Two copper coins

The family within the underground cells did not ever have the hope of living another free day within their lives, even Celene and her husband were in poor health after being imprisoned for quite some time after they were all held in a poorly maintained prison and fed little amounts of food.

Suddenly a coughing and gagging noise began from the grandfather of the family as he clutched his neck.

His coughing became more violent and then suddenly Celene began to follow his actions, the son looked over to his mother with a look of doubt upon being disturbed once again.

He looked over at his father who had began to the other at the mouth and began to feel fear as he looked towards the plates which had once held the food.

He stood up and ran to the cell door and began to shout in a hoarse voice. "Help! Help! I think we have been poisoned! Something is wrong with us, we will die if you don't help us soon! We won't be of any value if we are dead!"

Suddenly he began to feel the tingling feeling of irritation within his throat which became more painful as time passed. "Help. Please…"

The old man began to convulse and twitch on the ground violently while Celene began to froth at the mouth as her eyes rolled backwards.

Both of his parents were now approaching their final stages and soon he was joining them.

A resolute look appeared in his eyes as he turned to his sons and crawled towards their weak bodies.

He finally approached them as they lay weakly on the ground and held them in his arms. "I'm so… sorry my sons… cough… if I am born again….cough… I wish I could be…. Cough… a better…. Father and husband to… you all… honey…cough.. I will be joining… you….soo…"

Suddenly he began to froth at the mouth and his body began to spasm and twitch awkwardly.

Soon his weak sons began to display the final symptoms, the gates finally opened with a click of the key being turned and being pushed open.

Several guards rushed in and began to examine the bodies which were twitching and frothing at the mouth and held them down.

One man looked towards the old man who lay there motionless and then at Celene who looked like she was on the final seconds before death and shook his head. "It's useless. There is no saving any of them, whatever caused this is fatal and fast acting. Investigate who handled their food and drinks immediately. Clean up the bodies… sigh.. what a waste. First the wife and now the whole family."

The man left the room to tell the boss about the sudden deaths of the prisoners.

Within the bosses room the man stood after giving a brief explanation of what happened.

The boss sat back in his seat and held a smoking pipe in his hand, he breathed out as he sighed releasing a small amount of smoke within the room. "What are our losses from this and what have you found out about how it happened?"

The man tried his best to not cough because of the smoke that was blown in his direction and managed to stop himself before carefully explaining. "The wife and husband and their two kids were the most valuable. Most of all the wife since she was still quite pretty and well known in the cities noble circles. As for the husband and his sons they were healthy so we could of made a bit more money off selling them but now we even have to deal with getting rid of their dead bodies to avoid spreading diseases… We have a missing man who dealt with delivering the food to the underground prison. I suspect he has betrayed us but I do not know on who's orders he was acting on or what they would gain by poisoning the family."

The boss contemplated and revealed a look of distrust. "It must be a rival gang who hopes to disrupt our business and get ahead of us. Be careful and keep a lookout for potential traitors during this time."

"Yes boss!" The man bowed before leaving the room. 'I would normally agree with the boss completely in my thoughts but after seeing the scene in the cell I can't help but think that this could be an act of revenge on that family. But who is behind the attack? It couldn't be the Bombyx family as they will soon be dealt with according to the bosses words so my only conclusion is that the family had some enemies we did not know of or it is just as boss said and I should just stop thinking about it. First I need to find the traitor.'

Within a dark alley a young man walked carefully while watching his surroundings, he finally reached his destination and waited in place.

Soon a person appeared before him dressed in a black cloak hiding their face and approached him. "Is it done?"

The young man revealed a greedy look in his eyes. "Tell me first, did you bring the payment?"

"So impatient…" The cloaked figure sighed before reaching into their clothing and removed a small piece bag full of coins.

In the cloaked figures hand held many gold coins which showed through the top of the opened pouch, the young man's eyes lit up. "Haha yes I did what you asked. Don't worry I didn't tell anyone about this either."

If he told anyone about the task then the risk of completing it would become more difficult if that person betrayed him and if he did tell anyone then he would have to split the prize.

The young man did not trust anyone within his line of work or in the environment he grew up in so naturally he would keep the spoils for himself.

The cloaked figure nodded as he clenched the bag a little which let the coins jingle together within the small pouch because of his movement. "Explain in detail on how you did it and then you can confirm the coins authenticity."

The young man looked a little impatient but calmed himself down. "I placed the poison you gave into their meals and delivered it to the targets jail cell personally. I betrayed my boss because of this so can I get the money so I can disappear quickly?"

The man closed the coin pouch by tightening the string around it and then threw the pouch into the air towards the young man.

The young man's eyes lit up with joy and greed as he lifted his head and arms upward to keep the bag in his sights and catch it.

Suddenly he began to feel a sudden pain in his body as he caught the coin pouch, he looked down with eyes full of pain and disbelief mixed with betrayal.

A knife was stabbed into his chest as the cloaked man was right before him and then moved to stab him once more after removing the dagger.

The dagger sliced his throat and the young man fall backwards, his body lay on the dirty and deserted alleyway at night in a pool of his own blood.

The cloaked man began to retrieve the coin pouch and clean the blood from his dagger before making his final actions before leaving the scene of the crime.

Soon he was found by the gambling halls men but what they expected was to find him alive and well.

What greeted them was the sight of the young man who lay in a pool of blood with a distorted face full of disbelief and betrayal.

Over each of his eyes there was a copper coin which had been carefully placed.

The young man did receive a form of payment for his actions of killing the family along with his betrayal of his comrades but the payment he received would be used to pay for his ticket to the underworld.