Edda did her best to maintain her composure, but this was quite the revelation. And it explained the undercurrent of hostility towards them all. These were desperate, angry people. Angry enough to try and assault them, and desperate enough to give it all away to get their people back. No small part of her felt for them, but she didn't let her dispassionate expression fall.
Nerthus, to her credit, was equally as stoic. She simply nodded and waved for the serving girl to bring a round of drinks. The silence at the table spread to the entire room, and Edda noticed that everyone in the packed inn was staring at them. Things could get ugly quick. She had a sinking feeling that it was almost a certainty.
“You won't believe me,” Nerthus said, folding her hands together on the table, “but we haven't heard anything about this. At all. Would you like to know the real reason we are here?” She paused for a second as the drinks were served. The three people were silent, and didn't reach for theirs, but Nerthus sipped hers. “We are actually a rescue team, on a mission to recover our own people. Now, you say you discovered our spy. What was the spy's name?”
“Lor,” Ceith, the sandy-haired man spat. “Bylin Lor. He had made copies of the housing unit used in the crystellium experiment. We found out before he was able to send them to you.”
Nerthus nodded again. “Okay. Okay, good that helps. You found Lor. He was posing as...an iron smith, correct? He was one of ours, yes. His name was Acorn, actually. But something tells me you didn't suspect our second agent, right? Janice Helly? Did you suspect her?”
The three Union members drew in sharp breaths, their eyes wide.
“Janice was one of my assistants,” the older woman, Maria, said. Her voice sounded weak, Edda thought. These revelations were taking them by surprise. “Gods help me. She disappeared the night of the explosion.”
“You're piking lying if you expect me to think that Helly was a spy,” Ceith growled, but the fire had left his voice. “She was also the piking labor organizer.”
“Helley's workshop was where the first explosion happened,” Kylin whispered.
“Well, I have news for you,” Nerthus said. “They were here to help you. Some of your people were going in interesting directions a few years back, but you refused Consortium help. So we sent them in, posing as independents. Yes, they were going to copy and steal what they could. I’m not going to lie about that. But kidnapping, arson, and murder are not what we do.” Nerthus' voice was iron. “The last report from any of them was a little over a week ago. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. In fact, we were given no report of any breakthrough at all. Hells, if you really did find out Acorn's identity, Helly would have gotten word to us much sooner, or vice versa. Don't you see? My brother, sister and I, plus our help are the search party sent here to find our people. We had no idea of anything else that's been going on until we got here and heard about the explosion. Why would so few of us come here if we knew how hostile this place was, that these types of things have been going down?”
“You're lying,” Ceith said. “If you think that we-”
Edda rolled her eyes. Ceith was really grating her nerves. She preferred it when she was allowed to threaten and beat him. “Where are your mages? Weavers, wizards, whatever you call them here?” she asked, stopping him short.
Ceith stopped short, his face drawn up in confusion. But then something dawned on him, and he looked very concerned. “Oh no,” he whispered.
“What do you mean?” the Maria asked.
“Our brother Cecil is a Weaver from Tethis,” Edda said. “He has been trying to get in touch with them since we arrived, but they are nowhere to be found. As in they aren't in the piking city. If they were here, you'd have been able to figure out who really did this. When was the last time you spoke to one of them?”
“Well-”
“And why hasn't the City Watch been doing anything? Gods, if you really think we did it, we should have been placed in chains the moment we got here. The Consortium has plenty of rivals. Your Union and Bellkeep would have no lack of allies if you chose to take action. Just what have you people been doing?”
“We've been in hiding,” Kylin said, anguish in his voice. “There have been three different attacks at just my holdings alone. Maria here is in a similar situation,” he said, gesturing to the older woman. “All of our workshops, our homes, all of them have been ransacked, with people missing or taken. We are being hunted. And the Watch doesn't seem to care. They just stared at us whenever we begged them for help, like they’ve taken some blasted vow of silence.”
