An Axe in the Flames

Little Ears Everywhere

The large doors to the Meeting Room shut behind Vanni as he exited. His hands clasped together in front of him and hidden under the enormous sleeves of his robe. He glanced around, many black robed servants rushing from one station to another. This section of the fortress was always busy, housing for the servants was a large portion while also the Meeting Hall and preparing rooms for militant orders and conscripting. The hallways were always alive with murmuring and muffled talk behind the many closed doors. He, however, was only interested in the muffled voices behind the door closed behind him.

All along the hallways were great red and black curtains that hung from ceiling to floor and depicted the many great victories of the Flame Sect. They were beautiful in their own right but for Vanni they served a different purpose other than beauty. Behind these curtains his many "ears" to the Sect hid, unbeknownst to anyone but himself. In each room a small and almost untraceable device was hidden, something akin to the device he had had made for his King. A copper spherical device used to amplify the sound when pressed to the ear of one of the many orphaned children he employed. He cleared his throat as he passed by the curtain depicting the Battle of Red Sands, a bright gold background with splashes of red and fire. He waited a moment and cleared it again, this time there was a reply. A soft noise, not unlike that of a rat chewing. He smiled to himself, not allowing it to reach his face. His little ears were at work and soon enough he would know of what Rikart and Yalina were talking about behind the heavy closed doors.

He was more than just a Magi, Vanni was the shadow behind the greatness that was to come for the Flame Sect. The one that set wheels in motion for those that wish not to have blood on their hands. He was the one that gave the hushed orders of the Inquisitors to put men in chains and be questioned by the mongrels of the King's Salt Dungeons. He was the backbone of this promising new rise to power and he would sit by the side of the King when the Flame overtook the Emerald. Rikart be damned, the wretched meat head. He might understand battle and how to swing a sword but running a kingdom and pulling the strings of puppets were not in his feeble understandings of the world around him.

The curtain moved, as if a breeze had graced its heavy linens but Vanni knew better. He would make his way to his humble room in the center of the fortress, above the quarters of the Magi and await word from his secret keepers. His finger was on the pulse of all around him, and because of this, his value to Lucan was immense. He had been Lucan's proverbial ears while his King mended, his knife in the shadows and his eyes of the fly on the ceiling. He had garnered Lucan's trust after the attack in the Salt Dungeons. He had been the only one to stay by Lucan's side and see him fully healed before moving forward with the Sect's plans of war. He had also been the only one to know that Rikart's daughter had befriended the escaped prisoner.

Such knowledge was power beyond measure. Not something everyone could see. Such knowledge was also useless unless used at the right time and place, is not something everyone could comprehend. The little girl was special. There was no doubt in that. Possessed of more magics than any he had known. Including one he had never before seen in all his travels of the lands. Tonal magic. The ability to use sound as a weapon. How destructive, yet so beautiful. Eldon had found the ways to transfer the magic, but it would be Vanni who found the way to capture and manipulate hers. Then he would manipulate Lucan and be the real King from the shadows. The true ruler of the new Kingdom from the darkness.

His quarters were humble by any standard but to Vanni it meant nothing. His riches and lavish wealth would come in time. On that he was sure, especially when he learned of what the Battle Master was secretly talking about with his wife. He knew it was something treasonous, he had felt it in his gut. He sat at the simple wooden table in his room, the only light coming from a flickering candelabra. A basic bed in the corner was neatly made with fresh white linen sheets and a book shelf in the corner that held many of the great researcher books he coveted for learning more about his gained magic abilities. He had always kept a minimalistic living space and life, as it kept the eyes of the higher ups from noticing you. Patiently waiting in his thoughts, the silence was broken by a tapping at his door.

"Enter." He said, knowing who it would be.

A small boy, of maybe nine years of age opened the door and softly closed it behind him. He was dressed in all black and his head was engulfed in a hood that hid his features well in the shadow of it. He hesitated at the door before Vanni motioned him to the chair across from him.

"Come now my little ear. Tell me of what the Battle Master and his maiden talk about behind closed doors." His voice silky smooth and disarming.

The child shuffled to the seat and sat down, pulling back his hood and revealing a face that was so badly scarred it was hard to look at. His eyes drooped heavily at the corners, while his nose was barely present and around his mouth his skin was taunt and scarred, pink sores surrounding chapped lips. He had obviously suffered burns and was just beginning to fully heal. Vanni reached out a pale white hand and cupped the boys chin and turned his face towards the candle light.

"You're wounds are healing as well as one could expect. Though, I would venture to say that no family will ever want a child of your disfigurement. You are lucky I have found room for you in my stable of ears." Vanni pulled his hand back and sucked at his teeth.

"I am great evil to look upon. For your generosity, I am grateful Keeper." The boy said in a crackling hushed tone.

His ears had taken to calling him Keeper, and it was a title he had warmed to. "You do well, remembering all that I have given you."

The boy nodded, "Yes, Keeper. Each day I am grateful."

Vanni leaned slightly across the table and pulled his own hood down, revealing a pale white face with pink scars in the mark of runes all over his face. "I, too, am a great evil to look upon. Though I feed those flames wholly. Do you know what became of the boys that did that to you?"

The boy made no eye contact, but a slight curve formed up in his cracking lips. "They were made degrees by a warrior, Keeper."

Vanni smiled, he liked that term. Degrees, "You are correct, and now child. How does that make you feel?"

This time the boy looked up, his heavy eyes giving a slight spasm and leaking from the right eye, "It makes me happy, Keeper. Happy that they are dead because every day I wake up, it's pain. The slightest light makes my eyes burn and twitch uncontrollably. The heat stings like needles on my face. I only wish I would have been the one to take their life."

Giving a soft chuckle Vanni sat back and traced one of the runes on his cheek with a finger, "That attitude will get you far, Little Ear. That attitude will make men second guess doing you wrong."

The boy only nodded his head as he wiped the wetness from the corner of his right eye.

"Now, let us discuss what you came for. Shall we talk over cheese, bread and honey milk?" Vanni said as he stood up and began making his way to a humble wooden pantry near the front door.

"I would be grateful for the meal, Keeper. I'm only now able to chew again." The boy's crackling voice answered back.

"Good, good. I always find that the secrets are sweeter over a meal much appreciated."

Vanni returned to the small table with a plate of white sliced cheese and hard bread. He carried with him a metal pitcher that he set in front of the boy, as he placed the plate in the middle of the table. He returned to the pantry and came back with two wooden cups and poured himself and the child a cup of the honey milk.

"Please, eat as much as you like. I am rather full still from my morning meal of another...degree.." Vanni wryly said as he rubbed his belly and winked.