[35]

Grey clouds hid the sun’s light, threatening to burst upon the city of Ashmere at any moment. Neither Izzy nor I minded the potential downpour, because of the cooling breeze it offered in the heat of spring’s stead. Though the wet would be a problem for my physical training class tomorrow afternoon. Just thinking about the extra layer of suck adding mud to everything nearly brought me to shivers.

Still, because of the paper documents in my bag, I hastened toward the center of the City. Denizens of Ashmere referred to the academy of Ashmere as the “Campus” and the city itself as, well, the “City”. Closest to the walls of the campus were the villas and estates of the nobles. Including the Snelling villa, where I once stayed with Angelina. The closeness of their off campus houses was probably near as much for proximity as they were for safety. After all, were an incursion from the Ruinlands to occur, anyone that wanted a chance at safety would have to hide behind the sprawling walls of Ashmere’s campus.

My boots clicked on the cobbled dark grey streets, and I looked at each of the houses speculatively. Styles varied by block, based on the country of origin of the homeowner and the extent of their wealth. Houses from Ankest were more open, with fences instead of walled gates, and had a multitude of fruit trees growing on their grounds. Ergentein villas were more crammed, having multiple stories to the residence, and thick stone walls in the way of the packed city of Harcourt. There were many other styles and cultures that I did not recognize, including one notable home shaped like a ziggurat, surrounded by a moat.

Had a demon cult or cultist not been trying to kill me, I might have enjoyed taking frequent walks through this neighborhood to better view the cosmopolitan habits of nobility and the wealthy around the world.

What started as an interesting sight-seeing soon soured, as I came across an estate with a large stylized “K” on the front gate. There had to be hundreds of noble homes, maybe even a thousand, as Ashmere was a popular destination for international meetings. And, of all the places and streets I could have taken, I had to come across the Kestev residence.

Sibilla Kestev was on the street heading in my direction. However, catching my eye stopped her dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened, then narrowed after meeting mine, flicked over to the neutral faced Izzy, then back to me. An unladylike frown erupted soon after.

It was my first time seeing the older Kestev up close. Unlike most nobles who had thick purple hair, Sibilla’s was quite thin, and so dark it was almost black. Like her younger brother, she had eyes that were closer to dark slits than orbs. She also shared a prominent aristocratic nose with Reynold, but their lips differed. His were thin and habitually sneering, whereas Sibilla had pouty lips that gave her an exaggerated arrogance.

Sibilla had a thin scar on her chin, but was still absolutely gorgeous, Stately even, with perfect facial symmetry, and well-sculpted hard arching eyebrows. She kept her hair in a bun, held together by a stiletto with a red jewel sticking out of the pommel. It was every bit as much a fashion statement as the adorned rapier on her waist; her statement to the world that violence can be pretty. Or, maybe, she just found it pretty.

Izzy shifted from along my side to step in-between us.

“You there!” Sibilla said in a commanding, halting voice.

“Can’t talk, right now. Some other time, okay?” I said, waving her off, and definitely not stopping. Whatever dumb, mean shit she had to say, I had already heard a thousand times before.

“You scurry away like a coward,” she called from behind, now even more angry at being snubbed.

“It’s going to rain!” I yelled back cheerfully, giving her an over the shoulder thumbs up.

“You will pay for your offenses against my family!” She yelled, clearly flustered, but unwilling to pursue.

“Have a nice day!” I called from even further away.

After a block, Izzy slapped me on the back companionably.

“That girl wants you so bad,” the dwarf said, chuckling.

“Wants me bleeding out in her dungeon?” I clarified.

“Nah, she just ride your bones.” Izzy said.

“Bones? Do… Uh, I mean, do dwarf men have…” I had trouble saying what I wanted to just come out and ask.

“More than one dick? No, Harald. It’s just an expression.” Izzy said, laughing loud enough to scatter some nearby pigeons.

Definitely a saying I had never heard, but I still wanted to be sure. Last thing I needed was to get caught up in a bar fight because I drank too much and told everyone a “fact” about dwarven anatomy that was not true.

For a city that had to be at least half the size of the capital of Ergentein, Harcourt, Ashmere’s Chartered Messenger Service was as busy as you would expect. After an hour of standing in the slow-moving line, I caught sight of Florence walking in accompanied by one of the orange haired Churm twins that invited me to their party. Since Ostel and Sayer were identical in appearance, I could not tell for sure which one it was.

