Return of the Runebound Professor

A gentle breeze curled through the dark streets of Treadon. Night wrapped the city in its heavy cloak, broken only by the motes of dim lanternlight scattered throughout the streets. The distant murmur of conversation and the echo of footsteps through the streets brushed across Gex’s ears as he crept toward the market square, a poisoned dagger held in a loose grip at his side.

The scent of dust and rusted metal clung to him as he advanced. It stung his nose and made his eyes water slightly, but it obscured his scent with that of the streets. He was a ghost passing through the night. And, when his work was over and he returned home, there would be another ghost to take his place in the shadows.

Gex was a professional. At least, he’d swear up and down that he was. He’d been doing this for longer than most demons that lived in the streets had been alive. The names of all the people he’d sent on into the next life evaded him, but as did the number. Neither mattered any more.

All that mattered was accomplishing the job. A Rank 3 demon was a little stronger than his usual prey. It wasn’t a task he normally would have accepted, but it had only taken a single look at the pay he’d been offered to accept without a second of hesitation.

He’d never gotten a look at his employer. That was how things were. A masked meeting in a dark room, the passing of coin from one hand to the other, and the promise of a life ended. It was not his role to wonder why the job had been placed or who had ordered it.

But this job was different. Mask or not, the demon who had placed the order had stood over twice Gex’s height. Even a cloak and mask, his imposing figure was impossible to conceal, as was the gravelly tone he spoke in. It had sounded like the demon had subsisted on a diet of sand and rock for the past fifty years. But, despite the voice, he had spoken like a noble.

It wasn’t just that. The huge demon had moved with the confidence of a warrior. There was no fear or jitter in his motions, an oddity for Gex’s normal clientele. That wasn’t a problem.

He’d worked with demons far greater than himself before. Some kills were just beneath them. What Gex did take issue with, however, was twofold. To be more specific, it was two demons.

Taking on risky jobs was no problem — but Gex worked alone. He’d always had, and up until he’d seen the pay offered for handling this job, he’d always planned to. Adding others into the mix just complicated things.

It meant less money for the kill. More chances for something to go wrong. More ways to be betrayed. But, when he’d seen the huge bag of coin, all those misgivings had gone out the door. There were some things worth the extra risk.

At least, that’s what he’d thought. He wasn’t so sure anymore. Something deep within Gex’s stomach twisted and churned. The night was still and empty. There was no reason to be concerned. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the two other assassins creeping through the dark, but he knew they were there.

All of them sought the same target. They’d all been paid, so there was no reason for them to come into conflict with each other. All that mattered was the target’s death. It should have been one of the most straightforward tasks that Gex had ever taken — but his gut screamed otherwise.

For that reason, Gex hesitated. He hadn’t lived this long by ignoring his instincts. He extended every sense in search of what was unnerving him. The camp wasn’t anything special. If anything, it was pathetic.

They had no security perimeter. No proper guard. Not even proper lighting to prevent someone like him from striding past the tents and heading for the large one at the back of the square without so much as a suspicious glance.

And yet, sweat rolled down the back of Gex’s neck like a thin river. His pallid skin felt clammy and cold and his knuckles were white around the hilt of his dagger. No matter how hard he searched, nothing seemed off.

Nothing was out of place.

So what is this feeling? I’m already behind schedule. I should have been in and out already, the task complete. One of the other assassins has probably already handled it. All of us are Rank 3. We’ve handled streetlords that got too big for their station before.

No amount of thought helped. Gex’s mind found absolutely nothing amiss, but the rest of his body disagreed.

It makes no sense. If something had gone wrong, I would have already heard something. I’ve been so delayed that at least one of the other assassins should have run into any defenses this Aylin has.

The back of Gex’s neck prickled and he hesitated. They couldn’t run into anything if they weren’t actually there. He adjusted his grip on the dagger to make sure the cold sweat building on his palms didn’t let the weapon grow slippery.

Is it possible they didn’t come? Am I the only one here?

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He quashed the thoughts. This was the exact reason he worked alone. Adding others into the mix just complicated things. Whether the other demons were there or not, it didn’t matter. He had a task to complete and no reason to delay further.

Gex crept toward the large tent. He stayed low to the ground and partially blended with the long night shadows, making sure no errant eye would spot him. The unease in his stomach was just nerves. The night was odd, but there was nothing to be—

A band slammed into Gex’s mouth, wrapping around it with an iron grip and muffling the surprised gasp before it could escape his mouth. Bands enveloped his body in an instant, slamming his arms to his side and sending his dagger clattering to the ground as they crushed his limbs against his torso.

Gex struggled furiously — and fruitlessly — as he felt his body lifted into the air. He could just barely see small flowers sprouting along the edges of the vines he’d been bound with, bearing with them a faint, sweet scent.

