A Price Paid Ch. 10

The old mill became such simply because it was never meant to last. It was the first mill created in the area to provide lumber for the first steps towards beating back the frontier in this region. Then, as the years passed and the need for homes gave way to a greater need for industry, it was replaced by a larger facility miles downstream. This place was well-maintained so that when there was a spike in demand it could be met, but with winter closing in around Erette, such an increase in demand was unlikely, so, in winter, it ended up being used by anyone that happened by. It was a meeting place, hunting lodge, and even a survival outpost for people caught out during the ravages of winter.

Inside it Etan Strannix huddled next to the fire, palms facing it until he could no longer stand the heat and then wrung his hands together or rubbed them up and down his arms, keeping an eye on the small metal chest he'd brought with him. It was habit more than anything else, especially here. It wasn't as if he could truly defend it if they wanted to take it, but there was more than enough in it to keep him in the shadows and fund his next steps. Soon, no doubt, Kav would get a message to him, appraising him of how the pieces had fallen in the aftermath and further fund him. For now, he couldn't wait until the heat finally began to warm the room. "Are you sure she's going to show?"

"She gave her word that she would be here, and I paid her well to ensure her arrival."

That caused Strannix to turn from the flames. "You did?"

"Well, you will have when all is said and done, but I fronted it on your behalf."

It was one more annoyance to add to the pile, but he didn't get anywhere in life by letting them get to him. "That's fine. As long as this gets fixed, I don't care."

Arik refrained from any response because he didn't know for sure if recrimination was being directed at him or if that was just what he heard. "It will take a new plan."

"We'll come up with one that will get the job done," Nax promised.

"A good plan was already in place. Perhaps the next one will be better executed."

Arik was just about to respond when he saw a woman cloaked against the chill closing the distance between them. "Here she is."

About time. Strannix sought confirmation. "You're sure?" An unwelcome visitor at this particular moment would have been one bit of unplanned misfortune for all of them, especially the visitor.

"It's her," Arik assured him. Her appearance was different, of course, as expected, but he recognized the nuances of her veil. He knew she would come, but he was still pleased to see her, if for no other reason than, if she hadn't shown up, he might have had to consider her a potential liability and done something about that, even if Strannix hadn't insisted, and he was the type that may well have. He opened the window and called to her. "I thought perhaps you'd gotten lost."

"You said noon and it's not much past. Besides, I thought I'd give you enough time to start a fire. It's already winter out here."

"It's still mostly winter in here."

"Then close the window, fool."

Her perpetual disdain wasn't lost on him as he looked on contentedly for a moment before doing as he was told.

"Finally," Strannix said, standing and waiting for the last of the triad to enter. Footsteps clapped hard against the steps before the door flung open and she stepped inside, this version of Sylanna being different from all the previous ones Arik had seen. He had seen once and marveled at how she could walk down a street, smile politely as she made eye contact with people and literally shopped for features; this nose, those eyebrows, and even that ear shape and later integrate them in always pleasing ways. Her veils were their own artistry.

She closed the door quickly and looked around the room as she gave herself time to begin to get warm.

"Cold enough to freeze your tits off out there."

She looked to Nax. He could be crass sometimes, due to his youth mostly, but, in this case, he was quite right. "Indeed." She saw the tension emanating from the man who must be Strannix, not that he wasn't keeping a tight lid on it, or that she needed magic to see it. She just knew from putting on so many masks herself all the ways that people could hide themselves. Then she saw the tension between Arik and Strannix. "I seem to have missed something interesting."

"Nothing of import," Strannix said, puffing his chest out a bit and making certain he was at his full height as he approached the comely mage as he might one of the lovelier nobles and extended his hand. "Etan Strannix. I'm quite pleased to meet you under these somewhat unpleasant circumstances."

She left his hand alone in the air and looked upon him with the usual disdain she held for most of humanity. "Unpleasant for me in that there are rules I adhere to religiously when it comes to not meeting clients, so I would prefer not to be here at all."

