Chapter 2
As we started finishing our meals, Master Hu donned his mask leading Qoi La back to her alchemy lab. She'd made an innovation that she'd wanted to share with him, something involving tattoo ink. I was never interested in tattoos myself, since my fear of needles had carried over, but I could see him wanting to make his mask something more than a bluff.
Morghaerys, on the other hand, lingered. Once Master Hu was out of earshot, he spoke. "You really think that you can change the fate of a nation by yourself? If the rumors are right, I doubt you'll see your thirtieth year before the Long Night comes in earnest."
Thirtieth I could manage, barring an early grave. It was in the decade that followed that things would come to a head, though. "If I arrive early enough, I'll be able to identify the key figures of influence, and those who'd be most aggressively in opposing me."
"Not just the maesters?"
I shook my head. "You've been getting visions of war? A war that doesn't involve fighting the Long Night? Someone wants that war, stands to gain from it. Likely several someones."
"Hmm." Blue lips tugged back into a smile. Unlike most Valyrians who'd risen above slavery in Asshai, Morghaerys had decided to explore the magic that hadn't destroyed his ancestral home. Instead, he'd favored the studies of magic that only required understanding of the technique and an unlocked affinity for magic. The results spoke volumes of the magical power in Valyrian ancestry. "Would it be easier to kill them, or to find a less bloody way to help them achieve their goals?"
"That depends on what the future holds." He frowned as I popped the last bite of fish into my mouth. I set the plate aside, and out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed a slave taking the emptied tableware to be cleaned. "I imagine whether I work with them or against them depends on whether or not their goals would help strengthen Westeros against the forces of the Long Night."
Varys, for example, had an explicit goal of weakening Westeros so that it would be easier for his Aegon to take the Iron Throne by force of arms and the support of a malcontent commons. He needed to die. Everything else was put in motion by the Lannister incest, though, and dead Lannisters did more harm than good. Travel time alone would give me months to plan, but without a clear idea of where I stood in the timeline other than "Rhaegar has taken Lyanna" I could only make so much progress with guesswork.
"You've given this thought, more than you've given your previous projects." Again, that tinted blue smile. Ha, ha, fuck you Morghaerys. If pyromancy were safe, you would've studied it yourself. Besides, my eyebrows grew back years ago. "Who would you trust with the task of translating for you, in the journey to the west? Unless I'm mistaken, you only know three languages."
I nodded in acknowledgement. "A slave could serve as a translator."
"A slave could serve as a disguise for a Faceless Man, too." His tone was scolding, but I detected a hint of alarm under his voice. It wasn't an unfounded fear that they'd be active, either, due to the recent skirmishes between the Red Priests and the Faceless Men. "Have you forgotten how many of their god's faces have been blamed for the Long Night?"
I brought by hand up to my mouth, pretending to rub it thoughtfully as I held it shut to keep something stupid from coming out. That...
Fuck. That was actually a good point. I knew entirely too little about the goals of the Faceless Men to assume that they didn't have a stake in the coming of the Long Night. The followers of those darker gods would be a potential threat, too. I'd need to study up on theology and the myths of the Long Night in addition to working out shadow magic, then. That, and watch my ass until I was safely out of Asshai. "And here I thought the greatest danger was from the Long Night itself."
Morghaerys took a sip from his glass before he responded. "A forgivable instance of ignorance."
Rather than rise to the bait, I turned my attention to draining my wine glass of its contents. Where most foods didn't last a week in the city due to the miasma, wine... aged like wine. If nothing else, Ulthosi wine might get a foot in the door with King Robert for the combination of novelty value and an excuse to get drunk.
"You will need someone familiar with the tongue of Yi Ti, as well as at least one Valyrian dialect." I carefully stopped drinking and set the glass down. There wasn't much left, which had a slave reaching for it, but a warding gesture stopped her. Morghaerys frowned at the interaction, but pressed on. "I know several Valyrian dialects, and Qoi La wouldn't have forgotten her native tongue any more than you have yours."
Yeah, I'd definitely need that last bit of wine. After I downed it, I rose from the table and started marching toward my personal grounds. "Your suggestion has merit, and I'll definitely bring Qoi La along is she and Master Hu are both willing, but in case you haven't noticed you and I have never really gotten along."
"Yes, Jaron, I have noticed. You think I'm arrogant and cowardly, while I think you're savage and reckless." Well, at least his head wasn't so far up his ass that he couldn't see how others viewed him. I slowed my march down the dimly lit hall out to Master Hu's courtyard, enough that he could catch up and walk beside me. "That doesn't change the dangers that are coming. You think it was a coincidence that I saw visions of Westerosi war? Not even the most inept novice sees visions that won't have weight on their personal future."
I didn't immediately answer as we entered the sunlit courtyard, or at least as close as things got to sunlit around here. Stupid city of perpetual darkness and despair. "So, it's less a question of whether you're coming to help, and more of whether you're coming with me to help."
"Each of us has skill at magic that the others lack, and all who live need to stand against the coming darkness." I turned to face the warlock, and he held out a gloved hand, the offer of a handshake. I blinked at his hand. There was no way he didn't know. Even if we didn't study a particular field of magic, Master Hu had instructed us on the dangers of each form of the arts. But no, the hand was still there. "Besides, the number three has weight in the Valyrian prophecy."
Heh. Convenient for the Valyrian. Still, he was right in that a warlock of his prowess would be useful, and the opportunity he presented was too good to pass up. I clasped his hand, a woven blue glove against black leather, with our shadows intermingling between our hands. As he smiled that smug blue smile, I narrowed my eyes and let a bit of my strength bleed from my shadow into his, and took a bit of strength from his shadow into mine.
He took his hand away, staring at it a moment before he turned his focus toward Qoi La's laboratory. "I'll discuss things with Master Hu."
As he hurried off, I made my way back toward my own residence on Master Hu's estate. I had to improve my capacity with shadow magic before Master Hu would let me leave, let alone all three of us, and Morghaerys had been more than kind enough to provide me with a test subject for one of the more advanced techniques.
