Chapter 208 Help Yourself

Melchior took us through a narrow hall and then into a room in the back. Dobie stayed at the bar. This room was lit by the standard, safe yellowish-white light orbs everyone used. They were set in lanterns and the room looked pretty classy. Straight lines, lacquered wood, no frills. In the middle stood a round table surrounded by chairs. He motioned for us to sit.

“Drink?” he asked.

“Do you have tea?” I asked.

He nodded.

“For me as well, please,” Kasia said.

Vitek leaned back in his chair, then swung one arm over the back. “I’ll have some vodka.”

Melchior reached into the table and produced a pot of tea. He set it down in the middle. After a few more reaches, we all had cups in front of us, and Vitek had a bottle of vodka.

Melchior gestured at the pot. “Help yourself.”

I grabbed the pot and first poured a cup for Kasia, then one for myself. “So, Melchior. Let’s talk. What’s going on with you?”

He crossed his arms. “First you tell me your name.”

I pulled Vasil from my satchel and set him on the table. Melchior’s eyebrows shot up and he stared at the frog with an incredulous look, but he didn't say anything.

“Vasil, Vitek,” I said, nodding at Melchior. “Should I tell him or not? What do you guys think?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Vasil said. “And he did give you an extremely rare runeword. Plus he offered to sell you a Web and a Speed rune, do not forget about that.”

Vitek leaned in and met Melchior’s eyes with his own. “I think we can trust him. He’s not a trustworthy person in general, but with this, we can trust him. He will not betray your secret.”

“Alright, if you say so.” I waved a hand over my face for dramatic effect as I canceled [Disguise Self] and transformed back into me.

Melchior’s eyes widened, his face turned white as a sheet, and his mouth opened and closed a few times. He looked like he was debating whether he should get up and run, or maybe jump through a portal, since that was more his thing. “It’s… it’s you. You’re… her. You’re Hecate the witch!”

“Well, I prefer Hecate the Radiant Dawn myself,” I said with a chuckle as I tossed back my hair. “I think that sounds a lot better. The witch is so bland. The Radiant Dawn has a nice kick to it. It sounds cool. Though I have been called Hecate the Baby Saver before or Saint Hecate. Take your pick.”

“I—Y-yes, the Radiant Dawn, I think…” Melchior stammered.

“What? No, my name is Hecate. The Radiant Dawn is just a title that was bestowed upon me by people for giving them hope and a new future to look forward to. Like ‘the witch’ only then it doesn’t sound like a bad thing. You said it like ‘the witch’ was a bad thing.”

“It’s… not?”

“No! I mean, I am a witch. Am I bad? Aren’t you opposed to the Church of Stvora? Shouldn’t you support witches? The enemy of my enemy and stuff? Shouldn’t we be friends by default? Don’t forget I also saved your bacon back in whatever that town’s name was. I don’t even remember.”

“Pavwovitse?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. I guess it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I think we’re on the same side, and now you know who I am, you can tell me all about your organization without any fear.”

Kasia put her hand on my arm. “I think there’s a little fear. I think he’s scared of you.”

“Why would anyone be scared of me?”

Melchior weakly raised his hand. “Can I—Did you really make the Swamp Devil eat his own arms and then make him dig his own grave with his teeth?” He nodded in my direction. “Is that thing that’s hanging from your necklace a piece of his horn?”

I shared a confused look with Kasia. “No,” I said. “I did not make him eat his own arms. Why would I do that? I also didn’t make him dig his own grave. I also didn’t dig a grave for him. I just shot him in the face like I do with everyone.” I made finger guns at him. “Boop! Face gone.” I chuckled. “Then I kind of dragged him into the bushes because he was smelly and I wanted to live in his house for a while. Oh and this horn is from a minotaur, not the Swamp Devil.”

Melchior was still staring at me all pale-faced. “Mino…taur, those big, bull—you stole the Swamp Devil’s house?”

“It’s not like he was using it! And he tried to kill me! What was I supposed to do? Not steal his belongings?” I scoffed. “Obviously I required compensation for his violation against my person. Do you just let people get away with attempts on your life? Anyway his house burned down when some inquisitors found me there and tried to kill me as well, so I didn’t even get to enjoy it for long. Not that I enjoyed it before. It was a dump.”

Melchior just stared at me, slack-jawed.

“Oh, it’s okay.” I gave him a little wave. “I killed them too, of course.”

“And you are not going to kill me?”

“No! Of course not. I only kill monsters and evil people. Like I said, we’re on the same team, but if you don’t tell me about your organization, I can’t help you. And more importantly, if you don’t tell me about your organization, you can’t help me!”

Melchior still looked like something was wrong with him, so I subtly nodded at Vitek. “Can you do something to him? Like, make him normal again? I think he’s broken. Do some bard magic on him so he can talk again.”

Vitek played a single note on his accordion and Melchior immediately snapped out of whatever it was that he was in. He looked focused now and his mouth was closed.

“Thank you,” he said to Vitek, who gave him a single nod. “We aren’t really a resistance. Or maybe we are. When we plan something, the Church somehow always finds out and crushes us. So we haven’t been able to do much. It’s been a while. Now we’ve been gathering resources without any actual plans. We’re waiting for opportunities. More people to join our cause. My… business helps a lot with gathering resources. And connections. A lot of people don’t like being taxed by both King and Church. While the King will mostly leave you alone as long as you pay your taxes, the Church has a way of making life miserable for everyone.”

“I know all about that,” Kasia said, shaking her head.

“Yeah,” I said. “I met her while two Church guys tried to kidnap her.” I summoned the revolver that had Lubomir’s head hanging from it. “This is one of them. The other didn’t have a head anymore, unfortunately.”

Melchior squinted at the head and leaned back a bit. “Right. As I was saying people have always been dissatisfied with the Church, but you made it ten times worse. There are people who suspect the Church wants to get rid of you so you don’t steal their glory. Especially since you perform miracles for free, and they charge an arm and a leg for them. Maybe the Radiant Dawn is a proper title. You have given people something they never had before—hope.”

For a moment I considered telling him about Viswa, but I decided against it. If what he said was true, and if the Church really did find out as soon as he planned something, there had to be a mole in his organization or he himself was compromised somehow. But how? Surely he wouldn’t put himself at risk. Unless he was the mole and this was all just some sort of ploy to weed out rebellions before they started.

No, that couldn’t be it. Vitek said he could be trusted with my identity. So it likely wasn’t Melchior himself. Someone close to him, then? Hopefully not Dobie, who thankfully was not here right now.

“Melchior, can you keep my identity a secret?” I asked. “I mean, you can tell people you know Hecate, if that helps them join your cause. Just don’t tell them she’s me. And don’t plan any rebellions or whatever. Wait with that stuff. We don’t need the Church on our backs, not until after the tournament. So please keep a low profile and keep gathering resources.”

“Sure, I guess,” he said.

“Actually, don’t tell anyone until after the tournament. After the tournament it won’t matter.”

Kasia gave me a surprised look.

“Alright,” Melchior pulled a cup for himself out of the table and started pouring a tea. “No telling anyone that I know you until after the tournament. Noted. As for the rat infestation, I have no idea what caused it. We’ve looked, believe me, but they somehow always manage to elude us. I have no idea how the Church keeps finding out.”

I pouted my lips. “I have some ideas, but I’ll keep them to myself for now. On to the next topic. If I give you a list of stuff to obtain, can you get it for me? It will all be used to further our shared cause, of course. I’ll even pay.”

Melchior inclined his head. “Give me that list and I’ll see what I can do.”