CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

"Forgive me, Brother Joshuan," Jin said, "but you do not normally strike me as the type to break down walls in the middle of crowded streets."

She stood with arms crossed in front of what was once the front of a shop. A few boards and crates were stacked in front of the breach to keep disinterested pedestrians from wandering inside, but it was a paltry barrier to a determined trespasser.

Krayson stood beside her and shrugged. "It was the middle of the night. No one was around to see."

Jin was willing to let the matter rest there.

Devara stepped past them and took a tentative step into the shop. She used sorcery to push the minimal barrier out of her path. "You say Algol kept a shop here?"

"It was about five months ago," Krayson said. "When I returned nearly a month later, I found it abandoned like this."

Devara cocked an eyebrow. "Understood, but... a shop?"

Krayson furrowed his brow.

"What does a demon even sell?"

"Mortal souls?" Jin suggested.

Krayson was unappreciative of her levity. "He sold me a blouse and some mist goggles. Admittedly, at a bargain."

Devara shot him a dubious look before returning to her task.

Jin sighed. "I think Devi's more concerned with why he maintained a shop at all."

If Krayson had an explanation for why an entity nearly as old as the world itself would take a turn at playing shopkeep, he didn't give it. Jin couldn't imagine much of one either. The only explanation she could think up was that perhaps Algol just needed a hobby to stay sane across the eons.

Their group of three came to this level of Arcrest Tower to investigate a possible location for the fiend factory. Jin's brief dive into a local administrative building showed a storage site with unclear ownership and a location only eight hundred paces from Algol's shop. Maya, Zanda, and Cana were a level above, checking in on a second warehouse that met the criteria. Meanwhile, Pacifica, Adar, Rex, Gillwyn, and Irsa had gone down to the ground level to seek out every possible access between the spire and waterways; they were also the best equipped to track any fiends in the area. With luck, Jin hoped each team would find evidence to point them in the right direction.

Jin appreciated the arrival of Krayson's group. When she set out that morning, she anticipated little more than fact-finding. Now, she felt confident that between their numbers and talents, they could strike a telling blow against the old masters if the opportunity came.

"Two fiend hunters," Jin murmured, "two dragons, three royal assassins, a hierarch, shifter, feyling, and a blood runner. I wish I could be certain that will be enough if we find what we are looking for."

"Four feylings," Krayson corrected.

"Barely feylings," Devara protested. "I don't know what this business about us being part elf is all about, but my ears don't even have a little bit of a point."

"We do have elven eyes, Cousin," Jin said.

"I'd rather have the ears," Devara mumbled while pushing a few more crates out of their path. "Could you picture it? I think pointy ears would be gorgeous."

"Sticking from out of your curls?" Jin cracked a slight smile. "It would suit you."

Devara bobbed half a curtsy. "Oh, why thank you."

Once the path was more or less clear, Jin led Krayson inside. She frowned as she looked about the rows of tall shelving, all bare. There was no light, all the interior gaslights were cold and probably inoperable. It'd grown dank with the front wall broken open, and it reeked of foul mold inside. Mist and dust had a habit of coating every exposed surface with mildew, and this was no different. After being exposed to the weather for a number of months, the shop wouldn't be usable for some time without serious intervention. Not that there was much left to make use of.

Walking through the rows of shelves, Jin didn't see a single item left in the store. Even her elf eyes were having difficulty picking out detail in the gloom, so she manifested a firefly light on the tip of her finger to shine the way forward.

"There are rooms further in," Krayson said, calling out unseen from a different row. "Algol likely had a way to and from the warehouse we're looking for. For his own access and his assistant. There was a boy here when I first came. I believe I found his sleeping quarters when I was last here."

"A boy?" Devara asked.

Krayson hummed an affirmative. His path through the aisles brought him into view, Devara coming into sight from the other direction. "I took him as an apprentice of sorts. I'd guess ten years old. Twelve at the most. Rillwyn, I think his name was. Roswyn? No, Robwyn."

Devara wrinkled her nose. "Those aren't even names."

Krayson grunted. "Something like that. Althandi names all sound alike after you've heard enough of them." He cleared his throat. "Present company excluded, of course."

