Not all Knights Wear White

Ryven opened the door, allowing Kaden, the shadowy man who had recruited him only a month or two before, to pass into the dimly lit room.  Ryven had hidden Leela and Zhou in this complex for months, safe and sound, far from the threats against them.  They were away right now, secured against the very real possibility of violence.

Kaden spoke first.  "A bunker.  How cloak and dagger.  I get the impression I am not going to like what I am about to hear."

Ryven closed the heavy door and turned, watching Kaden for any hint or sign of malice.  Finding none, he decided to respond with words.  "That depends on how well you handle breakups."  

Kaden sat down on the nearby sofa, his legs crossed in a relaxed posture.   "I haven't had many experiences of that sort."

Ryven walked stiffly, his left leg still aching from his injury only yesterday.  He had been caught by on site security at a Caldari listening post in Pure Blind.  He had accomplished his mission, but took a round to his thigh.  The security team did not get off so lightly.

Ryven, having reached the sofa across from the one Kaden occupied, steadied himself.  "I can't work for you anymore."

Kaden's eyes narrowed to slits. "Oh, really?"

Ryven maintained a piercing stare.  "Really."

Kaden's jaw was set, his voice oozing shadows of death.  "And why is that?"

Ryven shrugged nonchalantly. "Plenty of reasons.  Love, for one.  Your lies, for another."

Kaden's demeanor shifted to one of incredulity. "Love?!  You have the power to shift the balance of power in the cluster, to usher in a new era of prosperity for all nations and you whimper on about [i] love? [/i]"

Ryven nodded. "I don't expect you to understand that.  After all, didn't you rape and murder your own wife and child when you learned they had betrayed your vision of the State?"

Kaden's face went ghost white.  He trembled, rage consuming him.  His voice came in a quiet fury of hatred and flame. "How do you--"

"Know about that?" Ryven smirked as he interrupted Kaden.  "You are only the thousandth person to underestimate Leela Yttria."

Kaden spat.  "That Matari bitch?"

Ryven's retaliation for that rudeness was swift.  His hand had dipped inside his jacket, drawn, and fired his pistol before Kaden had quite finished the sentence.  Blood now trickled out of the cuffs of Kaden's dark black suit jacket.  It was a flesh wound, but enough to impair Kaden's gunnery.

"My ex-wife, Matari or no, is very effective at finding things people want hidden.  Imagine my surprise, for instance, when she informed me that you operate entirely alone.  You are the top of the organization.  There's no cabal.  There's just you, your massive fortune, and the pawns you employ.  But, your mistake was in assuming I was a pawn."

Kaden spat in disgust, but a hint of fear was edging into his voice and his expression had lost its steel.  He sneered.  "What are you if not a pawn, Mr. Krennel?  Are you free?  You slave for an Empress who doesn't know your name.  For a people you can never belong to.  For a faith not your own, poured into that empty vessel of your mind by a madman right out of a beaker. You're nothing but a pawn, obediently serving your masters!  You're more slave than your Matar ex-wife and her entire race of subhumans!  What are you, if not a pawn?"

Ryven crossed the distance and stood over Kaden, his eyes strangely dispassionate as he looked down at the man, an empty vessel wrapped in black. "That's easy."  He thrust his knife deep between Kaden's ribs, finding and severing the pulmonary artery. "I am a knight."

Kaden gasped as the blade entered his chest, pink froth reaching his lips.  He was doomed, his eyes burning with more hatred than ever before.  His voice gurgled as he spoke.  "Your hands are bloodier than mine, Krennel.  You call yourself a knight?  You're no saint, Krennel."

Ryven shrugged, accepting the truth of the words as he limped over to the door. He opened it and cast a look back at Kaden.  "Not all knights wear white."