The Crown and the Key

by Andrey Vasilyev

  “I don’t think the dark army is even going to stay in the city,” I jumped in. “They don’t need it. Everyone’s dead there, and it’s been defiled, with the fortress either destroyed or burned. Once that’s done, they’ll leave; they don’t have anything else to do there.”

  “I agree with Hagen,” Florence said. “They will set up a guard, though, with the specific intent to kill inquisitors coming back from missions. They’ll want to kill us when we least expect it.”

  Gunther smiled. “Well, you know how guards are; one day they’re here, the next they’re gone…”

  “No,” Florence said sternly. “The city fell once, and it would fall again. It was cursed by the Lords of Death and the blood of my people. I’m not going back.”

  “Well, here’s what I can offer you,” I said, trying to be tactful. “Would you agree to stay with me temporarily?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked with a frown. “If you’re offering protection because you feel sorry for us…”

  “What does that have to do with anything? I’m a friend of the Tearful Goddess Order, practically even family. Von Richter and I are basically twins—just see for yourself how similar we are. You’re family to them, what with all the centuries you’ve spent working together, and so what does that make us?”

  Having spouted that nonsense, I watched the college head’s face with interest. He thought for a second, chewing on his lip. It didn’t look like the old guy was used to asking for favors…

  “One other thing,” I said, deciding to set the bait and reel him in. “You’ll be helping me, too. I got started on this one war of triumph, of course, with only the most righteous of intentions—we need to get this one guy on the throne and married to my sister. What was I talking about? Oh, right. I have a large village as my headquarters, where I have my main garrison, but I have another, smaller village that’s practically unguarded. I would put you there. You can catch your breath, rebuild your strength, collect the survivors, and, while you’re there, protect my villagers. Everybody wins, no?”

  Martin stroked his beard. “Well, that’s an acceptable proposition. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s a fair one. I won’t doubt the purity of your intentions, although, you certainly have your ends in mind. That’s perfectly fine, however. The college accepts your offer, Thane Hagen.”

  You received +25 friendship with the Rattermark inquisition.

  Your clan received +20 friendship with the Rattermark inquisition.

  “That’s excellent,” Romul said, throwing a sack over his shoulder. “I’d really like to get out of here; it’s making me nervous.”

  “Children,” Florence said to the young inquisitors, “you understand what we need to do now. Take care of yourselves and your brothers.”

  “How are we supposed to find you?” asked one of them. “And where are we supposed to send everyone else? Lots of them have never been to the Borderlands, so they’ll have no idea where to look.”

  “You don’t have to go anywhere,” I cut in. “Let’s make it simple: every day at noon, one of my people or I will drop by this ravine. Your job is to collect everyone here, and we’ll get them where they need to go. Sound good?”

  Martin looked over at the short, bug-eyed inquisitor. “Bernier, I want you to go to Toulon. When you find our people, tell Ranien where we are. He’s been all over Rattermark, so I’m sure he’ll be able to find us.”

  The inquisitors nodded. Old Florence gave each of them a hug, and then called over the boys and the cook, who’d curled up under some bush and looked about ready to go to sleep. I opened a portal.

  You completed a quest: Save the Head of the College.

  Reward:

  2000 experience

  700 gold

  +15 friendship with the Rattermark inquisition

  Additional reward for saving several other inquisitors:

  1000 experience

  Title: True Friend to Inquisitors

  The additional reward was a bit skimpy, though it was better than nothing. It wasn’t what was most important, anyway—I’d picked up a lot of fascinating information, and I hoped to leverage it. Oh, and there’s no point waiting any longer, I guess.

  ***

  I turned to the old man, who was looking around with interest. “Hey, Martin—”

  “Hagen, who did you drag in this time?” Krolina asked as she cast an appraising look over the head inquisitor’s slender figure. “The local Santa Claus? Saint Nick? Ah-h, I know who it is!”

  “Who?” Florence said, smiling tenderly at the wild girl.

  “You’re Noah!”

  “Who am I?”

  “Noah,” she said, her fists planted firmly in her sides. “This isn’t a village, and it certainly isn’t a clan. It’s a damn ark we’re bringing all the different creatures into two by two. And what would an ark be without a Noah? So, there you are, all white-haired and with that long beard!”

  “Allow me to introduce myself, my dear child,” he said. Then, he started listing his titles, and I was happy to see her face change as she started to realize who I’d brought to visit.

  “Good afternoon, mm…” Kro clearly didn’t know what to call him.

  “Monsieur Florence,” I whispered.

  “Monsieur Florence,” she said, giving him an alluring smile and a gesture that somehow told him she was delighted that he’d stopped by.

  “Pay your respects, my dear,” Florence said, rubbing his temples wearily. “As of an hour ago, the Inquisition ceased to be a power in Rattermark, and all that’s left is what’s in front of you. Well, almost all of it.”

  Kro looked at me; I nodded and made a face to say that the old guy really was going through some bad times. She flashed him another blinding smile and continued sweetly.

  “Strength isn’t what’s important. What’s important is that there are people you respect regardless of how strong or weak they are. Please, accept my deepest esteem, Monsieur.”

