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“Oh no, don’t even think about it,” Liam said.
Dropping into the blue and green armchair, I flashed him a smile that said: thank you for your concern but I don’t care what you think. I swept my gaze over the five people gathered in the school’s living room. “I have a plan.”
“Someone tried to blow you up,” Liam protested again. “Yesterday!”
“Someone tried to blow them up too.” I threw an arm in the direction of Shade and Elaran. “But I don’t hear you telling them to sit this one out.”
“Because they got out. When there was an opening, they climbed through, while you stayed behind in the burning building.”
“I saved...” I began before realizing that I never asked the woman with the copper hair what her name was. “I stayed behind because the damn roof caved in and Shade and Elaran would’ve died trying to get me out. And then I saved... what’s-her-face who was stuck in there too.” I glanced away and picked at a loose thread sticking out of the armrest. “I thought you’d be proud.”
“I am proud of you,” my friend said in a soft voice. “But I’m also worried.”
I rubbed my hands over the scars and half-healed bruises covering my forearms. “I’m fine. I’m a hard person to kill.”
From across the room, Shade’s piercing gazed locked on me while the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “I’ve noticed.”
“Like a cockroach,” Elaran added.
Crossing my arms, I sent a scorching scowl his way. “You know, you really need to make up your mind about which unflattering animal I remind you of.”
Laughter rose from our companions but before the rude elf could retort, Haemir pushed the conversation back on track. “You said you had a plan?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Marcellus tried to kill us–”
“Why did he even do that?” Haela interrupted and turned to Shade. “You said he wouldn’t try to kill us until after the election.”
The assassin gave her a lopsided smile. “Because we’re too good at our job. We’ve messed with his campaign so much that he’s getting desperate enough to take drastic measures. Now that he failed, though, people are going to start talking.”
“Which brings us back to the plan I was trying to explain,” I said and looked pointedly at Haela.
She grinned sheepishly.
I shook my head. “As I was saying, Marcellus tried to kill us. We know it. Now we just need to make sure that everyone else knows it too.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?” Elaran muttered and crossed his arms. “He will have covered his tracks well. It’s not like we’re going to find barrels of gunpowder and spare torches just lying around in his house.”
A satisfied grin crept across my face. “Unless, you know, we put it there.” I lifted my shoulders in a light shrug. “Then, all we’d have to do is whisper it in a few people’s ears and whoosh, a wildfire rumor and evidence to support it.”
The room fell silent as everyone watched me. Somewhere above us, children stampeded through a hallway towards their next class.
“You want to frame the guy for something he actually did?” Haela barked a laugh. “Ha! I like it.”
Elaran studied me from under furrowed brows but then nodded. “It’s actually a pretty good plan.”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” I grumbled.
Paper rustled as Shade pushed off the desk he’d been leaning on. “And if we embellish it further and tell people that lots of honest workers died in the explosion too, then we might finally push Marcellus over the edge.”
“Remember that couple who sells hats I talked about?” Liam tapped a finger to his chin. “They’re very influential among the merchants. If I tell them about workers dying, they’ll be furious and they’ll definitely tell others about it. We’ve gotten close lately so I should be able to just drop in on them today.”
“Yeah,” Haela said, “and if we tell the people in the debate club about it, they’ll spread the word too. Like, come on, they’re in a debate club. They love talking.”
The plan was coming together. After glancing at each other, we all gave a collective nod. I jumped up from the armchair and strode towards the door. My sore muscles protested at the sudden movement but I pretended not to feel it so that Liam wouldn’t worry.
“Alright, I’m gonna go get us some incriminating evidence.” I looked to Shade and Elaran. “I could use some help planting it, though.”
Shade’s black eyes glittered as he tilted his head to the right. “The master thief needs help breaking into a house?”
Stopping with one hand on the doorframe, I turned back to the smug assassin. “No, the master thief needs two grunts to carry the barrels of gunpowder for her.” I flashed him a smirk and rounded the corner into the hallway beyond. “I’ll have it ready in like two hours. Make sure you’re here when I get back.”
Grumbled curses mixed with scattered laugher followed me to the door. Shade was right. Marcellus had become desperate enough to try to kill us. If we got him busted for trying to assassinate a fellow candidate, he might finally be ready to surrender and sign that peace treaty. Blinding sunlight met me when I stepped through the door. Just one final push, then we’d be home free.
***
“ARE YOU SURE THIS WILL work?” Elaran cast a suspicious glance between me and the door to the garden shed in which we’d stashed the gunpowder.
Grabbing his sleeve, I yanked him back into the house across the street as a crowd trampled past.
“I can’t believe General Marcellus tried to kill his opponent!” a woman exclaimed.
“That’s what you’re hung up on?” a man’s voice asked. “I can’t believe he killed ten workers trying to do it.”
“Ten?” another man said. “I heard it was fifty.”
I glanced up at Elaran. “I’d say it’s working just fine.”
The building opposite Marcellus’ house had been deserted, so after we’d planted the evidence in our target’s shed, I had used my lock picking skills to get us inside. Now Shade, Elaran, and I stood pressed together just inside the front door. Darkness covered the world outside as we all spied through the crack in the door.
“Liam and the twins did their job well,” Shade said. “The rumor has spread like a disease since just this morning.”
“Yeah, the twins and Liam have done what they’re supposed to but what about our part?” Elaran flicked an impatient hand in the direction of Marcellus’ lawn. “The people still need to find the gunpowder. How can we be sure they’re going to demand to search his house? And he’s one of the rulers of this nation. Why would he even let them in?”
