Trial by Fire: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (Archemi Online Chronicles Book 2)

by James Osiris Baldwin

  “Yeah! Worship me!” Karalti flared her crests up and came to stand beside me, and I jabbed her in the ribs with my elbow. “ACK!”

  “High Forgemaster Agoston Toth?” Suri asked. She put down her weapon.

  The big man looked between the three of us. “Why… yes?”

  I nodded. “The Volod sent us. We hear you’ve been dealing with some murders.”

  Chapter 8

  “Orban was still young. A true prodigy.” High Priest Agoston Toth was just about the least priestly-looking man I’d ever seen. Tall, wide, with a broad heavy face, a neck like a bull, and hams for fists, he seemed to take up most of the room. The small parlor where he had received us was connected to the main cathedral. It had bookshelves and plants, a jug of wine, and murals of dragons, battles, and men working a forge. “I took him under my wing, knowing he would exceed my ability in the coming decades. I looked forward to it. For a man with no children, your students are the hope for the future. Not only was he talented, he always strove to embody the virtues expected of a servant of Khors. The only reason someone would kill him would be to strike a blow against the church, generally, and me in particular.”

  “Did he have any enemies?” Suri tapped her lips with a finger. She sat at the end of the table, one leg crossed over her other knee. I was still standing, mostly to watch Karalti while she happily gnawed on a huge marrowbone in front of the fireplace.

  The big priest spread his hands. They were calloused, and he wore a lot of rings, each one forged of a different kind of metal. “Not to my knowledge. There are the usual arguments and conflicts among the men here, conflicts which are resolved through mediation by senior brothers. A functional brotherhood relies on good communication.”

  “What did you do for him?” I asked. “Andr... His Majesty said you sent him to the Meewfolk.”

  “I did.” Toth bowed his head.

  “Why?”

  He looked down at Karalti, who was making short work of the bone. “The priests and monks come to me with their troubles, and I counsel them. This can be anything from simply listening to their woes through to issuing penance for lapses of duty. They come to me knowing that what I order will be fair and just, and the penance will be in line with the oaths they swore to maintain. Orban came to me not long ago with a confession.”

  Suri nodded. “Which was?”

  The priest sighed. “He admitted to me that he held prejudice against the Meewfolk. He had grown up being told that they are plague-bearers and thieves, and he confessed that he looked down on the catfolk who visit the House of the Maker. Not for any particular reason... a matter of upbringing and simple bias. However, the faith of Khors does not discriminate. It was the dragons, actually, who taught us that all peoples are equal under the sky, and all may seek to uphold the values of Khors and light a fire against the Void. One of the values we uphold is courage. The courage to face fear, and admit when we are wrong.”

  “You sent him on a solo assignment to the ghetto to prove his fears weren’t real?” I rubbed my face thoughtfully, thinking back to Kirov’s description of how his body was found.

  “Yes.” The craggy lines of Toth’s face deepened with sorrow. “I confess I feel some guilt now that this has happened. He was a good man, and so young. He sincerely wished to overcome his fear, and now... now this.”

  Suri spoke next. “What are these values? Are they a code, or less defined?”

  “Khors is a god of principle and action, and he extols seven virtues,” Toth replied. “Hospitality, honor, courage, self-reliance, wisdom, discipline, and honesty. His faithful, whether they be lay or brothers in the faith, always strive to embody these virtues.”

  I glanced aside at Suri, and found her momentarily looking up at me with understanding in her eyes. I nodded a little.

  “Orban was found with stab wounds in his back,” Suri said. “But those didn’t kill him. Someone went to the effort of forcing a live rat down his throat. He choked on it.”

  “Symbol of cowardice,” I said, with a short nod. As I talked, I scanned the room. “The others who were murdered...”

  “One was a tutor to the royal family,” Suri said. “He was beaten to death with a book and a quill.”

  “Yeah. Safe to say that could be wisdom.”

  Toth’s brow furrowed as he listened to us.

  “Father Darko doesn’t fit that pattern.” Suri scowled, massaging one of her hands as she thought. “He hung himself. Nothing fancy or symbolic. Unless he really wasn’t murdered.”

