Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 552-553

We're now caught up. Cheers!

-----

Arwin strode down the street behind Koyu, his weariness falling away like the rotting petals of a flower as anger sharpened his mind. They’d left the rest of the Menagerie that had been with them in the Infernal Armory behind to keep an eye on Vix.

For a single, frozen dwarf, the two of them were more than enough.

It was taking just about everything Arwin had to keep up with Koyu. That wasn’t just because he’d spent a lot of his energy crafting Vix’s heart. The lich was far taller than he’d once been. Every step the ghostly man took was practically two of Arwin’s.  

But the dwarf wasn’t alone when the two of them arrived at the street in question. Koyu’s long, loping gait slowed as confusion crossed his features. Both he and Arwin ground to a halt.

There were five armored warriors piled up at the feet of the dwarf that Koyu had transformed into a popsicle. All of them wore the same equipment. They laid in a heap, clearly unconscious, before Ida.

And across from Ida was Rodrick. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest and a deep furrow set in his features. His gaze flicked over to Arwin and Koyu as they approached.

“Arwin,” Rodrick said. Concern cut through his features and he pushed away from the wall hurriedly. “What are you doing here? Forget about this! Vix—”

“Is fine,” Arwin said. “The work is done.”

“Oh.” Relief washed across Rodrick’s face and he blew out a small sigh. “Oh. Good. That’s good. The operation was successful?”

“As far as we can tell,” Arwin said with a nod. “Koyu showed up at just the right time to give it an extra push.”

“It would have been fine without me,” Koyu put in. “I simply wanted to participate. Vix should not be in any danger so long as she takes the next few days slowly and gets sufficient magical nutrient.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” Rodrick said. “Anna was worried sick. All of us were, really. But she was really feeling the stress. She’s going to need some time off. Not that she’ll say it. She never does.”

“I’ll make sure she gets it,” Arwin promised.

“Thank you,” Rodrick said.

Ida coughed. “I… I’m sorry. There are dwarves. From the council. Are you just ignoring this? We can’t—”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Rodrick said with a wave of his hand. “That hardly matters. I’ve already dealt with the immediate problem.”

“Where did these extra idiots come from?” Koyu asked, tilting his head to the side and crouching beside the pile of unconcious warriors. “They were not present when I returned.”

“Coordinated attack,” Rodrick replied. “They sent people from pretty much every direction. Most of them got caught by my network. Olive and I dealt with them. You froze the last one before I could get around to him. I believe I’ve gotten all the information I need, but it’s good to cross-check.”

“Wait. You did?” Arwin asked. “How?”

Rodrick’s lips twitched. He glanced down at his right hand, then shook his head. “My class has opened up considerably. I am capable of a lot more than I used to be. Especially as of late. I’ve made a few modifications to myself. They’ve served me well. I’ll show you once Koyu unfreezes the last one.”

“Be careful,” Ida warned. “I don’t know what you did to get information from them, but I wouldn’t trust it. Council warriors are no pushovers. They’re trained to protect the identity over their employer over all else. Anything they say is probably a lie.”

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Rodrick said. “Koyu, if you would?”

The lich extended a hand. He let his pale blue fingers rest upon the dwarf icicle. A wave of chilly air blew through the street and sent goosebumps rolling across Arwin’s skin. The ice encasing the final dwarf melted away, dropping him to his knees in a wet heap.

He drew in a weak gasp — but Rodrick didn’t even wait for him to recover. The former paladin reached down. He set his hand on the dwarf’s head. Then his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Rodrick’s hand paled until it was nearly pure alabaster white. A light lit within it, filling his entire arm with a faint glow.

Then his hand slipped straight into the dwarf’s head.

Arwin’s eyes widened. For a moment, he thought that Rodrick had literally just executed the warrior on the spot. But that wasn’t it either. The dwarf’s skin hadn’t even been broken. Rodrick’s hand didn’t penetrate flesh so much as passed clean through it.

It wouldn’t have been accurate to say that his arm had become permeable or ghostly. Rodrick’s fingers visibly moved beneath the dwarf’s skin. His hand was physically present. It had just somehow passed clean through the outer layers of flesh.

The dwarf drew in a stiff, hissing gasp. His eyes snapped wide open, but there was no sign of his irises at all. They’d gone completely white. He stared off into the distance, mouth hanging slightly askew. Several long seconds passed. The dwarf didn’t budge. He didn’t even seem to be fully aware of what was happening. Rodrick just kept rooting around in his head like a child searching for the last cookie at the bottom of a jar.

