The guard placed his palm against the dark glass panel, cautioning the others to stand at a distance. The corridor behind him was illuminated by a network of glowing blue filaments embedded in the ceiling. The tapered reinforced wall behind them distorted their reflections into warped grotesque shapes. The panel responded with a soft thrum, and the hidden mechanism that governed the security of Yae Tal'hefier - the detention center for the most dangerous prisoners of the Kaiyaathian empire, took but a moment to validate his identity. Slowly, the outer gate unsealed itself with a soft whir. Glowing red stripes on the floor accompanied by a low reverberation, signalled them to proceed forward. The group of four entered the narrow gap between the gates.

Reina wondered what would have happened if the person attempting to access was someone unauthorized. Likely something horrendous - she chose not to dwell on that for long. When it came to security, Kaiyaathian militia generally preferred to err on the side of absolute destruction.

The High priest whom they accompanied was clad in an ensemble of dark robes. His garments were made of a shimmering fabric, the color of obsidian, that seemed to swallow up the light around him and looked almost liquid. A thick, fur-lined mantle draped over his shoulders, concealing his face. Intricate gold runes, embroidered along the edges of his robes, glinted ominously in the crimson light that flooded the room once the outer gate closed back. Another of his acolytes accompanied him on the other side, and patiently, they waited for the inspection to complete. An array of probes scanned them silently. The priest glanced towards Reina once - this was their final chance to back out. She only nodded once. The decision had been made.

Once the system was satisfied with the scan, the opaque black inner metal door began to slide open. The crimson hue dissipated, and the filaments switched to a yellowish color. The cramped room beyond was dimly illuminated, but they could see a figure lying on the bed, unmoving.

"Already asleep, Joriah? It's barely evening." The old guard chuckled at his own joke. In the depths of the dormant volcano of Tafalt Y'deth time of the day hardly had any meaning. The light of the sun never reached these depths, and the prisoners were completely isolated from any contact with civilization. The famed security measures had been refined by the Kaiyaathian artificers to the point of perfection over centuries. The only living beings the inmates at the deeper levels of the prison ever saw were the inquisitors, and their company was worse than no company at all. Even if the alternative was the madness of eternal solitude.

The brawny prisoner on the bed didn't respond, and stayed utterly unmoving. But as the room brightened, his eyes were revealed to be open. Every exposed part of his muscular frame was marred by deep scar marks, and his face was disfigured to the point that he barely looked human. There was not a trace of emotion on his face.

"You," the guard frowned, "Get up."

Joriah stayed as he was. Only his lips moved. "What do you want?" He asked in an annoyed, drawling voice.

"You are in the presence of his eminence, Madhab Al'Pasha, Lord Supreme Al'Fahyat - first of his name, representor of..."

"I know very well who he is..." Joriah's tone did not change in the slightest, "What do you want?"

"Enough of this insolence." The guard activated his electric mace and rammed it into his thigh, "You will get up!"

Joriah's body spasmed as the bolts of electricity coursed through his body. He did not scream. He did not utter a single word. The guard gaped at him incredulously. Usually, the electric mace had the inmates begging for mercy within minutes. Once the charge ran its course, Joriah just sighed. Of course, the guard had no idea of the extent of torture he had endured in the hands of the inquisitors, in Kaiyaath and elsewhere. Joriah's love of travel and coin had taken him far and wide, and the kind of life he had led had earned him more enemies than friends.

The guard prepared to plunge the mace yet again, but the high priest gestured him to pause. Removing his veil, the bearded old man turned to face the prisoner. "Please, let's talk like civilized men. We have a proposition for you."

Joriah shifted to his side, "Civilized men, are we now?" A hint of a smirk appeared on his face.

"I know the inquisitors have not been kind to you. But in Kaiyaath, above all, we respect strength. And the strength you have demonstrated is impressive indeed." The priest's voice was calm and assuring, and he chose his words carefully.

Joriah shifted up, putting his weight on his elbow. "Impressive? Interesting. So very interesting. How much money are we talking?"

"What money?" The priest frowned.

"For the job you are going to hire me for." Joriah chuckled. The expression further transformed his face into something out of a nightmare.

"How did you..."

"Come on, priest. You torture me for months, try to extract secrets of my past employers. Then you leave me in this hellhole for a year. And now, out of the blue, you are here complimenting my strength. You have a problem, which only I can solve. Do you not?"

"We do have a problem for which your unique skills are quite well suited." The priest conceded.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"There it is! So, how much money we talking?"

"If you are able to get this done, a full pardon is on the table. All records of your past crimes, erased."

"Beautiful." Excitement glimmered in Joriah's eyes, "Who needs to be killed?"

The priest shook his head. "Someone needs to be found. Or rather, something - that has not been seen in the known universe in a long time."

"Sounds exciting. Still waiting for the part where you mention money."

"You are being offered a chance to see the sun again. Do you not want that? Nobody has ever gotten out of Yae Tal'hefier in all its history. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"I think, priest, me quite happy here." Joriah spat on the floor and continued in heavily accented broken Kaiyaathian, "Have fresh water, and food absolutely delicious... You should talk to some of the guards. They are the most... eh, what is the word... amicable... folks ever."

"I don't think you are taking this matter very seriously." The priest frowned, increasingly certain that this was a mistake.

