Chapter 213

It was a few bells before midday when Talis came to visit us at the embassy.

"Lilith, may I have a moment please?" he asked after having just come through the door to the guest residence we were staying at.

I walked down the stairs to meet him near the door. "Of course, should this conversation be private?"

He glanced around at all of my friends nearby, everyone was gathered here except for Lorriene, the other support members of the Order, and the pantharians she was helping. "I suppose that's unnecessary. Though maybe a [Zone of Silence] would be appropriate," he suggested.

I flicked a wrist and the spell came alive around the table once more. I started to sit down but he shook his head. "No reason to sit down, this won't take long. I just think it's prudent to be cautious when speaking about this, even in a private setting like this one. As far as I can tell no one knows of your involvement in the king's death. It didn't take long for the castle guard to realize that the king was dead when the collars around their convicts and the few pantharians that were at the castle fell off. As we heard that night, a particularly dangerous mage blew a hole in the castle wall and escaped."

I cut in, "Is that mage someone we should be worried about?" I asked.

Talis made a bit of a sour face before answering. "I'm not sure. She's supposed to be a human woman named Nakahi Yoriko. She's served the Torlimal family for two generations, much longer than a human woman should be able to serve, which makes the information I have suspicious. There are rumors of mages extending their lives using magic but even as someone who works at the Great Library, I've only heard of it as rumors."

That name sounds Japanese. With the strange mixture of names I've heard, this one really stands out as different from most of the others. It makes me wonder which is the surname, Yoriko sounds like more of a given name than Nakahi does. Is it another world traveler or just the influence of one in the past?

Talis shook his head, "Regardless, that's not what I wanted to talk about. It seems that there was a rift forming between the Tamin Church and the former King before his death. After the murder of Count Korland, he brought in the Tamin church to fortify the city against demon attacks and root out the cult of Amphores after he received a letter from Nathaniel, the acting lord of Goldenhearth, telling him that the ledgers you provided suggested they had a strong presence in the city. Something we now know for sure is true."

"He seemed not to know about me when they brought me in to talk with him," I remarked.

"I'm not sure why the young King didn't recognize your name, but he was not known for his intellect," Talis said with a shrug. "In any case, the changes the King implemented at the Tamin church's request turned out to be very unpopular with the citizenry. It's obvious to us but I believe the young King wasn't aware of how angry it would make his people to force all of the non-land-owning beastkin to move into the southern quarter. He either didn't know how many people would be affected or he underestimated how unpopular the act would be even among the non-beastkin people. The guards discovered that the riot was partially instigated by the cult of Amphores using the collar suppression magic we discussed the other day but at the time you were meeting with the former King, he and Noreth were still operating under the impression that it was a natural riot caused by the changes the Tamin church asked the King to put in place. At the time, they weren't looking for the cult of Amphores because they believed they had instigated the riot, they were looking for them so they could give the Tamin church a sacrificial head and revert the changes the Tamin church had asked him to put into place as quickly as possible. He was attempting to save face by giving the people a scapegoat when he undid the changes while maintaining a good relationship with the church at the same time. I believe that's why they were trying to operate without the Tamin church's notice when we met with them, but they severely underestimated the danger they put themselves in." He glanced at Silva who was quietly listening in without saying a word. "Which to be fair, neither of us were aware how dangerous Silva was at the time either." Silva rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"All of that is to say," Talis continued, "no one knows that any of us were there that day. That meeting was completely off the record and even in Noreth's schedule, the time slot was just listed as 'meeting,' I believe that the three of us are completely in the clear, which means you're free to leave the embassy without any issue. The only downside of all of this is the city guard and Tamin church are even more united in looking for the cult of Amphores."

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked.

"No, it isn't. Not politically anyway. This positions the Tamin church to take over the city with most of the city guard supporting them. All of the nobles that would have a claim on the throne at this stage aren't here right now and the city is quickly sliding into martial law. They're trying to be quiet about it but if the general populace finds out the king is dead and the Tamin church is de facto in charge, there will be a real riot in the southern quarter. Thankfully what Lorriene was originally worried about hasn't come to pass there yet but I agree that it's a barrel of kerosene. If the Tamin church and the city guard put up a united front when a riot does happen, it will look more like the suppression of a rebellion than anything else."

I ran a hand across my face. "And we happen to know that a riot is about to happen within a matter of days, instigated by the cult of Amphores."

Talis nodded. "We do. I've been talking with Feylaria Winethorn and she told me about the 'job' she offered to you when the upcoming riot inevitably happens. I'm not sure if adding a slave uprising to the mix in the middle of a political rebellion is the greatest idea."

I sighed and sat down heavily on a nearby chair. "What am I supposed to do? It sounds like the cult of Amphores is already planning on something similar with or without us. If I'm involved at least I could potentially help some of the freed slaves and stop them from being swept right into the hands of a demon cult. After talking with everyone and sleeping on it, I feel like I have to get involved now."

