It was the last evening on board the ship. Tahar moved into our bunkroom, though the cramped quarters were much too small for a woman of her height to move in comfortably. Even the bed was too small, leaving her feet hanging off the side. Medalie collared me into a friendly game of cards beneath the deck. Cali went to get an early night, but Tahar followed me and sat at the table with us.

“What are you lot gonna’ do when we get there?” Medalie asked.

“Don’t ask me. No idea,” I shrugged. I looked down at my hand in discontent, not a single useful card in the lot. I slammed them down, “Fold.” Tahar watched from my left in fascination at the low-stakes card game we were playing.

“Hm. Benadora was running her mouth about that bonny sword of yours.”

“Oh, for goodness sake…”

“My lips are sealed. Hopefully hers are too.”

I didn’t have much faith about that. The woman had loose lips and an affection for beer.

“Obviously staying alive is my first priority. But I’ve got enough time on the clock to pick and choose where I go next. Somewhere where there’s trouble to get into, probably. What about you?”

“Finding a new spot in the market and going back to business as usual. Benadora paid me a lot of money for this, so I’m a step closer to havin’ my own place.”

“I’ll drop by and say hello when you do.”

Medalie smiled, “Cheers. Let’s hope everything goes well then.” She turned over her hand and leaned back in her chair like a conquering warrior.

“I already folded…”

The romantic in my head was convinced that as we broke through the fog that surrounded Pascen, the skyline would be illuminated with blazing fires – the town attacked and destroyed while we were away. I don’t know why I thought that, but given all of the other stupid bullshit that had happened to me recently, it was par for the course…

No. That didn’t happen. The fog was pierced by the strong gaze of the dockyard’s tall lighthouse. It was late evening in Pascen and the town was illuminated not by raging fires, but candlelit windows and open hearths. Back into the cradle of modern civilization for us. Was it comforting or worrying? The bells on deck rang out as we approached the same dock we had departed from some two weeks ago.

The sailors who hadn’t touched ground on Versia were very happy to be back home. Some of them had gone a little stir crazy from being on the ship for a month. The sails were tied back and a flurry of activity ensued as the cargo was unloaded using hand and crane. Cali, Tahar and I had already gathered our things and were ready to leave. Though before we could descend the ramp, Benadora intercepted us in a hurry.

She placed another bag of gold into my hands, “Before you go! Here, a bonus for your hard work. If it weren’t for you – we would have never discovered the full extent of the Tall School.”

I wasn’t going to turn it down. “Oh, thank you.”

“I hope you three will stay safe. If you ever have need of me or Adrian – come visit my home at your leisure the next time you’re here. I’d be happy to have you!”

“You too Lady Benadora,” Cali responded, “Thank you for your time.”

I nudged Cali, “Since when did you two become such good friends?”

“That’s a secret between women, Ren,” Benadora teased, “Not an ill word spoken of you. I promise.”

“There probably was. Cali is entirely withering with her descriptions of me…”

Tahar was starstruck by the sight of Pascen’s main port. She was very eager to get off the boat and start exploring. With one final goodbye to Benadora we headed down the main ramp and onto dry land once more. We pushed through the crowd of early morning sailors and into the town proper. Tahar was full of questions, which I did my best to answer.

We eventually reached the main avenue that ran through the town. Only a few taverns remained open this late, or early, depending on your perspective.

“So what are we going to do?” Cali asked.

To put it simply, I didn’t fucking know. I had absolutely no idea what we were going to do next now that we were back on Sull. I didn’t know where I was going to find a powerful monster to eat to extend my clock. I didn’t know any big jobs that needed doing. Maybe making some noise and getting in trouble was the best option after all.

Well, that was until a familiar face appeared from behind the street’s corner and walked towards me.

“Well, if you aren’t a sight for sore eyes.”

It was Adelbern again. This time without the armour.

I pointed to his casual outfit and smirked, “Oh, did they fire you?”

“Ah, no such thing. I wouldn’t have a head if they did that,” he laughed. “I don’t suppose that you’re up for receiving another tip from me?”

My eyes narrowed, “What is it this time?”

“There’s a lovely town on the Western border of the Federation named Stillbrook; there’s a cursed item there that needs… dealing with.”

Why would the inquisition need me to find a cursed item?

“What?”

Adel looked tired of having to spell things out for my dense ass, so he came out with the plain truth. “I put it there. The Absolver is using you to find them. Surely you’ve figured out that much by now.”

I never really gave it that much thought, but if they knew that I was in Blackwake looking for Bell, they knew that I’d run into the guy with the cursed book and potentially kill him. If they were the ones who forwarded the job offer to my contact…

“But you just wanted me to go kill Bell.”

“And he wanted you to go to Blackwake and find the cursed book. Everything else was set dressing.”

I shook my head and tried to walk away, “You know more than you’re letting on.”

Adel followed, “No. I don’t know any more than what I’ve been told. He’s playing with us both, and he’s very interested in making sure that you find all of those cursed items. What did you do with the last one?”

Was he bluffing to try and earn my trust? Inquisitors weren’t above dirty tricks like that. I dangled some bait, “Stigma ate it.” A fact, but one that omitted the important details that Stigma shared with me after about it containing her ‘sister.’

