.
As I’ve already said, we had set aside the search for the mine, the request that the Arelians believed we were working on. But the fact was, Amelia was apparently underground. If we were near a mine entrance that might in fact be the entrance to Ilim Below, we wanted to know its location.
The ancient wolf-kin mage looked around at us and then grinned, displaying the same thick canine teeth that my maid Genette shows with her rare smiles.
“You said you were on your way back to the mountains,” she mused. “From everyone’s reactions, I’m willing to bet that mine has something to do with your job.”
Allia cleared her throat. “I would rather say we’re on a quest for yeti pelts.”
“You don’t find yeti pelts in mines,” she retorted, then looked over at the village leader. “Fol, I suspect that these guys have more to do with my work than yours. Why don’t you take the girls away and let me talk to these folks in private? The children need their sleep.”
“You want me to leave you alone with them?” the woman asked with a frown.
“Take a good look at these people. If they decided to hurt me, there’s nothing a couple old ladies and a pack of brats could do to protect me. Get some sleep.”
Fol was reluctant, but she nodded and hustled the girls out of the barn. The other elderly woman exchanged several sharply whispered words with her as they left– she was also worried for the wolfkin woman– but they complied anyhow.
The mage sighed and settled onto a hay bale, setting her scepter on her lap, and then began massaging her shoulder. She asked, “Do you want a [Realm of Silence]? I have no reason to distrust my fellow villagers, but if you wish…”
Arken, the one in charge of such things in our party, answered, “You’ve been working hard, Madame. You should let your pneuma rest. If we think it’s necessary, I’ll cast [Secret Chamber] on this building.”
She humphed, nodded and looked at Allia. “The name’s Melis. I used to be a half-decent adventurer back in the day, so I’m a fair hand at magic.”
Allia nodded. “That was obvious when we met you. You had two spells running, right? And they were both Darkness magic. That’s quite rare.”
That wolfish grin came out again. “Not rare among my people. Wolfkin mages tend to have Darkness affinity.”
She stretched her back, then continued, “So for whatever reason, you guys knew about the mine and were looking for it. That makes your business my business. Tell me why you’re looking and I may just be able to help you.”
Allia grew a scowl. “Not without knowing why you need to know. If you’re an ex-adventurer, you know we can’t reveal our clients or their request.”
This was familiar territory. The adventurer’s code protected client information, so two parties trying to sound each other out usually had to go through a phase like this, with each party refusing to go first.
“My Lady, would you allow me to negotiate?” Talene asked. “I mean, considering the subject…”
I guessed that she was referring to the mine being part of our ‘official’ request, for which she was technically the client. Although the fact that Amelia was underground made the two possibly related, she had a point. Allia gestured for her to take over.
“It’s ‘My Lady’, then?” Melis wondered with a crooked smile for Allia.
“I just go by Allia,” our leader countered. “Pay it no mind.”
“And I’m Talene,” the sage added. “Miss Melis, we are indeed looking for that mine, but our reasons are privileged information. Can you accept the fact that we don’t know where it is as clear evidence that we are not working for your enemies, who are in possession of it?”
The mage’s brows knit, then she said, “Miss Talene, the Berado have hauled off my entire family except for three grandchildren to work as slave labor for that mine. Assuming they are still alive, they are most likely still there. For the sake of their safety, it is very important to me to hear what, exactly, you plan to do at that mine if you find it.”
My skin crawled a little as I realized I had no idea what the Arelians planned to do with that information. They could very well want to seal the mine to retaliate for what the Berado did in Lisrau, and it was possible they might not care if Gado slaves were trapped inside as a result.
“Our only plan at this time is to investigate it,” Talene answered. “We want to sneak in and see what the Berado are doing there. I can’t tell you why we need to know, and I can’t tell you who exactly needs to know it. But I can tell you, my companions and I do not pose a threat to your people.”
After enduring several seconds of the woman glaring at her, Talene added, “I wonder if the Berado will even be able to keep it, once my employers know that it is so close to the border. It doesn’t look like your enemy has a very strong hold on this territory.”
I struggled to keep my surprise off my face. A couple of my fellow adventurers failed in their own effort. Talene had all but admitted we were working for the Arelians. She’s a smart lady, so it was probably on purpose.
And, come to think of it, there weren’t very many other possibilities in the area.
The wolfkin woman narrowed her eyes, then observed, “You’re talking about how some of the towns in the valley below have successfully rebelled.”
“You know about it, then,” Talene nodded. “We actually didn’t see any Berado at all until we got up here to the plateau. They may not hold much ground at all elsewhere.”
“It won’t last,” Melis declared. “Maybe we can still win in the end, but in order to win, we’ll have to deal with reinforcements. As soon as the snow melts in the pass, they’ll send a whole new batch of troops through. They just have to hold out up here on the plateau until then.”
“That’s probably not going to happen, though,” I said, drawing surprised looks from both Talene and Melis.
