[coronatiger]

23rd of Ratanu, year 412 (continued)

O Ashtar, Mother of Snakes, Keeper of Death’s Door, hear my confession!

Xipil knocked on our door, waking us. I asked if it was important and he only said maybe, so I told him to go away. Xipil insisted, changing his response to that it could be very important. Yana said we were coming and helped me out of bed and into my clothes. She asked if there was something we needed to talk about, or something we should talk to our friends about. I countered, “What would that be?” Yana said we could discuss it later.

Wolfram was also on the way down to our meeting room when Yana and I came out. Xipil, Grogg and Hylda were downstairs already, as were a dwarf and his troll body guard. The strangers nodded to us when we came in, and the dwarf asked Xipil if we were all there. The troll closed the door when Xipil said yes. The dwarf continued to address Xipil. “Are you the one called K’sipil? I have business with K’sipil.” The two of them had obviously not met before, and they shook hands. The dwarf’s name was Krago and the troll was Bruto.

Krago removed his heavy backpack and put it on the floor. He took two keys and unlocked a metal box. Inside was a peculiar mechanical contraption, and Krago asked us not to make any sudden moves. Xipil stepped closer cautiously to get a better look, but I remained near the door with Bruto and Yana. Krago said that if anyone felt clumsy, they should probably sit down. I glanced at Grogg, who was looking at Wolfram in the same manner, albeit more obviously. Nobody moved. Krago fiddled with the mechanism and pulled a smaller box out of it. He put that on the table and said we could relax now. I couldn’t see very well from where I stood, but I heard six or seven clicks before Krago opened the little box and plucked out a folded and sealed piece of paper, which he opened and read silently.

After reading the note, Krago asked what he could help us with. For some reason, everyone assumed Nulius had sent him. He never said anything to indicate that and nobody actually asked either. Wolfram leapt right into it. He wanted to know where one could hide magical artifacts in Byblos. Krago thought the question was strange, but got out pen and paper and began to write. With his back half-turned towards Yana and me, I would have to move if I wanted to read what he wrote, but unlike Xipil, I can contain my curiosity.

Xipil reminded Wolfram that it was the demon we were interested in, not just any magical artifact. Krago asked if we knew the name of this demon, and Xipil said it was Volkir. Krago kept writing. Wolfram explicated that if Tivito were hiding a demon named Volkir in or around Byblos the next few days, we wanted to know where.

Wolfram looked at me and asked if we should ask about temples where genocides may be brought about. I didn’t care enough to respond, so Wolfram moved on. He turned to Krago and asked where Elik were located. The dwarf asked questions to learn precisely what Wolfram wanted to know.

Xipil came over and asked me if I was interested in evidence that Tivito said one thing on the council and another thing to the cults. I stared blankly into the air and Xipil returned to the table. Why should I lift a finger to help those who ostracized me? My task was to find Your true sibling, and I didn’t need the temples for that. If not for Your orders to stay with this group, I would have abandoned Wolfram’s Tivito crusade and left Byblos.

Wolfram overheard Xipil’s question and asked Krago for evidence. He wanted documentation of Tivito’s law proposal. Xipil helped him clarify, but it wasn’t easy, for neither of them knew how the King’s Laws were passed. One of Wolfram’s suggestions was so despairingly worthless that I blurted out “No!” He had wanted to narrow the search to laws proposed by Tivito, when they clearly could use strawmen to present their case. Nobody but Yana seemed to notice my outburst, and asserting myself seemed too much of an effort. Fortunately, Wolfram and Xipil managed to arrive at a sensible request for Krago: Any proposed law still under deliberation, mentioning at least one of You, Tivito, Kabal or Elik, should be brought to our attention. Krago asked which languages we mastered. Wolfram mentioned Common, but nobody else spoke up, and Krago made his notes with a warning that some things may be lost in the translation.

Wolfram asked if Krago could find out if any religious organizations were gathering arms in or around Byblos. That was clear enough for him to bring to his subcontractors. While Krago noted this down, Wolfram asked if Grogg wanted to know anything. Grogg had been almost as silent as me during these proceedings.

Grogg wanted to know everything Krago could find out about dragons. Krago didn’t believe in dragons, that was clear, but he promised to deliver what he could unearth of myths mentioning dragons, and in particular stories describing how dragons were killed.

Wolfram asked if we could require equipment too, or if Krago could only deliver information. Krago said we had the highest requisition rank, using the same wording as Nulius’s spy. In my mind, this was the first indication that he could possibly be working for Nulius. I still didn’t trust him. Bruto didn’t look like he paid Yana and me much mind and I didn’t think it would be too difficult to apply venom to my knives without him noticing, were it not for the fact that I had left all my poison upstairs. I would have to bite him, if it became necessary to kill.

Grogg said he wanted one hundred gold pieces. Wolfram showed his large knives and asked for higher quality versions of those weapons. Krago measured the weapons and continued to make notes.

Wolfram added that the information we had asked for, except regarding the dragons, would be worthless if we didn’t receive it before four days had passed.

Xipil would like information about some star signs. Krago didn’t know or care more about the star sky than me, and he got Xipil to make elaborate descriptions of the signs, so he could accurately pass on to his subcontractors what we wanted to know.

Krago suggested that the Lame Mule would be the place of delivery, and my friends agreed. Wolfram said he could deliver to any of us present; he didn’t need to wait for all of us to gather if someone had gone out.

If there wasn’t anything else, Krago would like to get on with the delivery, he said, but of course there was more. Grogg wanted a huge sheet of fine silk, as well as silk thread, and Xipil wanted four new arrows. Krago wrote it down, then he turned the sheet around and made six lines where we should sign. Grogg took the pen first, and after he had scrawled his name, he was asked to dip his middle finger in the ink and make a fingerprint next to his name. Hylda signed the same way, as did Xipil and Wolfram. Krago looked expectantly at Yana and me, but I shook my head slightly. “I don’t need to receive anything,” I said.

Krago began to fold up the paper. I took that to mean that business was concluded, so I walked around Bruto and opened the door. Yana hurried after me to our room where I crashed onto the bed, exhausted. Yana fluffed my pillow and made me comfortable, and then she sat down with her sewing.

After a while, Yana asked if I had considered what she asked before we went down to the meeting. I told her if she wanted to talk to the others, I wouldn’t stand in her way, but Yana didn’t think that it was so important for her to talk to them. I knew what she meant, but I didn’t feel up to the task. I didn’t think they appreciated my company anyway. They’d be glad to see me go, at least if they could retain Yana to keep them from making social gaffes, although I had to admit they muddled through the meeting with Krago without need for our intervention. As I mentioned, Your orders leaves them stuck with me, but I don’t have to torture them with my unwanted presence needlessly.