AO 5 Ch 35

Chapter 35

I walked into the inn where I knew Lady White and Knight Clarence were staying. Aurelia came in right behind me. Meanwhile, Zuri and Maribelle were watching the building exterior in case we had some unforeseen guests.

A number of people in the inn looked up at my entrance, most notably the crowd around Lady White.

I gave her a quick wave and walked over with sure steps. It didn’t evade me that the entire inn bristled at my entrance. They were all rebels if I had to guess.

"Ah, welcome," she said, giving me a slight bow and gesturing for me to take the seat that she had just vacated. Meanwhile, one of the patrons grabbed an unused chair from a nearby table and slid it to join the rest.

I sat down, Aurelia hovering over my shoulder. The patron looked both nervous and excited. I glanced around, seeing that there were many eyes on us. If a fight were to break out, we would be incredibly outnumbered. Of course, that fact seemed to excite Aurelia based on the way she fingered her axe. She'd been itching for a fight.

"Well, Lady White," I folded my hands over my lap as the barmaid rushed over and dropped a flagon in front of me without asking, "it seems we have much to discuss. Your entrance to the city has brought a few eyes upon you."

"Yes, I'm aware of our watchers," the lady said.

"Well, for now they will be taking a nap." I smiled.

"Is your healer nearby?" She asked urgently.

I shook my head. "That's not how this is going to go. She's not going to pop in and work on everyone right now. Right now, what I need to do is discuss a plan with you." I glanced around the table, taking in the multitude of patrons there and in the inn as a whole that were listening. "Perhaps somewhere more private," I hedged, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, of course." She stood and motioned for two of the patrons to join us.

I went with her, bringing my flagon of beer. After all, I was probably going to talk enough to make myself thirsty.

She led us past the inn room into the back, where there was an office.

Papers were scattered over the desk, and an unused inkpot was precariously perched on the corner. She motioned for us to come in, and her patrons closed the door behind Aurelia.

"Is this your inn?" I asked.

She shook her head. "It belongs to a friend, but I have full use of the building."

"Interesting." I sat on one of the two chairs in the room, letting her take the one behind the desk. After all, I didn't want to be too far from Aurelia given the current situation.

"Well, what is it you would like to ask us? I assume a trade of sorts?" She asked.

"There's an opportunity afoot in this city," I said. "You may or may not be aware of how disgusting this lord has become."

"Yes, some of the women amongst our ranks have been told to stay in their rooms," she agreed.

"It's apparently only a concern if they're blonde-haired, with light eyes."

Lady White nodded, a strange look crossing her face. "Still, be that as it may, we have to be careful."

"I don't disagree. My people and I would like to free those ladies without causing a disturbance," I edged my way into the ask.

She snorted. "Good luck with that.”

“The easiest way for us to buy enough time would be to use some of the less morally inclined that are in charge of the city and use them to replace the women." I offered.

Lady White frowned. "You're going to..."

"Yes," I agreed. "We're going to modify their bodies and swap them in. It's perhaps a little convoluted. I need to remove one of those prisoners without setting off any alarms. The easiest way to do that would be to replace her.”

This wasn't my plan or my operation, but I was doing my best to project authority in the matter.

"I see," Lady White said. "And you need..."

"Well, there's a secondary question," I said, playing with my beer. "If I take away the mistresses of the Lord, and I stuff them in those cells, or even the Lord's wife, then what are the chances we could replace them with someone with better intentions?"

Lady White's brows pressed down. "You want to embed more spies."

"Oh no, I don't want to embed spies," I shook my head. "I want to embed people who can enact meaningful change in the city. It seems that this town is severely lacking morality."

Lady White nibbled on her thumbnail. "You'll need anchors, most likely. Given that the Lord has been seeking these women... as well as the Mistress' anger at the whole situation, I can expect anyone who takes up the spot of the Lord's wife or his Mistress will be unable... won't be in much physical harm. I doubt he'll lay a finger on them, as he's more interested in his toys." Lady White seemed to continue to nibble on her nail, concern etched across her face before she let out a heavy sigh. "Well, the plan is certainly interesting. There is, however, a glaringly obvious flaw."

