Jess grinned. “Of course, as the Guild also controls the bards and scribes, we wouldn’t hear of such a thing in any case, now would we?”
Rens chuckled. "Quite right! But please understand, I am not vilifying the Guild per se. For the most part, their policies are prudent and reasonable. In some places they even serve as a source of stability, and indeed, it is through Guild sponsored scribes, bards, and messenger services that most nobles get the word out when they have need of adventurer's services to resolve an unnatural situation that may be harming their lands or people."
Jess frowned. “So. You are warning us about the Guild because if we are not careful, we will sign away our rights to act as free agents?”
Rens nodded. "Close enough. For one particular rule of the Guild forms the bedrock of their institution and is never to be violated. Any arcane artifact the Guild accepts a contract to retrieve is one they will do their utmost to honor, and their client is the only one who may claim that artifact. Even if an adventurer could sell randomly found artifacts of power outside that circle of associates, frowned upon as it would be, it would be anathema for them to break faith with their Guild and sell the very artifact that they were commissioned to recover."
Malek whistled. “And the minute we join the Guild, we will be honor-bound to turn that Wand of Dreams over to the Guild, and not to the college, should we manage to recover it. And that is what this ultimately boils down to. Correct, Master Rens?”
Rens gave a relieved smile. “You understand perfectly, my dear Malek, natural scholar that you are. Thus we must proceed with caution. Officially, no one is forced to join the guild, but to my understanding, no adventurer has ever refused. And there is nothing wrong, per se, with being affiliated with the guild. Our only concern, really, is the Guild claiming you both before we recover the Wand of Dreams. For if that occurs, I fear the artifact will be lost to us forever, if not outright used against us.”
Alex nodded. “And hopefully, we have at least encouraged you to think twice before joining the Guild outright. If I were you, I would grant them no prerogative on your time, resources, or findings. You hardly need them for food, shelter, or aid; being of noble heritage yourselves, after all.”
Malek smirked. “Seems like the best thing to do then would be to simply avoid the Guild representatives supposedly heading our way; purely by chance, I'm sure.”
Rens chuckled approvingly. “Well put, my dear Malek. And thus we come to the heart of it. No one can begrudge you commitments already made, and whatever work we do here together cannot be undone by retroactive agreements. So, if you and Jess are up for it, I would like to forge an adventurer’s contract between the pair of you and myself, as a college representative. Your mission, of course, would be to do your utmost to retrieve that wand. Rest assured, we would compensate you both at adventurer’s rates, and should you happen to find any curios of an arcane nature in addition to the Wand of Dreams, we would be willing to pay most handsomely for whatever you find.”
Jess’s eyes lightened with excitement, already feeling that heady sense of exhilaration at the thought of Delving once more into mysterious lands of adventure and wonder. She could almost taste it, like the headiest of wines.
Alex glanced at her curiously, his gaze concerned. “Do you remember anything about your Delving now, Jess?”
Jess tilted her head contemplatively, then just shook her head and grinned. “I don’t remember the specifics; I just remember feeling a sense of incredible exhilaration! This time, I’m bringing a journal. This time, I’m writing down every fragment of what I experienced so I can keep those memories of our adventure precious and close!”
Alex only nodded, eyes solemn.
Rens was quick to interject. “Exactly, my dear! An appetite for adventure would suit us quite well in this instance, and it is a comfort to know that your already considerable talents for surviving and thriving in the Shadowrealms, together with the steel forged into your nature under the mentorship of none other than General Eloquin himself, the most fierce and deadly commander ever to answer the King's Call, and we shall say nothing of ancient pacts invoked by a king terrified of losing his kingdom entire, an endless summer ago. For I exaggerate not at all when I tell you and Malek both that, once again, the safety and well-being of the college entire rests within your most capable and valiant hands.” With that he patted his pockets for a moment, ignoring Jess and Malek's shocked expressions, at last smiling and presenting Jess with a carefully drawn sketch of what looked like a short wand.
