Heirs of Hyarch

"This is the place, then," Myron said.

Hamond had to admit, the place did not look anything like a bathhouse. It was some other building, possibly an old store, that had been repurposed. He supposed that was part of the whole plan: if you didn't know it was here, you wouldn't think much of it. Of course, the small dirty sign by the door did give it away, but it hung in the shade where it would be hard to see.

It also did not help that the sign itself was misspelled. "Bradan's Bathouse" made it sound like the man had tamed and was caring for bats here. The image was a bit amusing, despite the seriousness of their task. It was unfortunately typical of Bradan.

"Let's go in," Hamond said. No need to delay this any longer. If they finished up here quickly, perhaps they could catch up with Edeline and Nela over at Morgivel's house.

The door creaked as Hamond pushed it open.

He was greeted with a smell that partly steamy, partly earthy. The room beyond had four large wooden tubs sat in each corner. Part of the floor had been dug up to create small channels for the tubs to be emptied. The channels connected and led to a gap under the far wall, which Hamond supposed led into the next room.

Right now the tubs were unused, which wasn't surprising given it was still morning. A pair of women were walking between the tubs. They wore quite the revealing short tunics, with bare legs and feet exposed. Hamond sighed. He should have realized this was the kind of place Bradan would be running.

"Aren't those elves?" Myron muttered to Hamond.

Those words hit Hamond harder than Myron probably realized. While it had been far from his immediate thoughts, he hadn't forgotten Morgivel's request to find the missing Elefae women. And this pair...he had to confirm it.

"Teleios horama." And there it was, unmistakable at this point. Kalvarel had to have been enspelling Elefae women and turning them over to work for Bradan. Any hope of the latter being innocent was now slain, completely and undeniably dead.

"I see." Hamond didn't even need to turn and look to know Myron had drawn his sword.

One of the women, also noticing this, began to panic. "Boss! Boss! Boss!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. So much for keeping this quiet.

Bradan came sprinting out of the back room, only to come to a stop once he saw Myron with the blade readied. "Uh...what? Who are you?"

"Bradan," Hamond spoke up, stepping forward. "We need to talk." He took notice of the women darting into the back room behind Bradan for later, but for now, his focus was on the man he called friend.

"Hamond? What is going on? Who is this?" Bradan also stepped forward, apparently shaking off the surprise. "Look, I don't normally allow weapons in here, so-"

"We're looking for Kalvarel." Hamond let his spell fade. For all that it was worth - which was very little - Bradan was not under the effect of Kalvarel's spell.

"I haven't seen him since that night at the tavern," Bradan said, "I told you I hadn't heard from him. What's this even about?"

Hamond paused, trying to decide if Bradan was lying or not. There was no sign he could read, and it did line up with what the man had said previously, when they met in the street. Still, he couldn't rule out the possibility.

Time for a different approach. "Did Kalvarel send you these women?"

"What? Oh...uh, yes. He went out and asked a few elves he knew if they wanted to earn some extra pikers. They're willing, so...I don't get it. Stop dancing around shit, and tell me what your problem is."

Hamond sighed. So it was just another case of Kalvarel deceiving everyone he knew, which he supposed was a relief. "They weren't willing."

"Uh...they were? If they weren't, they wouldn't be here." Bradan gave him a confused look. "You're not making any sense."

Hamond realized Bradan was right. He'd been trying to avoid saying it, to not give a voice to what he knew to be the truth. But he couldn't keep doing that. Not for his sake, and not for Bradan's.

"Kalvarel is a thaumaturge. The women are under a spell he cast on them, a spell that makes them obedient and loyal to him. I'll bet good pikers he just told them to follow your orders."

"Right," Bradan said slowly, clearly disbelieving.

Hamond wasn't giving up quite yet. "You may be wondering why we haven't seen Alexios? Try asking Kalvarel. He put Alexios under his spell, and he's been putting other members of the town watch too. Now Alexios is dead, I've been spending the past few days trying to clean all this up, and you're the only one who might know where Kalvarel is."

Bradan stared at Hamond for a long moment, face darkening. "Look, it's way too early for you to be this drunk," he finally said.

"I'm quite sober," Hamond answered, a bit offended. The only time he'd ever really become that inebriated was well before he'd even come to Hallowscroft. "And I'm absolutely serious. I know it sounds insane, but trust me. Kalvarel is planning something, and he's perfectly willing to throw you and me both to the dogs to do it."

Bradan took a deep breath. "So you're crazy. Completely mad. What in the world has gotten into you?" He began to pace in front of the them. "I've known Kalvarel for years, well before you. We built this place ourselves. Shit, we got together and dug up the floor just so the baths could drain! It took us over a hex of days, but we did it together. And you come in here, saying that he's going...to do what? What proof do you even have?"

Hamond said nothing, feeling his hope of getting anything useful out of Bradan fade away. What could he say that would convince Bradan?

"Thought so. If you're done playing the fool and trying to turn me against my best friend, get out. I don't want to see you again." Bradan turned halfway around, still looking over his shoulder. "And take your friend with the sword with you."

