He grinned, “And here you always bragged at being such a fine cook. You should have brought Penny with you. Now there’s a girl that knows what she’s doing behind a stove.”
Rose made her way past him, visibly agitated, “I’ll be outside. I need some air. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Marc asked after she had left.
“Aside from the fact that she was the one that burned the sausages, not much, idiot,” I told him.
He winced, “Ouch, I’ll have to apologize when she returns.”
“You know better than that, I already said it was me that burned them,” I replied.
He looked me over carefully, “Both of you seem awfully high strung today. What news do you have?”
I turned the sausage over in the pan to avoid repeating Rose’s mistake. I was grateful for something to do to disguise my reaction to his question. “Let’s save my news for after yours. I’m curious as to what you found out,” I said over my shoulder.
He paused at that and I could almost hear him thinking. He had known me for long enough to know when I was stalling for time. Finally he decided to ignore it and play along. “I’ve learned all sorts of interesting things this past week,” he began.
“Are you sure? It seemed to me that you were more focused on learning the ins and outs of a certain Doronic priestess,” I observed.
He put a finger to his lips as if in thought, “Doronic, I like that. It definitely has a certain ring to it. However you are still wrong, Marissa isn’t a member of the Doronite clergy.”
“She certainly seemed to have the proper calling,” I said. I was pretty proud of that one.
Marc laughed, “Actually I agree with you on that. She’s definitely grown on me. However the key point is that the Iron God doesn’t accept women among his exalted clergymen. There is also the small matter of her being a devotee of Celior instead.”
I turned and stared at him, “Wait, let me get this straight. You are impersonating one of the Iron Brothers in order to seek access to the Karenthian archives, while at the same time you are bedding a priestess of Celior. Do I have all that in order or should I be confused about a few more things as well?”
“More specifically, I’m a visiting priest from Verningham,” he corrected me.
“My pardon, a visiting priest… what name did you give them by the way?”
“Marc.”
“And you don’t think anyone is going to make the connection between your features and that name? You made quite a splash last year as the new channeler for Millicenth,” I reminded him.
“That’s why I chose Doron’s temple as opposed to that of Millicenth’s. Besides, I prefer using my own name, it simplifies all the lying.”
“How so?”
He made a serious face as if he were beginning a lecture. “First, it means I don’t have to worry about not responding when someone calls me from a distance using my assumed name and second, it makes the cut by satisfying my third rule of lying.”
We had had a few conversations like this one before, but I struggled to remember which rule was the third one. After a minute he took pity on me and explained without waiting for me to ask. “The third rule is that if a lie cannot follow rules one or two, it should be so preposterous or unbelievable that no one will doubt it. Using my own name is so silly that anyone hearing it will discount the possibility right away, since I would never use my own name to impersonate a priest, especially given my rather famous past.” He crossed his arms smugly as he finished.
“Remind me what the first two rules were,” I said blandly. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of laughing.
“Rule one was do not lie, or if you do, do so by omission. Rule two states if you must lie, always do so by including as much of the truth as possible,” he rattled off immediately.
“It worries me that you have these rules memorized.”
“You yourself are reaping the benefits even now. Since I disinherited myself you might consider hiring me as your spymaster general. I think I have a talent for it,” he said modestly.
“I won’t disagree with that,” said Rose from the doorway behind him. She appeared much more herself now that she had returned.
Marc bowed in her direction, “Thank you milady.”
“Back to what you discovered,” I prodded.
“Oh yes, that! Well after I showed my credentials from the chapter in Verningham the brothers were kind enough to put me up at the temple here in Albamarl and from there it…”
“Credentials?” I interrupted.
“A letter of introduction from Abbot Simon in Verningham,” he clarified.
“How did you get that?” I questioned.
He sighed audibly, “I forged it Mort. Are you going to keep interrupting every time I get going? It really drags the story out.”
“Sorry,” I apologized. I also made a note that Marc still had talents I had yet to discover after all our years as friends.
He glared at me for a second, then opened his mouth as if he were about to speak. When I said nothing he finally went on, “So from there I went to the temple of Karenth and presented myself as an itinerant scholar and gained permission to search the archives.”
I marveled at his brazen accomplishments, but I had come to expect surprises from Marc over the years. Before I could ask another question he went on, “So I began my search and I quickly discovered that the damned place is a maze of books and moldy scrolls. It would take most of my lifetime to search that place and I still might miss the information we’re looking for, so I sought out expert advice.”
Rose swallowed the piece of burnt sausage she had been idly nibbling at and broke in, “You mean you began sleeping with people.”
Marc gave her an indignant look, “Marissa is not people. She is a promising ‘light’ in the church of Celior, not to mention an accomplished scholar of history.”
Rose rolled her eyes but said nothing.
“Anyway, I met Marissa in the stacks, and it turns out that not many men share her interest in ancient church history. She was very pleased to share her knowledge and to help answer my questions as they arose,” he said somberly.
“If you were in the Karenthian archives, what was a priestess of Celior doing there?” I asked.
He pointed at me, “See! Now you show your ignorance. The archives are a resource shared by all four temples. The Karenthians are simply the ones in charge of managing it.”
“So what did you find out?” I asked impatiently.
Marc frowned. Obviously I was ruining his hard won tale. “Well if you want me to shorten things up, Marissa helped me do some research on the city’s early days, before and immediately after the events of the Sundering. Unfortunately there was very little of practical use recorded about Moira’s battle against Balinthor, other than the usual, she summoned a colossal giant of earth and stone that battled and eventually overcame Balinthor. Although she won there is no mention of her afterward, so I’m assuming she died during or shortly after the battle.”
I nodded, “That’s essentially true.”
He looked at me oddly. I hadn’t gotten around to telling anyone about my ongoing conversation with Moira Centyr, not even him. As it was I didn’t want to spoil his efforts, it had been hard enough for him to find a purpose after his depression. “Do you know something about that?” he asked me.
“Not much, but what you found agrees with what I’ve read,” I told him. Now there’s a perfect example of the subtle use of rule number two in lying, I thought to myself.
After a moment he continued, “What I did discover of importance, was that during the chaos of Balinthor’s war against humanity the Illeniel family moved something here of great importance. Something they didn’t want falling into the hands of strangers, or malevolent gods.”
I leaned forward. I was all ears now, “Go on…”
Marc smiled, “Apparently the early churches were all watching the remaining wizards carefully, particularly after the war was over. There are several missives detailing their activities, especially those regarding the Illeniel family. From what they could piece together it was suspected that something called ‘Illeniel’s Doom’ was moved to Albamarl.”