Ialy Part two

Despite the dread and anticipation of the task I was going to do, I could not help feeling excited at the new sights, and smells, and sounds. I found it so strange that these people around me were as ungifted as I had once been, and completely unaware of our existence. Of course, they knew people lived in the house, and they knew people came and went frequently, but they knew nothing of our nature, or so we were told. I couldn’t understand how these ordinary people could be so stupid as to miss what was going on right underneath their noses.1

However, I could not completely focus on the new world I had discovered. Something about my father’s attitude had disturbed me, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. I had been expecting some sort of recognition for my new skills before too long, only I had expected it in the form of a new position in the household. I had certainly not expected to be sent out on my first mission, let alone one as dangerous as this. I felt so young, and I knew I was inexperienced, yet many of our people completed their first missions when they were only eleven or twelve. It was the huge variety of our people that made us so effective – we could disguise ourselves as anybody at all.2

I smiled slightly. I wore no disguise at all, this being my first time outside the house. Nobody would recognise my face, and I would not be connected to any unsolved mysteries in the area. My companion, my teacher Siofas, also went wearing his usual face. From what I had heard, the young man had a reputation for taking women and girls in and out of the town often, and he frequented the pleasure quarter.3

“Keep close to me now,” Siofas told me quietly. “We’re approaching the town gates, and the guards can be a little unpredictable around here. If you’re with me you’ll be fine.”4

I stuck to Siofas’ side like glue, examining the guards through my lowered lashes as I walked past. I saw their gaze lingering on the two of us longer than it should, and fought to keep my paces even. Siofas sensed my unease, and took my hand. I tensed even more, seeing one or two of the guards notice the movement, and prepared to draw my concealed weapons, but the opportunity never arose. We passed through the gates without a fuss.5

“Silly girl,” Siofas said as soon as we were a safe distance away. “If you’re going to act like that every time we need to be unnoticed, you’ll ruin this completely.”6

Since Siofas was my teacher, and we were on the road, I could address him informally. “They were looking at us.”7

He laughed pleasantly. “They were looking at you, actually,” he replied, smiling. “Did somebody teach you how to do that thing with your eyelashes at the house?”8

“What thing?” I asked, almost silently. “I was trying to look at them so they didn’t know I was looking.”9

He laughed again. “If you carry on doing that sort of look, I think this mission will be a great success,” he told me, eyes sparkling. “Those guards were very impressed.”10

I suddenly realised what he meant, and blushed. I hadn’t realised that the guards would consider me to be of the same mould as Siofas’ usual companions. Nobody at the house had ever considered me like that before, not only because my father would disapprove, but also because of my strangeness. I knew that many girls would have been used to such looks, even welcomed them, at fourteen, but I had not started my monthly bleeding yet and the attention worried me. Despite Siofas’ assurance that the attempt would succeed, I began to worry about how I would keep up pretences when put under pressure with the famous Sago Iylano. 11

My father had explained the mission to me carefully. I would go to Petydali, where Iylano was currently staying, with Siofas. Siofas would convince some of Iylano’s men to have a drink with him, then tell them about his troubles and his fall from grace with his old master. Word would get back to Iylano, who would offer a strong man like Siofas a job with him, and I would be brought into the bargain, introduced as Siofas’ younger sister. Thus we would gain access to Iylano’s house and his warriors, where I would seduce Iylano and kill him once I had gained his trust, blaming the death on an unseen assassin, keeping both mine and Siofas’ records clean.12