All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 285: Secrets Dusted Off

Daedalus soared high in the, his draconic silhouette blotting out the sun, before diving down low to skim over the mountaintops. He angled his wings to maintain flight, slowing down as much as possible without falling out of the sky. His vision wasn't quite sharp enough to pick out every flake of snow that littered the ground. Still, he was more than able to see the melted patch from the fiery Lieutenant that his little brother and godling friend had fought some time ago.

He soared back up, but not as steeply as he could. He was well aware that the rider on his back didn't like the sudden acceleration as much as he did. Archibald would never complain about it, but if he changed direction as fast as he possibly could, his little friend had a strange tendency to fall unconscious for short periods of time. It occasionally made Daedalus have to swoop down and catch as he fell from the dragon's back.

It was such a pity that his friend didn't have the strength of a dragon. But they were special creatures for a reason. Still, Archibald did his best.

Daedalus climbed up into the sky once more, heading over towards where the trail continued. It had taken a couple months of searching, but they had eventually found signs of the demon. Somehow, the fire creature had used a longer-distance travel spell than it had previously used to escape the fight. That was why their efforts had felt in vain for so long. But once they found it, the trail was relatively easy to follow.

In some places, they could just hover or soar through the sky and follow the burned patches peppering the landscape as it moved. Sometimes, the trail was a little harder to find, like in the mountains here. Here, snow had long since covered some of the evidence of its flight. Though bare rock was even worse. That was when they had to land, and Archibald had to get down and closely inspect the rocks for scorch marks or burned moss.

Daedalus just wasn't cut out for this sort of tracking. He could feel the impatience and anger boiling in his blood. His little brother would take decades to recover from the injuries he'd sustained from the Lieutenant, and he needed his retribution. He would see if this fire demon could actually stand up to a real fire. Dragon fire.

At least, that's what his dragon's pride told him. He was old enough now to realize that trying to burn a fire creature to death might be a bit arrogant. However, he was still pretty sure he could do it. If not, he would make sure that he had his newest friend around to help finish the job. Though Archibald would clearly be helpful too, having spent so much time dealing with demons, he had solutions and ways to deal with them, if not as permanently as the Lieutenants required. But the most permanent one was the little godling. And if they could find Archimedes, they would have a good backup plan. But he wanted to solve his problems with fire.

Eventually, the trail went cold. They couldn't tell where the thing had gone, but there was no massive explosion from when it had used its long-range teleport skill, so it was clearly somewhere nearby. Despite his efforts, Daedalus couldn't sense it. According to Archibald, the demon had been there only days ago. Daedalus was ready to tear apart the mountain to look for some secret gathering place underneath, but Archibald eventually talked him down.

"No, no, my friend, we need to go get those reinforcements. You said we would remember? We need at least Void. Maybe even more than him, to be safe. The more the merrier."

Daedalus grumbled, deep and low in his belly, and was still tempted to start blasting the mountain apart to find his quarry. But his old age and wisdom were able to tamp that down, to push against his more base instincts and listen to his friend. All the years of solitude had helped him master himself, but it was so much easier with a little help.

"Okay," he eventually said. "So, to the capital?

"To the capital," Archibald confirmed, and, winging a circle in the air, they left. Daedalus made sure to memorize precisely where they were before heading off to the south to find their friends.

---

Bee was sitting down for her daily audience with whomever her chamberlain decided she needed to talk to today. The list had thankfully become much shorter since the narrow-faced man took over, though her meetings still stretched far longer than she would've liked. The chamberlain stepped into the room, announcing the next supplicant with a nasal voice. "The Warden."

That surprised her. The Warden usually didn't need an appointment to come to talk to her, as he had proven invaluable in getting the kingdom up and running again. He'd helped ensure grain harvests were moving, and finances were appropriated properly. He, along with the treasurer and the captain of the City Guard, had been instrumental, though she mostly didn't have to deal with the latter herself. That was Arthur's responsibility.

"High Priestess," the Warden said with a formal courtly bow, assisted by his walking cane.

"Warden," Bee returned in the same polite and professional tone. She honestly liked the man. He was no-nonsense, down to business, and extremely competent, but she knew there was more to him. Susan had told her as much, given the secret meetings and hidden disguises she had seen while trailing the man. Susan didn't think there was anything nefarious, but there was something that the Warden wasn't telling her. Until then, Bee couldn't entirely bring him into her innermost circle.

For now, he was just a helpful tool, but he wouldn't learn all the details of their church's inner workings yet. Not while he had so much to hide. It didn't feel right to trust someone who didn't trust her, not without direct permission from her god. Of course. Void had been fairly busy improving the city and turning it into the Paradise on Earth her master had envisioned.