  “Very smart,” Florence said with a glance at me. “Is this your woman?”

  “She’s my right hand.”

  “Marry her. Your children will be both beautiful and smart, a rarity in our time.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Okay, everything’s wonderful, but we need to go,” Florence said, rubbing his hands. “Don’t be offended, but I need to see where the remainder of my people are going to be staying.”

  “What do you mean?” Krolina asked. “You aren’t staying here?”

  “Alas, fair lady…” The old man snapped his fingers.

  “Krolina,” I said. I guess my job is just to remind everyone of what everyone else’s name is.

  “Alas, fair Lady Krolina,” Florence said. “I asked our mutual friend to house me somewhere apart, somewhere quieter. I need to think, and it looks like it’s very noisy here.”

  He was certainly right about that. Things were much noisier—the Northerners were yelling at each other, with and without reason; the locals were chattering away, trying to figure something out; the builders working on the order’s guardhouse were pounding on something, and a murder of crows had even been attracted by all the commotion. It was awful. Maybe, I should move to the little village with him. I was also starting to realize what Abigail had against me—it had been much quieter before I got there.

  “That’s a shame,” Krolina said. “It really is. I’ll be sure to visit you, though.”

  “I hope you will,” Martin replied gallantly, even doing something with his eyebrows.

  Krolina stepped away, and the inquisitor gave me an approving look.

  “Bright girl, that one. Careful, though—you won’t even notice her biting your head off until the job is done. I’d take my advice and marry her if I were you.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on my head. Actually, there are so many people like that I have to be careful of, I’m going to go crazy.”

  “That’s life,” Florence sighed. “This morning I was sure the college was e
ternal, with nobody out there capable of taking us on. And look at us now.”

  “Power always meets power,” I shrugged. “That mysterious character in charge of the undead has the upper hand now, but we’ll knock him around soon.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be that simple,” he replied, shaking his head. “I’m not sure it’s even possible. We missed his ascent, lost out on our chance, and now we’re paying the price. We aren’t the only ones, either; very soon, everyone in Rattermark will have to decide how and with whom they want to live.”

  “How soon is ‘very soon’?”

  “I’m not sure. He still hasn’t amassed his full power, that’s for sure, but he only needs a few more months for that.”

  “What if we all combine forces and…” I brought a fist down on my palm, expecting a quest to pop up. My guess was mistaken, however, to my great surprise.

  “Who are you talking about?” the old man asked with a crooked smile. “We were divided over many things even in the peaceful years, and it’s too much to ask everyone to unite now. Plus, all the omens pointing to the return of the Departed Gods, the signs that some of them already walk our lands… It’s too late to change anything—all that’s left to do is prepare for the battle that will decide the fate of the continent.”

  He was a pessimistic old guy, but that was fine. At least, he knows plenty. I made a mental note to have a chat with him later when I got the chance.

  “What about that Dark Lord? What do you know about him?” There was no harm in knowing that type of thing. I could trade the information, sell it… There was lots I could do.

  “Almost nothing,” Florence said, again rubbing his temples. “He appeared, almost out of nowhere, a little more than a month ago, and he was immediately surrounded by a core of unhuman leaders. They were waiting for him as if they knew he’d be coming. There were a few times he fell into our traps. But he always slipped out of them, a couple times even disappearing into thin air or melting into the ground. There wasn’t any magic, either!”

  “Then, he went from the defense to the offense.”

  “Exactly. Today he made another move, wiping the residence of the Inquisition off the face of the earth. He’s no longer a king for the children of the night; he’s a demigod.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Not at all.” Florence swayed, and I jumped over to hold him up, asking if he wanted to sit down.

  “There’s no time for that,” he shot back sharply. “You still haven’t told me, though. Why did you come to visit us in the first place?”

  “I finished the quest de Blassi gave me. He was actually who I was going to see. I used the spell that says where the parts of the sword are, and I got the paper. I was supposed to give it to Gilles to read.”

  “He’s almost certainly dead,” Martin said sadly. “When everything started, he was in the city.”

  “May he rest in peace,” I said, scratching my nose. “So, what am I supposed to do?”

  “Show me the document. I’m really the one who gave you the quest—Gilles just passed it on.”

  I pulled out the paper I’d gotten after using the spell over the old witch and handed it to the inquisitor.

  You completed a quest: Go, Find, Learn.

  Reward:

  1300 experience

  +11 friendship with the Rattermark inquisition

  Inquisitor Cloak

  Something fell into and rustled around in my bag, presumably, the cloak. Excellent.

  Florence shot me a searching glance. “What about the witch?”

  “She couldn’t live through a humiliation like that. She’s dead.”

  Additional reward for killing old lady Goud:

  Faith and Strength, a permanent blessing given by the inquisitors

  +2 to wisdom

  +2 to strength

  +3% wound regeneration speed

  “It’s nice doing business with you,” the inquisitor said gently.

  “Oh, right,” I replied, clapping myself on the forehead. “Wait here one second.”

  I ran over to the hotel that, for some reason, had appeared overnight.

