Broken Lands

Chapter 370 – So What Now?

“And their teams,” Bai added. “I doubt it’s that simple, but essentially, yes. This is a matter I’d have taken to the Imperial Justiciars, but they no longer exist. It’s not a matter for the Registry, though once they would have aided the Justiciars more than Registry Master ko’Orthlinn is willing to. The fact that he has not already pulled you off the task is a surprise, but a pleasant one. It means that he is willing to have you aid me.”

“Aid you? What can we do about it?” Sophia didn’t like this at all. Sure, she volunteered to help Jax figure out what the Arena knew about the Maze that the Registry didn’t, but that was supposed to be something like the weather mage who figured out how to predict Mazestorms, not murder!

“I don’t know,” Bai admitted with a sigh. “This is not something that was within my duties. I would have turned it over to the proper authorities, the Justiciars.They would have investigated and found out who it is and stopped them, if it was actually malicious. If it’s simply people going into the Maze unprepared, there’s nothing to do, but I really doubt that it is.”

“We should talk to Sweetfire.” Sophia wasn’t sure where the idea came from, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. “He already has people looking into what happened to Mikka, right? That means he knows people who can do something, people who are willing to act. He says he’s just a blacksmith, and maybe he doesn’t have any official position, but that’s definitely not all he is. You don’t put just anyone in charge of a place like the Windows or dealing with the Garden, the source of most of the food in the city.”

Okay, maybe that was at least partly just an impulse; Sophia hadn’t seen any sign Sweetfire was actually in charge of the Garden, just that he was allowed to escort people there. Maybe it really was just the fact that he was worried about it being locked off and wanted her to try to get in. That didn’t change the fact that he could. 

“For that matter, he’s gotten us authorized to go pretty much wherever we want in the underground without paying for it, like we were Professionals. I know that’s not something other Called teams have. If they’re being brought down to help, they’re always escorted by a Professional. We aren’t.” Sophia had seen that. Some of the monster cleanouts they’d done required multiple teams, and the other teams were definitely treated differently from hers. Some of that was probably because of how much time they spent underground after each mazestorm, but Sophia doubted that was all of it. They’d been called “Sweetfire’s team” more than once.

“He’s young for the third upgrade, especially for a Professional,” Ci’an added. “I don’t think he’s over forty yet. We’re really young for Called, and Called usually reach their upgrades years before Professionals do.”

“If they’re going to get there at all. Called stop eventually, Professionals … well, they don’t always reach the third upgrade, but eventually most do, even the ones that used to be Called. That’s one of the really nice things about being a Librarian; I’m going to get there eventually.” Marcie shrugged with a grin. “And it looks like I’m going to get there just as quickly as Alley Sweetfire did; maybe something in the Maze helped him too?”

“I do not have statistics on places outside Mazehold, but Alley Sweetfire is significantly younger than average for his upgrade, even for a former Called. He was not especially precocious when he reached the third upgrade the first time; while fifteen years is quite a nice pace, it is not exceptional. Less than five years from when he decided to turn his Calling into a Profession to reach the third upgrade as a Professional, however, is exceptional. He reached the third upgrade a year or two before you arrived in Mazehold, so your guess is likely correct; I believe that he is thirty-nine.” Bai spoke clinically, as if he was reciting facts rather than talking about a friend. 

Sophia shook her head at the android. Most of the time, he managed to act almost completely human, if a little fussy and precise, but every once in a while his love for precision in speech overwhelmed his sense of politeness. It wasn’t any worse than some of the quirks Sophia knew many humans had, including herself, but it was still kind of funny.

“Fifteen years is normal?” Dav sounded shocked. “I knew we were fast, but I expected it to be five, not fifteen. Maybe add a few years for training or for people to grow up, people are stronger at eighteen or twenty than at sixteen, but that’s still only nine or ten years. What takes so long?”

“Travel time, training, and general down time,” Ci’an answered without any delay. “We got quite a bump in Izel, but more than that - you know how everything slowed down while we were in the ruins in the Wild Lands? That’s normal for the winter. Even when we were doing Challenges, we were running them at least twice as fast as most teams. Injuries add up and people need rest. Don’t you remember the arguments I had with Los’en about our pace?”

Sophia shook her head. She didn’t.

“Of course I do,” Dav answered, contradicting Sophia’s memories. “He wanted you to slow down and enjoy your Calling You always countered that you were enjoying yourself, you had my healing, and if you didn’t hurry you’d miss your brother’s expedition. The arguments more or less went away after … er, after we left Izel.”

