Great White Expanse - Seventh Sanctum
Lye stood just outside the banded gates of the longhouse in the stagnant winter air. His slow deliberate breaths escaped as the only clouds in the crystal blue sky. The chilling winds of the Great White Expanse rested today which only served to make the solitary man more restless. His half blind gaze listed blankly to the frigid horizon. The forest's usual melody of sparrows and finches remained silent and despite the usual business of the Seventh Sanctum, Lye heard only white noise.
"Master?" The voice came from Advencia's lips with an alien tone of concern. Her touch fell on the furs of his crossed arms and Lye breathed deeply.
"I'm fine." His reply fell shallow and flat. Advencia frowned.
"You've been standing here since daybreak. You're not fine." The sultry succubus girl pouted, brows bunched up. Irritation grated on the fringe of her words.
"Hmm." Lye's gaze remained fixed toward the jagged line where dusty tree tops met clear cerulean. Advencia huffed and took a step back.
"What's your fucking problem, damn it?!" she spat. All semblance of honey and sugar turned sour. The demoness inside now wore an angered expression on Advencia's flawless features.
Lye shifted in place, yet remained silent. Advencia snarled, ample chest heaving.
"Is it because of her?!" The succubus jabbed her finger to a wrecked cabin a few meters off. Lye's watch followed it to the shack where he kept and tortured prisoners or slaves. Advencia narrowed her eyes.
"It is, isn't it?" she growled. Her boot compacted the icy tundra with a crunch. "What is wrong with you?!"
Lye snapped his full attention to his colleague. His face remained cold and emotionless.
"What happened to the Scourge of Salvar? The Phantom Tyrant? The Crimson Assassin? Huh?" She prodded a finger into his chest, her talon of a nail threatening to pierce through fur and leather.
"No one talks about you anymore. No one. If they do, it's to underplay and undermine you. I'm sick of it!" Advencia's voice became a shout. The few men who sought to take advantage of the rare weather turned their heads to the pair.
"I've stuck this through for a whole year you were at the mercy of those two demons and watched this organization fall to pieces and for what? You emerge a wounded dog. You wander around for another three months with rarely a sighting from the ravens. Then--!" Advencia bitterly chuckled and shook her head. Locks of platinum blonde bounced and swayed, springing back to pristine. "Then you come back with some gutter whore and waste all of our assets on her."
She fell silent for a moment and cupped her face with her hand.
Mumbled, she continued, "She goes missing and you stand out here like some heartbroken teenager..."
The hand slipped from her face to see an unchanged expression on his face. Her teeth clenched.
"Fine, whatever." She threw her hands up only to have them limply slap against her wide hips. "Do what you want."
"So you're done?" Lye retorted. Advencia moved to aggressively toward him, arm cocked and ready to deliver a slap. "Do you know what the Crimson Hand needs, Advencia?"
She halted. Her brow raised, but her readied backhand remained tense.
"A purpose." His words slipped off his lips and fell flat judging by the scoff she gave him. "I don't have the respect I once had save for you and a limited handful."
Advencia lowered her arm. She knew the reality of his words, but failed to understand his point.
"You know that Amari is a noble of the Salvic Dukedom," Lye stated.
"So it is about her!" Advencia spat, face reddening with anger.
"We've been vying for control of a region since conception. Eiskalt fell flat, and after what those two did to me, I can't rule by fear any longer."
"Tch, you should have never gotten involved with Eiskalt. Your spat with that immortal bast--"
"You're right. Eiskalt was a mistake, but it proved invaluable none the less. I now know where all of my men stand and who commands the most respect. Felling the Ixians and opening us up for movement across Althanas wasn't a idea in their heads. Instead, they valued the lives of lost thieves and murderers -- something I found expendable but for the few."
Advencia crossed her arms. "What's your point?"
"My point is," Lye unfolded his arms. "If this group is going to go anywhere, I need to find them a cause they can follow instead of blindly obeying my commands. Amari is going to be that cause."
"Fuck that." Advencia retorted. "You'r delusional."
"Amari is the last remaining noble of her house. Right now, the other Dukes are fighting over the L'Olfsden estate. I've groomed her to be loyal to our cause at all costs, but I'm not so dense as to see my actions have been overlooked by prying eyes. If Elthas could breach our defenses, so could anyone. Not hard to imagine considering our current state."
The succubus shot him an apprehensive look. Lye stepped toward her and hostility quickly drained from her posture.
"Right now, she's missing at a critical point of us being able to finally make an influence on Salvar. The longer she's gone, the more time the Dukes have to write off the estate and our window closes."
Lye gripped Advencia by the shoulders, his grasp almost threateningly firm. She inhaled sharply, the rosen hue of her cheeks melting from anger to another origin.
"What you don't see, is the Crimson Hand finally has an opportunity to take control of Slavar. With Amari returning as Duchess of the L'Olfsden Estate, we'll have influence on the kingdom. With her loyalty to me, and our assets, we will take the other dukedoms one by one. Our influence will be too great for the King to ignore and in time, he too will be ours. We will have Knife's Edge. We'll turn away The Company, and we'll subjugate the Church. Salvar will be our nation."
He let Advencia free and she nearly buckled. Her chest heaved with heated breaths. The bloodline of her race beat fiercely in her chest and heated her body.
"And right now, we have no idea where she is."
"Well," Advencia struggled. Her master's touch played against her frustrations and arousal. "You let her free."
"Yes," Lye nodded. "I did. People value freedom. Caged animals serve no purpose than a living trophy. She has the tools now to topple kingdoms. She needs her own connections. My presence or that of the Hand will only hinder that."
Lye looked back to the jagged, southern horizon and he cupped his chin in thought.
"She should have come back by now."
"She won't." Advencia managed to compose herself. She stood upright and fiddled with the frills of her rather revealing skirt as if to rid it of wrinkles that didn't exist.
"Why do you say that?" Lye's interest piqued, eyes narrow.
"I--I put two of my men on her tail," Advencia confessed, unable to look him in the eye like a child to its parent.
"You what?" The assassin's words dripped with venom, well aware of the succubus's intent.
"I don't trust her!" she shouted back. "The moment she would betray us, they were to murder her on sight and carve out her sigil!"
Lye clenched his teeth. The cloudy glare of his scarred and blind eye pierced Advencia. She stepped back.
"Wait! Wait!" Her hands threw up defensively. "They saw something in Archen!"
"What." The tone bellowed as a command, forcing the succubus to wince and again heating her cheeks in red.
"A blue flash. She was gone. They said they saw her with another man and some manner of child. They couldn't lip read everything, but they mentioned Raiaera and the Forest."
"The Red Forrest?" Lye asked. His expression softened and became contemplative.
"Yes, that one. They got a name too."
"What was it?"
"Vincent."
Lye smirked.
"Do you know him?" Advencia asked.
"Yes, you do too. One of the 'heroes' like Madison. They felled Pode once and for all. Rumor is the trees are beginning to become green once again. There's a group in the south that's trying to make efforts to rebuild the elves, working very closely with the Bladesingers."
Advencia nodded. "I've heard of them. Very secretive. Very powerful."
"Their leader is a man named Vincent." Lye watched Advencia's memory connect the rumors and vague facts together. "We have a heading. I think I know where we can start looking. I want you and your most loyal -- we'll head out immediately."
Lye grinned. The thrill of the hunt warmed his chilled bones and if the rumors of Vincent proved true, Lye would have a new challenge to replace that posed by the Ixian Knights.