Inari’s Gift

The following day was rather calm, with Cera leaving the city to go experiment once again, attempting to figure out a starting point for spacial magic.  As before, she had no luck, though at least this time, the handful of magical detonations were rather small and easily dealt with.

There was, however, an interesting incident where space seemed to warp for a moment.  Unfortunately, on closer inspection of a repeat, it was simply distorted air due to sudden heating.  Cera found herself somewhat discouraged by this occurrence, but she was used to it taking a fair bit of effort to locate and understand new things, so she didn’t let it get to her for too long.

In the evening, she began to feel something nagging at the back of her mind, and put up her guard due to it.  Nothing unusual happened, however, other than that feeling lingering, so she simply had dinner and went to bed.

The next day started off similarly, though the feeling continued to grow as time passed.  Eventually she made it back home, and noticed a disturbing silence as she approached the door to her room.  Reminded of the prior occurrence and the assassin that’d been the cause, she carefully increased her defenses before standing to the side of the door.

A moment later, she’d positioned an illusion in front of the door, opening it with magic.  An instant later, a knife stopped just before touching the illusion.  Sound returned, and the first thing Cera heard was quite interesting.

“Shit, I’m sorry, you aren’t who I’m here for.  I also saw your medallion; I never accept targeting healers!” the figure at the door stated as they backed away into the center of the room.

Cera promptly decided to mess with them slightly and had the illusion enter the room even as she created another one, then entered with it, spreading the two out as she stood side-by-side with them.  As before, she noticed a featureless mask covering the person’s face.

All three of her shook their head and remarked, “You’re lucky; I noticed how you stopped yourself in time.  Even if I wasn’t defending myself, you’d not have touched me.  Quite impressive.  You’ve earned yourself a little goodwill.”

As the assassin’s head moved between the three women before him, they slunk back further and cursed, “Goddamnit, a mage too, AND an illusionist?  Fuck!  I’m sorry about this mix-up, can I convince you to let me go?”

Cera couldn’t help but chuckle before gesturing to the chair beside the desk, replying, “You can, perhaps.  Your swift action of pulling your blow before it connected was quite the nice surprise.  Now sit and remove your mask, then we can discuss things, and maybe I’ll let you go.”

She naturally didn’t have any intention of killing them, since they wouldn’t have hurt her even if she’d been unaware, which she was incredibly surprised by.  But there was no reason not to question them, and she didn’t have to tell them immediately, after all.

They turned somewhat, trying to keep an eye on her as well as glancing at the window, clearly judging the distance and if they had a chance, then back to the chair before muttering, “Illusionists are rare and dangerous.  Fine, I’ll do as you say.”

“Many thanks, I feel safer when it is harder for a proven threat to strike.  Now, why are you here, and so surprised to find me?” Cera inquired with a frown.

Removal of the mask revealed the assassin to be a middle-aged man, who was quite visibly anxious.  Cera shook her head at him as he remained silent for several moments.  Fortunately, it appeared he was simply thinking rather than plotting an attack, as he’d folded his hands on his lap rather than leaving them free to grab a weapon.

Eventually, he stated, “The new boss hasn’t exactly liked me, since I was one of the favorites of his rival before they retired.  I think he set me up in hopes that you’d kill me.  I was told to expect an older, balding merchant with a bodyguard, who was overconfident and didn’t let the guard do their job properly.  That is very clearly not you.  And I know I have the right building and the right room.  I’m too diligent to mess that up.”

The man sighed and shook his head before continuing, “We were all warned about you; you caught one of our people that specialized in hunting mages, and she made sure to tell us all that you were able to survive her without difficulty and capture her as well.  She fled the city afterward, refusing to tell anyone where she was going.  She didn’t tell us everything, of course, but the rules require informing the administration the full details, so they no doubt knew you were here.”

After a short pause, he added, “Clearly, this was an attempt to get rid of me, and I need to copy her and flee the city.  If you’ll let me, of course.  I don’t think I could handle you, even if I knew which of you is real; I don’t have one of the magic-breaking daggers, after all.”

Cera nodded as the man fell silent, then thought for a moment before asking, “Can you tell me where they are, in case I need to make my displeasure known directly?”

This time there was no delay as the man shook his head and responded, “That I can’t do.  If there is any suspicion of betrayal, they are ruthless.  They’d hunt me down even if it took months, as well as go after my family.  I’d rather you kill me.  At least then my family would have a chance.”

With a sigh, Cera shrugged and remarked, “Well, it was worth a try.  As I said, you surprised me, and stopping yourself before finishing your strike earned you some goodwill.  So long as you strongly discourage any other attempts to send people after me, I have no problem with letting you go.”

It took a moment for them to respond again before they sighed, stating, “It’s risky for me to return, so I’ll just send letters to everyone I personally know before leaving the city.  Is that enough for you?”

Cera frowned for a moment before shaking her head, the man immediately tensing up, and she quickly waved at him before responding, “Sorry, just a bit irritated, to put it mildly, but I understand.  You are free to leave.”

She then walked to the side of the room alongside her illusory copies.  She was surprised to see the man slip the mask into his clothes before leaving through the door, unlike the prior assassin, though he remained nervous and on edge.  In the short distance to the door, he glanced at her three separate times, and he practically ran down the hall as he made it outside.

This one she was relatively sure wouldn’t be back, so she relaxed somewhat, dismissing her copies before closing and locking the door.  She really hoped this wouldn’t become a regular thing; twice was already twice too many, and she’d rather not begin killing them and making them feel a need for revenge against her.

Though she was somewhat relaxed after the man left, she still didn’t let her guard down fully, choosing to keep her shields up at full, even if it wasn’t exactly effortless, and didn’t drop the illusion making her appear human.  Instead, she stayed as prepared as possible even when she tried to get some rest, eventually deciding to simply meditate instead of sleep, since she was still somewhat on edge.

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