Nalin was not having a pleasant morning. The Fellu patriarch trembled with rage as he forcibly restrained himself from tearing the cowering elder’s arms from his sockets. A rage that was becoming harder and harder to control by the second.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely the man’s fault, which was why Nalin hadn’t torn him apart already.
Yesterday’s auction was supposed to have highlighted the unquestioned might of his house, a plan that had required him to borrow heavily from the Obsidian Bank. They had failed. Not only had they been outbid on several of the most priceless treasures ever to be brought onto the auction floor, but they had failed to do so publicly.
Already, rumors of their failed attempt to sweep the auction were being spread throughout Asylum like wildfire, shifting the power dynamic that had been in place for centuries in subtle, yet noticeable ways. Just this morning, he had been notified that three businesses his house had long standing relationships with had pulled their contracts.
To make matters worse, the bank had outright refused to extend him any further credit. Him! The patriarch of house Fellu! The most powerful patriarch of all the human houses this side of the Free Cities! He was of half a mind to raze this particular branch to the ground and send the managers head to the main branch in a jar for the sheer audacity of their actions.
Closing his eyes, Nalin forced himself to calm down enough so that he could think with a clear head. Nothing ever good came from opposing the Obsidian Bank. If anything, this recent development highlighted just how precarious his house’s future really was. Never before had the bank questioned their ability to pay back their debts. Until now.
Nalin stood, his bald head nearly brushing the top of the tent as he glared at elder Feresh, the man in charge of deploying house Fellu’s shadows. He and the majority of his fighters had heeded the call to action against the abyssal monsters and had marshaled their forces along with the other houses the night before. The camp around them was in full swing, breaking down tents and preparing to march. However, that hadn’t stopped his shadows from reporting in.
And it wasn’t good news.
“Say that again?” Nalin growled softly as he advanced on the kneeling elder.
“Yes, patriarch,” elder Feresh replied with a shaky voice. “As I was saying, reports came in late last night that a ship matching the Dragonling’s description intercepted one of our sponsored free lance ships…”
“Which one,” Nalin snapped.
“The Siren,” Feresh said, his voice dry.
There were gasps within the tent, the other elders present voicing their surprise.
Silently, Nalin fumed. He had sponsored many pirates in his day, a practice that many other houses used to great effect to pressure trade and stymie his competitors' economic growth. In fact, over the last few years he had made quite the fortune through piracy. The Siren was one of his most profitable sponsored ships that had been targeting the Lensher’s trade interests for months.
“Were they successful?” he asked.
“I’m sorry to say that the Siren fell to the Dragonling…” Feresh stammered before being interrupted.
“Were there witnesses?” Nalin asked, though he could already guess at the answer..
“Yes, patriarch. The Dragonling saved one of house Lensher’s trade ships from being boarded. After the battle, the Dragonling’s captain turned over all the prisoners and the ship to them.”
“What!?!” Nalin roared, grabbing elder Feresh by the collar and lifting him from the ground.
“It's true,” Feresh squeaked, desperately looking about the tent for any support. He found only hard eyes, each of the other elders looking on with a mixture of emotions, none of them friendly. “House Lensher is transporting the prisoners to the city dungeons as we speak. They have even requested the Elvish consulate conduct the interrogations…”
Nalin threw the incompetent elder to the floor before slamming a mana reinforced foot into the man’s side with a loud crunch.
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Elder Feresh was launched from his place on the floor, slamming into the magically reinforced walls of the tent like they were hardened stone.
Fuming, Nalin thought through the problem. He would now have to dispatch one of his better shadows to eliminate the captured pirates before they could bring testimony against him. If that were to happen, the Hall of Houses would turn on him in an instant. Even their Elvish overlords couldn’t turn a blind eye toward something so blatant should it become public knowledge.
Still, at least they had a window of opportunity to rectify this turn of events.
“Dispatch a shadow,” he growled. “Those prisoners aren't to last the day, even if you have to bribe every elf in the consulate to turn a blind eye. We can’t allow the interrogators anywhere near them, do you understand?”
Feresh nodded quickly, looking to one of the shadows who was in the tent with them.
