CHAPTER 10: OAKHAVEN
Day 44.
Oakhaven was everything Millbrook wasn't: large, bustling, and thoroughly indifferent to strangers.
The trading post dominated the town center—a sprawling complex of stalls, warehouses, and inns where merchants from three kingdoms gathered to buy, sell, and scheme. The air smelled of spices, livestock, and unwashed humanity. Noise surrounded us constantly.
"Information central," Kaia murmured. "If anyone knows what the guild is planning, it's here."
"Split up?" Raine asked.
"Split up." Elara nodded. "Liana, check the scholars' quarter—see if any academics have heard rumors. Kaia, the mercenary taverns. Raine, the market—listen for gossip. I'll visit the temple—paladins talk to each other."
"And me?" I asked.
Elara considered. "The wealthy merchant quarter. Use that noble disguise. See if anyone's spending suspicious amounts of money on questionable causes."
"Alone?"
"You're the immortal guardian." Kaia's smile was thin. "I think you'll manage."
---
The merchant quarter was quieter than the main market. Cobblestone streets, actual buildings instead of stalls, servants running errands instead of peasants haggling.
I walked slowly, taking it in.
A tea house caught my eye. Small, elegant, with a sign depicting a flowering branch. Through the window, I could see patrons sitting on cushions, drinking from delicate cups, conversing in low voices.
Alone together.
I went inside.
---
The tea house was warm, fragrant with jasmine and something spicier. A server bowed, guided me to a cushion near the window, brought me a cup of something pale green and steaming.
I sipped.
It wasn't coffee. But it was... pleasant. Calming. The kind of drink that encouraged thought.
Around me, conversations flowed. Merchants discussing prices. A scholar arguing with a priest about theology. Two women in fine silks exchanging gossip about a mutual acquaintance.
I listened.
And slowly, pieces began to fit together.
"—the guild's been buying up old artifacts. Anything pre-Cataclysm."
"Why?"
"No one knows. But the prices they're paying? Someone's got deep pockets."
"—heard the Arcanum's involved. They're always involved when things get weird."
"The Arcanum? I thought they were a myth."
"That's what they want you to think."
"—ritual in the Borderlands failed. Something about the sacrifices not dying right. Heard the mage in charge aged fifty years in five seconds."
"Serves him right. Messing with forces you don't understand."
I set down my cup.
The Arcanum.
A name. A lead. Something to investigate.
I left coins on the table and walked out.
---
We regrouped at dusk, in a quiet corner of a tavern Liana had found.
"The Arcanum," Elara said. "You're sure?"
"Overheard it three times in one afternoon." I looked at each of them. "Anyone else?"
Liana nodded. "The scholars mentioned them. Secret society, pre-dates the current kingdoms. Supposedly dedicated to preserving—or acquiring—forbidden knowledge."
"Mercenaries too," Kaia added. "Said they've been hiring. Quietly. Experts in ancient ruins, old magic, things that should stay buried."
"That's us." Raine's voice was small. "We were supposed to be things that stay buried."
Silence.
"So the guild is working for—or with—the Arcanum," Elara summarized. "Alaric was just a tool. There's someone higher. Someone who wanted what's in Purgatory badly enough to sacrifice four lives."
"And will try again," I said. "Now they know we're alive, they'll move faster."
"Then we move faster." Kaia stood. "We find the Arcanum. We find whoever's leading them. And we end this."
"Or," Liana said quietly, "we find out why they want it so badly. What's in Purgatory that's worth all this?"
Everyone looked at me.
I had no answer.
Below, in the depths I guarded, the entity stirred. Restless. Aware.
Soon, it seemed to whisper. Soon you'll know.
---