  “No.” Father Toth fiercely shook his head. “No no no... Franz Darko was a ferocious and honorable man. If he desired death, he’d have strapped on his armor and gone into the woods to battle monsters until he could no longer fight. Suicide is a great disgrace.”

  “The opposite of disgrace is honor. That’s the virtue, then,” I said. “Father Darko’s death just wasn’t as... I hate to use the word, but it wasn’t as ‘flashy’ as the other murders.”

  “Yeah.” Suri picked at her lip ring, brooding. “That’s how assassins kill people. Make it look like they did it themselves.”

  “You truly believe this?” Father Toth looked between us. “We thought perhaps someone was targeting us because Khors has… well, because the church is such a strong supporter of His Majesty, I should say.”

  Suri nodded. “What makes you think that?”

  “The Volod is concerned about national security, and after the events in the Southeast and unrest among the non-humans of Taltos, he has focused a great deal of time and money on fortifying our borders and modernizing the army,” Toth replied. “Khors is the god of the fire that protects us against the night and the forge on which we create the tools that feed and defend us. He is also the patron god of House Corvinus, who is said to be descended from him via his human-born son. His Majesty has begun a great push to modernize Vlachia, and has leveraged taxes on the common folk to pay for the weapons, armor, infrastructural components, and siege engines we build. He is training smiths and soldiers under the banner of Khors.”

  “What about the other eight gods?” I asked. “I haven’t seen any big churches like this one here.”

  “There used to be,” the High Forgemaster replied. “But the Nine are the gods of the dragons, not humanity. Of them all, only Khors exalted humankind. It is said he fell in love with a human woman, an artist of great skill, and she bore Taltos - the first prophet and patriarch of our faith.”

  I grunted. “Then it could just be some religious nutcase, but we won’t know until we have a suspect in hand. How does the murderer know who’s breaking which virtue, or who best embodies a particular virtue so they can murder them to make a point?”

  “Duhhh,” Karalti said, chewing on her bone. “They listen. That’s how you learn stuff.”

  “You’re far more likely to be murdered by someone you know than someone you don’t,” Suri said grimly. “My thought is that it’s someone either in the priesthood, or who has a lot of access the Church.”

  Father Toth rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fire and Sky preserve us... I can’t even bear to think of such a thing. But your idea is compelling... though we could simply be applying our ideas to a tragedy which is far simpler.”

  “It’s always a risk, but it gives us something to go on.” I jerked my head toward the room. “Out of curiosity... did you talk to the other murdered men shortly before they died?”

  Father Toth’s eyes narrowed, and his chest swelled. “Are you implying that I might have done this?”

  “No.” I glanced at Karalti. “I’m wondering if anyone might have overheard you talking to them.”

  “Confession and counselling is done in my chambers,” he said stiffly. “But now that you mention it, yes, I did talk with Father Darko and Father Abel not long before they were murdered.”

  “Do you remember what you talked about?”

  “Father Abel came to drink, report on the state of the university treasury, and we played a game of chess. He
was my good friend.” Father Toth shook his head, looking down at his hands. “Franz... he came in to rant at me over some matter of protocol. I don’t remember. Much as I valued him, he was hot-tempered and quick to see insult or transgression where there was none.”

  Karalti might not have been that far off the mark, then. My stomach thrilled nervously. “Anyone else in the office at the time?”

  “No. I receive my subordinates privately.”

  Suri nodded, her mind made up, and stood. “Then we need to search your office.”

  The priest bristled again. “To what end?”

  “There might be some way the killer is listening in to your conversations,” I said. “A painting with the eyes cut out or something. And if they’re using your office to spy on priests and monks here...”

  “You could be in danger,” Suri finished.

  “This is... I...” Father Toth looked at us, briefly at a loss for words. “I... suppose that’s possible, but the temple guards watch the doors night and day. The windows are barred.”

  “Well, Matthias said he thought your killer might be a ghost,” I replied. “Let’s go find out if he can walk through walls.”

