They came and stood in front of the monument. I pushed my Hearing Aid to listen in. It was enough to bump it to Journeyman level.

  “I hope, thief Jenna, that you didn’t bury it in the open here.” The Chelonian's voice was surprisingly high.

  I didn’t catch Jenna’s reply. I did catch the largest Orc’s low growl. There is tension there, that is clear.

  “No,” the same Chelonian said, “we must check that it is unopened before anything else. Where is it? You have no digging equipment, so I hope we are not out here for nothing.”

  Jenna’s back was to me, so I couldn’t see her face. I did see both Chelonians frown. Then Jenna signalled.

  Before we left our hide in the bushes, I grabbed Kevin’s shoulder and whispered, “Be aware that at least one of Jenna’s Orc guards works for the Duke.”

  He looked at me, puzzled, as if asking how I knew that, but I grabbed the cart and walked out onto the grass. Kevin followed.

  Everybody turned to look at us as we trudged up the hill. The first thing that hit was a Status and mental attack. My Mask Status Skill immediately levelled, and I pushed Frigid Void over my mind, also reinforcing Mask Status. The attack didn’t stop. I felt my mind being squeezed. I am sure the elf is behind it. This didn’t feel like an Orc. This was slippery and powerful, looking for a back way in. Orcs are direct and frontal.

  Fuck this. Maybe I am not past using Solar Flare. I mentally let my Solar Flare explode out of my mind in every direction. Only the person attacking me will feel it as the flare burned away the attack and their mental energy.

  The elf cried out and staggered. He must have put a lot into the attack.

  The Chelonian, who was the spokesperson, immediately turned on Jenna, “What did you do? You attacked my Truth Sensor!”

  I growled, “It wasn’t her. The pointy ears attacked me, and he should keep his mind to himself, or I will burn it out.”

  Suddenly, I was not just Jenna’s labourer but a threat in my own right. Everyone was looking at me in a mixture of surprise, except Jenna and the small, thin orc, whom I had last seen hidden in broad daylight at the Noble meeting in the Duke's Palace—the Hidden Fang.

  “You attacked him,” the Chelonian accused. “You want to lie to us.” He gave the elf a look, but I didn’t see what it was.

  “He didn’t lie,” the small Orc said authoritatively. Of course, the Hidden Fang has a high-level truth-sensing ability. The Chelonian wanted to argue, but the orc continued, “He didn’t lie about the attack nor about the ability to burn out his brain.” That gave everyone pause.

  I was sure it wouldn’t be that easy, and I had to remember that the ability to sense the truth does not require them to tell the truth, which is why Jenna hired her own Truth Sensor. The trouble is her truth sensor has different loyalties.

  Jenna stepped over beside me. “Let me introduce Ivan Medved, a member of the Bearded Sheilas, who has the contract to deliver the safe.” She pointed to the cart, “One unopened safe.”

  “We want to inspect it,” the Chalonian said.

  Jenna stepped back, “Be my guest.”

  I moved with Jenna, but we didn’t go far. I dropped her bow and quiver on the ground so she could access them if necessary. The safe was heavy, but anyone with reasonable physical attributes could carry it.

  The two Chelonians moved forward and opened the wooden crate in which the safe was kept. They looked over the top millimetre by millimetre, paying special attention to the edges. Then they turned it over and repeated it for every side. Then they lifted it out and did the same for the ends. They then had a short conversation in a language I didn’t know.

  “Are you satisfied it is intact?” Jenna asked.

  The main talker nodded, “We are.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of coins. “This settles the contract.”

  I waited.

  “I have some questions,” Jenna said in a tone that indicated they knew that.

  “And I have more deaths for which I would like payment,” I said to stall things.

  “Yes, yes,” he said, “You claim to have killed Bjarne, but his contract was paid out months ago. If you have a claim, take it up with the Mercenary Guild.”

  “I want more information on the attack on your School, Geerolf,” Jenna said.

  “So you have said, Thief Jenna, but the culprits have been dealt with, or will be shortly. I am not providing information that might lead to a repeat.”

  “How about stopping a repeat?” Jenna said.

  “We have closed that weakness and killed those responsible.”

  “See, I don’t think you have,” Jenna said. “I think you are killing those who participated, not those who are responsible.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Geerolf looked at the elf, “She speaks truth. She thinks she knows who might have been behind the raid.”

  That was interesting. The Skill was more than a simple truth skill; it must also read intentions in some way, which is even more dangerous.

  “Why would you think that?” Geerolf asked.

  “Because of what was also found in the cave with the safe,” Jenna said.

  “Bjarne was a thief, was he not? Why would some random item be connected to our theft?” Geerolf asked.

  Geerolf was good. He was downplaying it, but my Void Sensing didn’t miss the small startled movement from the other Chelonian.

  Jenna was good, too. “You are not interested? That tells me you already know who is behind it. What is in the safe?”

