by Eric Ugland
“These are good things?”
“A soldier without a lord is either a mercenary or a bandit,” Nikolai said. “Neither one of which is particularly honorable profession.”
“And all these men and women here,” Wian said, gesturing to the Thingmen, “they will be given a new Choice this night. Tomorrow, we will be sworn men again.”
Chapter 96
The Thingmen kept their distance from me, and yet were overjoyed with each other. They were so excited about everything. They spread throughout the village to introduce themselves to everyone. The Legionnaires were still clearly wary of the Thingmen, but the Thingmen didn't seem to care. And then there were the dwarves. Because there were dwarves amongst the Thingmen, it was a great and grand meeting for them all. Within the hour, despite it being the middle of the afternoon, there were great cries for mead and ale and drink, and carousing was underway.
I had a feeling the merriment may have been, well, perhaps not ordered, but strongly encouraged by Nikolai and Wian. They seemed to appreciate the divide brewing, and I think this was their attempt to bring the community together quickly. While the Legion remained standoffish, I knew they wouldn’t be able to keep away when the ale came out.
A small number of people had come with the Thingmen, but weren’t part of their ranks. There was something strange about them. First was an absolutely striking young woman, the likes of whom I really hadn't encountered in Vuldranni before. I guess Amber came close, but the kitsune-girl was beautiful in the vein of a sex symbol or a pinup. This girl was elegant, a classical beauty. She moved like she was dancing. But her eyes were haunted. And she seemed, well, hunted. She had four warriors around her, all women, none of whom had sworn allegiance to me. I knew the girl had to be some form of nobility, the question was who was she? And why was she here?
There was also a large human male with no hair on his body (at least that I could tell), who wore a bright red tabard with a golden hammer emblazoned across the chest. When he saw me, his eyes narrowed, and he leaned over and said something to the woman walking next to him.
The woman wore dark purple robes. But the robes weren’t cloth; they were chain mail. She carried a large spiked mace. She did smile at me, but made no effort to talk to me nor anyone else. I noticed that she followed the beautiful girl about as closely as the girl's bodyguards did. Which forced me to wonder if she was also attached to the girl.
And there was one final guest, an older woman. I think human. She looked human, for the most part, but a little bit off. Which, you know, had we been on Earth I would have just chalked her up to being a little strange, but on Vuldranni, someone who deviated that far from the norm could full-on be a different species. The woman was quite old, and given the way everyone treated her, I had the feeling she was someone of importance. She had that spritely look of the grandma who knew secrets and would slap your wrist with enough snap to make you question your life choices.
Someone started dragging tables out of the cantina. Before I knew it, there was a smorgasbord set up outside, a fire crackling in the bonfire pit, and musicians playing. A regular party.
I stood at the edge of the party area and watched. At the rate we were consuming food and drink, it was going to be a very dry winter.
“And you are the duke?” a little voice said.
I looked to my right and saw the older lady standing there. Her eyes met mine, and she smiled.
“What a disappointment,” she said.
I was a little taken aback.
“Me?” I asked.
“Oh yes.”
“Expecting someone taller?”
“Expecting someone nobler.”
“Yeah, that’s not me.”
She raised one eyebrow and scowled. Then she did something with her hands, and sat down. On an impossibly thick chair that had come out of nowhere. She gestured to the ground in front of her, and I saw that she expected me to sit with her.
So I did. Seated on the ground, I was at eye level with her on her magic stool-chair thing.
“How, then, pray tell, did you get involved in this mess?” she asked.
“Oh man, you’d have to define mess better for me to answer that.”
“You are the duke here, are you not?”
“Yes ma’am, I am.”
She chuckled. “Ma’am. You have an interesting way of speech, duke.”
“Thank you?”
“Not necessarily a compliment. You sound like you are unintelligent.”
“Well, frankly, I am not known for my intellectual abilities.”
“Given your appearance, I believe you.”
“Yeah, I, uh—”
“Look like a monster.”
“Monster? Harsh.”
“Said by one blessed by the god of monsters. Might you upset your patron?”
“Typhon doesn’t really seem the sort to get upset over something like that.”
“You are on casual terms with Him?”
“I’m on casual terms with most everyone.”
“Hrm,” she said. Well, grunted. Then she reached into her sleeve and pulled out a pipe. She lit the bowl with her thumb.
“Neat trick,” I said.
She smiled around the pipe stem, and puffed until she blew out some green smoke.
It had a pleasing odor to it. Like vanilla, but just a touch different.
“I almost want to like you,” she said.
“You can not like me if you prefer,” I said. “Lots don’t like me.”
“I know.”
“You’re into the brutal honesty thing, aren’t you?”
“I cannot say if my honesty is brutal, but it is honest. I feel there is little to be gained by lying at my age.”
“How old are you?”
She cackled in response, then just gave me a smile and blew more smoke out.
