Manhunt

Lion's den

Ryiah sat on the bench, legs stretched in front of her, arms crossed over her chest watching the people walking in and out of House of Valor ignoring the chilly wind blowing across the plaza. Although the sun wasn’t up, citizens of Carran were already buzzing on the streets.

After talking with Charon yesterday and deciding to join forces, they would need to figure out a plan on how to get Ryiah´s weapons back. 

Then they would come up with a plan on how to get past Valentianus with a help of Theia without Valentianus figuring out his wife was helping two assassins to get in House of Valor. Ignorance was Theia’s best defence if she got caught because she didn’t know Ryiah and Charon were professional killers.

Ryiah kept all of her senses on high alert, glancing discreetly around her now and then. She was anxious about being so close to House of Valor again, but she knew Charon was joining with her soon enough.

Wetting her lips, Ryiah thought about the things Charon had spoken to her yesterday. His apology had sounded sincere and the guilt in his eyes clear, but she still didn´t trust him. Ryiah felt like she should be wary of him.

Movement in a corner of her eye made Ryiah shift her gaze to her right just in time to see Charon walking up to her and sitting down.

“Morning.” Charon greeted her a hot cup of coffee in hand.

Ryiah gave him a small smile as she turned her focus back onto the people walking back and forward in the square.

“Morning.” She hummed.

“Did you buy more clothes after we separated yesterday?”

Ryiah gave him a side glance.

“When you have paid attention to what women wear?” she asked, glancing at Charon who rolled his eyes.

“I liked yesterday's clothes better, it reflects your spunky personality.”

“My spunky personality?” Ryiah parroted back, turning to look at him.

“Yes, I was going to say snarky at first,” Charon smirked, and now it was Ryiah’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Haha, hilarious mister 'I prefer my personality dark and bitter just like my coffee'.”

Charon nearly spat his coffee hearing Ryiah´s reply and glaring at her, she gave a charming grin back before she noticed a familiar-looking person hurrying across the square.

“There he is,” Ryiah muttered solemnly and Charon follower her eyesight until his gaze landed on the person Ryiah was looking at.

“Bernand, I assume.” Charon reckoned vaguely remembering the same looking man from yesterday.

Ryiah nodded.

“Yes, the same fellow you saw in the tearoom. He has my weapons.”

“Any idea where he's keeping them?”

“My best guess in the weaponry on the basement floor.”

“Your best guess?”

Charon leaned on his knees, keeping his steady gaze on the man taking mental notes of how dangerous this Bernand could be if it came to fighting their way out. The guy looked slightly chubby, over his fifties, and if he was being honest, Charon had difficulties picturing this guy capturing Ryiah.

“You sure this was the same man who captured you? He doesn´t look very dangerous if you ask me.”

“He's the one alright. What makes him dangerous is that he relies on his cunningness to win a fight. Bernand isn´t the type of soldier you take on face to face.” Ryiah huffed annoyingly when she remembered how Bernand had taken her by surprise.

“He is the type who is going to stab you in the back when you're not looking?”

“Exactly.”

Scratching his beard, Charon thought about their options how to get in, find the right floor and Ryiah´s weapons and get out with no one seeing them.

He had to admit it wasn´t going to be easy.

“How many guards there are?” Charon asked glancing at Ryiah who briefly looked at him before settled staring at the main entry again.

“Not a single one inside, but that's not the main problem.”

“What is?” Charon frowned.

“The House of Valor is one enormous maze with thousands of security cameras on the main floor. You need to look like you know the house inside out and know where you're going. The security firm constantly trains their guards to pick the individualities, who don´t look like they know their way but refuse to ask directions from the security footage. They can get here in a matter of minutes to check out who the person is. Luckily there is none on the basement floor, we are good once we get there.”

Charon groaned when Ryiah explained the situation they were going to step into.

“Please tell me there's another entry inside the building.”

“There is the emergency exit on Harbor Avenue. It connects the main floor, basement floor and three upper floors together. I used it when I escaped there.”

Charon sighed, leaning back on the bench gazing at the sky. This wasn´t the most dangerous situations he had been in. It was actually a rather easy one, but the lack of time getting to know the building and its exits were frustrating hiccup. A lot could go wrong, and Charon hated when he had to rely on pure luck to get a job done.

“Let's get this over it when it's dark, at least we'll have that in our advantage if something goes wrong,” Charon muttered.

Ryiah hummed while keeping her gaze on Bernand, who was climbing the stairs up and finally disappeared inside. She agreed to Charon's suggestion, it would be easier to move around during the night and they could disappear into the night if something would go wrong. Which Ryiah doubted since it was easy for her to escape from there during the day.

“So it's a waiting game. What are we going to do in the meantime?” Ryiah asked glancing at Charon who stared at his coffee cup a frown on his face.

“Might as well think about a strategy on how to help that girl.”

Ryiah´s face lit up, and a smirk curled on her lips, making Charon sigh when he took a side-glance at her.

