Exploring old ruins was not a common job; it was, however, definitely one Vengeance had done. How dangerous it was varied highly, from world to world and even ruin to ruin. How lucrative it was also varied and didn’t always correlate with the danger. The problem was that you didn’t know if it was going to be dangerous or valuable until you tried.

Some ruins were good places for someone who worked with undead, but at least as many had wards that were specifically tuned against undead; the ancients apparently didn’t like undead any more than many later societies did. That made investigating the known history of a site extremely useful. If the site was known to have been inhabited by people who worshiped one of the gods that hated or controlled undead, it was probably not a good place to explore unless he stayed out of temples and temples were good places to look for valuables. Vengeance did better when the place was a battlefield with lost relics or a city that was lost to plague or disaster; both had a lot of Death-affinity mana present.

It brought back memories. Some of them were very good, but many of them weren’t.

“Tired…” Daryl’s voice pulled Serenity out of his reverie.

“Don’t care. I’m not sitting here for hours while you sleep. Wake up.” Emery shook Daryl’s shoulder again. “If you don’t get moving on your own, I will give you some of Mom’s wake-up potion.” She hissed her last words.

Daryl didn’t respond.

Emery grumbled, then reached for Daryl’s pack where he’d dropped it on the bed. Serenity watched as she dug through it, setting things to the side as she searched. The pile was almost as large as Daryl when she finally pulled out a half-full container that looked a lot like an enchanted glass Thermos holding a brown liquid.

Emery held it well away from herself as she opened the top lid; it was also glass, with a clip she had to move before the enchantment holding the container closed would release. It was clever but perhaps a bit overcomplicated in Serenity’s opinion; there were a lot of different ways to store and maintain food and drink using magic.

A moment after it was open, Serenity knew why Emery held the potion away from herself. Even though it looked sort of like coffee, it did not smell at all like coffee. Instead, it smelled like swamp water. Swamp water that something had died in recently enough to still be rotting.

Daryl still didn’t move.

Emery opened Daryl’s mouth and poured a sip of the potion in, then closed his mouth long enough for Daryl to swallow. Some of the swamp water potion slashed out of his mouth, but most of what she poured in went down his throat.

To Serenity’s relief, Emery then closed and resealed the glass container.The smell didn’t disappear immediately, but at least Serenity knew it could now.

Daryl sat up, leaned over the side of the bed, and gagged. Nothing came up, but it looked like he wanted it to. “Dammit Em, did you have to? Couldn’t you at least use your version of the potion?”

Emery chuckled; it was a laugh Serenity didn’t want directed at him. “If you’d wake up on your own, no, but I’m not going to wait on you to wake up after being awake for - how long have you been gone? Four days? There’s a reason Mom gives you that one. I know you’re overusing it; there’s no way it should be half gone. I’m not going to give it back; you’ll have to ask Mom for more.”

“I need it. I have to be awake to protect everyone in the dungeon. I’m out now, so I have time to sleep.” Daryl was defiant; he clearly didn’t accept that he needed to cut back.

“No, you don’t have to. You’ve told me there are safe areas; even Zany said there were. You can sleep there. I know you stop there.” Emery had her hands on her hips; the half-full glass Thermos was in her right hand.

Serenity had no idea which of them was correct; he sympathized with Daryl’s desire to be awake, but he knew he’d slept in the dungeon’s safe areas. Regardless of which of them had the correct answer, it wasn’t a fight he wanted to get in the middle of or even watch. Fortunately, he had a way to derail it. “Tell me why you called me here. I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow and this doesn’t look like an emergency.”

On second thought, were they even going to meet the next day? That was the original plan when Daryl meant to lead Serenity to his sister the following day, but they’d already met and Daryl had already handed off the fire-heart.

Eh, they were going to have to meet up to head out after the attackers and now apparently Guildmaster Zany. The next day was as good as any other time for that.

“Called you here?” Daryl actually looked confused at that. “Why would I send for you? I dropped you off at Emery’s.”

Emery caught what Serenity was getting at and pulled out the remains of the emergency bead. “This thing, sludge-for-brains. Here, catch.”

Daryl caught the bead and looked at it, then looked back up at Serenity. “I don’t understand. Where did you get this? It was supposed to head for someone who could help us free Zany, some group he was allied with.”

Serenity raised his eyebrows at that. He’d expected to be told that Zany belonged to Order’s Guild, but either he didn’t or he’d chosen not to tell Daryl about it. Either was possible. “Did he say what organization it is? Other than the sigil on the bead, of course; that makes it obvious.”

Daryl shook his head. “No, he just gave me a code phrase to use on whoever came back with the bead. Something about a Knife requesting assistance.”

Serenity chuckled. “That’s less of a code than you think it is. Are you sure he didn’t say he needed a hand?”

Daryl shook his head. “No, he definitely said assistance. Are you saying you’re the person he wanted?”

