Chapter 14.3: Schemes and Surprises

Nearly two more days had passed, and they were at last approaching another bit of civilization in the Shiverpeaks. The four travelers had passed steadily, sluggishly through the periodic flurries that swept through the foothills leading up into the heart of the mountain range, and at the tail of day three, they had finally arrived at Nentor’s Mine, a facility nestled between peaks in the northwest corner of Lornar’s Pass.

The weather that day was actually as nice as they’d seen since leaving the Gendarran valley. Yes, it was still cold enough to make hats and high collars necessary, but the wind had died down, and the overcast skies were thin, offering the slightest peeks at dwindling daylight between the clouds. For the first time in days, Minkus’ enthusiasm for their next stop wasn’t based on the desire to feel his face again.

Crunching through the frozen path that wound up yet another rise, the group passed into the fort surrounding Nentor’s Mine. It would be their shelter for the night.

“Open doors?” Skixx commented, eying the gateway around them suspiciously. “Does no one in this region understand security?”

Minkus shrugged, unsure what response to give—unsure he wanted to offer a response if he even had one. Between the Keep and here, Minkus had noticed a subtle shift in his fellow asura, something that seemed out of sorts with the gentle politeness Skixx had demonstrated at their meeting. Perhaps it was a heightened irritability? Impatience? Minkus couldn’t quite name it. In truth, he didn’t want to. More than once, Skixx had snapped at him, quelling his questions about the landscape or quenching attempts to encourage the others. He hadn’t experienced much of that since leaving Metrica. He reasoned that perhaps that was all it was: it had been so long since he’d been among his own people that he’d forgotten what it was like, forgotten how he was so often treated.

“Maybe it’s safe,” Minkus replied to Skixx with a shrug. “Or maybe they need them open for trade.”

“Trade?” Skixx scoffed. “All the way out—” The loud and sudden yew of a dolyak only yards behind them hushed Skixx’s words and sent him leaping off the road and out of the way.

Everyone stepped aside to make room for the passing trader and his pack animal, who’d somehow crept up behind them. Skixx looked indignantly at Minkus but just as quickly softened his expression again. “Perhaps you’re correct,” he said reluctantly. “It seems this remote location does receive commerce of some kind.” He attempted to offer Minkus a kind smile, but it never touched his eyes.

“Speaking of security,” Skixx went on, stepping forward to Ventyr, who’d been walking ahead of the others for some time, “I still— feel bad that you three have to keep watch throughout the nights while I am the only one who receives a full night’s rest. I’d be happy to—”

“I appreciate the thought,” Ventyr replied, “but we have it taken care of. We’re happy to have you along, but the security of our trip is our duty.”

“By my calculations, though—”

Ventyr stopped the asura’s words with a hand on his shoulder. “The three of us have taken up the responsibility. You needn’t worry about it.”

Before any further conversation could happen, a Lionguard soldier stepped up to them from beside the gate. “Ho,” he called, loud enough to stop them all. “What’s your business here?”

“Travelers seeking refuge for a night,” Ventyr replied with a bow of his head.

The human looked them up and down, his gaze hovering particularly long on the sword hilt protruding over Minkus’ shoulder and exposed holster at Penny’s hip. Ventyr followed his gaze after a second and pulled out his Vigil seal to ease the guard’s mind. “They’re with me,” he said. “We’re just passing through on an assignment from Vigil Keep. One night, and we’ll be on our way.”

Covered in thick furs and holding a tight grip on an old, bronze polearm, the guard thought about it only a second before nodding his acceptance and turning to point up the reinforced bluff behind him. “You’ll find an available tent or two up there. Those folks just vacated them.”

“Who do we pay?” Ventyr asked.

“Foreman’s in charge here, Sergeant, not me. He’s the norn without a coat, barking orders at the top of the ramp.” With that, the man stepped aside and motioned the party on up the hill and farther into the fort.

“One more thing,” Skixx interjected, turning back to the Lionguard as he passed. “I assume you have a pigeon keeper. I expect to have a message waiting for me here. Where do I find it?”

The man looked annoyed at being stopped again, but flitted an eye in the direction he’d pointed them before. “Little stall by the watchtower up top.” Skixx nodded, and the four of them continued into the fort and on toward the ramp that led up to the next level.

