Chapter 73

  Kaeleth took a sip from a bottle that Jaeger would have sworn she didn’t have. She’d listened silently as he had given her a rundown of what happened, omitting any names for now. Jaeger hadn’t known her very long, but from the interactions they’d had, he expected more from her. She was being very subdued about it; he said as much, just not in so many words.

  “Oh, I have a lot of questions; I’m just extending you some trust. If you’re being vague like this, you’ve got a good reason. Once we get to Lemuria’s office, you’ll explain more.” She turned to him, her eyes a swirling mess of chaos, and crushed the bottle in her hand. “If you don’t, then I’ll snap.”

  Jaeger met her stare unflinching and nodded.

  “If it’s secure, I will.”

  “Oh, it will be dear boy, I guarantee it.”

  Across the pair's shoulders, a pair of black-clothed arms appear, and a skeletal visage pushes between them. Somehow, during the brief moment of their focus wavering, Anton had managed to sneak up on them. Even though the lich’s fleshless skull was always a rictus grin, Jaeger knew the skeleton was widely smiling.

  “Hurry up!” Lemuria called out from where she stood before a door. She placed her hand on the door, which lit up with blue sigils before cracking and swinging open. “The sooner you’re all inside, the sooner I know who to envenom.”

  Jaeger walked forward, breaking Anton’s hold, and moved into the office, leaving the lich and chaos elf to fall into conversation.

  “Lemuria tells me you wish to find a way to the heart?”

  “Yes, yes, I know a heartseeker enchantment.”

  “I was going to say kindness and understanding, but your way is admittedly faster.”

  As he moved through the door, he felt a pop, and he abruptly lost track of what was happening outside the office. All sound seemed to stop at the doorway. As he looked out, he could see the pair talking and moving towards the door, but not only could he not hear, he couldn’t clearly see them; only recognize their silhouettes.

  “If you think this is impressive, you should see what happens when it is fully activated,” Lemuria said, her lips curling upwards. “We become separated from the material plane and instead join with a part of the void itself. Don’t ask how only Anton fully understands the magic; I simply use it.”

  As Jaeger turned towards her, she gestured to one of three chairs.

  “Take your pick, first-come, first-served.”

  He took an edge seat just as the outside pair moved inwards, and as though that were a start, the mood changed. Anton and Kaeleth’s conversation died. Anton closed the door and chattered out some alien syllables that brought a strange sensation to Jaeger; while Kaeleth took a seat, the one closest to him, and waited.

  “We’re secure,” Anton stated, before gracefully sliding into the remaining chair.

  “Good, now what happened? Spare no detail.”

  Jaeger looked to Anton, who nodded and spoke.

  “I shall start first, then. I was taking Jaeger to the Storage Warehouse and was actively running a series of alignment magics and affiliation tests. I’ve never met anyone so carefully neutral before. I was sure my tests weren’t working correctly.”

  Kaeleth huffed and crossed her arms.

  “I told you he was trustworthy; is my word no longer enough?”

  “Your word isn’t in question, you know the test is mandatory for new hires; unless they are a legacy, which is a different necromorph,” Anton said, a sigh rattling free. “Regardless, checking my spells distracted me, and in my distracted state, I was separated from Jaeger and brought into an ambush.

  “There were five of them. Three fighter hybrids, a tamer, and a well-fed corpulent. The fighters were nothing, mere fodder, falling to my base cantrips; the corpulent was my real impediment. My attackers knew something of my abilities, as the corpulent was full of pure Life. Most of my spells simply burned away the excess Life energy, barely damaging its fat. Unfortunately for my attackers, they didn’t know enough. Suffice it to say, I killed all four of my attackers and was dealing with the corpulent when it suddenly lost interest in me and howled. Which let me say, if you’ve never seen a being whose stomach is also its mouth roar, it is life changing, or it would be, if I were alive.”

  Anton laughed at that before pointing at his knee and slapping it with a resounding clank. His laughter lasted a few moments before trailing into nothing, and he continued.

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  “With its back to me, I managed to land a killing blow. Sadly for me, I’d moved too close, sure as I was in my victory, and it managed to bite my head clean off. My head in its mouth, it collapsed forward, lodging my head in its teeth and my body; now blind stumbled over a body and fell. After that, I heard Jaeger call out and grow closer, then he freed me and so on.”

