Steel, Fire, Honor and Ruin
Chapter 21
hiding out in dodge
/ooooooo\
Year 2522, Imperial Calendar
Battle for Middenheim
Archaon the Everchosen's might was beyond imagining, even after all he had endured, he remained a champion of champions.
As Maria Shepard lay dying on the ground, she watched the Archaon pull his sword, the Slayer of Kings, from the throat of the Zombie Dragon. The beast was already turning to so much dust on the wind, its body having sustained too much damage, and its undead master too preoccupied to lend it more of his power. The attack had been a stalling measure meant to buy Maria more time.
It wasn't nearly enough, but she had done more with less.
Maria still retained a grip on her runefang as the Archaon turned to face her once again. From her spot on the blood-soaked grass his silhouette was shadowed by the crumbling dragon as well as the burning mountain that was Middenheim. Sword and shield back in hand he truly was the embodiment of the End Times as he strode across the battlefield toward her.
"Enough of this," he growled from behind his enchanted horned helm. "How much longer do you intend to draw our contest out Shepard? My destiny lies within Middenheim. The Citadel calls. I will bring about the end of the world."
Maria laughed even though it pained her to do so. "All this effort just to set foot on the Citadel. I mean, sure… it's a pretty cool experience the first time… but after a while… the appeal wears off quick." She managed a smirk. "You strike me more of… an Omega type of guy… I know the Asari in charge… she'll show you a good time… if she doesn't space your ass first."
If the Archaon reacted to her jibe, he didn't show it. Instead he simply marched until he stood above her, then hooked a toe under her chest to flip her onto her back. Maria was entirely at his mercy.
He stared down at her, reversing the grip on his demon cursed sword and holding it over her stomach.
"Well?" he asked expectedly.
"Well, what?"
"Are you truly finished? Or have you finally accepted your fate? I'm surprised Shepard. All of this… only to give up at the end. I thought you and I were more alike."
Oh, you have no idea big guy. Maria just closed her eyes. An observant foe would have noticed she still retained her grip on her sword.
"Give it your best shot asshole."
The Archaon didn't hesitate, and she never expected he would. The Slayer of Kings was thrust down straight into her gut. No illusions. No tricks. Maria gasped as the flaming blade cut deep, spilling what was left of her life. Spilling her blood…
… the same blood that had been 'blessed' by Khorne.
Her vision fading, Maria struggled to reach for the sword piercing her stomach and back. All she knew was pain as her left hand gripped the black-flamed sword. What magic she still grasped Maria sent flowing through her blood. She felt it as it coated the Slayer of Kings. Thanks to her 'connection' with Khorne she felt it touch the monster trapped within. The greater demon of Khorne, U'zuhl, came to new life with her offering.
The Slayer of Kings rejoiced at its new master.
The Archaon felt the change in the sword's allegiance. With a grunt he tried to yank it out of Maria's body, but it remained stuck within her. Maria forced open her eyes and looked through her tears. She opened her mouth.
"I win."
The black flames coating the sword flared with incredible strength. The first pulse forced the Archaon to release his grip on the hilt. The second pulse sent him flying back off his feet, landing hard at least a dozen feet away.
Maria tore the sword free from her gut. It dropped to the ground beside her, burning the grass to ash and scorching the dirt. With a strength she no longer knew she had Maria forced herself to her knees and lifted her runefang up above her head in a two-handed grip. The enchanted sword glowed blue with biotic power as wisps of shadows also danced along its length.
With a shout revealing the extent of all her pain, all her anguish, all her frustration, anger, fear, and her hope for a future that had been ripped away, over the past four years trapped on this world, Maria brought the point of her runefang down onto the Slayer of Kings.
Both swords, centuries old, the embodiments of good and evil forged to metal, shattered to pieces, releasing a wave of energy that washed over the battlefield. At the epicenter of the blast, an evil long ago bound to servitude was finally released and stepped into being.
Once again Maria found herself sprawled out on the grass. She no longer knew if she was living or dead, but that debate had been given up long ago. She did watch as U'zuhl, the Skulltaker, Khorne's Champion, the Blooded Wanderer, and the Slayer of Kings took physical form above her.
He was a devil made flesh. As tall and strong as the mightiest Star Dragon of Ulthuan. A gigantic mirror of the smaller Slayer of Kings in his grip, though this time his entire body is shrouded by black fire. The very air around him being warped by his chaotic nature. Leathery wings stretch out from his back and flap with a crack of thunder filling the air.
As Maria felt the last of her life leaving her, U'zuhl's gaze was drawn down to her limp form.
"SHEPARD," his voice was all encompassing as it tore through the sky.
The Archaon was back on his feet.
"What have you done!" he shouted while backing further away from the monstrosity unleashed. In his hand he conjured a new sword of solid purple balefire, and readied himself for battle
U'zuhl kneeled, his terrible visage filling Maria's darkening vision.
"WHAT A TROPHY YOU WOULD MAKE…" then he placed a single talon of his clawed hand upon Maria's chest.
"BUT YOUR SKULL IS NOT MINE TO CLAIM."
There's a flash of fiery pain, and then Maria is coughing and gasping for new breath. Her armor has been re-forged, the torn skin and organs beneath healed with no trace of the fatal injuries.
U'zuhl then stands tall and spreads his arms and wings. He begins to laugh as the sky darkens directly above him. Maria feels the first drops of rain on her cheek. She wipes the water away only to find her fingers red. Blood has begun raining from the sky. The air distorts around the greater demon as reality is torn asunder. Around his feet, hundreds of Bloodletters scramble through the breach between the realms. Horrific demons with an unquenchable thirst for battle, screaming their war cries, jagged iron blades in hand, sprint onto the battlefield.
"Chosen to me!" the Archaon booms as he already begins cutting down the first of the frenzied bloodletters. The foot-soldiers of Khorne make no distinction between the forces of order and chaos as they fall on anyone nearby. "Swords of Chaos to battle!"
