153 - Desire

I, Speaker of the council, announce that Lican’s motion to ban wineries, gambling dens, brothels, perfumeries, tailors, confectioners, jewelers, and many such establishments has been rejected by twenty votes to one.

The basis of the rejection is to preserve the economic interests of Turi’s citizens and their access to goods.

Lican’s claim that our citizens are weak and susceptible to betray the Seven is also refuted and condemned by all seats of the council. As such, councilman Miror has brought forth a motion to revoke Lican’s seat and banish him from the city.

Who is for?

Who is against?

Twenty to one, Lican is henceforth banished from Turi.

Transcript of the deliberations following the sermon of Lican the Ascetic at the municipal council of Turi.

The house in Balrum was silent.

Willow had gone out three days ago to look for Alexandra. She still hadn’t returned.

One week. This morning would be the seventh day since Alexandra had disappeared, and Kam could do nothing but hide in his bed, too afraid to leave the house.

Sometimes, he wondered what had happened to her. She was a heroine, a chosen of the divine. She had to be alright.

Unlike him.

Kam didn’t live under the implicit protection of the Seven. All he could do was hide and hope the Velvet Masks wouldn’t find this house.

His stomach complained. The food he’d been rationing since Willow left was about to run out.

He was hungry.

The boy dragged his body out of bed and slid down the ladder to the first floor. He sifted through the shelf, picking up the last piece of dry bread, and slowly munched on it.

It wasn’t enough, but it was all he had.

Kam slumped on the nearest chair. It wasn’t comfortable, but he didn’t have it in him to climb back into bed.

His gaze wandered over the room. The place barely had time to live before Alexandra left.

Perhaps staying in the Iron Library would have been safer. San’s cultists may have infiltrated the place, but acting under the nose of the Keepers was always going to be risky. There, he would have had more time.

He just thought they’d give up, or at least take longer to latch onto his trail. The Gray Basin was far from the east coast of the continent where Kator was located.

Yet they came. Quick.

Did they want his bloodline that much, or was it just a coincidence? He didn’t know. He couldn’t know. Yet it barely mattered to the current him. Either way, he couldn’t afford to get caught.

His parched throat itched for water. He didn’t have any. He felt weak. Useless.

Kam stood up and stood motionless with a hand resting on the chair.

“This is pathetic,” he said.

“I couldn’t agree more,” a woman’s voice answered from behind him.

He flipped around, coming face to face with the owner of that voice. She was wearing a mask. A velvet mask.

Kam felt his heart lurch inside his chest.

“Who are you?”

The woman didn’t move an inch. “You know who I am, Kam Pangulan.”

Kam breathed. He’d been afraid for so long. Now that he was faced with the source of his worries, he was almost relieved.

“Ridiculous,” he whispered.

“Indeed.” The woman’s soft words brushed his ears. “We’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a while now.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Kam scoffed. “You killed my family.”

The masked woman tilted her head. “This is news to me. As far as I know, your uncles killed your grandfather, then killed themselves out of guilt.”

“Don’t act like you deranged cultists weren’t involved.”

She shook her head. “Those words are uncalled for. I’m here to offer you a deal.”

“As if I would listen.”

“I believe you’re misunderstanding the situation you’re in, Kam Pangulan. I will offer you a mutually beneficial deal, and you will accept. There is no alternative.”

The masked woman flexed her mana, revealing her Gold-rank. Kam felt the knot in his throat release. It was over.

Even if help arrived, they likely wouldn’t want to cross a Gold cultist.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“You know what I want,” the woman said, taking a step in his direction. “Your bloodline. Lifeforce. But we who wear the mask are fair. Asking you to give a portion of your lifespan away is no small request.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched.

“So the question isn’t so much what I desire.” She leaned for his ear. “But what you desire.”

“Nothing you can give me.”

