“Going somewhere?” Alyssa asked as she tapped her knuckles on the open door of Volta’s office. The doppelganger was inside, placing some items into a large trunk. Most of the items seemed to be raw materials. Rolls of cloth, mostly. There were a few other odds and ends as well. Cardstock for spells as well as vials of ink, a fairly thick blanket, and a few changes of clothes—which was somewhat strange as Volta’s clone appeared with clothes already on it. Then again, maybe the clothes were for Volta’s actual body.
The cursed sword stood by, watching her from the corner of the room. Alyssa hadn’t even entered yet, choosing to stand in the doorway until she actually got invited in. It was only polite, even though the door was wide open. Most importantly, if Volta’s bodyguard did decide that there was a need to do some guarding, the extra step between them could mean the difference between getting a cast of Spectral Chains off and getting her head lopped off.
At Alyssa’s question, Volta looked up. “Ah, Alyssa. Good evening to you,” the fake body said as it rolled up another bundle of cloth. “I take frequent sabbaticals. It has been a while since my last one, what with your presence and all the… other excitement that has been going on around our city.”
Alyssa’s first thought went to the Astral Authority, only to realize that Volta was probably referring to the monsters. As a monster, other monsters would probably be a much higher priority to work with than a one-off night of strange beings appearing then disappearing. Even demons weren’t much of a concern, in all likelihood. They were the duty of the city guard. Volta, as the court arcanist, advised on magical matters and could sometimes defend during particularly bad instances of plagued incursion. Most news of an infected approaching the walls would arrive too late for the court arcanist to handle though.
As for the sabbatical… “Off to the oasis?”
Volta’s smile didn’t flicker, but there was just a slight pause before the cloned body next spoke that made Alyssa wonder if she should take more care in speaking. There wasn’t anyone in the hallway at the moment—she had been let into the manor and found her own way up to the office without needing the assistance of a guide—but who knew how thin the walls were.
“Mind coming in and closing the door?”
Alyssa promptly complied. “Sorry,” she said a little softly.
“No matter. I’ve never had anyone request to join me on my little trips. Even if someone overheard, I’m sure they wouldn’t pay it much mind.”
“Ah… but you are heading to the oasis?”
“As I said, it has been some time since I was last there. I should make sure nobody has burned the place down in my absence.”
“I have most of the supplies you asked for. The non-perishables, at least. They’re just kind of sitting in a guild storage room. I hope nobody has taken them,” Alyssa added as an afterthought. “Sorry they haven’t been delivered yet. I honestly didn’t know that we would be spending so much time here. If you wanted to take them yourself, I’d be happy to hand them over.”
“That might be possible. As long as we can do so with some discretion. As I mentioned previously, heading off on my own with a bunch of supplies will bring unnecessary suspicion on me. As I also mentioned, the oasis is doing fine and the supplies I asked for are mostly supplementary. We are not in urgent need of items and equipment. So if we cannot transfer the supplies, I won’t be overly upset about it.”
“Still, even if you only take part of them, that might help things. And we could take more later on. Assuming we ever leave. Irulon has decided to finish her work here rather than at the palace, so we might be here for some time yet. Truth be told, I’d feel a little strange leaving with Yora still around and that incident with the dead humans… Speaking of, will things be alright without you advising Martin?”
“Martin has elected to deny the requests of Yora and support the monsters, no doubt thanks to your little discussion with him the other night. I feel comfortable leaving matters entirely to him for at least a short amount of time. This won’t be an extended trip. Just a quick day or two to check on things at the oasis before I head back. I also plan to visit the site of this incident you brought up. Just to see if we can’t glean some information that a human might not notice.”
“Do you have a quick way of getting there?” The oasis was a good three days away by horse. A day or two would be very quick indeed.
“A quick day or two plus travel time, I suppose I should say.”
“Ah.”
“But I assume you didn’t come here just to chat about my travel plans,” Volta said, resuming the folding of clothes.
“You would be right about that. I was wondering if you might have a way of sending a message—not necessarily via the spell—to the monster that might have caused the attack. We have a name of a suspect, so I could send a Message, but we might also be entirely wrong. Since Message doesn’t let the user know if the Message was actually delivered, I was hoping you might have a more reliable method of getting into contact with an unknown.”
“You have a suspect?” Volta said, raising an eyebrow while pausing the packing once again.
“Some giant snake. Apophis, I believe the species was.”
“Hmmm… Haven’t heard of such a creature.” As she spoke, Volta’s clone body reached down to the desk, pulled open a drawer, and pulled out a fairly thick tome. Upon opening it, Alyssa spotted a number of drawings and sketches quite similar to the one Catal had drawn of the Justice. All were accompanied by text. Flipping forward and back, Volta eventually landed on a page.
There was a snake drawn on the page. Being a drawing, Alyssa really couldn’t tell its size. Not until she noticed the little drawn human in one corner. The stick figure was little more than a dot in comparison. If this was a copy of a guild bestiary, they either had the same bad information that Brakkt had or there really were snakes that could reach from the city walls clear to the monster camp.
