Forming attachments is only human. So is dying. Avoid both.

* Shadows of Inveritus training manual.

Kalissa was sore. She ached all over and felt like she could quite happily crawl into bed and not come out for a month. This was understandable, after all she had been cut on, tortured, and then smacked to the ground by some Lhintish abomination. But being understandable did nothing to improve the effect her soreness had on her mood.

Sal and Sarina rode beside her, using the same horse since Sal’s had bled out. They had made it through town and were approaching Bermont Estate.

“Let me do all the talking in here,” Sal said.

“I am trained for this sort of thing you know,” Kalissa said.

“Learning something and living it aren’t the same,” Sal said. “Better to just come in as my servants. Nobles spend their whole life coming up with pointless ways of telling themselves apart from commoners.”

“If we’re your servants,” Kalissa said. “Shouldn’t you be the one on a horse by yourself?”

“Good point. Damn, I should have thought of that. Almost dying has slowed me down. Thanks again for the save by the way.”

“Just repaying the rescue from Bracken’s,” Kalissa said, dismounting and swapping places with Sal.

“Yeah,” Sal said. “About that. You’ve repaid Sarina and I now. We saved you, you saved me. Why are you still here? Not that I’m complaining mind you, just curious.”

“She is here for the same reason I am,” Sarina said. “I am your friend, she is mine. And friends don’t leave friends to die.”

Sal looked uncomfortable with this answer, and Kalissa was feeling none too comfortable with that level of sentimentality either, so she grunted her agreement to quash that line of conversation. She was committed, no sense in second-guessing herself now.

They reached Bermont Manor. It was a large wooden mansion with a sloping, tiled roof, large windows, and a moderate amount of land that the owner had seemingly done very little with.

A servant came to see who they were, and Sal immediately instructed him to deal with their horses. He spoke like he was used to being obeyed and that was apparently all the servant needed to hear to know he was someone important and that he should do as he was told.

“See that she only eats oats,” Sal said. “None of that common hay, you understand?”

“Yessir,” the man said, leading the horses away.

They entered the house and were met with a pair of guards.

“I need to speak with a man named Carrus,” Sal said, putting on an imperious air and accentuating his Lhintish accent. “It is most urgent. I have heard he is presenting a matter to Lord Bermont and I have information they will both want to hear.”

“You mean Lord Carrus?” the older of the two guards asked. “Who shall I say is here to see him?”

Lord Carrus, Kalissa mouthed at Sarina, who shrugged. She didn’t know what was happening either.

“I am the fourth Shetyr Hadon. Though Carrus and I are acquainted, you may tell him to call me Sal.”

Kalissa hadn’t heard of Sal’s supposedly noble family before, though it would explain why he had a family name, and there were a whole host of minor noble families in Lhint that nobody paid that much attention to. As far as she knew, Sal could well be telling the truth.

“Very good Lord Hadon,” the guard said, obviously not trusting himself to pronounce the Lhintish honorific correctly. He summoned a servant boy and sent him to relay the message. The boy returned about a minute later and they were escorted to see Carrus.

They found him in a sitting room speaking in hushed tones with Eve. He dismissed the guards and they were left alone.

“You’re a noble now?” Carrus asked.

“You’re one to talk,” Sal said, taking a seat. “So, Lord Carrus huh? When did that happen?”

“As soon as I got here,” Carrus said sheepishly. “I was as surprised as you were. Apparently, Lord Bermont gave orders to his servants that if his ‘nephew Carrus’ arrives, I am to be given anything I like. Apparently, he is adopting me as a member of the main family since he lacks a proper heir. The thing is, this is the first I’m hearing of any of this. I don’t know what to make of it.”

“Sounds like your skard friend has been impersonating Lord Bermont,” Kalissa said, putting two and two together. “Though why he wants you to be a lord is anybody’s guess.”

“That…” Carrus said, thinking it over. “That would explain a lot.”

“Well, as one noble to another,” Sal said. “People are coming to kill me, and probably you too.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Carrus said. “I was about to say the same thing to you.”

