Brewing Bad Ch. 106-107

Ch. 106 - A Gala Event

Even after Lucas walked Mr. Twee out and watched his carriage depart the fortress that afternoon, the adrenaline flowed through him. It was only when that was gone, and his heart rate had come back down to normal that he decided the gambit had been worth it. 

He was satisfied that the voice of that Goddess wasn’t just nonsense in his head now, and Lucas’s mind whirled with the possibilities of that insight. Sadly, there wasn’t time to come up with new experiments, though, because only a few hours after Mr. Twee left, they were all being bundled into carriages to attend the festivities in Lordanin. 

Since there were several carriages in the convoy, Lucas had hoped he’d at least get the pleasure of sitting apart from the gnome, but sadly, he was denied that peace. Instead, the other two carriages were decoys, like this was some kind of shell game. 

“All of the important passengers are in a single place, so any preemptive strike is less likely to target us!” Heisenburgle explained as if Lucas couldn’t figure that out himself. It wasn’t the worst odds, but he wasn’t the sort to be his life on a one-in-three chance. 

Nothing happened, but still, after the first hour of listening to the gnome explain the intricacies of distilling starlight into a usable reagent, Lucas wished that they’d be attacked so he could be put out of his misery. In the end, it probably had more to do with the thirty men on horseback that accompanied them in a long, slender formation that kept any trouble at bay. 

Still, between the tromping of hooves and lectures on Ether-luminescence, he managed to get a few cat naps. The gnome offered him another potion of wakefulness, but Lucas rejected that outright. “I’m not getting hooked on that or anything else,” he shot back. 

His mind wasn’t on the offered potion, though. It was on the other potions that the gnome had in his case. While Lucas knew that they were making another delivery to Skylara, he didn’t know that the gnome was doing likewise with the Prince’s particular elixir, and he studied the pop-up that appeared in detail since he’d never seen it before. 

Extended Elixir of Superior Insight - Intelligence 6, essence -4, endurance -3, poison 3, euphoria -2, strength -2, Agility -1. Highly addictive, effects last for up to a week, decreasing over time. 

The thing struck him immediately as both powerful and dangerous and certainly explained the cold Machiavellian intelligence he’d seen in the Prince’s eyes on their previous encounters. The man was a chess master, but he was playing with other people’s lives instead of pieces on the board. 

You know, if I could get a sip of that, I’d probably be able to say what it was the Goddess was hinting at, he mused to himself before discounting it. Lucas was in no hurry to try that brew, even without the highly addictive tag. He’d seen the monstrous choices its user was willing to make, and he had no interest in knowing what kind of awful shit that version of himself would be willing to do. 

Still, he’d love a chance to check out the ingredient list. A toned-down version of it might be just the thing to help him unravel this riddle.  Lucas never found the chance to ask on the ride there, but if Heisenburgle was appropriately liquored up, he’d make it a point to ask about it on the way back in the morning when they were both bleary-eyed. 

The ball, as he expected, was a grand affair held at the palace, with all of the pains in the ass that such a thing entailed. Lucas worried he was going to have to endure pat downs and stern gazes for the next twenty minutes when they stepped out of the carriage, but instead, the gnome did the only useful thing that Lucas had ever seen him do. He lifted a medallion that he wore around his neck, and instantly, everyone left him and his entourage, along with their baggage, alone. 

Impressive, Lucas thought with a smile. Instead of parting the Red Sea, he parted the Red Tape. I’m going to have to learn that trick. 

Rather than join the general flow and proceed to the main ballroom, the two of them, along with a pair of men who were carrying their cases, went up to the third floor, where the Prince was apparently waiting for them. 

Honestly, Lucas had expected to find Skylara there too, but after waiting for a few minutes in an antechamber, he found the sharp-eyed man sitting alone. “Heisenburgle tells me that you make both progress and enemies; which one would you like to discuss first?”

“Well, I don’t know who my enemies are exactly, but—” then find out, the Prince said, handing him a thick book. “While you look, Heisenburgle can tell me about your progress.”

Lucas nodded and sat down. Then, he began paging through the book. It was basically a mug shot book for the entire mage guild, just like the gnome had explained it, which struck Lucas as rather smart for the second time. While the two of them discussed the various roads, they’d tried to further increase the potency of Lucas’s Blue. The Prince seemed much less bothered by the failures than Heisenburgle did, especially after he explained the increases in potency they’d been able to obtain so far. 

“Well, it all sounds like it's going ahead of schedule to me,” Prince Raston mused. “Do you think it would be possible to adulterate this mixture should the worst happen?”