  A few minutes later, I came back to show Martin the sickle I’d grabbed on Faif Meadow.

  “Oh, that’s a bad little thing,” he said with a cluck of his tongue. “You shouldn’t have even touched it—probably picked up a curse, right?”

  “Nothing too bad, I guess. Otherwise, I would’ve heard about it a long time ago. There was something about witches and hired killers…”

  “Oh,” Florence said with some relief, “that’s not a curse. You just need to be a little more careful.”

  “A little more?” I exhaled.

  “It’s okay.” The scythe disappeared rapidly under the inquisitor’s robe. “Romul, come here.”

  The treasurer, who had the same sack over his shoulder, came over to Martin.

  “You probably pulled whatever was most valuable out of the treasury,” the inquisitor said in a tone that didn’t brook any backtalk. “And, needless to say, you don’t have the right to take the treasures accumulated by the college for yourself, so you really should be strung up from the nearest tree.”

  Romul squirmed and glanced quickly around, looking to see where the best escape route was.

  “But I’m not going to do that,” the old man said with a smile. “You saved us today, and so whatever you took from our stores now belong to you. Well, except for two things.”

  “Which?” the treasurer asked quickly.

  “That, I don’t know. Hagen can stick his hand into your sack and pull out two things—one for saving us, and another for killing the witch. Don’t think I’m being selfish in only giving you two things,” he continued, directing the last part at me. “If fate wishes to reward you, you’ll pull out the two things worth more than a hundred others.”

  “Sounds good to me.” I stuck my hand into the sack Romul immediately slipped off his shoulder and presented to me.

  The first two things I felt were rings. And, no matter how much I rummaged around in the sack, I couldn’t feel anything else—there was no fooling the program.

  Pulling my hand back out, I opened it to see one ring with a crimson gem and another with a green gem. There was no point putting off the inevitable, so I checked them out and grunted happily.

  One was for archers—solid, elite, and with all the right attributes: agility, marksmanship, and all the rest. The second…

  Alb Defender Ring

  A ring that once belonged to a defender at Alb, the fortress that held out the longest against the Dark during the War of Hatred.

  +30 to strength

  +20 to stamina

  +6% to strike power

  +12% chance of disarming your opponent

  –5% damage done to your weapons

  –5% damage done to your armor

  +3% life energy restoration speed

  Minimum level for use: 65

  That’s quite the ring! I was more than happy with it.

  “What about the document?” I asked Florence, who was watching me with a smile on his face.

  “Come see me tomorrow. I’ll have looked over it by then.”

  “The day after tomorrow. I can’t tomorrow.”

  “That works,” the old man nodded. “Whatever you say. And now, I’m exhausted, so tell me where we’re supposed to go.”

  It was true—at his age, he’d gone through an enormous amount of upheaval for one day. Really, his life had been turned upside down. He was a strong guy, though, and I was confident that he’d bounce back.

  Then, I realized that I couldn’t take the old man, his cook, or anyone else to the other village for one simple reason: I’d never been there, myself.

  “Kale!” I called to the young man. He was working on his swordsmanship under the watchful eye of von Levenvald, and I was impressed by how he was always on the lookout for something to do. I’m going to need to acknowledge that somehow. “Kale, come here, pl
ease.”

  He ran over. “Yes, Laird?”

  “Do you know where my village is? The one I’m also supposed to be in charge of?”

  “Glenn-Strad?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Of course,” the warrior nodded. “I’ve been there.”

  “Excellent,” I exhaled in relief. “Here are two scrolls—take my friends there and get them settled. If the villagers give you any trouble, tell them I’ll show up myself, and with all the Northerners—not just five of them. As soon as you’re done, head back here. Got it?”

  “Absolutely.” Kale bowed to Florence. “Good sir, as soon as you’re ready to go, just give me the word.”

  Well, that was very cultured of him.

  “Monsieur, there are a few Northerners living there,” I said to the old man. “If anything happens, you’re welcome to give them orders.”

  Martin nodded and looked at the treasurer, who was getting ready to head out, as well.

  “Where are you going, Romul?” he asked coldly. “I don’t have a fortress or a treasury, so sorry.”

  “But what about me?” Romul asked in surprise. “Where am I going to eat?”

  “I have no idea, except that it won’t be with me. I don’t need you anymore,” Martin replied before leaving with Kale.

  Romul dropped his sack to the ground and scratched his head. I thought to myself, too. Could I use someone like him?

  He beat me to the punch, however. “Thane, could you find a use for me?”

  “Maybe,” I replied. “I should warn you, though, that we have a simple solution for thieving servants here in the Borderlands: we just sew them up in a sack without any warning and drown them in the outhouse. See that guy on the porch?”

  Flosi had already appeared on the porch, apparently, having just woken up. He had a nice hangover, he was wrinkled, his face was red, and his beard was unkempt. As he looked around, he scratched himself inappropriately.

  “That’s the guy who drowns them.”

  “Really?” A thoughtful looked flashed across the treasurer’s eyes, though he did come to a conclusion. “That’s about thieves; I’m integrity itself.”