Silk had woken up early that morning and left Matthew to his slumber. She was not trying to ditch him, in fact with Isaac potentially in town she needed all of the muscle she could lay her hands on. However there were some things that even the hired help didn’t get to know about and so she had left him in his room. She would return, hopefully before he awoke but if not it was no big deal. Of course she had also considered the possibility that he might follow her but that was also of no particular concern. Intelligent and resourceful he was but a criminal he was not, despite his devil may care attitude. The circles she intended to move in would not allow him to follow, assuming he could even keep track of her in the first place.
After several dozen alleyways, bribes and false walls she found her way to what was a common feature in nearly every town throughout the kingdoms of the world. A place known to the law but left well enough, the domain of the information brokers, those people whose business it was to know as much about everything as humanly possible, especially in regard to matters of trade, finance and of course criminality. The kind of person who would know if a contract had been put out on her life. Of course they would not tell her who by, they were professionals with reputations to maintain after all. But they were also business men and were flexible to a point, especially when money was involved. Or even better, information. And Silk had come to trade.
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Silk had returned back to Matthew’s room several hours later. He was asleep. As to whether or not he had awoken and tried to follow her she could not say. She lay back down under the window, the early morning light just starting to break over the dark horizon and stared up at the ceiling in thought. She was a little more relaxed now and sleep would better for it. She still lay with her sword at arm’s length however.
The lack of a contract meant that whoever was tailing her had been hired specifically for the job, rather than going through a middleman, which meant that whatever it was that she had done had cut deeply, because that was only something you did when it was personal. That didn’t tell her who was after her of course but it meant that at the very least she wouldn’t be getting jumped at by every two bit crook who just happened to catch sight of her. As to the information about Isaac she could not be sure as to its validity, since that kind of information was something that could be falsified for a price. But it would have been a high one. It was all useful information.
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Silk awoke several hours later, the sun already climbing into the sky. It was morning still but already fairly late. She made breakfast from the leftovers from last night while pondering all of her potential courses of action. Chief among them was how to use her new found bodyguard. He was strong and probably a better fighter than her, he was also intelligent, shrewd and a good reader of people. The magic was an added bonus. However he was just one man. Even one as obviously talented and experienced as Mathew would not last very long against Isaac should he decide to make his presence felt far more personally. Even together she feared the inevitable outcome of such a confrontation. Again she recalled the last time she had worked with Isaac and shuddered despite herself. No, fighting him was not an option. So for how the only thing she could do was run. But to where?
As she ate breakfast she had something of an idea and even though it was by no means an award winning scheme it did have some obvious merits. She would make no attempt to run or hide. Instead she would make herself as visible as possible. Even Isaac would not attack her in broad daylight, not directly anyway. The risk to his anonymity was too great. Which meant for now that Silk was going to undertake some honest employment. The thought was not appealing but needs must. With that thought in mind she headed into town.