“That is unlikely, my Lord,” the gnome answered, explaining just how volatile and finicky Lucas’ mixture was. 

While they did that, Lucas went through page after page of mugshots. At first, he started at the front, but he quickly realized the thing was chronological, and the man he’d seen had been very young. So, instead, he started from the back and found the man in question 34 pages from where the blank pages started. 

He studied the young man’s expression for a few seconds as he tried to remember both times the mage had come close to killing him before he finally said, “Elard Waroven is the man you’re looking for.”

Both of the other men stopped and looked at each other. “Who’s that?” the Prince asked. “I’ve never heard of the man.”

Lucas handed the book back to Prince Raston and said, “This is the second time he tried to kill me. The first was after I first started dealing city-wide. I think he was working with the Whisperers then, so it's a safe bet to say he’s doing so now.”

The Prince’s knuckles tightened slightly as he gripped the edge of the book. “I will speak with Lord Torvin and the Leader of the mage guild about this personally this evening, in fact.” the man said in a slightly strained voice. “A third-year journeyman is not making these decisions on his own. I will have my answers promptly; you can be assured of that.”

Lucas nodded as Heisenburgle asked, “Perhaps it would be better if my assistant didn’t show his face publicly until all of this is—”

“Believe me, I would love nothing more than to leave both of you to do your work until it is done,” the Prince sighed, “But she has asked for him, and there will be no denying her our chef or anything else for that matter.” 

The gnome knew better than to respond to that, so Lucas kept his mouth shut, too. Instead, he waited for the Prince to finish elaborating on his short-term plans before dismissing them both and promising to join them both at the ball shortly. 

“Tell me you brought an antidote potion with you, just in case,” the gnome whispered as they descended the stairs. 

Lucas nodded. “Never leave home without it.” Truthfully, he had three vials hidden in his jacket. There was a vial of Blue for Skylara to sample, just in case she asked for one, along with a healing potion and an antidote. It was nice to see that they were worrying about the same things for once, at least. That made Lucas smile as he strode into the hall. 

Neither of them was important enough to be announced, which was good. The bad news was that now he was at the very heart of the kingdom, and everyone, who was anyone, was whirling around on the floor in a riot of frills and colors. 

Lucas wasn’t afraid that his jacket might be out of style. On the contrary, he hoped it was. He’d hate to look like any of these assholes. It was the speed at which the outermost ring was whirling that annoyed him. It was like the social scene of the nobility had been made manifest and transformed into a gaudy whirlpool that was threatening to suck him in. 

Heisenburgle ignored all of that and made his way over to the refreshment table while Lucas struggled to identify even half of the people in the room. He’d met many of them before, mostly as customers, though for the life of him he couldn’t put many names to those faces. Still, he received more than a few smiles and nods, and he nodded back where appropriate, at least until he picked out Adin and his new wife. 

While the Parins were not important enough to be invited to such occasions on their own merits, the Torvins were, and he had no doubt that now, that new strata of privilege applied to Adin as well. When then whirled by, Adin did not smile at Lucas, but his wife did, in a rather venomous sort of way. He wondered which of the two expressions was more disturbing, but he didn’t worry too much about either. When he decided that Lady Skylara wasn’t on the dancefloor, he thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t need to be there either. 

Instead, he got a glass of wine and set about looking for her. The tall, dark-haired woman didn’t take long to track down one of the several balconies that overlooked the city. She was surrounded by a crowd of hangers-on, and even if they didn’t know who or what she really was, they knew she was rich and powerful. 

She was also beautiful, of course, in an Amazonian, man-eater sort of way. Her dark curly hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her red sequined dress showed off more than most. That wasn’t hard; of course, when her tits were nearly the size of his head, that wasn’t hard. Normally, those things might have been enough to make him hot in her eyes, but between the whole dragon thing and the fact that she was used to getting absolutely everything she wanted, there was nothing there for him to desire.

For some people, power and tits are all it takes, he thought as he approached her. Usually, one or the other is entirely optional, too, depending on the audience. If mages invent TV, maybe we can get a new hit show, Keeping Up With the Skylaras. 

The dragoness in sheep's clothing spotted him well before he reached her. She even smiled a little more brightly, but it took her some time to brush off some of the most persistent conversationalists who were so intent on trying to prove their cleverness that his wine glass was drained by the time he reached her. 

“Well, if it isn’t my dear friend Lucas Parin,” she said, kissing him politely on the cheek before she introduced him to some of the people who were still present in her dissolving social circle. 

“How have you been?” she asked, sniffing him slightly before she let go of him. “Something tells me you’ve been making progress.”