Joriah lied back down. "Oh, I do believe the matter quite serious. For you. For it to be matter of seriousness for me, I need see some money. Otherwise, you have my thanks for magnificent hospitality. Now, if you done, I am needed back to my nap."

"How much money do you have in mind?" Reina spoke up for the first time. She had not planned to participate in this discussion at all, but things were not going in a direction she wanted. She had expected the prisoner to be enthusiastic about the prospect of freedom.

The prisoner's eyes bore into her. From her frame, she looked young, but her words cut through the air with the force of a grown woman's command.

"Depends, on how powerful this - thing - you are seeking is. I assume they do not want be found, yes? Something powerful. With the means to evade Kaiyaathian elite, Fangshahat? Perhaps, even one of your own - who has fallen out of favor of the Sultanate?"

The priest looked towards her again, unsure how much to reveal. Reina explained, "They are a race, long forgotten. They aren't trying to evade us - most likely they don't even know of us. And we mean them no harm. We just need to find them before the Irvanian Protectorate does."

"Ah, the Protectorate. So I need to go deep into Irvanian habitation, to look for them, yes?"

"Yes, we do not know where they are precisely. But there have been reports of them being sighted near Haveskon."

"Have-es-kon." Joriah finally sat up, enunciating the name slowly, one syllable at a time. That location was etched deep into his mind. "The home world of Senator Greymus. This keeps getting and better. Fifty million sol."

"That is outrageous." The priest scoffed disdainfully.

"Do you know how much the bounty on my head is, in Irvania? And Greymus and I have bitter history."

"Greymus is dead." Reina added.

That transformed the expression on Joriah's face again. "Really? How did he die?"

"We have received some vague reports. We do not know the specifics for sure."

Joriah looked between the two, suspicion and distrust etched on his face. He inferred what was left unsaid, "Wait a minute... the creature you are seeking had some involvement with this, didn't it?"

"There have been rumors of the creature being seen in his house." The priest conceded again.

Joriah was increasingly certain now that there was a lot more being left unsaid. "Ninety million sol."

"The best we can do is ten million." Reina offered back, with a hint of authority that belied her years.

"You can leave." Joriah turned away.

Irritation flared across the Priest's face. "Joriah, you are not exactly in the best bargaining position. This is the last offer we are willing to give you."

"And this is the last word I will speak to you. Tell whoever in the royal family is holding your leash, to come back to me with a better offer. It is not the Sultan, is it? You would not be coming to me if this was authorized by the Sultan. You are coming to me because it needs to be done discreetly, covertly. Without the Sultan knowing about it."

"You are smart, I'll give you that." Reina pulled her veil back, revealing the rings bearing the mark of royal family that adorned her ears. "However, ninety million sol is not an amount we can offer you. What do you say to a Kaiyaathian imperial seal that grants you free passage through all Kaiyaathian vassals? As long as you do not commit any further violent crimes in our worlds, of course. That, and twenty million sol. Half payable now, and half payable upon completion of the assignment." Her tone was confident and assertive, betraying no trace of uncertainty or timidity. Each word was chosen with care and conviction, making it impossible not to listen intently and take notice.

"I have a better idea. Twenty million now, twenty million more upon completion. And you announce that I have escaped."

"What?" The Madhab was outraged, "That is ludicrous. Nobody has ever escaped Yae Tal’hefier."

"Well, that changes now." Joriah slammed his palm on the bed animatedly, "And that no cost you anything, does it? Just one announcement, that is all it will take."

"It costs us our reputation. That we have built over hundreds of years." Reina shot back.

"Oh please." Joriah continued, visibly struggling to piece together Kaiyaathian words, "The few real criminals you do manage to capture...broken by your inquisitors until they reduced to… vegetables." He waved his hands in impatience. "This prison of yours...practically a graveyard - the inmates just don't know that they dead yet. And if I have to deal with alien race that can kill an Irvanian senator in own home, I need friends. Powerful friends."

"Right now... all cosmos knows Joriah rotting in an im-preg-nable Kaiyaathian prison. Possibly dead. I show up out of nowhere…they think I some imposter. I been out of market, for what…forty years now. They challenge me, we fight, they die - and I not left with nobody to help me. Better if gets known that I escaped, yes? Then they be expecting me. Powerful people more willing to help other powerful people - people powerful enough to walk out a prison that nobody able to escape before. Street credit its own form of currency, yes?"

"You do realize that something like this will have repercussions, yes?" Reina answered, her resonant voice now grave, "Not even I can give you a free pass out of this."

"Not even I... who you exactly? Someone in the Imperial family… Not the queen, younger... a daughter... Shehzadi Reina'Dras...yes?

"Keep your voice down, will you?" The guard cautioned him.

"Sure. Your secret safe with me. When it comes to Yae Tal’hefier walls no have ear, right guard?" Joriah chuckled. The old guard only grimaced.

"We can do this." Reina relinquished, "But then the Sultan will dispatch the Fangshahat after you. The imperial cohort will hunt you relentlessly. You will spend your life looking over your shoulders."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Joriah's wicked grin didn't change in the slightest. His lips were pulled back revealing a mosaic of jagged, blackened teeth that seemed to twist and writhe in the dim light. "Now, do we have a deal?"

"We do." The Shehzadi hoped that this wasn't something she would come to regret.