A Price Paid

Deres closed his eyes, trying very hard to focus on the pleasurable feelings Neral's strong, delicate fingers were trying to provide as they caressed and kneaded his broad shoulders. Her fingertips followed the edges of the muscle while she would occasionally bring her hands together as if in prayer to run them with some pressure up his spine before spreading them outward over his shoulders almost like a blooming flower. Despite the fact that there was an admittedly somewhat crazy desire to hold onto his anxiety, she was helping.

He was sitting on the edge of the custom bed, large enough for three with room to spare with her long legs wrapped around his lap, as he felt as though he were on a cloud with the down comforter beneath them. He was home alone with the woman that he adored and that alone prompted him to take a deep breath and let the confession. "I feel so helpless."

"For now, you are doing all you can do."

"Which is nothing." His dejection was palpable.

She was sympathetic, but she, as always, was pragmatic. "Sometimes that's all you can do. It's painful and frustrating, but it is what it is. There are times where your enemies

want

you to rampage. Act on emotion and your enemies will make you pay for it. Sometimes you attack. Sometimes you wait. Sometimes you simply make another move to see what your enemy does because it gives you a better look into their minds and how they work so that when you finally do act your odds of victory are much improved. Much of my career has been spent in waiting and even more of it has been spent

not

doing what I

want

to do."

Her fingertips dimpled his neck, pressing softly as they moved. "I'm waiting for a name of the mages responsible. I'm waiting for the case against him to be presented to court. Once those things happen, I will be able to do what I want to do." Deres couldn't see the grin that found its way to her.

"Which is?"

"Come after all of them like the righteous hand of the Goddess...without all that mercy nonsense." In due time they would all pay.

He snorted with laughter and shook his head. "I like the sound of that."

Deres tried to find some solace in that. "The case will be ready at least." The ledgers were in code, but with his and Bryana's skills the code wasn't particularly difficult to break. Beyond that flurry of activity for him, there was little else to be done. The case could be presented almost at will. They wanted to give Kav enough time to produce every single piece of evidence possible. Then it would take time for court to go through it all, but, in the end, there was no way the queen wouldn't be able to unify them behind her. Then there would be more time taken for the logistics to be put in place to end his business presence in Erette.

That left the mages. It was unfortunate, but not at all unexpected that there was no straight line to be drawn from Strannix to them within the guild records.

"I just don't feel like I'm doing what I should be doing."

"Which is?"

"Looking for the mages myself, or at least helping in that."

"Do you think Bryana isn't doing all she can? Is she missing something in your mind?"

He huffed in annoyance and rose from the bed, physically feeling Neral's absence. "The only fault I can find is that what she has to work with and trust the other guilds. They don't exactly have our best interests at heart. They have no stake in this...that we can see anyway."

"Based on what they've given her, they have provided her with at least a few possibilities. They seem to be acting in good faith."

"I know," he agreed, conceding the point. "What was used to take Private Hoben is something of a unique specialty. But, at the end of the day, we have to trust that they don't have their own agendas. Perhaps some of them are paid to keep those responsible ahead of us."

"Or it could be a trap for Bryana; a contingency in the event that the original plan failed." Sometimes she didn't like the way her strategic mind worked. "Since the guilds seem much like the Houses, it's a possibility."

His mind picked up a thread almost without realizing it at first, then picked up few others and tying them together with admittedly little more than intuition. "Maybe the ledgers aren't useless when it comes to her. He passed on a lot of work to the mage guilds through one of his dens here in the city. Who says that he just used it for the guilds? Maybe that was a...hub of mage activity of all kinds. Maybe the name that passed on the money knows them and knows how to find them"

"Many 'maybes' to be had there."

"Yes, Neral, but I like the sound of it."

"And you'd be doing something."

