The Infinite Bk. 02 Ch. 07

Noah's attention was slipping as his exhaustion tantalized him with the thought of sleep. He considered releasing his spell, but then something happened that flipped his switch and put him on full alert. One of the sleeping vagrants sat up with his sword in hand, awoken by the buzzing of the scarab, and the Harajin was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he had teleported out of the church. The man looked around and soon returned to his slumber, and against all reasoning, the Harajin reappeared.

It wasn't teleportation but invisibility. Noah couldn't even see his mana.

It came to a boil within Noah, curiosity, like when he was in the dungeon crab and witnessed the structures within its shell. This stranger had a power similar to his own, but was it a unique ability or one possessed by all Harajin? If it was the latter, there were safer means to find answers. If it was the former, he could not allow the stranger to escape.

Noah left his little campsite and climbed down from the rafters with just his weapons. He was still concealed by magic, so he followed the Harajin through a branching corridor and a side door, coming out into the city streets. Noah wrapped his head in bandages in place of a mask and stole a sleeping man's hat as he followed him.

It was bright outside, brighter than it should have been. Noah and the Harajin looked to the sky, where an orb of light cast its radiance upon the city. From its color and size, it looked exactly like a second full moon, and while the slumbering citizens of Uther would not notice, the revelers and those likewise out in the streets were all hypnotized by it. It floated directly above the town square, leaving everyone guessing its purpose.

Was it a spell used by someone in battle? Was it a message to the troops to organize them and their movements? A means to light up the streets and expose the violence? It appeared to be pulsing in sets of five.

Noah drew his bow and summoned his clone, which, like him, was wrapped in bandages that concealed its face. He stepped away to the side and aimed at the masked stranger. "Harajin, not one more step." He spoke with the same deepened voice he used on Grond, and the figure came to a halt. "Don't turn around. Raise your hands where I can see them. You try anything, and you'll regret it." He hesitantly raised his hands. "Answer my questions, and this will end peacefully. What is your name?"

The Harajin spun around and hurled two knives at Noah's clone. In response, the real Noah, far out of the way, shot him in the hip with an arrow. Considering the wound, his willpower was commendable, as he immediately tried to flee with impressive speed. It didn't last long, as he soon found himself barely able to stand, let alone escape.

"You people are too stubborn for your own good. I'm starting to find it annoying. Give me your name, now."

"Bastard," he hissed while glaring at Noah's clone. From the look of the mask, it wasn't Grond. "This is one of our paralyzing agents. You dipped your arrows in our poison."

"Considering that you're still standing, I'm guessing you have some resistance to it, probably exposed over and over as part of your training. But the adding damage of being shot with an arrow is probably more than even you can handle. Your name." Whoever he was, he refused to speak, instead trying to throw more knives, so Noah shot him in the shoulder. Strong as he was, the man finally collapsed. "Give me your name."

"Hulf."

"Good. That spell you used in the church to disappear and reappear, cast it right now." No response. "Are you refusing?" Noah looked down and saw glowing runes appearing on the ground for an earth spell. A third arrow, this time in the leg, opposite the side of the arrow in his hip. This drew a stifled groan of pain and canceled the spell that Hulf attempted to cast. "I'm going to start aiming for vital areas if you don't give me what I want, Hulf."

"Just kill me. I will never reveal clan secrets."

"I don't care about the Harajin, and I'm not working for anyone. I just want to know how that spell works. Tell me, and I'll let you live."

"Never."

"Is this spell really worth dying for? All I seek is knowledge. To deprive me of that, you would surrender all the years you have left, a lifetime of experiences and memory? That sounds like a bad deal on your part. How is getting in my way worth such a price?"

"I am loyal to the Harajin! I will die before I talk!"

"Now, now, no need to be so dramatic. Let's discuss this like adults. You believe your life to be less valuable than the secret of your spell. Is there anything more valuable? What would I have to give you for you to speak up?" Hulf had gone back to giving him the silent treatment. Still invisible, Noah stood just outside his range and used his bow to tap the arrow in Hulf's shoulder. He twitched but remained silent, despite the wound now throbbing.

