Only Villains Do That

The long and the short of it was that I had nothing immediately to worry about. Olumnach had several dangerous-sounding Blessed, but was unlikely to leverage them at me; he liked to keep them nearby for his own family’s protection, and since it was known among the Clans who employed what Blessed, sending them to do anything disruptive in or near Gwyllthean would get him in hot water with the Archlord. I could only hope I could bait him into that mistake, but otherwise, I wouldn’t have to face off against his forces unless I attacked him on his own turf. That was not happening for a host of reasons.

Gwyllthean was different from the countryside and my tactics would have to change accordingly, but the fundamental strategy was the same: deny Olumnach a fight and make him trip over his own feet. Constant retreat could be a winning move in the right circumstances, like how the Russians had crushed Napoleon using…Russia. Dount was far from the same vast span of land prone to army-killing winters, but it had its own features I meant to use against the superior forces with which I refused to engage.

In general, I couldn’t afford to do this shounen battle style. There would be no more great duels with powerful Blessed, not after Lady Gray. That had been enough of a risk and one I couldn’t really avoid, but every such encounter risked publicly exposing my multiple Blessings. Once that happened, it was on for real and I had better be prepared to deal with opponents on a worldwide scale.

I hoped Yoshi was staying out of trouble. He was still on Dount, which I knew because I’d paid Maugro to inform me if his party went back to the mainland and he hadn’t, but otherwise I had deliberately not asked about him. The gambit there was that if he and his team succeeded in their mission of causing problems for the goblins, said goblins might come to me for help, and I would really like to deal with them when they needed me instead of vice versa for a change. Obviously Yoshi’s crew had impressed the value of discretion on him. Hopefully that situation would remain stable.

Meanwhile, I had one more matter to address in Gwyllthean before I retreated to Caer Yviredh to check in with my allies and gather my forces for the campaign proper. By the time we finished interrogating Calim and adequately hid his body, no inns would be accepting customers even in the Gutters, so we camped out in the khora and returned to the city for my appointment in the midmorning. I’d done what I could to make myself presentable, but there was no hiding the lack of sleep. Some things you just have to push past.

Captain Norovena doubtless spent more time at his desk than away from it, but he evidently made a laudable effort to lead from the field; I’d known him to take to the streets himself when something big was up, and it wasn’t the first time I’d come by to find him not at the station. Well, just as previously, if the Captain didn’t have the good taste to be on hand when I came calling, I turned his barracks into a venue.

I was dissatisfied with my acoustic rendition of Livin’ on a Prayer, but I was the only one present who knew what it was supposed to sound like; the lads loved it, and not just because I was popular among the Kingsguard. I know when I’m being humored and when my audience is legitimately rocking out, thank you very much. I’d have to play them some more of this next time I came by; Bon Jovi wrote on a lot of themes that channeled exactly the kind of working-class dissatisfaction that appealed to guys like this.

Just as I was reflecting that I should’ve played more to my strengths and leveraged music instead of magic to forment my little insurrection, Norovena entered the barracks. He was good, making just enough of a spectacle of his arrival to scatter his troops back to their jobs without making it obvious that was what he was doing. The door opened harder and faster than was really necessary without banging on the wall and he stepped fully inside, stopping and folding his arms until my audience had dispersed.

“I’m glad to see you hale after our last meeting, Lord Seiji,” he said in apparent calm. “I must say, you’re the only man of your means and bearing I have ever met who is so willing to consort with the sort of louts I keep around here.”

“What can I say, I’m a performer,” I replied with good cheer, carefully setting the barracks guitar back on the chair where I’d found it. “Matters would be very different if they didn’t keep feeding my ego. Good to see you, too, Captain! Sorry to keep descending on you like this. I hope this isn’t a bad time?”

“To the extent that there’s ever a good time, this is no worse than most, my lord. Your visits are usually productive—and always, at the very least, interesting. Would you join me in my office?”

“I thought you’d never ask!”

Whatever had been going on here for the last week, the Norovena who ushered me into his private space and closed the door behind us was composed and alert, more like the Captain I had met during my early visits to the city than the stressed, overworked man with whom I’d been cooperating more recently. Hopefully that was a good sign.

It felt almost odd to be alone with him; I’d had a real uphill battle convincing Aster to remain behind after the production she made of not getting separated from me again, but the fact was our five new tagalongs could not be trusted to behave unsupervised, and I sure as hell couldn’t bring them in here. She’d eventually bowed to necessity, but I wasn’t looking forward to all the glares and complaints I’d get once we linked up again.

