Gareth looked down at the girl. He smiled and took some of the medical herbs she had. "I'll be fine." Thank you though. Don't worry, I've been in worse situations. He patted her on the head. "Nice scarf by the way. Now get some rest." He remarked as he went back to his room and locked the door. It now night fall and a storm had come up from the west. It was raining and thundering hard. "No time to lose." He thought. He poored out the contents of his sachel which included his armor and hood. He took off his clothing and grabbed a long strip of gauze, placing several of the medical herbs in the gauze and wrapped it around his stomach. It stung coldly as he wrapped it tighter but it had to be done.
It took him longer to fasten all the strappings on the armor because of the wounds but he managed to do it without too much harm. He peered out the window and saw that the shift change was about to begin. He crept up the window and climbed up to the roof of the inn, stopping briefly to glance in Aki's window to see if she had gone to bed. He didn't see her but didn't think too much into it and began his roof top run.
Thunder roared in the city, hiding the sound of the footsteps of the late night rooftop runner. He peered to the side of the street and sure enough saw the merchant heading the same direction he was. He was able to get ahead of the merchant who had to duck behind a back alley every now and then to avoid detection from a guard going to or coming from their shift. Gareth looked on and saw the gate to the waterfront was unguarded but the merchant was nearing it quicker than he thought. "Only one thing to do then." He thought to himself rather grimly. He picked up speed and launched himself from the roof and over the guard wall, landing hard on the ground below. He heard a pop come from somewhere, he didn't know if he cracked another rib but he knew that if he didn't, he certainly made the cracked ones a lot worse than what medical herbs alone can treat.
He quietly made his way to the abandoned shack and looked back to see the merchant hadn't even made it past the gate yet. He entered the shack and pulled back his hood along with pulling out his overcoat he had brought with him in his bag. He put the overcoat on loosely, keeping his hands out of the sleeves and placed the bottles of skooma on a table and then placed his hand in the secret pocket where he kept his dagger.
Five minutes later the merchant stepped into the shack. "Well?!" The merchant asked as Gareth sat down in a chair. Gareth said nothing but motioned with his head to the two bottles on the table. The merchant smiled and made a move for them but stopped. "How much?" Gareth stood up. "Oh I don't want any money." The merchant smiled and took one of the bottles. "Thank you!" and started to drink from it.
"No, thank you." Gareth said. With one quick motion, he took his dagger from its hiding spot and sheathed it in the merchant's stomach. A bubble came from the merchant's mouth in the bottle. "I wanted you." Gareth started with a smile. the overcoat fell from when he moved and the merchant saw the shoulder plate and dropped the bottle as Gareth twisted the dagger. "The Dark... BrotherHoooo..." Was all he could manage from the mix of blood loss and the skooma taking effect. The merchant fell to the floor, his eyes permanently widened.
Gareth then proceeded to remove any valuables from the merchant's body. Including the signet ring the merchant wore that he would need for proof of the merchant's untimely end. After removing anything of worth, he then took the bottle that fell from the merchant's hand and poored the remaining contents all over the merchant. Then, he took the full bottle and opened it and with an out stretched hand, sloshed it about so part of the shack would reek of skooma. Once the bottle was half empty, he slammed it down onto the wooden table. Taking the impromptu glass dagger he made, he thrust it into the dagger wound on the merchant, ensuring that when the guards searched tomorrow, they would come to the conclusion he wanted them to come to. He then took his overcoat and left.
It was still raining when he got back to the inn. It was even more difficult since the guards were fresh on their shift and getting back up to his room would prove harder than it was getting down. It agonized him with each pull upward he made. When he got to the window and stepped into his room, he heard a splash and looked down. A puddle had formed from the rainfall. "I'll get it later." he thought to himself. Not even bothering to take of his armor, he fell onto his bed and drifted off to sleep.
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