The cloud cover was solid enough to shadow their approach. The Inquisition had been able to requisition the boat, but Anais had seen to its preparation, painting it black and helping them blend in with the darkness of the water and the empty docks. The Qunari weren't expecting an infiltration party, when all they knew about was a loose mage seeking pointless retribution. With any luck, they would have the advantage.
Romulus was nervous, and his mind hovered on the fact that he'd never gone on a personal mission before. The objectives had always been meaningless in Tevinter; steal this, kill him and his wife, pry secrets from the target. None of it had anything to do with him, no more than a solider had to do with the weapon that stabbed him. He'd sided with the Inquisition, fully thrown in his lot with them, but even their tasks were so much larger than he felt, so beyond him, even with the mark on his hand.
But his target tonight was valuable only because there was a chance he knew something about him, about his mother, his past. The potential source that could make everything about him meaningful. He honestly wasn't sure he was ready for that. Could anyone be?
"Your Worship," Anais said cautiously, noting his rather glazed look. Romulus met her eyes, not quite understanding. Borja snapped his fingers once from where he sat next to the cultist leader.
"Wake up, son." His tone was coarse, harsh, abrupt, and it had the desired effect. Romulus stopped thinking about the implications of the mission, and instead thought about the mission itself.
"I apologize, High Seeker, if this approach is somewhat uncivil," Anais said to Leon. "I believed it would be most efficient. I did not think the heathens would be willing to bargain."
Leon wore a placid expressionāit was hard to say exactly what he thought of all this. A small furrow appeared between his brows when Anais spoke, but he shook his head. āThe Qunari are not known for compromise in matters they take to be of importance,ā he said mildly. āThey rather resemble the Chantry in that way.ā He rolled his shouldersāgiven that the goal was infiltration and not direct warfare, heād elected not to wear any armor, and of course he was as bereft of weapons as always.
"Conrado's not worth more than a few coppers anyhow," Borja grumbled, pushing his oar through the inky black water. "They'd get more worth outta watching his head roll than selling him to us."
"Hopefully he proves more valuable to present company, then." Anais gestured ahead. "We're here. Bring us in."
It was no dreadnought, but it wasn't really possible for the Qunari to construct a seafaring vessel that wasn't intimidating. This one was perhaps twice the length of Zahra's ship, and it towered above the water, with at least three levels including the top deck. Romulus couldn't see any guards looking their way on the deck, but he was willing to wager they were up and about. Even if there hadn't been an outside threat, he imagined they wouldn't let their guard down in a neutral city.
Borja and Romulus worked together to bring the boat up alongside the ship, and once they got close enough, their way in became apparent. Towards the rear of the ship was an opening, larger than would be needed for an oar. In fact, Romulus wasn't sure what exactly it was there for, but he wouldn't question the gift too much.
"Think you can reach that?" Borja asked of the commander, in a whisper. "You're the strongest of us. Better you pull us up than the other way around."
Leon gauged it for a moment, before dipping his chin in a slow nod, speaking softly. āCertainly.ā Without any sign of difficulty, he hopped up onto the side rail of their commandeered ship. His balance was solid, but even considering his size and the extra height, it was a considerable jump to reach the opening. His muscle stood him in good steadāthe leap he made was powerful, and he caught the edge of the opening, pulling himself in smoothly and surprisingly quietly.
It took him a few moments longer than expected to reappear; he leaned out of the opening, suggesting that the floor on the other side was somewhat lower. With a beckoning gesture, he indicated his readiness to catch the first of the others and pull them up behind him.
"Secure the boat, Captain Borja," Anais quietly ordered. With a stone-faced expression, the Rivaini pirate complied, grabbing a spool of rope and fastening their little boat to the Qunari ship, while the cultist leader stood and nimbly leaped up to catch Leon's waiting arm. She was pulled up easily enough, disappearing quietly inside. Romulus was next.
Upon being assisted inside, he took stock of their surroundings. The middle level of the ship appeared to be the rowing deck, judging by the rows of empty benches with oars left in between. Romulus didn't doubt the ship was capable of remarkable speeds when it was at top shape, with both the wind and considerable Qunari muscle-power pushing it along. A number of bed racks were situated along the wall towards the bow and stern, but thankfully none of them were occupied.
