Chương 119: 112. No rest for the wicked

We went to the tomb—me, Q'Shar, and Bakari.

"That's a lot to transport," said the smaller of the cats.

"Yeeep. You could have brought more helpers."

"Ophelia is training, and the rest I trust are cats, so not much help with transportation. Put that mutated body to work."

"Did you do that on purpose?"

"Nooooo," said Q'Shar with the fakest voice he could put up. I sighed and started carrying things to the van. At least the tiger was useful, unlike a certain useless Maine Coon strolling through the tomb with his head on a swivel.

"So, aside from the dog, anything interesting? And did you really meet the Butcher?" he asked as I was struggling with a sizable bookshelf.

"Yes, he told me a prophecy about a useless, ugh–" I almost dropped the piece of furniture before continuing once I got a better grip.

"—cat that would come and watch me struggle. I didn't believe there was an asshole like that, but here we are." The cat in question rolled his eyes.

"What do you want me to do? Jump onto that?"

"Don't even try."

"The throne looks comfortable, although that circle is a bit ominous." I saw Bakari drag an overturned table, turned into a platform for books, past me with ease.

"Well. I'll have a new way of creating abominations and golems, as well as a lot of soul magic to study."

"Oh God."

"Aaaaand," I looked at the cat.

"With the hook, the demon plan can be set into motion." My broker's tail fell onto the ground.

"Please don't…"

"Got any better ideas?" Silence descended between us as I started to take the books out of the bookshelf to transport them separately.

"Fine…" he finally sighed.

"We'll proceed with your plan." I smiled happily and finally picked up the thing with more ease, making a quick trip to the car.

"So," spoke Q'Shar now from the throne, apparently taking the risk with the spell when I was gone.

"You ready for the sabbath?"

"I'm always ready. When?"

"We don't know yet. That's why the envoy's here. But they should give us some time to prepare. Although…" I started packing the machine delicately, not to break anything, as the cat let the silence hang. And hang. And hang.

"Although," he repeated, louder this time.

"Although what? Oh, please do tell, oh, the one upon the throne." I said with all the dramatics in my arsenal, still looking over the contraption.

"Although their movements were extremely suspicious. They were sending envoys back and forth to some of the families. The owners of the Winser family had probably the most contact of all of them." I put the machine down and curiously looked at the cat.

"Winser… the guys whose pouch I sto—reclaimed in the name of the greater good."

"Yes—the people whose men you killed in cold blood and whose treasure you stole—the very same, the overseer family."

"Is it a big deal?"

"Aside from the fact that you most likely killed their third son, then no. But I don't like the coincidences. The noble clans are scheming with the Church, and if they propose something that is against the interests of the Third Chamber, then they will most likely want to deal with its leader first."

"Well, then the leader needs to watch out."

"That's you, you fucking moron," the cat hissed from the throne. I broke my gaze from the machine and looked at my broker.

"Do I have to?"

"The faction still quotes your grandfather in their laws. What do you think?"

"Yes, and the Alhazred clan never cared much for witty quotes. My grandfather was annoyed by this position, my father was, and I'm following in my family's footsteps."

"Some politics wouldn't kill you."

"What if it bores me to death?" I brought my eyes back to the mechanism in front of me, trying to transport it without any damage.

"Besides, we always delegated. So did the Alhazred clan prepare any countermeasures?" The creature smiled a sly smile.

"The Alhazred clan has plans of its own. The countermeasures are already in place."

"You see? I'm great at politics." Q'Shar sighed as I finally figured out how to pick up the thing without it breaking apart.

"So what is the Alhazred clan's plan?" I asked.

"I'll tell you later. This is not a talk for this place."

"Sure. I'm gonna need some alcohol if I have to listen to politics for a long time anyway."

"And…" the cat continued with a slightly awkward voice.

"I'm gonna need you to call your friends…" he finished in a resigned voice. I turned to him in surprise.

"Oh?"

"Without causing an incident, please," the animal groaned.

"When did we cause any incidents?" He just looked at me with a flat gaze. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Oh, don't be like that. Some fun never killed anyone." His gaze became flatter.

"Anyone undeserving."

"Your ancestors showed up with other leaders in tow. You should do the same with this generation. And it pains me to say it, but you will have to arrive as a group."

"Sounds fun." He groaned once again. We spent almost the entire day carrying the items from the tomb to the car. It got so late that we had to send the driver to distract the farmers so that he wouldn't come over to throw us out. But after the whole day of the three of us carrying stuff—and Q'Shar being useless and annoying—we finally made our way to the cars and went back. I wanted to get this done while I still could, so we called Ophelia and started unloading all of it into the storage.

By the end of the night, the place was almost entirely filled, with only some free space in the middle. I would need a place to store this sooner than intended. Thankfully, the mansion should be coming first thing after the sabbath. After some small talk, we all went home, everyone being tired in the end. The next day I met with Ophelia in the storage. We sat together in the scraped space as Ophelia explained the events of the past few days to me.

She hung her head slightly as she described her encounter with Tom's father.

"You did well," I said, as my mouth stretched into a slight smile. She could kill when she needed to, and that was half the success.

"I thought you would tell me it was a bad plan," she replied, her brow rising lightly.

"Well… it was a bad plan. Normal people might not all be monsters, but you don't get into positions like Tom's father while keeping your innocence. When you don't know what people want, it's either money or blood. Usually intertwined." I saw her hang her head a bit more.

"But…" I added.

