Chapter 114: Absconding into the Night

It was a cold winter's night, and the moon was covered by the clouds in the sky, thus allowing the agents of Berengar's spy network to engage in sabotage and assassination against the Lords of Tyrol and their forces. At the moment, a spy shrouded in dark clothing maneuvered through the city of Lienz under cover of darkness.

His goal was to destroy the granary of the city; as such, he began to approach the grain stockpile with a stick of dynamite in hand and a match. As soon as he was within range of the warehouse, which contained much of the city's food surplus, he lit the match and used it to ignite the fuse of the dynamite which he threw into the building; before the blast went off, he had already disappeared into the night.

As the entire city overheard the loud explosion, its flames engulfed the granary into a smoking fireball; the local garrison quickly reacted to the scene and was dismayed to find that their city's primary stockpile of food had been sabotaged under their watch. Surely heads would roll for this disaster. The next day the local regent would open an investigation into the incident, but unfortunately for the people of Lienz, they would never find the culprit. This scene was just one of many appearing across Tyrol; under Linde's commands, the war of intrigue had begun.

...

In the city of Meran, another one of Berengar's agents was currently active; she had been operating in this city for many months, providing intel to Berengar, long before the war began. Recently she acquired orders to assassinate the commander of the city garrison. All this time, she had been working as a tavern wench, where she was currently pouring a drink to the target of her objective. The man had frequented the bar regularly so that he could flirt with the woman. After all, she was quite the attractive young woman and had been the object of his desires for some time now. As such, when she was about to walk away, he began to press her for an answer to his long persisting advancements.

"Hey, sweetheart, what time do you get off tonight? I would love to show you around the city."

It was by no means the smoothest pickup line, but finally, the woman relented; after all, she planned to take this man's life today, and what better way than to accept his proposal and go on a date. There would be plenty of opportunities to quietly end the man's life on such an occasion. As such, she put on a pretty facade and smiled at the man before accepting his invitation.

"Shortly after midnight, you can pick me up then."

The garrison commander smiled from ear to ear as he heard the woman's reply. Finally, she had given him a chance! He could not wait for the evening to occur so that he could spend some quality time with the woman he was intensely attracted to.

After having his drink and meal, the garrison commander went back to work, but he finished his job before the appointed time. Throughout the hours, the attractive young woman had maintained her position at work until finally, midnight arrived, where she was let free from her job as a tavern wench. After exiting the building, she saw the garrison commander, dressed in relatively expensive clothes waiting for her to finish. Seeing the man so eager to meet his death, the assassin smiled as she approached him and bound her arm around his.

"So, where are you taking me?"

The garrison commander smiled and led the assassin along the road

"It is a surprise."

Though the veteran spy smiled, she remained cautious on the inside; she had no idea if she was potentially walking into a trap. Nevertheless, they soon arrived at their destination, which was a dark alleyway with nobody present. Quickly the garrison commander's warm smile turned into a sinister grin as he pushed the woman against the wall and tried to force himself on her. Before long, a group of armored soldiers appeared nearby, numbering four in total, and began to flank the commander as the man whispered in her ear.

"We know you are a spy, but we are going to enjoy your time with you first."

Realizing that her cover was blown, the spy pulled out her revolving flintlock from her cloak and fired a shot directly into the garrison commander's chest, which instantly pierced his heart. The soldiers were shocked to see their commander collapse after the loud gunshot. Still, before they could react, the spy manually shifted the chamber to the next round and fired off another shot piercing the nearest guard's skull sending him to the afterlife. She managed to fire off a total of five shots in total killing every member of the squad who sought to force themselves upon her.

The spy moved quickly, the sound of gunfire was sure to attract the garrison, and as such, she fled to her quarters, where she packed up her stuff and quickly abandoned the town before it went into lockdown; she had to escape before the City officials realized that they had been infiltrated. After packing up her gear, the woman rapidly disappeared from the city of Meran, where she had stolen a horse and absconded into the night. Ultimately she would return to Kufstein, where she would be replaced by another member of Berengar's spy network. Nevertheless, she had dealt a significant blow to the city's defenses as both the Commander and Vice commander were killed in that alleyway, leaving the city without a competent commander. Which would be greatly beneficial in Berengar's conquest of the region alter on.

Such was the life of a spy; at one moment, you were safely hidden among the masses. The next you were fleeing for your life, the pretty young woman had expected such an outcome and had already prepared for it; by the time the garrison could react, she was already long gone, and they would become more cautious about who they let into their city going forward. Not that such an event would prevent Berengar's network from infiltrating the city; at most, it simply made it more difficult to do so.