“It’s kind of frustrating how the main determining factor on whether we’re allowed to meet Khalid is not Khalid himself.” Liam slumped on the wooden stool, staring at his bowl of stew and grumbling inwardly. “There’s anywhere between two and three people in the way, and the current al-Ashtar patriarch is one of them. Messages and cordial invitations have been turned away. Any luck on your end?”
“It’s impossible to reach him with illusions or long-distance forms of communications. He is heavily magically protected, likely out of rightful concern against potential memetic attacks.” Maridah sounded no less happy. “I could sneak past the wards if I went alone, but that’d mean leaving you unprotected. That’s a risk I am not willing to take.”
Three days of lightly testing ordinary ways to get into contact with Khalid, three days of no real progress.
“You at least could’ve given me more prep-time before pulling me into the middle of the desert.” He grumbled.
“I am not too far from piercing through the protective layers on the Weaver’s relic. Not having a Champion by then would be… bad.”
“Shit.” When a God absorbed raw divinity in large enough quantities, they could become catatonic. And the piece they’d stolen from Thalgrim roughly four times all the divinity Maridah had combined. Without the Champion to tie her more strongly to the mortal realm, the Goddess of Secrets could end up in a stupor for a whole decade. “It couldn’t wait until after impact, right?”
“Not if we are to carry through on our original plan to have that God-spell cast.” She sighed into his ear. “I hoped to find a Champion on my own first, but the options I stumbled upon were… wanting.”
Liam grumbled as he slowly stirred the soup, staring at its murky depths.
There were less discreet ways to draw Khalid’s attention. Stuff like just setting himself up at the front gate and have Maridah scare the guards shitless with illusions. It would get his attention, but it would also ruin any chances at discretion. The whole point was to get a meeting that wouldn’t draw eyes from the patriarch nor anyone else if possible. Other options, such as him trying to attack guards or use the memory-erasing knife to force his way in would similarly be useless. Liam wasn’t a good enough fighter for it to be an option. But even if he carved a way of unconscious people all the way to Khalid, he’d sooner attack Liam than hear him out.
“It’s frustrating that we can’t just bulldoze our way through.” He grumbled, taking a sip of the veggie stew, noting a bit bitterly how the tavern owner had heavily skimped on the meat department. Or maybe he was just spoiled from having eaten like an Amil for almost a month now.
The whole point of the interaction was for it to be under friendly terms. Any attempt to force Khalid’s hand, or worse, even hint at a threat, then things might as well be tossed out the window.
“Hm?”
“Something on your mind?”
“Two thoughts… well, three, actually.” Liam frowned. “Al-Sarilica should be a relatively active monster zone right about now. I suspect one possible chance would come if and when monsters show up and our resident uber-mage comes out to deal with them.”
“That seems unreliable.”
“Unreliable, but not improbable. Better keep an ear on monster reports.” A slight nod. “The second one is the same deal, just home-made chaos in the city. Something that only a mage like him might fix. But that would just send the wrong kind of message…”
“And the third?”
“Has the Yulvenir Patriarch made contact yet? I think I might be able to use that favor he owes me.”
“Using a favor for me?” The skepticism in her voice was thick.
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you the receipt once this whole thing’s over.”
----------------------------------------
Rania Yulvenir froze mid-bite of her lunch as she found herself staring at a shadow, one that had appeared in her personal quarters without a sound or disturbance, fiery eyes looking back at her. The dark elf mentally went over the situation, where her weapons were, and how likely it might be that help would arrive on time.
“I am here to deliver a message from Liam Carter,” the shadow said, whispering words barely audible to Rania’s ears, yet their meaning plastered firmly upon her mind. “He wishes to have the debt paid. How far are you from Al-Zahra? From your patriarch?”
Rania swallowed her mouthful. “Two days.” She answered, not entirely trusting this creature spoke on behalf of the human that had saved the patriarch.
The shade nodded once. “This is for him to read, inspect it if you wish.” It vanished, leaving a letter in its wake.
The carriage rocked and swayed around her, and yet she did not look away from the letter as she carefully finished her meal. Once done, she pulled out a bead of aether and began to cast two spells at once, one on each hand, one meant for the detection, the other for protection. The dark elf entwined the spells, spending several long minutes balancing the knots and tightening the bonds before allowing them to collapse and self-realize.
The letter showed no signs of danger, yet Rania remained watchful, carefully opening it and allowing the magical simulacrum she’d summoned to read it first. It was a false semblance of sentience, not even properly capable of thought, yet entirely able to go insane. Seeing as it did not react to the contents of the letter, Rania relaxed and reached over, inspecting the contents herself.
The first half of the letter were a set of instructions, describing how to “turn on” the glass and metal brick, as well as showing some symbols and words written in a foreign tongue. There were no less than a dozen steps, betraying the level of complexity of the tool the patriarch possessed.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
It was interesting, Rania didn’t have the whole picture, but from what the instructions showed, it appeared the slim brick had some sort of intelligence and illusion capabilities… despite not having a shred of magic within. Rania would love having a tool of such complexity devoid of enchantments. Lack of reliance on aether aside, an item that didn’t trigger enchantment-detection would be effectively invisible to many wards and protections.
Putting her fantasies aside, Rania checked the second half, the nature of the payment.
Her brows furrowed in confusion.
Why would Liam Carter wish to have the Yulvenir patriarch invite the patriarch of the al-Ashtar household? Rania racked her mind, trying to find an answer. The Yulvenir patriarch had long since taught her to look for the truths that laid underneath the actions.
Were the al-Ashtar not practically on the opposite side of the Caliphate to Doeta? It made sense why Liam specified that the request be sent through the Merchant’s priests, as there was no faster way of communication short of having enchanted linked mirrors…
A quick check of her lessons confirmed the al-Ashtar weren’t exactly important, they were a noble household of najasil that oversaw and protected a stronghold. But their influence beyond those walls was negligible.
