A Price Paid Ch. 07

Arik's jaw tightened for an instant as she turned on him. Once his contact told him about the flower he had hoped to sell the thing. He knew several people that would pay enough for it that would allow him to take a break himself, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be and he knew it. Money alone rarely drove her. "Is a Storchere worth your anonymity?"

She froze in her tracks, but didn't turn back, "What do you know about plants?"

"Nothing. That's just what my contact told me it was."

"Your contact is playing with you. There hasn't been a Storchere to be seen in years."

"I'm told it's purple with four large, pointed petals with a pink, meaty center."

"Leaf tips the same color as that center?"

"Black."

She turned and he saw the look in her eye, opting to feign shock in response to it. "Oh, you seem to be interested."

"Your contact is gaming you," she said as she sat down once again. "How you want to handle that is up to you, but do not dare game me."

"I'm not. The news of it just came to me."

"Convenient timing, don't you think? I think."

He didn't really have much to offer. "Sometimes good fortune is a thing. Besides, no one knows we were involved in anything. If I got so much as a hint people were looking for us, I'd know, and I wouldn't be here. I'd be holed up in the mountains north of Idros."

He reached into his cloak and pulled from it a small slip of paper and he placed it on the table. "This is where to go and who to go to. Give them that and the plant is yours."

She put her hand on it and she felt resistance. "Can I count on you to be at the meeting?"

Her gaze was firm, but her decision made. "I claim the plant first."

"Of course," as though it should have gone without saying.

"Doing so obligates me to nothing but attendance."

"Fair, but I'm sure you'll be convinced to help."

"Doubtful. And, if you have me going to the depths and back for this prize and it's not what you say it is..."

He released the slip to her. He knew full well the price for earning her wrath. "I'll be somewhere deep in the mountains north of Idros."

She looked at it and slipped the paper deep within her cleavage. "That won't be far enough."

"Thank you." He took the plate and utensils and proceeded to carve for himself another piece of the chop and stabbed some greens to join it. "And, in that event, at least I'll have an excuse to see more of the world."

She took the fork from him before it could approach his mouth and pulled the plate back towards her with it. "A nice way to think of it."

"Hey," he protested in as dignified a manner as a mature man of his age could without sounding too petulant, "You said it was mine."

"Buy your own." She took her bite before stabbing some greens. "You're buying this one, too, just to advise you now."

He raised his hand and called for a barmaid before turning back, "You drive a hard bargain, my friend."

* * *

Sylanna walked carefully down the grassy path that wasn't quite a road with the hefty pot cradled in her hands as she burned every aspect of the flower into her mind. She didn't believe when she set foot in Rostal that what was promised would be there. But when the old woman took her in the back of her home to find it sitting on the sill with the rest of her mundane plants, Sylanna's breath caught in her throat. It was an example of perfection in all it was, from the texture of the petals to the way the shading of the veins themselves darkened from that pink once closer to the base. She knew it was just a happenstance of color, but she liked to think of it as perhaps an acknowledgment of the dark power it could possess in the right hands. The liquid it cradled and nurtured was one of the most powerful chemicals in the world, but what made it even better was its malleability.

Many complex chemicals did not take well to combination with magic. Complexity usually meant delicacy. Change one element to emphasize this aspect or mute that and you could render it useless or create effects one didn't want. Try to bond it with other equally complex chemicals and, with the slightest mistake it could collapse, wasting valuable time and resources or the bonding so unstable that the result was almost too perishable or unpredictable to be useful. But the Storchere was different. Its nectar was both complex and forgiving. It was almost as if it welcomed change and magic, but remained determined to hold onto its power. She was already planning in her mind the first experiments with it, seeing just what she could convince it to be. Just having it would enhance the scope of her powers substantially.

And that, she admitted to herself, was worth enduring a meeting with a client, especially since she wouldn't be aiding them any further. She didn't like sloppy plans, and that was one from the start, but it had offered her a challenge, and it paid well. This precious bit of life in her hands would be the only challenge she would ever need for the foreseeable future. "You and I have much to do, little one." They would have several days alone together before the man's useless meeting. She tied her horse to a tree some distance from the house, wanting to be able to approach on foot to suss out magic or traps of other sorts, but it had just been caution on her part coming in.

On the way back, however, she realized the caution was warranted.

She'd spent several minutes making sure that her prize was perfectly secure with her brown and white dappled horse, promising the darling a calm and uneventful trip to its new home and how cherished it would be. It was then that she felt the stirrings of power around her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and took note before she rose from one knee to slowly turn her head toward the source on her left.

