B4 Chapter 26 - Pretenders

Vivi zapped awake an unknown time later inside a musty and cave-like smithy. Or more precisely, a traditional outside-carving runesmith’s workstation.

There was an L-shaped table with a sword vise, with a neat display of carving knives and conductive paste. The room reminded her of Rensfig’s workstation back in Zand—the one in Ven’s secret base, where she’d created Abyss Destroyer—with closed-in walls and barely enough space to move. All of the equipment here was pristine, however, probably brand new and arranged just for her. If only any of this equipment was useful.

Behind her, the eminent aura of Shilman Fried filled Vivi’s senses. It seemed he’d woken her up by reverting the spell he’d cast to squeeze her unconscious. She slowly turned to him.

Both of her cores still felt entirely fine. She had all of her forty million wisps, and her three skills, including Ascension Of Divinity. Her void core was as hostile as ever, with wisps eager to turn her to a monster if she so allowed. Lucius was healthy and silently observing, having been awake during her unconsciousness.

“It has now been six hours since we last spoke,” Shilman said. “You should be rested enough to start working.”

Vivi would have disagreed if Shilman wasn’t passively threatening her. Her head was jumbled and confused. Her six hours of unconsciousness hadn’t felt like sleep, and her head hadn’t processed any of the events that had just happened. It felt more like she’d fallen unconscious and immediately zapped back awake.

She’d just been planning on negotiating with Queen Adalene with Lortel and the Darkwinds, only for this archmage to show up, imprisoning her friends and forcing her here. It all just felt sudden.

As long as I can defeat Shilman Fried, we’ll survive, Vivi thought. For now, she’d need to negotiate time alone in a smithy.

“To confirm things,” Vivi began, “you want me to create a modified slingshot launcher that can shoot Ythar through the clouds on the surface, and toward the sun?”

“Preferably into the sun,” Shilman said. “Is that possible?”

Absolutely not, not if I work on this alone, Vivi thought, but outwardly, she gave a confident nod. “I have ideas, but I’ll need time and materials.”

“Anything you require will be provided. How long?”

“Probably… Two weeks?”

That should have been enough to give her time to get started on creating a pretty showcase, with plenty of time to complete the project she actually needed to escape.

“Two weeks is acceptable,” Shilman said calmly. “Any more than that I cannot spare. Offer me a list of materials you require, and you will get started right away.”

“Most of the equipment here is useless to me,” Vivi said. “My method of runesmithing doesn’t use conductive paste. I don’t need the sword vise, and the table can be moved out for more space. I will need a forge and an anvil, a crucible furnace with crucibles, raw ingots, and loads of ether roots.”

Shilman batted an eye, and Vivi had to explain that inside-carving had very little in common with its outside-carving counterpart. She avoided little details, only mentioning that her method flipped the order of the runesmithing process around, and it used ether roots instead of conductive paste.

Shilman accepted the explanation without further questions. He nodded along obliviously, as if to show that he understood what was being talked about, though Vivi wasn’t certain if he actually did. In her opinion, Shilman didn’t seem very smart. His idea of shooting a god to the sun was already idiotic, and the more Vivi talked to him, the more she had a feeling that the way his head operated was closer to Helegar’s than Freyven’s. Maybe being a fifth elevation hunter made him overconfident in areas outside his expertise as well.

He could have been pretending, though, and he was much stronger than her. She absolutely could not annoy him.

“I have a few more questions,” Vivi said. “Ythar is the size of a human, right? Will the launcher need to be large enough to shoot a human?”

“No,” Shilman said. “Ythar will be chopped into pieces. Only the part that contains his core needs to be launched into the sun. To be safe, each piece of his body should also be shot into the sky.”

“Okay, that makes it easier,” Vivi said. “I’ll have it done in two weeks.”

He stared at her with his orange eyes. “I should mention that I have scanned both of your cores. I am aware of the amount of ether you own, as well as the three skills you wield.”

“I would prefer not to give them to you,” Vivi said.

“Worry not, I don’t intend to generate malice between us,” Shilman said. “Once Ythar is dead and shot into the sky, I will let you free, and I will reward you greatly. I won’t withhold any of your skills or ether.”

“Thank you,” Vivi said with an honest bow. Not losing any of her skills would make this much easier.

“Beware that this smithy is warded, and you are tracked. Attempt to escape, or betray me, and you will die. Loretta Nimwind has already been captured with the same spell, and she is a much better concealer than you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Vivi said. “I won’t betray you. But if I’m allowed to make a request… Please don’t harm Lortel.”

Shilman stared at her. “Her name is Loretta Nimwind.”

“Yes,” Vivi said. “She is my friend.”

His blank expression fell slightly toward a frown. “How long have you known this woman?”

“A few months?” Vivi said.

“Yes,” Shilman said. “You don’t know who she truly is. She has not even revealed her name. Loretta is a temptress and a betrayer at her best appearance. Behind that, she is a monster. I am glad to have captured her. You will agree once you learn about her past.”

Vivi could not agree with that. Not that she knew Lortel personally—she’d always been the most secretive of her friends—but she trusted Lortel infinitely more than she trusted Shilman.

Still, she was reluctant to argue further. The easiest way to save her friends would probably be to just break them out of wherever they were captured.

“Interesting,” Vivi said. “I’m ready to get to work. Please bring me every tool and material I requested.”

