“So, you need to travel, do you?” Kineta asked politely.
I paused for a moment. “Yes,” I pulled a small scroll from my side pouch. “These are the sigils on the receiving pattern.”
She took the small scroll from me gingerly. “Do you have components, or will you require them?”
“I have some here, I believe they should be sufficient.” I handed her a small bag containing the energized dust. Probably scraped off the ass of a faerie, but I wasn’t going to be argumentative about its source when I bought it.
“When would you like to travel?”
“Preferably this morning,” I replied. “Do you have time for a multi-day contract? I’d like to be able to return in a few days on my own schedule.”
“That will cost more, of course,” she said with her head tilted to one side.
“Assume four days’ total time, is that possible?”
“All things are possible, what matters is whether they are probable.” She hefted the bag in her hand. “This is enough to run the ritual both ways, and I think I can arrange for my availability. What is the nature of the place to which we are traveling?”
“A town, there is lodging, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good. Have you any objection to accompaniment? I don’t travel alone, particularly with strangers.” This last with a barely perceptible wink.
“I suppose not, though I won’t be paying their lodging.” I grinned at my own private joke. Since I own the inn, I never had to pay.
“Fair enough. Fifty crowns a day should be sufficient, and three hundred flat fee for the ritual castings, inclusive of both. Total five hundred.”
Madam Garandes cleared her throat behind me.
“And fifty to cover the brokerage fee,” Kineta amended.
I nodded. “That is acceptable, if steep.”
She held up her hands at her sides in a soft gesture of helplessness.
I sat down and pulled my haversack from my bags, and from within it extracted a cash pouch. Shaking out the coins, the small rectangles of platinum I counted out felt heavy, and cool to the touch. I handed her fifty, and then five more which she passed directly to Madam Garandes, who bowed her head slightly with eyes lidded.
Kineta put the coins away in an interior pocket somewhere, then looked back to me. “Is this all the things you will be bringing along?”
“It is, yes.”
“Excellent. Then come with me, we can retrieve my bodyguards and be on our way.” She led the way out into the Market street.
You know, you could do a lot worse for yourself, grandchild. Voedle’s voice, which had been silent much this time, spoke up.
I didn’t speak, but instead thought ‘loudly,’ Do I have to talk with my voice for you to hear me?
No, we can converse this way just as easily. Perhaps more so, since I can see and feel much of what you do.
Then is it possible for you to disengage and isolate yourself from me and my senses when I want you to? I asked him.
Of course, I’ve been exploring where I can go to get a sleep when I need it and you’re wandering around doing something.
I paused. Good. I appreciate the suggestion. I might just follow up on it.
We walked down the street, and I offered to buy food at a café we passed. She accepted. While we picked out some smoked ham and a thick dark coffee, she looked around at the crowd.
“So we’re going to your town, are we? Any chance of running in to whoever it is you’re keeping your name from?”
“Yes, it’s called Al’Veydra. And no, I’d think not. I was seen in Vor Kragal only three or four days back, and we’re a month’s travel at least from there.” I bit into a slice of ham and started chewing.
“Not traveling my way we aren’t,” she grinned.
“Granted,” I agreed. “Still, I haven’t spent a great deal of time there lately, and we won’t be there long enough to attract attention.”
“Good.”
I looked around a bit. “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
She shrugged. “Go ahead, I’ll tell you if I mind when I hear it.”
“Are you…involved with anyone?”
She gazed at me levelly. “Hmm. I don’t mind you asking.” She grinned at her own answer.
“I see. Any psychotic relatives in the family?”
She looked up at my horns. “I think that would be my line, don’t you think?”
“Just looking for common ground, that’s all,” it was my turn to grin.
“None. Yet.” She finished the ham, and placed her drained cup on the table beside the counter. “Shall we go?”
I downed the last of my coffee and nodded. “Yes, let’s. How far?”
“Not very, they’re up the street a little ways.”
We walked up in the direction she indicated, and around a corner to find her three companions from last night playing cards at a small table. “Kineta! And Azrael, what are you doing here?” Nemmy burst out when he saw me.