“I assure you I didn’t come here and interrupt your schedule just to gossip, Captain, but would you be good enough to update me anyway? There’s nobody else who has as complete a grasp of the situation in Gwyllthean.”

“Less complete than you may think, my lord—definitely less than I’d hope,” he replied with a grimace, running a hand over his brown hair. “But this week has been more or less the reprieve I had hoped. The Gutters have been quiet, which they deserved and needed after…what happened. I have been watching the agents of a certain Clan which I will not name begin to establish a foothold in the conveniently abandoned criminal infrastructure left behind by Lady Gray. There’s little I can do about that, both due to the intensely fraught politics of the situation and the fact that I am fully occupied dealing with events in my own headquarters.”

I frowned; this was news to me. “Trouble on the home front?”

“Oh, no new problems,” he assured me with a slight smile, “just the ongoing repercussions of the old. I’m sure you recall the spectacle of the city jail filled to well past capacity with nearly the entirety of Lady Gray’s available muscle. That’s the kind of problem that does not resolve itself in one week. I am making progress at working through the…backlog. I’m afraid it’s the largest matter occupying me, however.”

“What are you doing with the scum, if I may ask?”

“It depends on which scum, which is the lion’s share of the problem.” He grimaced, shaking his head. “Of course, my orders and the practical needs of the situation emphasize a swift resolution above a precise one, but between the interests of the Archlord, the various allied Clans, the Convocation, and even the bureaucracy of the judges—not to mention the rising displeasure among the lowborn—the only thing I can do to assuage the overall tensions is to make the proceedings as fair as I can manage.”

“Mm.” I put on my most sympathetic expression. “And how fair is that, when it goes well?”

Norovena shrugged ruefully. “Well, it’s far from ideal. Certainly my heart doesn’t bleed for any of those dregs, but I’m glad to say I have managed to make enough of a gesture in the general direction of justice to prevent anyone important raising a credible grievance. Some of the more dangerous we were able to ship to Fflyrdylle to be dealt with by the central courts. A few of the least are being released—in small trickles, it wouldn’t do to flood the Gutters with them again right now. I assume they’ll be either absorbed or killed off by the new gangs taking root, and on their heads be it either way. Of course, Archlord Caludon has mandated that a quota of the worst be executed, to send a message.”

“A…quota,” I said quietly. “I wonder what his definition of ‘worst’ was?”

“The Archlord was…less than specific,” Norovena said, deadpan. “I am of course flattered that he trusts my judgment.”

Caludon, that evil bastard. Then again, was I really in a position to criticize him anymore? No, fuck that guy, I was no champion of virtue but I wasn’t out there killing people indiscriminately. It was incredibly disheartening that that was where I had to draw the line now, but it was still a line worth drawing.

“I seem to recall you were, let’s say, cautiously optimistic about Clan Olumnach moving in to fill Lady Gray’s shoes,” I said casually.

Norovena indulged in a sigh. “That’s a good way to put it, my lord. Eliminating organized crime is a ludicrous fantasy; an organization I can work with or at least around is the next best option. One who is connected to the aboveboard power structure… Well, I can see countless ways it could be either a mitigating or exacerbating factor. Time will tell.”

“Yes,” I said with all the sympathy I could muster. “Without a doubt, things would look more promising if the particular established power stepping in wasn’t a notably unstable individual with a massive axe to grind against Clan Aelthwyn.”

He shrugged, his face falling back into bland neutrality. “Alas, my lord, it is the duty of my station to deal with the situation as it is, not as I wish it could be. Men such as I would be unwise to criticize our betters.”

“Well, Captain, perhaps I can help make the situation more palatable,” I said cheerfully. “That’s why I came to see you, in fact. In my recent travels around the island, while I was making myself scarce from Gwyllthean, I’ve stumbled across some information concerning events about to unfold in and around the Gutters that I bet is materially useful to your position. With foreknowledge of what’s happening, I bet you could place yourself advantageously in the eyes of the Archlord—among others.”

“Oh?” His expression sharpened behind the smile he put on. “Once again, Lord Seiji, I have cause to appreciate your proactive citizenship. If only our native-born nobility were as eager to support the cause of law and order.”

That was so breathtakingly ridiculous on so many levels I had to hurry past it or I’d burst out laughing and derail the whole conversation.