He withdrew his hand in response to the chill and stepped back, while putting on a practiced smile "Yes, well, I hear Arik has compensated you nicely for this meeting and I'm sure I can make it worth your while."

Arik was satisfied with her presence. "That you're here tells me that payment was what you expected?"

Thoughts of the plant and the near endless possibilities it afforded pleased her in spite of the fact that it forced her here. "I am here and you're not dead for having tried to deceive me. But let us dispense with this waste of my time as rapidly as possible. Again, did I miss anything that matters?"

"Nothing, really," Arik said, a touch of ire returning and hardening his features. "Our client was blaming us for the plan he insisted we implement, completely dismissing the fact that I tried desperately to talk him into something smaller scale and with a better chance of success."

"I could have gotten that girl if that's what you wanted," Arik said. "Spend a few more weeks to learn the one or two officers that are closest to them, their patterns, then take them. Do you think if it were one of the general's hands that rode up and wanted that child in the midst of a riot that there would have been more questions from the people walking that girl, or fewer?"

"The longer you wait, the farther away my wife and her lover get. The longer you wait, the greater the chance that something slips. Sometimes in business you must strike at once." He felt compelled to point out, "And if one of you had been there with them, it wouldn't have mattered because I'd have had the girl and, by now, I'd have my wife."

Nax stretched his body long in the chair and stated the obvious. "And if one of us was spotted and recognized, it would have been over anyway; at least for us. Veils would have been seen by the mages in the streets even if they couldn't recognize who it was beneath. Not that you care, but your money means nothing to me if I'm too dead or too imprisoned to spend it. I wouldn't have gone anywhere near the grab, no matter how much you paid me."

He added sarcastically, "Or, you know, it would have been easier to infiltrate the guild's network to find her location instead of going through all this shit."

Strannix took a swipe. "You assume that they would even know."

"It's less risky and still leaves open the possibility for escalation if need be," Arik said, then added with bitterness, "Where do you go after you set off a bomb in the streets?"

"You go with two bombs," Strannix said flatly.

"Nowhere," Sylanna corrected. "The plan failed because it was flawed and, for that, one has to look no further than the man who wanted it implemented. He paid for a bomb and got one because he didn't just want his wife."

Her beauty faded for Strannix more than a little. "Excuse me, my dear, the whole point of this was to bring my wife back to me. What else could I have wanted?"

"And there were ways to do that with far less risk and less general mayhem, but a small man with much money is generally a recipe for disaster."

His cheeks reddened and he tried counting slowly to rein in his anger. "That's uncalled for. Do not know me for all of three minutes and then speak as though you know me. My wife had no right to leave me as she did, disappearing into the night with the help of your kind. Lia and her guild had to be shown who they were dealing with."

"And that's why you're a small man, Mr. Strannix." Her words dripped condescension. "What else could you have wanted? You did not just want your wife back. You did not just want the Jaye child in order to get your wife back. If that were really all you wanted your odds would have been good. But the southern quarter had to burn even if some of your own holdings went with it because your plan was incomplete unless you showed for all to see, even if only you and Lia truly knew what it meant, that you were more powerful than she."

"Her power is meaningless. Her connections are meaningless. Not only can you reach her, but you can orchestrate such destruction that she will fear you. Maybe she'll kneel before you in defeat. How did you truly see this ending?" She then looked to her compatriots, "This is but one reason that I do not meet with clients: stupid often causes me physical pain."

"Who do you think you are?" Strannix made the mistake of taking a step forward once again.

Sylanna stepped up to meet him. "Your better. If you had simply wanted what you wanted and left it to those you hired to make it happen, it would be done, but theater mattered more, and look where you are."

Arik got between them to attempt to diffuse the situation, trying to force Sylanna back without actually physically trying to force her back. He stared her down, ready to put an end to this one way or another. "We are where we are. It doesn't matter why. What matters now is why we're here, and that is to do what we can to help the client achieve his goals. And, let me remind you, this is a case of same goal, new contract."

"To the void with this and with you," Strannix growled in the most polite manner Sylanna had ever heard. "I should just hire a new triad and clean up your mess."

