Chapter 61

To Befriend a Devil

“Eternal songs are sung in the Weepwoods, but we are too deaf to hear them; there, warnings are repeated, memories of the Old Sins we have erased.”

Aged Histories, Vol. III, Weepwoods

“Asandra, the Red," Noah mumbled into his jaw as he read the words off of a slightly crumpled parchment. "Twenty-nine, member of City Guard for thirteen years, a veteran of three rebellions, never attempted a major promotion, least recorded arrests of her rank, but the most killings."

It was somewhat in line with what he had already thought of her; he suspected that, at her core, she didn’t care much for her guard duties or climbing the corrupt ranks of the system. Sheila was exactly the same; no matter how important something was, so long as it didn’t interest her, she would act as though it doesn’t even exist. Her background is sealed, huh? These records were public, especially to him as a Dacent, but even he didn't have access to the so-called 'Sealed Library' – not just him, but, according to what he knew, even Olivia may not have direct access and would instead have to go through her Father, the King.

While he didn’t necessarily need to know where she comes from and what’s her story, it would go a great distance in helping him build a complete image of her. I can just try and pry it from her, he mused. She seems an honest type.

Putting down the parchment, he stretched lazily, expecting Olivia to arrive at any moment. Yesterday’s ‘moment’ had alarmed him considerably as, once again, events were transpiring behind his back that he had no knowledge of. It would be fine, as plenty of things happen without his knowledge, but not when it directly impacts him. Being in the dark made him uncomfortable, but obtaining the ‘why’ from Olivia would probably be impossible.

“Lord Dacent?” a somewhat robust voice accompanied a set of knocks, causing Noah to frown in confusion. I didn’t accidentally double-book anything, right?

“Yes?” the doors creaked open slowly as a Royal Guard, clad in silver armor and red cape, walked through, meeting his gaze after a customary bow. “How can I help you?”

“A visitor asked me to see whether you’d be willing to attend to her.”

“A visitor?”

“She seems to be a part of the City Guard – Asandra, she said her name was.” Isn’t this a bit too quick? She can’t be that curious, can she?

“Where is she?” Noah asked.

“At the gates.” The guard replied.

“Have someone escort her.” Noah added.

“Yes, Lord Dacent." The guard bowed once again before leaving, closing the doors behind him. Noah remained sitting, still confused, as he pondered what sparked the young woman to visit him so quickly. After all, they've only met two days ago.

He didn't have to wait too long, merely a few minutes, before another set of knocks followed, with him taking a deep breath and walking over to the doors, opening them. There, a Royal Maid stood by the side of a young woman draped in rather worn-down clothes, made out of cheap hemp, her forearms, and parts of her belly exposed.

“Thank you, Melisa,” Noah smiled at the maid who smiled back before bowing and retreating. “This is quite surprising, I must say,” he added to Asandra, indicating she should enter after him. “I didn’t expect you this quickly.”

“… I had some free time,” she said, closing the doors behind her and looking around the room curiously. “And nothing else to do.”

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked, glancing at her as she stood at the dead center of the room. She has a good eye…

“No, thank you for the offer,” she shook her head. She still looked utterly expressionless, her remarkable red eyes examining every inch of his room. “Most other Dacents that I know have plenty of hidden bricks in their walls, hiding Crowns and whips. You don't?"

“… I wonder,” he smiled faintly at her as she finally met his gaze, turning around and walking back to his work desk, sitting down and pouring himself a cup of ale. “Do sit, please.”

“Thank you,” she nodded and walked over, sitting on the opposite side, looking at him curiously. “I’ve looked into you.”

“… found anything interesting?” he asked.

“Quite the opposite,” she said honestly. “Of all the other Dacents I’ve investigated, you might just yet be the most boring one. At least, that is, on the paper.”

“Boring is safe and good,” Noah chuckled, realizing she really might just spill out her entire story to him if he merely just asked. “As it happens, I’ve also looked into you.”

