Maria and Joseph did not find the information they were hoping for. Plenty of people had asked the man about his condition, and he had waved them all away by assuring them the impact was only cosmetic. He felt fine, better than fine even – and they didn’t need to worry about him. The only titbit he did air was that he developed the condition after drinking the contaminated water in Pascen. Otherwise, he appeared to have no connection to their target.

“That was a waste of time,” Joseph complained. Being out in the cold for so long was starting to test his patience. His disguise offered much less insulation than his complete armour and under suit. It felt like a second skin had been ripped away from him.

“Perhaps he travelled to Pascen at some point?”

“What if he did? That doesn’t help us find him.”

Life has a way of making you look foolish. All the effort in the world could be expended for no return, but the hand of lady luck is always willing to reward those who give up. Just as Joseph was about to plant himself down on the steps of a house and rest his feet, the man of the hour broke through the crowd and marched across the street.

It was him. Ren Kageyama.

Joseph and Maria shared a glance and immediately sprung into action. They needed to tail him until they found out what he was up to. He wasn’t alone. A towering mountain of a woman and the La’Corvan girl were with him. John’s description was accurate, though he had thoroughly understated how eye-catching the trio were.

“What manner of creature is she?” Joseph pondered under his breath.

Maria’s mind was alight with intrigue, “I am unsure. Those feathered arms and claws are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And the measure of her…”

Joseph’s gaze soon turned to the oversized sword that hung from his back. That was the corrupting sword, Stigma. Evidently, he refused to go anywhere without it. Fortunately, Kageyama was treating it with an appropriate amount of caution. It was sheathed and wrapped in an additional layer of beige cloth. A small piece of red silk was tied around the hilt.

“Is it safe to be this close? What if we get afflicted?” he asked.

“John told me it’s safe as long as we don’t touch it.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. I suppose that’s why everyone can go about their business without knowing.”

The chase continued for several minutes, but eventually the target reached his destination. It was yet another bar – did these people not have anything better to do with their free time? Joseph and Maria waited outside. Following them into the building would arouse unneeded suspicion. They could wait for a little longer and go in after them.

“Do you think we can take them?”

Maria rolled her eyes, “What did John tell us not to do?”

Joseph kicked up some dirt with the tip of his boot, “But we have an opportunity here. He doesn’t know us, he’s walking around with his guard down.”

“Alright. So you walk up and stab him using that dagger, and then? What happens if it doesn’t put a scratch on him?”

“I don’t know. It’s a dagger, he’ll bleed like anyone else.”

“John warned us about exactly this,” she chided him, “He’s not a normal human. He’s been in contact with the sword for a significant amount of time. If you want to take your shot, it better be enough to put him down in one go. Hold your horses and wait like John told us to. Our job is to collect information about him.”

Maria cut off any further protestations by walking for the door, leaving Joseph sputtering with impatient fury. She was surprised to find the interior décor pleasing in a way that none of the other bars were. Her immediate impression was that it was likely run by a woman, and catered to a more general clientele instead of mercenaries and criminals. But what really gave her pause was the sound of a piano being played from the other end of the floor.

Atop a small wooden stage was said piano. The La’Corvan girl was sitting on a stool and tinkling at the keys without any specific tune in mind. Kageyama and his tall friend were both sitting at the table at the foot of the stage. Joseph finally tumbled through the entryway after her. The piano itself was nothing so expensive, the true cost of the instrument was the knowledge required to play it. The bar’s owner had found a second-hand piano somewhere and brought it here, presumably under the belief that some music would attract more customers and pay off the price.

“Don’t run away from me like that, I wasn’t finished!”

“Shut up and sit down.”

The bar only had a few other patrons. It was the slow hours before most finished working. Kageyama’s voice carried clearly over the background bustle of the city.

“I can’t believe she brought a whole piano in here just to see you play.” He had an extremely curious accent. “Do you even remember how to do it?”

“Somewhat,” Cali responded, “Allow me a moment to acclimatise myself.”

The experimentation continued. The Ashmorn girl rehabilitated her skills, building up pieces of various songs through trial and error. Maria was struck by her beauty. She was doll-like, with high cheek bones, smooth black skin and elegant white hair. She had only ever seen one other Ashmorn in her time, and she was not given the opportunity to study their appearance on that occasion. They were a VIP visiting the Inquisition from overseas.

She had been sucked so deeply into the comfort of the situation that it only occurred to her later how strange all of this was. This was the man they were searching for, an agent of chaos and destruction, corrupting all he saw and committing innumerable crimes. Yet here he was – taking the time to sit back and listen to someone play the piano?

‘Rogues’ didn’t listen to the piano. They were drunkards and criminals with no time for art. It was debatable whether most of them even knew what a piano was, never mind that it was an instrument associated with wealth and status.

“It is very large,” the tall woman observed.

Ren concurred, “True. That’s why you only see them in big manor houses, usually.”

“Ah. No room for something like this back home.”

“You guys have better things to use your time and resources on. Making one of these is complicated and expensive. It demands a whole production chain with hundreds of people involved. But that’s the kind of premium people put on music.”

