With a wave of his hand, Ramon's old man sends everyone other than Al and myself out of the study. One of the battle maids takes Loaner by the reins and brings up the rear of the procession. Everyone seems to have gotten over Loaner wandering about inside the manor, or rather the expression on the Baron's face made it clear he wasn't in the mood to discuss it. And with that, the door of the study shuts with a definitive click and the Baron settles back behind his desk.

"So." he says, leaving the word hanging in the air.

"Where's Larson?" Al asks without preamble.

"Is that all you care about?" the Baron scowls in irritation, "You come back after all these years and the first thing you ask about is my father."

"We can discuss the other stuff later -" Al tries to calm Raymond Dasar down but he keeps bulling forward.

"No, we should talk about it now," the Baron demands, "you owe it to me. Especially after I cleaned up your mess -"

Mess? Al claimed that she was here as a former employee of the Dasars. And now it looks like the parting wasn't entirely amicable, huh? Things are getting more and more curious by the moment.

"Don't do this. Don't." Al's voice becomes heated, "You were involved as well."

"That's why we need to talk about it." the Baron insists, "Its not just about you."

"There's a stranger here!" Al almost snaps from the building frustration. At her raised voice, Dasar finally turns to look at me.

"Just ignore I'm in the room." I wave a hand at him, "Minding my own business, yes sir."

"Fine." Dasar taps the table with his fingers as addresses Al once more, "But this discussion isn't over, are we clear?"

"In private. Please." Al nods sullenly, but this action manages to appease Dasar somewhat.

"And you." Dasar grunts at me, "You're the worst bodyguard I've ever seen. You abandoned Ramon for an entire day. What in the world were you thinking?"

"I'm not actually here to protect Ramon, that's just a cover story." I explain while adjusting my clothes to look more professional, "We're actually working for someone else."

"We." Al flashes me with an alarmed look.

"Yeah, we were contacted by -" I begin to explain but Al's pained voice cuts me off.

"Ramon's been pulled into whatever the Sage has planned, right?" she murmurs softly, both fists clenched impotently.

"Pretty much." I confirm, noting that the Baron's complexion is starting to look increasingly pale, "Ramon was sold on the idea that we would be able to save his family. Or something like that."

"Save us." the Baron mouths grimly, "From what precisely?"

"A crisis? The Sage wasn't really big on details." I shrug, "But from what happened just now, I can make a pretty good guess."

"Indeed." Dasar sucks at his lips as he draws a deep breath, "So that day has finally come."

"What day?" Al quizzes from her side of the room, arms folded nervously over her chest.

"Do you know why my family left the issue of Southmarsh's entailment unattended to for so long?" Dasar responds slowly, trying to work through his own thoughts.

"Your House is, uh, not very prestigious?" I suggest as delicately as possible, "No offence meant, of course."

"Pah. Its not that at all." Dasar dismisses my observation with an amused look, "We've got the money. We can buy any bride we want from the plenty of noble families heading downhill."

"Why did you leave Ramon's marriage until so late then?" Al pipes up with surprising sternness.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"It was on my father's order." Dasar admits unhappily, "He ordered me to never arrange a marriage for Ramon. And to never try to marry us into nobility, no matter what the entailment said."

"That seems counter productive though?" I comment, "Almost as if Baron Larson didn't actually care about the estate."

"That's not it. He cared very much about our claim to Southmarsh." Dasar harrumphs, "The Sage was the one who planted that idea in his head. That we could never ever take any action to head off the entailment."

"And your father believed the Sage just like that?" I ask, somewhat doubtful, "Its no different to letting Southmarsh slip from your grasp."

"Tell me, Nair." the Baron suddenly looks very exhausted, "You've met the Sage. And seeing how you walked into my study with your horse, avoiding all my servants in the process, I'm sure you've seen the secret we've kept hidden in Southmarsh. Wouldn't you take what the Sage says seriously as well?"

"I warned you before Raymond!" Al objects angrily, "We can't trust the Sage! Larson didn't believe me, but I thought that you would listen!"

