1. Z

    Kindling

    It had been well over a year since Zayad had seen his family. This foreign posting was a long and uncomfortable one. He'd done his best to make sure his men kept as many Miradi comforts as they could when they departed for the damn north. People often thought that loyalty was this grip at your...
  2. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    He took the teething compliment, showing whites of his own. Good conversation was hard to find. Most people rarely cared to engage in barbtrading without wanting something out of the whole thing. Perhaps there were things Kilam wanted too – but a Miradi mind was often easier to understand...
  3. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    He nodded at the other, following the cards with his eyes. Some movements he kept track of fully, others eluded him. Useful bit of information – as the two little papers could've just as easily been knives. Zayad doubted such trivialities rivaled the destructive potential of shroudmail, but it...
  4. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    Ah, kindness – the sharpest weapon. It spoke well of Miradi magnificence that, when they finally conquered, they brought lesser provinces under proper law, and did it politely. He took the gloves offered, his hands grateful for the second sleeving. Resisting the cold was hardly equal to not...
  5. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    There were different, nonchalant men, who would affix hope upon young Kilam's words. Zayad couldn't afford it. Telling people what they wanted to hear was how he earned his bread. And if they told him what he wanted to hear in turn, all the better. But truth, much like anything, was a commodity...
  6. Z

    Private Scales and the Scaled

    She had decided, then. That would fare well for his next service review. He still couldn't fully turn his back on the creature – but if she was of a mind to come, he wouldn't fight her on it. People rarely said no. He never understood it – if he had a choice, he'd be as far from the Lord as...
  7. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    Men of certainty worried Zayad. Every good mind could stand a little doubt. Whenever talk turned to truths and facts, his gut twisted, like the knife he may need to place into the other. The very idea of a seed was a dangerous one. Probably the very reason Zayad was on this mission, in this...
  8. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    That was the problem of speaking in riddles. You could only assume according to your own intelligence. His dossiers on the one known as Kilam weren't complete enough to make summary judgement. The experience so far proved the man capable at action and conversation, if a bit lacking in caution...
  9. Z

    Private Unreadable

    He slid in her wake. Carefully. Too carefully – he caught on. So he made himself clumsier, here and there. The balance of the ship caused him to elbow a crewman. Sway of the ballast allowed him to casually knock over a stack of crates. When you were too big to hide, it was important to make sure...
  10. Z

    Private Unreadable

    The loose flow of burgundy silk wasn't doing him any favors in the overeager wind. The gale of the open space made the fabric tug at his form – a tent mad with celebration. Where the wide elbow sleeves ended, the inner lining flashed a golden pattern, echoed in the trim and collar. He hoped the...
  11. Z

    Private Unreadable

    His brow came up at the idea of this swill being dubbed coffee. But the rest of it was going his way. Strange – he had expected this to be a bigger battle. That he'd need to struggle or offer up more, especially following seven dismissals. Perhaps that was the error. He'd sent envoys instead of...
  12. Z

    Private Unreadable

    Didn't argue with her, even as she was wrong. Because being right wasn't of value. It was that she was talking herself into it. Zayad had long ago learned that it was easier to sell a story to someone who'd already bought in. Who already started drafting their own ending. Let the grin stand and...
  13. Z

    Private Scales and the Scaled

    One of the junior men was sent. Because if the quarry truly was dangerous, it wasn't a good idea to have the trap sprung on your best foot. Unarmed and unarmored. Just road leathers, scuffed at the corners. Miradi make, if one knew how to look. He crept in before sundown. Because the Lord taught...
  14. Z

    Private Needle in a Haystack

    They often sent those like Zayad after the work had been finished by Kilam's kind. Even as the fishermen put their heads down – he wondered if the one who'd administered the poison would need to be dispatched as well. Wouldn't even be cruelty. Merely certainty. Trust was a transactional...
  15. Z

    Private Phantasmophobia

    He let the other's words wash away in the same stormspeak the killer seemed to be so fond of. Zayad had met many colleagues who believed they were divine servants of a higher calling. Talked a lot of death and meaning and such. But the more one worked, the clearer it became – murder was just...
  16. Z

    Private Phantasmophobia

    In a dance of predators, sudden movements weren't advisable. So he moved only in necessity. He had time to allow the stranger's words to cover the space between them like old dust. Zayad had no counterargument worth making – because Tetron wasn't arguing. He was declaring. That was always the...
  17. Z

    Private Phantasmophobia

    Zayad considered how much truth to allow. If it came to it, Tetron would likely overpower him. There were too many people around to make a clean getaway without breaking cover. A portly merchant pulling himself up a roof one handed would strain credibility. So he portioned it. Listened. And bid...
  18. Z

    Private Phantasmophobia

    „Some men hide in shadow. Others, in blood.“ Zayad met the Prince's gaze. A Praetor. That was some mark. „He chose both.“ He measured the quarry. Strange, being asked if he knew the crimes. As if sin had a say. Killing was never about faith or justice. It was about timing. And message. Margin...
  19. Z

    Private Phantasmophobia

    Dance had the quick and the dead. He accepted the invitation. Returned the bow. He could not allow fear a foothold, even as it taunted him. He was trained better than that. There were only steps and thought. Movement mirrored, each step falling exactly where the Prince's had left. Like a cat...
  20. Z

    Private Phantasmophobia

    He had already killed that evening. A lesser man, of little note. Yet something in the way he spoke suggested a breach, or perhaps a lack of discretion among his colleagues. Because even the 'ni had shadows, and the best ones learned to move through light and dark alike, beyond the reflection...
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