Chapter 33

The six of us gathered around Vash’s bed in a state of silent shock. It had been less than twenty-four hours since Rutha's testimony... the one in which she'd given incorrect information as to Baldr's next move. It was timed so perfectly that there was no way he hadn't intended for it to play out this way.

"Did Rutha lie to us?" Suri asked me, as astounded as everyone else.

“No. No way." I sat there, silently cursing myself for missing such an obvious sequence of events. "Think about it. Baldr spent weeks abusing and manipulating Rutha, then beat her so badly she was in a coma for almost a month. Lucien and Violetta flew into Taltos to wave their dicks at us, threatening to make an example of her. When we spooked them, they handed Rutha over and made a big show to provoke Ignas. We thought they'd thrown their hand because they didn't know how to play the intimidation game, but they'd always intended to give Rutha to us. Baldr didn't really care if she woke up or not. If she didn't, he knew it would piss me off. But if she did wake up, he predicted that she'd tell us everything she knew."

"He spent all that time feeding her false information?" Rin covered her mouth with her hand. "It's so obvious... we should have seen this coming."

I massaged my forehead as piece after piece of Baldr's behaviour connected like a jigsaw puzzle. "I'd wondered why he sent Lucien and Violetta, of all fucking people. Lucien is everything you don’t want in an officer. He's stupid, he's vain, he's a certified coward, and he's hard to control. Violetta is competent, but she's unimaginative and mentally unstable after... whatever happened to her. But it makes perfect sense if he's trying to manipulate us. Because Lucien is stupid and Violetta un-creative, we're predisposed to treat Baldr as if he's less smart and creative than he actually is. 'Oh, Baldr's sending THESE losers to fight us? He must be dumber than they are'."

"Even if we know, intellectually, that Baldr is smarter than he seems," Suri said.

“I wouldn’t underestimate Lucien and Violetta, either,” Istvan added. “They may also be smarter than they appear.”

Rin worried one of her fingernails. "Yeah… even Ignas fell for that." 

"Violetta. She's shit-scared of Baldr; she hates his guts. So him sending her to deal with us carries another message as well: a message to be afraid of what he could do to us," I said. "How can something be so obvious and so subtle at the same time?"

Karalti rumbled and muttered in her throat. “That’s why the name for the Drachan in our language is ‘trauvin’. The deceivers."

"The problem is, we haven't been deceiving him back," I said. "The War for Myszno was one big intel-gathering exercise for him. You notice that neither Lucien and Violetta respawned in Myszno to continue fighting?"

Suri frowned, looking to Istvan. He and Vash listened on in grave silence.

"Now that you mention it..." Rin said. "They didn't save spawnpoints here, even though they're strong enough they probably could have come back and kicked our butts."

"Exactly. And it's because they probably had orders to go home and report to Baldr if or when they died," I said. "Specifically, to report on how we fought, what techniques and tactics we used in the battle against the Demon, and how we worked together as a team. So now he knows a whole lot about us, and we know almost nothing about him or what he's really capable of. The only thing we know is that his lieutenants are not representative of his own ability."

Suri sat back in her seat, gazing out the window. "Well, I dunno about you guys, but I'm starting to feel like I don't know what the fuck I'm doing."

"That is also part of his manipulation," Vash said. "Don't let him get any further into your mind."

"He’s right," I said. "Because the fact is, we figured something out now instead of later. That tactic is useless from this point into the future. What we have to do now is understand his strategy and figure out what other tactics he leans on to get what he wants."

"The best and more believable lies always contain a grain of the truth," Istvan said. "I wouldn't dismiss everything Rutha saw and reported on out of hand."

"Indeed." Vash grunted, struggling to sit up more. "The question is, what do we do now? We have to take action.”

"YOU have to stay in bed," Istvan said primly. 

Vash sneered and rolled his eyes. “Rot in here, more like it.”

Rin’s eyes flicked to him. “I… I think we should pick up Ebisa and go to Taltos, because Ignas is absolutely going to recall her. Then you guys follow your plan, go to Dakhdir, and find that Warsinger. We’re learning things from Nocturne Lament, but there’s just no way we can restore a machine that’s so badly damaged. The worst thing that happens is you find another non-functioning Warsinger that we can scrap for parts.”

“The worst thing that happens is we get linked into a long quest chain and don’t find a Warsinger at all,” Suri said. “I don’t know if I should be doing something that might be personal to me when we need to go support Revala.”

“It’s a risk we have to take,” I replied. “Rin’s right. We get enough sleep to be able to function, and then we leave for Dalim.”

“By airship, from Taltos,” Istvan said. “Karalti will not be able to go unless she is as she is now.”

Karalti flashed him a look of affront. “Why not?”

