The Greatest Sin

Maisara spoke to her Paladins: “Whatever Allasaria or anyone says, do not do it. Our loyalty lies with Order in the world! Not with Order of Allasaria’s Pantheon!”

“Where was it?” Fleur angrily commented.

“I don’t know.” Edmonton admitted, they had disappeared from Arcadia once again, left the school to its trivial machinations. Edmonton cared about his attendance six months ago, now… It had dropped from the high nineties to the low thirties. It wasn’t even Anassa, frankly, the Goddess did not take up much of his time. It was the simple slog of turning up to learn trite that Anassa skipped over. To figure out concepts so simple he could not understand how others struggled with them.

Anassa was high and mighty, each word she said hid twice as much as it revealed but there was one difference between her and the faculty of Arcadia: She treated his intelligence with respect. If Anassa said something was possible, then it would be possible. Not easy by any means, but possible. The toughest challenge on his curriculum was staying awake.

The grandest insult was when he was stopped for picking up a weight of water too great for him. For fuck’s sake he had killed people! What was a small pool compared to that?

“If you’re going to pretend to know directions, then you have to know them.” Fleur said angrily. Sometimes, Ed wished the girl would shut up. There she was, as pretty as the day he had saw her when they had met for the first time in class, hair like the night sky, a face of marble, a loose shirt and a red skirt. Her voice was velvet and then those pink lips twisted to make yet another demand.

“Pull out your map then.” Edmonton interrupted whatever she was going to say.

“Wow.” Fleur said sarcastically. “I’m surprised anything gets through to Lord Weaver.”

“Have you said anything nice yet?”

“Do you deserve anything nice said about you?”

Great.

Fleur pulled out her phone, a few taps later and she brought up the map of Atny. It was the capital of the country that had ceded land to Arcadia, an ancient city thoroughly impoverished and left behind by the rest of the world, marble buildings older than most other nations on Epa surrounded, glorious relics those buildings were, their doors blocked by black trash bags. Marvellous white statues of the Divines and heroes from the past, each one with people covered in rags at their base. Crystal clear water flowed from fountains in the dirty pools. A low skyline mandated to keep the image of city tarnished with the massive port under Olympiada’s authority in the distance. Six huge container ships were being unloaded, a dozen more were waiting for permission to dock. “I’m surprised.” Fleur said.

“Are we here?”

“We’ve passed it five times now.”

Great.

Fleur, Edmonton decided, was the one person who should not be given any reason to be anymore proud of herself than she already was. To think he had once envisioned marrying her! That was possibly the greatest thing he had Anassa to thank for, as now all he could envision with her was endless moaning and whining. “Where is it then?” Edmonton asked.

“Across the street.” She looked up from the phone. “Small place.”

“Quaint.” Edmonton said as he looked at the meeting location. A small family-run café, it was largely empty apart from a few tourists. The plants surrounding the outdoor were struggling to survive in the hot sun, their leaves already going brown. “Homely.”

“Cheap.” Fleur and her pretty little remarks. Edmonton didn’t reply. The girl stepped out into the road bringing a car to a screeching stop. Edmonton ran after her, frankly, she deserved ever swear the driver had just yelled. She leaned down and looked at the menu outside. “Wow. Amazing. So much choice.” Her tone said it was none of those things.

“Just come on.” Edmonton grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.

“Do you even know who we are meeting?”

“It’s a woman.”

“Aren’t you the ladies’ man?” Fleur asked.

“What’s with you today?” Edmonton finally barked.

“I’d rather go to read than to chase random phones.”

“You know she said we should go.” Both of them knew meant she meant Anassa, but neither of them were going to say the name of a Goddess who served Arascus in public.

“I had a talk with her.” Fleur said.

“And?”

“Waste of time, she said basically nothing.” Whenever Fleur said anything referring to Anassa, her tone had so much bile in it she could have been uttering a slur. “And now she tells you to take me to this woman?”

“We’ll see what she has to say, how about that?” Edmonton replied.

“Wow. Fantastic. Amazing. I’m sure it will be worth the two-day trip.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to see Atny once?”

“And now I’ve seen it.” Edmonton sighed as he looked around the café. It was a small place, all wooden furniture topped off with tablecloths that were about fifty years out of fashion. The guests looked happy enough, chatting quietly over coffee. Ed narrowed his eyes. “Do you see it?” Fleur whispered quietly, she took a step closer to him, their arms rubbing against each other.

“Swords.” Edmonton whispered back. Fleur gave a single nod. Swords were common enough in Atny, officially the stance was they should be inaccessible the majority of the population but things changed when economies took downturns. Every customer had a blade by his chair. “The two tables at the back are just watching us.” Edmonton whispered.

“I saw them.” Fleur replied, but she made no movement or tell that said of nervousness. Edmonton took a breath and confidently strolled to the bar in the centre of the room. Ultimately, they were sorcerers first, mages second, students of Arcadia third. The first two was enough reason for them not fear harm, the third was reason enough to be able to get away with everything if anything were to happen. The counter had a man working, rinsing out a glass that was far too clean to need rinsing. “We have a reservation.” Edmonton said.

“Do you?” The man looked down at a piece of paper with absolutely nothing scrawled on it.

“It’s with the Duchess.” That was all the phone-call had told him to say. The barkeep looked at him, looked at Fleur, weighed both of them with his eyes and shrugged.

“You ask for a drink normally.” He said lazily and shouted past them. “Markus, these are the two she wanted.” The man called Markus stood up from his table, sword on his belt and gestured.

“Follow me.” Fleur and Edmonton shared a look. All the annoyance had been driven out of the girl, now only replaced by curiosity and excitement. She was smiling! Edmonton did not blame her, he knew he was too. They silently followed Markus up a set of stairs, into a room, then through a wardrobe into another room. “Normally I offer drinks but she’s prepared some.” The man said, the bored tone, the slow movements, it all said this wasn’t the first time he had gone through this rigamarole. “Anyway, pleasure to serve.”

