Gulath’s Fall

  Isaac turned to see the familiar silhouette of his friend Aramesh approaching along the wall.  He waved to Aramesh and received a white toothy  smile from the darkness in response.  Guard duty with the fat merchant Gulath was never a pleasant time, the pig had too many enemies and you could expect an assassin to ruin an otherwise restful duty.  In three years there had been seven attempts on Gulath’s life.  They had never come close, but two unfortunate guards had died in the first three attempts. Gulath was fat but not stupid; his money surrounded him with plenty of protection.  The surviving guards had come to know each other on sight over the years and an assassin would not blend in as easily.  Aramesh calmly walked over and stood gazing over the wall beside his friend.  Isaac said “Guard duty on festival night.  Not the best assignment but it is better then starving eh?” 
  Aramesh grunted in agreement then pointed over the wall, “Was that cart there earlier?”
  Isaac looked over the wall, “Yes, that cart has been there all day.”  Strange, he thought, Aramesh had told him earlier that he was going to the festival with the maid Gwenlyn.  Movement by the gate caught his eye, there was Gwenlyn walking arm in arm with Aramesh!  Pain cut through him as the knife slid into his chest.  The feeling gradually lessened and he slid slowly to the ground.  The assassins face slowly shifted and soon Isaac was looking into his own face.  “Sorry lad” he said to himself “Gulath dies tonight.”
  The assassin lifted the dead guard and dropped him over the wall into the bushes at the base of the wall.  Hopefully he would be found tomorrow.

  Mustafa knocked loudly on the bedroom door.  Gulath hated to be intruded upon, yet he also hated to be left in bed in the morning.  The man was impossible to please, but Mustafa could not afford to offend him or he would be whipped and thrown out of the city, and then what would his poor family do for food?  If only his debt could be wiped away then he would be free to pursue a new master to serve.  Today it was already three hours past dawn and his master had not yet summoned him.  Drawing courage he knocked again and tried the handle.  The door swung silently in on well oiled hinges.  Gulath was sprawled out in the bed still asleep.  Mustafa apologised and crossed the room to the window pulling open the blinds and letting the daylight in.  Turning back to the bed he stifled a gasp.  Gulath’s bloated body lay in a pool of blood, his piggish sightless eyes fixed on the ceiling.  Running from the room Mustafa called for the city guard to be summoned, his master had been assassinated in the night.  He felt a strange mix of emotions, his master was dead, but he was free.

  The merchant Chaz waited impatiently, the job was done, but the final payment had to be completed.  It was amazing that Gulath was dead; he was the most paranoid of the merchants that ruled this city.  He has the best protected mansion, with a regular staff of guards.  If he was vulnerable to this assassin who was safe?  He stared down into his mug of ale and wondered about the assassin.  How did he get past the guards?  One was found dead in the bushes at the base of the wall, but his relief told everyone who would listen that he had relieved him at midnight as he was supposed to.  With the discovery of the dead merchant the guard was also found to be missing and a few hours later his corpse was found in the bushes at the base of the wall.  Suspicion of his part in the assassination was cleared by his death; his family would get a blood debt payment now.
  A shadow fell over the small table where Chaz sat.  He looked up as a beautiful woman sat opposite him.  He was about to tell her he was not interested in paying for her services when she showed him the signet ring of the assassin.  “I was sent by Mordrig to pick up his payment from you,” she told him.
  Chaz looked hard at her, “I was expecting him to make the pickup himself.”
  The woman smiled, “My name is Elly.  Mordrig never performs these things himself, traps are easier to avoid if you don’t make expected appearances.  Do you have the money?  He will be very displeased if you do not.”
  Chaz swallowed carefully, he had expected the assassin to come for the payment himself.  He did not have the promised cash; he never expected he would have to pay.  Once Gulath had been killed he had hired four warriors to kill the assassin when the fool came for his payment.  Now he would have to have this woman followed and killed once Mordrig was found.  “I have some of the money with me, but I want an assurance that Mordrig will not come after me.”
  Elly again smiled, “Mordrig has no interest in you merchant, unless there is a contract for you out there.  Is there?”
  Chaz laughed uneasily, “No, I am loved by all.  I will pay the remainder tomorrow, please give Mordrig this cash as a down payment on the final sum.”  Chaz placed a small bag of coin on the table.  Elly opened the bag and counted the gold coins.
  Elly’s eyes turned hard, “Mordrig will not be pleased, I will tell him, but he will insist on the full amount tomorrow, this will merely stay his hand until then.  Unless you do something else stupid that is.”  The woman rose and walked from the tavern.  Chaz signalled to his men to follow her and once his ale was finished rose and left for his own home.