  ***

  Toth waited anxiously by the door while we went in and searched. Karalti trotted after me with her bone clamped tightly between her jaws, sticking her head in around me as I peered behind tapestries and paintings. By the way that Suri searched, I felt more confident that she had been either a cop, a soldier, or both before her upload to Archemi. She was brutally thorough, looking in spots most people would miss. Under carpets, inside drawers, and to the High Priest’s dismay, through his papers and then underneath the drawers, which she pulled out one at a time to check.

  “I don’t think there’s really any reason to disarrange my entire study,” the priest objected. He clutched the doorframe while he watched us work.

  “You’d be amazed where people can hide themselves or listening devices.” I swept the room, zooming in on objects of interest, bookshelves, vases. The high priest’s study had a collection of beautiful weapons and forge tools displayed in glass-fronted cases. My HUD highlighted them with glowing blue rings.

  “Best place for a listening device is on the inside or underside of things,” Suri mentioned from across the room. “Drawers, inside electrical outlets, windowsills.”

  “A listening device?” Toth looked even more taken aback. “Is such a thing possible?”

  That was something I wondered myself, but given that Archemi had airships, firearms, and steampunk cars, I was betting the combination of magic and technology meant it was feasible. “Smell anything, Karalti?”

  The little dragon turned her wedge-shaped head from side to side, tail lashing with curiosity. “Smell fire! Aaaannd…big man over there? Annnd… OOH!”

  Two things happened all at once. There was a glimmer of gold light and movement in the corner of my eye; Karalti dropped her bone and then dashed off in a flash of black scales, obscuring my view of the scuttling thing.

  “Ratty! Rattyratty-OWW!” Her mental voice was shrill with delight as she gracelessly slid across the marble floor and crunched face-first into the base of one of the High Priest’s ornate wooden bookshelves. As she scrambled to recover, chomping wildly into the crevice underneath the shelves, it began to tip forward.

  I didn’t even think. I sprinted to her and put myself between her and the bookshelves as they crashed down on top of us.

  [You have taken 25 bludgeoning damage!]

  [You have taken 12 damage!]

  [You are Bleeding!]

  [You have earned a new Feat: ‘When furniture attacks!’]

  Medieval books don’t have soft paper covers. They’re made of wood covered by leather, and decorated with little metal corners. I took a couple of hits to my face as they tumbled out. Straining, blood running into my eyes, I pushed the shelves upright and put my back against them. Nearly 50 HP down the drain for that little stunt. It was easy to see how one of the priests had been beaten to death with a book.

  “You alright over there?” Suri called.

  “Karalti! What the hell?” I wiped my arm across my face so I could see. “What have I told you about chasing rats and not looking where you’re going?”

  “But I got it!” My dragon reared up with the ‘ratty’ in her mouth. “Weird ratty though. Too crunchy.”

  “That’s not a bloody rat,” Suri said.

  She was right. The thing struggling in Karalti’s jaws wasn’t an animal at all.

  It was a machine.

  Chapter 9

  The clockwork bug Karalti held in her mouth looked something like a tarantula with a round speaker device embedded in its back. It was about the size of a large mouse, writhing and kicking with eight needle-sharp legs. Karalti pranced up with it, and was about to offer it to me when it managed to jam one of its feet into her tongue. She squealed and tossed it down onto the floor, where it clattered onto its back, kicking its little brass legs. My HUD flagged it as [Masterwork Arachnoid Artifact].

  “What the hell...?” Suri said. She and Father Toth converged on us, arriving just as the robot flipped itself over and tried to make a run for it. I stomped down and trapped it against the floor with my boot. Despite its size, it was tough; I had to put a good part of my weight on it before the damn thing stopped struggling - and even then, it continued to paddle its feet in the air, whirring and clicking like an irritated insect.

  “By Khors’ breath,” Father Toth said. “That’s an artifact. Mercurion work. It must be.”

  “A Mercurion made this?” I moved my foot so that I was standing on the legs instead of the body. The machine immediately began to struggle, lashing its body from side to side. “Is there a way to turn it off?”