“He’s my customer, that’s what.” Kineta answered before I could. “Now behave properly, remember?”
Lotonna stood, and greeted me in the fashion of his species – he gripped my forearms and slammed his head into mine. Gently, which was fortunate for me. Our horns actually made a respectable cracking sound that made Nemmy wince. “It is good to see you again, Shadrim,” he intoned.
“He always says that about someone who buys him beer,” the Halfling added.
“We’re going to the town of Al’Veydra,” Kineta said.
“What’s there?” Nemmy asked.
“Why?” Horace alsoseemed quizzical.
“My distillery is there,” I responded casually.
“Like I said, when do we leave?” Horace stood quickly and walked over. “I’m ready!”
We were all set in only a few minutes. When things were calm and before she began performing the ritual, I caught Kineta’s attention for a moment.
“You have a way to return here when we’re done?”
“Oh yes, there’s a receiving circle here, very close to the Overspill border.”
“Fantastic. Is it possible to make this portal big?”
“How big?”
“Small wagon? Maybe seven or eight feet wide, ten or twelve long, plus a horse.” I gestured with my hands by way of demonstrating the size I was thinking of.
“Sure, shouldn’t be a problem if you have the thing ready to roll as soon as the portal opens.”
“Excellent.”
“Just make sure it can cross the threshold in fifteen seconds. Sometimes these gates don’t last long.”
We pulled aside a few tables, and she used a small iron spike to trace a circle pattern into the dust of the ground before us. She used my notations to decorate the edges in the North-South-East-West points. Moments later she began to chant a rhythmic sound, which could have been operatic had it been considerably louder. A bubble rose up out of the ground in the center of the circle, its rim first dragging at the center before it filled out and began to expand. Before long, the rim was pushing its way out towards the edges of the circle and the center was blooming up, like a huge soap-bubble.
When it reached about head-height, the expansion slowed, and dark, shadowed clouds billowed up from the bottom, as though it were full of water and a discoloration had suddenly been dropped into it from below. The coloration grew deeper and more full, and eventually filled the emerging sphere to the point where it was somewhere between midnight blue and black. Then, with an audible snap, the sphere stopped expanding at perhaps nine feet in height. Its sides resonated with the sound, reverberating across the surface.
The darkness cleared, revealing a foggy but recognizable view.
Zenith’s old quarters. He had created a receiving portal some while back in his personal quarters, and we – Fellbane, that is – had never used his rooms for anything else since his departure. The portal, being inside the castle, was just too useful.
“All aboard,” Kineta said.
We five stepped through into the image of Shard Keep. My ears popped as soon as I stepped through, the stale smell of the dusty apartment filling my nose as soon as I took a breath.
“All here?” I looked about. The others were standing expectantly around me, looking alternately at me and at the room around us.
“Can you turn that off?” I hooked a thumb at the gate, whose surface showed the canyon floor which we had just departed, as well as several people passing through.
“It should close in a few minutes, if you can wait.” Kineta wandered around the room while Horace and Lotonna walked to the window.
“You live here?” Kineta asked, running her hands down a tapestry on the wall.
“Not really, no. Not in these rooms, at least. A former member of our company did.” I had never really looked much at Zenith’s place. Austere, even sterile, was the impression of it. “He was something of a strange fellow. Gith, kept to himself a lot.”
“What happned to him? Why’d he leave?” Nemmy was sitting on a stool beside the bed.
“He…became something. They’re called the Shrouded Sages, they study knowledge, something like a monastery.”
“Sounds boring. Where is this monastery?”
“In a nightmare.”
Nemmy’s eyes widened. “So he’s dead then?”
“No, the monastery is actually in a nightmare. I think so they can get hold of people while they sleep, and pull the knowledge from them.”
“That…doesn’t sound very nice.” Nemmy finally said.
“Strange friends you keep,” Horace added.
“You should see my enemies.”
