Chapter 68: Playing Nice (Patreon)

It was a struggle to keep my face calm as Liliana drew me deeper into the room, setting me to the right of her throne.

The symbolism was rather obvious.

Raven drew back, mingling with the Liliana’s horde of zombies. I didn’t envy her for the smell, but at the same time, I almost wished I could fade into the background as well.

The man, Jace, who was waiting somewhat impatiently for Liliana to take a seat, was another Planeswalker. I could tell when I looked at him, wondering if he could do the same.

There was just something about how magic flowed through us that was distinct from anything else I’d ever seen.

Still, there wasn’t anything to gain from contradicting Liliana now, after she’d claimed me as her student. At best, I’d have an annoyed necromancer with several dozen disposable meatbags to throw at me, on top of whatever other spells she would happen to call up.

I was just glad that Ritz and the other me were still waiting in the scroll, safely tucked into Raven’s cloak.

I’d remembered how interested Liliana had been in interplanar travel. With luck, I’d be able to conceal exactly what I’d managed to achieve with that Elder Scroll.

“Anyway.” Liliana waved her hand. “You came here for a reason, might as well get it out of the way.”

Jace just blinked. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m still stuck on the part where you have an apprentice.”

I caught Liliana’s languid smirk from the corner of my eye as she reached over, placing an possessive hand against my elbow. I felt like a set piece. “She’s quite gifted,” my erstwhile mentor said. “Is it really such a surprise that I’d devote some of my time into a younger Walker?”

Jace gave a lopsided smile. “It’s you.”

I snorted. “He has a point, Mistress.”

Liliana flicked a sharp glance my way, before brushing off the comment with a shrug. “It only shows how little you still understand.” She turned to look back at her guest. “And what did you manage to accomplish, on that overgrown jungle of a plane?”

There was subtext here. I could feel it, bubbling up from beneath the words. Even if I didn’t know their history, I could feel tension in the air between Liliana and Jace.

I blinked as Jace spread his arms, going on about saving a Plane from threats beyond their ability—as if I hadn’t been doing the same thing for more than a year now—but more importantly, exposing the light blue vest and trousers he wore beneath the leather coat.

Hadn’t Liliana been wearing something with a similar design, when I’d broken into her study that one night in Skyrim? At the time, I just thought she had an odd choice in sleepwear, but if you nixed the leather jacket and added the cloak…

I pushed the thought aside.

“Congratulations,” she said. “You’ve formed a little ‘saviors of the multiverse’ club.” She rested her cheek in her palm. The gestured screamed amusement. “Did you come all this way just to ask me to join?”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t,” he said. 

“And why not?”

“Because you’re you, and I’m me,” Jace said. “I try to pick battles I can win.”

“Including, for instance, those against eldritch horrors of the Blind Eternities?” She asked. “You have a stunning sense of your own capabilities, if nothing else.”

“It pays to believe in yourself.” His gaze tracked to me. “Though, when it comes to protecting the multiverse, we could always use another set of hands.”

I blinked slowly. On one hand, I agreed with what this stranger was saying, considering I’d spent most of my travels saving people, saving worlds.  But I’d just been burned in my last team. The only reason I’d refrained from coming down on the League was a sense that it wouldn’t do any good, and cost me all of the friendships I’d made while on that alternate Earth.

It didn’t mean I was eager to get back on the horse. So, I thought, what would a student of Liliana’s say in this situation.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” I said as I opened my eyes again. “I have enough problems of my own to handle.” Not the least of which being the weight pressing me back towards my double.

Coming to this plane had only made it worse.

Jace shrugged, as if he expected that reply. “If you change your mind, I’m sure you’ll be able to track me down. I’ll be on Innistrad for a while longer.”

“Ah yes, and what was it, again that brought you to this plane?” Liliana asked. “You’ve been dancing around that little question for a while as well.”

He gave a short chuckle. “I told you, didn’t I? I came to apologize.”

Liliana’s expression remained placid and unchanging. “Jace Beleren, going out of his way to apologize to someone? Now, why do I find that so hard to believe?”

He shifted. “It’s the truth, I—”

“No,” she said. “No, I don’t think it is.” She waved a hand, the sea of undead drawing back from behind him. “If that’s truly all you came here for, then feel free to be on your way. Apology received. I’ll be sure to think of you fondly next we should cross paths.”

Jace glanced behind him, chuckling nervously. “Hey now,” he said. “It’s a mess out there, working on werewolves is a pain, for me.”

“I’m sure you can find another plane to rest on.” Liliana smirked. It was different, seeing someone else on the receiving end of that expression, an ‘oh he’s really done it now’ moment. “Seeing as you only came to Innistrad to see me.”

Jace wavered for a moment, and I almost expected him to take a bow and depart back into the night. Then he sighed. “Alright, I didn’t come here only to apologize, there. You win.”

Her smile grew an inch. “Now was that so hard?”

Jace shrugged. “Would you really have thrown me out if I wasn’t here for a reason?”

Liliana laughed, it was a low and throaty sound. “What an interesting question. I’ll be sure to let you know, should it ever become relevant.”

Jace chuffed. “Fine,” he said. “I’m here because I’m looking for Sorin Markov.”

At once Liliana’s amused demeanor vanished. “What.” I held back a shiver at the flat intonation of her voice.

“Did I stutter?” Jace said.

I didn’t see so much as feel the surge of her irritation. I could have told the man to take a different tack with my ‘mentor.’ She tended to react poorly to jibs.

“Who’s Sorin Markov,” I asked.

Jace raised an eyebrow.

Liliana huffed. “I didn’t tell her, for the same reason I have no help to offer you,” she said. “Sorin is the master of this Plane.” Her lips curved into a wry smirk. “He permits others to plan in his domain, so to speak, but that does not mean he brooks annoyances lightly.” She gave Jace a sharp look. “Or fools.”