“She ate it?”

“Yeah - with herbs and spices; what the fuck do you think I mean ‘she ate it?’”

Adel stopped in place, sandwiched on both sides by Cali and Tahar. “And what happened?”

I shrugged, “It hurt like a bitch and she took it’s ability to control people, just like she can with everything else.”

“It hurt?”

“…Sure. Probably because it was cursed.” I excluded the fact that my already gaunt appearance had gotten worse in the aftermath. I was nearly as pale as a sheet, and I was one of the guys that tanned pretty well in summer. I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to do it again until I knew what was happening. Though to my frustration, it seemed that Adel didn’t have the answers either.

“Ren, I’m going to be level with you. The Great Absolver is interested in you and Stigma. I don’t know why, or for what purpose – but he wants me to lead you along until you do what he wants.”

“Why are you telling me?”

Adel scowled, “I already said I wasn’t interested in making the Inquisition happy. I’m under no illusions that I’m in a special position here. For all my talent with a sword, the real test of an Inquisitor’s staying power is their ability to play politics. He sees me as a convenient tool to get what he wants and when I finish serving that purpose he’ll try to be rid of me.”

“So you’re telling me this because you think it’ll convince me to go do it anyway?”

He crossed his arms, “I suppose I am.”

“And what do I get out of it?”

“You’ll be one step closer to breaking the curse.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“I know that the Absolver knows more than either of us. But doesn’t it make a little sense? You could say that Stigma is incomplete right now, and that with every cursed item you find you come closer to realizing it’s true potential. That’s why the Absolver has been dispatching me with these items in the first place, at least I think he is.”

“It might just kill me. Until I got some solid answers, I’m not playing along.”

“Not even as a favour?”

“No. Not even as a favour.”

Before I could seal the deal and walk away, Stigma appeared in front of me and seized control of my legs, stopping me in place. “Don’t be so hasty, Master.”

“Let go of my legs,” I demanded, uncaring that the other three could hear me. Stigma’s expression took a turn for the dark.

“No. You listen to me. I’ve been willing to put up with your two-timing behaviour until now, but in return, I expect you to do something for me. Even after I warned you about getting close with these women, you do so anyway.”

“I’m not any closer with anybody,” I protested, “This is my body. We go where I want.”

“That’s where you’re mistaken Master. This is our body, and unless you’re willing to recover my sisters from the Inquisition – we’re going to be sharing it for a long, long time…”

She was blackmailing me with my own body now? I was furious, but Stigma wasn’t a physical object I could unleash my wrath onto. She was a spirit trapped inside an inanimate object.

Adel moved in front of me and waved his hand to try and catch my attention, “Are you okay? You’re talking to yourself.”

“No. I’m not okay.”

Stigma leered at me, “So, Master. Are you going to do as I ask, or not?”

If this gave her back a physical body at the end of it, I was going to kill her myself.

I sighed, “I’ll go. You said it was in Stillbrook?”

Adel was surprised by my sudden surrender, “Ah, yes. Stillbrook.”

I knew where Stillbrook was. It was off the beaten path between Exarch’s Bend and the main route through the Federation. I had no reason to visit it before now. But if Stigma was threatening to make life difficult using my own body, I had little choice in the matter. The Great Absolver could just cut out the middleman and dump them all on me at once, but I suspected that things were more complicated than me or Adel knew.

The Inquisition’s sole purpose was to contain ‘corrupting influences.’ Cursed items, which were extremely rare and very powerful, were considered to be corrupting influences. They would never in a million years willingly hand one over to a civilian, even if the leader of the order demanded it. Adel told me that he was allowed to work solo thanks to his manoeuvring with the people in charge, and now I knew one of the reasons why.

The Absolver had put his finger on the scales.

How convenient for him. A ‘lone wolf’ to operate behind the backs of his peers and underlings. Adel had gotten himself into a serious jam just by suggesting the scheme in the first place. He’d unknowingly turned himself into the Absolver’s toady and fall guy. So he thought that honesty with me would protect him in the future.

“Who did you leave it with?”

Adel grimaced, “I don’t know. The Absolver ordered me to leave it in a certain location for someone to pick up later. Surely it will be gone by now and passed onto the intended target.” Which meant a delivery with multiple people. Keeping all the pieces blind and ignorant made it safer for him to smuggle the items away from their care.

I’d heard legends about how tight the security in their armoury was, but perhaps that had turned into a weakness. Nobody allowed inside to even see the items in question, it would be easy for the Absolver to project a narrative that forbade certain checks. For that matter, would anyone suspect that the leader of the order was removing the items from their custody in the first place?

None of this mattered. I wasn’t a one-man army itching to break into their base, not yet anyway.

“I have other duties to attend to, but knowing the Absolver you’ll be seeing me again soon enough. Good luck.”

With that, he turned and left. Tahar and Cali approached my static body again with concern written on their features. I felt my body jolt as control returned to me. Stigma was going to become increasingly troublesome if I didn’t play ball with her. The last thing I needed was her abusing our connection to put me in danger.

She smiled, “Aren’t you happy Master? Another stepping stone presents itself.”

I gave her the cold shoulder and moved on. I wasn’t going to reward her with my attention or anger.