I frowned, his meaning escaping me for a moment. “You wish for me to read a little from this text, and ridicule it? Just to make sure, of course,” I said, caught off-guard.
“Has one not stated it as such?” he replied flatly, nodding at the old text. “Go on.”
“Very well, then,” I acceded. It was a small thing to humor the man.
Little did I know that it would be the first request of many. He produced many more texts of various gods, making me mock their names and ridicule the wisdom upon the pages. Religion in this world, as it was in mine, was an institution built upon silly lies draped in the garment of fairy tales.
However, enough was enough. After going through a veritable pantheon of gods, I decided that I had only endured enough. I had only put up with this as much as I had because I wanted answers.
“What more would you have me do? How many other gods must I curse?” I asked in a strained voice. “What more must I prove?”
The sallow and pale man rubbed his chin in thought. He bent down to rummage through a battered chest in the corner of the room. It creaked with the squeal that set my teeth on edge. After a few moments, his questing hand emerged, clutching a rough stone. Cracks ran across it and it held a sick and weak glow of stained yellow.
“Place your hand on this, it is a Binding Stone. Blessed Zajasite. Similar to what the Guild uses. Swear upon that you will not speak of our conversations,” he offered, holding out the stone in front of him.
Shrugging and wanting to get this over with, I quickly took the stone… no, snatched it really, in haste. “I do swear to keep the confidence of Vincenzio Barbierri. Good enough?” I declared.
There was a quiet pause, pregnant with the heavy air portent. Vincenzio looked as if he was shouting something at me, but he seemed so distant as if he was speaking through several panes of glass. Suddenly there was a shift, and a sense of vertigo overcame me. I felt as if I was lying down instead of standing. I could see nothing save for an inky blackness. Was I blind? In panic, I drew a heavy breath. There was something around my mouth, a pressure like a mask. Distantly I heard odd beeping noises and rhythmic mechanical hissing that grew and lessened in cycles.
Then a cracking sound, like ice breaking under a heavy foot. Disorientated, I was standing again. More importantly, I was free from the claustrophobic dark. I could see once again, and before me was Vincenzio, looking to be muttering and nodding to himself.
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Incredulously, I took an involuntary step back. Yellow sand was sifting lazily through my fingers. Sound slowly returned as I came back to the here and now.
Disorientated, I could only croak stupidly, “What happened?”
“One does believe you are responsible for breaking an almost priceless artifact,” he replied, pointing with a bony digit at the last of the sand falling from my fingers.
“What the… that was no fault of mine,” I stated in immediate denial.
The man looked at me as if I represented a profound quandary. “Indeed, perhaps it is so. It seems, within you, you possess the innate ability to defy the goddess of the twin blades herself. That was, as one stated before, a Binding Stone. It places a geas of sorts on a person who gives an oath freely. It seems that you are free of even divine constraints. Both a worrying and hopeful prospect,” he stated calmly. “It gives weight to your claim of being free from divine meddling.”
“Then do we have an accord?”
“And compensation for the Stone?
“That was no fault of mine. The fault lies with you.”
“One had to try. Indeed it does, one grants you that. A small price to pay. Yes, we have an accord. For the Isurru Sutu, one means Beron’s Dream, and other things. Consider this a downpayment of sorts,” he acceded, producing some dog-eared and well-worn notes from within his robes.
“Your scroll?”
The man almost seemed to bristle. “We will discuss that another time. A magister’s Manzaza is a personal thing. A heavy matter. Unclouded by recent events and emotion, one must think and reflect for a time.”
“Very well then… another time. But when exactly?” was my reluctant reply. I wanted more information. And sooner, rather than later.
“Word will be sent in good time. Where can one find you?”
I pursed my lips, before giving my answer, “The Begonia’s Shade. Do you know of it?”
“Yes, one knows of it. We will speak soon and one will send for you. Now, it is best that you be off now. Ezlas will likely return with his lackeys soon. It's best if he finds only the straightforward truth that his simple mind can grasp," he explained.
After a brief pause, the odd man offered me a suggestion in an almost conspiratorial tone, "It would be wise for you to continue playing the part of a humble adventurer. One will post some requests for some… some odds and ends. It'll provide us with a bit of cover for any future meetings."
I nodded in agreement. “So be it. Stay true to your word, and I will stay true to mine, Vincenzio.”