I raised an eyebrow. "Please, do tell."

"The problem is that I am both the person you are asking to replace them with and the person you would replace." She shook her head. "I am Lord Tybalt's wife."

My face fell, my body immediately on edge. I was moments from jumping to my feet and hurrying out of the room. "How? What? Why?" I had so many questions.

She covered her face with a hand. "It started with King Martin and the beginning of the war. My husband was a decent man. You must understand that amongst nobles there is a certain crave for prestige and power, and I accepted that. However, it seems when the guardrails were stripped, King Martin gave him simple mandates to accomplish. Otherwise, he could do whatever he wanted. The power went to his head, or his true nature came out. It is hard to know which" She shook her head before continuing.

"I do not know which is the truth of it. What I can tell you is he no longer resembles the man I wed." She stopped rubbing her forehead and ran a hand down her face. "Half the reason I am out here helping the others is because I disagree with how my husband manages the territory."

"So, you and Lord Tybalt," I said stupidly, my brain still several minutes behind in the conversation.

"Yes." She sighed. "White was my maiden name. Technically, I am Lady Tybalt."

I nodded slowly. "And I," I said stupidly, "am now caught up in a domestic disagreement."

She snorted a laugh. "No, you are not caught up in a domestic disagreement. It is far more than that. While the two of us may be married, we have not been together for some time. Our disagreement has spiraled into a loose separation. I cannot rid myself of him without endangering my family. However, I can put pressure on the war efforts and hope that Avente fixes this situation."

I shrugged. "I don't know if Avente is really in the place to fix anything. They have just as much corruption. Albeit, they seem at least marginally better to their people." Then my mind flashed back to the port of Faylin, managed by Brighthaven. And then I shook my head again. "No, scratch that. They are much better to their people. Though, there are plenty of political machinations occurring on their side. I wouldn't say that they couldn't become as corrupt as your current system."

Lady White shrugged. "The grass is always greener in Avente."

Aurelia chuckled and I stopped, cocking my head to the side to regard her. "What?" 

She shrugged, "It's really much greener. On their side. What?" She said, staring at my stupid expression. "It is really much greener."

I rolled my eyes. "Well... I can't say anything about fixing that. But if you are Lord Tybalt's wife, you must ask what happens if he dies."

Lady White's face fell. "That depends. The city should go to his family, which I am a part of, though estranged. If you were to kill Lord Tybalt, we do have a 14-year-old son. I think it would be easy to put him in charge of the city, ostensibly with myself guiding his hand."

"That is certainly an interesting option," I mused, drumming my fingers on the desk. 

Despite my desire for revenge against the Lord and his mistresses, I was not sure removing him from the picture made me any more moral. I struggled with the decision. Do I get more satisfying revenge, or do I get a clean cut?

"Of course, his death will have nothing to do with me," the lady insisted.

"Of course. After all, we can't let doubt spread. In that case, you would have to be very visible while Lord Tybalt dies." I agreed. That part of the plan was clear, and had the added bonus of keeping her out of my hair while we actually pulled it off.

Lady White nodded her head. "Exactly. I will have to admonish it as actions of some unknown force, which should be easy since we are at war."

"Yeah, I can't promise anything, but I think I have a good way to make that easy.” After all, Uncle Valken was a well-known Vel’Shae. If he were to be present at the death of the Lord, it would be incredibly easy to blame the situation on Zenovia.

She put a hand back on the table on the desk and leaned forward. "Regardless, I am still very interested in your healer and their ability to aid my followers."

"Of course. That is another matter," I said. "We've tracked them and they appear to be at a warehouse, is that correct?"

Lady White’s face fell as I said the words. "Yes, no one would take in that many wounded. Even my friend who owns this place is unwilling for fear of turning it into a hospice. Once a space turns into a hospice, people would stay away from the inn for months. No one wants to live where people were recently dying."

