Chapter 64 part 3

"I'm part of the mercenary company that took on the task of patrolling the Forest of the Lost," she said, trying to remember the words she'd rehearsed for the days she'd been travelling here. "I was tasked with representing our company to ask you if it would be alright to build guard towers in a few locations to act as housing and a place to hold any bandits that we may encounter."

What Jenn didn't mention was that the towers would also be used to help hide the gates. As it then would allow them to travel through the gates without any worries that they might be seen by accident.

"Hmm," the duchess said, looking at Jenn thoughtfully. "I'll need to consider that." The duchess then turned to her assistant or whatever that person's job actually was. "Make the arrangements for her to discuss the matter with me in detail tomorrow an hour before midday."

The young woman nodded, as she made some marks on a piece of pater she had with her.

Jenn nodded, turned and walked away. While she would have liked an answer right away, this at least was a positive sign for her. She wasn't sure what exactly the duchess needed to consider first, but she was pretty sure that she'd find out soon enough. Especially since she'd been granted an audience with her to discuss the finer points of the issue.

Another thing that Jenn was happy about was the fact that she wouldn't need to get up so early to try and make a petition to the duchess. She could get up at a more reasonable hour and go to the gates again and expect to be let in without any real fuss.

Although, despite all that, she couldn't help but feel like there was something she was missing. Something that she should be aware of that showed things weren't going to go as smoothly, or as pleasantly, as she'd like. Even if it appeared to be that way.

_

When Embris got woken up the next day, she couldn't help but wonder why she needed to be there at all. Jenn seemed to be able to handle herself and all she wanted to do that day was to just lay in bed and relax. Or at least for as long as possible, since Jenn sent one of the others to force Embris out of bed.

Though, she couldn't maintain any real anger towards Jenn because of that. After all, she'd gotten at least a couple extra hours of sleep, even if she had to miss eating breakfast. Which she considered a win all around.

So, when they reached the gate, the guards didn't even ask her who she was. Instead, they just opened the door they'd been passing through for their chance at getting their petition heard. Though, rather than to the room where they had been getting escorted, they were sent to another room. This one was much more lavishly decorated. Including some candlesticks that were clearly made out of rainbow silver.

"What is it?" Jenn asked, as she came over to look at the candlesticks with Embris.

Embris wasn't sure if she made a noise or if Jenn was just noticing that her attention had been caught by the candlesticks.

"Do you know how much these are worth?" Embris breathed, half expecting that they'd disappear in front of her.

"Uh, no," Jenn replied. "Can't say I do."

"I don't know the exact amount, but they're made from rainbow silver. Only the royal family knows the process to make rainbow silver."

Jenn sighed, like she didn't care about that. Which surprised Embris. Who wouldn't be impressed by such obvious wealth? Everything else in the room, from the crocheted table runners, to the intricately carved statuettes in the room paled in comparison to just a portion of one of the candlesticks.

"We're not here to admire the decorations, no matter how expensive they are," Jenn said after a minute, making Embris appalled. She was acting like she didn't care about it!

"How can you be so callous about that? Do you have any idea what it had to have taken to get those made in the first place? Rainbow silver is usually only used to make money. Nothing else."

"If that's the case, why make anything else with it?" Jenn asked, looking like she was getting a headache.

Embris felt Jenn just didn't understand and probably wouldn't, even though she couldn't figure out why. Why was it that she had so little interest and understanding about this? Embris was certain that even Tchisa would be impressed by the wealth.

"What's the problem?" Embris asked, suddenly thinking that something might have happened and that she was distracted by whatever that was. It would at least make sense why she wouldn't show as much interest in that as she should.

Jenn merely shook her head. "Nothing really, though I did see someone that looked familiar cleaning the floors before we came in, even though I know I haven't seen anyone in this castle, or city, before."

'Well, put that out of your mind," Embris said, returning her focus to the candlesticks. "We probably won't be able to see anything like this again."

Jenn looked back at the candlesticks before sighing, like Embris was wasting her time with them.

"If the rainbow silver is used to make the money, why can't the duchess just melt it down for more?" Jenn asked.

Embris felt the same sense that Jenn was missing some important details. Even though she couldn't say how or why that was. Just that it was.

"One, the candlesticks are worth more than the money you could get if you melted it down," Embris replied, starting to feel a little exasperated. "Two, if you did melt rainbow silver down, all you'd get would be regular silver. That's why people won't melt the coins to make anything with it. Because then it'd just be worthless silver. Silver that anyone with magic could turn any metal into."

"Then you're saying rainbow silver is an alloy?" Jenn asked, sounding like she was trying to figure something out. Whatever it was, Embris didn't really care. She didn't know much about rainbow silver, other than it's basic value.