Sophia was pretty sure Dav’s first thought was something about the Broken Sword Sophia stole from the Izel Temple of the Broken Lord, but she could understand why he picked a slightly later time to talk about. Most of the people present already knew about it and even the ones who didn’t wouldn’t blame them, but it was still better not to talk about it.

“He thought he won because I was going to take it easy on the expedition. I let him believe that, but I knew I won because I was going on the expedition. There was no more reason to argue,” Ci’an said with perfect logic. It even parsed emotionally for Sophia; if you got what you wanted, there was no need to try to convince the other person anymore.

Dav nodded. “Right. So we were moving at least twice as fast as normal because we had less down time. We pushed quickly to the first upgrade so that we could join the expedition and also took on Challenges quickly, to try to gain the Abilities they held. Then on the expedition, we slowed down a lot, until we encountered Jax. At that point, he led us to Hollows for several months so that we could push for the second upgrade, along with the Wisps we already had from Izel. It took less time than it should have because we already had so many Wisps saved up; we probably cut at least a year off our time, maybe two, and that’s at our higher pace.”

Sophia nodded at the repeated reference to the destruction of the Broken Sword and how it brought them to the first upgrade and a good bit of the second. Dav did a good job of making it sound like it was from the Challenges in Izel, but it was clear what he really meant. 

“It feels like we slowed down a lot here in Mazehold, since the third upgrade took well over a year when the other two took about that long combined, but we really didn’t, did we?” Dav turned towards Bai. “It slows down for everyone, doesn’t it?”

“Not exactly,” Bai countered with a shake of his head. “Going from the first upgrade to the second is usually the fastest, even for those who start work on the first upgrade immediately. Finding Challenges that can really make you grow without killing you is far easier once you’re past the first upgrade, and Challenges that don’t have any real danger usually give few Wisps. The third upgrade is usually the slowest to reach, both because of the Wisp requirement and because many people find the consolidation difficult. I’d consider Xin’ri’s experience to be closer to normal than it was for the rest of you, but Hallowed do generally have it easier. Some Hallowed have even reported that their third upgrade Grand Talent was tweaked by their Patron.”

Bai paused, then frowned. “I will have to check my records, but I believe that all of the Hallowed who made that claim were Hallowed by the Imperial Lord. That is interesting, considering the information Tiwaz has forwarded on hollow mana imprints and what the Broken Lord attempted with Mo’ra. I wonder if that is a continuation of efforts that started under the Empire, before the Tower fell and the Imperial Lord became the Broken Lord. That would be interesting-”

“And irrelevant,” Dav interrupted. “At least for now. Please check your records and find out what you can, but we need to figure out what we’re doing next.”

Sophia was pretty sure she saw Bai glare at Dav. She suppressed a laugh; it definitely was funny that Dav was the one trying to get them back on topic when he was the one that derailed things in the first place, but she could see where it would be annoying, too. 

“Isn’t that obvious?” Sophia shook her head slightly at Dav. “We’re all going to go talk to Sweetfire so that he can know what Bai found out and figure out what needs to be done.”

“And then what?” Dav swept his gaze around the room. “Are we going to try to do something about it, or are we going to leave it in Sweetfire’s hands and head back into the Maze? I want to go into the Maze, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable going somewhere if we might be attacked by other people in the middle of the night. I thought I left that behind me.”

Sophia blinked at the mention of Dav’s past. He’d never mentioned being attacked by other people in the middle of the night before, but he really didn’t talk about his past that much. He normally didn’t seem that worried about it, so she didn’t push. She knew a lot of the big pieces, but not the small ones. “That depends on what Sweetfire says, doesn’t it? If he needs our help, we can, but only if he also knows how. If it’s just looking into things, that’s not really what we’re good at.”

“There can’t be that many people involved.” Marcie’s voice was as clear as it was unexpected. She didn’t often speak up when they were planning what to do, unless it had to do with the Library of Monsters. “People talk. If there were a lot of people involved, Bai would have heard something; everyone talks to him. The people who are being targeted don’t know, so it’s not another shakedown. I can only come up with two reasons that make sense.”

“Two reasons?” Sophia turned towards Marcie. She didn’t even have one reason that made sense, so she wanted to hear what Marcie thought.

“It’s not the debts, or rather not the people giving the loans. They’d be pushing to get the money, not killing the people who give them aurichalc. I bet if we ask Sweetfire, he’ll say that they’re unhappy whenever their debtors disappear.” Marcie glanced at Ci’an, as if she wanted reassurance. Once Ci’an nodded, she continued. “Aurichalc is always a reason, so it could be what they’re recovering from the people they kill. They did take stuff from Mikka’s team. The second possible reason is that they’re getting something else from it.”