As the centaur forces realized that they were surrounded by superior forces, they were amenable towards negotiating a more peaceful resolution to the hostilities. Normally centaurs were too aggressive for such peaceful solutions, but their aggression didn’t extend to being suicidal. They understood that they might be able to make a glorious last stand against the order’s forces, but that they would almost certainly lose against the much more experienced forces of the order. A good portion of the centaurs had also been spooked by the invisible death that walked their camps during the night.
Dee had no idea about the contents of the negotiations that went on for two days, as she was naturally not included in the talks. She only knew that the negotiations were progressing, and a favorable result seemed likely. In the meantime she spent time with Croestia, testing the effect all the new souls she had consumed had on the totem. She could only consume a portion of the souls that died in battle, but it was at least a fair sized portion. Combined with the souls from the city she had wiped out under the influence of the old deity’s blessing, she had finally reached the maximum area the foundations made of skulls in her soul space could cover. She could no longer spread them wider.
‘You do realize that if you build the rest of the totem with the foundations at their maximum size, you’ll require a truly atrocious amount of souls to finish the whole thing?’ Croestia pointed out. ‘We can already tell that the totem has some kind of pyramid-like shape, so if just a single layer requires this many skulls, then all the layers on top will take many times more, even if the shape narrows towards the top.’
‘A fair point, but I have a feeling we’ll not lack souls to consume in the future. I’d be surprised if our future wasn’t filled with battles and death. Besides, I’m not even an immortal yet, so we aren’t exactly in a rush to complete the whole thing. Razark hasn’t finished his totem and seems to be gaining quite a bit of power from it. The totem doesn’t need to be ready the moment I become immortal.’ Dee replied with her own counterpoint, naturally assuming she would become one of the powerful beings known as immortals. An assumption few people could make.
‘Speaking of, what are your thoughts on the whole debacle with the freelancer’s guild joining in on the war?’ Croestia asked instead, conceding the point for now.
‘I’m honestly not sure. I can’t believe the grandmaster wouldn’t have considered the possibility before. I mean something like this happening occurred to me, and I have sadly deficient knowledge on the whole situation. I just didn’t know the Summer and Spring courts would go to the freelancers specifically. The grandmaster has to have a plan of some kind, but what? What’s his goal? What really scares me is the possibility that he is playing a game outside the internal struggle of the seasonal courts and luring the freelancers into the struggle was the whole point.’ Dee replied thoughtfully.
‘You’re kind of tied into the whole thing thanks to Noyala. That’s assuming you believe the whole thing about the Threads of Fate wanting your help for her as a repayment for the earlier favor.’ Croestia once again pointed out.
‘I’m inclined to believe her in this case, mostly because it will be easy to check once we return to the headquarters. I’ll need to talk to Nessera and get my new weapons anyway, so I might as well visit the seers while I’m at it. I might be able to bargain in another bit of information from them, as wading into the whole internal conflict of the courts seems at the same time both very simple and very difficult as far as returning favors goes.’ Dee cracked her jaw a bit in thought.
‘You want to find out how to stop the dragon parts of your heritage from influencing your judgement?’ Croestia guessed correctly.
‘Yes. I can’t afford to be led around by wild swings of personality once I become an immortal and start dealing with the matters outside of Pantheon. Still, we might be able to bargain that information into the favor we already owe. Depending on how we go about helping Noyala, we might have to deal with the whole internal struggle of the courts. Or we might just have to go in and kill a few people to fulfill her revenge. It’s hard to say at this point.’ Dee simply didn’t have enough information about Noyala’s goals, but asking about them was a potential minefield, considering she didn’t know how much of the Sidhe woman’s emotions were mixed up in the search of revenge. Usually revenge was seriously sought because of intensely personal reasons.
A short time later General Luthana came to fetch Dee. “You had a blessing of Lumen, correct?” The elf woman asked.
“Yes, what about it?” Dee asked with a frown.
“Were you taught about oath ceremonies?” The general asked further.
“Not in detail. My teacher taught me most well-known priest spells, but we didn’t exactly have time to go into detail. I can perform the ceremony, but truth be told my knowledge of the whole thing is limited.” Dee explained. Mazatl hadn’t had enough time to explain everything as she was cramming all that knowledge into Dee’s head.
“Well making a long story short, the negotiations have concluded, but with agreements of this magnitude we need a bit more guarantee than just the word of the other party.” Oaths were taken very seriously on Pantheon, but they ultimately relied on the honor of the party making the oath. Surprisingly, even people who were decidedly on the darker side of things usually held their word, though for selfish reasons. “We don’t have time to take stronger diplomatic measures like exchanging hostages, nor are we really in the habit of doing so anyway. So we need to perform an oath ceremony.”
