"That strange merchant you have staying here, I forgot to ask you his name."
"Hansel Oben."
Before proceeding any further Amondo took a few minutes to decide how best to handle Hansel, running through more than a few possible scenarios of how it might go down before he selected the approach he favoured and then he prepared accordingly.
Like the innkeeper had done earlier he removed a chain from around his neck, only this time instead of a coin with a hole in it a ring was attached to the chain. He opened the clasp of the chain and removed the ring from it before placing it on his left index finger. He then recited a few words in an ancient language that no one living knew the origins of before heading back to the taproom to confront Hansel Oben.
The merchant was still seating on the same chair, wheater or not he was on the same mug of ale was debatable. No matter if he was or not Amondo still sat down beside him before he introduced himself to Hansel.
"Hello, there I hope you don't mind me sitting here the names Sir Amondo Malla and I thought that now was as good a time to introduce myself to you as any. I believe your name is Hansel Oben or should I say Robin Wodeh. I know you could I suppose just be an associate of his or perhaps an apprentice even but I dismissed that thought almost as soon as it entered my mind. From what I have heard about you it seems to me that it is extremely unlikely to be the case. Now I suppose we could go back and forth for hours before you admit it so let's just assume you have and take it from their, what do you say to that."
"I imagine that it was somehow the coin that gave me away and not that you were expecting me."
"Actually I was expecting someone not necessarily you of course and perhaps not yet but then you are not the only one to have paid a visit to the barony I imagine and you certainly won't be the last."
"Well, no matter I'm sure that you'll end up wasting a lot of time looking which could no doubt be better spent doing other stuff plus no matter how many you might find you can never really stop looking. But then again even Eugene probably doesn't know how many he has in place and not all of them even know that they are working for him in the first place."
"Yes exactly it's a pity I don't have any of my own at the moment and even if I knew who they were I definitely couldn't trust any that my brother might have had. Ah well given enough time I'm sure that I could manage to set up a network of my own but alas time isn't a commodity I process in abundance. Well enough talk about your patron, master, cats pawn or whatever he is to you let's talk about Robin Wodeh."
"Go ahead I'm listening."
"From what I hear you're a magi, one of those currently small number of individuals capable of what has come to be called greater magics. I like over two-thirds of the population am capable of performing basic low-level magic spells or cantrips as they are commonly called. These, for example, allow you to light a small fire, tell if it's going to rain in the next few hours or produce a light which allows you to see at night."
These peoples bodies slowly draw in magical energy from the world around them and it is then stored internally, these cantrips channel this magical energy to produce the required effect. However, their internal magical storage space is relatively small in size and they can thus only power a very limited number of cantrips before it has to recharge.
"Magi like yourself are capable of using much more powerful spells."
Their internal magical storage space is much larger than usual and magical energy is drawn into their bodies much more quickly.
"There are others capable of placing spells into objects, usually pieces of parchment that almost anyone themselves excluded can then use as if they were the ones casting it themselves."
Their internal magical storage space is unstable and cannot contain magical energy for long but they are somehow able to channel it into these objects.
"There are even legends of even more powerful magic users than the magi and I imagine that you like all your brethren are looking to discover how to unlock the power these mages were said to possess, am I right?"
As well as having large internal magical storage spaces they are capable of using external magical energy sources to power their spells.
"Only to a certain extent it would be a good thing to do but for now amongst other things my main aim is to become the best magi I can."
"A worthy aim I am sure but it is the other things I am concerned about at the moment. You are I believe the younger identical twin brother of Amodeus Wodeh, the earl of Ramslia in the kingdom of Marconii. It is said that you bare the mark of Nubage on your back I believe and that your brother was the one that had it branded upon your body. This was one of the conditions he imposed upon you in exchange for him allowing you to train as a magi after the relevant power of one manifested within you. He feared that otherwise, you might somehow replace him without anyone noticing, what an old wives tale.
You agreed to this halfheartedly and it is said that this act drained the last remaining ounce of love you might have had for him. It is further claimed that afterwards, you made a vow to the Gods that from that day onwards you had no brother and one day you would in one way or another have your revenge against him and that everything you have done from that day forth is in pursuit of this goal."
"Don't forget the part where my dear former brother blames me for every single misfortune that befalls him. That he has sent assassins to kill me and that one of them accidentally killed the love of my life. What poetic licence she was merely a common whore I was bedding when the assassin struck and it was my brother's wife who hired him. The ones I sent to her in return didn't fail and well her replacement leaves me alone."
"So you don't want your brother dead?"
"I stopped caring either way long before the branding and he feels the same about way about me."
"So it's power and influence that your after, you want to be able to mould future generations of magi. And the best way to do so is to gain even limited control of one of the two, sorry three institutions that train new magi. Why you don't either try starting your own or set your sights on one of the two more prestigious ones I can only guess. But I suppose the school of Magi at Wainthe Abbey is better than nothing."
