Meeting

The green mountains rolled through the valleys and the bright glow of the afternoon sun fell onto the large road heading to Emerald City.

There was a bustling tavern by the side of the road. Merchants and wanderers filled the tables, their voices rising over the clink of teacups and the rustle of robes.

The waiters moved like whirlwinds, sleeves fluttering. They weaved between the tables, pouring tea and delivering snacks, sweat trailing down their brows.

During a rare lull in the storm of orders, the tavern keeper glanced toward the entrance. There, hunched like a forgotten bundle, was a ragged beggar sleeping against the steps.

There was a cracked bowl in front of him and next to it were some small wooden trinkets that looked strange and unique. 

The tavern keeper rolled his fat belly, and then called one of the servers to him.

"Look after the shop for a while."

Then he took a plate and filled it with some bread and some dried meat and headed toward the beggar. 

"Hey, you, wake up."

He gave the beggar a gentle nudge.

The beggar stirred, eyes filmy, his voice raspy and weak. He spoke nervously: 

"I -I'm sorry sir, I'll leave now…"

"No need to leave. Here, eat this." The tavern keeper placed the plate full of food on the ground.

"Thank you sir! Thank you! You are a great man!" 

The beggar had tears in his eyes and his hands trembled with excitement. The tavern keeper just nodded with a smile and motioned to the wooden objects on the ground. 

"What are these?"

"Just some toys sir. Take some, take some please honourable one. If you have children they may like it." The beggar roughly tore through the loaf of bread and explained between bites.

The man was curious as he played with one of the wooden toys. The carving was not particularly exquisite but if you pulled on the small piece of rope the stick figure would move its hands.

"Give this man some water!" The tavern keeper called inside the tavern and then he took one of the toys and patted the beggar without any disgust. 

"I'll take this for my daughter…if you are still here in the evening I'll fix up a meal for you. These are troubled times, we should all help each other."

The beggar had tears in his eyes. He quickly put away the plate and knelt down on the ground, holding the tavern keeper's legs and thanking him over and over. 

After the tavern keeper left, a sharp light flashed in the beggar's eyes before it quickly disappeared. 

Kieran was very confident in his disguise and his acting. Even before he had joined The Pale Oath, he had been part of a group of wandering performers. There he had learned many tricks, including the art of disguise. This was only further improved after becoming a killer, after all, if you wanted to get close to your target you needed to be able to hide yourself well. 

In fact this was his greatest confidence in escaping from The Pale Oath. Well…he wasn't escaping anymore. 

Kieran wolfed down the last of the bread and gulped down the water the server had brought him and looked over the horizon. Emerald City was up ahead. 

He had been running for almost a week now and finally he had reached his destination. This entire time had not been spent in waste however. Kieran was reviewing everything that had happened and was now hatching a plan to protect his father. 

At first he was worried that it was a trap, after all how could there be such a coincidence that the next target happened to be his father. But after thinking about it, he realised that his defection was a spur of the moment thing.

The organisation could not have been too prepared. 

And during the last battle, the two killers were talking about getting the 'thing' from Broken Spear's body. He realised now that it must have been the secret letter. 

Kieran laid out the series of events. 

The organisation had sent a bounty on his father Henry Vale, so the group of 5 assassins were headed towards Emerald City. Halfway they got news of his defection and so they went after him.

Kieran had been subconsciously heading in the direction of his hometown during his escape so that's why he happened to be chased by that specific team.

That would explain everything.

Of course this is all Kieran's speculation, he couldn't be sure of the truth. Maybe it really is all just a giant trap… 

But even so he has to go anyway.

However, he had no intention of showing up in front of his father. Henry Vale was already a very powerful warrior and with the protection of other forces in Emerald City, as long as he got news that he was being targeted by a killer organisation he should be able to protect himself. 

As he was thinking this, Kieran heard the sound of horses approaching from afar.

This place is still considered a major transportation hub on the way to Emerald City so even though it is not as bustling as during the time when the kingdom was in its heyday, there are still many people coming and going.

Kieran perked up his ears and listened for any information. Although he did not take this new group very seriously, his instinct as a killer made him constantly aware of his surroundings.

He could hear it was two horses being led by two people. Their steady steps clued him into the fact that they were probably warriors. The man had a young sounding voice and he was doing most of the talking.

He seemed to be calling the other person Aunt-Master, so Kieran guessed this was a senior warrior taking their junior from the same school out to explore the world. 

Clang!

It was not until a ringing sound came from the broken bowl in front of him, that Kieran looked up in surprise.