Chapter 83 - Seeking Soul Seekers

For what it’s worth, Annalisa doesn’t have the attention span to maintain awkward silences. It wasn’t long before she was recapping the events of her fight the week before—her first since our undercity delve, as well as her first without me by her side since we’d become partners.

“You shoulda’ seen it, Darcent!” she punched the air. “This guy is the third-ranked fighter in Oildown. Was the third-ranked fighter. They called him Baleen, which is like teeth for whales, but also like a brush. I don’t know why they called him that because his teeth were normal. I got a good look at two of them that I knocked out in the third round.” she jumped up and mimed a flying knee. I winced, knowing she’d adopted a strategy of opening an obsidian tunnel behind her opponent before delivering that particular attack.

“And Quinn was alright in your corner?” I asked. We’d had the academy student moonlighting as a fixer, and I wanted him to cut his teeth on a fight I knew Annalisa would only need a little boost for.

She nodded. “Uh huh. He made my hands all blurry, but he doesn’t have dragon juice like you do. So Baleen still landed a couple hits—“ she lifted her shirt, gathering scandalized looks, and pointed at two prodigious bruises on the left side of her ribs. “Here, and here,” she said, pointing. I reached out and pushed down on the hand holding her shirt. Dragons above, this girl needed to learn some modesty. She continued unabated “But getting better at tunneling has made me even tougher. I got him, too. But right on the liver and he dropped.” Annalisa made her tail stand up straight on end, and then angled it down as though it had fallen. She stopped for a moment, eyes drawn together in concentration.

“How come you weren’t there?” she asked.

“I was making inquiries into some of the things we saw in the undercity,” I said. Namely, I’d been in the Middle City Repository looking for any hint or whisper of that elven college. The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t find anything, the problem was that apparently, Golden Elves fucking loved colleges. You’d need more research skill than I had to figure out which one our little jaunt had found. I’d also looked into the friends we’d made. Celithia and Volian had made it out of the undercity, unfortunately. They were making inquiries of their own. But thus far, the wards that hid the Mop and Bucket from eyes that would harm it had worked a charm. I was surprised how much utility I’d gotten out of the basic ward.

Speaking of wards, I hadn’t been idle on that front, either. I’d spent a significant amount of my effort over the past week getting closer attuned to the three of towers and practicing my ward craft. Barrowdown had been long overdue for a security upgrade, and things had slowed down just enough for me to implement some plans I’d been keeping in my journal. And it seemed that dilligence was none-too-soon.

I felt the impression of someone’s eyes on my back, thanks to wards of hostile intent buzzed in my mind as we headed north. Someone north of Barrowdown was coming to do us harm. I angled us to the west, and the hostile presence followed. I cursed under my breath. It looked like the shrine would have to wait. I picked up our pace.

Annalisa knew well enough by now that navigating the winding downs of Dragonmaw was not one of my weak points. So if we were headed away from our destination, then something had compelled me to do so. She took a defensive posture, eyes scanning for threats in the shadows and assassins in dark alleys.

I shifted us again, southwest this time, along one of the canals. Our unseen pursuers matched us, and I began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I crossed a small footbridge and stopped in the middle of an intersection, on a corner between a baker and a furnisher. We were in a square with good sight lines in all directions, and Annalisa looked at me in question.

“This is one foe we can’t hide from, Annalisa,” I said. I hoped they wouldn’t come at me as a foe, either. But I’ve never been the best at making friends, so I didn’t fancy my odds on that one. Before they closed in, I drew my deck and the strange dagger I’d taken off the Mayazian witch. “Try not to kill any of them, if you can help it,” I added.

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“I never try to kill anyone if I can help it,” said Annalisa. “But what’s after us?”

“Inevitability.”

We waited under the light of the wane dragons for four figures to approach from three different streets. The ones to our left and right were armed with weapons—one on my left had a studded pole, and of the two on my right, one swung a chain with a fist-sized iron ball on it while the other twirled a pair of long knives. Annalisa slipped on her own spiked knuckles when she saw the lethal weapons being leveled toward us. They came slow, letting us see them, making no effort to disguise themselves. I’m sure they knew we’d picked up on them when we started changing directions.

