Chapter 12 - Part 12

The Iron Orphan came back with the mayor, who had shifted in order to keep up with the warforged monk. The Brelish ambassador was behind them, trying to catch up.

“Delegado?” Tippish asked, his features flowing to a less-animalistic shape.

“Woman named Lo’Paih,” Delegado said. “One time of House Cannith but she says no longer. Powerful artificer. Four constructs, and nine men with anti-construct infusions on their blades that will run out in about forty minutes. All nine are deserters from Aundair’s army, she says.”

“Did you just say Lo’Paih?” Iron Orphan asked. He had real fear in his voice.

“You know her?” Delegado and the mayor asked the warforged at the same time. The men near them gave each other guarded looks.

“Yes,” the warforged said. “Several months ago she held me captive. Her uncle sits in the highest councils of Cannith, and she commanded great resources.” The ambassador came running up, huffing and puffing.

“I did not hold you ‘captive,’” came her voice from the air. Iron Orphan nearly jumped. “You were, and are still, the property of House Cannith.”

“We need her help, Mayor!” one man said, eyeing the warforged doubtfully. “Powerful artificer magic.” A murmur of assent came from the others. They did not want their town wiped out, and they were not fond of strangers.

And me hitting that jerk didn’t make them any fonder, Delegado fumed. Incidentally the man was still out cold. I have to learn some diplomacy. A pause. Did I really just think that? “She has a magical speaking tube, Mayor Tippish,” the half-orc explained.

The mayor nodded, but he was also watching what the people of the town were saying. “Advance carefully,” the Mayor said. “Do not draw weapons or cast spells or use devices. Come here and we will speak face-to-face. We welcome assistance, but Cannith is the same group that made the things that threaten us. It is odd to find both you and them here in this place so far from the center of the world.”

Delegado raised an eyebrow in approval. The mayor had done a good job telling the men here that they couldn’t trust Lo’Paih, without actually telling them that outright. “I’m going to pull back so I can use my bow if I need to,” he said. The mayor nodded. “Let’s go,” Delegado said, grabbing Iron Orphan’s arm. The shocked warforged let himself be pulled.

Delegado and Orphan went all the way back to the other end of the square, moving quickly and not talking. Many curious eyes followed them. The half-orc jumped on top of a parked wagon, and set an arrow to his bow. Iron Orphan jumped up next to him. Their height was necessary, because people were beginning to come forward to see what was going on. A member of the militia tried to get the people hanging around to pull back, but far too many of them were coming forward, watching the strange procession.

“So tell me about this Lo’Paih,” Delegado said, looking around for Feather. He was beginning to wonder if the warforged force to the north had killed him. The hawk was overdue.

“First she grew in power and influence in noble circles, using her words as careful weapons,” Orphan told him. “She grew very, very good at both lying and finding out lies. Then after she conquered the power of words, she trained in Rekkenmark, and became an accomplished warrior. Finally she returned to Cannith and began mastering artificer magic. Her uncle is Lord Viceroy Du’Bray d’Cannith.”

“You’re kidding me,” Delegado said.

“You know Du’Bray?” Orphan asked, surprised.

“He’s number four in the Cannith hierarchy,” Delegado said. “And he answers only to the Gorgon himself. I can tell you the top five people in every dragonmarked house, professional courtesy, really. She acts for him?”

“Yes,” Orphan said. “She was in charge of watching me.” Now the carpet was floating in front of the mayor, and the shifter and Lo’Paih were conversing. The nine Aundarian rejects kept to formation, uncomfortably eyeing the townsfolk who eyed them back coldly. “At first she was not trusted with the whole truth of me, but eventually she was. She became Du’Bray’s right hand in many matters.”

“Successful noblewoman, successful warrior, successful artificer, highly placed connections, and she supposedly gave it all away? Just left Cannith?” Delegado asked. He squinted at the capering constructs. “Doesn’t add up.” He pursed his lips, jutting his lower canines. “So, want to tell me why one warforged needed watching, and what ‘the truth of me’ is?”

“Are you asking me to trust you?” Orphan said.

