by Andrew Rowe
“Can he even tell? I mean, does he sense the passage of time when he’s not summoned?” If he could, that implied a degree of consciousness, even in an unsummoned state. That was...strange.
Sera seemed to come to the same conclusion, based on how her face contorted as she considered the answer. “He always sounds like he’s complaining about how long it’s been...but maybe that’s just his personality. I can’t see how he could be keeping track of anything unless he’s summoned.” She shook her head. “Anyway, not important right now. We can worry about the details of summoning theory later.”
“Right.” I was curious, though. “Okay, you summoning him right now?”
“May as well. We’ll probably be in a static location for a while. It shouldn’t take him long to scout the next ten miles or so of the road.”
Kyra nodded. “I concur. Go ahead.”
Sera clasped her hands together. “Vanniv, I summon you.”
The winged man of stone appeared at her side a moment later.
He was notably taller than last time. Meaning, of course, that he was back to being human height.
I admit to having been slightly disappointed. The tiny Vanniv was adorable.
“Ah! Excellent. You’ve finally decided to make use of me.” Vanniv beamed, glancing around. “What have we here? A forest, a few lovely maidens?”
“Fewer maidens than you’d think, karvensi.” Kyra replied. “Unless you’re talking about yourself.”
“Ooh, I like this one. She’s got bite.” Vanniv turned his head to Sera. “Can I keep her?”
Sera folded her arms. “Vanniv, don’t be creepy.”
Vanniv put a hand over his heart. “Creepy? Banish that thought from your mind, dear. I am the epitome of wit and charm. One should not mistake my debonair—”
“Quit it.” She poked a finger into his abdomen. “We’re on a timer here.”
“Aren’t you always?” He glanced around, then took in a deep breath. “Very well. I can appreciate the change of scenery, at least. What is this, Vanway?”
Sera nodded. “Surprised you know that.”
“Unlike some people, I have a broad body of experience. And a broad body in general.” He flexed his wings. And his muscles.
It was strange that his body moved like flesh, even though it seemed to consist of stone-like material. How did that work? Did he have ordinary muscles beneath that hardened skin?
I pondered that briefly while Sera filled him in on his assignment.
“Very well. I shall miss you while I’m away, my Summoner. And you as well, Miss...”
“I’m not telling you my name.” Kyra replied.
“That’s an unusual name to go by. Can I call you ‘Not Telling’ for short?”
“Just go, Vanniv.” Sera waved a hand. “Shoo.”
Vanniv rolled his eyes. “Always spoiling my fun. Very well, I’ll be off.”
He took a running start — which was entirely unnecessary, as far as I could tell — and jumped into the air, his wings beating and taking him into the sky.
With that distraction dealt with, I debated talking to Sera about what I knew. Unfortunately, Kyra was still with her, and Kyra was the single most likely person to be a Spider in my mind.
Kyra was both powerful for her age and had the Shadow attunement, which was the classic skill set for an infiltrator. Moreover, she was making executive decisions for her team in spite of not officially being the team leader.
Perhaps that was just an assertive personality at work, but it was certainly possible she was manipulating things deliberately so that the Spiders would have an advantage.
The fact that Sera was sharing information with her so openly was a concern.
Could Sera be a Spider herself?
It felt unlikely to me. I had a hard time believing any of my friends could have gone this far into the year without telling me something like that.
But Sera had always been ambitious and goal oriented. She had a keen strategic mind, even when we were young. Could someone have discovered her talents before the year started and selected her for the Spider Division?
Or maybe I was looking at this wrong — could Spiders be selected later in the year? Even if she hadn’t been a Spider at the beginning, could she have been tapped for that role later on?
That would have made it more plausible that she hadn’t told me, especially if she’d only been selected recently.
Anyone I wanted to share my information with would be a risk. But it was a greater risk if I shared with someone who I considered better at social games and manipulation than myself. Sera definitely fit that, more so than anyone else here.
That meant that in spite of feeling closest to her, she was the most dangerous person to confide in.
Was that risk worth the potential for her help?
I didn’t know.
How could I verify if she was a Spider or not? Or anyone else, for that matter?
The simple answer was that I needed to get ahold of everyone’s paperwork. They weren’t allowed to share, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t steal it.
There were a couple problems with that plan.
One, I wasn’t a trained thief. Basic tactics like doing it at night weren’t beyond me, but everyone would be on their guard here.
Two, if they were Spiders, they could have destroyed their orders or even altered them.
Three, their orders may not have ever contained anything to out them as spiders in the first place.
Those points made trying to search through everyone’s paperwork a risk that had a high potential for turning up nothing.
But it was still my best lead, at least for the moment.
What could I do to improve my odds?
I looked around, considering everyone present.
Was there anyone I could trust implicitly? No.
Was there anyone that would be extremely useful if I got them on my side for this activity?
It was the person my eyes never quite settled on — the person my mind seemed to be forcing me to ignore — that was the right answer.
