Burdened by Legacy: Chapter 2 – The Good Kind of Troublemaking

Chapter 2 – The Good Kind of Troublemaking

Some of my fondest memories are those from my youngest years when I would play pranks on my family and the servants by hiding myself and things. Even though Quon would always complain about it, especially when I hid things from him, my father didn’t mind as much. He saw my sneakiness and ability to turn into a small or human-sized rat as a blessing despite the fact that people who turn into rats aren’t typically viewed as royal and my behavior isn’t helping that opinion, but I don’t need to behave for anyone other than God and my family. I am my father’s troublemaking princess and God’s shadow enacting His will in the dark. I am the leader of the Odollam, Draco’s own thieves guild, and today, I have another special assignment from father.

I am meeting my friend, Lian, today to check up on our ratmen and beastmen allies in the kingdom of Serpentis for some reconnaissance. The meeting place is one of the undertowns that they’ve built for us as part of our agreement with one another. Unlike the ratmen of old who built undercities underneath and near major cities and towns, the new ratmen build undertowns primarily near other settlements because the townspeople resent them for what happened not too long ago under the tyrant Vicar Sylvatic or because they want their own place to live. Regardless of their reasoning, we give these outcasts food and supplies from Draco while they let us know of the rumors that are circulating around the area. Lian and I meet these ratmen and beastmen in our bestial forms since they are most comfortable when we look like them. When I see Lian, I see him in his black and brown leather armor that is similar to mine and in his monkey form while I’m in my human-sized rat form.

“Min! It’s good to see you again. Congratulations on your victory in Constantinople,” Lian says.

“It’s all thanks to God and my father. I didn’t even participate in the battle for it,” I say.

“But you did give your father the information he needed to know what the enemy leaders were planning and which orcs to keep an eye on who claimed to be on our side.”

“True.”

“So, it’s your victory as well.”

“Hehehe! Stop buttering me up. Did your parents tell you to hit on me again?”

“No, but my siblings did, not that I’m taking their advice. Are you ready to see our informants?”

“Yeah. Father must know they have valuable information of the highest importance to send us to collect it.”

“Let’s go hear what it is then.”

Lian and I make our way through the tunnels that have many torches in them and signs that point to different things such as exits, inns, and the undertown we are looking for. The door to the town is a large circular door with a slit in the middle of it for the guards to see through. I knock on the door, tell the guards who we are, and they open the door for us. Inside the town are many ratmen and beastmen going about their daily business walking from one place to another. Since everything inside this tunnel is closed in, all the shops, homes, and storage areas are located within dug-out holes that are big enough to fit them. They even have chapels here where daily masses take place.

Going into one of the chapels, we find our contact, a ratman named Bejel who is dressed like your average civilian from Draco with moderately fine robes. Lian and I sit behind him and wait for him to notice us.

“Today’s another wonderful day, isn’t it?” Bejel asks.

“It is. God has let me live and I’m about to make it everyone’s problem,” I say.

Turning to us, Bejel smiles and says in a whispered voice, “It’s good to see you two again and you’re just in time for something to happen between thieves.”

“Such as?”

“Even though Odollam and St. Dismas are business partners, neither side expected the other to divulge all each other’s secrets, and with the taking of Constantinople leading to Draco becoming the biggest kingdom this side of the world, it’s made St. Dismas uneasy. They may be planning to do something unwise because of it. You may want to pay them a visit to convince them against their current course of action.”

“Do you know where we might find them?”

“The Sagrada Familia cathedral, in the city not too far from here. I hear it’s one of the best places to make new friends.”

“We will make many friends. I’m sure of it.  Hehehe! Thank you for your help as always, Bejel.”

“Anything for you two. You’re both God-sent angels who have made the lives of us outcasts and refugees easier.”

“And it’s going to get a bit easier for you,” Lian says.

A commotion outside of the chapel gets Bejel’s attention as many flock around the carts of supplies, weapons, and armor that come from Draco’s suppliers. Again, he thanks us and blesses us before we head out to the cathedral he mentioned. We don’t immediately turn into our human forms so we can slip through the cracks in the city’s walls and that no one knows we’re here. Once in the city, we stick to the shadows and make our way to another one of our contacts who runs a shop here. Contacts like these are how we have our footholds in each major town and city. We supply them with our goods and they sell them to the public and influence others to look upon our kingdom with favor and make them want to trade with us as well. In return, they’ll let us know of the goings on around here, give us exclusive trade deals, and allow us to use their carriages to get around the city undetected, the last of which we are taking advantage of now.