Lotonna stood up straight. Which is impressive even for short minotaurs, which he wasn’t. I was a little worried that he’d actually stick his horns into the ceiling and get stuck like a dart, but he seemed aware of his extents. “So you have been to the lands of Taer Dian Loresh? We have many legends of the Waking Nightmare among my people.”
“We ventured there once, yes, in an attempt to free someone from service to its lord.”
“How did you escape? It is said that none leave there, yet you walk free.”
I held out my right hand, to show the silver ring on my little finger. “I bargained for the life we were sent to retrieve. Zenith, the one who used to live here, stayed behind, and I accepted an exchange of service.”
Lotonna looked at the small insignia on the ring, and backed away a little. I felt a bit strange, I had no desire to make this a show-and-tell affair.
“What service?” the minotaur had lowered his horns slightly. I think unconsciously. I hope unconsciously.
“I am the emissary of that land’s lord. I acquire…materials…for him from time to time, and I gain power in the exchange.”
Kineta put a hand on Lotonna’s shoulder. “Perhaps it is enough to know he walks and breathes like we do, isn’t it?”
The minotaur took a deep breath, calming himself. “Yes. Yes it is. Nightmares don’t buy drinks.” He grinned at that thought.
“Unless it’s a really long nightmare, and it wants to put you at ease first in order to savor a greater terror later on!” Nemmy burst out.
“Rodent!” Lotonna turned on the Halfling, picking him up by his lapels and shaking him mock-harshly.
The gate vanished with a loud POP.
Nemmy crashed to the floor in a heap, and Horace jumped probably three feet into the air. Lotonna’s horns were pointed straight at the circle, and his hand was on his weapon.
“Easy, boys,” Kineta said soothingly. “Why don’t we go outside now?”
“Good idea,” I concurred. Spending more time in close quarters with a jittery minotaur wasn’t my idea of the safest choice.
I led everyone downstairs and out into the courtyard. While heading down, I had one of the servants fetch me some paper and ink.
When we got to the entry hall, I penned off a quick note to J’Tiel, then took Kineta and her friends over to the Inn. The town was busy, but quiet, and in the sun I wished I was intending to stay longer. We entered the common room, which had cleared of most of the breakfasters. A young girl was wiping down all the tables – I think I recognized her from Tarsis – and Duchan was fixing a chair.
“Duchan, ho! Good to see you, old man!” I called as we came in. “Got some new trinkets for you.”
He stood up with a hand on his back. “Master Azrael, fine day to you, sir! Welcome home! Will you be staying with us?”
“Only a few days, Duchan, came to pick up a couple barrels from the distillery, then I’m off again.”
“Just deliveries, then? Only business? No great exploits tackling monsters and saving the world this time?”
I drew out my satchel and the haversack. “Didn’t quite say that now, did I?” I grinned at him. “Have a look at these,” I drew out the giant scales from the bulette, laying them out on the table before us both. “Nice, huh?”
He whistled appreciatively. “Took down a landshark myself, once, and got a nasty scar for my troubles, but he was nowhere near the size of this! Where are the others? It didn’t…” He pointed slowly at the scales.
“Oh, no, to my knowledge they’re fine, we went separate ways for a little while. I’ll meet up with them sometime soon.”
Lotonna, who with Horace had been looking over the various pieces on the wall, looked back over at me. Then down at the scales.
Duchan stood up a little straighter. “You mean you were alone when you…?” He tapped the scale before him.
“Didn’t say that either, but I was alone when I was done. Thought they’d make nice serving trays, what do you think?”
He looked me up and down. “Aye, they would, or with a bit of good polish they’ll make a fine mirror.”
I pulled out another bundle. “This, I think, would be particularly nice next to Nala, hmm?” I nodded over to the hearth where the petrified head of the medusa stared sightlessly over the room. I unwrapped it to reveal the flame-cleansed skull of the abyssal ghoul I’d killed in the Hastwith. Even (fully) dead, its extended jaw with all those needle teeth looked menacing.
“Maybe not such a good plan where people will be eating, sir. Might do a sight better in the men’s privy, you know, to speed things up a little, have them pay a little more attention to what they’re aiming at.” He chuckled heavily while he was saying this. “If you don’t mind my asking, what’s happened to your eyes? You look…different.”
