Dellen fell backward and woke up just in time to lift his head so only his shoulders slammed into the ground. He blinked, looked up at the guards who had pulled the door away from behind his back, and tried to make sense of where he was.
“I tried to warn you they were here, but you were snoring.”
That was it, he must have fallen asleep in the cell after making the water around him almost painfully hot.
A red-robed body and silver-masked face leaned over him. “Why aren’t you wearing your robes or your mask?” The voice was masculine and familiar.
“It was too cold,” Dellen replied.
“Is that the only reason?” The masked figure asked, “You see, I was told that an electrical initiate was in the cells, which is odd, because all of my initiates arrived to practice with their Aether today, which begs the question, who, are you?”
Dellen felt a chill that had nothing to do with the once again cool water soaking through his clothes. He knew that voice, Ardentus. One of the worst people he could encounter, at least one of the worst that he knew about. Still, he could confuse him with information, and he could lie. “It’s early,” he said, not needing to feign a yawn, “Did you leave them in the practice room? Are they all in outer circles, or are any of your students impressive enough to defend the center circle? Or are they perhaps all meditating on one of the mats?”
“Who are you? How do you know what my training room looks like?”
Dellen decided to take a small gamble, “Dellen, I’m from another branch of the order, did you think your training room was unique?”
“Of course not,” Ardentus said, straightening so that he no longer loomed over Dellen.
Dellen took the opportunity to stand up, and replace the mask on his face. He ignored the unpleasant coldness of the metal settling over his features. “Where can I get a robe for my rank?”
“You have a robe,” Ardentus said, pointing at the sodden mess on the floor of the cell.”
“I don’t find that amusing, I’m here about the unsullied.” Dellen said, “I could have killed every last one of those guards last night, but instead, I let Lady Katherine sleep. Now bring me a robe and take me to Lady Katherine so that I may inspect these unsullied and see what prospects that have within The Order of the Red Truth!” Dellen finished in a roar.
Ardentus flinched back, “I can’t just get you robes, they.”
Dellen cut him off, “Stop making excuses, and take me to the laundry.” He realised that’s what he should have done to begin with, found his way to the laundry to find higher-ranked robes, of course, he had been chased, so perhaps it was forgivable if his plans had gone awry.
“Take you to the laundry?”
“And then to Lady Katherine, so that I can inspect these unsullied. Do you understand what a rare opportunity they represent? Entirely unforged, such potential.” Dellen said, trying to keep his voice intense, demanding and a touch enthusiastic.
“Potential?” Ardentus said, sounding confused.
“What potential?” Gilgamesh asked, “How are they more useful than the aetherforged found out in the world?”
Dellen did not know the answer to Gilgamesh’s question, but he suspected Lady Katherine did. He regretted not learning the locations of other chapters of the order. It would have made it easier to lie. “Are you going to take me to the laundry or not?” He asked, forcing greater levels of aggravation into his voice.
“Yes, fine, the laundry, right this way,” Ardentus said.
Relief rushed through Dellen, and he almost sagged. He pointed at one of the guards, “Have someone retrieve that,” he indicated his sodden, bunched, robe, “And have it laundered.” If he was lucky, whoever was assigned the task of carrying a cold, wet robe would not be given to examine the robe for any marks of rank.
“Yes, sir,” the guard said, sounding nervous.
A pulse of Electrical Aether to his palms let him create a magnetic field that had every button in the cell sail into his right palm before he pocketed them. They had proven their worth several times over, he made a mental note to avoid going anywhere without such basic but useful tools again.
Ardentus led Dellen out of the guard post, and up several flights of stairs before they arrived at the laundry. His lack of a robe attracted stares from everyone they passed on the steps, or in the hallways. Once in the Laundry, Dellen knew where to find robes for higher-ranked members of the Order, the issue was determining which rank was appropriate. He had never learned the titles attached to any of the symbols. He thought he remembered the symbol on Tiberius’s robe, and tried to find one that was simpler than the marking on Tiberius’s chest, but more complex than what was seen on Ardentus.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It would be better if he could pretend to be the same Trinity as Ardentus, an astute observer would easily see that he did not have the steelskin to be of a higher Trinity. Lady Katherine was unlikely to be anything but an astute observer. If his lie managed to get him to Katherine he would need to keep her focused on his words, not on his appearance, or else this flimsy falsehood he was building would fall around him.
He found a robe that he thought would declare him to be of lower rank than Tiberius, but still grant him the clout to order Ardentus about.
“What is the significance of these robes?” Gilgamesh asked.
Dellen spared him a glance, and brushed his fingers over the chest symbol, hoping that Gilgamesh would intuit what he was trying to communicate, but not daring to say anything where he could be overheard by so many. He pulled the robe over his head, and shrugged his shoulders to settle the fabric in place before turning to Ardentus, “Well? What are we waiting for? Move.” He tried to keep his manner short, and Ardentus off balance, the more time the man had to think, the more time he would have to realize that Dellen was not what he seemed, he needed to keep the man on the back foot.
“Yes, yes,” Ardentus said, his tone hurried.