If I hadn’t been deliberately going down the team list, I wasn’t certain I would have even thought to approach him.
The effects of the Mesmer attunement were subtle. It wasn’t like the brute force effects that we’d trained against.
I was able to resist the mental effect by deliberately purifying my mana and converting more of my mana into mental mana, but only once I was actively aware I was being influenced.
If I hadn’t been aware of Jin’s attunement, I wouldn’t have thought to do it at all. That made it terrifying.
It also meant he had a tremendous advantage in this exercise — if he was on my side.
I started to walk toward him uncertainly.
A hand settled on my arm, stopping me along the way.
I flinched at the sudden contact, turning to find Roland next to me.
He raised his hands in a gesture of apology. “Sorry, Corin. Didn’t mean to startle you. Can we talk a bit?”
I took a breath to calm myself. “Yeah. Sure. Talk.”
“In private?” Roland waved to a section of trees away from the path.
“Yeah. Sure.” I took another breath. Roland walked off the path, and I followed him.
My eyes scanned him again, my attunement activating instinctively.
Nothing on him was immediately alarming. No hidden magical weapons under his clothes.
Still, I couldn’t be too comfortable with him until I knew what his skills were.
Maybe now was the time to find that out.
We walked for just about a minute before he stopped. Even with that slight distance, we were deep enough in the trees that everyone else was out of sight.
I walked to stand a few paces away from him. Far enough that I judged I could easily draw my sword before he could reach me, unless he was even faster than my haste spell was.
I tried to sound casual, but my breath was ragged with nervousne
ss. “What’d you want to talk about?”
Roland tightened his jaw, looking displeased. “I have a secondary assignment, but I can’t complete it alone.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “And you’re asking me...why, exactly?”
He sighed. This clearly wasn’t a comfortable conversation for him, either. “Let’s just say I have a strong indication that you’d be the right one to help.”
“Unfortunately, ‘let’s just say’ isn’t going to be good enough for me right now. I have a secondary assignment, too.”
Roland nodded. “I suspected as much. This appears to be some sort of trust exercise.”
So, he’s got a piece of the puzzle, too, even if it’s not the same one.
I can work with that.
“I gleaned something similar from my own orders. Unfortunately, they also give me a disincentive to share information with people unless I know I can trust them.”
Roland raised an eyebrow at that. “You’ve known me since we were kids, Corin. Of course you can trust me.”
I shook my head. “I mean within the context of this exercise. Although, frankly speaking, I don’t know you very well anymore. We’ve barely spoken in years.”
“I...suppose I’m at fault for that, at least to some degree. We should definitely talk about that. But maybe not right now?” Roland shook his head. “Someone is going to get suspicious if we’re out here too long, and I have a feeling that conversation could take a while.”
“Agreed. For the moment, let’s focus on these assignments. Can you share anything with me about what your paperwork says?”
“Very little. I have a high number of restrictions on what I’m allowed to say and do.”
I frowned at that. It could easily imply that he was a Spider himself — and he was a good candidate for that, given how much he’d been missing throughout the year.
But it wasn’t the only explanation, and I wasn’t going to let myself get trapped in thinking about the first option I’d considered. “Okay. What can you tell me?”
“My orders told me to find the Enchanter with two attunements and discover their mission. I wasn’t aware you had two attunements, but I know you’re an Enchanter. There are other people who it could be, but I know you, so I’m starting with you.”
Dangerous to confirm that, but it’s common knowledge within my group. If he doesn’t learn from me, he’ll probably learn from someone else, unless I can communicate for them not to.
“I’m most likely the one you’re looking for. I’m not telling you my mission without some confirmation that it doesn’t interfere with mine, though.”
Roland nodded. “Understandable. Thank you for that, at least.” He turned to leave.
I blinked. That had been...abrupt. “Hold on. What’s your own attunement?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Not allowed to say. But if you do happen to find out, I’m allowed to use it around you.”
That was an obvious nudge to figure it out on my own. Unfortunately, even with my own attunement active, I couldn’t see what his mark was. It was under his clothing somewhere. Most likely the center of his chest, from the glow I saw from that area — unless he was wearing something under his clothes.
His legs were glowing, too, though. That might have meant he had a Leg Mark, or maybe he was just wearing magic boots. The sheer number of auras on him made it hard for me to tell — and that was probably a deliberate effect.
“Can you tell me which attunements you don’t have?”
Roland smiled for the first time I could remember seeing in years. “That’s a very you question, Corin. But no, I’m not allowed to imply my attunement, either. Sorry. Wish I could make this easier for you.” He shook his head. “Let’s head back. The others will be wondering about us by now.”
He sounded sincere enough, but I had to question his goals.
I thought about it more as I followed him back.
The closest thing I’d heard to a restriction about discussing an attunement was Sera’s contract with Seiryu. I hadn’t studied Summoners extensively, but it was hypothetically possible he had a similar contract with an even greater restriction.