Most notable was the metal weapon that sat in a rolling wooden contraption just inside the opening they'd squeezed through. Romulus had heard many times of the Qunari's devastating naval weaponry, these gaatlok weapons as they were called, but he'd never actually seen one before. He could not even begin to surmise how it worked, but judging by the size of the ammunition in the nearby crate, it was capable of fearsome damage in a single shot.
"Ah," Borja whispered after he clambered in and laid eyes on the thing, "managed to steal one of these for my ship once. One of my finest moments, that."
"Quiet," Anais snapped. "We make for the hold. After me."
Their way down was to their right, at the rear of the ship. Anais and Romulus led the way, and now that they moved, it was easy to hear the sounds of heavy footsteps on the deck right above them. The ship was certainly awake and alert, it simply wasn't looking in the right direction. They'd have to take care not to draw their eyes or ears.
Thankfully, putting another floor between them and the upper deck would help, and they descended the ladder-like stairs as quickly and quietly as they could manage. There was barely any light to go by, only a few well-placed candles in wall mounts, which served both to conceal them, and to make it more difficult for them to see where they were going. Borja was obviously the least adept at being purely stealthy of the group, and so he focused on following directly in the path of Leon.
The ship's brig, if it could be called that, was a small section of two cells positioned next to the cargo, of which there was a considerable amount stowed in crates. As for the cells, only one was occupied. Conrado was a man of clear mixed descent, with lighter skin than the majority of Rivainis, and near white-blond hair that was sorely in need of some organization. His captors had been none too gentle with him, it seemed, but he wasn't cut up or bleeding, only bruised and battered. He sat in a wooden chair with his arms bound behind him, head down towards the floor. For all Romulus could tell, he was sleeping.
The two guards watching over him were not, however, but they weren't exactly on high alert either. One Qunari leaned with his back against the cell bars, his long polearm in hand, while the other sat in a meditative pose, facing Conrado and murmuring something to himself.
Anais looked to Romulus and Leon, gesturing with her head that they should feel free to take action. Romulus figured Anais cared little if the Qunari lived or died, but it was undoubtedly the better course to try to subdue them, not kill them. He looked beside him, to see if Leon was ready to move on them.
The Seeker was already looking his way, and nodded once. He tilted his head slightly, indicating heād take the one on the leftāthe one standing and armed. Their course set, they burst from cover. Leon crossed most of the intervening distance in two strides, grabbing the spear as it was leveled towards him and yanking forward. Unerringly, he stepped into the Qunariās side, one of his gloved hands fitting over the manās nose and mouth. His other hand wound around his neck, putting him into a sleeper hold and muffling any sound.
Aside from a grunt, only the scuffing of feet on the wood as the Qunari tried to free himself escaped from that side of the room. With no way to breathe and no way to use his spear, he passed out before long, and Leon lowered him carefully to the ground.
Romulus was not proud of attacking someone in the middle of meditation, but it needed to be done. Stowing his knife, he went barehanded as well, and surprised the second Qunari from behind the moment when Leon struck. He didn't have the same level of strength the commander was capable of, but it wouldn't be needed, as he wrapped both arms and legs constrictively around the Qunari before he could react. He pulled him backwards, preventing him from crying out, and they rolled on their sides.
He struggled, but could not break free or reach his weapon, and it wasn't long before his soft kicks against the lowest deck of the ship ceased entirely. Romulus released him once he'd gone limp, and got back to his feet. Conrado had woken from the sounds of the struggle, or become alert if he hadn't been asleep at all. He blinked rapidly, trying to focus his sight in the dimly lit space.
"What in the... who are... oh, shit." His eyes settled on the approaching form of Borja, as apparently time had not diminished his ability to recognize the man. "Hello, Adan." His tenuous cheer did not carry over to the pirate captain.
"Keep quiet, rat," Borja grumbled. "There'll be time to talk later." Anais strode forward, plucking a key from the belt of the formerly meditating Qunari, and using it to unlock the door. It swung open without so much as a squeak, and she stepped aside to allow Romulus to enter first.
"You know who I am?" he asked quietly. Conrado didn't even need a moment to study him. Instead he warily watched his old acquaintance.
"Aye. I'd thank you for the rescue, but the present company is even less desirable than the Qunari's."