For the first time Maria hears the tremble of fear and uncertainty in his words and she understands completely. As the blood falls from the sky coating her, the Archaon, and the demons, she knows without a doubt that ultimately, it's a stall. She's only traded one devil for another…
U'zuhl's laughter roars across the field.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"
/ooooooo\
Four years earlier…
Location: Right back at square one… Nuln, city-state of the Empire
Day 66
Maria Shepard jerked awake with a gasp. She sat up quickly, knocking away the bedsheet that covered her. Beside the bed a figure jumped from a chair, the sudden movement only succeeding in making Maria recoil against the bed frame with a cry of surprise.
Her eyes immediately picked up on the pistol aimed in the bed's general direction. Maria instinctively called on her biotics, raising her hand up and creating a solid barrier between herself and the threat. She was seconds from blasting the potential enemy through the wall when her mind finally caught up and recognized the man holding the pistol.
"Oskar?" Maria blinked up at him. Oskar had been the doctor called to heal Antonio Valantina after the crime boss had been shot in the gut. She had been in the room and had watched him heal Antonio with magic. Now here he was standing next to her bed, clad in the same black suit she had seen him wearing all those days ago.
But this time he was armed and watching her like she was some rabid dog.
"Maria Shepard," Oskar visibly swallowed. His knuckles were white as they gripped the pistol, though he still hadn't pointed it directly at her. "You're in Nuln, back inside the Laughing Bear Inn, and I did my best to treat your injuries. Please release your magic or I'll be forced to call on Antonio's men."
Maria heard him talking, but none of it registered as her eyes fell on her left arm. It was entirely bare. Her heartrate spiked. She dropped her barrier and searched the room. Bed. Dresser. Nightstand. Mirror above the dresser. Chair beside the bed. Nothing else in sight.
Panic gripped her. "Where's my omni-tool?"
Oskar just gaped at her blankly.
"Where's my omni-tool?!" Maria asked again desperately, her voice spiking. "Where is it?!"
Her chest tightened as her heart pounded with abandon. She threw back the blanket, uncaring that she was covered in nothing but a bra, underwear and bandages, and attempted to get out of the bed. As soon as her bare feet touched the ground her left leg spasmed in pain, unable to support her weight, and Maria fell to the floorboards.
Oskar backed away as she crawled to the nightstand and pulled open the small drawer, only to find it empty. Her mind refused to accept the fact the tool wasn't there, and with a cry of frustration, she yanked on the drawer trying to open it wider and only succeeded in knocking over the entire nightstand.
"Maria! W-What are you –"
"The metal band that goes around my wrist!" Maria looked up at Oskar in desperation. "I know I had it on me when I fell here! I need that metal band! I need my omni-tool!"
Understanding finally dawned on his face and Maria watched as Oskar went over to the dresser, opened the top drawer, and reached inside. She nearly sobbed in relief when he drew back with the omni-tool in hand.
He walked back over to Maria and carefully held it out to her. She swiped it out his grip and, in a blink, had it snapped around her forearm. It responded to her touch, activating and she ran a quick diagnostic. The process took mere seconds and Maria stared at the report declaring the tool one-hundred percent operational. Maria sagged back against the side of the bed in relief. She closed her eyes and forced her body to take deep steady breaths.
She could lose her armor; she could lose her pistol and submachine gun. She could lose an entire limb; but if she lost the omni-tool, then her future was forfeit. It was the only way those across the wider galaxy could contact her. Without it on, the Normandy could fly directly over the Empire and never even know she was stranded below.
Maria lifted her arm and hugged it against her chest. The cool metal against her skin was the greatest feeling in the entire world. She made a mental promise to never let it out of her sight again.
She opened her eyes and looked up at Oskar. A mixture of emotions played across his face.
"So I'm alive…" Maria said releasing a shaky breath. "Thanks."
Oskar schooled his features, but he clearly wished to be anywhere else but here. And he still hadn't relaxed his grip on the pistol.
"That, Shepard, is a matter of debate," he replied crisply.
/ooooooo\
After Oskar helped Maria back into bed and tidied up the room, he quickly excused himself. She rested perched up slightly thanks to the pillows. Her doctor hadn't gone far; she could just hear him talking with someone in the hall though she couldn't make out the words. A minute later he returned carrying a pitcher and a cup in his hand and closed the door behind himself.
He went back over to the dresser. She noted that's where the case holding all his supplies had been placed out of the way. Setting the pitcher and cup down, Oskar worked in silence as he poured what looked like water into the cup, and then pulled a small leather pouch from the case. He shook some powder from the pouch into the cup, used a utensil to stir the solution, and when finished brought the cup over to her.
Maria noticed he had left the loaded pistol sitting back on the dresser beside his bag. He held the cup out to her.
"Drink this," he said. "Take it in sips but drink it all."
"What is it?" Maria asked taking the cup. It was water after all, turned slightly green by the powder he had added. The liquid's smell almost resembled a watermelon.
Oskar walked back over to the dresser. "Muscle relaxant. I can still see your leg spasming under the sheet. And I think you'll agree we don't need another episode of you falling into hysterics and ripping open your wounds." She watched as he picked up the pistol again, then returned to the bed and took a seat in the chair beside her; the pistol in his lap.
Hysterics? Maria felt her face heat up as she brought the cup to her lips. "It was a mild panic attack," she said softly over the cup. "Considering what I'd just been through I'd think a doctor would be more understanding."
She sipped the green watermelon smelling liquid but was surprised to find it tasteless.
"Oh I know what you've been through," Oskar replied with an exasperated sigh. He ran his free hand over his face, and Maria noted the stubble covering his chin and cheeks. He had been clean shaven the last time they'd met.
The implications set in. Some time had passed since she had teleported herself back to Nuln.
