smirk before dropping the line, "Well, that went well."

"First step," Damien continued. "But, long way."

Carys ambled up to the stairs that decorated both sides of the entrance with glinting eyes, very bright green from wonder. "So did he even talk?"

"He did," Damien replied, "and we have everything that we need to put down the whole Elyas network."

Amara lifted an eyebrow. "Do you think Elyas will take it lying down?"

"No," said Damien, the tone as ice-cold as you'd like. "He will retaliate. But then we will be ready."

Just as the three of them slipped back into night, however, Damien felt a flicker of hope. For the first time ever, Elyas' web of lies, which had held for so long, seemed to unravel bit by bit.

And Damien was determined to see it torn apart.