Private Tales A Silver Tongue Turned Gold

[Inara Irren]

"Well, I did and I do not appreciate you setting me up." Inara said with a scowl in his direction. "You know my history with the Syndicate and you sent me into their waiting arms?!"

Myrus was practically against the wall now. He had no were else to go to try and escape from Tal and Inara.

"Listen, that boat wasn't owned by them so technically...." Myrus looked terrified now.

 

[Tal]

Tal stood behind Inara, his face impassive as he listened to the two of them bicker back and forth.

He didn't much care about her own personal motivations, mostly because it didn't involve his business. It wasn't until he mentioned a ship that the Underboss raised an eyebrow. "A ship?"

The words flung into the air.

Slowly Tal walked across the room, grabbing a nearby chair and dragging it over towards where Inara was cornering the man. The Underboss plopped himself down into the wooden embrace, looking up at Myrus with a smile.

"Why don't you tell me more about that." He asked the man. "And how you found out about it in the first place?"

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara took a seat on the couch. She wasn't needed for this. She had already shared everything she knew with Tal.

Myrus looked like he was going to throw up as Tal brought the chair in front of him. "It is owned by some merchant out of Vel Anir. I was trying to get some artifact or something to sell. It's supposed to be worth a lot. Used to belong to the King or some shit."

Inara listened intently. She had no idea what she was after and now she was interested. She liked things that were worth a lot of money. That's why she liked being a con woman so much. The job was so much harder now that she couldn't lie.

"Inara knew all of this. She just didn't know where it was really. She set it all up."

Inara's head shot up from inspecting her nails. "I knew nothing and you know it! You know I can't lie, you bastard!" She growled at him. Who would believe that? Everyone lied.

 

[Tal]

Tal glanced back towards Inara as she made the preposterous statement that she couldn't lie. An eyebrow perked for a brief moment, head tilting in consideration. After a few moments Tal slowly turned his attention back towards Myrus.

He knew exactly what ship the man was talking about, even knew the cargo he spoke of. Mostly because that Cargo was supposed to go Vora, the same member of the Triumvirate that Tal directly worked under.

If that had gotten stolen it would have been a fucking disaster. "Ah."

He mused, taking a puff of his cigar.

"And how exactly, did you...she?" He glanced at Inara for a moment, though there wasn't a threat in his eyes. "Find out about this ship?"

If there was a leak, he had to know about it.

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara could tell that Tal did not believe her by the doubt in his eye. Everyone lied. How could someone not lie? She was used to that look. No one ever believed her. She had been through the range of embarassing questions when someone was trying to test her and they were still skeptical.

"She...uh...she knows someone in the Syndicate," Myrus said and Inara snorted. Yes, she was on friendly terms with the gang that had murdered her. Made total sense. "His name is Charlie...that's what she told me...Charlie something..."

The amount of bullshit that spilled from this mans mouth. Inara rubbed her temples in frustration. Also, the fact that Myrus had spilt the beans so easily. What a fucking joke.

 

[Tal]

Tal smiled.

He had always been good at reading people, a talent that his father had praised dozens of times over. About the only thing the old man had ever praised.

Back home he'd used the ability to win at cards, play dice games, slip out of a few fights. Reading someone was a valuable skill, especially if you knew how to use it. Without his magic he'd had to rely on it almost entirely. It had gone from a way to make some coin to survive.

That was how he'd landed himself here, how he'd fallen in with the Syndicate.

Vora had seen just how good he was.

A moment more seemed to pass, Tal leaned back in his chair, relaxed. It almost seemed as though he believed the man, as though he thought he could be trusted. Then suddenly in a blue of motion that odd blade Tal had been carrying buried itself in Myrus' thigh.

The metal pierced through cloth and skin, impaling his leg and pinning it to the wood beneath. "Do you really think I'm that fucking stupid?"

Tal demanded, twisting the hilt of the blade.

"I need the truth." Not bullshit.

 

[Inara Irren]

Myrus screamed as the strange blade dug into his thigh. It caused a little more happiness in Inara than it should have but it also sent a chill of fear running down her spine. Tal was not someone to fuck with and, while she had already suspected that, seeing it in person was a scary confirmation.

Myrus screamed again as Tal twisted the blade and demanded the truth. "Fine fine...please stop. It's Linuus. That is who told me about it. He has been feeding me intel on good scores for years..."

Inara perked up. She knew Linuus. She had no idea that he worked for the Syndicate and she was disgusted with herself for ever liking the guy.

