Chapter Ten: For Koviri Eyes Only
Spring 1274, that night
The Bits, Novigrad, Empire of Nilfgaard
Cleaver's Casino
Damien and Zoltan were waiting in a small crevice in the wall near the sewer entrance. There were two guards through the gate, five more in the center of the basement area, four on the stairs up, and four standing by the door, two on either side. They could all hear the intense partying that was going on inside, and as the guards passed around Mahakam spirit, it didn't seem like anything could go wrong.
Until they suddenly heard the crowd in the casino get quiet. Damien looked at Zoltan, and the two realized the plan was starting. They could only hope that Dandelion knew what he was doing.
Outside the casino, Dandelion, flanked on both sides by large burly guards he had hired by the docks, walked right into the casino, where Cleaver was sitting in the middle. It was time to enact his crazy plan.
"Cleaver!" He shouted, drawing the burly dwarf's attention. He was in the middle of an arm wrestling match, and seeing Dandelion, smashed his opponent's hand into the table. The dwarf was not happy whatsoever to see the bard.
"Ploughing hell you want, bard." Cleaver got out of his seat and walked up in front of Dandelion, several guards flanking him. The casino got quiet as everyone was focusing on the two individuals standing off in the center of the room.
"Remember that time two years ago when we played for my debt over gwent?" Dandelion yelled, hoping to draw everyone's attention. It appeared he was, and was getting nervous. These people could very easily kill him, and there wasn't much stopping them.
"Aye, and I beat your lily-livered arse so hard you owed me twice as much as before!" He laughed, and the crowd laughed with him. Dandelion waited for the laughter to subside, and retorted.
"Well I've returned, built a stronger deck, and challenge you again!"
"You're not worth my time. Unless you play for high stakes, we don't play at all." With that, Cleaver turned around, and the crowd started to boo Dandelion. With that, Dandelion took out the card he knew would get Cleaver's attention.
"What about this?" And with that, he had taken out Ciri's card. Dandelion had heard that Cleaver was looking hard for that; it was the final card he wanted in his Scoia'tael deck, and he always played Scoia'tael. Unfortunately, Ciri was an insanely rare card; Damien was not very willing to part with it, but he figured he had to if they could get Cleaver distracted. Cleaver turned around, saw Ciri's card, and looked to Dandelion, and back to the card.
"Someone get us a table."
While Damien and Zoltan patiently waited, it seemed from the noise subsidence that Dandelion was beginning the gwent match, but they weren't sure, until they heard Triss through the xenovox.
"I see Dandelion. He's near the entrance, playing gwent. Now is your chance, go!"
The two men looked at each other, and began their plan. It was fairly straightforward; draw two guards out, kill them silently, then rush in, kill the guards closest to the door, and take care of the rest.
But it's hard to kill people on the other side of the room first, without making too much noise. Which is why Damien had bought two crossbows.
They readied their crossbows with silent bolts, and played the oldest trick in the book; throwing a bottle further down from their position. It immediately piqued the interest of the two guards closest to the doors, who were drunk off their minds, and they started mumbling about hearing something. They opened the door and stumbled down. As they passed them, they found two bolts waiting. They died before they could even try to take another breath.
Zoltan drew his axe, and Damien drew his cutlass. Zoltan also took out a Devil's Puffball bomb, ready to throw it onto the stairs. Damien had drawn his crossbow with an exploding shard bolt, hoping to kill the entrance guards in a single shot.
They charged in to find the guards all lying around, most passed out, several dozing off. Their preparation proved fairly useless, and they made quick work of the henchdwarves without much effort. Damien got to use his bolt, but both had been expecting a harder fight. They walked up the stairs, avoiding the dead dwarves, and opened the door into the casino. They walked up the hallway, and approached the place where Damien had been the night before, but this time, the stairs where on his left, and the room was to his right. Everyone below them was watching with baited breath as Dandelion and Cleaver were beginning their final round. Both had won one round, and both were down to four cards.
