Chapter 9

Downwards

The port Regis led them to belonged to a small town called Reyne. The closer they got to the capital, however, the more the Raven were thinking Thaler's concept of the country was flawed. Reyne was a good example for that. It was small, but the town was definitely wealthy. Other than in Stonewash, there were very few Balaians here.

Despite the small size of the town, its infrastructure was impressive. It even had a bathhouse Regis threatened to take Ilkar to. The mage had paled visibly at that suggestion and declared they didn't have the time for that nonsense.

When they got to the port, it turned out they would have plenty of time. The ship carrying passengers to Lan Exeter and back to the southernmost port in Reyne would depart in six days. It had just left, they were told, a few hours ago, now they had to wait for it to come back.

The inn Regis brought them to was off the town square. Before it stood two huge yew trees, one of them covered in the large red berries. Regis approached and looked at them. 'I wonder, after the frost in the past nights … Hmm.' He opened the door with a bang and stepped inside, followed by the rest of them. 'Riatsu, I hope you've got room for us.'

A tall elf behind a counter dropped the cup he was holding and stared at them. 'Regis?'

The vampire smiled. 'The one and only. I know it's been a long time, but there you go. You have rooms for us?'

'Three. Anything else? Despite the usual.'

Regis scratched his head. 'Actually, yes. A knapsack, wormwood, anise, anything else of the sort.' Shani had managed to find some, but not enough to cover him from a curious dog. Riatsu grinned. 'There's more. A fine needle, hempen thread, as thin as you can get it, and strong alcohol. Bring me foreshot.'

'Foreshot,' Riatsu echoed.

'The first, very concentrated alcohol …'

'I know what it is, Regis, I'm just worried why you'd want it.'

Regis tilted his head. 'As a disinfectant. What do you think? Any of these things a problem?'

'When do you need it?'

'Six days at most.'

'Not a problem. And the usual, you said.'

'For me and them, if they're brave enough.' Riatsu grinned and left. Regis ambled to a large table in the corner of the room.

'What's the usual?' Hirad asked.

Regis smiled mysteriously and said nothing. Thaler and The Unknown discussed their route with a map between them, while the others got into a conversation about architecture. The usual, it turned out, was white bread, butter, and jam, all of it in raw amounts. While Hirad was wondering why eating would require bravery, Ilkar was already spreading the pink jelly on a slice of bread. 'Do you think,' he asked with a grin, 'we're stupid, Regis?'

The vampire smiled. 'No, certainly not. But people have asked me multiple times if I were suicidal, and not all of them were stupid.'

'You could eat the entire tree without consequences, I daresay.'

'Probably. But I am not going to tell everyone that.'

Ilkar contemplated his bread. 'Can I trust the cook?'

'Yes, Ilkar.' Regis cleared his throat. 'This, my friends, is made of yew berries. The cook is very cautious, and I assure you it is safe to eat.'

Thaler raised his eyebrows. 'Interesting. I know you can eat the berries, but jam …'

Shani eyed it suspiciously. 'I hope they don't cook the berries before removing the stone.'

Regis shrugged. 'Trust me, no one has died of this jam here, or even had an upset stomach. It's a speciality of the house. Very complicated to make, but delicious. I wouldn't ask you to eat it if I considered it unsafe.' He helped himself. 'Hot meals aren't common here in the evenings, for that we'll have to wait until noon tomorrow. Oh, Riatsu! Is the thermal bath available?'

The elf raised his eyebrows. 'Yes, sure. Since when do you care about that?'

'How deep is that water?'

'Deeper than you're tall.'

Regis nodded. 'Perfect. Well, Ilkar, you're in luck.'

Ϡ

Regis had to be a welcome guest, for at his request, the thermal bath was closed to anyone else for the time. He had the swimming skills of your average fish. He did point out that after a few days practising with him Ilkar wouldn't be able to swim anywhere near as good, but he would at least know that he could stay afloat long enough to survive an accident.

The six days passed quickly, and they boarded the Exeter Mercury that carried them north along the coastline to Lan Exeter. As soon as they approached, Regis dragged them all to the bow of the ship to look at the city. Thaler stood with a smirk and folded arms while the rest of them, including Shani, stared.

The spy shook his head. 'Are you from Kovir, Regis?' The vampire, now smelling so strongly of herbs and roots Thaler wondered if he'd rolled in them, smiled.

'No. But this is a sight to see. Don't you think?'

'A sight I've seen before. But to be perfectly honest, it is beautiful.'

'Wait. You knew what this place is like all the time?' The Unknown asked with a frown.