“I don’t know how quickly you’ll hear of it,” I said, leaning forward over his desk and affecting a conspiratorial tone, “but over the last week, Highlord Caldimer has lost most of his grip on the bandit gangs outside the city. All he’s still able to control at this point are a few outlying groups on the fringes of the island who are in no position to rob anybody of consequence. If things continue as they have been, I wouldn’t lay long odds on him holding on to even those much longer.”

He was good; his expression barely changed even as he leaned forward in a posture of clear interest. “Is that so? Now, just how under the Goddess’s light would a thing like that happen?”

Not, I noted, how did I know. Good; I could always count on Norovena to read the subtext.

“Who knows?” I shrugged casually. “I mean, if I had to hazard a guess, it does appear he’s been chivying most of those thugs into the city to take over Lady Gray’s old turf. It’s never wise to leave your rear undefended; you never know who’s out there just waiting to pounce.”

“Good advice for us all,” he said tonelessly.

“That’s not even the important bit,” I said, winking. “I mean, after all, what happens outside the city isn’t your problem, right? Just interesting local gossip that might peripherally affect your business, is all. No, what I think you really ought to know, Captain, is that there’s a strong possibility Highlord Caldimer is going to make a big mistake in the near future.”

“How useful it must be,” he said softly, “to predict the mistakes of the Highlords.”

“Some of them are very predictable indeed. The confluence of Caldimer’s basic nature and certain unfolding events may set him up to antagonize Clan Aelthwyn to move against him in full, legal force. With the backing of most of the smaller clans around the city.”

“That,” said Norovena, “must have taken some real doing to arrange.”

“Must have,” I agreed with a solemn nod.

His eyes narrowed slightly, shifted to one side in thought, then focused back on me. I could practically see him thinking both ahead and behind, re-contextualizing what he already knew and extrapolating forward from these new insights.

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” I said after giving him a moment to consider, “but it may soon become extremely relevant to your interests, Captain, to know that Olumnach is on his way out. I can see the possibility in the near future of him calling on the Kingsguard to involve itself in matters unfolding in the Gutters. It would perhaps behoove you, at that time, to consider whether you prefer to work with a swaggering bully who looks down on you, or someone who holds your abilities in the highest esteem, who sympathizes with the unconscionable lack of respect with you are treated by this system, and who has always preferred to work with rather than against or past you.”

Norovena tilted his head fractionally to one side. “That sounds like a fraught scenario indeed, Lord Seiji. If it should actually come to pass…I wonder what I might risk by siding with the established power, rather than taking a chance on a newcomer.”

I leaned back in the chair, giving him a serene, beatific smile. “Well, I suppose that all depends. On just how dangerous the newcomer is, for example. And whether they happen to have caught the interest and sympathy of the Archlord. Seems like that could be a factor.”

He mimicked my movement more slowly, settling backward almost to a reclining posture and studying me narrowly all the while.

“I realize this isn’t how the game is played,” he said suddenly after contemplating for a few seconds, “but hell with it, I have to ask. Who are you, really?”

I actually hadn’t been expecting such a direct query, but over the last several minutes of conversation I had slipped naturally into performance mode. Not the bombastic style I used to impress the thieves and whores, but a performance nonetheless. I found myself answering calmly and with a mysterious smile I hadn’t even planned on.

“I am the most powerful Blessed you’ve ever been in a room with, and that really is the least of it. I am someone who could have set Dount on fire from one edge to the other by now, were I not so interested in maintaining the peace. I am a man who’s decided to quietly pull the fangs of one of the most powerful Clans on this isle instead of annihilating them from the face of Ephemera—because I judge the constructive approach to be in everyone’s best interests, not because I would have any trouble doing it the other way.”

I let the silence hang for a beat, then grinned and shrugged.

“I’m just your good buddy Seiji. A useful kinda guy to have around.”

“Hm,” Norovena grunted after a short pause. “And yet, that was still more of an answer than I was expecting.”

“Life is mysterious,” I said gravely, nodding. “It’s always good to be aware what’s moving in one’s vicinity, but there are things out there it’s safer not to know.”

“Indeed.” He frowned faintly, an expression that looked thoughtful rather than displeased. “I appreciate all the forewarning, Lord Seiji. However you happened to come by it, you’ve given me a great deal to consider.”

We made good time once out of the city, and reached Caer Yviredh by late afternoon, just before what would usually be dinner time for the Fflyr. Having spent most of my time either wandering the island in circuitous routes or making the day-long trek between Gwyllthean and North Watch, it felt downright strange to get between two points on Dount so quickly.