“Don´t get any ideas, she's merely a tool for us to get what we need to accomplish our goals.”

“Right. You have hots for her.” Ryiah sniggered, enjoying teasing Charon and watch him getting more and more annoyed.

“Would you stop that! I don´t have hots for her! She's not even my type.” Charon lowered his voice when a couple of elderly people walked past them looking like they had on their first date. Ryiah let her gaze follow the couple before turning to wiggle her brows at him.

“What is your type then?” Ryiah asked and chuckled when a groan escaped from Charon.

“Groan all you want. I just keep asking until you answer.”

Charon seriously regretted agreeing to help Theia. If he had known this was the result, he would have just walked out that tearoom, leaving Theia to figure out the problem herself.

“Keep asking and I will throw you into the river.” Charon threatened while standing up. Ryiah frowned as she watched Charon walking toward the entry of House of Valor.

“What are you doing?” Ryiah squeaked, jumping to her feet chasing after Charon who didn´t even turn to look at her or asked if she wanted to join him.

“I´m going to look around. I'd like to know what kind of building are we breaking into at night.” Charon replied with a low tone. Ryiah halted for a moment before remembering how to use her legs and jogged beside Charon, giving him a sceptical glance.

“You think that's wise? Walking in there in bright daylight?” Ryiah was very doubtful this was a good idea, but Charon didn’t seem that worried.

“In case you haven't noticed, it's not bright daylight. It's rather dark still as the sun hasn't risen yet.”

“Smartass.”

Charon chuckled at Ryiah´s remark but kept his eyes on the stairs as he approached them.

“If you would concentrate more at the task ahead rather than me and Theia, you would have come up this yourself too.”

Ryiah rolled her eyes so hard she was sure her eye muscles were going to sprain.

“Cute, Charon, very cute. Mind that I know how to navigate in the building.” She mumbled but followed him up the stairs warily.

As they reached the entry, Ryiah glanced around, her entire body tensing up. She didn´t like walking into the lion's den early in the morning and her instincts were screaming for her to turn around.

“I´m not so sure about this plan of yours,” she grunted, but Charon merely glanced at her, not as nervous as she was. Emptying his cup, Charon tossed it into the trash can near the doors and pocketed his hands into his light blue denim jacket.

“Come on. Try at least look normal rather than a cat who is preparing for a fight.”

“Maybe it's  because I am expecting a fight.” Ryiah snarled and shot a glare at his way, noticing that he was already walking through the open door.

Sighing heavily, she looked at Charon's clothes. He was looking normal now that she thought about it. He was wearing black jeans, white sneakers, grey hoodie underneath that denim jacket.

He didn´t send any vibes of being a dangerous assassin. In everyone's eyes, he was just a guy strolling around the halls of House of Valor, taking an interest in the Faith.

“God, I forgot how good at his job he is.” Ryiah sighed, settling on walking a little behind him while looking around, making sure no one would recognize them.

A couple of ministers glanced at their way interested but kept on their task as for them it wasn´t anything out of ordinary for people to visit early in the morning.

“Welcome! Is there anything I could do to help you?” a bright female voice startled Ryiah while Charon looked at his left. A middle-aged woman dressed as a priest smiled at them, waiting for their reply.

“Are you how familiar with this building?” Charon asked leisurely, turning to gaze at the woman with a boyish grin on his face.

“How- oh darling, I work here! Of course, I am familiar with this building. I know it inside out.” the woman giggled, walking a little closer.

Charming. Ryiah thought as she half-listened to their conversation.

“Wonderful, if it wasn´t too much of trouble, would you mind telling about it? I am interested in old buildings like this one and its history.” Charon practically purred while leaning a little closer gazing into her eyes swooning the legs right underneath her.

“Oh, if your girlfriend doesn´t mind? She doesn´t seem so interested as you are.” the woman pointed out and Charon turned to look at Ryiah who was staring at something not paying attention to them anymore.

“Her interest is little more, how should I put it, romantic. She wants to wander alone in these kinds of buildings and let her imagination do the work. If you know what I mean.” Charon chuckled and winked at the woman.

“Gosh! She is an artist!”

Charon grinned, making the woman blush much to his amusement.

“Darling, do what you do best. Let's meet in a couple of hours in front.” Charon called for Ryiah who turned to look at him confused but seeing Charon's knowing look and discreet nod toward the grand stairs she understood what he tried to tell her.

“Alright, love. Have fun!” Ryiah giggled, turning on her heels, and went straight toward the stairs.

Charon watched her strolling away, humming to himself before turning his focus on the lady at his side.

“Let's start then miss…..?”

“You can call me Layle. And you handsome man?”

“Ciroc.” Charon bowed lightly, watching Layle's eyes sparkle.

“Unusual name for such a handsome man,” she giggled, and Charon had to take a moment not to roll his eyes and groan out loud.

“I am an unusual man.” he chuckled slowly turning to follow her as Layle was already walking toward one of the huge paintings on the wall.

