Lich for Hire

Half a month had passed since Ambrose broadcast his location to the world.

Apart from the githark engagement, which had been satisfyingly dramatic, things had been quiet. Ambrose was beginning to wonder if the Lyon paladins had gotten lost at sea and couldn't find him.

He had prepared something special for them: a reception that would leave them weeping with gratitude and shame, kneeling before him with sincere apologies for the trouble they had caused.

But the first arrival turned out not to be Lyon at all. Rather, it was an old acquaintance. Princess Ariel of the Ragetide Kingdom had come to visit.

When the Blacktide touched down on what Ambrose had taken to calling Coin Island, he was waiting right by the shore.

The hatch opened. Ariel came down the ramp with Hastin.

Ariel didn't recognize the lich as Monge Greywater. She greeted him with composed courtesy.

"Master Megaman, I've finally had the chance to meet you in person. I've heard a great deal about your work."

Ambrose, having taken on the form of his youth, returned the greeting with an appropriately modest smile. "I'm honored to have made any impression at all, Your Highness. The worst thing for a merchant is to be forgotten by one's clients."

He sounded not at all awkward about meeting one of his victims again.

He was used to it by now, after all.

Ariel's smile was small but genuine. "You're too modest, Master Megaman. It was rather more than a small impression. I'm still thinking about that meteor shower you sent the githarks off with. I've come today on business."

Ambrose was mildly struck by the change in her behavior. Ariel seemed completely different.

The Ariel from before would have slammed her hammer on the table, stated a price, and turned to violence if that price wasn't accepted.

Death had a way of changing people. He had apparently left a more significant mark on this princess than he'd realized.

"Welcome, Your Highness. Come inside. Clients deserve at least a comfortable seat before we start talking about cold numbers."

He led her to a recently constructed castle.

Gray dwarves from the Umbral Depths, a people with the same gift for construction as their desert-dwelling cousins, had been responsible for the furnishings. The castle wasn't large, and its decoration minimal, but even empty it had the particular weight of majesty and grandeur.

Ariel was surprised by the architecture.

She didn't know much about the field, but she had an instinct for what she liked. This was it. It suited her taste better than even the royal palace of the Ragetide Kingdom.

As for the island itself, it had only been a small rock when she'd last heard of it. Within just half a month, it had expanded severalfold, and an actual castle had been built on it.

It was developing at a frightening rate, almost as if there were an entire kingdom supporting it from the back.

Since taking over the kingdom, she had been spending her time reading domestic reports rather than those on military deployments, and had gained a corresponding intuition.

The Ragetide Kingdom couldn't have managed what the lich did. She understood what this gap meant. This lich's capacity to build and produce things was extraordinary, on a scale that put him in a different category than an ordinary merchant.

He was more like a rival state that happened to be run by one person.

They sat in a reception room that was simple but not sparse. Ambrose asked for refreshments.

A pot of hot water, pure, distilled, and boiled seawater, was his standard offering for guests.

Ariel didn't register what she was drinking. She was too busy organizing her pitch to the lich.

The Ragetide Kingdom understood that airships were going to reshape warfare. Any nation that acquired them would have a structural advantage over those that hadn't. If that happened while Ragetide was still relying on conventional naval power, the kingdom would fall behind in a way that couldn't be reversed by courage or tradition alone.

The fact that this lich had come to the Ragetide Kingdom first was a genuine opportunity, and she intended to seize it, but Ragetide simply didn't have the gold required to meet his asking price. She had to make this meeting work out anyway.

She steadied herself, giving herself words of encouragement inwardly. "I can do this. Like Monge used to, I just need language, argument, and a well-timed commitment to seal the deal. I've practiced."

She had rehearsed her approach many times. Get to the airships naturally, then bring out the territorial concession she'd prepared as leverage to reduce the price. It was a good plan.

But Ambrose spoke first. "Your Highness, you already know the price from Hastin. You've come here because Ragetide can't pay it, and you intend to negotiate it down. Correct?"

Ariel blinked. That was accurate, but did he need to say it quite so directly?

She said nothing. Ambrose continued, "Am I mistaken?"

"No," she said quickly. "That's correct. The airship is excellent, but the price has significant premium built into it. The ordinary metal frame, for one—"

"Pricing isn't only about materials. It reflects the technology. I am the only person in the world who can produce an airship with genuine combat capability. Research doesn't come free. You're not asking me to absorb a hundred billion gold in development costs, I hope?"

"A hundred billion?" Ariel's eyes opened wide in shock.

"It's not an exaggeration. You should know that the paper I published in Legendary Spellcraft alone was worth a million in fees, and that was a fraction of the underlying research."

He proceeded to present figures that were systematic, specific, and impossible to directly challenge because they were describing a technology that existed nowhere else in the world and therefore had no external reference point for comparison.