That was too bad. It would have made for a fun pun if the message asked for a Hand. It was probably better that it didn’t; it meant the bead wasn’t limited to just Hands. Tirmanak had mentioned that he didn’t currently have a Hand stationed on Asihanya, though that didn’t mean there wasn’t one passing through.

“Yes, it looks like I am. I’m going to have some questions for your Guildmaster after we get him back; it sounds like he’ll have some answers for me, too.” Serenity glanced over at Emery. “How long is that sip you gave him going to keep him awake?”

Emery shook her head, then shrugged. “Depends on how much he’s been abusing it. Best guess, ten or fifteen minutes at the most.”

That wasn’t enough time for a proper planning session; it wasn’t even enough time to get everyone he needed here. That was fine; he really needed Gabriel anyway, since he knew where to find the Guildmaster and therefore hopefully the launch point for the biplanes. Serenity turned back to Daryl. “Why don’t you use that time to get somewhere more comfortable for your sleep and meet me at the Mercenaries’ Guild tomorrow? We can plan our next step then. Make sure to bring Gabriel.”

A nod from Daryl was all Serenity needed to see before he headed out. He’d dealt with the Silver Blades long enough; it was time to check in with his actual friends.

Emery followed Serenity out. “I won’t be with you on whatever you’re talking about doing with Daryl.”

Serenity nodded. “I didn’t expect you to, but I can still tell you what it is. We think the Silver Blades’ Guildmaster is in roughly the same location as wherever those flyers that keep attacking the Library are coming from. They want to rescue him; I want to stop the attacks on the Library.” Serenity paused, then smiled. “I think Raz wants to kill them all. I’m going to have to see if he’ll settle for finding out why it happened and dealing with whoever ordered it. I know what it means to take vengeance on people who weren’t even involved; it leaves a stain on you.”

Serenity immediately regretted his words. He shouldn’t have said the last sentence. It just slipped out.

Emry focused on something else, at least. “Who’s Raz?”

Serenity should have known that she wouldn’t know. “A friend of mine; his entire Clan was killed in the attack on their home. As far as I’ve been able to find out, it may have been the very first attack. It was definitely the first one near Stallet.”

“Huh.” Emery sounded contemplative. “I didn’t hear about the attack on Stallet until weeks after it happened, but that was still before the big assault here. Not that the City Lord actually did anything to prepare; that was Stallet’s problem.”

“I take it you don’t have a very high opinion of your City Lord?” Serenity certainly didn’t. He didn’t approve of people who could fight but fled when their home was attacked. He could understand it if you had people you had to protect, but not just to save your own life. The only valid reason for a City Lord to leave when their city was under attack was to gather resources or assistance to help defend the city. That wasn’t what Takinat’s Lord had done.

Emery seemed to share his option. She snorted. “That cowardly patricidal little snot? He’s only City Lord because his grandfather was actually a good ruler. His father never got the chance; he died of poison about a day after the boy’s grandfather did. Weirdly enough, the City Lord is known to have a Path that uses poisons.”

Serenity blinked. That was something Blaze hadn’t found out when he looked into the City Lord; either no one knew what Emery just said or no one talked about it. “Is that why he held the Lordship? No one’s willing to fight him for it?”

Emery shook her head. “City succession rules. I looked into them back when he took over. The heir to the Lordship is always the oldest person in the direct line of Lords; if there’s no direct heir, then the closest one is selected. That doesn’t really help. The death rate of his relatives has been extremely high over the last ten years; someone keeps introducing venomous insects to their homes and poison to their food.” From Emery’s tone of voice, it was clear that she had no doubt who “someone” was.

Serenity frowned. That was a set of rules that felt more like Earth’s than what he was used to in the wider universe. When he thought about it, maybe it wasn’t really that unusual; Zenith also had similar rules. “I guess that’s one way to keep people from challenging to gain Lordship, make it so that they won’t gain anything if they win. I take it that fleeing doesn’t put him in jeopardy of losing his Lordship?”

“Doesn’t seem to.” Emery sounded sour. “I have to admit that the manager he selected seems like a good choice, but she doesn’t have the power of a Lord. I think she’s his chief concubine, but at least she knows what she’s doing with a city. It’s too bad he won’t marry her.”

“Why not?” Serenity hoped there was a good reason, but he already suspected he wouldn’t like Emery’s answer.

“City succession rules.” Emery blinked at Serenity. “Marrying anyone would make that person part of the family with a right to the Lordship second only to his. It would clear up the blur the deaths have put over who would inherit. I don’t think he wants that; with a skilled woman as the alternative; someone might just challenge him and make sure he doesn’t survive. His poisons are extraordinarily effective for his Tier, but he’s still only barely Tier Four. Not that hard to kill.”

Lillene

Dealing with absentee City Lord is not Serenity’s job. Hopefully he’ll remember that this time.