Dellen struggled to think of anything to keep Ardentus occupied, and unprepared for the matter at hand, “Are your students ready for the coming exhibition match?”
“What, what?” Ardentus said, tone conveying surprise, “Exhibition match?”
“Sorry,” Dellen said, trying to sound gruff and apologetic, “They must not have told you yet, try to forget I mentioned it.”
“Can you tell me anything?”
“I said, try to forget I mentioned it.” With a little luck, that bit of bait would occupy the forefront of Ardentus’s mind.
They climbed the stairs, and Dellen’s mind raced to find anything that he might say to Lady Katherine. Ardentus brought him to an unremarkable wooden door and knocked. A masculine voice came from within, “Enter.”
The voice was familiar as well, Tiberius.
“I said I wanted to speak to Lady Katherine.”
“I do not have free access to Lady Katherine,” Ardentus said, his tone apologetic, “Tiberius is the highest-ranking wielder of Electrical Aether here, he does.”
Dellen released an irritated grunt. Tiberius was going to be harder to intimidate than Ardentus, and it would not be as easy to catch him by surprise and confuse, this could all come apart on the other side of the door.
Ardentus pushed the door open to reveal Tiberius’s study.
Dellen was not sure what he had expected, his room in the order had been austere and unwelcoming, the room where he had trained was functional but impersonal, this room spoke of comforts he would not have expected. Situated high in the Order’s tower, the view of Ravenport he glimpsed out of a crimson-framed window would have commanded his attention any day where he did not find himself dependent on a lie to prevent a violent physical altercation.
“What do we have here, Ardentus?” Tiberius asked from behind a gleaming desk of dark wood.
Dellen’s eyes kept darting from Tiberius’s face to his desk, there were clockwork pieces there, and it looked like a small engine, a small engine powered by Electrical Aether, in direct defiance of what Thaddeus had told him in Copperopolis.
“Dellen has approached me, asking about the unsullied.”
Inwardly Dellen rejoiced, Ardentus had not mentioned meeting in the cell, there might be a small chance Tiberius would also get distracted.
“Ah, the unsullied, yes, fascinating experiments there, but,” Tiberius leaned forward, “I’ve never heard your name before.”
“You can’t expect to know the names of every member of the order from every chapter,” Dellen said his words coming out as quickly as he thought they could without rousing Tiberius’s suspicions, “The important thing is the unsullied. Where did they come from, are there more in the city? Such potential.”
Tiberius relaxed into his chair, “There were other unsullied sold in the auction where Lady Katherine bought the few that we received, as you say, quite useful, I believe Lady Katherine is going to try to harvest their cores.”
“She’s going to do what?” Gilgamesh said in a near yell.
Dellen managed to keep his mouth from dropping open and instead said, “Yes, brilliant.”
Ardentus spluttered and unknowingly mirrored Gilgamesh, “She’s going to do what?”
Tiberius looked at him unconcerned, “She’s going to see if she can harvest their cores and use them to grant herself another affinity.” He warmed to the subject, “They have been interrogated. Apparently, they come from an entire city of unsullied.” His eyes gleamed with enthusiasm, “If her experiment is successful, every member of the order could be granted a second affinity. Well, every loyal member.”
Ardentus’s mouth hung open the way Dellen’s mouth wanted to, “A second affinity,” he said, his voice tinged with awe, “Such ambition. What affinity do you think would work best with our own?”
“I’ve devoted a great deal of thought to that for the last few days, life is never easy, I doubt it will be as simple as shopping at a market, but an Umbral Affinity.”
“What about a Chronometric Affinity?” Dellen asked.
“Interesting question,” Gilgamesh said.
Tiberius snorted, “Those are myths, have you ever met an Aetherforged with a Chronometric Affinity, or even heard of one outside of a fairy tale?” He shook his head, “Maybe they existed, once, but I doubt it. Of course, it doesn’t matter what any of us want, what matters is whether Lady Katherine can make it work, and which affinities we can find.” He rubbed his hands together, seemingly unaware of this actions. Then he took notice of Dellen again. “You say you’re interested in the unsullied.” Eyes narrowed, he examined Dellen, when he spoke next, his words had sharpened. “Unless I miss my guess, you’re no higher than Second Trinity, what are you doing here, and why are you wearing those robes?”
“Second Trinity?” Ardentus said, eyes widening in alarm.
“Run!” Gilgamesh yelled.
Dellen’s heart hammered in his chest, but he did not let so much as a flinch mar his features, instead, he laughed. “How correct you are, my role requires me to suppress my Trinity.”
A slight twist of his lips was all that betrayed any hint of reaction from Tiberius. “I beg your pardon?”
“I have been required to temporarily suspend my forging so that I can more easily walk through the Order.” Dellen took the reprieve from the conversation to walk deeper into Tiberius’s office.
“Suspend your forging?” Ardentus said, “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Tiberius held up a hand for silence, “Required by who?”
Dellen felt hope at his tone, he was not discarding the idea out of hand. He locked eyes with Tiberius, “Do you think you’re high-ranking enough to know?”
“Yes,” Tiberius said, and threw a bolt of lightning at him.
Dellen leaped backward, crashing out of his window.