“But don’t worry, I’m not the owner either,” Sinha said, slumping comfortably back into the couch. “So your action is less egregious. Not by much, though.”

This only reaffirmed that the man was an aristocrat: only they spoke in such a manner - in words that I did not understand, in ways that few could comprehend.

“My way of speaking too, is a corrupted form of the ancient tongue. I share your sentiment, for it is too strenuous for me to converse in such a way that we can both comprehend each –”

“Are you reading my mind?” I cut in. “Is this some sort of trick?” I had once seen this done by travelling performers, but had never taken it seriously. Since I did not mix with the townsfolk or the city dwellers, I needed no such skill to read the minds of humans. Now, if there was a similar skill for animals; that would have come in handy.

“It is no trick, Barik. You are not particularly hard to read; just hard to understand.”

“All right.” I didn’t pay any heed to what he was getting at. “What do you want with me?”

Sinha smiled as if I had asked a question he was expecting. “I would like to hire your services.”

Usually, a hiring request would be put up on the Assignment Board, so that any available person could volunteer their services. I had never heard of people seeking out mercenaries for such a purpose, unless there was a legend surrounding them, which I certainly could not claim to have. Infamy, perhaps.

I lowered my weapon and took one of the wooden chairs from the dining area and placed it next to Sinha, facing him at the same angle.

“Tell me about the assignment.” I was still suspicious of this man, but it wouldn’t hurt to hear him out. I was in need of coin.

“There is a certain person I want you to find. About 7,000 steps north, towards the mountains, there lies an abandoned fortress. In that fortress lives a woman. At least, that what she is appears to be. In actuality, she is an important piece of an elaborate puzzle and needs to be removed.”

“Removed?”

“Removed.”

Was Sinha implying I need to kill this woman?

I hadn’t performed assassinations in a long time. They get very messy when it comes to payment. I have had many rich folk attempt to swindle me after the deed was done. That had often led to more unplanned dead bodies. On top of that, assassins were a sect not praised by many people. I now understood why Sinha had come to me directly. No one dared put up an assassination request on the Assignment Board, unless they wanted to face an Inquisitor.

“And what would be the price for such a target?” I asked, looking to see how valuable this assignment might be. Usually, a higher price would mean that Sinha may have contacted other assassins at the same time, or possibly even prior to contacting him. In which case I was looking either at competition or at being led to a slaughter, if the others happened to fail.

“The truth.” Sinha said bluntly.

I thought I had misheard him. “The truth about what?”

“Everything. Your life. Your parents. This world. Whatever you wish to know and need to know.”

I knew of quite a few people who would have burst out laughing at this statement. “I don’t know where you come from, but here, ‘the truth’ is worthless.” I now needed to know about my parents and my life; I needed food, water and shelter. And speaking of food, I suddenly remembered that I had been about to grab some breakfast before this farce had happened. I was just about to get up and see this man off the property. If this land did not belong to him, then he was just as much of a trespasser as I was.

“We come from the same source, Barik. And I can guarantee that the truth is the greatest gift anyone can ask for. It’s just that very few ask for it.”

I decided to humour him more.

“Can I get a bit more details on this person you want ki–… ‘removed’ ?”

“She is a creature with great power. More than that of any man in this world. Though she is a human, her control lies on a plane that can be comprehended by very few. Her eyes have a magenta glow that gleams through the darkness, and strikes fear into all those who dare to confront her.”

“Well, I have heard far less flattering things said about women, especially from people who want them dead. But no one would want a woman dead for the price of truth.” I was suspicious as to how much Sinha valued her, if ‘the truth’ was indeed the compensation. There was not emotion in his details. It was as if Sinha was recounting the fear of others and not telling me why he specifically had an issue with her existence.

Sinha sat in silence for a moment. “You do believe that people have value, do you not ?” he queried. “That every person is worth something in this life?”

This was true. These were also the preachings of the Order of Sal Degnum. The religion had been brought into our land from the north-west. When I was young, I remembered my village practising a different faith. We had our own god, which I was sure would now be considered pagan, ever since Sal Degnum took over the lives of the town and village folks.

“Well, the worth of this person is the truth, so you can imagine how valuable and dangerous a person this is.” Sinha faced the fireplace structure opposite him. He was facing north. It was as if he were staring right through the wall and directly at the fortress that he had mentioned.

“How do I know that I want the truth in the first place ? But before that, how do I know that what you are telling me is true?”

“What would you like to know?” Sinha asked wearily .

“Let’s start with the owner of this house. Who is he? Where is he?”

After a pause, Sinha sprung to his feet and strode to the door. “Come along,” he said. I followed awkwardly, taken aback by his confident stride, as if he had been expecting this question all along.

Sinha led me to the back of the cabin. When I caught up with him, I saw that he had put his hands together as in prayer and was whispering something in a language I did not understand.

“What are you doing?” I asked. Sinha continued his prayer, a moment longer. I looked to understand why we were there. There was no one in sight.

Sinha then began to remove the string of beads that was wrapped around his right wrist. By the time he removed them, he had finished his prayer.

“Offering my apologies, for I am about to desecrate his grave.” Sinha responded to my question.

“Wha–” before I could finish Sinha slammed his arm into the earth. In less than a blink, his entire arm up to his elbow was buried in the ground. Was this why he had removed the beads? Although the ground here was soft, it was strong enough to snap every single finger on his hand, with a stunt like that.

Sinha then rose, taking his arm out of the soil, the fingers of his hand clasping a partially-decayed corpse. A bullet hole through the temple of the skull pointed to the cause of death. The dead body was still clothed and had begun to decompose. The body had been laid here for quite a while. Considering that I had actually found this place a few months back, was that how long the grave had existed? Or had it been there longer?

Sinha held the decaying corpse with one hand. I knew from experience that even with the decomposition, this form was no lightweight. Sinha was displaying incredible strength. He then placed the body on the ground gently.

“We must burn the remains,” he said. “Even though he died believing in Sal Degnum, he will join the others in the same afterlife.”

“What happened to him?” I asked, still in shock.

Sinha turned to me. “You killed him.”