SS [56] You Are Fired

Tanisha knew Bjorn had only given the council an abridged account of the Devil beneath the Worldspine. Everything that concerned Isopike he shared. Everything that concerned the wider world, the other True Immortals, and the cryptic warning about the north remained between the four of them.

There was a Devil beneath the Worldspine. It claimed the people of Isopike had forgotten their ancient rites and told them to remember. That was all Bjorn had shared. Even that was enough to start debate and accusations amongst each other. A Devil is a Divine even in the dwarven pantheon and if waking was nearly enough to wipe out a city many sought to leave it be. 

Some accepted the account though thought it was disturbing. Others clearly believed Bjorn had mistaken some powerful demon for a Divine. It wasn't Bjorn's or Tanisha's responsibility to settle that debate. They had reported what they witnessed. Whether Highhall investigated the Worldspine or chose to pretend nothing had happened was a decision the dwarves would have to make for themselves.

Honestly, once their testimony was over she barely paid attention to the rest of the debate. She was already thinking about the new infusion basin. It would need to be recalibrated, then mounted securely inside the wagon. If she could reinforce the workbench while she was at it, she could finally resume experimenting during travel.

“Princess Tanisha, how can we know that this was not some ritual?” Oathgranite asked.

Aurelius nudged her when she didn’t answer. She snapped out of her musings and stood up. She took the few seconds for her to retake the podium to think through the response.

“Because maya doesn’t behave like mana,” Tanisha said. “Are any of you arcanists and can utilize maya?”

When no one responded she continued. She raised a hand and an orb of rose gold electricity formed in her hand. 

“Mana is structured in a way that maya can never become. Demons say that maya is breath, when they say that they mean it literally and metaphorically. Have you tried to capture the breath of a hundred people and form it into a tornado? Breath disperses. It doesn't accumulate simply because enough people exhale. ” 

Tanisha breathed out a cloud of her alloy with the maya aspects making up the majority. It still sparkled with flecks of mana and aether but it would work for the purposes she wanted.

“This is a maya alloy; it demonstrates both power in maya and the strength of one's connection to the Infernal Planes. Red maya similar to this is a strong connection. Below that is Purple and below that is black, and below even that is abyssal. However what we saw was a level below even that which was blood maya. That is not a connection that demons can come together to create. It is  the equivalent of mages coming together to create a mana tree.” 

“How can you use maya if you are not a demon?” Jan questioned.

“That is a personal question, Councilman, but I utilize multiple higher plane energies.” Tanisha said without a change in expression. “I am an arcanist. I will not go into what other energies I have access to.”

There was a discussion amongst the council members as Tanisha stood there and listened. None of it was directed to her after the initial comment. She dismissed the two energies she had been maintaining for her demonstration.

“If blood maya is truly not like regular maya what is it?” Oathgranite asked.

“Blood maya is an imposition of the infernal planes onto our reality. That is why there was a quake. There was so much power from another realm here that the world was struggling to maintain itself. That is not the power a few craftsmen can wield. Would you expect a hundred of your travelling traders, children, and tourists to perform four impossible miracles at once? That is what you are accusing the demons of doing.”

***

After the meeting Tanisha was ready to leave. She knew that Aurelius was as well. As soon as Bjorn mentioned that the Devil talked about the possibility of something going on at the Force Isles he was ready to abandon their plan and beeline it to the border.

“We should leave today. As soon as possible.” Aurelius said.

“We will leave as soon as we can. I doubt that our host is going to want us to hang around much longer anyway.” Tanisha said.

“I believe that we have time before whatever Belphegor was warning us about comes to fruition,” Bjorn said. “I also think when we get there we should proceed with caution. After all he did say we should fear—”

A voice caught their attention. 

“Ah, there you are, Princess.” Torik said as he walked over from the main lobby. “I was thinking that you had already left.”

“We will talk about it on the way to the estate,” Tanisha said to Aurelius. 

She then turned to the Dwarf. She could finally take in his appearance fully. He was tall for a dwarf probably a little over five feet. His beard was perfectly trimmed and shaped to the point that Tanisha suspected that he had to have some kind of beard shaping enchantment. His suit was equally perfect, black with silver highlights. Faint magic permeated the threads which meant the suit likely hid more enchantments.

“I definitely would not leave before I had the chance to speak to a member of the illustrious Ironvow.” Tanisha said.

Torik inclined his head respectfully.

“You honor me with your words. I don’t intend to take up too much of your time. Your sister did mention you to us and that you would be coming here in a few years. Honestly, until you mentioned the communication disk I thought that you were trying to deceive us. I also wish you hadn’t mentioned it to the other members of the council but I understand the urgency. Come on, this lobby isn’t the best place to talk.”

***

Soran sat across from Yrsa as their carriage rattled up towards the Runecrown Estate. He couldn’t see her face due to the veil of enchanted coin-like gold rounds which concealed her face. He didn’t have to see it to understand the fluctuations of life force around her as anger. She was tense, her body stiff and her chest rose in the steady manor of someone holding back a wave of anger.

“Take off the tabard.” Yrsa said.

“Ma’am?” Soren questioned.

“The tabard, take it off.” Yrsa said with more force. “Now.”

He did as she commanded and removed the fabric over his actual armor. She snatched it from him and placed a  hand over the insignia. She pressed a hand against the embroidered crest. A pulse of mana spread through the fabric. Then came the voices from conversations throughout the day.

Soren had known the tabard carried a listening enchantment. Yrsa had insisted he wear the Runecrown colors so she could hear every conversation he had with Aurelius’s group. She had hoped to convince them to remain in her service.

