Silence!" Commanded the city lord by imbuing his voice with enough arcane energy for everyone to hear him. Immediately, everyone calmed down and regained their composure, but a shadow of fear could be seen on the official's expressions. "It seems we have met with an enemy we can't underestimate and that we have no other choice but than to meet head on. Is this what you're saying, Noram?" Coldly inquired Nightsky.
Before Noram could respond, however, someone else spoke up with confidence despite his frail and shaking voice. "We haven't met with anything! It was your idiotic son who brought this calamity upon us! Why should we listen to what you have to say?! According to the Penal Code, article 247, subsection 32, paragraph 'F': if a descendant of the city lord brings about a calamitous act to the city then it is the prerogative of officials to have the city lord abdicate if they find this measure to be a solution to the calamitous act." Recited the old man from memory. "This old one thinks that perhaps Farmer will let the city of Yort survive if the house of Nightsky is to bear the consequences of their actions. What say the rest of you?"
The one to speak was an older gentleman who had been a part of the political sphere of Yort for his entire life and his name was Tamas Silverbrow. In fact, he had worked for several city lords of Yort before Theo Nightsky came to power. Few were the ones who were as familiar with Yort as he was, because the Silverbrow family prided itself with owning the most extensive recollections of the city's past; and it was well-known that each child of the family would study these documents since early childhood, thus becoming key political advisors for the city lord they served under.
It was for this fact, and his long years of service, that Tamas Silverbrow enjoyed a certain privilege that not many shared with him. He could honestly voice out his concerns if he was unhappy in the way the city was managed without fear of reprisals because his impartiality was unquestionable. Rare was the day he wouldn't confront someone for mismanagement, quoting the events of this or that year as a means to establish the legitimacy of his arguments.
However, this was all about to end.
"Guards, take old man Silverbrow out and cut off his head for high treason." Commanded Nightsky without sparing the old official a second glance.
"My lord…!" Began voicing out Tamas in defiance, but before he could finish his sentence he was struck in the mouth by Jakyr; who promptly dragged him out of the great hall, unwillingness shining in his aged eyes. Even whilst he was being beheaded by Jakyr's blade, he didn't understand why Nightsky was executing him, all he'd said was the truth.
After just a few seconds of absence, Jakyr made his way back into the great hall as he wiped the blood from his treasured sabre with a silk napkin. His arrival froze the blood of every official inside that room because none of them held any doubt that if they were to voice any sort of complaint or dissatisfaction in the coming days, Jakyr would be wiping their blood from his sabre.
"Now that the treacherous scum has been dealt with, we should focus on the matter at hand. The city of Yort, however, cannot be without leadership." Nightsky coldly glanced around the room to see if anyone would express discontent. None of the officials dared do anything but nod and commend Nightsky for his righteous decisiveness. However, on the inside, they were cursing this maddened dictator with a passion. "Jakyr and Noram will stay behind, the rest of you, leave immediately and make sure to be ready to receive my commands in the near future."
Theo Nightsky needn't say things twice because the rest of officials quietly left the mansion after giving a reverent bow towards their lord as soon as the order came down. A few of them squealed or belched upon witnessing the decapitated remains of Tamas outside the great hall, but most of them just left in an even greater hurry.
"Noram, what say you of this situation?" Spoke Nightsky in a much softer tone as soon as the last official had left. There was a glint of malice in his eyes as he watched them leave, but no one noticed this.
"My lord, it is as you say, there is nothing that can be done at this particular point in time to avoid a direct confrontation with pirate lord Farmer. If there were, I would advocate for it."
"This last matter is moot, given the circumstances." Angrily responded Nightsky. One would be hard-pressed to say that the city lord wouldn't seek out confrontation with Farmer for crippling his son even if it was avoidable. "The question now is how we fight against Farmer, right?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Present a detailed report of his movements this last day and a half and we may be able to pry into his plans and come up with the necessary countermeasures. In this room the brightest minds of the city sit together under one roof, I highly doubt one foreign pirate, no matter how brilliant, can surpass our collective reasoning. I trust your spies have been keeping an eye on him?"
"They have, my lord." Gesturing towards a hidden door, six dark-robed individuals emerged, approached the centre of the hall, and knelt in front of Nightsky. "These are some of my best men, and they have been tailing Farmer ever since Dachir was defeated."
"Good, very good." Nodded Nightsky. "Tell me, what has he done? Where has he been? Has he met with anyone?"