Our contact parks his carriage near an alleyway near the cathedral allowing us the easiest way to get in it. After thanking our contact, Lian and I make our way to the rooftops and scout out the cathedral. It doesn’t appear to be guarded and not too crowded, but those from St. Dismas are nothing if not subtle, so quickly grab our contact again and wear clothes that are normal to this kingdom over our regular outfit. I wear a bonnet hat and a plain black and brown dress while Lian wears a black leather hat, white suit, red tie, and black shoes. Entering the cathedral, we see priests, a few worshippers attending daily adoration, and a few of Serpentis’ capirote knights guarding it. Lian and I kneel down with our heads bowed and hands in prayer over our mouths in the back pews of the cathedral.

“I recognize some of these people from St. Dismas,” I whisper.

“Yeah. I don’t think they’ll divulge their worries and plans if we walk up to them,” Lian says.

“More of their friends and records of their letters could be in the upper floors or the basement. Let’s split up and see what we can find. I’ll take the basement.”

“The upper floors are mine then. I’ll see you in this same spot once I find everything I can.”

Without another word, we split up and go our separate ways. I find a hidden place to take off these normal clothes and transform into a small rat. Sticking to the shadows and going through the vents of the cathedral, I make my way to the basement. Peeking through the grate, I see storage rooms for decorations for events and one for weapons and armor, neither of which stand out to me. None of the grates seem to lead to an exit, any rooms with people in them, or records as I crawl through the maze of vents. I think about giving up until I begin to hear talking behind the metal of the vent. Ah! So, the secret room doesn’t have a vent grate, probably to keep out nosy people like me, but my rat hearing allows me to hear them despite it.

“Hear anything from your friends in Odollam?” a man asks.

“Nothing other than them still being proud of themselves and their thriving kingdom,” a woman says.

“Their influence has been rapidly spreading throughout the land at a worrying rate ever since Vicar Sylvatic’s death.”

“Shouldn’t we worry about Bernhard more than them? They did just have a civil war with themselves and went on a slaughter across the continent after they discovered a plot against them.”

“I’m more worried about Draco since they’re more subtle in their ways. Bernhard will be upfront about their intentions and how they carry it out.”

“Hmm. You’re right. Should we go through with the plan then?”

“We will and we’re doing it now.”

“We’re not going to ask our doyens if we can?”

“They’ll probably think us crazy and kick us out of the guild. No, we move today.”

“Then I call dibs on the earrings and necklaces. I don’t have any jewelry from Draco yet and they’re too expensive for me to buy.”

“You’ll have to get them before anyone else does.”

“Ugh, fine.”

They’re going to attack and raid people from Draco? I knew St. Dismas has many ex-criminals in their ranks and it looks like not all of them have moved on from their old ways. After hearing the two people exit the room, I quickly go back, get dressed in normal clothes, and to the spot where Lian is already waiting for me.

Immediately, as I kneel, I ask, “What did you discover?”

“Maps of Draco trade routes and the wares that are typically carried. What did you find?” Lian says.

“I overheard thieves talking about attacking us, and since you mentioned seeing trade routes, that’s probably what they’re going after and they’re moving now!”

“Let’s get moving then!”

After leaving the cathedral and getting one of our contacts to give us horses, Lian and I catch up with the thieves of St. Dismas and follow them as they head to their location. We follow them until they stop to make camp in a location far away from any settlement. While hiding, Lian and I whisper to one another how we should go about dealing with these traitors.

“Perhaps we should just kill them here,” Lian suggests. “This is an optimal spot to do so.”

“Yeah, but they’re too close to one another and there’s eight of them, so we’ll have to fight, and you know how these men from Serpentis are. If you cut off their arms and legs, they’ll still fight you as if you scratched them.”

“Then we’ll just cut off their heads.”

“That’s harder to do when surrounded. No, I think we should ambush them when they ambush the merchants who are bound to have guards with them who can help us take these people alive for questioning.”

“Ah! That’s a great idea. You’re starting to sound like your father.”

“Hehehe!”