But it didn’t sound likely.
More likely, this specific assignment had instructions not to disclose his attunement. This was clearly a trust exercise — as well as an information gathering exercise.
But even more likely than that answer? He was forbidden to discuss his attunement in general, even outside this test. Just restricting him within one test was a nearly pointless exercise — almost everyone knew each other’s attunements by this point in the year.
But Roland had never disclosed his, even at the beginning of the year. And he’d never shown it off, even during dueling classes.
That strongly implied the restriction predated this test.
So, what possible reasons were there for that?
The simple answer was that Spiders were instructed not to disclose their attunements. If he was a Spider, that was a simple conclusion to draw.
But it wasn’t the only one.
Jin had hidden his attunement because it was a foreign one — and not from a nation that he wanted to be associated with.
Roland was a Valian native. That meant he probably had a Valian attunement...but it wasn’t a guarantee.
Derek had an attunement from Dalenos. It was expensive to take a trip to another country and get a foreign attunement, but there were some advantages. Notably, both Dalenos and Edria allowed people to take attunement exams at a younger age.
That was why Jin was as powerful as he was, and it was probably a good part of why Derek was already an Emerald. Dalenos offered Judgments starting at thirteen — so, four years earlier than in Valia.
Roland was just a little older than me.
My mother had started taking trips to Dalenos to climb their spire a few years ago. Roland had been a part of her household.
Could Roland have gone with her and taken a Judgment at a younger age?
That would have explained a great deal. If he’d taken a Judgment three years ago, he could be around the same level of power as Jin and just hiding it in the same way.
I was beginning to suspect the entire monster-infested forest was just a backdrop for an intelligence gathering activity.
Or, of course, maybe I was just overthinking all this. I had a tendency to do that.
We got back to the wagons. I fetched some food from my pack, ate quickly while pondering my next move, and then settled on my original approach.
I found Jin standing at the border of the woods, eating in silence.
I walked over to him and pulled my water skin out of my pack, offering it to him.
It was the one that provided an endless supply of drinking water, so I wasn’t exactly wasting anything.
He accepted it with a raised eyebrow, taking a quick drink before handing it back to me.
I took a breath. I was so bad at this. “Thought we could talk for a minute.”
“You would technically be correct.” He took another bite of his meal — a sandwich that appeared to consist of nothing but two slices of bread and a piece of cheese wedged between them.
I chuckled. “I, uh, not about us. About the mission. Or, rather, additional missions.”
He frowned, though whether it was at the world’s most boring lunch or my words was hard to judge. “Go on.”
“I could use your help with something.”
He took another bite. “Clearly. Why else would you approach me?”
I folded my arms. “Right. First thing you can help me with is not being dramatic.”
“But it’s part of my charm.”
“No, being brooding and mysterious is part of your charm, not being dramatic. Wait. No, you’re not tricking me into complimenting you.”
“Too late.”
“Resh.” I narrowed my eyes. “Okay, Jin. We’re not dealing with interpersonal things right now. Mission stuff. Focusing now.”
“Of course.”
He was clearly enjoying teasing with me. I was not going to fall for that.
Probably.
“Okay. So, I have a secondary mission that involves gathering information. You can go almost completely unnoticed.”
“Almost?” Jin made the slightest smirk. “Think you’re underestimating me.”
I hated how much I liked that smirk. “Right, clearly you’re an impossible to detect Emerald-level Shadow. Let’s go with that. I have two assignments for you, oh-great-bastion-of-invisibility.”
“I take it that at some point you will tell me what these assignments are.”
“I’m getting to that. Ugh.” I refused to be flustered. It was ineffective. “I need you to find out what Roland’s attunement mark is. It’s probably on his—”
“Diviner.”
I blinked. “What?”
“He’s a Diviner. The mark is on his right leg. He wears enchanted pants to obfuscate the aura. I figured that out ages ago. What else?”
My jaw moved, but no sound emerged.
“Take your time.”
I sighed. “Show off. Okay, fine, why’d you figure that out?”
“Is that important?”
“Maybe.”
“I was sizing up the people who were in your inner circle for anyone who might be able to work through my Mesmer attunement. I noticed that he was the only one who wasn’t disclosing his abilities in conversation. I asked Patrick, who didn’t know either. I had Patrick ask Sera. When she didn’t know, I had to find out myself. That was more complicated and I will save you the details.”
I suddenly had an image of Jin trying to find an opportunity to catch Roland without his pants. I laughed, and that helped me feel a little bit better. “Okay. That’s fine. It’s good information. Great, in fact.”
It didn’t tell me if Roland was a Spider, but if I could trust Jin’s word on the subject — which I probably could — it meant that I had a pretty good idea of what Roland was capable of.
And it wasn’t a foreign attunement. I’d probably just been overanalyzing that one.
Still, it was refreshing to know he was most likely going to be a similar level of power to ours. That meant it’d be easier to counter him if he did turn out to be an adversary.