In his mind, he was already planning what to do and how to get what he needed. Appealing to this person's conscience was probably pointless because one couldn't work for a man like that, and in that capacity and have one. Either they never had one or they killed it to keep access to the money and the power their master had. Money? He didn't care about money and he knew Neral didn't either. They could make him rich in his own right. But that put him in the same position as Bryana with the mages. He had to trust him or her to tell the truth and not be acting according to some plan that Deres wasn't aware of. There was really only one option to make sure he got the truth and he got all of it; this one would have to be corrupted, too. Only by owning him or her would he know all there was to know.

"You don't think you're the one going in, do you?"

The sound of her voice was sudden in his ear, temporarily pulling him back to the now. "Why not?"

She looked at him, slightly surprised that she had to explain it, even if she accepted that he was being driven more by his animal mind than his rational one. "Mage goes into potential den of mages. For all you know they're waiting for you. Even if they're not they'll sense your power the moment you enter the place, and, while I know that you're the most powerful mage to be found living among the rest of us primitives, are you really willing to bet your life on the idea that you can handle whatever, I don't know, half a dozen of them try to do?"

She saw the look in his eyes, then amended herself. "You may be, but I am not and I am safe in saying that Bryana is not, and neither is our child. You remember her, yes?" When he softened, so did she. "So you are outvoted, love. Your idea, however, is basically a good one. Someone should go in, reach this Harken, and find out what he knows. But that someone can't be one of us, and can't be a mage, lest they alarm him and perhaps others there. What he might have, in concert with Bryana's findings, might lead us exactly where we need to be."

"We have friends that would be willing, we should go to them and ask."

She again knew the tones in his voice as she knew her own. "Tomorrow is soon enough. That gives you time to decide how best to handle things when the time comes."

He took a deep breath. Now that there was the beginnings of a plan, it was a little easier to relax. "We should make sure none of this interferes with anything that Bryana might be doing to further our goals."

"Now you're thinking. Isn't that better?"

His mood was brightening by the moment. "Are you calling me dumb?"

She answered in her most innocent tone. "Not at all, but," letting it slip into a tease, "you can be goaded into rash action from time to time without someone to temper your impulses."

The way her lavender slip fell exposed a nicely muscled thigh. "Most fortunate for me that I have women in my life that are willing to do so."

"It is always good to have another mind to test ideas against. Or to temper your worst impulses. Or, failing that...redirect them."

He took one more feasting look upon her body and pounced on the bed and she couldn't help but burst into laughter as his powerful arms clutched her. In this moment she was at peace. While she was honest with him in that she was content to wait, she very much wanted to be proactive and these embers of a plan scratched that itch. With her now having confidence that Deres wasn't going to do anything rash, she could relax and enjoy the moment with one of her beloveds. "You are so incredibly easy."

"Only because I am weak to you," he said, nipping her neck, and kissing the scar of an arrow wound on her neck. "And I am weak to you because I adore you." He kissed her lips.

"But there are so many women, even here, that you adore. House Jaye has become quite the stable for your concubines."

It was hard for him to dispute it. He held her more tightly, feeling the warmth of her again and her fingers on her spine. "Everyone needs a hobby. But I always come back to my two. And, if it's all right to mock my own, shall we say, harmless interests, I should point out that not only do you have your own, you

enjoy

mine. You enjoy knowing about them. You enjoy watching them. And you enjoy participating more than occasionally."

She kissed him once, savoring the softness of his lips before giving him a smile, "As Bryana reminded me recently, nobody's perfect."

Neral kissed him again and let herself slip into the moment.

* * *

Anna received word that General Jaye requested her presence as soon as she entered the barracks not long after dawn. She knew that something was very off in the fact that the runner was waiting at the gate for her arrival with her tone that was clipped, firm, and with the words slightly over-enunciated. Suddenly she felt like a newly-enlisted soul again, with that accompanying sensation that she could jump out of her skin every time someone barked an order in her direction or abject dread when called in by a superior. That feeling diminished to mere puzzlement as she made her way to the general's office. That she didn't know what it could be about put her somewhat at ease. If she had done something wrong, she'd probably already know what it was, but, as she mulled recent events, she couldn't think of anything obvious that could draw attention that would take her outside the normal chain of command to deal with it.

