Chapter 42 - First Move (2)

Seeing that the look of worry on Neal's face was still there, Wesley spoke once again:

"Tell me, Neal, could you have used Earth Merge to sneak into the Shorn residence and kill them?"

Wesley knew that Neal's Earth Merge allowed him to go anywhere unhindered as long as the walls of the place were made from either earth or stone. Neal thought about it for a moment and then firmly shook his head as he spoke:

"Impossible. Any noble would protect their homes against earth mages lest they be assassinated. I’m sure the Shorn Family did the same."

Neal’s response could not have been more accurate. Earth Merge is a very famous spell, so to avoid being killed in their own homes, many nobles build their homes with steel walls.

"Then tell me, Neal, how did I kill the Shorn Family?"

Neal simply stared at Wesley, surprised. He knew Wesley was a dark mage, and although Wesley himself never mentioned it, Neal knew he used some Dark Magic. It was difficult for anyone to know much about Dark Magic, let alone Neal.

Neal shook his head in resignation and spoke:

"I get it."

"Good. Now, you will only have one day between when I go to the Ranes Manor and when I visit the Wayle Family, so you need to ensure that the rumors of the Wayle Family hiring spies spread quickly."

"Don't worry. My agents are in every place where rumors start and spread. I will have the whole city buzzing by noon tomorrow."

"Good. Then I will make my move tomorrow night before the Ranes Family grows too guarded."

"Now..."

Neal immediately dug into a pile of papers on the table and pulled one out, scanning its contents. After a few moments, he spoke again:

"The Ranes Family Manor will be very heavily guarded. Around a hundred soldiers live in the Manor, with twenty-five being on guard at any given time. Guard shifts change every five hours, and tomorrow night, the shift change will be around one in the morning. That would be your best chance to sneak in or out."

Neal's research was simply too detailed, and although Wesley wasn’t expecting to go after the Ranes Family first, Neal had still done his research and collected enough information. One of the reasons Wesley wanted to avoid the Ranes Family was because his research showed how difficult it would be to get past all the guards they had.

Wesley simply nodded as he listened. He wasn’t going to charge past the guards, but it never hurt to know what he was about to walk into.

"Understood. You can go back, Neal. I want to refine for a short while."

"Understood."

Neal imedailty packed his maps and sheets of papers and used his Earth Merge to disappear from the study and to the Lord Manor. Wesley was left standing in the study with a solemn look on his face.

He immediately slumped weakly onto the chair that was behind him and started thinking. His plan for dealing with the four families was a simple divide and conquer, pitting the enemy against each other and then picking them one by one.

However, regardless of how simple the plan is, it is extremely complicated to put into action. Wesley needs to make sure that his actions are not traceable to him or the Black Family, he also needs to make sure that the actions by the four families do not throw his plans into chaos.

Doing all of this required quite a lot of focus to be accounted for, and a rigid schedule to be followed so that everything plays out as dictated. However, the plan also needs to be flexible enough to account for the enemy's actions without falling apart.

All of this combined caused Wesley no small amount of headache. Wesley thought more than once that the whole affair was too taxing. But, considering how Wesley thought of the five Black siblings as little treasures, he couldn’t help but clench his jaw and carry on.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The sky over Blackreach City was extremely dark. It is said that the hours after midnight are the darkest, and tonight was especially so since there was no moon shining in the sky, giving the whole city a solemn feeling of emptiness.

Wesley walked out of his Manor without a slight hint of hesitation. There could be no one keeping an eye on him right now because of the curfew that was imposed in the seventh district, so Wesley could easily walk out without worry.

Wesley glanced at a small parchment in his hand. This parchment was a map given to him by Neal showing him the routes of night patrols so he can easily avoid them. Wesley who was wearing dark cloth from head to toe walked to one of the alleyways and continued walking until he reached the borders of the sixth district.

The Ranes Family are the rulers of the sixth district, which is another reason why Wesley chose to start with them. The distance between the border of the seventh district and his target was not even an entire mile, making the chances of him being discovered less.

Although it was past midnight and a lot of people are home asleep, the contrast between the curfewed seventh and the regular sixth was too clear. Wesley could see a few people walking here and there In the seventh district. Avoiding the well lit roads, Wesley stuck to the alleyways and small roads.

What should have been a ten minute walk took Wesley thirty minutes as he made sure to avoid people on the streets. Standing at the roof of a small Manor adjacent to Ranes Manor, Wesley seemed to have melded in with the dark night.

