Capítulo 22: Spying...
Stepping out from the Ubiquitous Binder I straightened out my cloak and clothing, ensuring that my Grimoire was away before continuing on. My safety was still under question and my intention was to escape Iriaebor with alacrity so I could dodge any shady assassination attempts. Through my twenty days I had seen no sign of retribution but I was far too intelligent to believe that they had given up... No, they would wait a month if they were wise, and kill me whilst I did not suspect it. As it is I have been most likely followed discreetly by spies or assassins, measuring my every move and action.
Today would have to be me last day in Iriaebor. But, before I could set off there was some small details that needed to be taken care of. First, I needed transport from Iriaebor to Baldurs Gate. Second, I needed to use my Clairvoyance spell to understand what Gwen's father was up to. Thirdly I would need to use invisibility to dodge any suspecting eyes for an hour, then I will switch clothes. Tracking spells were a possibility for them, but they were rare for most people to be able to cast and most Assassins would most likely not have those abilities. At this stage I had no response to locate spells as they were totally separate to identification magic of one's species and alignment in religious terms.
I started to walk calmly through the streets of the upper district of Iriaebor, away from the Emissary Inn where I usually stayed. No one was paying too much attention to me, that I could identify, but that did not mean there wasn't one... Thus, I watched several alleyways slip past me before I found a small, clogged and barely maintained alley. One that I could slink into and cast my invisibility spell. This would use one of my 2nd level spells, one of three that I had access to, a painful expense but one that would allow me to dodge suspicion. Ducking into the alley with a modicum of anxiety I immediately reached into my component pouch, grasping a single eyelash encased in gum and throwing it in the air before me as I crisscrossed my arms and clasped my eyes for a moment. The Weave stirred as I felt a slimy frigidness coalesce within the skin on my arms, slowly radiating into my musculature and until to was all consuming.
Taking my arms away I blinked and gazed downwards, finding no body where there once was. Not even a shimmer was noticeable from my as the light was perfectly deflected and representative of what was in front, beside or behind me. Shaking my head to stop myself marvelling I shrunk down into a crouch in a small alcove of abandoned barrels and refuse. Slowing my breathing to conceal myself more effectively, I bided my time, hoping to see a figure, which I had believed was always following me, pop into the alleyway.
Like clockwork my assumptions were correct. A thick figure dressed in all black clothing and sporting a thick collection of facial wraps began to traipse through the alley. It seemed that my absence from the other side of the alley drew the figure's attention, a slip in detail that made me curse myself. Frowning in discomfort I awaited their passing. They took several minutes before they was satisfied with their sleuth, never seeing me or inspecting near me as it was 'too open' to hide in. Obviously my chaser knew nothing about magic or the fact I knew it, they left themselves open to so many spells and shenanigans that it was almost hard for me not to mess with them... Luckily I waited however, as multiple figures began talking with the first figure. The conversation was impossible to hear from this distance but based purely off of body language I could tell they were flustered. No doubt the contract from Gwen's father was substantial and messing up would cost them dearly.
'Step one complete... Now I need to wander around and switch clothing. Once that is done I need to go across the bridge and find a transport to Baldurs Gate. I'll get a drink at a tavern and do a quick Clairvoyance on Ville Family's compound.'
With my plan set I spent my next hour quietly stealing clothing articles and different elements that were usable in an outfit. It was surprisingly simple with my inventory as all I needed was a single touch and it entered into it. Theft wasn't my first resort but honestly I only used it to dodge death and suspicion. Despite feeling bad I continued on, crossing the bridge between the two segments of Iriaebor with the last ten to twenty minutes of my spell, jumping into a side alley when it was almost finished. From this point I didn't change my clothes, i simply put the new ones on over the top. It was bloody hot, but it would save being seen naked or spotted whilst I had my pants down.
My new clothes were rather bright, having interlacing stripes of blue and orange along its exterior. A droopy beret slumped over the top of my forehead as I tied up my hair as quickly as I could. My Elven boots were the same, but they were somewhat covered by the poufy striped pants that draped over the top of them. I looked like a real idiot, but this was the perfect disguise as I had never been seen in anything other than the clothes I had first entered Iriaebor with. Coughing somewhat, I tried to change my voice. The hope was real, but it didn't work at all. I was horrid in accents and honestly that was fair since I was barely able to talk without the language section I had gotten, which was hindering me more than aiding me at this stage.
