Chapter 301: Konstantin Crashes the Party

Gilda. Gilda was her name. I remembered it from the one time we met. We locked eyes across the room, her smile persistent but her motivations unreadable. A dozen possibilities flickered through my mind. I had paused too long and my companions noticed.

“Do you know her?” Raelia asked from just over my right shoulder.

I figured if there was potential danger, I should make them aware. “She is a Telhian,” I said, a frown creasing my brow. “She works for one of the Praetorian Guards, but Castile was under the impression that her handler, Antonia, had been killed.” My mind raced, trying to identify her possible motives with the most plausible explanation I could come up with. “She might be here to disrupt the Choosing for her new master. Or maybe she is looking for deserters.” I looked at my companions to make sure they heard me. “We should head to one of our rooms.”

As we turned to head up the stairs, Gilda stood up and headed for the back door. The sound of clashing blades echoed from the practice yard where she was going. Damn it, she wasn’t alone. The tension tightened in my stomach as I considered our options.

I hurried with my companions up the stairs and into the nearest of the rented rooms. The air hit me first. A pungent mix of sweat and stale sex. The sheets were clearly unchanged, and I doubted anyone had bothered to clean since the last guests. The orcs might tolerate humans, but that didn’t mean they had to be hospitable. “Mateo, bar the door. Blaze, take the window,” I said sharply, already scanning the room for anything that looked remotely clean.

I was tense, and it bled over to my companions. “What are we going to do?” Maveith’s voice rumbled in the room.

“Don’t worry, I will deal with her.” I would make it look like an accident, maybe a heart attack. She was old and fat and it shouldn’t be too hard. “While I am doing that, Raelia and Mateo will find out if Warlord Rhuuk is in the city. Then we will see if he brought Myra or Zorana with him.”

“What should I do?” Maveith asked anxiously.

Maveith needed something to do to ease his anxiety and keep him from doing something foolish. “Walk the outer city with Benito. Ask some of the captains at the docks about where they are going and when they lift anchor. Start looking for the best way to escape unseen. And stay out of trouble.” Maveith nodded sharply.

An abrupt knock at the door made everyone lapse into silence. I looked at Blaze, who indicated that the window was clear. I walked to the door and pulsed earth speak. The floor had stone tiles, but the building was mostly made of large timbers, and I got a fuzzy image of two people on the other side—one likely a woman and the other a man. The knock came again. “Who’s there?” I asked in an annoyed voice.

“Open the cursed door,” a familiar voice said in Telhian. Blaze’s head snapped to me, and Mateo’s jaw slackened.

Benito was the only one of us who hadn’t lost his tongue, and he whispered in disbelief, “Konstantin?”

I thought it could be a trick, so I motioned Mateo back and everyone to draw their blades. I lifted the bar and carefully opened the door, prepared with my blade and my dimensional space. Konstantin stood on the other side, a satisfied look on his face. A young woman who resembled Gilda stood behind him—maybe her daughter.

“Well, are you going to let me in?” he asked smugly, but his eyes were dancing in merriment at our disbelief. His eyes studied everyone in the room with their blades readied, and he nodded in approval and acknowledgement.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. His clothes were still sweaty from practice, but he looked fit, and I could see the outline of an adventurer’s medallion under his shirt.

His happiness faded, and he growled, “I came to make sure you didn’t do something stupid and get yourselves killed.” His eyes had settled on Raelia, and I could see the curiosity in them, trying to figure out why an elf was traveling with us.

“Well, we are all fine. Thanks for stopping by.” I made to close the door. Shock appeared on his face, and he almost didn’t react in time to stick his foot in the door. I let a smile crack my face, as I hadn’t been serious. For some reason, with Konstantin here, it felt like things would go more smoothly.

I let him force open the door and step into the room. He caught my smile but shook his head like he was disappointed with my attempt at humor. His hand rested on my shoulder, ignoring the blade in my other hand, trusting I wouldn’t skewer him. He patted me and withdrew his hand as he walked past me. I suspected that was all the joyfulness from seeing me I was going to get from the man.

The young woman followed him. She had a weird cinnamon smell that almost made me sneeze. Konstantin ignored me and clasped wrists with Mateo, Blaze, Maveith, and then Benito. He then faced Raelia, studying her, which caused her to step back. A cold chill went through me. Did he recognize her?

“Are these boys holding you against your will?” He asked half-seriously. Clearly, he was trying to get back at me for trying to shut the door on him.

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Unspoken words passed between them, and Raelia smirked a little. “And what if I said yes?”

“I would do everything in my power to free you, of course,” he said in terrible Elvish. I was hoping Raelia would rebuke him for his brutalization of her language, but she just laughed.

“I am here for my goliath friend.” She motioned to Maveith. “I have not been kidnapped or abused—much.” She added the last little bit while her eyes roamed to me. Konstantin followed her eyes to me, a bit of surprise on his face.