Lucas worried for a moment that she could smell the Potion of Lesser Communion that he’d drunk several days ago but quickly decided she could probably smell the potion in his jacket pocket instead. 

“Never better,” he said with a smile, “And as to progress, the only answer I can give is always. That gnome is a slave driver!”

She smiled at that before she ushered him away from everyone else by the elbow. “I’m certain,” she agreed. “I’m simply famished for gossip; you must tell me absolutely everything you’ve been up to since we last spoke.”

While everything was out of the question, he decided he had to tell her something, so as they walked away to obtain at least the illusion of privacy, he racked his brain as to what it was he might be able to tell her that would get him out of this.  

Ch. 107 - Slow Dance with the Devil

Normally, Lucas would have just told her that it was none of her business what he did with his time as long as she got her shit. Barring that, he would have lied his ass off and just made up something plausible. In this moment, the way she was looking at him with her intense, gold-flecked eyes, though, he didn’t think that was possible. The way that she was staring at him right now made him quite sure she could stare right into his soul if she wanted to.

She might appear to be nothing but an aging beauty, but past all that, she was a predator, and now that he saw it, her very presence raised the same hackles on his neck as the time his buddy had tried to wear a wire on him, a decade back. 

Whatever I say next, I have to be very fucking careful, he reminded himself. 

So, he told her the truth, just very selectively. “I hooked up with this old school alchemist,” he explained, “Annoying guy, but he knows his shit, and I’ve been using that to… refine my techniques, I guess you could say.”

He went on to explain some of the elemental techniques he was using to refine his Blue, just long enough for boredom to start to show in her eyes. Then he changed topics, glossing over everything else, and said, “Anyway, the point is, we’re making great progress. The other day, with one of my most recent batches, we got closer than we'd ever gotten before, actually. I can feel it like we're on the verge of a breakthrough.”

He left out the fact that the batch he was talking about wasn’t this one and instead flourished the tiny bottle of blue he’d been carrying for just this moment. Her eyes were unable to study both him and his drug at the same time at that moment, so they flicked to the faintly glowing vial instead. 

“I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me,” she sighed, pressing her body against him hard enough that he could feel her nipples through her dress. “I can smell it - the faintest hint of the divine on you. You might really have finally done it…”

“Well, you’d have to try to find out,” he said, faking a smile as he tried to ignore how this was exactly the opposite of the woman he wanted to be pressed against. 

“In time, my dear, in time,” she whispered, taking it from my fingers before she very slowly and deliberately slipped it into her cleavage. She was obviously putting on a show and was a touch disappointed when she looked up to find that my eyes had never drifted down. She was hardly the first cougar I’d known, and I was onto her tricks. “First, we must go dancing. The night is young. Intoxication and inebriation are best saved for later and indulged in private.”

Dancing. That was the word he dreaded the most out of all possible fates. Lucas would rather be flung into the moat a second time than go out and twirl in the ballroom with all of the fancy people. He fought in vain to delay that fate. He tried to ask questions about Skylara, to run out the clock, and barring that, he tried to flirt with her, however distasteful he found it, but she had set her heart on dancing with him, and she could not be dissuaded. 

“It’s the least I can do,” she explained as they strolled. “You’ve worked so hard for me. The least I can do is show you off a little. The people will talk, of course, but then, that’s the point. You deserve some recognition, even if we can’t recognize you publicly for your fine product.”

“I dunno,” Lucas said half-heartedly. “I do my best work from the shadows.”

“You live in my shadow now,” she said, a bit too possessively for his taste as she clung to his arm a little tighter. 

He might have asked her about that, but by then, they were in the thick of the crowd and surrounded by people, and he could no longer say anything that might give away secrets. Instead he walked forward like a man condemned. 

Truthfully, though, it wasn’t so bad. He’d dreaded the whole thing, but this was why he’d taken all those damn lessons, after all, and fortunately, the song that everyone was currently waltzing to was rather sedate. If it had been one of those songs where everyone was constantly switching partners, he was certain he would have embarrassed himself in a grand fashion, but this he could probably handle.

“Isn’t this lovely?” she asked, obviously enjoying the attention as much as the dancing. “I so rarely get to show my treasures off, and you are very much a treasure, Mister Blue.”

“You probably have a whole mountain of gold all to yourself,” he joked. “I can hardly compare to all of that.”

“Discussing my mountains, and in public no less,” she teased. “How utterly inappropriate.”

Lucas cursed his words and tried to apologize, but she wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise. “Now, now. All the treasure in the world can’t make me feel the way you do,” she said with a smile that was far too eager to be coquettish in the way she’d intended. “And all your labors get me ever closer to my true goal.”

