Chapter 2
House of Secrets
Julna awoke to whispers. This was not unexpected; his army of shades was constantly sending him information as they performed reconnaissance across all of Ravnica, but these whispers were louder. Someone was deliberately trying to awake him.
As it was always dark within Duskmantle, it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night, but it did not matter to Julna; he slept when he needed to, which seemed more often as he continued to investigate the leylines he had activated in the Tenth District. He awoke slowly, trying to delay the inevitable, but the shade would not be denied. He opened his eyes and saw a low-class shade staring into his face. "We have information, Lord Buras," it said, "The Azorius Senate will be discussing a new decree today."
"And why would I care what those pompous fools decree?" Julna bitingly replied.
"Because this edict discusses restrictions on the Izzet's research resources; it could give us some information on just what they're trying to do with these leylines."
Julna was fully awake now. "Inform Falderin to come here at once. He must be at my side. And inform Master Lazav of my departure," he said quickly. Finally, a lead! The Izzet were maddeningly covert about their operations; Julna had traveled far and wide in search of information, he had spoken to Gruul beastmasters and even the new Boros guildleader, Aurelia, but no one seemed to have witnessed the Izzet's endeavors; all the Dimir knew was that the leylines formed a kind of maze that connected all ten guilds. How unusual that his lead should come from the Azorius Senate. It did not matter; information was information.
As Julna exited Duskmantle, a shadow flitted across the doorway and attached itself to his feet. Good. Now he could call Falderin whenever he needed to, and Falderin could bring him any shade that he felt needed Julna's personal attention.
As he stepped into the sunlight, he could vaguely see, with the help of Falderin's eyes, the leylines as they snaked just under the surface of Ravnica. Falderin had suspected that the Azorius created them, but what was their purpose? Hopefully, Julna was about to find out.
Unfortunately, pointless politics gave Julna an immense headache. He had been sitting in the main senate-house of New Prahv for the last three hours, and he was now convinced that his shades had failed him. The Azorius lawmages had spent the time arguing over whether slaughterhorn goring should be prohibited to spare the poor Orzhov thrulls any more discomfort.
There was nothing about Izzet resources or anything good for the investigation.
My shades must have been mistaken, Julna thought, I shall have Falderin upbraid them severely; they should have made sure before they came to me.
He got up and left, not willing to listen to the drudgery down on the floor for any longer.
Mirko peered down from a balcony high above the view of anyone else in the senate-house and watched Julna leave. He smiled to himself.
So those shades are much more easily fooled than I thought. He didn't even think to examine their minds for signs of tampering, he thought delightedly, Lord Lazav will not be pleased. Hopefully this will make me his favorite servant and drop Buras out of favor. He slyly inched out of the house, obliterating any memories that he had ever been seen there from anyone who glimpsed his departure.
Julna aimlessly wandered through New Prahv, not even paying attention to where he was going. Rather than this being a mistake, it was necessary; there was no other way for him to return to Duskmantle. As almost every room in New Prahv looked the same, so it was not long before he had no idea where he was. He smiled and pulled out the guidestone that Lazav had given him two months ago when he had been recruited into the House. Holding it up and drawing blue mana from the fountains in the courtyard, he whispered, "I am lost and in need of information." The words had to be spoken with absolute truth, or the ingrained spells in the stone would not activate.
Even with the words, the spell did not work. With a curse, Julna realized his folly: the law magic surrounding New Prahv was blocking the spell, and the alarm hexes would certainly have been tripped by the attempt. Stowing the guidestone in a pocket, he lifted up his ever-present cloak and began chanting, pulling massive amounts of mana from the fountains outside. With a flourish, Julna vanished, even as Arrester Lavinia, flanked by a pair of deputies, came running into the office. All they saw was a shimmer as Buras disappeared.
He reappeared in the Ninth District, near Sunhome, but he could not tell exactly where. Convincing himself that he was "lost enough", he pulled out the guidestone again and repeated the words.
The shimmering blue leylines appeared beneath his feet, leading through an alleyway to the left. He followed them, being very careful to avoid the patches of fungus that could hide any hidden Golgari menaces. Twisting into a busy street, he sent out a few medium-strength shades to make himself inconspicuous to any who saw him.
