“The same people he named to me and Suri last night,” I said. “Why don’t you think he told us about this council of his?”
Matthias pursed his lips. “He has been clandestine, because it is not the sort of policy that will be readily approved by the lords of the land. You must remember that a king’s rule is not absolute - it depends on the loyalty and consensus of his vassals, and they are nearly all older than he is. Besides that, you and Suri are foreigners, and I doubt he sees any reason you should know.”
“Huh.” I took a moment to digest it all. “If we’re right, and they’re being murdered according to the virtues, the first three men were killed in defiance of the virtues of wisdom, honor, and courage. My bet is that Father Erik’s murder was a rebuke of hospitality.”
“Yes. Leaving discipline, self-reliance, and honesty,” Matthias finished.
“Yup.” I grimaced. “What is Andrik trying to do?”
He turned his extinguished pipe in his hand. “The gist of Andrik’s plan is this: he wants all the smiths in the country to be press-ganged into the clergy. That way, they would be oath-bound to be his eyes and ears in the provinces. He wishes for the Church to become the sole trader of metals and other products in the land, so that he can indirectly control the production of farming equipment and weapons. He also wants to deport every Meewfolk and force Mercurions into indentured labor. Given that he has been building our army and increasing the numbers of Khorsian faith-militant around the country, one can only imagine how he plans to execute this.”
“That’s, uhh, awfully totalitarian of him,” I replied. “Why does he have such a hate-boner for non-humans, anyway?”
“His Majesty claims it is because it is because of the scandal that caused his brother to commit suicide,” the priest replied. “Andrik did not originally wish to become king. His elder brother, Ignas, had been groomed from birth to take over from their father. He was well-suited to the role. Ignas was a tall, sober, serious man, not prone to excess or frivolity. Despite this, he was a great patron of the arts and sciences, open-minded and wise, and supportive of our diverse polytheistic traditions. It was known that he would be an excellent king.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And you’re sure this guy killed himself?”
“They recovered his body and held a state funeral for him. I wasn’t there to see it, but I have no reason to suspect foul play, given the nature of the scandal that triggered it.” Matthias shrugged.
Why? What did he do?”
“It is a stakeable offense to discuss the details of Ignas’ fall,” Matthias replied primly. He glanced at the walls. “Quite a bit more serious than my speculative gossip.”
“Oh. Well... So, how about Matir, then? Because getting staked is definitely on the ‘Top Ten Ways I Don’t Want to Die’ list.”
Matthias laughed. “And fair enough, too. Anyway... you mentioned that the Black God has summoned you to Myszno. It is the Eastern-most province of Vlachia, nestled at the base of the Falker Mountain Range. The Range separates our southern border from the desert nations of The Shalid. What I have heard at court is alarming. The province is effectively under the control of some undead robber baron.”
“Fantastic,” I said flatly.
“It is a great embarrassment for Andrik. Our army has been sieging the borders of the ruined land, but to no avail. Surely another reason he is trying to consolidate his power through religion,” Matthias continued, gesturing expressively as we approached the end of the cave and broke out onto a bridge across a small, steaming chasm. Glowing mushrooms lit the walls with soft blue light. “Still, when you told me that was where you were headed, I immediately knew why.”
“Why?”
“Matir loathes the undead,” Matthias replied. “They are an affront to everything he stands for. Myszno was also the site of one of the few immigrant worker towns in Vlachia. It was a Tuun settlement, actually, and the Tuun who survived have been passionate opponents of the monsters who have blighted the land. They have also been effective opponents, mostly because they host several of the Kara Ay Tuugandar.”
It still felt weird that I understood that. The Kara Ay Tuugandar were the Brothers of the Dark Moon. Warrior-monks... worshippers of Burna, the fly-headed god, who was an aspect of Matir. “They’re the order that produces Baru, aren’t they? Those doctor-assassin-midwife monks?”
“Indeed. There are about twenty of them holding the line against this vampire that has taken over the place. They say one Baru is worth fifty normal soldiers.”
