Glax preferred to keep his suspicions about his brother-in-law to himself, instead of confronting him.
It was not enough for him to be Nikandros 'son and Archigeos' nephew. Glax had understood that Iasos was the Guardian of the Temple of Mnemosyne, one of the most important Ascended Gods for the Echelians.
And now he discovered that the family was funding the Temple of Iasos. To accuse him of participating in his assassination attempt just because of a mark on his arm would be stupid. As much as Glax was sure that Iasos had just used a bow, and those were the marks of the string hitting his forearm.
How did he know that? Matt had taken part in the conceptual development of a game of medieval assassins for Dynamoth, and studied bows and arrows to draw them. He just had to assume that, being such a famous Guardian and, on top of that, Chriseis' brother, Iasos had many skills. The bow being one of them.
"I'm glad you came, Iasos. The treatment here is very good. And being the foreigner such an essential witness, I thought the gods would not mind helping justice to be done. "
"Soon you who cover your face for fear of them should know how capricious they are. Why didn't you take him home and treat him there?" Iasos kept his voice pleasant but did not stop scolding him.
"Ah… because I don't know where my home is yet. I was busy and… I promised my father-in-law that I would be there tonight!" Glax hit his head, remembering his promise.
Iasos winced. "Problems follow you, really, brother-in-law! Why would anyone want to murder you?"
"Good question. Maybe because I'm looking for that man." It was the most obvious reason, but since he was talking to his biggest suspect, Glax chose to be superficial. And he decided not to talk about the girl and boy who were with Rasmus.
"So just try to stop making enemies, like the Furies."
"Are you saying that the Furies would act that way?" Glax asked directly.
As expected, Iasos took a deep breath before answering, about to correct his hint. "I didn't say that they would act like that. Such noble warriors should not act in the dead of night, or with dirty tricks like this. But ... "pointing at the woman, and doing it with an arm without the mark, he said," That person is probably a foreign contractor. And not very competent, after all. "
"Yeah ..." Glax weighed the bag of money he had taken from the dead assassin. "It was not worth the money invested. They had to eliminate it, since I had captured it and would soon find out who was in charge. "
Iasos was silent for a moment, and then smiled, "That should increase your price in the killer market."
"They should remember that I was in Armorion, I helped the Stapolis guard get rid of bandits, and I also fought against Sillabot. They should update my price by at least 15%. Next time I want to keep an even more stuffed bag!" Glax showed all of his teeth to Iasos. However, the brother-in-law had one of the best poker faces he had ever seen, and he laughed.
"I also heard that you made a duel with the Archon of Hissoria! But brother-in-law, since you collect problems as if they were tokens in Armorion, let me help you. Take my horse and go back to my father's house. I will solve everything here. "
'Sure, and it'll be gone with the evidence ...' Glax thought, but he really had nothing to do. "Okay, Iasos, I can only thank you. I am going to rent a cart and take the man from here, since he is offending the gods. We don't want a plague to fall on Echelion. Life was simpler in Crona, I fear I am doing everything wrong. "
The priestess interrupted them,
"In that case, we will provide a cart and an assistant can go with the patient to his home, Lord Kroton!"
'The woman is so eager to get rid of the problem that she eagerly seized the opportunity! This is good because I don't really want to leave the old man close to Iasos. '
"It's a perfect arrangement, priestess." Handing the bag of money to her, he explained, "I hope this will help the temple clean up the evil 'fluids' that the events of that night have brought. And maybe help at the funerals of the men who died because of that merciless killer!" Glax still didn't see the soul orbs, but he figured it wouldn't be long before they appeared. And he was fed up with soul orbs for tonight.
Iasos's gaze followed the money bag, but his lips smiled.
"Before I take you, let me see him. It may be necessary to report to the authorities..."
"I already promised the priestess that I will do this in the early morning." But Glax didn't prevent Iasos from seeing the old man, as he did not have a good excuse for that.
They isolated the old man in a small room. It was a pitiful sight. Glax had been assured that the stranger had already lost his feet and half his legs in the distant past, but he had been beaten tremendously the day before. He was already a weakened man, and the beating had brought him to the brink of death.
Glax wondered how a man in these conditions had managed to survive as a foreigner after the Sanction.
"I think I've seen this man..." Iasos murmured, bringing the torch closer to the dying man's face.
The old man opened his eyes, swollen, but not seeming to see very well.
"General? General Nikandros?" he asked.
::::::::::
Glax found Rasmus on the way back, and together they went first to the Rhoas couple's house. His friend was going to host the dying man and the youngsters for the night, until Glax managed to fix everything.
The Valosian was sure that not even an assassination attempt would be enough of an excuse for Nikandros. He was too late.
And now he knew that the old foreigner knew General Nikandros to the point of confusing Iasos' voice with his father's. The old man was shocked to learn that he wasn't the general, and was silent. The horologist was terrified. Just hearing the girl's and boy's voice calmed him down. Glax hoped the old man would survive. He already had some theories about how and why the old man stayed in Echelion. The girl just told them he was called Arsaces, and little more. She was his maid, and the boy was her little brother.
Arriving at his father-in-law's property, Glax found the state gates already closed, and most of the lights were off. But the servants let him enter. As he imagined, even though it was so late, Nikandros was still awake.
'By the way, how does he sleep? Standing? Can he bang his wife? ' Glax knew that the old man didn't have exemplary health, but that wasn't due to the wonder attached to him.
He really wanted to know the story of how Nikandros got that piece made with divine skill and magic. And how Chriseis ended up with the corrupted version of a prosthesis.
"Ah, my son-in-law deigned to make an appearance! What month are we in, again?" Nikandros received him in a bad mood. Glax also noticed that the old man had overdone his drink. He reeked like wine, and his eyes were red and blurry.
Glax quickly told Nikandros what happened. But the valosian didn't tell him that the old man was a foreigner called Arsaces. He only told him that the body thief had broken into a house and taken a hostage, who was badly injured.
"Eh. You let him get away a second time, huh? What kind of scam are you?"
It was a rhetorical question. But at that point in the night Glax would only answer 'A very pathetic and tired one.' But he just said,
"If the final Chriseis' rites can be done early in the morning..."
"It has already been done."
"Excuse me? I had to be there! She's my wife!" Glax was outraged. He knew from Lady Jolla that his presence was important in the final ritual.
"It has already been done. You were not here. Go home now. Ah!" Nikandros was turning his back on him, but he turned. "I enlisted you. They need an experienced captain and you have been in the battle with Sillabot. You leave tomorrow morning with a group of Alectryons for Nythos. You are an Aegeon now."
"Hey, calm down. Wait. We are still talking about Chriseis. I want to go to the mausoleum. I have that right. "
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I GAVE YOU AN ORDER. You go home and prepare to leave for Nythos in the morning, and you will stay at the Marmium fortress. Or are you going to rebel against your supreme military leader, 'Kroton'?" Nikandros pointed a finger at him with a strange gleam in his eye. Glax sensed his latent desire to destroy him. Nikandros just needed a good excuse.
The more Nikandros did his best to get Glax out of Chriseis's body, the more Glax knew that something nefarious was happening.
"I thank you for your trust and I will follow with them, Grand General. Now, please, let me see Chr..."
"Get back to the problem's solved, Glax. I will see you again when you bring me the report of your victories. I imagine that soon, considering your skill. Or what you brought me tonight is your standard results?"
Glax restrained the urge to punch the old man in the face, and stretched his clenched fists. Nikandros had already turned his back on him and slid on his wheels into his mansion. The servants came to take him to the front door.
Glax swallowed. He was f*cked up.