"You have me all wrong all I wanted was a teaching post at one of them but for reasons, I won't go into they all rejected me. The only outsiders with any influence over any of them outside of the imperial family is the Baron of Membe, an otherwise unimportant minor title."
"I think you overestimate the relationship between my family and the Abbey, other than the fact that if requested they must test a member of my family and if that member pass then take them as a pupil the only influence we have over them comes in the form of a favour they owe us. The wording of that favour may mention the baron of Membe rather than the Malla family but it is owed to my family. It also sets limits on what form the favour can take, I suppose from what I remember an appointment to a teaching position falls within those limits."
"Anyway considering the state of the barony even back then I approached your brother but he was rather dismissive of me and my request. On my way back from the meeting I happened to run into the new baron of Dagleana and we got talking. Unlike me he isn't indifferent were his elder brothers is concerned, he rather hates his guts actually but then you already know that. He hadn't been in a position to do anything about it and to tell you the truth probably never will.
Instead, he settled for proving to himself and others that he is the better man. His preferred method for doing so is taking the Barony he married into and making it into a county. The first step in his plan to do so is of course to enlarge it and of all the territories neighbouring Dagleana he decided Membe was his best bet. This is partly because he felt that while it might seem a tough nut to crack your brother was running it into the ground. However the main reason is and always will be you, I don't pretend to know why but he hates your guts."
"Not that it's any of your business but while I can't be sure two reasons come to mind. Firstly I once saved his brother's life and he would prefer I hadn't and secondly before the Duke's son was born he once or twice threatened to disinherit him."
"What has the latter got to do with you?"
"I would have thought you knew, after Eugene, I am next in line to inherit the Dukedom. I am sure that Stefan would never have carried through with his threat but it seems to have struck a chord in Eugene's mind never the less. Now that I think about it I must be fifth in line to the dukedom these days and second in line to the County of Presbur to boot. It remains to be seen whether or not I will be the next Baron of Membe or merely its regent but that is as high a position as I wish to hold, what about you do you have any nephews."
"Not yet, my brother's first wife had three daughters but no son, that was the main reason she tried to have me killed when she became convinced I had something to do with it. Sheer nonsense, of course, I'm not even sure a mage could affect the sex of a child. Back to the subject at hand Eugene Haas really hates your guts, I wonder was your brother's death an accident or did the fool have it occur merely to have you enter the picture so he could go on and defeat you personally. No, he was too angry when he heard about his death, have you heard what he did to the fellow who killed him. He's still rotting in the Dagleana Castle dungeon missing his right arm and with only one working eye just waiting for his inevitable death."
"It's a bloody business war and you never truly know what might happen. Soldiers survive things you'd think that they had no chance to and others have fallen in situation you could never have guessed would be fatal. Wait if you went to my brother seeking his aid in gaining a teaching position at Wainthe Abbey why then did a rumour spread that you had made an offer on our dungeon heart or did that come later."
"No, I never mentioned anything about your dungeon heart to him during our meeting. I have no interest in such things and if I did I don't think he would have agreed you certainly never would. Perhaps the situation with his finances outweighed any other considerations. Someone else might have made an offer or he thought that if the rumour spread far enough he would receive an offer for it."
"I didn't communicate with my brother at all after leaving so I can't with any accuracy judge what he was capable of but I suppose either is possible now back to talking about you."
"Please do, carry on."
"I imagine things have gone too far for me to simply offer to use the favour to gain you a teaching position at the Abbey?"
"You are correct when this whole thing began the forces of the barony of Membe were superior to that of Dagleana. My entry on the other side helped even things out but now you are in an even worse position than Dagleana ever was. While your skills in the joust and melee are truly impressive as I myself have witnessed. The skills necessary to lead ten knights into melee combat doesn't necessarily translate into leading a much larger force.
And while I am sure you have won a small fortune or two over the years I am equally sure that you have already spent most of it, unwisely I imagine like oh so many of your colleagues. I am sure you will probably prove a worthier foe than your brother but in the end, you will no doubt fail and your death is assured unless that is you flee. Many of your enemies may fall at your feet before then but I will certainly not be one of them."
"I think you give him and yourself to much credit neither of you has truly been tested on the field of battle. Sure the first struggle for the Barony was extremely well planned but the way it panned out was more due to my brother's failings than anything else. That is beside the point I am here to talk about you I'm sure that as well as spying for him you provide him with other services?"
"If by that you mean using magic in all its different forms to do whatever I can to help him then yes I do. I have helped him better enforce his vassal's oaths of fealty, made small groups invisible for short periods and other things like that. Unless you have your own Magi on side I will continue to provide him with a tremendous advantage over you and he will make use of it to swallow your barony whole."
"Alas, the only Magi I was on friendly terms with died last year and I imagine any others that I might hire would either have found employment elsewhere or prove too expensive."
"Too bad unless you have anything else to offer me I will be taking my leave, good day."