153 (III)

Unexpected

And immediately, Hawgrave made her own mistake. She showed the extent of her knowledge. She didn't know Rose was back, and that Rose was right here. She also told Shiv indirectly that she knew his parents.

"Well, if you know anything about Roland Arrow, it's that he's too kind to be a bastard, but too hurt to let shit go."

His comment made Hawgrave guffaw loudly. She threw her head back and cackled girlishly. "Oh, oh, that's good. Yeah." She pointed a finger at him. "That is a great description of Roland Arrow. That arrogant, self-deluding piece of shit. I'm gonna look forward to splitting him down the middle."

Shiv noticed how her words ended as a vicious growl, and he suspected that there might be a personal matter between her and Roland as well. Just how many people did you piss off, Town Lord?

A sudden pressure clenched the right side of Shiv's body, and just then, City Lord Stormhalt appeared in the room. He arrived with his helmet on and flanked by seven other Pathbearers. All of them were at least High-Master magi, and they bore weaponry that gleamed bright with Chronomancy mana.

Shiv had a feeling they were specifically here to deal with him if Hawgrave needed support.

Stormhalt did a double-take at Shiv, and he let out a frustrated snarl. "Ascendant, the damned orc wasn't lying."

"I know, right?" Hawgrave said, a wide grin on her face that showed her pearly-white teeth. "I can't believe it myself. But here he is in the flesh, a monster skill-having human."

"Hero Shiv, officially listed as Tanner Lowe in the Republic Census. The Omenborn," Stormhalt muttered.

"Yeah, not really that anymore," Shiv replied, trying to clamp down on the annoyance he felt when Stormhalt used that slur.

"But how?" Stormhalt asked. "How did you hide from me?"

Hawgrave gestured at his broken mask. "He had this. I think that's an Aviary item, isn't it? Pretty neat. I might have some use for it when I get it fixed."

"Nah," Shiv said. "I intend to keep it."

Things were dramatically off course, and Shiv considered at that moment to activate Outside Context Problem and cast himself away to his temporal anchor. But he hesitated. If he left now, Stormhalt and the Inquisition might avoid Blackedge altogether or make a direct run for Gate Piety instead. No, Shiv thought, I need to make sure that they go for Blackedge immediately. Doesn't matter how I do it. Doesn't matter that my cover's blown. He eyed the pieces of his broken mask left on the ground as well. Also need to get that back before I cut and run.

"So, your ruse has failed," Stormhalt said, marching up to Shiv. The City Lord was tall, but he was still only human-sized. Plaguefueled-boosted, Shiv stood at almost three and a half meters. He looked down at Stormhalt. "The inquisitors you brought with you, their broken minds and wounds, were they your handiwork?"

"Not mine alone," Shiv replied casually. "I had some friends help me." And then a devious idea came together in his mind. "Frankly, I don't know what to do with a human mind. I don't know what to do with any minds. I'm barely much of a Psychomancer. So I left that to the other Necrotechs."

Stormhalt glared at him, and the lightning arcing around his person intensified. "You betrayed the Republic?"

"I betrayed the Republic?" Shiv spat, snorting in faux disbelief. "Listen, Havel. I don't give a shit about the Republic—"

Stormhalt threw a heavy hook into Shiv's ribs. A loud thud thundered through the room. A blast of lightning and force swept over everyone. Shiv didn't budge. He just stared down at Stormhalt. Slowly, he turned away from the City Lord and looked toward Hawgrave instead.

"Maybe you should stick to doing the physical violence. This one tickles."

Hawgrave covered her mouth and failed to hide her amusement. Stormhalt slowly pulled his fist back, and Shiv squinted his eyes, noting his bruised knuckles.

"Listen, my Biomancy field might be a little bit jacked up right now, but do you want me to fix it up?"

The City Lord launched a bolt of lightning at Shiv's face in response. That hit considerably harder. Shiv staggered back a step, taking a moment to shake off the light concussion Stormhalt had given him.

"Yeah, you should have started with that, asshole. Don't have much of a talent for punching," Shiv sneered, rubbing his head.

Hawgrave couldn't take it anymore. Laughter escaped her like chiming bells. Stormhalt turned his glare on her for a moment as Shiv reached down to take his broken mask back. Just then, a blade was pressed against his throat.

