As a consideration to custom, with bound battleaxe in hand, Orison removed the house head's gag and asked, "Any last words?"

The man weakly spat at Orison and said in a raspy voice, "I will be watching your future suffering while I feast among honored warriors in the land of souls."

With false pity on his face, Orison said, "I can say with a degree of certainty that you will not."

With a clean and precise chop, more for consideration of Portia's meal collection, Orison cleaved off the man's head. He even managed to execute a light flick of the axe so that the head did not land in the draining basin. As the man's soul was drawn into the dark corner of Orison's s.p.a.ce, Portia suddenly stared at the boy's body with an intrigued expression.

To distract her, he pointed at the head and said, "A lady's refreshments shouldn't be contaminated with random debris."

She nodded with a faint smile before returning to draining the legate's wrists. Once the disgraced legate was on the cusp of death, Orison healed the cuts before Venito poured his very first alchemical product down the man's throat. While the man weakly shuddered in the throws of death, Orison covertly nicked him with the axe while Portia drunk greedily from the legate's basin. After dumping the beheaded man's basin into a large amphora that smelled of strong liquor, she bid a temporary farewell and left with the bodies.

"I'm all for this disgrace after death thing but I don't quite understand how you expect those men to buy this setup," Venito shared his doubts.

Orison explained, "They don't have to. The common folk believe what they see. More importantly, an entertaining story will travel much further and faster than a dry, logical one.

"The smarter men like Lord Whiteriver and his court mage, will have already gathered that the legate and that patriarch were bedfellows in conspiracy. We're just exposing them as such in a more literal way. Regardless of the truth, Centerland would want the news of a lovers' murder suicide involving one of their diplomats snuffed as soon as possible. Something that an active investigation wouldn't allow.

" As far as Whiteriver and it's inhabitants are concerned, I may be uncomfortable with the sentiments and certain intolerance of the Northlanders but in this case it works in our favor. Mr. Riven was disgraced in life as an inheritance thief and in death being 'womanly'. It would be a small miracle if he wasn't fed to the wolves much less be granted s.p.a.ce in Riven's tomb."

Venito looked at Orison dubiously and said, "Uncomfortable? Do you, uh, have any personal reasons to, you know, feel that way?"

Orison said stonily, "Aside from women who forswear family to pick up sword and s.h.i.+eld, the rest are...treated a certain way. Their personal freedom and basic rights are far too strongly tied to what a father, husband or adult son allow..."

Seeing Venito's currently uninterested but still insistent face, Orison said, "Oh, you mean... Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a late bloomer but I don't really have any thoughts on it, literally. I have zero reason to believe I'd be anything but a lover of women. Then again..." Orison threw himself into a chair dramatically, throwing an arm across his forehead in a tragic pose, "All these strong and terrifying women I keep encountering in my life. Who knows what that will do to my fragile child's mind."

Venito said bitterly, "It's not a joke. You were at the orphanage. You know what men like that do."

Orison slowly nodded in thought and said, "To boys and girls both, you mean? In general, I think children just make for easy prey to s.e.xual predators, especially disenfranchised ones like orphans. I think most men and women who long for unaccepted kinds of companions.h.i.+p just end up living sad and lonely lives. There is something to be said about how repressed desire can twist into something ugly and evil, though.

"The wood elves have that whole two soul thing. They might be a bit rigid when it comes to roles but as far as I've been able to read or get out my steward, no child who has a male mother or female father has much to say about it outside of what you'd hear from any average family."

Venito delivered woodenly, "They're cannibals."

Orison said dryly, "You're an a.s.sa.s.sin. You're mentor is a vampire. Your argument is invalid... Look, all I'm saying is don't murder a guy just because he likes guys or a girl just because she likes girls... You-"

With a lewd grin, Venito interrupted, "I don't have a problem with that one. It's kinda hot."

Orison said tiredly, "I'm only asking that you let people be as long as they aren't hurting anyone." To himself, he thought, "It's not like I can tell him that the reason I care so much is because in another life I had friends and a family member who loved differently. They were good peeps. It just doesn't sit well with me that my nominal brother of this life might hurt or kill people just for being different."

Venito crossed his arms and said, "It's not natural."

Orison pinched the bridge of his nose and waved an arm around while he said, "Neither is ending a life before it's time with poison or a piece of sharpened metal. Yet, here we are."

