As he promised Trawins, he buried the seer’s body. It took some time to find something resembling a shovel, which was an actual one, albeit somewhat more portable, obtained from the packs of the templar, so he set off quite late. The whole escapade took over two candles, thus he returned to the camp long past midnight. After a quick word with the guard, he set off to find a place to sleep. On his way, he found Trawins meditating, floating cross-legged, before the fire. The wildmen moved their wounded inside the building Ordos were also camping in, and likewise, whomever could, set off to sleep inside this wide open building. Brant decided to join them.
He awakened quite late, judging from the brightness of the bivlight outside. He cleared his throat and took a peek around. When he was sleeping, the wildmen had moved just about any piece that could be moved from their old camp to this new location. This included their previously wounded, who now joined their companions in a makeshift five-bed hospital.
After stretching a little bit, Brandt stepped outside. There were very few people he could notice. The scarred cook was working on what looked like a pile of rabbits near the campfire, slowly building a grim pile of severed heads, separated cuts, bones, and fur near him. One bored-looking warrior of the band was guarding the shackled captives. Nord threw them a quick gaze, solely to confirm they were, in fact, the officials he saw rummaging in Trawins’ belongings a few days prior and three very Nordic-looking vagabonds who would not be out of place boarding a merchant vessel on the Barents Sea. One gave him a frowning look, but Brand paid him no mind.
Trawins was almost on the opposite side of the prisoners, tinkering with one of the weird-looking devices the ordos brought out of the hall they were camping in. Brant headed towards him.
-” I did what I promised” – he said, without considering even announcing his welcome. Upon hearing this, Trawins froze.
-” Thank you” – he said slowly - “ I can’t reasonably explain as to why, but it is important to me” – he added while staring absentmindedly into the device before him. Brandt felt a little awkward, thus decided to change the subject.
-” Do you suppose what are you looking at?”
-” No clue” – said the relieved tanai -” I have never seen, heard, or read about anything even remotely like this.” - he sounded genuinely fascinated.
-” I take, it means you don’t know what part of this place is the ‘forge’ and what is ‘nano’?”
Tanai chuckled.
-” No. There is a lifetime, probably several even, of unknowns in here. I’ve spent the time since bivdawn on this piece alone and I don’t think I even begun to grasp what it is.” - he began to caress his goatee – “I could move to live my days here and not be bored.”
-” Don’t you” – Brandt put a finger to his lips – “Don’t you overstate this?”
-” Not at all! I… I thought I had a rather good grasp on quite many mechanical principles. I’m not a tahei by any means, but still. Yet I can’t even fathom what this device is designed do.”
-” None whatsoever?”
-” Indeed. “- Tanai weaved at the hoomin to come -” Come closer, I’ll show you what I mean.” - Brandt stepped closer to the device.
It had the form of a cabinet, a mer in width and depth and about two in height. It was black, coarse, and coated with paint. Once Brandt took a little interest in it, it turned out to be something he had never seen. The paint was so thin it seemed that the metal below was indeed black. In places, where the metal began to… disintegrate would be the best way to describe it, as the black coating was flaking, revealing a white powdery substance beneath. The ‘cabinet’ was missing one of the doors, those were propped to the ground, while the other wing was opened wide, revealing the inside. Which, after closer inspection, was even weirder.
-” See these” – Anh pointed at weaves of stiff strings of either crimson or grey going off a ridiculously thick metal shelf with … knobs and doodads on it. There was a vertical slit about halfway through its length, revealing other odd doodads inside – “the red ones are pure copper. The whiter ones are… something else describes it best. Wrapped in this… substance. I bet you wonder what does it do? I have no idea.”
-” Mhm” – grunted Brandt, who turned his attention to the slit, which was about a finger thick, a quarter of a mer tall, and on the bottom and top end there was a dark, metal bar – “What was there?” - he pointed at it – “I assume there was something there, it looks like something is missing.”
The tanai smiled smugly.
-” Glad you asked. I have removed this device…” - the tanai floated upwards and took a plank-looking item. It was about half a mer long and from the first impression, looked like a drawer. One that would fit into the slit if one was to mount it vertically.
-”...I can see it grabbed your attention.” - said the tanai, forsaking his previous thought - ” Take a look at the details. Try to fathom how was it made?”
Brandt took the item and began to register its details. One end was a metal plate of a design that was matched to the design of the front of the shelf and it quickly dawned on the Nord, that what he previously had taken as a part of the cabinet’s interior was a row of similar gizmos arranged like books on a shelf. They were different in design from the part he held, but they were all made of this faded, grey-black metal. His own was littered with black... dots or balls embossed into the front of the plate-like gems into jewelry. Others could sport a clump of ‘strings’ emerging from a black cylindrical stub. Some had ... things on them which looked like a tiny glass panel. After this examination, he noted that most of the arranged ‘segments’ had a different arrangement of gizmos on them.
