Valkyrie's Shadow

Before the Storm: Act 7, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Elias, it’s time.”

At the sound of his wife’s voice, Elias glanced at the timepiece on the desk of his private study before rubbing his tired eyes. He shouldn’t have spent the night awake, but the thought of the coming meeting left him sleepless and paranoid. Everything had to be perfect; nothing could go wrong or he would incur the wrath of the very personification of evil.

Burdened by worries he couldn’t shake off, he dragged himself out of his study and into the main bedroom of his solar. His wife fussed over his appearance, and he sighed as he brought himself before their bedroom’s body-length mirror.

“I look terrible,” Elias said.

“I’ll be back with the makeup kit,” his wife, Valerie, said. “Speaking of which, have you been able to secure any new products from the Holy Kingdom?”

“Nothing’s come out of that place since it was invaded by the Demon Emperor,” Elias replied. “The Merchants haven’t been able to secure any alternatives, either.”

“A shame,” Valerie said as she returned with a lacquered ebony chest decorated with gold leaf. “You could use the salve we had last year. We’ll just have to make do with this.”

Elias closed his eyes as his wife went to work on his face. His naturally pallid appearance usually gave the impression that he was decades older than he was, but what he saw in the mirror was positively ghastly.

He had little choice but to accept that Devil’s bargain and now he was paying for it in both mind and soul. Sleepless nights followed restless days as he was forced to help engineer the downfall of the kingdom that he had worked for nearly two decades to keep from falling apart. Guilt was barely an issue; it was the threat that hung over his family that caused him to constantly second-guess himself and the intentions of his new master. All too often, he found himself yearning for the days when he had nothing to worry about aside from his personal ambitions.

“Have you learned anything about this ‘compliance officer’?” His wife asked.

“Nothing,” Elias answered. “The Sorcerous Kingdom’s agents appear and disappear as they please and there’s no way to keep track of them.”

To underscore that point, he was instructed to receive the Sorcerous Kingdom’s agent in the drawing room of his solar. All they could do was make fearful preparations for its arrival.

“Are the carriages to the summer villa ready to depart?” Elias asked.

“Yes, dear.”

“Good. I don’t want you and Henri here any longer than you need to be. They can’t be allowed to threaten us any further.”

His wife and son would make their introductions and leave with the excuse that they were going to the summer villa for the health of his expecting wife. In all honesty, he didn’t want them present for even that much. There was no telling what sort of diabolical scheme the Sorcerer King would hatch to further entrap him and his family, but he couldn’t afford to give him excuses for punishment by showing any discourtesy.

At the appointed time of the agent’s arrival, Elias ordered the household staff out of the solar and gathered with his family in the drawing room. He placed his hands on Henri’s shoulders, trying to muster his confidence even as he wondered what sort of monster would appear before them. Mere seconds passed before a circular void grew over the carpet. The tension building up with him swiftly transformed into confusion as a boy bearing a box came out and the hole closed behind him.

That’s all they’re sending?

He scrutinised his newly-arrived guest. By all appearances, he was a plainly dressed youth with flaxen hair that one might find anywhere in Re-Estize. What was going on? There was surely some scheme afoot.

Elias came to his senses once he realised the boy was looking up at him expectantly. He offered a belated bow.

“Elias Brandt Dale Raeven, Lord of E-Raevel and the Southeastern Marches. This is my wife, Valerie, and my son, Henri.”

The newcomer lowered his head, presenting the strange box to them with both hands.

“Thank you for your welcome, Lord Raeven. My name is Liam. Lord Demiurge wishes to express his congratulations on your coming child.”

Alarms went off in his head at the mention of the Devil’s name and his wife’s face went deathly pale. Everything about the strange encounter finally clicked. The arrival of this boy was nothing less than a blatant threat from the Sorcerous Kingdom.

They knew. They knew that his wife was expecting and wasted no time insinuating their intentions. At any point, anywhere, a hole could open in the air and his family would be gone. The next time he saw Henri, he might end up like the boy before him, a slave to the Sorcerer King and his monstrous minions.

“If I may ask, Liam,” Valerie said as she gave the box a wary look, “what is it?”

“Um…it’s a collection of goods popular with pregnant women in the Sorcerous Kingdom,” Liam replied.

Like hell it is!

There was absolutely no way the Undead Sorcerer King would care about the needs and desires of the living. In all likelihood, it was simply another piece of his unfathomable ploys. Knowing the nature of his devilish minion, he wouldn’t be at all surprised that the ‘gifts’ transformed his unborn child into a grotesque monstrosity that would tear its way out of his wife’s womb to attack Henri.