She saw a woman in the short grass beyond her, her right arm above her head waving slowly in the air to beckon her forward. She moved carefully and casually towards the woman, her senses pushing outward in all directions to see if there were additional focal points in the fabric of life that left marks on that fabric that only a mage could make. She paired her eyes with that sense and saw nothing but open fields around them. All that was there was there was already calling to her. "Do I have you to thank for the Storchere?"

As Sylanna drew closer she could make out the woman she drew closer to. She was a small but sort of thick little thing with long, dark hair and cheeks as round as those hips. She is sort of cute if you like that type, but if I were her I'd throw on a spell. That was simply her surface appraisal. There was much power around her, so she was not to be underestimated. Her cloak was the color of a sandy beach with over somewhat loose dark brown clothing that would allow her to move.

"It belongs to an acquaintance," the woman said. "He thought it might be of interest to you."

"It is. Tell your acquaintance that I thank him. Might I know your name?"

"I am Vale."

"Pleased to meet you, Vale." There was no reason not to maintain civility. "I am Sylanna. I was told by my friend that the plant was mine to take. Did I misunderstand the matter?"

Those round cheeks made room for a smirk. "Oh, the plant is yours to take because my acquaintances wanted to see who came for it. You came."

"I did. Who are your acquaintances, if I may ask?" She already had a good idea as to the answer. Nowhere near enough time had passed for the fallout from her actions to come to rest.

Vale's voice carried pride in even announcing her title "Bryana Lia, Mistress of Guild Vestrix and one of her mates."

Sylanna prepared herself, drawing her power forth. "I thought as much. Would it help if I told you I had nothing to do with whatever it was?"

The smaller woman pretended to think about it. If there was one skill that Vale had that was more finely-honed than most was her ability to read others. She didn't believe that for a moment. 'I'm who you want.' was in her stance. It was in her too casual tone. It was in her eyes. And it was in how the magic flowed around her as she readied for a fight.

Vale fought back the wave of trepidation that gripped her when these moments were at hand. There hadn't been many, but it was always the same. What if they are better? What if they best me and this is the moment that I die? And it was always the same in that Mistress's words steeled her will. 'Bravery is facing your fear and doing what has to be done in spite of it.' She knew she could do what had to be done. She would do it. If she failed and died? She stood for her guild and the Mistress who carried enough faith and trust in her to choose her to do this. There was also the fact that she had a hand in the current situation as well and that she very much wanted to have a hand in any revenge against the man who was responsible for almost killing her.

"If you have not, then come with me to meet with them. If you're being truthful, then they have no quarrel with you. You will be compensated for your inconvenience beyond being able to keep the plant and sent wherever you'd like to go with no harm done."

"I'm just supposed to take your word for that?"

"You have my word and the word of my Mistress."

Sylanna made her choice. "I'm afraid that's not enough."

Vale saw it in the way the other's limbs stiffened and she prepared herself for a fight. "That's all there is."

Sylanna's hand glowed a deep red as she raised it toward Vale, energy lashing outward to strike Vale and wrap around her, Vales's shield of magic absorbing the sword of fire. The small thing is quick. Sylanna thought as Vale closed the distance between them with surprising speed her own magic collecting as pure force. An instant before they connected, anticipation had Sylanna pull her fire back within herself and redirect it into her own shield, but she was a heartbeat too slow bringing it to bear with full effect. She took enough of the strike to put her into the air before sliding into the grass on her back.

Caressing her cheek to make sure that all was as it should be, she gave an honest appraisal of the strike. "Nicely done."

Vale followed up quickly, pouncing on Sylanna using her fist as an extension of her power channeling it into the other's magic, hoping to penetrate while she still had an advantage. The power rippled the shield of magic and the magic beneath that. Hints of what the magic closest to her hid appeared like a receding tide slowly revealed that which was hidden under the water. Feeling her own shield buckle under the assault, she had to act quickly rather than engage in a war of attrition with someone who already had a head start. Her anger fueling her, she channeled a burst into the center of Vale's chest. The competing energies flared and sent Vale flying in a burst of light and force.

Sylanna moaned, hoping that the sound told her enemy that the strike had injured her as well. It had, but she was at least prepared. She loved the earth and it loved her and she would use it. Patiently awaiting the sound of Vale's footfalls, once her enemy was coming to continue the fight, she jammed her nails into the ground as the other approached, her mind following the lines of force to Vale before sending her power forth in a wave of earth into Vale, taking it out from under her and sending a good amount of it into her face. She coughed and spit as she rolled away, and onto her hands and knees trying to clear her lungs and her mouth of it. She gasped, preparing for another spasm as dizziness threatened to overwhelm her. As it was, it was enough to send the ground towards her again.

