Subversion
"How can this have happened?," A man sitting atop a riding lizard looked out across a battlefield as he spoke.
What he saw was something many surface eyes never saw nor even could hope to comprehend or understand. A full company of soldiers had just turned on a dime and begun attacking their own allies. The battle had been going so well to, victory over house Malice had been moments away an now chaos.
A jingle sounded behind the man and he turned to see a lone figure walking towards him in the most ludicrous outfit. A large wide brimmed hat with an overly large feather sticking out from the brim, a scarlet colored vest that did not fully cover the man's rock hard abs and adorned with more trinkets than seemed manageable, a pair of bracers on each arm, boots that looked like something from the surface from those sea fairing brutes, and that cloak. It was a mixture of color and fabric that hurt the eyes, and more so whenever one shifted their eyes to the low light spectrum they were so accustomed to using. It was as if the cloak had been enchanted to be brighter and hotter than anything in the room should one try and view him from that spectrum of vision.
With a low bow and a dramatic sweep of his hat the man introduced himself as the one in charge of the company of soldiers who turned. Walking closer to the man on the riding lizard he continued to make noise with every step and one would have to wonder how this ridicules looking man ever managed to sneak up on anybody. With a grin and what looked to be a gesture of a wink, though with the eye patch on the other eye it was hard to tell it from a blink, the man casually walked up next to the other.
"I apologize about this outcome but it had been fixed well before you ever laid your first plans. You see I was paid by the Malice's three months in advance before you ever had the notion of wanting to move up in the status quo. I had hoped at some point you would have made a better offer to my men but sadly that never was."
"You...how could you do this to me? I paid you and your men for this battle! You double crossing houseless fiend!"
"Hey now, I take offense to that, some of my best agents are fiends. Besides, they paid me better," the colorfully dressed man dropped a sack of coin next to the riding lizard, "Here is your money if it makes you feel better. I had no intentions of keeping it after the battle but if you must have it now so be it."
"I'll kill you were you stand you son of a ..."
The man's words got caught in his throat along with a dagger that seemed to come out of nowhere. If the man atop his mount had not looked down to see a similar dagger appearing from the other one's bracers he would have never known how he died. That fact seemed of little comfort as his own life force flowed down across his armor and saddle. He watched as the man walked away but this time he heard no jingle or trinkets and for the last moment he knew true fear as the man in the wide brimmed hat seemed to move off like a ghost in the night.
Moments later the man with the wide brimmed hat stood next to a man and a woman standing atop their balcony watching the battle with wine in hand. They both jumped at the silent appearance of the man and almost dropped their glasses. Another sweep of his hat in a bow and the audacious man smiled as if taking a bow for a performance.
"Well done, to both you and your men. Your payment is on the table," the man on the balcony gestured.
Two daggers shot out and caught the couple both in the throat. Blood mixed with wines as they both hit the floor the woman looking up in anger and confusion.
"I won't be needing your payment. You see House Baenre paid me six months out from this and did so with six times what you offered. There force will be coming soon. I do apologize for the inconvenience, but when you live in a world of Drow you should know better than to trust a man like myself."
