Ruyo left her guards back at the inn and spent the night at the Vissio place, thinking. "It makes sense," she finally said about Nusina's prediction of war. "They have some grudge against Khyber that's severe enough to have the leaders willing to tolerate an upstart god instead of ordering her around. In fact they were eager to offer me free training, and they want a bunch of low-level mages in a hurry."

Nusina preferred to answer silently, hovering beside her cot in a garden-facing room. "You're a valuable asset, and they want you on their side. But they don't want to implement any major social changes right now."

"I want to help Tulia, but... gah! I haven't got enough influence to reshape the laws, and I just decided I want to stay out of the big conflicts until I'm ready."

"You may not have much choice, milady."

Ruyo sat cross-legged, entering the frame of mind that gave her some sense of her developing powers like glittering constellations around her. "The easiest ways to improve right now would be... More water magic based on things I've been studying. Getting you a bit more power. Focusing on my elementals. Or on that Flotsam power." She squinted at the confusing lights representing that branch of her power. "Something's off about this one."

Nusina flowed closer. "Interesting. The core of your initial godhood is the element of Water. Anything magical that you did was closely tied to that. But now that you've begun to explore, your mythos has developed in other directions. As I said, you're connected to something like Wealth or Bounty or Craft but not simply about being rich. People also know you for Magic itself. Your unique divine powers aren't necessarily tied to Water anymore."

"I'm not going to stop being the Lady of Waters, am I?"

"Ooh, good title. Save that one. I don't think so, but you have the chance to make a conscious decision about your other aspects. So what will it be? Keep in mind that it will be easiest to improve yourself while you're at the Wellspring."

"I think it's time for more magic, including enough skill to start making enchanted items. That will set me up for handing out some sort of mass-produced elementals or another commodity I can trade on a regular basis. It also ties in slightly with the Craft concept."

"A reasonable choice."

"Do you have a better one?"

"No, I'm really not certain. If it does come to war, are you willing to help Averell?"

Ruyo thought. "Yes, but I want to know what this fight is really about. And if it really is important, it's worth the city's while to put up with me. And build a good enough shrine that I can deliver spells directly to it, and get people to actually pray out of gratitude if I'm doing something for them." She broke out of her light meditation and lay back on her bed again. "I'm a mercenary then, huh?"

"Would you switch sides to Khyber if they could guarantee the Wellspring's safety and pay you with a thousand believers' adoration?"

Ruyo laughed. "I've been to Khyberian lands twice. Once with my parents when I was ten. It was a peaceful time there, and the warlords could stack up the skulls of their peasants without any trouble."

"The skulls...?"

Ruyo reminisced. "And then on my third big solo merchant trip, I was there again. They were back at war with the other northern states beyond the mountains. I don't know the whole point of the holy war they've got going on, but Tulia is a free woman compared to almost anyone over there. I came close to becoming part of a lord's harem, and it wasn't by choice. I'm not going back that way without at least two reliable, tough men with swords."

"So, no interest in a counter-offer from them?"

"You're not seriously suggesting I ask, are you?"

"Just trying to know where you stand, milady."

"I stand with the southlands cities like this one, and the west if they ask nicely. If it's not for some stupid petty reason, I can help out Averell with a clear conscience. Especially if it saves the lives of the people here."

She might've imagined it, but there seemed to be a faint noise outside her door. No one was there when she checked.

#

"Wake up. Someone's coming."

Ruyo bolted upright with fragments of a nightmare clinging to her mind. She conjured a deadly blade of ice in one hand and stood by the door. After two seconds nobody burst in, and she looked back at her weapon. It was actually more of a popsicle than a dagger.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The intruder knocked and whispered, "Miss Ruyo, it's me. Cloacus from the Black River Crew."

Ruyo's heart still thudded but she relaxed slightly. "What do you want?" She dropped her blunt weapon and struggled to put on her clothes in the dark. Nusina glowed to help her.

"This would be a good time to visit the sewer, for that learning trip."

Ruyo opened the door and stared at him, considering trying to stab him after all. "Explain."

He wore a foul-smelling coat of tough leather, and in one palm he held a signet ring she'd last seen on the hand of her hostess Madame Vissio. He said, "An underground group you've met before is still out there, and I've been asked to learn what it's up to."

Her head still was foggy from sleep, and a simple if unpleasant learning expedition was now something very different. "And you need backup?"

"Now that I've seen for myself what you can do, a little divine help would be appreciated."

Ruyo looked to Nusina, who'd been hovering nearby. The spirit nodded. Ruyo said, "Let's go."

Her guide slipped away for a minute to return the borrowed ring, then led the way.

#

The nearest entrance to the city underworks was directly beneath the Vissio estate. The man Cloacus (probably not his real name) unlocked a door of iron bars set into the base of the hill on which the estate sat, facing away from the marketplace below. It opened with hardly a sound.

"You want a coat?" he said, pointing to a peg with a nasty dark leather jacket and gloves. It was chilly below.