Once he had begun investigating the leylines, Julna very quickly discovered something important: the leylines weren't just in the Tenth District; they spanned the entire city. This was quite useful; Julna had memorized almost every nook and cranny of the Tenth District and it was becoming very hard to speak the guidestone's activation with any sense of truth. Now he could go anywhere and activate the leylines.
He followed the lines for several miles, moving faster than any human thanks to his etherium infused body. He didn't fancy himself an artificer, (Julna had worked much more with stone than metal, back when he was a lithomancer), but he had to say that this body was better than he could have ever dreamed. His only hope in creating it had been to stop himself from dying from Sorin's blood curse, but his idea to use etherium instead of steel was pure genius. He had met Tezzeret once when he had been searching for Jace Beleren to stop him from releasing the Eldrazi, and the two of them had discussed many of the differences and similarities between stone and metal. Tezzeret had even given Julna the location of some of his etherium caches (with some help from the suspicion-numbing agent in his drink). He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but after Sorin wrongfully cursed him after the Eldrazi had been released, he realized etherium was perfect. It would make him immune to disease and bodily curses; the increased physical abilities were an added bonus.
He approached an innocent looking alleyway that had an arch at the end, leading into another alleyway; the arch was glowing very faintly blue. As he came near it, two vampires dropped down from unseen crevices and a pressure was put on his mind, trying to convince him to turn back and forget. At other times, Julna would have commended them for their mildly challenging hold on his mind, but he had just spent three hours in the Azorius Senate, so he had no patience now. With a few words, Falderin detached himself and placed the week's password into their minds in the most painful way possible. The two vampires doubled over as if punched, their minds reeling from a being of such high power possessing their minds. One choked out, "We apologize, Lord Buras. The Arrester Lavinia and her deputies have gotten extremely close as of late, and Master Lazav told us to double our telepathic efforts, so we had to practice on someone. If we had known your experience of the day, we would have refrained. You are always welcome at Duskmantle."
Julna whisked past them without replying, passing under the arch without consequence. He strode down the hallway, not altogether prepared on how Lazav was going to react to failure. He had not wanted his chief spy so deep in enemy territory in the first place, and to find out that there was no reason for it…. Well, it wouldn't be pretty.
The alleyway opened up into the now familiar chamber containing Duskmantle and the mana-rich waters around it. The water contained a hidden passageway that led to the door. This was where Falderin had been created, and Julna had fond memories of this place because of that.
But the person who was waiting inside…
He walked cautiously up to the imposing door with the Dimir symbol burned into the center and knocked once. That was enough to alert him to his presence.
The door swung open without a sound, probably the work of a telekinetic sentry. Julna walked in, sending a shade to inform the hidden sentry to Julna's identity. The sentry jumped audibly at the touch of the shade.
Julna enjoyed that. No one had expected someone to become Master Lazav's chief spy so quickly, but Julna was unlike anyone in the House. Even Lazav didn't know that he was a planeswalker, and hardly anyone understood just how powerful umbreomancy really was. No one knew just how extensive Julna's abilities were, and no one wanted to find out. Once, a vampire had come up and started asking questions about what Julna could do (probably at Mirko's insistence), but that had quickly stopped after Julna had introduced the vampire to Falderin.
He ascended the spiral staircase that led to every room in Duskmantle. Halfway up was the Umbreomancers' Sanctum (Now Julna's lair), but that wasn't where he was headed. Lazav wanted reports after every one of Julna's excursions. He was going to Lazav's chamber.
He reached the final landing and entered the room without knocking. Lazav already knew that Julna was here; knocking was a formality that there wasn't time for. Julna wanted to get this over with as quick as possible.
Sitting in a simple chair was Sorin. Or so it seemed. Julna knew it was Lazav; he loved tormenting Julna with enemies from his past. He had received this knowledge of Julna's demons thanks to Mirko Vosk, who had invaded Julna's mind at the moment they had met.
"Well, Buras, do you have something to tell me?" Lazav said, "You did not seem happy when you came in here."