“Dragons are revered in Vlachia,” he said. “They are held to be evil in Dakhdir. The embodiment of violence, avarice, and sin.”

“Oh. Great.” I rubbed my eyes. We had progressed to ‘Extreme Sleep Deprivation’ now. Minus five to all stats, unable to recharge adrenaline points or stamina unless I got some rest. “Sounds like a plan. We leave tomorrow.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Suri said wryly. “Sleep first.”

“Yeah.” I could barely keep my eyes open. It was the first time I’d ever been this tired in Archemi… but then again, it had been almost two days since I’d really had time to crash. “Let’s give it five hours, and meet up in the courtyard.”

Rin jumped up from her chair in excitement. “That should be long enough for me to attach Vash’s new arm!”

There was a pregnant pause.

“My dearest child.” Vash fluttered his eyelashes. “I am… not sure whether you know that in human society, it’s typical that you ask for permission before telling someone you plan to attach your experiments their body.”

“Oh! No! I-I mean, yes! I didn’t mean it like that!” Rin’s silvery cheeks turned bright blue. “It’s, I-“

“It’s okay, Rin.” I clapped her on the shoulder. “Try again.”

“It’s okay!” She echoed me unconsciously. “I-I mean, here. I, um, spent the night disassembling the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith-”

Karalti let out a high-pitched, strangled sound that accurately reflected our expressions. Suri actually gasped.

“It’s okay! It was a once in a lifetime find, I know.” She deflated slightly. “But I’m too low a level to use it anyway, and by the time I AM a high enough level to be able to use it, my Reverse Engineer ability should be high enough that I can rebuild it and recreate the artifact. Vash is more important. He saved our lives a lot of times, and, umm… Anyway, the point is, I learned enough to be able to make a different prosthetic arm, a better one! And there’s no steel or iron in it. I used titanium and aurum, from the scrap you gave me. The College has a smelter just barely good enough to smelt aurum, so…”

Blushing furiously, she pulled it out of her inventory as she trailed off, and thrust it toward Vash like a bouquet of flowers. Superficially, it resembled the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith, but it was made for fighting instead of magic, with brutal studded knuckles. Just by looking at it, I could tell it was a huge improvement over the last one.

“Hrrm.” He stroked his chin. “I like it.”

“There’s two parts to the prosthetic, though: the limb… and the osteo-implant graft.” She said the last word hesitantly. “I made one to replace the shoulder joint…”

“No. Absolutely not. The last one nearly killed him.” Istvan got to his feet. “Vash-”

Vash held his hand up, and Istvan stopped, fuming. “The problem was the steel, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. You’re allergic to steel implants,” Rin said. “This arm doesn’t have any steel in it at all, and the graft part for this arm is mostly titanium. And I’m sorry, I tried to make something that wasn’t invasive, but I’m just not a good enough crafter to encode artifacts that link to the wearer like the Gauntlet of the Arch-Smith. If you want a functional arm, you HAVE to have a graft.”

Vash looked to Istvan, studying him thoughtfully. Then he looked back to Rin. “When Masha is awake, I will discuss it with her. She can do the surgery, and I will go to Dakhdir with these idiots.”

“No!” Suri, Istvan and I burst out at the same time.

Vash sighed, and rolled his eyes.

“It’s too soon, Vash,” I said. “Istvan can come with us. Sit this one out, for his sake.”

“Yes. Exactly. Listen to our liege,” Istvan added quickly.

The monk pressed his lips into a thin line. “Bugger off, Arshak. He is your liege. I am a Baru of Burna: I do not swear allegiance to anyone, not even my own god. What do you expect me to do for Myszno like this?”

“You can run things while I protect our lord and lady,” Istvan said icily.

“Run things? I can barely wipe my own arse like this.” Vash gestured sharply to his stump. “I can’t manage a kingdom, and wouldn’t know where to start. My place is out brawling among the people, and if I cannot be in my place, I will decline.”

“You stubborn ass!” Istvan clenched his fists. “If your place is with the people, what about the people closest to you?”

“I care about you most of all,” he said calmly. “And that is why I do not want you to go to Dakhdir. You are also invested in service, Istvan, but are the one who knows how to keep masses of peasants fed, the army disciplined, the government functioning, the barons placated. Can you imagine me dealing with the Provincial Council? Holding court? Dealing with the King while I pick my nose? I am not suited to governing, no more than you are suited to running around the desert on errands.”

“I had no idea you thought so little of my martial skills.” And with that, Istvan turned, and coldly marched from the room.

“Oy.” Vash groaned, and massaged his forehead. “To think he was married, once.”

Suri shot me a meaningful glance. I smiled back at her.

“Let him cool off, man,” I said. “You too. Let’s get some sleep, and see what Masha says in the morning.”