He paused for a moment. “Dead kin.”
There were fifteen red beads. That was a lot of kin to lose. “Sorry. If it’s anything, I can sympathize.”
“You mentioned something about a plague in your history,” Vash replied. “So in all likelihood, yes, you can. Anyway, you need to sleep after all the excitement tonight, so let me answer your questions about corruption, hmm?”
“I mostly want to know what it is.”
Vash settled into silence for a few moments. “Well, to say I ‘know’ would be a conceit. But I have been thinking about those two Ilian flunkies – Lucien and Violetta? – and their flying abortions. The sight of a mutated dragon is likely as disturbing to you as it is to those of us who have worshipped their likeness for the better part of twenty millennia-”
“Twenty?” I frowned. “Rin and Ebisa said humans have only been here five thousand years.”
“That is because they are Mercurions, and this is the New World.” Vash snorted. “And dragons and we Tuun are from Daun. Daun is the old world. We have songs, oral traditions, magical traditions that go back almost as far as those of the Meewfolk and Aesari and the Tulaq. Both of the latter, the Aesari and Tulaq, are extinct, but the Tulaq and Dragons co-existed for the longest time, and also with us, for most of our history. They were a long-lived species, and impeccable lore-keepers.”
“I wonder why I don’t know anything about them?” I quickly unpicked and braided, unpicked and braided. “I’ve seen some Tulaq mummies and some pictures of them, but I don’t know any stories or anything. They were like… intelligent quadrupeds, right? Well, sexapeds. Four legs, two wings.”
“Yes. Beautiful creatures. You are Starborn, incarnated into the world without kin or hearth. If you had, you would know more about them. Herding is boring. All we had to do is tell stories.” Vash sat patiently as I worked, showing no responses as I combed and tugged out frizzled hair that was startling to lock. “But anyway… to return to my point, Lucien and Violetta and their dragons gave me pause. They have a chilling, unnatural presence, like the sword Suri showed me when you came in just before. Perhaps the oddest experience I have ever had is being surrounded by the army of the dead – the most unnatural thing I could think of in sane times – and yet facing down something that was even more horrifying. The sight of the dragons and that sword makes me retch. That unnatural repulsion… I would say that is the essence of ‘corruption’.”
“Hmm.” I paused to rub my numb shoulder. “Yeah. It’s weird, though. I keep getting these notifications saying I’m immune to Corruption. Matir told me the same thing.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah. Even so, weird shit keeps happening to me that makes me think that can’t be right. The shoulder thing, for one. For another, every time I die, my amnesia gets worse. The last time it happened, I couldn’t even remember my own name. It’s like sudden onset dementia… I don’t even know if I’ve lost memories, or if my personality has changed or something.”
“But touching Karalti restores your memories, correct?”
“Yeah. It’s getting harder and harder to deal with, though. More painful. More dangerous.” I nodded, deftly fitting rings on before plaiting them in. “I don’t know if I believe I’m immune. My shoulder says otherwise.”
“Perhaps the symptoms you experience are proof of immunity?” Vash replied. “Take smallpox, for example. If you succumb to smallpox, you die. If you survive, you live, but are almost always left with scars. Immunity does not preclude suffering; you may suffer, AND be immune. Perhaps these symptoms are your corruption scars, hmm?”
That was more comforting than I’d expected. I was about to thank him when my HUD emitted a purring chirp, and a red exclamation point flashed in the corner of my eye: a global alert. Vash stiffened as the same World Alert appeared in his NPC HUD. My hands froze as I pulled the alert over.
[World Alert: The Ilian Empire has invaded the Kingdom of Revala!]
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Vash and I both said at the same time.
Chapter 33
The six of us gathered around Vash’s bed in a state of silent shock. It had been less than twenty-four hours since Rutha's testimony... the one in which she'd given incorrect information as to Baldr's next move. It was timed so perfectly that there was no way he hadn't intended for it to play out this way.
“Did Rutha lie to us?” Suri asked me, as astounded as everyone else.