"So you won't listen to him, then?" Myron asked, speaking up.

"With a story like that, why should I listen to either of you?" Bradan spun back around, coming right up to Myron's face. "You could drag the lord of the town here, pay him to spit those lies, and I'd kick him out. And I'm kicking you out. Don't make me call the watch."

Hamond started forward, but Myron made a slight gesture with his free hand. Fine, if he thought he could handle this. It was clear Bradan was too far gone to reason with. This had been a mistake.

"It's funny that you would say that," Myron said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Myron Hallowscroft, son of Lord Esmund Hallowscroft. I do think you may have heard of me."

"Wait...what?" Bradan looked back and forth between Hamond and Myron.

"On my oath to the House of Roderick, and with this man Hamond as my witness, I claim everything I have said to be truth."

"You...did you actually pay this man to come here to do this?" Bradan's voice rose and took on a shrill edge. "What, was your healing work not enough? You were that jealous of what we'd done, so you had to make a scheme to ruin my business! Take this place from me!"

Myron let out a sigh, echoing Hamond's own frustration. "What is it with people not believing we are who we say we are?"

"Bradan, would you calm down and think?" Hamond said, "Why would I lie to you? People here know me as a healer. What do you think they'd say if word got around I suddenly started running a bathhouse instead? Think about what you're saying!"

"Says the man coming in here with a wild story about my friend casting magic spells on everyone!" Bradan was shouting now, "So get your arse out of my sight! Now!"

Myron raised his sword up to Bradan's throat. "Your loyalty to your friend is admirable, but it's misplaced. There are good men and women who have died as a result of what he did, several who I knew personally. So I offer you one final chance. Back down, now."

"I know your type, you stupid sack of shit," Bradan replied, "You're just trying to browbeat me into leaving. You don't have the guts to actually follow through. So here's what I think of your little offer." He spat in Myron's direction.

Whether the spit hit its target or not, Hamond couldn't tell. What he could tell was a brief blur as Myron's sword arm went wide to the right, then swung leftward and down. Bradan's body collapsed immediately, falling face down on the uneven floor of his bathhouse.

Still facing away from Hamond, Myron spoke. "I do try to give second chances. Nela's questioned me about it a few times, said I might be naive. But I believe some people do deserve opportunities to learn from their mistakes." He pulled a cloth and began to wipe down his sword. "Sometimes it works. Other times...there's no real point in talking it out if there's nobody there willing to listen."

That, Hamond supposed they could agree on. Still, though...looking down at his former friend, it didn't stop it from hurting. A countless number of possibilities, futures in which Bradan had given in, in which the they stood together against Kalvarel.

But he might as well be wishing for Alexios to be alive, for his mother to be alive and free and whole as well. Right now, there were people he could save.

"I'm going to go check on those Elefae women," he told Myron.

"I'll keep watch then," Myron said.

Hamond nodded and went into the back room. There were shelves with folded rags on them, along with what Hamond guessed to be spare tunics for the workers. The channel under the wall led into a shallow muddy pool dug out of the ground. Standing around it, silently nervous, were the two women from before, along with a third one.

"What did you do with the boss?" one of them asked, backing against the far wall.

"Nothing," Hamond answered, moving closer. It was true, after all, since Myron had been the one to strike him down. "I'm actually here to help you."

"How?" the woman asked. "The boss and his partner...we don't really need anyone else."

"Trust me." Hamond reached out and touched her arm. "Kartharsis logos."

The woman blinked. "I'm telling you, I don't...need...no. Oh no."

As she crouched down and began to sob, Hamond moved to the other two, removing the spells that shackled them in turn. One of them also starting also crying uncontrollably almost immediately. The other, while she had tears in her eyes, looked more angry.

"That...that bastard!" she hissed, "How...how could he do that to me? To them?"

"I assume you mean Kalvarel," Hamond said.

"That snake of an elf! Promises me a job worth good coin, leads me to a side street, and he...he..." She broke off, the weight of it finally getting to her as well.

All three needed help, and he wasn't in a position to really give it. There was only one who Hamond could think of who could. Well, now they definitely were going to catch up with Edeline at this point.

"If you all come with me, I can take you to Morgivel," he told them.

"Yes...right," one of them said, "We need...need to tell him."

"Wait..." another of them spoke up. She looked to be the oldest of the three. "What about the others?"

"What others?" Hamond asked, feeling a renewed sense of dread.

"There were...two other women here when I first got here," she managed to say, tears still flowing down her face. "After a while...they stopped showing up. I didn't think...I couldn't think..."

Hamond wished he could give her a happy answer, but honestly he would have to assume the worst. "We'll have to see about them later," he said, "For now, let's get you three to safety."

Leading them back into the other room, Hamond saw Myron still standing over Bradan. A slight gasp behind him told them the women had seen it too. If they'd had the time, he'd have tried to move the body, but they needed to act.

"I overheard," Myron said, "I guess we're off to meet Morgivel then." He paused, an oddly amused look on his face. "Nela's not going to like this."