Ariel found herself losing ground without quite knowing where that ground had gone. She hadn't even started negotiating yet, but somehow his quoted price suddenly felt reasonable.

Was ten million gold for a significantly scaled-down version of the Blacktide actually a fair price? The Ragetide Kingdom wouldn't be able to afford it if so...

Wait. Monge had told her not to be caught up in the other party's flow. She had to break out of it.

She reached for her prepared card. "Master Megaman, let's set the technical valuation aside for now. What's your read on the Lyon forces going to sea?"

Ambrose smiled pleasantly. "You mean the Lyon soldiers you herded into the Sea of Storms, Your Highness?"

Ariel nodded. "I see you already knew. Yes. As a gesture of goodwill, I arranged for the Lyon force to find itself in considerable difficulty. Even if they survive, they'll be in no condition to cause you problems for some time. I hope Ragetide's sincerity is apparent, Master Megaman."

Hastin's Blacktide had been monitoring the ocean, of course. Ambrose had been informed.

Hastin had even been tempted to follow the Lyon troops into the Sea of Storms, only to be deterred by the truly frightening stormclouds.

Ambrose glanced at Ariel appreciatively. "I'm very grateful for Ragetide's intentions. However, Your Highness should know that I invited those Lyon soldiers here on purpose."

Ariel stared. "I don't understand."

A lich building a base offshore and then luring the people trying to kill him there? The logic made no sense.

"Let me explain," Ambrose said. "I've had a difficult few centuries, Your Highness."

The change in subject was so abrupt that Ariel had no immediate response. Ambrose filled the gap in conversation himself. "Various circumstances left me destitute when I was still alive. I couldn't even afford basic alchemical supplies. Things didn't improve much after I became a lich. Lyon has been pursuing the undead relentlessly even when we haven't provoked them.

"All I have ever wanted to do is conduct business and make money. But my status as an undead, combined with a relative lack of power, meant that no one saw any reason to negotiate with me in good faith, making business very difficult.

"I arranged for those Lyon soldiers to come here to resolve that problem. Seven legends and a full retinue of elites—if I can visibly neutralize that force in front of observers, every future party will think carefully before deciding they don't need to take me seriously. Your Highness acted in good faith by sending them into the Sea of Storms, but doing so has also preempted my demonstration."

Ariel's eyes widened. Was this lich crazy?

Even the Ragetide Kingdom had not dared to attack that force directly. They had used a fleet of expendable pirates to herd the Lyon soldiers into a natural hazard and hope the environment would do the rest.

Seven legends—and this lich was saying he'd set up a trap for them on purpose!

She was about to say she didn't believe it when the mirror on the wall of the reception room lit up. A woman of unmistakable bearing appeared in it.

Ambrose excused himself briefly and went to the mirror. "Lady Rose, I'm afraid I'm still with a guest."

Black Rose's expression conveyed mild impatience. "The dragon clans are waiting. They're getting restless."

Ambrose scoffed. "If those big lizards are impatient, have Gareth remind them why patience is a virtue. Have him kill a few. We're past the point where anyone should be unclear on who has the largest fist."

"Fine. I'll handle it. Don't take too long—we're talking about over a hundred dragons here. Even processing their corpses would take significant time."

She disconnected. Ambrose returned to his seat and apologized for the interruption.

Ariel's brow had creased. "Just now, you mentioned the dragon clans. Are you referring to actual dragons?"

"Yes. I resolved the githark situation—you must be aware of that. The overseas dragon clans had been cooperating with the githarks and were planning to use the opportunity to attempt a return to the continent. My colleagues and I addressed it. The dragons are defeated and currently awaiting a negotiation of terms."

Ariel was shocked. She would have called the lich out if he hadn't immediately invited her to attend the ceremony to be held for the official surrender.

When she watched over a dozen dragons in chains forced to prostrate themselves, she had no choice but to believe his claims.

At the ceremony, she also saw the commander of the Silent Sea Pirate Company, the undead queen of the Umbral Depths, and the lord of the Dragon Graveyard. These were names that carried weight across the entire ocean.

And they were the lich's friends.

No wonder he was confident about handling the seven legends. This assembled force could even march on Lyon's capital directly if it chose to. Her entire negotiating position had just collapsed, because there was nothing Ragetide could offer someone with such backing that he couldn't obtain through other means.

The deal was impossible. Ragetide would never be able to afford the airship.

She was working through the implications of complete failure when Ambrose turned to her with a smile. "Your Highness, I'm familiar with Ragetide's financial position. There may be another form of payment available to you."

"Another form of payment?" As she thought things through, she suddenly narrowed her eyes at the lich.

The changes in topic; the interrupted rhythm; the leverage deployed at the right moment, followed by a calm assertion of control over the entire conversation's direction... All this suddenly seemed deeply, uncomfortably familiar.

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