Glass
and Roses, Chapter 1
The comfortable silence
of Berit's drawing room was demolished by the slam of the door and
two of her guards carrying in the struggling body of a man she
recognized. A man she hadn't seen in almost five years.
"We caught him
trying to break in through the side door," the half-ogre guard
said. "He was using this," he added, tossing a thick
wooden rod onto the table that crowded the center of the confined
room. It had gems encrusted into its shaft, and silver handles at
each end, clearly enchanted. "Some sort of lock-canceller."
The other guard, a
burly dwarf, held a muddy hand firmly over their captive's mouth.
The captive's face was mostly concealed by the hooded cloak he was
wearing, but Berit still recognized him from his frame, even as it
was hoisted by the two strongmen. She stood up, her decorative
coattails lazily slipping from her chair to dangle behind her knees.
She held a hand briefly to the brooch that hung around her neck,
emblazoned with a blue rose. "Let him go," she said. "I
doubt he wants to kill me. I know he couldn't if he tried. And if
he does, you have my permission to swiftly and lethally intercept
him."
The guards released
their grip, but kept their weapons drawn, a sleek and sinister
scimitar for the half-ogre and a loaded crossbow for the dwarf. The
man made no sudden movements on the ground, only stood slowly up,
brushed off his cloak, and chuckled. He looked up at her through
wire-framed spectacles. "You wouldn't have your own brother
killed in front of you, would you?"
Berit sneered, glaring
straight ahead into her brother's blue eyes. "Is that what you
think, Valdimer? That I still value our relationship?"
"You still wear
our family's signet, so I thought it was only logical to assume,"
Valdimer said with a smirk.
Berit pointed at the
brooch. "It is not 'ours,' only mine now. All in the city know
that the sign of the blue rose signifies my handiwork."
"Yes, I've heard
of them being left on the dead nobles you assassinate," Valdimer
said. He lifted his hands, and felt the crossbow suddenly shoved
into his back. "Relax," he said, "I'm only removing
my hood." He pulled back the hood to reveal his tapered ears,
the only other physical similarity he shared with his sister, other
than their height.
"I don't want you
casting any spells in here," the dwarf grumbled.
Valdimer's smile grew
an inch. "So, you've talked about me before?"
"I may have
mentioned my no-good, artificer of a brother," Berit said with a
frown. "You're lucky I didn't tell them your description,
otherwise they would have known to bleed you in the street instead of
bringing you to me." She held up a hand as Valdimer opened his
mouth. "Now before you continue trying to start a verbal
sparring match with me, I demand to know why you sought me out after
all this time. I would have thought your trinket shop were keeping
you busy."
"I deal with
exotic magical items, far more than trinkets," Valdimer said,
"but I didn't come to brag. And I'm not here to ask for your
help with anything either, so you can keep whatever scathing rebuttal
I'm sure you've prepared to yourself. I'm only here with
information."
"I never asked you
for any information."
"No, but..."
Valdimer twirled his fingers in awkward hesitation. "You don't
keep an ear to the same channels of information I do, and if it were
anything useful I wouldn't bother to relay it to you. But this is
the one thing that you have to know. It's only right."
"Well, spit it out
then."
"See for
yourself." Valdimer made sure the guards saw he had no tricks
in his pocket, then pulled out a small scroll. He placed it down on
the table and rolled it out, so that Berit could read it. As she
scanned it, Valdimer watched her face carefully. She reached the
bottom, but continued staring at the parchment. "Do you realize
what this means? She's back."
"It could be a
coincidence," Berit said, but she could feel the hurricane in
her stomach that told her that was a lie.
"There is no other
explanation," Valdimer said. "So, there, I have told you
because you ought to know, and now I must take my leave. I have
preparations to make."
Berit stepped forward
and grabbed Valdimer's arm before he could turn around. The guards
swapped confused glances, as they had only seen their boss touch
someone before if it was in order to get them into a position where
her dagger could reach their neck. Now, however, Berit's green eyes
were wide, searching Valdimer's face for answers. "You're going
to try to find her?"
"Yes. Knowing
what we know," he said, eying the guards, "I cannot in good
conscience stay here where I am safe. This lead is small, but it has
to be her. And that means I'm the only one who can stop her."
Berit scoffed. "What
can you do alone? You're too weak."
"I don't need your
advice, thanks. I will hire help."
"If you tell them
to follow your orders, which I know you will, then you still won't
succeed. You hesitate too much." Berit released Valdimer's arm
and turned to a large, ornate chest on the floor. She moved aside
the books and maps that were piled on top of it, and took a set of
keys out of a pouch on her vest for the three locks that kept the
chest closed. "I'm coming with you," she declared.
"No. You can go
on your own, which would be futile, but you are not following me.
You are far too impulsive to trust with this mission."
"Ha!" Berit
laughed. "'Mission.' Like you're still pretending to be a
royal agent like when we were kids." She popped the last lock
and lifted the lid of the chest. She began to remove daggers,
lockpicks, and small bottles of violet liquid and securing them to
her clothes. "Your toys will get you nowhere once you actually
get into a fight. I know how to handle her, remember? Besides, I
could use a reason to get out of the city for a while."
"My answer is
final. This visit is purely formal, I have no desire to renew
contact with you, and you-" Valdimer stopped as Berit stood up,
still seeming to be lightly encumbered while he knew she had all
sorts of tools and tricks tucked into her pockets and pouches.
She looked at him with
a frozen glare. "I don't like you either, Val," she said.
"But this is something we have to do together, or not at all."
Valdimer clenched and
unclenched his jaw. He took the rod from the table and put it back
into the recesses of his robe. "I have one more stop to make in
the marketplace before we leave. I will meet you at the north gate
in the morning, at the edge of dawn."
Berit raised an
eyebrow. "The marketplace is closed for the night. What could
you possibly be doing there?"
Valdimer allowed
himself a smirk. "You're not the only one with work to be done
under the cover of darkness." He turned and the guards
instinctively stepped aside to let him pass. "Remember, dawn at
the north gate. You always forget these sorts of specifics."
"Don't worry, I'll
be there," Berit said as Valdimer stalked away. She then looked
up at the guards. "Follow me, you two. I will need your help
with some preparations of my own tonight." She strode forward
down the same hallway, with the mercenaries at her heels. The scroll
still lay open on the table. It was a town crier's missive, from a
distant town at the border of the kingdom. Most of the news was a
recounting of those who had died, an unusually high number for a
small town, but the first sentence explained why.
DEMONIC ASSAULT LEAVES
DOZEN DEAD, MAD SUMMONER AT LARGE
Berit reached the
street and looked down at her brother walking towards the town
center. He glanced over his shoulder and caught her eye, then nodded
and returned his gaze to his destination. She waved for the guards
to follow and headed in the other direction, toward the seedier part
of town. The half-elven siblings had a long road ahead of them.
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