"Touch it and we behead you." A towering, elven Pathbearer held a Chronomancy-lined saber against his throat. She pressed it a little bit harder, and it slipped through his armor with some effort. He noted the frown on her face.

Shiv just sneered. "Yeah, I hope your friends can hold me still. Frankly, I don't give a shit about the rest of you." He looked at Hawgrave. "This one here is my only problem. For now."

"For now," Hawgrave said, shaking her head. "God, you are an absolute peach. I think I'm gonna have to keep this one. Stormhalt. It's been a while since I had an apprentice. I'm putting him in Rusty after."

"Absolutely not!" Stormhalt shouted at her. "He's betrayed the Republic."

"She's teasing you, dipshit," Shiv muttered.

"No, I'm serious," Hawgrave said. "I want you in my sword. Rusty could use someone like you juicing him up."

"What?" Shiv asked.

"Enough!" Lightning exploded out from Stormhalt's body. A raging storm built around his person, consuming the small room in tides of turbulent wind. Gales strong enough to uproot great trees ground against Shiv's armor. And to his surprise, he was taking damage. Stormhalt was a mage, a High Master Aeromancer, if Shiv were to guess. Stormhalt took a single step through the denseness of the storm. His body was cast alight by flashing forks of electricity. He came for Shiv like a harbinger of destruction.

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But suddenly, Hawgrave casually strode through the wall of wind as well. She placed a hand up on his shoulder and held him still. Suddenly, the thunderstorm died, and Hawgrave simply shook her head. "If you kill him, we don't get to interrogate anyone. And I don't get a new mana battery for my sword."

Stormhalt's body shook slightly, but he glared at Shiv a final time. "Seize him. Take his equipment."

"There's no need for that," Shiv said, holding his hands up. "I'm willing to cooperate right now. I want to live. Besides, it's probably too late for you guys to do anything anyway."

Suddenly, any trace of amusement was gone from Hawgrave's face. "All right, start talking. Why is it too late?"

"Because Sullain's finished his weapon. He's going to use it on Blackedge as soon as he possibly can. He also knows about you guys, thanks to Master-Advisor Oldsmith and the recently captured Master-Inquisitor Sijik. I don't think you guys have the manpower to stop him either."

Deception 22 > 23

Hawgrave and Stormhalt shared a look.

"Has he used the weapon yet?" Stormhalt snarled. "Speak."

"Not yet," Shiv said, "but soon. He finished it just as I left. My job was to keep you assholes delayed and confused."

"Uh-huh," Hawgrave responded. "But then why'd you tell us that he had the Animancy Core to begin with? Seems like a stupid thing to do, giving that a way."

"Because we can't hide that," Shiv said, adapting on the fly. The real reason was that he was pulling things out of his ass right now, and couldn't keep his story straight. "Pretty soon, the entire world's gonna know about the Animancy Core. He's built quite the weapon with it. And he intends to turn Starhawk's Perch into nothing but a puddle of slag with it. So if you're trying to save that, well, I hope you have a replacement sacred relic somewhere, because the Perch might be lost. However," Shiv let the word hang, "I might be agreeable to a deal. I can help you save the Perch."

"A deal?" Stormhalt spat incredulously. "You're talking about a deal with us. You're bargaining. You, a traitor to the Republic, a murderer of inquisitors. You are bargaining for—"

"I'm bargaining for my life," Shiv said gaudily. "I don't have any love for the Republic. You can thank Roland Arrow for that. In fact, I think there's not a single person in this room that likes Roland Arrow. That being said, I don't much care for the Necrotechs either. The bastards want to have a war with the surface. And me, I just want to be left alone after I settle a score."

Hesitation gripped Stormhalt. Shiv's play at manipulating his emotions was working. The Deathless still wasn't a very good spy, but with all the time he spent around the orcs, trying to decipher their intentions, learning their habits, and analyzing their behaviors, he was getting good at judging people's psychologies. And fast. Maybe I don't need to be a spy, Shiv thought to himself. Maybe there is another way I could be socially effective. I don't think I've ever considered giving politics a go. Might put more thought into that.

"Roland," Stormhalt rasped. "You're here for Roland as well."

"As I said before, aren't we all? Anyway, the hells is your problem with Roland? And yours?" He looked at Hawgrave too. "Did he keep you borderline illiterate and stop you from having Paths too?"

