Chapter 107: The Other Shoe

The next few days passed without any real incident. House Nocht officially opened its doors to any adventurers that wanted to work for my house. There weren’t any takers the first day, but it wasn’t long before we had our first takers. A group of all women adventurers that had apparently undergone a pretty shit string of luck and were at the end of their ropes. Their leader was understandably suspicious of such a good deal, but we anticipated that. Hopefully in a week or two, once her party had had time to recuperate and prepare for their next mission, those doubts would be dispelled. Until then I didn’t anticipate any great flood of adventurers coming through the doors.

Things with my harem were also progressing wonderfully. I could tell Serena was still a little upset by the whole ‘planning for my death’ thing, but she’d made a point to admit she understood the need. Still, the thought of me dying had left her with more than a few nightmares the last couple of nights. Nightmares I knew she was terrified were premonitions and not just a product of her fears.

Karina and Jayme had officially moved into the big room. Karina still wasn’t a fan of the dark, but she seemed less bothered when she was surrounded by all of us. Either way, after not getting too much sleep her first night I came in to find the canopy of the bed enchanted with pinpricks of light that looked like the night sky. Karina was shocked to the point of tears at Rhallani’s thoughtfulness, though she wasn’t the only one who loved the change.

The first night we slept under the artificial stars Allie slept practically glued to my side. She kept looking up and smiling at the faint lights, eventually falling asleep with her head on my chest and the most content expression I’d seen on her face since we’d met in Karn’s facility. With her and Serena on one side and Karina wrapped around Jayme on the other, all the other girls sleeping softly spread out across the pit, I felt something in me settle.

It was two days after that I was woken by the wards. I woke with a start, already reaching to pull a weapon from my storage before I recognized the magical signature. I extracted myself from my women and pulled on some basic clothes, though not carefully enough to avoid waking Serena and Allie.

Serena had been too entangled with me last night for me to even hope of slipping out without waking her and Allie had been an even lighter sleeper than usual as of late. I couldn’t really blame her. She wasn’t the only one who felt things were going too well. We were both waiting for the other shoe to drop with bated breath.

Allie was keyed in to the wards just like I was, so she didn’t say a word as she sleepily dressed. She threw on her clothes, topping her outfit off with one of my long coats (son of a bitch), then she pulled me down for a deep kiss. Serena was just opening her mouth to ask what was wrong when Allie, still half asleep, pulled her in for just as deep a kiss.

Serena seemed more surprised than I was, though her cheeks pinkened and I felt a sense of surprised satisfaction through the bond. Allie patted her chest and strode out of the room, stretching her arms over her head.

I arched a brow at Serena as she touched two fingers to her lips with a soft smile and her blush deepened. I thought I’d noticed them getting closer since Allie and I had finally resolved things, but now wasn’t the time to have that discussion. Not with Sandrel waiting at the front door. I pressed a kiss to her temple and squeezed her in a quick hug.

Sandrel was waiting for us down in the foyer with a steaming cup of tea in his hand. His body language was casual, but I knew him well enough that my sphincter clenched. Whatever the reason behind his visit, we were in for some shit.

“You know,” he said, tipping his tea towards us, “I never understood why none of the rich twats in the city understood that the best servants are happy ones.” He took a sip and smacked his lips. “Already getting a position in your household is becoming talked about in wistful voices.”

“Amazing what the bare minimum will get you sometimes,” I grunted. “Don’t beat around the bush, Sandrel. Tell me what you came here to tell me.”

He sighed, then he threw back the rest of his tea like a shot. “It’s not inherently bad news,” he started.

I bit back a groan. “How many shit days have we had that started with those exact words?”

He grinned ruefully. “Too damn many. We found a vault.”

Allie crossed her arms. “In Nairn’s place?”

“Yep.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “Took us a few days to crack the wards, but we’re in. We haven’t touched anything for reasons I’ll get into, but I’d like your priestess to take a look at something.”

Serena tensed. “Why?”

Sandrel scratched his beard. “Best I not tell you too much. I’ve got some theories on what we’ve found, but I’d rather not influence you. Got time now?”

I exchanged a quick, cursory glance with the other two, then nodded. “We won’t be able to think about anything else until we know, so might as well head out now.”

“Right-o.” He glanced to Allie and held a hand out. “Not sure we’ve met. Sandrel Therefel.”

“Allisandre Luce,” She answered back. “Zaren tells me you’re the best bad influence he’s ever had.”

Sandrel threw his head back and let out a booming laugh. “That I was, kiddo. That I was. Shall we?”

Nairn’s mansion was about as far from my manor as it could be, but luckily this early in the morning there wasn’t anyone around to hinder us. “So,” I said eventually, “other than whatever it is that’s got you spooked, what have you found so far?”

Sandrel grunted. “Exactly what we expected to. Plenty of incriminating evidence, though only against Nairn and his underlings. Information on a slaver ring we’ve already dismantled. Finances. Bribes.”

“But nothing that implicates the other councilors or the Accords?” I guessed.

