Chapter 5 – Part 5

Parnain d’Medani cinched his gloves again, making sure that they were firm and tight. His face betrayed nothing, and the ragged stubble around it may as well have been made from blonde stone. Only his eyes had anything in them, as they never stopped scanning the room. He would note broken yellow teeth of the dead changeling on the interrogation slab, the quivering lip of the nauseous guard wearing Brelish colors, the polished nails of the shifter who was currently paying his house, and the well-polished nature of his gloves. Parnain hated leaving blood on him. It was sloppy. The half-elf did not belive in sloppy.

“You pushed him too hard,” the shifter noted, crossing his arms. It was a male, stocky, but powerful in the shoulders and chest. He’d not given a name when he’d first made contact with Medani, but they knew who he was. They’d prevented two assassination attempts on Gorka in the past six months.

Parnain didn’t care what the man’s name was – if Gorka was in fact a real name and not an alias. Nor did he care (much) that Gorka was a disgusting shapechanger. Brleand paid, so Parnain worked with Breland’s agents. But that didn’t mean that the half-elf was about to listen to warrantless criticism. “I pushed him hard enough to find out that he believes a tall man named Wir who favors bastard swords is the one who his contact answered to. That’s what’s important. The filthy wax baby didn’t know anything else that was useful.”

The shifter considered this without cracking the slightest expression, but Parnain could read the body language. The half-elf had grown up hating shapechangers of any type, and spent his life tracking them. “You’ve confirmed this independently?” the shifter asked.

“Phiarlan dancing troupe in Cyre,” the half-elf said. “A tall man named Wir has had contacts with Thuranni, and through the Thuranni some unknown element within Cannith. This element has been trying to find a runaway warforged while screwing up Eldeen recruiting. So wax babies like the corpse here are told to count warforged along with other military resources.”

“And why would Cyre care about frustrating the Reachers’ ability to fight Aundair?” asked Gorka. He answered his own question before Parnain could. “It’s a false flag operation. This Wir fellow doesn’t answer to Cyre.”

Parnain shrugged. “I don’t look at the big picture, I’ll leave that to you. You have my services for six more days, with an option to renew. You want me to use my mark to check your food for poison again?” Parnain wore gloves in all weather for many reasons, primarily to avoid leaving evidence of his fingers, but also because he had a lesser dragonmark on the palm of his left hand. The cold, blonde half-elf preferred not to be noticed, so he hid his mark.

“Check our ambassador and the Reacher he is negotiating with,” Gorka ordered. “Then I need you to find a pair of changeling saboteurs down by the docks. Breland is sending alchemical weapons, and Aundair is paying those two to make sure they can’t be used.”

“Musky and Lusky,” Parnain said. “Twin sister changelings who openly worship the shadow, and have clerical spells in addition to their years of espionage work. High price on their head. You sure they’re after your boat full of glass vials that go boom?”

Gorka smiled a smile with no humor. “I am sure, and I am sure that they’ve been hired through Thuranni. Beyond that I know little that I can rely on.”

“You want them dead or alive?” Parnain asked as he walked out.

“Alive, preferably,” Gorka told him. “You enjoy killing changelings too much, and I want to make sure you got the right ones.”

Parnain turned, and gave the Breland intelligence chief a cold stare. “Not just changelings,” he sneered. Then he turned heel and left.

The guard let out an exhalation, then blushed out how loud it was. Gorka raised an eyebrow. In theory the guard was there to protect Gorka or Aundairan (or Reacher) assassins, but they both knew that the guard was also there in case Parnain decided he didn’t like working for a shifter.

They also both knew that the guard would barely slow Parnain down.