The tension at the table was palpable. Zalia’s team were on edge, tense as if a spring ready to shoot into action, Zen slightly less as his face was in his hands. This was most likely a result of three odd weeks spent in a frozen landscape filled with dangerous creatures. The spy was an observant man and was currently surrounded by a group of people above his rank, ready for battle. The tension in the man was so high as to be visible, his muscles sometimes straining as if to escape bonds that were not there. Despite all this, Zalia was relaxed and casually leaning in her chair. There was a long pause in any conversation as the man inspected them all, slowly relaxing as he realised he was not about to be assaulted. Zalia’s team also relaxed as they realised the man wasn't about to make a huge scene at Zalia's theft of the man from his day to day business.
“Sooo, what did you want?” the man asked Zalia, finally breaking the silence.
“You’re in the army right?” Zalia asked.
“Not… specifically, no. I work for an army, but I’m not in one,” the man replied.
“Right, exactly what I meant. We could ask him about what we’re looking for,” Zalia replied to the man before turning to Indis.
Zen finally took his face from his hands looking like he was about to object before Indis spoke up,
“We could, do you trust him whatsoever?” Indis asked.
“No, not really,” Zalia admitted.
“Would he even know about what we’re looking for?” Indis asked.
“I don't know, he might. I’m pretty sure he is a spy or something so knowing things is in the business,” Zalia replied.
“Know what?” the man asked.
“That adds to the argument in not asking him about anything though,” Ember added in.
“Well sure but if we don't we could be walking around looking for a while, or just give up and not find anything at all. We could save time this way,” Zalia argued.
“That is true,” Indis said, looking thoughtful.
“We are not actually going to ask this army spy about this are we?” Zen asked.
“Why not, he is technically on our side is he not?” Zalia asked.
“You guys are rebels too?” the man whispered.
A hush fell over the table as they all stared at him.
“Oh, well maybe we aren’t,” Zalia said.
The man paled as he realised he had given himself away.
“We aren’t on any side Zalia, we’re mercenaries hired to hunt monsters,” Indis admonished her.
“Alright well I guess that means we aren’t technically not on his side then, just neutral,” Zalia said, a little questioningly.
“Kind of,” Indis said.
“We have been hired by the kingdom he is fighting against though,” Zen said.
It was Indis’ turn to put her face in her hands as Ember slapped the man in the back of the head and Zalia groaned.
“Why, why would you say that in front of him?” Zalia asked.
“Whoops,” Zen said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
“I can pretend I never heard that,” the spy volunteered, still looking a little pale.
“Stop being so scared, we aren’t going to hurt you,” Zalia said.
“Screw it, just ask him then we can go home,” Ember said.
“Oh go on, tell him our every little secret since Zen is going to anyways,” Indis said, giving up.
“Excellent! Hey spy man, know anything about any crazy blood rituals going on around here?” Zalia asked quietly.
“Crazy blood rituals?” the man asked suspiciously.
“Yeah like, some kind of blood ritual with portals? Maybe portals that … might be affecting the elementals somehow. Oh and they might be corrupting people, turning them into blood frenzied crazies,” Zalia explained further.
“You’re saying the king has performed a ritual here too!?” the man asked quietly but intensely.
“The king? What no, not that I know of,” Zalia said, confused.
“Oh good, worried me a little there,” the man said, calming down.
“Why would you assume the king did it?” Zalia asked.
“That’s the whole reason we’re fighting this war, to stop the usurper king from dooming us all with the blood rituals he performs,” the spy explained.
“Don’t be crazy, it’s not the king performing those rituals. Right?” Zalia said, asking the others for confirmation.
“We don't know who is,” Indis said, looking a little disturbed.
Zalia calmed little Boreal who had started waking from the nap she was taking, patting her on the head. She had determined the little feline was female, though an exotic animal similar enough to most cat-like creatures that Zalia felt she had got it right. She took Boreal off her neck and put the feline on the table. Boreal yawned and stretched, before looking around to inspect her loud, nap-hostile surroundings.
“Well, that doesn't matter at the moment. If you’re unaware of any rituals being performed here we can pack up and move on,” Zalia said.
“Unless the rebels are the ones who did it and the man is lying to us,” Ember said.
Zalia sighed,
“Yeah,” she said grudgingly, “unless that.”
“I’m not lying, I swear it,” the man said quickly, looking disturbed as Boreal came and sat in front of him on the table, inspecting the man with too intelligent eyes.
“Yeah but you’re a spy with nefarious plans, we can't trust your words or your morals,” Zalia said dramatically.
“I don't feel like you’re taking this very seriously, Zalia,” Zen said, also looking a little disturbed by Boreal.
“No,” Zalia admitted, “I’m not very good at this kind of thing.”