For my part, I worried more about our last pursuer. He had the most lethal weapon out of the three: a Deck of Wills, fanned out in front of his hands. He emerged from the shadows in a robe nearly identical to mine, except for the padded quilting over his chest and under his arms. This was a robe designed specifically for battles. A robe given to those trusted to defend the interests of the Seekers Guild by force. And he was here for me.

I didn’t recognize him—hardly surprising. Most full guild members didn’t hang around at the academy unless they were teaching specific classes. This one might not have even been in Dragonmaw until asked to take this assignment. While this city had the largest Soul Seeker presence thanks to the dimming effect the wane dragons had on most other types of magic at night, full guild members were in demand as advisors anywhere influential decisions are being mulled over. He pulled out a scroll, sealed in wax with the guildmaster’s signet. I could just barely make it out in the twilight.

The residents of the middle city started to take note. We were still close enough to the downs for most of the local residents to have developed a keen sense of when things were about to go sideways. Credit to our pursuer, he let them leave before speaking. Though—perhaps he feared the same thing I did, that the other would use them as hostages. Raising my opinion of him slightly wasn’t exactly going to let him get away with coming after me, of course.

Once the lane was clear, the seeker threw back his hood—an elf, of course—and also tossed the scroll over to me. It struck the cobbles and rolled to the side near my feet. I bent to pick it up and unwound the seal on the leather backing, playing to his formality. His voice rang out in the street.

“By signed order of the six Seeker’s Guild elders, and ratified by Highlord Guifoyle of the Dragonmaw Shared Court, I am authorized to use force within the city in the apprehension of the unlicensed seeker and criminal known as the Barrow Knave, and the reclamation of guild property… regardless of its condition.”

I scowled. He could have left that last part out. This robe was old when I got it. Its best days were probably back kicking around with Master Hedwin’s some centuries past. Still, the warrant was legitimate. Though, the fact they only listed the Barrowdown persona and not my actual name on the warrant suggested that Drella had at least left that part out when she reported my interference at the Middle City Arena. I made a mental note to thank her for that small concession, if I ever got the chance.

The enforcer continued, splitting his cards. I could feel the Wills answering his call. “Come quietly, and this need not turn violent.”

I countered with my own offer as I spread the cards out before me, pulling the three of towers into my hand. “Walk away, seeker. Barrowdown is beyond the authority of the Seekers Guild and answers no summons, coercions, threats of force, or warrants of extradition. You’re a long way from the Shared Court, sir.”

I knew it wouldn’t work. The seeker had the Warlord arcana inverted above his head. Bloodthirsty, bullying. I whispered to Annalisa beside me. “Ready?” I asked, “just like we trained.”

She cracked her knuckles and bounced on the balls of her feet.

The four guild enforcers stepped closer. The one with the fist-sized ball on the iron chain began to swing it in a slow loop, creating a sound like the breeze through the city at night. The one with the pole tapped it against the cobbles. The Soul Seeker just smiled and cycled his cards in a warmup exercise. He was going to relish this as much as he could.

Well, he wouldn’t be smiling much longer. I glanced through the three of towers to be sure everything was in place, then I flicked it down into the center of the square.

They all stared down at it.

“Cute,” said the guild enforcer with the pole. “But you know we’ve got a real Soul Seeker, right? Not just a pretender in a stolen robe?”

Oh. So these hunters had been quite ill-informed, indeed. “Gentlemen,” I said, ignoring him, for the moment. “Perhaps you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today.”

Iron ball scowled. “Pretty sure we grouped up to track you down.”

“And a fine job of it you did,” I said. “But I suppose I ought rephrase that.” I sent my will into the three of towers. “Perhaps you should be wondering why I’ve gathered you here, today.”

Annalisa stuck her fingers into her ears.

An odd look passed over the Soul Seeker’s face, and then he sent his will into his deck.

The street around us erupted.