Unlike the enchanting chamber, which was wisely bare of anything expensive or hard to replace, the rest of Master Kelton’s home was furnished with expensive paintings, rugs, wall hangings, sculptures, and more. It was too ostentatious for Xandra’s tastes, but it wasn’t her home or business. However, there was a waiting room with several chairs, which Xandra suspected was likely for the staff of the nobility and merchants he normally entertained.
She stepped into the warm room, more braziers providing light that was reflected by mirrors to fill the room, and Xandra saw Naomi stand up, worry on her face until she caught sight of Xandra. Then the young human’s face shone with relief, and she spoke up.
“Ah, you’re done! I was getting worried, with how long it was taking,” Naomi said, adjusting her robes nervously. Her holy symbol that depicted a phoenix was on display today, unlike when they’d first encountered one another, and the young woman looked a touch less martial than she had before, as she wasn’t carrying her staff.
“It was delicate work, so it took longer than I hoped,” Master Kelton said, sounding far more polite now that he was speaking to Naomi. Xandra gave him a sidelong glance, but kept her sarcasm to herself. It was rather difficult.
“Yes, it did. Thank you for waiting, Naomi. If you would give the man his payment?” Xandra asked, looking at the young woman as she smiled. “I would like to ensure the bargain is carried out to the letter.”
“Oh, of course, of course,” Naomi said, her cheeks coloring as she opened her belt pouch, revealing a couple of sacks that Xandra recognized. She pulled them out, leaving the pouch all but empty, and offered them to Master Kelton. “Here you are! Five hundred crowns, blessed by the church!”
“The temple supplied these?” Master Kelton asked, looking a little taken aback.
“Well, Xandra did ask me to be the arbitrator between her and you for this, so… yes? We took the payment and processed it according to city ordinances, so that you could be sure you were getting what you agreed to!” Naomi replied, smiling brightly at Master Kelton. “I thought it was an excellent idea!”
Master Kelton looked at Xandra, and she smiled back at him, growing still more satisfied, since he didn’t have a leg to stand on if he tried to claim she’d cheated him. She wasn’t certain that he would, but if he had planned to, she took pleasure in ruining his plan. Laws could easily be turned to one’s benefit if someone was careful. She’d learned that from her contract.
“Yes, I agree. Please convey my thanks to the temple,” Master Kelton said, giving a half-bow to Naomi. “Also, please let your superiors know that I would be quite interested in finding a way to remove devices such as the collar if they decide that it needs to be studied.”
“Hm? What? I’ll certainly convey your thanks, but… what do you mean about the collar?” Naomi asked, looking at Master Kelton, then at Xandra. She looked rather confused, which was a common state for her, as far as Xandra was concerned.
“I intended to destroy the collar, but our host disagreed with that. As I do not trust anyone to not misplace or misuse items such as this, I decided to donate it to the temple. I strongly recommend it be destroyed outright, but should the temple decide it would be useful to learn how to remove them safely, it is their choice. And their responsibility, should they foolishly allow someone to steal it, or worse, allow someone to replicate the enchantments,” Xandra said, a slightly scathing edge to her voice that caused Master Kelton’s smile to grow more brittle. Naomi’s cheeks flushed, but she nodded.
“That would explain it! I… well, you will forgive me if I do not care to touch the accursed thing, but I believe that the Head Inquisitor will be happy to take it off your hands,” Naomi said, looking at the collar with distaste and a hint of fear. “I’m sure that he’ll make an appropriate decision regarding it.”
“Good,” Xandra said, and turned to look at Master Kelton. It took her a moment to realize that she’d turned her entire body, rather than just her head, but she shook off her internal chastisement so she could speak. “Thank you for your assistance, Master Kelton. I will take my leave.”
With that she turned toward the door and walked away quickly. Xandra was amused that he didn’t reply, at least not verbally, but she heard Naomi quickly follow her.