It was the first time I had seen the petite Lady Claybrook since the arcanorail, when she tried to coerce me into that disgusting act. At the time, I had been so relieved that it resolved peacefully. I had thought little of the implications of what she had done. Now, just looking at her filled me with a deep revulsion. Even if Angelina had desired to be with me, her complete disregard for my feelings in the matter was abominable. Elmont might not have killed me, but being taken advantage of would have saddled Angelina and I with a guilt we would not easily absolve. The Angelina Snelling that I knew was a sweet, kind soul, unconcerned with the games nobles liked to play and defilement of any kind had no place in her world.

They headed toward a station without a line, presumably for VIP’s, and Florence handed off a letter from the folds of her cloak to an attendant. The man behind the counter stamped the letter, handing her something back, and she was soon on her way out.

Having two people that triggered my Know Thy Enemy boon in proximity worried me. Had Florence turned the Churm family against me to hide her awful secret? Did they invite me to their party on her behalf? Why was a noble of Ergentein hanging out with a foreign noble?

Florence and her companion did not see me in the crowded line, even with my boon, because they were so engrossed in their conversation. I observed them both the entire walk toward the exit, chatting in hushed tones.

Izzy watched me watching them.

“You know her?” Izzy asked.

“Yeah, she tried to do something bad to me once. Ever since, I get a bad ‘hunch’ when she’s around. I thought it was water under the bridge, but I think she holds resentment. It’s absurd, because I’m the one she wronged. She’s probably worried I’ll tell someone.” I said.

Izzy nodded, watching Florence leave along with me like she was taking a mental drawing and committing it to memory.

A busty matron in front of me bumped into me by “accident” on three separate occasions, trying to start up small talk each time. Izzy whispered something to the poor woman after the third time, and the woman did not bother me again.

Another half hour of waiting later, I made it to the front of the crowded line. Despite the annoyance in getting there, the process to send a parcel was relatively simple. A contract I had written up, that included an Ashmere currency voucher, would be on its way to the Grim Stone mercenary company in Hornebolt the next day.

I dipped into my contribution points an extra 50 points to pay for expediency along an arcanorail. Within a couple of days, I hoped Saewulf and Rollo would be on their way to protecting my father in Weston.

Elaine promised RRS protection, but I did not trust them. Speaking sincerely, I expected them to hold him or his location secret from me, in order to force me into their schemes. My mercenary friends were not likely to defeat an RRS ascendent. However, they were both very sharp, capable of seeing the “writing on the wall” far better than most, and I included a private letter addressed specifically to them detailing the situation. It was the best I could do.

That finished, Izzy and I headed back to the safe-house under the starting drizzle of the coming storm. A clear and appreciated advantage of being in the company of Izzy, was that we could by-pass the gate to the campus with a simple wave from her. Every guard seemed to know her, and Izzy explained it was because she was a senior watch leader. That revelation made me appreciate Administrator Marwin all the more, knowing that he truly had my safety in mind when he assigned her.

Walking and waiting left me in no mood to return to the dining hall, so we returned to the safe house with food from a street vendor.

Ugz and I ate our food in silence, then my familiar followed me into the bedroom, watching as I dumped seven green essence stones on to the bed. The little stones were remarkable to behold, shining with a swirling inner light that illuminated my room. It had hurt to spend so many points acquiring them, but once I had them in hand, they felt worth it.

Izzy explained the stones were still valuable after I used them. Each one could hold up to 100 essence repeatedly. All it took to re-energize the stone was to place it over a monster after you killed it to absorb a portion of its essence. It would always take away the essence from your earnings, but if you needed to, you could take it right back from the stone with only a slight loss. Essence stones were a necessary component for creating enchanted or magic items. Already knowing a few curses I wanted to try, I planned on keeping two stones, and turning the rest back in for more contribution points. Each empty stone would net me three points back, and I definitely needed them.

Between spending 250 points on the contract for Saewulf and Rollo, 50 points on the expedient message delivery, and 700 points on essence stones to reach Rank 5, I only had a paltry 17 contribution points left.

Easy come, easy go.

It was time to Rank up.