“Indeed, you are,” she sent him a wink before halting in front of the painting.

“Now, this painting right here is one of our grand jewels in here as it tells the tale of how God Cian came to be….” Layle started while Charon settled next to her, discreetly glancing over his shoulder to see if Ryiah had slipped out the hall.

~~~

Ryiah walked hastily toward the staircase, seeing on the right side a door that led into the main corridor which allowed people to go either to the archives or weaponry. It also linked the corridor to the emergency exit. She thanked her lucky stars for remembering the building’s floor plan when she worked for the House of Valor in the past.

Ryiah needed to see was the door locked and if it was, what kind of key it needed. If the door was open, she could sneak in and take a peek inside and maybe try to find the weaponry while she was at it.

But she didn´t get far when someone cut her off, forcing her to halt abruptly while cursing under her breath.

“Riona! I wasn´t expecting to see you here.”

Ryiah stared at Theia stunned, trying to connect the dots of why she was here.

“Theia! Hi, um, what are you doing here?” Ryiah flashed an unsure smile as she met Theia’s gaze.

“My penthouse is connected to this part of the building and Valentianus´s company. Didn't you know that?” Theia chuckled while linking her arm with Ryiah´s who glanced around her worriedly, but much to her relief, no one seemed to be interested in them.

“No, I didn´t,” Ryiah mumbled.

“Don´t worry, many people get confused. It looks like one giant pile of tiles from the outside but there is a network of endless tunnels, corridors, staircases to connect two original buildings.” Theia explained enthusiastically while Ryiah merely nodded.

“But now tell me, what are you doing here?” Theia asked and raised her brow when she saw Ryiah nipping her lower lip. Ryiah wasn´t sure what kind of explanation would work best when she saw Theia´s gaze focusing on something else.

“Oh, is that Ciroc?”

Ryiah turned to look at the same direction Theia was looking at and smirked.

“Why yes, it is. He was very interested in about this building, so I tagged along.” Ryiah hummed, watching Theia smile a little brighter.

“Why don´t you go talk to him, I´m sure he would love it,” Ryiah suggested while nudging her.

“I don´t know, he seems occupied.”

“That lady merely offered to tell him about the history of this place. Go on, I know he would like your company.” Ryiah insisted and grinned when Theia glanced at her way before letting off of her arm.

“Alright. I'll see you later.” Theia waved before heading toward Charon joyfully.

Ryiah snickered, knowing Charon would have her head for this.

“Sorry Charon.” she grinned and turned her attention back on the side door.

~~~ 

Charon gazed at the details of the painting when suddenly he felt someone grabbing his arm. Snapping his attention toward whoever had the nerve to touch him, Charon came face to face with grinning Theia.

“Theia!” Charon was more than surprised to see her there, clinging to him like a baby duck.

“Ciroc! Nice to see you here! I hope you don´t mind, Riona suggested I should company you.” Theia greeted him with a big smile on her face. Charon's gaze grew dark at the mention of Riona and shifting his blazing gaze, he searched for Ryiah and in no time spotted her near the side door.

As if Ryiah could feel his eyes at the back of her head, she slowly turned around and met Charon's death glare with a grin. She dismissed it with a shrug and went back to find out was the door locked or open.

“Did she now?” Charon growled, staring at Ryiah for a moment before forcing his attention back on Theia briefly before shifting his gaze on the painting.

“Yes.” Theia giggled and started listening to Layle´s storytelling about the painting.

It wasn´t long when she tired of the history lesson and glancing at Charon who seemed to listen very intently Theia wetted her lips.

“Have you figured out yet how to help me with my issue?” Theia whispered, taking Charon off guard and giving her a side glance he saw her eyes like baby deer’s, big and pleading.

“No, and I am not sure if we even can,” Charon muttered, fixing his gaze on the painting ignoring Theia´s disappointed whine.

“You better start thinking about the options, because my husband wants you and Riona to tend to his dinner party in three weeks.”

“What?!” Charon's voice echoed in the halls, and Theia let out a nervous chuckle while shushing him.

“Shh, don´t draw attention.”

“You're one to talk. How did you expect me to react to that? With a big grin and a hug?” Charon sneered, leaning down drilling a hole to Theia´s forehead with his fuming glare.

“I don´t understand why you're not excited about it. This is a good thing! You and Riona can see Valentianus and Riss in person and talk to them. As I recall, you wanted to talk to Riss about something.” Theia muttered, but Charon wasn´t impressed.

He had no intention of walking into Valentianus´s territory, pants down on his ankles and without a plan.

Charon wanted his first meeting with the Tharron brothers to be on his terms, where he could control the situation and get out if things got heated. And he sure as hell wasn´t going to talk about Riss’s actions in Shrine at some fancy dinner party.

At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to strangle the woman by his side so badly it nearly physically hurt.

“I´m going to murder her,” Charon growled under his breath while sending a warning gaze toward Ryiah, who at the same moment opened the side door disappearing into the dark corridor.