I was pleased to find my people in the khora surrounding Yviredh lands keeping a proper patrol with lookouts; they spotted Aster and I arriving before we found them, which was exactly what I hoped would happen if they encountered anyone else. Nazralind wasn’t with them, apparently having gone to visit the family in the manor itself, so that was where we went directly after I left my five newbies with the girls. Much as I wanted to supervise their first interactions with the rest of the gang, I needed to speak with the Yviredhs.

Aster and I entered through the front gate, this time. The Clansguard on duty opened it for us and escorted us to the house, looking not particularly happy but not offering so much as a mutter of complaint. The man seemed leery of us rather than resentful, which I could live with.

“Lord Seiji,” Lady Elidred said, entering the second-floor drawing room to which I’d been escorted in a stately glide. She didn’t even so much as glance at Aster, which I guess was the usual custom when it came to nobles and other nobles’ servants. It didn’t quite sit right with me, but I figured I’d better pick my battles.

“My lady.” I bowed, shallowly, which made her mouth tighten but she otherwise let it pass. “Thank you kindly for receiving us. I hope I have not caught you at an inconvenient time?”

“Is there ever a convenient time?” She raised one eyebrow. “I’m afraid you have missed my husband, but you will not be kept waiting long, my lord; he is only down in the village. If you find either of us at the manor, the other will be along shortly. Visits to the homes of other Clans may take us away from our home for a day or two at a time, but our own holdings are simply not broad enough to make the Highlord’s rounds all that time-consuming.”

“Ah, then my apologies for imposing on you. I should like to speak with Highlord Adver, but we’ll not trouble you overlong after that. By the way, I was told my…associate was visiting you?”

“Yes, hence this particular parlor,” she said with a faint smile, gliding forward and toward the window. “It enjoys a decent view, if you would care to look.”

I followed her to the window, which overlooked the manor’s gardens. I could see the domed housing of the Spirit off in one corner of the grounds, but closer at hand, Nazralind—mask and all—was on a stretch of open lawn, apparently coaching the young Lady Avelit in the use of a practice foil while Lord Ediver hovered around both of them.

“Ara, ara—” I caught myself in time to bite it off this time. Well, almost. “I hope she hasn’t been…an imposition.”

“On the contrary.” Elidred watched her children exercising with my elf, her expression fond but distant. “I have made my apologies to Highlady Nazralind, but I offer them to you as well for my previous…outburst. I’m afraid the large number of changes and new sources of stress in my life have lately made me more volatile than befits a Lady.”

“Ah, so Naz decided to introduce herself?”

“She has not,” she said with another faint smile. “I’m sure you have noticed, Lord Seiji, that Dount is hardly a bustling metropolis. When a daughter of the island’s ruling Clan goes missing, it is noticed, despite the best efforts of her family. When, shortly after a number of other young noblewomen ran away from their homes, a gang of poorly disguised young noblewomen took to…strangely idealistic banditry, well. No one failed to connect the clues. It was scarcely more difficult to make the connection when she arrived here, in the company of a new bandit leader.”

“I see,” I said ruefully. “In any case, my lady, I feel you owe me no apology. All of this has to have been hard on you. I don’t know if it helps you at all to know, but I enjoy being a bandit leader exactly as much as you enjoy having to deal with one.”

Elidred looked at me sidelong. “It does, a bit. Perhaps you understand the…discomfiture, then. But life is surprising and not always comfortable; it is our lot to make do. In this case, I can certainly see how my family’s actions have caused many of its own problems. You are not the help I would have sought, but it would be churlish to reject even you. Even had we the option.”

Below us, the trio on the lawn passed out of our view, apparently calling their practice to an end and coming back inside.

“Lord Seiji,” Lady Elidred said suddenly, “I am in absolutely no sense disloyal to my husband. He determines the course of our family’s labors, and I support him as is the role of a wife under the Goddess’s order. I am, however, more of a realist than Adver.”

“Is that so?” I was suddenly apprehensive about where this was leading. Surely this woman wasn’t about to hit on me? Last I’d reckoned she could barely stand me, but then, that was what I’d thought about Zui.

“I am cognizant that in the best case scenario, even our gambit with Rhaem is a long shot. The odds of saving Clan Yviredh’s noble status are…slim, even with your help. And if that effort fails, it will not be without its upside. I have raised my daughter to honor her duty to family as any decent Sanorite woman ought. That does not mean I relish the prospect of selling her off as a bargaining chip to some overbred reprobate.”

I blinked. That wasn’t what I’d expected to hear. For once, I didn’t have a ready reply.