"You've been asleep for the past three days," he began, already answering her unasked question. "After you dropped in on Paul and bled all over everything between here and the stables, Antonio called on me to fix you up."
Maria opened her mouth, but he beat her to it. "We're still on the first floor of the inn, where Antonio and Raine sleep. This is their guest room, when family comes north to visit from Tilea." He gestured to the cup in her hands. "Keep sipping."
Maria sipped.
"While I'm sure you remember, you had three deep lacerations across your back, an arrow wound in your hip, and your leg had all the resemblance of a lamb after being thrown to the wolves. I stitched up your back and to a lesser degree your thigh and treated the puncture on your hip. Just this morning I removed the stiches in your back. The cuts are tender but have already closed. Your hip as well."
Oskar surprised her when he stood from his chair and pulled the blanket down her body until he could get a look at her leg. Normally Maria would have had a different reaction to a man brazenly looking over her near naked form (without an invite first) but this wasn't the first time she had been under a doctor's care. Came with the job.
Pistol still in his right hand, Oskar ran his left lightly over the bandages completely covering her left thigh. Maria winced when even that small touch caused her some pain, and her doctor sighed loudly when small sections of the white bandages turned red as some blood soaked through.
"Just as I feared, you tore something back open." He pulled the blanket back up to her waist to preserve some small measure of modesty. He sat back in the chair. "Keep sipping. When you're done, I'll change the bandages and get a look at the damage."
Maria kept sipping. Half the water was gone. She noticed she had lost some feeling in her toes. They weren't going numb, but she had to concentrate just to move them and feel the blanket covering her feet.
"That is the extent of the good news however."
She looked up from her cup. "There's bad news?" What was worse than her leg being torn into by a vargheist?
He looked like he was sucking on a lemon. "You used some of your magic to get yourself here, am I correct?"
She nodded.
"Which wind?"
"Ulgu, the wind of shadow."
"That matches the smoke Paul described after you collapsed onto the table… So, you drew on the winds of shadow to transport yourself from Wurtbad, all the way back here to Nuln?"
She nodded again, then sipped more of her drink.
"You are aware a journey of that distance is only possible for the most advanced wizards of the Grey Order?" Oskar asked. "How long have you had a connection to the winds?"
Maria thought on it. "Nearly two months…"
Oskar again released a loud sigh. He remained quiet as he just stared at her for a moment, shook his head, running a hand over his face, then just stared at her some more.
"The bad news, Shepard," he finally said, "is that your mind snapped under the strain. You took in too much power and you took it in too fast. To be very blunt, your brain exploded."
Maria raised an eyebrow. "My brain exploded."
"If we are forced to be technical about it the veins carrying blood through your brain burst." He raised a hand, made a fist, and then opened his fingers quickly. Pop. Just like that. "You bled quickly and profusely. It's no lie to say I performed a medical miracle when I used my own magic to heal your mind…"
He trailed off as Maria sipped the last of her drink. Oskar watched her empty the cup, then took it from her hands. He got up from his chair and walked to the side of the room so he could put it down on the dresser.
That relaxant was finally hitting her. Maria's body was feeling heavier and had gotten sluggish. It took her two attempts just to work her fingers and grab the blanket covering her. Good thing he had told her to sip the stuff. Gulping it down probably catapulted someone right to a drooling mess on the ground.
Oskar had turned to face her from beside the dresser. Despite her addled state she recognized the look in his eyes. He was struggling with something, and that something directly dealt with her. And it was something big, because he had never strayed far from the pistol that was even now still gripped in his right hand.
Despite all that, Maria had discounted the threat of being shot after she had gotten her omni-tool back and calmed herself down. It was crystal clear based on the way he was handling the weapon that Oskar had never even fired one in his life. He might honestly try to shoot her if she provoked him; but his reason for having one was bugging her more than that possibility occurring.
"I've trained to command the winds of Ghyran, the lore of life," Oskar began explaining to her. "If modern medicine fails me, I call on my magic. Aside from Antonio I've healed dozens of people who have suffered mortal wounds all over Nuln.
"Ghyran's power comes from life itself. Every plant, animal, and creature on this world makes up the greater whole of the living force that is the earth beneath our feet. It flows across the planet, congregating in rivers, streams, lakes and springs, and acts just as our blood flows through our bodies."
"Every living thing on this world has a portion of this magic inside them. It's how the lore of life got its name. It's how the wizards who study this magic can heal the injured." Oskar's gaze locked on hers. Anger and fear somehow mixed on his face. "Every living thing has this magic inside them."
Maria finally understood why he had the pistol. If he had been telling her this for the first time, she may have had a different reaction to the news, but instead all she did was relax her head against the pillows.
It seemed almost silly, but for a moment, he had her actually worried.
Maria offered him a smile. "You found out I don't have that spark of life within me."
"You knew?" He looked taken aback.
She shrugged. "Why do you think the vampires are trying to kill me? They can't drink my blood and they can't turn me into one of their kind. It's because I don't have that spark of life that I'm immune to the vampire curse."
Oskar just stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open.
"Oh… well I, um… The vampires truly can't drink your blood?"
"I mean, technically they can and have sunk their fangs into my neck," she said with a cringe, "but they don't heal or gain strength from doing so."
Oskar just continued staring at her which nearly pulled a laugh out of Maria. She attempted to point to the pistol still in his hand, but the relaxant made her arm sway wildly off the mark.
"You want to release the hammer on that thing before it shoots one of us by accident?"
He jumped slightly and looked at the pistol in his hand with a startled expression. Maria winced as she watched him fumble with the gun and then place it on the dresser behind him. Wiping a slight sheen of sweat from his forehead, Oskar returned to the chair beside the bed and sat heavily.
"I do have a question though," Maria said. "If I don't have that life magic, how can you use it to heal me?"
