Vexil.
Walking out of a small bakery, where he got a savoury pastry and a hot drink for breakfast. Zam the ex mercenary stops and looks around.
There's fog here this morning in the city of Vexil. Which no doubt will burn off later to reveal another clear spring day.
The teenager originally from The City Of Ruins, looks up when he hears the sound of large wings flapping somewhere above him.
Zam slightly nods to himself when he spots the ghostly figure of a wyvern flying overhead. Either one belonging to the Vexillian aircorp. Or a privately owned one.
Either way it's heading to the main airdocks of the city, which is somewhere to the south of where the ex mercenary is this morning.
The youngest member of the group looks to his right, and after a pair of arguing goblins walk by. Almost tripping one another up.
Zam walks away to his right, and he soon gets his bearings on this foggy morning here in the capital city of Vexil.
The teenager stops at the corner of two intersecting streets, and to his right out of the fog walks a tall hooded figure who heads straight to the ex mercenary who hails from The City Of Ruins.
"Find it?" quietly asks Zam the ex mercenary "Just a bit further that way" quietly replies Dalinvardèl Tanith the elven spy who gestures back the way he's come from.
The two of them head that way, while a horse drawn carriage goes by, followed by a pair of mounted mercenary guards.
"Didn't think they'd get this type of weather here" says Zam who is accustomed to being in foggy conditions. As the City Of Ruins often experiences days of fog due to it's location, and basically being down a giant hole in the ground..
"Mostly from the nearby river" replies the spy Tanith who like the ex mercenary is speaking in elven.
The commander in the Scouts and Rangers division of the Armies of Farque, who hails from the elven principality of Alinlae, where he previously served in one of the more prominent noble houses there, continues with "They only get it around this time of the year".
The elven spy in the grey hooded cloak follows that with "At least you know it's going to be a fine and sunny day if it's like this early in the morning".
Dalinvardèl Tanith or Dalin as he's more commonly called by the others in the group, then dryly adds "Unlike every other day here in the spring when it's bloody well raining".
The teenager who hails from The City Of Ruins nods in agreement with that. As so far all that he's experienced while here in the city of Vexil, is rainy day after rainy day, followed by a couple of clear and sunny days before the rains return.
The two of them cross a street, and the spy Tanith who leads the way down a lane, with just a sole individual in it, who is opening up a shop.
Quietly tells the ex mercenary "Up ahead, just around the corner".
The elven spy who is a senior officer in the Armies of Farque continues with "Away to the right".
They get to the end of the lane, where there's a tree on the corner, which they stand under, and Zam looks away to the right through the fog.
And as the youngest member of the group mutters "What am I looking at?". Dalin quietly tells him "Dark building three down from here". The spy Tanith follows that with "They're watching it from across the street".
The ex mercenary slightly nods as he can easily see the building in question. It's one of the newer counting houses that Lord Farque is using.
The teenager who is originally from The City Of Ruins then looks across the street, and though he can see the outlines of buildings across there, he can't see them clearly due to the fog, that's across pretty much all of the city of Vexil this morning.
"Can you see them?" quietly asks Zam, in response Dalin tells him "When they look out of the window of the room they're in".
The elven spy who formerly served in one of the most notable houses of nobility in his homeland of Alinlae, continues with "Up on the second floor".
The ex mercenary slightly nods, then he quietly asks "Did his highness say who they're working for?".
"The City Council" is the reply from the spy Tanith, who continues on with "Which most likely means the Mage Council".
"Directly for them?" asks the teenager who is the youngest member of the group, who then adds "Or are they hired mercs?".
"Hired" is the quiet reply from the elf in the grey hooded cloak, who follows on from that with "If they're caught, they can deny who they actually work for".
Dalinvardèl Tanith continues with "Even if they are, they'll probably get away with it" he then adds "Is not as though the city guard is going to punish someone who works for the City Council, directly or not".
Zam slightly nods again, then quietly says "And is watching one of the city's counting houses an actual crime".
"No" is the response from Dalin, who continues on with "Though it's highly dubious to write down everyone who enters and exits that counting house".
The elven spy who hails from the principality of Alinlae, then says "You could easily see that as planning for a crime, either robbing the counting house itself, or anyone who uses it".
The ex mercenary nods at that, then he looks directly across the street from them, as the commander in the Armies of Farque quietly tells him "Cross here" followed by "They can't see us here from up in that room they're in".
The pair, a teenage human, and an elf basically three hundred years older than him, cross the street, walking through the fog.
Across the street, and up against one of the buildings there, Zam looks towards the building, that's directly opposite the counting house back on the other side of the street.
As the hull of an airship can be seen parting the fog up in early morning sky, above the street they're on.
The two of them, the ex mercenary and the elven spy walk quickly towards the building they've come to observe.
They turn into an alleyway between it and the building next to it. Which they quickly walk down, before turning right, which finds them right behind the building in question.
"It's supposed to be open" murmurs the spy Tanith as they stand in front of the back door of the building.