“You’re really not,” Zen said.
“Don’t you start talking, spiller of secrets,” Zalia retorted.
“Hey, I-,” Zen started.
“How can we know you aren’t lying,” Indis asked the spy, interrupting Zen and getting the conversation back on track.
Zen crossed his arms, simmering. Zalia stuck her tongue out at him before retrieving a little piece of meat from her bag, trying to get Boreals attention.
“There’s not much I can really say to convince you, other than the thing you are talking about is exactly why an entire rebellion is fighting against the king's rule right now,” the man said.
“That’s pretty convincing,” Ember pointed out.
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Boreal crouched and started wiggling, getting ready to pounce as she noticed Zalia flicking a piece of meat around on the table.
“What do we-.... do then?” Indis said, glaring at Zalia as Boreal pounced across the table with a puff of ice magic as she landed.
“I vote we go back to the Morning’s shade with what we know and let them deal with it,” Zalia said, patting Boreal.
“Would be less of a headache than doing it ourselves,” Ember agreed.
“We also don't know what has happened since we left, some of the other expeditions may have found something,” Zen said.
“That is a good point,” Indis agreed, sounding surprised.
“Alright, seems that is decided. What about this guy here,” Ember asked, pointing at the spy.
“He hasn’t hurt anyone, we should just let him go,” Zalia said.
“We should take him back with us. He might know something,” Indis rebutted.
“Might. Or he might know nothing and we would be kidnapping a man from his life for no reason whatsoever,” Zalia argued, holding her ground.
“I vote we leave him too,” Ember said.
Indis looked to Zen,
“I'm not getting involved,” he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
“Alright, we let him go then,” Indis said, sighing in annoyance.
“Settled, off you go then,” Zalia said to the man.
The spy hesitated for a moment,
“If you ever find out the truth and want to fight back against the king, come and find me. I’m Zek,” Zek said, before getting up and leaving the table.
“He seems pretty convinced,” Zalia said once the man had left.
“He might well be right about the king being the cause of this,” Indis said.
“That doesn't make any sense though. Why would the king perform all those rituals, anger the elementals and then hire the entire Morning’s shade to deal with them and look into why it's happening,” Zalia argued.
“So he can then better hold off the rebellion as we deal with all the elementals instead of his army, plant information pointing to the rebellion as the cause and then get our help with putting down the rebellion,” Indis suggested.
Zalia paused for a moment,
“Damn politics,” she muttered, “you would know better than me and I guess that is possible. Have you ever met the king?”
“Once, when I was much younger. He didn't strike me as an evil man then but the minds of the young can easily be deceived,” Indis said.
“Hmm,” Zalia said, now entirely focused on Boreal as the feline jumped around, trying to catch her sleeve.
“Hey Zen, want to get some drinks for us all?” Zalia asked.
“Not particularly,” Zen said.
“Thanks!” Zalia said, handing him two silver coins.
Zen grumbled but stood, moving off to the bar.
“He’s a good kid,” Zalia said once he had moved away.
“Sure is,” Ember agreed.
“What do we do if it is the king who is performing the rituals?” Zalia asked.
“What is the purpose of the Morning’s shade?” Indis asked back.
“I’m not actually entirely sure but it seems to be to protect the people from whatever threatens them and get paid for doing it,” Zalia said, thinking it over.
“That’s pretty accurate to how it ends up but the purpose of the organisation is to protect the people no matter what. Payment is required so the people who do it can afford to live,” Indis corrected.
“So, what is your point?” Zalia asked.
“My point Zalia, is if it is the king who is performing these rituals that seem to involve a sacrifice, if it is the king who is disturbing the elementals that are harming countless people across the lands, if it is the king who is lying to his people for some purpose beyond what is happening then I don't see a way we do our job without having to take that man out from where he stands,” Indis said, steel in her tone.
“Fair enough,” Zalia replied, after a moment's pause.
Zalia considered Indis’ words as she watched Boreal curl up in her lap and try to fall asleep once more. She would probably do what had to be done to stop the rituals from happening and elementals from awakening. The elementals themselves were a danger to day to day life for normal people but it was also a danger to the Born of Heat and Stone in the mountains and definitely a danger to those in Zalia’s line of work. That was reason enough for her to do what she could to help stop the king if it came to it. They still didn't know what the rituals were meant to achieve but it couldn't be anything good.
Zen came back with a round of drinks and they spent the night chatting idly before sleeping in a few rented rooms. Tomorrow, they would worry about what was to come.