"Short answer, I can't." Maria frowned and he just sighed. "As I said it was a miracle. When I recognized the danger you were in from drawing on too much magic, I began to call on the winds and attempted to heal your mind. With your own natural spark of life nonexistent it proved impossible. I forced my own life force into you and used it to begin putting your brain back together. It was not a… comfortable experience, to say the least. For either of us."
He rubbed his forehead. "You began screaming and thrashing around forcing both Paul and Antonio to hold you down. As I continued the bleeding from your ears and nose worsened. A small amount even escaped from your eyes.
"It turned out that as my power worked its way across your brain, I was causing the same injuries I was attempting to heal. For every blood vessel I fixed another burst. My only options were to let you die or heal every single wound at once. So, I flooded your entire head with magic, and then tried to heal every injury as I rapidly pulled the power back from your mind. When I finished it left me exhausted and you nearly dead again."
Maria must have looked slightly shocked because Oskar nodded back at her. "As I said, a miracle." He then managed a small smirk. "Saving you has proven to be the most significant accomplishment of my life. If I were in the position to brag about it to my peers, you can bet I would be."
"Where does that leave my back and leg?" she asked.
Oskar shook his head. "I tried, but your body doesn't respond to the healing power of my magic. I should have fixed your wounds within the hour of you landing in Nuln. Instead, here we are three days later because I have been forced to use more traditional means.
"I suppose I could force the issue, as I did with your mind," he pondered as his eyes swept down to her leg. "But the odds are I'd do just as much damage trying to heal you. For now, I'd rather let you recover on your own. Your body has already proven to be far tougher than I originally thought. No one could have lost so much blood and still lived…"
His eyes rose back to hers. His next words hung heavily in the air.
"You shouldn't be alive at all without the spark of life rooted inside you."
Hence, the pistol. She defied the Empire's very definition and understanding of life and had spooked the hell out of the doctor tasked with saving her.
Maria could try to explain her past and the complicated operation that had brought her back from the dead, but thanks to Oskar's primitive understanding of the wider universe she figured it would probably make his brain explode just like hers nearly had. Better to keep things as simple as possible at this point.
Though her limbs felt heavy, Maria lifted her arm and held it palm up to Oskar. "Can you find a pulse?"
He hesitated but then took her wrist in his hand and rested two fingers over the vein.
"Found it?"
He nodded.
"My heart is beating. Your hand feels a little cold, which means my body is warm. I'm breathing and talking to you only because you made it possible." She smiled gratefully up at him. "Thank you for taking care of me."
It was a good try, but Oskar didn't look any more at ease. And Maria couldn't really blame the man. This wasn't something that could be fixed in a day. She was challenging deeply set beliefs within the Empire and wider world.
He did however force out his own smile. It didn't reach his eyes, but it proved he was trying. She'd take what she could get at this point.
"I should get a look at that leg now." Oskar went back over to his supplies while Maria settled further down on the bed.
"Does Antonio know about my whole alive without life thing?" she asked him.
"Yes, I told him after we had taken care of you."
Great. Awesome. That wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to. She closed her eyes as Oskar returned to the bedside and started to unwrap the bandages covering her thigh.
He must have sensed her mood. "Don't worry. I won't allow him to see you until the relaxant has left your system. Wouldn't be a fair fight with one of you still drugged."
Heh. That was nice of her doctor. "After you fix my leg can I get something to eat? I'm starving."
"Of course. You haven't eaten for three days though, so we'll have to start you off slowly with some light soup –"
Maria opened an eye. "Yeah, no, forget that. The only reason I'm not skin and bones right now is thanks to me being flat on my back. Just tell Raine and the kitchen staff I'm awake and ready to eat. They'll know what to bring me."
/ooooooo\
She didn't get a meal immediately after Oskar finished patching up her leg, mainly because the drugs in her body would have made it difficult at best to hold a fork and knife. Instead, at Oskar's urging, Maria stayed in bed and did her best to relax and maybe catch a few more hours of sleep until the medication he gave her ran its course.
Staying in the bed was the easy part. The relaxing bit, well, that was a little difficult.
Maria would have loved having the superpower to shut off her brain and sleep whenever or wherever she wanted, but that just wasn't how she was wired. There were too many things running through her mind.
First and foremost, he current situation. She was back in Nuln, and literally back in the same inn she had started her journey. This had been her intent of course, but the powerful city-state no longer had that overarching feeling of safety that it once had. Thick walls lined with guns meant nothing when her enemy could pass for normal and was living with the humans they fed upon. Thanks to her unorthodox method of travel, no one should know her current position within the Empire. But again, these were vampires Maria was up against. She knew next to nothing about them or the magics they possessed.
And speaking of magic, major problem number two raised its ugly head.
Vlad von Carstein explained how she was immune to their curse. Her blood lacked the spark of life they needed. According to the vampire lord, and her own doctor, every living thing on the planet had this spark of life.
Yet she didn't.
This begged the question, was Maria truly alive? She knew Liara had found her corpse on Alchera. She had read Miranda's files concerning her body's reconstruction. Scientifically speaking, she was alive.
But did she still have a soul? And if she didn't, what did that make her now?
Questions of that philosophical scale were absolutely, positively beyond her. And as Maria lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, it physically started to hurt as she thought about it. Her chest felt tight, her throat went dry, and she put her hands over her face before something perilously close to tears threatened to run down her cheeks.
This was not something she could afford to dwell on right now. Maria sucked in a shuddering breath and forced the thoughts to the back of her mind. When she got off this stupid world then she could sit the smartest people she knew down and have a serious conversation on the matter.
Liara, Miranda, Mordin of course, Samara and Thane could offer sound spiritual advice, probably Chakwas and maybe even Wrex. He had the years behind him and would often surprise her with his view on the galaxy whenever they talked back on the SR1 and then again on Tuchanka.
They would also need alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. None for her guests, they needed their minds sharp, but Maria would need to be seriously drunk to handle a conversation like that.