“This, I take it, is a sketching of the Wand of Dreams?” Malek asked.
Rens nodded. “Hard to depict in the picture but it is made of blackened bone with a single great pearl at its tip. Should you successfully retrieve this sacred artifact, the school would assure you were paid quite handsomely for your find.”
Malek grinned. “Not to come across too much as the avaricious merchant, but how much are we talking about here, master Rens?”
The man sighed deeply, gazing carefully at Malek. "Should you find this item and bring it to me I shall make certain that you each receive no less than five hundred gold. That would be one thousand gold in total."
Jess's eyes widened at the thought of owning such a personal fortune. To not be dependent upon any allowance or stipend granted by her family, which would only tie her more tightly to the duties and expectations they had for her, but to possess her own wealth to use as she saw fit.
Jess exchanged a significant look with her shieldbrother, knowing they both felt the sweetest exhilaration at the possibility of earning such a bounty. It would be a dream come true, she felt, a dream of freedom. Even, she admitted to herself, if all she were to do with it was give it to her family. For Jess already understood that no matter how the political winds blew, however treacherous the political seas her family was forced to wade in, the assets of a Delver would be the one thing a political opponent would never dare seize.
Not that she would ever expect such a horrific reversal of fortune to befall her family, but she was far too well versed a tactician not to know the value of preparing for any foreseeable outcome, most especially those of the direst nature. Emergency tunnels leading to unmarked exits should they ever receive word that by some dire circumstance the Crown itself was coming for them, as ridiculous as the idea was considering her father's years of honorable service, was something her father had already taken care of years ago, Jess cynically thought. Yet an emergency cash reserve of five hundred gold would assure her family's well-being, even if they had to flee the country entirely, with nothing else to their name.
It was ridiculous to think it would ever come to that. But she would be a sorry excuse for a loyal daughter, were her purse not safely hidden away in a location her immediate family alone knew of, in case they should need it, or similar arrangements made.
Of course, her father held reign over vast estates, but he was steadfast in his resolve to tax the towns and hamlets of Calenbry no more than duty and obligation demanded; men to call upon in times of war, and sufficient crops and coin to tend to those levied forces. For all that many nobles did their best to twist the letter of the law to suit their greedy coffers, her father had too much honor for that. Her father's fierce code of ethics and honor was, of course, the primary reason why the king allowed her father, a mere baron, to hold as much power and sway as any duke. The king could count on at least one extremely competent warrior and administrator who would never let politics and personal interests trump his dedication to Crown and country.
Jess shook her head wryly at the very thought of having to juggle the many competing demands necessary just to keep such a large barony viable; the rigors involved in satisfying the demands of honor, king, court, and commoner. She did not envy her older brother’s position as heir to the barony in the least. If nothing else, should she actually earn such a fantastic fortune as Rens offered, her family would no longer be dependent upon her gift with herbs and the income her highly potent g
reenhouse garden generated for them over and above her father’s rather extensive apple orchards. A noble household and staff were expensive to maintain, her mother had often mentioned, especially when married to a man too honorable to access resources every other noble in the kingdom took advantage of as a matter of course.
Jess shuddered as she recalled the gist of her mother's last letter, going over in exquisite detail the many failings of the resident herbalist presently tending to her house garden while she was at Highrock. It didn't even matter to her mother that Jess was actually paid an honorarium, per Lady Vaila's insistence, equal to a portion of the profit Highrock received from selling Jessica's exquisitely maintained healing herbs to the royal healers themselves. An honorarium that went straight into the Calenbry coffers, Jess receiving only the allowance her mother saw fit to send her. The letter had made it all too clear that Lady Agda de Calenbry felt the proper place for her daughter was by her family's side, earned degree or no, and the sooner she stayed home for good, the better.
As far as Jess was concerned, the longer she could escape the choking constraints of familial obligation, free instead to breathe easy and live life on her own terms, the happier she would be.
