52 – Playing games

Later that night, the party was summoned by a servant and told to meet the regent for dinner. Surprisingly, instead of arriving early to the room and be made to wait, they were greeted by Lucius himself right outside the room, and he personally welcomed them inside, entering last. The room was large, but the complex assortment of little wooden things, carpets, drapes and the single long darkwood table at its center made it appear cramped and small.

Fingers of light penetrated the dusty air through square gaps in the windows, let through by the crisscrossing byzantine patterns of the decorations, illuminating the incense burning on the treated shelves, the silverware on display behind a thin glass, the scrolls curled up and stacked inside jade vases, and the fruit overflowing the plate at the center of the table. Shadows hid the corners of the room, where almost imperceptible the glint of metal could be made out by a keen eye, while the warm light of the torches mingled with what was left of the light of day and plunged the room in deep orange.

There were many seats at the table, all empty except for one, where a middle-aged man clad in vanilla-colored clothes and wearing a cylindrical hat on his head was sipping wine from his cup. When Lucius entered the room the man rose to his feet in a hurry, removing his hat and bowing slightly, keeping one hand to his chest the prevented his robe from moving while the other was hidden behind his back. His greying hair stuck to his head as he nodded at the regent of the city, who in turn nodded back.

At least two of the three members of Ishrin’s party, although it could be argued that Lisette was more perceptive than most assumed she was, were very aware that this seemingly chance meeting had been carefully planned. A show of force, or perhaps the flaunting of wealth and wealthy people on Lucius’ payroll, should his guests be interested in making deals that were better done away from the public eye.

“Taiival,” Lucius said, croaking. “Meet my guests.”

The merchant bowed to each of the three members of the party. “A pleasure to meet you.” He said.

“They are my guests tonight,” the regent said, “and tomorrow they will be your escorts to Semiluminal.”

A novel interpretation of the whole situation, the cards shifting around on the metaphorical table of their mind games. In a world where personal strength was the main currency, all too many people thought that mind games were second class to brute force. It was not true. Although, Ishrin knew well, brute force still had its place. Already he was thinking about ways to apply it to where it was needed, especially if his hunch and later investigations happened to turn out certain data he really did not want to see. For now, it was better to observe, left to wonder just how the regent had come to know about their quest without them having told him the details of it. The mind game, for better or for worse, was in full swing.

“The pleasure is double so, then.” The merchant did not miss a beat. “To meet the valiant adventurers who will protect me on that perilous trip.” The merchant said.

Ishrin narrowed his eyes at the mention of peril.

To his right, Melina felt his unease. Not just at the mention of the upcoming quest and escort mission, but his furtive glances about and around, and the way that his energy seemed to snake and coil around him, as if ready to lash out. Also worth mentioning was the fact that she was feeling observed, and not in the way that her gut felt when she was being monitored by hostile people, but in the way she had come to associate with Ishrin using his senses to the fullest. Perhaps she was deluding herself that she could detect when he strained his perception, but she could not shake away the feeling that he was indeed looking for something. Behind her, Lisette seemed to mirror his unease.

Her mind returned to the quest they would soon have to embark on. She wondered why Taiival was so worried about the journey, to the point he had to ask for an escort. There were monsters roaming, yes, but not so many and not so dangerous that they couldn’t be dealt with using normal weapons. The true dangers were elsewhere, close to the mountains where the realm had opened, and a volcano was turning the land of Nocturnia of the Winds into a wasteland, claiming hundreds of acres each day and filling the land with monsters.

Lucius clicked his teeth. “Please, sit.” He said, showing the party of adventurers where they should be sitting at the table.

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Melina expected more people to join the dinner, but most of the chairs were left empty and to the sides of the table, and the table that at first seemed too long for them quickly grew cramped: servants appeared carrying all kinds of food, beverages, and spices in a never-ending stream of exotic people and food, and it was hard to tell which of the two was rarer and more strange than the other. Intentional, having such strange people and beings here, strange even for the standards of this strange place.

