Fire, Smoke, Boom

Writers: Miriah
Date Posted: 6th November 2020
Series: The Assassin's Husband

Characters: Lusilk
Description: Lusilk settles Lorican's issues with fire, smoke and a big boom.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 6, day 23 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Lorican

Lusilk

On top of her runner, Lusilk watched from an outcropping as Shadow
Peak Mining Hold descended into chaos. She felt no guilt, only
satisfaction as she heard the people cry out and clamor for some sort
of explanation of what had happened. Leaving in the midst of that
chaos had been far too easy.But still, she watched; she wanted to make
sure that she'd left nothing to chance. She'd done that before and had
learned her lesson. Nothing could be assumed.

Lorican would be pleased, she thought, then quickly corrected herself,
**Well, not pleased exactly. Not when he heard what's happened. He'll
be horrified. But he'll recognize it easily enough.** And it was
ironic; what she'd attempted and failed to do with Lorican, she'd
succeeded with Belkas. Her lips quirked. The Holder had been overly
confident and the Steward far too trusting.

Belkas, like many Holders of wealth, was arrogant in his confidence
and unsuspecting of any designs against his person. He thought his
wealth protected him. Foolish. She didn't care what the information
was that Lorican held; it no longer mattered. Belkas had to be stopped
and soon. If he didn't receive word from Varlin soon, he'd contract
with someone else. She might have even been approached through a
mutual acquaintance. A less reputable contact wouldn't have been as
concerning, but she was tired of keeping her guard up, even for
someone who would have been less experienced.

Getting rid of the Steward had been easy, especially since Lusilk knew
how Varlin had conducted his business. A coded message sent, and she
was met in the darks of the mines by the man. Foolish of him to come
alone; it had been far too easy for the man to 'trip and stumble' into
a deep abandoned mineshaft. She'd waited as he fell, screaming in
horror, then heard the distant, ugly thump, then nothing but silence.
She'd crept out of the mine in the night, silent and unseen as she
headed for the smithcraft area. She'd have to act quickly to make sure
his absence wasn't noticed before she could act.

Disguise was a simple matter; hardly anyone looked at a drudge as long
as they appeared busy. And it was the attempt on Lorican that had
given her the idea. Smithcraft hall areas were filled with all sorts
of pressurized canisters and chemicals that were very flammable and a
mining hold would have an abundance of these materials. Of course,
most smiths knew not to put any of those things near a forge; Lorican
had certainly known the dangers. The poor guard, barely into adulthood
who'd been placed near the forge hadn't been as observant as Lorican
had been. It'd
been a simple matter to creep behind the young man and club him into
unconsciousness. Removing his knots and his gear, she propped him up
in a chair, thrusting some sort of scale under his chin to make him
appear as if he were sitting up and looking down at something. He
could be a smith in his shirtsleeves; it was enough for the brief
amount of time she'd need him for. She patted his shoulder and
whispered. "Sorry kid. Wrong place, wrong time for you," then set
about arranging
her little surprise.

A message sent to Belkas, via another drudge. The Steward needed him
at the smithcraft area and it was urgent. Belkas came, a tired guard
trailing after him. Lusilk had waited outside at a distance, silently
ticking off the time on her fingers, hoping that she'd estimated the
right amount of time. Before she got to ten, the smithcraft hall
exploded with a shuddering boom and gouts of flames that shook the
entire hold. Waiting from a safe distance, she made sure that no one
emerged like had happened last time. When the alarm sounded, she
blended in with the hold residents, acting alarmed as she moved
amongst them, then slipped away.

Now she looked down at the chaos. The cry had already emerged that
Belkas had been within the Smithcraft hall. No one had been found
alive within. All were dead. The young "smith" who had died was likely
to be initially blamed; it wouldn't be until later that they
discovered it wasn't a smith that was missing, but a guard. She
shrugged off a tiny niggle of guilt; it couldn't be helped and he'd
served a valuable purpose. It wasn't as though she hadn't killed a
guard before anyway.

There was something else she needed to do before going to Rorrigraf. A
man, though in her mind he was really a pathetic boy, that she needed
to see. She and him would come to an understanding. A very _pointed_
understanding about his brother and what he had been asking of him. It
wouldn't happen again and she'd make sure of it.

Last updated on the November 11th 2020

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Fire, Smoke, Boom