“I’m fine, just a bit of…scarring, I guess you could call it. My vision’s good as ever.”
Some would say better, Voedle’s voice echoed clearly.
I drew out a few more souvenirs I’d collected for him, and finally reached the last one. “This one I thought would come in especially handy, for when we drag in the really big game.” I offered him the paired cookbooks.
“Oh, now that’s some fine thinking! I’ll talk to Ysolde too, maybe she can think of ways to pair up her booze with my lady’s cooking. She’ll be thrilled to death with these.” He set them on the bar. “Will you be staying in the keep, master Az, or shall I have rooms readied for you?”
“Rooms, please. One for me, and for each of my guests.” I motioned to each of them in turn. “Lotonna, Nemmy, Horace, and Kineta, this is Duchan. He runs the place for me, with his wife.”
Duchan went around to each of them. “Pleasure to meet you all. We’ll have you set up in no time. Any special…er…needs…” he looked up at Lotonna in particular as he said this, “…just let us know and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Kim, please take these in back and have Caleb wash them up,” he pointed the girl at the pile of trophies. She grabbed a handful and headed into the back.
I grinned. “All right. What say I take you all on a tour of the distillery while Duchan’s folks get your rooms ready? Just leave your stuff here, they’ll take care of it.” By means of example, I laid my bag on the table and walked to the door.
We walked outside, and I paused to get a good eyeful. It’s amazing to me how pretty the place can be. The river flowing by really adds to the picture. Even Mahar’s Shadowspire gave the landscape an aspect of uncommon beauty. Downslope a little bit from town were a series of tents, and smoke rose from a great many chimneys.
I stopped a passer-by, “Excuse me, but why all the tents?”
She looked a little surprised. “Refugees, sir. Escaped from Tarsis,” she frowned as she said this. “Brought their curse with them, too, the lowlifes.” She spat on the ground and walked on.
I frowned. What could that have been about?
We walked up to the distillery, and I saw smoke rising from its chimneys as we approached. Ysolde was probably mashing something, this time of year. Quite a few hands were working the yard, and as we approached I angled straight for the still room.
We opened on a scene of reverence that reminded me of a cathedral. Two of the four big alembics were running, fires burning slowly beneath them. I could smell the alcohol in the air. Ysolde and three apprentices were attending them, the long copper coils steadily dripping into large glass bottles.
Ysolde, I don’t think I’ve mentioned, is my still-master (or is that still-mistress?). She probably knows more about whiskey and other spirits than you or I could drink in our lifetimes. I have never been able to get much from her about where she learned it all, but her sense of flavor and her ability to anticipate the effects on a brew are almost supernatural.
She’s about thirty, blonde as a northern barbarian (she might be one, for all I can tell), and speaks with no accent whatsoever. She’s somewhere north of a dwur’s height, while still managing to be well under normal for a human, and she could chew off the tail of a minotaur without breaking a sweat. She generally walks around with a stirring spoon made of copper and boasting a leather handle, and wearing an aged leather apron.
She has a smell about her all the time – some mix of hops and oak. Speculation has it (and it is never discussed near her) that she’s half-dwur.
When we entered, she was in the middle of testing some of the output from one of the stills, pouring a small amount into a glass beaker of some kind and mixing it with some kind of powder. She muttered a few things to the three apprentices while she did, and waited until she was answered by at least two of them before turning to face us.
“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” she said. “We’re going to have to contract out for some new equipment.”
She motioned over to one of the stills. “I’ve had pre-orders from this year’s stock, and while I don’t mind making simple firewater, to be done up properly takes time and aging. There’s a cooper in Mooristown who has access to beech and stout-oak, I’m going to need to set up a supply with him. As well, the vintners west of banner make a good sherry and port, I want to buy their discards. Plus, I need another room like this one. Four more stills, and probably four more of these useless lumps.” She gestured over her shoulder at the apprentices, who immediately made themselves look busy.
“What’s that going to cost?”