“Unlike my husband,” Elidred continued, gazing absently out the window, “I do not consider the loss of nobility to be the end of the world. Certainly not for my children, who will have to live beyond it. As a mother, I wish above all for them to be happy, to lead fulfilling lives, even if it cannot be as the Goddess’s elect. And there are so many ways for the unfolding of events to endanger their prospects, beyond even what social diminishment must.”

She hesitated, and I waited.

“Highlady Nazralind has mentioned,” Elidred finally said in an offhanded tone, “that you have a particular soft spot for children.”

Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that, but…okay, maybe.

“Whatever happens,” I promised her quietly, “I will do my very best to make sure they’re safe. I don’t want to promise beyond my means, my Lady. Life is terribly uncertain, and my life in particular is more violent than anybody should want. And…I have failed to protect people in the past. But whatever I can do, I will.”

She nodded slowly, still not meeting my gaze. “What is hardest about being a parent is learning that one cannot protect them from everything. No, more than that—one must not. No one can grow without struggling, without suffering. A child must be allowed to face their own challenges if they are to become the adult they have the potential to be.”

I thought about Gilder, Benit, and Radon. About Aenit. About Jassner, Ladhnet, Tonnon, Sildnit, and Nadro, five names I sometimes recited to myself at night, because there was nothing else I could do for them but remember.

“I’ll settle for not having to keep any more vigils for them,” I whispered.

Elidred finally turned to look at me. Then she stepped back, and to my astonishment, bowed. A little awkwardly, as she had probably never done it in her life, but still.

“No one can ask more of anyone than their best, Lord Seiji. I accept your promise, with a mother’s gratitude. And I shall hope you never need be held to it.”

“So shall we all,” I agreed.

The door opened, blessedly saving me from this conversation. Highlord Adver was the first into the room, followed by Nazralind, who had apparently ditched the kids on the way. Probably the Highlord had sent them elsewhere than where the bandits were; I probably would have, in his position.

“Ah, Lord Seiji,” he said, and to my surprise he seemed satisfied to see me. Not happy, precisely, but more as if my presence was a sign of things unfolding as they should.

“When did you find time to get your hair cut?” Nazralind demanded.

“It’s amazing the things that just fall into your lap,” I said with completely sincerity. “I’m glad to report my visit to Gwyllthean was productive for more than just the obvious cosmetic reasons. How have you fared here on the home front?”

“The plan is unfolding,” Adver said with a pleased grin. My god, the man actually seemed to be having fun. “We’ve not yet had the opportunity to begin rallying support among the neighboring Clans, though we are keeping alert to the gossip. My Elidred is truly adept at navigating these tricky social currents. There has as of yet been nothing over which our neighbors have reason to complain, but Clan Olumnach has taken note of your actions, and I’ve no doubt the necessary provocations will be forthcoming, to judge by their…assertive displeasure.”

“Is everyone all right?” I asked, frowning.

Adver waved a hand airily. “Right as rain, my lord. I feigned ignorance of what had happened to our local bandit gang, and freely offered Clan Olumnach’s representatives leave to search for them anywhere in my domain. I’m glad to say that your people are both perceptive and swift; undoubtedly the Olumnach scouts found traces of their passing, but did not come upon them in person.”

That’s my girls.

“No problems on that front, Lord Seiji,” said Nazralind. “At the first sign of them, we vacated the area, just as you ordered. They’re good, but not great; it’s not all that hard to be better.”

“Our open and hospitable posture toward Clan Olumnach’s representatives will help deflect suspicion from Clan Yviredh when the pressure begins to mount among the other Clans,” said Elidred with a thin, satisfied smile. “And that will begin as soon as they start treating our peers the way they did us. They have no strategic need to tolerate it, and highborn are in many ways more sensitive to insult than injury.”

“I have to say, I am both impressed and relieved,” Highlord Adver admitted. “When you laid out your plan… Well, I could see the logic of it, but it’s another thing entirely to watch it start to unfold exactly as designed!”

“Don’t become complacent,” I warned. “Nothing ever goes exactly as planned, and Caldimer is neither stupid nor weak. It always becomes necessary to improvise before all’s said and done.”

“Yes indeed,” he agreed more seriously. “Speaking of that, I hope you have a strategy in place to take Gwyllthean. I fear that evasive maneuvers of this kind will be rather more difficult in the city.”

“Indeed, a different battlefield calls for a different strategy,” I said, nodding. “Which is not to say I mean to confront the Olumnachs—far from it. On the contrary, I think there’s been more than enough bloodshed recently. Lord Seiji has done his part. What comes next is a job for the Healer.