Devourer

Chapter 62: What Lies Beneath

Sarana was known as the best spymaster in the region. Her infamy even stretches far into the Zariman desert. Once she was proud of this recognition, it did feel good after all when one is so good at their job that they are feared. Still things were very stressful, her instructions from the Syndicate were simple. The new empire must be formed and she was to do everything in her power to aid that rise.

So that was exactly what she has been doing, lucky for her the Empress has been extremely generous with funding. Her information network has never been stronger thanks to the vast amount of resources now available to her. Her funding has actually tripled, she suspects a lot of this money was what used to be spent on keeping the Empress locked up in the cradle.

That truly was a heavy money sink wasn’t it?

Many of Tralis’s agents in Averlon are now double agents with them being truly loyal to her. The thing about spies is that suitable individuals are hard to find. The nobles and knights, although loyal thanks to their silly oaths, lacked the subtlety for the task.

Thus most of the time it was some minor noble that was trained to be a spy that coordinated an offshore spy branch. As for the people actually doing the spying, most nations preferred to use disgraced adventurer rogues who were kicked out of their adventurer guilds for some kind offense. Sarana used those as well, but they were too few in number and too high profile for her liking. Strength sometimes can look like a signal fire…

So Sarana, who grew up on the streets, came up with an idea. An innovation if you will…

In the past spies were dedicated professionals, but now with many techniques lost or confiscated, professional spies were almost impossible to train. Or at least spies of the caliber during the time of the old empires. Sarana was sure that if the so-called professional spies attempted to infiltrate the old empires they would get caught in an afternoon…

Thus came her innovation, she used maids, whores, beggar children, bards, tavern keepers, cooks, cleaners and many others born of the dirt… like herself…

When one uses individuals such as this, then the spymaster’s coordination becomes of utmost importance. For people like this are easily swayed with a bag of gold or a few threats. Thus double agents and betrayal are commonplace. Especially for those that try to imitate her.

Many foreign spymasters try to emulate her but with middling success. Most spymasters are nobles, she is the only low born spymaster that she knows of in the region. Sarana was the lowest of the low, a whore born from a whore. She came from nothing and she has grown up amongst those that came for nothing.

This is the key difference between her and the other spymasters, they didn’t know how to handle those at the bottom of society. Which was good news for her; it made their spies really easy to turn to her side. The aristocracy thinks their names are what gives them power, they think their house compels loyalty. That may be true for knights and others of high station, but not for those who were born from the dirt. 

Luckily for her the borders to Voleria are closed so no one can move beyond the Elysian Gate. The great beast is doing a good job of ensuring no one sneaks across the border, as far as she can tell this net is air tight. Her majesty even banned letters from crossing the border. Ravens get shot down on a daily basis and their senders quickly apprehended. 

Sarana then heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Sarana said and she looked up from her documents to see Empress Cecilia.

“My Empress. Please come in.” Sarana said as she rose to her feet.

“Have a seat… I wish to speak to you…” Cecilia instructed calmly as she commanded Sarana to sit down in her own office before walking over to the chair in front of Sarana’s desk.

“I would like to congratulate you, your grace, on the reunification of Elysia.” Sarana said as she took a seat.

“Yes, it was… easier than expected.” Cecilia said with a small smile.

“With the great beast on your side, it does simplify a great many things.” Sarana said calmly.

“I do agree, so today I wanted to ask you about the progress of our… previous discussion.” Cecilia said.

“Yes, I have been working tirelessly on that task and it is going well.” Sarana replied.

“Hmmm the seal of house Tarlos, I wonder what their letters are doing on your table.” Cecilia said as she spotted the sealed scroll.

“Well Tralis has been preparing for the invasion for a long time. My information says Tralis has dug their claws in Marina. No doubt taking advantage of the previous tenuous relationship.” Sarana said calmly.

“So does Count Edrin know?” Cecilia asked.

“The Count of Marina is none the wiser. Marina had a rather incompetent spymaster, it was trivially easy for me to dig my claws in as well. As you know house Tarlos is a minor house in Marina, an ambitious house. They were promised a great many things by Tralis.” Sarana said as she tore open the scroll and gave it a look before handing it to Cecilia.

Cecilia looked down to see a report on her friend, his hive and his phoenixes. When she looked up she saw Sarana take out a piece of identical parchment as well as a house Tarlos seal.

“You would be surprised how lightly guarded the seals of the minor houses are. When you are weak, you don’t think anyone would be interested in forging your house seal…” Sarana said with a chuckle.

“So I trust no… compromising details have left the border?” Cecilia asked.

“No, Tralis’s more professional spies have either been turned or killed. My contacts in Tralis tell me this was an expected outcome by their spymaster, considering I have quite the reputation. But since I turned some and killed some he naturally felt the surviving ones were reliable. He of course has no idea that his remaining spies have been turned.

He also has some lower class agents in imitation of my techniques. I believe he had… a dozen whores in Peeler’s Pit.” Sarana said as she raised her gaze slightly as she searched her memory.

“And those whores are now yours.” Cecilia said.

“Yes, they are… well all except one. One of them was held in line by Tralis because they kidnapped her infant son. Maternal love is hard to break, and I know of no method to do so reliably, so I had one of my agents patronize her as a client and I told him to be rough… very rough…” Sarana said calmly.

“Ah, so how does that work?” Cecilia asked.

“Well your grace, I am sure you are not familiar with whore houses.” Sarana said.

“I am not.” Cecilia admitted with a nod.

“So, whores sometimes die in their jobs. Sometimes a client gets carried away, perhaps he had too much to drink, perhaps he was just angry. I trust you know that some men like to choke their partners, well I sent an agent with particularly strong arms.” Sarana said.

“Ah I see, then the child?” Cecilia asked curiously.