Oath ceremonies were basically agreements enforced by the deities. If you broke an oath like that, you faced the retaliation of the deity whose name had been used to make the oath. The retaliation usually took the form of a lot of smiting on the deity’s part, and a lot of dying on the oath breaker’s part. This much Dee already knew, but Luthana quickly explained it anyway.
“The thing is, as the bindings are created by a deity, another deity can remove those bindings. Such services are rather popular among certain powerful deities of deception and other such gods. However, such gods can’t remove the bindings of a more powerful deity in the convoluted hierarchy of the deities, so the specific deity whose name is used for the ceremony becomes very important. And only someone with a blessing from that god can perform the ceremony. Now as it happens, the centaurs are one of the few races whose blessed don’t become priests in the Holy Orders as they are more shamanistic in nature, so we can’t tell what deities they can draw upon to break such oaths.” The general explained.
“So you need someone with a blessing from the top ten deities, which is pretty rare considering how rarely the top ten give those blessings out. That is why you’re talking to me as I’m blessed by Lumen.” Dee finished the thought for Luthana.
“Exactly. While we don’t know which blessings the centaurs have, it’s pretty doubtful they have access to the top three, and Lumen isn’t likely to revoke an oath made in her own name, even if she did make the mistake of blessing a centaur.” What Luthana didn’t mention was that she could guess that Dee’s blessing wasn’t a normal one either, and a ceremony overseen by someone with a greater blessing also made the oath more binding.
“Well, let’s get to it.” Dee gave up with a sigh. At least this way she might find out the contents of the treaty, which might give her some idea of the bigger picture.
Luthana lead her towards the large tent erected between the two parties. It was guarded by a ring of both templar and centaurs in equal number. Inside the large tent were the three chapter masters, as well as a very large centaur that was clearly the great khan of the centaurs, and his two subordinates. Luthana whispered something to one of the chapter masters who nodded and gestured for her to leave the tent, leaving Dee alone with the six individuals.
“And who might this little lady be?” The booming voice of the large centaur demanded, not really trying to be rude, but the centaur just sounded tired.
An older grey bearded dwarven chapter master smiled as he saw Dee and heard the question. “This little lady is the person who will be performing the oath ceremony. Incidentally, what was it that you requested just before we sent for someone like her?”
“You know damn well! We want you to hold your assassins in line. The one our warriors took to calling the Reaper in particular must stop his activities immediately!” One of the other centaurs demanded.
“Well, I’m fairly sure that once we get this treaty done, such activities should stop. Mind you, we of course have no knowledge about such people, but I believe a message to that effect can be sent.” The grin on the dwarven man’s face widened.
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Dee only looked at the chapter master with a raised eyebrow. She wasn’t surprised someone had figured it out. There weren’t that many individuals powerful enough in the order’s ranks, and if one was aware of Dee’s assassin background the connection was fairly obvious. She was more surprised the centaurs had said nothing about the other reason for the nickname, her consuming the souls of the dead. Originally she had assumed the centaurs would not bring the whole thing up at all. She wasn’t aware, but the silence of the centaurs concerning the souls was due to simple shame and the cultural tenets of the centaurs. Matters of souls after death were very private for them.
She wasn’t exactly fond of the method the dwarven chapter master had used to deliver the message for her to stop her activities, but at least the message was received loud and clear. The two sides argued a bit further about minor details, finally causing even Dee to lose her patience. If they had sent for her, then at least they should get on with it.
Dee shook her head. She quickly checked the contents of the treaty. “Let’s get this over with.” She declared and the golden symbol of a sun suddenly floated out from her forehead and she looked at the two parties. “Will you swear to abide by the terms of the treaty as they have been laid out for a period of three years?”
In reply to her question both parties looked a little shocked but swore their oaths. Normally the whole ceremony involved a whole lot of chanting and invoking the holy grace of the deities, but Dee had never been one for such pomp. All that was really required was for the terms to be clear, the two parties to swear an oath and for the deity to deign to enforce those oaths.
Dee brought her hands together in a quick prayer. ‘Lumen, if you would be so kind.’
A gale of laughter sounded in her head as the goddess commented. “You really aren’t much for ceremony, are you? It’s alright, I don’t mind. At least I can chalk up a prayer from you into my tally. I seem to be in the lead Umbra.” The goddess’ voice became slightly mocking towards the end, making it obvious that she was also talking to the Goddess of Darkness.