He returned his attention to the ‘plank’ he held. The bottom of the ‘drawer’ was filled with items that he could not comprehend. There were squares of black… it seemed like wood… but it had glossy, possibly metal, trim at the edge. There were cylinders of various sizes and colors. There were silly-looking windings of copper wire. There were also violet… globs of stringy, soft material that spanned the entire plank like a spiderweb. These changed hue if he looked at them from different angles… kind of like bluestone did. Except these were soft and pliable, while all the bluestone items he had ever witnessed were unimaginably hard.
The plank was also quite odd-looking, unlike any other kind of wood or metal he had ever seen. Or has he? There was something unexpectedly familiar in this, and quite recent as well. It took a little to bubble into the forefront of his cognition.
-” I had something like this before.” - he said
- ”Oh? Please tell!”
-” I recall finding something reminiscent of this, a piece of really, during the escapade where I found the documents you translated.”
The tanai stared at the hoomin with a blank expression.
-” Why didn’t you tell me?”
-” I think” – shrugged the hoomin – “it is self-evident. Besides, the pieces I found were broken and very dirty. I took a few to keep as a curiosity, but have forgotten entirely. They probably are still stashed in my office in Sheridawn.”
Trawins was obviously not happy hearing this. But instead of sarcastic comments, he just wiggled the corners of his mouth in disapproval and changed the topic.
-” I suggest you pay a little attention to the writings on the plank itself. I think you’ll find them interesting.”
Intrigued Brandt raised an eyebrow, then brought the item he was still holding into the bivlight and closer to his face. He didn’t notice it at first, but the tanai was right, there were tiny whiteish prints on the board. They were flaky and faded, which probably was why he didn’t notice them before.
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-” What do those mean” – hoomin asked while raising his head towards the tanai.
-” As far as I can tell, nothing. They are nonsensical and some of the glyphs I don’t recognize. It may be a different typeface. Needs further study. My working theory is that these are catalog numbers of the items attached to the plank.”
-” Fascinating” – the hoomin returned to studying the item and after a few drips were about to give it back to the tanai, but a stylized word on the corner of the board, flaky and faded like all the other, but also recognizably different and elaborate, pulled his attention and immediately met a sudden flash of events from over a century prior.
-” Grisha” – he whispered almost inaudibly and immersed himself in this memory, immediately losing interest in the tanai. For this brief moment, he was with Dragman again and they were about to enter the lonely cave in the Eow Mountains.
-” Is… everything in order?” - the voice of the tanai brought him back.
-” Yes, Yes, of course” – Brandt quickly answered – “This here” – he pointed at the word – “Is there more of it?”
The tanai took a quick look at the plank, not sure what Brandt was referring to.
-” Gree-sha” – he spelled it slowly – “ Is that what you said? Yes, there's plenty of this signage inside. I’d say it’s all over. What does it mean?”
Brandt handed the board back to the tanai, who nodded in confirmation. Hoomin let go of the item and it began to float in the air. Brandt crossed his arms on his chest and for a moment was considering while staring at something in the distance.
-” An … acquaintance of mine, who is long deceased, mentioned this word before we parted.”
- ”On his deathbed, no doubt?”
-” As a matter of fact… yes.”
-” All right, secrecy and magical words uttered with a dying breath. Got it. Anything else?”
- ”They said to ask around for this ‘Grisha’ and see what would happen. So I did.”
-” What happened?”
- ”It almost got me burned at the stake as a heretic.” - shrugged Brandt Trawins opened his eyes widely in surprise, and then he fell silent for a few unsettling drips.
-” How, on Sathor, did that happen?”
Brandt hesitated briefly and then looked straight into the tanai's eyes.
-" Do you prefer the long version or the short?" - he said finally.
Anh shrugged, then tellingly looked around at the devices around him, wildmen being busy with their work.
-" I fail to see a reason to be terse.”
-" What do you know about dragons?" - inquired the Nord leisurely, folding his hands and leaning against the cabinet they were next to, hexergist squinted unhappily seeing the artifact being treated this way.
-" The last known specimen was, supposedly, killed in the Sheridawn caves close to two hundred and fifty years ago."
Brand smiled sourly and waved his hand.
-" Yes, but also no. That wasn't a dragon. Not a real one anyway. We sourced its internal organs from a large scaly creature…"
-" Who's 'we'?"
-" Hartmann and Dragmann…”
Anh tilted his head inquisitively.
-” Me and my partner. We were swords for hire back then. Budget version of your folk’s tale wotchers. Anyhow. The townsfolk see dragons in the caves almost every other week. In order to put the rumors to rest we got hired to kill the ‘dragon’.”
-” I gather, it wasn’t really a dragon?”
-” No. There was no creature at all in the caves. We… faked it. But anyway. The actual last known died of natural causes on 17th of Linde 1213, somewhat past midday in a damp cave in Eow Mountains. Seventy kimers east of Mosvok."
