House of Cards Contributions Log

Encounter at Red Mill 2

posted by Ginger at 07:58 PM, July 17, 2006 | Filed under : NPC Dialogs | Comments and Followups

Something of a follow-up to a previous dialogue.

The silver-haired man steps out of the sewer into the dark alley, murmuring a quick charm to clear the stench and damp off him. As he turns around to try the back door into the red-roofed building, he sees the way barred by a familiar figure.

The younger man’s voice should be passionate, violent, the way the older man remembers it. But it’s not. The lack of emotion is more chilling than any undertone of rage could possibly have been. “I warned you not to mess with anything that was mine. You should have listened.”

A thin smile. “I could always leave.”

The hand that snakes out and catches his wrist is fast, faster than any hand has a right to be. “Too late.”

He starts to pull away, but the blond youth is stronger than he has a right to be, too. Even with all his military training, he can tell the outcome before they’ve even begun to struggle. He reaches into coat for a knife and comes out with the mirror, the one his sister meant for him to plant. The younger man knocks it away and it shatters against the stone of the building.

It’s over quickly after that. He never feels the twist that snaps his neck. Then his body is thrown over a strong shoulder and dragged back down into the sewers. The punishment for illegal entry into the sewers is death, anyway, so it’s not like his life wasn’t already forfeit.

It was forfeit years ago. The irony of the method isn’t lost on the survivor, either.

The trip through the sewers takes some time. The blond man is careful not to let those who frequent them illegally see him, using both his native talents and his stealthy skills to conceal himself and his burden as necessary. Soon enough, he’s at his destination: the end of a pipe, grated to catch things like this body and keep them from polluting the harbor. It has a door, bolted from the inside, for use in an emergency. He uses the debris accumulated at the metal screen to load the deceased’s pockets.

Then, with a quick flick of the wrist, he unbolts the grate and tosses the corpse into the water below. Weighed down with sewer trash, it sinks rapidly. “When you get to Rebma, tell Grandmother I’m getting married, Montage.

“Engraved silver depth charges, my ass,” he adds to no one in particular, closing the grate behind him and turning to go.

2 Comments

Arref
Jul 18, 2006 8:53 AM

Yow! Death off-screen!
I bet his contract was up for renewal.

Rich
Jul 18, 2006 1:45 PM

*sniff* I wanted to do that. Ah well, can't begrudge Martin having dibs on that one.

This does leave the question of what a rather pissed off Bend will be up to though. I shall certainly stay tuned for the next exciting installment!

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