Delegado considered that. “Yes, I suppose I am.” He saw that people were beginning to relax, and that the Lo’Paih woman’s body language spoke of one used to negotiations. Odd that she kept herself so wrapped and hidden, though.

“Give me a reason to,” Orphan said.

“What do you want?” Delegado asked.

“Tell me if you believed the halfling,” Orphan said.

Delegado turned and looked at the warforged. “Why?”

“I want to know if this is an arrangement of convenience or if you truly believe that you and I should be on the same side,” the warforged said bluntly.

The half-orc growled like a cat spotting a strange tom. “Alright!” he snapped. “Yes, I did. I didn’t want to but I did. I thought the halfling was a con artist, but he was clearly possessed by something.”

“Why did you believe him?” the warforged asked.

Delegado considered lying, but rejected it. The ‘forged was too insightful to pull it off, and the half-orc just wasn’t that good at it. He’d lived too much of his life with raw, natural, elemental truths, and he had neither the patience nor the skill for bull-galig. “Because Pienna believed him, because he was too aware of things for someone who was delusional, and because he knew about something that no one else did.”

“The woman you failed?”

“Yes.” His eyes felt like they would jump out of his sockets if he stared any harder.

The warforged took the hint and backed off. “Well,” he said diffidently. “I was apparently secretly programmed by someone within Cannith to be an assassin and no one knows who authorized it. It is suspected that the senior members of the House are planning to murder one another.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

The half-orc considered this. “Aren’t all warforged programmed?”

“No, they are forged with minimal instruction, and taught the rest. It is very difficult to program them with more, and also expensive, and also unreliable.”

“So you are a very valuable piece of property to them.” Delegado was beginning to understand Orphan’s insistence on human mannerisms. The ‘forged wanted to be who he was, not who Cannith had tried to make him to be.

“Very,” Orphan said dryly. “And when I escaped I made Lo’Paih look very bad.”

Delegado nodded, finally understanding the fear that Lo’Paih put into Orphan. The half-orc’s House was not as intrinsic in its plotting as some, but had it been Delegado who had lost face by allowing Orphan to escape, he would have tracked the ‘forged to the end of the earth. “Hm,” the half-orc said, squinting. Lo’Paih had now rolled up her rug, and was walking next to the mayor further into the town’s open area. Obviously they had come to some sort of agreement. Her entourage came further into view. “Jak?” Delegado whispered.

“What?” Orphan asked.

“I know of one her soldiers,” Delegado said. “He used to work for Lyrandar.”

“What, do all of you dragonmarked people know each other?” the warforged asked.
Delegado ignored him. The mayor was coming their way. The half-orc changed arrows. He had an expensive one, adamantine-tipped with a bane enchantment against constructs that he intended to use on Lo’Paih’s pets if needed.

The group came within about ten feet of the wagon, many of them eyeing Delegado’s bow. Mayor Tippish, Brella d’Vadalis, and several Wardens of the Wood were there, along with numerous curious townspeople, and of course Lo’Paih and her retinue. The Cannith woman was explaining how she had scrolls that could heal many in the village of their harms.

“Delegado,” Tippish said carefully. “Can you step down from the wagon please?”

“I could,” the half-orc said. “I won’t.”

“Delegado, we’re not asking,” Brella told him. Delegado saw Lo’Paih’s mouth smile, and he saw some of the townspeople looking at Orphan with hatred.

“I don’t care,” Delegado said. “You have no call of action over me.”

“We’re not interested in you,” one of the Wardens of the Wood said.

“The warforged was just hired by me,” Delegado said. “He’s a hireling of House Tharashk now. And Dragonmarked Houses are supposed to stand by their henchmen, even ones not born into the House. Isn’t that right, Jak?”

A bunch of people turned around to look at the Aundairian. Jak stared back at the half-orc with tired eyes.

“I’m flattered that you recognize me,” he said with a weary lack of emotion.

“You know each other?” Lo’Paih asked.

“Answer my question, Jak,” Delegado said, keeping an eye on one of the flying, warty things.

“They are supposed to, but sometimes they can’t do anything about it,” Jak said. His voice was more resigned than bitter.

“So who is making this claim against my House, hm?” Delegado asked. “You, Tippish?”