With the letter containing so few details about what the Yulvenir patriarch should offer the al-Ashtar patriarch, Rania’s instincts told her that the objective itself was to get the najasil man out of Al-Sarilica. They also told her it would be best to contact agents in the fortress city.
----------------------------------------
“Two days to get to the capital, give or take another day to send the message, a few hours for it to reach the al-Ashtar patriarch, and a couple more days before he hits the road.”
Liam sighed, sagging into the chair as he took the piece of parchment and ignited it with a spark of lightning. He’d written down the instructions for Maridah to make a copy in Doeta, and from there teleported them to the Yulvenir messenger. A God’s powers were quite convenient for these sorts of things.
“I’d like to recruit her.” Maridah interrupted, whispering into his ear through her illusions.
“Recruit the patriarch and Rania will follow with open arms,” he said, shaking his head. “From what I remember from my notes, she’s loyal to the patriarch and her household almost to a fault.” Liam’s brows furrowed. “You must promise me you won’t look through the contents of my phone… that includes aspects, and Bunny.”
“I promise.” The Goddess’ voice was neutral, with the barest hint of a grumble. “Why did you put Bunny apart?”
“That’s a question I should be asking you,” he replied. “She’s drifting, and you’re letting it happen.”
“It’s not important right now.”
He really wanted to call her out on that, there were a few hypothetical scenarios why Maridah would want to do such a thing, but it didn’t seem like he’d get any answers right now. “Anyway, all of this was a bunch of hurry-up-and-wait, it’s going to be a few days until the bigger obstacle leaves… got any leads we can try out?”
“One of my helpers confirmed the al-Ashtar’s gardeners are hiring help for a short work replanting some dates tomorrow,” Maridah said. “I’ve instructed them to volunteer, if only to see whether we can get someone inside the household.”
“Oh! If they succeed, I’ve got something they could do.” Liam hastily wrote down a note. “Give them this, and… what was it…” he rubbed his chin in thought. “A coconut? There’s a plant, I don’t know the local name, it’s like a coconut, it has a hard shell that can be used as an improvised cup. Have them put the note into a half of that shell, and have them drop it on the main household stream.”
In the following silence, he felt a judgemental stare being redirected his way.
“What?”
“Are you certain this method will work?”
“Fairly certain.” He replied. “At the end of the stream there’s a small private alcove that Khalid repurposed into a personal garden, one no one’s allowed to enter.” Voice hitching a little, he grinned. “This is supposed to be how he gets anonymously contacted by someone who’s secretly in love with him… a decade or so from now. The whole story revolves around this Khalid being full of himself, turning down literal Gods, being solicited by preachers of every faith, yet ending becoming desperate to find out who’s this secret admirer that seems so full of wisdom. He ends up thoroughly humbled when he finds out it's one of his own servants.”
Another judgemental silence followed.
“You could have told me this earlier. I prefer my Champions pre-humbled, having to do the humbling myself is annoying.” She chided. “Also, what of this prospective love interest of his?”
“The girl’s currently… twelve, I think? There’s just too much time and too many things between now and when they fall in love. Just being here will screw up the Weaver’s fate fuckery, so I’m not holding my breath.” He shook his head. “If Khalid finds this girl a decade from now and they still fall in love, then good for them. Until then, I aint playing Twilight match-making.”
“Twilight?”
“A book.”
Maridah chuckled. “The flash of anger in your aura was significant.” She teased. “Trust in an author to have a strong opinion about a mere book.”
“Don’t get me started.” He grumbled, rubbing his cheeks.
“In an entirely unrelated topic, what are your thoughts on true love and soulmates?” The Goddess asked.
“Soulmates… were a thing in this universe. Once.” Liam deflated a little. “Originally, when souls were directly crafted by the Gods, they formed them so that they could be perfect for someone else. That… didn’t pan out once the number of mortals started growing beyond expectations.”
“I meant in general,” The Goddess’ voice came with a droll imaginary roll of her eyes. “Do you believe in eternal love?”
“Believe.” He considered the word for a moment, quickly shaking his head. “I’m the last guy you’d want to ask about that sort of stuff. I’m not relationship material, I find ways to mess things up sooner or later.”
Liam sensed that there was an unspoken question lingering in the air, yet Maridah did not pursue it, changing the subject instead. “If you remember this secret way to message Khalid, couldn’t you have remembered some details about perhaps secret escape ways that would allow us to infiltrate the estate?” Maridah asked.
“It was in the original version, but I scrapped it. Apparently the retcon stuck, because we passed over the place where it should’ve been, and you didn’t pick up on anything.” Liam shrugged, thankful at being able to get into the new topic, showing the letter. “Anyway, this is it. Just make sure to clean up the penmanship, I suck at cursive.”
“I know your secret. Meet me at the moonlit tower on the fourth night?” The Goddess’ voice shifted to a soft coo. “What’s this secret he possesses you’ve yet to tell me about?”
Liam laughed as the paper vanished from between his fingers. “Dude’s five hundred years old, there’s plenty to pick from. I’m gambling on him knowing this too and being curious about what's my game.”
“And the moonlit tower?”
“There are two towers on the walls on either side of the city. It’s meant to be the place from where the local mages rain death and destruction on monsters and armies.” He cracked half a smirk. “The moonlit tower is the southern one.”
“Let us go there and take a look at this tower of theirs,” she said. “I suspect that though the protections there are more formidable than the ones in his estate, they are more geared for warfare, and not subterfuge.”
“You would be right to assume such, the monsters they get over here are nothing to scoff at.”