He tapped his nose. “Got it in one. Exactly what we thought we’d find.”

Allie frowned. “Why are you saying that like it’s a bad thing.”

I grimaced. “If we find nothing, that’s suspicious,” I explained. “Then we’d know for sure it’s a trap. If we find only information to reinforce what we already know, it doesn’t help us. Could be there was nothing more to find, or could be that we’re walking into a trap.”

“They couldn’t have known Davvon would do what he did,” Serena argued. “How could they have laid a trap?”

“You don’t set a single snare because you know a rabbit will walk into it,” Sandrel said darkly. “You set a dozen and wait for one to spring.”

I nodded. It had all felt too easy. Sacking Nairn and getting away pretty much without consequence. There was a trap here alright, and I wasn’t sure we had any choice but to spring it. The more moves we forced our opponent to make, the more we might learn about their objectives.

I caught movement out of my peripheral more than a few times, but I knew it was just Sandrel’s guys keeping watch over us. He wouldn’t be walking through the city in broad daylight unless he thought he was protected. There were few people outside my harem I trusted with my life, and he was one of them. That did nothing to lessen my growing sense of unease, though.

We fell into a tense silence as we passed into the upper district. Massive mansions loomed over us that I’d been far too keyed up to really notice last time. Sprawling estates that could have held hundreds yet only held a handful. They were designed to impress and intimidate, but all they did was piss me off. Living in luxury was one thing. Doing so while actively making sure large swathes of the population lived in squalor was another.

Nairn’s mansion was still under heavy guard, and I could tell by their kits that these men weren’t the average city guard. Their weapons weren’t shiny and their armor wasn’t eye catching. They were outfitted in gear that was meant to be effective, not noticeable. If I had to guess, these men were all loyal to Sandrel first and the city second.

“If it is a trap, it’s a well laid one,” Sandrel said. He led us into what I guessed was Nairn’s office, where a false wall had been opened to reveal another study behind it. In the study, a bookcase had been ripped down so we could access the corridor behind it. “There were six layers of wards in this passage. Took me nine runebreakers to finish, and two of them will be out of commission for a good while.”

“It still all feels too easy.” The knot in my stomach had only tightened. “All the defenses really cost us was time in the grand scheme of things.”

Sandrel nodded. “My thoughts exactly. Which brings us to this.”

I felt the pulse of magic at the same time Serena gasped. “Zaren,” she whispered, holding her tattooed hand out in front of her. The golden flower on the back of her hand was glowing, though it was brighter on one side than the other. She swung her hand from side to side, but the brighter end always pointed towards the end of the hallway.

“The marker?” Allie asked. She took Serena’s hand and rubbed her thumb over it. “Allura’s here?”

Sandrel’s face was a mask. “Come on.”

He led us past a thick metal door and I sucked in my breath. In the small, cramped room there was nothing but a shelf with a few strange items on it. A small black box, a bulky bag with what I figured were some kind of gemstones, a small dagger in an ornate sheathe, and a dusty stand with a scroll on it.But none of those were as eye catching as the jar of brightly glowing gold liquid.

“Fuck me,” I mumbled, rubbing my chest. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Pure divine essence, if I had to take a guess.” Sandrel rubbed his chin. “Never seen more than a vial full in one place at one time. What the hell do you have to do for a jar that size?”

I just shook my head. “No god or goddess is giving a mortal that kind of power of their own volition.” I winced when Sandrel leveled an intense stare on me. “There’s a non-zero chance our enemy has the capability to hold gods captive.”

He cursed. “That changes things alright.” He crossed his arms. “This is as far as we’ve gotten. The essence is putting off too much power for my breakers to be able to make out any traps. A bit like holding up a match to the sun and trying to pick apart the flames. Thought your priestess might be able to disseminate some of that essence or something.”

“We’ll have to be real fucking careful,” I argued. “That much juice could level a sizable chunk of the city. We might want to evacuate the district. Serena, what do you—”

I cut off as she glided past me, her hand outstretched. The question on my tongue died when I caught sight of her face. Her lips were slightly parted, her expression completely slack. Her eyes were half-lidded and glazed over. Her gaze was completely vacant and she moved as if she was being pulled straight to the jar.

It took me just a beat too long to figure it out. Something had put her into a trance.

I lunged for her, uncaring of any traps we were about to set off. I grabbed the back of her top and yanked, but it was too late. Her fingertips just barely brushed the edge of the jar and lines of magic erupted from its base. They etched themselves into the ground, forming a magic circle beneath our feet as I twisted and hurled Serena towards the entrance. Her expression didn’t change as she crashed into Allie where she'd been jumping forward as well, knocking them both out of the circle.

Serena was my priority, so the momentum of my throw sent me crashing back into the shelf. I pushed off, throwing myself for the entrance. Allie reached for me, panicked. I felt magic building in the room faster than I could make it to the edge. The circle couldn’t have been more than six or seven feet wide, but it might as well have been a mile.

Before I could cross its threshold, I felt a painful yank in my gut. Allie’s face was the last thing I saw before the world dissolved around me and I felt myself falling.