And, she dared think that she had a friendship with the general. Since the quest they'd undertaken together, Neral had stayed close with them. There was a unique camaraderie between them having seen and shared things between them that, even if they could be explained to another, it's doubtful they would be understood.

Deciding that she'd find out what it was when she got there she saw to it that the troops she was responsible for were tended to before she made her way to the main barracks, which housed offices as well as elite combat and healer training facilities. She made her way to the office and there was another minor peculiarity with the fact that Adjutant Jaye was nowhere to be seen. She was often performing tasks all around the facilities or moving back and forth between the barracks and the castle, but the timing of her absence felt like another oddity added to an already odd morning.

She knocked on the door and waited.

"Come."

She entered to find General Jaye standing behind her desk, looking as though she was feeling some of the apprehension that Anna herself was. Next to her was Deres who gave her a welcoming grin and a nod, no doubt in an attempt to put her at ease, but, that he was there at all was only another oddity that fed her anxiety. She stood, spine ramrod straight, and hoped that answers were forthcoming. With fist snapping against her leathers, "Captain Anna Evence reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease."

Muscle memory caused her to widen her stance and put her arms behind her back.

Neral waved her hand, realizing her unintended choice of words, a momentary victim of military formality herself. The feel of the uniform alone tended to have that impact. "All the way at ease, Anna, this isn't exactly an official meeting."

She complied even though she was only slightly less confused than she was on the way here. An officially unofficial meeting and she'd never remembered Neral looking so uneasy, as if she didn't know where to step next so Anna did her best to help the general feel at ease herself with some humor. "The runner made it seem like the world was about to crash down around my ears. Then again, that's what all runners make everything sound like."

"Well, you send a runner when it's important, they know it, so they act like everything is vital because they usually don't know whether it is or not and it's better to err on the side of caution."

Anna was a touch wistful, "I remember doing that myself. General, if this is important, yet unofficial, may I ask what it

is

about?"

Straight to the heart of any matter was one of the things that Neral liked about her she owed her the same. "You know about the incident with Khylen, yes? You know the truth of it?"

"I do. Those closest to you do. Colonel Dion entrusted me with that. I'm sorry that I haven't made the opportunity to express how pleased I am that what happened resolved in the way that it did. I'm glad she's safe and may those who are truly responsible pay for their crimes."

Neral's words were carefully chosen. "Don't misunderstand me because I'm glad that she told you and I would have done so myself with you, Abren, and the other's that fight closest to me, but this has consumed much of my time. Why did she tell you?"

"As an extra pair of eyes on the lookout for the unusual, and, in the event you needed help, we'd already know the why of it."

She should have known Ynesa would have passed it on and perhaps she did. Perhaps she did because Neral knew she might need help and removed herself from that part of it so as to allow them to figure out for themselves how far they would be willing to go without the pressure that came with Neral standing before them and asking for it. Even if she didn't know for sure, Ynesa did and acted accordingly.

"What can I do?"

Deres liked how quickly the words came from her. "You don't even know what's going to be asked yet?"

"And you should know that doesn't matter. I'd give my life for a just cause, and bringing people like this to justice is cause enough." And that didn't even touch upon her loyalty to her fellow officers or the general herself. There was too much bloodshed and hardship shared between them over the years to turn away when one of those soldiers closest to her came to her as simply a friend in need for her to ignore. She locked eyes with Neral. "Whatever you need done that I can do will be done." She took a deep breath and slapped her palms to her thighs as if to close the matter. "So what is it you would you have me do?"

"We follow a path to the mages responsible," Neral began, but it's not much of one at this point, and, to be honest we have no way of knowing if what we're asking you to do will take us anywhere at all, but for now it's all there is."

"We have reason to believe that a lead can be found in one of Etan Strannix's vice dens in the city that patrons call 'The Void.'"