“True goal?” he asked, perking up. He’d already validated what the Goddess told him during his uncomfortable conversation with his tailor, but if she was going to give away information, he was happy to listen. 

“Now, now,” she teased. “That’s a secret, for now anyway, maybe after I get to know you a little better…”  

Lucas nodded at that. He’d expected as much and had no wish to bait her further down this road. It was obvious enough that she was already trying to lead him down it, and he wouldn't make her job any easier. Her intentions had been clear for a while now, of course. He just needed to figure out how to get out of this. 

It wasn’t that Skylara wasn’t a beautiful woman, of course. She was, but she was a monster underneath that thin veneer and only a century or ten too old for him. 

“You’re moving a little stiffly,” she commented after a minute or two of slow twirling. “Did you have an accident in the lab?”

“More like a disagreement with a rival gang,” he said, surprised that she could tell that he still wasn’t quite one hundred percent. I gotta stay focused, at least around her. He reminded himself. If I don’t keep my head in the game, I’m liable to lose it. 

That, in turn, caused her to stiffen, and for a moment, they were half a step off the tempo until she recovered her focus. “You were hurt? Fighting?” she demanded. “Tell me who did this, and I will murder all of them.”

“Well, I appreciate the offer,” he said, trying to play off the moment and ignore the way her full fury made him feel like a mouse playing with a cat. “But we already took care of that part. You know? Blood and fire and all that. There’s no one left to take vengeance on.”

“Fire, huh?” she purred, melting slightly at his reassurance. She pulled Lucas a bit closer before she said, “Tell me more about this fire.”

The last thing he’d expected was for Skylara to want the gory details. Still, he did his best to give them to her. “I wasn’t there for all of it, you understand. I have more important things to do than smash heads,” he explained. “But the way my lieutenants tell it…”

Lucas proceeded to spin a story for her that was pretty much the truth of what had happened when the Red Lantern Gang gals had crossed him. He told her how he’d fallen into their clutches in a business deal gone wrong, and after the Madam in charge had tried to sell him to the wrong person, his people had burned her little empire to the ground. 

“For a human, you are quite intelligent, Mister Blue,” she purred. “This is exactly the correct response. When people think they have subtle forms of power over you, you must remind them of how easily their puppet strings can be severed with raw, brutal force. There is no other way.”

In the context of the conversation, her words were sensible enough. However, when they were viewed in the context of her arrangements with the Prince and before him, his father, the King, they were a bit more chilling. This was a woman who would burn the city down with everyone in it just to make a point. 

Fortunately, the next dance was a little faster, giving him time to process all of this without giving her too much of a chance to study him. After that, he tried to beg off to get some wine, but Skylara wouldn’t hear of it. 

“One more song, at least,” she insisted. 

She got her way, of course, as she did in all things. He was in no mood to test her after she revealed that, in her mind, the correct answer to express dominance was to burn everything down. So, he suffered through one more slow song while she spent most of the time resting her head on his chest, and he tried to figure out if there was something more he could do. 

It was only after that that they finally strolled off the dance floor. He had two glasses of wine in quick succession. One was for refreshment, and the second was for his nerves. While he indulged, she introduced him to all sorts of people, some of whom he’d already met. 

All of them cared about Skylara and her opinions. That much was easy to see. She was supposed to be a very wealthy dowager duchess, of course, had she was hardly ugly. Any interest in Lucas was feigned, though, at least until she mentioned that he was a young Viscount visiting from abroad to assist the Prince in some important projects. That always perked up their interest rather quickly, but to Lucas’s annoyance. 

“I told you,” he hissed after they left the company of the Lady Markim and her very eligible niece Bernadette, “The fewer people that know who I am, the better.”

“But if they don’t have even a hint, how can they spread all sorts of scandalous rumors about the two of us?” she asked.

Lucas smiled at that, but only to suppress the sigh on his lips. That was the very last thing he wanted. 

The only silver lining to the whole thing was that he was able to avoid Adin and his new wife, though he had Adin to thank for that more than Skylara. There were several times she seemed to be leading them right toward the other couple, but each time, the newlyweds slipped away. 

All of that came to an end rather abruptly when she said, “We’ve danced enough. I think we should go back to my rooms to continue this party in private.”

Lucas swallowed hard at that. The way her eyes sparkled told him exactly what she wanted, and while once upon a time he might have done her just to find out how dragon pussy was, these days he only had eyes for Danaria, and sleeping with anyone else was a line he definitely wasn’t willing to cross. 

Still, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of it. The Prince’s words from earlier still rang in his ears. No wasn’t a word Skylara was used to hearing, and it was usually fatal for anyone who tried.