***

“So,” Cael said as he lay on the cold, dark stone of the cell floor. “Shame the demons here haven’t invented floor heating yet.”

Alda rolled her eyes. They still wore clothes, and their ether reserves hadn’t been stripped out of them. Shilman Fried had imprisoned them rather kindly, without any torture so far. Their hands were tied with tight nothing cuffs. The cuffs and the asmite cell bars were the only thing locking them in the cell. That, and the labyrinth-like dungeon filled with guards that awaited behind the bars, of course.

Cael hadn’t seen any of the hallways with his own eyes. When his consciousness returned, the courtesies had already been offered, as the demons had been kind enough to drag him straight to his cell.

But while Cael didn’t consider himself to be a hunter, he was a spirit wielder. His spirit, N, had scouted the area through his unconsciousness. Even now, N surveyed the area with even more concentration than usual.

“North three rooms, Shilman’s underlings ordering guardsmen,” N said with a blank tone, conveying no emotion at all. “Shilman’s orders condescending Adalene. Chance of eavesdropping, low. Spatial storage fully operational. Connection to Paradise, worse.” He paused for a moment, until he said, “Ah west hallway, three arriving. Lortel involved.”

Wait, Lortel got captured? Cael thought. That was a surprise. The demon was a genuinely great concealer. She’d retreated from the palace the very moment they’d sensed Shilman’s aura. Surely, she must have escaped.

Footsteps approached, and sure enough, there she was, her feet limply dragging along as two of Shilman’s men carried her in. While Adalene’s guards wore runic armor, Shilman’s goons wore simple cloaks. A poor outfit compared to the artistic armor, but Shilman’s men still seemed to be a rank above Adalene’s. The Queen didn’t seem to have much influence over a fifth elevation hunter. Shilman was quite literally strong enough to influence a whole nation by himself.

His two men were both grimacing. One of them unlocked the door, and the other tossed Lortel in. She thumped on the ground between Cael and Alda. “Try and spit at me again. See where you end up.”

The cell door crashed against its hinges as he shut it with more force than necessary. The lock clicked shut.

“Underling does not lie; spit on his boots,” N said. “Lortel severely damaged. Bruises all over.”

Yes, I can see that, Cael thought. Lortel was a far cry from the reserved and calm woman she’d portrayed a few hours ago. Her outfit had burn marks all over, and her skirt was ripped, revealing her scorched legs. Bruises were hard to identify in her body, but she looked much rougher than before.

The worst damage was in her head. Her right eyelid was swollen, and the crack in her horn had chipped further. Her eyes had lost any light they’d had, and she didn’t move a muscle, remaining where she’d fallen with her face on the ground.

“Lortel?” Alda asked, heading over. “Gods, what did they do to you?”

Lortel didn’t move or say a word.

Alda bit her lip and tried her best to flip Lortel onto her back. With her hands cuffed behind her back, she gently used her legs instead. “Are you hurting?”

Lortel merely stared at the ceiling. “Kindness like that will get you killed here,” she said weakly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alda asked.

Lortel snorted. “You two are disgusting. I can’t stand you.”

Alda blinked, taken aback.

“The act is up,” Lortel said. “I’m not your ally. I’ve never been your ally. Just like you, I’m a pretender.” She glanced briefly at Cael as she said that. “And we both know what we are.”

Cael’s lips formed a line. He stayed quiet.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Alda asked. “You’re pretenders?”

“It means I am not the person you think I am,” Lortel said. “I’ll toss aside pointless appearances. Might as well show you the wretch I am before I’m killed.”

Alda watched with her lips ajar. Cael sat calmly. He’d had a hunch that Lortel was someone dangerous from the moment they met. If nothing else, she was someone who kept a lot of secrets. Right now, though, Lortel clearly wasn’t in the right state of mind to be speaking about matters like these.

“I think you should rest,” Cael said. “We’ll wake up tomorrow and discuss what we’ll do to survive out of this place.”

“I hate men like you,” Lortel said. “Acting all highly without knowing a damn thing about what you’re doing. You pretend, yet you still cannot appear as high as the woman you’re trying to trick.”

“Okay, there you’re just straight-up wrong,” Cael said. “I’m not trying to trick Vivi.”

Lortel snorted. “Deny it all you want. You’re ogling her like an ogre.”

Cael sighed. “Is a man not allowed to choose which girl he likes these days?”

“It’s a good plan, I admit,” Lortel said. “To chase her for wealth. Vivian is bound to grow influential, if Shilman does not kill her. Those who seduce her will gain great wealth.”

“You know, she kind of already gave both of us runeswords,” Cael said. “I don’t think there’s any need to wed her for her to offer goodwill.”

“But you pursue her anyway?” Lortel said. “You are a fool.”

Cael found himself smiling, while shaking his head. “It seems we’ve lived vastly different lives, Lortel.”

She frowned at him.

“I’m not pursuing her, and I’m especially not hoping to trick her for some ether,” Cael said. “I just think she’s neat, and I want her to know that.”

“That makes no sense.”

“I also think you’re not as cruel as you make yourself out to be,” Cael said. “I’m going to need you to bear my face for a little longer.”

“Why would I?”

“Because I think I’ve figured out how we can escape from here.” He took a step forward. “But for it to work, I’m going to need your help.”