The people have finished disposing of the bodies, their worried expressions peeking through when they glance at Antonio, uncertainty riddling their faces. They keep quiet and to themselves today, none of them willing to speak or cause too much noise, no one willing to risk Antonio thinking they too are drugged.
We watch over the remaining herbalists as they work hard, prepared to call over anyone available to get these men whatever they need. Pierre should be back sometime today as well. Hopefully he found something good to move this mission along, as we're currently in a stalemate.
"There's some noise outside, getting closer to the site," Antonio mumbles gently, breaking me from my thoughts. He looks sidelong at me, arms crossed as we guard the office door. "Go see what it is."
I move in an instant, flying down the steps noiselessly as I sprint for the warehouse exit, but it's not Pierre nor any of the others who live here. It's one of our less connected clients, guns train on him in an instant, the locals taking up my sides like a shield forming to protect their own.
They don't fully stop their car before jumping out, causing it to speed over a hill and plummet onto its side. A harsh explosion rings out but none of us move nor flinch as the client crawls towards us like a rabid, three legged coyote, foaming at the mouth and skin reddened as he moves with minimal clothing, the few articles that are present being torn and covered in dark liquids.
"MORE!" He screeches, his voice like a falcon as they begin firing rounds, shredding him with their bullets and turning a patch of sand to mud.
He's dead before he's within ten feet away from me.
His spilling blood shifts colours, turning to more of a deep purple. I move back inside, stealing a glance at the rising smoke not too far from the tents, there wasn't much fuel left in that tank anyway.
Antonio nods at me when I reach the top of the steps, and I shrug in response, unsure as to what that was, but not like it affects us anyway. As long as our major clients are happy, the individuals can suffer.
My ears twitch once more, and soon I hear another motor, a familiar one, Pierre has returned.
I don't race outside to meet him, instead, I let him find his way to me upstairs. His clothes are dusty and torn, but there appears to be no signs of harm directly upon his body. We enter the office together, Antonio continuing to stand guard outside, watching the herbalists, ensuring they don't slow for even a second.
"So what did you end up discovering? Anything serious?"
His face conveys little emotion, plain and exhausted from traveling. Wishing for the day to end and for him to finally get the chance to get some rest. He sighs heavily, eye bags heavy and sagging. "They are completely unaware of the treachery going on behind the scenes. They genuinely believe that Rapard and Duthious view them as allies and are allowing open trades with little to no checks into what exactly is going in and out of the country. I suspect that their leaders have also been disposed of and replaced with copies. The behaviours and actions I've seen from them are concerning to say the least."
"Go on."
"Their council is currently set up of three divinely called upon individuals-"
"Three? It's supposed to be seven or eight."
"Exactly, I'll get to that part." I'm tempted to lecture him for speaking to me in such a cold, callous manner but instead allow him to continue. "The remaining four or five leaders have been deemed 'sinful' and 'contaminated' for refusing the allyship with Duthious and Rapard and have taken up arms to defend themselves in case of a civil war. They went missing overnight, I suspect treachery from their very own guards. It's been like this for five months now, with only three people leading the entire nation. The three being those I suspect had let their guards down long enough to be duplicated and replaced."
"Likely eliminated?"
"I suspect so, yes."
"What about families and close ones? Any signs of them noticing a difference?"
"The three remaining were orphans believed to have been chosen by the Questian god or gods. I can't remember if those people believe in one or multiple higher powers."
"Depends on the region." I reply, perching my chin on my hands as I let out a deep breath. Seems things were more serious than previously expected.
"How are things with the drug mission?"
"Leon and Shushi have been drugged and eliminated, so has our top herbalist."
"Do you think it was an outside force attempting to take them out or just their own stupidity?" We speak plainly, showing disinterest towards the current events taking place just beyond that door.
"I wouldn't turn down either possibility, but the issue is, nobody has told us about anyone suspicious stopping by."
"Well, did you ask them?"
"Excuse me?"
"You have a tendency to just assume everyone will come and talk to you but you never make the effort to communicate what you're thinking to others."
"First of all, watch your tone. Second of all, I'll be right back."