"The expedition was… unfruitful," Julna said softly.
Lazav's eyes narrowed. "Define 'unfruitful'."
Julna sighed and said, "There was nothing helpful to the investigation. My shades were wrong. I apologize Lord Lazav. I shall-" Julna doubled over in pain; Falderin was calling him. Julna spat out the five command words, and his shadow detached from his feet and formed into Falderin, who had accosted a shade of lower degree. "I was told by this lower-shade to bring him straight to you, Master. He claims to have information regarding the Azorius and the leylines."
Still under the terrifying gaze of Lazav, Julna motioned for the shade to begin its story.
"I was wandering through the shadows of New Prahv," it said, "When I saw your escape from the Arrester Lavinia. Seeing that you had left, I was about to follow you when an Azorius hussar came and told Lavinia to report to Isperia, the Azorius Guildmaster. Curious as to why an arrester was needed by the Supreme Judge, I followed her, being very careful to not be noticed. There, I witnessed a discussion between the two that revealed much. The Azorius know about the leylines, though I do not believe they know that the Azorius themselves placed them, and they plan to follow them across all of Ravnica. Niv-Mizzet has discovered that the lines form an enormous Maze that traverses the entire city. No one knows where it ends, but it seems the Guilds are choosing champions to follow it until they find the Maze's end. Isperia then gave a new sword to the Arrester and proclaimed her the Azorius champion, telling her that the weapon would assist her greatly with her law magic. They then brought in a platoon of unruly Rakdos cultists, and she put them all in magical cages just by raising that sword. Then Master Falderin found me, and I saw no more." He bowed and stepped away. Falderin took him and led him to the Sanctum where all the shades were now, waiting to be summoned through shadow by Julna's magic.
Julna looked at Lazav and said, "Well, I guess the trip wasn't a waste after all. This is very valuable information."
"Yes, it is," said Lazav, "But unfortunately for you, Buras, it is information I have already heard. The only thing I did not know was Lavinia's part in all this. That Arrester is now VERY dangerous."
Julna flinched. "Then you have chosen a champion then?"
Lazav looked at him and said, "Yes, I have."
Julna bowed. "I am honored that you have-"
"I have not chosen you, Buras," Lazav laughed, "After your near-failure? You failed to bring me the important knowledge that the leylines are more than they appear. For bringing me this knowledge, I awarded Mirko Vosk the honor of being House Dimir's champion. He shall run the maze, and you shall stay behind to admonish your shades for being so easily fooled. Law magic has addled them, and you would do well to prepare them for these kinds of things in the future. Now leave me before I am forced to wipe your memory." He waved a negligent hand in a sign of dismissal.
Fuming, Julna left the top room and began chanting, raising Urza's cloak as the runes pulsed brighter. With a flourish of his cloak, he disappeared from Duskmantle and reappeared in his old home in the Tenth District. He had not been here since he had started working for the Dimir about six weeks earlier, though his servant Melena was keeping things clean for his return. He noticed it was night in this part of the city, so, since he did not want to wake her, he vented his anger by smashing all the shadows in the room. The sound wasn't as satisfying, but it was enough. Sitting down in a chair, Julna considered what to do. He did not want to work for the Dimir anymore, not with Mirko Vosk stealing all his glory.
Wait a minute...
Julna summoned the original shade who had misinformed him of the Azorius' discussions. Searching through the shade's mind, he found that the shade had NOT witnessed the Azorius planning to discuss Izzet materials, they were going to discuss slaughterhorn goring. Someone had tampered with the shade's memory! Judging by the dark way the tampered memories were portrayed and the subtlety of the changing, Julna was pretty sure that Mirko Vosk was the one responsible.
Now Julna knew what he was going to do. He would run the Maze himself, and using Urza's cloak and his umbreomancy, he would beat Mirko, Lavinia, and anyone else who stood in his way.
But Mirko's mind abilities were incredibly powerful, and Falderin would not be able to defend Julna's mind on a daily basis if Mirko found out what he was doing. Julna needed an incredibly powerful mind mage as an ally.
And he was pretty sure he knew exactly where to find one.