"Of course," Jin and Devara said in unison.

Further search of the shelves turned up nothing. The only item Jin thought at all of interest was an antique table with an arja board engraved into it. Strange, though, the board's grid was seven by seven squares, rather than the usual five by five.

While Jin ran a finger along the table's dusty surface, Devara went into the back rooms of the shop with Krayson in tow. They soon returned and reported there was nothing to be found anywhere.

"It was a remote chance," Jin said. "A demon would not be so careless as to leave clues behind."

Devara rapped a knuckle against a shelf and shook her head. "The others might've had more luck. You can do sendings, can't you, Jin? You should contact Maya and ask if she's found anything."

"I will, as soon as..."

"Rindyn!"

Jin startled at Krayson's sudden outburst. "Excuse me?"

"The boy. His name's Rindyn."

Devara chuckled. "At least that's an actual name. What do we do with this information?"

Krayson shrugged.

Jin rolled her eyes, but before she could continue her interrupted thought, her ears picked up a noise near the breached wall, out of sight behind the shelves. It sounded like wood sliding against wood, a crate or heavy board being pushed aside. Her eyes went to the front wall. The others crouched low,

"You heard that, too?" Krayson asked in a low voice.

Jin drew her sword in a slow motion. She looked to Devara, making swift gestures with her hands to communicate. Devara gave a curt nod and manifested a privacy ward. Under her spell, she and Jin moved soundlessly closer to the end of the aisle. Once they were in position Devara dropped the ward.

Cautious, Jin leaned to the side to bring her ear close to the corner. She held her breath for several heartbeats and nearly relaxed to tell the others it must've been the wind or old floorboards settling. Then, softly, she heard another sound.

A muffled thump, soft, and distinctly not the wind.

Multiple individuals, Jin thought rapidly. At least two but likely more. Moving stealthily. Possibly aware of our presence. Limited options for engagement.

Jin mentally ran through a myriad of scenarios. If she and Devara burst out of hiding, they might take the intruders by surprise. However, Jin didn't know who or what they'd be facing.

Alternatively, they could withdraw deeper into the store and hide amongst the empty shelves. It would be possible to ambush the enemy. That seemed the preferable course of action. It would allow Jin to get a look at them before attacking and ascertain the threat they posed.

It could be Kai, Jin thought. If he is in the Spired City for Algol, it's conceivable he'd come here. Likely recovered from the wounds I gave him by now. Tarim will be with him. Unfavorable odds to fight them here with just three.

The thumping grew louder, more insistent. Whoever it was had sacrificed stealth for...

Just what are they doing? Jin thought behind a furrowed brow. Carefully craning her neck around the corner, she looked to the entrance and saw no one. Coming out of hiding, she approached the source of the noise. It was beneath her feet, under the floorboards.

"Stand away," Jin said in a loud voice. There was a startled yelp from below just before Jin drove the point of her sword down. It sank a hand's length into the wood, finding little resistance beyond the maple boards— hollow underneath. Twisting the blade, Jin cracked the floorboards enough to get her foot through and kick the remnants away.

She was met with the wide, sea blue eyes of Pacifica Romov.

"My lady," Jin said in greeting. She began prying additional floorboards loose to widen the opening.

"Highness," Pacifica replied, bobbing a curtsy.

"What are you doing down there?"

Pacifica clasped her hands behind her back, somewhat abashed. "Looking for a secret door. Seems that sort of place."

Jin smiled.

"I guess our paths converged."

"So they have. Let us take that as a sign we are on the right track." Jin reached down to clasp Pacifica's wrist and pull her up out of the cramped crawl space she'd found her way into. As soon as Pacifica's feet were level with Jin's, Gillwyn's face appeared below.

"Followed that passage for what felt like leagues," Gillwyn said while Jin assisted her out. "Started down in the waterways. Lots of switchbacks and dead ends, but it led us all the way up here."

The gnarled hand of Rex Hunter clambered its way out of the hole, the rest of the fiend hunter right behind. "You didn't mention the most interesting part, lass," he said.

