Rasgen's mood was already soured and somber. This did not help matters. He ran his hands through his hair when their grip broke and they settled back in their seats. "What about it?"
Nua told him everything that Freyjin had written down and what she had learned from the prisoners.
"So this one has been active for a very long time." Rasgen stated with more than a little concern.
"Yes." Nua answered as bluntly as a mace to the face. "Decades at least, and perhaps more. But I have to know something, something Freyjin didn't know but it was in her notes."
"What was that?" Rasgen asked with an intense look in his sharp eyes.
"Just two words." Nua said, "'No delays.'"
"No delays, what does that mean?" Rasgen stroked his beard and glanced down at the damaged and broken table thoughtfully. A sunbeam coming through the window was slowly arcing over the polished wood surface and casting a bright white glow from it, and as if to distract himself, he followed the slow path of the light, and watched the dust particles dance in the beam.
"I wasn't sure at first, but she wrote it in four places. By his name, and by some of the victims, including one of your 'witnesses' from around that time… a victim who was a minor noble that had disappeared, and by your father's name."
"I think I should see what you mean… but…" Rasgen hesitated, Nua just looked at his contemplative face and watched the gears turning behind his rough features.
"Right… the victims would have been eliminated when they became a potential problem, so someone had to have word that they were a potential problem. So… she wanted to know how long a time it was between these events and any other locations. My father died with enemies abound. But, the events that led up to that were most damaging to the city of Kai'sen."
"And the nobleman with the grudge… how long before his death was he considered for a seat on the council?" Nua pressed, Rasgen looked out the window again and thought the matter over.
"It has been years but… a few weeks." Rasgen admitted, "Time enough for a capable spy to have gotten word to any of the cities but… Kai'sen is farther so… yes, word would arrive sooner to Komestra, or Hanak'sen."
"So… what we can conclude then, is that the relevant killings that we know of, correspond most accurately to a timeframe of say… word going from here to Kai'sen, and allowing time for someone from Kai'sen to get here, give or take some time to put plans into motion. I don't gamble much, Rasgen… truth be told I hate gambling unless I'm going to cheat. But I will bet," Nua stabbed her forefinger onto the table and leaned toward the Prince, "that almost all the killings in there either pertain to the underground criminals connected to the Vice Lords, the Great Smugglers I mean… or trading, or political interests in this city that would be hostile to Kai'sen."
Rasgen thought that one over, the light drifted over his hand and began to slowly warm it, the gold thread in his clothing glittered and fairly glowed amidst the scarlet color of his tunic. "That is compelling, I admit."
"There's more." Nua stated, and explained what Kaiji had informed her of with regard to Diana's family and the mysterious information that allowed them to eliminate the rest of her line. "I think that was Kai'sen's Prince getting rid of some liabilities. Rasgen this is serious, I'm a professional, trained by the best of the best, I know everything about what my Teacher taught me, and everything from another of unsurpassed skill, and neither ever spoke of anything on this kind of scale. Kai'sen has an asset that we have to turn or eliminate."
He wasn't looking at her, she saw the way he stared down into the light, deep in thought, and a flash of pride unlooked for, rushed through her body. 'A thoughtful, intelligent Prince.' She kept her face neutral, but a smile lay within her thoughts as she recognized him as a worthy man, well suited to his place.
"You're right. Someone like that is capable of disrupting everything. I would still prefer to speak privately with some of my… no… our fellow Princes, to find out if this has happened in their cities as well. I don't gamble more than you do, but I think what Kaiji and I experience will be shared by other cities hostile to Kai'sen on occasion." Rasgen's face became clouded, the fair skin purple with anger. "My father died in one of those conspiracies… to some men, their sons are tools. Just the building blocks of the family name, but my father and I were truly close. His loss, it cut deep. If Kai'sen is responsible for this…" He looked away from the rising sunlight and shut his eye against the glare when it rose enough to hit his face. He stood and walked to where Nua sat.
"Will you support me in a war against Kai'sen?" Rasgen asked, folding his hands behind his back and standing straight and rigid as a spear planted in the dirt.
"Are you asking as my husband looking for the support of his wife? Or as one Prince asking another Prince for a formal military alliance?" Nua asked without rising out of the shadow his body was casting over her in the waning hours of the day.
"Either or both, whatever gets you to say yes." Rasgen hastily answered.
Nua gave a solemn nod and raised a hand up to rest on his chest while she spoke. "Support me in the coming famine, defend Komestra as it is rebuilt, make sure nobody but the most desperate rash fools dare to try to march against me, and after that, we'll capture this man and launch our war together against Kai'sen. More than that, I believe I can bring Fen'sai and Hanak'sen into the fight as well."
"Famine? What famine?" Rasgen frowned and then stared down at the warped, evil smile that slowly spread over the face of his intended.
Nua slowly rose and put her arms around him, her ears wiggled with satisfaction, "Rasgen… be very, very glad that you have chosen to side with me. Because you have, next season… your city will eat, most of the others… they will be in a very bad way. I've been a busy, busy elf, and now that you're on my side beyond any withdrawal, I can tell you exactly what I have done. But before that…" Nua brought her lips to his, and slew the distance between them, as if the kiss was sealing a bond, and when his arms wrapped around hers, before their fingers began to work at the clothing that lay in the way of skin and flesh, it was as if he had accepted that bond.
Priceless reached for the cloth at the desk and wiped her eyes. She sniffled heavily and turned her face away from the desk where the hated paper sat. Her delicate little fingers dug into the soft cloth that she'd pulled taut with frustration and rubbed it against the corners of her sorrowful brown eyes. The massive window took up one whole wall, giving a fantastic view of the city of Pas'en. Priceless herself barely saw it.