Shani snorted. 'There are very few things Thaler doesn't know. It's his job, Unknown. And pretending to be ignorant is, too.' She looked at the Temerian. 'Always on the lookout, never give away who you are, what you feel or think or know. Who knows who could use it against you.'

'Old habits die hard,' Ilkar saved him to his own surprise. 'And I'm tempted to believe this wasn't secrecy as much as a joke. Thaler knew that Lan Exeter looked like this. He wanted to see us gaping. Like Regis.'

'Thaler didn't know we were going to Lan Exeter,' Thaler said. 'You're right, all of you. To a point. Yes, I wanted to see you gape at the sight as soon as I knew we were going here. But Shani's also right. I'm getting old and paranoid.'

'You knew perfectly well that Lan Exeter is the winter capital.' Regis's voice was very quiet. 'Was there a reason why you suggested Pont Vanis?'

'I tested you.' The spy looked squarely at him. 'I wanted to know if your mannerisms and all that are just swagger. I will, however, write a letter to a friend in Pont Vanis. There's something I need to know, but there's no reason why I have to do that myself.'

'Is Lan Exeter our final goal?'

Thaler nodded. The typical smells of a port were already in the air, an assault on their senses. 'For now. I don't know what we'll find here, though.'

Shani leaned onto the railing. 'Well, I expect whatever organisation there might be will have its seat in the capital, using some dark den for a meeting place, hiding amongst small time criminals. And since in Kovir it's winter most of the time, I think it's Lan Exeter.'

Regis laughed softly. 'Deduced with all the brilliance of an Oxenfurt graduate. But wouldn't a secret organisation be somewhere less populated?'

'No, Shani's got this right,' Thaler told him. 'If I want to discuss something secret, I do it in the loudest inn I can find. That's a lot less conspicuous and more difficult to overhear.'

Regis raised his eyebrows. 'Clearly, I wouldn't make a good spy.'

Ϡ

Lan Exeter was magnificent. Built entirely on water, it had no streets but a network of channels and bridges. Boats carried passengers where they wouldn't walk, past slim houses and underneath washing lines hung across the channels.

Their stay was in a tall house with a very narrow front. It reached deep into the back. Their hostess was an elderly lady with friendly eyes but quite a bit of scepticism towards armed people. It took Shani, Regis, and Erienne's joined efforts to convince her that they meant no harm. Thaler handed her a letter he wanted sent to Pont Vanis, which she agreed to do, albeit grudgingly. She pointed them out to a few inns, all of which Regis told them were rather expensive. He also said it didn't matter, but that he strongly recommended trying dinner off the path of visitors to see the true face of Lan Exeter beyond the splendour.

Since they had to wait for an answer to Thaler's letter before doing anything else, they didn't run out of time to find out what Lan Exeter had to offer. When the answer finally came, two weeks later, it wasn't what the Temerian had wanted to see. That was made clear by the thunderstorm that erupted when he read it. When he had calmed down some, The Unknown asked what had happened.

'The ploughing bastard refuses to help. He says he regrets to inform me that he can't be of any assistance, and that I'd best let this rest.'

'Who did you write to, and what?'

Thaler took a deep breath. 'Trina's husband, the man who swore her undying love. He was enraged, back then. He either stopped caring or he's scared. I don't know which. He said he would ask a private eye for help, and I wanted to know if he had done that and what results that had yielded. He refused to let me know any of these things, but he writes that he is certain the organisation I am looking for has a foothold in both capitals, and probably mages that communicate.'

Erienne frowned. 'I don't know how mages communicate over distances here, but for us that was very difficult. I think it's a lot of trouble. Why not have just one base?'

'Like this you don't lose everything if one base is found and rooted out. You still have the other. They must have two mages at least, one at each base. And there's the only useful information the son of a bitch gave me: a possible location for their base here, in Lan Exeter.'

The Unknown raised his eyebrows. 'Where?'

Thaler huffed. 'Where else? In the catacombs. Someone should go and check.'

Hirad rose. 'Well, let's go, then.'

Ilkar put a hand on the barbarian's shoulder and put him onto his seat. 'Not like that. We're too many.'

'The Raven doesn't work apart.'

Ilkar rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'I'd agree with you, but we cannot all go on a reconnaissance mission. Two or three of us will do.'

'I'll go,' Thaler said at once. 'I'm the only one who has some clue on how to do something of this sort.'

The Unknown nodded. 'Agreed, although some of us may have the experience you need. Who do you want to take with you?'

'The vampire.'