Rokien had said that this particular apophis wasn’t that large. But Rokien was a giant in his own right. His perspective might be completely off-base compared to Alyssa’s. His definition of small was probably much larger than what she would expect.
“Interesting. Somewhat frightening as well if I only consider what is written here. The guild is prone to exaggeration, however. Magically resistant scales? Toughness on par with a dragon? I doubt that very much. According to this, only four have ever been spotted, three of whom were killed by Rank Six arcanists at the Fortress of Pandora. Given that it doesn’t mention a full army being required to slay them, I find it hard to believe that anyone at the guild would even write this, let alone distribute it.”
“I knew the guild had books like that, but they distribute them? Like, anyone can go up and buy one?”
“Not quite,” Volta said, looking up from the thick tome. “There is generally a copy at each major guild outpost. Additions or changes are communicated magically to a dedicated scrivener at each location. Drawings vary widely between branches simply because descriptions are given in words which don’t always translate the same way for different people.”
“There isn’t a way of magically communicating pictures of something? Maybe books that update themselves when a master copy updates? Or a Message spell that can send a picture instead of words?”
Volta hesitated in answering, slowly shaking the double’s head. “I don’t think so? I was not traditionally trained in magic at the Lyrian Observatorium, so there may be plenty that I am unaware of. But I feel I would have heard of such things.”
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Alyssa made a mental note to ask Irulon. It was unlikely that such a thing existed currently. The guild would surely use it if that were the case. Still, it might be good to ask. Even aside from the uses it would have for the guild and their record keeping, spotting something and then immediately sending a mental picture to Irulon or Brakkt could be valuable.
But having a book that updated itself would be neat too.
“I might have to see about getting a copy of that book,” Alyssa said. She had her own little bestiary in her notebooks, but that was a retroactive book. It only got additions after she had encountered monsters. Knowing in advance whether a salamander was really dangerous or just mildly dangerous might help.
Though if it was as exaggerated as Volta suggested, maybe it wouldn’t be all that useful in the end.
“Guild members are free to go in and view it whenever they wish, but it isn’t supposed to leave the premises. I had this particular copy specially commissioned from our local branch of the guild several years ago, so it is likely out of date. It was… quite expensive, but I thought it would be good to know what the humans think they know. And it has been quite amusing to peruse as well.” Volta paused to chuckle before speaking with obvious amusement laden in every word. “They still think doppelgangers need a corpse to take over for our outward appearance. Ha!”
Alyssa smiled along with Volta’s amusement, though it was more of a polite smile than any kind of actual humor derived one. “Even if the book isn’t completely correct, it at least got the part about the apophis being a snake correct. Rokien said that it was small enough to fit into a hut however. Maybe it is just young? Stunted growth? Or maybe it coiled up so much inside its hut that there was no room to move.”
“I doubt that last one…”
“Yeah. Me too. I’m hoping for a creature of a far more manageable size. Though it was strong enough to take out a good ten to fifteen people, leaving only the one survivor. And he likely only survived because he had been rendered unconscious in a semi-concealed area.”
Nodding, Volta looked back down to the bestiary. After reading a moment, she tried flipping to the next page, only to find it describing something called an arachne. A spidery-human hybrid by the looks of the picture. Eight legs, large abdomen, spindly limbs, human torso on the front end like it was some kind of centaur. Lots of eyes on the human face. Alyssa didn’t get a chance to read any of the text before Volta flipped back to the apophis.
“I might have a way of getting into contact. We—that is to say monsters—have something of a message system of our own. Not the spell, but signs and shapes left around the world to inform those in the know of nearby sanctuaries or safe resting areas within human territory. The oasis, for example, has a number of shallow marks cut into rocks that all point the way. We’re careful to keep them looking natural. Only someone with an eye for the patterns should notice under most circumstances. Even then, they might miss half the signs or simply not know of them in the first place. If this apophis went and killed a number of humans, it may have followed after the monsters in the camp only to have smelled those that attacked its home nearby. If so, it may still be in the area. On our way out,” Volta glanced up to look at the cursed sword, “we can drop a few signs saying that entering the camp may be alright.”
“Would it be?” Alyssa had to ask. “We’ve got half the guards on the lookout now for anything that might have killed that group of humans. A giant snake showing up a few days later might lead to some trouble.”
“I don’t imagine it would… No. You might be right. Unless that group can be confirmed as brigands and raiders, I don’t imagine a monster showing up who might have done it would be tolerated let alone celebrated. I’ll see about directing it toward the oasis.”
“If the humans were actually innocent, and I don’t necessarily believe that… I don’t know how much I can condone sheltering a murderer.”
“Even with as generous as Martin and Illuna as a whole is being with the monsters in the camp, handing a monster over to the city as a suspect in a crime will likely lead to it being lynched before any real truth can be uncovered.”
