{"id":3681,"date":"2016-06-07T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T04:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=3681"},"modified":"2016-06-23T05:43:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T09:43:17","slug":"unusual-applicant-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/unusual-applicant-part-five\/","title":{"rendered":"A Most Unusual Applicant – Part Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Most Unusual Applicant<\/strong>
\nA Story by Aaron Canton<\/strong>
\n-Part Five-<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As soon as the city\u2019s bells tolled midnight, Jadie Rivers lowered herself off the top of the Viscosa cliff wall and climbed down towards the hidden cave that led into the tunnels. It was a tough descent, but Jadie had already made it once with guards at her heels, so doing it at her leisure felt like a breeze. \u201cYes!\u201d she hissed as she swung into the crevice and dropped lightly to her feet. \u201cI am the best thief ever!\u201d She couldn\u2019t quite stifle a giggle. \u201cAnd when I steal enough gold to buy my own manor, I\u2019m totally<\/em> gonna install caves and tunnels just like these. Put some traps here, treasure chests there…\u201d<\/p>\n

The back of the cave led to a maze of long, winding passages, but Jadie had come prepared with torches and plenty of rope to trail behind her so she couldn\u2019t get lost. She had a destination\u2014the shaft that led into Nemeroth\u2019s office\u2014and she figured that the path leading from the outer tunnels to the shaft was likely straightforward, since whoever had built the escape route wouldn\u2019t want to risk getting lost if they ever needed to use it. And while the shaft\u2019s tunnel could have been cut off in a cave-in or barred by a gate, Jadie doubted that was the case. Someone as shifty as Nemeroth would surely want to be able to escape in a hurry should his corruption be discovered, so he would have ensured that the route remained unblocked. There was a way to get from the outer tunnels to the shaft, she told herself, and she would find it.<\/p>\n

And, after some time wandering through the tunnels, she did.<\/p>\n

Jadie reached a vertical passage that rose through the ceiling and up into the inky blackness of the cave system, with ancient metal rungs embedded into one side of the shaft at various intervals. She immediately retraced her steps and verified she stood more or less under where Nemeroth\u2019s office would be on the surface. Then, with a bright grin on her face, she grabbed the rungs and hauled herself up. Soon enough, she could see the top, which seemed to be a trapdoor, and rushed more quickly.<\/p>\n

But then she climbed past a cross-passage and someone within it yanked her off the ladder. She cried out in pain as she slammed into the rock wall, and though she scrambled for a knife, more figures seized her and tore her blade from her grip. Despite her fierce struggling, she was bound and trussed in seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t kill her.\u201d Jadie recognized Nemeroth\u2019s voice. Seconds later, someone held up a torch, and she could see his wizened face. Nemeroth beamed at her, then glanced at the others in the hallway; Jadie recognized Harsten among the thugs. \u201cThe guards will want a live prisoner. But don\u2019t worry; I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll get to watch the hanging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGuards?\u201d Jadie forced a smile. \u201cFor what? These aren\u2019t your tunnels. I\u2019m allowed to stroll down here if I want, Nemmy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemeroth flushed and seemed about ready to shout at her, but he caught himself. \u201cFor attempting to break into the castle and kill me, of course. Your presence here, in the shaft leading to my office\u2014and the testimony of me and my guards as to your attempt a few nights ago\u2014is all we need to hang you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jadie couldn\u2019t hear any guards approaching but figured they would surely be along soon. \u201cHow did you find me?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

The clerk crouched slightly so his head was level with Jadie\u2019s. \u201cAfter your failed attempt to kill me, I thought you might hire muscle to try again, so I put a man in the adventurers guild to keep an eye out. He overheard every word of your conversation with our friend Mr. Barrows. It was easy to figure you\u2019d plant that letter in my office to frame me and that you\u2019d try to take the \u2018hidden\u2019 way into my office to do it.\u201d He chuckled. \u201cYou\u2019re a thief. It\u2019s what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTakes one to know one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemeroth smirked. \u201cWell, as enlightening as this conversation\u2019s been, we should move on. Harsten, search her and get that letter. It would be easy enough to prove that I couldn\u2019t have sealed it, since I reported my ring stolen when she first took it, but I\u2019d rather not have to deal with it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jadie said nothing while Harsten searched her until he found the signed, sealed letter rolled up in the back left pocket of her pants. He showed it to Nemeroth and then lit it with the torch, burning it to ashes just as booted footsteps sounded from down the hall. \u201cUh, boss\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guards are here, yes, I know. Well, put her front and center, gentlemen.\u201d Nemeroth grinned as Jadie was shoved in front of him. \u201cLet\u2019s not give her a chance to wriggle out of those bonds and stab us in the back, yes?\u201d Light filled the cave, and several guards holding torches stepped into view from around a corner. Nemeroth straightened and said, \u201cCaptain Horn! Thank you for coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horn was a tall, broad-shouldered man with curly black hair and a very thick beard. His armor gleamed in the torchlight, as did the gigantic axe in his right hand. \u201cThis is the assassin?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jadie opened her mouth to beg and plead, ready to play the helpful, woeful maiden for all she was worth\u2014but then she looked at Horn\u2019s eyes and was taken aback by how piercing and focused they were. He was staring at her, eyes flicking over her body as if cataloguing every detail, and she suddenly had the feeling she was under a lens. She wasn\u2019t sure she could sell this man the idea she was a hapless damsel in distress.<\/p>\n