"Reasonable. Places like that are often filled with disease. All right. I will see about bringing my life mage to your warehouse within the next several days." I didn't want to promise any specific time. Somehow knowing that this woman was Lord Tybalt's wife made me even more concerned about her loyalties. I was sure Uncle Valken would also encourage more precautions when he learned the information.

"And if you wish to meet the Lord and his latest bed warmer, I know much about them." Lady White sneered. "I'm sure I could arrange that. My husband will be absolutely ecstatic. To bring the life mage in here. And heal their appearances.”

“I hope you don't mind me asking. You seem to have aged far more gracefully than his mistresses." I watched her carefully.

Lady White smiled. "That's because I never had that much work done. Either way, our city and our country are far poorer for the lack of Serpent Mages. Please, if you would. Help not only my people, but the people at large."

"I can't promise that," I said, my eyes becoming hard. "Exposing her has potential disastrous consequences. And I will protect her."

Lady White smiled softly, seeing something in my gaze. "You love her."

"Correct," I answered without hesitation. "Now, if that is all." I downed the rest of my beer. "I think we will head out before your watchers wake. Your new information is certainly interesting. I'm sure a message will find its way to you soon."

I put the flagon, which was now empty of its beer, down on the desk and waved for Aurelia to lead the way out.

My anchor glared threateningly at the other two in the room, guarding me with her body as she opened the door, checked outside, and hurried me out.

"This just got so much more dangerous," Aurelia said, heading out the back of the inn before scooping me up in the darkness and jumping onto a roof.

"I'm aware. Wait until we get somewhere else to discuss it more."

I peered into the darkness with my magic, scanning around to see if Lady White had sent anyone to track us.

Yet, my magic picked up no one.

Next, I began sensing for specific souls. I could see Maribelle and Zuri beelining in my direction, both of them able to sense me. When they were stuffed with my magic, but after bonding with me, there was a mere constant pull to each other that they could follow. No other anchor was moving about as quickly or in our direction. 

Though, I could see that the inn with Lady White was absolutely brimming with anchors, to the point that I realized she hadn't even used all of her forces at the attack of the supply depot. Considering her role as Lady to the Lord of the City, it made some sense that she had kept a sizable force behind here. 

"No one's following," I told my anchors as they caught up. "Back to the inn. We need to talk, and we need to think." 

Zuri only raised an eyebrow in the darkness, before nodding and hurrying along. Typically I saw her use light magic, but since the bonding, she had quickly been dumping and refilling her magic stores, switching between dark and light for whatever suited her. It seemed that when the options were available, she was keen to pick the most efficient at that time. Now that she no longer had to worry about wasting and wanting for magic, she was using it differently. 

We made it back to the inn in record time. Eva's window was left open, and Aurelia caught onto the windowsill before shoving me through. My anchors followed one by one afterwards.

Eva slammed closed a book in front of her, and quickly stuffed it into the desk as we entered.

"What's that?" I asked. Curiosity nearly killing me. 

"Don't try. She won't tell me either," Emlyn was propped up in the corner, doing maintenance on her kingdom blues and her bluesteel sword. Even if she couldn't wear them, it seemed she was going to take care of her equipment. 

"It's not done," Eva answered me. "Also, it's none of Emlyn's business." 

I poked around Eva, trying to get a look at the book, only for her to stuff it under the covers of her bed. 

"I swear, you guys are terrible.” Eva admonished us.

“Ard's curiosity is something fierce," Emlyn said from the corner, "And now that he knows you have a book you don't want him to see, it's only going to make it ten times worse." 

I peered over at the bed and Eva glared at me, wagging a finger an inch from my nose.

"Don't touch it. Promise." Her eyes were set in a way that I knew it was really an issue.

I ran my tongue along my teeth, squinting at her. If I promised, I was going to follow through with those words. And while it was an easy promise to make, I don't know if it was going to be an easy promise to keep. "Fine," I said after a moment, and held my hand out. "Pinky. Pinky first. Pinky promise." 

