The wagon parked behind the lines of other wagons, standing under a large, open shed. It blocked the view from the main street, while on the other side, there was simply nobody around. Viki jumped off the vehicle, while the driver only stood up.
With a sharp move, he pulled the first of two wide wooden planks which constructed part of the bench they sat on. Then he removed the second one in the same way and pulled the backpack from the space under. He gave it to her.
She nodded while taking it from his hands, before moving out from behind the line of wagons, emerging on the main street while throwing the heavy backpack over her shoulder. She gasped as it hit her back. Normally, with all the people around, it would be quite a challenge to move, but the locals knew to get out of her way. They were showing respect, something which she still didn’t get used to.
The subtle nods, sometimes even bows, and their gazes focused on her while they smiled. At first, it felt weird, but then she stopped paying too much attention to this. Now and then she would notice, and it would bug her. She was confused, unsure if she wanted this or not.
She grabbed the handle of the door leading to the workshop and opened it, revealing the interior basking in the morning light pouring through the window.
Bruno was behind one of the tables with a group of young men crowding by two others. The vials in his hands clearly indicated that he was explaining. With the other hand, he was pointing at a row of cages with little rats in them. She even caught his words before he cut the sentence short: "With this formula, we repeat the process applied to the growth formula to find the side..." His eyes focused on the intruder who was about to enter—her.
As she stepped in, the young alchemist finally spoke. "We will take a break now. Please go get some fresh air."
"But..." Rex spoke out, immediately swallowing his words as a scolding gaze of Bruno fell upon him. He bowed to apologize without words, then even helped to push out his fellow students.
Viki moved to the side, allowing all the boys to pass by. She waited patiently until the door closed behind them, then hastily approached the young alchemist.
"Do you have it?" he asked quietly.
"Yes," she replied. "He said it’s exactly what you asked for," she elaborated, taking off the backpack, to place it on the ground. "But..." She tried to say something; unfortunately, the emotions took over, and her face twisted with anger. "You don’t tell me shit!" She hissed at him as she snapped.
"Calm down. You don’t know for a reason," he replied, kneeling by the backpack, to open it up.
"Why? Why the hell can’t I know?"
"Because I will end up in their hands, and if they somehow decide to take you as well, all they need to do is put you in a room and threaten that they will kill me if you won't tell them everything you know. It might take some time, a few days, but you will break, V. We both know it. You care about me," he explained, reaching inside the backpack to pull out a bottle of wine, tightly wrapped in several pieces of cloth, with additional hay around them. It was the brand Viki had seen before – Lunara. Despite a strong desire, she found herself unable to argue with him. She opened her mouth to do it, but no words came out. He was simply right.
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"Lunara?" Bruno asked with surprise evident in his voice, then his gaze shifted to her. "Now go get some sleep. I will need you to deliver those bottles back to Razun tomorrow."
"Why?" She asked, causing the young alchemist to raise his eyebrows. "Why can't we just pack and leave while we still can? You are saying that they will take you as if it is nothing, and yet you are telling me we are in grave danger. What is wrong with you? We should run. Why did we even come to this place? I don’t understand anymore..." She shook her head.
"You will understand when it’s done. I told you. They want only me, and they can’t kill us. This doesn’t mean they can't hurt you. That is why I want you to go to the pirates directly from Razun. Stay with them. It will be over soon."
She snorted, then shook her head. "Durian said something more. I’m going to tell you because, contrary to you, I don’t keep secrets. He said that doing everything you asked for might take months, but he will do just enough to get the weapons. I don’t know why… Because I don’t know shit!" Despite the anger, she kept her voice suppressed.
"That’s what I actually aimed for, the rest was just a facade, to make him believe he is in control and can make me do his bidding. Don’t worry V… This is the right way," he countered. „I’ll explain when it's done, but for now trust me… please.”
She shook her head in disbelief, which was followed by a moment of silence. "You think I’m dumb?" she asked after the moment passed. "You want to poison the king. Why otherwise get the wine he drinks?"
"Why would I want to do that? To get killed? No, V. If Katyan is gone, how would I take power? I don’t have the claim on the throne like House Valyria does. I don’t have an army a day of travel from Razun like Brish does. He, if you asked me, would become the next ruler if that would happen, so no. It’s not the plan," he explained. „But we might as well let the rebel think it is. They will be more cooperative this way.”
She patiently waited for more, but nothing came. Bruno was only staring at her, making her clench her fists hard, before storming off and slamming the door behind.
The young alchemist then shifted his gaze to the bag. In his mind, he heard the words Viki said moments before - ‘It might take months.’ He smiled, as the web was almost fully spread around, and all he needed was to wait for the prey to fall in it.
Now the details,” he mumbled to himself. His eyes briefly darted around and ended up catching the board of The Grand Strategy resting under the table, leaning on the leg of the piece of furniture.
He rushed there and picked it up, placing it on the tabletop, and pushing some of the alchemical equipment away. One of the bottles fell off, smashing on the ground, but he paid no attention to this. Instead, his eyes darted to find the game figures scattered among the glass and rare copper equipment. He picked several of them, placing them on the opposite sides of the board.
He gave his side six footmen, to eight on Katyan’s side. He gave both a single spy. The king got two archers, to one of his, and an additional single cavalry unit. Then he stared at them for a moment.
‘No… This is impossible either,’ the thoughts crossed his mind as his eyes rapidly moved around, from figure to figure while he contemplated different strategies. „Fuck,” he whispered the curse. He reached to start moving the figures. He shifted them, mimicking his own moves, and then responses from his opponent, each time repeating the magic curse – „Fuck” – as none of the combinations gave him what he needed.
After a moment he froze to take a deep breath. While exhaling, a thought popped into his mind. ‘If you can get there from start to finish, go from the finish to start.’ This pushed him to move the figures back to the initial position. „This was the plan,” he muttered, taking the enemy king and placing him next to his own.
Then his eyes moved back to the enemy side where there was a wide gap since his imaginary opponent now lacked both the king and the first knight. A smile twisted Bruno’s lips as he reached to pick up the correct figure from between the alchemical equipment. He returned the black king to the correct side and instead switched him with the black first knight. „I will need a very small box with a lock, but this will definitely work,” he mumbled, and then a short chuckle escaped his mouth. „Nobody is going to expect this.”
Since he figured out everything he needed to, he removed the figurines, by placing them among the equipment, and the board by putting it back on the ground, leaning against the table leg. With the obstacle removed, he began his work. The final step of the preparations, necessery to make the ultimate move.