"I was getting to it." Gillwyn looked up at Jin. "Fiends. Lots of them. Rex and Irsa offed maybe four of them in the passages underneath us."

"The fiend hunters certainly live up to the name of their profession," Pacifica added. "Adar and I hardly needed to do a thing."

Irsa was the last to come out of the hole after Adar. Her armor had a new dent across the breastplate, and her full blade was stained with a black substance Jin could guess the source of. "Was five of them all told," she said. "Rex got the first four."

Her mentor patted his crossbow fondly. "You didn't do too bad against the dog-thing."

"It pinned me to the wall with its goop!"

"Sure, but then you popped its eye out when it tried making a meal of you. Made my shot easier when it couldn't see it coming."

Irsa continued to grumble self-recriminations while Rex tried to assure her she was performing just fine by his measure. As that played out, Krayson attempted to get specifics from Adar and Pacifica of the route they took.

"Fiends," Jin said to herself. "That means we must be close."

"We kept coming up behind them," Gillwyn reported. "I could smell them a ways off. Ain't nothing that smells like that in a sewer. Made warning Rex of what was ahead a lot easier."

"Aye, lass," Rex said in praise. "That nose of yours made what shoulda been a trek through Hell into a stroll through the park. Seeing as I'm taking on apprentices now, I could make room for a second."

"Ah... no... no, please." Gillwyn held up her palms as if to ward him off. "Starting to like the idea of this handmaiden gig I got going on."

Rex shrugged. "Aye, suit yourself."

Irsa made her way over to Krayson. "All good up here? No fiends?"

"A distinct lack of anything," he said, indicating the empty shop with an expansive wave of his arm. "But, if there's a connecting passage between here and the waterways, it stands to reason it also connects to our fiend factory. There must be an access somewhere in here."

"We've been all over this place," Devara said. "Either it's hidden better than we can search, or this demon of yours took the walkways there."

"Regardless," Jin said, breaking into the conversation, "we have an access now." She pointed to the hole she made in the floor. "Whether Algol took the walkways or not, the fiends are unable to do so. This will undoubtedly take us to our goal."

Pacifica hummed in agreement. "It goes on for some ways still. We stopped to investigate here because I sensed spell echoes. Must've been from the three of you."

Jin's brow drew together. Any spells she or the others had cast would hardly have made any echo at all. She took it as further evidence of Pacifica's prodigious ether stores that she could be so attuned to the Weave. It bothered Jin that she was growing envious of Pacifica's arcane power.

"Leaving the question," Devara said, "what do we do now? We could press on and risk leaping into a situation where we have no idea what's waiting for us, or we could wait to summon the Home Legion on the place and risk losing our chance of stopping the demon before something else terrible happens."

Jin weighed the options in a moment. "I would measure those present against any legion in the Five Kingdoms." With that said, and nothing more she felt needed to be, Jin dropped through the hole into the passageway.

There was some discussion above her. While the others discussed and came to the inevitable conclusion of following after her, Jin advanced up the passageway for several paces.

She needed to hunch somewhat to make her way through. The passage was only a pace and a half wide, so it would be necessary to move forward in single file. Jin manifested her firefly light again, because only the scantest light made its way through the cracks between floorboards. The ground underfoot was somewhat damp and made from solid stone. It was even spellwrought, fashioned from the structure of the spire. Jin held her position until the others began coming down to join her.

"What of Her Highness?" Krayson asked once the group began to press on.

Jin grunted. "Give Maya a sending, if you will. Tell her we're moving in."

Krayson nodded and hung back. In his place, Pacifica walked just behind Jin.

"We didn't have much of a chance to talk," she said in a whisper. "How are... Waves, what a silly thing to ask."

Jin turned her head slightly to look back. "I am well, my friend."

"Well? How in the name of tides could you be well? It didn't even happen to me, and I'm not floundering well."

"This is not really the time for this discussion."

Pacifica's face screwed up into a mighty pout. "Well, when will be?"

Jin wanted to say "never", but she supposed it was impossible to avoid it forever. "We will see. In any case, I am pleased to have you here."

