Dead Man's Shadow, Chapter 2

Elena came to a halt only a few steps into the church. A frown crossed her face as she surveyed the interior of the building. Quin moved up beside her and also stopped walking. “Oh,” he said, seeing what was making Elena frown.
The church was nearly empty. The priests and handful of church staff outnumbered the actual church visitors almost two to one. The sun was at just the right angle to drop through the stained-glass windows and fill the building with sweeping color gradients that bathed the pews with light. The unusual patterns grabbed at the eye and drew passing attention to where the few people sat.
“This isn’t going to work as a hiding place,” Elena murmured. “I thought it would be much busier right now.”
“We can do better. Maybe the café would work better. There are definitely more people there than there are here.”
“Yeah. Maybe we could…” Elena turned her head to look back at the street. As she did, she saw a few of the guards that had been chasing her earlier. They seemed to be searching the street more thoroughly than the female priest had earlier. “Never mind.”
The two of them made their way to one of the empty pews and sat down. They had only been there for a moment when one of the priests approached them, holding himself with an air of forcefulness. When he arrived, he spoke to them in Old Théan, obviously not expecting them to understand the local Castillian. “We are beginning to close down the church for the evening,” he told them. “Unfortunately, we will not be able to hear any of your confessions tonight.”
Elena turned her gaze upwards to meet his. She had expected the neatly-combed dark blonde hair that was slowly fading to grey, but she was mildly surprised to see the neatly-kept beard on his face, which seemed to be an attempt to cover up some scars. She kept her expression under control, adopting a pleading look. She spoke in Castillian, which caused a faint flicker of surprise in the priest’s eyes. “Please, Father, we have only come in here to pray. It has been a trying day for both of us, and we need peace right now.”
“If it is a prayer that you are here for, then perhaps you can do it elsewhere,” the priest said, his voice managing to sound kindly. “We are, as I said, getting ready to close.” Elena wasn’t sure if he noticed that he had switched back to Castillian to match her.
Quin nudged Elena, glancing slightly over his shoulder to indicate that the guards were still searching the street outside. “We won’t be long,” Elena assured the priest. “Please, if you will just let us stay while we speak to Theus…”
“This is not something that you need to do here.” A definite edge had crept into the priest’s voice. “If you would consider–”
“Father Weiss!” Another priest was walking by, and he stopped upon hearing the first priest’s comments. Judging by the robe that the second priest was wearing, he was likely the parish head. “What are you doing?”
Father Weiss turned to the parish head and nodded respectfully. “Father Mazon. I was just informing them that the church is about to close, and that they should seek another place to pray.”
“We only want to say a few prayers,” Elena chimed in. “We promise not to be a bother.”
“Of course you may stay,” Father Mazon said. “Father Weiss, I am surprised. We always let anyone commune with God while they are here. You two may stay as long as you like.”
“Thank you, Father,” Elena said, bowing her head. Both of the priests moved away, Weiss looking mildly put out by the rebuttal. As they left, Elena bowed her head and muttered a quick prayer under her breath, thanking Theus for the luck that had dropped them where they were now. It seemed appropriate. The action brought her a feeling of peace that she had lost upon her father’s death, and had only recently started to come back. She was glad that the feeling was beginning to return.
Despite her best efforts, her prayer only lasted a few minutes. When she had finished, she kept her head bowed to maintain the appearance of praying, but grew bored before too long. She glanced up and around the church, admiring the stained-glass windows. She was in the process of admiring one that seemed to be a detailed rendition of the First Prophet when she heard footsteps from the direction of the church entrance. She turned, briefly worried that one of the guards had entered the building, but that was not the case. Instead, she felt a shock of recognition of a different sort at the sight of the obviously-Avalon man in an immaculately-tailored suit striding purposefully towards the altar at the front of the room. Just as he had been the last time she had seen him, the man was balding, but his slightly curly black hair matched the deep blue of his suit. The uniform marked him as a high-ranking officer in the Atabean Trading Company, and indeed, this was Thomas Lowe, a man who often negotiated with Elena’s late father when he needed to move goods through Company waters. Seeing him in a small church in the middle of Barcino was unexpected, to say the least.
Lowe walked right up the aisle, barely looking to the sides as he did. To Elena’s surprise, Father Weiss appeared again, still wearing his characteristic not-scowl. Lowe greeted him, but they were far enough away that Elena could not make out the words even with the quietness of the church. Continuing the chain of surprising events, Weiss did not attempt to shoo Lowe out of the church, instead gesturing towards the side in what was obviously an invitation to follow him. The two men moved through a door to the side of the altar, and Elena stared after them. Almost before she had made up her mind to do so, she was rising to follow. Something felt like it was drawing her towards them. Seeing an old associate of her father’s in the middle of Barcino filled her with a sudden curiosity that almost felt like something alive inside her chest.