 

[Tal]

Tal let out a sigh. "Fuck."

It was the first time that Inara had seen him actually off kilter, even slightly.

The mask was drawn back over his face almost immediately, his head shaking. Linus was scum, not the sort of scum that Tal liked dealing with. Problem with that? He was also an Underboss of the Allir Syndicate. Tal's direct rival in some ways.

He'd never thought much of the elf, but it seemed that he was more clever than Tal had assumed.

Fingers unwrapped from the hilt of the knife, his head shaking in no small amount of disgust. This was going to be...difficult.

"How do you get word from him?" Tal asked, leaning back in his chair and taking a long drag from his cigar.

 

[Inara Irren]

"He sends me to the market with a note for a specific stall owner and then Linus shows up here within a couple hours," Inara answered. Myrus glared at her and she just narrowed her eyes at him. "What? I am not trying to get stabbed in the thigh because you have been doing back room deals with a member of the Syndicate. Fuck you, Myrus!"

Inara was angry. She stood from his couch and walked over to a door off the living room. She opened it and came out with paper and a quill. "Does anyone know that I was caught?" She asked Tal. "If not, I can tell him we got the package and deliver that message."

 

[Tal]

Tal considered the question for a moment.

How much did he trust Inara? How much did he want to bring down Linus? The man was his opposite, but the Underbosses weren't supposed to plot against one another. Varo and the other members of the Trimuvirate wanted cooperation, not competition.

Still, the elf had started it...and there was an opportunity here. "The docks are mine."

Tal said finally.

"No one knows, unless I want them to know." Which, of course, he hadn't wanted them to.

For a brief moment he remained quiet, looking at the man still pinned to his chair by the blade in his thigh. "How do I know you won't tip him off?"

Tal asked. "Your friend here says you were in on all of it."

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara let out a deep sigh. "Would you like my life story? Why I can't lie? Why I don't like the Syndicate?" She asked as she sat down and started to pen her letter on the small coffee table in front of the couch.

"You aren't going to believe me otherwise," she shrugged. She was used to it and it still irritated her sometimes. You know...like when her life was on the line once again.

 

[Tal]

Tal considered the question for a brief moment. Thugs were still outside, his own men that had loyalty to the name of Talmanes, not the Syndicate. He glanced at Inara, then towards the man still pinned to the chair below him.

"Kill him first." He told her simply.

Right now there were too many loose ends, too many things that he had to worry about. Linus was one thing, but if he had this snake at his back?

Better to just have to deal with Inara. "That is what you wanted to do, right?"

The Underboss asked, glancing back towards Myrus with a smile.

 

[Inara Irren]

"If I have to go to the market, I cannot go covered in blood," Inara responded in disgust. "You can kill him. As long as he is dead, I am happy," she threw a glance at Myrus before she went back to writing.

Honestly, she wanted to just start this day over and tell Myrus to go fuck himself. She was missing out on such a great score because of this bullshit quick and easy job.

 

[Tal]

Tal shrugged his shoulders. He didn't much care whether or not Inara had the stomach for such things. This was part of his job. Slowly he stood up from his chair, looking down at the other man with a shake of his head. "You should have thought more about your partners."

He commented dryly.

"Please...no. NO. I can be helpful! I know things I know secrets he-"

With the same flurrying speed Tal drew the odd knife from Myrus' thigh. It stripped from his flesh, and with one quick swipe rushed over his throat. Blood splattered over Tal's clothes and face, but the Underboss didn't even flinch.

The gargling, desperate sounds of Myrus struggling for breath echoed out, but Tal ignored them.

He turned on his heel, still clutching the knife as the traitor began to fade away. "So."

He began, looking to Inara.

"Your story?" Tal still had half a mind to kill her too.

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara looked up with an exasperated sigh. She slowly set the quill down and sat back on the couch. She crossed one leg over her other and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Con woman by trade," she started. "Sixish years ago, I stole some money from the Syndicate," she shrugged. That was old news now. "I went on the run and they caught me eventually. They took their revenge and left me in the alley. I swear I was dead because everything stopped and went black. Anyways, some trickster spirit thought it would hilarious to give me my life in return for my ability to lie. I was young and dumb and agreed. So now...I am a con woman who cannot lie. I live for the entertainment of that spirit." She had a glower on her face by the end of the story.

The amount of time she had told that story were ridiculous. The amount of people who believed her was about one.

