“He wants to WHAT?!” Azarus shouted, accidentally slamming his hammer down onto his thumb in surprise. With a shouted curse, he hurled the hammer away from him into the corner of his forge before turning to face me.
I was leaning up against the doorway looking in, my arms crossed. I had woken up later than I usually did these days, and by the time I had everyone was already at work. Last night’s conversation with Grey had laid heavy on my mind, so I hadn’t felt very hungry and skipped breakfast. I was more interested in getting Azarus’s take on Grey’s plan and had gone out back to explain it to him in his forge. When I found him, he had been working on what looked like what might be a dagger of some kind.
I winced at the clanging sound of the hammer rattling to a stop in a far corner of the forge. I explained myself again, telling Azarus about how Grey wanted to break both the slave control slate that Magnus held, and the wards around Addersfield. How he wanted to intentionally trigger what he called a ‘Breakage Effect’, calling down a horde of monsters onto the town, potentially killing everyone in it. How he wanted to do this primarily to keep the guards occupied from chasing us down after our escape and recapturing us.
Azarus listened to my explanation with a mouth gaping open in surprise. When I finished, a complex series of emotions flashed across his face, too fast for me to decipher. Bonelessly, he walked over to his workbench and slumped backward onto the short, squat stool there. Azarus clasped his huge hands together tightly and hunched over to stare at them blankly. “It…well…it would work, I think…” He said tonelessly, after a moment.
I was shocked, and honestly a little angry. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Grey wants to kill everyone in town, and all you can say is ‘That’ll work’?”
Azarus looked up at me and shook his head a little helplessly. “Don’t know what else to say. It would work, all right. It would be dangerous for us too, what with all the monsters about, but I think we could do it. If we managed to break both the slate and the ward-stone.”
I threw my hands up in disgust. “Forget if it would work! What about the fact we might be killing an entire town of people in order to escape?! What about that?!”
Azarus shook his head again, slowly. “I don’t know about that. Do you remember the knight that kicked my arse a few weeks ago? Stonebreaker?”
I did remember who he was talking about. That knight had taken Azarus out in one swift punch to the gut like we were in a cartoon or something. Azarus had stayed down as well, due to something he had called ‘afflictions’. I nodded at Azarus.
“He’s no joke, if that weren’t bleeding obvious. He’s one of my uncle’s strongest knights, known as the ‘Blightguard’. Don’t know his level, but it’s got to be at least two hundred above my own. There ain’t nothing this area could throw at him that would pose a threat, even with a Break.” Azarus said, sitting up and crossing his arms uncomfortably.
My eyebrows rose, as well as my spirits. “Would he help in the defense of the town?” I asked hopefully.
Azarus grunted and uncrossed his arms to wiggle a hand back and forth in a ‘so-so’ gesture. “Maybe? He might be here to guard Magnus, but the dwarf is still a knight. That comes with oaths about protecting people sworn to his lord. Unless Magnus specifically gave orders to not help in the defense, I can’t see him not helping.”
“He certainly seemed to have no problems about kicking your ass and trussing me up so Magnus could throw me to the forest.” I said to Azarus, doubtful of these ‘oaths’.
“Nah, in the eyes of the law, and his oaths, he was acting in the right.” Azarus shook his head for a third time in as many minutes. “My uncle sent him here to protect and follow Magnus’s orders in his absence, and Magnus’s orders were to be a little shite. In the eyes of the law, I was defying my ‘rightful lord’, and got beat down for it. As for you? You’re a slave, and neither Stonebreaker nor Savoy knightly oaths give a rat’s arse about slaves.”
I hummed. “If he’s so strong, would a Break even stop him long enough for us to escape?”
Azarus let out a short, mirthless laugh at my question. “You’re only saying that cause you don’t understand the scope of a Break. It’ll last for weeks, and that’ll be weeks of non-stop fighting. It’d be tough, but with the guards, he’d be able to handle it. But they’d all be too damn tied up in the fighting to even dream of chasing us.”
I studied Azarus for a moment. “You still don’t look too enthused by this, even if the town isn’t doomed.”