So she took a breath and decided not to force any emotion. \u201cThat\u2019s not true!\u201d she insisted, her voice as controlled as she could manage. \u201cI was talking with a friend at Renzeya mansion, and I saw that man drop a letter as he hurried through the lobby. I took it and went to give it back to him, but when I caught up, he said he thought I might have read it, so he would have to\u2014\u201d Jadie cut herself off. \u201cWell, he had his men grab me and take me to his office while he thought about what to do, and then he had them bring me down here so nobody would see him \u2018deal with me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemeroth snorted. \u201cCaptain, she\u2019s making up nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not!\u201d insisted Jadie. \u201cYou still have the letter on you. You said it had something to do with selling weapons\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, for the\u2014this is absurd!\u201d Nemeroth snapped. \u201cYou\u2019re just trying to save your own skin!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an easy way to settle this.\u201d Horn glanced at his men. \u201cShe seems confident you have that letter on you, Edwin. Mind if we search you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemeroth was silent for a moment, but then he stepped forward. \u201cOf course. I\u2019d be happy to put this to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Horn\u2019s troops, a slim woman who wore no armor and had a bow on her back, approached Nemeroth and began to check his clothes. Almost immediately, however, she stopped and drew a folded letter from his front pants pocket. \u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUh…\u201d Nemeroth blinked. \u201cI\u2019m not, uh…\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman unfolded the letter and passed it to Horn, who glanced at it for a few seconds before looking back at Nemeroth with a dark expression. \u201cWell,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is, in fact, a letter declaring your intention to steal weapons from my guards and sell them to a foreign mercenary, Edwin. Sealed with your signet ring too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemeroth\u2019s mouth was gaping. \u201cBut\u2014wait, Horn, think about this! That ring was stolen; I reported it yesterday!\u201d He swept his arms out as he spoke and a shining object slipped out of his left sleeve. Horn\u2019s hand darted forwards and caught it before it hit the ground, and he held it up to reveal Edwin\u2019s ring.<\/p>\n

Jadie struggled not to laugh. Yes, Nemeroth had caught her…but she\u2019d planned that. Planting the letter in his office wouldn\u2019t have meant much, even with the ring; he could just claim that someone had, well, planted it. But putting it on his person? He\u2019d never talk his way out of that. So she hadn\u2019t taken any special precautions to disguise herself when entering the adventurers guild, knowing Nemeroth\u2019s next move after foiling an assassination would surely be to see if she was trying to hire help, and she\u2019d made sure his agent got the impression she\u2019d plant the letter in his office.<\/p>\n

The rest was easy. Nemeroth would think she only had one copy of the treasonous letter\u2014and so could destroy her plans by burning it\u2014so she\u2019d bumped into Barrows before leaving and swiped his copy too. She put Barrows\u2019 letter in her pocket for Nemeroth\u2019s thugs to find, folded up her copy of the letter and slipped it into the vines around her left arm while the signet ring went into the vines around her right, then gone into the tunnels and got caught as she\u2019d planned. Nemeroth had bound her hands, burned the letter he found, and let his guard down, at which point she\u2019d snuck out her vines and used them to slip the letter into Nemeroth\u2019s pocket and the ring into his sleeve, just like she\u2019d used them to dump swamproot seeds onto Taryn\u2019s head a few days before. Once Nemeroth called the guards, he\u2019d sealed his own fate.<\/p>\n

\u201cArrest him,\u201d ordered Horn. \u201cAnd his men.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStop!\u201d shouted Nemeroth as the guards seized him. \u201cI can explain! I have a perfectly good explanation for everything!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jadie couldn\u2019t help but smile. She knew that Barrows was long gone; he\u2019d have fled the moment he\u2019d realized that Jadie had stolen his copy of the letter. The others at the adventurers guild wouldn\u2019t be able to say more than they\u2019d seen Jadie talking with a man who wasn\u2019t there anymore, and it wasn\u2019t like they could swear that Nemeroth definitively hadn\u2019t been there\u2014even if they hadn\u2019t seen him, they might have just missed him while they were drinking or talking. There was no possible source of evidence or testimony that would allow Nemeroth to exculpate himself. He was done.<\/p>\n

The next few hours were a blur\u2014Jadie dimly remembered answering more questions about what Nemeroth had done, accepting Horn\u2019s apologies on behalf of Raleigh and Viscosa, and even leading the interrogators back to Nemeroth\u2019s office so she could show them the trap door. But when they were over, she found herself back in the Stately Lady, lying on her wonderfully soft bed and running the gold coins she\u2019d picked up in Atalatha through her fingers. She\u2019d done it, she told herself. She\u2019d stopped a corrupt minister from looting the government treasury, and she\u2019d ousted his stooge on the diplomatic mission so she could take his place and get on with her real job of uncovering the Warus conspirators. And she\u2019d had a blast too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being a thief,\u201d she said, smiling as the sun rose outside her window and lit up wealthy estates that stretched as far as the eye could see. \u201cI\u2019ve got the best job in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Most Unusual Applicant A Story by Aaron Canton -Part Five-   As soon as the city\u2019s bells tolled midnight, Jadie Rivers lowered herself off the top of the Viscosa cliff wall and climbed down towards the hidden cave that led into the tunnels. It was a tough descent, but Jadie had already made it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[145,146],"tags":[1303,273,837,149,249],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Short-Story-Panel.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-Xn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3682,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions\/3682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}