“The War Chief is biding his time,” I say. “I would offer warning that the valley’s food stores are in danger on multiple fronts. First, planting came late since many farms had to rebuild. This means crops will be smaller than usual. Second, the weather is threatening to turn and the region may find itself in an early winter without a full harvest. On any normal year, this would be troublesome but not disastrous. Add to that, now, active sabotage and it becomes the perfect combination any conquering force could hope for. War Chief Grimjaw will invade in the early spring at this rate, even if that was not the plan originally.”
As I speak, Level writes furiously. I pause and wait for him to catch up.
“I think you’re right about the potential danger,” says Level, once he finishes. He looks across the desk at me, casting quite the apprising look. It looks like a plan—a plan I won’t like.
“I’m impressed you’ve been able to put together so much from bits and pieces out in the field. It’s in line with the reports out of Buknar Vull, though even they didn’t have a name of the ringleader.”
Ah good, he is seeing that I can be of much greater use. I let him continue down that line of thought.
“I really think your group has got that something special. Vong seems to be attracted to points of interest, and you are able to glean quite a lot from them.”
Oh gods, he wants me and Vong to be a tactical field unit.
“What I’d like to do, if you’re amicable, is treat your team as a tactical field unit with slightly different orders than the other groups. We’ll assign your unit to follow up on emerging intelligence or just let you continue to discover it on your own. Now don’t tell me that’s not a good use of your talents!”
I sigh inwardly. From his standpoint, it really is a decent idea. The party has somehow been exceeding expectations, which makes me wonder how low they were to begin with. Then again, some of the characters who signed the contract are not exactly professionals. They’re even training people without any prior experience, as the accident yesterday demonstrated.
He sees someone who is good at sniffing out trouble and another who is good at seeing the truth. I can’t blame him for wanting to get more of the same, but perhaps it’s a tad early to put so much faith in Vong’s unproven track record. Once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence. Three, four, five…maybe that actually begins to denote a reliable pattern.
It’s encouraging that he quickly recognized my intelligence and wants to put it to greater effect, but formalizing the aimless wandering the party has been doing would be akin to Vong winning a race he didn’t even know he was competing in. Another notch in the belt of his blessed being. Awarding such behavior feels like the irresponsible choice, cosmically. Like some kind of divine prank. It’s honestly the kind of thing that should be discouraged, not applauded.
On the other hand, I’d likely be able to swing being fed intelligence from higher sources. If I can get enough money to move on, I can go to Kadraka and ingratiate myself with the War Chief’s party by bringing the enemy’s intelligence to him. That could go a long way to starting off on the right foot in the Orc Hordes.
I bring my hand to my chin, resting my index finger across my lips.
“Have I piqued your interest?” asks Level hopefully.
Perhaps. It doesn’t solve the issue of the risk I am under while having to rely an such amateurs. Ten gold a day isn’t worth dying over.
“There’d be a bump in pay grade,” he adds, scanning his desk for something. Flipping through some pages on his right, he pulls a sheet out and reads aloud, “Special units receive a 50% base pay increase and intelligence groups get bonus pay for each finding that leads to an operation against the enemy.” He smiles and flicks the page to punctuate.
I reflect on the encounters with my assigned team. Were I to have received half again as much money and an additional payout for the information I gathered, would it be worth the risk? I could leave Elysium that much faster. Maybe even before winter.
I’d still have to deal with criminally imbecilic stunts like this business with selling information on the party to a stranger, or walking face-first into trapped rooms, but the group is relatively pliable. Perhaps the extra money can allow them to equip themselves better. Buying a bow, for example. I can continue to assert my directives on the party and practice getting people to fall in line—a useful skill for building up my empire. Maybe put in some real effort to molding one or two of them into minions. Rakatha could make a good bodyguard, at least temporarily. I should really consider Vong’s charisma as a weapon in my arsenal, rather than a source of my despair. It is part of my plan to utilize someone charismatic as the face of my empire, after all. I can develop an effective plan for grooming him in earnest. Twitch, while a mess, seems to have no moral compass, which could be useful here and there. And maybe I can convince Ralith to forsake Risha, just for a fun, added bonus.
The Wordbearer Chronicles is a dark fantasy web series with new passages on Tuesdays.
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