A mental image of that gathering flashed in her head. It made her smile and helped push back the sadness. She would see them all again. She just had to survive. And if there was one thing Maria Shepard excelled at, it was surviving.
She would make it back home.
Thanks to the vampires back in Wurtbad that just might be a little easier now too. That female vampire back in Wurtbad had tried to kill her using the very same red-hued magic wind/smoke Markos von Carstein had used to turn a living giant to nothing but bones in seconds.
Maria had felt the magic as it passed through her body and had fully expected to wither to dust in the vampire's grip. Instead, the magic did nothing. It passed through her harmlessly, much to the vampire's own surprise as well as her own.
Maria knew that necromancy was a forbidden form of dark magic used to control undead and make death itself a weapon for its caster. On the opposite side of the spectrum there was Oskar, a practitioner of the lore of life, magic used to heal and nourish all living things across the world.
Apparently, thanks to planet-sized complications in her past, Maria was immune to both kinds of magic.
Okay, maybe immune was going a bit far, she'd only experienced both forms of magic once and she wasn't too keen on testing things further, but if she was already safe from the vampiric curse and survived magic that could bring down a giant, then the odds were definitely in her favor.
Maria rolled over and hugged her pillow. This also meant that every time she became seriously injured on her journey home, she'd be relying solely on her cybernetics to heal herself.
That wasn't pleasant thought to fall asleep to.
/ooooooo\
Day 67
Maria sat at the rectangular table in the Valantina's private dining room. She had managed to get there by herself, with a heavy limp, and she had fallen gratefully into the chair, but she was walking again. Across from her sat Antonio and next to him sat Paul. Her fingers played with her now empty coin purse. Just two days ago there had been six gold crowns stashed inside.
"That's some messed up math Antonio," she grumbled at the crime boss.
Antonio didn't look any happier than she did. "Well I'll explain it slower," he said while raising his hand to count. "First we have the doctor's bill. Oskar ain't cheap. Even more so when his magic gets involved."
He raised a second finger. "Next we've got to consider all my men that witnessed you use your magic. I have to ensure their lips stay sealed and they don't go blabbing that some sorceress just popped into Nuln."
Maria turned her annoyed gaze to Paul. He raised his hands in defense.
"Don't look at me. I don't need the money."
"I trust Paul," Antonio declared, pulling Maria's ire off the man. "We've worked together for years. But I employ thieves, snitches, and murders. If I don't convince them it's in their best interests to keep their traps shut, then they might sell that information to my competitors, or worse still, the guard and witch hunters."
He then held up a third finger. "Next we got damages. Your blood soaked into everything, and since we're dealing with vampires, of all cursed things, they can smell a drop a mile away. I had to make sure everything and anything that has your blood on it was burned to ash."
Maria sulked back into her chair as she glanced down at herself. Elize's gift, the blouse, pants, and boots had all suffered the same fate. Thrown into the fireplace as soon as they were stripped off her. So technically now Maria didn't even have a set of clothes to her name. Currently all she was wearing was one of Raine's cotton sleeping gowns that hung to her ankles, and a pair of wool socks. Oskar had wanted her to avoid pants so he could more easily care for her injury.
All Maria cared about right now was that as soon as she was healed enough to wear pants, she was putting on some pants. She felt ridiculous.
Of course all the bandages Oskar had used were also thrown into the fire. This included the table she had landed on back in Antonio's secret room. They had chopped it to splinters and used the wood to feed the lounge's fireplace that night.
Antonio scowled as he held up a fourth and final finger. "And don't even get me started on the vampires! Vampires and vargheists! Of all the foul fiends you could have pissed off you decided to choose vampires! Do you have a death wish? I thought you were trying to get to Ulthuan! What the hell is taking you so long? The ocean is west of us. Wurtbad is completely the wrong way."
"Its not my fault!" Maria shot back. "I got to Marienburg, but the dark elves chose that very night to raid the port. I had to swim back to shore and then fight a black dragon! Then when everyone tells me the trade is going north, I followed it north. But my next ship collides with Albion and I run into more vampires! Some freaky magic portal sends me back to the Empire, I get kidnapped by vampires, and now I'm back in Nuln because two powerful vampire lords are feuding and I've somehow found myself in the middle of it."
"Well you've answered your own question Shepard," Antonio said. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "Where'd your money go? It went to me, and I put it to better use. My neck is on the line, as is my wife's. You're lucky I didn't just drop you bleeding in the river! You wouldn't be the first body pulled out of the waters."
Wow that was cold. Maria felt like she had just been slapped across the face. Though she shouldn't be surprised. This wasn't the Alliance and Antonio wasn't really a good guy to begin with. He was a crime boss for a reason. But she had hoped saving his life would have bought her just a bit more goodwill.
Of course back then they were just dealing with rival gangs. Now Maria was being hounded by vampires. She had barely survived them. What hope did an average man with a sword and a pistol have against one of their kind? Truth be told, she had put all of them in danger by coming back here.
But he was still a jerk for taking all her gold.
Maria switched tactics. "Fine. But I'm still trying to get to Ulthuan, and now that I'm literally penniless, wearing nothing but a borrowed nightgown, and my last horse is still stabled back in Wurtbad, its not going to be the easiest journey to restart. I'm stuck here at your inn until I'm healed up and prepared to get back on the road."
She knew Antonio caught on to her meaning when she saw the little light go off in his head. With a heavy sigh he leaned forward and rested his elbows onto the table.
"Blast it all woman…" he grumbled. "We'll work something out Shepard."
Maria smiled. "That's all I'm asking."
/ooooooo\
Day 71
In the near two months she had been gone autumn had descended on Nuln. It was noon without a cloud in the sky, but a chill still hung in the air. While traversing the wider main streets of the city, or along the docks lining the river, you could feel the stiff breeze that reminded everyone colder weather would soon follow.
