Returning to the hotel was easy enough and none of my wards had been broken. Conviently enough it was early evening when we returned, which left me enough time to create the get up I intended to wear for my meeting with the guild leader. First I needed sleep, the past few days had finally caught up with me, the telport back to the room left me staggering to bed.
“Badb can you keep watch, I need sleep.”
“Nothing shall disturb you friend Syn, sleep.”
The night passed quickly and in the morning I ordered some food brought up, a massive tray of fruits, vegetables and meats with a large pitcher of coffee. Expensive but worth it for now. The maid who brought up the tray was surprised when I tipped her a coin and thanked her for not disturbing the room while I was out. That should make the rounds and let people know I was back.
After we ate, Badb to my surprise seemed to enjoy a wide selection of things but didn’t care for coffee. That made me question his sanity but then again he was bird. After breakfast I started on the clothes finally. It was a matter of simple enchantments on the clothes, clean, repair and a minor enchantment make them as sturdy as leather armor. The mask was a bit more complicated, it would complete hide my face and alter my voice. It was also enchanted to stay attached magically to my skin. It had been an interesting find in the market, a red demon mask. It combined with the black clothes should make me look like a proper villain.
“I need an alias for this outfit.” I spoke out load, not really thinking about it.
“Unless things have changed to much, simpler is better. Just name yourself Demon and be done with it.” Badb responded to my spoken words while pecking at a large slice of steak. “I can add the description if need be.”
“Can you stay out of sight? People still have animal companions but I’d rather not have them accidentally make the connection because your with me.”
“Would it suit better if I appeared this?” His appearance shimmered and suddenly a two foot red centipede sat curled across from me eating the steak with mandibles that dripped a hissing fluid on them. It was honestly creepy as hell.
“Yeah that should work.” I tried not to cringe but the recognizable form of an earth heart centipede made it impossible. They were creatures feared across the land, luckily the lived in massive nests deep in the underground of the mountains. Having one as a bound companion would absolutely make a statement.
“Good.” He shimmered and changed back into his normal raven size. It reminded me of a question I had meant to ask.
“Badb, you can say no of course but is it possible to ride you in flight?” Thankfully he didn’t bat an eye.
“Of course that’s one of the reasons we were prized.” He never even stopped eating. “Flight is something people seem to value, though most can do it themselves with enough power.”
That struck me, it made me realize he was right. I could fly, it would exhaust me after a while but I could do it. My heart leapt into my throat. Flying I could fly! How had I never thought about that? I had melded with the earth almost casually of course air would welcome me just as readily. The thought had just never crossed my mind. The cackling laughter of the raven rolled across our mind link as he took in my face.
“Never thought of it?” Badb asked through his laughter. “Riding me will of course be easier and faster not to mention safer. From what I’ve learned nothing left in the land would challenge me.”
“Yeah just never thought of it. You’re right though nothing will challenge you, nothing in the skies at least.” The flying beasts were hunted more actively, they posed a bigger threat than the kings who held territory in the wilds. Even those I didn’t think many of the known kings were truly ancients.
Kings were magical beasts that held territory in the wilds. Truly powerful monsters who it was easier to leave alone so long as they stayed far away from the held lands. Last clash I heard about was with the dwarves, some King had showed up in a new tunnel they wanted the ore from. Three clans had unified to take it down and split to tunnel, even then they took heavy losses. Kings were truly strong opponents, worse they were generally smarter. Their intellects could be equal to or greater than ours.
“There are a few of these kings you refer to that could challenge me.” He admitted honestly.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and recovering further, while mentally preparing for the evening activities. I had a vague plan, it was simple really, I would take over the underground either in person or leaving this current guild leader as a puppet for now. That would be up to her. We waited until midnight to leave the hotel through the floor, Badb moving with me easily.
In no time we made it back to the hideout just as the activity was gearing up for the nights missions. We watched from inside the wall as various operators came in either reporting success and paying their dues or answering for their failures. A few hours later and the pace slacked off, I had watched her write everything in a journal. One I had already seen stored in her safe the other night. It would make it easier for me to track their business.
Eventually in the early hours of the morning the flow of people coming and going stopped. I changed my position to the roof and waited for her to turn away from the door. When she turned to out her journal away I dropped quietly to the floor and cast a quick lock on the room, no one would get in or out. To her credit she spun to face me a simple fire spell already forming in her hand.