“That would be because you don’t understand the cultural stigma associated with intentionally instigating a Break, Nathan.” A voice said from behind me.
I turned around in surprise to find that Grey had managed to wheel his way along the path between the house and the forge in complete silence. He had snuck up on Azarus and me while we were stuck in conversation.
“Grey!” I said, startled. “How long have you been there?”
Grey smiled wryly at me from his wheelchair. “Oh, long enough to hear you begin speaking about Sir Stonebreaker.” He nodded at Azarus in greeting. “Azarus.”
Azarus nodded back. “Don’t see you out here often, Grey. What brings you?”
“Oh, I suspected Nathan would be speaking to you. As it turns out, I was quite right. Speaking of.” Grey turned to face me. “I’d like to apologize to you, Nathan. I’m afraid the alcohol caused quite an outburst from me, and I didn’t manage my explanation well enough. I believe I’ve caused you some distress, and for that, I apologize.”
“Oh, uh, it’s all right,” I said, shifting uncomfortably. I conspicuously noted that he didn’t apologize about the contents of what he said, only about how he said it.
“As I was saying, the stigma associated with instigating a Break is…quite severe, within both Herztal and Velancia. The generational trauma that was inflicted due to its misuse in the past was so severe that the act has become quite taboo indeed. I do not blame Azarus for balking at the idea of it.” Grey explained.
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His words made Azarus look away in discomfort and scratch the back of his neck.
Grey hummed. “As it is, I wasn’t aware of Sir Stonebreaker’s capabilities. The fact that there exists a guardian capable of repelling a Break within Addersfield only reaffirms my belief in this plan.”
I took a deep breath before glancing at Azarus. He still looked uncomfortable, but he wasn’t speaking up against the plan. “Well…how do we even do this? If we’re going through it, that is.”
“Come inside, both of you,” Grey said, nodding slightly to himself. “I believe it’s time we discuss the particulars of this…plan.” He wheeled himself around and began to roll back along the path to the house. I followed him but stopped after a moment when I heard that Azarus wasn’t. Turning around, I saw that he was still sitting on his workbench stool, this time staring down at his hands. I couldn’t see his face.
“Coming?” I said quietly, only loud enough for Azarus to hear.
“Gimme a minute,” Azarus grunted. “I’ll…just give me a sec and I’ll join ya.”
“Yeah,” I said simply. I left him where he sat, and made my way into the house.
……………………………………..
Grey seemed to have been anticipating this conversation because he had prepared the table for it. It had been cleared, and the only things on it were a large rolled-up scroll, as well as an ink well and a fountain pen. While Grey and I waited in silence for Azarus to join us, I idly toyed with the pen. Grey didn’t seem to care. When I had first seen one, I had been mildly surprised. I’d been expecting the people of this culture to be using quills or something, but apparently, they’d had pens like this for decades. I’d tried it, and I wasn’t particularly great at using it.
And…
I was distracting myself. Damnit.
I was broken out of my daydreams by Azarus entering the kitchen. I carefully sat the pen back down next to the inkwell. It looked like he had cleaned some of the soot that often stuck to him after a stint in the forge. He sat down at the table without a word.
Grey nodded at the both of us, before wordlessly unrolling the scroll so it lay on the table. Getting up, I could see that it was a rough, overhead map of a town.
“With Azarus’s help,” Grey began. “I’ve been working on this for some time. I’m certainly not a cartographer, but I believe I’ve put together an accurate enough map of Addersfield for our purposes.”
I suppose so. I could see the rough shape of what I knew.
“It’s not a large settlement. There are two entrances to the town. The main gate in the front, and the gate behind the manor for forest access. The main thoroughfare extends from the manor near the rear all the way to the front gate. On either side of the thoroughfare, there are residential areas intended for use by servants, merchants, and guards. Not many, of course, as only the richest of those in town are not simply living out of their shops, barracks, or the servant quarters inside the manor. I believe this includes your friend Vandimar, correct?” Grey said, looking up.
Azarus was silent for a moment. “Yeah.” He said roughly. “Van lives above the shop with Bleddyn and that woman.”