The Ranes Manor was indeed worthy of such a great family. The entire Manor had about area of ninety thousand feet. At the center stood the main house which was a five story house with each story being slightly smaller than the one below it giving it a somewhat pyramidal shape.

The front yard of the Manor had guards patrolling in groups of two. The same two-man team would reach the same spot once every fifteen minutes, and there were ten such teams zigzagging across the front and backyards. Seeing this, Wesley estimated that there is less than a minute for any given spot to be clear, and that is assuming the guards all walk in the same pace.

If someone tried to sneak in, then they would be caught before they even reached the main house. Wesley was extremely impressed at whomever came up with this patrolling pattern. Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about that.

The distance between the roof Wesley was standing on and the main Manor was about two hundred feet. Wesley's range when using Dark Warp is five hundred feet, putting the main house well within his range.

Wesley simply stood at the roof waiting motionlessly. After almost half an hour of waiting, a soft bell rung throughout the Ranes Manor. This bell was not enough to wake anyone, and even Wesley barely heard it, but the moment it rung, the entire Manor seemed to have come to life.

Dozens of guards walked out noisily from within the main house and those that were outside started walking in. As soon as this happened, Wesley immediately invoked his Dark Warp and reappeared moments later at the roof of the Ranes main house. Wesley could have done this anytime earlier, but he wanted to see how accurate Neal's reports were, and they were on the dot.

Wesley once again used his Dark Warp to reappear inside the top floor of the house. As soon as Wesley reappeared inside the house, he noticed that this room served as a study as it was filled with papers and books. Wesley simply shook his head at his luck and walked to one of the walls of the study.

Wesley once again used his Dark Warp to move into the next room. Silently appearing in this room, Wesley noticed that this was a bedroom with a giant bed in the center of it. On this bed layed a red haired man who seemed to be in his fifties and a dark haired women.

Seeing this, a wicked smile surfaced on Wesley's face as he muttered something and invoked his Dark Domain. Only this Dark Domain was extremely small as it covered only him and the bed where the couple were sleeping.

"How Long are you going to be asleep."

A soft voice resounded throughout the room causing the red haired man to jump up hastily while the women only groaned and continued sleeping. Hearing this voice, the red haired man knew that things suddenly took a bad turn.

"Who is it. What is going on."

The red haired man twisted his neck left and right trying to see where the voice came from, but all he could see was darkness, earie, unnatural darkness that seemed to extend for countless miles. He couldn’t see a speck of light or life, only silent darkness. The red man was about to convince himself that it was just a dream but the sound came once again:

"Lower your voice. Your wife is still sleeping."

Hearing this voice, the man's heart churned. He realized this was not a dream, he knew that today was most likely going to be his last. In any other occasion, the man would have screamed his head off, but seeing how his wife wasn’t even aroused to wakefulness, he felt that was utterly pointless.

This red haired man knew that if an assassin was skilled enough to bypass his security and catch him sleeping, then there was no way he was going to make such a simple mistake as letting his target wake up when they could simply scream. But he still held on to some hope and spoke again:

"Who are you."

"You don't need to know that."

"What do you want?"

"I am sure you already know that."

The voice in the darkness was serene and sounded almost childish. Hearing this the red haired man's heart was filled with dread. He would've rather liked a loud or vicious voice come at him, because that would mean they were at least human. But this childish, unharried voice made him wonder if there really was a person around. The red haired man spoke once again:

"Do what you must fiend. You will not hear me beg today."

The entire room was plunged into silence. This silence was like daggers stabbing at the red haired man as he waited for his life to end. But while waiting, the cold voice once more reached his ears startling him.

"You will most definitely die tonight, so don't worry about that. The question is how you will die and what will happen after your death."

The red haired man has already steeled his resolve. He knew he was going to die today, but he still acted as a proper noble; full of dignity and loftiness. But when he heard the words of the faceless voice, his heart trembled slightly and he spoke again:

"What do you mean."

"Answer all my questions and you will die a quick painless death. Refuse, and your death will be anything but quick or painless. Oh, and every member of your family will most definitely die."

"YOU BAST........AHHHHHH"

The red haired man opened his mouth to shout at the figure and curse, but before he could even finish his words, a piercing pain ran through his body. His right thumb has been chopped off almost instantaneously.

"You have ten fingers, twenty if you count your toes. Or maybe it is better if I tortured your wife in front of you."

"Stop please. I'll tell you anything you want. Just stop."

"That’s better. If only you were this understanding one finger ago, you could have saved both of us some effort. Now....."