Seven motley experts - a swordsman, a thief, an archer, a slaver, a chef, a madame, and an inventor - are brought together by strategist mastermind Hara Aadhila Sanata to accomplish one not-so-simple task: assassinate Qapaq Jade, ruler of the Runa Empire.
In payment Hara promises to fulfill each one's greatest desire, but as her plans unravel they find they may be nothing more than pawns in a much larger, more deadly game.
In payment Hara promises to fulfill each one's greatest desire, but as her plans unravel they find they may be nothing more than pawns in a much larger, more deadly game.
- Chapter 1 -
Precursor
With all her plans in motion, provisions stocked, contracts signed, with the dizzying minutiae of her conspiracies well-considered, Hara had thought herself ready for the coming ending. Tonight, gods willing, she would collect one last item and then set into motion the final phase of four years of planning and five decades of accumulated knowledge. Success or not, this was the culmination of her masterwork, her opus magnum, proof that she had been here, that she had walked this earth.
But this last small item was a long and dull walk away through a dry, scrubby landscape that provided too much time to think. Too much time to wonder, again, what it would all truly come to. Over her many years, Hara had seen more than enough proof that nothing escaped the erosion and erasure coming to all things. All victories, families, fortresses, and empires crumbled under the weight of time. Hara could be no different.
What the Mother gives, the Father takes away, Hara thought. What the Father gives, the Mother takes away.
But this last small item was a long and dull walk away through a dry, scrubby landscape that provided too much time to think. Too much time to wonder, again, what it would all truly come to. Over her many years, Hara had seen more than enough proof that nothing escaped the erosion and erasure coming to all things. All victories, families, fortresses, and empires crumbled under the weight of time. Hara could be no different.
What the Mother gives, the Father takes away, Hara thought. What the Father gives, the Mother takes away.