"Ah, so this poison paralyzes without blocking pain. As assassins, I'll give you points for having the full package. Right now, your body is blocking it out, but soon those wounds will start to ache. I will give you a health potion if you just tell me what I'd need to give you for that spell. A mountain of gold? Eternal youth? Your own kingdom with land to rule? Just give me the true price."

"Give me the moon, and I'll tell you," Hulf replied. "Otherwise, drop dead."

Noah took out a health potion he looted from Oritz. "Is that really the price? If I were to give you the moon, you swear you would tell me?"

"Just kill me already!"

Noah tossed him the healing potion. It landed in Hulf's lap, much to his surprise, as he could not tell which direction it came from. "So, we've established it's for sale and set a price. Now we just negotiate. Rather than the moon, how about gold? How much gold would I have to give you?"

"Enough of this! No matter what you do, I won't tell you anything!" An attempt to draw a knife earned him an arrow in his good arm, leaving all four limbs compromised. Unfortunately, that was Noah's last arrow.

"Plenty of people have told me that before, and most were smart enough to change their minds with a little persuasion. I'm asking you nicely to spare us both the effort of that process. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just enjoy a little chat, exchange some information, and then walk away? You're on some kind of mission, aren't you? Death is failure, failure is shame. Is your mission less important than the spell?" He could hear Hulf's labored breathing, the only sound he was making. "Very well."

Noah left Hulf and stepped into the deepest shadows of the street. He was concealed well enough to release his spells and conserve mana. His eyes never left Hulf, who was looking around in bewilderment. The final arrow never came, and Noah was gone without hearing any footsteps. He didn't know what was happening, only that he had to escape the area. Hulf went to work pulling out the arrows and reached for the potion that Noah had given him. He realized it was a Harajin bottle and struggled to make sense of it.

Was he being betrayed by someone on the team? Was he sent on this mission, accompanying his own executioner? Or was this the man who killed Oritz? He discarded the potion and drank one of his own, though its Ezerian origins made it just potent enough to stop the bleeding.

Hulf gnashed his teeth as he dragged himself out of the middle of the street. Nearby, he heard the braying of horses. Mounted soldiers appeared at the end of the road carrying lanterns and spears. He wasn't directly in their path, but they would surely see him. He understood, then, why he had been spared. If the knights captured him dead or alive, then valuable secrets would fall into Uther's hands.

"Damn you," he hissed.

The soldiers passed by, none of them even sparing a glance, for where Hulf lay, bystanders would only see vacant air. Then, once more, the street was silent and empty; moments later, Hulf reappeared.

Noah's clone approached Hulf while the real Noah hung back. "Rather than being irritated with you for wasting a perfectly good health potion, I'll commend your willpower and instincts to refuse one given by an enemy. You are a credit to your group." By his feet were the remains of the healing potion he had given the Harajin, crushed by one of the horses. "So, you really can make yourself invisible, but neither here nor in the church did you escape while it was active. I'm willing to bet you can't move using it. I'm not sure whether that is reassuring or disappointing. If other Harajin can use it, then that information will be worth a lot to the kingdom. Tell me about the spell, and I won't say anything. This is all for my personal knowledge."

Hulf, with all of his strength, forced himself back onto his feet and tried to draw a dagger. He was no longer blocking the pain, instead using it to try and reassert control over his paralyzed limbs. A Herculean effort, though he received a kick to the stomach before his hand could reach the handle. He slumped back down with blood trickling from his mask, and Noah stood back.

"I'm frankly disappointed. With what I heard about the Harajin, I thought you would put up more of a fight, and your magic is subpar. Still, I can respect your desire and strength in protecting your group. You have rules that you follow, even if it kills you. I'm a bit curious: Do you have a rule for taking pleasure in killing and inflicting pain on others? Some commandment or code? I think you can tell me that much."

Between his ragged breaths, Hulf finally spoke. "It is a sin to harm without killing."

"But do you enjoy it?"

"No."

"Neither do I, or, at least, I don't allow myself to enjoy it. That is my one rule: take no joy in harming others. The longer you make me do this, the closer I get to breaking that rule, and I would very much like not to. Just tell me how the spell works."

"Never."

