Lady's Grace, cutters!

 

„Sure as Sigil.“

Cant for "completely sure"

 

 

First Hive Day of Retributus, 126 HR

Yelmalis stood close to the wall of a roughly plastered building in a narrow alleyway in the Lower Ward. He had turned up the collar of his cloak to protect himself from the foggy chill that lay over the city like a damp rag that day. Beside him stood Garush, the half-orc amazon from the Mercykillers, her yellow eyes fixed vigilantly on the building diagonally across the small street: the Black Sails . As glad as Yelmalis was to have escaped the Hive, the Lower Ward around the infamous Sinker tavern wasn't much better. In fact, the whole mission made him uncomfortable. Based on one of Tarik’s dreams, they were searching for a man named Eliath, who, like them, might be connected to the mysterious Ring Prophecy. Unfortunately, some research had revealed that he was apparently dead. A Dustmen adlate called Toranna had confirmed this. He himself had been in the Mortuary with Garush and had questioned her about the case. However, Yelmalis had been embarrassed by the bossy, even harsh way in which the amazon had asked her questions. The way the Mercykillers dealt with people they considered suspicious really took getting used to. And he suspected that Garush had been comparatively tame. However, it had turned out that she had been right to be suspicious of Toranna - if you could refer to a "soul shred", as Sekhemkare called it, as a reliable source. The yuan-ti of the Fated had the ability to make contact with small pieces of the souls of powerful beings that were still floating around in the mortal world. At least that was how he had roughly described it, and Yelmalis had to believe him for better or worse. But since he himself could now travel through time, who was he to doubt Sekhemkare's words? As a matter of fact these soul shreds not only gave the yuan-ti special abilities for a short time, but also knowledge. In this case, the knowledge that Eliath was not really dead, but very much alive - and apparently in the company of the Doomguard. Of course, that was all they needed. Another of Tarik's dreams had then given them a clue about the Black Sails . The tiefling of the Sign of One, whose dreams had led them on this mission in the first place, stood opposite them, leaning against the wall on the other side of the alley, waiting, right next to Sekhemkare. Only the dark elf Dilae was not with them - she had sneaked into the tavern, hidden in the shadows, to look for Eliath. The fact that she had gone to this dubious place all alone, disguised at that, which would naturally make her suspicious when discovered … it had pleased Yelmalis as little as the whole mission. But Dilae was self-confident and apparently quite fearless - and at least as stubborn as Garush, he assumed, in that way many Indeps were. So she had merged with the shadows in the dimness of the alley and scurried invisibly into the interior of the Black Sails with a few guests. Now they waited for her return. They didn't talk much, but kept an eye on the tavern, either tensely or impatiently, while time seemed to crawl by like a dying animal. Then, finally, the dark elf reappeared, a good distance from Garush, on the street side of Tarik and Sekhemkare. Dilae knew that the amazon hated it when people snuck up on her - as much as that was even possible, since Garush had some extremely keen senses in addition to her normal martial instincts. She herself described it as a rather extrasensory or supernatural perception, which apparently had to do with her gift. As Dilae stepped out of the shadows next to Tarik, Yelmalis and Garush walked over to the others.

"So?" the amazon asked in her direct manner. "Is he inside?"

The dark elf shook her head gently. "No."

"What do you mean, no?" Garush snorted and immediately furrowed her eyebrows in displeasure.

Yelmalis admired the calmness with which Dilae dealt with the half-orc's often quick temper. "No means no," she explained calmly. "I had a really good look around, but there wasn't a man in there who matched Eliath's description. I'm sure of it."

The amazon turned her gaze to Tarik now, her eyes narrowing slightly. "So, what now? I thought you dreamed he was in that joint."

"I did," Tarik defended himself and raised his hands defensively. "Maybe he's still to come. Or he's already left. How am I supposed to know for sure?"

"Exactly," Yelmalis came to the tiefling's aid. "After all, dreams aren't mechanical measuring tools. They don’t work that precisely."

He wondered how he would actually know. Basically, he had no idea how the psion's dreams worked. But he instinctively had the feeling that he had to defend him against the Mercykiller. A quick glance at the Signer told him that he was smiling gratefully.

The amazon calmed down a little. "Relax. I don't doubt that Tarik has the right clue. But if Eliath was already there, we're here for nothing. And if he’s still to arrive, who knows how long we'll have to stand around here? I have little desire for that."