"Might as well see what's inside" adds the elven spy who hails from the principality of Alinlae, who looks at Zam, and the teenager from The City Of Ruins nods in return.
"There's supposed to be four of them" quietly explains Dalin after they enter the building, he follows that with "Two at all times in the room upstairs facing the counting house".
They move throughout the first floor of the building, moving quietly. With the spy Tanith making no noise whatsoever as they search downstairs. Where they find nothing of interest.
Looking at the stairs that lead up, Zam glances at Dalinvardèl Tanith, and nods to upstairs.
The elven spy who is a commander in the Armies of Farque, replies with a hand signal and the ex mercenary nods in understanding.
Dalin heads upstairs without making a sound, and the youngest member of the group follows him, keeping as quiet as possible.
Once they get to the second floor, the elf who previously served in one of the more prominent noble houses in his homeland of Alinlae, pauses.
He nods to the closed doorway at the far end of the hallway, and Zam nods in understanding. As that's the room two hired mercenaries are watching the comings and goings at the counting house across the street.
Then after the spy Tanith briefly closes his eyes, he points to another closed door. Two to the right of them. And he makes the hand signal for two people inside there.
Dalin steps back, and murmurs to Zam "If we can get into one of the rooms down there on the left, I'll be able to hear what those two in the room at the end of the hallway are talking about as they watch the counting house".
The ex mercenary originally from The City Of Ruins nods, and does so again when the elven spy tells him "Keep as quiet as you can".
The spy Tanith moves forward, and as usual he's basically silent as heads down the hallway. Zam follows him, and though he's not silent. He hardly makes a noise as he follows after the elf who is a commander in the Scouts and Rangers division of the Armies of Farque..
It's by pure luck more than anything else, that they're found out. For as they pass the room two to the right from the stairs they came up, specifically as Zam is going by them. The door to that room opens. Before Dalin can spin around and warn the teen who is the youngest member of the group.
"What?" says a startled looking man as he sees Zam who has stopped in surprise. The man yells something, then rushes the teenager who used to live and work, if you could call it that, in The City Of Ruins.
"Fuck" mutters the ex mercenary who is shoved up against the hallway wall, when the man, a hired mercenary runs into him.
Zam tries to knee the man, but he can't get his knee up, as the hired mercenary shoves his forearm into the throat of the youngest member of the group.
Who gulps in relief as the pressure comes off his throat when a boot connects to the side of the man's head, dropping him to the floor of the hallway, totally unconscious.
Dalin who has just executed a flawless spin kick to the side of the head of the hired mercenary, calmly says to the ex mercenary from The City Of Ruins "Watch out".
The youngest member of the group who is trying to get his breath back, instantly ducks when he hears that warning from the spy Tanith.
A large throwing knife slams into the hallway wall, exactly where the ex mercenary was standing. Zam looks up, and sees the second hired mercenary coming running out of the open doorway.
As he does, the door to the room at the end of the hallway opens, and the two hired mercenaries who have been watching the counting house come running out of that room.
"Shit" is what Zam hears Dalin mutter, just before the elven spy, spins and kicks the hired mercenary rushing into the hallway, in the legs.
Who had no idea the spy Tanith was there, and he screams in pain, and falls forward with a fair bit of momentum.
And he slams into the wall, and falls down on top of the ex mercenary from The City Of Ruins who is trying to get up off floor.
"Fuck me" mutters Zam, who goes to shove the man who has fallen on top of him off. The hired mercenary groans, then realising his predicament. He throws a punch at the teenager he's fallen on top of.
The ex mercenary moves his head quickly to one side, and the man on top of him, yells in pain when his fist connects with the floor.
Zam brings his knee up, and this time he connects. And the hired mercenary on top of him, rolls off, trying to clutch his groin.
The youngest member of the group, from his back, throws an elbow. Which slams into the side of the hired mercenary's head.
His eyes roll up, and he tries to move. But he softly groans as he starts to fall into unconscious. Which he eventually does, when Zam elbows him again, this time in the temple.
"Fuck" mutters the ex mercenary, who takes a deep breath before sitting up, then he looks to the other end of the hallway.
Where he sees the two other hired mercenaries, on the floor. Knocked out by the looks of things. And a moment later, Dalinvardèl Tanith the elven spy walks out of the room at the end of the hallway.
He's folding up a piece of parchment, which he puts into a hidden pocket in his vest beneath his cloak.
"Come on Zam, up you get" says Dalin as he helps the youngest member of the group to stand up "You alright?" asks the elven spy who is a commander in the Armies of Farque..
"Fine" is the reply from Zam the ex mercenary, who takes a deep breath, and is pretty sure he's taken no injuries, apart from a few bruises.
The elven spy who hails from the principality of Alinlae nods his hooded head, then quietly says "Come on, let's go".
The ex mercenary from The City Of Ruins follows Dalin back along the hallway, then downstairs, and eventually out of the building .
Then they head off through the fog that still covers pretty much all of the city on this early spring day, in the capital of the city-state of Vexil . . . . . .
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