"I have no idea," she replied. "All I can say is this is worth probably more than this entire city."

"Oh, it's not worth that much," a voice commented behind them, startling Embris to the point she felt she just might have made a noise like a twig. Though, taking a few deep breaths was something she was certain would at least help her out from embarrassing herself any further.

"Then how much is it worth?" Jenn asked, not showing any signs that she'd been caught off guard, much to Embris' annoyance.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" the duchess asked, her voice sounding a little dangerous. "I thought you had said something else in your petition."

Jenn shook her head. "Sorry, I was just caught up in my conversation with Embris about your lovely candlesticks."

"Please," the duchess scoffed. "I'm not a twig. Don't try to treat me like I think like them."

"Sorry," Jenn said promptly. "I didn't mean anything by that. I just like lovely things."

There was silence for a few minutes before the duchess started laughing. "You surprise me again. First you surprised me to ask such as audacious thing of building towers on my land. Towers that one could think could be used to try and take some of it away from me."

Jenn shook her head. "I'm sorry if you feel that way. It's just that, like I said yesterday, we'd like a to have some housing for some of our company who would be patrolling the forest, keeping an eye out for bandits, and a place to hold any bandits we capture until we're ready to move them to this city to face your judgement."

Embris wasn't sure how Jenn was able to say such a thing with such a straight face. She knew she wouldn't, even if she believed it all. It was just too much. Of course the duchess would think that they'd be trying to be used by… whoever put this job request out to take the duchess' lands.

"You say that, but I'm sure you realize how it still sounds, don't you?"

Jenn shrugged like it didn't matter. "It all depends on how many towers we want to build."

The duchess nodded, not saying anything in response. Embris also had to admit, that was a fair point. Not that she believed that someone wasn't trying to take control of the forest from the duchess.

After a minute the duchess opened her mouth. "How many towers were you thinking?"

"Maybe five," Jenn replied immediately. "Oh, and a headquarters for our operations in the forest."

Embris blinked. Five? For a forest that large?

"Five? Shouldn't you be asking for closer to twenty?" the duchess asked, apparently having the same thoughts as Embris.

"Maybe," Jenn shrugged, making Embris wonder what exactly Jenn was trying for. Was this a negotiation tactic she hadn't heard of before? "If you have a map, I can show you a rough placement of where we were thinking of building the towers."

The duchess regarded Jenn for a minute before waving a finger in the air, where one of her attendants then handed her a map. Embris wasn't sure if the attendant had just been around the duchess for so long that she knew what she was thinking, or close to it, or if the attendant was able to use magic to know that sort of thing.

Embris had heard rumors of thought mages, but those were so rare that most believed them to be myths, much like many considered the Lost to be. Not that many of those people would willingly go through the Forest of the Lost if given the chance.

The duchess spread the map out over a table, showing the forest in more detail than Embris would have expected.

"Okay, here's the forest," the duchess said. "Where were your superiors thinking of building the towers?"

Jenn pointed to five locations, each in remote areas that were almost in the middle of nowhere. Though, where she indicated the headquarters to be was alongside the road.

"Oh, and I was asked to add that we were thinking of building two or three bridges along here to shorten the road and make it take less time to travel," Jenn added after detailing where the towers would be placed.

"Would my people have access to check these towers from time to time?" the duchess asked, sounding almost like she was making a threat.

Jenn nodded without hesitation, again surprising Embris. She knew she'd probably need some time to consider what the duchess said. Either that or calm herself down because of her nerves. Which were already starting to make her nervous just listening to the two discuss this matter.

"They are your lands, so if you require us to vacate them at any time, then we'd do so," Jenn replied, although Embris suddenly felt like there was something Jenn wasn't telling the duchess. She couldn't say what it was, but she was confident that it was more than the buildings themselves. Something she didn't plan on telling the duchess.

"So, I'm sure the company you're with isn't just sitting out in the elements while they wait for my permission to build these towers. Where are they staying now? I mean, those not patrolling, that is."

Jenn nodded, like she expected this, making Embris feel like her head was starting to spin.

What exactly was going on here? Embris couldn't help but wonder.

"We're staying at the abandoned village here," Jenn replied, indicating on the map, which Embris felt surprised to see that the village was marked on there, though she hadn't noticed it before.

"I thought that was destroyed," the duchess remarked, her tone making Embris feel like it was starting to get difficult to breathe. Almost like she was planning another attempt at destroying it.

"What used to be there?" Embris asked, unable to keep her voice from trembling in fear.

"Oh, just some people that decided to try and take some of my land for themselves," the duchess replied dismissively. "They even refused to pay taxes when I learned about their presence. So, they had to go. One way or another."