I rush out of the office and head straight to the other herbalists, ignoring Antonio and his questions as I push past him. To all eight of them, I ask, "Have any of you seen someone suspicious or not usually visiting here recently and interacting with Shushi or Leon or Callum?"
Immediately, they all nod, though hands shaking at their sides as they stare up at Antonio who towers over me. His voice booms as he barks, "Speak!"
"It was a well dressed man! The one that she-" One of the herbalists points to me. "-slutted herself out too!"
Eriq? What was he doing here? Why would he purposely drug Shushi and Leon at a time like this? Perhaps the escape route has been completed, but this is not at all what we'd planned on.
"Office. Now." Antonio yanks on my arm, dragging me to the office as the others return to their work. Once the door shuts behind us, Antonio is fixated on Pierre like a guard dog protecting its owner.
We sit across from him, he watches and analyzes us with tired eyes. Cooly, he asks, "Someone drugged them?" I nod silently, Antonio's muscles tense. "Any ideas for their motivation?"
"Not exactly. But he and I had met before. If we take a trip back to snowfall of explosives, I'm sure I could meet with him and he'll tell me why he did what he did."
Pierre shakes his head disapprovingly, "If he's the type of person who is willing to drug someone, knowing they'll experience madness during the withdrawals, it's likely he's not the type where you can just casually show up at his home and chat with."
"We're in an industry where these sorts of things are commonplace, do not question us on our choices." Antonio buts in, hands folded in front of him on the table, shoulders hunched. "If my partner decides it's best to return to Snowfall of Explosives and meet with this outsider, then we will do so."
"I'm not here to take orders from you, coward." Pierre snaps suddenly, cold and precise as he unloads his thoughts. "You've gotten yourself banned from ten different nations, to a point where you had to change your name and go off of an alias. You've run away from your education more times than people you've killed, including those eliminated by your own inaction or stupidity. And now all of a sudden you've gotten yourself a girlfriend who is light years ahead of you in terms of skill, and yet, you still behave as though you're the one in charge. You know nothing of this man, how powerful he is, what he looks like, his connections and skills, not even his name, yet you think it's a good idea to just drive out to a black zone, shake his hand, and ask, what's up? With what? Eleven? Twelve days left in the mission? And not nearly enough information to grant it as a 'success' even if the entire supply and any informants are neutralized." He then focuses back on me, and in the same sharp tone, asks, "Disciple Two, how many days did the trip take, to and from Snowfall of Explosives?
"Six days, there and back, only spending at most three hours there."
"Six days?" He raises his voice, quickly settling himself and continuing more gently. "You want to spend more than half your time left, driving to a black zone to meet quite possibly the most powerful man in Rapard, who had drugged your two major sources of information, just to ask him what? Why did you do that? Are you both braindead? Has the native desert cell eating bacteria managed to get through both your masks?"
I pause, my voice showing my confusion, "Cell eating bacteria?"
"Did you guys not do any fucking research?" He snaps again, then takes a deep breath and explains. "I know the school informants for this nation are idiots, so I'll just tell you. Ever since the battle in Surtigian, there has been a bacteria running through the hot, sandy areas, dubbed Kytos Phagein. It's been proven that it was released after the explosion of their labs, thanks for that, by the way." He nods to me, then continues. "Due to the high heat and minimal cleanliness, the bacteria had managed to rapidly evolve into a variety of different types, each type of bacteria strain can eat and break down a different type of cell. The person dies, decomposes, and the bacteria continues to spread through the sand and air. It then lands on another few people, eats them, and spreads further. Yet medicine is such a minor thing here that nobody believes it's happening and instead thinks everyone around them is dying from heat exhaustion because they weren't covering up their bodies well enough. The students, however, had already been given the vaccines and are safe from all types, except, the brain-eating strain." He takes a deep breath upon finishing his explanation and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Listen," He's returned to his pious, proper self. "If you choose to travel to Snowfall of Explosives, no problem. I'll even travel with you guys and stay behind to keep watch in the case that something happens. But I must warn you, that I have a bad feeling about this guy, and I bet that if I were to look into him, he won't exist."