Chapter 5 - Conflict of Interest
"Th-thank you..."
Ameena thanks Haris who offered her a cup of tea. She pulls the blanket they laid on her as she tries to make herself comfortable. Adjusting her seating on the worn out cushion in the middle of this stone walled room.
Seated across her is the young man, Bareeq, leader of the Dukhan Al Layl. His finger meticulously counts every piece of gold coins in the satchel she gave him. Although just looking at his face alone is enough clue to his current temperament. His teeth clicks in between, his feet dangling tirelessly over the arm rest, his eyebrows wrinkling into a slope that they almost come together into a unibrow.
"This is not enough"
She hears before the satchel lands on her lap.
"We're not really a charity here, you know?"
"But-but the tavern owner told me you guys will take the job if I come here"
"Huh that old fart actually said that? He's not even one of us and he has the nerve to spread stories like that"
Bareeq pulls out a dagger and twirls it on his finger
"I shoudl go down there and kill that old man myself when I have the time"
"N-no! Actually he didn't say you'll take them..."
she hugs her arm
"He just told me that you'll... you'll hear me out..."
"Then I've heard you out. You can go back now"
He waves his hand, gesturing her to leave.
"I-I will find a way to pay more, so pleas-"
"Lady, you have to understand what we're doing here"
He brings up the poster to her face again
"This man is a favoured politician of Isfahan and have the backings of the Amir. On top of that, he have a literal army of expensive mercenaries to guard his palace and you want us to endanger our life to take him out?"
pointing to the satchel
"For this measly pay?"
She jolts in response to his sudden movement. A bit shaken by that scolding, unable to say anything back.
"We're not doing this"
he concludes. Loud and clear. Laying on his back, not even taking a look at her after.
"No please! I-I'll find a way to pay you! I'll work it out somehow-"
"Do you realize what we're doing in this line of work?"
"I- I know.."
He stands up and finally looks her in the eye.
"Do you realize, by paying us to kill him, you already have blood on your hands"
Ameena leans back as he crept further in her face.
"You're an accomplice in this crime. Are you prepared for that?"
The lady fell off her chair as he conclude that sentence. Lips trembling, hands shaken, tears running down her cheeks as she break down.
Some of the band members pass by but didnt spare more than a single glance before going about their day. A typical scenery. Evidently though, Haris who's in the room with them is a little uncomfortable, sighing and directing his sight away from that miserable performance.
"If-"
her next word got stuck in her throat,
"If it means ridding us of that vile man then-"
"Then you could've just hired a normal mercenary or even report him to the authori-"
Bareeq still refuting her
"NO THAT WONT DO!"
She raises her voice, shocking the entire room. Even some folks outside peeks in from the distance to see what's up.
"Nobody would believe us! Nobody would help us! You dont think we've tried that??"
She looks him proper in the eye, desperation diluting into wrath.
That wretched man has to pay! I dont want him arrested"
her bloodshot eyes glint with drops of tears. The wailings and suffering of the people from her village echoes in her mind. Everyone's resting their fate on her tiny shoulder, she couldnt afford to fail here.
"he overthrows the previous governor and imposes heavy tax on us, he'd rob us of our crop when sending his men for war campaign, he'd send away our men to work at his mine to their death, he'd take our women as wives but abuse them regularly, locking them away in that fortress he'd built in the middle of city by chasing out the original residents!"
Tiny frame of that petite woman now trembles with anger, her voice gradually grows deeper and rougher like she's suppressing an explosive rage.
"I dont care how much it costs, I WANT HIM DEAD!"
The cynical look escapes his face, Bareeq starts to properly look at her now. Actually paying attention to her words and her conviction.
"Payment received. We'll have him dead by the end of this week"
Bareeq tells her with a wide grin on his face.
"Heh?"
understandably, she's surprised by that drastic change.
"Y-You're taking the jo-?"
"On one condition Ms. Ameena"
he interrupts, then leans closer to make sure that the conversation stays between the two of them, almost whispering into her ear. Not even Haris in the same room can hear them much less the others eavesdropping from outside.
Ameena's pupil dilates, she swallows a heavy gulp. Whatever the condition is, he's making her take a heavy decision.
"I- I'm..."
"you have until the end of this week, no need to give me an answer now. Until then we'll secure our end of the deal"
Bareeq promises her.
"Hadrami! show her way out"
Answering the call is the big, rude receptionist from earlier. Still shaken by his last condition, she walks away quietly, hesitantly. Not celebrating her successful pitch, almost like she'd won the interview but loses something else that's just as important in return.
On their way out, a woman catch up to them and chases the big guy away, in a friendly manner of course.
"But but the boss told me to.."
Hadrami refused initially.
"its fine its fine"
she manages to persuade him to which he just gave in and goes about his own way.