I reached up to rub my jaw. “That has to chafe the Volod’s panties a bit... knowing that foreigners are holding off an undead invasion.”
“Yes. Though they are human, so...” Matthias rubbed his forehead nervously. “It is the Meewfolk and Mercurions he despises. Anyway, I’d advise you to keep this information to yourself until the Volod willingly divulges it. I have good reason to suspect that the female Mercurion you spoke of, the apprentice, is correct – that her master is being blackmailed by someone who is opposed to a theocracy under a barren king and an iron-fisted Church of the Forge Father.”
“Well, my lips are sealed,” I said. “Anyway – heard about the plan for tonight?”
“Do zla boda,” Matthias muttered. “Yes… I am going with you, as is Ur Kirov.”
I mimed a little jig. “You sound about as excited as I am.”
The priest’s mouth flickered with a sneer, but then he sighed. “When I left my country to travel and teach, Andrik had only been Volod for half a year. Now… I believe that he does not possess his brother’s acumen. He is putting himself and the lives of everyone at the auction – not to mention the kingdom – at risk by making this big scene.”
“Not going to try and talk your way out of it?”
Matthias shook his head. “Of course not. I am a capable mage, and the High Forgemaster and my king have need of me. I will be there. Though… I have an odd request for you.”
“Oh?”
He pressed his lips together in a thin line. “From what I overheard at court this morning, you and Ur Kirov have been assigned to guard the Voivode together. His Majesty wants Suri by his side – I shall give you one guess as to why – and I shall be assisting the Forgemaster. I would like for you to watch out for Kirov.”
I frowned, confused. “Watch out for him? He’s like… nine levels higher than me.”
“Perhaps. But he has a naïve streak,” Matthias said. “And while I count him as a dear friend, I fear he is overconfident about the wisdom of His Majesty’s plan. Unlike you, he cannot come back to life if he perishes…”
“I get it,” I said. “And sure – I’ll keep an eye out for him. You guys saved me and Karalti back in Bryos. I owe you one.”
Matthias smiled and patted me on the arm. “You owe me nothing, rytier. You are the caretaker of a very special young Solonkratsu and have already been indispensable. But come – let us break our fast together. I suspect we will be more likely to live out the day on full stomachs, don’t you?”
Chapter 25
The first thing I did after leaving Vulkan Keep was buy a stock of herbs for health potions and a new weapon. The need for improved steel was kind of irrational, given that Baldr was now the literal fucking ruler of Ilia, but upgrading my gear made me feel better. It was kind of like buying comfort food, but the comforting part went into other people’s bodies.
The best spear I could afford was the unfortunately named Alpha Rod. Yes, really. I wasn’t sure exactly who had named this thing, but whoever they were, they definitely had something on the brain when they entered the item description:
Alpha Rod
Common Weapon
Slot: Two-handed
Item Class: Weapon
Item Quality: Excellent
Damage: 121-130
Durability: 100%
Weight: 3 lb
Special: +2 Str, Critical Hit Damage Bonus +8%, chance to Stun +1%
A thick spear with a large blade.
The silver ash haft is firm and silky to the touch.
The Alpha Rod easily had the best stats out of anything in the local weapon store, but the woman staffing the counter leered at me knowingly as I took the girthy polearm in hand. “Here you are, sir. And if you use our weapon to bring in the Slayer of Taltos, will you recommend us to the Volod? It would be a great honor for my father, the smith.”
“Oh, absolutely,” I swung the polearm a couple of times, testing the balance. “I’ll be sure to give His Majesty a blow-by-blow description of how I reamed the Slayer of Taltos with my new Alpha Rod.”
Karalti waited for me outside, surrounded by a crowd of awed NPCs. She was hamming it up for them, strutting back and forth and accepting worshipful offerings of food and coins. Some of the dragon groupies were praying.