“No. No way.” I sat there, silently cursing myself for missing such an obvious sequence of events. “Think about it. Baldr spent weeks abusing and manipulating Rutha, then beat her so badly she was in a coma for almost a month. Lucien and Violetta flew into Taltos to wave their dicks at us, threatening to make an example of her. When we spooked them, they handed Rutha over and made a big show to provoke Ignas. We thought they'd thrown their hand because they didn't know how to play the intimidation game, but they'd always intended to give Rutha to us. Baldr didn't really care if she woke up or not. If she didn't, he knew it would piss me off. But if she did wake up, he predicted that she'd tell us everything she knew.”
“He spent all that time feeding her false information?” Rin covered her mouth with her hand. “It's so obvious... we should have seen this coming.”
I massaged my forehead as piece after piece of Baldr's behavior connected like a jigsaw puzzle. “I'd wondered why he sent Lucien and Violetta, of all fucking people. Lucien is everything you don’t want in an officer. He's stupid, he's vain, he's a certified coward, and he's hard to control. Violetta is competent, but she's unimaginative and mentally unstable after... whatever happened to her. But it makes perfect sense if he's trying to manipulate us. Because Lucien is stupid and Violetta un-creative, we're predisposed to treat Baldr as if he's less smart and creative than he actually is. 'Oh, Baldr's sending THESE losers to fight us? He must be dumber than they are'.”
“Even if we know, intellectually, that Baldr is smarter than he seems,” Suri said.
“I wouldn’t underestimate Lucien and Violetta, either,” Istvan added. “They may also be smarter than they appear.”
Rin worried one of her fingernails. “Yeah… even Ignas fell for it.”
“Violetta. She's shit-scared of Baldr; she hates his guts. So him sending her to deal with us carries another message as well: a message to be afraid of what he could do to us,” I said. “How can something be so obvious and so subtle at the same time?”
Karalti rumbled and muttered in her throat. “That’s why the name for the Drachan in our language is ‘Trauvin’. The Deceivers.”
“The problem is, we haven't been deceiving him back,” I said. “The War for Myszno was one big intel-gathering exercise for him. You notice that neither Lucien and Violetta respawned in Myszno to continue fighting?”
Suri frowned, looking to Istvan. He and Vash listened on in grave silence.
“Now that you mention it...” Rin said. “They didn't save spawn-points here, even though they're strong enough they probably could have come back and kicked our butts.”
“Exactly. And it's because they probably had orders to go home and report to Baldr if or when they died,” I said. “Specifically, to report on how we fought, what techniques and tactics we used in the battle against the Demon, and how we worked together as a team. So now he knows a whole lot about us, and we know almost nothing about him or what he's really capable of. The only thing we know is that his lieutenants are not representative of his own ability.”
Suri sat back in her seat, gazing out the window. “Well, I dunno about you guys, but I'm starting to feel like I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.”
“That is also part of his manipulation,” Vash said. “Don't let him get any further into your mind.”
“He’s right,” I said. “Because the fact is, we figured something out now instead of later. That tactic is useless from this point into the future. What we have to do now is understand his strategy and figure out what other tactics he le
ans on to get what he wants.”
“The best and most believable lies always contain a grain of the truth,” Istvan said. “I wouldn't dismiss everything Rutha saw and reported on out of hand.”
“Indeed.” Vash grunted, struggling to sit up more. “The question is, what do we do now? We have to take action.”
“YOU have to stay in bed,” Istvan said primly.
Vash sneered and rolled his eyes. “Rot in here, more like it.”
Rin’s eyes flicked to him. “I… I think we should pick up Ebisa and go to Taltos, because Ignas is absolutely going to recall her. Then you guys follow your plan, go to Dakhdir, and find that Warsinger. We’re learning things from Nocturne Lament, but there’s just no way we can restore a machine that’s so badly damaged. The worst thing that happens is you find another non-functioning Warsinger that we can scrap for parts.”