Maria couldn’t reconcile what she had heard with what she was now witnessing. She had always considered the rumours about corrupting items to be scaremongering, designed to deter more than inform. Kageyama had committed deeds that justified the way people spoke of him. A rouge, a corrupted wielder, a mass murderer, but also highly educated. The mystery was only growing deeper the more she learned. Every answer elicited more questions.

La’Corvan was finally satisfied with her own recollection. Kageyama remained silent as she started to play a sorrowful tune. Whatever rust had accumulated over the years was soon scrubbed away as her fingers glided over the keys with a professional candour. The patrons of the bar watched and listened respectfully. It was a long, winding song that lasted for almost eight minutes. When it came to an end, the audience applauded her effort.

“What do you call that one?” Ren asked.

“Ferhwyn ala Scohn. Said to have been composed by one of the Generals who fought in the last battles of the Division. My father is especially fond of it – it was the first thing he demanded that the tutor teach me.”

“Not something you’d play to excite an Ashmorn crowd, then?”

“While it certainly does recall a tragic event, you will be shocked to discover that most Ashmorn culture revolves entirely around our defeat in battle.”

“Is that an attempt at a joke?”

“Yes, but it is also true. It is a collective trauma that grips the minds of the ruling classes to this very day. Surely splendour that exceeded that of the old empire would have been within reach had they have turned their anguish into a drive for better things.”

Maria’s scholarly mind happily committed her perspective to memory. To hear of it first-hand from an Ashmorn noble was invaluable information. They rarely spoke of the Division; the last days of the grand empire that once stretched from shore to shore. Ren rapped his fingers against the table, “Since your father is such a misery, I don’t suppose your mother had any favourites of a lighter nature?”

Cali frowned, “I’m afraid she had little involvement in my training before her passing. I know some of them. Any attempt at emulating them would be an insult to the artists responsible.”

This had been an extremely revealing endeavour. Joseph leaned in and whisper over to Maria, “They seem to be on good terms with each other.”

“Yes. We can assume that she will side with him should we do battle. Did you notice that pouch on her belt, and the metal braces on her halberd? That’s a catalyst launcher. She’s a mage.”

Joseph stared at the bladed polearm that rested against the edge of the stage; “Bad news.”

“Quite. That’s why John wants to isolate him from any others.”

Neither Inquisitor knew how long they had to remain within the bar to follow Ren back to his lodgings, but that was what John had ordered them to discover. They ordered some drinks and settled in for a long evening. Ren and his companions continued to toy with the piano for nearly two hours, with La’Corvan running through as many songs as she could hope to remember. Maria had to admit that she was very good at it, but given the price her father must have paid for the lessons, that was the least she could have hoped for.

Kageyama enjoyed a few drinks of his own, before heading around the bar floor and speaking with several different people. All of them wanted to hear the tale from the horses’ mouth. Ren indulged them with a short re-telling of the misadventure that led to the death of Lord Forester. He purposefully downplayed the most dramatic elements of it, including the massacre that occurred outside one of the Inquisition’s camps. His description of Forester was callous and uncaring; he really didn’t think twice about ending his life.

Eventually they grew tired of this game and moved to leave. Maria and Joseph jumped at the chance, paying their tab and heading out onto the streets to finally find the information they were looking for. By the time they had found Kageyama again, he was alone. La’Corvan and the tall woman were nowhere to be seen.

“Did they split up?”

It was still early enough for Ren to go to another tavern, though Maria was remiss to admit that they would be forced to endure the company of drunken strangers yet again. With their focus solely on keeping themselves out of sight, it took some time yet for them to notice that Ren was purposefully walking in circles around several of the city’s blocks. He’d suddenly cut through alleyways and take the most complicated route – even trying to blend into crowds whenever he saw them.

“Has he figured us out already?” Joseph wondered.

“No. I think this is just how he moves around the city. He did escape from Blackwake without anyone seeing him, after all. He’s a career criminal. Even when he isn’t being chased he takes every precaution to make sure that nobody can tail him.”

“Heh, so he’s a paranoid nut?”

Maria wasn’t so dismissive, “If you were working in a dirty industry like that, you’d be one too.”

“Why do you always have to take their side?”

“I’m not taking sides. I’m just observing,” she replied. “Our plan will have to be watertight, if we give him a window to escape, he’ll use it.”

The long and winding trail took them to an unexpected place. A middle-class district on the edge of the city, consisting of semi-detached, two story homes. Maria and Joseph stuck themselves to the corner, watching from the side as he climbed up the front steps to one of the buildings. He knocked twice, waited, and then stepped inside without a word spared.

Maria chuckled, “Bullseye. Looks like this is his safehouse.”

“You sure he can afford a place like this?”

“He just assassinated one of the leading enemy commanders in the Sull Army. They probably gave him it as a reward, or paid him enough to buy it himself. It’d be a small price to pay for such a devastating blow.”

“Whatever. We got what we need. Let’s head back and tell John the good news.”

And not for a single second did they consider that it wasn’t Ren’s home at all.