Malek whistled. “One thousand gold. A princely sum! Would buy the arms and armor needed to suit and horse ten score knights! The Wand of Dreams must be a priceless artifact indeed.”
Alex shook his head in exasperation. "We just finished explaining to you how the fate of the college may well depend on that prize. For all that we are doing our best to find effective counters to practitioners of abyssal magics, we are all most vulnerable in our dreams, should a foe have means to attack us in that manner. And far better we seize it for ourselves, than allow it to fall into the hands of the Guild, where for all we know, the buyer represents an agent to a foreign power! Perhaps our old foe and ever resentful neighbor Velheim will use it as an opening gambit in the first moves of a war that both our nations know is only a matter of time in coming."
Rens blinked, then laughed. “Young Alex here does not like to mince words any more than you do, dear Jessica! But whoever the ultimate buyer the Guild represents, it would be prudent indeed if it were to fall in our hands as opposed to another’s.”
Jess felt her stomach knot up in anxiety, not sure she liked where this conversation could potentially go. As much as she loved excitement, training, and adventure, she hated the treachery, backstabbing, and assassinations that so often seemed to be the true hallmark of international politics.
“So," she said, to cut off all further avenues of conversation, "I take it you gathered some clue as to where the Wand of Dreams is being held, and you are offering us a thousand gold crowns if we can bring it back to Highrock safely. I don’t suppose you are offering a stipend for living expenses while we are on this quest? Assuming we can track it down at all, of course.”
Rens laughed at this, his face crinkling into a relieved smile. Jess realized at that moment that Rens had actually been quite worried, not knowing for sure if they would be willing to risk their lives upon yet another dangerous gambit, however worthy the cause. “Indeed, fair Jess! No less than five silver talons for every day you are adventuring, and should you make it to the border of the Shadowrealms, a full gold crown should you successfully enter Regio and record for our benefit all you see, and allow us to make an offer for whatever other prizes you might find.”
Jess couldn’t help grinning. “Five talons a day is a princely sum for living expenses, Master Rens. Very generous.”
Malek smiled and nodded in agreement. "Assuming we are actually Delving into Shadow as well." His gaze hardened. "Let's not kid ourselves, Master Rens. You aren't just taking us on because we are Delvers, are you? Eloquin's students are the closest thing Highrock has to a cadre of highly trained killers, and I think we all know what steps you expect us to take, if we find the artifact being held by very human opposition, whether or not they are hiding in Shadow."
Rens sighed, and Jess felt her heart start to race, as words were said that could never be taken back, stripping her of the innocence that had allowed her to see the dear professor's request as little more than a heroic romp through Shadow. He was asking her to kill. To coldly bear the burden of her enemy's dying cries. Not for Crown, but for the sake of her school and all the friends she held dear.
She would take on the burden, of course. There was no question of that. It was a burden she had accepted more times than she cared to remember, answering the King's Call, serving as one of General Eloquin's blackened daggers, helping to purge Erovering of the bandits and slavers that caused such devastation but that, for political reasons, the king could never openly acknowledge lest fractious nobles use it as pretext to demand ever more armsmen for their personal use, which the king would never allow. Far better for Erovering's future tacticians, her Squires of War, to resolve the problems directly and gain much needed battle experience besides. A noble cause, and the lives of many innocent women and children had been saved.
But Jess had paid a price that gazed back at her with sad, hardened eyes whenever she gazed too long at a mirror, so she never did. And for Rens stare at her so frankly, seeing not an idealistic, perhaps eccentric girl, the girl she embraced so eagerly after missions were executed and ugly memories washed away, but seeing her instead as she really was... Jess turned away from Rens's probing gaze. She suddenly felt as if an innocent, idealistic part of her soul had just faded beyond redemption.