Allia understood, though. She nodded and said, “Right.”
She’d probably figured it out from all the map study we had done in Lisrau. I had flown over the terrain itself.
“Why do you say that?” Talene wondered.
I told Melis, “The pass you’re talking about is the saddleback to the east of us, isn’t it? Between the two peaks?”
The woman nodded, looking puzzled.
“The other day, I observed the Arelians attacking a Berado base on the east slope. They had your enemies heavily outnumbered. The trail to the pass on that side runs up from that base. By now, the Berado no longer control the route into your territory.”
“Why would the Arelians do such a thing?” Melis demanded. “They’ve been helping them until now!”
Talene answered, “They’ve had a big falling out. We might be able to hook your people up with some powerful allies.”
Allia took over. “So, earlier you said something to the village leader about talking to us being your job rather than hers. I’m not going to ask you to reveal that job, because I already know what it is.”
The mage’s frown and narrow eyes couldn’t have looked more distrusting. Undaunted, Allia continued, in dry tones, “An ex-adventurer and skilled mage conveniently located in the middle of occupied territory, in the nicely low-visibility form of a senior citizen. If it were me, there is no chance that I wouldn’t recruit that person into my resistance organization.”
After Melis still didn’t respond, Allia continued, “The fact that you don’t have to fear an invasion once the pass is open would be important information for your leaders, wouldn’t it? Especially if we could show you evidence? Wouldn’t that evidence be valuable enough to trade for some information on the mine?”
“What sort of evidence?” she wondered, clearly still skeptical.
Allia glanced over at me and then at Dilorè. “Would one of you two be willing to carry an observer over the pass?”
Melis grew puzzled and asked me, “Would a succubus really be able to carry somebody while they fly?”
My wings weren’t out, but [Detect Presence] would have identified me as a monster. The specific species was just her assumption. I wasn’t showing my wings, but she must have seen them earlier. Or maybe, she was just going off my appearance.
I shrugged. “It’s not a problem for me. I’ll do it.”
I didn’t see any point in correcting her.
The mage told Dilorè, “You must be the magical being I detected. Half-fairy, perhaps?”
Dilorè looked amused. “Perhaps.”
“I detected two monsters,” Melis mused, looking around at our group. “Haven’t figured out which one of you the other one is, yet.”
She turned back to Allia. “I’ll pass the offer on, although I’m not saying who I’m passing it to.”
Allia nodded. “Thank you.”
“But if you have flyers, you shouldn’t need me to tell you where it is. You should be able to find it yourself, right?”
“I’ve yet to see anything like a mining operation, frankly,” I stated. “That’s what has me puzzled about this. I would expect to see mine buildings, tailing piles and access roads.”
“I’m sure you’ll find it eventually, so I might as well tell you. Just, don’t forget your promise to show us the Berado camp.”
Allia nodded. “Alright.”
“Directly to our north, there’s a long ridge running from the North Peak. The stream that runs past our village comes down that shoulder and cuts a narrow valley into it. Ages ago, some religious people had their monastery up there. The buildings are gone, but the caves they made and the stairs they cut to reach it are still there. All we know about that mine is that it is somewhere up near that old monastery.”
“Stairs?” Talene asked, with a thoughtful frown. “Is there any chance that this valley has a name?”
“Name? Well, it fills with fog pretty often, because the sun doesn’t reach into it easily, so I’ve heard folks call it the ‘Valley of Clouds’.”
We all kept our expressions neutral until after we finished our meeting with Melis. She promised to discuss matters with her people, and then left us alone, with the understanding we would stay out of sight in the barn during the coming daylight to get some rest, and leave after dark. There might or might not be help from her side at that time.
Once she was gone, Allia told Arken, “We need that spell of yours.”
He set up [Secret Chamber] and then Allia turned to me.
“From the base of the stairs in the valley of clouds, the celestial maiden shall lead the way.“
I nodded. “That was your divination.”
“I thought it was nonsense, either too obscure to understand or too garbled because I overreached. But there is a valley of clouds, and there are stairs. As for the final element…”
She stared at me for a few breaths, then finished, “The ‘celestial maiden’ is you, right? The stregas are the servants of heaven.”
Choosing my words carefully, I stated, “In my first life, in my original form, before I came down to the Mortal Realm, I was an immortal of the absolute lowest order. I was born in the lowest upper realm, which mortals might describe as being part of Heaven. So, I was what one could call a ‘celestial maiden’, and it is probable the divination was referring to me, which means that mine is almost certainly our way down to Amelia.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?” she demanded.
“Technically, in this Mortal Realm body, I can no longer be considered an immortal, or a celestial maiden. So there was a chance the divination was referring to a different immortal. There are some above who do pay attention to what goes on in this world.”
“My Lady, did you just say you were born in Heaven?” Melione asked.
That question made me realize I had quite a few baffled eyes staring at me.
I smiled. “Whatever all of you are imagining, it isn’t like that.”