It was then that obvious footsteps began to descend towards their position, and a lone Qunari appeared soon after, coming around the corner and laying eyes on the scene. He had just enough time to open his mouth before a blade burst from the back of his throat, spewing blood down his chest. Anais withdrew the dagger from behind him, immediately going to support him and ease his fall as he quietly and violently choked to death. When he stilled, she looked up from where she crouched over his corpse.
"We must move, quickly." She locked eyes with Leon. "Can you subdue and carry him, please?"
"Wait, wait," Conrado pleaded. "My things. The rucksack just over there. A valuable Qunari dagger of some kind inside, lots of history behind it, or something. Bring it with us."
"You can't be serious," Borja spat.
"We should collect his things, Your Worship," Anais suggested. "They could prove useful. The dagger should stay, though, if the Qunari desire it so."
"I'll take it, then," Romulus said, crossing the room and collecting the rucksack in question. He removed an ornate looking dagger from inside, hardly a usable weapon anymore, but he wouldn't question it if it had significance to the Qunari. He set it on a crate. The death of one Qunari was unfortunate, but Romulus grimly noted that currently they would have no way to link the move here to the Inquisition.
āIād rather not have to knock you out,ā Leon told Conrado. āSo please do yourself a favor and cooperate.ā That said, he didnāt seem inclined to take it on faith that Conrado would simply remain obligingly silent; instead he fashioned a gag from a strip of fabric. He must have had it on him, because it didnāt come from any of the supplies in the hold.
It didnāt seem to trouble him much to heft the man into a rescue carry over one shoulder; he nodded to Romulus. āLetās get out of here before anyone else gets stabbed, shall we?ā
Romulus silently nodded his agreement, and they made their way back the way they came, carefully stepping around the slain Qunari. Conrado could be heard muttering something, the word undignified mixed in there somewhere, but he soon fell silent, and did not resist. It was likely that if the Qunari discovered them now, they would not be willing to spare their lives, a fact Conrado was undoubtedly aware of. Romulus wasn't even sure what they would do with him if and when they'd acquired what they wanted, but it was a few more hours of life at the very least.
Despite his certainty that something else would go wrong, the remainder of their getaway was clean. One by one they lowered themselves down into the boat, which Borja unhooked from the ship. Conrado was passed down to Romulus before Leon climbed down, the last one into the boat, and they rowed away.
Just when the ship was fading in the darkness, the sounds of shouts cut through the night air, as the Qunari discovered the infiltration. But the culprits were long gone.
Romulus was nervous, and his mind hovered on the fact that he'd never gone on a personal mission before. The objectives had always been meaningless in Tevinter; steal this, kill him and his wife, pry secrets from the target. None of it had anything to do with him, no more than a solider had to do with the weapon that stabbed him. He'd sided with the Inquisition, fully thrown in his lot with them, but even their tasks were so much larger than he felt, so beyond him, even with the mark on his hand.
But his target tonight was valuable only because there was a chance he knew something about him, about his mother, his past. The potential source that could make everything about him meaningful. He honestly wasn't sure he was ready for that. Could anyone be?
"Your Worship," Anais said cautiously, noting his rather glazed look. Romulus met her eyes, not quite understanding. Borja snapped his fingers once from where he sat next to the cultist leader.
"Wake up, son." His tone was coarse, harsh, abrupt, and it had the desired effect. Romulus stopped thinking about the implications of the mission, and instead thought about the mission itself.
"I apologize, High Seeker, if this approach is somewhat uncivil," Anais said to Leon. "I believed it would be most efficient. I did not think the heathens would be willing to bargain."
Leon wore a placid expressionāit was hard to say exactly what he thought of all this. A small furrow appeared between his brows when Anais spoke, but he shook his head. āThe Qunari are not known for compromise in matters they take to be of importance,ā he said mildly. āThey rather resemble the Chantry in that way.ā He rolled his shouldersāgiven that the goal was infiltration and not direct warfare, heād elected not to wear any armor, and of course he was as bereft of weapons as always.
"Conrado's not worth more than a few coppers anyhow," Borja grumbled, pushing his oar through the inky black water. "They'd get more worth outta watching his head roll than selling him to us."
"Hopefully he proves more valuable to present company, then." Anais gestured ahead. "We're here. Bring us in."
It was no dreadnought, but it wasn't really possible for the Qunari to construct a seafaring vessel that wasn't intimidating. This one was perhaps twice the length of Zahra's ship, and it towered above the water, with at least three levels including the top deck. Romulus couldn't see any guards looking their way on the deck, but he was willing to wager they were up and about. Even if there hadn't been an outside threat, he imagined they wouldn't let their guard down in a neutral city.
