Beinn 7.8
As Massoud felt more assured about his current circumstances than he had in days, he decided to delay further action until he heard from his contact at the ascribed meeting place. Knowing he needed to prepare as best he could for the rough days ahead, Massoud headed for his safe house among the merchant villas. He was in no condition to leap along rooftops and chose one of the few open city culverts to mask part of his approach. Soon he was in the familiar garden alley and then inside the Bishamon spice merchant’s home.
Opening his medicine chest in an upstairs room he produced a poultice, foul-smelling as of meat gone half-rancid and the color of loam. Removing his bandage, he smeared it on as best he could both entrance and exit wound. It actually looked better than he had hoped and the blackroot poultice would only accelerate the healing. Next he restored his stash of purple lichen powder in the pouch at his side as well as packing a handful of tete leaves. When chewed they provided a powerful stimulant that could keep a man going until he literally dropped dead from exhaustion.
Massoud made the rounds of his haven, checking all the traps and alarms before returning to his medicine chest to remove a green vial. He went downstairs to a rug and lifted it to expose a trapdoor. Opening it and climbing down into the pitch black chamber, he pulled the trapdoor closed, bolted it and pulled on the string that would slide the carpet back into place. He checked the bolt on the grate in the floor leading to the sewer and then laid down on a rope bed, the only furnishing in the room. Swallowing the vial whole he closed his eyes.
Six sands later, as the dosage had been prepared to work for, Massoud woke up. He listened intently for several minutes before unbolting the sewer grate. Then he unbolted and opened the trap door. Once he saw nothing lurked for him in his house, Massoud came back down and rebolted the grate and then exited the secret chamber, placing all as it was. He felt immeasurably better and the wounds were all but sealed with scar tissue when he checked on them.
He made himself a quick meal after scanning the food for signs of poisoning. As he put on his cloak a rap sounded at the door. Massoud chuckled to himself. He wasn’t sure who had found him, but chances were it was someone on his list of enemies to kill. Nice of them to help me out–Inanna be damned but it was about time something went my way.
Opening the door, Massoud had to admit he was a little surprised that it was Llyr who had found him. He had her pegged for a government half-wit, not given to imaginative thinking. Perhaps he was wrong, or perhaps someone had helped her.
“Don’t look so surprised, Asherah.” Llyr gloated. “I simply checked the tax records for Bishamon merchants who had purchased homes in the city and then sent agents out to match flesh and blood with our records. This is the only one that didn’t have a face to go with the form. And I deduced it was yours.”
From her tone and her sheer idiocy in telling her myraid of subordinates, agents who coveted her job and her successes, the supposed means of finding him, he was convinced another had helped her. But who?
“Stay your hand and the powder that slays,” commanded Llyr.
“Of course,” Massoud smiled. Knowing that everyone’s attention was on his right hand while they were all thinking of the guard’s fate earlier that day. None saw his left hand trip the lever that shot two bolts from either side of the doorway into Llyr, while the heavy plank door crashed down like a portcullis between them. There was the heavy thud of missles into the door, but Massoud was already down into his secret chamber and through the grate into the sewer before a single axe blow struck the door.
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