Keeping the Fire: The Most Dangerous Man in Fortress Edgar

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Alembic had been busy and the activity had cost him. Pushing the Dun's agenda always required a careful hand but the matter of the Proper seeking troops had provided him a rare opportunity. It was one of the few times where intervention was both necessary and profitable. Yet, he had exposed himself and his agents. For the past week he had been playing a careful game of hide and seek with Delhay the Whale. It is a difficult thing to hide from the most dangerous man in Fortress Edgar. It had taken disguises, careful planing of his travel, and a few distractions. All of this was par for the course, and the sort of thing he enjoyed doing even when he wasn't being followed. But the game was getting harder by the day. As he arrived at the small room of an associate of his, he realized that he had lost. Emerae, his man who had connections in the Guilds of the Fortress, was dead. Without checking the body he guessed poison and without further scanning the room he knew there would be a suicide note most certainly not in Emerae's hand. Delhay was here, watching, waiting to pounce. There was scant little time to prepare for that pounce and he used those seconds as only a mage could. He used them to watch.

Forcing his mind into a ridged patterning acquired from years of learning he enforced the Stratification upon the aethers of the room. The magical energies invisible to the common man were sorted, altered by the very process of their observation, into a neat strata of aethers. Such is the power of Dun Mages, these men and women who take the names of inanimate objects, who give up even their names in the pursuit of knowledge, that they can bring order even to those most chaotic of forces. Knowing the aethers meant being able to call them by their true names. Calling a thing by its true name meant power. Power was advantage. When Delhey crept up behind him, Alembic did not need to hear him, he saw his approach in the ripple of the strata and pressed the first of advantages.

“Emerae was a good man, he meant no harm to the Fortress,” he said in a quiet voice, not bothering to turn around. Delhay had been hiding in the room somewhere, he had not worked out where, but it must have been quite a feat for a man of his size. The Whale seemed confident despite being heard.

“Emerae was skinting in the King's Ward. That's treachery. Clearly, the guilt was too much for him. Don't you think Mage?”

“If I thought there was foul play I am sure I would tell the watch,” he let a crinkle of a smile escape and wondered if Delhay did was well. It took much of his focus to keep the strata in mind and all of his courage not to turn to face the thuggish assassin who stood an arm's length behind him. “You are going to ask me what he was looking for, because I can assure you, he didn't know.”

“No, I am not going to ask you because I already figured it out. You wanted to know if the King was in contact with the Luminary.”

“Heh, you are quick. Which means you also know that I mean to find out where she disappeared to.”

“No, you don't,” said Delhay, finally stepping around into Alembic's view. The mage nodded to him.

“Well, you have my attention, explain please. Unless you want me to ask you with more fear in my eyes.”

“I know that's a pointless request. They make you into such asses in that Tower of Dun that you don't know when you should be afraid. You don't want to find Polena because we are better off without here. Polena did not play by the rules. People like you and I, really, most of the Fortress, we know how to play the game. We offer bargains, offer threats, and if we have to, we make a piece trade. One of my watchmen fell from the south wall two nights past. Now I take one of your pieces.”

“I didn't kill your man,” replied Alembic, hiding fear behind his confident smile and preparing his mind to enforce its will upon the aethers.

“You did, and if you didn't then one of your people did and that is enough. Things are simple here. People like Polena, people who don't know when to quit, people that want to win everything, people that cannot accept a piece trade, they are worse than your dead spy here, worse than the lowest skint in the Painted-Lady. They make problems.”

“She was working with you Delhay wasn't she? Or was it that she caused problems for you?” It was hard to see his face in this light but Alembic made out just the hint of pride and anger in it. That was good. An emotional mind was much more susceptible to trickery.

“Enough,” the Whale came right up to him, face to face, one hand gripping Alembic's arm, the other, the mage assumed, on his blade. Now, right now, was what the mage had waited for. He turned all of his mind inward. Summoning up the aethers of the third order, he called them with words known well enough that he could speak them in his mind without even moving his lips. He tapped the aethers, tempered them, twisted them, and when he spoke aloud to Delhay there was an enchantment to it, a host of lies and influence that would confound even a studied mind, let alone an emotionally charged one.

“Delhay, the Weatherclock is moving your blade hand right now.” The Whale hesitated, as if stuck across the face and dazed. “Delhay, setting us against each other is his game. You may not want Polena here but remember that the Weatherclock reached out to ruin her. Maybe it would be wiser to let me go and think about that?” With hardly a moment's hesitation Delhay pushed him away. Then, as if flustered he pushed past Alembic and out the door of the chamber.

“Remember what happened here today,” the Whale said over his shoulder, as if the threat were an afterthought.

“I will not forget it, that I promise.” Alembic muttered after him. He made a quick search of the room before concluding that Delhay had scoured it clean and made to return to his quarters and plan the next move. He had let some of his hand slip to Delhay, but he hoped not too much. In truth, the Whale was right. Polena did cause problems and they were all better off without her here, at least, as far as maintaining the status quo was concerned. But there was something else that did make him care more for Polena than he ought to. It was not loyalty to Coralm. Rather, it was what happened on their first meeting. Just as he had fooled Delhay, a man of great will and wit, into believing what he said was fact he had tried to influence Polena. Not one of his sciences in that meeting or any other had any noticeable effect. Certainly, he could fluster her or distract her. But he could not mold her, influence her to actions of his own making. He had exhausted himself trying. Understanding why was worth finding her, alive or dead. It was part of the reason he was glad that she was trapped in Hewava's tomb and moreover, glad that the crown and Delhay were ignorant to the fact. Many people say Delhay the whale is the most dangerous man in Fortress Edgar. Those people do not know what Mage Alembic is capable of, and that is how he prefers it.    

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