The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 7: Cheating

In hindsight, it should have been obvious that Vain was leading them all right into a trap.

The royal spies knew there was a scattered rebel presence in the small towns around the rocky foothills of the mountains. For that reason, the mission had planned to avoid contact with the insurgents by riding through Coramine, a larger trading town that had more of a border guard presence and therefore no outspoken rebel support. It was a slightly longer trip than going through one of the smaller towns, but it was worth avoiding a skirmish with any rebels.

The problem was that they encountered the rebels anyway — if you could even call it that.

It started with a bird screeching, its call ringing out ugly and loud as warning bells. It was sitting on the stone post that marked the fork in the road toward Coramine: a large, dull black specimen with cunning eyes and a harsh scream that could be heard for quite a distance. It was familiar to Vain. He thought he might have seen a bird like that flying overhead earlier in the trip. He gave it a curious look and some of the other guards responded to its screeching with vulgar gestures he wasn't sure birds could understand, but no one gave it any more thought.

From the post, it was a short ride to the town. Coramine was walled and gated, which was what made it the favored mountain-base town for wealthy merchants to stop in overnight. That meant they had to stop for the town's guards at the gate.

"Reason for entering?" The first of the two guards asked, looking up at them.

"Picking up supplies for our trip through the mountains," Vain said, dismounting. The woman didn't look too impressed by or pleased to see them, and speaking on the same level might make the process go faster. "Is it normal procedure to ask everyone who enters Coramine?"

"No, sir, but with increased reports of rebel activity we have to check everyone entering from the Solangian side more carefully. I need to see your commerce certificates or other documents proving your identity, or you'll have to go through a different town."

He produced the leather wallet holding the badge with the princess's seal from inside his coat and handed it over. It would mark them as guards on official royal duty, and require the border and town guards to help them with anything they needed.

The woman's posture changed the moment she opened and examined it. "Damn, that's real. Real official, I mean." She glanced up and smiled as she pulled some official-looking papers and stamps out of her pockets, juggling the badge at the same time. "Sorry about that, it's just that the border captains are practically jumping out of their skins with this rebel business getting closer to their territory, so we're all on edge. It's like, fine if some nutcases want to risk their asses rebelling against the king, but don't bring my career into it. Keep that nonsense in Maenar where it belongs, right?"

He laughed and agreed. It was borderline treasonous to talk so openly about the rebels without expressing explicit hatred for them, but guards were always friendly with each other and border guards, so far from the capital, were more relaxed than most.

"Anyway, here you go." She handed over the badge wallet and some papers. "And yeah, this stuff's new," she answered to his unasked question, "they decided to hand out additional verification, because this job wasn't tedious enough already, apparently."

He laughed again and tucked the heavy wallet back into his coat. "It never is."

She gave a slight bow as her partner opened the gates. "Welcome to Coramine — and goodbye as well, because we all know people only come to this town to leave it. Enjoy the Protectorate for me!"

He was too distracted laughing and enjoying his first relaxed conversation in days to realize he never told her they were going to the Protectorate next. And by then it was too late.