Talis shook his head. "All I can do is give you information, what you do with it is up to you. I no longer have a quest from my goddess to protect you and I would rather stay out of whatever you choose to do from here. My true purpose is to protect the Great Library of Sorsette and all the information I've gathered over the last week is making the situation more and more difficult to navigate."

Standing up, I held out my hand. "Thank you, Talis. I'm grateful for everything you've done for me and my friends the last few days, you've been a great help."

He took my hand and shook it. "I appreciate the gratitude, you and your friends are of course still welcome within the Great Library. The head librarian told me that now that things have changed for Morrigan and Torien, they are of course welcome to receive their membership to the Library as well. I understand if you don't make the trip soon under the circumstances. From what I'm told, it will be arranged that you and your friends who have yet to register will be welcome to register at any of Sorsette's libraries."

I took a good look at Morrigan's excited face from the news.

Talis took a step back and bowed slightly to me. "It was nice to meet you, Miss Lilith Baphomet. I hope we have the pleasure to meet again in more peaceful times."

"Take care of yourself Talis, and tell Theo goodbye for me. It doesn't seem likely I'll be able to see him again before we leave."

Talis smiled. "I'll tell him." He turned around and left the building. I left the [Zone of Silence] up for the moment, anticipating a follow-up conversation with my family members.

Silva was the first to speak. "So, what's the plan?" she asked.

I sat down and looked over at her. "I don't think this changes anything since we last talked about it. I think more than ever we need to get involved here and try to mitigate any damage the cult of Amphores produces."

Silva cleared her throat. "If we're all free to leave the embassy, Lorriene and I should make contact with Sophin. She told me that he's in the city now."

"Is that your contact in The Order of Lilith?" I asked.

"More like handler. He gives us missions and tasks for the Order. The two of us aren't very high up, but Sophin is. He'll be the first step in convincing the Order that you're the real deal," Silva replied.

"Will he be as skeptical of me as you two were?" I said scratching the base of my horn.

Silva sighed. "I'm not sure to be honest. He believes that the Lilith in the prophecies is real though. They do it on purpose, they put the pragmatists under the true believers to keep things balanced. I never cared because I felt they always gave me targets I agreed with but I don't actually know much about how the Order is run at the top. The fact that you convinced both me and Lorriene should help convince him though."

"Who all is going on this slave freeing mission anyway?" Sibyl asked. "As sympathetic to your cause as I am, Raya and I would likely just be dead weight... No offense," she said to Raya.

Raya's ears went back. "I'm not afraid to admit that I would be scared to help with something like this. I've only barely started to learn magic and I'm not sure how useful my prostitute skills would be."

Torien tapped the table. "There's also the problem with the two of us," she said motioning toward her sister. "Winethorn mentioned that she would have some sort of disguises for us but pantharians stand out. Unless we get something like Aunt Lori was wearing the other night we're going to be recognized."

I nodded. "I'm curious about that as well, my horns aren't exactly subtle."

"If it's possible, I want to go," Morrigan said with steel in her voice. "My magic is flexible and I don't like the idea of Lilith going without us. Like you said, we're your partners, we should all go as a team."

Bella nodded as well. "I'm our healer. I'm sure my healing has saved our lives before. Even if we don't face as much resistance as we fear, the slaves we're going to free may require my healing too. I'm going," Bella said with finality.

"Me too!" Mimi added lightly. Mimi was one of the people I was the least worried about. She's durable, I'd be more concerned about her being recognized than her getting hurt, and even that won't be a concern if she decides to go disguised as jewelry.

Silva knocked on the table. "I'm definitely going, and I know Lorriene will want to come too, especially if the twins are going."

Cecilia shook her head. "I think I should prepare an escape route instead of joining you. I don't think it's wise to return to the embassy after our contribution to this attack and if we end up taking any of the slaves with us, we'll need the room that our wagon can provide. Sibyl and Raya can stay with me and help me in the meantime. The uunas will scare most rioters and hostile guards away from us, but some people might still be dumb enough to try and fight me for the wagon. I could use their help."

"So we'll have to find a way out of town after the attack and we'll escape on the carriage to another town," I confirmed while looking around the room.

"We should make it look like we're leaving or have already left before the attack," Cecilia added. "We should finish up our business in the capital as quickly as possible and take a job from the adventurer's guild delivering something back to Goldenhearth or Traehall. Raksha'va wanted you to return after your cartography training anyway, we'll make it look like we're heading back for that before the attack starts and you guys can sneak back into the city."

"What about the Duke of Torquin?" I asked. "Winethorn suggested that she would pay Silva to take her out and position Marquis Saffadder to take the king's place. Do we even know where he is?"

Torien shook her head. "That's if the Tamin church doesn't take control of the kingdom before that happens."

I leaned back in my chair. "So... does that mean we need to try and do something about the Tamin church in this city as well?"

Silva grinned a dangerous looking grin. "We should definitely introduce you to Sophin."