'The vampire thanks kindly, but passes. I don't like mages.' Erienne raised her eyebrows. 'Present company excepted. Apart from that, I have a name, spy. I'd ask you to use it in the company of strangers. Alone you're welcome to call me whatever you like.'

'I'll go,' Shani said quietly.

'No,' Regis and Thaler said at the same time.

She glared at them.

'We need you to be safe in case someone gets injured,' Regis said reasonably.

'Well, you can do that. You don't have to protect me.'

'I'm not taking you, that's final. Sirendor, would you be willing?'

Sirendor nodded. 'Of course. What about Ilkar?'

Thaler looked at the elf. 'Don't get this wrong, but you're a mage without magic. I don't think so.'

'He's right. In an emergency I might intuitively try a CloakedWalk and either achieve nothing or get hurt. I need time to adjust to the circumstances and practice fighting.'

'Asking a thief sound completely far-fetched to you?' They all stared at Will. Hirad burst into laughter.

Thaler nodded. 'You and Sirendor Larn then. Tonight. Just reconnaissance, nothing more worrisome than that.'

Regis frowned. 'Thaler, you are aware that the place is probably infested with …' The spy cut across him.

'Don't lecture me, vampire. If you're too much of a coward to enter keep quiet.'

Regis raised his hands in defence and said nothing.

Ϡ

Thaler led the way to the catacombs, revealing quite some knowledge of the city. They walked behind what looked like a temple. There, Thaler stopped before a crypt. 'Could you open that door for us, Will?' Will could. 'The crypts in Lan Exeter's main graveyard are all connected to the catacombs. Kovir used to be a dependency of Redania. It also had Redanian burial rites. Now cremation has made its way throughout the Northern Kingdoms, but back then, people were just buried. And in Kovir, they did that in Sarcophagi that still rest in the catacombs. Now of course, they're cremated and the urns can be found in the crypts.' Thaler's voice, although quiet, echoed loudly in the enclosed space. Will felt a slight shiver and scolded himself inwardly. There was nothing here that should worry him. Only corpses.

Will felt eyes on him and exchanged a glance with Sirendor. Regis had taken them aside later that night and had told them that the catacombs were a necropolis, and that in any necropolis you could run into ghouls, graveirs, and other sorts of monsters including vampires that weren't quite like Regis. He had also said that since there was some sort of secret organisation with a mage working in the catacombs it wasn't likely anything lived there, but had asked them to be alert. They heard a clicking sound behind them and turned. There was nothing. Thaler cleared his throat. 'There's supposed to be a door leading to the catacombs somewhere. We should look, but I suggest we stay together.'

'Agreed.' Sirendor checked his sword. 'Wholeheartedly.'

'Afraid of corpses?'

Sirendor gave Thaler a challenging look. 'No, but maybe of the things you neglected to mention.'

Thaler huffed. 'Remind me to stake that monster when we get back. There's nothing here. Do you think a lodge of any description would work in place infested with necrophages?'

'Necrophages,' Sirendor echoed. 'Something else? I thought Regis's list was thorough enough.'

'A collective word for anything we might find here. But we won't.' He sighed. 'I haven't been out there for too long.' He knocked the walls of urn niches, listening closely. Will did the same, working in the other direction. Sirendor listened for something aside from their tapping.

'Here,' Will said suddenly, making him jump. The little man used a dagger to pry the urn niche open. There was a lever behind it.

'How d'you hear there's a lever and not an urn?' Sirendor asked.

'The lever occupies less space, making it sound different,' Thaler told him. Will flung the lever to the other side. Something groaned, and the thief barely had the time to jump away before the ground opened underneath him. They glanced down.

A steep ladder led down into a darkness so complete they couldn't possibly see where they were going down there. 'Where's a Witcher when you need one?' Thaler asked.

'Can they see in a place like that?'

'They're mutants. They can see in the dark, have a devil's reflexes, and are generally unnatural creatures that have little in common with humans. At least that's what most people will tell you. In truth, I've learned they feel like every other person, and their motives aren't that much different. Only they seem to have a lot more understanding for outcasts.'

'The man outside the inn died just like any other human,' Will said drily. 'If his reflexes had been that fast he would have run inside.'

Thaler looked at him. 'What Erienne did out there was probably nothing he's ever seen. That could outwit even a Witcher for a moment. What did he look like, Sirendor?'

'Ugly. Scarred.'

'White hair?'

Sirendor raised his eyebrows. 'No.'

Thaler sighed. 'Good. I didn't think so, but I didn't dare ask either.' He clapped his hands. 'I have a torch, so let's crawl down into this cesspit. This isn't going to get any nicer by waiting.'