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'Not now... Anything is better than nothing.'
The small screen on my framework dropped away as I stepped out of the alley, only to find several commoners looking at me with wide eyes and smiles on their faces. I paled somewhat before smiling at them and quickly strutting towards the nearest inn or tavern. Which was utterly easy, because there was one just a small trek away. Swords crossing above the head of a wolf being the symbol that hung from a sign on the exterior of the building. Drunken crooning and shouts emanated as if a dirge from a funeral as a wooden windowsill was blown out, a body following the splintered wood as it landed on the cold hard dirt outside, passed out. Boisterous laughter raucously wafted through the opening before the window area started to slowly repair through a usage of the weave. Unlike my magic, which was basic, this was a couple levels above my maximum; The Weave interweaving with each fragment and scooping it up and back into its previous form. Within seconds the damage was undone, a rather raspy voice booming in the interior as everything else turned utterly quiet.
"Fucking fools! Enough! If I have to repair one more fucking window then I will turn you into toads...!"
The tavern slipped into a lull of silence, everyone not wishing to piss off whoever had just repaired that damage. The clinking of drinks started to continue once more but it was subdued, many men walking out the front door like scolded children. Some spared a glance for me, grumbling more as they assumed I was a bard that was coming to play my art, something they would no doubt miss now that they were kicked out.
"I missed the bloody bard as well... This day sucks...!"
The large but slow looking man kicked the dirt before him, tripping on a small pebble and eating shit within the next second as his friends all cackled like madmen. He grumbled for a few more seconds until he started to chuckle and join his friends in the laughter.
Shaking my head at them I straightened out my garb and stepped up the very small steps of the entrance. The exterior wasn't that bad, rugged, but maintained well with a lot of dedication put into the restoration of the door. Opening the door and walking through I was met by the gazes of every single patron in the Tavern, hundreds of men and a smaller amount of women. It seemed that it was break time at work or something as there were dockworkers and even some shop owners drinking meed and eating some small meals. Excitement flushed through many of the tavern goers as they marked my clothing as those of a bard no doubt. To be completely honest the guise was awesome at hiding my original 'identity', but it was worrying me to have this many eyes on me, practically begging for me to play music or sing with their souls.
"Enough! Don't bloody scare the woman you fish-for-brains! Looks like the good bard has been walking for a long while."
A portly woman of kind face and hardy sinew stepped forwards and slapped the head of one of the patrons, a hiss of pain echoing from him before he went quiet and started minding his own business. I don't know how she was able to tell I had been walking for an hour or more, but she did and I didn't care at this point...
"Lady bard. Come, come, I'll get you a pint!"
A man of similar age as the portly woman gestured towards me, the weave gravitating around him somewhat as the wand on the side of his belt gave me a feeling that I hadn't sensed before. It wasn't desire or want, it was more akin to curiosity and focal concentration. Not wanting to be unkind or disregarding of kindness I walked up to the bar where the man was sat and smiled, keeping my persona up for now.
"Thanks. It's been a while since I've had a pint." This wasn't a lie, I hadn't touched alcohol since I got absolutely smashed in the Emissary with-
"No problems! Martha, could ye get her a pin-"
"Yes Jonathan, i bloody heard... Now, dear bard, how is the countryside these days?" Panic internally flew through me but I quickly stamped it down and began speaking.
"Near the Snake Woods I heard, and saw, a red dragon fighting something nastily. There were some elves I was staying with, and, well... You can guess the rest..."
Shock plastered itself over their faces as they slid me my pint and leaned in, like gossipers from my last life. Humanity never changed and it seemed some species other than human had a lot of similar traits to humans with regard to emotions and ego. How could I say this? Well a Tiefling at the side of Jonathan was listening with an upturned head, trying to play off as if he weren't listening.
"No, no, no, tell us...! Please...!"
"Well, I first heard the screeching of the wind and sky as a mighty roar resounded over the entire encampment. I had been staying with them during this time, learning Elvish and some techniques of theirs and I was there for all of it. Fire rained down from the sky in orange and red hues, screams echoed into the sky as flesh was, sloughed off of people's bodies. Children and Women crying out for held from their husbands as the fire consumed them."
