TD004 - Drinking with the Devil (Patreon)

Elementals are the Exemplar race of the Arcane Faction. More precisely, the four Elemental races form the Exemplars of that Faction. They may be the most powerful Exemplars in the conflict. They are rarely seen, partly because their small numbers are spread out across the world, and partly because they may appear anywhere their element exists.

In allied factions, it is supposed, they lie in wait. Sleeping agents of destruction, waiting against the possibility of betrayal. In the territories of opposed Factions, they function as a wandering terror, appearing where defences are weak and fading back into their element when the opposition gathers. 

Despite their lack of territory, allying with the Arcane Faction was the best move the Holy Faction ever made.

- Elf-sage Alimoniel, Lectures on the Nature of the Races

It cost Lif a single copper to get a village kid to pass a message along to Eadric, the innkeeper. She met him at the back door.

“Some guy’s looking for me?” she asked. He nodded sourly.

“Came in three days ago, got a room. He’s been buying out my wine supply since then, asking questions. Been scaring off my regular customers.”

Lif nodded sympathetically. It wasn’t a real complaint. Eadric charged ten times as much for wine as he did for his bitter, watery ale. This guy was probably getting charged twice that. She doubted he cared. Prices were so much cheaper in the country.

“Mind if I take a look?” she asked. 

“Back corner,” Eadric grunted, letting her inside. She paused, letting her eyes get used to the dim light inside. Then she crept forward to the common room and poked her head inside.

A man in a hooded cloak was slowly sipping a cup of wine, keeping his attention fixed on the front door. 

“You know him?” Eadric asked from behind.

“Yeah, I reckon so,” Lif sighed. The cloak was familiar, but the behaviour was an even bigger clue. Straightforward and direct, that was Kailex all right. He’d made a big fuss asking about her knowing that she’d hear about it, and now he was waiting for her to walk through the front door.

It irked Lif that such a simple plan had worked. She was half tempted to walk away and leave him to drink the tavern dry, but she needed answers.

Demonlings were famous for their night vision, but it didn’t do Kailex any good when he was seated in the darkest place in the inn and staring at the brightest. Lif moved silently up beside him, close enough to make sure that it really was him, before sitting down.

“Looking for me?” she asked.

He gave a jerk of surprise. “Gah! You keep doing that!” he exclaimed. His voice was deep with a guttural undertone that gave him away if you knew what to listen for.

Mistress, there’s something you should know about this man, her sword told her. She tapped his hilt reassuringly. Normally a bad idea, to grab at your sword in front of a swordsman, but given the illusion, she probably just looked a little odd.

You already know? But—

Davethai cut himself off, as Kailex was talking.

“Ha! Feels pretty good, tracking you down!” he said.

“Yeah, you’re a regular bounty hunter.” He actually was, in that he had brought in a few from time to time. He was a bit too obvious to move through Arneholme’s underworld unnoticed though, which was something you needed if you were going to make a living at that job.

“You want to tell me how you tracked me down?” she asked.

“You remember that time we went drinking?” he replied.

“That time?” There had been more than a few.

“One time,” he corrected himself. “That one time, you told me that if you ever wanted to be lost, really lost, you’d hide up on the Lost Mountain.”

“That does sound like something I’d say,” Lif admitted. She didn’t remember it, but it was true, and she did have a distressing tendency to tell the truth when she was drunk.

“Yes! So Celina kept asking me about you. Very annoying. How can I enjoy the girls if she’s always yammering at me? She says you are shirking your responsibilities.”

Lif rolled her eyes. “Like I owe that blueskin anything. If she wants something stolen, there’s a dozen guys she can ask.”

“Arguing with the wrong person, you are. To stop her nagging, I told her that I had a lead on where you might be. Promised to tell you that you are a bad girl. Promise done.”

“Congratulations. I’m sure she won’t nag you again when you get back. Who else was looking for me?”

“Mmm.” Kailex frowned in thought. “Guild are looking for you. They say you bailed on a job.”

“Who says,” Lif asked, eyes narrowed.

“Elolar.”

Lif’s blood ran cold. “Elolar’s dead,” she said.

Kailex shook his head. “No, you are mistaken. You have been gone for, what, six weeks? Elolar was still around as of… oh, two weeks ago?”

“Did you talk to him?”

“No… I saw him, around. Same tavern, that sort of thing. Heard he was asking around about you.”

“I’m not mistaken,” Lif said. “I watched them rip out his heart, that’s not the sort of thing that you can be mistaken about.” 

Kailex looked at her. Lif wished she could see his expression, but the shadows and the bandages made that impossible.

“I suppose it is not,” he said. “What was this job that you were on?”

Duke of Fallingbourne’s winter manor,” Lif said bitterly. “It was supposed to be emptied out for the summer. Only instead, he was using it to host a vampire.”

“That is—” Kailex started before he was interrupted by sounds of shouting from outside.

“That’ll be the village, with pitchforks and torches for you,” Lif said wryly.

“I hope not,” Kailex said, sinking back into his chair. “I’ve been careful not to give myself away. Could you check for me, please?”

Lif shrugged and headed out the front door. She glanced at the innkeeper, who seemed interested in the noise as well, but had no intention of leaving his post while the stranger was sitting in his bar.

