Brotherhood of Harmony

by Sicarex

VI

After getting some sleep, a bath, and re-equipping myself in the Bureau armory, I now perched atop the Temple of Sol Invicta overlooking the crowded city forum. Though the sun was now beginning its descent, the area was lively as ever. Merchants announced their wares and prices, customers haggled, ponies filled water pitchers from the public fountains, and higher-class citizens in litters had their attendants hurry them through the packed streets. In my mind, I reran Atriensis's and my discussion from the other day regarding our strategy:

"Where do I begin? If you can give me Noxius's current location I'll have him dead before sunrise."

"Patience Equeir, patience. With the organization he's built, killing him outright would accomplish nothing in the long run."

"Why not? Cut off the head and the body will follow."

"Not necessarily, kill him now and you'll set off a turf war among his lieutenants that could catch thousands of innocents in the fray. In order to cause as little collateral damage as possible we must hit him where it hurts the most: his treasury."

"What do you mean?"

"Killing him or his subordinates is next to useless, to really hurt him, we have to attack the very structure that holds his consortium together. By depriving him of his money, we are depriving him of the ability to pay his thugs and bribe city officials. If we can destroy his revenue, his cartel will eat itself from the inside out, then you can kill Noxius.

As much as I respected the plan, I lamented the fact that it would take time to implement. Simply assassinating Noxius would be much easier and shorter, and every second I spent here was another second for Sombra to mobilize. With the Griffon diplomat dead, the Griffon Empire would have ample justification for an invasion of its own, but a relatively united Crystal Empire might be enough to repel an attack from the easily divided Griffons.

To cripple Noxius's finances, first I would have to locate his treasury. I had personally paid visits to several informants, who gave me locations that turned up empty. Apparently the crime lord was paranoid and constantly moved his bits from place to place all over the city. No one was able to divulge its current location, not even the thugs I interrogated and subsequently silenced. While frustrating, there was still one more method I had yet to try.

I jumped off the perch and glided down to the surface, landing with a light thud. I honed my senses to focus on individual conversations.

"Apples! Three bits per pound!"

"Fine woodwork, imported from the Griffon Empire!"

"Ten bits for a cherry?!"

"Between the high taxes imposed by Governor Verra and the protection I have to pay to Noxius's henchmen, it won't be long until my business goes bankrupt."

"Did you hear about the extortion team that was killed yesterday?"

The last conversation appeared to be the one I needed to listen to. I slowly approached the pair of unicorns who were quietly conversing on a bench on the edge of the forum.

"No, how did that happen?" asked the other.

"Don't know, but it hardly matters. The neighborhood will be reminded who's in charge soon enough."

"I hope so, the boss doesn't like competition in our streets."

"Yeah, the last thing we need is a rival gang to make our jobs harder." He got up from his seat. "Well, I should get my rounds in on the shopkeepers. Their weekly payments are due."

"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow."

The one whom I assumed to be a collector for Noxius strapped on some saddlebags and headed into the crowd. Normally even the most experienced Assassin would have trouble tracking him in such a crowded area, but I had a trick up my sleeve.

Closing my eyes and focusing on the heat and heartbeats of those around me, I activated my sixth sense. I could not explain the phenomenon. Among its many abilities, it allowed me to sense the heat signatures of those around me and somehow detect their intentions -- whether they were friend, foe, or target. This skill, which I called "eagle vision," was immensely useful, especially under these circumstances.

My prey traveled through the market going from stall to stall. Every time, he would pretend to be a customer before leaning in and whispering some code. The shopkeeper would frown, sometimes making an excuse or trying to bargain, before begrudgingly hoofing a sack of bits over to the collector, who would thank them and move on. This continued for a dozen or so stalls until the collector headed out of the forum and onto a less crowded street. It only had a few ponies on it, and I could not see many places to hide, so I took to the rooftops. The collector was clearly suspicious of being followed and turned around to check for pursuers several times, but he never saw me above him. Eventually, he arrived at a warehouse by the harbor. Glancing around one more time, he knocked on the door.

The door cracked open. "State your business."

"Collector with this week's payments."

"Were you followed?"

"No, of course not."

"Very well, come in."

The door opened the rest of the way. I could see an earth pony brute inside who blocked my view of the rest of the candle-lit room. If this really was Noxius' treasury, then there would have to be more guards. I decided to take a closer look.

Spreading my wings, I glided over to the warehouse's roof. Surprisingly, there were no lookouts stationed there. Upon landing, I reactivated eagle vision just in case there were guards who I missed from afar, but I spotted no one. I surmised the lack of guards on the roof to be an attempt to keep the warehouse inconspicuous. Noxius was one paranoid bastard.

To confirm this building as Noxius' temporary treasury, I had to get inside. There were no windows or openings on the roof, so I checked the sides for a covert entrance. Sure enough, there was an open door directly above the warehouse's gates with a small crane jutting out. I carefully slipped inside.

From the ceiling I could make out rows upon rows of wooden crates, some stacked high enough for me to reach out and touch them. Most of them were small, only slightly larger than saddlebags, but others were the size of dinner tables, I could only imagine what they contained. Several armed guards slowly patrolled the room with torches, checking every nook and cranny for unwelcome guests. I spent several minutes observing their movements and saw they each walked on established routes and any area of the warehouse floor was only left unobserved for a few seconds at a time. If I was going to take a closer look, I would need to distract them.

I grabbed a small but heavy crate from a pile stacked to my level and quietly pried it open. Sure enough, it was filled to the brim with gold bits stamped with a sun on either side. Still, I wanted to see what was in the other, larger crates. Placing the lid back on the small box, I hurled it down and silently dashed across the track to the other end of the room. The crate hit the stone floor with a resounding CRASH, spilling its contents and immediately caught the attention of the guards.

"What was that?!" Shouted one.

"It came from over there!" Yelled another.

Soon, all the sentries in the warehouse were gathered around the fallen crate while I was free to check the insides of the containers on the floor. I listened carefully to the guards as they methodically searched the area around the incident for possible intruders. Safe from them for the time being, I opened one of the larger crates. Inside was not coins, but gems and crystals. I opened another out of curiosity and found it to contain a wide variety of furs. Another had jars of incense and oils, and others held wine, pottery, armaments, and even small statues. It appeared Noxius accepted many different forms of payment.

"It was probably just a rat or something, get back to your patrols." I heard a guard say. "And someone clean this up!"

Time's up.

I closed the lids on the crates and jumped back into the rafters just in time to avoid a guard returning to his post. There was no doubt about it now, this was the treasury. I would have to bring this information back to Atriensis. With any luck, I could be done with this diversion in a matter of days.