Empire of Shadows

2

"Ketil." The world turned slightly as Aslaug opened her mouth again, replaced with a different face. "Ketil, wake up."

A hand jostled his leg and he woke up, grasping at the hole in his heart. "Nightmares again, Ketil?" A woman crossed her legs in front of him, her heavy dress crinkling with even the slightest movement. She pressed a gloved hand against his leg again, startling him into reality. "Ketil?"

Aslaug's smile faded into the back of his mind to be dredged up in his darkest hours. He took a breath, leaning his head back against the carriage's plush interior. "I'm fine, just the same thing all over again." He shifted uncomfortably, pulling at his high collar. His ringed fingers gleamed in the evening light, gold paint glittering over his hands and knuckles. He had painted the intricate design himself, one that mirrored the palaces in his native nation of Polaria. His mask sat in his lap, a beautifully nightmarish black thing mirroring a boar's snout and tusks with the same gold paint and pattern. If he looked closely he could see his family crest painted on the snout. When worn, it would only reveal his bottom jaw which was also painted with various reds, golds, and whites.

"You're anxious today. You're always like this before a heist."

Ketil looked to her, his leg bouncing as he carefully rubbed his eyes of sleep. "No, not me. I am made of iron and steel and never anxious."

"Here," she lifted up her skirts to produce a small silver flask, "calm your nerves."

He took it from her gloved hands opening it and taking a small sip. It burned his throat and made tears pull at his eyes. "Good stuff," his voice cracked a little. Another sip—this one less abrasive. "What is it?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know." She adjusted her own mask, a black monstrosity that covered everything but her jaw. She was a jackal, the ears curling over her head, made of feathers. It was a fitting mask for a woman named Anubis.

They sat in silence, the carriage jarring them as it went over bumps and small ditches.

"It was Empress Aslaug again?" She asked slowly as the Ketil adjusted his costume. White waistcoat underneath a red overcoat inlaid with various patterns of gold and red trousers. He was sweating underneath all the layers, but how else would he carry his weapons?

"It's always her," he said picking a few strands of long dark hair off his costume. "This thing is insufferable. So stiff."

"You don't have to wear it for too long, just enough where we can infiltrate the masquerade." Her dark eyes flashed to him, "don't take another sip of that, if you get drunk, I won't have an ally. Besides Raziel, but he's infiltrating the servants."

Ketil took the flask away from his mouth, handing it back to her. She slipped it into the band of her stockings and lowered her black skirts. "Do you know the mission?"

"Find the head of the household and kill them."

"I will kill them, you create a diversion. Raziel and you can have whatever goods you find, as long as it doesn't jeopardize our mission. We will meet back in the stables afterwards. Raziel, do you hear me?" She opened the small curtain separating the driver from the two in the back.

"I can hear you," the man driving whispered. "We're not leaving in this are we?"

"I believe the people we stole it from want it back, and they can have it. We can take a few lone horses. If they come after us, we split up and head back to Kantloe."

"Understood," Raziel muttered, reaching back through the window. "Hand me the invitations, there's a checkpoint coming up."

Anubis handed him an envelope, the wax seal broken. "And remember from now on, we are the Monroe family. The Lord and Lady Monroe." She extended a hand to Ketil and he took it with a fake bow. She grinned, "your acting skills are good."