“Fair answer.”
The party continued around us. I watched Eliza curtsy to a dwarven man, and they started dancing. It was all that was needed for a large group of dancers to join. Men and women. Women and women. Men and men. Children and anyone. I hadn’t spoken to Eliza since the Titus incident, and I wondered how she was getting on. If the slavers had done anything to her. If she’d been shaken by the event, like most of my people had.
“Is that your love?” the old lady asked.
“Nope,” I replied without thinking about it.
“Good,” the old lady said.
“Can I ask your name?”
“Montana of Coggeshall, you might.”
“Seems only fair since you know mine.”
“Ask then.”
“What’s your name?”
“You may call me Hetsesta.”
“Beautiful name,” I lied.
She cackled again.
“Why are you in this mess?” I asked.
“I was in the wrong place at the right time, I suppose. Though I would like to think I was meant to be here.”
“Maybe you were meant to be here.”
“Only the gods truly know. Perhaps you could ask them for me.”
“Next time I see them, I will.”
That only got a half-hearted chuckle.
She blew smoke out and it wafted around for a moment before turning into more concrete shapes — animals that started to gallop towards a group of children. The children, mostly dwarven, but a few humans, were initially scared, but then delighted by the cavorting smoke animals.
“I worry for the children here,” she said suddenly, making a smoke rabbit bounce around.
“Because of me?” I asked.
“You have quite the ego. Because of what is coming here.”
“I will protect them.”
“I know you will try, and for that I applaud you. There are those who would ignore the suffering of others for their own gain, but considering the complete lack of anything I might term a residence fit for a duke, I sense you are the type who puts his people first.”
I looked at the little
village, and I nodded.
“Seemed silly for me to have a nice place to sleep when it’s just as easy for me to catch a nap under a tree. What do you know about what’s coming here?”
“There is a cycle to things, young duke. To the way our world works. If you are able to look beyond yourself, you will see the signs. There is a great contest coming, one that will challenge us all. I fear you are to play a part, and I cannot yet tell on which side you might fall.”
“What sides?”
“The only ones that matter: good and evil.”
“You don’t think, maybe there are shades of grey? Some good, some evil?”
“Not in this. There can be but one victor in this.”
“So, is there, like, a main bad guy somewhere? Plotting his, or her, conquest of the whole world?”
“I doubt it is a single person. I would hazard a guess it is something greater than simply a person.”
“A god?”
“Perhaps. Though as far as I know there are limits as to how they interact with the world. Else they might walk the land and sow destruction as they see fit.”
“That’s true — they do seem to have a certain amount of power.”
“I have only had the most tenuous connections to their power, so I cannot gauge their true abilities. But as far as I know, the world holds nothing over them. They can change it at their whims.”
“I get the sense that there’s a, like, contract of sorts between the gods. That they all have to abide by it, and that dictates what they can and can’t do.”
She nodded, letting the green smoke snake out the side of her mouth.
“Were I to guess, and I surmise you are one who might ask me to guess, then I would guess the happenings are a result of the gods interfering as best they are able.”
“Well,” I said, “I’m really not that interested in what the gods want. I want a safe place where people can raise some kids. A place where monsters aren’t coming in and wrecking shit. And where people of all types can be, you know, at home.”
“A lovely dream, if improbable.”
“Hey, these days, I’ll take improbable. Basically since I got here I’ve been saddled with impossible.”
Another puff of green smoke.
“Something we all struggle with, young duke.”
“You are really big into vague sayings.”
“The specifics are never as fun.”
“Maybe you can share some specifics with me?”
“Ask the right question, and perhaps I shall.”
“Who are you?”
“Ah, but that must be a vague answer. How might I answer that?”
“Who’s the girl?”
“Which girl?”
“The one you came here with.”
“I see no girl. I came with the Thingmen.”
“Come on, Hetsesta. The pretty girl you were chatting with after the oath.”
She grinned around her pipe, but instead of answering she just drew in a big mouthful of green smoke, and then let it out in the shape of a comely woman. The smoke-woman was about a foot tall, and did a little dance before the wind swept her away.
“See,” I said, “I’d like to think there was something more you’re trying to tell me there. Like the girl will be seductive, but she’s not real, she’s like smoke—”
Hetsesta cackled so hard she started coughing. I put my hand out to keep her from falling off her chair. She gripped it, hard. Her tiny fingers felt like they were made of iron.
Finally, she shook her head.
“Just showing off,” she said. “I enjoy making things.”
Being that I had but two tricks up my non-existent sleeves, I summoned a prinky.
Pop. It came into existence, all furry and cute, looking up at me expectantly.
“A prinky!” she said with genuine joy on her face. She reached out and pulled it into her lap, then started petting it. The prinky half-closed its eyes and made a purring noise.
“You’re the first magic user I’ve seen who didn’t freak out at seeing one of those,” I said.