Arik turned. "And if you could do that, you wouldn't be here. No one else will touch this now and you know it, so why don't we all just put an end to the mutual loathing and come to an understanding that benefits us all."

"I am here because I agreed to be here if Arik met certain conditions. He did, and so I am here, but there is no reason for me to remain because no agreement can be reached that benefits me because the man has no money."

Strannix laughed and asked, "What are you talking about?", even as she pulled a paper from her cloaks and began to read.

"By order of Evaline Avanestra, Sovereign Queen of Erette, as a response to the systemic abuse of the people, conspiracy to engage in the defiance of the law, and disregard for the responsibility of every individual and business to work in cooperation with the government for the betterment of the people, all assets, public and private, of Etan Strannix are ordered immediately seized for sale, auction, or general liquidation for the purpose of reparations for those abused, and retribution for defiance of law."

"Not only that, I hear they're running him out of Kressin, too."

Strannix snatched the paper from her at that moment and scanned it for authenticity. There was the signature and the seal and the date, now only only days ago. Now he was angry. It oozed through him like slow-moving molten rock. Years worth of work...decades of building and meticulous strategy simply snatched from him on the whim of a bunch of greedy nobles, many of whom were happy to make use of the hospitality he offered, but took what he built for themselves the moment there was the first hint of weakness, to say nothing of the men and women he shared the gray part of his world with. They were probably drooling even now, having a fine meal while discussing how to divvy up what would be left when Erette wasn't looking their way anymore. That he would be acting in the same manner if it were one of them that felt the hammer of the law to the same degree was another argument.

"Looks like another consequence you didn't consider, sir." Sylanna noted with no small dose of sarcasm.

That wasn't lost on Nax, who, in the face of his job prospects evaporating, saw no reason not to chime in. "Attack a personal friend of the queen? What could possibly go wrong?"

Strannix saw no need to respond to their pettiness There was still time. They wouldn't be able to move to part out what he owned until the nobles were finished with everything they knew to go after, and whatever else they could find, but they wouldn't find it all, or find it all so quickly that he couldn't snatch pieces and consolidate control of them in the shadows. It would take time, perhaps years, and years more before he could have anything close to the power and reach he once did, but, with his skills, and his will, they would not defeat him. He would learn who acted against him and they would pay. It wouldn't have surprised him if the witch had gotten Dina to aid her. His dear wife would pay for that wrong, too.

And the witch would pay double.

But first things had to come first. They wouldn't take what was his and not want him, the only question was whether they wanted him in a cell or hanging from a rope. He not only had to get out of here, he had to get as far from here as possible as rapidly as possible. He still needed mages now, but for protection and safe passage.

"Mr. Strannix?"

The sharpness of the tone of his name snapped him back to the mill. A smile would be instantly seen as bravado, so he settled for letting them see the anger that they already saw and let them hear that in his voice. "It seems that plans have changed, but, it is, at best a minor setback. The bitch will pay and so will everyone responsible for it."

"But it's clear that my operations are compromised, so I will have to leave Erette as soon as possible and slip away from the prying eyes of anyone that may wish to capitalize on my vulnerability."

Nax coughed into his hand, "Turn you in for the reward."

"Your sense of humor is, shall we say, underdeveloped." Strannix went to the box he'd brought him. Picking it up with both hands, he brought it to a table just to the right of the door and sat it down with a thud so that the latches faced the trio. Lifting the latches and the lid, he smiled at their reactions to collection of gold and jewels that represented every color of a rainbow and more colors beyond that. It was no small fortune that called to the mages responded to that call by huddling around it. "This says you won't."

Nax picked up a precision cut blood red jewel and put it up to the light, "This says there's no contract in place, so let's take the box and then turn him in."

Arik ignored the look of concern that flashed across Strannix' face and snatched the jewel to toss it back in the box. "Because I didn't spend my life risking it to become a mage just to end up a common thief, and you didn't either."

