Devil's Foundry Book 3" Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Scheming, Scheming, Softly Memeing

“I have been advised to be more…forthcoming about my plans,” I said.

There was no better place for a secret meeting than beneath the churning and creaking gears of the lightning mill. A row of generators hummed from the power of the driveshaft, and the air was lit with a single dull bulb.

Really, the aesthetics were to die for.

“Whatcha got for us, boss?”

The company, on the other hand, was worth living with. Which put them a cut above my usual villainous acquaintances.

“Naturally, I will be accepting the invitation to the capital.” I pushed the letter across the table, wax seal glinting in the low light. “There, I have no doubt I will be ‘enticed’ to sell the mirrors.”

Around me, Dee, Dum, Rel, and Electra shared glances. We sat around a small table, on the most comfortable chairs I’d been able to commission. I had cleared the tabletop of everything but a carafe of water; I tended to become parched after a good monologue, and tonight I was feeling particularly villainous.

“You sure it’s a good idea to go then, Em?” Electra asked. “You didn’t seem that interested in selling in the first place.”

“If Ishanti was right about one thing, it’s that her benefactors can no doubt make our lives very uncomfortable.” I leaned forward, steepling my fingers. “Of course, they were interested in bargaining at the start, which means I have something they want. All that remains is seeing what I can extract in return.”

Rel and the boys still looked confused, but Electra sighed in understanding. “Ah…this is classic power politics, isn’t it?”

“Naturally.” I smiled. “And I happen to be quite good at that game.”

“Uh, Boss.” Dum scratched the top of his head. “Why d’you look so excited about it?”

“I’ve been such a good girl this year.” I leaned back in my chair, hand pressed to the back of my head. “I saved the princess, I toppled the villainous noble, I protected the innocent village from monsters. Someoneeven stopped me from executing my hapless citizens.”

Rel gave a quiet meep. I reached out, running a hand along her wrist. “You’re forgiven, dear.”

“What’s that…got to do with the mirrors, boss?”

“What doesn’t it have to do with mirrors?” I replied.

Electra laughed. “Laying it on a little thick there, boss.”

“That.” I pointed. “Is exactly the point. Really, it’s been too long since I’ve done some proper villainy.”

“You did kill the leader of the Tarnished by burying him alive,” Rel said. “That seems…somewhat villainous?”

I waved a hand. “Killing a villain is only villainous in edgy comic books. I’m talking about a real no-holds-barred betrayal, a true cloak and dagger contest for the fate of a nation. And how perfect that two lovely targets have presented themselves.”

“What, ‘Shanti and her boss, boss? Dee asked. “She went and left us hangin’, but she came through in the end…”

“Not Ishanti,” I said. “No, we have two factions that have expressed interest in buying ‘sending’ mirrors.” I snorted. “Stupid name, by the way. But—”

“What would you ‘a called ‘em then?” Electra raised an eyebrow. “Sending mirror is—”

“Worse than Looking Glass? Obviously.” I stared at her like she was an idiot.

Electra blinked. “Wow, uh, not to pad your ego too much, but that’s actually…not bad.”

“Try to sound a little believable.” I rolled my eyes. “Side characters praising the main is probably some stupid light novel trope. The thought makes me cringe.”

“Well, yeah…” She paused, before crossing her arms. “But who made you the main character! I could be the main character.”

“True, there are more things in heaven and earth.” I nodded, ignoring her ‘hey!’ “But Electra’s interest in light novel tropes aside, two sides means that there are two people to play against each other: the royal family and these ‘merchants’ Ishanti mentioned.”

“Trading houses are quite powerful in Vecorvia,” Rel said. “Silverwall used to have its own trading house, but that is obviously long past.”

“So, is it one trading house interested in my mirrors, or a conglomeration?” I asked.

“It…could be either.” Rel shrugged once. Her eyes flicked back to my hand, and with an indulgent smile, I allowed her to weave our fingers together. My partner didn’t even notice the other three members of our cabal laughing quietly at how adorable she was. “My mother was a member of a trading house in name only. As a small captain, she paid dues, but exercised no real influence. I was a child at the time, and what knowledge I do have is outdated.”

“Well, share what you have, and we’ll adjust when new information becomes available.”

“There are four major houses,” Rel said. “Several minor, but they either serve a larger house, or are chartered directly by the crown.”

“Crown charters, hmm?” I tapped my chin. “Continue.”

“The first among the great four is the House Orhlys. Their influence was great years ago, and their star rising, I believe. If any could wield all four houses in opposition to the Senate and the Crown, it would be the Orhlys.”

“We don’t know if it’s the Senate and the Crown,” I replied. “So there might be three players, or, if the Senate is anything like examples in our world, they’re too busy debating something else to even care that we exist.”

“Wait.” Electra leaned forward on the table. “If these four houses are so powerful, why don’t they have any power around Silverwall? You said there was a fifth house, but once it got destroyed, someone would have tried to muscle their way in, right?”

“That’s where my knowledge ends.” Rel spread her hands helplessly—well, the hand I hadn’t colonized, anyway. “At a guess, the northern part of the island is rather poor; we used to mine for gems as well as silver. The south of the isthmus has more profitable mines. Or perhaps the Seneschal had an agreement with them.”

