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Ardry crouched in the wide stone hallway, trying to ignore the chill in his bones. He’d found this portal, strangely unguarded and unwarded, in the middle of the Singularity Caul after the Council of Sages had asked him to investigate rumors of Elemental activity in the area.
So far, all he’d seen in this complex had been Virindi and their Hollow Minion servants. Hollow Minions were no trouble for him to avoid – their clanking limbs made them easy to detect down these long, barren corridors. The cloaked, floating Virindi were tougher to detect, but Ardry had spent enough time intruding their lairs that he’d managed to develop a legitimate “Virindi sense”. He always felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle up if one of the sickle-wielding creatures was near.
That’s why it was such a surprise to him when, without any warning from his Virindi sense, he felt the cold touch of a blade against the back of his neck. He froze for one second as he realized what kind of a position he was in, then tensed to act. He knew he’d have to roll low to escape the Virindi’s weapon swing, and come up ready to dodge a War spell or two…
“Don’t move,” a voice whispered from behind him. “Otherwise, I’ll be forced to cut you with this blade, and you won’t enjoy full-body paralysis. People tend to soil their breeches.” It was a familiar voice, certainly not the disembodied inner-ear echo that he was used to hearing when a Virindi felt compelled to try and communicate with him. The dry humor behind the threat was also familiar.
“Adso?” he whispered.
The blade retreated and he heard a familiar snort of amusement.
“Ardy. I should have known it was you from the nervous shuffling steps near the portal outside. I could even hear you muttering ‘Oh Pwyll, not again,’ from a hundred yards behind.”
Ardry smiled wryly into the darkness, trying not to let his amusement show to the ineffable and terrifyingly competent assassin behind him. “You got me, oh silent one. I recognized you by the obsession with my soiled breeches.”
A strong hand grasped him and pulled him into the nearest room, which contained the as-yet-undiscovered corpse of the last Hollow Minion that Ardry had dispatched. He finally turned around to confront the young assassin and grinned, trying to seem more confident than he felt. Adso grinned back and gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder, but noticeably did not sheathe the poisoned dagger he’d been holding at Ardry’s neck just a moment earlier.
“What are you doing here?” Adso demanded, and just like that his demeanor was back to pure business.
“I might ask the same of you.” Ardry crossed his arms truculently, but he knew he wasn’t going to push this defiance much farther, not with horde of Virindi and Hollow Minions nearby.
Adso matched his bluff. “You tell me what you’re doing here first. It’s the polite thing to do, after I spared you the paralysis and the laundering expense. I must imagine that the washerwoman at the Smoking Axe is tired of your business. I may even decide I want to cooperate with you.”
Ardry nodded. “I was sent here by the Council of Sages to investigate Elemental activity.” He was careful to avoid mentioning the rumor of a Harbinger’s presence…
Adso regarded him warily. “Strangely enough, I was sent here to investigate Shadow activity.” The two of them stared into each other’s eyes, each confused by the other’s news.
“Then why…” Ardry began.
“Are we fighting Virindi?” Adso finished. He nodded to Ardry, as if some decision had been made. “Let’s find out together.”
Ardry blinked, unsure of how to proceed. He felt a certain kinship and respect for Adso, but he knew Adso served an amoral Master whose final loyalty was only to his own interests, who regarded the deaths of innocents as an unfortunate but perfectly acceptable expedient. Still, he could not deny how useful their assistance, freely offered, had been in the days when the realm had been threatened by the Shadow-mantled demon Grael. Adso’s master had forced a truce between two warring sects of assassins and helped bring the realms that they served into a common cause to stop the demon…
“Ardry, you’re dithering like you have a choice here. I’m making this offer because it would inconvenience me to kill you and hide your corpse from the Virindi. It would slow down my investigation. My way or the lifestone, friend.”
There was not a hint of cockiness in Adso’s voice, but a sure and certain promise. Ardry knew the truth of his claim well enough. The best he could hope for, if he resisted, would be to cause enough commotion to draw the Virindi and their Hollow Minions, spoiling Adso’s own investigation. He would almost certainly make an eternal enemy of this deadly man, who could switch from humor and jokes to cold-blooded murder without warning.
Finally, Ardry nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”
Adso grinned, sincere delight evident in his expression. “Wonderful. I would have regretted killing you. Allow me to take the point, friend.”
With that, he winked stalked forward, leading the way into the long dark corridor, poisoned dagger out in front of him. Ardry shook his head and followed.
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