“You heard the patriarch,” the elder rasped, his voice hoarse with pain. “Go!”
The shadow nodded once before casting stealth on himself, vanishing from the tent.
Nalin glared at the elder, before turning from him with a snort of disgust.
“Leave me. I need to prepare myself before leading the house on this hunt,” he growled.
“Um… I’m sorry, patriarch…” Feresh’s voice trembled with fear and pain. “I have more to report…”
“Then get on with it!!” he snarled.
“Yes, yes… of course, my patriarch,” Feresh spluttered from where he lay on the ground. “I have news of both the Horse Lord and those individuals who gained access to the labyrinth. Helmund was seen departing the auction house with his wife earlier today after escorting two unknown persons to the entrance of the labyrinth. It is speculated that one of those individuals was the person known as Glade.”
There was a moment of silence as the others in the tent digested this news.
“You weren’t able to confirm that it was him?” Nalin asked, though at this point he didn’t really care if they had proof or not. There were far too many coincidences surrounding this Glade character.
“Not definitively, no,” Feresh said, wincing in pain as he stood. “Though I was able to confirm through our contacts at the Dwarvish consulate that the dwarves in Glade’s company were indeed among the slaves helping Ethak’s Gnolls failed excavation.”
The Gnoll elder gave a low growl at Feresh’s weak attempt to drag his failure into the discussion.
“How did they get free?” Nalin asked, looking between Ethak and Feresh.
“There is no possible way that they survived when my Rake did not,” Ethak growled. “They must have perished and been reborn, only for this Glade to scoop them up as part of some Lensher plot.”
“The consulate did say that the dwarves in question paid the price for their release,” Feresh added grudgingly. “Which indicates that they paid with a rebirth seeing as their debts were not paid off at the guild.”
“Where are these dwarves now?” Nalin asked, his eyes narrowing. It was well within his right to collar the dwarf trash once again. There wouldn’t be any blowback either. Afterall, the Dwarvish consulate were the ones that had sold their brothers out to them before. They wouldn’t care if he did it again.
“I’m sorry, patriarch. They boarded a transport headed to Aldorna early this morning,” Feresh almost whimpered.
“You mentioned that you had news of the Horse Lord,” elder Shenlin said, stepping forward.
“Yes, what about the Horse Lord?” Nalin growled, making a mental note to send some shadows to Aldorna. There was more than one way to get what he wanted. He could be patient.
“Ah, yes… Well, as I said earlier, Helmund and his wife were seen departing the auction house this morning. They were traveling in their personal wagon, the one they use for long distance travel when they journey to the Wood Elves domain.”
“There's nothing odd about that,” Nalin scowled.
“Well, in this case, there was something odd,” Feresh replied. “A young elf girl was seen with them, riding the largest black horse our shadow on the ground had ever seen.”
“The Horse Lord?” Nalin asked, surprised. That was quite the bold move if it were true.
“We believe so, yes,” Feresh said, wheezing from the pain in his ribs. “It is the same size and it wouldn’t be that difficult to dye its mane black.”
“Where were they headed?” Nalin asked, his mind racing. If they could intercept the auctioneer, not only would he get his answers about this Glade person and the potential conspiracy with house Lensher, but he could also grab the Horse Lord. They would have to deal with Jirea, but they could account for that.
“They left out of the West gate,” Feresh explained. “After passing through Lensher lands, they turned North. That is when our shadow broke away to report. We believe they are headed toward Tellendal village.”
Nalin nodded along, digesting this new information.
“Inform my son and the rest of the rearguard at our compound to make all haste to Tellendal,” he said. “Have him take Ethak’s castoffs along with some of the orc berserkers. That should be enough to handle Jirea.”
“What about Glade?” elder Ethak snarled.
“Dispatch a shadow to follow him after he has finished with the labyrinth. If the shadow can take him alive without anyone noticing, then do it. If not, wait until my son returns with the Horse Lord, then have him roll him up.”
“It will be as you say, patriarch,” Feresh said, his voice tight with pain.
“This is your last chance, Feresh,” Nalin said as he turned away from the group of elders. “Don’t disappoint me.”