"You are both near equal in training to Agents of the Crown, my dear Malek, in all the darker aspects of your craft, and no need to deny it, my lad. This, in addition to being perhaps the deadliest Squires of War Eloquin acknowledges ever having crossed blades with," Rens said. "Certainly the skills master Eloquin taught you two as his prize students, training you both so thoroughly in the arts of sabotage and surprise as well as general mayhem, are far better suited to this most necessary task than sending Lord Hyve's cadre of future knights upon a mission that could well spell their deaths. For in addition to lacking your mastery of the darker aspects of warfare, they have never successfully battled apparitions of Shadow."
Jess caught Malek's troubled gaze, thinking of all the would-be knights in the infirmary at that very moment, knowing Malek was contemplating the same. As hot as her wrath had been, she now saw the Aspirants for what they were. Boys who had been effortlessly manipulated by darkest magic, beloved sons of countless noble families who would die horrific deaths, did they dare try to pursue supernatural foes they would never be ready to face.
“You know there are things I cannot say, my apprentice, for all that our words are perhaps as carefully warded in these chambers as anywhere in the kingdom. Nonetheless, both you and Jess were well trained in the most violent and bitter aspects of war, were you not? Including the importance of making calculated sacrifices. Far better to ruthlessly cut down an unprepared cadre of enemy troops, for example, than to allow a combined force to outflank and butcher your own men.”
All three exchanged a nod, Malek and Jess knowing all too well the stakes in play. "So I ask you, dear Malek, what sacrifice could possibly be too high to pay in the retrieval of this artifact? For in retrieving it, you help to protect your nation and your college both. I, and other parties you both know well, expect you and your shieldsister to do whatever needs to be done to assure the safety of your college, and we will say no more on that matter, save reminding you of the very first of General Eloquin's lessons: Innocence is always the first casualty of any war. And it is a burden I feel most keenly, that such is the price you may both have to pay in helping to protect those you love."
Jess and Malek exchanged a gaze fraught with meaning, instantly communicating all that needed to be said.
"We will do what must be done, Master Rens, whatever the cost, if it helps to protect our home," Malek assured.
The solemn wizard bowed in sincerest gratitude. "Thank you, Jessica, Malek. The college is of course extremely grateful to you both, for
coming to our aid in this time of need, for all that we can never openly acknowledge the deed we so desperately ask of you, or the measures you must take in order to retrieve it."
Rens then turned to Alex, nodding at his favored protégé. “If you would be so kind, dear Alex?”
“Of course, Master Rens,” Alex nodded.
Alex, Jess saw, had already made his way to one of the bookcases and was pulling out several scrolls and a tome he subsequently laid out on a nearby table. Rens gestured for Jess and Malek to follow as he seated himself comfortably on one of the cushioned teak chairs, offering them refreshments from what seemed a magically chilled pitcher of fresh lamb’s milk and inviting them to enjoy the display of cheeses and breads laid out before them on a cutting board.
Jess grinned as her stomach started to rumble, relieved to see that some magic ward had protected the fare from the powdered stone and wood chips that had coated so much of the vast chamber after the explosion. “Thank you, Master Rens. I guess I’m hungrier than I thought,” Jess acknowledged between ravenous mouthfuls.
He nodded in understanding, gazing at Jess so intently she started to blush. “Master Rens, what is it?”
He just shook his head and smiled as he made himself a generous sandwich of his own, munching thoughtfully before speaking. “I’m hopeful, dear Jess. I had the rare pleasure to witness the bout you and Malek had engaged in with near the entirety of your master’s handpicked students. No one, not even Eloquin, had expected the pair of you to triumph quite so readily. And it was more than just your individual skill with your blades. Rather, it was your brilliant coordination of tactics, the way you both complimented each other on that field of battle, even as you were smart enough to steadily retreat, forcing your opponents to come charging after you, then picking them off, one by one, with, dare I say it, almost supernatural precision.” He nodded at this. “With that in mind, and even, dare I say it, having witnessed firsthand your… decisive ability to handle unfortunate arcane mishaps, I am truly hopeful that you and Malek are just what Highrock needs to recover this most precious of artifacts.”
Shadow Knight Page 25
