Valor and Violence

“Hold it right there!” someone shouted from the crowd. Elizabeth frowned and peered into the darkness beyond the stage, those damn lights making it impossible to see.

Stupid mages with their stupid magical lamps, she thought to herself. Then remembered that if it weren’t for mages and Resonance items, she probably wouldn’t have a job.

“Everyone remain calm, this will be over shortly-” there was a pause as the speaker stuttered and swore along with a yelp and crash from his vicinity. “And could someone please spread the lights out so we can see what the Pit we’re doing?”

The magelights obediently swivelled, evenly illuminating the hall. It was the same as Elizabeth remembered it, expansive and opulent, polished rosewood and black wrought iron the overarching theme. The regular patron seats ascended before her, with the surrounding walls dotted by VIP boxes. She spotted the duke in one, decked out in plate armour yet twirling a goblet of wine in his gauntleted hand. Heavily armed watchmen stood guard at the entrances, while more poured along the walkways between the aisles. There were even a handful of knights leading the posse, striding tall and proud under the lights with their ridiculous plumes flapping about.

Elizabeth smirked. She had expected guards in attendance, but she hadn’t expected them to be quite so proactive. Still, it was a big hall with lots of people to check; she had time before they worked their way to the stage. Besides, they wouldn’t be checking the musicians first…

Except, they weren’t checking anyone. They were all heading straight for the stage, ignoring the crowd completely. She glanced at the guards at the doorways again. Every single one was staring at the stage.

“Masque Du Nuit, please remain in your seats,” the speaker from before said, revealed in the magelight to be an officer of the watch. He was currently disentangling himself from a row of seats as he spoke, lessening the authority of his tone somewhat. “Once the watchmen reach the stage, they will escort you off. Have no fear, your performance can recommence shortly.”

The surrounding musicians shifted nervously in their seats, wondering what the Pit was going on. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was as still as a statue. She had been sold out, and there were only two possible suspects.

“Eliza!” Jack called from the front of a line of watchmen. “Please! D-don’t r-resist! There are innocents he-re.”

She narrowed her eyes at the adorable idiot advancing towards her. She hoped with every fibre of her being that he had been roughed up, tortured and forced to confess, but no. His chubby cheeks were unblemished, his eyes wide with fear but directed at the stage, not the watch at his back.

“Why?” she called out as she stood and strode to the front of the platform. She kept her violin against her collarbone and her bow in her hand. A hand shaking in rage. “Why would you do this?”

“Eliza,” he said, his eyes softening as they found her. He slowed his pace, the watch doing the same. It seemed none of them actually wanted to be the first to reach her. Word had probably spread about her exploits over the last day or so.

“I’m so s-s-sorry. I tried to get you to turn away from all this, to r-run away with me. We could have been happy. Safe. The famiglia would have-”

“You’re famiglia?” Eliza shouted.

“No, w-well… Not yet. Dealing with you was m-my ticket in.”

“Explain yourself. Now.”

He stopped advancing, his shoulders slumping, eyes suddenly glued to the floor at his feet, not daring to meet her eyes as he spoke.

“They s-sent messengers throughout the Continent. They’re based in Ris, but their n-network extends pretty much everywhere with a port. Different contacts were offered different things. Money. Favours. Rare items. I was offered full adoption into my father’s famiglia if I took you out.”

“Your father?”

“He was heir to one of the minor families out in the archipelago. He met my mother on a job and fell in love. But marriage outside the families is… discouraged. He was cast out. Without the family’s protection, he was dead within a year. Murdered, by an assassin from the Guild.”

“Let me guess, you found out I was in town and decided you would avenge your father and improve your lot in life in one fell swoop?”

“Yes! I wanted you dead. Yes, I wanted to avenge my father, and yes, I wanted the famiglia life for my mother and I. We wouldn’t need to be hungry anymore. We wouldn’t be alone. And no one would dare look down on me again! I was going to return with an army of enforcers and burn the underbelly out of this fucking city. Hurt the people who hurt me, d-day in d-day out, y-y-year after fucking year! You were my ticket to being somebody.”

“So that’s all I was? A mark?”

“At first. But you know what? I was still willing to give it all up. If you had just accepted my offer to run-”

“Bullshit!” Elizabeth screamed. “If you meant that, you wouldn’t be betraying me now.”

“You have no idea how many watch are here. These jokers are just the tip of the iceberg, the place is surrounded. You were never making it out alive. And if you were set on your own suicide… I wasn’t going to let your death go to waste.”

“You’re a real piece of shit, Jack.”

“And you’re just the Guild Master’s attack dog. You don’t even see it, and I couldn’t show you. Maybe, if things had been different… maybe someday, someone could have. But it’s all a moot point now. I’m sorry, Eliza. But this is the end of your road, and the start of mine.”

Elizabeth smiled, despite the hot tears filling her eyes and spilling down her cheeks.