Xandra stepped out onto the city streets and glanced upward once, and immediately regretted it. With the collar on, she hadn’t been able to look straight up, and today the air was exceptionally clear, with most of the clouds toward the horizon. That meant she could see up into the endless sky, and coupled with how her head felt like it might roll off her shoulders at the slightest breeze, it caused a surprising amount of vertigo. She fixed her gaze back on the ground, pausing until she had stabilized again, then started down the street.
“Why are you so rude? He helped you, didn’t he?” Naomi asked, quickly catching up to Xandra.
“I don’t trust him. He seemed far too eager to get his hands on the collar,” Xandra replied, continuing down the street at a steady pace. She didn’t know the city well, yet, but at least she knew the way to the temple. She found it ironic that the city was ruled by the temple, though there were noble families as well. She didn’t quite understand how that worked, but wasn’t willing to bother trying to research it.
“You don’t trust anyone, it seems like! If you weren’t so mean, maybe we wouldn’t be watching you all the time,” Naomi protested. “Besides, why would he want it, anyway? What could he do with it?”
“I trust no one, not even myself. I made some exceptionally stupid decisions when I was younger, and look where I ended up. If I’d trusted all of you to get out without my help, you’d also have been stuck,” Xandra replied flatly, ignoring the look of a shock on the face of a passerby at her tone. She supposed that most locals didn’t dare talk to the clergy of the Phoenix Queen like that, but she wasn’t going to mince words because of their delicate sensibilities. “As for what he could do with it? He could make less obvious copies that nobles could use on indentured servants. Loan sharks could put them around the hand of a debtor and if the person didn’t pay… oops, there goes a hand. Even if it didn’t happen here, it could easily happen elsewhere. Not to mention the nations that own slaves. Wouldn’t they adore a device that would take off the head of a high-value slave if they tried to escape?”
Naomi fell silent, and when Xandra experimentally looked to the side, and nearly tripped in the process, the priestess had gone pale. It made her smile slightly, as she turned her attention back to the road.
“I… suppose that would be bad, yes. I don’t think Master Kelton would do that, but if he did… that would be terrible,” Naomi said at last, revulsion in her voice. “I’ll… I’ll talk to the Head Inquisitor about it.”
“Good,” Xandra said, continuing toward the temple at a brisk pace. She wanted to get the collar into the hands of those too weak-willed to use it, then go back to her inn room.
They were almost halfway there before Naomi ventured, “What are you going to do now? That’s everything that you had planned, isn’t it?”
Xandra almost laughed. Oh, how innocent the priestess was… and how clumsy her inquiries. Still, she didn’t care enough to avoid replying, so she explained, “I have a few vague memories of the time before I was enslaved, so I think I’ll go investigate them. I believe I’ve found where I lived, as it’s a familiar location on a map, so that’s where I plan to travel to. With any luck I won’t die, and it’s only a few weeks away at most. Days if I use teleportation platforms, but part of me would like to see the landscape along the way. I will have to decide which, assuming your church allows me to leave the city.”
“You are dangerous. I saw what you did to those demons,” Naomi said, swallowing audibly. “I don’t think anyone in the church could have done that. You’re really powerful.”
“I was powerful,” Xandra corrected. “The spells I used were fourth and sixth circle, if memory serves me, and casting them crippled me. It would have taken days fo
r the damage to heal, and without my ability to regenerate, I’d likely have lost my arms permanently. Right now I’m barely able to cast first circle combat spells without causing damage to myself.”
“Maybe so,” Naomi said, a little breathless now. “Where… are you going?”
“A valley in the Eldwall Mountains, on the border of the Republic of Jirr and the Stone Expanse,” Xandra said, frowning slightly as she thought about them. “I seem to recall there being two kingdoms there at one point, but as I said, my memory is hazy.”
“I’ll let them know, and they’ll get back to you,” Naomi said, her breathing coming even harder now, after a few seconds the human asked, “Do you have to walk so fast?”
“Exercise is good for you. If you can’t run for long periods of time without magic, one day it might get you killed,” Xandra retorted, and the young woman let out a soft whimper.
Xandra didn’t slow down, but at least Naomi stopped complaining.
