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‘The Venariuht by a circle of heathens, I areatest navies of the seas? Perhaps such a degradation is fitting, having been laid low by that s’

Adventurer, Bralston recognised the universal description He did have contact with theh,’ Rashodd continued ‘What can I do for you, sir?’

‘I am on an extended search,’ Bralston replied ‘The location of one party will lead to the other, I a?’

Bralston studied hifaces’

‘Ah’ Rashodd se’

‘You may safely conclude imprisonment has done little to tarnish e of the netherlings is from the second hand of a second hand’

‘Nether … lings?’

‘Your tone suggests our initial comprehension of their title to be mutual The nomenclature would lend itself to the conclusion that they are descended fro at all I could not assure you that they do not live up to the na they exist only through their anger towards my former allies’

Bralston nodded ‘Continue’

‘On which subject? My allies or their violet foes? Of the latter, I know little but what I have heard: rumours of relentlessness, viciousness and faithlessness blended into one’ Rashodd raised a brow at the Librarian ‘So akin to yourself, except with less fire and ed them with heresy’

‘The practice of a heathenry that differs fro ‘Ironic, is it not, that the faithless should steal a term used by the faithful to condeardless, I know as s as I knew of my allies, and you would do well to avoid both, lest you, too, find yourself embroiled in their deceits and find us with led his stumps – ‘than you would like’

‘What I find is that radually, but wholly, stretched thin with your delusions of eloquence’ Bralston allowed ire to sow his voice, fire to spark behind his stare ‘My mission, my order, my duty has no concern for your need to waste my time with pretence My questions are swift and to the point You will answer them in kind’

‘It is a sad day I live every day that the language of poet-kings is considered delusional,’ Rashodd replied with a sneer ‘But I will answer your questions with as e’

That was enough, Bralston reasoned, to avoid resorting to anything fiery ‘I have been inforhly, as to the nature of your "allies" I do not hold the opinion that they are entirely factual’

‘Factual, sir? One would assuranted even the loosest of infor my former persons of association, you would recant’ He canted his massive head ‘Have you, sir?’

‘Thirty-six sailors of the Riptide have attested to the encounter’

‘And you cannot consider the account of thirty-six good and honourable men trustworthy?’

‘There have been rander in scale’

Rashodd’s laugh gained a horrible enthusias stance of discrediting the Gods and strangling decent ness is not unknown to me Spare me the rhetoric, sir I aree with your theory’

‘Well inforh to infer our stance on the idea of denore the idea that they are stories made up by priests to cow people into coercion, we cannot, and do not, accept the idea of an incarnation of evil, as we do not accept the idea of "evil" or "good" We acknowledge human nature’

‘I see … and what do you believe, sir?’

Men would feel anger at the Cragsman’s words, men would let their composures crack Librarians were not her authorities Librarians h any , but such would be a flagrant, wasteful demonstration of superiority that should, ostensibly, require no establishing

Still, it would be satisfying …

Farcoldly, ‘There is no belief Only knowledge’

‘And you know your knowledge to be superior over that of thirty-six people? You know that demons do not exist?’

‘I accept that there are unknowns typically explained by frivolous i theuments’

‘Of course not, sir,’ Rashodd replied ‘You cafaces, foes inveterate of demons theoretical The former pursues the latter for reasons unknohilst, for reasons incomprehensible, the de the latter To find the latter, you seek a seeker

‘And to have co a man of decencies and honorifics as befits his education, you undoubtedly knoho you seek Six members, of a band most foul, which I would conclude to be the second object of your search, would fulfil such a purpose And, o would put you in a fine position to locate all parties desirable, regardless of skin colour’

Rashodd’s seniality

‘But of course, you already knew that’

Bralston took a deep breath, the first phase of a coht to apprentices and used by Librarians He raised a hand, the second phase, to hone the flow of Venarie and tune the senses

The spark of criainst the wall that folloere part of no ht of the man crushed between the force and stone was decidedly therapeutic

‘Where the Venarium is concerned,’ he said, ‘there is no definition of the word "request" You are not free to refuse e require You are not free toin the safety of a cell when you possess e require’ His fingers twitched; he could feel a fleshy throat across the roole if you will comply’

The sound that boiled out of the man’s lips was particularly thick andhis htly ‘Speak quickly and curtly What cargo do the adventurers carry?’

‘A toasped ‘The tome I overheard on the Riptide A book to establish contact between earth and heaven … or hell The demons want it for the latter … I assume’

‘Pointless Neither place exists’

‘I saw the beast I’ve seen the demon It could come from no other place’

‘The priest mentioned no tome’