Ida muttered a prayer, taking a step back as she stared at Rodrick in horror.

Arwin couldn’t even blame her. Even he felt a bit ill. He’d seen a number of unsettling things in his time. This was definitely one of the most unsettling scenes he’d ever been subjected to.

But Rodrick didn’t seem to notice the attention he’d garnered. His attention was fully on the dwarf. He dug around for a few moments longer. Then he pulled his hand free. It slipped out of the warrior’s head with a faint pop.

The moment Rodrick was no longer supporting him, the dwarf collapsed to the ground, falling unconscious on top of the pile of his comrades. The only way Arwin could even still tell he was still alive was by the faint twitches running through his entire body. It was as if he’d been electrified.

“No different than the others,” Rodrick declared, turning to them. Then he paused. “What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“What unholy abomination of an ability was that?” Ida asked in horror. “What did you do to them?”

“Hm?” Rodrick tilted his head to the side. His hand returned to its normal color. “Nothing that bad. I was just taking a look through their thoughts. This is a good thing. It saves us all a lot of pain.”

Ida’s gaze lowered to the pile of dwarves.

“That’s saving pain?” she asked. Then she blinked, suddenly remembering her own position. “Not that it’s my place to say anything. You were attacked. This is just how things go.”

“It’s saving pain,” Rodrick repeated. “The alternative would be trying to force information out of someone. And as we all know, that’s never particularly effective. You don’t get the whole story. Getting information from the source saves us all the trouble.”

Holy shit. Rodrick can literally pull memories straight out of people’s minds now?

“How long have you been able to do this?” Arwin asked.

“It’s a relatively recent iomprovement,” Rodrick replied. He wiped his hand off on his shirt. “Now. We should get to the important part. The dwarves came under orders from someone called Dorne. Ida, do you know who that is?”

“Dorne?” Ida frowned. “Yes. I do. He’s a member of the Council. He’s not very close with my mother. They’re often at odds. It’s not particularly surprising that he would want to stop her from gaining influence through the Menagerie. But are you implying that you literally just pulled someone’s memories right out of their—”

 “Moving on,” Rodrick said. “We should be able to deal with this pretty easily. I assume that Dorne won’t be able to act overtly after the Dwarven Council’s pet guild has officially backed us after our opening?”

“They can’t,” Ida said. She glanced at Rodrick’s hand again, then edged a step away from him. “Please don’t finger my head.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Rodrick said. “It sounds weird. I’ll make plans to deal with Dorne and make sure he doesn’t get the opportunity to bother us before the Maloseum is properly open. I got enough information from these idiots to handle things without much trouble. This new ability is quite useful.”

“Just how much information do you get when you use that?” Arwin asked.

Rodrick caught his gaze. They were both silent for a moment. Then the former paladin quietly shook his head.

“Let’s move on,” Rodrick said. “By the way, welcome back, Koyu.”

“You don’t seem surprised,” Koyu said.

“I got notice you’d returned shortly before you froze the dwarf,” Rodrick replied with a shrug. “I keep a close eye on the street, now. I’ve slipped up once. That isn’t happening again. We should probably figure out who the next person to go will be now that you’re back. It’s quite useful.”

You can say that again.

“So it is,” Koyu said. He glanced to Ida. “Off with you, girl. You’ve overstayed your welcome. Go eat something at the tavern and do your best to forget about this.”

“That’s the easiest order any of you have ever given me,” Ida said. She sent one last look at the pile of dwarves. Then she turned on her heel and hurried off.

“Well. That’s dealt with,” Rodrick said as he watched Ida leave. “But there’s more to be done. Let’s have a guild meeting tonight for the business stuff.”

“Sounds good to me,” Arwin said. “Thanks for your work, Rodrick, Koyu.”

“It’s just the job. Let’s go say hi to Vix, shall we? I’m eager to see how they’re doing,” Rodrick said. He started for the Infernal Armory, then paused and glanced back at Koyu.“Sorry. Could I ask you to take care of this for me? We can’t exactly let people that tried to kill our people live.”

Koyu’s pale lips split into a grim smile. “With pleasure.”

Chapter 553

Everyone from the Menagerie steadily congregated in the Devil’s Den over the course of the day. They all wanted to check in on Vix and make sure that the procedure had gone well. It was a lot more attention than she was used to. There were several moments where Vix had very clearly wanted to slip away.