“Oh, you just leave that to me.” I pulled up the hood of my cloak and slipped out the door.
A mob had gathered outside Marcellus’ house but so far, the mighty General was nowhere to be seen. I moved through the gathered bodies like a wraith.
“Why isn’t he out here?” I said as I slunk past a group of apron-wearing women. Putting a light hand on the back of a man discussing with his friend, I moved between them. “We need answers,” I whispered as I pushed past them gently. Three married couples stood in a row further in. I grazed past them. “He needs to explain himself.”
Before long, my comments were being repeated in different parts of the group. I withdrew to the back of the crowd. Disgruntled muttering came to a head when a robust man finally raised his voice to a shout.
“General Marcellus! People have died in an explosion you set. We demand an explanation.”
Other voices rose in agreement. More and more people called out for an explanation until finally, the front door swung open and a furious-looking Marcellus stepped out.
“People of Pernula,” he began, voice shaking with anger. “This is my home. Why have you come here and disturbed my privacy? This is the height of rudeness!”
“Rude?” I commented in a low voice to the people in front of me. “Isn’t killing fifty honest workers the height of rudeness?”
The crowd stirred. “You don’t get to talk about rudeness when you killed fifty people while trying to rid yourself of your competition!” someone called close to me.
I tugged my hood further down and moved to another part of the throng.
“This is absurd!” General Marcellus said. “I haven’t killed anyone.”
“He’s lying,” I whispered as I slipped past a group of men who smelled like seaweed and salt water. Three women who looked to be sisters parted as I slunk past while muttering under my breath. “He probably still has leftover gunpowder and torches from it on his property.” I gently weaved through a cluster of soot-covered men. “We should demand to search his property for evidence.”
Increasingly heated discussions rose from the mob as my passing suggestions spread from one group to the next. In the flickering candlelight I thought I could detect a hint of apprehension in Marcellus’ eyes.
“We don’t believe you!” a woman called.
“Prove it then!” another voice shouted. “Let a representative from us search your property then.”
Red flushed the General’s face and he stared daggers into the sea of people. “This is outrageous! You have no right to trample into my home. And at this hour. You should be ashamed of yourselves! If you have any concerns you will bring them to me in the morning. At Blackspire. Following the proper protocol.”
Embarrassed murmuring rippled through the crowd. Some people glanced away while others kicked at stones on the ground like a bunch of students who had just been admonished by their teacher. Oh, he was good. A smirk settled on my hood-covered face. But I was better.
“He’s stalling,” I muttered as I made my way through the mob. A blacksmith stepped back to let me pass. “He probably wants us to wait until morning so he has time to get rid of the evidence.” I spied a group of young men who looked more angry than abashed and wove towards them. Placing a light hand on one of their upper arms, I slunk through the agitated men while commenting loudly enough for them to overhear. “If he truly has nothing to hide, why wouldn’t he let a representative in?”
“You just want to get rid of the evidence!” one of the pissed-off young men called. “Only someone who’s guilty would refuse to prove his innocence!”
“Yeah! You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide.”
“What are you hiding, General?”
Desperation flashed past on General Marcellus’ face as the roar of the mob increased. He really had no other choice now. If he refused their request for a representative to make sure he was telling the truth, then all the people gathered here tonight would believe he was guilty. Then, they would tell the rest of their friends, and then they would do the same, until the whole city buzzed with the news.
“Fine!” Marcellus called at last and held up his hands. “I have nothing to hide. Choose a representative and then I will escort that person around my property until they are satisfied that I had nothing to do with the explosion by the docks.”
A malicious chuckle slipped past my lips as I detached myself from the throng and made my way back to where my two companions waited. Marcellus could kiss his election goodbye.
When I finally slunk through the door of the building across the street, I was met by curious looks from both Elaran and Shade.
Throwing my hood back, I glanced between them. “What?”
“How did you do that?” Elaran asked.
“Let’s just say this ain’t the first time I’ve started a riot.”
Both of them were silent for a few seconds before sudden realization slammed onto Shade’s face with all the force of a basher’s bat.
“The King’s Day Riot? That was you?” Disbelief dripped from the assassin’s voice. “King Adrian wanted my head for not catching the person behind it.”
“I don’t see how that’s my problem.” I flashed him a wicked grin before lifting my shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. “I was robbing three mansions. I needed a distraction.”
“Wait...” Shade stared at me while comprehension and incredulity slowly filled his intelligent eyes. “No way. You’re responsible for both the King’s Day Riot and the Triple Robbery?”
A smirk decorated my lips as I gave him another light shrug. “I’m very good at what I do.”
The Master of the Assassins’ Guild released an impressed chuckle. “Clearly.”
Elaran muttered something under his breath but it was drowned out by the rising cries outside the door. We all peered through the crack again. A growing crowd had gathered outside General Marcellus’ garden shed.
“They’ve found the gunpowder,” Elaran said.
I ran a hand over my chin. “I wonder how he’s gonna try and explain his way out of this.”
“Me too,” Shade said. “But we probably shouldn’t stick around to find out. If we’re caught here, it was all for nothing.”
“True.” I let out a disappointed sigh but followed the assassin and the elf out the door.
Once I had relocked it behind us, we took off down the nearest side street. If this didn’t make Marcellus desperate enough to sign the peace treaty then I didn’t know what would. It had to be a done deal by now. There was, of course, one other possibility. We might have pushed him so far over the edge that all bets were off now. After this, he might send his entire army after us with a kill-on-sight order. I shrugged as we veered into another alley. Oh well, just another day in the life of a smart-mouthed thief.