Pacifica blushed. "You are?"

"Yes, very much so." Jin reached back with her free hand to take Pacifica's. "It has become easy to forget that I still have friends. I needed the reminder."

Pacifica's shy smile made the passage seem a little less dark.

Jin could feel the mischievous twinkle in her own eye. "I only regret you brought your paramours. It seems I am newly unclaimed, you've reevaluated your courting preference, and I've long found you to be exquisitely attractive."

Pacifica's blush turned crimson, and she snatched her hand back. "What?"

Jin smirked. "Is the feeling not mutual?"

"I didn't say that," Pacifica stammered. "I just n-never thought of you in that way, and... Oh, you're terrible. Is this your way of deflecting from the real issue? Because I refuse to believe you've become a lush overnight."

Jin shrugged and kept walking.

"Furthermore, I've only one paramour, thank you very much. Starra and I are not romantic."

Jin turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "I confess. That comes as a surprise."

Pacifica frowned. "Why's that?"

"Yes, we've much to talk about," Jin said, "but we should do so in a more savory venue than this one. Do you not agree?"

Pacifica sighed and gave a reluctant nod.

Continuing forward, Jin caught a number of mutterings under Pacifica's breath. They sounded like something along the lines of "meant to talk about you" and "floundering murder princess".

The group moved from then on in silence. The only break in the quiet came when Krayson reported that Maya had received his sending and was on her way towards the suspected location. Jin imagined that Maya might get there ahead of her, maybe go so far as to ride Zanda. Between the Executioner and the Ascendant, Althandor was going to have to get used to the idea of having dragons on their side.

At Rex's urging, Gillwyn moved up in the line to right behind Jin. "Keep that sniffer turned forward," he said. "The fiends we came on before might've been more than stragglers and placed there as guard dogs. We're close enough there may be more."

Jin gave her new handmaiden an appraising glance. "Not what you expected being part of the Highest King's court?"

"No, not really," Gillwyn agreed. "Shoulda known better after meeting you, though. You Algaras don't really do what's expected for what royals do with their time."

Jin hummed, unable to disagree with that sentiment on any level. The common misconception of kings enjoying luxury at the treasury's expense had always been strange to her. For all Jin's life, being royal meant being the most effective, not the most wealthy. In her opinion, Althandor had the right of it when it came to whom it looked to for authority.

The ceiling changed from thin floorboards to stone. Jin could almost let herself believe they now walked a league below the earth rather than half a league above it. Progress was slow, given the tight quarters, but it soon began to feel they'd gone much further than the eight hundred paces of distance she knew the suspect warehouse lay. Still, they were going in the right direction. Jin kept her sword at the ready, wary of fiends.

Gillwyn stopped short with a hiss.

Jin crouched, eyes on the passage ahead. "What is it?"

"That smell," Gillwyn whispered. Her tone made it sound like her hackles would be raised. "I smelled it before. Wrong-smelling blood." She glanced behind her, then came to whisper in Jin's ear so as not to be overheard. "The boy back there, he smells almost the same."

Jin's eyes flickered back to Krayson. The scent of a blood mage. Or the scent of a creature who had taken one's form. "Where?"

Gillwyn looked up.

Jin followed her eyes. The ceiling seemed impermeable, but if Gillwyn could smell something even through solid, spellwrought stone, it could not be as thick as it appeared.

"Ready yourselves," Jin said. "We will not do this quietly."

Behind her, wards and weapons were readied. Jin took in a deep breath, manifested a spell of explosive force, and blasted the kinetic energy upwards. The ceiling shattered, cracked and broken stone hurled away at frightening speed. Jin leapt immediately afterwards, sorcery assisting the jump and carrying her over the lip of the opening. Her feet landed on solid rock in an expansive room, a warehouse.

The stench hit her at once. As did the sense of something foul moving just within the shadows at the periphery of her firefly light. As her comrades followed her up, the second thing to reach Jin was a voice.

It was masculine and rasping, the voice as close to hacking coughs as to words. It carried a strange accent, one of sibilance and elongated vowels.

"We have been waiting. Our customers are most welcome here."