While watching our prey through the night, we hear them talking over dinner.

One of them mentions, “Do you think our friends in Phasianus will actually meet us?”

“Of course they will. They want us to complete this ambush more than we do,” another says.

“But do you know if they know we’re coming? I don’t want to go to the meeting point only to find that we went all the way out there for nothing.”

“They’ll be there. Even if they don’t know we’re coming now, they have spies and scouts in the area that will tell their friends of our arrival.”

“I sure hope so. I don’t want to end up traveling across the world for them.”

“Even so, it’ll be worth it.”

Allies in Phasianus, huh? This situation keeps getting more interesting. Despite Draco maintaining order in the Asiatic region and protecting it during the tyranny of Vicar Sylvatic, a few states including Phasianus have tried rebelling, so they wouldn’t be under the rule of some of our less reputable lords, but their rebellions have done nothing but hurt themselves and us. If they hadn’t been fighting against us, then we might’ve had a bigger hand in the Vicar’s death. Alas, there’s nothing we can do about it now, and exposing this plot may allow us to weed out more traitors.

Lian and I track our prey for the next several days while pulling a few pranks along the way. We steal their food and drink their water, dirty their weapons and armor, and sabotage the saddles on their horses so they fall off as soon as they try to ride away. What we’ve done manages to get the group to fight each other especially since we leave the eaten food and empty water canisters next to their allies to make it look like they’ve done it. Nevertheless, they chalk up what we’ve done as forest animals preying on them, but it’s obvious that they only half believe their explanation and are becoming mistrustful of one another. After days of traveling, they finally meet their allies who I can only assume are from Phasianus since their hooded robes and armor aren’t indicative of that region.

“You all look like you’ve been through a lot. Did you come across any trouble along the way?” one of their allies asks.

“No, not really besides some forest animals. They’ve been eating our food, drinking our water, and dirtying our clothes.”

“Huh. That’s pretty peculiar behavior for mere forest animals. Did you happen to catch them in the act?”

“No, but we did find the small footprints of rats and monkeys around the camp.”

“Hmm. Those footprints could belong to Odollam spies from Draco.”

“What do you mean?”

“They can transform into rats and monkeys depending on the year they were born and the family they were born into.”

“Are you serious?”

A couple of the traitors talk among themselves now worried about our possible presence with some even choosing to immediately leave to not risk getting caught. They are the smart ones while the dumb ones settle down and decide to move forward with their plan with caution. Their plans are to kidnap and rob a prolific merchant and his friends to influence the rest of his allies to spy on the goings-on of Draco and shift the focus of the markets onto the other kingdoms. I’m honestly surprised they came up with a similar plan to what we’re doing now, but at least we’re less amoral about it. Lian and I continue to follow them until they get in a position to wait for their target.

As soon as they attack the merchant, we attack them with a surprise ambush of our own. We cut off the limbs of the Serpentis traitors to take them alive and try to take the Phasianus traitors alive too who have revealed their kingdom of origin without a doubt by transforming their body parts into shields, weapons, armor, and crossbows. It also doesn’t help that the traitors from Phasianus try killing themselves after it becomes obvious that they’re beaten. Despite this, we’re able to bring a few of them alive along with the others from Serpentis. The merchants and their guards thank us for our help and help us by tying up the traitors and transporting them to the nearest settlement to be put in jail.

Once the interrogators have their way with the traitors after threatening them with torturous public execution, the traitors confess their crimes and reveal who their associates are who are also in this scheme of theirs, all of which will be hunted down and face swift justice from Odollam and justice department of Draco. With a job well done, I head back home to Constantinople and tell father what happened and what is being done about the traitors.

He smiles at me and then says, “Good job, Min. I knew I could trust you with this task and you went above and beyond with it.”

I smile and then leap at my father like I used to when I was a kid and give him a big hug.

“Hehe, as if there was any doubt that I’d disappoint you,” I say while not letting go.

The servants around us tell me not to act so childish.

“It’s okay. My daughter will always be my little girl, my troublemaking princess,” my father says as he carries me and lets me hang on to him a bit longer.

I’m glad to make my father proud. He’s my inspiration and what I would call a perfect father. There’s no one else like him in the world and I hope and pray to be the perfect daughter to him and my mother and to be a good sister to my brother even though I get on his nerves a lot. Hehehe!