“The worst thing that happens is we get linked into a long quest chain and don’t find a Warsinger at all,” Suri said. “I don’t know if I should be doing something that might be personal to me when we need to go support Revala.”
“It’s a risk we have to take,” I replied. “Rin’s right. We get enough sleep to be able to function, and then we leave for Dalim.”
“By airship, from Taltos,” Istvan said. “Karalti will not be able to go unless she is as she is now.”
Karalti flashed him a look of affront. “Why not?”
“Dragons are revered in Vlachia,” he said. “They are held to be evil in Dakhdir. The embodiment of violence, avarice, and sin.”
“Oh. Great.” I rubbed my eyes. We had progressed to ‘Extreme Sleep Deprivation’ now. Minus five to all stats, unable to recharge adrenaline points or stamina unless I got some rest. “Sounds like a plan. We leave tomorrow.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Suri said wryly. “Sleep first.”
“Yeah.” I could barely keep my eyes open. It was the first time I’d ever been this tired in Archemi… but then again, it had been almost two days since I’d really had time to crash. “Let’s give it five hours, and meet up in the courtyard.”
Rin jumped up from her chair in excitement. “That should be long enough for me to attach Vash’s new arm!”
There was a pregnant pause.
“My dearest child.” Vash fluttered his eyelashes. “I am… not sure whether you know that in human society, it’s typical that you ask for permission before telling someone you plan to affix your experiments to their body.”
“Oh! No! I-I mean, yes! I didn’t mean it like that!” Rin’s silvery cheeks turned bright blue. “It’s, I-”
“It’s okay, Rin.” I clapped her on the shoulder. “Try again.”
“It’s okay!” She echoed me unconsciously. “I-I mean, here. I, um, spent the night disassembling the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith-”
Karalti let out a high-pitched, strangled sound that accurately reflected our expressions. Suri actually gasped.
“It’s okay! It was a once in a lifetime find, I know.” She deflated slightly. “But I’m too low a level to use it anyway, and by the time I AM a high enough level to be able to use it, my Reverse Engineer ability should be high enough that I can rebuild it and recreate the artifact. Vash is more important. He saved our lives a lot of times, and, umm… Anyway, the point is, I learned enough to be able to make a different prosthetic arm, a better one! And there’s no steel or iron in it. I used titanium and aurum, from the scrap you gave me. The College has a smelter just barely good enough to smelt aurum, so…”
Blushing furiously, she pulled it out of her Inventory as she trailed off, and thrust it toward Vash like a bouquet of flowers. Superficially, it resembled the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith, but it was made for fighting instead of magic, with brutal studded knuckles. Just by looking at it, I could tell it was a huge improvement over the last one.
“Hrrm.” He stroked his chin. “I like it.”
“There’s two parts to the prosthetic, though: the limb… and the osteo-implant graft.” She said the last word hesitantly. “I made one to replace the shoulder joint…”
“No. Absolutely not. The last one nearly killed him.” Istvan got to his feet. “Vash-”
Vash held his hand up, and Istvan stopped, fuming. “The problem was the steel, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. You’re allergic to steel implants,” Rin said. “This arm doesn’t have any steel in it at all, and the graft part for this arm is mostly titanium. And I’m sorry, I tried to make something that wasn’t invasive, but I’m just not a good enough crafter to encode artifacts that link to the wearer like the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith. If you want a functional arm, you HAVE to have a graft.”
Vash looked to Istvan, studying him thoughtfully. Then he looked back to Rin. “When Masha is awake, I will discuss it with her. She can do the surgery, and I will go to Dakhdir with these idiots.”
“No!” Suri, Istvan, and I burst out at the same time.
Vash sighed, and rolled his eyes.
“It’s too soon, Vash,” I said. “Istvan can come with us. Sit this one out, for his sake.”
“Yes. Exactly. Listen to our liege,” Istvan added quickly.
The monk pressed his lips into a thin line. “Bugger off, Arshak. He is your liege. I am a Baru of Burna: I do not swear allegiance to anyone, not even my own god. What do you expect me to do for Myszno like this?”