In reply to his questions the six spies began narrating a detailed account of Farmer's movements. From the times he excused himself to the lavatory and the people he spoke with on the street, to his meetings with Mhyrrah and old man Ming. Each spy held detailed reports on every person that Farmer had crossed paths with and they quickly presented them to Noram who, in turn, handed them in to Nightsky.
"Pray tell, why is it that you are not aware of the meetings between Farmer and these two significant individuals?" Angrily inquired Nightsky without glancing at the reports. "Are you not spies?!"
"In response the city lord, we dared not get any closer than a mile to the target. Any spy who neared him more than that was instantly discovered."
"How did they know they were discovered? Were there any casualties?" This time it was Noram who asked the question. Although he knew the answer, he also understood that Nightsky didn't fully grasp the severity of the situation.
"There were none. But, my lord, Farmer would… would wave towards any spy who got closer." It seemed the spy had trouble to express himself at the end there, but a reassuring glance by Noram gave him the courage he needed to finish the sentence. "My lord, Farmer must be a master of counter-tracking measures as it is the first time in our lives that we've come across an expert of this calibre. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if he were aware that we were tailing him all along."
"My lord, I agree with my subordinate's analysis." Chided in Noram as he wove his hand to dismiss the spies. He had the lingering fear that Nightsky might execute one or two of them if they stayed behind. "Farmer proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is an expert in counter espionage. Any efforts to get close to him without his knowledge have failed miserably. This humble servant believes that to think he isn't aware of being followed is not a mistake we can afford to make."
"Are you saying Farmer wants us to know he's met with the owners of the Howling Wolf and the Moonlight Pavilion?" Pondered Nightsky.
"Exactly so, my lord. What threat can a merchant house pose? However, if you were to exercise your authority against it without concrete evidence that they have plotted anything, most merchant houses would quickly disappear from Yort, which is a disastrous event for us to say the least. As to the Moonlight Pavilion, although its involvement is far trickier in the repercussions it poses, we have enough dirt on old man Ming to pressure him into telling us whatever we want to know."
"Hmm, this is good, we shall proceed as you suggest regarding Ming. However, there's something I want to ask you two as my closest confidants." Said Nightsky with all seriousness. "Doesn't this whole matter smell extremely fishy to you?"
Jakyr looked absolutely puzzled by Nightsky's question but Noram nodded knowingly. Evidently, he knew what Nightsky was considering.
"What are you talking about? What's strange?" Asked Jakyr. Of the three, he was the one least versed in scheming and understanding human nature. However, in combat, he was brutal. A quintessential muscle head if ever there was one.
"I agree with you, my lord." Ignoring Jakyr, Noram answered Nightsky. "But I'm not entirely sure about it."
"About what? Not sure about what?!" Irately demanded to know Jakyr, causing the other two to look at him in scorn and ridicule.
"My good friend," Began explaining Noram. "don't you think the timing and location of these events is far too coincidental? Firstly, it's a few days before the arrival of representatives of the Mystic and Fire schools of sorcery to recruit talented disciples; which means that the city of Yort is actively preparing for that and that we can hardly afford to face other incidents. Secondly, Farmer arrived at the Little Garden, Zed's inn, the one place in the city that our forces cannot storm immediately. Thirdly, he arrived minutes before the young lord went there with his friends; and this was the first time in at least six months that he had planned to go to that particular inn! Fourthly, this isn't the Azure Sea. We're pretty far away from it, in fact. Why would he appear so far away from home at such a delicate time?" Enumerated Noram with his fingers. "These facts are far too coincidental. If you told me that there wasn't someone behind it, someone with nefarious and malicious intentions, I would say that you're an absolute fool."
"Are you suggesting that someone is supplying Farmer with information and a target? That they hired him?" Jakyr's mouth dropped in shock. The thought was terrifying.
"Of course that's what he's saying." Continued Nightsky. "It's no secret that a lot of people aren't too happy with the way I've been managing the city since I took the seat. It's nothing new to us that people have been looking to have their revenge on us! Therefore, it's not too much of a stretch to think these people might have hired Farmer in order to overthrow me."
"Usually I would agree with you, my lord, but I don't think this is the case." Commented Noram.
"How so?"
"In all the years farmer has been active, we have knowledge of him being approached at least fifty times by powerful families in order to get him to eliminate their adversaries. As far as we can tell, he rejected them all."
"And?" Impatiently questioned Nightsky.
"I doubt he was hired, that's all." Embarrassedly responded Noram. He could tell that Nightsky didn't agree with his deduction. "I think he's here looking for something. What that is, we don't know yet."