“The building will be cheap, about three hundred crowns – I need good bricks, though. Stills about two hundred each, enchantment for the fires about two hundred each, barrels total about fifty a year. Samuel counts that we can buy the barrels out of our normal supply line money, but that will bring us close on margins until the new building starts producing.” She ran through the figures in her head.
“We’ll also have to expand the caves a bit to fit the new storage needs, but that won’t happen for another year, after the building is done and in operation.”
“Alright, I’ll arrange funds before I go. Anything else?”
“No, that should about do it. I don’t think you came for that, though.” She tapped her foot expectantly.
“Quite right, no I didn’t. I need a barrel and two casks of Winter’s Fall. Best one we have for the Barrel.”
Exasperation spread across her face like spilled water. “You want my left boob while you’re at it?”
“The whiskey will do, thanks,” I replied.
“Well, not so fast…” Nemmy never finished the sentence, as Kineta’s foot swung around and found his midsection. Whatever word was next came out as “thooof!” before he raised his hands in supplication, stepping back.
“I’ve got a few left in the East stores. Little Jimmy can set you up, he’s sweeping in there now. You’ve never taken this much, you know?”
“If it wasn’t an emergency, I wouldn’t take it at all. Besides, I’m not going to mess up the books, I’ll buy it from stock.” I patted my belt pouch twice in emphasis.
“All right, that’s fine then. This isn’t all for you, is it?”
“Oh, no, I’ve taken up pickling devils as a new hobby.” I winked at her.
“Sometimes I wonder whether you’re being serious with me. Anyhow, you could choose a different fixative, you know?”
“Wouldn’t taste nearly as good.”
“So who are your friends here?”
Nemmy jumped forward. “We’re the Lion’s Lunge. I’m Nemmy, this is Horace, that’s Lotonna, and she’s Kineta. I’m Nemmy.” He held out his hand.
Ysolde grinned. “Yeah, you said that already. Nice to meet you.”
“I brought them for a tour, they’re visiting with me.”
“Well, we’ve got another couple hours before the stills will be done, and what they need is to be left alone, so why don’t I have these fellows give them the tour?”
“That sounds great.”
She turned and issued a few orders, which the apprentices listened to quietly before bustling over and introducing themselves. “I’ve got to check a few things out, Azrael, will you excuse me?”
“Of course, and thanks. I’ll see to it that Samuel gets the money you need.”
“Thank you. Oh, and one more thing,” she turned back to us.
I waited with the question on my face.
“Your friend Mahar was here, he’s bought up the last of the wine.”
“Which wine?”
“All of it.”
All of it? “Has he really?”
“Yes, he’d been steady on a case a month, but three weeks ago he cleaned us out.”
“Did you reserve enough stock to keep the inn going till the next season?”
“Oh yes, Duchan’s already got that in storage over there. But our other buyers will be disappointed.”
I thought about that for a moment. “I see. All right, offer my sincerest apologies to them, give them five percent off the top on any beers and distillates they buy now, and ten percent off any preorders of wine they’d like to buy, they can put fifteen percent down. Will that do?”
“Yah, pretty much what I’d been thinking, just wanted to make sure you were okay with it.”
“I am, thanks.”
She waved and walked out. As soon as she’d gone, Lotonna looked down at Horace, and held out his hand. In his deep chuffing voice, he said to him, “Hi, I’m Nemmy. Did I mention, I’m Nemmy?”
“Shut it, rug,” the Halfling sulked from behind. One of the apprentices snickered, and immediately apologized.
“Don’t worry about it, kid,” I said. “It was pretty funny.”
Kineta chuckled quietly as well.
* * *
Several hours later, we had retired to the inn, and I had made arrangements to purchase a small wagon from one of Duchan’s suppliers. We’d just finished our evening meal, and the beer was flowing freely.
“So do we leave in the morning?” Horace asked around a mouthful of turkey.
“I don’t think morning, but perhaps the afternoon. I have to speak with a friend before we go, and we have to take the wagon up to the distillery to pick up the whiskey anyway. We’ll stay here tonight, and I’ll go speak with him after breakfast.”
