Research and Development

 

 

The war was still active and ongoing, but it changed in the last few weeks. Rather than marching a large army across the entirety of the Duchy, Evestani had taken to subtler tactics. Smaller cells had orders to accomplish specific objectives. Since capturing the leader of the Thyne River group, Arkk had come across three other cells in the vicinity of Elmshadow.

The Thyne River group had orders to detonate alchemical explosives inside the Thyne Burg, specifically any building that sat on the river itself. A smaller group of casters had been preparing a ritual array high in the southern mountain range which, according to Savren, was intended to cause some instability in the ground itself—though the large array hadn’t been completed before Kia and Claire went in, leaving the specifics of its purpose unclear. Another set of soldiers had simply been camping out in one of the old forts left behind, alone and abandoned, from the previous war; they hadn’t been doing anything obviously nefarious, which only made their presence more suspicious.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t arrive in time. They destroyed a bridge,” Kia said, giving her report on the latest of these cells. “One of the main transit routes between Elmshadow and the western side of the Duchy. Not the only one, but it does make the route more annoying for anyone wanting to traverse the land.”

Arkk scratched the back of his head in confusion. “Was that their main objective?”

“The commander took his own life before we could stop him. We did capture two others, but they claim to know nothing.”

Arkk scratched at his chin. If patterns held true, they were probably telling the truth. Even the leaders of these groups didn’t have the full picture. They were ordered to take care of a specific task and none knew how that task fit into the larger picture. Savren could use his mind magic to confirm that, but…

How did they fit into the larger picture?

“Rekk’ar? Thoughts?”

“It’s a major bridge,” the orc said, poring over a map of the land. He traced a few routes along with his finger as he spoke. “They obviously wanted to inhibit movement. Possibly to prevent us from securing territory west of Elmshadow.”

“Not our movement,” Arkk said with a scowl. “The avatar could detect teleportation in his vicinity, so he knows we’ve got that method of movement. And the Walking Fortress won’t care about a bridge. It can’t be impeded by a river.”

“Traders? Regular soldiers? Refugees?”

“There isn’t much trade going on out here, is there? Not with the war. And I imagine that most refugees have already made their way to the eastern side of the Elm mountains, if they were able.”

“Soldiers then,” Rekk’ar said with a huff. “Duke’s men. Or Katja’s men. Whoever.”

Arkk drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair. That didn’t feel right either. If anything, it felt like this bridge being gone would stifle the Evestani army if they wanted to attempt a proper counterattack on Elmshadow. More than that, Arkk couldn’t see how it was related to the other cells in the area. How did blowing up Thyne Burg help them? What of that random fort in the middle of nowhere?

The only group that made sense was the caster group trying to destabilize the ground. Maybe they thought they could cause the tower to tip over.

There was something at play here. He just couldn’t see what it was.

“Thank you, Kia. Claire. You are dismissed, although on your way out, please inform the scrying team that I want them keeping an eye on both sides of the river around that bridge, looking for anyone that might be trying to cross.”

“Sure thing,” Kia said with a wide albeit emotionless smile.

“The scrying team will contact you if they find another of these groups.”

“We’ll be ready.” With slight bows, the dark elves turned away.

Arkk watched their backs for a long moment, mind churning over a few possibilities. They were skilled. Their team hadn’t had any trouble dispatching these cells. And the supply caravan strikes from before had gone well up until that golden knight appeared.

And that was another thing. The avatar hadn’t been seen since the attack. Neither had any other golden-armored knights. Arkk didn’t know if the avatar could make more or not—examinations into the remnants left behind by the knight Dakka killed were mostly inconclusive as the armor appeared to be just regular gold. He might have been happy about that if their absence didn’t make him so anxious. They were just asking for a repeat of that supply line incident. Except, last time, the knight had been content to capture the strike team. There was no telling whether or not the next surprise would be so kind next time around. If Evestani set up one of these cells as another trap with another golden knight or the avatar, it was highly likely that they wouldn’t be returning at all.

“Kia, Claire,” Arkk called out to them before they could leave the meeting room.

Both paused. Kia turned fully to face him while Claire just looked back over her shoulder.

“Zullie has been working on counter-demon magics,” he said slowly, noting the mild stiffening of Rekk’ar in the seat next to him. “Some of her research has… progressed to the point where she is asking for volunteers for something she is calling Project Liminal.”

Kia cocked her head to one side, a clear request for more information. Claire didn’t react beyond turning fully. Was that an indicator of interest? Or just the realization that he had something a little longer to say?

“It is magic derived from the Lock and Key, goddess of boundaries, borders, and separations. The same being that allowed us to open the portal to the Underworld,” Arkk said slowly. “I… am not sure what form this magic will take—I don’t know that Zullie knows—only that it will be somewhat… transformative. But she believes it will be capable of at least stalling a demon. To be clear, you are not being ordered to engage with this magic in any way. But, I thought that it might be wise to investigate possibilities if you encounter a golden knight again, or other opponents of similar threat level.”