"I feel the same way," Yelmalis replied with a sigh. "But we don't have many other options, do we?"

Dilae's gaze wandered to Sekhemkare, who had been watching the whole scene with reptilian composure. "What about this soul shred?" she said. "Can't you call it again to find out something?"

"I'd love to," replied the yuan-ti, his forked tongue flickering briefly between scaled lips. "But unfortunately I can't quite control it. At the moment, it happens rather by chance."

Sighing, the dark elf nodded. "That's right, you said so."

Garush's gaze promptly wandered to Yelmalis. "Why don't you look around in the near past or future to see if Eliath is entering or leaving the tavern?"

The air genasi sighed deeply. Exactly what he had feared. "It's not that simple. I wasn't here before, so I can only jump into the future, and only for as long as we want to stay here - or will. But we weren't even in the alley an hour ago."

The Mercykiller frowned. "I don't get it. Why can't you check what happened exactly here an hour ago?"

"Because I would have to travel through time physically, not just mentally," Yelmalis replied. "I'm not sure if I can do that at all."

"This time-hopping thing is too deep for me," Garush grumbled. "Explain - and please don’t do it in a way that only Guvners can understand."

He could not suppress a small grin at this remark. The half-orc was very direct and often brusque in her manner of expression. But at least she had no problem admitting bluntly when she didn't understand something. "Well, you can travel through time mentally or physically," Yelmalis continued. "Mentally means I travel to a certain point in my past or future and find myself there in my body, exactly where I was or will be at that time. But that means I can't go to a place where I wasn't at that time. If I was in my apartment six hours ago, then I will be there when I travel six hours back. But I can't be here in the alley six hours ago because I wasn't there. Or, of course, I couldn't travel to a time before I was born - which I can't do anyway, I can only jump a maximum of eight hours into the future or past. But just theoretically, by way of explanation. If I want to travel six hours into the past, but want to be here in this alley, then I would have to travel through time physically. That means I would disappear - even if only for a brief moment - and then reappear. It also means that I would virtually exist twice at the point six hours ago and could meet up with myself. Despite this gift - and I would like to emphasize this - I am not an expert in chronomancy. Because it is forbidden in most places for good reason. But from what little I know, such a physical leap through time carries certain risks. And what's more, as I said, I can't do it at all. I can only jump mentally."

The amazon had listened to the explanation - which in his eyes had been compact and in her opinion certainly rambling - surprisingly calmly and very attentively. When he finished, she nodded curtly. "Good, I think I've understood that. Then let's see if it's worth waiting here?"

"I can try," Yelmalis replied. "But like all of us here, I can't really control this gift yet. I can't decide how far into the future I jump. If it's only ten minutes ..."

"Then it's only ten minutes," Tarik said with a smile. "You do what you can, and we all know that."

Yelmalis wasn't quite so sure about Garush and Sekhemkare, but he felt the tiefling's encouragement fill him with a certain warmth. He nodded to him gratefully and briefly had the impression that Tarik held his gaze a little longer than necessary. But it only lasted a second and then the moment was over. Maybe he had just imagined it ...

"All right, then." He cleared his throat briefly. "I'll try."

Slowly, he pulled his golden pocket watch out of his coat pocket. It wasn't absolutely necessary to use his gift. But he had found that it was much easier for him to jump through time when he held the watch, heard its ticking and could focus on its hands. Taking a deep breath, he turned his gaze to the clock-face.

"Wait a minute," Dilae interrupted his concentration. "There is something I don't understand. If you jump into the future now, let's say five hours. And you see that we're still standing here because Eliath hasn't come yet ... Then you jump back and tell us, and we don't feel like standing here for so long and leave ... But then we won't be standing here in five hours, will we? And how can you jump there then?"

Garush grinned. "That's exactly what I was wondering. I just didn't want to be the one with the stupid questions again."

This admission elicited a grin from Yelmalis. "If I see that in the future, then we can still go. We'll change the future in that we won't be in the alley in five hours. But nothing about whether Eliath will be there or not."

"But isn't that kind of ... dangerous?" Dilae probed further. "What if we are supposed to stand here in five hours?"

"Then we'll stand here," Yelmalis explained patiently.

"But not if we just leave?" Sekhemkare objected.