"Kind of nice, isn't it?"

Sylanna rolled her onto her back and descended upon Vale, straddling her chest. "A Zale Root dust combined with a few other special odds and ends. She pulled a tiny, green pod from the hidden pouch behind her belt. She squeezed it between thumb and forefinger and the black dust came out in a puff over Vale's face, and waited for the inevitable reaction. She entertained a sinister grin when Vale's features began to soften. "It is nice. It makes you feel warm and calm. Take it all inside you, Vale"

Vale struggled briefly, trying to lift the woman from her, but it was just so comfortable now. The weight on her felt almost right and necessary as the rest of her felt like it was floating away on the breeze. Even the why of her being here was slipping from her grasp. She had almost decided it didn't matter until some small bit of her spoke loudly as it had done every time she was in a moment where her goals seemed impossibly beyond her reach. You are failing. She looked up and seeing the snide look on the face of the woman above her caused a rush of anger that anchored her to herself.

"It will be all right. We'll talk in a moment, but you are a feisty one, aren't you? Worry not, a couple more of these and we'll go back to my place and have a long chat about a great many things."

Vale searched near them for anything with mass close by that her magic could latch onto before it was too late, remembering hours upon hours using her magic to move objects with both precision and force. The latter was simple. The former gave her much trouble once upon a time, but Mistress had helped her with that and now she was teaching those skills to others. It was another example of how far she'd come with Mistress's help and why she refused to accept failure now.

Reaching for another pod she feigned pity. "I thought this was going to be a much tougher fight. You seemed quite powerful when I happened upon you and..." She stopped, realizing she still sensed that power before her. In fact, it was expanding, growing, and shifting. Sylanna was immediately wary, looking around and reaching out once again. Something was missed.

That thought was still there at the instant a sizable rock from the scrabble road struck her in the back of the head. She yelped and that gave way to a disoriented moan as she fell forward to be pushed aside by Vale who took in as much fresh air as she could to try and dispel the effects of the dust. The floating feeling receded enough for her to marshal her powers again, though she kept her distance in the event that Sylanna might choose to counter. The air rippled ahead of her and Vale watched it do so with satisfaction, knowing that Mistress was at hand.

Vale moved to be closer to it and to Sylanna now as the other rose dabbing at the back of her head to discover a small bit of blood, quiet for a time to quell her own disorientation "That one wasn't bad either. You could have killed me with that if you weren't so weak."

"Killing you wasn't the point."

"Missing the point will cost you." Sylanna promised.

She was dirty and disheveled, but she was also quite pleased with herself. "No, it won't. I'm clear on the point and I'll let you in on it: Mistress wants you, and my only purpose was to delay you because the portal takes some time."

Sylanna did a double-take and wondered for a moment whether she'd taken a harder hit than she'd realized when a piece of the field before her disappeared, surrendering instead to a room of pale white stone with a tall woman with golden hair that fell in loose curls stepping back, power emanating from a talisman in each hand that was stretched out from her sides.

She gave Vale a sideways glance as she admitted, "An impressive spell," she commented as she watched the woman step back. Your Mistress, I presume?"

"Indeed."

Bryana stepped backwards slowly as a shorter, powerfully built male stepped forward, extending his hand and calling his power. Vale did the same and the wind picked up around Sylanna feeling it envelop her, lifting her from the ground as though she were weightless within the unseen hand. It dragged her toward the portal rapidly, not giving her time to mount a defense as Vale followed.

Once both were through, the field vanished and the reality of the room reasserted itself. Bryana dropped her now dim talismans, the metal clinking against the stone floor and shifted her casting, clutching Sylanna more forcefully within the field of magic.

"Have her?"

"I do," Vale responded, concentrating on her weaving to keep Sylanna as physically bound as she could manage as that weaving entwined with that of Mistress.

"Ready, Deres."

Even as he planned extricating himself, he considered some final alterations to the glyph. "Releasing...now." He dropped to one knee and pressed his left hand to the markings on the floor. Once his eyes closed, the glyph began to reshape itself. New twists and turns within it flowed outward from his hands in a manner that looked like a river of metal shavings changing the landscape of it within it as it went, sounding to Sylanna's ear like the tinkling of wind chimes in a soft breeze.

She watched the shapes form with some curiosity, recognizing some elements common to all snare spells, but others that were wholly unfamiliar as they coiled around and overlaid one another in seemingly endless complexity. Power collected in his right hand and, Sylanna expected a strike. Instead, he slammed his palm into the glyph, the energy within, making the forms flash blindingly bright before going dark once again.

"Done."

To Be Continued...