Chapter 8
Jasmine sat on the balcony and sipped her tea, feeling better than she had in several days. That wasn’t hard, since the past few days had each been filled with the curse-breakers undoing aspects of what had been done to her. Mostly the mental changes, including a slight submissive impulse she hadn’t even known had been planted.
She still felt hot a lot of the time, like she needed to be touched, but the impulse was incredibly muted compared to when she’d first reached the temple, and the curse-breakers were planning to continue adjusting it until she was comfortable. Most of the changes had occurred over the course of about a day, which meant they’d been solidly in place by the time she’d reached the temple. Based on some of the things that the curse-breakers had said, Jasmine was incredibly glad that she’d been rescued when she had. She didn’t want to be addicted to a demon.
Even so, some of the things they were doing weren’t as precise as anyone would like, since they only had portraits that showed her face, not the rest of her body. They were primarily waiting for Jasmine to decide what to do about the physical changes, since they would likely hurt quite a bit to undo, and she wasn’t sure if it was worth going through that.
Still, Jasmine found herself restless, as she wasn’t allowed out into the city, and she couldn’t do much. She’d seen everyone but Xandra over the course of the week, and Alora was looking much better than she had, especially after being given a new sword as thanks for her assistance. Adrian, Naomi, Vanreth… all of them seemed to be happier. Jasmine just wondered why she wasn’t happy. That was part of the reason she was on the balcony, looking at the gardens. The bright colors helped her mood, as did watching the gardeners doing their jobs.
The knock at the door startled her, but she turned her head toward the sound, considering for a moment before she spoke. “Yes?”
“It’s me, Lady Alexis!” Naomi called out brightly, her voice muffled by the door.
“Come in, then,” Jasmine said, smiling at the sound of the younger priestess’s voice. Naomi was a little young to be a full priestess, but she was remarkably powerful for her age. It was part of the reason Jasmine liked her so much, as she was also one of the more enthusiastic, friendly priestesses. Besides, if she remembered correctly, today Xandra had been going in to have the collar removed, with Naomi’s company.
The door opened, allowing Naomi in, and Jasmine smiled, gesturing to the seat across from her, noting that the priestess was carrying a small sack. She spoke warmly, looking at the sack curiously. “Take a seat if you’d like. Would you care for some tea?”
“Yes, thank you! I stopped and got some sugar cookies to share, since I remember you like them,” Naomi replied happily, quickly approaching, and her explanation brought a smile to Jasmine’s face.
“That’s quite thoughtful of you! You really didn’t have to, you know,” Jasmine said, feeling much happier as she turned to pour another cup of tea. Fortunately, the acolyte who’d come by earlier had left three spare settings, so she didn’t have to find another.
“No, but I wanted to!” Naomi said, setting the bag on the table and pulling out a package of carefully wrapped white fabric. She unfolded it to reveal a dozen large, dark cookies, their tops speckled with brown sugar crystals. The sight of them made Jasmine’s craving for them still stronger, and she barely avoided overfilling the teacup in her distraction.
“Those look lovely. I haven’t had one in… a few months, I think. They’re a rare treat, so thank you very much,” Jasmine said, setting down the teapot and sliding the saucer toward Naomi.
The younger woman took the tea with a smile, immediately picking it up to take a sip, and her smile grew still wider as she let out a happy sigh, nodding in appreciation.
“You always get the best tea! But you’re welcome! I saw the shop, and remembered how you stopped by there every few months, so… since I had a few coins from Xandra, I thought I’d get you something,” Naomi said, settling back in her chair.
Jasmine laughed, nodding in appreciation as she took a cookie. They required molasses, which wasn’t made near Lothdar, so she couldn’t indulge in them nearly as often as she’d like. She took a bite and closed her eyes, savoring the flavor for several seconds. Like always, they were perfectly cooked and oh so flavorful. Eventually Jasmine swallowed and opened her eyes, pausing to clear her throat.
“So, you mentioned Xandra gave you some money? I take it she got the collar off?” Jasmine asked. The question caused some of the happiness on Naomi’s face to fade, to Jasmine’s dismay… which she covered by taking another bite of the cookie.