Kia and Claire glanced at one another. Some silent conversation passed between them before Kia turned to Arkk with a smile.

“Worried about us?” Kia asked, sweeping a hand back through her sweat-matted blonde hair.

“I worry about all my employees.”

“Such a neutral response isn’t cute,” she said with a faux pout. “But you don’t need to worry—”

“I’ll do it.”

Claire’s voice stopped Kia cold. She looked over, eyebrows halfway up her forehead. Even Rekk’ar made a small grunt of surprise. It wasn’t like Claire never spoke. But on the few occasions in which she did, it was usually to add some small detail to a report that her sharp eyes caught while Kia was in the fray. They certainly had never disagreed or interrupted one another.

Kia had sounded like she was going to decline. Her words and her tone of voice made that apparent from the start.

“Plans can fail,” Claire said with a simple shrug at Kia, not looking disturbed in the slightest by the look Kia was giving her. “Backup plans, hidden abilities, tricks up sleeves. It is foolish to decline power when offered.

“That knight made fools of us. He should have killed us. What do you think a demon would do?” Claire’s lips twisted into a violent smile as her eyes sharpened. “But if we can stand against a demon, we could slaughter another one of those knights.”

“That witch lost her eyes toying with that magic,” Kia countered. That incident was supposed to have been a secret. But it didn’t take much to put together a few stray hints into most of the story. “If you lose your eyes, how are you going to get revenge?”

“I’ll have my nose. My ears. My tongue.”

Kia clenched her fist. “Fifty-seven years ago, you asked me to help you when you looked like you were going to make poor decisions. Do you remember? You said you can trust my judgment when you can’t trust your own. This, Claire, is a poor decision.”

Claire winced as Kia spoke, looking like the memory itself had physically assaulted her. “Help. Not make decisions for me.”

“If…” Arkk said slowly, “If you two would like time to discuss the matter among yourselves… I could get more information from Zullie on exactly what—”

“No. I’ll do it,” Claire said.

Kia… just looked disappointed. With a small shake of her head, she turned to Arkk and offered the same slight bow she had offered before. She left the room without another word. Claire remained where she stood, shifting slightly in discomfort at her companion’s absence.

Rekk’ar leaned back in his chair with a small sigh. “Sure you want to give these nutjobs more power?” he asked, not bothering to even try to whisper.

Arkk would admit that Kia and Claire frightened him a little. That disagreement hadn’t helped that. But he was positive that they were more frightening to his enemies than to him.

“Why don’t we pay a visit to Zullie and see if her idea will even work before we make any further commitments,” Arkk said, standing. “Rekk’ar, you’re in charge of Elmshadow for the time being.”

“Yeah, sure. Your funeral.” He shifted, cracking his spine. “I’ll see if I can’t get a few heads together to figure out what Evestani is planning.”

Arkk nodded slowly. “It just feels so random,” he mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else in the room. “Maybe it is all a distraction. Maybe Lexa is right and I need to put all my focus on the Prince.” Shaking his head, he looked up to Claire. “I guess we start with that here. I’ll teleport us to the transportation rituals.”

She nodded her head. A curt, stiff nod.

Once in the lower room of ritual circles, a few quick hops got them to Fortress Al-Mir. From there, Arkk teleported them both directly to Zullie’s laboratory… but only after checking to make sure that it was safe to do so. Ever since effectively giving her free reign to do what she wanted, all in the name of defending against a demon, Zullie’s laboratory had suffered a handful of… incidents.

Nothing deadly.

Yet.

Nothing like the incident that had taken Zullie’s eyes.

Yet.

But there had still been more than one occasion where Hale’s skills with the Flesh Weaving spell had been required. Arkk had needed to clamp down on some of her more dangerous ideas. In theory, Arkk would have been fine with them were it not for Zullie putting the rest of his employees at risk. Which was one of the main reasons he had built this laboratory.

It was far deeper than any other area of Fortress Al-Mir. Down near the active digging in the gold mine. Well away from anyone else in the fortress with huge amounts of solid rock in the way.

Given some of Zullie’s ideas that she claimed came from the incident where she lost her eyes, Arkk wasn’t sure if that was enough. But it was the best they had without relocating her out in the middle of the Underworld’s wilderness.

Which was a consideration.

“Zullie,” Arkk called out from across the room. He had known where she would be and could have teleported closer. It was just that he didn’t want to appear directly behind her and startle her while she was working.

Zullie wasn’t alone in the room. Morvin, the former-member-of-Katja’s-bandits-turned-magical-assistant, was present as well, acting as Zullie’s eyes and hands. Most of the time, that task was little more than note-taking. However, Morvin had somehow managed to distinguish himself from all the other assistants. Zullie favored him enough to drag him into… whatever they were doing now.

Zullie set down the ceremonial dagger they had taken from the Underworld. It dragged shadows along with its movements as if the absence of light were fabric that its tip had pierced. All around the stone table upon which it sat were small ritual arrays, drawn in chalk, that were designed for measuring various esoteric values. Arkk recognized most of them from the lessons Zullie had given him.