The sheen of tears in her eyes was still too much despite her efforts at removing them with a wet cloth. "Another…" She whimpered and looked down at the name. "Shienne… why did you do this? Are you poor? Are you hungry? Are you just bad or desperate or… why…" Priceless had no idea who 'Shienne' was, just a name and the offense the name had brought against Priceless's owner. Yet Priceless couldn't help herself, she built a story in her head about why someone would tell lies about the Lady Aiwenor, she pictured an aged relative at home who needed food. A landlord expecting rent. A woman, desperate, homeless, needing food she couldn't buy, a slave who found the courage to run away and just needed money to help her get to Da'nak for sanctuary.
Her shaking fingers traced over the name as she read the offense, 'Spread tavern rumor that the foundling properties were being abused in dark rituals.'
She sniffled again and laid the document down. 'I could put this away… just, set it aside, let the mistress decide… or let Kaiji do it. It doesn't have to be me… I don't want to hurt anyone… I don't want to do it…' A few tears fell and wet the name in ink.
"Stupid. Stupid, stupid weak pathetic wretch!" Priceless cursed herself. "If you don't, the mistress will or Kaiji will… your lady, your love, they trust you to handle things alone without them while they're gone! Maybe… maybe Lady Solution…" She clamped down on that notion right away. 'She's the one who brought me the day's documents, she probably knew this was here. If I don't do this… oh goddess… what if I don't? What if Mistress Nua thinks I'm shirking?! What if she decides I don't love her enough, don't want to protect her?! What if… no. What if it's kind of true?! I mean, I don't even know Shienne, but I know so many people depend on Mistress being in power. Including me. What if I don't do this, and Shienne is the one whose 'work' is successful, if my lady is overthrown! I'll be sold again! They'll take away my Kaiji! I… what if…' The scenarios and horrors ran through Priceless's mind in an ever expanding array of alarming possibilities.
Still, one of the ones to be beaten ended up dying in an alley, and even though Priceless didn't know if that was an order for a beating that she'd signed or not, it ate at her. She swallowed hard and whimpered again while pushing down every terrible scenario that haunted her mind. Every possibility of putting the task off, in her mind only made her look weak and useless for not making a decision to punish someone in the pay of her owner's enemies.
"Damn it… Shienne… damn you… damn us both." Priceless whimpered, then dipped her quill into blue ink and signed it using her name except for the last letter. She dabbed her quill into water, blew on it, then dipped it into red ink and put the last letter at the end. The order would have Shienne badly beaten, but not quite to death. "Live… Shienne. Live and learn your lesson, if you don't… I won't even be able to beg for mercy for you." Priceless admonished the name in ink, then went to eat, her stew was tasteless as dust in her mouth, down to the last bite.
"So this is what their holy book says…" The Questioner muttered as he closed it and slid it away from himself.
"Very short, isn't it?" The Questioner to his left said, reaching beneath his veil to stroke his chin.
"Very, but… this is telling. You can learn much about a people's culture by their faith. War and family, obligation, reflection, discipline… the author was a warrior scholar, that much I am sure of." The Questioner remarked.
"A death worshipper though. Any doubts about that are done. Any doubts about the degree or danger of her heresy are done… but the important question stands." The old Questioner said and clenched his fist on the table.
Silence hung.
"How hard is it to stop?" He asked. "She is to marry the Prince, and she is openly proclaiming herself the next Prince of Komestra, and has warriors and slaves enough to support the claim, she bought the city almost down to the last brick. Yanlim has openly proclaimed her a blood sister. Why didn't we… we should have prevented this."
"We tried, we sent her into the Tlalmok Empire alone as an escort. How were we to know she would survive the arena, and somehow get the God-Emperor to spare her?!" A younger Questioner flung up his hands when he asked the question aloud. It wasn't the quiet reserve that they usually preferred, but for once nobody was critical at the outburst as it reflected the true depth of their frustrations.
"She has agreed to marry under our customs at least, she is showing more deference than she did. We extracted some mutually beneficial agreement from her, she will enforce our donation rules among those Starwatchers among her ranks. She will not attempt to target or persecute any of our people…" Arachna pointed out, only to be interrupted by their youngest.
"Absurd! What was she going to do surrounded by a city of our people…?!" He exclaimed.
"What does the thresher plan to do against so much wheat?" Malefacorum asked with a grim expression hidden by a white veil. "Pas'en is known for its cavalry, not its infantry. She has thousands inside our own walls, veteran Komestran warriors trained by headman ranked adventurers and fanatically loyal to the woman who literally gave them back their families and promised the restoration of their city. Yes, we could probably beat them, they are outnumbered, but it would be a bitter fight and she doesn't have to win. Only burn down enough of the city that we've targeted for the next mass culling. I saw the death worshipper fight, and I have seen no method like it. Until she leaves this city with her people, Pas'en is a hostage state, we cannot launch an inquisition or we will start a war. Remember young one, I was there, you were not. Once she is in Komestra and her 'infection' has left this city, we can consider more fierce actions. We will issue an edict ording no city to trade with the heretics, let them eat the rocks of their walls until their Prince converts. Once she submits to the temples and understands the power the stars hold over her, she will know her fate and comply."
The young man shifted in his seat, "What if she bought some in advance?"
"What of it? She gets a handful delivered, her slaves will be underfed while they struggle to hunt and begin farming again, and then we'll call for a purge of heresy once all the rats are in one place. Prince Rasgen might not help, or even Prince Yanlim, but with the other cities and trade cut off, it should be as trivially easy as a single draw of the bow to take care of." Malefacorum replied, and in the minds of most, that was enough to settle the question.