A Bright and Shiny Life

They give me a private room under the staircase. It’s cramp, but it has the first bed I’ve slept on in several months. Besides, the cell has more members than the house’s former occupants, so giving me a private room is an unexpected luxury… maybe just nobody wanted to sleep in the same place as an Anar cultist. I get the sense that mage wouldn’t hesitate to tell the cell about me.

No, Tanyth trusts her for a reason. She may seem impulsive, but I’m certain she wouldn’t do something that would so blatantly compromise the cell network like spreading information about one of its mages. This is probably just Tanyth wanting me rested before sending me off.

The bed is one of the best I have ever slept on– packing the straw into a sheet really does make all the difference. It’s enough that I decide to sleep shirtless, though a few stray straws poke through.

I examine myself using a small distorted brass mirror I keep for rituals, looking for any abnormalities, ticks, or soaked through blood. Short, skinny, and scrawny– the perfect partisan physique, or so Gebal said. A completely unassuming body that hides god given strength.

There is an advantage to having bulky muscles in a fight, since more strength is always good. However, there is also an advantage to remaining scrawny. Since the strength granted by any given god for any given oath is a set amount rather than proportionate to mundane muscles, the lighter you are the greater the increase in speed.

Well, it’s not like I’d would have been able to bulk up much if I tried. Inconsistent rations are not conducive to growth. Also, while I certainly get more exercise than most children my age, extra strength requires extra training to improve and Gebal tended not to burden me lest I’d be too tired to properly cast.

I fall asleep almost as soon as I lie down, only for me to wake a few hours later with a sense of something being wrong. I half mutter a cantrip and the nearest candle bursts into flame with jarring intensity. An insect flies around the room at frightening speeds. Feeling vulnerable, I put my tunic back on but freeze midway as I realize what woke me.

… I can’t hear my heartbeat.

No wait, that’s normal. I force deep breaths to calm down. Each breath seems so weird, but eventually I’m able to relax. This is all something I’ve experienced dozens of times before, just a bit worse. It’s fine. My boon has just ended like I knew it would.

It’s impossible to sleep in this state so I might as well be productive. I go into my pack and pull out the Biblio Anar/ herbalism book.

The first thing I do with it is grab it with one hand and stand with the book extended with a straight arm so its parallel to the floor and hold it there. I smile as I maintain the position for a full fifteen count longer than yesterday– a much greater residual increase than I’ve ever gained in one day.

Next, I use the book for its intended purpose and read it– looking up the mystery herb from the camp. Annoyingly it doesn’t seem to be in the illustrated section, so I move to the herbs that only warrant a detailed description– not a good sign for its usefulness.

After a half hour (measured by candle melt) I laugh out loud finding it under common cooking ingredients. It has purported medical uses for the type of chronic illnesses that I immediately dismiss as a sales tactic, believed because purchasers coincidentally had a good day after eating some. Its only credible use is for seasoning.

There’s a knock on the door which I tell to enter. I jolt as the door seems to open aggressively fast and Tanyth comes in with a flurry of motion. I forcibly relax telling myself that she is moving slowly, it just seems fast compared to under the boon and that will soon pass.

“I was going to wait until morning, but I sensed you were up?” She asks, coming in with a bag full of objects.

“For a bit. A major boon just ended, so I’m focusing on something to help me go back to sleep.”

She nods with understanding clearly gained from experience. “You should know I see through that book’s disguise.”

“Good to know, thanks. It’s a useful enchantment. Every Anar text has instruction for it since writings are the most obvious evidence of heresy… besides a basement full of bodies of course.” I give a small laugh that she does not share. “I’ve really just been using it for the convenience of having two books for the weight of one, but I should probably refresh the ritual now that I’m more powerful.”

“It’s a good enchantment then… if I gave you a ledger, could you disguise it with a fake version of it?”

“Certainly, though there are limitations. First, if you want the enchantment to be permanent you need a person’s lifeblood. I don’t suppose you have any prisoners you’re planning on killing, or a comrade willing to sacrifice themselves for the cause? They wouldn’t strictly need to give themselves to Anar, though that would obviously be an added benefit.” I say, trying to keep the longing from my voice.

She shakes her head no.

“Oh well, that’s not an insurmountable obstacle, since the second limitation mitigates it anyways. Only someone who knows the ritual can switch between the illusion and real thing, and, unless you have another former Anar cultist hiding around, that means me. Unless you’re sending it to someone who can pierce the illusion, I’ll have to be the one to deliver it. So, I might as well just enchant it temporarily and reapply the ritual when it’s about to fade.”

She nods. “I was planning on sending it with you anyways.”

“Oh, good, since the third limitation is also mitigated by the second. Being that the illusion can be altered without additional blood, but only by me. Though that isn’t a problem if you aren’t planning on adding to it. The fourth limitation is so minor that I assume it’s already taken care of. I can’t create a disguise from whole cloth. I need another book to base the disguise on.”

“Yeah,” she says producing two thin folios and several sealed letters, “it’s time to tell you about our contact who’ll be your handler.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “He’s an art dealer we use to smuggle goods and sell looted valuables. The details are on this letter.” She holds up a letter sealed with green wax. “Open it when you get close to the capital.” She pulls up another with blue wax. “This one will introduce you, and the rest he’ll need in order to use the information in the ledgers.”