The Legendary Pathbearer ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, and Shiv got the feeling she was restraining quite a bit of anger. "He put a hole through my eldest daughter's head. Killed her dead."

"Oh," Shiv replied, slightly stumped. "Yeah, uh, that'll do it."

"My grievance is not your concern," Stormhalt said. "But tell me, what could you possibly be of use to us right now? What can you offer us that we cannot take with our Psychomancers? With our—"

"Do you want the Animancy core back or not?" Shiv asked. "Because I can get back there. And since Sullain still trusts me…" Shiv paused. "...somewhat, I might be able to delay. I might be able to damage his weapon. Give you bastards an edge in the coming fight. And before you lose your shit and do a bunch of other stuff, I can potentially smuggle some of your inquisitors behind enemy lines as well."

Shiv was pulling things out of his ass by the arm length by now. But it was working better than the actual plan. He could see Stormhalt considering Shiv's offer. Hawgrave as well.

"And if I bring your inquisitors with me, they can make sure I don't betray you. Besides, I don't want to deal with the Necrotechs alone anyway. Creepy felling fucks."

A moment of silence passed. Stormhalt stared at Shiv and let out a breath. "The same thing can be done once our Psychomancers are done with your mind. This changes nothing." He gestured at his soldiers. "Seize him. Have him prepared for psychosurger—"

Shiv triggered Outside Context Problem. He sank into his Vitae, and suddenly the City-Lord did a double-take. Hawgrave looked confused as well. She broke from her casual stance and came alert. Her blade swept through the space Shiv once occupied and cleaved nothing. In the same moment, the Deathless picked up both halves of his broken mask, and he cast a final glance at Hawgrave.

"I'll get you in the rematch," he muttered.

He froze time, but before he cast himself back to his temporal anchor, he walked up to Stormhalt and channeled a spray of basilisk venom into his face.

"Have fun with the nerve-agent, City Lord." That should distract them for a bit, he thought.

With that done, Shiv cast himself across time. He jolted out of place, surging across reality before he snapped back before the Surface Gateway where he'd placed the anchor almost an hour ago. Two Weaveresses on guard within the teleportation anchor jumped away from him, and between them, a dimensional pathway stood open, leading back to the bunker.

Shiv let out a long breath as he processed what had just happened to him. He shifted the contents of his cape and brought the Forest of Alloy in position as well.

"You guys all right?" Shiv asked. "Uva?"

"I'm fine, I think." The Umbral let out a pained rasp. "Just suffering incredible mana strain. What was that? Something tore through me."

"I don't know. It's like Hawgrave projected her Magical Resistance out of herself. But did you guys get the rest of that?"

"Yeah," Rose answered. "Godsdammit. Fuck! I mean, what the fuck is Jesse doing? Why is she with Havel of all people? And what he hells does she mean Roland killed her eldest daughter? We—She was our friend! What even is this?"

Shiv sighed. "Lots has changed since you've been gone, Rose. That's my guess."

"You guess," Rose hissed. "Also, what the hells was all that?"

"What was what?" Shiv asked.

"You were a spy for around 20 minutes. That's some of the worst Tradecraft I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well, it's pretty normal with me," Shiv replied. "Still got it done though in the end. They're going after Sullain. I think. Just didn't get a chance to do anything else."

"What a pity," Whisper replied. "But 812's appearance was a surprise. Though an amusing one."

"Not for me, asshole. I'm gonna kill that fucking bastard for good when I get my hands on him." Shiv prepared himself to pass through the dimensional pathway. But suddenly, the Surface Gateway behind him shuddered.

A fraction of a second later, Adam exploded out from it, covered in blood and ash. He nearly slammed into Shiv but went still thereafter.

"Shiv?" he rasped. "You're—We need to go! We have a big felling problem."

"Adam," Shiv grunted, frowning at his friend's state. "I made contact with Stormhalt and Titansbane. The spying went to shit, but they're still—"

"Sullain finished his weapon!" Adam shouted, interrupting Shiv. "I need you and the orcs out on the surface NOW!"

The Deathless was speechless for a beat. "Wow. Looks like I wasn't a liar after all. I told the Inquisition he was done with the weapon too."

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