“Surely the Council here will hear you, right? Or at least someone higher up?”
The older woman, Maria, shook her head in frustration. “The Council isn't to convene again in a month, and none of the other Council members will see me or return my messages.”
“What about Felix Titus?” Nerthus asked. “Surely the patron of the Guild would have time to hear you out?”
“A few days ago I actually went to the Keep of the Bells to see Lord Titus himself, to appeal to him for help, but I couldn't do it.” Her lined face twisted in shame. “I sat in the Grand Chamber waiting for him to see me, and I...I got scared. I was alone, you see. And, well, there were so many people walking past me, staring at me, whispering that...I ran as fast as these old bones would carry me.”
“Captain Gustav has been no help either,” Ceith said. “He told me that the Watch couldn’t be bothered with cleaning up after, and I quote, ‘meddlers playing with what they shouldn’t’. I’ve considered going to Knight Captain Garrey. He has a few hundred men barracked at the Garrison Gate, but I just...haven’t worked up the nerve to make the trip.”
“But you made the trip to see us,” Nerthus said, her eyes going to the door. “Why us and-oh.”
The common room, it’s usually loud atmosphere a muted hum, went silent as the front door closed with a loud banging sound. Edda turned her head to follow her partner’s gaze and saw Clyde and Egveny walking in. Egveny’s face was paler than usual, and it looked like he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Clyde had an arm around the large, soft man, and led him around the tables and up the stairs of the inn. He caught Nerthus and Edda’s eyes and gestured upwards with his head. All of the people who had followed in the three guild members watched Egveny and Clyde walk up the stairs, mixtures of hostility, fear, and confusion in their eyes.
“Ah, if you will excuse us for a moment,” Nerthus said, sliding her chair backwards. “We must see to our brother upstairs, but we'll return shortly.” The three guild leaders looked like they were about to protest when Edda cut them off.
“I’d wager you’re safer here than anyplace else,” she said to them as she rose. “You’ve got a lot of friendly faces with you, solid walls, and us staying upstairs. Make yourselves comfortable here for a bit.”
Without waiting for a response, Edda followed Nerthus up the stairs, taking them two at a time. They found the men in Egveny’s room. He was sitting at his table, worry etched across his soft face, while Clyde was preparing a drink of some kind from Egveny’s luggage. When he saw them enter, Egveny did his best to compose himself, taking his hat off absentmindedly.
“Ah, good of, I mean, glad to see you too,” the Weaver stammered, his voice weak and unsure. He trailed off for a second as Clyde set down a plain clay mug in front of him. Egveny stared at the mug for a moment, then shuddered before downing the entire contents of the mug and slamming the mug to the table. He made a few retching sounds, but kept the drink down. He handed the mug back to Clyde. “Now from the blue and yellow vials. Half and half this time.” Clyde said nothing as he took the mug back and went back to his work. Egveny dabbed at his mouth with his sleeve before continuing.
“I take it your walk was...eventful?” Nerthus asked.
“It was certainly...enlightening,” Egveny said, his voice still hollow. “We, ah, we need to get out of this city. Right now.”
“Why?” Edda asked, joining him at the table.
&nbs
p; “This whole city needs to be destroyed. Well, no. Or, yes, wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.” Egveny took a second to compose himself before explaining. “So, I brought the wards down last night, which opened up the city a little more. A very few spots, namely the Mage’s Circle hall and Lord Titus’s estate, are still blank to me. But the rest of the city is exposed, so to speak. Clyde and I wandered around while I gathered what information I could. It is...bad. Bad bad. First we walked to the warehouse district, so I could get a sense of what you ran into last night. The Town Watch had almost the entire section blocked off, but I was able to weave together a few methods of detection. Whatever those crystals were that you told me about, the blue ones that were radiating cold? They are primal, corrupting objects. I’ve seen similar things before, but not on this scale, using so much raw power.”
“What was happening in there?” Nerthus asked.
