While the rest of the clan had breakfast, Mystery and GrimRill were outside for their monthly parley with the harpies of Larishan Aoch, which consisted of Mystery informing the harpies of the clan's planned movements, and also explaining that their visitors were temporary guests, and not mercenaries.
Grim kept a close eye on the party of archers that were perched up on a nearby cliff, while Rill fidgeted impatiently.
Once we finish here, you'll be speaking to Jadus. Grim informed his partner, masking his movements as he shifted to warm himself up.
Jadus? Why- Rill suddenly stopped in realization.
Grim, this is a very bad idea.
We won't be making any deals today. Just weighing our options.
But she definitely
knows about us.
We're not borrowing from her. She has no reason to reveal anything about us. Grim's expression was almost unconcerned as his tail carved a strange shape into the snow.
Rill shook his head as Mystery began winding down.
I really don't like this.
Your job is to be our speaker. You don't have to like it.
Rill sighed, letting his head droop slightly.
If this goes south, it's on you.
"Good news, sir!" Mystery bounded up through the snow with a smile. "They decided not to declare war on us, even though the Traveling Breeze violated our conditions."
Grim made a low sound of amusement as Rill laughed. "They'd be stupid to do that anyway. We could easily kill half their flock."
Mystery gave a weak smile. "Not without losing a lot ourselves, though."
"Maybe if we played by their rules," Rill shrugged with a nasty smirk. "But not in general, no. Pretty soon we won't have to hold these silly meetings."
"They're not all bad, sir," Mystery sighed as they began making their way back. "They're just trying to live, like us."
"We've never kept and raised their young," he said pointedly. "They can't say the same."
"They didn't do it for some malicious reason," she muttered.
"Tell me, what did they have you doing before we found you, Mystery?" Rill asked, his expression smug. "What you told us was that you would use your magic as they directed. You weren't allowed any freedom, and when you were allowed to leave, you were always escorted by all the warriors of the flock."
She said nothing, both heads looking away.
"Dragons are not
pets for lesser creatures. If I had my way, I would have killed every single one of them that day." Rill finished, ignoring the astonished look she gave him.
After a tense march back, he dismissed the female Aberration, and she gratefully returned to her post. Once GrimRill had concluded Dew's instruction for the day, identifying the vulnerable locations within the clan's defenses, the pale Undertide was left to oversee his peers.
The Captain of the Guard leisurely strolled to the southern hall, following it up until he came to the large cave that hosted Jadus and her operation. There was a steady stream of various familiars coming and going, and Rill had to snap at several to make room for their entrance.
"Ah, GrimRill! I was beginning to think you would never pay me a visit," the large Aberration smirked, slinking forward and lounging on one of her many sofas. Her dark eyes were nearly invisible in her black face, with only the reflected light alluding to their location. "Please, come in."
GrimRill executed a flawless bow with a sarcastic tilt on his right side. "You certainly could have stopped by to speak to us, if you were that eager," Rill said.
"I'm afraid we've both been too busy for that," the leftmost half smiled. "Oh, and Grim, darling, you can stop telling Rill what to say. If you're here, you're here on business, and we won't be disrespected like that."
Grim's lips curled into a faint smile. "Old habits die hard, I'm afraid."
"I'm sure," she hummed. "Now, what did you come here for?"
"I wanted to ask you a few things; are you willing to sell the information you gather?"
Jadus gave a wide smile. "It depends. But I'm not against it; time is money, and exchanges can go either way."
"Hm." He lifted his chin. "What do you have on us?"
"You'll have to pay me to find out," she smirked.
"How much?"
"Twenty thousand gold pieces."
Rill tossed a bag onto one of the tables, which was instantly swept into the grasp of a familiar. The centaur took several moments to portion out the contents as Jadus watched.
"That's a fairly generous tip, Grim. That, or you must have quite a few questions."
He smiled. "My answer, if you please."
"See for yourself," she gestured, then covered her mouth with a paw. "Oh dear, I suppose you can't. Being that you can't use magic devices," she said with a sly grin.
"I'm sure you can give me a summary."
Her counterpart leaned closer. "You don't seem like the type who loves hearing about himself."
"I'm not. You said time is money, so start talking," Grim narrowed his eyes.
"Hm. You come from the Sea of a Thousand Currents, you got your start preying upon weak dragons near the shoreline until you were chased off by your betters," she began as her third eye opened wide.
"From there you met several Aberrations and did the same on land to travelers until your little group cracked under the weight of your leadership and turned on you. You were lucky enough to escape, and you accepted the assistance of the infamous Treya, serving her for some time until you got cold feet."
She paused. "You must have laid low after that, we don't have much on you from the past thirteen years."
"And what of now?"
"Nothing much. You seem to be losing your edge," the right head chuckled. "Serving as an officer in a worthless clan that no one knows about. Or perhaps you're just trying to hide from everyone you left behind."
"Must be a familiar story," he mused, looking back to the main speaker. "How much of this do they know?"
"Very little. Your reputation hasn't spread far beyond the Windswept Plateau," she said. "Luckily for you."
"Little or not, I want to know what that entails," he said in a low voice.
"Eredia has heard of you. She hasn't heard much, but she knows you're bad news. My guess is she thinks she can change you if she's nice enough."
"Phantom?"
"Nothing. Must be a gut feeling," Jadus chuckled. "Hilgeth and Merris have heard of Treya, but not you. Guess you weren't that memorable."
"What of Gorynych?"
There was a hint of a pause before she recovered. "He's currently a... work in progress, shall we say."
Grim scoffed in disbelief. "You have absolutely nothing on him?"
"Not everyone loves attention as much as you, dear," she purred. "Dragons that discrete typically have some interesting secrets, though, so don't worry; I'm sure I'll be able to provide something in the future."
She looked over at the sizable pile of gold pieces. "You still have about three questions left."
"Are you willing to finance public projects?" he asked.
"No. I lend to individuals, not causes. If you require money, you have to enter into a formal agreement with me. And I'm sure you understand what that entails."
Grim remained unfazed. "Would you lend to me?"
The dark Aberration paused. "Are you asking because you want to, or because you're shopping around?"
"I'm trying to determine what my options are."
"Come back when you know what you want, then," she said. "I don't discuss details in advance; it's bad business."
"I thought that was the type of business you did." He said with a raised eyebrow.
She chuckled. "Was there anything else?"
"Payment. Do you accept only coinage?"
"Anything that's valuable, I'll consider. Knowledge, influence, assistance are all intangible forms of payment I'll accept. So long as I can be
sure it will be paid to me." Jadus put a strong emphasis on the final point. "Did you have something in mind?"
"Perhaps. But we can talk about that another time," he said.
Jadus gave a single nod. "Until then,"
Both parties exchanged a parting nod, then GrimRill was gone.
"...I wonder if Radinen will say anything while he's here," one murmured once he was far down the hall, both giggling to themselves at the idea.
