Rexi and Talon

By Onyx Tao

© 2017

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28. Rexi

Rexi watched as Sassy turned to him with a grin. "UNC!" she squeed. "You're alive!"

Zackton, on the other hand, simply offered him the remaining half-sandwich. "I feared you were close to the center," he said.

"I was," Rexi said, his voice still rough from the smoke. "Do you want to tell me I told you so now, or wait until we're alone?"

"If you were close enough to hear me, then your existence is in danger," Zackton said calmly. "Do you want the sandwich or not? I am still hungry ... Harald, could you arrange for another round?"

Rexi took it, and nodded at Harald to ask for more. "Yeah, I was close enough to hear you. What the fuck was that?"

Zackton watched him eat for a moment before pouring soup into another mug, and offering that to him as well. "We can discuss it exactly once, if I have your oath, sworn before the Reaper himself, in the temple downstairs, that you will treat the secret as you would any of His that are never to be discussed, nor revealed."

Rexi tried not to think about the sound, the house crumpling around it, the earth screaming ... yeah, that sounded about right. "Agreed." He took a few bites. "I couldn't find the coffin. So the Paracount is still ..."

"We got it," Sassy said. "Harald and I."

Rexi nodded at Zackton. "Not him?"

"He helped," Harald said. Zackton gave a brief smile around his tusks.

"Where was it? And - good thought, sending in Landra. Whoever thought of that. Looking for the ... you know."

"Were there any survivors?" asked Zackton. "I didn't see any."

Didn't leave any, Rexi thought, but he felt no need to say that. "No. Most of the bodies are gone, a few others crushed in the rubble. Nobody survived. Except you and me, of course, but ..."

"Not something anyone has to know," Zackton said. "As it turns out, I know why the Paracount stole our statues. He needed a coherent group of statues to disguise the fact that one of them was serving as a weight to hold down a trapdoor."

"That makes ... yes. The coffin was at the pond, then," Rexi said. "We triggered a magical alarm when we were there. That's how he knew we were there."

Zackton gave him a tiny, approving smile. "Mmmm. My guess, too. And why he was so determinedly hostile, at that ..." He paused. "We got the rest of the statues, by the way."

"No, a lot happened ..." and Zackton paused. "I was supposed to be at a recital. I forgot all about it. How's midnight coming?"

"Soon," said Harald.

"Midnight?" asked Rexi?

"The vampire hit me," said Zackton. "And although I was prepared ... it wasn't entirely enough to keep from being tainted. I asked Harald to cleanse me, and so we're waiting."

"It's not a blessing I typically ask for," Harald said almost apologetically.

"Much better you get it quietly than go to the Conservatory," Rexi said, approvingly. "Or the Abadarians. It wouldn't stay quiet."

"If I wanted it to stay quiet, my best bet would be the Kuthites," said Zackton with a grimace. "And ..."

"Talk about the cure being worse than the disease," Harald said. "It would work, but ..."

"Yes," said Zackton. "I drank what I believe was a Kuthite healing draught, once. It left me with a great desire to avoid their magic in the future, however beneficial it was supposed to be." He gave Harald a bow. "I am deeply grateful to you and the Reaper for your assistance tonight. I have already expressed my gratitude for your Family's help to Rexi, but allow me to do the same to you and your Master, Harald."

"You can thank me by never speaking of it," Harald said.

Zackton bowed his head just a fraction. "I owe you some thanks, as well, Sassy."

"I'd love that anytool thing," she said.

Zackton pulled it out of his pocket, and handed to her. "It's a small thing as magics go, but ... immensely useful. Enjoy."

Sassy took it, a little dumbfounded. "Don't you need it ..." she trailed off.

"I can replace it," Zackton said. "Walk into any gnomish enclave, and I'll probably find one. Or more."

"Really," said Sassy, looking at it a little doubtingly.

Zackton grinned. "And if there's something else ..." he hinted, and Sassy brightened a little.

"I'll think about it," she said.

Harald got up. "I'll be ready for you in the morning, Master Zackton. I don't know if you can still make your recital ..."

"No," Zackton said. "I'll think of some excuse. I think what I want is to have a hot bath and Talon." He grinned again. "In that order." He paused. "Rexi ... Landra and her crew? They were helpful?"

"Yes," said Rexi

"Then make sure they've got something hot and filling when they get back," Zackton said. "I'm sure you would anyway.

"And I need a couple of contacts in the domestic staff other than you and Sassy." Zackton added. "Delegate, Rexi, delegate."

Rexi chuckled. "Sure."

Zackton frowned. "You say that, but you don't. No," he said, forestalling a reply. "I know you intend to, and perhaps you're even thinking that you are delegating, but you are not. I have made the exact same error. Delegating means giving someone you consider competent the high-level goal, and then leaving that person alone to complete it, or to request assistance as needed. Do you understand what the primary error is?"