“Found anything interesting?” Ah, seems humor isn’t lost on her, huh? She asked with a faint grin.

“Certainly far more than you did,” he said. “Yet… nothing. I ought to meet whoever writes your records. I might learn a thing or two from them.”

“… Uncle would be happy to hear you say that,” she said, flashing him the first genuine smile of today. Uncle? “He always grumbles how nobody appreciates that side of him.”

“Uncle?” Lino quizzed.

“Commander of the Royal Guards, currently working as an Overseer of City Guard,” she replied. “Voller Merlin. He adopted me when I was young.”

“… a good man,” Noah barely managed to maintain his calm façade, though had already set his mind ablaze trying to figure out how to break any and all connection he had with this woman. He was already swimming in too many rivers of fire, and could hardly afford to get himself entangled with another one. “Few of those walking around, unfortunately.”

“You seem a good one as well,” she said. “As far as I could tell, anyway, you look to take care of your slaves better than any other Master I’ve ever encountered or heard of.”

“… you really looked into me, huh?” Noah chuckled. “It looks as though it wasn’t only today that you were free.”

“… I am free most days.” She said with another smile.

“…” Noah flashed yet another smile, feeling his cheeks straining. She’s really just like Shelia, she wasn’t backing down, that much he realized. She was hardly the canvas her ‘records’ painted her as; one would think she was a simple brute, but past that expressionless exterior was the venomous ilk that was extremely difficult to get rid of. “What brings you here today, on your remarkably coincidental free day?”

“… Amber Bank.” She said with a faint smile, her disposition changing, entering a defensive mode. Noah, however, didn’t react in the slightest, merely taking a sip of the ale.

“You don’t look like someone who needs to borrow Crowns,” he said. “But I can never really tell. So, how much do you need?”

“… h-huh?” How did she connect me to the name? Inwardly, though he wasn’t panicking as it didn’t seem she had any intention of selling him out just yet, he was somewhat frustrated. As I thought, the message was too conspicuous…

“… you can relax,” he smiled once again after she grew even more defensive. “I’m still merely an ordinary, old Dacent, regardless of what image of me you've built up inside your head. You'd have no trouble choking me if it came to that."

“… so, you are connected to it?” she asked, though still not dropping her guard.

“Connected? I’m afraid I run it,” Noah said, slowly weaving a web. “But before you go on the heralded set of questions you’ve been concocting ever since you’ve ‘figured it out’, let me ask you something: why are you here instead of reporting your findings to your superior? Am I also going to wind up as an extra death over an arrest?”

“…” she looked deeply into his eyes for a moment, hers a complete contrast to his – blue and red, like the sky and the blood, sat at an impasse for a long while before she broke the silence, dropping her guard completely much to his surprise. “Even with everything I’ve discovered, it’s pointless. You’re a Dacent, and we’re mere guards. You’d no doubt request a trial in front of the King, which would take months to set-up, during which you’d undoubtedly smear our reputation as much as possible. By the time we came to a trial, we’d be disgraced Guards while you’d be a wrongfully vilified old man.”

“… sounds like this wouldn’t be your first run.”

“That’s why I hate Dacents,” she said. “They believe their sly tongues and connections absolve them from all the crimes they commit. Right now, there are eight in this building alone that are intricately woven with the ring of child-trading. Because of them, every once in a while, I have to report to the scene where a child yet to reach ten was found 'mysteriously dead', and then go on pretending to be mystified by the whole scenario."

“…” I need to look into that, Noah immediately jotted it down into his to-do list. A sex-ring involving children? To him, that was like a paradise for blackmailing.

“However, no matter how much I tried, I can’t seem to hate you,” she continued. “Even if I know you’d have done the exact same thing had I officially accused you.”

“… I’m afraid you are very much wrong about that,” he noticed the crux of what was bothering her, and perhaps even the central core of her character. In that way, at least, she was nothing like Sheila, who abhorred the notion of quick ‘revenge’ and instead liked to play with her prey for years if not decades. “Instead of spreading rumors about you and trying to discredit you, isn’t there a much simpler solution to my problems in that scenario?”

