B5 Chapter 556: Foul Murder, pt. 1

Ice jolted through Kenva’s veins as the unexpected intruder reached for their belt, the world freezing in amber.

It was an odd-looking thing, half hidden behind the smoke-like tendrils of her cloak. More of a bandolier than anything, holding a brace of more than a dozen small vials on her hip. It warped unnaturally as the woman moved — spatial, then.

Who was she?! More importantly, who was the poor sod with the snapped neck? Both of them were dressed covertly: they were infiltrators, that she was certain of. The real question was if one of them was working for Flowers.

Farseerfocused in an instant. The whorls of power in the woman's soul were strong and stable — she was powerful. For a Steel. That much was obvious, considering the woman hadkilled a man without alerting the guards.

Human - Level 189

Higher Race, Rogue, Afflictions, Negligible Threat

Ranger’s Potencysurged through her, a fizzing energy that left her musclesaching— begging to burst and move. The Skill mostly helped her aim, but right now she wanted itsspeed.

A single bound sent her hurtling across the room,Leaf on the Windflaring to give her an extra push — and stop the floorboards from squeaking. Halfway to her assailant, the rogue slid a vial from her belt and hurled it in her direction.

Glinting in the soft wardlight, the shining glass held a metallic blue fluid that seemed to fracture as the vial twirled end over end. The vial was so thin it could only have beendesignedto break. Only a fool would need a danger sense Skill to know that it would be bad news to let it shatter.

Her Glassmind traced the arc —The Fall of Rainmade it as natural as breathing. Snaking out a single arm, she snatched the vial from the air and stored it in her ring to prevent whatever trap the woman had planned.

Before the rogue could scowl, Kenva wasthere. She lunged forward, going for the woman's arms.

Regardless ofwhythe woman was here, they needed answers. Digging into Kanmost’s disappearance had been like chasing ghosts. No one wanted to talk; but an enemy combatant? Well, they couldmakethem talk.

Snatching each of the rogue’s wrists before the woman could go for a knife, or another vial, Kenvayanked. Kicking out, she swept the woman off her feet, and slammed her down.

Right next to the dead body. Shattered axles, this was a gods’ damnedmess. An attempt to clean up after themselves gone wrong, or had someone else taken Kanmost, and Flowers was simply looking for the notebooks much like they were?

For a second, the thought of just killing the rogue crossed her mind. This was messy — way too messy, and she had no real way of capturing the woman and escaping with herwithoutgetting spotted by the guard. The thought was bitter and stark, cutting through some of the pounding heat in her veins. She shoved it away.

Plus, things would get very complicated, very quickly if the guards spotted her. They’d done some recon — enough to figure out how to slip into the house unnoticed — but whoknewwhat sort of forces Flowers had waiting in the wings. They didn’t need this.

“Stop, you fool. You can’t win, and I'm not with the guard,” Kenva hissed, quickly straddling the struggling woman and pinning her down. “The only reason you don’t have a short sword through your heart is that I would prefernotto blow my cover.”

Shesqueezed, and the bones in the woman's arms creaked — much to Kenva’s satisfaction, the woman stilled. Everyone always seemed to forget that archers had strength-focused classes. How else would she draw her bow?

In that moment of calm, she reached out to her team leader at the speed of thought.

“Ran into two other infiltrators. One was already dead, and the other was ripping open walls. I’ve got her pinned.”

“What?!”

“I’ll let you know if I need help. Get Ianmus and Porkchop to fall back towards the Rose — they’re too recognisable if this goes to shit and the guard gets involved,”Kenva replied, still staring down the rogue.

The woman glared back at her, amber eyes shining fiercely.

“Think I’m a fucking amateur? May as well kill me,” the rogue hissed, yanking against her iron grip.

Kenva scowled, shoving her back down as she listened for the faintesthintthat the guards had heard. So far, nothing — maybe whatever the rogue had done to make the destruction of the wall silent affected the entire room.

“Fine then, who’s he?” She replied, jutting her chin at the ghost-white corpse that lay just a few strides away. “Surely you want to throw some dirt on your competitors?”

The rogue smiled wildly. “What, you don’t even know the players of the game?Fool!”

“Kenva, talk to me!”Kaius urged at the exact same moment.

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Stamina flooded out of the woman's soul, surging into her body. The rogue's arms slipped, bones bending impossibly as she ripped them out of Kenva’s hold. Bloody Kaius!

“Stop distracting me!”she shot back, before she punched the rogue in the nose.Hard. Cartilidge crunched, smashing flat in a pop of blood as the rogue gasped. In the same instant, her other hand ripped a shortsword from her back. Sharp as a razor, blood ran down the edge of the second tier artefact as she pushed it feather-light against the rogue’s throat.

The rogue stilled.

Honestly, what did the woman expect? No cowardly assassin could besther, not when she already had them bloody pinned. A little press, and the woman’s head would roll free — gods’ scorn, drawing her bow would have taken a dozen times the effort.