They each told the other their predicaments. Sal explained that the Lhintish would be coming for him for taking the Dagger and that, since he was staying at the Snake Pit, they would likely want to punish Carrus for harbouring a criminal as well. Also, that their Hunters could track Sal to the Bermont Estate easily and they would likely be on their way as soon as they organized whatever forces they had with them. Carrus explained that Eve had been watching the sheriff and had seen him calling in the other important people pictured on the lumographs and getting them under his thumb and would be looking to silence Carrus because he knew too much. And, since Sal was the one who originally stole the lumographs and would know what was on them too, Sheriff Barten would want him gone too as soon as he found out who he was by torturing Carrus’s people. Also, that the city guard were out looking everywhere for him and it would only be a matter of time before they found out he had gone to Bermont Estate and then they would come in force.

The short of it was that two small armies were both looking to kill Sal and Carrus as well as anyone near them, and Kalissa was beginning to question the wisdom of sticking around just because Sarina was there. It felt like the right thing to do, but it was beginning to look an awful lot like a lost cause.

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On the other hand, Carrus was set to become the lord of Cadersville, and therefore in charge of local salt tariffs to Inveritus. Getting on his good side could be hugely beneficial for the Shadows, not to mention her career. So, perhaps doing what felt right could actually work out very well for her. Provided they could get through this without being slaughtered.

“Okay,” Kalissa said, thinking the problem through logically. “That’s a couple of big problems. What are our options?”

“Sorry, who are you?” Eve asked. “I thought you wanted to a be a whore.”

“Nope,” Carrus said. “She’s a spy.”

“And why is she helping us?”

“Political gain I should expect,” Carrus said, looking at Kalissa.

“That pretty much sums it up,” Kalissa said, feeling like that was the most easily understandable of her motives. “It would be nice for the lord of Cadersville to owe Inveritus a favour.”

“Right now I’m a lord, not the lord,” Carrus pointed out.

Kalissa raised an eyebrow at this. “You think Lord Bermont is still alive?”

“You think the skard has killed him?” Eve asked. “Why?”

“He did say he had plans for the city that involved you,” Sal said. “I guess he wants you to be in charge of it.”

Carrus grimaced. “But why?”

Sal shrugged.

“Does it matter?” Kalissa asked. “He clearly has some agenda he’s working towards, but it’s going to be a moot point if we all get killed by the Lhintish or the city guard.”

“That’s a good point,” Carrus said.

Sarina smiled at her. “You are a very sensible godling.”

“So,” Kalissa said. “What are our options?”

“I can’t run,” Carrus said. “Barten could find my people and torture them to make them talk. I can’t leave them to that.”

“I could,” Sal said. “But it wouldn’t do any good. The Hunters would catch up to me.”

“And I assume negotiation isn’t an option.”

Carrus shook his head. Sal cracked a grin.

“Then we fight,” she said. “What are our assets?”

“Not good I’m afraid,” Carrus said. “Lord Bermont only has five private guards and very little coin by lordly standards. Not enough to hire a proper company of mercenaries even if they could get here in time.”

“Apparently Bermont was an idiot,” Eve said flatly.

“What about your people?” Kalissa asked.

“They are out looking for the skard. I could get a message to them, but they aren’t warriors. They are a couple of bouncers and a handful of prostitutes. They can’t take on the city guard or an army from Lhint and I doubt they would want to try.”

“They would,” Eve said with surety. “They believe in you. Why do you think we went with you to save Saladeen?”

“I assumed you didn’t want Bracken having any say in how the Pit was run.”

Eve made a face. “We didn’t. But that isn’t all. You have been kind to us, treated us well. That’s in short supply in our world. That’s why we came then, and that’s why the others would come again now.”

“I didn’t know,” Carrus said softly, touching Eve’s hand, “But I don’t want my people to throw their lives away for me. You included. I’d like you to go to our people and tell them to get out of town for a while. I’d rather you didn’t die with me.”

“No chance,” Eve said. “I’ll go to our people and I’ll tell them exactly what you said. But, when all of them decide they want to help you anyway, I’m leading them back here to join the fight.”

“But­—” Carrus began.

Eve grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. “No arguments. I am going to do this. You’ll have to kill me to stop me.” She kissed him fiercely.

Carrus stiffened and then relaxed into the kiss, his arms winding around Eve. After a moment Kalissa felt uncomfortable and had to look away.

After what felt like a very long kiss, Eve moved to leave.

“Eve,” Carrus said as she reached the door. “Be safe.”

Eve nodded and left.

Kalissa coughed awkwardly. “So, we might get some help from a couple of bouncers and some whores. What else do we have?”

“I have twenty-seven arrows left,” Sarina said. “And two strong arms.”