“Maybe, but I can throw my chip in to this game as well.” Another female voice answered. It didn’t take much to figure out the voice belonged to the aforementioned goddess.
Dee’s eye twitched a bit in annoyance as she felt the weight of double bindings dropping on the two parties. The two parties also felt the same and were about to question the change in circumstances, but Dee just shot a glare at them and shook her head so that they wouldn’t incite the two bickering deities further. Apparently the words of the two deities had been heard by the others as well. The six people wisely chose to remain quiet.
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Dee had wasted no time with the army once the treaty had been signed and it became clear that the armies of the order were slowly marching towards the great forest. Whether they would enter the forest or not was still unclear, but it would take a fair bit of time for them to get there in either case. Time she could spend better elsewhere.
She and Noyala quickly exited the teleportation station at the Radiant Sun headquarters, and were immediately intercepted by a messenger. The message was from the grandmaster, and was basically a summons for her to appear as soon as she got the message. With a heavy sigh she started running towards the headquarters. She noted that that mood in the city located between the headquarters of the four large organizations had a very tense air about it. Not surprising considering the order and the freelancers were now on the opposite sides of a war. She knew there were rules about fighting in the city, but such rules only held so much weight.
“It might be better for you to find a place to rest for a few days.” Dee addressed Noyala. “I’m going to be having several meetings for the next couple of days, and most of those you won’t likely be able to attend. That’ll mean a lot of sitting around in hallways, waiting for me to finish.”
Noyala gave a small wave with a smile. “I’ll be fine. I suspect you’ll face much the same once we do get inside the empire, and it might be better if we both get used to it.”
“Suit yourself.” Dee replied with a shrug.
She was quickly ushered into the grandmaster’s office once she entered the central keep. What surprised her was that the grandmaster had been discussing something with another one of the order’s chapter masters, but decided to cut that meeting short in favor of meeting with Dee in private. The matter the grandmaster and the chapter master had been discussing appeared to be rather important, yet Dee’s matter took priority even over that. Curious.
Once they were in private, the grandmaster spent several minutes simply studying Dee from her head to her toes. He looked serious, and the air about him was equally so. “You’ve no doubt heard about the involvement of the freelancer’s guild in the internal conflict of the four seasonal courts. What you might not be aware of, is that both the Mystic’s guild and Holy Orders are also preparing to take sides. With four out of five of the great communities holding the peace in the lesser circles possibly going to war, you could call the situation volatile. I’m honestly a little surprised that the Threads of Fate aren’t throwing their spoon into the soup as well. No one is completely sure of their strength, not even me, so their absence is good I suppose.”
Dee suddenly realized that the Threads of Fate wouldn’t get involved, because they already were. They’d had their own members mixing things up inside the empire since a long time ago, and they were already prepared to make a play. Play involving Dee to be precise. They weren’t sending an army, most likely because their goals didn’t require one due to their preparations. What they needed was someone to nudge things in the right direction in a bit more subtle way. She was suddenly getting a headache. Damn seers and their games.
“Due to the volatile situation the whole war has become deadlocked, without anyone daring to make any overt moves, since they are afraid of sparking open hostilities between the four big communities that have so far worked together to hold the peace. Just as planned, I feel compelled to point out. So the resolution to the whole crisis has to come another way. Either we use more subtle ways to resolve the internal struggle that is at the heart of the conflict, or immortals will get involved. As it happens, I was planning on using the more subtle ways of resolution already.” The grandmaster continued.
Dee found the whole thing interesting, but wasn’t entirely sure why the grandmaster was explaining this to her. She got her answer very quickly though.
“So imagine my surprise when I’m planning various diplomatic and more shadowy ways to nudge things towards resolution, when one of the biggest players in this entire conflict, who will remain nameless for now, contacts me and wants to hire your services as an assassin. That person wants me to order you to kill certain individuals, which if successful would indeed resolve the current crisis. Not exactly in a way I would prefer, but not in a bad way for us either. Now here’s the interesting bit: that person should not be aware of your previous profession. And why hire you instead of going to Zabaniya who trained you in the first place? Care to enlighten me?” The grandmaster stated his question.
Dee considered her answer for a moment, before deciding to go with it for now. “The leader of Zabaniya contacted me recently. He mentioned wanting to renew some kind of relationship between me and them, with the possibility of me performing some jobs for them. I declined, but I would assume he recommended me to this person you’re talking about for his own reasons.”