  “We are a business, Thief Jenna,” emphasising the thief part. “The safe was made for a contract we will not discuss. I am interested in why you think you know who was behind the attack. What was in the cave?”

  “So we do have information to exchange,” Jenna said. “Why are you hunting the raiders, but not the one behind it?”

  “Because they are dead,” Geerolf said.

  “That is a lie,” the small orc said.

  “We think they are dead,” Geerolf amended.

  “Partial truth,” said the orc.

  “So you don’t know if they are dead or not. But you are not actively hunting them,” Jenna said. “The aggressive hunt and assassination of those in the raid indicate you would not let something like this drop. Therefore, if they are alive, you expect them to come to you, and you didn’t put out a contract, so you don’t want people to know who was behind it.”

  “You can speculate all you want, Thief. Be careful that you don’t get a contract put out on you.” Geerolf obviously wanted to move from this line of reasoning.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time,” Jenna said.

  “Of course not, Thief,” was the reply.

  I was watching the other Chelonian, who was less controlled. You couldn’t tell because of all the robes, but my Void Sensing saw right through them. They were getting more nervous as the conversation went on.

  Something about all this wasn’t sitting right with me. Jenna/Kiri obviously thought her Aunt, the Black Butcher, was behind the raid. She had no proof, just the presence of the Blacksteel knife in the cave.

  Then I realised what I was missing. I butted in, “Why was the Chelonian School raided in the first place?”

  Everybody looked at me. Geerolf said, “To steal from us, of course.”

  “Partial Truth,” the small orc said.

  Jenna looked like she had realised it too, “Because that was the trap!”

  I pointed to the safe, “and I would think that was the bait. The defenders failed, but it went wrong for the raiders as well,” I surmised.

  “And Bjarne was left holding the goods,” Jenna said, “probably not knowing what they were. What is in the safe?” she asked again.

  “We will be taking it and leaving now,” Geerolf said, and their team drew weapons.

  The Orcs didn’t need any signal. They just drew their weapons.

  “No, you won’t,” Jenna said, suddenly thrusting her sword into Geerolf’s face. It was obvious to all that he would be the first to die. “Everybody hold still.” She looked at me, “Ivan, break open that safe.”

  I put away my knife and drew my axe with the spike.

  “Don’t do that, you will kill us all!” Geerolf shouted.

  “Why is that?” Jenna asked. “What is in the safe?”

  “It's a special elemental gas,” Geerolf said.

  “Partial truth,” the orc said.

  I stepped forward and raised my axe to put more pressure on the Chelonian. I hadn’t decided whether I would do it or not.

  “It is a monster!” Geerolf said hurriedly. “It is a shadow elemental monster trapped in there! If you open it, you will kill us all.”

  “Truth,” said the orc.

  No wonder I couldn’t sense inside the safe. Shadow elemental monsters were purely spiritual beings. I had no idea how they built something to contain them, let alone trap them in the first place.

  “Ivan,” Jenna’s voice was furious, “smash open that safe!”

  “No, no, wait,” Geerolf started.

  Jenna overrode him. “If there is an elemental monster in there, and it was bait to catch the Black Butcher, then Nyx is inside that safe. BREAK IT OPEN!”

  “And if it is not?” said the Hidden Fang.

  “Kevin, knife,” said Jenna, holding out her spare hand.

  Kevin drew the Blacksteel war knife and tossed it to her. She caught it and shoved it in Geerolf's face. He obviously recognised it, as did the other Chelonian.

  “That is good enough for me, Ivan, break it,” Jenna said.

  I wasn’t afraid of death, and I was reasonably sure my Solar Flare would be effective against a shadow elemental. I readied my axe and engaged Damage Mitigation.

  “No!” Geerolf said and signalled. That was the last thing he did as Jenna removed his head.

  I, however, had to duck as a knife was thrown at me. It sliced my shoulder, cutting through Tough hide, and I felt the sting of a poison. The Chelonians were alchemists.

  Fighting broke out all around me. It was a strong poison. I was able to pull the majority out with Extract Impurities, but if it had got into a major vein, I would be dead. I closed the wound and assessed what was happening.

  Orcs are vicious fighters, but Shark Mer were tough. The other Chelonian was down, and I was not sure he would survive. He was the one who threw the knife. The difference between the Orcs and the Chelonians was not skill level but the fact that they worked as a team. Shark Mer were loners by nature, and the three humans stuck together.

  Kevin and Jenna fought the humans while the Orcs rolled over the Mer.

  The elf knocked everyone sideways with a mental attack. The shark Mer struck back at the Orcs, and Kevin and Jenna stumbled and were sliced by the two standing humans.

  The mental attack stopped suddenly, and I saw the elf with a knife through his heart. The Hidden Fang was at work.

  The Hidden Fang was the wild card here. I doubt the Duke was going to want the safe opened.

  I stood up and brought my spike down on the safe.

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