“Thank you, thank you,” she was making a rare broadcast to the gathered faithful. “The emissary of the gods accepts all offerings of fish and tasty meat-kebabs! Extra blessings for lamb!”
“Okay, ‘Emissary of the Gods’, time to saddle up,” I muttered, reaching up to clap her on the shoulder. A few people gasped.
“You dare touch the sacred draak!?” A plump nobleman in purple silk and a spiffy hat took a step forward, a hand on the hilt of his rapier.
“She’s my dragon. Don’t make me smite you, for in my hands, I wield the mighty Alpha Rod.” I wrapped a hand around the rope harness I’d made as a temporary saddle and pulled myself up as Karalti crouched down. As I hauled myself onto her back, I felt a familiar itch just before a yellow ‘water’ drop icon began to flash out the corner of my eye. The fucking Pee icon. “Ugh. Why does this game tell me when to pee?”
“Wat?”
“For some fucking reason, there’s this HUD icon that alerts me to the need to relieve my bladder.”
“Well, if there wasn’t an alert, how would you know?” Karalti bobbed her head goodbye at the flash mob congregation and nosed through them. NPCs gasped and reached out to touch her as she passed. I had the passing urge to kick their hands away, but they weren’t doing her any harm.
“It’s just so arbitrary,” I said. “For one thing, why do I have to pee in a video game anyway? For another, the pee meter could have filled at the palace in the morning, but no. It has to be here, in the middle of the street. And I don’t think Taltos has any public toilets.”
“So you just get your thingy out and pee on a wall. That’s what the other man was doing.”
I rolled my eyes skyward. “I’m not a fucking animal, and I’m not pissing against walls in the middle of the goddamn street.”
“You are too an animal! Humans are made of meat, like everyone else.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re an apex predator.” I groaned aloud. “Literally everything you say sounds like something a serial killer writes on his holiday cards. Now give me a second. I have to message Suri.”
“Okay.”
First, I checked for a reply from Rin, again. She was still a dead signal. I searched my map for her icon, but came up blank. At a loss, I sent my trusty Beserker companion a voicechat invitation. To my surprise, she actually picked up.
I decided to kick things off in a mature note. “Hey gurrl. How’s it goin’ over dere?”
Instead of speaking, Suri sent me back a couple of emoticons in our HUD window: a giant middle finger and a dog. I actually laughed out loud.
“No, in all seriousness though,” I replied. “We should probably make a game plan for tonight. You know as well as I do that it’s going to be a screaming howler monkey shitshow. The Volod’s answer to ‘suspected terrorism’ is to try to bait Kanzo out into a situation where all the prospective targets can be massacred at once. Because video game mission logic, I guess.”
“Okaaay. Well, I’m dress shopping right now. Can we vid-chat after I’m done?”
I didn’t know what was funnier: that Suri was out dress shopping, or that she didn’t know what a video game was but still used words like ‘vid-chat’ without any sense of recognition or irony. “You didn’t ever strike me as the dress-wearing type. I can join you, if you’d like?”
“I’m the ‘wear whatever the fuck I want’ type. And no. At best, you’ll be bored shitless.”
“Aww, come on. I love going shopping with the girls.”
“I shop alone. You can see the dress at the auction.”
“Don’t worry, I’m just teasing you. Do you happen to know if Taltos has a civilized man’s toilet available to the public?”
“No. But I’m sure you can drop into the Armory and they’ll make you a diaper.”
I sent her the middle finger emote this time.
After weapons, our second stop was the saddlemaker’s – except that when we got to the entry to the Tanners' District, it was closed. No fewer than ten guards were lounging outside the portcullis. Two of them were riding hookwings. There were also three large mastiff-type dogs lounging in the shade. For the time being, they didn’t look particularly ferocious.
“Let’s see how that Negotiation skill is levelling up.” Annoyed, I rode up to the guards, tapping Karalti so she turned side-on to the small crowd of men. “Excuse me, sir. I need to get in there to do some trade with one of the locals. King’s business.”