“Why should I? They are the most delightful little creatures. Provided, of course, someone else pays their cost. Which is you, correct?”
I nodded.
“And being that you likely have little to no use for the mana you might have trapped inside, you might as well bring a little joy to the world and let these creatures out.”
“I do. They’re around most of the time, really,” I said.
“Then perhaps this little backwater village holds a sliver of a good life for an old lady.”
“You can keep the little guy, if he makes you that happy.”
“How many can you bring to bear?” she asked.
I took a peek at my mana, and I did a spot of math.
“125,” I said.
She nodded a bit, then said, “So it should be no problem for you to keep this one here for an old lady to have a spot of warmth.”
“How often do you play the old-lady-card?”
“As often as it works.”
“It can stay,” I said, then I looked straight at the prinky, “and you, you do whatever she asks you to, okay?”
It might have nodded. Or it might have just inadvertently moved its head while getting skritched. Hard to tell.
“I do appreciate you humoring me, young duke,” she said, standing up with an almost amusing amount of grunts and groans. “But an old woman needs to get some sleep.”
“Before you go, and since you won’t answer any questions about the girl,” I said, “can you answer a question or two about the others who came with the girl and yourself?”
“The clerics? I might be willing to speak about them.”
“Clerics? What gods do they serve?”
“Oh, I think if you meet them, you will understand they serve themselves.”
“What gods do they pretend to serve?”
“And here I was under the impression you were well-versed in the Gods.”
“I’m a terrible student.”
“That remains to be seen. The hammer represents the Lord of Justice. The purple chain is said to be a symbol of Succoth, but I fear she may actually be a servant of Nergle. Good night.”
Before I could ask her anything else, she slipped into the night. I swear I knew exactly where she was, and I was watching where she went, but one second I had my eyes on her, and the next, she had just, well, vanished.
I went to find Nikolai. I had too many questions.
Chapter 97
Nikolai wasn’t enjoying the party. He didn’t seem to be the type who enjoyed parties, especially not after getting hungover at the first one. Fortunately, because we gave him his own private office, he was able to sequester himself away while the merrymaking happened.
At least, that’s the story I told myself while making my way along the edges of the firelight, looking for Nikolai within the throngs of people, and not finding him there.
I went into the hall and heard heated voices coming from Nikolai’s office. Now, I’m normally one to advocate for such actions as eavesdropping, spying, and, in general, getting every little slice of information possible no matter the moral implications. But, in an effort to stop being creepy, I strode across the room and gave Nikolai’s door a sharp rap.
The voices inside silenced, and it took a moment before the door opened. Nikolai looked out, saw me, and then opened the door a little further.
Wian was inside leaning against a wall next to Lee, while Nathalie occupied the single open chair.
“My lord,” Wian said.
“Duke Coggeshall,” Nathalie said.
“Montana,” Nikolai said.
It was pretty clear what kind of meeting this was going to be. Unpleasant.
“What’s going on here?” I asked.
“A meeting of the minds,” he replied. “Trying to get a handle on everything that’s been happening.”
“Don’t you think I should be here for this?”
“One, you are here now. Two, I thought it more pressing that you continue your conversation with the Imperial Historian.”
“Is that who that lady was?”
“Did she not tell you her title?”
“She just gave me a name. Why is she here?”
Silence.
“What is it that you’re not telling me?” I asked.
“They are planning to—” Nathalie started to say something, but a sharp look from Nikolai stopped that train of thought.
“What Cleeve intended, and what has happened are rather different beasts,” Nikolai said. “And there is more to all of this than we have let on to you.”
“I’m not liking where this is going,” I said.
“I am trying to be honest with you.”
“Just be honest,” I said. “Don’t try.”
“You know that I was more than an ordinary Thingman—”
“Sure, you were—”
“I was one of the leaders of the group. I was one of the men the Emperor considered a friend, and one of the few who gave the leader of our nation counsel on a daily basis. When Benedict Coggeshall saved the Emperor’s life, it was me who put together this plan, because I saw then what would happen now.”
“See like in a magical bending fate way or—”
“I saw the way the winds were blowing, but I used no magic. I merely understood those who wanted the entirety of the Empire as their own. As soon as an assassin got close enough to injure the Emperor, even the Emperor knew his time was limited. And so we had to make a plan to ensure that the Empire might survive the coming calamity.”
“Okay,” I said, starting to pace, “I can get some of what you’re saying. The assassination attempt wasn’t just some one-off crazy person acting alone. It was part of a larger plot. Right?”
“Yes,” Nikolai said.
“Several someones worked together to kill him,” Wian added. “There were several wealthy and important people who were taking issue with the direction of the Empire.”
“And now those people are going to pick a new emperor?”
“Yes and no,” Wian said.
“Likely and unfortunately yes,” Nikolai said, “but we hope no.”
“They have a cockamamie plan in place,” Lee said.