“It is the end, Jack. But not for me. I’m sorry too.”

Even though he betrayed her, Elizabeth’s hands had stilled, her rage washed away by sorrow. She had been let down again. She had trusted Jack. She was going to save him, give him the life he had just espoused, but within the Guild. But it had been nothing but a dream. Life had damaged him in ways she could never heal. Just like, she supposed, it had damaged her too. She had hated the way he had talked, back in the safe house, because deep down she knew it was true. The Master loved her. The Master had made her into a weapon. Both facts were true. Her path was bound to end in violence, just like Jack’s was about to tonight.

She drew her bow across the violin strings, a sombre wail that broke into a frenetic dirge as her fingers danced across the strings. There was a gasp from a few musicians behind her, taken aback at the savage beauty of her music, but she ignored them as her eyes bore into Jack. Slowly, he looked up, tears streaking down his face, pouring from sad eyes. They widened as his gaze slid down to the violin, taking in the brassy metalwork.

“Stop her!” he shouted. “That’s a Resonance item!”

The watch broke into a run, but they were stuck behind the knights, laboriously clambering down the stairs. A few guards tried to jump across the seats, but they weren’t fast enough as Elizabeth’s song built to its ultimate crescendo. As she drew the final, quavering note from the instrument, the magically infused sound washed throughout the hall, crashing over the explosives placed underneath the VIP boxes.

The duke and every other member of the cultured elite in attendance disappeared as the combination of air and fire bombs ripped apart their boxes, and them, in a maelstrom. Walls blew out, and the ceiling groaned as the structure propping it up fractured. Concert goers were already screaming and running for the exits when the first chunks of roof fell, crushing a few unfortunate sods.

The watch abandoned their mission immediately, but the knights maintained their steady advance… until one of their number copped a block of marble. It didn’t kill him instantly, and his desperate screams were enough to convince his peers to abandon their pursuit. As they laboured back up the steps towards the exits, the only two people not moving were Elizabeth and Jack.

As the building crumbled around them, Elizabeth held a hand out to him, an imploring look on her face.

“I can make this right, Jack. Come with me, please. I forgive you.”

Jack should his head.

“Thank you, Eliza. It means a lot to hear that. But your master will not forgive this. I’m sorry, but this is goodbye.”

He turned and ran, the cloud of dust and rubble rising and hiding him from her sight. Her hand dropped to her side as she cried, the billowing dust clinging to her wet cheeks. She waited until the crashes had ceased before wiping her nose with a sniffle and looking up.

Half the hall was gone, nothing but rubble in its place extending from the stage to where the main entrance had been. It was by design, of course. During her ‘rehearsal’, she had accounted for the bones of the building when placing her charges. It wouldn’t do to crush herself in the attack. She had even spared a few VIP boxes to delay the complete collapse in order to minimise civilian casualties. It wasn’t… perfectly executed, but she hadn’t done too bad, all things considered.

She nodded, letting out a shaky breath, and drew her knives from beneath the costume. After the attack at the port, she was low on her usual bag of tricks. She had a brace of pistols, two grenades, and her trusty Aeris chain, but until she knew what she was up against, she didn’t want to waste any of them.

Eventually, the first watchman appeared, followed by another as they picked their way over the rubble towards the stage. There was no movement at her back yet, which meant the guards posted there were probably content to watch the doors in case she came out. Which meant up and out it was. She could dance across the rubble far faster than the watchmen. Cut a path through, dealing with the ones and twos who managed to head her off, then escape onto the city’s roofs. Not a perfect plan, but she could probably make it work. She hadn’t failed yet, right?

She slapped herself a couple of times, trying to work herself up. Bury her sad apathy under hyped-up adrenaline, but it was only moderately successful. Her urge to stab people remained half-hearted at best.

“Oh, Eliza, marvellously done!”

The Master’s voice was barely a whisper, but so close to her ear she could practically feel his breath. She jumped and spun, hand pressed to her beating heart.

“Cael’s cock, boss! A little warning next time?”

The Master chuckled, clapping, though to congratulate himself or her, Elizabeth wasn’t sure.

“And ruin my fun? I think not. If you want it to stop, improve your situational awareness. Now, do you want to cut your way out? Or withdraw out the back? I’ve already taken care of the guards stationed there. If you need to let off some steam, though, I understand. In fact, I almost hope you do. It feels like an eternity since we fought side by side.”

Elizabeth waved a dismissive hand. “Na, it’s all good, boss. Let’s just go. I’m not in the mood for fun right now.”

“Suit yourself, my dear. Follow me.”

He slipped away, the shadows seeming to reach out and absorb him as he glided towards the back of the stage. Elizabeth hurried to keep up, struggling to make him out in the darkness even though she was staring directly at him. They were back out in the streets in moments, the broken bodies and gore plastered over the road barely registering as they disappeared into the maze of roads, while alarm bells and shouts echoed behind them.