The rogue gulped, and then winced as the motion widened the cut on her neck.

“Fine, I didn’t exactly ask for his name, but he’s either a lord’s man, or working with a rival group.” the rogue replied, scowling. “Word got out there’s a big, fat golden goose. WIth the man himself gone, everyone's looking for the map to the treasure.”

Kenva didn’t trust her for a second — but even potentially false information had its uses.

“Who has Kanmost,” she hissed, pressing the woman violently down.

“If you don’t know that much, why are you evenhere?”

Kenva clenched her teeth at the reminder that they were playing catch up. Regardless of what happened, the rogue had been looking for the not books in the wrong spot. She’d leave with them, and corroborate anything the woman said.

“I don’t want the treasure that the Archivist was looking for. I just want the man himself. Tell me where he is, or at least who’s taken him, and I'll let you live.”

Actually letting the woman gofreewould be a moronic move, but maybe she could get Ianmus to hit her with his sleep spell, and she could slip out the back window while the sergeant was still busy tearing into the guards out front. She could still hear the man going strong, though she didn’t have the focus to spare to parse the man’s muffled words.

A captive would beannoying, but maybe they could use her to find Kanmost, and then use the man’s diaries to barter for his release.

The rogue gave her a long, incredulous look, before she snorted softly to herself. “Fine, though I don’t know much.”

Kenva relaxed slightly, pulling back her blade as she firmly grabbed both of the woman’s wrists. This had been an unexpected hiccup, but that wasfine. They still had this under control.

In that split moment of distraction, stamina burned bright within the rogue once more. Kenva’s heartslammedin her chest, plunging her short sword towards the woman’s eye. She’d already been merciful — anything beyond this point was idiocy.

Quick as a viper, the rogue’s leg distended, her knee warping as it bentsideways— kicking towards her hip. No, herbandolier. Kenva could see the flows of stamina within the rogue's body. It was more than the body morphing skill that she’d used before. Something that was burning bright in her heel.

Kenva might have been twice as fast, but the distance was too short, and the split moment of her surprise was too long.

Before the gleaming point of her short sword could ram home, the rogue's heel connected.

Delicate glass shattered.

Searing white light swallowed her whole as Kenva wasflungbackwards. Wood splintered under her back as she slammed into the back wall of the room, and the acrid bite of smoke filled her nose and mouth. Alchemical power surged, seeping into her in a clouding smog of confusion that tried to numb her senses and amplify her disorientation.

**Ding! You have been Afflicted by Vial of Thunderous Awe (Tier I) - Sound, Force, Light!**

Kenva slid to the floor. The affliction was minor, fading fast when it was confronted by her Silver fortitude and overinflatedVitality, but the sudden force of it still cut her off from her senses. Even withFarseercutting through the fog, the ghostly after-image of her blade plunging to the rogue's chest still filled her vision.

Her soulsight though, that still worked. A glowing blob staggered up from the floor — the bastard must have had a Skill to resist her own toxins.

“What the fuck was that?! I’mWarpingin,”Kaius screamed through her mind.

“Don’t!”she replied hurriedly. Gods, after something likethis, the Duke would be after theirheadsif they were caught. She didn’t need help to escape.

“Fuck, fine! Just get out of there!”

Vision clearing further, Kenva scrambled to her feet as she watched the rogue run for the window.

Her mind raced. She couldn’t hear a damned thing — judging by the burning warmth of her health and the ringing in her ears, the explosion had ruptured her eardrums — but she wasdamnedsure the entire neighbourhood had heard.

The journals were the most important thing.

Kenva spun to the wall behind her, a single wooden panel half caved in. She punchedthroughthe thin wood, ripping it open with all the grace of a frenzied berserker. The cavity was empty. She moved to the next one — her just-healed ears hearing glass shatter as she ripped that one open too.

It too was empty. She could hear the guards screaming now, four sets of feet pounding as she saw their souls racing down the second floor hallway.

Her heart racing, Kenva tore open everything she could get her hands on, panels crunching under her grip. The wall was a hollow ruin, but there wasnothing. Lyren was wrong — or Kanmost had moved his stash.

Flashing to the hole the rogue had torn in the wall, Kenva stared down at a single, thin, book. It was nestled tight to the framing, but the thick dust on the beam was clear for another handspan above it. The rogue had the rest of the diaries.

“There’s something on the roof, fire!” one of the rooftop guards screamed, the noise followed by a yelp of pain.

Storing the remaining notebook, Kenva spun just in time to see the rogue leap out of sight. The woman’s form warped, blending unnaturally into the night —Farsightwas still sharp enough to catch the blood welling from a shallow cut on the rogue's thigh.

Kenva dissolved into a cloud of leaves, one with the wind once more. The sensation of freedom paled in response to the searing heat of indignation that boiled within her.

Not once had she let prey escape from her, and she wasn’t about to start now.

She set off in pursuit.