Elias gingerly accepted the box with a polite smile.

“We’ll be sure to make good use of them,” he said. “Please convey our appreciation to your master.”

I must have a footman burn this at the nearest opportunity.

“It’s about time we departed, my lord,” his wife said.

“Yes, that’s right,” Elias clasped his hands and turned to his wife. “I nearly forgot amidst the excitement over our new guest. Please take good care of your health, my lady.”

“Where is she going?” Liam asked.

“To a villa in the countryside,” Elias replied. “It’s for the baby’s health. The city is quite filthy, after all.”

“What about the gift?”

Partway out the door, his wife froze. Did the boy know? There was a high chance he did. There was also a high chance he wasn’t a boy at all. His nonchalant attitude around Nobles proved that his appearance as a Human commoner was nothing more than an insidious guise.

Elias breathed a silent sigh of relief as a footman appeared to remove the box from the room. He put on a pleasant face as he gestured for Liam to take a seat.

“I believe we have much to discuss,” Elias said. “I’ll have the staff bring in some refreshments.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Liam replied, “I’d like to get to work right away. I’m not very good at explaining things, so your questions will probably best be answered by observing my work.”

Definitely not a commoner, but he also lacks the etiquette of any well-bred scion.

A commoner wouldn’t dare dream of declining an invitation from a member of the gentry, never mind one of the Great Nobles of Re-Estize. Elias gestured towards the solar entrance, his mask unchanged.

“Your dedication to your duties is admirable,” Elias said. “Let us be on our way, then.”

They made their way out of his manor in the Noble’s Quarter of E-Raevel. To Elias’ dismay, his wife’s carriages were still making last-minute preparations to depart. He silently urged the staff to be on their way while his son stared at Liam through the glass of his cabin.

“Is something wrong?” Liam asked.

“Ah, nothing at all,” Elias answered. “I suppose we’ll have to walk over to our carriage.”

“Actually,” Liam said, “It would be better for my work if we didn’t take a carriage.”

“…I beg your pardon?”

“I’m a compliance officer for the Ministry of Transportation,” Liam told him. “I’m here to inspect your logistical infrastructure. Doing that from inside a carriage would be pretty hard.”

“I see. Then allow me to arrange for an escort.”

“Is it that dangerous in your city?”

Elias blinked at the boy’s question. Was this part of his ‘inspection’?

“I’ll be accompanying you. Are Nobles not accompanied by an armed escort where you come from?”

“Not usually,” Liam replied. “There are a lot of Noblewomen, so you see them with their Maids, I guess.”

He mentally reviewed the intelligence he had received over the months from his agents in E-Rantel. The streets were reported to be safe, but the streets of E-Raevel were also considered the safest in all of Re-Estize. Still, it was an utterly ludicrous notion for any Noble to appear in public without an escort. No matter how secure one felt the streets were, it was impossible to be completely safe against Assassins sent by one’s rivals.

Is he trying to get me killed? Or is this the naiveté of youth?Or perhaps he’s a monster with none of the common sense of civilised beings.

“Liam,” he said, “have you been working as a ‘compliance officer’ for long?”

“This is my first job as one,” Liam replied.

“What were you before that?”

“An Assassin. Well, I still am one.”

They walked out of the manor’s main gate with triple the standard escort. Liam paid the Knights and their squads of men-at-arms no mind as he scrutinised the road leading down from the manor, clipboard in hand.

“When was this road paved?” The Assassin asked.

“Five summers ago,” Elias replied.

“Are the roads all over the city like this?”

“No, only this part of the city has roads of this quality. Maintenance would be crippling if they were constructed everywhere.”

Elias looked over the Assassin’s shoulder to catch a glimpse of what he was writing down. To his surprise, it appeared that he was simply filling out fields on a premade form. His cheek twitched as the boy checked off the ‘passable for low volume traffic’ box on his assessment.

What do you mean by passable? These are the finest roads in Re-Estize, boy.

“What criteria are you using for this scoring?” Elias asked.

“Um…these roads are about the same quality as the ones in E-Rantel’s central district before it was annexed. A grade above that is the imperial road network.”

He supposed that much made sense. Anyone who had seen the Empire’s road network would admit to its superiority relative to infrastructure in Re-Estize. Imperial infrastructure was the product of generations of development while paved roads in the Kingdom were a relatively recent addition. The problem was that the grade the imperial road network received had the slightly less dubious descriptor of ‘inadequate for high volume traffic’.

Additionally, his roads were marked as ‘high cost’ and ‘high maintenance’, though he was well aware of the cost of maintaining good roads since he was the one paying for the damned things.

