The Contracts

Days passed slowly for me while Jayde recovered, leaving me in a constant state of stress that I tried to hide by keeping myself busy looking for any information I could on Hart, Ceil, and Vivian with little avail. Lyon and I left most nights to scout the town and Zierra kept her ears open throughout the day, her resolve on ending Hart taking place of the frustration she had about our kiss.

"Anyone learn anything new?" I sighed from my seat at my desk, Lyona and Zierra sitting across from me.

"A few of Hart's goons have been seen around town as usual but they're being unnaturally cautious, like they're waiting for something to happen," Lyon tapped his fingers on his legs in annoyance at his lack of information.

"The merchants in the Slums that pay Hart for protection haven't been harrassed in a while," Zierra seemed lost in thought. "I fear that he's lulling them into a false sense of security just to take everything out from under them when they least expect it."

"I've found little on Ceil," I grumbled. "He's still in town, that much I do know. I've seen him walking through the markets or talking to locals, writing in some journal like he's making a report on Lyca. He hasn't contacted me in a while either which is odd considering he seemed adament on pressing every button I have when he first got here. I agree with both of you. They're waiting for something, making us feel safe before they strike."

Lyon stood. "I'm going to check on Malcolm, he's been keeping an eye on Jayde since this morning. Maybe I'll take him with me on tonights rounds through Lyca, kid needs to get out of this tavern and maybe he'll notice something we don't. He was hired by Hart."

"Yeah but he worked with a middle man," Zierra reminded him.

"A middle man that might know something," he shrugged and bid us farewell before he left.

I rubbed my temples as a headache formed. "I need to do something I can't just sit here and wait for something to happen."

"Why not take a job?" Zierra suggested. "Surely you have plenty of them."

I scoffed and opened my drawer, pulling a stack of files and setting them down in front of her. "They've been piling up the last couple weeks. I've been so focused on this whole thing with Hart and Ceil that I haven't taken a single job."

"Then it could be the perfect distraction you need," she started flipping through them. "Are these seperated?"

"Sort of. They fall in different categories based on the color of the folder. Red is assassination, green is mercenary work like clearing bandits or guard duty, blue is monster contracts, and black are Soulless."

"There's not nearly as many red folders as I expected," she mused and stacked them separated by color. "A lot of green and blue though and only a few black, which is good."

"I told you that I don't kill as often as people assume I do. Not anymore at least. When I first started I had more red folders than anything but not all of them were people I would actually kill."

"Care to elaborate why?"

"I wasn't well known at that time, people didn't know I wouldn't kill just anyone. Most of my contracts at that time were cheating spouses, petty thieves who were really just homeless kids looking for a way to live, or someone wanting me to kill an innocent person for being a mild inconvenience. Eventually it got around that I only killed the corrupted, people who did more harm than good and profited off the evil they did. My red folders decreased after that but there's still more of them than I would like. My green and blue folders increased a lot around that time as well."

"So why not clear out some of them?"

"A distaction would be nice but what if something happens while I'm gone?"

"Do you not trust us to keep an eye on things while you're gone?"

"I trust Lyona and Kari with my life, Galen can hold down the tavern side of things with ease, I still have reservations about Malcolm though I don't think he'll hurt us, and Jayde," I paused for a moment. "Jayde needs to focus on getting better."

"You conveniently left me out of that list," she didn't sound hurt, mostly curious as to why.

"Not conveniently, your Highness," I snickered when she made a face at me for the formality, "I did it purposefully. I don't need to trust you to hold things down here because you are going to go on the job with me."

Excitement flared in her eyes and she started to almost bounce in her seat. "You're going to take me with you? On an actual job?"

I nodded. "I was serious when I said I should add you to our payroll. I know you're royalty," she opened her mouth to say something but I held up my hand to gently silence her, "but I also know you're capable and that you don't have much crowns left on you. Taking some jobs with me will ensure you keep in fighting shape and will line your purse. However, I don't want you trying to take a solo job right now. I need to see how you do in the field, where I can keep an eye on you and make sure you stay safe before I decide if you can fly solo. Deal?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "So which job are we going to take?"

"You suggested a mercenary or monster job," I pulled the red and black folders back and put them away. "I'll let you chose and I'll tell you if I think we could handle it together."

She flipped through every single folder, only asking a few questions about town locations or monsters she didn't know much about, and finally slid a blue folder my way. "This one looks like it could be interesting."

I opened it and glanced through the information. "I remember getting this job. A man came into town looking like he hadn't slept in weeks. Apparently there's a house in the forrest around Irit that is said to be a home for various monsters. Everything from a hellhound to a banshee. The town wanted to use the trees there for lumbar but now they think the woods are cursed."

"It would explain why so many monsters are brought there," she leaned back in her chair and ran her fingers through her hair while she thought. "What do you think it is?"

"Oh I have an idea of what is going on there but I want to see if you can figure it out for yourself," I smirked at her. "Let's see what you're made of Princess."