"I know it."

Deres's brows went up and he looked decidedly amused while Neral's expression blanked for an instant. "You do?" It shouldn't have entirely surprised her. Anna gave her all, worked hard, and tended to play just as hard. It shouldn't have entirely shocked her that she might indulge herself a little in such places. Still, there were more savory places and ways to go about seeing to one's indulgences.

Anna did her best to navigate the awkwardness and clarify things as the anxiety she felt on the way here returned. "Well, I know of it. I know what goes on beyond the public facade of the restaurant above, though I've never

been

in the back or the basement, mind you, sir. I've only ever seen the public face." She held Neral's gaze and then looked to Deres to find his grin had broadened in watching her flail. Her voice pitched upward just a little. "I swear it. The front has good food at a reasonable price and it's not as if I usually have enough time in the day to make my own. To engage in the rest of it would open me to blackmail if they found out my position. I..."

"It's all right," Neral told her, trying to put her at ease once again. "It's fine."

"It helps us anyway." Deres said plainly. "Her appearing arouses no suspicion, and it's one of the reasons we went to her first."

"I'm sorry?"

He was quick to clarify. "You like to shed the stress of the day with some zeal. No one who knows you would think it was odd that you like to gamble or...whatever...a bit, so no one would see it odd that you went there for that. As it is, no one will give your appearance there a first thought."

That made sense enough. "What's the other reason?"

"That you don't fear forbidden magic, alchemy, and the rest. My mother spoke highly of you after we returned from dealing with the threat of Drexa. She said you were bright with an open mind that was remarkably in tune with the flow of magic. She still believes you would make a fine mage."

"Coming from her that means a great deal." It truly did. In another life, to be a master of such skills would have been a life she might have chosen. As it was she occasionally pestered Deres and Bryana with seemingly endless questions about this and that. It was another layer of the universe that was always there while almost no one acknowledged it. There were times it captured her imagination so much that she ached to know more.

"You're not one, so any others that might be there won't mark you as a potential threat or put anyone on alert if you appear there. That's why no mage we could be sure of can go in and try to get what we want. But you are open enough to it to not be fearful about using the tools given you, and less likely to make a mistake with them.

"Won't they see whatever you give me to use?"

"No." He was certain of that much. "Because part of what I'm going to give you is just a bit of chemistry." Some pride crept in, "A rather complex bit, actually, and created using some bits of plant here and herb there that I keep and tend for study and because they're useful, but many of which cannot be found in what you know as the world, but that, in and of itself isn't touched with magic."

"The other part?"

From an inside pocket of his brown coat he presented to her a slender crystal that looked as if it had been shaped by the finest artisans in Erette. It was clear and certainly had no mechanism she could detect. Something shifted in it as though it were filled with a liquid in the way it bent the reflections within it. Handing it to her to examine, he spoke. "These are among the greatest tools in Adar and they have many different uses depending on how they are constructed, tuned, and manipulated by the user. Neral has something like this that she can use to communicate with me from any distance."

"It puts me in a place with him, anyplace I can imagine, really, and we can see, talk to, and touch one another no differently than at this moment." She would never quite be able to shed the awe that came with talking about such things.

"With a crystal such as this, it's even possible to cheat death itself."

Anna felt the weight of it in her hand. There was a twinge of apprehension, but mostly there was a sense of how boundless the universe was. She stared into it and she almost felt as if something was staring back; something to be touched and commanded.

He sat on the corner of the desk casually now, leaning towards her. "If you went to cave-dwelling primitives that didn't know what a wheel was, all that you are and all that you can do would seem only within the realm of the Goddess. Much of it they would barely fathom. People do not look for things that are, and rarely know how to see things, too far beyond their experience. As a healer of Erette can rarely even glimpse at what a guild mage can do, so are guild mages with the magic of Adar. Add to that that it is a mix of magic and the sciences, it creates oddities in their perception so unusual that they simply dismiss it if they see it at all."