The Assassin wandered off, silently mouthing the lines on his clipboard as he inspected the closest intersection. Their slow progress combined with the overly large retinue following a Marquis that was walking around in public quickly attracted the attention of the surrounding manors.

“My lord,” one of the Knights in his escort leaned in close, “we’re being bombarded by queries from the residents. How shall we respond?”

How indeed?

Never in all of his life did he hear of a Marquis casually strolling around in a city with the equivalent of a Count’s entire armed retinue in tow. A quick scan of the various retainers whispering among themselves told him all he needed to know about what they were thinking.

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“Inform them that there’s nothing to be wary of,” Elias replied. “We’re simply conducting a survey. Organise the men in a way that suggests this.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The Knights and their men quickly spread out to form a cordon isolating their section of the road. This, however, only seemed to lead to questions about how new roadwork would affect the budget.

“Lord Raeven,” the stout Count of Laers called out to him, “wasn’t a large portion of this year’s budget supposed to supplement the replacement of men-at-arms lost last winter? How can we afford to pay for new infrastructure at the same time?”

“It’s a preliminary survey, Lord Laers,” Elias replied. “This year’s budget still stands.”

“My lord,” another of his vassals asked, “when should we expect the roadwork related to this survey to be brought up in court?”

Elias sent a look to the Assassin, who was returning from his inspection of the intersection. The boy – or whatever he was – looked back and forth between the growing number of curious residents assembled along the cordon.

“The timing’s bad, honestly,” Liam said. “The Empire’s expanded its holdings by about fifteen per cent in the last year and the Imperial Army’s Engineering Corps can’t hope to keep up with development. Every Dwarf company establishing itself these days is getting sucked eastward to work in the Empire.”

“The Dwarves? Do you mean to say that you’re performing these surveys for a Dwarf company?”

“I assume that this district of E-Raevel will only accept the best.”

The assembled Nobles were quick to agree with the boy’s assertion. Though Re-Estize had no dealings with the Dwarves for several generations – no thanks to House Blumrush’s desire to corner the market for metals – the reputation of their stonework was legendary. He couldn’t imagine what his vassals were imagining, however, as no examples of that stonework remained in the vicinity.

“But don’t the Dwarves currently have an affiliation with the Sorcerous Kingdom?” One of the less excitable Nobles noted.

“The Dwarven Kingdom in the Azerlisia Mountains is a sovereign state,” Liam replied. “They trade with and work for whoever can pay.”

It was an answer that the Nobles could easily accept. By painting the Dwarves as something similar to Merchants, he conjured the impression that they held no loyalties to any particular country. That might end up causing problems in the long run, but only when the skills of the Dwarves weren’t in demand.

Elias wondered if the Assassin’s answers were rehearsed. Assassins also had a reputation for deception and subterfuge, so the notion that he was trained to lie as easily as one breathed wasn’t out of the question.

If only Lockmeyer hadn’t perished…

The veteran Rogue would have been able to provide a much better read on the Sorcerous Kingdom’s agent. Unfortunately, retainers of that calibre were nearly impossible to replace.

An hour passed before Liam was satisfied with the information he had collected. He left the quarter through the market gate, at which point the curious Nobles and their retainers made themselves scarce. The sentries at the gate sent Elias tentative looks, their confusion apparent over the fact that he had made his way over on foot with a small army of armsmen.

“Not coming?” The Assassin asked.

“This is highly irregular…”

“The Nobles that I know go wherever they want. It’s not the same here?”

What sort of Noble could be so heedless? Was life in the Sorcerous Kingdom so dismal that E-Rantel’s surviving aristocrats listlessly wandered the streets, waiting to be killed off by one of the countless Undead horrors infesting the city?

“Bring up a carriage,” Elias ordered one of his retainers, then turned to address the Assassin. “I’d rather not cause a scene.”

The Assassin merely shrugged and continued on his way. Elias looked on from the gate as he waited for his transportation. The main roads of the common districts were paved, but the construction was of much poorer quality. He could only imagine how they would be rated relative to Dwarven work.

By the time his carriage arrived, the Assassin had advanced several blocks. Elias sent one group of armsmen to shadow him and instructed the carriage’s driver to follow. Every time the vehicle stopped, the staff of the shop they lingered in front of became a mess of confusion and nervousness as they waited upon his patronage. Sir Dennis, the tall Knight riding in the cabin with him, seemed all too aware of the disruptions that they were causing.

“My lord, if I may ask, who is that boy?”