He opened yet another door to reveal a small room. Windowless and lit up only by candles, four bunkbeds lined one wall, swords and spears hung off the wall, in the corner Edmonton saw throwing cocktails, bottles filled with jelly and storm matches taped to the side. And a woman. A pretty woman, but Edmonton had his share of pretty women in Arcadia. She sat there in a suit as if ready for a business meeting. Edmonton felt himself underdressed, he simply wore a white shirt and shorts to deal with Atny’s summer sun. “Hello.” The woman said. “Please sit, I have wine, beer, water and soda. Take your pick.”

She herself was sipping on wine already. Edmonton sat down first, Fleur close behind him. “So we are here for what exactly?” He began immediately. There was no reason to sit in a room much too hot.

“You are Anassa’s sorcerers, yes?” The woman said the name as if she was familiar with the Goddess. No point in hiding it then.

“We are.” Edmonton said. “We’ve talked over the phone. I’m Edmonton Weaver. This is…” Fleur liked to introduce herself, he gestured towards her.

“Fleur Ambelee.”

“Sara Daganhoff. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said. “Right, since we’ve skipped the pleasantries, I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you out here.”

“Not to see the sights I assume.” Edmonton replied as Sara, if that even was her real name, brought out two tickets. Atny to Yetergrad, business class, three days from now. All that had to be left was for them to be signed. “I’ve not agreed to anything yet.” Edmonton said as Fleur inspected the ticket. The back and the front, it was as real as they came.

Sara watched them for a moment, smiled and leaned forwards. The top two buttons of her shirt were undone and she knew how to press herself against to table to bring attention to that. “You’re here already.” She practically purred. “Did Anassa not inform you?” That was not the thing to ask Fleur.

“Anassa tells us what she thinks we have to know.” Fleur barked. “And contain yourself woman. He is taken.” She wrapped her arm around Edmonton’s. The man only sat there and sighed. Taken? Since when?

“How nice.” Sara leaned further and took off her jacket. If there was one thing Ed and Lyca agreed on, it was that when you’re given permission to look, then look. “So you know nothing?”

“We knew to turn up here.” Edmonton said. He leaned back, pulled Fleur alongside him and very obviously looked to the blades hanging on the wall. They were plain but obviously kept oiled and clean. “Now I’d remind you that even if you don’t get what you want, we’ll walk out of here one way or another.” She should get the hint.

“We’re not on opposing sides.” Sara said.

“That’s not for you to decide.” The woman sighed, leaned back and shook her head.

“Are all mages like this?” She asked the open air.

“Just the ones who’ve dealt with Anassa.” Edmonton replied. “So? What?”

“I’m not under permission to tell you.”

“Grand.” Edmonton replied. “We’ve been on an adventure before, I have no plans to repeat it again.” Sara sighed, closed her eyes, that black hair spilling down. Edmonton enjoyed the show, enjoyed it until he felt Fleur pinch him.

“You’ve met Fer too, have you not?” Fleur answered. Well… she accused.

“You work for Iliyal Tremali. Ex-General of the Eighth Imperial Army, once a servant of Arascus.” Sara stopped the show, straightened, her blue eyes growing wide. “And I assume you want some service that only mages can do.”

“And you know that how?”

“I do a lot of reading.” Fleur replied. “So? We owe you no favours nor loyalty. As Ed said, we’ve been sent off on an adventure once. We learn from mistakes.” Sara sighed.

“I do indeed work with Iliyal. My apologies for not treating you seriously.” She put her arms on a ball in the table. “I’ve been to Arcadia and the quality of person was not, how should I say it? Up to par.”

“We’re not the masses.” Fleur added.

“Neither am I.” Sara continued. “I have been titled Duchess, first of my house. Right then, if I tell you, I expect agreement.”

“And if we don’t?” Edmonton asked.

“Then Anassa will know.” Sara said. Edmonton thought it was a bluff for a moment but if they snuck into the Divine Library, this woman could have just as easily. How difficult would it be to hand Anassa a phone? The words had little effect on him, but he felt Fleur’s finger intertwine through his.

“This better not be a suicide operation like last time.” He said.

“It wasn’t much of a suicide operation if you’re still alive.”

“We got lucky.”

“We had it planned out entirely.”

“I doubt it.”

“Doubt all you want.” Sara finished. “You want the story? We have decided it is time for you to quit wasting your life at Arcadia and actually do something that is worthy of your talents.”

“Mages have a good life.” Edmonton said.

“In two to three years, war will be unleashed on Arda. Mages will be pulled back into military service but they will be on the losing side.” She tapped one of the Gracya Air tickets. “This is an invitation to join the other team.”

“There’s always doomsday talk about.”

“Doomsayers don’t have the assistance of a God, do they?” Sara smiled at them. “And I don’t mean Anassa.”

“You want us to leave Arcadia properly?” Fleur asked

“Forever.” Sara said.

“I still have things there.” Fleur replied.

“Returning to pick them up should not be an issue after the mission is done.”

“Should or will not?” Fleur asked. Sara smiled at her like a teacher looking at her pupils.

“You have friends, even if it’s impossible for you, they can bring it.”

“What is in it for us?” Edmonton asked finally. Being a lawyer was one thing, being a wartime sorcerer though… And then the prestige and fame from that… Fleur sighed heavily, but she did back him up.

“It’s not a case of morality.” She explained. “It’s a case of if it’s worth doing or not.” Sara leaned forwards, she must be acting like that on purpose. Her chest practically wanted to burst the buttons on her shirt.

“You will kill a God.”