The promise of snow didn't excite Maria, but the cool breeze on her face made jogging down the streets all the more bearable. Coming to the end of the block she rounded the corner and felt the familiar blast of wind whip up her hair and dry the small beads of sweat that had formed while she was stuck sandwiched between buildings on the narrower streets.
But while jogging was good for her health and helped keep the muscles in her thigh loose while they healed, the Empire was sorely lacking in suitable running shoes. Maria was forced to make do with a traditional pair of boots and two layers of socks to provide enough cushioning.
Hard boots, and a surprising number of loose cobble stones making up the street, made for a tricky run if someone wasn't paying attention.
The corner of a stone dipped into the street throwing off Maria's balance as soon as she put her foot on it. The sudden stress of supporting her weight caused her left leg to spasm in pain and give out from under her. This sent Maria tumbling into the trio of men that had been walking the opposite direction.
She may have over did it when she ended up taking the middle guy to the ground.
"Oh no! I'm – I'm so sorry!" She rolled off the man and tried to help him back up. Any curses they had in store for her died on the three men's lips when Maria tried to stand but instead fell back to the street with a cry of pain as she gripped her leg.
Now instead of a careless citizen the men only saw a blonde in distress.
"Gods my lady! Are you alright?" Two of them gripped her under the shoulders and lifted her back up. Maria hopped on her right foot as she practically hugged the man still supporting her.
"Yes, yes… noooo!" she moaned still hopping. "If I don't finish my run then the Sergeant will have my ass, and he knows my uncle the Captain, and if uncle finds out – that's the last thing I need!"
The man did a double take. "A lady like you is in the army?"
"It wasn't my choice!" Maria was practically whining. She let go of the man and started hopping away, still complaining loudly over her shoulder. "But he doesn't have a son, and with my father gone, uncle decides what's best for me. And what's best is apparently being worked and beaten to the bone every morning to night!"
After putting enough distance between herself and the three men with her wounded act, Maria began jogging normally. Rather than circling the block for the fourth time she took a right instead of a left and began heading back toward the center of Nuln.
She needed to exercise but running around in circles didn't require her first walking halfway across the city to the richer parts of town. It also didn't require she wear a yellow shirt with a heavy black leather vest, a near replica of the types of clothes she'd seen the soldiers of Nuln walking around in.
But put both those things together and after a harmless spill, Maria was suddenly three full coin pouches richer. Thanks to the uniform and 'poor me' routine she was confident none of the three men would even think to check their pockets until much, much later, when she was back on the other side of the city.
Maria smiled to herself, but the smile changed to a wince when a second loose stone nearly twisted her ankle and sent anther twinge of pain through her leg.
"Ow…ow…ow…"
These people needed to learn how to pave their damn streets.
/ooooooo\
Stairs sucked just as much as the streets Maria decided as she climbed the stone steps of the university. By the time she reached her desired floor it felt like a needle was being stabbed into her thigh. Thanks to Miranda settling for nothing but the best Maria's cybernetics were beyond exceptional, but there's still only so much pounding a body can take before the organic components start to let you know you've reached a limit.
She shouldn't have pushed the run so hard but laying around back at the inn with Raine and her maids fussing over her every time she moved wasn't her ideal way to spend the day. Antonio may not have liked having Maria fall back into his life in such a dramatic fashion, but his wife still remembered she had saved his life. The woman's attitude honestly surprised Maria. She was married to a crime lord. In such a case, opposites don't normally attract. Usually that meant both partners had a bit of an edge to them. Yet Raine had been nothing but accommodating.
Well if the woman wanted to baby her than Maria would put up with it. After all this meant free room and board. She wasn't about to screw that up.
She walked the halls of the university until reaching the room she was looking for. The silver numbers '241' marked the doors to the auditorium. Inside she could hear someone speaking, so she carefully opened the doors and slid inside. The auditorium's seats were filled with students as a familiar professor sat at a desk center stage.
Nikolaus Ebner paused only a moment in his lecture as he saw her slip into the room with the door closing behind her. Maria gave him a smile and a little wave as she dropped into an empty seat in the first row. She had to give him credit, despite her sudden appearance and unusual attire he never missed a beat as he just kept on talking to the class. Which served Maria just fine as she stretched out her left leg and settled back as best she could in the hard wooden chair.
Half and hour later and Maria was regretting her timing coming to see the professor. Who knew a lecture about aqueducts, watersheds and underground river systems could be so boring? Well, boring for her at least. A quick glance around the room showed everyone else nose deep in books and quills as they hurriedly took notes on the subject.
Finally, Nikolaus dismissed the class. She watched him sift through papers on his desk as the students filtered out. He glanced up at her over the glasses perched low on his nose.
"Last time you were in this room you were dressed as a witch hunter," still seated at his desk, he gave her a once over and looked faintly amused, "but the order saw you off the docks. Now you're back. And this time you look more like a soldier of Nuln. Tell me… is this outfit also part of Operation Fire, Cobra, Claw?"
Maria sighed and dropped her head into her hands. "Everything we talked about and you just happen to remember that specific part?"
He just chuckled. "An operation with such a convincing name like that? How could I forget?" He stuffed all his papers into a leather bag and started stacking books together. "I'm impressed. Your Reikspiel has gotten much better."
High praise from a professor. "Thank you. I've been practicing."
"So what brings you back to our university miss Shepard?"
Maria pushed out of her seat and joined Nikolaus at the desk. He frowned glancing down at her leg. "That looks painful. You been in a bit of a scuffle recently?"
Maria waved it away. "Don't worry about it." She rested her hip against the desk. Her expression became more serious. "I need a favor Nikolaus."
He shrugged up at her. "I don't know what a humble man like myself could do for you, but I'll try my best. What do you need?"
"I need some more books," she started.