“The people hanging…” Egveny quieted as he steeled himself from another drought of the mug Clyde placed in front of him. He kicked the drink back like an old sailor and fought off another wave of shudders. “Anyone who stays in proximity to these blue crystals for extended periods of time will eventually be...I suppose ‘hollowed out’ is as good a term as any. The crystal leeches away the mind and spirit, leaving the body alive and intact to be used as a vessel. That coldness you were experiencing wasn't climate, it was the power of those crystals leeching your life force away.”
“Why do they need the bodies? Why turn them into empty vessels?” Edda demanded, her own fears of being manipulated rising to the surface.
“Any number of things. Another human essence, a wandering spirit, plenty of beings would love to have a host body prepared for them in such a way. This is the sort of monstrous perversion of the Art that Weavers like Leonid are tasked to destroy. Given enough time, this...corruption can spread throughout an entire community. Like it has the City Watch.”
“Wait, what?” Nerthus asked, dropping to the bed. “You mean Bellkeep’s City Watch are all possessed by some kind of monster? Is that why they haven’t spoken a word to anyone for days?”
“Basically yes,” Egveny said at length. “Or at least many of them. The others have begun taking preliminary rituals. Their aura's are all...skewed. There are...beings that require a vessel to interact with the world around them. Some of them need help possessing such a vessel. It would appear that whoever is behind this is preparing a veritable army of bodies to be possessed. For whom or why, I have no idea. What I do know is that we have some time before the number of corrupted people becomes an impediment to our escape.”
“How?” Nerthus asked, her voice muted.
“It will take some time for whatever is inhabiting the body to learn how to use all of its functions. Basic motor skills will be easy. More complex tasks such as coordination and speech will be later, if at all. If the bodies even last that long. Some types of spirits use human or sifar bodies as little more than a chrysalis, a shell for protecting their true form as it develops within, eventually bursting through the flesh whenever they cannot be contained any further.”
“Piking hell,” Edda mumbled. “That may explain all the bandages and straps on those...things.” Her eyes suddenly went wide as realization struck. “Oh no! Does that mean Acorn and Janice are already...possessed? They're both in the next room over.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Egveny said. “But they won’t ever be who they were before. There’s still a little bit of them left as it were, if it makes you feel any better. Given some time, they may possibly wake up and have some measure of a life again, but I doubt they’ll ever really live again.”
“So we go back to the warehouse tonight,” Nerthus said. “Blast it to oblivion with sorcery and fire, and then get the hells out of here. We can escape on a canal boat from the docks and avoid the city entirely. We have to do something there. This shit has to stop before it spreads.”
Egveny shook his head. “It’s too late for that,” he said quietly.
“We found almost thirty other places like the warehouse from last night,” Clyde said, sitting down at the table as he set a third mug down in front of Egveny. “Some of these buildings were more than twice the size of Logun’s warehouses. And all of them were swarming with City Watch. Or whatever it is that's wearing their bodies.”
“Meridia’s Grace,” Nerthus whispered. “There could be thousands of those blasted things.”
“That isn’t even counting those who are already up and running,” Egveny said glumly. “We should assume all of the Watch has been converted one way or another, and are able enough to blend into the populace somewhat.”
“And whoever is pulling these lute strings is doing it awfully well,” Clyde said. “Most of the more elaborate locations Eg was able to detect were at locations not owned by Horace Logun. His warehouses may just be the first stop in this plan.”
“Felix Titus,” Nerthus said, acid in her voice.
Egveny nodded. “It does seem to make sense.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we find some seriously piked up stuff in his basement tonight,” Nerthus said.
“Wait...what?” Edda sputtered. “Nert you heard Eg, we need to leave. We have to get back to Tethis and let the big guns figure out how to handle this. I don’t want to stay here and let some demon wear me like a...like some cheap jacket!”
“That’s a horrible image,” Clyde muttered, his usually impassive face glum looking. “Now I really want to leave too.”