“Pigeon?” Penny asked him as they stepped out of earshot from the guard. “Who sends you pigeons all the way out here?”

He walked on beside Penny, not looking at her at all, but rather paying close attention to each step along the frozen, muddy incline. “My business associate,” he said absently.

Ventyr scanned the people ahead for any sign of the foreman, but Minkus paid attention to the conversation between Skixx and Penny, interested as always.

“Business associate?” Penny pursued further, looking at Skixx askance. “You mean your buyer?”

“No, not the buyer,” Skixx replied absently, now surveying the area for any sign of pigeon coops. “My partner. I sent him a pigeon from the Vigil Keep before we left, to tell him of my misfortune and the delay in my travel, and to ask for an update on some other endeavors we’re pursuing.”

“I didn’t know you had a partner,” Minkus observed from behind them.

Skixx nodded, not looking back. “I do,” he said.

“And he responded with a bird to this random outpost in the middle of nowhere?” Penny asked.

Skixx stopped for a second and looked up at her, recognizing the sarcasm in her voice and reddening just a touch, though not the way Minkus sometimes did. His color dulled back to its normal charcoal tone, and he looked at her with a sudden air of playful impertinence. “Yes. He has a device that lets him see my location at all times.” Minkus’ eyes widened, though neither of them saw it.

Penny stopped, crossing her arms and glaring at him. It was unclear whether disbelief or wonder dressed her face, but she said nothing. In the course of their conversations, he’d introduced her to several forms of asura technology that she could hardly believe existed, though he assured her they did.

“Penny,” Skixx continued mockingly, “I will give you as foolish an answer as your questions deserve. I had already spoken to the sergeant about our route and instructed my associate to send updates to our next three stopping points: Snowblind, Junction Haven, and here.” His jaw tightened in evident annoyance. “Having not received his correspondence in either of the first two places, I anticipate finding word from him here. Or at least I had better—” He broke off, suddenly noticing a pigeon drifting in on a breeze from the east and alighting on a post above an elderly norn woman straight ahead of them. “Ah, there’s my target.” With that, Skixx sped off in a straight line toward the keeper, forcing miners and Lionguard protectors to break their paths to avoid running over him.

“Well, goodbye then,” Penny yelled at his back.

After a brief conversation with an old, slack-skinned norn he would just as soon have ignored, Skixx found she did have the letter he was looking for. Taking it from her and paying quickly, he checked back over his shoulder. The others were already discussing accommodations with a person who must have been the foreman, giving Skixx time to read what Wepp had sent.

He disappeared behind a passing ore cart and slipped silently between the legs of the watchtower, where he knew he could disappear from sight for at least a minute or two. He ripped open the stamped wax seal, a superfluous human practice he could never understand Wepp’s infatuation with, and forcefully removed the letter, unfolding it in the same motion. Quickly, he read.

Skixx,

My apologies. I only just received your correspondence. I didn’t know you were sending communications this way again. I half expected you to transmaterialize into Divinity’s Reach. It’s excellent to hear you’ve made headway toward our objective.

I too have had success with my endeavor, however costly it may have been. (I assure you, I took no pleasure in the grotesque display of false affection Rizi required of me before giving me access to the files. Just the remembrance of her wet, floppy lips— ugh. I digress.) According to the files, your hypotheses are actually quite likely. Records indicate that several members of highest leadership grow ever more malcontent with you-know-who’s propensity for undermining leadership and bringing discredit on the organization. It seems she was responsible for that ultramagnet-golem kerfuffle in Metrica Province, as well as some unauthorized public testing of chaos magic, the deaths of two peacemakers (I haven’t the slightest idea how we got away with that), and most recently unauthorized experimentation on an unknown creature that caused the death and/or dismemberment of four members of her krewe.

That last one is the issue to pay attention to. It seems the incident began when an unknown entity transmaterialzed into her lab at Thaumacore and did a fair amount of damage to their equipment. Much of the file was redacted, as leadership had determined the creature should be put down so as not to interfere with the krewe’s actual assignment working with chaos energy. You-know-who, however, disobeyed orders and studied the entity further, which resulted in the aforementioned losses. Leadership has tried to keep that most recent failure out of the limelight, but there are those motioning that you-know-who be stripped of her position. Even the more lenient among them agree that another insubordination of that caliber necessitates consequences.