Borja and Romulus worked together to bring the boat up alongside the ship, and once they got close enough, their way in became apparent. Towards the rear of the ship was an opening, larger than would be needed for an oar. In fact, Romulus wasn't sure what exactly it was there for, but he wouldn't question the gift too much.
"Think you can reach that?" Borja asked of the commander, in a whisper. "You're the strongest of us. Better you pull us up than the other way around."
Leon gauged it for a moment, before dipping his chin in a slow nod, speaking softly. āCertainly.ā Without any sign of difficulty, he hopped up onto the side rail of their commandeered ship. His balance was solid, but even considering his size and the extra height, it was a considerable jump to reach the opening. His muscle stood him in good steadāthe leap he made was powerful, and he caught the edge of the opening, pulling himself in smoothly and surprisingly quietly.
It took him a few moments longer than expected to reappear; he leaned out of the opening, suggesting that the floor on the other side was somewhat lower. With a beckoning gesture, he indicated his readiness to catch the first of the others and pull them up behind him.
"Secure the boat, Captain Borja," Anais quietly ordered. With a stone-faced expression, the Rivaini pirate complied, grabbing a spool of rope and fastening their little boat to the Qunari ship, while the cultist leader stood and nimbly leaped up to catch Leon's waiting arm. She was pulled up easily enough, disappearing quietly inside. Romulus was next.
Upon being assisted inside, he took stock of their surroundings. The middle level of the ship appeared to be the rowing deck, judging by the rows of empty benches with oars left in between. Romulus didn't doubt the ship was capable of remarkable speeds when it was at top shape, with both the wind and considerable Qunari muscle-power pushing it along. A number of bed racks were situated along the wall towards the bow and stern, but thankfully none of them were occupied.
Most notable was the metal weapon that sat in a rolling wooden contraption just inside the opening they'd squeezed through. Romulus had heard many times of the Qunari's devastating naval weaponry, these gaatlok weapons as they were called, but he'd never actually seen one before. He could not even begin to surmise how it worked, but judging by the size of the ammunition in the nearby crate, it was capable of fearsome damage in a single shot.
"Ah," Borja whispered after he clambered in and laid eyes on the thing, "managed to steal one of these for my ship once. One of my finest moments, that."
"Quiet," Anais snapped. "We make for the hold. After me."
Their way down was to their right, at the rear of the ship. Anais and Romulus led the way, and now that they moved, it was easy to hear the sounds of heavy footsteps on the deck right above them. The ship was certainly awake and alert, it simply wasn't looking in the right direction. They'd have to take care not to draw their eyes or ears.
Thankfully, putting another floor between them and the upper deck would help, and they descended the ladder-like stairs as quickly and quietly as they could manage. There was barely any light to go by, only a few well-placed candles in wall mounts, which served both to conceal them, and to make it more difficult for them to see where they were going. Borja was obviously the least adept at being purely stealthy of the group, and so he focused on following directly in the path of Leon.
The ship's brig, if it could be called that, was a small section of two cells positioned next to the cargo, of which there was a considerable amount stowed in crates. As for the cells, only one was occupied. Conrado was a man of clear mixed descent, with lighter skin than the majority of Rivainis, and near white-blond hair that was sorely in need of some organization. His captors had been none too gentle with him, it seemed, but he wasn't cut up or bleeding, only bruised and battered. He sat in a wooden chair with his arms bound behind him, head down towards the floor. For all Romulus could tell, he was sleeping.
The two guards watching over him were not, however, but they weren't exactly on high alert either. One Qunari leaned with his back against the cell bars, his long polearm in hand, while the other sat in a meditative pose, facing Conrado and murmuring something to himself.
Anais looked to Romulus and Leon, gesturing with her head that they should feel free to take action. Romulus figured Anais cared little if the Qunari lived or died, but it was undoubtedly the better course to try to subdue them, not kill them. He looked beside him, to see if Leon was ready to move on them.
The Seeker was already looking his way, and nodded once. He tilted his head slightly, indicating heād take the one on the leftāthe one standing and armed. Their course set, they burst from cover. Leon crossed most of the intervening distance in two strides, grabbing the spear as it was leveled towards him and yanking forward. Unerringly, he stepped into the Qunariās side, one of his gloved hands fitting over the manās nose and mouth. His other hand wound around his neck, putting him into a sleeper hold and muffling any sound.