Unfortunately for her, Anna was being very strict — and attentive — about making sure Vix didn’t go using any magical power that she wasn’t permitted to. And at the moment, that was all of it.

Vix’s only saving grace was the fact that there were still random adventurers in the Devil’s Den. Even though Lillia’s darkness afforded them all a fair bit of privacy, too much fuss couldn’t be concealed. That kept her stream of visitors from lingering around her for too long.

The only ones that refused to leave her side were Anna and Art — but nobody was about to go and tell either of them to get a move on.

It wasn’t long before evening arrived and night followed after it. The crowd in the common room of the Devil’s Den steadily trickled down to nobody more than the Menagerie as everyone either left or retired to their rooms, where Lillia’s shadows would keep them from overhearing anything they weren’t meant to hear.

Only when the only ones that remained in the common room of the Den were the Menagerie and their allies did anyone finally dare speak fully openly.

“What are the details? You have to fill us in,” Reya said eagerly. “What abilities does Vix have now? Can she show us? And does this mean Art is good as well? Who gets to Sunset their class next? There’s no chance of getting elongated like Koyu, is there? Because I’m happy with my height. I don’t want to be taller.”

“I’m the same as I was,” Art said. He glanced down at his lame leg and shook his head. “But I need no modifications right now. I am satisfied as things are. My issue is not a pressing one. Not like Vix’s was.”

“And nobody is getting involuntarily elongated,” Arwin added.

“I chose this,” Koyu said. He now loomed over every other member of the Menagerie, the tallest by several heads unless Uriel counted as one of their members. “It was the most convenient way to achieve the power I needed.”

“And that isn’t an insignificant amount at that rate,” Rodrick observed. “You’re much stronger than you used to be.”

 “Nothing meaningful has changed,” Koyu replied with a shake of his head. “And Arwin still owes me a body. I will be waiting for when he has perfected his technique to properly contain my form.”

“That might be some time,” Arwin warned. “Vix’s heart was just about the most I think I’m possibly capable of right now. It pushed all the limits we had.”

“And the strength you earned in return for its creation should push you closer still to where we must all strive for,” Koyu said. “The pursuit of power is not a race with a victory line. There is only ever the next step.”

“That, at least, is true enough,” Anna said. She didn’t sound nearly as excited about the prospect as Koyu did. “But right now, all that matters is that Vix is doing well. Everything has been stable. It looks like the core is properly assimilating with her body.”

“When will she be able to use magic?” Art asked. He reached down to take a plate of food from an imp offering it to him, then set it on the table between himself and Vix. “Is there a chance the core gets rejected later?”

“It’s unlikely,” Arwin said. An imp set a plate down before him as well, piled high with huge chunks of delicious-smelling honeyed meat. “I know that isn’t what we want to hear. Absolutes are better. But I don’t want to gamble with Vix’s life. We’ll take things slow and careful until we’re certain everything is safe.”

“Is there ever going to be a safe?” Ida asked from the far end of the table. She swallowed nervously as everyone glanced in her direction. “I mean… with the council. Dorne will be furious about what happened.”

“Dorne is going to have bigger probems.”

Ida nearly leapt from her seat as Lillia stepped from the shadows behind her bearing two plates in her hands. The dwarf wasn’t the only one surprised. Arwin nearly jumped as well. He hadn’t noticed her presence at all. She’d somehow become just as hard to spot as Eleven.  

Lillia set a plate of food down before Ida, then swept past her to take her seat beside Arwin.

“I’ve already begun arrangements for that,” Rodrick said with a nod. “Lillia is right. Dorne will be… occupied. I don’t think we’ll have any more trouble from the dwarves before the auction. It’s during the auction that I’m a little more concerned about.”

“I may be tempting the gods, but what idiot would possibly try anything to attack the Menagerie now, of all times?” Reya asked. “Even fools have their limits. And I know fools well. I love — uh, loved — robbing people.”

The corner of Arwin’s mouth twitched in amusement.

That’s reassuring.

“Not us,” Kien said. He wiped his mouth with his napkin, having somehow already polished off his entire meal, then set the cloth down and interlaced his fingers as his gaze sharpened. “The primary targets during an auction are the buyers. And if someone gets robbed on Menagerie soil…”

“Our reputation will be ruined,” Thane concluded. “It won’t matter what kind of stuff we’re selling if everyone thinks its unsafe. And the Dwarven Council’s backing isn’t going to stop people from trying to rob random people off property. It’s technically not their — or our — problem. That just isn’t how people will see it.”