Eva rolled her eyes, but entwined her pinky with mine, and I shook them.

"Okay, well, I guess I can't touch it. Emlyn," I rubbed my hands. "I will need to work through you." 

"Nope. I just watched you pinky promise. I'm not going to help you get around that. Pinky promises are sacred," Emlyn glanced over at Maribelle, who nodded in agreement, only to see all four of my anchors nodding. 

"None of you are going to help me with this?” I threw my hands up. What good was having so many anchors?

"I know what it pertains to," Maribelle said, only to clam up with a glare from Eva, "but I can't tell you." 

I ran my hands through my hair and groaned. "You're all going to kill me." 

"No, Ard, you just need to practice a little restraint," Zuri sighed and sat down on the bed. "Eva, Emlyn, we have news. Perhaps we should invite Uncle Valken to this discussion as well." 

I nodded in agreement. The old man would be part of the plan if I could help it.

"I'll get him," Maribelle bowed and dipped out of the room. 

"Was it that bad? I thought you would just come back after healing everyone in a miracle and we'd have to suppress rumors of a miracle life mage in the city." Emlyn said.

"Tempting," I said. "However, it turns out that Lady White is actually Lady Tybalt." 

Eva’s smile tipped quickly into a frown as her brows pressed down in thought. "Well, that's a twist, to put it lightly. It seems you can't turn her into a regular person and stuff her in the prisons now, can you?" 

I shook my head. "No, I asked her what would happen if we killed Lord Tybalt, and she said they had a fourteen-year-old son that would take up the reins. She felt that she could coach him into being a decent lord of the city." That gave me plenty to think about.

Uncle Valken entered the room just as I was repeating our new discovery. The old man sat down thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. 

"That is a conundrum," he said after a minute. "So, a marital spat over how everything is being governed. My largest concern is that these sorts of situations can get emotional, and the last thing we need is to let someone else's emotion be in charge of our secrets."

"Agreed," I said. "Right now, I think we're already headfirst into the situation. We need to find our way through and not out."

"Oh, that is certain," Uncle Valken shot back. "I still want to make the ladies all disappear. We can replace them. Right now, Lady Tybalt thinks that part of the plan is going to be abandoned, or could be abandoned, in favor of giving her leadership. Thus, she may not suspect the move when it happens."

"Except when they all start claiming that there's someone else," I said. "Then she's going to realize we also pulled off that part of the plan."

"What about your soul magic?" Uncle Valken hesitated. "There are texts saying that you are able to manipulate minds if given enough time."

I made a face at that concept. "I have zero desire to dig around other people's minds.” It wasn’t a part of my magic I was even interested in toying with.

“What if you simply just wiped them? You could give several of the perpetrators of corruption in the city blank slates. Turn them into the ladies, and we let them have amnesia. Meanwhile, we change the appearance of my Spymaster and let her loose in the city." Uncle Valken offered.

"Can we just swap her?" I asked.

Uncle Valken hesitated. "It's more risky, as she will stand out."

After a moment, I shook my head. "We’ll see."

After a long moment, Uncle Valken nodded. "Will we also be killing Lord Tybalt?"

"Yes, and that's the part I need your help completing. Because if we're to properly install the lady how we would like, we need her to be completely clean of the incident. And how can we make her cleaner than..." I gestured at Uncle Valken. "A Vel'Shae killing the Lord in broad daylight."

He rubbed his eyebrows with a sigh, but nodded. "I think I can take care of one mage easily enough. Though, once that happens, I will be in the wind. And we'll have to meet back up in the future. Eva, do you still have that map?"

The other mage hurried to pull out a moderately detailed map of Garrish. "We want to head up to their capital anyways." I drew a line from Fargo to the target, stopping at a town halfway. "This seems like a nice spot, and plenty far enough away from the chaos we're about to cause."

Lord Valken closed his eyes, but nodded. "It will have to do. Alright, let's sit down and begin discussing an actual plan. Over the next several days, we'll need Maribelle the lord’s track his comings and goings so we can time this just right."