Aside from a grunt, only the scuffing of feet on the wood as the Qunari tried to free himself escaped from that side of the room. With no way to breathe and no way to use his spear, he passed out before long, and Leon lowered him carefully to the ground.
Romulus was not proud of attacking someone in the middle of meditation, but it needed to be done. Stowing his knife, he went barehanded as well, and surprised the second Qunari from behind the moment when Leon struck. He didn't have the same level of strength the commander was capable of, but it wouldn't be needed, as he wrapped both arms and legs constrictively around the Qunari before he could react. He pulled him backwards, preventing him from crying out, and they rolled on their sides.
He struggled, but could not break free or reach his weapon, and it wasn't long before his soft kicks against the lowest deck of the ship ceased entirely. Romulus released him once he'd gone limp, and got back to his feet. Conrado had woken from the sounds of the struggle, or become alert if he hadn't been asleep at all. He blinked rapidly, trying to focus his sight in the dimly lit space.
"What in the... who are... oh, shit." His eyes settled on the approaching form of Borja, as apparently time had not diminished his ability to recognize the man. "Hello, Adan." His tenuous cheer did not carry over to the pirate captain.
"Keep quiet, rat," Borja grumbled. "There'll be time to talk later." Anais strode forward, plucking a key from the belt of the formerly meditating Qunari, and using it to unlock the door. It swung open without so much as a squeak, and she stepped aside to allow Romulus to enter first.
"You know who I am?" he asked quietly. Conrado didn't even need a moment to study him. Instead he warily watched his old acquaintance.
"Aye. I'd thank you for the rescue, but the present company is even less desirable than the Qunari's."
It was then that obvious footsteps began to descend towards their position, and a lone Qunari appeared soon after, coming around the corner and laying eyes on the scene. He had just enough time to open his mouth before a blade burst from the back of his throat, spewing blood down his chest. Anais withdrew the dagger from behind him, immediately going to support him and ease his fall as he quietly and violently choked to death. When he stilled, she looked up from where she crouched over his corpse.
"We must move, quickly." She locked eyes with Leon. "Can you subdue and carry him, please?"
"Wait, wait," Conrado pleaded. "My things. The rucksack just over there. A valuable Qunari dagger of some kind inside, lots of history behind it, or something. Bring it with us."
"You can't be serious," Borja spat.
"We should collect his things, Your Worship," Anais suggested. "They could prove useful. The dagger should stay, though, if the Qunari desire it so."
"I'll take it, then," Romulus said, crossing the room and collecting the rucksack in question. He removed an ornate looking dagger from inside, hardly a usable weapon anymore, but he wouldn't question it if it had significance to the Qunari. He set it on a crate. The death of one Qunari was unfortunate, but Romulus grimly noted that currently they would have no way to link the move here to the Inquisition.
āIād rather not have to knock you out,ā Leon told Conrado. āSo please do yourself a favor and cooperate.ā That said, he didnāt seem inclined to take it on faith that Conrado would simply remain obligingly silent; instead he fashioned a gag from a strip of fabric. He must have had it on him, because it didnāt come from any of the supplies in the hold.
It didnāt seem to trouble him much to heft the man into a rescue carry over one shoulder; he nodded to Romulus. āLetās get out of here before anyone else gets stabbed, shall we?ā
Romulus silently nodded his agreement, and they made their way back the way they came, carefully stepping around the slain Qunari. Conrado could be heard muttering something, the word undignified mixed in there somewhere, but he soon fell silent, and did not resist. It was likely that if the Qunari discovered them now, they would not be willing to spare their lives, a fact Conrado was undoubtedly aware of. Romulus wasn't even sure what they would do with him if and when they'd acquired what they wanted, but it was a few more hours of life at the very least.
Despite his certainty that something else would go wrong, the remainder of their getaway was clean. One by one they lowered themselves down into the boat, which Borja unhooked from the ship. Conrado was passed down to Romulus before Leon climbed down, the last one into the boat, and they rowed away.
Just when the ship was fading in the darkness, the sounds of shouts cut through the night air, as the Qunari discovered the infiltration. But the culprits were long gone.