The exchange was left at that, so he continued. "This is by no means the limit of my resources, even now. But, until I reach the men and money that I know are beyond the reach of Erette and Kressin, I am vulnerable. I can trust you enough because here you are, so I am willing to pay the three of you to get me safely to Volis port. From there, I can make my way to...elsewhere, and our business is done." He met their eyes, each in turn. "Is there not more than enough here to make that happen?"

Arik spoke truth when he implied that he was not one for common thievery, but he wasn't above capitalizing on an opportunity. "No. I think there's exactly enough here to make that happen, and not one coin or jewel less."

The look of concern returned. "I could buy a guild for what's in here."

"Then buy one," Arik told him, "if one will touch you. You're the one in need here, not us, so the price for this job is for us to name. It's named."

Sylanna looked upon him, seemingly puzzled, "What do you care, oh he with unending resources that span the world? If you're telling the truth, what difference does it make? Unless you're a liar, in which case, perhaps you should just die."

"I am not lying, my dear."

"I am not 'your dear,'" she spat. "Do not call me that again."

"I apologize," he said, though, for him, it was simply a matter of politeness over any real regret. "But there is the simple fact that I can't get to those people and those resources with no money."

Arik conceded the point. "All right. We will go with you while you secure passage from Volis. The chest minus twice the cost of your passage, just so you can have a little money when you get where you're going. Take it or start traveling." He pointed towards the fireplace, "You're looking at about two days that way."

As much as he loathed the circumstances, the deal wasn't unfair considering he had no other good options. Arik even gained a bit in the man's estimation and the smile he gave him in return was genuine. "Done. So long as we're all in agreement."

Arik looked to Nax who thought his position should be obvious. "Done, done, and done."

"Sylanna?"

"I simply wish to be done with this."

"And you will be," Arik promised, "in two days."

"I don't need the money."

"Lucky you," Nax said, seeing the opportunity slip through his fingers. "I do." He pointed to it. "That's at least two years of work for me in that chest, probably more, and that's just for two days worth of babysitting." His words became a plea, "Come on, Syl. We've been friendly, even if you're not big on actually having friends. Please don't cost me this just because you're set."

Arik added his voice to Nax's. "I'm nicely established, too, but...damn, that's a lot of money."

They watched her ponder leaving. She didn't need the money. She didn't need to be involved in any more of this. It was all over her face, they saw it, and she knew they saw it. "I don't need the money," she repeated, "but I will agree to aid you in return for my share as well as a single favor from both of you to be named later of commensurate value to the fact that you would not have had this windfall if I had exercised my better judgment and left here as rapidly as possible."

The barter of skills and favors between mages was as much common currency as coin and both quickly agreed. With that, Sylanna simply added, "Done."

Arik was most pleased that the tension had lessened in the room now that a deal was struck. "Now, as I see it we'll have to camp along the river in night two, but there is a home that we can reach not long after dark if we start now. I have a client that has a large house that he shares with no one. I'm sure he can be persuaded to put us up for a night and set us on the path with a few days worth of supplies in return for a small payment, or a favor, or both. Any objections?"

No one spoke. Strannix' only minor quibble was the fact that he was going to have to go back out in the blustery cold just as where they were was beginning to be livable.

But it was a small price to pay.

* * *

Arik was quite correct. His client, while surprised to see him out in the middle of little as he was, was willing to put them up...after a bit of added deal-making that committed Arik to some future work. He acted suitably annoyed at the deal he agreed to, but he was secretly thrilled at the fact that the man never asked who his friends were or what was in the chest. Dealing with mages enough led most to learn to not ask too many questions. It was enough that it was one night, there would be no trouble, if there was trouble the mages would see to it, and, either way, there would be something in it for him. Not wanting to ask questions, or perhaps be put into a position where he overheard something he shouldn't hear and then for them to decide that maybe he should be too dead to tell anyone, he showed them where the food was and the two rooms upstairs that they were welcome to, where the extra blankets and bedding were, and then left them be. After a full meal and some idle chat that Sylanna had to admit Strannix was adept at, they made their way up the stairs to their respective rooms.