“Which are?” The grandmaster queried.
“Not entirely clear to me. I’m guessing he wants to train me for something big later on. They did certainly pay quite a bit of attention to me while I was under their ‘tender care’.” Dee replied with a shrug. She knew more but wasn’t prepared to share her vendetta with the angels.
“Well, the order isn’t in the business of murder for hire. However, it did get me thinking. If both the person I’m talking about and the leader of Zabaniya have faith in you, then perhaps that faith isn’t entirely unwarranted. I want a softer resolution to the struggle compared to a war anyway, so you might be one avenue to get that resolution. Especially considering that Sidhe friend of yours. Yes I’m aware of her presence. She could get you inside the court, and you could see what you could stir up. I’m not advocating for you to go the murder route, and I’m not even going to mention who the person I mentioned wanted dead, but that is one possible option. Be aware that I’m throwing other possible solutions at the problem than just you, and I would really rather you didn’t mess with those when possible.” The grandmaster said, tapping his fingers on the table.
Dee was rather off balance at the mere suggestion, and cleared her throat to gain some time to think. “I would think Razark has something to say about this. He was rather displeased by your last assignment.”
“Ah, he did come to yell at me just a few days ago. Speaking of.” The grandmaster rang a small bell that made a very soft sound. Dee noted though that the sound passed through the silencing wards on the walls of the office without obstruction.
A short moment later Razark entered the room, after being escorted there by the grandmaster’s aide, who stayed outside the room. “What is it now Lothar?” Razark asked rather displeased. He had been ‘strongly suggested’ to stay in the keep for a few days now. Seeing that Dee was here, he could guess part of the reason why.
“As of right now, you are no longer a member in the order.” The grandmaster replied without preamble.
“Say what?” Razark replied a little dumbly.
“Come now, I would’ve thought you’d be happier about it.” The grandmaster said with a small laugh. “Well, in all seriousness, the order can’t be seen sending an immortal to meddle in the affairs of the empire. However, as you are no longer part of the order, we can’t control what you decide to do with your free time. Or at least that’s the story we’ll stick to in case someone asks. More specifically you were dishonorably discharged from the order if someone asks when you get caught. Which I hope won’t happen.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you’re using as an excuse for booting me out. I am however curious to know what makes you think I’d go along with this.” Razark asked, with a palm covering his face in quiet despair. He had a bad feeling about this. For many reasons.
“Oh you should like this one. You were discharged for having improper sexual relations with a minor placed under your charge.” The grandmaster looked pointedly at Dee.
“Umm, I’m not sure if I count as a minor, even if someone were to believe the other bits of that explanation.” Dee pointed out. By human standards she was an adult by now.
“That depends on the race of the individual, and truth be told we have no idea what you are. So you’re a minor if we decide you are. As for why you would go along with this Razark, if you complete this mission to my satisfaction, I’ll grant you your wish of letting the scouts leave the order in peace. Each individual scout is allowed to decide if they want to go with you or stay in the order, and they will not be pressured to stay.” The man looked at Dee again.
“On that line, a mission like this is pretty far outside of what we expect from our members. I realize that, and that requires a reward if you should succeed. We both know that your membership in the order is a little ambiguous, and we both know you would run afoul of us sooner or later. Personally I think sooner. So, if you successfully complete this mission to my satisfaction, you can consider your obligation towards the order fulfilled. You are free to go. In fact, as of now you are no longer a member of the order just like Razark, so that we can honestly claim no connection to you in case you get caught.” He explained.
“You mentioned ‘to your satisfaction’ several times. What exactly is our mission?” Razark asked, still shocked by the whole thing.
“More broadly speaking, your mission is to resolve the civil war within the so called elven empire. For more specific goals, I am unable to tell you.” The grandmaster emphasized his words sharply as he spoke them.
“How are we supposed to complete a mission to your satisfaction if we can’t tell what we are…” Razark started to demand from the grandmaster, only to be interrupted by Dee raising her hand in front of his face.
“You didn’t pay attention to his words. He didn’t say he can’t tell us, or that he won’t tell us. He said he is unable to tell us. As in there’s something stopping him from telling us. Some kind of bond would be my guess.” Dee said, noticing the odd emphasis used by the grandmaster earlier.
The grandmaster smiled. He was glad that Dee was sharp enough to catch that because he really couldn’t give more hints. “Once you understand my words, you will also know what to do. Dismissed.” His dismissal at this timing was a silent acknowledgement of Dee’s words.