Damien and Zoltan carefully walked over to the room they thought was Hattori's room; although there wasn't a guard on the stairway, they didn't want to attract attention from below. They got to the door to find it locked, and they could hear several people inside. Damien knew they would have to be quick, so they chose to wait for the crowd below to make as much noise as possible to hide the sound of him blasting the door down.
They got their respite shortly. Unfortunately, it didn't come exactly how they would have wanted; Dandelion had won, and Cleaver was certain the bard had cheated. They heard Cleaver scream, "Get the bastard!" and dozens of dwarves clambered up and chased Dandelion out of the casino. They took their chance, and Damien blasted the door down with Aard. The door collapsed to reveal two dwarves torturing Hattori, who was bound to a chair and being prodded with a hot iron. Zoltan and Damien made quick work of the dwarves, and Damien started to free Hattori from his bonds.
"I told them I wouldn't talk for them, I won't talk for you either-"
"Relax, we're working with Kovir, we're here to get you to safety." With that, Damien had freed Hattori from his bonds, and the elf stood up, not sure to believe him. They could hear someone coming up the stairs.
"Look, we need to go now!" They ran out the door and sprinted to the sewer entrance. They saw from their peripheral vision several dwarves coming up to investigate, so Zoltan and Damien threw a Devil's Puffball and Grapeshot bomb, respectively, in their direction. They shut the door and heard the dual explosions rock the casino, and took off with Hattori in tow into the sewers.
After communicating to Damien what had happened, Triss began her part of the plan. She had gotten herself onto the roof of the building adjacent to the armory, and had a clear view of one of the upper floor windows. She teleported inside the room, stabbed the one guard in the room, took his master key and started looking around. After a few minutes of searching, and a few more dead dwarves, she found the safe, and opened it with the master key. Inside was a great deal of valuables: rare swords, runestones, diamonds, but what Triss cared about most was the small box with the Koviri chest on it. It was magically sealed, designed to only open on the command of the one person who was designated to open it. Triss knew, she had helped design it. She was glad to see it wasn't opened; there were signs of attempts to physically force it open, but only a mage like herself could disenchant it. All the better they had gotten to it; Nilfgaard would have been able to find a mage capable of opening it in a heartbeat, without Hattori's command. Without a mage, Cleaver was forced to torture Hattori to open the box for him. She was certain to give the elf full support; through it all, he had remained loyal to Kovir, good to his word.
Triss heard footsteps coming up, and teleported herself back to the ship.
Shortly thereafter…
Triss turned around to see the entrance to the lower level of the ship open to Damien, Zoltan, and an elf she assumed was Hattori. They walked in, and a guard above them closed the entrance. She ran up and kissed Damien hard; she was so worried something would go wrong, that they would fail, that they wouldn't be able to make it. She had heard the explosions; she didn't know what to think. But she was glad to see them in one piece, alive.
"No one saw you come here, right?" Triss asked.
"Nope. We lost them in the sewers. That's the good news. The bad news is…"
"We left 'proof' that the King of Beggars was behind this." Triss turned to Zoltan, who was using air quotes when he said proof. Triss got incredibly confused; no part of the plan included doing something like that.
"What do you mean, proof?" Upon hearing that, Damien looked to Zoltan, who took out a Putrid Grove symbol. "We dropped these as we left, so they wouldn't come after us-"
"What part of the plan included that?!" Triss screamed, livid that they had plotted behind her back. Zoltan decided to defer to Damien, who looked scared, but tried to mitigate the situation anyways.
"Triss, I know it wasn't in the plan, but we knew they would look for Hattori. The first guess would be someone or something suspicious, like the official Koviri ship that arrived a few days earlier out of nowhere. We had to throw them off our scent, to ensure they wouldn't come for us or Dandelion. Cleaver will bite the idea of it being Bedlam who did it hook line and sinker."
Triss turned away. Although she wasn't loyal to Bedlam, she still felt bad. The man had sheltered her for months in this city during one of the worst times in her life. She never went a night without thinking she might die the next day, and she had never gotten a chance to pay him back for all he had done for her. Instead, in her first return in years, she was throwing him under the carriage to save her own hide.
"I know it's not fair of us to do so, but don't be hard on yourself. Bedlam's smart, he can take care of himself. He's got resources we don't right now."
