The trip had been long, arduous, and terrifying for Hard and Muro. The mages barely slept, and kept the marching nearly constantly. The Inquisitor had sharply told them not to talk to anyone but him, and they were more than happy to oblige him. Particularly after a confrontation they’d had with one of their guards who produced a wanted poster with their descriptions written on it. Apparently they were torture interrogators for the Inquisition, and in between murdering casters they’d secretly forged a pact with a band of warlocks to assassinate the High Priest. The story was lies from start to finish, but it got the whole pack of mages right angry at them, at least until the Inquisitor came over and saved their necks.
“Well, we are at Isagul. If they let us go, we can just carry on as we were planning to before,” Hard looked over his shoulder at the mountains looming to the north. It was cold up here, even in the late spring. They’d felt a slight touch of frost in the mornings, and lingering cold that seemed to chase them whenever they stepped into a shadow.
“And what would that plan be?” the Inquisitor appeared behind them. He had a strange knack for doing that.
“Forgive me sir, I didn’t know you were present,” Hard would have saluted but he was still bound.
“No need for that, I didn’t choose to make myself known until you’d taken to talking to one another. Now, this plan, give me some details,” White glared at them as they looked at each other.
“We’re heading into the Northlands. Obviously, we are wanted men here, if we can get past the gates, we have a straight march towards Gallaron. We can be in relative safety, after only a few days once we cross through the gates. No one in their right mind would chase us up there. Not even… the beast in the shard,” Hard sighed. White just nodded as he listened to their plan.
“I thought I recognized you. I watched you two search the speaker’s room. You’re quite well read if you could recognize a Star Shard at a glance. You didn’t even try to touch it out of curiosity,” his compliment was a trap, Hard knew it but he had no choice but to step into it.
“Thank you, I’d read about them in a book from the library at Cotinari,” Hard started but the old man just waved his hand at him dismissively.
“I’ve checked your bags over. One bag was full of supplies and clothing. The other was stuffed full of books. But very specific books; old tomes, things that were supposed to have been purged from the libraries when the Church rose to power. You’ve even got yourself a few first editions in there. For a mundane, you’re incredibly well stocked in arcane tomes. Your collection rivals mine and I’m a dedicated collector,” White sat between the two men, he looked at Muro carefully for a moment before turning his attention back to Hard.
“Reading is a bit of a hobby of mine. I wasn’t aware they were valuable books, just that they were old and curious,” it was mostly the truth, Hard really didn’t understand the purpose of the lists of books that formed in his mind. He wasn’t even sure where they came from, it was as if he’d heard of them all from somewhere and each book he read revealed new books to him.
“How do you plan on getting past the gate? The guards on this side aren’t just going to let you pass, and the guards on the other side… I’ve chatted with them a few times, they aren’t necessarily the most sane of folk,” White scratched his chin a bit as he spoke. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to let either of them get comfortable in a line of questioning, he’d keep bouncing around so they couldn’t keep their lies straight.
“There is a lesser gate, well a walkway more like, on the northern edge of the wall. If we walk to the ocean’s edge, there is a small entrance into the Northlands there. It’s hardly guarded, three guards tops. We were going to kill our way through it if we had to, but if you’re coming with us, then we might just have another option,” it was Hard’s turn to turn the questioning around.
“No one said anything about coming with anyone,” White smiled slightly, well aware of the trick.
“You said plenty, you wouldn’t be curious about where we were going unless you were coming with us, or we were going with you. You’re not leaving with these mages. Most of them seem to regard you slightly less than they regard us, and the majority of them still believe that Muro and myself are responsible for killing quite a few of their friends,” Hard chuckled slightly as White nodded.
“They are putting you two into my custody. As soon as my apprentice is able to move on her own we are leaving here. Do not make me regret my decision to not turn you over to them. I may not look like much, but I assure you the fate the two zealots shared is just a sample of what I can and will do,” White stood and nodded at them as he left to tend to Ceren who was slowly starting to rouse from her deep and deathly slumber.
