Blake went through cigarettes like other people went through sugary cubes. She said she had been a spy for many commercial entities, while being tactful enough to reveal none of their names. Ted listened to her, watched her roll her own cigarettes with nimble fingers that had surely been the end of many unfortunate men and women, and while they talked, Ted let little bits of information slip just so that Blake could form a picture of what was needed to succeed in her mission.
Two competent people who were also known to be very reliable – that was all they really needed, that was really good. Ted smiled.
Then Blake had to go, she said there was some work on her boat that couldn't wait. She assured Ted that she was going to keep a low profile while checking out both the lakes and the nationalities of those who owned pieces of shoreline.
"Shame that in seas, the water is too diluted for the corpses to have any beneficial effect," Ted joked as the duo was leaving.
"I wouldn't call it beneficial." Madorn shook his head.
"Really, I wonder how they have been dealing with that unfortunate airship accident," Ted mumbled. "The last thing I read was twenty dead and another twenty missing, presumed to be dead. Tragic."
"What do you think, do you have eyes on you because of that? It would constitute as -"
"Do not use such filthy words in my presence, Madorn. I know what you ate about to say."
"Sorry, old pal, I am just wondering why we are even still alive. Seems like there is something shadowy going on in every direction at all times. Sinister, isn't it? Every king in every kingdom ever…they know more than they let on."
"Old pal, you think too much, the constant worrying will make you sick." Ted pointed towards a shack that sold really good fried octopus wrapped in waffles. "Here, take a leaf out of my book. Do something you're good at and let other people worry about their own matters. I'll buy you some lunch. Dinner? Lunch, dinner, who cares."
The sun had messed up the daily rhythms of everyone involved, except for Madorn, who had been born so messed up that his rhythm had improved during his time near the cult leader.
The octopus was good, it was one of the first meals Ted had eaten in a few days, and it was only a good thing that it was so greasy.
He asked for a napkin, not wanting to stain his own handkerchiefs.
The owner of the shack looked around and bent closer to him.
"The Blake woman, you watch out for her, she is trouble," the man whispered. "And don't ask what happened in the west twenty years ago, cor, I know you were here to see her, I feed all her customers. She is not as retired as she pretends to be, cor…"
"Interesting, you can keep the change," Ted said and paid the man generously.
Blake had already left to see what the lakes had in store for them. Her ship was nowhere to be found, and no one knew a blazing thing about her or her whereabouts.
This all was so mysterious that it did put Ted and the others on the edge, and there was hardly any sleeping in the Tobias family manor. Ted feared the woman might have sold them out to the crown, or the Diamond King, but no blades were swinging in the dead of the night and gradually the trio came to trust the she-spy and food prepared by strangers again.
The arranged meeting with Blake was still two months away, and Ted decided that he wanted to go hunting for more cultists in the west.
The independent former colonies in the west were a place disowned by modern civilization. Whatever had been there, whatever on those lands had once been cultured and wise had surely been lost. Some said that mutants lived west of the Whale Cape, some said that nothing lived on the islands at all.
This, of course, made Ted Tobias think that there would be plenty of desperate people to snatch into the loving arms of a human sacrifice cult.
The scientist had to stay home. This time, Ted really did not want any sickness to slow him and Eknie down. Besides, Madorn was way too valuable to be thrown to the den of wolves.
Their voyage with a steam-puffer that transported goods back and forth would be inexpensive, and it would take them further west than either of them had ever been.
Ted packed what he thought he needed. Eknie micromanaged him and packed some more, and this annoyed him so much that he unpacked all of her makeup items just to spite her.
Some women were like that.
Still, on the deck of the mighty steam-puffer, watching the almost paranormal fog swirling over his city, Ted had a hard time feeling bad about anything. There was something about being physically elevated from ground level and being in a moving vehicle at the same time that raised one's self-esteem greatly, also forcing the mind to go along with the body and move to higher levels of consciousness.
The sea was grayish blue, with a tint of tropical green. It was a warm day, despite the crazy amount of fog, and gulls were screaming their own inane nonsense into the wind that was quickly driving away the mist.
Ted grabbed the very edge of what would have been the gunwale in a traditional sailing ship.
He really wanted his own sailing boat now, without a steam engine or anything newfangled like that, something to take to Aja Vana and then have as a lecherous boat of licentious tropical holidays. Yes, that was a mighty good idea, definitely worth consideration.
"What got you smiling like that?" Eknie asked coyly. "Anyone you'd like to see dead?"
"Surprisingly, no," Ted said and decided it was best to shut up about his love boat plans.
After all, love wasn't all that cool.