Instead, she listened as that plan unraveled.

“A princess?” Yrsa hissed. “A foreign princess? She walked into my manor and never thought to mention it?” 

She threw the tabard to the floor and the recordings stopped. 

“You knew about that didn’t you? You have been trying to leave my service ever since you had to follow me out of Karvashar.” Yrsa said.

“I did not know until we were at the market.” Soran said.

“Then why did Aurelius believe you warned them to leave?” Yrsa accused. “Do you understand what this looks like? They already call me the exiled princess. Now they’ll say I cannot even gather dwarves to my own banner. They’ll say I have to borrow foreign royalty instead.”

“That is—”

“No, you do not speak until I say.” Yrsa snapped. “You have become nothing but a liability. Get out.You are fucking fired! When we get back to the estate I want you out! I won't pay a man who bites the hand of his betters.”

Soran laughed, it was a relief that actually brought a single tear to his eye which he wiped away. The sudden nature of it had taken Yrsa by surprise.

“My father always told me that a man's word is a bond.” Soren smiled faintly. “Thank you for releasing me from mine.”

“I didn’t ask for your life’s story.” Yrsa said.

Soren let out a sigh of relief as he stood. 

“No, you didn't, Princess.” Soren opened the carriage door before it had fully stopped. “But I'll spare you the rest of it. My belongings will be gone before sunset.”

***

Tanisha and the others were escorted to one of the association's private meeting rooms. They gathered around a long hardwood table. Well, everyone except Bjorn and Anasuya.  Torik led the conversation and honestly it wasn’t what Tanisha had expected.

He had introduced himself as the brother of Kazrin Ironvow and vice president of The Runeforge Consortium. After the introduction he explained why he believed Tanisha’s story. She was an unusual wendigo as described and her familiar was a hydra. That alone was not something that most people could accomplish. Then the conversation shifted again.

Torik folded his hands together.

“I apologize that our first private meeting has to begin with politics instead of trade. It is my understanding that you were displaced in your travels because of the mana hurricane.” Torik said. “We have most certainly had many difficulties because of the storm. Increased monster activity and the inability to travel through the neutral zones within the Chaos Lands have put a strain on many of our partnerships.”

The Chaos Lands had always been dangerous. Because of her travels with Aurelius she knew much more about it than she did before her journey. Nations bordering the Chaos Lands treated them much like international waters. No kingdom could truly claim or tame the region. The monsters saw to that. 

People like Aurelius made their living by being the navigators of that region. The mana hurricane and increased monsters would make it all but impossible to use the Chaos Lands in the same way. That means paying tolls and tariffs to travel through other nations' sovereignty.

“I could only imagine.” Tanisha said.

“Yes. The mana hurricane has also done something we didn’t expect.” Torik said. “The ambient mana through the Chaos Lands has rendered every prototype communication disk we've built unusable across the Chaos Lands. The vast amount of interference from the corrupted mana is just too great for any device we can currently test.”

“Ah, so you can’t reach my royal sister.” Tanisha muttered.

“Correct. The only way to reach her now would be by carrier which is how we have been sending and receiving correspondence.” Torik said. “We can send a letter for you but we would not hear back for at least a month and a half.”

“We do not plan on staying in Isopike that long. Our arrival was unexpected and we must get to the Force Isle as soon as possible.” Tanisha said.

Torik rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“That could be a problem.” Torik said.

“How so?” Aurelius said.

“The closure of the Chaos Lands has reopened disputes most kingdoms were content to ignore. Postlumia now claims several mountain passes as imperial territory. Those passes used to matter very little. Now they're worth fortunes in tolls and customs duties. So far my family is staying out of this conflict as much as possible. We are focused on the far more stable southern trade routes. The border oligarchs up north are the ones causing all the fuss. When trade routes become profitable, every powerful family suddenly remembers the old maps over the new treaties.”

“We were planning on going through Valachyra.” Aurelius added.

“The vampires have closed their borders,” Torik said. “They are nervous about the potential conflict and don’t want to have foreigners dragging them in.”

“We still have to find a way.” Aurelius said.

“I see. Well, that is a shame I wanted to invite you to the capital. But if you are leaving soon perhaps we can help each other. We have a caravan that will be traveling up through this region. They are stopping in Postlumia but they have standing permits through the checkpoint. Getting you across shouldn't be difficult. You will have to leave today. We are sending our people through before relations deteriorate any more.” 

“You are not worried about your merchants being trapped?” Tanisha asked.

“They are all elves. They will be opening one of our branches in the empire. Money still moves even in conflicts so do not worry about them.” Torik said.

The offer was generous, but it wasn't charity. The Ironvow gained something just as valuable by helping them. If the Fourteenth Princess of Yuhia reached home safely after traveling with one of their caravans, the family would have established goodwill with a royal house at very little cost. 

“We will take you up on that offer,” Tanisha said. “We were planning on leaving today anyway.”

They spent the next several minutes discussing departure times, documentation, supply manifests, and rendezvous points. By the end of it the Ironvow had arranged nearly everything. All Tanisha's group had to do was arrive at the North Gate before sunset and join the caravan. 

“I have to ask how did you all get into Isopike? We have not heard of any foreign royals crossing the border.” Torik asked.

Tanisha and Aurelius looked at each other for a moment but before either could answer Bjorn spoke up.

“We came through a rift.” Bjorn said.

Torik looked at Bjorn for a moment then he laughed. 

“I see, I see,” Torik said between disbelieving chuckles. “That is fine, we all have our secrets.”