Alyssa pressed her lips together. Lynching wasn’t any kind of justice. But neither was sheltering a murderer. The justice system in this world was cold and brutal. Spells such as Rigor Mortis proved that without any context needed. Add in an undercurrent of racism—speciesism?—and mitigating factors such as self defense would be completely ignored. Alyssa could only imagine what might happen. Ultimately, she slowly nodded her head.
“Let’s discover what happened before we make any further decisions.”
Though she said that, she had a feeling that, should it come out that the slain humans were just regular travelers, the apophis would quietly disappear from the oasis and out of Alyssa’s hands. Assuming there was an apophis in the first place. Volta dropping messages to direct a monster somewhere might just end up with an entirely unexpected monster showing up.
Which also assumed that the monster would follow the directions. It might just choose to leave, wander on with its own life. It might not even be around anymore, having exacted revenge on humans for what happened at the monsters’ former home.
And even that assumed that whatever attacked the humans was related to the monsters down in the camp. More than just the apophis and Rokien’s brother had gone missing without a body being found, so there was a good chance that someone else survived. But it could have been a random passing monster, or even an animal. Alyssa doubted that they would know for sure unless the old man woke up. Until then, everything was speculation.
“I shall keep you informed of any developments while I am away, should our mystery guest make an appearance.”
“Alyssa Meadows,” Alyssa said. “Messages do not work on me if you only use Alyssa.”
“You have two names?” Volta said, eyebrows up with genuine surprise.
“A quirk of my homeland.”
“Truly? Fascinating. Where are you from? Somewhere with a sizable elf population?”
Blinking, Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t think so?”
“Elf culture typically has a public name, the name they offer to others and the name that most humans likely know, and a secret name. One that is given only under exceptional circumstances, either to impress upon an enemy or for private use with a lover.”
“My last name isn’t anything so special. It just… identifies who my family is? Except tons of people who I’m not related to probably have my last name.” Who knew how many Smiths were in the world. “But it is something like that.”
“Interesting. The closest humans have is solely within the Houses. Martin, for example, is sometimes referred to as Martin of Illuna.”
If Alyssa remembered right, that was how a good number of last names got started back home too. A few at least. Most were from professions or… she honestly had no idea where Meadows had come from. Perhaps an ancestor of hers owned a meadow and was well known for it? It was probably so long ago that she doubted it was at all relevant back home, let alone in a whole new world.
Perhaps this world would eventually follow along a similar path. The man in the markets who baked pies with the monsters might one day have descendants known as Bakers. Or Piemen, if that was a real last name. Even if it wasn’t, it might be here.
Puzzlings on the origins of names aside, Alyssa did have one other group she wanted to check in on. Or, more specifically, a certain prisoner. “I’ll head over to the guild later and start collecting some of the smaller supplies in an hour or so. Are you leaving soon?”
“Not until morning. I’ll stop by before leaving, right around daybreak.”
“Good.” That would give plenty of time to talk with just about everyone that Alyssa wanted to talk to. “I’ll see you then, Volta. And… Uh…” Alyssa threw a glance toward the cursed sword in the corner of the room. Since Alyssa had entered, the sword had stopped paying attention to their conversation and started staring down at her own sword, still wrapped up in the same brown cloth that covered pretty much all of the woman. “You as well?”
“Red will be coming too.”
“Ah… Do people really not find it suspicious that you’re always accompanied by a strangely cloaked person?”
“The lay person does not care about a random walker wearing a hood. Many people do. As for Martin, servants, or guards who we see frequently, I have simply explained that Red’s skills as a bodyguard are unrivaled, but she suffers from quite severe disfigurement. They have not asked to see underneath the cloak since then.”
“Huh…” That seemed quite… irresponsible. But this was a completely different era that had completely different values and ideals. For example, Alyssa would never have been able to walk up on the guard post of a military installation back on Earth. Yet here on Nod, she had done so several times both in Lyria and in Illuna.
She wasn’t completely regular, what with her association with Irulon, but the guards didn’t always know that. Her first interactions with Decorous outside the Lyrian royal palace were evidence enough of that. Only Oxart knew her and Oxart really only knew her at the time as the girl who had seen the monster army on the horizon.
Even right now, leaving Volta’s office, Alyssa was heading to another military-run section of the city. The dungeons not far from Martin’s manor.
They weren’t really dungeons in the way Alyssa would have pictured the word. They weren’t even underground. Walls had been built from stone and metal bars partitioned off the windows, but otherwise, it looked more like a jailhouse from an old western movie. And the guards let her right inside to see the prisoner she had brought in with Irulon.
The woman who had been with the Yora group.
“Hello, Intelligencer.”
Sitting in the back of the cell on a pile of straw, the woman perked up at being addressed, only to narrow her eyes once she saw who was standing on the other side of the bars. “It’s you. What does the lapdog of Princess Irulon want with me now?”
“Just a few questions that I hope you might be able to answer.”