Nikolaus spread his arms with a smile. "This is one of the greatest libraries in the Empire miss Shepard. I'm sure we have what you need. And may I add, you asking for books, really isn't anything new."
Maria didn't share in the humor. "I need the most accurate books you have detailing the lives and wars waged by Vlad von Carstein and Mannfred von Carstein." Nikolaus's expression paled as she continued. "I would also like any information you have on the Lahmian vampires who have been living inside the Empire since its founding."
Nikolaus choked on his next breath and fell into a coughing fit. He managed to get himself under control before Maria started to worry she may have just killed the old man.
"That's, uh…" he swallowed heavily as he pulled the glasses off his nose. He gestured to her leg. "A smart man would see you limp into his classroom; hear you ask for that type of information…
"Why do I get the feeling this study isn't purely academic in nature?"
"We both know you're a smart man Nikolaus." Maria gave him a few seconds to come to terms with that, then she said, "I know these are vampires we're talking about, but I'm not looking for theories here, I need actual proven facts. Whatever you've got, I want to take a look at it."
Nikolaus rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I suddenly have the urge to enjoy a stiff drink."
Maria nodded. "It's a normal reaction."
He shot her a look. "I don't drink."
"That's still normal." Maria leaned a hand on his desk. "Does your library have the type of information I'm looking for?"
Nikolaus drummed his fingers on the desk. "We do." He looked up at her with a more guarded expression. "That information is restricted, however. Even as a tenured professor I can't just waltz down to read up on such sensitive materials without just cause."
"Who does have access?" she asked.
Nikolaus sighed. "That's the type of question that makes me want to drink even more." He put his glasses back on and stood from the desk, gathering together his bag and a few books. "The only reason I am entertaining this discussion with any seriousness is thanks to the fact you once saved my life."
Maria smiled as she pushed off from his desk. "Yes, that skaven assassin was a bit of a handful." But she didn't want that to be the only reason he was working with her. "Nikolaus, I promise, I'm not trying to get you or anyone else in trouble, but I need to see that information. I won't even leave the university grounds while I look them over."
"Very well miss Shepard. But unless you suddenly get a promotion," he raised his eyebrows at her outfit, "you won't be getting what you want this time. Only ranking officers of the army or the Elector Countess's guard have the right to ask for what you want and simply get it."
Drat. That would be tricky. "Anyone else?"
When Nikolaus looked at Maria this time he had a very satisfied smirk on his face.
"You could always be a sigil holding member of the order of the silver hammer."
/ooooooo\
Maria limped her way, without trying to limp, from the university back to the Laughing Bear Inn. Along the way she contemplated her options. This planet was finding creative ways to screw with her.
In order to learn more about the vampires Maria had to either join the Empire's military and immediately be promoted to general, or she had to stumble across another silver badge that marked her as a witch hunter. Both didn't seem very likely to happen in the near future.
Unless Maria decided to get creative as well.
Or she could just drop the whole thing. True it sucked not knowing what she was up against, but what did she hope to learn other than two of the most powerful vampires to have ever lived… or un-lived, what was she supposed to call it?… were back and had her in their sights.
But then there were the Lahmians. While their Queen had Nathalie stop by and say hello, it seemed there was dissension in their ranks, and a few others had no problem switching sides. How many more from that vampiric bloodline were willing to betray their Queen and try to kill her?
At this point it seemed best to do some research, she decided.
She walked into the Laughing Bear Inn and headed straight for the bar and lounge. Only a couple hours past lunch the place wasn't busy. One man drinking at the bar, another two sitting together at a table munching down crackers, beers in hand. She recognized all of them, and knew each was armed, including the man working behind the bar.
"Good afternoon Paul." Maria worked off her black vest as she took a seat at the bar and handed it over to him. "Thanks for the vest. Worked like a charm."
Paul just offered her a noncommittal grunt.
"Hmm. Is this because Antonio has you stuck serving drinks all day?" She looked around the lounge. "Interesting business plan, filling his inn and bar with his own people. Though I suppose his payment does make its way back into his pockets faster."
All four men worked for Antonio. He had kept at least that many people in plain sight within the Laughing Bear Inn ever since the day Maria fell back into Nuln and told him about her undead troubles. Apparently, it had put him a bit on edge.
The man at the bar let out a grunt of a laugh. Paul just released a heavy sigh.
"Okay. Can I get an orange juice?"
"No more orange juice," Paul replied.
She frowned. "I had one this morning."
Paul settled both his hands on the bar and leaned forward. "Shepard… Antonio's cutting you off. You're drinking up all his orange juice and he can't afford it."
Maria's jaw dropped. "What? He's only giving me a pass on meals. I've paid for every drink I've ordered at this bar!"
"And every drink you've ordered for the past three days has been an orange juice," Paul replied sounding exhausted over the whole thing. "They grow back in Tilea. Do you know how much it costs to ship them this far north?" Before Maria could respond, he added in a hushed whisper, "And smuggling them isn't any cheaper. Antonio's inn is known as one of the few places in all of Wissenland willing to import and serve oranges, and you've been taking them all for yourself."
"If I'm paying for it, then I wouldn't think it matters," Maria ground out.
Paul just threw up his arms. "That's what I said. But we're all a little strung out now that we've got vampires breathing down our necks, so I think you can forgive him for this and order something else for the next few days."
This was ridiculous. If they had orange juice, and she was willing to pay for said orange juice, the she should get her damned orange juice!
"Fine," Maria shot back icily. "Where is Antonio by the way?" Give him a piece of her mind.
"He's in a business meeting." Paul reached over and slid one of the bowls filled with the crackers in front of her. "Cracker?"
Maria took one and bit it in half.
"Drink?" he asked, barely hiding a smirk.
"An apple mead," Maria ordered, "if you can spare the apples. And wipe that grin off your face."
She had clearly spent to much time at the Laughing Bear Inn. They had figured out the easiest way to her was through her stomach.
