Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Second Mission


    Mission number two. Yue still couldn’t believe she was doing this, but, just like last time, she tried to ignore her conscience. The Member’s house stood tall in the Antiquated Section, the place Yue always hated traveling to, and this time was no different, albeit for different reasons. Yue wasn’t sure what Member owned this house, or who the spouse was. Something in her mind, clearly the Cult, was sending her here. Although it was a scary thought knowing the Cult had planted thoughts in her mind, she felt better with the confirmation. She would need to ask High Mage Aegon what to do about it.


    It was nighttime, but not late enough that the Members of Parliament were home, which gave Yue the perfect opportunity to infiltrate. Usually, the spouses of Members were homemakers—gender notwithstanding—so the wife should be in here. Yue felt better not knowing her name. It eased her exploding conscience just a little.


    There didn’t seem to be any light in the house, but Yue assumed this Member didn’t own the mage-made light fixtures, probably because they would be somewhat suspicious of mage-made objects. Yue didn’t blame them; she too had hated mages when Diamond had been killed. But still it was weird for a Member to be wary of mages, seeing as some Members were mages themselves. So there had to be another reason. Maybe this person was a mage? No, if he was, he’d leave his spouse with magic items, not be wary of them.


    Maybe his wife wasn’t home, or she was asleep. Yes, that must be the reason. That was when Yue felt her first problem materialize. While it was darkness, and it would shadow her somewhat, she didn’t know how she’d kidnap the wife without either her making noise, or without anyone noticing them when Yue dragged her through the streets. That must be part of the test, then.


    Yue calmed her nerves. It was time to go in; she needed to stop stalling. Grabbing the knob on the door, she pushed it open. Or, at least, she tried, but the door didn’t budge. Damn. What was she to do now? Was the wife even home at all? She would have to open it with her sword, but silently.


    Pleading softly to herself, Yue brought her sword down on the door. With a loud metallic sound, the door opened, the lock broken and hanging only from its hinges. Cursing, yue looked around, expecting to find someone staring at her, but no one did, and not a mote of dust stirred inside the house.


    Was this a trip? The house looked so empty, although decorations were still placed everywhere. From the outside, Yue knew the house had three stories. She would have to investigate every room.


    The first room she found was the dining room, and it looked orderly, as if someone had been cleaning it not an hour ago. The wife loved to clean, then. That was not a surprise; she was a homemaker, after all. There was no one here, so Yue moved on quickly, hoping to get the job done as fast as possible. She wanted Xander back.


    The next few rooms in the house were all different sorts of sitting or dining rooms, each spotlessly clean, and the decorations costing more than anything Yue could afford. For a moment, Yue thought of nabbing something, but the thought fled her quickly. She wasn’t like that.


    Something in one of the dining rooms caught her eye. A pillow from a couch was out of place. To Yue, that meant that whoever the wife was, she had been stopped in the middle of her cleaning. That meant most likely she knew what was happening. Maybe the Cult got a warning to her somehow, making it all the more harder to Yue. She wouldn’t doubt they would do that.


    Sure enough, the next room looked untidy, and Yue grimaced. Hopefully, the wife would still be here.


    A cry split the night. Yue recognized a baby’s voice. The family had a baby!


    Dammit, Dautha! You couldn’t warn me of this before?


    Her conscience slammed into her, screaming at her how immoral it was to steal a mother, a wife, and leave the baby alone. Shaking, Yue moved to the next room. Why did she have to do this?


    The final room was more of a corridor than anything, leading to the next floor, the stairs winding up sleepy, like they had decided on a change of direction halfway through.


    A part of Yue hoped the mother would be able to escape, to get away from Yue, so she could raise her child properly. Whatever the Cult did to the Mother wouldn’t be good, she knew that. But she still had to do her job. For now, she had no other choice. After all, High Mage Aegon had told her to do it, hadn’t he?


    The stairs called out to her, and she began to climb them one by one. She was heading towards the child, the mother. They had no way of exit now; the house hadn’t been made for it. There was one pair of stairs leading from the second to the first floor, and Yue was blocking them.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    “Come out!” Yue screamed at the woman upstairs. “I don’t want to hurt you; I don’t even want to do this! Just come out and this will be quick. I will not kill you. I want your child safe just as much as you do.”