“There are some more arrows in the armoury,” Carrus offered. “Not many, the armoury is mostly full of spears, but maybe another thirty?”

“Not the same. I make my own and I know just how they will fly. If I use yours, I won’t shoot as straight.”

“Still better than anyone else around,” Sal said.

Sarina grinned. “This is true. Very well, send for your arrows.”

“Sal?” Kalissa asked. “What have you got?”

“I’ve been absorbing force for the past two days, I’m almost at my maximum capacity. Not that it will do much good against Hunters.”

“You mentioned those before,” Carrus said. “What exactly is a Hunter?”

“Monsters,” Sal said. “Things that used to be people but aren’t anymore. Soulless, mindless creatures that do the will of the Silent Tower.”

“About that,” Kalissa said. “What are we looking at in terms of Lhintish forces? Any ideas?”

Sal thought on this for a moment. “No one has ever stolen the Frozen Dagger before, but I imagine they would send as many men as they could without starting any wars on the way.”

Kalissa crunched some numbers in her head, comparing the most efficient routes to Cadersville with the temperaments of the various countries and cities in the way. “They got here today, so it’s probably somewhere around fifty men. Any idea how many of those could be Hunters?”

“Hunters aren’t men,” Sal said automatically. “But they wouldn’t bring more than one Hunter for every five men. They need a lot of supervision.”

“We killed two earlier,” Sarina said. “So, eight left?”

“Roughly,” Kalissa said. “Could be fewer than that, could be a couple more. I’m just estimating here. And they have at least one heatshaper with them. Sal, what did you mean earlier when you said the Tower had made him with the Dagger?”

“The Dagger cuts vis,” Sal said. “If this Lukas is a shaper and he has a continuous scar across this body, then the Tower has probably done something to his vis network.”

“The Frozen Dagger cuts vis?” Kalissa asked. She had never heard that before, but it made a twisted kind of sense. “That’s how they make Hunters then?”

“Of course,” Sal said. “They cut out their soul.” He tapped the middle of his chest where the Hunters had borne a huge scar. “Without that, they are mindless slaves. Empty. That’s why shaping doesn’t work against them. The force comes out in vis-state and gets absorbed by the hole where their souls should be.”

Saladeen thought of a person’s vis-core as their soul. It made a kind of sense. Vis is the energy that runs through all living things, and the vis-core is about as close a thing to a soul as science had ever found. To cut it out of someone…

Kalissa shuddered. She had given the Dagger back to these people.

“Okay,” she said, putting aside any guilt she might be feeling for the moment. “What do you think they did to this Lukas guy?”

Sal shrugged. “I guess it depends which side the scar started from.”

Kalissa nodded. “Right. If it started on the right side, they were cutting open his Channel, and if it started on the left, they were cutting into his Siphon. He used his right hand when he killed the other Shadows, so it probably started at his left.”

“Then they were cutting open his Siphon, enlarging it.”

“What does that mean for fighting?” Sarina asked.

“If it worked,” Sal said. “Then he could absorb heat through his whole body instead of just his left hand. He could shape as much heat as he wanted and almost never run out.” He paused to think for a moment. “Also, he probably couldn’t ever stop Siphoning and I expect it would hurt a lot. Wouldn’t be good for his mind, either. Would probably drive him mad.”

“I could see his breath when he spoke,” Kalissa said. “Suggests he was absorbing heat from the air all around him. Plus, the Tower wouldn’t send a failed experiment. I think it’s safe to say it worked.”

“So, the Lhintish are being led by a possibly-crazy guy who can set anything on fire by pointing at it and is in constant pain?” Carrus asked. “That’s not encouraging.”

“Agreed,” Kalissa said. “What about the city guard? What are we likely to face from them?”

“There’s about eighty in the city guard all up,” Carrus said. “But I doubt Barten will bring all of them to come and get me. I expect he would trust at most half of his men with something like this.”

“Somewhere in the neighbourhood of forty men then,” Kalissa said. “What kind of weapons do they have?”

“Crossbows and cudgels,” Carrus said.

“So,” Kalissa said. “We need to fight off about eighty armed men plus some monsters that negate shaping and one super-heatshaper with just the four of us, Bermont’s five guards, and possibly some brothel staff if they decide to help and can show up in time. That about sum it up?”

Sarina, Carrus and Sal looked at her. One by one, they nodded in sombre agreement.

“Okay then, let’s make a plan.”