I slammed into the unmistakable floor of a metal cage. I jammed my eyes shut for a second and took a few deep breaths, pushing down the bile and disorientation of such a sudden teleportation. As soon as I’d recovered a little I pushed myself onto my knees and took stock of my surroundings.

It was pitch black, but that worked in my favor. I rapped my knuckles on the floor of my new cage and listened to the echoes. The cage that held me was just tall enough to stand in and maybe five feet wide in either direction. The room wasn’t too much larger, only big enough to hold five more cages with a path in the middle.

The other cages were unoccupied, and the stale smell in the air and the dust I’d kicked up with my arrival told me this room hadn’t been used in some time. I wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not.

I climbed unsteadily to my feet. Allie was probably freaking out, and I knew Serena was going to be livid with herself. I wished I could tell her that whatever magic had enthralled her wasn’t something she had a chance of resisting, but right now I needed to focus on getting back to her.

I pushed down any thoughts of what my family might be going through right now. There was nothing I could do for them past surviving whatever trap I’d sprung. My only solace was that I’d managed to screw up their trap at least a little.

I was far from an expert on divine magics, but I had to assume something about the enchantment and the essence itself is what they used to take control of Serena’s body. No doubt the essence had been the conduit for the spell. The trap was one that would have only worked on a priestess whose magic came from Allura—assuming, of course, that it was a jar of her essence—which meant that hopefully they weren’t expecting me to have been caught up in it.

Granted, a jar of essence that size meant it was essentially a certainty that our enemy had Allura held captive somewhere, but that was just one more thing I could consider after I’d escaped.

Luckily, that meant this cage was meant to hold a priestess. Not me. I pressed a palm to the lock and summoned my shadows. My magic wasn’t dampened in the slightest, so it was child’s play to flood the mechanism with my shadows and shatter it. The door creaked something awful when I pushed it open, but there was little I could do about that.

I looked over the other cages and thought to what Sandrel had said about snares. Did that mean there were five more jars of Allura’s divinity out there somewhere? Or were there other kinds of bait? Just how many contingencies did our enemy have? I didn’t like this. Not one bit. I hated feeling like my enemy had the upper hand on me, yet that’s exactly what had happened.

The door to the room was locked as well, but I just repeated the same trick from a moment ago. I stepped into an equally dark hallway full of doors. I knew from the heaviness of the cool air that I was underground, which once again had bile rising in the back of my throat.

The last time I’d been underground I’d at least had Serena, Rhallani, and Noelle at my back. Now I was alone, and that left me feeling vulnerable and exposed in ways I hadn’t encountered in a long, long time.But I’d been through worse. I’d survived it then, and I’d survive it now.

I crept through the hall as quickly and quietly as I could. The other doors called to me, but I was in an unknown and almost certainly hostile environment. I needed to figure out where they hell that teleporter spell had taken me, and I needed to find out fast. Especially if they’d brought me to a base of some sort. If I was lucky I could slip out before they even realized I’d been ported in.

My hope that I could escape unnoticed didn’t last long.

I’d just entered a large, circular room when one of the walls lit up. A door of blue light carved itself into the weathered stone. One that was much larger than the one Kevran Arthal had come through when Karina and Tiana had been taken.

It swung open and Arthal himself walked through. He wore a cloak that hid the arm Noelle had severed, so I couldn’t tell if it had been healed or not. As soon as he stepped foot outside the door, torches along the top of the walls lit up all throughout the room and the hallway I’d come from. He took another step in and paused with a surprised look on his face while armed men filed into the room behind him.

“Well well, isn’t this a surprise,” he said in a smooth, controlled voice.

I summoned two blades and fell into a stance with a grimace. “Arthal. Gotta say, I think I’d have preferred an invite in the mail.”

He smiled wide. “In all fairness that was the original plan. Snatch up that pretty little priestess and use her to bring you right to my doorstep. I do so appreciate you cutting out the middleman. You always were efficient.”

Something about the way he said that made my skin crawl. “Let me guess: I give you the sword and you’ll let me live?”

He laughed darkly. “I see you’ve developed a sense of humor.” His smile was wide and oily. “No, there will be no deals. No compromises. You and I both know that you’ll never surrender the Jailer’s Blade to me, just as we both know you’re too much of a problem child to be left to your own devices, even chained and collared.”

Alarm bells were ringing in my head, but I couldn’t afford to get distracted by his words. Not with how many men were currently lining up to box me in. Especially not with the Eldritch Beasts that were now shouldering their way into the room.

I glanced at the men and women all leveling their blades at me and a prickle of apprehension wormed its way up my spine. They wore no insignias. No markers. Their weapons were well cared for and their armor had seen combat. Worse, they seemed completely unbothered by the giant, otherworldly monsters that stalked past them.

These weren’t guards or mercenaries. They weren’t hired hands. These were soldiers, plain and simple.

“Incapacitate him and bring him to me,” Arthal ordered. Then his smile widened. “And under no circumstances are you to underestimate him.”