“We can’t possibly be expected to protect everyone the whole time they’re in Milten,” Olive said through a mouthful of food. “That would be impossible.”

“No need to protect everyone. All we have to do is make sure the street is completely safe. And that’s something I’m more than confident you’re all capable of.” Raen crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I have complete faith in your abilities.”

His powerful statement was made a bit weaker by the fact that his head was currently rested in Monica’s lap while the orc combed his hair, but Arwin appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

“We could pay some guards,” Melissa offered from beside them. “To lighten the load.”

“Normal guards won’t do anything.” Rodrick shook his head. “The ones weak enough to be dissuaded by such threats will never even try their hand. Realistically, the best option is a demonstration of power. Once the first axe falls on the neck of an opportunistic thief, the rest will scatter.”

“You’re saying we have to get someone killed on purpose?” Reya asked. “That’s dark.”

“No,” Rodrick said. The corners of his lips pulled into a cold smile. “Not that I have an issue with defending ourselves or our reputation.”

“That I can believe,” Ida muttered. “I’ve seen it firsthand.”

“All we have to do is make sure people believe we’re willing to kill anyone that gets in our way,” Rodrick said with a small shrug. “We’ve pulled the trick before. It’s somewhat similar to what we did with Twelve. People will believe the easiest thing they see. If someone gets executed for thievery… well, the copycats are less likely to follow. I suspect we’ll still have trouble from the real powerhouses that we draw, but that can’t be avoided. Not entirely. I have some things I’m preparing for that. But they aren’t worth discussing. Such matters will likely have to be handled largely reactively.”

“We’re gonna make a fake thief and kill them?” Reya asked. “That sounds fun. I’m in. Can I be the thief? As long as you don’t actually kill me.”

“That was my plan,” Rodrick said. “We’ll talk soon. I need to finish a few other preparations — starting with making sure Dorne doesn’t try his hand messing with us at any point in the near future. Everyone should just keep preparing for the auction as they have been.”

“How exactly are you planning to deal with Dorne?” Arwin asked. “He’s probably the one that sent his soldiers for Art’s team, right?”

“He definitely was,” Art confirmed. “Rodrick described the armor. It’s the same group.”

“And he’s not a weak dwarf. Attacking him could cause a lot of trouble. If the rest of the Council found out, even though he started it, they would still turn against the Menagerie. Dwarves protect their own interests,” Ida said uncomfortably. “Dealing with him is dangerous.”

“It’s all handled,” Rodrick said simply. “Don’t concern yourselves about it. There’s more than one way to ensure a powerful enemy stays out of the way. The Council will never learn about what he will never share.”

“Never share? Like he’s embarrassed or something?” Olive asked. She leaned forward. “Come on. You have to tell us now. What did you find? Did you dig something up on him?”

“You don’t want to know,” Rodrick said.

“I think we do,” Reya said, exchanging a glance with Olive. “Come on. Tell us. If this is big enough to keep someone like that silent, it’s got to be hilarious.”

Rodrick was silent for a few moments.

Then he shook his head. “Let it suffice to say that Dorne has a bastard. One that he’s taken great lengths to hide — and to keep hidden. It seems the boy has been working to start a clothing shop, but Dorne has been sabotaging his efforts to avoid too much attention on the boy or a disgraceful stain on his own name. Normal clothes aren’t a lucrative business when compared with blood money. Dorne’s warriors knew, though. An agent in my network was in a position to confirm the boy’s location. That was all I needed.”

“You’re threatening his son?” Lillia asked.

The corners of Rodrick’s lips twitched.

“Not exactly.”

***

“Letter, Lord Dorne. For you.”

Dorne glanced up from his meal and to the attendant standing in his doorway. A flicker of irritation cut through his thoughts. He’d still yet to hear back from his soldiers. It was getting late in the day. Much later than it should have been.

“Give it here,” Dorne snapped.

The attendant hurried over, handing Dorne a slip of paper before beating a hasty retreat down the hall. Dorne listened to the door click shut behind him, his lips still thin in displeasure. Then his gaze drifted down to the folded letter.

The front of it bore his name and nothing else.

“What is this sop?” Dorne muttered.

He flipped the open with his thumb.

Then his eyes widened.

The slip of paper fluttered down from his suddenly numb to land on the table before him. It contained nothing more than two lines written in blood-red ink.  

We know where he is.

The next time you challenge us, we will be investing in his clothing business. Good luck keeping anything hidden when half the kingdom knows his name.