“Hmm? Oh irrelevant, his captors probably dumped him in a gutter to die. He served no purpose with his mother dead.” Sarana replied calmly.

“I see…” Cecilia said impassively.

“Do you ever use such methods, is there a team of baby nappers in Tralis?” Cecilia asked curiously.

“No, of course not. Like I said the other spymasters do a poor job of imitating my methods. Kidnapping a child leaves the mother distraught, panicked and emotionally unstable. If a spy is emotionally unstable they become unpredictable, impulsive and unreliable. I do not use unreliable spies.” Sarana replied.

“Hmm, that is good to know.” Cecilia said with a nod.

“Are there any traitor houses in Averlon?” Cecilia asked curiously.

“No, I have made sure of that. After all, I had jurisdiction here much longer than in the other nations. The only spies that enter Averlon are the ones I allow in and the only letters that leave are the ones that cross my desk.” Sarana said as she gestured to the stack of papers on her table.

“Then how many traitor houses are there scattered in my empire?” Cecilia asked.

“Not enough to matter. Duchess Yatheria recently purged one she knew about for quite awhile. She is shrewd, it was a contingency plan no doubt. Perhaps she was thinking of playing both sides, but the moment she realized the true measure of the Great Beast’s power she swiftly purged the house, no doubt knowing I would be watching.” Sarana said with a grin.

“Well she does have a pair of pretty twin daughters. I can understand a mother wishing to protect her children.” Cecilia said.

“It is heartening to witness your mercy, your grace.” Sarana said with a bow.

“Enough, anything else? Any other traitor houses?” Cecilia asked as she waved away the flattery.

“There is one in Arune and two in Marina. All are quite toothless, House Tarlos is perhaps the most problematic one but in truth it is mostly irritating and not really cause for concern.” Sarana said.

“Good to know, what does the Bandit King and his lecherous son know from the reports?” Cecilia asked.

“He thinks mistress Legiana is the Great Beast, since she is quite proficient in magic, I spun the narrative that was what brought you together. Two mages getting along, not that hard to believe. Then I fed the narrative that you were just a good speaker and everyone is afraid of Tralis which is why they united. I’m sure that fed their egos a little bit.” Sarana said with a small laugh.

“The culture within Tralis is mostly patriarchal, women are viewed as lesser to men. So I took advantage of that, I fed them the lie that you charmed and seduced your way to power. They also think women are unworthy warriors and prefer to be mages because it's… softer as they put it. Combine that with the Volerian perception that Elysians are more effeminate. It was an easy sell.” Sarana said.

“They underestimate us implicitly.” Cecilia said.

“Exactly, so Elysians banding together out of fear was easy for them to believe. People believe what they want to believe.” Sarana replied with a smile and a nod.

“I suppose they do, but are you certain that your information is correct?” Cecilia asked.

“Oh I make sure, I monitor both ends of the message, and I have spies spying on my other spies to prevent betrayal. If one of them gets turned, I have my ways of resolving that. Though it rarely happens, my reputation has become a deterrent of its own.” Sarana said with a confident nod.

“That is good to know, I hope you can continue to maintain this information net.” Cecilia said.

“I want Tralis blind when they cross the border, I want them to think they know what's here. I want them to be unprepared for what is to come.” Cecilia said.

“That I am confident of achieving your grace, my moniker of the Spider is not given lightly. I’ve lost count of the number of times I was given an offer by another Elysian state.” Sarana remarked.

“Oh? Then what made you stay?” Cecilia asked.

“At first it was because your father matched their bid, but later well… It was because of you. Do you think your father would let me just walk out when I know about your little secret? Yes I could have snuck away but honestly without me your father had no chance of keeping the secret. Then I would spend the rest of my life running from angel wings.” Sarana said

“I suppose that is true. You are a pragmatic one Lady Sarana, so what will make you stay now? Is the secret still all that binds you?” Cecilia asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“The secret and the danger it brings is a significant part of the consideration. But there are others as well…” Sarana said as her mind flashed to Nemesis’s white mask and the tortured angel she kept hanging on her office wall to torment at her leisure.

“Like?” Cecilia asked.

“Well… I like to be on the winning side, the winning side usually lives. For someone like me, usually if my side loses I end up dead.” Sarana replied.

“You give yourself too little credit, many nations would love to have you.” Cecilia said but Sarana could sense the slight sarcasm in her voice.

“Tell me Empress, wouldn’t you ask me to do unspeakable things to avert the fall?” Sarana asked.

“Of course, and the mob has to lynch someone no?” Cecilia asked with a smirk.

“You are very different from the other rulers, your grace. Most rulers would expect words declaring undying loyalty.” Sarana said.

“And yet you didn’t give me any, you knew I wouldn’t be bothered by it.” Cecilia replied.

“Any Queen that must say I am the Queen is no true Queen. If that is true then how much more so for an Empress? Also I would rather not insult your intelligence, if the Great Beast in all his ancient wisdom treats you as an equal... Such petty boot licking won’t do anything.” Sarana said calmly.

“Well seeing as we are both held hostage by fate, then we should endeavor to survive what is to come no?” Cecilia asked.

“Naturally your grace, afterall we both didn’t end up here by chance. Any fool with a bit of luck can be born into power, but to earn it for yourself that is a different matter entirely. But I suppose for your case, to earn it back.” Sarana said.

“I had some help.” Cecilia replied with a fond smile as she thought to her dearest friend.

“Even the legendary Blade had his team, Mahaila the Swift, The Crow Father, The Ender Knight and many others. He has been dead for who knows how long and yet his legend lives on, mothers still whisper his great sagas to their children before they tuck them in for bed.” Sarana said.

“Well then shall we look forward to our own legend?” Cecilia replied with a smile.

Of course Empress

Into legend…