Less than an hour later before Maria could even finish her drink Antonio came walking into the lounge. And he surprised her. So much so that she spit up a mouthful of crackers.
Normally Maria saw him in regular outfits, nice but nothing out of the ordinary. Now he was wearing an embroidered brown suit, black vest, shined black boots, he was even carrying a cane and had a brown bowler hat.
Maria had to take a quick drink to recover as Antonio made his way up to the bar. He placed his cane and a stack of folded papers in front of himself.
"That must have been some business meeting Antonio. Where were you, at the countess's palace?"
He took the chair beside her and thanked Paul for the beer he didn't even need to order. It payed to be the boss.
Antonio frowned deeply. "You think I'd wear this to see the Countess? She'd have thrown me out on my ass before we even exchanged pleasantries." He slid the papers over to her. "Take a look at this."
Maria unfolded the papers and immediately recognized the print. She couldn't read much but these were hard to miss when they were being sold at nearly every other street corner. It was the city-state's newspaper. She had ignored them all her first time in Nuln because she couldn't read without the help of her omni-tool, and because there wasn't much point in learning the local news when she had no intention of sticking around.
"I can either use my magic bracelet to translate for me or you can just tell me what I should know," Maria informed him. "Do you want me doing that here in the open?"
He huffed. "You spent all that time learning how to talk but never how to read. Magic won't solve all your problems."
Maria shrugged. "I don't know, everything's worked out for me so far. In a way."
Antonio just huffed again, then he flipped the first page over and pointed to a fairly wide and long column of words. One word near the top stuck out like a sore thumb.
Wurtbad.
"Oh."
Paul leaned over to glance at the paper.
"Yes, that was my reaction when I first saw it." Antonio took another sip of his beer. "I'll catch you up. Things in Wurtbad are even more complicated than we thought. The witch hunters are having a field day. Vampires are everywhere again. Just our luck…" He took a longer drink.
Paul let out a whistle. "You weren't kidding."
Maria looked between the two men. "Mind filling me in?"
Antonio set his beer down. "The night of the attack there were only a few witnesses to tell what happened. Two noblewomen, Lady Greta and Lady Carlotta, along with their knights, happened to be passing by while vampires and vargheists assaulted the inn. Risking their own lives, they sent their men into the building to fight off the fiends. The vargheists were killed. Along with one of the vampires. A second vampire escaped."
That was enough for Maria to already know where this was going.
"That is such bullshit!" she pushed out from her chair and angrily paced the floor in front of the bar. Those bitches were framing her for the attack! "Did the 'fair ladies' of Wurtbad happen to catch the name of the vampire who escaped?"
"They did," Antonio replied remaining calm while Maria seethed behind him. "They had a description of you and everything. Blonde hair, fair skin. Even said you were brazen enough to tell them your name. Maria Shepard. A vampire of Sylvania. For the first day after the attack you were the most wanted woman in Stirland."
Maria paused mid-step and turned back to Antonio.
"What do you mean for the first day?"
Antonio had the nerve to keep her waiting as he took anther drink. "Well this is where things get interesting," he said licking his lips. "According to the article the night after Lady Greta and Lady Carlotta told their stories Wurtbad suffered another attack. No one heard it, no one saw it, but when morning came Lady Greta was found dead outside her home. She was stripped naked, she had claws for fingers and a monstrous face with two long fangs in her mouth. All her knights were dead as well. Only her servants survived. The witch hunters discovered that Lady Greta had been a vampire all along. When they went to Lady Carlotta's home, they found the place nearly destroyed with blood covering the walls. Of Lady Carlotta or any of her men, her household, there was no trace.
"Needless to say, this put all of their original testimony in doubt. Maria Shepard is no longer a suspect and merely just a person of interest. Along with half the Empire. They are a paranoid bunch."
Now Maria finished her drink as she chugged what remained and breathed a sigh of relief. That could have gone bad for her real quick. Her only saving grace was her previous meeting with the Reiksmarshal and Supreme Patriarch. They would be able to vouch for her character if she had remained a suspect. Of course their word only helped if they knew where she was.
"Wurtbad's in a tizzy," Antonio finished, taking a quick sip of beer. "All this talk and vampires appearing dead outside homes. If a respected noblewoman can be a fiend, who else?"
Maria raised an eyebrow up at him. "Did you honestly just say tizzy?"
Antonio laughed, surprising both Maria and Paul as they shared a look. This was the most relaxed either of them had seen the man since Maria had returned.
"I did, didn't I?" He shrugged as he stood from his seat, grabbing his cane off the bar. "There was some drinking after my meeting to celebrate the deal. I may have over done it a bit." He flashed them a smile over his shoulder as he left the lounge. "Don't tell Raine."
The man still seated at the far end of the bar laughed. "I love drunk Antonio. You just never know who you're dealin' with. Maybe now he'll loosen up and let us get back to serious work."
Paul shot the man a glare. "Wurtbad may be a whole province away but we still got vampires here in Nuln. Stop whining. You get payed to guard the place; you guard the place. You get me?"
The man raised a hand in defeat, nodding as he munched on another cracker. "Settle yer'self down Paul, I was just talking."
Hm, Paul really did rank pretty high in the criminal food chain. Maria would keep that info in mind for future reference as she pulled his attention back to the paper.
"Does the article say how Lady Greta was killed?"
Paul took the paper in hand and scanned the page.
"Yup. Broken neck." He winced. "Head twisted all the way around. Wow, that's… something, especially for a vampire."
Maria had to agree. "What about the knights?"
"Downright mundane by comparison. Just a sword wound through the heart." Paul looked up from the paper. "Each of them, right through the heart. Nothing else."
Maria absorbed that little bit of intel. But one big question remained. Who killed the vampires responsible for attacking her? And would they be a friend or a foe if Maria ever met them face to face?