Revelations

[Magus]

The air hung thick and heavy like stale smoke. The tall, pale wizard glared down with piercing red eyes at the old, bearded man in his robes. The old son of a bitch had first tried to torture him, and was now ready to send him out alone to eliminate one of his most serious enemies.

Magus knew what he was going into – no matter how things shook out, Lud stood to gain. Either Magus was successful and this Heironymous and all the evidence he’d collected would be lost forever, or he would fail and be killed or imprisoned.

Either way, for Lud, loose ends would be tied.

Magus leaned in a little closer. “I’ll do what you ask. But, Lud, this had best not be a trap. I am called Fiendlord and I can live up to the name if I must.”

“Threats will get you nowhere but back into the dungeons, Fiendlord.”

Magus ignored him. “Have somebody guide me to this captain’s residence. I will do the rest.”

- - - - -

One of Lud’s various lackeys – some starry-eyed and over-eager young soldier – led Magus through the tunnels and to the surface in a wide alley in a much nicer part of town than the wizard had seen in Minas Tirith so far. They had gone up several immensely tall and filthy ladders through equally immense and filthy sewers and were now on one of the highest portions – or ‘tiers’ of the city. Also a much wealthier and more heavily policed portions of the city.

“You will find Heironymous near this neighborhood,” the guide – barely a boy – explained. He handed Magus a carefully hand-drawn map. “This will get you around the city. Most of the major tunnels have been outlined on the back if you need to leave in a hurry. Good luck, brother.”

“I’m not your brother,” Magus retorted without taking his eyes off the map. “You shouldn’t follow a man like Lud. He’s taking advantage of your youth. Of your naivety. He’ll just as soon send you to your death as he will take care of you.”

The boy seemed taken aback. “Who are you to talk about him like that?! Those are words of treachery!”

“A curious time when the truth is taken for treachery. As far as who I am to talk about him like that: I am like him. I’d have done the same in his position. He doesn’t care for you or your well-being: only the cause. Only his cause. He is hungry for power. Perhaps he’s not as much of a devil as the ones who currently rule here, but he is a devil just the same. You would do well to regard him as such.”

Having decided he’d studied his route enough, the wizard turned away from the boy before he could voice his protests and began walking toward Captain Lex’s house. Perhaps he’d catch the man in his own home and be able to take care of him and the evidence in a single stroke.

Magus strode through the lofty, wealthy district. Huge houses, lavish temples, and shops and pubs brimming with delicacies seemed to crop up in all directions. Marble benches dotted the pathways made from hand-hewn stone, and lush gardens and ponds were interspersed throughout all of the finely crafted stone structures.

The hustle and bustle that Magus experienced in Dalaran was present here, but in this district it was strictly well-dressed men and women, their servants, and guards.

The guard presence here was almost stifling. The wizard assumed that meant he was on the right track – Lud had very clearly sent him into the lion’s den.

Doing what little he could to blend in as a tall, deathly pale man in a cape, he made his way to his destination as discreetly as possible.

The house of Hieronymous Lex turned out – according to some tiny, hand-written notes on Magus’ map – to be a fairly lavish apartment on the 4th floor of an ornately decorated stone building.

Of course it was an apartment. Why would it possibly be a separate house, secluded behind some shrubs, away from the public eye?

With more than a small sigh, Magus stalked across the street and up the open stairwell which snaked up the side of the building. He reached the fourth floor and took a long look around.

Nobody around.

The timing wasn’t going to get any better. He kicked the door open as dark energy coalesced around his raised fists. Nobody home. He took a moment and inspected the home of his would-be victim.

The place was a disaster, even before Magus had shattered part of the door by smashing it in. Papers were strewn about everywhere. Notes were scrawled all over parchments on desks, the floors, walls – everything screamed of a man obsessed. It didn’t take more than a quick glance to confirm it was the People’s Army he was investigating. So at least that much of what Lud said was true.

The wizard picked up a small, leather-bound notebook that appeared to be hastily hidden behind a bookshelf. For a moment, Magus wondered if he really was hunting a captain, it seemed the work of an amateur.

The dark mage flipped open the book. Records of some sort. He scanned the pages, trying to make sense of the various notes and tabulations.

They were… transactions. Magus read for a moment, before arching a lavender eyebrow. These were the documents of a slave trader. He flipped through several pages, frantically searching for any sort of identifier, before stumbling across a signature.

“Well, shit,” he breathed. The seal of the People’s Army had been pressed on one of the pages, just above a hand-written ‘L.’ on the parchment. Lud was a slave trader.

Magus pocketed the book – maybe this was why Lud was so keen on having everything burn. This particular piece of evidence could prove beneficial.

He stepped into a small kitchen, also covered with notes. A nearly-spent candle burned conveniently on a window sill, wafting a fragrance through the room. Magus grabbed a note and lit it on fire, before transferring the tiny flame to some of the books on the bookshelf he’d found the notebook hidden behind.

The wizard went through each of the rooms of the apartment, lighting some notes or books on fire, before leaving out the broken door. He hurried down the steps and across the street, back into the alley he came as flames engulfed the building.

Magus decided he’d wait here for Lex to come back to his burning home – it would be the easiest way to find him. It shouldn’t take long for word to spread about a flaming building in a district as wealthy as this one.