I take the stack of papers. “I assume I should burn everything if I think I’ll be captured.”

“Of course: losing the information will hurt, but not as much as them gaining it… I’ve also prepared some items to help on your journey.” She says, handing me the rest of the bag. “A good amount of food, a change of clothes that doesn’t smell like half washed blood, and the coins you brought in– plus an amount for the jewellery since that would be incriminating. I’m also giving you three imperial large gold coins for operational expenses of your discretion.”

She hands me three gold disks the width of my palm and half the thickness. I stare at them in shock for a brief moment before quickly putting them in a pouch I keep in a hidden location.

Like all imperial coins it bears the image of the monarch under whose reign it was minted on one side, and a vaguely symbolic shape on the other that also acts as a guide to cut it into equal pieces (eight in this case). Many coins from other lands have one or the other feature, but only the empire has both. It’s certainly like them to value practicality over any uneasiness from their citizens symbolically chopping their sovereign’s head apart.

I’ve only seen two coins of equivalent values before, as not even nobles can treat them lightly. There are more valuable coins, but those are all made out of higher metals and are used to purchase things like the supplies for an entire army, castles, or major magic items.

The basic imperial coin is a small copper, sometimes called a raem depending on region, (derived from an old word for the exact alloy) which typically can buy enough food to give a person a moderately varied diet for a day. By imperial law a medium gold coin is worth eight hundred and forty small copper, and all smaller imperial coins save one is worth a divisor of the medium gold. Large gold coins are worth sixteen mediums– a staggering sum that dwarves the value of the coins I looted. Far too big for someone like me to know how to go about making a purchase with even one of the pieces.

“Your handler can use them on your behalf, though he’ll likely take a piece for himself. He’s… only partially dedicated to the cause, at least for the cause’s sake. We’re too financially entangled to worry too much about him betraying us… but be careful anyways. Don’t give him enough leverage to be worth betraying you.”

“Do you have any suggestions how to ensure his loyalty?”

“… Yeah. There’s an influential merchant he’s in rivalry with. I’ll write a detailed contingency plan and give it to you before you leave.”

I nod in appreciation. “Anything else? I think I’m ready to go back to sleep.” I say, having gradually gotten used to how fast her mouth moves while she was talking.

“Just one thing. I collected a few minor magic items that might be useful to you. They’re in the bag.”

I look inside and quickly find and pull out three items different from the rest. A rod a little shorter than my forearm and a little thicker than my thumb. A cloak clasp with an arcane symbol on it. A palm sized circular mirror of exceptional clarity. The last will likely be the most useful both because magic mirrors tend to have interesting effects, and just its mundane utility.

“That’s a heat wand.” She explains “There’s a cap on one end that you twist off to expose a sky-blue substance. Applying pressure against it will cause an intense heat capable of melting metal. The blue stuff does get consumed, so this is typically a specialty tool used by people who know how much pressure to use so to waste as little as possible. I try to collect them because they’re concealable and can be used as either tool or weapon. Smashing the tip against an object with force will consume most of it and will produce enough heat to melt through all but the very best magic armour while killing the wearer inside. It will likely burn your hand pretty badly though, and getting close enough to use is another thing. Make sure you don’t lose the cap. It’s not part of the magic but fitting another is a pain. There’s a groove on the other end you can twist it onto, which also helps keep your hand away from the heat.

“The clasp is a fashion bauble I’ve found very useful for concealment– though you’ll probably use it for its intended use too. Rubbing it will change the colour of any cloak it’s attached to. It can’t change the shape of any patterns sewn into the cloak but tapping it will allow you to change their colour separately.

“The mirror can store light for later use. There’s a symbol that runs along a third of the edge, if you tap the smaller symbol that is on the edge opposite to it the mirror will stop being reflective and absorb light. It starts out white, then darkens into black when it’s full and won’t store any more. Use the long symbol and the two adjacent ones to set the rate the light will be emitted, and then tap the centre one to cause it to glow. On the lowest setting it can last for a whole night. On the highest it can use all its stored light in seconds. Do be careful with that as it is blinding even facing away and will be visible from miles even during the day. At night it’s visible from over the horizon. Also, it will scorch objects in front of it, including your fingers if you hold it wrong. So don’t.

“I use it mostly as a reading light or tap it on and off for a signal at night. Though I think it will be most useful to you as a weapon of last resort. Do be selective as charging it back up can take days.”

I have nearly nodded off to sleep a few times by when she finishes her detailed explanations, but I’m confident that I retained enough awareness to figure out anything I missed. A few moments pass before I realize it’s my turn to speak.

“Thanks,” I say groggily, “straight forward uses… I might be able to figure something interesting though… maybe if I use some blood runes to alter the enchantments temporarily… maybe alter the mirror’s spectrum, or have the heat wand last longer… I could reverse the clasp to work on other things– hide blood runes.”

She smiles at my groggy speech, and I realize her long explanation was intended to lull me the rest of the way to sleep. “Rest. I’ll wake you so you can leave a little before the rest of us.”

“Yeah.” I say, laying back down.

She gets up and walks to the door, then suddenly stops and tilts her head before sharply turning to me. “Sorry, sleep will have to wait. We’re being surrounded.”