When she got outside, it seemed like half the village was on the street, shouting and waving at a figure approaching on horseback.

“Who’s that?” she asked the nearest of them.

“It’s Elayna!” the matron answered excitedly. “She’s come back to us after all this time!”

Lif looked back at the figure. She was on horseback, which should have ruled her out as a villager. Perhaps she was the lord’s well-liked daughter? She went back inside.

“It’s Elayna,” she told Eadric. “Mind telling me who that is?”

“She’s back?” the innkeeper exclaimed. “Oh, you wouldn’t know. She was part of the village, five years ago, but she got selected to be trained as a Justicar. Her training must be complete!”

Explanation given, the innkeeper dashed outside, giving Kailex a last suspicious look.

Lif whistled. “A Justicar? You don’t see one of them every day.”

She followed the innkeeper outside and watched as the rider was greeted by the village. Getting off her horse, the young woman with black hair shook hands and hugged the many villagers who came up to her. Lif hung back, close enough to get a good view, but deliberately not drawing any attention to herself. Eventually, everyone had been greeted, and the Justicar headed on to the Lord’s manor.

Figures, Lif thought. She’s not a villager anymore.

Before she went back in, she checked that no one was around and then spoke to her sword.

“Davethai,” she said quietly, “Can you tell if someone is alive?”

Alive is not the issue! That man is—

“I know he’s a demonling, that’s not been illegal since the Treaty,” Lif said impatiently. “Is he a demonling that’s alive?”

What are you suggesting?

If you were paying attention, then you know that there’s a guy that was dead, asking about me. Kailex wouldn’t sell me out, but I’m wondering if someone killed him, and then sent him after me.”

The Undead faction doesn’t work like that, Davethai told her. Zombies can be raised from the living, but they’re not… smart.

“I know, but that’s not all that Necromancy can do, can it?” Lif asked.

There are spells… forbidden ones. I’m not sure exactly what they are capable of.

“So can you tell if one of them is being used?”

Probably.

“All right. Let me know once you’re sure.” She headed back inside.

“She’s cute,” she announced to the demonling, still hunched over in his chair. He shuddered.

“Cute, she says. I was raised on tales of your Justicars. How they smashed through our defensive lines, tore through our temples with fire and sword. Crushed spines with their bare hands.”

Lif raised an eyebrow. “They’re still telling stories like that? The big war was more than a century ago, and the Justicars don’t get involved with the little kingdom-level squabbles.”

“Not entirely true,” Kailex said grimly. “It was only a decade ago that my kingdom went to war with Carial.”

He looked intently into his wine cup.

“There may have been some… excesses. I don’t know the details, but I feel sure that our leadership was at fault. Whatever the offence, it was enough to bring the local chapterhouse into the fray. About thirty of them?”

He took a long drink from his cup. 

“They demolished the Inner Cadre in charge of the northern flank. They were all demons, most of them enhanced. They pulled out then, but the entire front collapsed once the leadership was gone.”

He tipped his head back to finish his cup.

“The stories that came back from that front… No, I’d say their reputation is well deserved. You know their soul inscription is done personally by your goddess?”

“Well,” Lif said with some amusement. “She’s headed off to the Lord’s manor, so the big bad Justicar can’t hurt you today. Not that you’ve done anything bad enough to warrant that.”

“I’ve done some bad things,” Kailex admitted. “But I’m more worried about what she’ll do if she smells demonling and gets hungry.”

Lif chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll feed her well at the manor.” She looked up to see the innkeeper returning. “Let’s get you another drink.”

He appears to be alive, Mistress, Davethai said as she headed to the bar. Lif touched his hilt in acknowledgement. With the caveat that magic to return the semblance of life to corpses is very advanced, and might be concealed with equally advanced magic. I see no sign of it. He does have magic of his own, however.

“That’s a relief,” Lif said.

“What is?” Eadric asked.

“Oh, you know,” Lif said, waving vaguely. “I was worried the commotion out there was something bad.”

“Can you believe it?” Eadric said. “Little Elayna coming back to the village all grown up and trained.”

“It’s a big day,” Lif agreed. “Can I get another two cups of wine?” She slid a silver across the counter.

Eadric frowned, reminded of his guest. “So he is a friend of yours?” he asked. “Why’s he all swaddled up, then?”

He put two cups down and started filling them with wine.

“Skin condition,” Lif lied easily. She raised her eyebrows when Eadric handed the cups over and he had the grace to look embarrassed. He’d normally be giving her back half of that silver in change.

Flushing a deep ruddy red, he grudgingly passed two copper coins over.

“I’ll see if he’s amenable to go back up the mountain with me,” Lif said. “Get him out of your hair.”

Four more copper coins were pushed across the bar. Lif’s eyebrows didn’t go down, but she slipped the coins into her pouch and took the cups back to Kailex’s table.

“Prejudice is everywhere,” she sighed. “Kaliex, how do you feel about a camping trip?”

He looked at her. “I should go back, mission complete,” he said.

“You don’t have to, though,” she argued. “You didn’t get a time limit, did you? And I know she wasn’t paying you.”

“True enough.” Kaliex frowned in thought. “I shall need a cask of wine.”