My, this is a long letter.

Speaking of you-know-who, she has been contacting me almost daily. I think I bought us time with your current plan, but her affability is waning. Complete the task, Skixx. This is all making me nervous. And disgusted. I’ve been scrubbing my mouth out daily since Rizi.

Please ease my anxious mind—I hardly sleep like I used to—and keep me updated on your progress.

– Wepp | Zephyr 88, 1324

As Skixx finished reading, he shook his head. You-know-who? he thought. Idiot.

A voice suddenly spoke up beside him, “That’s a long letter.” He jumped, spinning around to face the sound as he folded the letter into his pocket. It was Penny, leaning on one of the crossbeams between the tower’s legs. How had she snuck up on him?

“Whoa, Moptop,” she said, hands up and taking a step back.”A little high-strung, are we? And what the hell are you doing under this thing?” She looked up at the guard tower.

“Yes, I— you startled me,” he said, bending forward to catch his breath. “I thought I could escape the miner traffic here.”

“I see,” Penny replied. Chin rested on her arms crossed on the beam, she was on the verge of a grin. “Well, that certainly is some long letter your partner sent.”

“Yes,” he said in monotone. “To say my partner is long-winded would be insufficient.”

She compressed her face in thought. “How’d he even get a note that long around the leg of a bird?”

Skixx stopped, blinking. “I’m not actually sure.” She laughed and he followed suit, content that she hadn’t learned anything he didn’t want. They stepped out of hiding and toward nearby stacks of barrels and crates, likely filled with some sort of mining equipment.

“So which way is our shelter for the night?” Skixx asked, peering through the milling miners and merchants. “I saw you chatting with someone I can only logically assume was the foreman.”

Penny nodded, brushing dust off the undersides of her sleeves. “You guessed it. Guy said there are available tents just up that next rise, and we can have whatever canvas palace exists behind door number four. That’s why I was sent to collect you.”

“Ah,” Skixx intoned. “I see.”

“So let’s get go—”

“Actually,” he interjected, pulling out a strip of parchment and gesturing to the barrels. “I need to write a reply to my associate.”

Penny’s brow furrowed. “Might be a little cold for that, don’t you think? You can write your message from the tent.” Mockingly, she crossed her heart. “We won’t look. Promise.”

He rolled his eyes, only just managing to don something of a grin. These people were wearing on him more by the day. “I’d just as soon be done with it here and now. Go ahead, and I’ll reconvene with you three when I’ve finished. Best not to put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” The intellectual vacancy of the platitude nearly turned his stomach.

“Fine,” she conceded with a shrug. “Do your thing. We’ll be up there.” She continued on into the throng, calling back a few steps later, “Remember, canvas palace four.” He nodded, and finally she was gone.

He looked around at the milieu of people again: humans, norn, and the occasional charr, most of them covered in a thick layer of dark dust, toting pickaxes and pushing wheelbarrows full of stone. It was only logical that the majority were miners, whatever the cleaner among them might have been. He sneered, as much at himself as at them. He had no clue why he’d thought any of them would have the slightest interest in, let alone the minds to grasp what he was discussing with Wepp. He did, however, have to keep this very tightly from his travel companions, so the barrel at his elbow would indeed make a much better writing table than anything he’d find in their accommodations, their “canvas palace four.”

Pulling a quill from an inner coat pocket and quickly buttoning his coat shut again, Skixx stepped up to the barrel, laid down his parchment, and began to formulate his words. As usual, he’d need to be brief, giving quick, clear direction that others wouldn’t understand and Wepp couldn’t foul up. He could not foul this up. He had a part to play, and this time it was critical.