At first Ameena didnt recognise her until the smell of burnt metal and the sounds of little gears clanking gave her identity away.
'This person is..'
A flash of memory briefly pass by her train of thought.
'Saania, the craftperson from before'
"Hi hi~!"
Saania greets.
Ameena hesitantly responds, waving her palm. Saania offers her a handkerchief.
"Here"
flustered, Ameena promptly accepts it and quickly wipes the remaining tears and snots off her face. Saania just walks idly by her side as the girl helps herself.
"Sorry about that, our leader can be a bit mean early on"
Ameena still recovering from her emotional outburst just nods silently.
"Ahh but dont misunderstand him, he's actually a nice person at heart"
Seeing Saania tries so hard to comfort her, Ameena starts to smile a little,
"Thank you, Ms. Saania"
"HUH?! How did you know my name?"
Saania leaps a step back, genuinely in shock like she's caught red handed over something bad.
"Umm.. I actually saw the plaque on your chamber earlier.."
"Ahh that! of course ahaha ahaha"
Saania regains composure, but her antique further calms Ameena down. She even starts to chuckle now.
After a bit while walking, she gains the courage to open up,
"can you guys really... take him down?"
"Of course!"
Saania thumbs up loudly,
"It's just that, Bareeq sometimes like to test out his client before accepting a mission hehe"
she rubs the back of her head, feeling guilty in his stead.
"test out the client?"
"Ahh but he doesnt mean anything bad with it! Just sometimes.."
she looks ahead, reminiscing,
"we get fake clients trying to lure us out or client wanting us to kill someone to get out of debt-"
As Saania spells out the backstory, Ameena observes the same chamber she'd pass by earlier upon entry. Some of the members are still doing the same thing they did, some of them are not even in their cell and just lounging around, some of them are still inside but doing something more normal, like playing darts or cards. Surprisingly, she's not scared of them anymore this time.
"-and sometimes we get client trying to kill a good guy for their own selfish goal, or a client that didnt seem to realize the consequences of our work here. All sorts of people walk through that door really"
Saania explains.
"I see..."
Ameena turn back to the woman.
'This person too... is part of the assassin band..'
She stares at her quietly, digesting that information.
"Um.. um Ms. Ameena.."
Saania tries to avoid her eyes, her cheeks a bit flushed, visible from the lights coming off the window in the hallway. She touches her own face, insecure from Ameena's stare.
"is- is there something on my face?"
"Ah sorry about that."
Ameena snaps out of it, finally realizing what she's doing.
A brief silence fills the air between them, until Ameena breaks out the conversation this time.
"Ms. Saania, do you think.. I'm a bad person..?"
"eh why are you asking me that?"
but Ameena just waits patiently for her answer, Saania thought about it for a bit, then tries to satisfy the woman's worry
"You know, there are lots of bad people in this world. And all kinds of bad people too"
"and of course, bad people can be good eventually, similarly good people can be bad"
Ameena stares down the floor as she hears that. Not particularly proud of herself.
"these things happen for a lot of reason, sometimes, bad people meet someone dear to themselves and turns good."
she paused for a moment, waiting for Ameena to notice and turn to her,
"and sometimes good people live long enough under bad people that they become bad"
an oversimplification, presented with a blinding smile. Ameena can only stand awed by her conclusion, her mouth agape, her steps slowed.
"people make mistakes all the time but-"
Saania continues,
"no matter what you are in the past, it is always who you are in the present that can decide what you become, don't you think so?"
Even as Ameena left the building, and return to the outside world, Saania's words echoes inside her head she turns back to the outpost to bid her farewell for now.
And in the distant trees, her bodyguard lies in wait.
back in the covert monument, already half-eaten by the mountain itself, the discussion in the guest room that hosted the client earlier appears to still be unfinished.
"Haris"
Bareeq calls out as the big man is about to leave the room.
"you look awfully interested in her story earlier"
the leader glances at him, turning his head slightly, only looking at him with the corner of his eye.
Haris only scoffs before leaning on the wall, crossing his arm
"Nothing get's past you"
"This governor, he's overseeing the Isfahan region.."
Haris didnt let him finish his thought, offering his own answer instead before Bareeq did
"Yes, that's where I used to work at..."
he scoffs again,
"dont tell me- is that why I'm on tea duty this time"
"Haris"
Bareeq keeps him on track.
"I dont know"
he finally entertains his real question.
"It sounds familiar but until we get there, I cant-"
"what is it?"
his leader interrogates further, trying to get a proper answer.
"it could be one of them.."
The answer barely came out under his breath, like he's trying to swallow them before they escaped his mouth.
"Who is it?"
"my old mates..."
Haris finally look Bareeq in the eye,
"from the Royal Knights"