I was coughing dust in an espionage mission

My quest in search for the Babylon candle was put on hold when I found the dagger stuck at the saddle of my stead this morning. Apparently Purple had a mission for me. Even though I have resigned from my previous job as the guard of the imperial gardens, Purple would still assign me additional missions through the teleportation dagger occasionally. Some missions were more convenient for me to carry out as I am not considered part of the kingdom's military. Mercenary, perhaps (without the pay though).

I need you to go to the tavern to collect the 'package' from the middleman. He will brief you more on the details of this, delivery. HEHEHEHEHE.

I almost could hear his menacing laughter after reading the note. Irritating as ever.

The tavern was pretty crowded, but I found the middleman relatively easily because he was, well, literally his name. Middle-sized man, a rarity in this kingdom of extreme subjects. He coughed, and passed me a stack of scrolls, tied together neatly in a butterfly knot that seemed so strangely familiar. I coughed too, because it was so dusty, but the last thing I would do was to beat the dust off. It will attract way too much attention if everyone coughed.

“You might have heard about the poetry exhibition at the Plaza Central, and we have reliable sources telling us of a possible theft tonight. By the imperial edict, we need you to infiltrate the facility and investigate. Our imperial spies are caught up with other urgent matters for now, so we need your help.”

“And by the way, this stack of scrolls are just something extra. You may deal with it whatever you like.”

He winked. I was a little confused of his gesture, but after looking closely at the ribbon, I let out a smile. A smile of relief perhaps? It's been a while since I wrote anything to her.

I stepped into the Plaza. Crowded was an understatement. The Chinese had this idiom that goes by “People mountain people sea”, which I thought fitted the description like a pixel in a LCD screen. By common sense, the 'thieves' would take action during the night when the plaza closed, so I hid myself in the toilet cubicle and continue reading the book of Percy Jackson till nightfall. I stepped out of the cubicle amidst the silence of the night, holding tightly to the stack of scrolls, and scoured the area. The softness of the moonlight soothed the tense atmosphere.

Tip tap tip tap tip tip tap tap.. squeak!

Oh rats, literally. I stepped on one and it let out a squeal so loud that the shadows around me flinched. Oh wait, flinching shadows?

Before I knew it, a dart came shooting in my direction but the aim was so terrible that I did not need to move a hair to avoid it. Then came another. And another three more. All missed. And I thought they were trap darts, so I waited. And waited.

Squeak!

But nothing happened. My turn with my darts.

Ouch! Argh! Bam! Eeek! Wah!!!

Ting!

Oh, someone managed to block my dart. A dark-robed figure stepped out of the shadows behind the main panel of exhibition and glared at me with his/her/its glowing red eyes so hard that I thought him/her/it was going to burn up in flames. That thing charged towards me. It (as I've decided) swung its mace forty-five degrees inwards my neck, followed by a backhand swerve with a side kick and a knuckle punch. I blocked, jumped, deflected and countered. BAM! I pushed it back with my Shaolin Palm strike, forgetting that I was holding on to the scrolls.

Cough cough. Cough cough cough! It was coughing from my hit at its chest, while I am coughing from the scroll's dust. Our coughs were loud enough to make the whole rat nest squeal in terror (or delight?). But luckily, I stopped coughing first and placed my dagger at its neck.

“Speak, fool.”

It looked at me with teary eyes that almost made me sympathise with it, if not for its audacity to pull off an unsuccessful sneak attack. I slit its throat.

My dagger was stained jet black.

I searched all the bodies and picked up whatever tokens or documents that could help with my investigations and scouted the area again. Before long, my eyes caught the main panel of the poetry exhibition.

The Candy Factory

Gummy bears, gummy bears,
Hear my mark.

Gummy bears, gummy bears,
Dress yourselves up
in the pot of citric syrup

Gummy bears, gummy bears,
Arm and load
with your squeaky honey gloves
and your chocolate boots

Gummy bears, gummy bears,
Brace yourself

And jump into the ogre's mouth.

I almost puked on the spot. I unrolled the stack of scrolls I had, browsed through it, and replaced that panel with one of them.

sea of sorrow

rainbow swirls caramelised
where is the pot of gold?
i walked across the lollipop arch
just to arrive at a sea of sorrow.

i squinted my eyes and strained my ears
nothing but the sound of tears
and the naked sky is ever blue
like time has freezes and
is of no matter too.

and so i stayed
thinking of escape
but no ship ever dock
and there was not even
a gull in sight
for me to tie my string to
and take flight.

day after day i gaze
at the steady waves of sorrow
crashing breaking and stealing
grains of happiness from my shore
but soon i grew used to it
that melancholy lullaby
and palm trees started growing
upon that once barren soil.

i taught myself to garden
and planted flowers from seeds formed in my heart
they're watered lovingly with sorrow
and dyed scarlet with blood.

perhaps one day ships will come
over that dusty horizon.
through their eyeglasses perhaps they'll spot
flowers growing in the fog.

maybe they'll be curious and come ashore
i hope they'll marvel and wonder then
for whom these fragrant flowers bloom
and what secrets they harbor
beneath their lovely facades.

I looked at it intendedly once more, smiled, knelt down at Her Highness' brilliance and went ahead to drag the bodies out of the Plaza.