Triss looked back, staring into Damien's face, her green eyes conveying worry and guilt. "You're right…"
"Ploughing hells, we can get Whoreson to help 'im out, cannae we?" Zoltan said, hoping to cheer Triss up.
Triss' face lit up. "We could! Zoltan, tomorrow-"
"Today." It was hard to tell, but they were already in the next morning.
"At dawn, you'll go to Whoreson Jr, and tell him to give Bedlam support."
"I know what to say lass. Don't worry 'bout me. And you lot?" Zoltan looked to Damien, who was nursing Hattori's wounds.
"We have a meeting with Duke Voorhis we need to prepare for, don't we?"
Triss smiled. Today was going to be an interesting day.
Midday that day…
Black Sun Isle, formerly Temple Isle, Novigrad, Empire of Nilfgaard
Duke Voorhis' Manor
Triss and Damien decided to dress up again in preparation for their meeting with the Duke. As they walked up to the entrance of the manor, they fit right in with any couple in the area, looking fresh of out Gildorf. Triss was wearing a flowing green and blue dress, which showed ample cleavage and exposed her upper back and her thighs as it parted. Damien had his hair parted on either side, trimmed and washed, and he was wearing a fresh white linen shirt, and had his two blades behind him, just oiled and repaired. They approached the captain of the guard, who was standing outside the manor with a dozen soldiers around him.
"State your business." He said, gruffly.
"I am Miss Triss Merigold, and this is my companion witcher Damien of Oxenfurt. We are here on official Koviri business with Duke Voorhis." Triss had her arm around Damien's, and she watched as the captain looked down onto his sheet.
"Very well. You're a bit early, the Duke is off running some errands. I'll bring you to his office however. Follow me. And master witcher, if you would please remove your weapons." Damien obliged, and removed his two swords and gave them to the captain.
They followed the captain into the manor, and down a few hallways and numerous guards into the Duke's official office. They sat down in chairs directly in front of his table. A guard was waiting for them inside the room, watching over them. The captain closed the door, and the couple got a chance to look around and marvel at the beauty of the office. There were Nilfgaardian banners and maps everywhere, and it was clear the man was busy, as his table was covered in papers.
A few minutes later, a butler came inside the room. "The Duke has requested you two join him for lunch. He has been made late and feels it would be rude to keep guests famished. If you would follow me." The couple got up and followed the butler through several more halls into the dining room.
The dining table was fairly large, but there were only two people sitting at the table. One man directly in front of them, on the other side of the table, and a woman to his left.
The man was Duke Morvran Voorhis. The woman, Triss realized, was Baroness Mary Louisa La Valette.
"Miss Merigold and witcher Damien! How good it is to finally meet you two! Please, come, have a seat and dine with us." Voorhis motioned to the two seats to his right. The couple sat down, with Triss sitting closest to Voorhis.
"I'm certain the two of you have heard of my companion, Baroness Mary Louisa La Valette?" The two nodded as dishes were brought to them by the butler. They were both served smoked pheasant, a proper delicacy.
"Indeed. It's an honor to meet you at last, Baroness." Triss said. Damien greeted the Baroness as well, and the woman focused intently on him.
"My oh my Miss Merigold. I must say, you have good taste." With that, Mary smiled wickedly at Damien and took a sip of her wine. Damien gave a bow in his seat. "What can I say? Wild women attract wild men." He smiled. Triss blushed and lightly hit Damien on the arm, and Morvran and Mary laughed in response.
"Well, as much as I enjoy banter, I know we have business to discuss. I want to apologize for my tardiness; we've been having some issues keeping the peace in the Bits today. Cleaver's henchdwarves were attacking shopkeepers in the streets outright. Had to nip that in the bud before it became more severe." Morvran's smile indicated he knew slightly more than he was letting on, and Triss' fake intrigued face gave away absolutely nothing.
"Of course. To maintain order and stability is essential to any realm, regardless of race or creed." She smiled back as the butler poured them both glasses of wine.