Tears slipped from the eyes of Martha as Jonathan was a little pale, his right hand tensed until it was white in rage. The Tiefling was also angered by the description as his tail whipped the nearby stools. I continued.
"Naturally I was flabbergasted by the entire ordeal, I mean who expects a dragon to attack from nowhere? Anyway. I tried to rush out and save a family that was rushing towards my tent, one of the only tents that weren't affected. They thanked me as I got closer towards them, only for the wind to buffet above me, the movement of dragon wings making this small tempest... What happened next was similar to the details I have already given you... They died whilst singing my praises, burning alive as magic was flung at the dragon in the next few seconds."
"Before I could do anything the dragon had moved on, attacking the druid who ran the encampment. A fair distance from where they were fighting now, I grabbed my bow and some other items, attempting to rush over to aid..."
Martha gasped as Jonathan picked up.
"It didn't end well, did it?"
"A woman who I had been getting close to and been learning from was but a charred pile of bones by the time i got there, the remainder of the bodies in a similar state. The only reason I was able to tell it was the one who taught me, was the single trinket that remained on the dirt before her, a contraption I had acquired from a far off land..."
I took out the lighter, it's exterior slightly melted and its metallic elements still soot soaked by what had happened that day. Martha and Jonathan sighed sadly, their eyes meeting a few times as he began to stare off in contemplation. The Tiefling sighed loudly as he rolled three gold over to my spot at the bar, his tail hanging low as he stood up.
"I am glad you survived Bard, now they will live on forever in your stories and in our hearts."
His words were rather strong and masculine in emotionlessness, but I could tell that he was deeply saddened by the story. I did not know who he was or why he had seen to pay me, but I appreciated him nonetheless.
"Thanks. I guess they will live on through everyone I tell, huh...?" Sighing after my rhetorical question I stood and walked over to a distant corner that was unoccupied. My meed was in my hand as my thoughts turned to the events of that day unwillingly. PTSD was not what I would call this, it instead felt more like recollection. I never wanted to feel that hopeless again, it was utterly devastating to feel that emotion during terrible circumstances.
'Snap out of it me! I need to cast the spell and move onwards as quickly as possible to Baldurs Gate.' Shaking my head from my thoughts I sat down and pulled out a crystal horn and a glass eye. Placing them down behind my meed mug I began to cast the Clairvoyance spell, my hands holding both the horn and eye as I spoke the verbal component of the spell... "Praevisionis".
The image of the location I wished to look in on emerged in my head, on a floating book. Almost like an iPhone but heavily influenced by the medieval standards of this world. Selecting that image by focussing my entire mind on it my vision zoomed through space. In an instant I was floating in the air above the large wooden table that Gwen's father used for eating. It seemed I was lucky as he was sitting there at the current moment, his teeth chewing on lamb as off to the side a man eerily similar to the man who had creeped through the alley just an hour or so ago. Switching to hearing I began to listen in on their private conversation
"So that sow got away?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Can't thou succeed at anything?"
"We are trying my lord... She has slithered in-between our grasp for now, but we will find her."
There was a pause.
"If she escapes our grasp and tells other kingdoms that my own daughter wishes to kill me, it would mean chaos politically. You... You must! Kill her!"
"Your will be done my lord..."
"Fuck the lord shit! Just fucking gut her, make sure that her head is before me within a day!"
"Yes...It will be done..."
Footsteps resounded for a short time as I switched to vision once again, noting the obvious hatred wreathed on Gwen's father's face. It seemed I had very little time and needed to retreat at a much more rapid pace... Not to mention the amount of information I could spill. He was a little more frantic about ending me than I was expecting. Because even if I were to expose the relationship between him and his daughter I had no way to verify it and that was even if I could get to tell the royalty of the kingdoms surrounding Iriaebor.
'He is paranoid. His actions are erratic and desperate, it seems his daughter is winning.'
Cutting off the spell, my gaze was met by a woman who sat opposite of me, her eyes gleaming bright green in excitement as a bow was sitting next to her. Panic flickered through me for a moment until I realised that she had the same look that many of the patrons had when I first walked in.
"Mrs Bard! I think you need help getting out of here, yeah!?"
'Okay, what the fuck...?!'
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