  “You would have to know its command words.” The priest squatted on his heels, absently taking out a pair of tongs from his smithy’s apron. “Let me see if there’s a maker’s mark.”

  I waited until the priest seized the bug around the edge of its carapace before lifting my foot. He held it up as it flailed, squinting at it as he turned it around and around. “Hmm… fascinating. And marvelous. I’ve only seen work of this quality a few times. There is no maker’s mark on it, which I suppose is to be expected for a spying device. But this craftsmanship… it’s superb.”

  Suri grimaced. “You’re right. This is a Mercurion automaton. It has to be. One of those little buggers costs at least a hundred gold on the black market, too.”

  “I’ve never met a Mercurion,” I said. Now that I had a good look at it, I could see that not only was the brass and silver thing tough as hell, it was a work of art. Tiny gears and levers whirled inside its abdomen. The brass was etched with elegant arcane designs. “This would be controlled by an Artificer or a Mage, right? I know next to nothing about magic.”

  “Yeah, an Artificer,” Suri replied. “But look at the materials. Brass, silver, diamonds, bluecrystal mana... that shit’s expensive. Whoever commissioned this has to be rolling in gold. I take it this doesn’t belong to the Church?”

  “It most certainly does not,” Toth replied. “The Temple serves the people by producing staples needed to live a good life. Ploughshares, carriage parts, rebar, construction parts. Swords and armor. We are not Artificers. If we need magic or magitech, we outsource to the Mercurions or a very few human craftsmen.”

  I tapped the round disk on the machine’s back. It made a small, tinny, hollow sound. “That’s a speaker. Someone’s been listening to your conversations.”

  “Given that its got legs, it might not have just been listening in this room,” Suri said. “This thing could move anywhere around in the building.”

  A nasty thought occurred to me then. I pointed at a big glass jar full of what looked like cut tobacco and mimed dropping the bug into it and screwing the lid closed.

  “Of course, of course. Let me... Hmmm...” The priest bustled over to his desk and dumped the contents into an empty metal vase, then brought the
jar back. Suri dropped the spider in, and it began to scuttle around inside. We got the lid on just as it jumped.It hit the lid and began to crawl around again.

  “The other priests,” I said urgently, once I knew it was no longer recording us. “Has anyone come to you since Orban died? To confess their sins, or whatever?”

  He nodded, swallowing. “Yes, though they did not discuss any sins they may have committed. There have been two: Brother Moricz and Father Erik. They came with separate concerns. But they’re under heavy guard-”

  “What did they talk about?” Suri demanded.

  Father Toth hesitated. “I am oath-bound to keep their confidence.”

  “Where are they? Where can we find them?” I asked.

  “Brother Moricz lives in the seminary. He’s an instructor there. Father Erik teaches young orphans how to craft, so that they might have skills after they leave the orphanage and not turn to thievery or suchlike.”

  Suri set her jaw and rolled her shoulders. “Those are in opposite directions. Let’s split up.”

  “I can ride Cutthroat. I’ll take Erik,” I said. “We should party up so we can-”

  “I don’t ‘party up’ with anyone.” Suri shook her head, her scarlet hair flying out from her face, and stalked out the door.

  Quest Update: The Slayer of Taltos

  There are two priests of Khors at risk of being struck down by the Slayer: a seminary tutor in the Temple District, and a crafts instructor who teaches at the orphanage near the Skyport. You must reach the orphanage, quickly!

  [A new location has been marked on your map!]

  Father Toth blinked in confusion. “I thought she was your fellow investigator?”

  I sighed, dismissing the quest update. “Long story. Come on, Karalti.”

  We jogged out of the room, but when I rounded the edge of the door, I was confused to not see anyone outside other than guards, priests, and congregation. I grimaced. I swiped my HUD over and summoned the ‘Known Players’ list to message her. When I bought it up, there was no ‘Suri’ listed there. The only names were the players I’d met at the Eyrie of St. Grigori: Violetta, Baldr, and Lucien, who were grayed out because I’d blocked them as soon as I’d left Ilia. Two others I’d met before taking the Trial of Marantha, Nethres and Casper, were also listed and were online. But no Suri.