"The ... primary error? What - no, I don't understand," admitted Rexi.

"It is expecting that the task would be done the way you would do it," said Zackton. "Delegation means giving up control. That's a hard thing for, ah, persons in our position, but ... Rexi, it is a critical lesson. If you cannot trust your subordinates in any sense, then they should not be your subordinates." The half-orc paused.

"There's some wisdom in that," admitted Rexi. "I'll think about it. In the meantime ... we are overdue for a discussion in the chapel."

"Tomorrow morning, after I've slept," said Zackton.

"Harald will be there."

"After he leaves," Zackton clarified, and then gave a tiny yawn. "Surely this is enough?"

Rexi nodded. "I should get to bed too," he said.

"Rested is always better," Zackton agreed.

Rexi did feel better the next morning, even in the renovated chapel to the Reaper. When Harald had first shown him the space, he hadn't liked it. Old tapestries on the walls had mostly disintegrated in the dark and damp, filling the space with dust, and the faint hint of mold. The carved decorations on the walls, and even the floors had been obscured by a gray haze of dust. Harald's earlier footsteps had shown clearly.

That image faded in the face of this splendor. Matte-black tiles pulled the light from the room, making it seem like the Reaper's own abyss. The carvings on the wall now looked like dark, ghostly faces in the endless dark. Nothing distracted from the simple altar or the dark onyx skull of the Reaper staring out at his faithful. Harald had, at Zackton's request, started by purging the half-orc of the necrotic energies the vampire had tainted him with, and then continued on to complete a short service to the Reaper. Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, Zackton knew the responses - not the same responses that Rexi had learned, but similar. Rexi had suspected that Zackton might be a fellow traveler in the Reaper's service, his supposed interest in Shelyn notwithstanding. It was good to have that confirmed.

Eventually, the service was complete, and the three of them looked at each other in the deep silence of the buried room.

"Rexi said you had some business to discuss in front of the Reaper," Harald said finally.

"Yes," Zackton said. "But not you. Only the Reaper - and Rexi. It doesn't concern you, Harald, and it would place your life in grave danger."

"That sort of business," said Harald.

"So Zackton says," Rexi added quickly. "I don't want to throw you out of your chapel, but ..."

Harald nodded.

"I should mention I know about the listening post," Zackton said. "If you haven't found it yet."

"Listening post?" asked Harald. "No, I haven't. Where is it?"

"Of course not," said Zackton. "But just to be clear about this, I'll know if you're in it."

"How?"

"Oh, there's a simple tell-tale. I'll leave it for your ingenuity to figure out. After you find the listening hole, of course."

"Of course," echoed Harald. "You wouldn't want to give me a hint, would you?"

"No," said Zackton. "It's properly a secret of the chapel, and ... it's not my place to reveal those. I guard them, as I guard all the confidences with which I have been entrusted, over my career."

"That is the way of the Reaper, brother Zackton," said Harald, and turned to leave.

Zackton waited with Rexi until he felt the alarm that someone had exited the chapel trigger, and nodded to himself. "It is safe to speak," he said.

"What was that?"

"It is entirely possible that you do not want to know ," Zackton said, and Rexi shook his head at an odd feeling. That sounded possible, but ... something ... something ...

"What you know now is enough for certain ... I will not say what or who, but some things, to order your elimination," Zackton continued. "Immediately. I have a counter-proposal. I can, here, in the abode of the Reaper, mask the information in such a way that you will not be in danger. As you cannot benefit from this secret, it only places you at grave risk , I beg you to let me obscure it."

"You said you'd explain," Rexi said. Did he want to know? If it were as risky as Zackton thought, maybe ... maybe not. Not if was something that might threaten the Family.

"I lied," Zackton said. "Your insisting on knowing would be tantamount to suicide. This is not something you need to know. Please let me spare you the burden of this knowledge."

The halfling looked thoughtful for a moment; which encouraged Zackton. He couldn't leave Rexi aware of the Finale, or even its existence. He'd infused his own persuasive magics into his speech; if even one of them took hold ...

"How would you do that?"

"Ah," said Zackton, relieved as he prepared the melodies in his mind. "Like this ..."

Rexi shook his head as they left the chapel, exiting into the wine cellar, feeling as if he had missed something. Nevertheless, he was glad that Zackton had raised the issue of the Coryntyn vampire court in the protection of the Reaper's chapel. He'd always kept the Family away from them, but ... visiting true death on the Paracount might well involve them.

May the Reaper bless and keep them far away from us!

Harald might count on prayer; Rexi preferred preparation, and there were a few things he could do to make the estate less welcoming to the sanguine-obsessed undead. He'd just have them done very quietly, as part of the rest of the work on the gardens and the house. Zackton had said he'd deal with the court, and on this particular subject, Rexi was more than willing to let the half-orc deal.