Chapter 25

The Wanderer stood at the threshold to his bedchamber, gazing through a small gap between the curtain and the edge of the frame. He peered at the still form of Sirinna as she lay on her bed, her sides rising and falling slowly and steadily. He had already checked on Amanda moments before and found her fast asleep as well.

Carefully, the merchant slipped past the curtain, crouching as he made his way as silently as possible towards the exit. He was not concerned with Sirinna waking and seeing him leave. This he could deal with. As a more "typical" slave, he would not have to explain himself, and Sirinna would likely forget about it.

But if she awoke and the noise of their soft conversation woke Amanda, who was most assuredly not a typical slave, that might give him trouble later.

It was most unfortunate that he had to do this. At the same time, he was prepared for it. His task was so important that he needed to be prepared for nearly any eventuality, however unlikely it may be. This had been considered more of the unlikely ones, which unfortunately meant his preparations were not as good.

In fact, he already knew that luck would be a large factor in his success.

Jollis made it into the cool night air. He paused a moment, and felt only the lightest of breezes. This would work in his favor. Already luck began on his side.

He took his time as he walked the paths of the Manor. There was no need to rush. Only a guilty man hurried along at this time of the night. The innocent had no need. Yet he was careful. He did not wish anyone to see him. It was unlikely that anything would be traced back to him, but stranger things have already happened on this mission.

He reached the Healer's office. It was empty and open. There was simply no need to secure such things in a Manor. No slave would think of coming to this place at this hour, nor be skilled in using it unless she had been specifically trained for it.

Jollis found a small oil lamp and ignited it. He took in his surroundings carefully, making note of where the Healer might keep his herbal and potion supplies. He wanted to make sure he did this in the quickest amount of time, and by touching the least number of things in the room. The less he disturbed, the more unlikely it would be that the Healer would discover his work.

He began to gather the ingredients that he needed.

Jollis was no Healer. However, he was quite good at memorization, and a potion formula was quite an easy thing to remember. But there was more than a formula to what he was undertaking. He knew that such a thing should be tailored to the individual, but there was no way this could be done. He had to hope that a "standard" formula would work.

Yet here, it appeared, his luck had run out, for Vanlo's supplies were missing a key ingredient.

The merchant sighed into the darkness. It should not have surprised him. There was little use for a Healer at an Overlord's Manor to be making draughts to cure mental disorders. Jollis looked again, to make sure he had not missed it somewhere.

It was then he found the Jonalla.

Jollis recognized it at once. He knew of the events that had transpired here. He knew how this had been used by the Imperial agent to poison the minds of the slaves. The shiny black crystals were rigorously controlled by the Healers' Guild. Even the likes of Vanlo would have had trouble procuring it on his own.

Obviously, in keeping the Jonalla, the Healer had decided to make the best of a bad situation. The Jonalla in and of itself was not at fault for what had happened. He had seen no need to throw out a perfectly good herb simply because of the way it had been abused.

Jollis also knew that Jonalla could be used as a substitute for his missing ingredient if he carefully adjusted the doses of the others. Yet he also knew this was incurring more risk. The resulting potion would be more unstable and more prone to imbalances in the mixing.

But Jollis had no choice. It must be done.

He quickly took the ingredients into the inner chamber, where the apparatus that Vanlo used to produce his potions sat on its customary table. The merchant looked forlornly at it. He wished he had the time to brew this properly through the apparatus. That would greatly reduce the risk. But it would also take much of the night to finish, and then he would have to clean the apparatus afterward. No, this would not do.

Jollis instead arranged the ingredients on the table on the opposite side of the room from the apparatus, where he kept his special items. After carefully measuring out the ingredients one by one into a flask, adding the black Jonalla crystals last, he opened one of the drawers. There arrayed on velvet were nearly two dozen blue pearls.

He needed exactly two. One for now, and one for when he delivered the potion to the Healer's residence.

Jollis' hand hovered over the pearls, sweeping over them slowly, until his latent magic sense told him which one held the proper spell. He picked up the correct one and dropped it into the mixture.