"You're truly willing to suffer and die for the Harajin? The strength of your will is admirable, but if you really want to protect them, you'll tell me what I want to know." Noah had his clone crouch down and lean in. "I know there are more of you guys in the city. I will hunt them down, one by one, and do whatever it takes to get my answers. If they don't submit, I'll cross the sea to Ezeria and start all over again. Explain the spell, and all of this violence can be over with."

"You're bluffing."

"Look me in the eyes and say you don't believe me."

Hulf took a deep breath. "Very well. This will tell you everything you need to know." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small scroll. Before Noah could take it, Hulf broke the seal and let it unravel, revealing the lines of runes inscribed on it. It fell to the ground, smeared with the blood from his wounds, and the runes began to glow. "I'll take both the secret and you to my grave! Desert Burial!"

Noah instinctively jumped back, but the ground itself was now his enemy. The packed earth became sand that was finer than flour, and all of it was churning like a maelstrom with Hulf in the center. The aerating soil was sucking Noah's feet in faster than he could pull them out, same as everything near Hulf, who had allowed himself to be swallowed without any resistance while the scroll turned to ash. Noah would have shared the same fate if he had been standing where his clone was.

He was just close enough to the edge of the spell to try and escape. His sword, bow, and other disposable items were laid out across the churning quicksand and used like snowshoes to lift himself up. A single step was all it took for the items to be absorbed into the earth and lost forever, but he could stay on his feet and keep from sinking. The maelstrom had a radius of ten feet, and every inch traversed toward the edge was an ordeal.

His hands reached solid ground, and he managed to pull himself out. By the time Noah caught his breath, the spell had run its course, and a large circle of earth had been worn into the street as hard as dried clay. A shop caught in the mess lost its foundations, now on the brink of collapsing.

Noah got to his feet and dusted himself off, much to his annoyance. It was bad enough that he had lost his sleeve the previous night; he now needed to get his clothes washed again and replace his lost weapons and items. Going back to sleep wasn't an option, but now he had something to occupy his time. He looked at the false moon in the sky, pulsing in its radiance. There were more Harajin in the city to interrogate, and he knew the first place to look.

----------

Adwith Tarnas sat on a bench in the Town Square in full armor. The homeless were absent, forced out to create a sterile perimeter. A row of fountains took center stage in the Town Square, still hissing, protecting conversations from prying ears. The ground near his feet was burned, where a vast puddle of blood and a corpse recently lay. The body had been dealt with, leaving only ashes behind.

High above his head floated the second moon, an orb of his mana lighting up the city. In Ezeria, when armies faced each other, five beats of a war drum or something similar signaled the leaders to meet and discuss terms. Even if the Harajin did not follow the practice, he hoped they would understand his intention.

The orb did draw someone. Tarnas heard their footsteps as they entered the Town Square. Even with the fountains adding white noise, Tarnas's battle experience and awareness honed his senses to levels thought out of reach of mortal men. Whether they were his intended target or not, the steps they made were meant to be heard. The sound was manufactured and draped over what should have been a silent gait formed from training and skill as a warrior.

"Any luck?" Valia Zodiac asked. She was garbed in thin leather armor with added scale mail for protection. Her tight-fitting clothes focused more on flexibility than defense, and her silver hair and eyes gleamed like starlight.

"Nothing yet, but you never know. What are you doing here? I ordered everyone to avoid this area. Too many people will scare them off."

"You come off less as an honest negotiator and more like obvious bait. I mean, you're strong, but I'm sure they know they could get away from you. They're going to think someone else is lying in wait."

"Oi."

"You're intimidating, but you aren't that fast. Now, if I'm the one standing beside you, they know that we can handle them if things go sour. There is no need for traps or keeping others in hiding."

"Oi, don't call me slow."

"I say it with all the love and respect in the world." She strolled over and sat beside him on the bench. "I'm glad you returned from Handent all in one piece."

"I almost didn't. Damn lion man nearly bit one of my fingers off."

"Sounds rough. How was it out there? I heard you had a bad winter."

He gave a mix of a snort and an exasperated sigh. "Nothing went right. It was like we were cursed."