"You did adjust and clean up. The outcome was good, so I won't be whining about it. We will go over the mistakes you made later, but you did well for your first time." She smiled lightly.

"Now, get your things. We'll be meeting an envoy from the Vatican." She was clearly taken aback by the sudden change.

"Should I take my rapier?"

"To meet the peaceful envoy of the Church?" I saw her blush slightly and started to unfasten it from her belt.

"Of course you should," I said with a smile as she froze.

"Come." I picked up Q'Shar, and we drove to the meeting place, an expensive-looking restaurant in Manhattan. The place was in a high-rise building, on the top floor, of course. The restaurant, interestingly enough, allowed animals in, particularly cats… We took the elevator and were greeted by a waiter. Before either of us could say anything, the man spoke.

"Please follow me. We were expecting you." I met Q'Shar's eyes with my eyebrows raised. Without any more words, we were led into a corridor next to the main hall and then into a private room. It had a modern minimalist style with sharp edges and three dominant colors: black, green, and white. The wall across from the entrance was entirely glass, showing the Skyline of New York. A waiter was already waiting next to a sizable round table in the middle.

By the table sat an older man dressed in a suit with a clerical collar under his chin. I could sense the second circle from him in full display. Judging by the energy coloring his aura, he was halfway through to the third, so a higher-up in the Church. He was well-built despite his age. The moment we walked in, the man met my eyes without hesitation, although I still caught the slight grimace the moment he did. I nodded at him and looked around.

It didn't look like a special mage-oriented establishment like Red Head, but the staff and the room were specially prepared.

"Please take a seat. Order whatever you like," the priest greeted. All three of us sat down across from the man and were brought menus. I zeroed in on the most expensive dish, a Wagyu steak, and immediately ordered it, which earned me a claw to the thigh from Q'Shar. Not sure what he was so annoyed about. The Church was paying, after all. After we all ordered, the waiter brought the wine the priest had ordered and poured everyone a glass or a cat bowl on an extended leg.

"So, to what do we owe the pleasure?" The cat started as if we weren't well aware of the reason.

'Abyss, I hate politics.' But I had promised to let him handle it, so I sat silently. At least the wine was good.

"Well, as I'm sure you were aware for quite some time." He met Q'Shar's eyes.

"A change is coming to our world, and we need to come together, all of us, to prepare for the storm at our doorstep."

"Of course. The Alhazred clan has been a pillar of the magic community since the nascent times and through many storms. We would be honored to help weather this one as well."

"Of course. All of the many pillars need to come together to weather such a storm."

"Of course. But we will need time to prepare, to help the community better."

"Were the past months not enough?"

"Past months? We only found out recently." The two let a second of silence hang in the air before continuing.

"Yes, we understand, the lack of personnel after the hollow age can be a problem. The date of the sabbath has been set for a month from now."

"The hollow age? That's a good name. What are we calling the new one?"

"That remains to be seen." Another piece of tense silence descended. I could see Ophelia fidget slightly to my side. I let the two stare at each other as I opened the menu back up, looking for an expensive dessert for the future. Q'Shar broke the tension.

"I'd think more time would be needed, at least a few months to prepare for a new age."

"We apologize, but the situation is dire, and the change is already hard to contain."

"Oh, are the noble clans going to be all right with such a short time?" The priest twitched ever so slightly. I, on the other hand, was looking for the wine card, but couldn't find it. Was it on purpose? The priest was about to answer when one of the waiters entered at just the right moment to bring the cutlery. Only once we were left alone did the conversation start back up.

"Well, they'll have to, we need to address the situation as soon as possible. I would also like to hear any opinions or suggestions from a pillar of the community. The Church is always interested in advice as to the path we should be taking from now on."

"As you said, there are many pillars. Why would the Church want an opinion of just one?" The cat asked.

"We will be asking everyone, of course."

"Isn't that what the sabbath's for? No point in any bigger discussions before, right?" Silence descended on the room as the two looked at one another. I saw that Ophelia was slightly uncomfortable, swirling the wine in her glass. I shrugged and finished mine—it was excellent. I didn't want to know how much a bottle cost.

"Are you enjoying the wine?" the man asked, turning his gaze on me.

"Yep," I confirmed.

"So, do you have anything the Church might assist with? We are always eager to help."

"Not needed," I said, eyeing Ophelia's glass, as she was only twirling the red liquid this whole time.

"You gonna drink that?" I asked, which earned me another claw from Q'Shar. Was he a wine guy or something?

"Well…" the priest stated, slowly pronouncing every letter as if unsure of the simple word.

"We would like to help prop up smaller clans that have lost their members over the ages." The room froze at those words—myself included. I turned to him in the unnatural silence. He seemed nervous but still met my eyes and held my gaze.

"Well, then go and offer it to smaller clans," I said, holding his eyes. A shadow flickered across his face.

"The pillars propping up the arcane world need to be strong, especially in the coming age. And we are afraid some of them eroded–""Tell me, priest," I interrupted.

"When talking to other ' pillars,' did you also hide some amateur outside to try, and fail, to gauge their strength?" I could see a twitch, but he didn't miss a beat.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Pleas—" I turned to the wall next to us and let the staff unravel into my hand.

"Right, so you won't mind if I blow a hole right around there," I said, pointing the weapon at a spot around the middle of the wall.

"Last time I checked, the pillars didn't stand with many amateurs, but few powerhouses, and if that's their level, I'm really afraid about what's propping up our community." The room was drowned in uncomfortable silence.