“He began feeling hits connect with his rib cage and the sides of his abdomen, and then someone stomped on the back of his left leg for good measure.” - Balthazar Black vs The Hallway Part 5
39 Ymiden 719
He read the only sort of tale he cared for, a cautionary one.
The book he was reading told him of a Rupturer who had become so powerful in the magic that he became something known as The Visitant. The writing on the pages had not survived the years and so Balthazar could only make out small passages but what he could understand told him that the sorcerer who had grown so powerful quickly found himself hunted. He used his power to flee across the world and into Emea where he was never heard from again. Balthazar shut the book and ran his finger along the spine of it. People wanted power for all the wrong reasons. They should have feared it... or at least respected it a little more. He longed for a more complete account of a Visitant but Balthazar had no desire to go out to a library to-trial and find another book.
Balthazar brought his left hand around in a circle as if quickly spinning a wheel for a few seconds and as he did a small ring of crackling energy began to spur to life in front of him. The ingress formed slowly and as it did there was a horrible screeching noise. The sound of reality crying as it was forced to adhere to Balthazar's design. Some mages found comfort in the sound because it let them know reality wanted to be held together... not Balthazar.
He hated the sound.
It was one of the reasons he didn't practice the magic often... another was that he didn't want a neighbor to duel him for a noise complaint. The egress formed a little bit to Balthazar's right and Balthazar looked over at the two, roughly porthole sized portals. Keeping the portals active felt more draining on his ether than most of his Defiance magic did but he knew they were different beasts and one of them he'd been neglecting. Balthazar tossed his book into the ingress and a moment later it popped out of the egress and he caught it his hands. He smiled softly and tossed it again to the same result. Then Balthazar took the book and drove it down through the outer ring of the portal, breaking it and causing reality to collapse back in on itself.
It was more quiet to do that than to actually close them so Balthazar figured his neighbors would appreciate it. Yet just when his portals collapsed, someone knocked at his door. Balthazar's head snapped to the door. He stood a little too quickly and was reminded by a dull pain that his leg was not better yet. The bone was mostly mended but there was an ache that seemed to still throw off Balthazar's balance when he tried to fight. That was another reason why he'd resorted to staying in his home. He didn't want to risk being challenged to a duel before he was ready.
He opened it slowly to find a woman with short, shoulder length, brown hair and dark green eyes. She had a small nose and an expression of concern that worsened when she saw Balthazar. Or perhaps it lessened? Balthazar couldn't quite tell before she put up whatever mask she had prepared for him.
"Are you Balthazar?" She asked as her eyes darted down to the flyer in her hand. That was when Balthazar noticed it as well, but he also noticed her clothing. She was wearing a dress that started purple at the top but by half way down to her feet it was black and she wore boots, the kind of boots you would wear if you planned to go for a long walk or if you thought you might need to run at some point. His eyes went back to the woman's before she could notice him staring at her shoes. He just didn't think they made sense with her dress. Maybe she thought nobody would look?
"I might be, how can I help you?" Balthazar replied without opening the door any wider. He watched the woman's eyes now to make sure that if they drifted from him they didn't drift into his home or behind him. With the number of bodies he had dropped in Yaralon a few trials ago he likely had enemies out there so he was a little suspicious of everyone. Yet the woman's eye never left the flyer or Balthazar, in fact they seemed to be unable to decide which to look at and ultimately the woman decided to look at the mage she'd come to visit.
"My name is Valeria, I heard you solve problems?" The woman introduced herself pleasantly enough and Balthazar looked down at the flyer in her hand. He'd set them up all over the city in a time when he was in a better condition to help and forgotten to take them down when the bastard broke his leg.
"I do, but I can't help you now. Come back in a week or so." Balthazar said abruptly before trying to close the door, he hated what came next. Valeria stopped the door with her foot and pushed it back open. Now she would negotiate, they always did when Balthazar told them to put their problems on the back burner.
"Please, I don't know if I'll survive another week in this city without your help." Her words caught Balthazar's attention for two reasons. The first was the obvious, he didn't want to be responsible for her death he could legitimately help her. The second was that he thought it odd for a Yari to be so open to someone they had just met. It seemed odd but perhaps she wasn't a Yari. He could sense that she did not bare the silver mark and so perhaps she had been brought here by another.
Balthazar limped back over to his bed and sat down. He looked at Valeria standing in the doorway and weighed his options. He could send her away and continue playing with his portals. People died in surprising number in the city... but could he really live with it? That was the worst part of his job... if he thought he could help, he wanted to try. Even injured, Balthazar was no coward. He reluctantly waved, inviting Valeria into his home. She entered and took a seat in the chair in front of Balthazar that he had intended to rest his leg on.
"Tell me what I can do." Balthazar said passively as he shifted his weight and put his injured leg up on the bed.
"I believe that a man named Claude murdered my husband, Barand, so that he could propose to me. Claude knows I can't beat him in a duel. He frequents the bar I work at and-"
"What bar?" The question seemed to surprise Valeria who paused for a few trills and then said
"The Crooked Blade. Regardless, he knows I couldn't survive banishment so if I reject his proposal he will kill me. Claude-"
"What do you want me to do about it?" Balthazar cut in because he wasn't particularly interested in the details of the story she had cooked up to tell Balthazar. He needed to know what she wanted him to do, not much else.
"I need you to find proof. No one who knows Claude will tell me anything about him. I need you to go to the Temple of Raskalarn and find out what Claude did to my husband." Valeria said as she crossed her legs in the chair.
"And if he did murder your husband?" Balthazar pressed because he knew what she wanted.
"I'd like you to challenge him to a duel and kill him." Valeria spoke with a coldness in her voice that Balthazar noticed but said nothing about. It was not his place to judge her heart.
"I can't." Balthazar said as he rose to his feet. He was favoring his left leg to indicate that it was injured to Valeria. His ribs weren't doing the best either but his latest mutation had done him some good. "In a week maybe but not today. I can fight but it isn't easy. I'd rather not throw myself in the way of known killers before I'm sure I can win."
"Aren't you a mage?"
"That doesn't solve every problem. I fight with my hands and that is dangerous when my leg is slowing me down and he has a weapon."
"You chose unarmed combat in Yaralon?" Valeria's eyes widened slightly and her face twisted into surprise.
"It's not like that. It is just surprisingly effective." Balthazar said. Valeria nodded but clearly didn't believe him.
"I'll pay you double what you ask for on the flyer." A bribe... Balthazar looked down at his leg and then over at Valeria. What good was money if he died in a duel with the man who had killed her husband?
"No. I'll go to the Temple. I'll find out if he murdered your husband, but that is all. I'll bring you the information and you can find another assassin." Balthazar replied as he limped over to his door and opened it. He gestured outside and Valeria stood. She slowly walked to the door and stopped right in front of Balthazar.
"Fine." And with that she walked out the door. Balthazar waited until she was a decent ways down the street and then he began his own walk to the Temple of Raskalarn.