“Who is this you’re speaking to?” Kineta asked.
“An old war comrade. He was my commanding officer a long while back, now he runs a mercenary troupe. That’s his tower over on the other side of the river, he uses Al’Veydra as a headquarters since I moved here.” I scooped a pile of peas onto some mashed potatoes and started chewing.
“What mercenaries? Maybe we’ve heard of them.” Nemmy said.
“Devil’s Due is what they’re called. Mahar used to be in the…what? What’s wrong?” The table had fallen silent.
“We’ve heard of them,” Lotonna muttered quietly.
“Have we ever,” Horace added with a little more anger than I expected.
“Well, that doesn’t sound so good. May I ask for the story?” I washed the mouthful down with a deep brown ale that Ysolde had put up with some advice from Duchan.
Kineta nodded. “We were traveling in the Lordonweld a while back, and got between the elvish and human skirmishers there. The humans had contracted a small force of Devil’s Due to augment their army, and the elves had hired us.”
“I take it things weren’t exactly friendly.”
“No, not at all. They knew we were working for the elves, and ambushed us while we were encamped. The four of us escaped, barely. One of us didn’t.” She looked straight at me while she said this, but no emotion crossed her face. “Kuellan fell while covering our escape. We never found the body, our camp was destroyed when we returned the next day.”
“Kuellan was…?”
Nemmy continued for her. “He was an elf, a ranger. We were working for his people there, he’d brought us the job.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. If it helps at all, I’ve fought them as well – twice. Once in the underdeeps while traveling to Ihnbharan, a while back now. We lost Nix, our wizard, in that fight. We fought them a second time in an arena battle in the city some days later.”
“And you call this Mahar a friend?” Lotonna asked. He seemed genuinely curious, the anger was edged away a bit.
“At least an associate. It’s hard to say what that relationship is. It’s been a long time.” I looked them over. “They are mercenaries, after all. I suspect with the right bargaining, they’d fight us – Fellbane, that is – again.”
“You’d be right,” came a voice from behind me. “We would.”
I stood up and turned. Mahar was in the door, his grin the same as usual – lopsided. “Going to invite me in?”
I looked around at the others at the table. Lotonna I couldn’t read. Nemmy looked a little startled. Kineta frowned a bit, while Horace shrugged. I turned back to my old commander.
“For a bit,” I waved at the rest. “This is Lion’s Lunge – Lotonna, Kineta, Horace, and Nemmy. All, this is Mahar. For the sake of formality, you are all guests under this roof, please comport yourselves appropriately.”
Mahar nodded. He knew what my point was. The others either didn’t quite get it, or didn’t give any indication that they had. Mahar drew up a chair, and sat himself down. A few minutes later a server came out with a large goblet of wine for him.
“I heard you were back in town. I like the ghoul skull.” He said.
“Thanks. Got it down near Tarsis.”
“Heard that that fell. That’s a mess and a half, there.” He leaned forward. “So you all are Lion’s Lunge. Didn’t know you’d come this far north.”
“We get around,” Nemmy replied angrily. “What’s it to you?”
The Shadrim raised his hands openly. “Nothing material, little master. Just like to keep an ear on the ground for old adversaries. I can see you may be taking your brush with my team a little personally.”
“You tried to kill us!” Nemmy almost shouted.
“Well, yes, they very probably did. Were you expecting different behavior from mercenaries working for the opposition in a war?” He sat back and sipped his wine.
“That doesn’t make any diff…” the halfwise was cut off in midsentence by Horace.
“No, master Mahar, we wouldn’t have expected any different. Please excuse us though, if we do take it a little personally. We lost a good man to that battle.”
I carefully stayed out of the discussion. Though I agreed with Mahar, I didn’t want to take a side in this. Better to be the defuser of the argument if it came to one.
“And had you lost him to an owlbear or a dragon, would you feel the same about me then?”
“Of course not,” Horace said.