Irritated that the game of words was turning to his favor, I countered. “Her name is Raelia, and she came of her own free will.” My tone turned to suspicion. “How did you get here?”

Konstantin spun on his heel, and I noticed he wore two swords now. He explained conversationally, “I ran into some friends of yours in the Imperial palace. They had gotten themselves imprisoned. I released them, and they said you told them to seek sanctuary in the city of Gramney.”

“I helped free them as well,” the young woman interjected from the doorway. Mateo was already focused on her.

My mind worked quickly, with only one name coming to the forefront. “Helena?” I said, surprised.

“And her partner, Sylph,” Konstantin noted. “We traveled together to Gramney.” His lips curled into a genuine smile of happiness. Not something I expected to see on the old man. It vanished as he realized what he was doing. “Seems you’ve been a busy man since you left my care at pup school. Helena and Sylph say they owe you a debt for saving Selene. I’ve already collected on the debt Viridia owed you.” My face twisted in confusion, and that just made another unnatural smile form on Konstantin’s face.

“But how did you get here ahead of us, Konstantin?” Blaze asked pointedly.

Konstantin motioned his companion inside, and Mateo rushed to get her a chair. Konstantin took the seat, forcing the woman to remain standing, but she did not look upset. There were no other chairs for the despondent Mateo to offer the young woman. “We caught a portal to Esenhem from Gramney. We were a little over two weeks behind you. We knew you were going to Agurtra, as that was where you thought Maveith’s sister was.” I nodded. His story sounded plausible so far.

“Gilda got us passage on a courier ship from Artiria to the orc city of Darchret. From there, we traveled across the Caliphate to Agurtra,” Konstantin said, like it was just another normal afternoon for him.

Maveith tensed. “Did you find Zorana in Agurtra?” he bellowed, louder than it needed to be.

Konstantin shook his head slowly, causing Maveith to deflate. Konstantin’s companion spoke. “I infiltrated the estate and talked to a number of slaves and staff. Zorana was not there presently, but she is alive.” Maveith’s hope quickly renewed on his face. “Warlord Rhuuk took her to Becar, but we have not been able to locate her in the three days we have been here.”

“We were also awaiting your arrival. I assured Gilda you would eventually join us,” Konstantin added haughtily.

Gilda continued as if Konstantin hadn’t interrupted her. “We think the warlord has her on an estate north of here, but elites and Pathfinders heavily guard it, and several clerics are also on the grounds. We were turned back both times when we wandered close, and I don’t care to try again. There are mastiffs that patrol the grounds who can sniff out anything.” I looked at the woman. That might explain why she smelled like cinnamon. Something to avoid the scenting of the dogs.

“We did learn that the sprawling estate is where the Elder clerics who advise the Supreme reside,” Konstantin said. That was just like Konstantin, getting more done in less time. Now that he was here, I supposed he would take over.

I hadn’t liked being in charge anyway. Being responsible for the lives of others was a heavy burden. “We used our adventurer’s medallions to travel freely in the Caliphate under the auspices of doing jobs.” I pointed to his medallion. “How did you manage to accept job postings without registering?” I had been under the assumption that adventurers from outside the Caliphate needed to register in one of three cities: Khoura, Becar, or Imararal. Konstantin had clearly not visited any of these cities before arriving in Becar.

Konstantin shrugged. “We never took any job postings. No one ever checked if we were registered.”

I ground my teeth a little and was slightly shamed. Maveith had recovered from the good news of his sister being alive. An energetic exuberance and eagerness showed on his face. “Is Myra alive as well?” Myra was Zorana’s friend and had been captured at the same time.

Gilda nodded. “She is. We think she is also here, but have not seen either goliath. We have not been able to get inside the compound, with so many guards about. The warlords are meeting for some reason.”

“They are selecting a new Supreme. The last Supreme is presumed dead, and word has not been spread,” Raelia revealed with some bluster. I had been about to say the same thing, but she beat me to it. She smirked at me.

Konstantin’s eyes widened, and he slowly nodded as the pieces fit together in his head. “Now that does make sense.” His mind churned before he spoke directly to me. “I suggest we wait until a new Supreme is selected and Warlord Rhuuk returns to his estate. It will be easier to rescue the goliaths then.” I was a little shocked Konstantin was deferring to me in this decision.

Maveith looked anxiously at me, and I could tell he didn’t want to wait. If I didn’t do it, he would probably offer his services as Mynasha’s First. “I have a way to get in and check on Zorana and Myra.”

Konstantin cocked his head, waiting for an explanation. I tried to make it sound like it was just another day for me. “We escorted one of the candidates to the Choosing. I was asked to be her First, but turned her down.”

“I have heard of the Choosing, but what is a First?” Konstantin asked, leaning forward in his chair.

“It is usually a warlord who stands by the cleric during the Elders’ selection trials. A Chronicler thinks I would make a good First for her candidate,” I explained succinctly.

“Really?!” He leaned back in his chair, disbelief on his face. “Now, just what did you do to make them think that?”

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