Ariadne Covernwraith

She walked so briskly like the situation was urgent. I followed suit because I knew little about these things. I would have assumed that maybe the seal was already giving way if this wasn’t her casual pace. I didn’t voice it but I was reluctant to find out how swiftly, or determined, she moved when there was an actual emergency. She wore robes. Why did they always wear robes? Was it some requirement of the profession like a soldier and his livery? Sure, robes were comfortable, but so what a nice chemise and breeches. Maybe her robe had a lot of pockets. She sure had strange paraphernalia dangling off her. Bones, and bottles of liquids, sticks, and even a long knife.

I reminded myself to inquire sometime.

Right now we were making our way to the containment hall. It could have been a nice room for courtly parties, but instead it was dominated by a giant tear in the fabric of reality kept in check by arcane trappings. As long as Ariadne kept it closed, we were good. There was a sigil on the ground. I had no idea what it did beyond keeping the tear closed. I would leave the nerdy occultist shit to her. Interference, say by adventurers, always weakened it and threatened to undermine our work.

“This group never got to the room, but several precautions were undone that strained the wards. Fortunately, their occultist determined that it was dangerous to play around and they diverted course.”

“Yes, for the throne room.” I wasn’t blaming her of course. Keeping this portal closed was of utmost importance. Yes, several of my loyal guard died instead, but it was an unfortunate, but ultimately, small, price to pay. Of course, the invaders didn’t see it that way. They were told they were liberating the land from an evil tyrant and despite finding little evidence, they persisted. I’m sure someone had complaints. I’m not perfect, but whatever they could find to justify their pillaging home invasion was probably good enough for them.

“I stayed hidden and let them pass and then immediately came here. I sensed it was trying to tear, but thankfully I was in time. I restructured the wards, entered the Astral, and realigned the portal and beseeched more spirits for their aid.”

She had learned quickly to dumb it down. Her first reports were full of arcane mumbo jumbo, and I could hardly make sense of them. I admonished her for her enigmatic speech and reminded her that she was not relaying her information to Brandis who likely would have understood what she was saying. After that, it was kept to whether our measures were working and what I could do to assist.

“You’re mother used the portal instead of trying to contain it, yes?”

“That is correct milord. My mother served Brandis in a very different capacity. Brandis benefited much by her craft.”

The sentence was loaded with admiration, loathing, warning, and desire. “You’re mother also drained the youth out of children and terrorized the citizenry, and if they knew I had not exiled all of her family, they would be quite pissed, and perhaps rightly so. That is, until that portal opened and they were all consumed. If they knew better they would be grateful that someone who was trained to work this portal is on hand to keep it closed. As fate has it however, they’re not interested. They’re just angry and afraid of the old days and are wary of returning to them. The oldest in the community remember what it was like her before Brandis fell. When your mother served him.”

“My Lord know I too was complicit in her crimes.”

“True, your repentance would be no consolation at all to the people who’s children you murdered, but I’m a fan of a redemption arc, and out of all your sisters we left alive you were the youngest and least corrupted.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

I dismissed her comment with a wave. “As long as you devour no more children, you keep this portal shut, and you serve well, I’ll consider it a win. You’re mother did a lot to corrupt you. She was a vile woman, and I don’t regret at all killing her. You are not her Ariadne. You are your own woman with your own choices. I need your expertise to keep this thing closed, and to bequeath your knowledge. That it is a male practitioner says a lot about where you are right now. You’re mother only taught daughters correct?”

“It is my lord. My brothers became part of her… practices, and we never taught our craft outside the family. Mother would be quite angry to hear I’m teaching a male stranger the craft.”

“Except she’s dead.”

“Except that my lord.” Ariadne turned to the pulsating blue tear in the middle of the room. The scar radiated a bluish white energy a stretched and sparked like it was trying to break free of restraints. We stared at it in silence for a few minutes. It had been the source of much of Brandis’ power. Ariadne’s mother had facilitated profane rituals in the chamber to harness that power and siphoned the majority of it to her lord. It was typical bad guy stuff. Brandis was imbued with terrible gifts that he used against his people. I could have harnessed the power, but I wasn’t interested in killing children or doing whatever heinous shit was required.

I glanced about the chamber. The adjoining hall and the chamber itself could do with a few practical deterrents. I was wary about leaving the chamber totally up to Ariadne and her magic. A ballista, our pot of oil, might caught an unwary invader or two, and might give anyone else pause before interfering with Ariadne’s work.

I would rather rather they just come after me. I was the real target anyway. Augustus wanted me dead, and he was not the only one. I’m sure Ariadne’s exiled sisters plotted in far of locals, and they were not the only ones. I could have, probably should have, killed them all, but Ariadne pleading with me to spare them. She was barely a woman at the time. The youngest of her clan and I needed her help so I released her under supervision and exiled her sisters knowing full well it would probably come back to haunt me.