“Oh, I agree,” Nerthus said. “We leave tonight. But we are still going to Titus’ party before we go. It may be the only chance we have of getting a good look at just what the hell he did to start this madness.”
“Yeah, and it’s also probably a trap that we won’t be able to get out of!” Edda exclaimed.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Egveny said, “but I agree with Nerthus. If we are to get the Praetorians back in Tethis to act, we need more proof. Right now, all we really have are the husks of Janice and the Acorn boy and my word on how bad things are going here. Nothing concrete enough to convince the Praetorians to move against a neighboring country. Especially not with Melcara breathing down their necks in the East. We need more. Much more, possibly one of those crystals from the warehouses.”
“Then we go back to the warehouse, not into the spider’s lair!” Edda exclaimed.
“Ah, but whatever it was Titus wanted from the guilds is no doubt in his mansion,” Egveny said, an almost eager tone in his voice. “It’d be beneficial to see where this all started. Whatever the results of the crystellium research project, they must be tightly connected to what is happening. We need to not only destroy these threats, but understand how they came to be. Besides, we are invited, right? I’m, uh, not the most tactical thinking person here, but that means we will get inside without too much difficulty.”
“Yeah, true. But it’s the whole getting out, escaping alive bit that really interests me,” Edda said. The fire was dying in her protests though. She knew Nerthus and Egveny were going to get their way. She may as well embrace it. The Weaver smiled weakly at her before he chugged down the third mug, a thick fluid similar to tree sap encrusted itself around his mouth.
“Eg, just what the hells are you drinking?” Nerthus asked.
“Just stoking the flames,” he replied, smacking his lips together. Edda swore he saw an honest to goodness gleam in the Weaver’s eyes. “Don’t you worry about our escape Edda,” he said, a new strength in his voice that hadn’t been there before. “I’ve got it handled.”
“Okay. Okay,” Nerthus said, her eyes closed. She began rubbing her temples as she thought. “We need those people downstairs to come with us,” she thought aloud. “Not to Titus’s place, but back to the Dominion with us. If we can’t find proof of what they made for Titus, they will have to tell the Praetorians.”
“We can get them to hunker down here,” Edda said. “They brought a decent group of people with them, who I’m sure are a
rmed. We go do our thing at this party thing, ride like hell back here, load as many of them up as we can, and get back to the Dominion.”
Nerthus opened her eyes and smiled. “Sounds as good a plan as any to me. Now, gentlemen if you’ll excuse us, we ladies have to begin to primp and beautify ourselves. I intend to look ravishing as I topple whatever demonic conspiracy is going on here. Go and give the guild people downstairs the plan. Tell them everything. And let’s hope they choose to come with us.”
“Oh, and Egveny?” Edda called out as he and Clyde rose to leave. “If you wear that gods awful hat tonight, I will set it on fire myself.” She flashed him her sweetest smile, and she stifled a laugh as he both smiled and looked alarmed at her threat. It’s always been her experience that joking around, generally raising everyone’s spirits helped before a dangerous mission.
Too bad she wasn’t nearly as humorous as this idiocy required.
Chapter Sixteen
The Outriders raced through the tree dotted plains on their horses in hot pursuit of their target. Johan had worried that once they left the forest they’d lose track of them, but the trail left by Kinnese’s group had been easy for Toma and Ryker to follow, especially after finding the place where their Weaver’s teleportation spell had dropped them down. They had found the spot just outside the forest where the golden light had reappeared. All of the grass and plants had been flattened as if a large, round weight had pressed down on them. The soil had been smoothed over as well, which made it simple for Toma to follow the confused bootprints left by their quarry.
“We did a number on them alright,” Toma had said, gesturing to the mud. “Look at these prints. These heavy boots must be from Kinnese. See how unsteady he is? Guy almost fell down before he got to his horse. And over here, these are almost definitely a woman’s shoe prints. Almost as clumsy as Kinnese was. If they are this banged up, we should be able to ride them down easily.”
Chasing Down Glory: The Outrider Legion: Book Two Page 27