“It’s better that you don’t know,” Elias replied. “Just make sure that no harm comes to him and that he suffers no offence.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The Knight’s stony expression made it clear that he had already figured out where Liam was from. It couldn’t be helped. House Raeven was already taking measures to distance itself from the rest of Re-Estize and those who were aware of it required little thought to plot its political trajectory. The insular nature of Re-Estize society made it an almost effortless matter to keep the rest of the Kingdom ignorant of what was going on in his territory. Within the borders of his march, however, it was nearly impossible to hide.

By his reckoning, almost every Count and Viscount under him – twenty-three major houses – already had a solid sense of what was going on. Those who weren’t aware were the minor Nobles who didn’t have the time, resources, or inclination to dabble in politics beyond their respective fiefs. Either way, he was confident that none of his vassals would betray him: Nobles only suffered the rule of a greater power and it was abundantly clear which way the wind was blowing. Several had even voiced their support for his decision behind closed doors.

A knock on the cabin window startled Elias out of his thoughts. Sir Dennis looked out of the carriage before pulling the latch.

“My lord,” the Knight outside said, “our…guest wishes to speak with you.”

Elias nodded, and then he frowned as Liam seemed to materialise behind the Knight. He hadn’t noticed that he was standing there. His escorts joined him in his frown as the boy entered the cabin.

“Do these streets flood in the winter?” The Assassin asked.

“The lower parts of the city usually experience a bit of flooding,” Elias said. “It can’t be helped with this landscape.”

E-Raevel sat below the confluence of three rivers, which made it convenient as a centre of trade but prone to flooding. Flood management efforts were made, of course, but water always seemed to find a way to creep into the city’s lower districts. The city’s administration blamed lazy workers while the workers blamed incompetent management; attempts to straighten things out only sucked any would-be problem-solvers into the mess.

His frustrations over the issue often led him to nearly sack everyone involved, but then he would realise that half the city would end up underwater as there was no one to replace them.

“I need to go to the harbour district next,” Liam said.

Elias nodded and Sir Dennis rose to order the driver to take them to the waterfront. Along their way there, he could have sworn the road was bumpier than it should have been. The Assassin didn’t say anything about it, however: he simply stared out of his window at the passing streetscape.

“It’s not a secret, you know,” he said.

“I beg your pardon?”

The Assassin held out his clipboard.

“You don’t have to keep trying to sneak glances,” he said “You’ll be receiving a copy of the survey along with recommendations from my superiors.”

Sir Dennis reached out to take a look at the clipboard, but Elias snatched it away before he could.

Location: Common District

Street Type: Major

Width: Six Metres

Material: Cobblestone, Large

Condition: Poor

Drainage: Poor

Grade: Poor

Sidewalk: No

Sidewalk Width: Not Applicable

Traffic Control: None

Cargo Allowed: Yes

Loading Allowed: Yes

Maximum Load: Two-axle wagon, one tonne

Location: Common District

Street Type: Minor

Width: Four Metres

Material: Large Cobblestone, Clay (variable)

Condition: Poor

Drainage: Poor

Grade: Poor

Sidewalk: No

Sidewalk Width: Not Applicable

Traffic Control: None

Cargo Allowed: Yes

Loading Allowed: Yes

Maximum Freight: Two-axle wagon, one tonne

Location: Common District

Street Type: Alley

Width: Two Metres

Material: Clay

Condition: Poor

Drainage: Poor

Grade: Poor

Sidewalk: No

Sidewalk Width: Not Applicable

Traffic Control: None

Cargo Allowed: Yes

Loading Allowed: Yes

Maximum Freight: Pack Animals, Weak Golems(?)

The corner of Elias’ right eye twitched involuntarily as the Assassin stabbed him repeatedly with his bureaucratic daggers. His anxiety rose as he continued scanning through the information.There was no doubt that a report like this would be poorly received by the Sorcerous Kingdom’s leadership.

No, maybe that won’t be the case.

It was a pit of inhuman monsters, after all. The froglike Devil called Demiurge saw Humans as little more than experimental subjects while the Demon posing as the Prime Minister thought even less of them. Perhaps wallowing in the mud like mindless livestock was exactly what she thought Humans were meant to do.

“I can’t help but think that this assessment is overly critical,” Elias said.

“How so?” Liam asked.

“To begin with,” Elias answered, “you’re comparing us to the undisputed masters of stonework in the region. By your own account of demand for infrastructure in the Empire, it’s unreasonable to use their craftsmanship as the regional standard.”

“I don’t think I ever said that Dwarven infrastructure was being used as the standard,” Liam replied. “I just mentioned them to your vassals because the quality of Dwarven craftsmanship is common knowledge.”

“In that case,” Elias said, “what is the standard?”

“The same standard that the Nobles in the Empire are switching to. They’re anticipating a much heavier load on their transportation network and the roads that they have right now won’t last long when that happens.”