The guards eyed me warily. Only one of them spoke up. “No one’s allowed in or out of the silverskins’ ghetto. That’s our orders.”
“Are your orders flexible?” I asked, with a wince.
“I’mma set the gate on fire if they don’t let us in.” Karalti pawed the ground, wings and crests rising. “I want a proper saddle.”
The guards looked the posturing dragon, then at each other. The first man nodded. “Ten rubles says they’re flexible for the likes of you.”
“Ten? You’d skim ten rubles from the agent of the Volod and the Emissary of the Gods herself?” I pointed angrily at Karalti.
“Heresy!” she squawked aloud.
For a moment, they all glanced at Karalti uncertainly, and then, without another word, one of the guards turned around and unlocked the winch that turned the portcullis.
“Good hustle, Tidbit.” We watched them work, and when the gate was open enough for her to slink underneath, I flattened myself down against her back and we went inside. The portcullis came down a lot faster than it went up. It hit the ground behind us with a rattling boom.
The Tanners’ District was now a ghost of itself. The neatly paved streets were nearly empty, and all of the industry we’d seen during our stay with Rin had vanished, locked away behind shuttered windows and closed doors. I felt like we were being watched from the narrow row houses. Human soldiers hung around the main intersection in tight cliques, staring suspiciously at the few Mercurions who were outdoors. Those Mercurions were taking no chances: they wore concealing cloaks, broad-brimmed hats and their signature masks. They had hunched shoulders, and their heads swiveled to track us as we passed by.
Guilt crushed me down like a cigarette stub into an ashtray. I knew, technically, this mess wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t even entirely condemn Andrik for wanting to protect his people and consolidate his power as a feudal king… but like a cigarette, the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.
“I really think Rin is right about Kanzo,” I remarked to my dragon. “That Kanzo is being blackmailed and he’s being forced into this. But… damn, Karalti. I don’t know if I did the right thing by helping her run. She could be out there, making bombs or some shit, and it’s my fault if she is.”
“Yeah, it is.” Karalti replied cheerfully.
I scowled. “Gee, thanks.”
“Nuh-uh. You decided Rubber Lady didn’t do anything bad, and if she did, then you were wrong. And that’s okay.”
“Is it, though? The NPCs – I mean, the people here – basically have real feelings and real suffering. I feel like I’m in over my head. I’m too dumb to work this shit out without a quicksave function.”
Karalti hissed through her side teeth, making a pitiful sound like a d
eflating balloon as she shook her head. “Stop saying that. It’s not true. You’re not dumb.”
“I sure as hell feel like it.”
“My blood sings the song of Pride, the Words of creation and destruction,” she replied testily. “The clanmates I choose to link my blood with are not stupid.”
The sudden sharpness - and maturity - that I heard in my dragon’s voice jolted me out of the confusion and self-pity that was creeping up on me. Karalti sounded so... adult.
“You’re right. I’ll try and think myself out of this hole later.”
I took us by Rin’s shop, and my heart fell when I saw the state of it. The door had been smashed, and what little we could see of the inside was trashed. Two burly Joh Mercurions loomed beside the entry. They wore sleeveless leather brigandine armor and carried wickedly sharp javelins. Their silver teardrop masks were identical, the mana swirling with sigils that gathered into the image of a single eye with a spiral pupil.
“Stay back, sang’hi,” one of them called as we came to a stop. “And keep moving. You are not welcome here.”
“I’m Rin’s friend.” ‘Friend’ seemed like a bit of a stretch, but I cared about her. “I just wanted to know if she managed to get out-”
“That is none of your business. We are protecting the Master Crafter’s goods. Bat’haxalta et’.” The other one jerked his head toward the street.
“Righty-o. Well, you gents have a lovely day,” I said. Karalti bristled, but I shook my head and twitched my heels against her ribs, signaling for her to keep walking.
“These guys must be keeping their spare javelins up their asses,” I said to her. “Not that I blame them.”
Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset Page 58