  “Who were your attackers?” Lemuria asked.

  “At the time, I could not say with certainty, not many could or would risk a corpulent gaining power, so that narrowed it down, alongside the evidence Jaeger brought, I… No, let us hear it from the man himself.”

  Anton sat back and patted Jaeger, who reached into his coat and tossed out a folded-over bounty. As Lemuria picked it up and skimmed over it, her expression changed. He then explained what happened to him. His ambush by a Blade, here he places the yatagan on the table, followed by his ambush of the reinforcements. He keeps the details of the transformed vampire lit, revealing the man’s words and actions, but keeping his own secrets close. He finishes by explaining how he found Anton, and then he puts the rest of the weapons on the table before sitting back.

  “Can I have this bow?” Kaeleth asked, fingering the bow as she did. Jaeger shrugs in response.

  “As long as you’re willing to pay or compensate me for it.”

  Kaeleth nods before grabbing the bow and going through her storage device, a ring designed like a whirl.

  Anton leans forward and taps the yatagan.

  “This is part of the reason we needed this null room; the other is who it belonged to.”

  “The Shadow Sultan.”

  “Yes, if this weapon leaves the premises as is, it will alert the Sultan that his plans have gone awry.”

  “Then we’ll keep it here, Goddess knows we’ve got at least three blackhole storage rooms around here.”

  “That is certainly an idea, but as the weapon rightly belongs to Jaeger, we’d have to compensate him.” Anton’s hands were steepled before his skull face. Lemuria seemed to study it for a second.

  “I sense a second option.”

  “Or Jaeger here has a way to turn the weapon, and some, if not all of its power, to his own devices; ripping it from the Sultan’s control entirely.”

  Lemuria’s face ran through a series of emotions: surprise, confusion, happiness, before settling on a cold calculation.

  “We can’t fund any sort of divine, or demonic, ritual strong enough.”

  “Ho ho ho, no need for all that. All that is required of us is a strong enough healer and a void room.” Anton looked into Lemuria’s face as he sat there, and a pondering silence blossomed between them. “If only someone here were, say, a Hiereia to a Goddess.”

  Lemuria’s eye twitched, and she turned her attention to Jaeger, who was currently negotiating with Kaeleth for possession of the bow.

  “Jaeger, what need have you for a healer in your plan?”

  “No, Kaeleth, I don’t want a crate of duergar non-alcoholic whiskey; the alcohol is the best part, and why do you even have that?” He turned from the elf and replied to Lemuria. “My plan is going to require me to take a fatal blow, and I’d like to survive it. I’m not certain what exact abilities that sword has, so if we can identify it, that should narrow down what I’ll need.”

  Lemuria pulled open a drawer on her desk and brought out a rugged and ornate magnifying glass along with a blank sheet of paper. She placed the yatagan over the paper and then held the magnifying glass over the sword. In moments, words started to cover the paper. Once it finished, she placed the glass away and held up the paper.

  “Here you are, read this aloud, and that should tell us what we’re dealing with.”

  “That is unexpected,” Anton said, rubbing his chin in thought.

  “You killed the Blade who wielded this? How?” Kaeleth asked.

  “He missed his first sneak attack and then challenged me to a face-to-face fight. He was pretty easy to beat; if anything, the older man who transformed was more difficult.”

  Lemuria laughed.

  “Did you know that the Shadow Sultan’s Blades are chosen in multiple ways?”

  Jaeger shook his head.

  “Some go through a brutal training camp; these are usually orphans taken from his domain. The second group is uplifted soldiers from his armies; chosen for loyalty, zeal, and combat prowess. The third group is not chosen and instead is sponsored. Nobles, clergy, and other Blades can sponsor a prospect.” Lemuria hissed out a laugh. “The clergy and Blades usually pick apprentices and outsiders. Rumor has it that the nobles use it as a place to dump their third sons and daughters.”

  Anton laughed as she finished speaking, joined by Kaeleth, and even Jaeger himself chuckled.

  “So you’re saying I killed some jumped-up silk pants?”

  “Oh yes, judging by how nice this blade is, I’d say he was probably one of the three duchesses’ blood.” Regaining control of herself, Lemuria straightened.

  “Nobles die just as easily as the common man.”

  “If he lost with this, I’d say he died easier.”