“No,” the mayor said. “This is a Vadalis company town. But I agree with it. And perhaps you should hear the whole story.”

“From who?” Delegado said. “A veiled woman who uses enchantments to make her lies more believable? Who embodies far more of what the Ashbound preach against than Orphan does?”

“From me,” Brella said angrily. “It was my call. We’re not going to hurt the warforged, Delegado, we just need to restrain him. It’s him the other warforged are after. Cannith wants him, and they’ve allied with Aundair to get him.”

“You think Aundair had one of their top wizards attack this place with a horde of warforged to capture him?” Delegado asked, gesturing with his head towards Orphan.

“Aundair has no reason to detain me,’ Orphan said. “And they could have when I passed through their borders.”

“Be quiet!” someone yelled. “You have no right to talk, you’re only a thing!”

“He is a sentient being and he has certain rights,” Ambassador Ressir said, suddenly appearing as he shoved his way through. “What is this, what are you doing, Tippish?”

“They are returning a fugitive,” Lo’Paih said. “And you are a fugitive, are you not, warforged?”

“Does not the Eldeen Reaches pride itself on harboring fugitives from other lands that do not respect liberty?” the ambassador thundered. People began to look at one another.

“Hm, I seem to recall hearing that,” Tippish said, bending quickly with the political winds. Delegado developed a sudden distaste for the mayor.

“And do you recall Orphan hauling you out of that inn before it collapsed?” Delegado demanded of the mayor. “He saved your life, and now you want to so easily give him up?” To his credit, Tippish looked guilty.

“We need her help, she can do more against the army of warforged – his kind, mind you – than he can!” shouted a man in a butcher’s apron. A chorus of ayes followed.

“One, you are underestimating this monk,” the Brelish Amabssador said. “Two, you know in your hearts that it isn’t right. My words, the points I raise, they were already digging at your consciences!”

“And who are you?” Lo’Paih asked, sneering at the Brelish ambassador. “A priest of Aureon? Who made you a judge over these people?”

“Oh, I’m just a minor member of the diplomatic corps,” Reesir said, smiling. Then he was slapping his hands together, and a ring on his left hand glowed. A burst of light flew out in a fan, tearing at Lo’Paih’s robes and veil, making them fall from her body.

She stood before everyone, revealed and open. They all took a step back, and several looked like they would vomit. She wore armor, which covered the worst of things, but the surgical scars could be seen on all of her exposed flesh. Very little of her hair was left, and the face of a woman once beautiful was dotted and pock-marked with machinery and metal plating. A red mechanical eye sat across from a normal one, and one hand was a giant, mechanical mockery of life.

“A minor member of the diplomatic corps that knows your uncle put a price on Pienna’s head,” Reesir said, very serious now. “You aren’t here for the Iron Orphan. He’s bait. You are here to kill Pienna.”

“Lies!” Lo’Paih thundered. “I left Cannith because they did this to me after an industrial accident! You would believe a Brelander who seeks to manipulate your country over me, a neutral observer who is here to help you?” She essayed a bitter laugh. “Am I less believable because I hide the misfortune that has cursed me with a mockery of life?” Her construct servants bowed their heads in unison. The people gathered looked at each other, not sure anymore of who to believe.

A sudden cry split the air. Delegado looked up to see Feather return. The hawk circled and then landed on the half-orc’s shoulder, glaring at the crowd.

“Well?” Tippish asked. Delegado glared at him. Glared at all of them.

“Please, Delegado,” Orphan said. “Cast your spell. I appreciate what you are trying to do, believe me, but we need to know. Please cast your spell.”

Delegado bared his lower teeth at Lo’Paih, who stared angrily back with one living eye and one red, mechanical one. But he cast the spell. His mind joined with the bird’s, and he was able to talk to the hawk on that primal level of thought and awareness. What the hawk told him was good and bad news. He blinked and shook his head to end the spell.

“Pienna comes back,” Delegado announced. “She has destroyed most of the warforged force.” A large cheer went up, and Delegado had to wait a moment before he could continue. Lo’Paih looked angrier. “She and her company are all alive, but they all bear wounds and they are very tired. Some of the warforged escaped, heading north, to join up with another force already there that is digging in and making a base. There are still about a hundred or so warforged to deal with, with roughly eighty of them almost due north, about an hour by foot.”