"This is where you're wrong. Just because you have no news of Farmer being hired by anyone doesn't mean he never has been. Look at it from another perspective; if you were him, would you agree to perform any job that others could find out you'd received? The answer is a resounding: no. If he's as good as you say he is, which I don't doubt, he must have the means to know if information regarding a particular task would have been leaked or not. If we look at it from this perspective, then him being hired becomes a reality." Explained Nightsky, pleased in himself for his inference. "As to your point on him looking for something, what could he possibly be searching for in Yort? It doesn't make sense."
"My lord is wise." Bowed Noram, swallowing a thousand different feelings of wanting to chastise Nightsky for looking for traitors where there was almost certainly none. Having profiled Farmer as much as he had, he was almost certain that he would never willingly work for another's goals. "Who do you think hired him, then?"
"Isn't that the simplest part? That bitch from the Mystic School must have done it. She must be working alongside a few of the officials in order to get as much information about our plans as possible and then supplying it to Farmer. Furthermore, I heard a few months ago that she departed with a few disciples towards the South, very close to the Azure Sea. At the time I didn't think much of it, but now I know she was actually luring the wolf into our home."
"Oh, I see!" Exclaimed Jakyr. "Then all we've got to do is grab Zed and his granddaughter and blackmail that woman to cancel the contract with Farmer!"
"Although that would work towards getting him out of Yort, it wouldn't do anything to avenge my poor son's condition." Nightsky shook his head and discarded the idea.
"What should we do, then?" Asked Noram.
"First, I want you, Jakyr, to apprehend every single person that has met Farmer on the streets of Yort. It may be that most of them are innocent, but if you told me none of them were spies of his in order to keep in touch with the officials selling him information, I wouldn't believe you. Regarding this matter, we must interrogate each individual carefully, no matter what methods must be used."
"It will be as you command, my lord." Bowed Jakyr as he took the list of people who'd spoken to Farmer during his walk around Yort.
"Thank you, my friend." Nightsky smiled warmly, a rare occurrence. "Second, Norma, you must keep an eye on every single official. Let your spies ignore Farmer for now; what's important is to catch whoever is supplying him with intelligence. Third, I want you to send your twelve assassins to attack Farmer. Best case scenario, they kill him and that's the end of it, at worst he'll still be injured and that will make our lives easier."
"I'm afraid there's something I haven't told you, my lord." Nervously said Noram. "Back when Dachir was defeated, I sent one of my twelve assassins to trail his companions and board his ship in order to hold them hostage; the assassin was killed even before he could board the vessel. This was before I knew who we were dealing with, mind you."
"I see. However, this shouldn't be too much of a problem."
"No, my lord, it shouldn't." Of all the years serving Nightsky, this was the first time Noram felt truly disheartened and wronged. He held no illusions that his assassins could survive an encounter with Farmer. That said, this was an elite formation that he had personally trained for many years. To lose them would make his heart bleed. "It shall be done as you command."
"Good. That will be all, then. If anything new comes up, inform me as soon as practicably possible."
With that, Theo Nightsky dismissed his two closest friends to carry out their orders. What he didn't realise, however, was that his narrow-mindedness had condemned him to eternal damnation. Had he paid closer attention to Noram's reports and insightful analyses, he might have noticed a few facts that stood at odds with the idea that Farmer had been hired. For example, if he was so careful in order to not be found out when hired, why would he be staying with his client's father-in-law?
Nonetheless, in less than an hour, the entire city was in an uproar. The city guard went around arresting anyone that had contact with Farmer as well as their family members. They stormed houses and small shops without an ounce of empathy in the wake of their investigation as they dragged anyone suspicious away in armoured carriages. By late afternoon, anyone who's name had been on Jakyr's list and their families had been apprehended successfully and was being taken to Yort's bastille, where they would be tortured cruelly in order to extract any information on Farmer.
No one knew why the city lord was acting in this manner, but no one could deny the fact that the city guard was carrying his written edict. It was a fact that this was ordered by him. A few more observant individuals could see that he was looking for spies. However, the method was far too brutal, and it caused much civil unrest.
On one street, watching these carriages passing him by, stood Farmer with his head planted firmly in the palm of his hand. At first glance it might have seemed as if he were weeping, but he was, in fact, shaking his head deprecatingly.
'How can Nightsky be so stupid to fall for such an obvious ploy?' He thought to himself in absolute disappointment.
Maybe this trip to Yort would be boring no matter how much he tried to level the playing field...