"Wasn't there some kind of parasite problem?"

"The sodomy leeches, yes. A contingent of my men went to explore a lake, and their boat capsized and dropped them into the water. Half of them were killed by the little suckers."

"A poor choice of words. Look on the bright side: It surely is not worth the lives of your men, but the ability to tell this story to people is priceless in its own right. Just think. Of all the conversations you'll have in the future, bad, good, tense, and comfortable, you can drop the sodomy leach story into your proponent's lap. A power like that is one only the gods should wield."

"Thank you for being such a supportive friend. How would I ever live without your sage wisdom? Anyway, I got plenty more stories so it won't be lonely. One of our blacksmiths, his anvil broke and crushed his foot. His anvil. Then all of the horses and oxen suffered from food poisoning and created a mess that could be seen from the stars. I lost more than a dozen men just to falling icicles."

"If you're cursed, it's a damn good one."

"One of my squires had to be castrated due to frostbite."

"Good God. Now I'm thinking I shouldn't be anywhere near you."

"Luckily, my fortune cleared up by spring, and we made up for lost ground. Then I heard about Valon."

"Any news of him? Any sightings in Handent?"

"Nothing I've heard of. For all we know, he could be at the other end of the world. Wait, are you here to ask the Harajin about him?"

"I have to cast the widest net I can. I can't let this opportunity slip by. They're assassins, so who knows what kind of information they have."

"We can't let our enemies know that he's missing."

"Which is why we need to do everything we can to find him. I'll be asking for the sake of the country if it makes you feel better. Just don't let anyone know I was here."

A minute later, they both perked up and looked over to the entrance to Town Square. One of the Harajin stood there, his black cloak sinking into the darkness and making his white mask look like a third moon.

"I'm glad you understood my message. Now, identify yourself."

"I am Klein, here to speak on behalf of the Harajin, and I already know who you two are. Sir Adwith Tarnas, nicknamed "Light's Emissary", and Lady Valia Zodiac, the "Sword Goddess", of the famous Zodiac Twins."

"You know about me, but what do you know of my brother?"

"Valia!" Tarnas hissed. She ignored him.

"You Harajin probably get all kinds of rumors. As a show of good faith, tell me what you've heard. Have you seen him? Do you know where he is?"

"I don't know anything."

Tarnas got to his feet and stopped Valia from asking any further. "Good, then on to business. The peace accord, is it real or not?"

"I received no orders about it, nor have I seen any documents suggesting it. It was claimed by a comrade of mine, but I heard nothing about it until after he was dead."

"He was wielding a knight's sword, said it was given to him for safe passage. Three knights have died within the city since the start of the year, and their swords were accounted for, so if it really was a knight sword, either it really was given, or it was taken off a dead knight outside of Colbrand."

"I was not aware of him possessing such a sword, nor do I have it."

The answers satisfied neither Valia nor Adwith, and she spoke up. "When you said you were here to speak on behalf of the Harajin, I assumed you meant that you would actually share information. Is feigning ignorance and innocence really all you can do? Instead of telling us what you don't know, tell us what you do know."

"You expect me to just blurt out secrets? We Harajin are known for many things, but loose lips are not one of them."

"Perhaps we should hand you over to Gradius. You know who he is, correct? He is known for many things, and loosening lips is one of them," said Tarnas.

"I'm not afraid of death nor pain, so save your breath. What do my comrades and I have to gain from divulging more information?"

"You can secure an alliance between Uther and the Harajin. Even if this ends up being a hoax, a dialogue has been established. Peace can still be an option. However, you and your comrades have a lot to answer for." Tarnas held up a bloody shirt, and his body was shrouded in mana. "I don't care if they were revelers; you do not go around slaughtering who you please in my city! And even worse, one of your comrades poisoned two of mine!"

"I do not have an antidote on me at the moment. That concession can perhaps be made."

"Well then give us a reason to spare your life. You claimed that you did not know what your companion was doing, so what are you doing here? What was your original mission? You've been killing revelers on purpose, so tell us why," Valia ordered.

"We are pursuing a target, and we know them to be taking part in the Red Revelries. I don't know why he's been targeted; I simply fulfill the order."