A Trail of Webs

During the lessons in the Circle of Fire, the acolytes continued to train their ability to sense heat and use it to land spells. Martel felt fairly confident that he had honed this skill to its limit; even with the blindfold on, he could accurately tell where everyone else in the room stood, sometimes even predicting their movements. He only missed if they proved faster than him, dodging or flinging a fire bolt his way that disturbed his aim.

So while Martel did not feel like he learned much from today's classes, it did not bother him much either. He had many – too many – remaining lessons under Moira's tutelage before he would graduate the Lyceum; he did not mind if he could take it easy on occasion, enjoying that his natural gift made him master fire spells much quicker than the others. He had no doubt that his teacher would soon inflict some other cruel but effective exercise on them, so he would enjoy this interlude while it lasted. These easier lessons also kept him safe from getting detention, as he could not possibly be the worst performing student.

In between his lessons, he left the Lyceum to buy an oatcake. He had progress to report to the Keeper; what the odd fellow would do with that information, and whether Martel would do anything beyond his efforts hitherto, was another matter.

***

The Keeper waited for Martel at the same table as their previous meetings, along with two cups of ale. In his ordinary garb, the jester-like man looked almost normal; only his sly smile betrayed the personality beneath. "I didn't expect to hear from you, at least not so soon after our last outing."

"A trail in our investigation presented itself, which I pursued. Though it requires a bit of explaining."

The Keeper leaned back in his chair and picked up his cup. "Do tell."

"After our outing, as you call it, Ruby sought me out. She knew about our presence at the masquerade. She must have seen us together and recognised us." Martel had not mentioned previously that Ruby had intervened to hide him in her room during the party; no point in bringing it up now. "Somehow, she guessed that we were hunting for a stolen artefact." Mostly because Martel told her.

"Two reasons that she could. Either news of the theft has spread further than anticipated, or she is the culprit."

"Yeah." Martel decided to move the conversation along. "Anyway, she considered it to be in Lady Pearl's interest to get to the bottom of this, and she offered her help."

"In what way?"

"She took me to meet a merchant trading in artefacts, reasoning that he might have sold someone a magical object to overpower the Archean lock on the relic's chest. Which he had. A wardstone of the same make as the Friar's key, thus having the same power to unlock it with nobody the wiser."

The Keeper sat up straight. "You got a name?"

Martel shook his head a little. "Not specifically, but close. He works for or is a member of House Thierry. I didn't get a description though. Ruby ended the conversation before I could ask more."

"No matter." The Keeper nodded a little to himself. "If this information is genuine, we know the spider in the web. It doesn't matter who specifically stole the relic, if we know they did so on behalf of this house, whose allegiance recently has switched from one Ninth Lord to another."

Martel's companion was well-informed, it seemed; to be expected, given his dealings with these criminal leaders. "House Thierry is now aligned with the Comtesse rather than Lady Pearl. And they're rivals. You think she had the relic stolen to seed the ground for breaking the Pact and attacking Lady Pearl?" That was his own thinking, at least.

"Could very well be. Or all of this is a ruse, and Ruby took you to this trader to enact a charade, masking her guilt and making you chase a false lead that conveniently leads to her mistress’s enemy."

The mage had not considered this at all, but it did make sense, unfortunately. Certainly, Ruby would be wily enough to carry out such a scheme.

"What is the name of this merchant of magic?"

"Uh, we didn't exchange any. I'm not sure I could find my way back to his place either," Martel admitted.

"A sensible precaution for those in such a volatile trade – or a way to prevent you from questioning the trail placed before you."

"Well, either way, I told you what I learned. Certainly, the man's knowledge of artefacts fit his claims. Whether he's a mage himself, I can't say, but he understood how Archean magic works and how to open the lock in the shrine. He may have lied to me about who bought the wardstone that opened the relic chest, but I believe him when he identified the means."

"Which only proves that he sold the wardstone in question. Whether to House Thierry or Ruby remains an open question."

"Sure, but I've done my part. I have found out the magic used for the theft and even given you the two most likely candidates. The rest of it – the motivation for stealing the relic, finding the culprit, the skulduggery of it all – that's your area, not mine."

"I'll grant you that. I'll get to work and see what I can learn to narrow our two suspects down to one." The Keeper inclined his head with a little smile.

Seeing it reminded Martel of Kerra and Ruby, both wont to use that same expression that hovered between patronising and overbearing. He felt tired of it all. The schemes, the Nine Lords, sneaking around on behalf of others, always being used for his magical gifts and discarded afterwards. "You do that." The wizard got up, leaving his ale untouched.

"I'll be in touch," the Keeper declared as Martel turned around and left. He gave the jester no reply.