A tent flap parted beneath Gex and a woman stepped out, her red hair falling around her shoulders like a cloak of burning grass. The vines holding him ran out from one of her shirt sleeves.

“Damned Plains,” the woman muttered. “Another one? This is getting ridiculous.”

Gex’s blood ran cold. If his mouth hadn’t been completely plugged by a vine, he would have let loose with every curse known to demonkind. This was the exact reason he worked alone. At least one of the other idiots had gotten caught.

The vines tightened around Gex. Every scrap of power in his body amounted to absolutely nothing. He struggled with all the strength his runes gave him, but the thick vines were more like metal than organic matter. The only thing he was capable of was wiggling his fingers and toes.

Fear arced through him like lightning. External magic. A Rank 4 demon at the minimum. That hadn’t been in the job description.

He fought to keep his nerves under control. He’d been in some poor situations before. None quite so bad as this, but he’d talked his way out of more than one trap in his lifetime. Nobody cared about hired assassins. They cared about the person that hired them.

There’s no way both of the others have been caught. One should still be out there. If they notice what’s going on, they can kill this woman while I keep her distracted questioning me. It’ll make all of our jobs easier if there aren’t any witnesses. All I have to do is buy time while she’s questioning me.

But, to Gex’s confusion, the woman didn’t release his mouth. She didn’t even call for help. She just studied him, annoyance and contemplation intermixing in her features. Gex’s limbs started to go numb at the force he was getting crushed.

“You interrupted me,” the woman said, her voice taut with anger. “Couldn’t you have tried to do something during the day? Why now? I was comfortable.”

Gex would have been thrilled to answer and direct her attention in any direction he possibly could have, but she still hadn’t made any move to actually allow him to speak. Thin points of pain pressed into his chest and arms. The vines were growing thorns. His eyes widened and he tried to struggle even harder, but it did nothing. The woman didn’t even seem to notice.

The flaps to the large tent parted. Gex didn’t let his eyes betray anything, but hope shot through his body like adrenaline. Their job was done. Rank 4 or not, a dagger to the back of the neck was more than enough to—

“I’m done, Moxie.”

The first woman glanced over her shoulder. Gex followed her gaze, and his heart dropped into his stomach. The young demon that had emerged from the tent hadn’t been an assassin. She was another one of the demons from the camp.

Why won’t they let me speak? Do they plan to take me prisoner? For what purpose? What are they playing at?

“And?” Moxie asked, tilting her head to the side and ignoring Gex completely. “Did you get anything useful?”

“Yeah. There were just three of them, and they got hired by some big demon with a scratchy voice.”

Gex’s stomach couldn’t drop any farther, but he was pretty sure it had died and its ghost was in freefall toward the center of the world.

Fuck me. One of the other assholes already sold the rest of us out before I could. This is exactly why I work alone. Why in the Damned Plains did I take this blasted job? My only hope is that the last assassin hasn’t been caught yet. Two demons are a lot. I don’t know why there’s a Rank 4 in a streetlord’s camp, but there’s no way there’s more than one. As long as she goes down first—

“Did you remember to leave the second one intact?” Moxie asked.

The younger demon cleared her throat. “I… may have gotten hungry. It’s hard to fight quietly. You said to make sure No — uh, Spider didn’t wake up. That costs extra. Snack tax. Maybe eating more will help me fix my Rank 4 Rune.”

No. It can’t be possible. A second Rank 4? Is she lying? No. There’s no reason for her to lie. This was a setup. It has to be. A foreign invasion force, starting with the underground of the city and moving up to swallow it whole.

“Snack — oh, whatever,” Moxie said wearily. “I just wanted a little time to spend with Spider. Is that really too much to ask? It’s colder out here than I expected, and I was so comfortable in bed. Combustion makes him so warm. Like a portable heater.”

“It’s okay. He’s still asleep. I can smell it.”

What kind of conversation is this? They’re acting as if I’m not even here! Damn it all. There has to be a way out. Let me speak, you bitches! How do you know I don’t know something the others didn’t?

“You know what? You’re right,” Moxie said. The vines constricting around Gex’s body tightened. He would have abandoned what little pride he had and screamed for help, but even that was denied to him. “If this one’s number three, then as long as I get rid of him, we can pretend as if our night didn’t get interrupted at all. Good thinking, Lee. I just have to make sure this is quiet so Spider doesn’t wake up.”

Her gaze finally lifted to meet Gex’s. There wasn’t a single scrap of interest in Moxie’s eyes. There was only annoyance — and impatience. She lifted her hand toward Gex. Her fist clenched.

The vines constricted in a flicker of an instant, and darkness enveloped Gex’s vision. His scream, along with the crunching of his bones, were both swallowed by the thick vines. He only had time for one final thought before the pain cut out and his consciousness vanished from the Damned Plains.

I hope I get to watch from the afterlife when they find the noble Wastelicker that fucked me over.

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