“I may be a fool,” Jace said. “But I still need to speak with Sorin about the Eldrazi. He was one of the original three Planeswalkers that sealed them away.”

“A sealing that you took part in breaking, was it?”

Jace rubbed the back of his head. “It may be true that I was tricked into breaking the seal, along with two others, but that doesn’t change the facts of the situation. We’ve vanquished two of the Eldrazi titans, tracking down and finishing of the last one is—”

“No concern of mine,” Liliana said. “As you’ve seen, Innistrad tends to have enough problems without borrowing more, say, in the form of an ancient Vampire Lord venting his frustrations upon me after he’s drained your corpse of every last drop of blood.”

I frowned at the word ‘Vampire.’ My time on Skyrim had left me sour to them, but… “Is he really that powerful?” I asked. If there was one thing I knew, it was how to match power with power, but Planeswalkers were on a whole different level than the opponents I’d faced up until this point.

She waved her hand. “When I first arrived on this plane, oh, a century or so ago, he sought me out and tested me in combat.” Her smile took a sharp cast to it. “After declaring that I was too weak to ever threaten him, he informed me in no uncertain terms that Innistrad was his domain, and I was merely a guest that he would…tolerate.”

Jace cleared his throat. “Yes, well, that was before,” he said. “Things have changed now.”

Liliana just laughed.

“And so, you think you’ll be a match for one of the oldest and most experienced Planeswalkers yet living?” she asked. “Jace, Sorin doesn’t care about mortal concerns. His first priority is and shall ever be his own goals. Anyone who interferes with them is nothing more than a dead man walking.”

Jace shook his head. “That doesn’t change what I need.”

“What you need?” she asked. “If you wanted an early grave, I’d be more than happy to assist you.”

Around the room, the mass of undead shifted as one.

Jace gave an uneasy smile. “You know, it’s nice to see you still care.”

She huffed, leaning back in her throne, at once the tension of the room deflating. “I care, because after Sorin is finished with you, he might decided to drive out all of the Planeswalkers on Innistrad,” she said. “Don’t get full of yourself.”

Jace looked at Liliana for a moment, as if looking for some chink in her armor. Then he sighed. “Thanks for the information,” he said. “If you could just point me in the direction of Markov manner, then, I’ll be on my way.”

“Markov ma—you imbecilic man, have you not heard a single word I’ve said? Sorin will kill you.”

“Well, that’s just a risk I’ll have to take then,” Jace said.

Liliana pinched the bridge of her nose, before holding out a silver goblet for another pour of wine. “You won’t find him at the Manor,” she said. “He is an exile. But on the other hand, asking for Sorin at Markov Manor will find you an ancient vampire bent on killing you.”

“If he’s so powerful,” I asked. “Why is he in exile from his own house?”

Liliana chuckled, patting me again. “The entire Plane is his, girl,” she told me, voice patronizing. “As for why he lets those whiny upstarts of his family to live, well, I think I’ve made it abundantly clear that I do not concern myself with his decisions, only with staying out of his way.”

“No help then?” Jace said.

“You continue this charade,” Liliana said. “It vexes me.”

“So you’ve said,” Jace said. He pulled his cloak tighter around him. “But if it’s all the same, you don’t have a say in my decisions anymore, Liliana.”

Her eyes flashed. “Don’t I?”

You never expected the undead to move so quickly.

In the blink of an eye, they had pressed back in, cold dead hands reaching out for Jace’s arms and legs. 

To his credit, he reacted quickly, spinning on his feet. But then, dodging one pair of hands only meant stepping into another. In a heartbeat, Liliana had Jace trussed up like a Thanksgiving Turkey, and all without moving from her chair.

I was surrounded as well, I realized, a shiver going down my spine. If one had reached out and just…cut off my head, would I survive? Even as a being made of energy?

Would I survive if Liliana had the foresight to equip her minion with an enchanted blade?

“Liliana, what—?” Jace struggled, but the grip of the dead was strong. “Come on, you know that Undead are an…issue for me. If I were serious I would have already blanked your mind.” His voice came quickly, as if he was on the verge of panic, but all the same his words were clear and concise.

Liliana hummed. “Just in time for my pets to rip you to shreds of course,” she said. “And look, you’re dead either way, as dead as you will be if you insist on aggravating those you can’t or won’t use your powers on.”

“Liliana…” Jace said, but she only waved her hand, her horde stepping back and letting the man right himself.

“No,” she said. “I know that a show of force like this won’t convince you. You’ve always been…” a ghost of a smirk crossed her lips, “stubborn.”

Jace rolled his shoulders, straightening out his cloak. “Does that mean you’ve decided to help me.”

She sighed. “Of all the idiots to have met in the multiverse,” she muttered. “Instead of that, how about a more concrete demonstration.”

Jace blinked. “What, are you going to manhandle me with skabs next?”

“As if I would ever stoop to using that bastardized, talentless, excuse for necromancy,” she said. “No, how about this, you duel my apprentice here. She’s young, after all, if you’ve grown as much as you seem to think, she shouldn’t be any trouble for you.”

I blinked. “What?”

Jace looked about as confused as I felt. “If you wanted to prove you were a good teacher, this doesn’t seem like the way to do it.”

Liliana leaned back, taking a satisfied sip of her wine. “You want my help,” she said. “This is my price. Win a fight, and I’ll give you what you’re looking for.”

Her eyes flicked to me as she spoke.

I frowned, before nodding sharply.

Her message couldn’t be clearer if she’d shouted it to the moon.

Jace, for his part, only sighed. “If that’s what you want.”

“I can take her.”

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A/N: Oops.