At least Kwez had helped him out of the stupid palace or whatever the thing had been. Plus, as much of a pain in his rear as he usually was he did even help him with finding some clothing that wasn't soaked in or stained with blood or other questionable fluids. Though the things he was wearing did still reek, but just like he had taken a dunk in a bath made up of wine and other alcohol that is.
While they had been on their way to a hidden passage he had passed many a place of unbelievable bloodshed. He had been wondering why he hadn't met any servants or guards for that matter at first. Nic soon got a clue as to why that was as they had found corpses indicating the people had massacred each other and that with gusto. Fingers still deeply pressed into eye sockets; hands on throats, so tight they pierced the flesh underneath and arms sunken into stomachs were the tame ones, he had to admit.
He was still reeling from it and chalky white but tried his best to ignore his own possible involvement. Arguably, he most likely was the culprit; he just couldn't remember the exact how and when.
Or rather he did remember bits and pieces, but they weren't making much sense, and he had no idea why it had gone as it had.
He had stumbled into the celebration, had been drinking, had been dancing, had parroted whatever the people had been saying. Then a part of the group had just taken him along, right into the palace. If he remembered correctly there even had been a guy – or had it been a girl? – that had been speaking his language. At least enough to have a decent conversation. There had been some kind of feast in the palace to celebrate the upcoming emperor. Or sovereign or whatever the title of the ruling guy was again. The feast itself had been organized on the most important religious festival as a kind of blessing or other.
Regardless, he had been at the palace, surrounded by people about as sober as he himself had been – so, anything but that, naturally. And one had started with a test of courage which consisted of a nursery rhyme or something that was supposed to do something creepy to the unworthy, maybe? He knew of something similar back home, not that anything ever happened should one recite the darn thing, so, in all his drunken wisdom he had taken another hearty gulp of whatever concoction had been in that mug at the time and recited the thing. Arguably, his speech was rather slurred but recite it he had. Right after the last syllable had left his mouth he had conked out and landed with a thud on the table. He remembered roaring laughter, as he was starting to snore and drool all over the table.
He had been having a really weird dream afterwards, but now it did seem to have much more substance than he had originally thought. Within the nightly phantasm the cheerful joy had turned to disconcerting madness. The people's attitudes and personalities did a one-eighty, forks carving out eyes, hands ripping into throats, knives puncturing soft flesh...
None was spared, whoever had been within the walls of the palace and the land within the fence turned into totally murderous lunatics.
What baffled him a bit was still the fact that he had been spared. It didn't really make sense. Not one effing bit.
What was really disturbing with the whole thing, the people weren't despairing. No, that would have been a normal and expected reaction. But they all seemed to enjoy themselves immensely while killing or being killed, that was what made him especially queasy on top of the whole thing.
Nic was missing something there, he knew that much. What about the thing had been magical? It had been a thing to scare people, but why anything had happened at all? He had absolutely no idea. The only different factor was himself and even then he wasn't sure how he would have to regard himself within the whole thing.
Kwez' pleased grin was unsettling on top of it. Plus, the cat wasn't explaining anything, as usual, but if he said something about it it was praise, of all things.
Nic was very deeply unsettled by it all.
Ever since the incident Kou had been in uproar. But not in the way Nic would have expected, as more people seemed happy about the whole thing and many explaining it away as some kind of divine punishment. Which confused Nic to no end, Gertie was strangely happy about the whole happenstance and Kwez was still behaving like the cat that had gotten the cream and the canary and was now being petted instead of scolded.
Normally there should be more of a negative impact, as the family slaughtered was one of a number that usually spawned the next leader of the country. Which was the crux of the matter, really.
Normally there should be an extensive investigation and he himself should have been at least questioned if not thrown into the dungeons of the current leader. Which, well, was a bit hard to do. The current leader of the country was a rather old man that had yet to announce his rightful successor. Which he hadn't done as all the candidates were somewhat lacking, one way or another. He had been childless or rather his only son had been assassinated a few years back. And for sure from one of the many possibly succeeding family lines, but that was not something that anybody would admit to.
Though in this city it was more of a natural cause of death for nobles. All prominent positions were filled with various family members anyway. Be it chiefs of the various guilds, like for the merchants, or the thieves; heck even the head of the assassin's association – pardon, The special Service was the official name – was from that family. Even if just a distant relation without any feasible grounds for succession, but still. Regardless of the organization, there was bound to be some person of that family in a very high if not the top position.
In short, if one was of nobility here then you either learned to play along fast or died rather young. Or just left for the countryside and stayed out of the capital for good.
In short just a few hours after the horrible affair had become known they had been busy either claiming responsibility, grabbing for power alternately or some such. Well, politicians smelling their chance for gaining some clout. Or maybe a bunch of starving hyenas or vultures fighting over the same piece of juicy meat.
Anyway, this kind of turbulent state was something Gertie welcomed wholeheartedly. Often enough with people being occupied in such a way it was rather easy to find promising targets for exploration. Yeah, sure.
But with the rich and powerful so occupied she had a bit of an easier time either sneaking in where she shouldn't be or greasing the palm of the appropriate individuals. There were rarely any who couldn't be tempted by anything, be it the right amount or a cut of the profits was working wonders. And though she might not seem like it, she had an eye for finding those.
She had already decided on a few specific targets but would need some more time to intensively keep watch on them. Or how to go about them, that is.
Before that she would check up the assassins, as Kwez had been telling her all about his master's lackey. Snorting she thought back to that, having been called such by the animal from time to time herself. Contrary to Nic she didn't have a problem with that, it did seem that she found interesting things being in his company and had decided to stick to him for the moment and time being.
Plus, well. As much as there were guilds even for the shadier side of business, some activities weren't supposed to become rampant. Oh, she wasn't worried about guards or the like. But the guild might be a bit less forgiving if they got into trouble because of an outsider.
But first things first...
"Eeny meeny miny mo, an'gonna choose – nah, thin'm gonna take tha'. Yup."
Grinning she rubbed her hands and let out a small whistle. Not long after Archie came running and barking, his tail wagging, at least if you looked at the furball closely.
"Goo'boy," she murmured. Well, let's see whether the training helped, and he was now housebroken or not. Would be a hassle having to run out of a house because of a peeing puppy again.