"Glad to see we are all on the same page. After all, my diplomat was telling me of what happened in Talgar. I'm so glad you were able to handle the problem. A destabilization in a border region is always alarming, especially with Hengfors so close."
Damien decided he wanted a piece of the verbal duel. "Say what you will, but Hengfors follows the reward first, the ruler second. I would know, it takes a soldier of fortune to know one." His smirk caused Morvran to grow an intrigued look on his face.
"Is that so? Is it coin that drives the noble Damien of Oxenfurt?"
"Not all rewards come in the form of coin, milord." Triss looked to Damien, who glanced back at her. He could see the pride in her eyes.
"One could argue that such personal motivations are more compelling and make one more loyal than duty ever can." The Baroness quipped, drawing a quick glance from Morvran. The man was the epitome of purebred duty, and the Baroness the symbol of personal gain over loyalty. They were either perfect or horrible for one another. It was very hard to tell.
"Regardless, I was made aware by his noble Majesty King Tancred that you had a correspondence he wanted delivered in utmost confidence." Triss nodded, and turned to Damien, who drew a letter, sealed with Kovir's royal crest, written on royal parchment. He handed the letter to Triss, who handed it to Voorhis. The duke put the letter in his pocket.
"Thank you. Now, I must ask, Miss Merigold. How goes the mage recruitment? The King mentioned something of the sort in his letter." Duke Voorhis was watching Triss intently. Ah yes, our official excuse for wandering around the city.
"Not as well as we had hoped. Novigrad's mage population has dwindled significantly. We found an alchemist, and extended an invitation. All in all, though, it proved to be an informative expedition." Triss intentionally ended openly, so as to draw the duke out.
"People can be stubborn Miss Merigold, and until the people of this city change, mages won't be as common in this city as they were before the war."
The four kept eating, making observations and comments on the food they were eating, but other than that, staying relatively silent. Triss felt they had successfully navigated the lunch.
When Damien sent back his plate, they knew it was time for Triss and Damien to depart. They got up, out of their seats, and shook farewells to the Duke and the Baroness.
"Thank you for coming, Miss Merigold and witcher Damien. I hope our paths cross again someday." The duke said, as he escorted them back to the manor entrance.
"We were glad to make your acquaintance. Do visit Kovir if you get the chance. It's beautiful this time of year." Triss smiled, and curtsied. To that, Damien bowed. Morvran smirked as the guards returned Damien his swords and opened the door to leave.
"I'm certain Pont Vanis is in my near future." With that, he and the Baroness headed back into the manor, and Triss and Damien exited the Duke's residence, ready to say their final goodbyes to their friends and head out of the city before nightfall.
That night…
Somewhere off the coast of Redania, southwest of Roggeveen
Great Sea, Redania, Empire of Nilfgaard
Aboard the Eagle's Talon
As the ship sailed through the choppy seas, Damien decided it was finally time to go to sleep. Triss had already head below deck to rest, but Damien had chosen to stay up and watch the stars. When he went below deck, he found Hattori pouring over a map of the Northern Kingdoms. He saw Triss further down deck, fast asleep. Eh, who knows when I'll see this elf again? Damien decided to talk to him.
The elf had laid out the map on a table next to him, pouring over it by candlelight. Damien rested against the ship next to him, drawing his attention.
"Seem really interested in that map. Anything in particular catch your fancy?"
The elf looked at Damien with scrunched eyes, but decided to trust the man. After all, witchers had proven to be loyal in the past, and the present. And if Miss Merigold trusted him, maybe he could tell him what he was thinking about.
"What do you know about the Secession of Poviss?" The mentioning of the event drew Damien's immediate attention.
"What do I know?" He said incredulously. He had lived through it. It was almost 45 years ago, but it still felt recent.
