78 Where evil and demon meet? (1/2)

”Can you remind me why we are currently in the middle of a cemetery?” The calm voice paused for a second, before adding something else.

”In the middle of the night?” Davion was quite perplexed by this action. Because of the size of Archet and the fact that not a lot of people liked to live close to the dead, the cemetery was outside of the walls. If it was during the day, when the sun was up, some could easily see it from afar. Maybe not distinguished precisely a silhouette from a tomb, but if someone dared to move, that silhouette would be seen.

”Because … bad guys often come in those type of places? No?” The succubus was a little bit exasperated because they were already waiting for quite a long time and they saw nothing. Well, a few owls were roaming in the night, seeking for a prey, but except that, nothing interesting. As she felt that the stare of Davion was quite more and more intense, she turned around and faced the ratman barely visible in the dark.

”Hey, you! Why did you tell us that shady business was conducted here? No one is here! NO ONE” She screamed the last part, and a part of her voice was even slightly heard in the ramparts of the city. The few unlucky guards shuddered at that sound and got closer to the torches. But that changed nothing in the face of the brainwashed ratman.

”Because it is true, mistress.” His dumb smile was angering Meridiana but she felt that she probably missed something. Because of what she has done to this humanoid, he would only respond directly to her questions, without adding any information. Scratching a bit her forehead, she thought about a more appropriate question.

”And how often did those things happen?”

”Oh, a few days … each month.” The orodil put his hand on the shoulder of the succubus, before she torn apart her servant. It was also his fault for not asking the questions, before the departure, he trusted her to extract any chunks of information she could. Shaking his head, it seemed that from now on, he will take the lead. Otherwise, they will never progress.

”Besides the cemetery, where can we find those people?”

”The sewers, more specifically the northern one, slightly outside the poor area. There is a hidden room where they sometimes accomplish a ritual or attend a meeting. The poor area in general, we are unsure about which precise house is used for the gathering. And of course, where they usually are during the day, at the city hall, in an inn, in the garrison, on the ramparts, in their houses …”

”In Archet, we get it. No need to precise it anymore.” He had to stop the unusually chatty ratman because he realized his question was too vague. That was the main issue when controlling the mind of other beings. It was very hard to not make them lose their own identity, and they had neither the time or the mana to waste for preventing that right now. On the other hand, for the moment, erasing all trace of resistance was more than enough, even if it caused those inconveniences.

”So, I guess we go to that secret room. With a bit of luck, we can even encounter one cultis… Meridiana, you did ask for that?” Because he had his helmet on, the succubus couldn't see the face of Davion. But she easily understood the underlying tone in his sentence, not calming her at all.

”Yes, of course. I asked where they met the most and when I thought of this, it seemed obvious that it will be the best place to start. I just didn't realize that the word most meant 3 times a month. But it's his fault too, he knows nearly nothing and hides everything from me. Why are you blaming me?”

Not even responding, he just left the mindless ratman and the angry succubus behind and started walking toward Archet. Not willing to be left behind like that, she immediately ran after him, with a little rodent following obediently. Because their little companion was still relatively despised by even the open-minded population of the Republic of Avenio, they didn't head toward any gates.

Instead, they relied on the brainwashed prisoner to open a path toward the sewers, without damaging too much the infrastructure. Without even destroying the rusty iron grid that blocked the numerous obstacles in the river of garbage, they found a hole nearby. Descending through a disturbingly well-maintained iron ladder, they ended up in the dark.

No one was truly bothered by it since everyone had an extremely good sight in dark environments. For the first time of his life, it was the ratman that was having the hardest time moving inside the treacherous corridors of the sewers. Because of him being slightly slower, Meridiana reluctantly created a small magical light, to help them navigate in the maze that was this underground place. Soon after, their guide stopped in the middle of nowhere.

Looking at him puzzled for a brief moment, they saw him pushing a few stone blocks, but nothing happened. Waiting for the door to be opened, the ratman was still touching more and more blocks, trying to find which one was the right one. Feeling bored, Meridiana knocked a few junks laying around, when she saw on the ground under her a few traces. Following them, she turned her sight toward the wall that was behind her previously and found a very thin fissure in it.