Being able to turn a "tap" and get warm water directly into her tub had been an amazing thing. She'd never understood quite how much she smelled until she had gotten used to bathing in hot water every morning. Now, if she skipped a day, she started to feel dirty, as though she'd accumulated road dust and sweat throughout each day. But it hadn't just changed Bee's life. This luxury was available to every person in the city, not just the palace and the wealthy quarters.

And that was just the start. Void was also moving outhouses and chamber pots into dedicated rooms with water to carry away the waste. Truly, the world was changing, and Bee couldn't wait to see what miracles her master's plan would reveal next.

As she returned her thoughts to the Warden, she found the man staring at her intently." I have some... matters I must discuss with you."

Bee nodded. "I expected as much. Is there something that needs seeing in the city?"

The Warden shook his head. "No, no. These are not city matters of which I speak. Rather, they are... different ones. Ones I likely should have spoken of earlier." He sighed, bracing himself. "Harold and I have been working with some allies to track down the illusionist Lieutenant, and we seem to have made a bit of a breakthrough."

That sent Bee's eyes widening. "Really? I didn't realize you were even working on that. Why not say something earlier?"

"Because, despite how simple it may sound, that admission comes with much context.... It's a little strange to talk about so openly after having kept this a secret for so long." Rolling his shoulders, the old man straightened. "In addition to my other roles, I head an organization dedicated to keeping the Lieutenants sealed and in check. This organization has been a closely guarded secret for generations. Even the kings of this place didn't know about the actual Lieutenants' locations, much less our actions. Still, we have been working in the shadows for millennia to make sure that they stay captured and undisturbed. So we have some… expertise when it comes to them."

The admission surprised Bee, but not as much as she'd expected. It explained a lot of things. "Is that why there was a Lieutenant at the demonology college? I assume Harold is part of the organization."

The Warden confirmed her suspicion. "Yes. He was a promising rising star, but of late, his actions have soured his position a bit. He's a very capable agent in a limited capacity. Still, his leadership and decision-making skills didn't develop into what I hoped they would. But that's quite alright, as I will not need a successor. The time has come that we can actually do something about the Lieutenants. Our organization has failed in some ways, but we have held out long enough until something that can actually destroy them has come about."

Bee's expression turned thoughtful. That really did explain a lot. Though she still had questions of her own. "If you've been keeping them secured for so long, is that why Nazareth'gak's restraints were so weak? He escaped fairly quickly after everyone left."

The Warden frowned, rubbing his forehead. "Not exactly. Nazareth'gak was a particular problem, entirely of our own making. Its restraints were one of our biggest failures. In attempts to study them… we brought in outside experts who were not as careful as they should have been. In the last several hundred years, we've had to make sure that Nazareth'gak was continually resealed every couple of months to prevent it from breaking free. The others had much more permanent caging and solutions put down by magics that we don't understand. But we managed to keep them unknown, keep them hidden, keep civilizations away.

But as...countries recently have become more aggressive and started using demons during warfare, a few of these countries have found some of the locations. We think that some might have assisted Lieutenants in regaining their freedom as part of a bargain they struck with demonic forces of their own. We think that's how the illusion Lieutenant got free.

"We discovered it had been freed recently, and we did our best to track it down, but it is by its nature quite difficult to track. By the time we figured out what might be going on, it was too late to do much about it. Hence, the "false king" and his kingdom. We've confirmed that there are at least 2 or 3 lieutenants free and several that are still bound. Of course, the ones that are free are most likely working to rescue and awaken their brethren."

Bee sat back in her chair as the Warden finished speaking. "And you're only just coming to me with this now?"

"As I said, it's hard to trust anyone with what's been going on," the Warden defended himself. "But… yes. From here on, I can assure you of our full cooperation. But through our work on tracking the Lieutenant, we learned a few tricks. Harold was able to detect a small trace of it while outside the city. It seems to be heading north, but we are not necessarily powerful enough to fight it. And so we would request aid when we finish tracking it down."

Bee nodded. "That's very reasonable. I have some resources I might be able to put at your disposal for tracking it and gathering information. Still, we must talk to Void about its personal aid." She rang a bell to signal a servant to come and get ready to pass a message.

"Find Major Susan and tell her I require her presence immediately. Also, if you can, please get a message to Void that I would like to speak at our lord's earliest convenience." The messenger repeated the words back to her and bowed before running out. Then she turned back to the old man. "Now, I think we have a lot to talk about."