"The Sage's pretty suspicious, all things considered." I back Al up, still unsettled over carrying a pair of Logos. What if the words of god were really as dangerous as Al thinks they are? Would I be able to handle the resulting shit show?

I don't know. And that's probably the scariest part of all this conjecture.

"Of course I didn't just take the Sage's word for it." the Baron grumbles waspishly, "There was something else as well. As long as my father was alive, time wouldn't start running on the entailment. And my father was convinced that he would never die."

"That's just wishful thinking." I note with some disapproval. Al turns her head away from Dasar, her disappointment evident.

"Hear me out first." Dasar says with a rush, "It sounds crazy I know. But there were ... events ... that convinced me that there might be some truth to the claim."

"Events." Al drily repeats the word, sounding very unconvinced.

"I went out in the swamps hunting with my father." Dasar licks his lips as he drops the volume of his voice, "And we were attacked by a shambler brute."

"What the hell?" I exclaim, "Shamblers are mid rank demons, you need to be pretty deep in the Beyond to even chance meeting them. There's no way a shambler would be found in Southmarsh."

"I don't know about that, but we did meet a shambler," Dasar presses on, sweating hard, "I know that for sure. My father's horse panicked and he was thrown off, before being trampled by the demon."

"Shit." I remark, not sure what else to say.

"I never heard about this." Al says, slowly processing the tale.

"That's because when I fled to the manor," Dasar continues, "father was here safe and sound. I thought the whole thing was a hallucination caused by swamp gas."

"Sounds like it." I agree with the assessment.

"But father winked at me." Dasar's expression grows uneasy, "Then he told me never to tell anyone about what happened that day. I wasn't hallucinating. It was all real."

"That's impossible." Al objects.

"Another time, we were attacked, sniped while riding down the road." Dasar continues, "The musket ball pierced father's heart. He died on the spot."

"But then he came back to life at the manor again?" I remark, recalling my experiences in Springvale, where multiple versions of the same person existed.

Me.

"Yes. Just like you said." Dasar agrees, face taut, "The body was rushed back to the manor. But father was there walking about without a care in the world."

"And the corpse?" Al asks uneasily.

"Gone." Dasar shakes his head helplessly, "The moment we stepped into the manor, the corpse disappeared into thin air."

"And no one questioned this?" Al questions, "How is that even possible?"

"Because father and I claimed that the servants were playing a prank." Dasar explains, "Then we executed them for impudence. The matter was buried after that."

"There was no corpse." I muse, "So no way for the servants to prove their side of the story. The cover up would have held water, especially if enforced by the threat of death."

"So you understand why I started taking father's claims seriously then?" Dasar's voice becomes more hopeful, "He should have died twice but showed up at the manor unscathed."

"Sure. I believe you." I answer agreeably. Dasar's story, as unbelievable as it may be, manages to square up with my own personal experiences. Except for one point.

I think Larson Dasar actually did perish in both these incidents. The person the current Baron had been interacting with was not his father. Or more accurately, not his original father.

Al told me that Larson and the Sage were conducting research into the bizzaro zone existing in Southmarsh, and the zone is related to the Logos. The Logos yields powerful, exotic abilities to its wielders. My ability to flash step is proof of that. Mandor and the Order's ability to control monsters in the Beyond is further corroboration. The Dasars don't have any skill at magic, Ramon would not have been born completely mundane otherwise. So Larson Dasar would not have been interested in straight forward combat abilities. He would be too weak to take advantage of such skills anyway.

"It sounds like someone was targeting your father." I point out to the current Baron.

"Yes." Dasar sighs, "Its all too convenient isn't it? We launched a quiet investigation, but nothing turned up."

So Larson knew he was in danger. But he faced it with such confidence despite his physical weakness. Why?

Simple. He had a skill that guaranteed his survival.

Larson Dasar learned how to control his own reincarnation. That was the gift the Southmarsh Logos provided him with.

"So where's Larson now?" Al picks up the thread of the conversation.

"Isn't it obvious?" Dasar laughs bitterly, "My father's luck finally ran out."

"He's dead."