“It’s only a small jump to realized that we were just on opposite sides in a conflict. In the end, we’re all pieces on a board,” this last he said while turning his gaze on me. “What in the nine happened to your eyes?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I replied quietly.
Horace sat quietly. Mahar continued. “Had the elves hired my team first, we’d have fought side by side. It’s business, and it’s professional. It’s not personal. Believe me that I sympathize with the loss of your friend. I’m saddened to hear it’s a burden on you all still. But it happens. You fight in war, people die. How they die is just a matter of timing and circumstance.”
Lotonna’s voice was low, but not angry. “It will be a while yet before we can see across the table as comrades, sir. That fight is still a bit raw for us.”
“And bravo to you, sir, for the mastery of your passionate nature. I understand my presence causes you some additional discomfort. I’ve actually come to speak to your employer, so if I can prize him away from you for a little while…?”
General assent was silently offered.
“Excellent. Az?”
We stood and walked around to a private room.
“Welcome back, by the way.” He said as soon as we were out of earshot.
“Thanks, I’m not staying long.”
“Good.”
“Hmm?” I cocked my head at him.
“This town isn’t safe for you. I’ve had offers.”
“Offers?”
“I haven’t accepted. Yet. Understand?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, the price just wasn’t right. I take it you’ve been there, then?”
“There?”
“The Pool.”
“Ah. Hmm. Let’s say I said no to that.”
“Then when I’m asked I won’t have solid information to reveal.” He grinned.
“I’m glad we see things on the same level still.” We tinked glasses.
“Still, someday I’d like to hear the story.”
“When can I trust you?”
He mulled that over. “Now that’s a tougher question to answer than I would like it to be.”
I nodded my head. “You know, I could use a good army, and the victory, when it happens, will be big.”
“You know that’s really long odds, don’t you?”
“The fact that we’re having this conversation is long odds. It was long odds than an angel would turn on a god, and not turn the Astral Sea inside-out doing so. There’s a lot of long odds stuff going on around us right now.” I gestured with my cup while I iterated through all of these things.
He watched me. “You’ve got the tongue for it, and you’re a hell of a lot more frightening than you used to be.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Think about it?”
“It’s going to take money. Or some hefty promises.”
“I’ll need dukes and generals when I’m done, because I won’t stop there. The Abyss grows. We all know it, but no one does anything about it. The gods are still frightened after the Dawn War, and it’s so far off in the future that this becomes a hazard that they aren’t doing anything about it. I will. And there are thrones to entire worlds waiting to satiate the avarice of my chosen.”
He looked down at the floor for a little while. It was obvious he wasn’t going to answer me this evening.
I clinked cups again. “Think about it?”
He nodded. Looking up, he drew a deep breath. “You have guests. Remember my warning – you really should be out of here, fast. Even if you haven’t been seen yet, it’s only a matter of time. And I like this place. It would be a shame to see it burnt down because you got caught in a battle here.”
“Agreed. And thanks. Do you think I have the night?”
“If you cut twenty-five percent off two full barrels of the next batch of Winter’s Fall, I’ll see to it that a squad keeps an eye on the place until noon tomorrow.”
“That’s going to be ten years before it’ll be ready.”
“In case you didn’t know, I have a lot of time.”
“Okay, done. Thanks again.”
“It’s my job.” We shook hands. He turned to go, but pulled up short. “Oh, and Az?”
“Hmm?”
“Their friend, the elf. Kuellan.”
“What about him?”
“He’s not dead. We captured him, didn’t kill him. Signed him for three years’ service to Devil’s Due as repayment for his life. He’s pretty good.”
“Why don’t they know?”
“Well, we didn’t let him send messages for the first six months, we were still treating him under P.O.W. rules and assigned him to a different unit. After that, hell, I don’t know. Maybe he likes working with us more. Maybe he’s afraid they’ll consider his surrender cowardly.”
“Are you telling me this so I can tell them?”
“No, I’m telling you because I like posing moral dilemmas. Of course, you thick bastard. Tell them.” He tail-waved over his shoulder as he walked away down the hall.
I turned back to the room.
This was going to be an interesting conversation.