 

[Tal]

It was a good story. Probably one of the better that Tal had ever heard told. As she continued to explain his eyebrow only raised in judgment. Lips thinned, and he considered for a moment. "Back in Sheketh we have some good stories."

He told her with a shake of his head.

"But that..." A chuckle escaped him. "That's a good one."

Tal wasn't entirely sure if he should believe her, if he could believe her. But there was something else he did know. Linus was a far larger threat than some little girl who had tried to sneak onto his docks.

Slowly he wiped the blood from his blade, drawing it over the now dead man's chest as he considered her words. "So."

He asked.

"Why would you want to help me now, love?" She could still betray him, still try to get a better deal from Linus.

 

[Inara Irren]

"The thought of the Syndicate going after one of its own brings me immense joy," Inara said truthfully.

 

[Tal]

Tal narrowed his eyes as he peered at her. How much did she really know? How much of the Syndicate had leaked onto the street.

They were hardly the biggest or strongest crime organization even in Alliria. The only reason they had lasted so long was because of their brutality, their reputation for complete an utter violence. There was always...no, it paid not to be so paranoid.

"Set it up." He decided.

There was always a chance she would betray him, a chance that she would try to get something out of this for her own benefit.

But if she was honest? If he could get Linus?

It would be one step closer to finally unlocking his shackles. "Get me Linus, and I'll give you anything you want."

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara raised a brow at Tal. She would have to think about that offer. She had to make it great.

She finished writing the note and held it out for Tal's approval and to show that she was not giving him some kind of warning.

I. got the package. Come pick up. - M.

That is how they always wrote the stupid things like they were some kind of secret agents.

"Can you tell your goons that I am allowed to leave?"

 

[Tal]

Tal smiled at her, reading the note with a quick flick of his eyes.

He had always hated common. It was such a simplistic language. So many nuances went missing in the tongue that it was hard to even speak it sometimes. "Oh yes."

His head nodded.

"You can meet me back at the docks when the note is delivered." With another quick flash Tal let the blade he'd been holding disappear. "If You don't come."

Slowly the Underboss leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I'd not remain in Alliria for long."

A clear warning. If she helped him, she would get what she desired. Whatever it might be. If she did not? Inara was as good as dead.

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara froze as the threat settled over her. Another wave of fear washing over her. Tal scared her for the second time. She was not used to feeling fear because she was not easily scared.

"He will come here...not the docks," she breathed out with a slight tremor in her voice.

 

[Tal]

"I Know." Tal said with a nod of his head.

Linus was careful, always had been. He knew better than most that the Syndicate would cut your throat in a second. Even if you were on their side ostensibly. A small smile flickered over his features, and slowly his gaze drew towards Inara.

"But it will take time for him to get the message." He smiled. "Yes?"

Fingers played gently over the arm of the chair he'd been sitting in. "So, come back to the Docks once your message has been delivered."

He told her.

"If you don't..." Tal shrugged and trailed off.

 

[Inara Irren]

Inara nodded and slipped out of the house without another word. Every single fiber of her being was telling her to run. She knew that there was no place she could go though. She had tried running from the Syndicate before and it ended in her death.

Even with her decision to deliver the message and return to the docks, she felt like she was going to throw up. Had it been seeing Tal kill Myrus that finally scared her this much? No...she had seen death. Fuck, she had caused death.

Inara delivered the note without incident and then made her way back to the docks. Now that she knew who owned these docks, she saw it. How had she missed the signs before? She was slipping. She was met and escorted back to the room that she had first been brought to. This time the men were slightly more gentle with her.

 

[Tal]

Tal was half laying on a sofa when Inara eventually made her return.

He was lounging, smoking another cigar and plucking fruit from a table that sat just besides him. That odd knife was in his grasp, spinning gently by its point. As she stepped into the room his eyebrow raised, a small smile touching his lips. "Ah."

The Underboss mused.

"I see you decided to come back after all." In his own experience bending was almost always better than breaking.

"I'm glad." He mused. "Your face is a tad too pretty to cut up."

Slowly he pulled himself upright. "How long does it usually take Linus to contact you back?"

 

[Inara Irren]

"Three hours," she replied solemnly as she stood awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. She was so irritated with herself for even getting into this position in the first place. Now this smug asshole was sitting there commenting on her face.

"It is so generous of you to worry about my face," she quipped about his previous comment.

She didn't know why she just wanted to run now. She should've gone. Nothing was holding here. Absolutely nothing. She could've disappeared and never be seen again.