“And one of the preeminent gods of the Modgriensofarthgonosefren,” Trevin said.
“I don’t suppose they saw Hephaestus making alvaren steel by any chance?” Elraith asked.
Trevin could not shake her head in this form. “They did not See that.”
“We have orcs versus alvar, and Hephaestus involved.” Elraith sighed.
“That may mean a bit of tension between the alvar and the dwarves,” Trevin said.
“It is a peace that is not easy to keep,” Elraith said.
“This is why I want to keep this quiet. I want to take the Nimbus near to Jotungard and see if the orcs are rising, see if there is any sign of these visions, or if we can trigger more visions. We will head to Murgandy and Ferundy and see what the situation is.”
“A sizeable portion of your crew is alvaren,” Elraith noted.
“Hence I intend to say we are hunting Bastet,” Trevin explained. “Our visit to the border regions will be but to survey the territory around Najaar; our first stop in looking for signs of Bastet. We have had no major ventures in that region for nearly a century or more. It has been very quiet.”
“Too quiet.” Elraith shook his head. “I don’t know. It seems rather risky. You will have both dwarves and alvar on the ship with you.”
“I know, but can you think of a better plan? The sorcerer and seer are confident that their visions are imminent.”
“You will be bringing the sorcerer and seer with you?” Elraith asked.
“Unquestionably. I will also discreetly ask them to not mention the orc or alvaren armies,” Trevin said.
Elraith snorted, shaking his head. “I think that may get taken from your hands by fate.”
Chapter 84
Hilda was running late, but she figured it was worth it. There was a meeting scheduled two Etonian hours before local dawn in Freehold. She’d spent so much time with Master Trisfelt that she barely had time to get home and take a nice long bath, get into some clean clothes and whip up a sugar-and-cinnamon breakfast cake and stick it in the oven for a slow bake before the meeting. It had been worth it, though, in so many ways.
First, the Old Vine Meryst had been exquisite, and when that was gone, Master Trisfelt speedily pulled out a bottle of House Zyrkoft Kabdorgh PV 407, which was really one of the most underappreciated years the house had ever produced. She herself had never previously tried that year, but she’d read about it, of course. The meats and cheeses were both excellent accompaniments; the man was clearly a gourmand after her own heart. He was also witty and a lively conversationalist. It really had to have been one of the most enjoyable evenings she had had in the last century; possibly since her canonization even. Oh, sure, a feast in the Great Hall of Tierhallon was a spectacle most would die to attend, and in fact, she had done just that — but that was beside the point. It was great spectacle, but really not that relaxing and enjoyable on any level.
Hilda was not much for politics. The official dinners were always crammed with people trying to get a witty word in edgewise with one of the higher-ups, honored guests or someone at the political heights of Tiernon himself. It was really too much pressure. Not to mention the effort in terms of wardrobe and makeup, the fear of the wrong word or slip of the tongue. Some of the Host were terribly catty; one small faux pas and they would hold it against you for decades.
Hilda shook her head as she took a seat at the back of the briefing room. Archon Moradel had just finished consulting with a few of his lieutenants and had stepped up to the podium.
“First order of business: the Pool monitors report that the net draw down yesterday morning was equivalent to about two and half miracles, nearly on par with a greater miracle in terms of overall withdrawal,” Moradel stated. There were gasps around the room.
Someone asked, “Clearly not authorized?”
Moradel nodded. “Definitely not. However, the true oddity is that it wasn’t from a single illuminary. The drain was spread out over several illuminaries.” There was a lot of mumbling. “Five in total,” Moradel added and looked around the room. “The Holy Ciphers guarding the illumination streams were hacked. Someone, or something, pierced the illumination streams and first diverted mana intended for the Pool, and then a bit later pulled mana from our avatars, masquerading as legitimate illuminaries. Once the cyphers were broken, they had the authority of the high priests whose illumination streams were intercepted. While none of these high priests would have been able to withdraw a greater miracle’s worth of mana without explicit permission, the individual stream requests were within the limits allowed to the infiltrated high priests. In all, a very complex and sophisticated effort that took us completely by surprise.”
The room was abuzz with amazed chatter among the other members of the advance party, but also among the assembled Host and the various other bureaucrats in the room. This was old news to Hilda. Of course, finding an inebriated wizard who had actually helped conjure the culprit was something of a small coup on her part. She suppressed a grin of triumph. Hubris was a sin, after all.
“Now, further,” Moradel continued, “we’ve been investigating prayer reports for the senior Rod leadership and we believe they were in Freehold investigating demonic activity.” Some of the beings present, who had not been in the advance party and were hearing this for the first time, made shocked noises. Moradel nodded. “So, in addition to standard checks, we had the advance team check for the presence of demons in the vicinity.” Numerous individuals nodded in agreement with this decision.
“So, advance party?” Moradel glanced around the room, momentarily locking eyes with each of the advanced team, including Hilda. “Any signs of significant demonic presence?” the archon asked.
“None detected by Team Alpha,” Seralina stood and stated. Team Alpha? Really, is that what Seralina was calling her coterie of hens? She had managed to wrangle her four “minions” into the advance party. Meaning everyone except Hilda.
“There is some evidence of demon mana in the area, but we observed no demons currently in or around the city,” Seralina stated with military smugness.
“No demons in the city?” An older archon leaning against a sidewall asked, sounding puzzled. “This is Freehold, a city with more wizards per square foot than anywhere else on the plane.” He shook his head in disbelief. “And you are telling me you found no demons in the city? There have always been demons in that cursed city. Wizards really can’t stop themselves from summoning and trying to foolishly control demons. It’s a genetic abnormality or something.” Several people in the room laughed at this.
Seralina looked a bit taken off guard. Apparently, she really hadn’t known much about the city. “Uhm, yes, we flew over the city and scanned it for demons. There were none in the city. We could detect the residue of demon summoning, and various protective spells, but there were no demons in or around the city.” She looked to her clique, who all nodded in agreement.
“I have to admit, that sounds very odd,” Moradel added, looking suspicious.
“How could there not be demons in Freehold? We were simply wanting to check the area around the Rod and the Oorstemothians. We expected demons in the city,” another avatar sitting in the room stated.
“Yes, and why are the Oorstemothians camped right near the Rod? While we have no current hostilities with them, this seems a bit odd,” Beragamos Antidelles stated. Everyone looked towards the archon. Beragamos was one of the oldest still active archons. He had been with Tiernon even before the Etonians’ arrival in Astlan.