"Then something will happen that will cause us to stay in the alley," the air genasi replied. "Fortunately, it's not that easy to ... destroy the timeline, if I may put it so casually. There are things you can't change. They are called fixed points. And no matter what you do, in one way or another, certain strands in the fabric of time will always move towards these fixed points. So don't worry: By leaving this alley when I see that Eliath isn't coming to the tavern, we won't be jeopardizing Sigil's future."

Dilae nodded thoughtfully but understandingly as she let his explanation sink in, but Garush eyed him skeptically. "I see, you do seem to know quite a bit about chronomancy."

"I was just doing a little research," Yelmalis assured defensively, alarmed by her wary tone. "I mean, I should at least know a little about my gift before I do what you called time-hopping."

"Yeah." She waved it off. "You're right. Do your thing then, and if it wasn't just ten minutes into the future, that would be good."

"As I said, I can ..."

"You can't influence it. Yes, I got that the first time. It was just a comment. Now go ahead."

Yelmalis took a deep breath. Garush's gruff manner and bossy tone still unsettled him.

Dilae, together with Tarik probably the most empathetic one in the group, promptly noticed and gave the amazon a reproving look. "If you put him under stress like that, it certainly won't work any better," she remarked calmly.

"What kind of stress?" the half-orc growled. "Stress is what we'll get with our factols if we don't find Eliath."

"Well, that was helpful," Sekhemkare remarked sarcastically.

Garush snorted in annoyance. "You're all pretty squeamish."

"I'm not squeamish," Yelmalis replied, now with a hint of irritation. "I'm just trying to concentrate. Magic and time travel require some kind of tact." He raised his hand and brought his thumb and forefinger together.

Garush's yellow eyes narrowed a little and for a moment Yelmalis feared she would slap his hand aside. But she only let out a throaty growl and then shook her head. "So please, I'll be quiet. Do your thing, quill-driver ."

The air genasi's mouth twisted briefly when she again called him the unflattering nickname she had obviously chosen for him. But he decided to ignore it and do his thing, as she called it, instead. He looked at his pocket watch again, watching the second hand move across the dial, precisely, tirelessly, with wonderful reliability. He concentrated on the sound of the small movement. Tick-tock ... tick-tock ... tick-tock ... All other noises seemed to fade into the background, his more or less welcome companions moving out of his focus. Tick-tock ... tick-tock ... tick-tock ... A brief moment of sweet, perfect calm and silence enveloped him, filled only with a single sound ... Tick-tock ... tick-tock ... tick-tock ... Then raindrops fell on his hand, heavy and cool. A quick glance at the clock face ... three hours and twenty-one minutes. The Last Light had already fallen and it was getting dark. Yelmalis closed the pocket watch and looked at his companions. Garush was now standing on the other side of the alley, leaning against the wall with her arms folded, her eyes fixed on the Sinker pub as if she wanted to burn it to the ground. Sekhemkare had taken a seat on a wooden crate not far from the amazon and looked more bored than angry. Tarik and Dilae were standing on his side of the alley, talking quietly. The fact that they were all still standing here could only mean one thing.

"So I guess Eliath wasn't here yet," Yelmalis remarked with a sigh.

Garush turned her yellow eyes to him. "Huh? Where have you been for the last three hours? Have you been sleeping standing up?"

Sekhemkare straightened up to a more upright sitting posture, seeming to understand. "Or are you time traveling right now?"

"That's right," Yelmalis confirmed with a smile. "I've come three hours and twenty-two minutes from the past to see if it's worth the wait." He glanced over at the Black Sails . "Apparently it hasn't been worth it so far."

"It still puzzles me," Dilae admitted candidly. "What's going to happen now? Are you going to go back in time and say: 'Hey guys, nothing happens for the next three and a half hours, we can go somewhere warm and dry during that time.' And then we leave and ... why are we standing here now?"

The air genasi took a deep breath and patiently began to explain. But as he spoke, he heard the clock ticking louder again.

... Tick-tock ... tick-tock ... tick-tock ... And just like that he was three hours and twenty-four minutes in the past again. He nodded to himself. He had been able to maintain the time jump for one minute longer than last time. Then he looked at his companions.

"Hey guys," he declared, mimicking Dilae's words. "Nothing happens for the next three and a half hours, we can go somewhere warm and dry during that time."

The other four looked at him, frowning at his rather uncharacteristic choice of words. When Tarik said: "I hope that's really all right. I'm still kind of worried that we might ruin the timeline somehow," Yelmalis buried his face in his hands. That was exactly why he had never wanted to have anything to do with chronomancy ...