“Surely the quality of this new infrastructure will be reflected in its cost,” Elias said. “How can they afford it? Barring seasonal fortunes, the Empire’s economic output is comparable to Re-Estize’s – the Empire is just more efficient with its resources because it enjoys a higher degree of centralisation. That’s far from sufficient to rebuild the entire country’s infrastructure.”

“I don’t know about any of that,” the Assassin replied. “They’re doing their main roads first, so maybe you’re right.”

The tepid response only left him with more questions. He probably shouldn’t have expected much in the way of an answer from a minion in the first place.

Elias wrinkled his nose as the stench of the city’s streets mingled with the stench of the city’s wharves. The riverfront wasn’t a place where any well-to-do individual wanted to find himself and the malodorous atmosphere was only one of the many reasons. Countless gazes followed his carriage’s progress and hardly any of them expressed a sense of respect or admiration. Sir Dennis rested a hand on the pommel of his sword, looking out of the windows as Elias’ escort secured the area.

“Can I go ahead?” The Assassin asked.

“What do you intend to inspect here?”

“Everything.”

The armsmen outside started as the Assassin suddenly opened the carriage door and hopped out. By the time the escort declared the area secure and Elias stepped out onto the sunbaked waterfront, Liam was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go?”

“We lost track of him in that group of warehouses, my lord,” one of his Knights pointed at the wooden buildings lining the wharf several dozen metres away. “Shall we dispatch some thief-takers to find him?”

“What was he doing before that?” Elias asked.

“The same thing as when we were in the upper city,” the Knight answered. “Poking around the streets and alleys. Looking at the wagons and workshop entrances. If we hadn’t been accompanying him in the first place, I’d have apprehended him as a saboteur.”

Please don’t add to my worries…

The Sorcerous Kingdom was already making blatant threats against his family; the chaos caused by acts of sabotage against critical infrastructure would surely cause him to go bald.

“See if they can’t find him,” Elias said, “but don’t get in his way. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”

“I can already hear my wife and daughter complaining about the stink on my boots,” the Knight smiled wryly. “I’ll let the men know, my lord.”

Elias held a handkerchief over his nose as he cooked on the wharf alongside several piles of refuse. The warm and dry conditions were good for the autumn harvest, but he couldn’t find it in him to appreciate the fortuitous weather. Already, his court was receiving reports about crop failures occurring throughout Re-Estize, which raised concerns over vagrants, bandits, and worse. With the loss of so many professional armsmen at the Battle of Katze Plains, much of the Kingdom already found itself trapped in a downward spiral of economic decay and lawlessness.

To prepare for the worst-case scenario, Elias had withdrawn to his territories and enacted dozens of new policies. Not only were he and his vassals rushing to replenish their territorial security forces, but food and fuel exports had been banned. He’d have imported as much food as he could afford, as well, but contracts on the open market had all but vanished. One might have pointed out how his actions would make the situation worse downriver, but his decisions were ultimately correct. As a Noble, the needs of his territory took priority over everything else.

“Hey! Where do ya think you’re going, kid?”

Elias rushed toward the sound of the irate shout. He arrived at a nearby pier to find Liam facing off against a sweaty merchant guard whose patience appeared to have evaporated under the heat of the midday sun.

“I just wanted to go to the end of the pier,” the Assassin said.

“Not this pier, ya ain’t,” the guard rose to his full height. “Get the fuck out of my sight!”

Every hair on Elias’ body rose on end as the ill-tempered guard swung a meaty fist at the Sorcerous Kingdom’s agent. The Assassin took a step back, effortlessly evading the man’s attack. Fortunately, Liam seemed content to allow the nearby armsmen to step forward and diffuse the situation.

“That’s enough.”

“Who the–what the hell, a Knight?”

“That’s Sir Knight to you. I understand you’re guarding your company’s ship, but that doesn’t give you any right to assault the citizenry.”

The merchant guard’s expression of anger was replaced by sheer confusion. It was hardly surprising. In no normal situation would a member of the town militia, never mind a Knight, intercede on behalf of a common youth. The authorities had neither the time nor the resources to police the city to that degree. That the Merchants of the city had to post private security at their cargo berths was evidence enough of this.

With the commotion quelled, Elias searched for Liam but he had disappeared again. He didn’t catch sight of him until he appeared at his side several minutes later. Too late, his escort moved in reaction to the Assassin’s appearance.

“I’m done here,” he said.

Elias did his best not to jump at the sound of his voice.

“What is our next destination?” He asked.

“I’ve seen everything I need to see,” Liam replied. “Thanks for showing me around.”