CHAPTER XLIII
in which both the Heretic and the Silver Foxes make their move ...
A Babe in a Brothel
Red gets the signal that the prostitute is about to give birth and rushes with the others to the brothel. They gang splits and keeps up surveillance through talking stones while Red keeps up his charade and negotiates a more optimal room for the mother, Diana, post-birth. On the first night, Ra'jira notices a gang of mercs staking out the place, monitoring for problems and planning their move for the next night. When the next night comes, they enter and take both Diana and her baby, despite the brothel owner's objections. Then they flee into a basement tunnel and exist the city with Diana hidden in a cart. Haas is able to shrink and hide herself in the cart as well as the rest give chase. Glad flies ahead but gets distracted on the coast by the sudden appearance of a small ship that docks. He watches a man hurriedly and shadily half bury a couple of boxes. When the man rows back to sea, Glad investigates. Inside are jewels and gems, so he empties the boxes and leaves behind a note pinning the blame of the theft on the Heretic. Meanwhile, the others follow the kidnappers until they make camp in a cove.
Mind Jumper
While they're waiting, the Foxes have to make a moral decision on whether or not to intervene in the continued mind wiping of the mother. Some advise against risking the operation, but Haas and Red make their move. Haas poses as one of the Heretic's corpse puppets and is able to startle a couple of the criminals, but the seeming leader is amused but not confused by the deception. Ra'jira takes the opportunity to shoot the leader's real body, noticing from his shadow that he was using an illusion to hide his real position. The revocation arrow disrupts the mind magic happening and Diana wakes up. Red ambles to the scene and Glad let's fly obsidian, disabling the leader. The party begins moving the ground. Haas scares one of the lackies into running away with the baby to keep the operation in play. Ra'jira goes for another lacky. And Glad shoots at more of the men while floating invisible in the sky. He notices that one of them looks to be the real leader using subterfuge. Ra'jira provides a distraction that allows Glad to blink in and slice the man in half. Once dead, another of the lackeys suddenly takes on the same stern and mocking expression and grabs Diana as a hostage, while the remaining lackeys are dealt with. At this point, it becomes obvious to all that the Heretic has been remotely controlling one of these men at a time.
Interview With a Heretic
In a standoff with the Heretic, the Silver Foxes persuade him to release Diana. When he does so, they begin treating the survivors of their ambush. Then they talk about what they want. The Heretic explains that his end goal is to become a god, though his exact motivations for doing so are hard to suss out. He believes himself to exist and work on a level of abstraction far removed from mortal concerns. As such, he views the kidnappings as just one step needed among many to consolidate power. In the short term, he plans to rout out Kovius' remaining forces and also take down the ruling Felspar class. In the long term, he wants the continent and wishes to become a dragon/god. He reveals that he broke away with the first and began following Kalmer, the gold and silver dragon. Through this, he is allied with Serosan, whose dragon shares the gold of Dionastra.
While he's impressed by the Silver Foxes, he doesn't feel threatened by them. The Heretic offers them a chance to come to him and warns that he could simply throw an army of Nulls at them if they prove too much a nuisance. Or he could buy them all out. Well, everyone but Red, who is himself motivated by pure, unwavering self-righteousness. Haas could be allied with as a proxy for Vulsh. Glad can be bribed by promises of riches, power, or dominion over the desert. Ra'jira could be bribed with shiny things. Ultimately, the Silver Foxes agree to a ceasefire and possible alliance against Shul's eventual invasion. In exchange for a halt to the kidnappings and the return of Diana's baby, they agree to assassinate one of the people in play he'd eventually need to remove in conquering the desert, a redscale warlord named Ixidor. Previously, they turned down offers that would have required the heads of either Duke Okmark or Cadence, who the Heretic believes is the one covering for Okmark's weaknesses.
New Job, Old Boss
The Silver Foxes escort Diana and baby, which Glad attempts to have named after him in return for his "heroism", to the temple of Azzur. They're also able to leverage the ceasefire to gain Azzur's blessing when they reach Kingsport on their way to the desert. After dropping off Diana, they inform Captain Crunch of the deal and what to expect. They also inform Osrick and his compatriots of what they've learned from the Heretic, including the location of one of his hideouts.
Then they leave for Kingsport on the Heretic's ship. While on board, Red tries to preach to the masses and Ra'jira investigates the cargo, whereupon he nicks to packages of heroin. In Kingsport, they meet up with Imbri, who Glad's been in contact with. They sell him the intel and heroin and discuss plans of action for dismantling the Heretic's operation. Imbri suggests passing on what they know to Duke Okmark, whose looking for an excuse to go after the Heretic. And he suggests utilizing either Encis or one of the other territorial warlord rivals of Ixidor to take down the redscale. After they part, Glad sells the gems he found in the beach-stached crates and ends up with a huge payday that he splits with the gang. With the new gold, everyone shops for new equipment to aid in their assassination.