Silence descended for awhile before Venito s.h.i.+fted nervously and said, "I-it's not like I don't get what you're saying at all but every time I see...You know what father did for me. The director, the one from before, he did things to some of us. I...For a time, almost a year before I came of age, the head of Riven used to encourage me to learn about adult matters. Now that I think back I know it was to have reason to get at more of my holdings but at the time I was glad to go drinking and wh*ring... I would have these moments. A certain touch or phrase, sometimes- sometimes all it took was just getting what I came for. It would come back to me. I'd be scared or angry or..."

"A lady, she was beautiful, said I could have her for free if I was willing to do it outside. I was already a little drunk so I agreed. While I was taking her against the wall, a man came up behind me and put his hand on my- my hip. To this day, I don't really know what it was all about. Whatever it was, she smiled at the man so I don't think...It doesn't matter.

"I just saw red and when it was done, I had stabbed the man, a lot. When I looked up, I saw her just sitting there staring with that same smile on her face, just a little blood trickling from her neck. Then there was Portia, the real Portia.

"I asked her if I did a good thing. I asked her if my father would be proud of me? I know that sounds unhinged. Maybe I was then... I think she made me tell her everything about me or maybe I did it on my own. She never spoke, she just stood there as she really is and I bared myself to her as I really was.

"I'm better now, maybe not completely. I don't think I ever will be but I'm happy here, in the dark. I feel good being a monster that hunts monsters with a monster. Outside of that first kill I've never done it for any other reason than it was needful. I'll never kill a child, even for sacrament, but for everyone else? I'll answer the call."

Venito sat on the chair next to Orison's and compromised, "They don't touch me, I don't kill them. They don't talk to me after I tell them to shove off, I don't hurt them. That'll go for everyone I don't like. I think that's the way an a.s.sa.s.sin should be anyway. We only have to take the call from the one who listens to the silence. We don't even have one of those right now, so no worries."

Orison said, "There's this lady at..." he shared what he knew about the server who was a good listener. "I mean, I know there will be things you shouldn't talk about but someone who will let you pour out some of your anxiety after helping you pop off some stress is a pretty good deal."

Venito chuckled and said, "For a kid who's lived in the woods for two years, you're either a know-it-all book worm who gets really lucky with his guesses or a really fast learner. Both of those are annoying but I guess you're all right." To accentuate his statement, he messed Orison's hair up and then punched him in the arm with surprising controlled force considering the death hug from earlier.

As if the punch had knocked a rusty cog loose, Orison had finally registered two pieces of information Venito had shared that made the color drain from his face.

Turning to Venito, Orison asked, "House Riven had you for nearly two years, about the same time I was at the manor?"

Venito shook his head and corrected, "They had me for two and a half. Half a year more than before father went missing. I didn't talk much for a while. Made it easy on them to keep me a secret and make up lies. Come to think of it, other than sightings of him rolling through, you and your mom might have been the last people to have actually talked to him.

"Between the time father's wife accidentally set fire to the house, when I ran away, and the testimony of the orphanage director, it's a blank spot too. Then again, it wasn't a big thing for him to go missing for months at a time either. The first time I heard that, I fantasized it was because he was looking for me. I still do but I guess after tonight I can't do that anymore. Knowing the truth makes me more relieved than I thought it would."

Nodding mechanically, Orison asked, "What do you know about dragons? Like, when was the last one seen?"

Venito looked at Orison oddly then shrugged and said, "I don't know where THAT came from but... Maybe centuries ago? I'm not sure. If it weren't for bits and pieces of the things scattered around private collections and the weird old guys at the Brow of the World, people would probably argue if they ever existed."

Orison shakily said, "There's a town a bit north of Whiteriver. You'd probably know it. It burned down I-I think."

With a bit of worry in his eyes, Venito said, "Are you talking about Hogan, the place where the empire folks almost executed father? Everyone knows that story. The G.o.d's Hammer faction razzed the place to the ground to save their leader. If they had any idea what father would go on to do, they would have let him die first.

"Hey, I don't mind going through stories about the old man or anything but you look like you're going to get sick or something. Spill... I just told you my deepest darkest and now I feel like you just realized the sky's falling and I'd really like to know why before I start getting nervous."

Orison conjured some water to splash his face and said, "One more question. It'll help me answer yours. What do you know about the elf cultist I killed? Not everything, just what he was doing near the manor."

Venito scratched his head and said, "Every odd lunar month, on the first day of waning, the guy would row out on the lake and disappear for a week or so. The only accounting given was that the crazy b*****d would call the week he was gone first night, second night and so on. On the tenth of these so called nights, he was extra crazy and grabbed up his youngest slave to take with him. She came back alive the next day without him, talking about how he tried to summon a mad G.o.d and was stopped by you. That's about it."