“Rachel,” I spoke up quietly. Azarus nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
“We,” Grey continued, pointing to a small stylized copse of trees to the left of the manor with the dry fountain pen. “Are here. As pointed out previously, there are walls encircling the entire settlement. Not terribly impressive walls, as they’re not meant to keep out determined attackers. In this case, they mainly mark the edges of the ward boundaries. The slave quarters exist right outside these walls, just barely within a weakened outwardly radiating effect that wards typically provide. These quarters extend on either side of the wall, and slightly outwards.”
I didn’t know that. I had wondered why the slaves were kept outside of the walls.
“Our objectives lie within the manor,” Grey said, dipping his pen inside the ink. He made a small, black x mark on top of the manor. “Both the ward stone and the control slate are likely to be inside of it. Break the ward stone, and the wards collapse, signalling a start to a Breakage Effect. Break the slate, and our collars will be rendered useless, along with the death and tracking enchantments.”
Azarus spoke up. “Magnus doesn’t usually have the slate. Orin, that is Orinbar, typically has it. Magnus swipes it for his damn hunts, and Orin doesn’t care as long as it gets returned.”
“Then one of our objectives must be to steal the slate from Steward Orinbar.” Grey nodded at Azarus. “The other must be to somehow sneak into the manor and destroy the ward stone.”
Both Grey and Azarus turned their heads to look at me.
“What?” I asked, confused. “What are you looking…at…Wait. Wait wait wait. You don’t mean me, do you? You want me to sneak into the manor and break this ‘ward stone’? You guys do remember that I’m not even level twenty, right? I don’t even know what a ‘ward stone’ is!”
“Well, ya do have a stealth class.” Azarus pointed out.
“Not merely that.” Grey picked up. “Remember, Nathan, that you possess a skill to veil your Status that is difficult to peer through. It would take a concerted effort by a very high-level individual to pierce it. It would avail you well if you were questioned while inside.”
“Okay, one,” I said, raising a finger. “There is a high-level person in the manor, remember? Stonebreaker? If he’s so much stronger than Azarus, then he should be able to break my veil. Two,” I said, raising a second finger. “Even if I change my Status, it doesn’t change what I look like. There are tons of people that have seen what I look like, including Stonebreaker.”
Grey waved my points away, literally. “I can teach you some subterfuge techniques to physically disguise yourself as a slave-servant before your entry into the manor. I have some experience in this manner.”
“And Stonebreaker ain’t here to guard either the ward stone or Orin,” Azarus said, cupping his chin in thought. “He’s only here to guard Magnus. He might stop ya if he found ya in the process of breaking the stone, other than that he probably wouldn’t give a shit.”
I looked between the two of them desperately, mentally grasping for straws. “Wait!” I said desperately. “Why can’t Azarus do this? He goes to the manor all the time!”
Azarus shook his head. “Yeah, I go there. But only to drop shit off or bitch at Magnus. I haven’t even spoken to Orin in months. Even then, I’m not exactly welcome in the manor proper. I have guards on me every second that I’m inside.” He smirked slightly. “It’s like Magnus doesn’t trust me, or something.” He seemed cheered up at the thought.
Fuck.
Grey must have seen the rising anxiety on my face because he raised a hand. “Calm yourself, Nathan. I have no intention of sending you inside the manor anytime soon. We’ll need to construct the Ward Breaker first, and that will take some time. Plenty of time in order for us to teach you the basics of subterfuge and infiltration. Why, you’ll likely pick up the Skills for them as well!”
He did manage to calm me down, but only a little. I took a deep breath. “Are we really doing this, then? We’re going to go ahead with the plan for the Ward Break?” I said, looking between Grey and Azarus.
Azarus grimaced but seemed more certain than he had earlier. Grey was still unphased.
“I will not force you into it, Nathan, but I believe we should,” Grey said seriously. “I do not believe we have a better option than to go forward with this one.”
I was quiet for a moment, thinking. I was still a little leery of involving the entire town in a Break. Even if most of them wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire because I was a slave, I was sure there must be some people that didn’t deserve the danger in town.
Right?
But…
“All right,” I said, uncertainly. “Okay. I guess we’re doing this then.”
For now.