Chapter 204: Blackwoods Play

Desmond sat in front of the Esmodns operatives with a stern face. "What do you mean by that?" The two men didn’t buckle under the pressure he was letting off.

"The more ambitious lot have cut contact with us. We can assume it was the church’s doing." One of the men said calmly talking about their criminal network. Desmond clicked his tongue in annoyance but didn’t let it get to him.

"Can we remove them?"

"Not in time for the event. It would require a lot of manpower and time."

"Haaaa." Desmond sighed hearing the response. "So they have gone down that route." Picking up a cigar from the box he cut the edge and lit, taking a deep inhale. "Ignore it, I’ll give orders to the military in the meantime to keep watch of that. What I need from you is to begin targeting the low-level clergy."

"Mayor?" One spoke confused. "Are you sure? That a dangerous play."

"They already drew the first blood." His voice was bitter replying. "As long as we don’t target the head we should be fine." Desmond took another inhale of his cigar. "Allow those still under your control in the underworld to move against the others."

"Of course. Plans had already been made to replace them." One said reassuring Desmond as the mayor nodded.

"Good. Has His Majesty arrived in the city yet."

"He’s two days out."

"That will be all. Go." Desmond waved them off. Looking at the planning sheet he had for the charity day, everything had almost been prepared but he couldn’t help but have a nagging voice in the back of his mind. He felt like he was missing something, but was unable to put his finger on it.

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"Thank you for meeting me," Blackwood said kindly as he pulled off his hood and showed his face. In front of him sat a well-built man covered in scars. He looked at the Bishop with suspicion but Blackwood expected it.

"Now it has come to my attention that you and your company will do any job. For the right price of course." Blackwood calmly said gauging the reaction of the man in front. His eyes narrowed slightly, but no overt hostility became present.

"And where did you hear this?" Looking at Blackwood’s clothing, he couldn’t find any noticeable features to show his affiliation with an organization or nation.

"The iron company, a fitting name if I must say, fought on the Bactrian side during the previous Bactrian-Lisaponic war. Before that, you fought for the Gotics against the Principality. Before the..."

The man raised his hand and leaned forward. "Are you just here to tell me my contracts? What do you want?"

"You see, during these wars, you took part in some very... disagreeable acts should we call it, to take the blame away from your employer." Reaching into his pocket, Blackwood places a fine sheet of paper in front of the man. "And it would be fine if these actions were only against the Heathens, but to inflict such harm on the faithful." he shook his hand as the man picked up the sheet of paper.

"But you see, That right there can exonerate you of any previous crimes that you or your company had committed, sighed four bishops."

"I’m sure this isn’t a donation for my faithfulness." The man smirked placing the paper back on the table. The Symbol of Sol at the top of the paper plus the quality of the paper was enough to tell him it was real, no one dared to fake it unless they wished to be hunted for the rest of their lives.

Blackwood chuckled at his words. "Of course not. But we have a job for you, one that would require your groups... skills shall we call it." Reaching into his coat again, the mercenary heard the bouncing of coins. Blackwood threw the pouch on the table, multiple gold coins spilling out. Picking one up, he held it analysing it.’Coins of the holy land.’His smile widened putting it down.

"That is a down payment. We will give you a variety of jewels after the job is over."

"What is it? Am I going to the Severian Empire now?" It was an easy assumption to make. War with the Ammerians was on the verge of breaking out, and the Church, despite what it preached, would use any chance to cleanse Heretics.

"No no. We have our own people for that situation. No, what I need you to do is something much more important." Blackwood took a deep breath. "As you know, a day of charity is being held in the city to commemorate our fallen brother, the Archbishop."

The man nodded leaning back. "You see, there are some enemies of the church attending. I need your company to deal with them please."

"Don’t you have the inquisition for that?" He wasn’t one to talk himself out of a job, but Blackwood’s words were confusing.

"It is not possible. We have a reputation to uphold." Hearing those words the man understood. The enemies were not heathens or anything of the like. His eyes went cold.

"Who is the target?"

"The Emporer." Blackwood smiled with the man quickly getting up.

"We’re done here." He shook his head quickly packing his things.

"Wait wait." Blackwood cried out with the man glaring at him.

"You are out of your mind if you think I would accept a job like that for such lousy pay. First of all, how would I even go about it, I don’t know if you’ve seen the Empire’s military but they will butcher me and my people like dogs. Second, even if the money was enough I would have no time to spend it."

"I MISPOKE!" Blackwood shouted. "I don’t need you to kill the Emporer, even though I know that’s a stupid request." Hearing his words the man stopped and stared. "I need your men to just kick up a fuss around the city, spread the Emporers, guard thin. Once done, only one man needs to fake an assassination on him."

The man didn’t say anything, but it made Blackwood happy knowing he wasn’t leaving. "This attempt can’t have the Emporer hurt at all, that would only reinforce his blessing if he survives. No, I need you to make it seem like you wished to kill him, but it gets conveniently blocked by one of the church’s guards."

The man’s head dropped as he weighed up what was being offered. It was extremely dangerous. Despite that, when looking at the gold and pardon on the table he couldn’t help but feel tempted.

"I want extraction from the city and a bag of diamonds for this." He gave his offer and looked at Blackwood. The Bishop felt his lip twitch.

"It will be hard. The port has been closed for the day, so that’s not possible." He quietly spoke to himself. "Do you think it’s possible to lay low in the city for a week?"

"If a fall guy is created."

"Easy, don’t worry about that," Blackwood said quickly.

"Then yeah, I have a couple of connections."

Blackwood got up and found a pen and paper. Quickly writing out an address he handed it to the man. "After a week in hiding, go here. I will have your escape prepared."

"And my company?" Rasing his eyebrow he sated deep into Blackwood’s eyes.

"That gold is yours, as well as the later rewards. You decide what to do with it. I can guarantee the escape of maybe 5 people, not your whole company."

He closed his eyes thinking of it, but when opening a sharp gold light was all that was left. There was no loyalty in the face of such overwhelming rewards. Sticking his hand out he smiled. "I never caught your name. I must know it if I wish to do business with you?"

Blackwood smiled aswell. "My apologies, I just didn’t trust you until now. You can understand." Taking a pendant out of his pocket he showed it to the man. He quickly recognized it being held only by those within the church. Despite that, he could see it was much finer craftsmanship then basic clergy. "Bishop Byles. My name is on that paper."

Blackwood took his hand and shook securing the deal. Grabbing the pardon, he analyzed the signatures. Seeing Byle’s name, his trust grew as he gave a small nod to leave.

’Forgive me old man, but I need the ArchBishop’s seat.’The expectation that the mercenary would escape didn’t even enter Blackwoods mind.

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Leif looked down at the corpses of the mutineers Helga had killed. A wide infectious smile was on his face. They had passed many of the previous settlements Helga had attacked and each one had shown something interesting. The burnt remains of people, the disappearance of people. it was all fascinating to Leif who had never seen war done in this way.

Getting up he stood next to the two men singalled out. "She’s insane," Leif said touching the heart hanging out of the man’s body. Looking at everything around he could see that they had left in a hurry. Looking at the bodies again he smiled. The crows had hardly started to eat the corpses. It told him everything he needed.

"REST UP FOR A WHILE! THE ENEMY IS NEAR BY!" Leif called out to his soldiers, who moved themselves away from the pile of bodies to eat and relax.’Finally, I can meet this queen.’Leif was excited for the coming battle. Helga’s very existence was exciting never having known a woman like her in history. His fingers curled around the axe head on his belt as he looked into the distance.