“She did,” Naomi confirmed with a nod and a sigh. “Then she insulted Master Kelton and brought the collar to the Inquisition to be studied or destroyed. She didn’t trust Master Kelton not to misuse it.”
“Really?” Jasmine said, her eyebrows rising slightly, then she shook her head. “Well, I suppose that after that long in the hands of demons, anyone would stop trusting others.”
“Maybe. I just wish she’d stop being so mean and rude,” Naomi muttered, obviously sulking. “I don’t know why I’m one of the people who has to keep an eye on her!”
“Because you know her, as much as is possible,” Jasmine said placidly, trying to soothe Naomi’s nerves. “If I could do it myself, I would.”
“I don’t know why you would. She’s just…” Naomi began, waving in the direction of the city, then let out frustrated growl as she couldn’t come up with words. “You and Adrian both!”
“Adrian is fascinated by her magic, and possibly with her personally. He’s always had an interest in powerful women, particularly those who are overbearing. Remember Astrea?” Jasmine said, quirking a brow at Naomi. “He was pining after her for months, and she treated him even worse than Xandra does. He seems to think that maybe he can smooth their rough edges or something.”
“Ast… oh, goddess,” Naomi whimpered, flinching as she protested. “I’d almost blocked out memories of her! I’ve never met such an… a… such an insane cleric!”
“Yes, well, gods attract all types, even those we don’t care for,” Jasmine said, trying to suppress her smile. She didn’t succeed, but she tried. After a moment she continued, “As for me… I don’t think she’s as bad as you might think.”
Naomi blinked, opening her mouth, then closed it and deliberately took a large sip of tea. Jasmine laughed, and took another bite of the cookie, taking the time to savor it. Naomi managed to remain quiet for almost a minute before she lost patience.
“How is she not that bad? She’s mean!” Naomi demanded, setting her cup down quickly enough that the tea sloshed around, almost spilling.
“Is she?” Jasmine asked, raising an eyebrow at Naomi, who inhaled, then growled as Jasmine raised a finger and continued. “That was rhetorical, Naomi. Here’s the thing… despite how she may talk, I don’t think she hates people as much as you may think. The only people I’ve heard of her attacking were the demons when we were escaping, and that was entirely understandable. Furthermore, there
’s also the matter of what she did with all the gems that had souls trapped in them. There was no need for her to free them, even if the thought of not freeing them wouldn’t occur to any of us.”
“Well… maybe,” Naomi admitted unhappily, pausing and running a finger around the rim of her teacup.
Jasmine shrugged, considering before she continued, trying to verbalize what she’d been thinking about for a few days. “I think she’s just… worn out. Like she mentioned to Adrian and I, she was worn down by her time in the Domain of Ashen Hopes. She doesn’t give false flattery or go out of her way to be polite most of the time. Yet even if she was evil, I think that her time there has changed her mind about many things. She strikes me as someone who doesn’t suffer fools, and who tries to distance herself from others to avoid being hurt.”
Naomi frowned still more, her finger stopping where it was as she thought, chewing on her lower lip. Eventually she sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just… I don’t like her.”
“You don’t have to like her,” Jasmine replied gently, smiling at the younger priestess. “Just try to keep an open mind, hm?”
“I will. Thank you, Lady Alexis,” Naomi said, picking up her cup again as she sighed. “Who knows… maybe I won’t have to deal with her for much longer, anyway.”
“Oh?” Jasmine asked, her gaze drawn to the side as a dove flew across the gardens. At the same time, she grew a little more pensive.
“Xandra was saying she wanted to go visit a valley up on the edge the Stone Expanse, near the Jirr Republic,” Naomi explained. “She said that she vaguely remembered living in the area, so she wanted to see it.”
That made Jasmine’s stomach clench, and she swallowed. If she remembered right, and she’d checked the history books over the last few days, that was the spot where Xandra had fought the four armies that were part of her legend. It was the last place where Xandra had been unequivocally evil, in Jasmine’s opinion, as there’d been no survivors after any of the battles.
Dusk Gate (Soul Bound Book 1) Page 7
