On the Benefits (or lack thereof) of Sanity

Character(s): Talika, Jun, Seth, Talshez

Series: Magiology - A Game of Salt AU

Rating: PG

Summary: Talika knew Talshez shouldn't have escaped that easily.

Companion piece to Transference

On the Benefits (or lack thereof) of Sanity

“Where’re my men staying?”

 “Probably the second floor. Why—Talika!”

Her charge also shouted something about a door and using it, but Talika had always preferred windows. They were more convenient.

She swung herself to the second floor, rolled and flattened herself against a wall.

Deep breaths. Talika closed her eyes, steadied her heart beat and extended her senses. Her gut was screaming at her, and she was not about to ignore it when something felt so wrong.

Talshez escaped while she scouted ahead, away from the main party; he escaped right after she checked him, again, and tightened his chains. He shouldn't have gotten away so easily. Or at all.

And which sludge-for-brains thought it would be a good idea to go through the driest part of the forest. Oh. Right. Elsan. The bastard—

"Skiès."

Talika whipped around and glared at whoever dared to interrupt her mental rant.

A healer crossed his arms. "I trust you won't terrorize our patients again?"

Talika put on her best pout. "I'm not that scary. Your patients are just wimps."

The healer's glare could have melted her best knives.

Talika opened her mouth to speak, but a series of thumps from below interrupted her. She blinked and looked down at the floor. Her charge was down there.

"Anyways," Talika said slowly, twirling her hair, "I'm looking for Elsan. About ye tall, kinda skinny and stupid looking."

"Room eight," he growled with a jerk of his thumb.

"Right. I'm off!" Talika grinned and dashed past the healer in the direction indicated, ignoring the shouts that came right after.

She ran past room eight, skidded to a stop, backtracked, and silently slipped inside the room, locking the door behind her with a smile.

"Helloooo in there!" Talika sang as she quickly surveyed the room.

There was a thump and a yelp as Elsan tried to jump out of his chair, landed on his broken foot and fell on his face. Talika snickered.

Elsan groaned. "Skiès." He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position on the wooden floor. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Talshez got away and my charge is doing some dance or something downstairs—" Another thump from below proved her point. "Right." Talika idly drew one of her knives and moved closer. "Since you were the little moron who decided to cut through dry foliage, you get to have the honor of explaining yourself before I decide to gut you and send you back to the Capital in pieces. Understand?" She knelt down so she was face to face with Elsan and smiled.

Elsan looked away and took a shaky breath. "It was the logical choice. We cut our travel time by half a day."

Talika flicked her knife at Elsan's throat. "Don't mess with me, boy," she hissed.

He tried to scoot back, but Talika grabbed Elsan's throat and slammed his head against the floor. Elsan coughed and groaned.

"You're a horrible liar." She leaned down so her face was right next to Elsan's and put pressure on his neck. "Were you under orders? Or were you bribed? Who would benefit from Talshez's escape?"

He coughed. "La-lady Ezabel-gak—"

Talika put more pressure on his throat as she processed that little piece of information. It was entirely possible that Elsan was lying, but...

This was exactly the kind of shit Ezy would come up with. Damn it. "Sorry, Elsan, but I can't exactly let this get out, neh?" She took out a vial of poison from a pocket, flicked the cap open and rammed the contents down the man's throat. "Don't worry, you won't feel a thing." Talika stood up, ignoring the sounds of the man choking and coughing and convulsing and dying.

She waited until the man stopped thrashing about the floor to check his pulse. Nothing.

"Ezy owes me," she hissed.

There was another thump from below, and Talika frowned. That feeling of wrongness was still there. She turned to check that the door was still locked. It was. Talika grinned and pulled out several small explosives. She placed them around the body in a large circle, lighting each fuse as she went.

Talika skipped a distance again and covered her ears, grinning.  The explosion rocked the floor of the infirmary, and she laughed at the thought of healers ducking under tables; at the sound people screaming and yelling and the beautiful, beautiful music of complete and utter chaos—

But those were thoughts for another time. Talika sighed and composed herself. She walked over to the hole she made in the floor and squinted down. She immediately saw Jun's dark hair and clothing against the white stone and wood walls. She spotted the gleam of Talshez's knife not a second later.

Talika growled. That bastard! She tightened her grip on her knife. Talika leaped down and charged at Talshez, knife aimed at the jugular.

Talshez's head snapped up and he brought up his own blade just in time. Steel clashed against steel and Talika glared venom at the man who tried to kill her charge.

"You," Talshez hissed.

"I'll tear you limb from limb!" She screamed. She dropped her knife and twisted to the left. Talshez fell forward. She swung a fist into his gut and smiled at the sound of Talshez gasping. She retracted her fist and re-angled herself. Talshez fall forward a bit she slammed a elbow into his neck.

Talika glared at the body. "How dare you touch my charge." She flicked out another knife.

There was suddenly the sound of wood breaking and people yelling. Talika saw Jun's guards break through a wooden wall from the corner of her eyes. She sighed. Technically, she wasn't supposed to kill Talshez. Her orders were explicitly clear that Talshez was not to be harmed; the Intelligence was still interrogating him on and off.

Talika scowled and slipped her knives away as she made her way towards her Jun.

She'd just bash Talshez's head in later, when no one's watching, and say the ceiling fell on him.