The next morning they woke up early and left, no training and no wasting of time as they needed to get back to Endelbyrn as quickly as possible. They had acquired a few key alchemical ingredients that Glemp had pointed out to them from kills they had made when up north, along with all the various herbs that Zalia had collected. Zalia had tried to draw out a map of the surrounding area but even with her increased dexterity and mental stats failed miserably at the task. Ember had stopped her on the second day and had taken over, drawing up a passable map of the area around. That plus the new information they were bringing back about the ritual that had taken place high up in the mountain should be enough for the time they spent north to be counted as well spent by the Morning’s shade.
They travelled light and quick, sleeping less, only hunting when absolutely necessary and not taking time out of the day for training, towns or any other distraction along the way. It took them two days less than the expected week and five days for them to finally reach the city of Endelbyrn once more. When they arrived at the keep that hosted the organisation they were a part of they found activity had kicked up while they were gone. Many more groups and people than they were used to seeing around the grounds were about their own separate business, many hurried. There was also a much higher percentage of higher ranked individuals, though many couldn't be determined exactly due to some aura masking abilities they must have had.
“What is happening here?” Zalia asked in wonder.
“Seems something has happened,” Indis said.
“Or is happening,” Ember added.
They quickly went up through the confusing stairs and walkways of the keep to find one of the leaders they were used to communicating with. They found the Hidden in his office,
“Hidey! How are you?” Zalia asked as she entered.
Zen groaned at Zalia’s use of the nickname she had given the shade,
“Wonderful, on such a sunny day,” Hidey said, smiling at her entry.
“You like the sun? But you’re a shade,” Zalia said in mock confusion.
“We have news,” Indis said, interrupting Zalia’s stream of inane babble.
“I’d love to hear it,” Hidey said, watching the feline creature half hidden by its magic underneath Zalia’s hair on her shoulders. It was currently playing with some strands of hair, batting at them and chewing on some others.
Indis went on to describe their findings in the north, the mountain, the ritual as well as giving a shortened version of their conversation with the spy they had found in the tavern. She did leave out the information Zen had given away as well as the slightly unprofessional manner in which they had held themselves. She also mentioned the peoples of the Born of Heat and Stone but didn't expand on the relationship, their strength or numbers, simply noting their existence.
“That is some news indeed,” Hidey said, raising a hand to his face as if in deep thought.
“What has happened since we left?” Zalia asked.
“Oh! Of course you would not know,” Hidey said distractedly as Boreal jumped to the floor and began inspecting the room.
“What is that creature?” he asked, instead of elaborating.
“That's Boreal, my new companion,” Zalia said simply.
“Right, right. Well essentially, you are not the first group to come back with news of more ritual sites found. Many more have been discovered by various groups that have been sent out to deal with rising issues with elementals around the lands within the kingdom. Many of these rituals have taken place within infrastructure key to the continued efficiency of the army, as if done to purposely awaken elementals and sabotage,” Hidey said.
“It is also noted that none have been found outside of the kingdom's borders,” he added.
Indis turned to Zalia, raising an eyebrow as if to say, “see, I told you.”
“And who do you think is doing it?” Zalia asked.
“The obvious perpetrator would be the rebellion as none of the rituals have taken place in locations that would endanger the civilians of the kingdom, for the most part. The mine that you were sent to was a large producer of iron that house Darial sold to the kingdom and was used to properly arm the kingdom's armies, for instance. I for one don't think it is them however,” Hidey replied.
“As I said, the rebellion seems to blame the king for the rituals,” Indis said.
“Yes, though I can't see it being the king either. Purposely sabotaging your own army's infrastructure just to get us involved with the war when you could just fight the war outright instead as you suggested? No, I think there is something larger at play,” Hidey said.
“Well who else could be responsible?” Zen asked.
“Honestly, I do-,” Hidey started before he was interrupted by Boreal climbing up a bookshelf at the back of the room and pulling a section of books off as she fell. The books clattered to the floor with the feline as Zalia rushed over to clean up the mess.
“Sorry,” Zalia said, a little sheepish.
“No need to worry. As I was saying, I really don't know who else could be responsible. It seems way too convoluted of a plot for the king to be using to gain our support in the war when they were stronger to begin with. It would be over faster with our support to be sure but the clean up afterwards wouldn't be worth it. The rebellion using the very rituals they accuse the king of using to destabilise the kingdom's army doesn't seem likely either, though maybe a smaller faction amongst them is responsible,” Hidey continued.
“We need to know more then. Do we know the purpose of the rituals yet?” Zalia asked.
“Ah, yes I do believe we have ascertained their purpose. They are meant to either open a portal of some kind to Cormaine or… possibly summon something through. However, they are either sabotaging it on purpose or simply have not discovered the correct method of application yet. Each ritual has only had the result of causing an elemental awakening or driving the practitioner mad. That is as much as we know,” Hidey explained.
“Well.. what next?” Ember asked.
“In that, your timing is excellent. Come with me,” Hidey said, standing from his chair.