Consequence of Competence
Twenty-Eighth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC
Investigator Baedar would never get quite used to the jarring starts to his conversations with the Grand Inquisitor. There was no subtle displacement of air that had been present before even when a Companion translocated down to the city for a light repast at their favored eatery, or at times to do some shopping on a whim. Not even the quite visible descent of the King or his sister in their various wyrm forms, something that drew every eye to them.
Lord Drekelis would simply be...
absent, one moment, and
there the next. Like the shadows, the silence of the void and the quiet approach of death. "Let us not delay the meeting any longer," he began, Baedar not the only one to be surprised by their abrupt start to the briefing, merely the first to spot the Braavosi Lord cloaked in shadows standing in one of the many conference rooms within Sorcerer's Deeps branch office. "We are very nearly at the finish, my friends. All of you have striven to remain on duty at maximum alertness, and in that you have not failed. The King sends his personal congratulations on your diligence and reminds everyone of the numerous thwarted intrigues and the disasters halted in this month alone."
Baedar felt a surge of pride despite himself, not one to linger overlong on personal accomplishments seeing as how he believed more firmly in each of his own owing much to the greater organization around him as a whole. Evidently, Lord Drekelis was of similar mind, as he spoke on, "While we won't be remaining at the same level of alertness next quarter, we won't quite stand down until we have continued our next round of expansion, to accommodate for the fact that we are soon to be welcoming a massive wave of immigrants. Any hours on duty will be compensated according to the due diligence displayed. I encourage you to rest as much as possible in the days leading up to that until a sufficient number of bodies have been found to ease the burden placed on all our shoulders."
"Gentlemen, ladies, you have done excellent work in quite a short time. I am proud of the organization that these halls lay host to, and encourage you to keep in mind just what it is we stand for, not the glory of war or the writ of contract and tithe levied. We are all of these things and none. We are the Eye upon the Realm. We must not let our focus waver."
Drekelis leaned forward, the shadows around him shifting subtly with his mood, "With that in mind, let us speak on an important matter. A Dogai serving the Lord of the Third infiltrated the city and made an attempt on the life of a Companion." All at once pride and satisfaction soared out of the group of men and women in that room, even as Garin Drekelis sighed. "That was not a condemnation, at least not in the way you think. An unconscionable amount of resources and manpower has gone into investigating this incident, when you are simply all not equipped for dealing with it."
"If not us, who?" Baedar found himself questioning instantly, "An Infernal agent of a hostile power infiltrated the heart of our liege's domain, and we are charged with preventing the passage of their ilk. A charge we have failed in drastically." Only a faint amount of fear was felt in the back of his mind when the Companion turned his attention upon him, and he had not even finished speaking. "Words like 'you did your best but don't expect a pat on the back for wasting your time' aren't exactly productive, either, my Lord. If we lack the resources, we should obtain them. If the only thing that can prevent these fiends from having their way with the city is a Companion, what then of times where you are all called away to battle with His Grace?" It is not as if such a thing has not happened before, though that had been at at time when Sorcerer's Deep could hardly be called a city, much less a large township.
It could happen again, no, it will happen again, Baedar thought with near certainty.
The Grand Inquisitor was quiet for longer than expected, and did not, as most in the room expected, even
lightly rebuke Baedar.
"You are right, of course, and we will address that if at all possible in the coming years. Ultimately there will be a pressing need for individuals capable of seeing through veils and intrigues on a level that you all simply are not yet equipped to handle, with tools, coin and lore only doing so much to bridge the gap. We have at least three Inquisitors who show extreme promise, and we are looking for more. I will do all that I can to address such concerns in the next quarter, at least in regard to infiltrators which you currently lack the capacity to detect. Her Highness has already made headway with warding important offices and having dedicated checkpoints constructed in an effort to carefully monitor passage of officials moving in and out of secured buildings housing confidential information."
Drekelis shook his head, "It is ultimately a waste of your valuable time to worry about assassins even fiendish
champions fear, skulking their way through the dark. They will be
dealt with as the last have been." The inflection upon the word left not much at all to the imagination of any of the men and women present how he would be dealing with such threats. "Serious efforts are being made to that end even as we speak." Garin smiled, just a fraction, at Baedar, "In the meantime, you will submit a thorough report at the end of tonight about your little... off the books, shall we say, inquiries. At least you were thoughtful about backdating those requisitions for restricted lore, and even caught that conjurer on top of it."
Drekelis looked at Baedar as if he was one part of the answer to the problems they were speaking of, a glint of curiosity and mischief masked by dark humors.
And it filled him with nothing so much as a vast and indescribable
dread.
The meeting carried on for another hour before ending with a grim note, "I will dispatch some of the King's...
retainers, to help shoulder some of the load in regards to seeing past veils and glamours. You have been remarkably resourceful in such matters, and it will be taken into account when revisions to my primer are being undertaken. Dismissed."
The dark cloaked Lord turned to Baedar with uncanny grace, eyes narrowed. "Investigator Baedar, remain there."
My father was right, Baedar decided,
there is such a thing as being too effective.