For one fleeting moment, a wistful thought drifted through Arkk’s mind. A wish that he still had time to study magic more in depth. It had been something he always wanted to do, ever since he was little. And, while Fortress Al-Mir had provided the opportunity to meet Zullie and learn magic from her, circumstances conspired to rip that away from him.

What he wouldn’t give for this war to be over… For this demon summoning to not be a threat at all. He could go back to learning magic, figuring out how to help Vezta with the Calamity, and not having to send everyone he knew into constant danger.

But he couldn’t control that. He could only do what he could to bring this war and its dangers to an end. At the moment, that meant Zullie and her projects.

From his magical knowledge and the context of the situation, he put together what the rest of what the ritual arrays were designed to do. She was measuring—or attempting to measure—the external source of magic on the dagger.

The Cloak of Shadows’ power, in other words.

He had approved that a few days ago. Although Arkk didn’t have any proof of his suppositions, the Cloak of Shadows felt, somehow, safer. Xel’atriss, Lock and Key, had given Arkk a warning about the planar magic. The god of boundaries had taken Zullie’s eyes, whether intentionally or as a side effect of simply existing. Despite both of those happenings, Zullie continued to poke at the god, trying to utilize Xel’atriss’ power.

The Cloak of Shadows, on the other hand, had not warned them away or harmed them. Technically, the Lady Shadows hadn’t done anything at all to them, beneficial or otherwise. According to the Protector, the Cloak of Shadows hadn’t done anything visible since rendering the living beings of the Underworld into shades, which had been centuries ago.

It made Arkk wonder if gods could actually die and, if so, whether or not the Cloak of Shadows wasn’t just a corpse hanging over the Underworld.

“Arkk? Is that you?” Zullie asked as the stars in her eyes swept over the laboratory. The rectangular glasses she still wore for some reason only seemed to magnify the lights in the back of her eye holes.

“It is,” Morvin added at her side. “And a dark elf.”

“What are you doing all the way over there?”

“Just making sure I don’t startle you and end up with that dagger in my stomach,” Arkk said as he approached. “Wouldn’t want to be turned into one of those Underworld shades.”

Zullie waved her hand back and forth. “Oh, that wouldn’t happen. We stabbed a chicken, just to check.”

Arkk paused. He had been excessively busy, but he did his best to pay attention to what Zullie was doing. He didn’t recall her asking for approval for that. “What were the results?” He hesitated to ask but his curiosity got the better of him.

“Well, as tends to happen to something stabbed by a blade, it bled out and died.”

“Oh,” Arkk said, wondering why he felt disappointed.

“Then it turned into a shadow monster.”

“Oh?”

“Tried to kill us, I think, but didn’t manage much. It just kept pecking at our shadows.”

“It still hurt,” Morvin added, rubbing at his arm.

“I dispatched it with a flash of light that blew away all the shadows in the room at once,” Zullie said, frowning to herself. “Which, combined with its strength remaining that of a chicken, is an unfortunate weakness that makes similar creatures rather infeasible in any kind of combat capacity. Even the most inept casters can create simple light spells.”

Arkk shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Right,” he said. “Of course they can.”

“Anyway, chicken aside, I wasn’t expecting a visit today.” She scrunched up her cheeks as if she were narrowing her eyes. It didn’t quite work with her lack of eyes. “And a guest? Prisoner for experimentation or ally… for experimentation?”

Arkk glanced at the dark elf, who had decided to return to her quiescence, before looking back to Zullie. “This is Claire. She volunteered for Project Liminal. Assuming you’re still looking to progress with that project.”

“Liminal..?” Zullie asked, half turning.

Morvin cleared his throat. “The… uh… ‘reality layer’ project.”

Zullie snapped her fingers. “Right. Interesting project. The chicken we tried it on fell through the world. Pretty sure that’s because it can’t think, though. Someone who could think would be able to control the power much better. Probably.”

“Another chicken?” Arkk mumbled before shaking his head. “It fell through the world?”

“More of a sucked through the world,” Morvin said, gesturing with his hands. “Like it squeezed itself into the thin gaps between the floor tiles.” He paused, frowned, then added, “And then it exploded.”

With a sigh, Arkk turned to Claire. “I’m sorry for wasting your time. And for causing that fight with Kia. If you—”

Claire didn’t even look at him. She stepped forward, a single step past him, and looked to Zullie. “Can you give me the power to crush a demon?”

She didn’t say anything else. No context. No elaboration.

“I don’t know about crush,” Zullie said with a thoughtful hum. “If you can use it the way I think it should work… How does peeling apart the layers of reality holding it together sound? Like an onion.”

“Will that be painful?”

“Excruciatingly so, I’d imagine.”

Claire didn’t hesitate. An unpleasant smile worked its way across her face. “I can work with that.”

Zullie’s smile matched Claire’s. “Wonderful. Welcome aboard.”

Arkk… let out a small sigh.