“You can run things while I protect our lord and lady,” Istvan said icily.
“Run things? I can barely wipe my own arse like this.” Vash gestured sharply to his stump. “I can’t manage a kingdom, and wouldn’t know where to start. My place is out brawling among the people, and if I cannot be in my place, I will decline.”
“You stubborn ass!” Istvan clenched his fists. “If your place is with the people, what about the people closest to you?”
“I care about you most of all,” he said calmly. “And that is why I do not want you to go to Dakhdir. You are also invested in service, Istvan, but you are the one who knows how to keep masses of peasants fed, the army disciplined, the government functioning, the barons placated. Can you imagine me dealing with the Provincial Council? Holding court? Dealing with the King while I pick my nose? I am not suited to governing, no more than you are suited to running around the desert on errands.”
“I had no idea you thought so little of my martial skills.” And with that, Istvan turned, and coldly marched from the room.
“Oy.” Vash groaned, and massaged his forehead. “To think he was married, once.”
Suri shot me a meaningful glance. I smiled back at her.
“Let him cool off, man,” I said. “You too. Let’s get some sleep, and see what Masha says in the morning.”
Chapter 34
Karalti and I went to bed in my bathtub, nestling down into the soft sand. Neither of talked about what had happened earlier in the night. The stress of dealing with the assassin had wiped us both out, and even as we curled around one another, there was an awkward, unspoken tension. I was having to admit to myself that there was a reason I’d kept my virginity into my twenties, and it wasn’t just for lack of opportunity. No matter how hard I’d rebelled against my dad’s toxic ideas about when, how, and who I was supposed to bang, there were things about your upbringing that just stuck with you. Shame was tenacious, and Karalti and Suri were making me face the fact that… well... I wasn’t nearly as liberated as I thought I was.
I woke with Karalti lying on my chest, her hand curled by her face. I stroked her hair back, watching her eyelids flicker. Transformed like this, she seemed as delicate as an orchid. Her skin was opalescent, flexing with the light like the skin of a rainbow boa constrictor. She was perfectly relaxed in my arms, perfectly trusting. It stirred a lot of feelings: protectiveness, lust, guilt, shame. I wanted to kiss her, roll her over in the sand, maybe try making her first time… gentler, maybe. I was still thinking about how ridiculous that was when she murmured, stretched, and rubbed her jaw against my chest.
“Mmm…”
Karalti licked her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and met mine. I fell into them, as always, and my breath caught as the Bond resurged. I held my hand up, fingers loose. Without asking, she slid her palm over mine, linked our fingers, and squeezed.
“I know we didn’t get far, but I’m going to have to tell her,” I said, haltingly. “She might be okay if we admit what happened. I know she won’t be if I don’t say anything.”
“It’s fine,” Karalti whispered through the link. “I know. Don’t worry about it for now, though, alright? The heat comes and goes, and I won’t be like this all year. But, when it happens again…”
“Yeah.” I smiled, and brushed some hair away from her cheek. “I know. I think Suri does, too.”
“I think she does. And I think… I think she’s okay with it.” Karalti hesitated a moment, then pulled herself up out of the sand to her waist. We had both sunk into it over the course of the night, and her bare skin was dusty. “I’m… I’m sorry. I remember everything you said to me, about not being ready, about not wanting to take advantage of me and feeling weird about these feelings, because you raised me. But I’m not human. I’m Solonkratsu. I am what I am and, well… we are what we are.”
“Mm.” I nodded fractionally.
“I…” She stroked cool fingers down my stomach and bowed her head. She had put on another five inches of hair with her last level up, the roots soft and loose in contrast to the fall of fine braids that pooled across the surface of the bathtub. Her expression flickered, and then she pulled herself upright, letting sand stream down her body.
“Huh?” I sat up as well, dusting out my hair.
“It’s nothing.” Karalti looked back over her shoulder at me, a brief smile passing across her lips. “Let’s go see how Vash is doing!”
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