There was a dull glow and a gentle frothing as the binding energies of the spell forced the ingredients to mix at a vastly accelerated rate from the normal apparatus. This is what Vanlo used when he needed to mix a potion quickly if a patient's life was at stake, as he had the night Sirinna nearly died from a sleeping powder overdose. For simple poisoning antidotes, this was acceptable.

It was generally considered sheer madness to do it for the potion that Jollis was preparing.

Jollis counted silently to himself as the potion mixed. He took a long, thin wooden stick from the counter and inserted it into the mixture as his count reached a particular point. He carefully stirred, the glow suffusing more through the potion before eventually fading. Soon the frothing stopped as well.

The merchant lifted the flask and held the oil lamp to it. His eyes held a subdued look. It was not perfect. It was not even good. He was not at all sure he had balanced the other ingredients properly with the introduction of the Jonalla.

But it would have to do.

He used a small set of grasping claws to fish the pearl from the potion and place it on a patch of cloth to dry. He looked down at the potion he had created and paused.

This was the first time in his mission that he actually hesitated to carry out his master's will. He knew that everything he was told to do was for the greater purpose, but he found this to be reprehensible nonetheless. Yet, was it any better than the plans that were in store for others that were closer to him? At least the Healer was a stranger to him.

Jollis picked up the flask. He returned to the drawer with the blue pearls and selected another after a moment's contemplation. He then turned and headed out the door and back into the night.

Rennis stood in stunned silence after Roquan finished speaking.

Clad now in his robe, a nearly drained goblet of wine in one hand, Roquan fixed his level gaze on his friend when the silence continued for another few moments. "It would help if you would say something to me at this point," Roquan said in an irritated voice.

Rennis just stared incredulously at Roquan.

Roquan sighed. "Do you wish to hear me say that I was foolish to agree to Freya coming to my quarters for this so-called debate? Is this what you wish to hear from me, Rennis, before you will grace me with your words? Is that... ?"

"You used a slave as a spy," Rennis said tonelessly.

Roquan paused. "Yes, I used Amanda to give me information on..."

"You used a slave as a spy."

"Let us not go there for the moment. The point is, I..."

"You used a slave as a spy!"

Roquan stared hard at his friend. "Do you wish to repeat that a little louder?" said Roquan icily. "So that the Overlords on the other side of the Manor can hear you?"

Rennis turned way from Roquan, his hands clenching into fists. "Roquan, this... I... words completely fail me!"

"That is not what I wanted to hear from you."

Rennis gaped. "Not what you wanted... ! What in the blazing hells did you want?! Did you want me to sanction what you did? Did you want me to tell you 'good thinking, Roquan!' Is that what you want to hear from me?"

Roquan remained silent.

Rennis sighed and shook his head. "I don't believe this... Roquan, you... you have done some stupid things before..."

"I beg your pardon!"

"Yes, Roquan, stupid! This goes beyond just letting your ego get the best of you when you decided to train her in the first place!"

"Rennis, this is not the time to argue the wisdom of my actions," Roquan said in a voice of forced calm. "We need to figure out how..."

"Then when is a good time? You have this Conclave going in order to get the other Overlords to do something about a travesty that the Emperor has committed against Overlord traditions! Roquan, what you did in having Amanda spy for you is no better than what the Emperor did against you!"

"That's enough!" Roquan shouted. "You will not DARE compare my actions to those of Z'haas! I did not poison anyone! I did not try to forceably kidnap anyone! And I most certainly did not try to kill an Overlord's BEST TRAINER!"

Rennis was livid. "Don't get self-righteous with me! I've had enough of it! Don't think yourself above everyone else just because the Emperor wronged you!"

"Then what would have me do?! Let Gronnus buy the vote of the Conclave? Let the Emperor continue to do what he is doing? Let him try to go to war?!"

Rennis remained silent for a moment.

"Or do you think I am paranoid about that? The Emperor has terminated relations with Colos, Rennis!"

"I am already aware of this..."

"But are you really aware of the consequences?"