I snapped my fingers twice. “Let’s not drift too far here. So, on one end of the scale, we have the trading houses, more information pending. On the other side, the crown. Their reason for interest is also pretty transparent.”

“Information’s always useful.” Electra nodded. “Plus, ya never want your subjects to have better technology than you.”

“It’s not a good look,” I agreed. “The question then becomes: who do we back, and who do we betray?”

Dee laughed. “You’re planning on playing both sides?”

“Well, I can hardly betray one of them if I’m their enemy from the beginning, can I?” I asked. “Plus, it gets me paid twice, and we’re gonna need that money.”

“Why’re we gonna need more money?” Dum asked.

“Because before, we were bit players mucking up the provincial backwater.” I nodded towards Rel. “Now, we’ve gotten the interest of people with some real power. Right now, I have something they want, and I am personally integral to that thing. The status quo benefits me greatly, which is all the incentive they’ll need to change it.”

“We’re irreplaceable right now…” Electra nodded. “But when we’re not, we need to able to stand on our own.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Who are you and what have you done with Electra?”

“I’m allowed to be smart, too!” She folded her arms. “Not like it’s that tricky. I would’a just picked a side myself and stuck with it.”

“And that’s a good way to get exploited and cast aside.” I shrugged. “Besides, a little bit of double dealing will probably be expected; if we look too respectable, that might be even more suspicious.”

“Making a lot of assumptions there, Em’.”

My other eyebrow rose. “After seeing what Hawkwright got up to in Silverwall, do you really think the capital city will be lesscorrupt?”

Electra pulled a face. “Point.”

“If our choices are the houses or the crown…” Rel worried her lip. “It makes sense to favor the royal family first, doesn’t it? We have—er—had a close relationship with Ishanti.”

“Ah, but I just spent the whole first meeting raking her over the coals.” I raised a finger. “It makes sense to be a bit more reluctant.”

“They’re the ones who invited us, though.” Rel tilted her head. “How do you know the merchant houses will even approach you?”

“I don’t.” I shrugged. “Maybe they won’t, and all of this scheming is a waste of time, but if I were the leader of a powerful faction counter to the crown and an offer like this came along, I’d at least put in a bid.”

“Are the mirrors really that important, boss?” Dum folded his arms. “They were helpful ‘n all, but we got by fine enough without ‘em.”

“Maybe it will be different here.” I hummed. “By Ishanti’s own admission, there are other abilities and classes that can have a similar effect, though they’re rare. In our world…” I pointed to Electra and I. “The telephone changed everything.”

“I mean, was it really the telephone, or—”

“I am not having a history lesson with you right now,” I said to Electra. “Yes we skipped the telegraph, because I never bothered to learn morse code and I can’t be bothered to recreate it, but the end result is the same.”

“Sure, sure.” She raised her hands. “But it’s not like the telephone by itself changed everything.”

“No,” I said. “And that’s the other secret. We also have electricity, and that is far more powerful.”

Dee and Dum looked at each other. “Not to make nothin’ outta somethin’,” Dum said. “But while having free lights is great ‘n all, mage lights already existed.”

“So do candles,” Dee added. “If you’re poor like us.”

“Candles on earth used to be quite expensive,” I said. “I guess if there’s a less labor-intensive version available for the wealthy…but no, I’m getting sidetracked again. Believe me when I say electric lighting is only the beginning. There’s an entire tech tree that sprouts from this kernel, and we’re going to race up its branches so quick it’ll leave the whole world spinning.” I grinned. “This deal is exactly how we get access to the resources we need.”

Dee and Dum looked less than convinced, but Rel just nodded, eyes shining.

“I’m telling you this, because no matter who we end up selling to, we need to keep their attention on our Looking Glasses for as long as possible.”

“You’re really just running with Looking Glass now,” Electra said. “We’ve been calling them communication mirrors for ages, what changed?”

“What changed is that we’ve got to do more than use them ourselves,” I replied. “We have to make them sell, so we have to make them the most interesting thing anyone on this island has ever seen. That way, no one else will see that we’ve got something much more valuable sitting just behind them.”

I turned to Dum. “You’re right, being able to communicate instantly is useful, but its something people have done without their entire lives. There are systems in place, no doubt, that mean my mirrors are useful but not revolutionary. If the Royal Family, if the merchant houses, if anyone in Vecorvia knew what I could do with a bit of copper wire and a magnet, they would kill us all to get control of it. We cannot allow that to happen.”

“And what can you do, Mistress?” Rel asked. “With copper wire and a magnet.”

“I promised I’d show you, didn’t I?” My grin grew even wider. “But first, we’ve talked about why we should act leery of the Royal family, but how do you think we should approach the merchant houses?” I rubbed my hands together. “These games of intrigue don’t just happen.”

Electra laughed. “Y’know, for the last few months, I was starting to wonder why you were a villain, but now I’m starting to see it.”

“Oh, no, this isn’t the reason, El.” I rolled my eyes. “This is just a healthy enjoyment of my work. If we ever make it back home, I’ll show you exactly why I chose the dark side.”