It began with rebellion, when Duke Rhyd of Poviss declared he was no longer going to answer to King Baldwin. But the rebellious attitude spread beyond Poviss; the East March seceded as well, as did the Arcsea. Prior to it, Kovir had been Keeper of the Dragon Mountains, running a contiguous landmass that seemed to only grow and grow. But the differences were plentiful, and it only took the aging of King Baldwin to begin the airing of grievances. Half of the kingdom declared independence. The East March collapsed as an independent entity as quickly as it formed, and the from the mess rose the Hengfors League. Damien was wintering in Kaer Nyseen in Malleor at the time, and was caught up in the upheaval. He remembered helping to shelter innocents in the witcher fortress as Caingorn and Malleor duked it out in vicious fighting. When the Hengfors League rose, there was some resemblance of peace, only for it to be shattered immediately. Idi took the throne from Baldwin, and for nearly a decade ruled Kovir, driving the royal family into Talgar. Damien remembered all the mess it caused, all the suffering that was experienced. He had helped shelter the royal family, protected them when Idi's forces came for them.
In all of this Esterad Thyssen, Baldwin's son, was raised. The boy became a man in exile, and after his father died, plotted to regain his rightful throne. In the infamous night of knives and torches, he and his men put Idi and his entire line to the sword. They showed equal mercy to Duke Rhyd, and after over a decade of war and turmoil, Kovir had returned to peace; but at what cost? The entirety of the East March was lost, turned into a pseudo-monarchy propped up by slavers and mercenary captains. The Arcsea was swallowed up by King Vizimir of Redania during the mess. The region was destabilized, and it took Kovir decades to recover, only for the Nilfgaard wars to begin.
Esterad never forgot what happened all those years ago. Unfortunately, the decades of intermittent warfare meant that he never got a chance to fulfill his dream of restoring the old borders of Kovir. He went to the grave ruling a Kovir that was wealthy, efficient, but just noise in the wind to Radovid's Redania.
But Tancred had a different cast in life. Esterad's son had all of his father's knowledge of ruling but a touch of a wild side in him. When the North was persecuting mages en masse, he took them in. He had held to the First Treaty of Lan Exeter, and watched patiently as Nilfgaard swallowed half the North in their final war for dominance, but Damien's recent interactions with the young king made him believe the ruler was plotting something.
"I was simply asking as a formality." Hattori said. Damien's glance indicated that he was very well acquainted with the Secession, and that he was almost offended he would ask. "So you know how the Arcsea and Hengfors were originally Koviri lands?" Damien nodded.
"That was decades ago though."
"It was, but much has changed in the last few decades. Kovir never marched on Hengfors because Kaedwen backed them, and Esterad didn't bother with the Arcsea to avoid Vizimir's wrath. When Vizimir died, he considered it, but decided it wasn't worth the risk. Then we saw Radovid come to power, and all bets were off. But the North isn't what it was when Esterad died. Temeria is Nilfgaard's vassal, Kaedwen is still recovering from the war, and Redania will be nothing without leaders like Radovid."
"Are you trying to imply that Kovir will restore the North? That they can go toe to toe with Nilfgaard and win?"
"Of course not. I'm no John Natalis, no Morvran Voorhis. I can't predict what would happen in war, let alone if it will happen. All I know is that Kovir has strong claims, strong forces and deep pockets. Have you heard the latest news from Blaviken?"
Damien nodded. Before they had left from Pont Vanis, they had heard what had happened. Redanian nationalists had attacked the city's Nilfgaardian garrison, burned it to the ground. The government in Tretogor had send a regiment north to deal with the insurgents, who were apparently operating out of the nearby forests, raiding Black'un shipments. They had heard countless stories like this in the last few months, and Damien had experienced it the last time he was in Redania. Though most in the southern regions could accept Nilfgaardian rule, many northerners demanded independence. The Arcsea and the Nimnar valley remained places of strong nationalist sentiment, and as a result, they were sparsely garrisoned by Nilfgaard.
Hattori continued. "The Arcsea is unstable. Redania could very easily break out in full-fledged rebellion. It's the talk of the town in Novigrad. Cleaver's men are more excited than ever; black market arms are their specialty."
"Interesting."
"Indeed, master witcher. The power balance has shifted dramatically in the North. Where it goes from here, no one can truly know."
The witcher nodded in response, and headed to his bunk, after saying goodnight to the elf. He laid down and thought about all that he had thought about and spoke of.
There were some very important people, and very important places, that he needed to visit.
End of Chapter Ten