Anh squinted even harder.
-" If my disbelief could undo things, anything in sight would disappear at once about now."
Brandt shrugged, unfazed.
-"That story is even longer, and to tell it I would need to consult my journals, which are in Sheridawn. In my office.”
-” You have a journal.” - tanai frowned - ”In which you reminisce about you killing a dragon two hundred years ago.”
-” If you consider what you and me are, and what that does to our memory… why would you be surprised?”
-” Fair point”
-” Regardless. I didn’t kill it. I comforted the creature in its last moments. It whispered to me tattered memories of the times just after the Cataclysm. In its dying breath, it told us, me and Dragman, to go ask what ‘Grisha’ is. We later dubbed it ‘the Grisha Question’." - Brandt shrugged.
-” Continue.”
- ” There isn’t much. I made some friends with a variety of scholars in Vhirs. That led to many uncomfortable talks. My insistence became a nuisance over months and years, and local Purifiers took interest. Which ended in a few interrogations, a hastily trial, and a predestined sentence. Then King Ladislas the 2nd was dealing with political strife along the sorresian border. It was the break of Solidation after all. Having a semi-famous wotcher bandit be a heretic was very much the type of event the king needed to entertain the commoners.”
-” Yet here you are?”
- ”I got my hiney rescued by my partner, and in his fashion, he made it into the show like no other. Although very much not the kind the commoners expected.”
-” All that sounds very interesting. I say so out of courtesy as so far you had proven to be the kind to utter northern tales when necessary. Which this one sounds like. I’m more interested in what you get to know about this ‘Grisha’”?
-” That is… complicated. There appears to be an unresolved issue at the core of the dogma. Scholars agree that Vhirs is, or was before the cataclysm, accompanied by an entity named Grisha. Who, or what that was, is unknown. Some say she was its wife, some say he was a partner or a challenger. Each poses its unique challenges vhirsological questions and there are some even wackier theories. Nobody knows and officially ‘Grisha’ is not a thing. However, independent sources ” - Brandt pointed at the floating board – “ now claim the contrary.”
Trawins froze, engrossed in a thought. Brandt decided to wait patiently as it seemed that the tanai had to wrestle some internal turmoil in himself. Before any of them could continue the conversation, they were accosted by Strettar.
-”Mizter Zerster, Mizter Trawinz. I am glad I found both of you.” - he said as soon as he was near them and securely propped on his staff – “I am here to azk if you would honour us in joining verbrennerung of our fallen brotherz.”
Anh gave Brandt a questioning gaze, which the hoomin ignored, instead answering directly to the elder.
-” Of course.”
-” Streetcar. Can I call you as such?” - suddenly said Anh. The elder answered him with a nod – “When we first met, you said that you spoke to this Dlooa entity. Right?”
-” Yez. I did.” - the man nodded again
-” Then where is this demon?” - Strettar stroked his beard a few times, troubled by the tanai’s question
-” Az far az I can zay.” - he finally responded – “ You are deep in itz gutz. The lazt time I waz here, all of theze were there” – he pointed into the impromptu hospital – “ and were zhimmering with lightz. The temple people ripped it out, over here.”
Disappointed tanai exhaled heavily.
-” That’s unfortunate.” - he mumbled
-” The ceremoniez will ztart at duzk.”
-” Thank you” – said Brandt solemnly – “We will be there.”
Strettar nodded, then headed towards the cage of the captives. Tanai and Nord followed him with their gazes for a few drips.
-” Returning to topic”
-” Yes?”
-” I have never heard of this ‘grisha’ before and I consider myself, well not a scholar, but well versed in the dogma.”
-” Correction, Mr. Trawins. You are well-versed in the official version of the dogma.
Brandt gestured at the still-floating part.
-” You also have pieces of heresy before you. You either need to believe me or check yourself, once we return to Sheridawn.”
Tanai was pondering something for a split drip.
-” Speaking of which, what are we going to do now? I, for one, need a change of clothes...” - the tanai sniffed his shoulder – “..and a bath. Badly.”
-” I guess the wildmen can fashion you something off the loot and whatever resource they have. A bath, there’s bound to be a spring, river, or pond nearby. We have plenty of time, to be honest. At least a few weeks.”
The tanai took a long look around him, holding his eye for a drip or two on every piece of equipment around him. Then he looked the nord straight in the eye.
-” I’m going to need paper … and ink. Lots of it.” - he said and immediately floated away.
Brandt was looking after him briefly.
-” He seems to be well, considering yesterday.” – he murmured to himself. A moment later he concluded that a bath, or at least a little refresh, was indeed a great idea, as events of the last few days didn’t allow them to do any of such trivialities. But now, when they were at their goal, it was the time to, at first, relax a little, then join the tanai in rummaging through the compound.