Orison looked at Venito and said, "The only thing I stopped was her death. The ritual was only for nine 'nights'. For mom and me, it was only nine days. Eighteen months, probably more, were only nine f***ing days!... Your adopted mother didn't burn down your house. It was att Hogan was attacked by- Father went to kill a f***ing-"

The cold chills a.s.saulted Orison wave after wave with the third nearly stopping his heart. Where he fell to the floor, he pounded with the side of his fist, hyperventilating. For reasons Orison could only guess, he had an induced panic attack that didn't feel like it had anything to do with him on an emotional level.

Venito laid Orison on the bench nearby. Returning with a cup of mead for Orison that the boy could barely hold with both hands much less drink, he said, "There were people who wanted to figure out what happened to father, people who had access to Eldritch Scripts. Two went crazy and one even died. From what I know, it's not uncommon for people to get messed up from reading the scripts, something about the past and future not wanting to be read or some such. I don't think I've ever heard of someone dying from it though. After this, I'm thinking it wasn't the script that killed her. I think the lady tried to say what she figured out and died trying."

Orison finally managed to take a sip from the cup and found mead to not be as cloyingly sweet as he imagined it would be. Focusing on safe thoughts was a way he had figured out a while before to shake off the chills faster.

Orison said, "I don't know how much you managed to get from what I said but if it was enough that trying to share it gives you the, uh, chills... Just think about random safe stuff. The more thoughts you put between you and what you weren't supposed to think or say, the faster you bounce back... Sorry, I didn't want to give you another problem, I just didn't want you to be a mushroom like everyone else."

Venito looked at Orison blandly and said, "Mushroom? I don't think I catch the reference."

Orison said, "Kept in the dark and fed sh*t. It's how the edible ones are cultivated. Actually, rotten wood... You know what, let's not ruin a good metaphor with over explanation."

Venito chuckled and said, "That's not bad. I thi-"

The teenager froze for a second before looking at one of the three bone rings on his hand that broke and said, "Opportunity... Portia must have stumbled on to something she didn't want to walk away from. No worries, little brother. I have a way of getting you back. It's just that I didn't think I'd be needing to use it. Whatever big sis ran into, it must be pretty good for her to give me the go ahead. She's pretty stingy about it."

With the momentum broken, the two brothers winded back down to silence. Though it wasn't quite as awkward as before, both of them were people of action and burning time wasn't something either of them seemed to take well.

Taking the initiative, Venito led Orison to a hidden room with complex glowing geometries and said, "Well, this was a lot more eventful than I thought it would be... Couple of rough spots there but I'm glad we did this... Give me a couple of days to put all the information we've gathered together and I'll drop it off when I can. Since the amba.s.sador who was supposed to be handling your business is no longer capable, hehe, it'll probably take some time for Centerland to appoint someone else. If it gets annoying at the inn, you can stay at my place... Take this letter to Lyra and she'll handle the rest."

Orison looked at the spell model inlaid into the floor, attempting to burn it into his vision and said, "Where will this send me?"

Venito snorted and said, "Why ruin the surprise? Alright, alright! It's inside a well not too far from the inn. There's a loose brick in the southern most part that will open a walkway to a sewer grate. Hold your nose if you're sensitive to smells after opening the well wall. It's not exactly pleasant back there... If I catch the drunk who keeps using the grate as a latrine, I'm going to string his guts on the tavern sign."

Apparently keen on not wasting anymore time, Venito pulled out a bone with writing and deep red crystalline structures running over it. After placing it into an ornate metal box with familiar icy blue chip inlays, he rotated a bar that connected the box to the complex magic circle. Orison's last view of his smirking brother was washed away in azure and indigo streaks.

Once the light show cleared from his vision, Orison found himself staring at a slimy moss covered, gray stone and mortar wall. Taking a moment to steady himself, he looked down to to see a fancily designed metal grate with a hole large enough for a bucket to fit through. Looking up, he saw a matching one far above him.

Nearly five feet above his head, Orison saw the signs of a relatively fresh water mark and thought, "Using this thing during spring must be an exercise in underwater survival."

After taking note of the spell pattern cleverly hidden within the two grates, seeing nothing else worthwhile, He started fumbling along the southern wall for the loose stone mechanism trigger. Unable to easily see in the scant lighting provided by a waning moon under partial cloud cover or feel his way through the growth on the wall, Orison risked a use of Candle Flame. Before he could return to his task, a faint gold glimmer caught his eye.