Instigation (Ascension Arc, Prologue)

[Quibby]

"Do you realize how much of a risk this is to me?  If they suspect..."

 

"Be calm, Lord Captain.  I have taken pains to make sure that your true allegiance is not suspected."  Sitting in the Lord Captain's chair and smiling above his peaked fingers, Ayrik Drayven waved the white-clad man towards a chair on the opposite side of the desk.  The man glared at him for a moment before he remembered himself and sat.  Even without expression on his face, Ayrik could feel the cold anger radiating from the man.

 

"What is this about, Dreadlord?" the man asked.

 

"Oh, it's simply a matter of doing your job.  I need you to track down a man."

 

The Lord Captain snorted.  "You mean that you cannot do this yourself?  Are all Dreadlords so incompetent?"

 

It was Ayrik's turn to glare.  "Consider yourself fortunate that I cannot afford to make you pay for that."  Pouring a tumbler of brandy from the decanter on the Lord Captain's desk, Ayrik settled back in the chair.  "The man you will seek out is a great risk, and the glory for capturing him and executing him as a Darkfriend would be significant.  In truth, I am actually helping you."

 

"And why is this man such a risk?  Surely he cannot-"

 

"His name is Mehrin Mahrvon, though he used to style himself as 'Deathwatch'."

 

The Lord Captain sat back, his face carefully blank.  It was a moment before he spoke.  "You want me to send men after him?  And you want me to declaim him as a Darkfriend?"

 

"He is dangerous," Ayrik said.  "He has a commanding presence; people follow his lead.  What's worse, he can inspire.  If we leave him unchecked, what could he possibly become?  He could conceivably take command of any mercenary band he wanted, and with time, he might even control the largest army on the continent.  That's to say nothing of his combat prowess."  Taking an appreciative sip from the tumbler, Ayrik added, "He is too dangerous to be left alone."

 

"It's still damned strange," the Lord Captain said.  "This had better work.  Otherwise, my life here will become... interesting."

 

"Don't worry so much," Ayrik said, standing.  The air swirled in front of Ayrik, resolving into a gateway to what looked like a small village.  "I have every faith in your abilities."  With a mocking bow, Ayrik added, "Walk in the Light, Lord Captain."

 

Then he was gone.

 

**********

 

"You have a reputation as a bunch of brutal thugs who get the job done, no matter how high the body count rises."

 

A scarred brute of a man grinned at Ayrik with a mouth that lacked both teeth and basic dental hygiene.  "Yeah, we're the worst lot of troublemakers from the Aryth Ocean to the Aiel Waste.  We know that.  Still don't tell us what you want, pretty man."

 

Arrayed around Ayrik were twelve more men, each more unsavory than the last.  In the middle of the circle of men was a wiry-looking man, good-looking apart from a scar from his nose to his right ear.  "What my associate is trying to say," he said in a smooth, refined voice, "is that we have yet to hear your reason for meeting us.  I really do hope that you are not wasting our time without good reason."

 

In response, Ayrik tossed the wiry man a purse, which he caught with an audible ring of coin against coin.

 

"You have our attention."

 

"Good.  Money is no object.  I need you to understand that before I tell you the job.  It carries incredibly high risk."

 

"I have seventy-five bruisers at my command, sir."  The wiry man grinned proudly.  "I doubt your little job is that risky."

 

"Oh, really?" Ayrik asked sarcastically.  "I assume that you will have no trouble dealing with one man?"

 

The wiry man laughed, which cued the rest of the men around him to laugh.  "One man?  And money is no object?  Who is he, Gaidal Cain?  Artur Hawkwing?  Mehrin Deathwatch?"

 

"As a matter of fact..."

 

There was silence in the group.  The wiry man looked grim.  The majority of the circle simply looked baffled.  Ayrik suspected that it was a common condition for them.  One by one, though, they started to understand, and their attitudes became mixed concern and bravado.  "You really want us to go after Mehrin Deathwatch?"

 

"He goes by Mahrvon now, but yes.  That won't be a problem, will it?"

 

"Only one problem that I see," said the wiry man.  Raising hand, he rubbed his fingers across his thumb, the universal sign for money.  "How much?"

 

*************

 

"I'm told by my superiors that you are the most dangerous gang amongst the Darkfriends," Ayrik said to the twenty gathered men, each one armed in some way or another.  "Poisoners, assassins, thugs, and various other dealers of violence."

 

The five leaders of the group muttered quietly to each other, passing hand signals back and forth as they spoke.  The conversation was disjointed, with entire sentences disappearing to signs.  Ayrik held his silence, stroking the head of the raven perched on his shoulder.  Finally, the five men seemed to reach a conclusion.  "Dreadlord, we are as you say, but what you want is already known to us, and we are not sure if we are really the right men to come to if you want to strike out at one man."

 

Ayrik shook his head, causing the raven to croak in irritation.  "If you know why I'm here, then you also know that I would not send you after only one man if I did not feel that he presented a clear danger to the Great Lord and his plans."

 

"Think of what could happen.  Suppose he finds us out.  Suppose, Shadow forbid, he bests us.  You could very well be handing the man one of the Shadow's greatest tools to destroy."  The man looked at Ayrik without the usual flinching that was common to other Darkfriends.  He had worked with Dreadlords before, and they no longer held the mythical place in his mind that other Darkfriends seemed to hold.  

 

Finally, somebody who is not going to toady up to me.  Too bad that I wish he would... Ayrik thought.  "This is a problem with which we must deal.  If we leave him unchecked, he will be able to rally troops behind him.  It would be as bad as if the Horn of Valere were sounded."

 

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check with our superiors," one of the men responded after some more of their strange conversation.

 

"That's all I ask of you," Ayrik replied with a respectful nod.

 

**********

 

The wind was blowing wildly outside the isolated cabin where Ayrik retreated to be alone with his thoughts.  His mind was positively wild with the implications of what he had just done.  Three different groups, three different motivations, and one target.  The biggest target in Ayrik's life.  The Great Lord himself had told Ayrik to seek out and destroy Mehrin Deathwatch, and now he had that goal in his sights.  Three arrows pointed at the same target, and no matter which one struck first, Ayrik would be there in the end to see the mighty fall.

 

"And so it begins..."