    No answer, though that was no surprise to Yue.  She would have to find the woman herself. There were about twenty-five or thirty stairs, and Yue climbed each one, counting softly as she did so to calm her nerves once again that were screaming at her to stop. Twenty-eight stairs. A strange number, had she counted wrong? She felt an urge to go back down and climb again to make sure she was right, but no. She had to finish this terrible job.


    The second floor began on a proper hallway, leading to the stairs at the far end. On the left and right sides of the hallways were several rooms, twelve in total. For a moment, Yue wondered how she would be able to check each one without allowing access to the exit for the mother, but she quickly dismissed the thought .Not only was she faster and stronger than the mother, the mother would also have a hard time running with her child.


    The first room was a bedroom, leading Yue to believe that was what this second floor was made of. This bedroom was empty, so no one slept here. Most likely, it was for esteemed guests, or for special nights for this couple. Yue didn’t know when they would ever have a special night again. She inspected every nook and cranny of the room, searching for hidden panels or entrances. There was nothing, which reassured her they were still somewhere in the house.


    The next six rooms looked exactly like the first, all spotless and empty, all devoid of color and decoration. Already she had inspected half the floor, and she had found nothing as of yet.


    The next room was clearly the couple’s bedroom, and Yue felt like she was intruding. The bed wasn’t made yet, and the closet was thrown open, clothes in full view to Yue. Either the wife had forgotten to tidy this, or she had done this as a red herring. Either way, Yue carefully scanned the room, finding nothing of interest.


    The child’s room was next, and it saddened Yue to see it. The child still slept in a crib, and there were several kids’ toys spread throughout the room, and Yue picked up a rattle, and shook it. The sound struck her, making her feel even more guilty.


    She set the toy down, and stood up; she must be strong.


    There was nothing of interest in this room, or in any of the other rooms in this room. There was just one floor left, and the wife had to be there.


    This time there were twenty-seven steps, which didn’t make sense. Who would make a house like this?


    The third story was all one massive room, more of an attic, than anything. The wife had known there were plenty of hiding spots here. There was just one problem: she had a baby. Sooner or later, it would make noise again, and when it did, Yue would find them. Of course, she wouldn’t wait for the noise; she had to start her search anyway.


    She began to search the far left, moving boxes and shelves, opening everything she could. She even smashed some vases to elicit a scream from the woman, but there was nothing.


    “I know you’re in here,” Yue told the air. “If you come out now, everything will be so much easier. Please, I beg you. I promise I won’t hurt you.”


    Still no answer and Yue sighed.


    Another cry erupted from the baby and then silence returned. Yue’s eyes moved to where the sound had come from. It was a box, laid out like a coffin, and normally Yue would’ve assumed it carried a massive clock or some other big object, but this time there was a living human inside. Two, actually.


    Yue walked to the box and opened it, finding the mom topless, the kid breastfeeding from her. The woman had been trying to silence it by feeding it, but it hadn’t worked—not completely, anyway,


    “I’ve found you,” Yue whispered. “You have to come with me. I’m sorry, but I have to.”


    “You’re the Sterkona!” The woman exclaimed. “I thought you were one of the good ones?”


    “I did, too,” the Sterkona sighed. “Now, are you coming willingly or not?”


    “I don’t have a choice, do I?” the woman responded. “What do I do with the child?”


    “I really don’t care,” Yue lied. “Leave him here or take him with you. I would advise you to leave him, though. Who knows what they’ll do to him?”


    “Why?” The mother asked. “Why are you doing this?”


    “Because I must, because I have no choice, and because they forced me too,” Yue responded. “It all means the same thing.”


    “I’ll leave him here. Can I put on a shirt before we leave?”


    “Hurry up,” Yue responded gruffly. “And I’m coming with you. Can’t have you leaving.”


    The woman sighed and got up from the box heading down the stairs.Yue followed her, unsheathing her sword.


    When they reached the bedroom, the mother laid the child on the bed and fit on her shirt. Then she picked up the baby again and kissed him.


    “Goodbye, Icy,” She whispered. “I’ll come back eventually.”


    The baby cooed, reaching for his mother, but she put him down and glared at Yue, tears in her eyes.


    “I’m ready to leave now.”


    “Don’t make any noise,” Yue warned her. “If you do, I may need to hurt you.”


    “I won’t, I’m coming willingly,” the mother responded. “I can’t have my child hurt.”


    The warrior led her out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the house, towards the place her mind was pointing her towards. As they left, the child began to cry, and it broke Yue’s heart.


    “I’m sorry, Icy,” She whispered. “Forgive me for my sins. You don’t deserve this.”