  Once home Chaz found three of his four men waiting for him.  “We lost her.”  The leader said.
  Chaz was beside himself in anger, “What do you mean you lost her?  How could you lose a mere woman on a city street when the four of you were supposed to be trackers and experienced at this sort of work?”
  The leader explained “She went into a store, we could see there were no other exits so we waited outside, several men came out.  We waited another twenty minutes but nobody came out.  Hurley here went in but there was no sign of her, he searched the entire shop, took him almost ten minutes but when he came out there was no woman to be found inside.  She just vanished.  Chull is still searching the area for signs of her or someone who may have seen her”
  Chaz looked angrily at Hurley, “You are sure she wasn’t in there?”  A nod, “Then she must have been one of the men that left, she knew you were following her and she changed her clothes and slipped out in disguise.  Some trackers, even a woman can spot you following her.  We will need to be ready tomorrow; we will capture her and get the information from her as to where to find Mordrig any way necessary.  Then we kill her find him and kill him too.  Do not fail me this time Captain Frisk.”
  The soldiers smiled thinking about the time they would spend with the woman tomorrow, she would beg to tell them what she knew, but not before they were done with her.  Smiling the men went to their places.  Hurley moved slowly up the stairs toward the master bedroom to stand outside the door.  Chaz stopped him with a glance, “I thought I would stay close tonight, at least until the assassin is dead.”
  Chaz thought it over and then remembered Gulath, “Yes, good idea, let nobody past, I am not to be disturbed tonight.  Nobody armed is to enter either.  No matter how trusted a servant they are.”  With that he turned his back and entered his room.

  The night passed slowly, Hurley waited until everything was silent, then he slowly slipped into the master bedroom.  Chaz was asleep in his bed, wrapped in silks and expensive blankets.  The merchant awoke to the pricking of a knife under his chin.  “Time to pay your debt merchant” Mordrig said smiling down at him.  Hurley slowly changed into another form, this one a man of average height.  He appeared in his mid thirties with brown eyes and hair.  “Yes,” said the assassin, “I am really me now.  You are one of a very few who have actually seen me.  It grows tiring to maintain the disguise spell.  Now you owe me my fee.  You contracted my services to kill your competition and have failed to pay me, in fact you even hired men to pursue me and plan to kill me.  That is simply not good business.  Now, my money?”  The knife again pricked the skin under the merchant’s skin.
  Chazs’ eyes flicked toward the wall where his hidden safe sat.  Mordrig dragged him from the bed and forced him over to the wall.  “OK Merchant, open it.”
  Chaz wilted; inside he had several thousand in gold.  If the assassin saw it he would know Chaz had the money all along and he would kill him, but if he didn’t open the safe then he would kill him anyway.  Perhaps he could persuade the assassin he was mistaken as to the merchant’s plans.  Resignedly Chaz slowly worked the mechanism to open the safe.  Finished he reached up and twisted the handle, the door popped open and Mordrig rammed his dagger deep into the merchant’s chest.  Taking the cash from the safe as well as a few other items of interest he closed and locked the door.  Then assuming the merchants face he dressed and walked from the room and down the stairs.  “Remain here,” he told the startled Captain Frisk.

  As dawn broke an old man left the city’s north gate leading a horse and a mule.  He smiled at the guard as he left the gate, but the guard was too busy to pay attention, two of the cities leading merchants had been murdered in the last two nights and orders had come, nobody was to exit until they had been searched, the assassin must be found.  The guard captain Frisk was to be executed this afternoon, he claimed to have seen the Merchant Chaz walk from his home in the middle of the night.  He was currently being tortured for the names of his accomplices; they would be found and executed as well.  Either Frisk would talk or he would die alone.
  The guard glanced at the old man.  Of course there was no way such an old man could be the assassin and there were pretty women in the wagon following him.  As the city walls dwindled behind him Mordrig mounted the horse and let his disguise fade away.