“…” her eyes flashed in a glint of understanding as she upped her guard once again.

“… what’s with the look?” he grinned. “I’m almost absolutely certain you’d have already taken the law into your hand before. If anything, you should be remarkably more understanding of my choices than the most.”

“… what are you after?” she asked, relaxing her guard once again. “Is it really just wealth and power?”

“… what I’m after doesn’t matter,” he shook his head. “You approached me for a reason. You came here today, effectively defenseless, for a reason. You’ve sealed your lips on what you’ve learned for a reason. I’ve been honest with you, from the get-go. At the very least you can afford me the same courtesy, no?”

"… from top to bottom," she said after a short silence. "This whole city is rotting in corruption. In brutal decadence. Just a few days ago, I had to watch in silence as my Captain took two bags of Crowns as a bribe to remain silent over the illegally imported prostitutes, some of which were just young girls. If you're asking what I'm after… peace of mind, then?" Decidedly not like Sheila, Noah mused inwardly, pondering on how to proceed.

“… do you want me to be brutally honest with you?” he asked.

“… yes.” She replied firmly.

“No matter what either you do, or what you would have me do, will not be enough to rectify most of those things within our lifetime,” his words seemed to be like a cold shower as her shoulders slumped, her expression willowing. “If you have supposedly well-educated and morally-right Dacents running a whole market of child trafficking, it’s not that they grew corrupted over time – it’s that the system itself enables only the corrupt ones to succeed. As you said, from top to bottom.”

“…”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t do anything,” he said after a short silence. “As it’s still possible to at least prepare everything for the next set of idealists like you to come about and finish our work.”

“… is that what you’re after?” she asked after calming herself down.

“No,” he shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m nowhere near a good man I make myself sound. If anything, in some ways I might even be worse than them. Unlike them, who most-likely see nothing wrong with what they’re doing as it’s the common and accepted practice, I am very much aware of every single terrible thing I do… but I still keep on doing them regardless.”

“So, you killed him? That butcher?” she probed.

“… you’re mystifying me once again,” he chuckled. “I’m afraid I can’t take the credit, though. It’s a terrible thing, what happened to that man. But not one hung on my neck.”

“… don’t look so disappointed,” Asandra jumped in her seat, yet found herself incapable of movement. He was behind her. Her heart froze for a moment as she felt a strong pair of arms pressing against her shoulders. Just a moment, less than a second ago, he was sitting on the other end of the desk, yet was now right behind her. She’d never seen or met anyone capable of doing that, at least not this quickly. What calmed her, however, was that beyond the pressure of his arms, there was a strange calm, almost like invisible tendrils of energy swarming into her body through his palms. She couldn’t quite describe it as it was the first time she ever experienced anything quite like it. “And instead ask what you can do.”

“… w-what… what can I do?” she asked with a stutter. It has been a long time since she found herself this restless to the point she was stumbling over her own words.

"Become my personal guard," Noah closed into her ear and whispered. “And learn firsthand just how one goes about changing the world they loathe oh-so-much…” it was like a whisper of the devil, Asandra knew, the maws of death and darkness calling out to her. She knew she had to say no, to reject, to run away if at all possible and to do everything in her power to bring this man down. Yet… the voice was too sweet. The offer too inviting. It cut right into the heart of her hatred, of her desire, and peeled back all the layers she'd been hiding all her life. She remembered an old saying she'd read in a historic tome, one that, right now, resonated more with her than anything else: to kill the evil, befriend the greater evil.

“… fine.” She replied lowly, in a humming whisper. It indeed felt like that, as though she was befriending the evil – stamping and sealing her fate, practically giving it away for the seeming nothing. However, she knew it was not for nothing. He was not evil – an evil man would have killed her, would have killed anyone even remotely close to discovering him. As long as that was the case, there was a chance. Though slim, it was there. In the end… that was the best branch she could hang onto, and the only one that kept her guilt in check.