“Elena?” Quin’s whisper nudged her out of her trance.
“I’ll be back,” she told him. She took the satchel that contained the obsidian box and handed it to Quin. “Keep an eye on this.”
Quin took the satchel, holding it close. “Is everything all right?”
“I think so. I just need to…” she shook her head. “I’m not sure. I just have a hunch about something. I’m not going to leave the church, don’t worry.”
It only took Elena a few moments to reach the door that Weiss and Lowe had gone through. She paused for a moment there, glancing around to see if anyone would mind if she went through. No one was even looking in her direction except for Quin, who was watching her with one eye while he pretended to pray in the pews. She ducked through the door, finding herself in a hallway that was entirely deserted. It seemed to be a combination of an art display area and offices for the priests. She moved along the doors, listening for any indication of where the two men had gone. She was almost all the way down the hall when she heard Lowe’s voice through one of the doors.
“…course I know about it.” Lowe’s voice was just as Elena remembered it – high-pitched and slightly nasally. “You don’t really think we would just let you vanish into Eisen without keeping an eye on you, do you?” He let out a kind of breathy laugh that had always rubbed Elena the wrong way.
“Well, I am back now, aren’t I?” Elena wasn’t sure if Weiss always sounded condescending, or if that was just a coincidence.
“So, you have failed to find a way out of the deal. I am not surprised. Were you actually expecting one?”
“Not directly.” Weiss seemed to have even less patience than usual. “Now, what exactly are you demanding of me?”
“It’s simple really.” Lowe sounded smug. “Just a few documents. Your connections in the Invisible College should be able to get them for you without a problem.” Elena couldn’t see Weiss’s face, but something of surprise must have shown on it, as Lowe continued, “Yes, I know about your association with them. Let’s call it a sweetening of my pot. This knowledge is, of course, at risk along with your practices. Actually, I wonder what would be more damning: your association with the College, or practicing Hexenwerk?”
There was a moment of silence on the far side of the door. Elena didn’t know if it was due to the people moving around or simply staring at each other. She held her breath, not wanting to miss anything.
When Weiss spoke again, his voice was far beyond condescending. It now had an edge to it that Elena could only describe as dangerous. “What is in those documents?”
“A series of letters concerning the Syrneth ruins underneath Freiburg. Likely sorted with the observations of the Thalusian Islands. Written by M and RH. You know the authors of whom I speak?”
“I do. Which of those do you want?”
“All of them. And do get them fast. Time and tide wait for no one, remember. I will need delivery of the documents before…”
The sound of a door opening in the hallway Elena was in caused her to jerk upright. She practically leapt away from the door to Weiss’s office, pretending to be interested in a nearby canvas just as one of the church staff entered the hall. He was carrying a stack of papers, and he only briefly glanced at her as he passed. Judging by the cordial nod that he gave her, she was actually permitted in the hall. It took him a few moments to exit the hall, leaving her in a position to resume her eavesdropping once more. Before she had a chance to do so, however, she heard the lock release on the door, and both Lowe and Weiss reentered the hallway. Weiss stopped in the doorway of his office, the door separating him from Elena. Lowe turned to face him.
“Well, I look forward to our next meeting. Pleasure doing business with you, Father.” Lowe turned smartly on his heel and walked back into the main room of the church. In the wake of his departure, Elena heard a sigh from the other side of the open door. Then, a voice that sounded very little like the voice Weiss had used so far spoke. “What have you gotten yourself into, Felix?” Weiss sounded utterly exhausted.
The name stirred something in Elena’s mind. Felix… and he does Hexenwerk, apparently. Didn’t Nic say something about his friend Felix in Castille who makes Hexenwerk Unguents for him? Could this be the same…?
Weiss moved out of the door, closing it behind him. When he turned to lock it, his eyes fell on her, and narrowed in suspicion. He brought the expression under control in a few seconds, but it was enough. His expression went neutral again, though he did not actually say anything this time.
“Excuse me,” Elena asked, taking a step towards him. “I didn’t mean to overhear, but I was wondering if you have been to Eisen recently?”
Weiss’s eyes narrowed dangerously. His hand froze in the act of inserting his key into the lock. “Why?” His voice had taken on the same dangerous tone he had used when Lowe had mentioned the Invisible College. All of a sudden, Elena felt out of her depth.
Finding her throat dry, Elena had to swallow before continuing. Some of her sudden anxiety seeped into her voice, and she hoped that it made her seem less threatening. “I… uh… was just visiting it, and my guide mentioned something about a Felix in Castille. I mean, there are probably a lot of Felixes in Castille, but Nic thought very highly of him, and–”
At the mention of Nic’s name, Weiss’s eyes flashed, and Elena knew that she had guessed correctly. She had less than a second to come to that realization before one of Weiss’s hands shot towards her face. The attack was so completely sudden that she had no chance to attempt a block before his palm sent her falling into a painful blackness.