Reluctantly, she put the heavy jacket and the gloves on and tried not to notice the stench. "You're looking around for something?"

"Yes. Don't know where, but look for signs of people living down here."

They descended into dark tunnels. Ruyo conjured a ball of light in one hand. Cloacus gestured to say "dimmer" and she adjusted it. He had a tiny lantern of his own casting a narrow beam, its edges padded for quiet.

Down in the halls, Ruyo spotted a tangle of blankets in a corner. The private nest of some unfortunate soul. Cloacus motioned to creep past him, but Ruyo said, "Maybe he knows something."

She approached the pile and said, "Sir? Excuse me?"

Her guide said, "I don't think this one's going to help." He pointed out that a rat was nibbling on an exposed foot.

Ruyo's stomach churned. "Ugh! Get off!" She kicked at the animal and sent it scuttling off to one side, squeaking in outrage. Before letting her better judgment take hold, she made herself pull the top blanket free.

The man beneath was freshly dead, sporting a crossbow bolt in his gut. His arms were wrapped around it and a small pile of rusty gears and screws.

Nusina bubbled in alarm. Ruyo bowed her head and muttered a common prayer of the Steadfast Church: "May your life be a foundation for the work of others."

"Does that mean anything coming from you?" asked Cloacus.

"I don't know what else to say. Maybe someday..." She shook her head. "Why gears?"

"Parts of the city are a ruin. Don't get your hopes up though; it was picked over long ago. I'm more concerned about the crossbow bolt."

They proceeded warily, knowing a little more about the trouble down here.

They reached the actual sewer tunnels. The air here wavered with awful gas and only a questionable array of stone platforms and boards kept them above a black river.

"Cover me," Ruyo said. She conjured a bit of cloth to wrap around her mouth and nose. "Want one?"

He shook his head. "Used to it."

Then, reluctantly, she reached her magic sense down into the muck, trying to grasp a bit of it in an intangible grip. It was slippery and slick, and just separating a bit of it from the stream made the smell even worse.

"What are you doing?" Nusina asked. The man looked curious too.

"Practice," Ruyo said, muffled. She couldn't exert enough force to lift the awful glob any higher, not that she much wanted to. But she sensed how different the stuff was from pure water. The impurity stood out as vile even to her new mystical sense. She conjured a handful of water in her free hand and let it drip into the tunnel, giving her some idea of how it diluted the stuff for a moment.

Her human guide said, "Do you want to spend all night down here?"

"Sorry." Still, as she followed him, she occasionally reached toward the river beneath them, studying it as a proper wizard might.

So it was Cloacus who noticed something off, farther ahead through the tunnels. This area had hints of a broken city beneath the modern one. Nothing much intact, but a set of four stone coffins had endured. The man stopped and held Ruyo back. "Footprints."

In the dust were boot marks along with rat-paw prints. Several pairs. Ruyo stood tiptoe and tried to see inside the coffins, all of which had had their lids removed long ago. Nothing visible.

Cloacus said, "The one closest to the prints. It's like someone was in there. And I don't mean for sleeping; see how there's a trace of magic to the inside?"

Ruyo looked again. "I'm no enchanter yet."

Nusina floated closer. "Yes, the stonework is thin and it's been touched recently by magic."

The man said, "Take my word for it. I bet the bottom is hollow. Can you...? No, you only do water."

"Sorry."

He had a hammer on his belt, and hefted it briefly, considering whether to smash his way through. He turned away though. "Another time. More than one group of lowlifes uses the tunnels."

They left the worst of the filth behind for the moment by exploring a connecting tunnel that wasn't flooded. It opened into a mossy, moldy room with one pristine wall. It shined like glass and behind it was a mural of... stars, maybe. The whole thing was untouched by time.

Something clicked. Ruyo turned just as something flew and struck her in the right thigh. Cloacus rushed in, knocking her to the ground and covering her mouth to stop her from screaming aloud. She managed not to crash onto her wounded side. Cloacus' eyes were wide as he shushed her.

Ruyo stifled a yell of pain and fear. A metal dart had cut into her flesh and blood was leaking around it. Worse, yellow goo coated it.

Nusina rippled into existence to murmur, "Poison! Hold still, milady!" She floated closer.

Ruyo lay on her back, shuddering, feeling the metal sticking horribly out of her. What if the filth down here got the wound infected?

Cloacus saw her panicking. "Miss. Let your spirit tend to you." He stood and drew his hammer, alert for a follow-up attack.

Nusina said, "Bite down on that cloth and we'll pull the dart out, okay? It's not deep or very -- I'll quit describing it."

Ruyo stuffed the bandanna between her teeth, reached for the metal, and froze in terror. The wound throbbed. But if she pulled, it would bleed even more.

Nusina insisted, "On three! Please! One, two --"

Ruyo stifled her own shout and yanked. The metal pulled free and she felt a little more of her flesh tear away, hot blood going with it. She whimpered.

Cloacus stepped closer. "No attackers. Can I help?"