“Now now is that anyway to greet your new boss?” The mask made my voice sound hollow, like a disembodied voice that filled the room. With a flick I stole her spell making her freeze up in shock, it was something only a more power mage could do.
“What do you want?” Her tone was icey, full of fury. Had to respect her, she took it in stride and immediately started working on the problem.
“To take over your guild, either with you as a puppet or dead that’s your choice.” As I spoke Badb crawled across the mask and down my arm to sit on my hand. It had the desired effect, stealing her spell may not have thrown her off but the appearance of an earth heart centipede stopped her cold. “Your choice.”
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“I think puppet sounds fine.” Her voice had gone flat, the smell of fear hung around her like a bad aura.
“Then have a seat, let’s work this out.” I walked around the desk making her move around to the visitor side because she had no desire to be any closer to me, or maybe it was Badb. I dropped casually into the chair and picked up her journal from were she had dropped it when I showed up. She sat woodenly, staring at me in shock. “Don’t worry the only thing that will really change is money and information, a bit more of both coming my way. Do you have a superior I need to concern myself with?”
“People I pay, but not a boss. They are mostly bribes, it’s all listed in the journal.” She mentioned to the book I had already read. This information was nothing new, I had seen it the other night.
“You’re adaptable I’ll give you that.” Taking in her now relaxed appearance.
“You want me dead I’d already be dead. It’s the simple truth no need to try and paint it a different color.”
“I like her.” Badb sent mentally. Personally I agreed with him, even her guild was run cleanly. She didn’t take a big cut of their proceeds, enough to pay her well and cover the bribes. She was even picky about the jobs she took, no innocent targets if it could be avoided and any mad dog killers allowed. I found notes that listed people she wouldn’t deal with for one reason or another.
“Accurate. Currently I need information about the lords manor.” I stated my primary reason for being there.
“Not much I can tell you…” She paused waiting for me to give a name, already trying to find and angle to use for leverage.
“Demon” I offered.
“Right,” she actually rolled her eyes at this.“Demon, nothing I can tell you there, I keep my people away for those wards. Far too advanced for the likes of us.”
“You have more than that I’m sure.” I knew she did, her position had been acquired by stealing a particular gem from that very keep. She just didn’t want to reveal those secrets, she hadn’t even recorded them anywhere. Those secrets she kept in her head. “I know you’ve been inside.”
“Why?” Her voice made me stop my thoughts. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to tell me, she was worried about her guild. I could feel it.
“Because I need to find something inside.” I wasn’t going to let her know what, that would be leverage. If I gave someone as clever as her leverage, that would be bad.
“Pffft!” She blew out her cheeks at me. “That’s obvious but doesn’t tell me what I need to know.”
“She doesn’t know.” Badb told me.
“You can’t tell me can you?” The quick flash in her eyes told me I had nailed it. She seemed to sag for a minute before answering.
“No. They closed the hole I used years ago.” There was an edge of fear in her voice now, worried that not having this information made her expendable.
“Very well, then for now it’s business as usual except for one thing.” I felt the mask move as I smiled. “There is a mage staying at a local
Inn, leave him be. I have crossed paths with him before, he ain’t worth the trouble. I would prefer NOT to have my new guild wiped out, he has at least three shards.”
“Uhhhh yes sir.” She actually blanched white at that tidbit of information. Three shard mages were terrifying to most people. I realized I had given her maybe valuable information but it should hopefully work to my advantage. She would sell the information and in all likelihood someone would reach out to the mage. Maybe if I was lucky the lord would recruit me. “Other than that, 10% is my cut. I’ll pick it up from your safe when I’m ready, leave it in this ring.”
“Ten percent?” She caught the ring as she spoke, almost shouting.
“Ten percent of your cut, I won’t cripple the guild.”
“Oh.” Surprisingly she seemed to be fine with that. Another mark in her favor, more worried about her people than herself.
As she stared I spun into a shadow removing my wards and disappeared into the wall before she noticed. I watched her for a few minutes, as she looked around then finally blew out a deep breath and walked over to drop into her chair.
“Well fuck.” That was all she said, but she did sort my ten percent into the ring before locking everything into the safe.
It hadn’t been as useful as I hoped, not getting information about the manor annoyed me but there was nothing I could do about it. Tomorrow night I would check it out myself and see if I could find my own way in.