“Eat.” Lucius said. “You must be weary after a day of travel. I am sorry you did not get to experience the true Obscuria, but I know that you must rest, and have prepared a room for the night. That and this humble meal is the least I can do for my guests.”

Ishrin thanked him, but all Melina could think about was how far from humble the meal was. The table was overflowing with food of all kinds. She eyed rarities from half across the world being brought on silver plates and wondered how the regent managed to get his hands – claws – on them before realizing that probably she didn’t want to know.

As dinner went on, a sensation of weight took her, and she didn’t really understand why or where it came from. It was like the air itself was heavy and viscous, her every bite of the delicious foods was forced and felt like she was eating rocks that sat on her stomach and hurt her guts.

Ishrin beside her looked troubled, and he was mulling over the regent’s words and the hidden warning they contained.

He was acting seriously, making formal conversation with the two hosts and speaking only when addressed to, and only saying the bare minimum of formalities before refocusing his whole attention of the food. Melina could see that something was weighing on his mind, and that he was distracted by it, even though he didn’t show it through his pretend seriousness. Lisette too was strangely focused, totally immersed in her food but also looking around at random times, eyeing the dark corners of the room, looking at Lucius when she thought he wasn’t looking.

But he did notice her, and when their eyes met, Lucius stared at her for a long minute while the rest of the people only watched in silence. Ishrin kept eating, pretending nothing was happening, sipping his wine, and meticulously dissecting his pork bone, picking at all the meat that still clung to it with elegance. Melina wondered what was happening in this room, and the situation felt so surreal, so strange. Ishrin too felt like he was another man, not the one she met in Noctis but a random impostor, back again the person he had pretended to be on the streets of this city that she had convinced herself had been just an act.

She decided that she did not like this place, but she was here now, and she had to bear with it for as long as it was needed. For all Lucius seemed evil and ominous, he had only been guilty of knowing too much, and had done nothing to harm them ever since he invited them as guests to his house.

“I see that your companion has taken an interest in me.” Lucius said then laughed, but his laugh was like a growl.

“Don’t mind her,” Ishrin said, not looking at him as if the matter was just random and trivial. “She is strange like that.”

“So full of anger, and resentment.” The regent said, sinister in his ways of talking. “If you want, I can trade you some special products that will… mellow her.”

Ishrin looked at him with a half grin, as if the two were old friends who knew exactly what the other was thinking.

“Sounds interesting.”

Melina felt dizzy at the thought of the implications.

Lucius laughed again. “A fellow connoisseur. I like you.”

Ishrin nodded. “But no, there is no need. She is not angry at me, after all.”

Lisette grunted and shot a look at Melina that made her stomach lurch. It was like she had swallowed a black hole. The moment passed, and Melina realized that the anger was not aimed at her either, unlike she had initially assumed. It was aimed at Lucius, and the look Lisette had just given her was one of deflection, not genuine in its intent. Whatever the woman had seen here, Ishrin had seen it too, and it was enough to dwarf Lisette’s resentment towards her completely.

She mentally reviewed what she knew about Lucius, but came up empty. Ishrin looked furious, now that she knew what to look for, and she felt her saliva grind down her throat as she swallowed. She wondered what he could do, when he was truly riled up. Lucius, for all his games and plays and pretense of power, might not even have the chance to fight back.

But Ishrin was still as a rock, simply watching.

The regent grunted, licking his teeth. “Such hatred. It makes me almost excited!”

Ishrin nodded slowly. “Say, regent.”

“Please, call me Lucius. Regent is for the masses.”

Ishrin inhaled as if to continue, but he was stopped by events being set into motion too fast for him to properly react to.

Suddenly the sound of a chair being dragged on the floor made everybody’s heads turn, and the chair fell to the floor in a clang, falling just outside the great carpet that would have muffled its sound. It bounced and hit the floorboards twice while the rest of the room was in complete silence, then all the heads turned again and the four people stared as one at the standing figure of Lisette. Her face was black, hidden by strands of her hair that covered her features, and her deep red eyes stared at Lucius from behind pitch-black bangs as she breathed heavily, her chest rising up and down.

“Yeah.” Ishrin said. “About that…”

The air was tense.