“Then you still need me, and my abilities,” Lo’Paih said. “I can have you all there much faster, while the enchantments on my followers’ blades are still active. Give me this Iron Orphan and you have my help. I will not harm him, I will only disable him.”

Brella thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Alright then. Orphan, get down here. We don’t have a choice, we need her to help us fight.”

“I must protest!” Reesir Toppen yelled.

“Go protest in your own country!” someone yelled back.

Mayor Tippish shrugged, and gestured to the Wardens of the Wood.

“First one who steps forward dies!” Delegado roared, pointing the bow. “And don’t you make with the magic either!” he said, pointing the bow at Lo’Paih. Her living eye narrowed. The Wardens stopped, looking at Tippish.

“Don’t do this,” Orphan said. “We don’t have a choice, not if we want the townspeople to survive.” In a much lower voice he added “And besides, it was nice of you to say so, but I’m not a Tharashk hireling. You didn’t even give me any money yet.”

“I’ll owe you,” Delegado whispered back.

“All the warforged are the same,” someone yelled. “I heard this one is a spy for the others!”

“This warforged isn’t the same, he has been helping us!” called out one woman.

“This Lo’Paih could help us more,” grumbled a Warden of the Wood. “Don’t any of you get that?”

“They say no one has heard from the fishermen!” another person yelled. “Maybe this Orphan led the warforged here across the sea!”

“He was on a caravan with me!” Reesir protested.

“So you say,” called out another.

“So I say too!” yelled a woman.

“Are we to believe Cannith over Breland?” asked another.

“Cannith fixed my pots, and Breland killed my cousin!” snapped someone else in response. “Let’s go get the thing!”

“Aye!” several people roared in unison.

“Nay!” yelled out another group. But they were fewer in number. The only comforting thing was that the majority of the people had not committed themselves. They were eyeing Tippish and Brella carefully.

“Ask yourself if you want to die at the hands of the warforged!” called out a burly shifter.

“Ask yourself if you want me to kill you!” Delegado snapped, sighting the the man. The shifter took a step back. “What is it, you people think that every warforged is the same? Huh? Do you? Jak, do you?”

Jak flushed as everyone turned to look at him, interested in how the famous half-orc knew the man following the disfigured woman. “I’m not one to say anything here,” he said.

“No?” Delegado asked. “You think all warforged are like that psiforged? What was his name, Equilibrium? You fought at his side then, remember?”

“Psiforged?” Orpan asked, curiously.

“Come on, Jak, tell us what you think?” Delegado said.

“Jak has nothing to tell you,” Lo’Paih hissed.

Something clicked in Delegado’s mind. “Jak, Lo’Paih brought the warforged here, didn’t she? She’s in league with the Aundairians, isn’t she?”

“She was,” Jak said. Everyone began talking, and they all took a step back from Lo’Paih.

“Shut. Up.” Lo’Paih was glaring at Jak. She turned back to Delegado. “Half-orc, yes or no, was it you who murdered the rest of my men, depriving this town of their prowess?”

“I didn’t murder them, it was self-defense,” Delegado snorted. But he saw she was getting the upper hand.

“Jak, what was the disposition of the bodies?” Lo’Paih asked.

“Some were shot in the back while trying to run,” Jak said. Another murmur went up.

“To keep them from alerting the enemy!” Delegado said.

“So Jak is your enemy?” Lo’Paih asked cleverly.

The people’s mood was turbulent, and the murmurs were deadly. Brella was frowning, and Tippish was frantically trying to see which faction had the upper hand.

“If Lo’Paih is so keen to get me, let her come get me,” Orphan said suddenly. “You have all seen how fast I run. Trust me, you cannot catch me. Let her come for me if she wants me, and I will not run.”

“Let her come for us,” Delegado said.

“Delegado –” the warforged began.

“Don’t,” the half-orc said.

“Trial by combat!” the mayor cried in a sudden fit of inspiration. “Lo’Paih and her followers against Delegado and the warforged monk!”

Lo’Paih sneered, and her creatures jumped forward.