Skixx knew his plan was precarious at best, but given the situation it was all he had—and he dared Wepp to come up with anything better. Yes, his acquisition from the Vigil infirmary would prove useful, but he didn’t have enough of the elixir to drug all three of the idiots at once. At most he’d get two. Combine that with the fact that he hadn’t gained the trust of the vigilman, and he knew he would always have someone on night’s watch to contend with. A straightforward theft was out, but there was always a backup plan. It was generally costly, but money was nothing to the Inquest. The plan was blackmail. If he was to make off with the stone shards without any confrontation, he’d need to put pressure on someone in the party who was trusted but weak, someone manipulable, someone he and Wepp could quickly gain leverage over.

He looked up from his barrel, gazing beyond the passing masses and onto the hillside path that led up to the upper level of that haphazard mining fort. There, almost at the crest, bobbing just over the assortment of other figures, he saw her swaying black hair: the human witlessly walking back to their tent, without a thought in her head that anyone was watching her. Certainly not him.

Skixx had considered them all, but of the three, she was the easiest target, and he knew just how to force her hand.

The next day, the group was halfway along their course again, squarely between Nentor’s Mines and Mistriven Gorge, approaching the intersection of three roads that met right below the Mistriven Waypoint. Once again there was no snowfall or wind to hinder them, just the peaceful crunch and squeak of packed snow under their feet and the occasional call of a fox to remind them of the wildlife’s presence as they walked their narrow and winding path between peaks.

All day Minkus had felt as alive as ever, breathing the mountain air and taking in every sight and sound, but he’d quickly found that he wasn’t alone. Ventyr too had managed to find a bit of peace in it, suddenly able to discuss a topic other than their mission or the next step toward it. If anyone had asked Minkus, it was the first day in some time that truly felt like a trek among friends.

Coming around a rock formation that bent the road, though, Penny stopped, bringing the rest of the group to a halt and pointing quietly down the path. A couple hundred yards away, just beneath a large stone diamond suspended in the air, three small figures scuttled about in the middle of the crossroads. Except for a farmer with a cart full of frosty vegetables headed for the mines, the road to that point had been so void of travelers, that the scene caught all of their attentions.

“Most likely skritt,” Ventyr said, shading his eyes from the sunlight that reflected harshly off a nearby snow bank. “Or asura, I suppose, but—”

“First,” Skixx broke in unbidden. “Some would call it an insult to compare skritt to asura. Second, why would any self-respecting asura be this far out in the freezing cold?”

Penny turned and gave him a pointed glare.

“What?” he asked indignantly. He only then caught the meaning of her look. “Oh! Well, Minkus and me excluded, of course. There are some reasons to be out here.”

She only shook her head, turning to look back down the road again. “We better decide what to do here.”

“Closed in like this on either side,” Ventyr replied thoughtfully, “there’s not much we can do but approach and react accordingly. Weapons free, but don’t yet draw.” They continued on down the road, making no effort to conceal their presence, in the hopes that the interaction could be peaceable. Minkus very much hoped the interaction could be peaceable.

Now within fifty yards, they could hear the chatter between the little people moving about in the narrow valley. Minkus couldn’t say he understood what the talk was about, but with each step, the words became clearer and seemed increasingly familiar.

“Looks like it’s humble pie for you, Moptop,” Penny said, turning. “Those are definitely asura.”

“Oh, they’re just a transmat maintenance crew,” Skixx said dismissively, letting his tension go.

Minkus’ tension, however, rose. Big ears perked so far forward that the knit cap rose up his head and fell off behind him, Minkus leaned forward while still walking, straining to hear more of the conversation ahead.

One of them was complaining, waving his arms at what appeared to be a little blonde female beside him. “But all the readings indicate the transdimension conduction core is operating at full capacity. It can’t possibly be—”

“Onn,” Minkus heard the little blonde reply, “the readings are irrelevant. We know the problem occurs somewhere in the process of opening the aperture, regardless of how the conduction core is operating.”

There was something in that voice, and the sharpness with which she threw her hands to her hips in exasperation. It was familiar, far too familiar. It made no sense, but that didn’t stop the words from leaving his mouth. “Jinkke?” Minkus called out down the road.

“Oh, what is it now?” the little female groaned, turning away from her work and toward him. She froze, squinting up the road. “Minkus?” She took a few steps, still leaning forward, until suddenly her eyes went wide.

At a bounding sprint, she closed the final distance between them and leapt to embrace him. “Big Brother!”