Chapter 98 – Cross Training

Fineous wasn’t a bad guy. And we had definitely inconvenienced him by summoning him from his office in the upper city all the way to the unsheathing in the middle of the night. I felt genuinely bad about that. But I didn’t feel bad about the forged Royal Arcanists seal, or the two city-issued undercity passes that arrived at the Mop three days later, just before I headed up to the upper city for a lesson with Daggertongue. Not that I fancied a repeat delve anytime soon, but I did want to inspect the quality of his work. Impeccable, though it wasn’t even technically a forgery.

“But why can’t I go with you?” demanded Annalisa.

“Because I don’t trust Daggertongue,” I said, plainly.

Annalisa threw her hands up. “That’s exactly why I should go!”

“Just hold still,” I said, concentrating on the cards in my hand.

After using the deviltongue to communicate over long distance, I’d been experimenting with duplicates of other cards as well. This particular instance, I was putting a tiny part of my will into a spare two of towers and also a three of dragons. Ever since speaking with the Heiress, my affinity with the suit of dragons had increased to the point that I no longer found the energy siphon of the card to be a drain, and could maintain both it and the stone skin almost indefinitely. Now, I wanted to see how far I could maintain the link. And part of that experiment meant leaving Annalisa in the lower city while I went up the hill.

Unfortunately, the three of dragons also unclouded her mind, and she raised a salient point. I tucked the two active cards into her blouse pocket next to her stolen adventurers guild badge.

Annalisa huffed. “Fine. I’ll just go to the shrine and visit Mithra.”

“And…”

The huff turned into a drawn-out sigh. “And… pay back the debt I owe to the shrine.”

“And…”

Annalisa grabbed her horns in frustration. “And… not play anymore table games.”

I nodded. “I should feel it on my end, but let me know if and when the evocations drop”

My partner saluted and spun on her stool. I pushed back from the bar and downed the rest of my tea. Passing the rest of the girls, I started to make my way out of the main room of the Mop when Miss Trundi waved me over.

“What is it?” I asked.

She looked around, reserving a special glare for the usual crowd of card players in the corner, before lowering her voice. “One of the girls says there’s a half-orc in the upper city asking after you,” she warned.

I frowned. “One of Teeth remnants?”

She shook her head. “Someone from outside Dragonmaw. Big’un, carries a stick with him.”

It was my turn to frown. “What does he want with me?”

“Don’t know. But I’m sure you did something what to rankle is his locks. You being you, and all.”

That was hardly fair. I felt like I did a good job at pissing off less than half the people I’d met. But between Kridick, Zarry, and the Teeth, I wasn’t exactly the most popular guy with the half-orcs in the city. Luckily, the Teeth were being boxed out by the former runners of Kindledown, and Kridick was still hiding in the unsheathing.

I excused myself and headed out and up the hill.

“SO FAR SO GOOD!”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Annalisa’s voice booming in my mind was jarring and caused me to flinch in the street. I reached out to the four of knaves in her pocket with the other cards. “Anna, I’ve only just left.”

She flashed me the mental image of two thumbs up, and I sighed. Maybe giving her increased mental clarity wasn’t necessarily a good thing all the time. Still, being able to maintain the subtle boons for extended periods was a good exercise that would only improve my own focus over time and increase my attunement to the bloodstained deck.

The sun was still easing down from its zenith as I made my way to Daggertongue’s haunt in the upper city. I wondered about this half-orc, but not as much as I felt apprehension over the coming lesson. I didn’t know what the old elf had in store for me, but I knew that he didn’t approve of ‘traditional classroom methods’ for exercising the inverted suits of the deck of wills.

When I got to the darkened pub, I realized I must be correct—because all tables had been pushed to the walls, and the staff was nowhere to be seen. Just walking past the threshold gave me a sense of unease that crept down my spine like an oily, black slick. This hadn’t been the coziest pub, before. But now, the hostility was palpable, and a tangible hatred probed at me from the shadows. Daggertongue himself reclined in the corner with his drink and a sheaf of papers, not bothering to look up on my arrival.

“Lock the door,” he called out. “It won’t do to have some poor fool interrupt your lesson. I’ve enough blood on my hands.”

I did as he asked, keeping my hand close to my deck as I stepped down on the locking peg.

Daggertongue cast the papers across the floor, where they spun out onto the tiles. “You’ve been busy since we last spoke. From where came this sudden infusion of funds, I wonder?”

At my feet lay the bills of sales from several of the commercial projects I’d bought interests in since selling the book to the arcanist woman. I picked up the bills and looked over them, scanning through the waterfront properties and businesses.

It didn’t take long to figure out what had happened. “These were your properties,” I said. And I was in his pocket. My mouth twisted into a grimace. “They’re still your properties,” I said.

The shadows of the room expanded, reaching towards me, and all of a sudden I found myself standing next to Daggertongue’s table.

“This foolish exercise in redundant efforts. Why do you persist in it?” he demanded.

I saw no reason to lie. “I want my future secured. I want the downs secured, and I want the Knaves secured.”

Daggertongue scowled. “That’s the towers talking. Always furtive, always fortifying. And for what? It’s a waste of time, as is your silly little gang. Why do you need the downs? Why do you need a petty gaggle of pit fighters and whores at your beck and call? Are you not more than the lot of them, combined?”

“I…” I hesitated. But, unwilling to show weakness in front of the most dangerous elf in Dragonmaw, I forged on. “I can’t be everywhere. I can’t do everything. At some point, I need people.”

“No,” said Daggertongue. He pressed his fingertips to his chest. “I need people. I make deals, trade secrets, play both sides, and crush my enemies with the quill and the ledger as much as with the deck. You? You’re a disaster. A walking, talking sea storm heralded by a devilborn siren. What good is your organization when you could sweep them aside by your own hand? What can your entire crew do that is outside your own grasp?”

“Grow,” I said.

Daggertongue shot to his feet, so quick that his chair rocked back and tipped. He slammed his fist down on the table. “Have I not said that I’ve handled that? Why do you insist on this folly? Perhaps once you needed them, but now these leaches are an anchor around your neck, sucking you dry as they pull you down to the dredged depths of the harbor with their petty needs. You’ve grown beyond their limits, and you’ll grow still—without them. I am trying to prepare you for what’s to come, boy.”

What was to come? “So, I’m supposed to just cast them to the wind?” I said.

“Yes!” Daggertongue spread his hands. “Keep them under your thumb if you wish, but you are no errand boy for them. Stop acting like one! You want power? Status? Don’t sow and water it, boy. Take it. It’s your right.”

It was alarming how readily the knaves and dragons in my deck echoed his sentiment. I scowled. The barb-tongued old bastard probably said it in just such a way on purpose. And the truth was, I did feel run ragged with the constant fires cropping up across the lower city. I had been meditating on the wills less and less as my other responsibilities grew and an ever-expanded roster of allies demanded my time and attention. But I don’t think I could use and discard people like Daggertongue. In truth, I didn’t know what to do.

I straightened, about to speak. But Daggertongue held up a hand and pulled out his own deck of wills. “You’ve wasted enough of this lesson, already. You will learn your own strength, boy, or you’ll die from the wanting of it.”

That shadowy, hateful presence that I’d felt when I first entered congealed, becoming an almost physical heat against my back. I flinched, and spun around as an amorphous, black form dropped from the ceiling, sprouting limbs at odd angles. Mouths opened across its body, and several eyes opened, fixing on me with palpable hunger and disdain.

The blood drained from my face and every hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I’d seen this creature before.

It was the one that had crawled out of the sewer the night we chased the sharks back to Mother Mayaz’ charnel house hideout.