Rennis took a deep breath. "No Oceanus Emperor has gone to war in a over a century."

"This is no ordinary Emperor. No ordinary Emperor does the things that Z'haas did. Even in that last war you mentioned, as I understand it, the Emperor sought support from the Nobility and the Overlords before he lifted a finger. Where is that support-seeking now?"

Rennis sighed, exasperated. "Roquan, do you realize what you're asking me to do here? You're asking me to tell you that it was okay to use Amanda like that. I can't tell you that!"

"No, I will not ask that of you. I realize that is impossible."

"Then just what do you want from me?"

"I simply want your support, Rennis. I need that more than ever right now."

Rennis blinked once. He was too surprised to respond. He was seeing a look in Roquan's face that he had never seen before: fear.

"You cannot tell anyone how I have been using Amanda," Roquan continued, his voice softer. It was not a command he was giving but a plea.

Rennis gave Roquan a nonplussed look. "I had no intention of telling anyone. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Thank you."

"But you're playing a dangerous game here. If someone else does find out, or Freya refuses to keep her silence on this..."

"I must take that chance."

Rennis stared at him. "You plan to use Amanda again, don't you?"

"Yes. Twice more tomorrow. That would make four deals total I can snatch away from Gronnus."

"Unless he figures out what you're doing."

Roquan made a face. "Overlord Gronnus is clever. He is sly and duplicitous. One thing he is not is intelligent. He will not figure it out. And the others will not either, as they are too mired in their thinking to ever conceive of this."

Rennis wanted to protest, but he had already come to the embarrassing conclusion that he, too, was guilty of this. It had never entered his mind that a slave could be used in such a way, even after having had one in their midst as an Imperial agent!

"And after that?" asked Rennis. "What then?"

Roquan paused a long moment. "That is what I had hoped you might help me with."

"What is there to help? You have to give Amanda to Freya."

"I cannot do that."

Rennis stared. "You just got through telling me this Conclave was important enough for you to make a slave break her loyalty, and it's suddenly not important enough to..."

"Freya abuses her slaves."

Rennis fell into a stunned silence. It was one thing to suggest, to insinuate, to imply that an Overlord perhaps went a little too far in punishing his slaves, but to come right out and make such a statement was never, ever done.

"Realize what you are saying, Roquan..."

"Yes, I fully realize it, Rennis! And I say nothing but the truth! You know yourself how she alters the formula for her Draughts, how it turns them into virtual playthings instead of true slaves..."

"You have no proof of that..."

"I have all the proof I need from Amanda! And I will not sanction the abuse of any slave I own!"

Rennis was quiet for a moment. "Did what Amanda tell you confirm any of the rumors about Freya's slaves?"

Roquan was already nodding his head. "That she makes them feel inferior and humiliated? Yes. That she uses orgasm denial outside of proper punishment? Yes. That she withholds reward when they do well? Yes. Do I need to go on?"

Rennis sighed. "You know, if she wasn't a woman, the other Overlords..."

"Yes, I know," Roquan said softly.

Rennis stopped. He realized if he went any further, he would only embarrass his friend.

"So I have a dilemma," said Roquan with a small sigh.

"I don't know what to tell you."

"There has to be a way to stop this. I cannot let Amanda go."

Rennis was both surprised and worried about the conviction in Roquan's voice. His friend was looking for answers and solutions that Rennis did not have. "You may have to give Amanda to her. Temporarily."

Roquan's eyes hardened.

"She gave you a deadline, Roquan," Rennis said, his voice rising. "You can't ignore that! So she owns Amanda for a short time while she is here. She is still in your Manor. There is a limited amount of... of abuse that she can do to the girl."

"And then what?" Roquan demanded.

"Then... we try to figure something else out. That's all I can tell you! I have no magic that can change the situation for you. And you might consider bringing Doran in on this."

"No."

"Not to tell him about the Draught, just that Freya's demanding this payment for her vote."

"Yes, and you know exactly what he will say." Roquan drained the rest of his goblet in one go. "He will praise the deal, and tell me that I am finally learning how to negotiate well."