Embris wasn't sure she wanted to stay in the room anymore, but she couldn't help but notice a flash in Jenn's eyes. Something that if she hadn't seen it herself, she wouldn't have believed it was there for that brief moment before it disappeared.

"What'd you do to them?" Jenn asked.

"Made them slaves," came the callous reply. "If they had been more cooperative, then I'd have been willing to be more lenient with them, but I'm not going to stand for resistance to my rule, no matter what their reasons are."

"In that case, what would make you willing to relinquish your rule of the Forest of the Lost?"

Embris felt her eyes bulge as she heard Jenn's question. What made Jenn think that this was a safe topic to begin with? It's like Jenn was declaring that her Blue Rose wanted the entire forest for herself.

The duchess however laughed. "You're certainly bold. What makes you think that I'd ever be willing to give it up?"

Jenn shrugged. "Just curious. I mean, you don't get anything for it, except maybe a few mushrooms, other than being in control of the land, I mean. So, I was just wondering if it'd need to be a certain level of cash or if there was something else." Jenn paused for a moment before quickly adding, "You know, just for my superiors information."

Somehow Embris felt like it was for Jenn's information than it was Tchisa's or the Blue Rose's.

"Well, if you want to know, you'd have to get me out from under the queen's thumb. The one who is trying to turn this dying country around and salvage it before it collapses under its own weight."

Embris blinked. While she knew several people who didn't like the country, saying as much as the duchess said could easily get a person locked up if the wrong ears heard the words. She couldn't help but feel like she was part of a conspiracy as well. Whether she liked it or not. As she doubted the duchess herself would be willing to let her just leave without any other issues.

After that, it didn't take much longer before they finished discussing about the towers, and how 'five' was merely a theorized number and that there might be more, but not many more than five when they started building the towers.

Afterwards, the duchess invited them to share her midday meal with them. Though, when they left that room, Embris couldn't help but notice Jenn looking around. As if she was looking for the person that she said had looked familiar to her. Which Embris wouldn't put it past her. Not with all that she'd learned about Jenn firsthand so far.

When they were led to a room with a large table in it, Embris started to get a bad feeling. Not so much that Jenn had made a wrong choice or anything, but rather that the duchess was up to something. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Just that there was something off about everything about the situation they were in right then.

"I was wondering," the duchess said as they sat down. "Were you recently a slave?"

Embris couldn't have been more surprised if Jenn had started stripping naked in front of them. What made the duchess think that Jenn had been a slave?

"Yes," Jenn replied casually, as if this subject came up all the time, adding to Embris' surprise. "Though, I was recently given my freedom." Jenn looked at the duchess calmly before adding, "Why do you ask? Was there something about what I'd said earlier that made you think I was a slave?"

The duchess chuckled, as if she was sharing a private joke with herself. "Not at all. It's just that you look so much like someone I'd recently purchased but the caravan transporting her disappeared. It was strange. The only person who was still around was found by another caravan and she was so shaken by what happened that she hasn't been able to calm down enough to say anything since. Not only that, but there weren't any bodies left. So, I can't say if there was a massive betrayal of my people or if there was a massacre on them that was carried out in a very peculiar way."

Jenn nodded as a bowl of soup was placed before her. "So, because I look like this person you bought you decided to invite us to lunch, right?"

"Lunch," the duchess remarked. "The way you say it sounds so familiar to me, yet it also sounds like the way a few other people I've encountered in the past several months say it. That's one of the reasons I was so interested in the one you look like. I have a feeling she was from another world."

Embris didn't understand what the duchess was talking about, but Jenn's reaction made her feel like she might know something about what the duchess said. Her eyes took on a distant look and her movements got a little stiff. Not enough that Embris thought the duchess would be able to see, but enough that she could tell that there was something that Jenn was uncomfortable with.

The look was there for a minute then it disappeared like an object was moved to reveal the sun.

"Why would that be?" Jenn asked conversationally, like what Embris saw before didn't actually happen. "Is there something strange about the way I talk?"

"There is, but there isn't," the duchess replied, sounding frustrated. Like she knew what she wanted to say but didn't have the words to say it. "It's almost like I hear what you're saying, but something makes it so it sounds like I'm used to hearing things."

"Are you okay, your grace?" Jenn asked, looking concerned. "Do you need to lie down?"

The duchess looked at Jenn like she was suggesting that she was weak. "No, I don't need to lie down, but I would like the chance to speak with you again. You're a mystery I want to unravel."

Embris wasn't sure what exactly happened here, but she was quite confident that it wasn't anything good. Especially for her since she hadn't a clue as to what it was about in the first place.