“I sincerely doubt that.” The woman pulled back. “What would you say, for example, if I gave you the identity of my colleagues, the ones who pitted your uncles against your grandfather?”

Kam’s eyes shifted. “You can do that?”

“Of course. Those idiots failed their assignment most spectacularly. Your blood is no use to us dead.”

“Tell me.”

The woman smiled beneath the mask. “I will, boy. After you complete your side of the bargain.”

“What do you want?”

“The child of one of our members has been cursed with a malediction consuming their lifespan at an accelerated rate. We need you to top it off with your bloodline.”

Kam frowned. “That is a lot to ask. I can transfer lifeforce with my bloodline, but I will be the one suffering from the loss of lifespan.”

“This is your only chance to find out who hurt your family. Isn’t it what you want? With your bloodline and studies, are you not confident in finding a solution?” She paused. “Worst-case scenario, you can ask a high-level member of the Hands to restore your lifeforce. A solution we cannot rely on.”

Silence.

“And… we are talking about saving a child,” she added.

Kam gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to do it, but he wanted those names. Furthermore, the child of a cultist wasn’t to blame for his parents’ actions. Why was he studying lifeforce if not to help people?

“Fine,” Kam said. “I'll do it.”

“Good boy.” The woman smiled behind her mask, pleased. “We leave now.”

“Now? It's the middle of the night—”

“The child does not have the luxury of time. The sooner we act, the healthier she’ll be.”

She didn't wait for him to argue further. She was already moving toward the door, and Kam found himself following. He grabbed his coat off the hook. There wasn't time to think about what else he might need. She was walking fast enough that he had to half-jog to keep pace.

The thought that he should leave a note in case Willow or Alexandra returned crossed his mind before vanishing in an instant.

Outside, Balrum was empty. No watch patrols, no drunks stumbling home, no cats, no dogs. Just the two of them.

“Where are we going?”

“The mountains. Not far.”

“You couldn't bring the girl here?”

“You know what I am. What do you think?”

He shut his mouth.

They left through the gate, unguarded for some reason, and soon the road gave way to a footpath, then the footpath gave way to rocks. The woman moved through it like it was nothing. Kam struggled to follow.

The woman never took off her mask. He didn't ask her to.

They found the girl in a shack hidden behind a boulder up the mountain slope. Six years old, maybe seven. Small enough that he could barely see her under the blanket someone had left over her. Her breath was short and shallow.

She was unconscious. Sleeping.

Kam knelt beside her. Her skin was gray in the candlelight.

“What's her name?”

“Not part of our deal.”

He didn’t look at the masked woman, keeping his eyes on the girl. Her lifeforce was low. Way too low for someone this young. He could immediately tell her capacity was normal, but something was stealing from her.

The malediction.

Kam pulled the blanket back to get a proper look at her.

Her hair was a knotted mess that could have passed as a bird nest, flat with sweat, stuck to her cheek. She was too thin. He could see too many bones showing through her skin. Her clothes were stained and old.

She shivered, and he pulled back the blanket over her body.

The woman stood on the other side of the girl, looking down. “Now do what you came to do.”

Kam met her gaze. “Tell me the names I want.”

“You first.”

He stared at her for a few seconds before giving in.

Kam pressed two fingers to the girl's wrist. Her pulse was weak. He closed his eyes and found a thread of mana in his core. Linking it to his bloodline, he reached for the girl.

Once he found her, he opened the valve. Lifeforce moved through his fingers into her wrist.

For a moment nothing happened. Then something in her chest pulled at what he was feeding her.

“That's not her drawing on it,” he said. “That's the malediction.”

“Yes.”

The pull deepened, and Kam felt his own pulse stutter to match the drain. His vision grayed at the edges. He kept his fingers on her wrist anyway.

“How much does it need?”

“As much as you can give.”

“That's not what we agreed on.”

“We never set a limit on how much you should give.” The woman watched him. “Keep going, Kam Pangulan. She's running out of time.”