64th of Ash, 120
"This is th' one?" Arkash asked with the best common he could manage.
"Correct, sir. Please take care not to tear the pages with those..." The human looked down at him with something of a curl to his nose, "dirty... talons."
Arkash didn't react as the human walked away, and instead stared through his blindside as he handled the tome. Somehow, Arkash had gotten into the library without being recognized, or so he thought. It helped that most of his features were covered by his leathers, but his tail and claws still showed, and the shape of his head surely wasn't right. it wouldn't be long before someone realized who he was. So, he had to move quickly.
Arkash drew a piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it on the table with his one arm. His prosthetic was left at home, as he needed to appear as unthreatening as possible. Upon the parchment was something written in common. 'Vogen', he knew it said. He just had to match the symbols on a scrap of parchment to somewhere in the book. So, Arkash carefully removed the tome from its shelf, then laid it out on the table to inspect. It was very rare he got to handle books, and fiddling with the pages was quite alien to him.
He wasn't fast, but Asmodei had taught him to check the index of the book before delving through the body of the tome in search of what he wanted. He also learned that 'V' for 'Vogen' was at the bottom of most indexes, as it was one of the last letters of the common alphabet. He didn't have much time, so Arkash carefully followed the trail of names with his claw and cross-referenced the writing on the parchment to find what he needed.
It was just as Asmodei promised; the name he sought was toward the end. House Vogen... Followed by some number. Arkash wasn't good at mathematics, and the number was alien to him. With his teeth bared beneath his face mask, he looked over his shoulder to the main hall of the library, which was bathed in the amber glow of lantern light while little daylight seeped in through the high windows. Right, given the lighting and the shade of the wooden interior, it was unlikely anyone would notice him, or so he convinced himself.
Arkash cursed and flicked through a few pages, only to find that the pages were all numbered. With a furrow to his brow, he flicked back to the index, and found that the numbers advance in some way. The first few entries were labeled with a single-digit number, then the next couple dozen had two digits, then they advanced to three digits for quite some time before he arrived at the page of the index that included House Vogen.
Arkash sighed, then flicked through the pages again to arrive near the back of the book. He didn't have the time to figure out how to count in written language. He'd just start from the back of the book and work his way to the front. So, with his claws extended, he flicked through the pages and cross-referenced the piece of parchment again. There were a few houses that appeared to have similar names, but none Arkash could discern or read properly. When at last he came to the big bold header that red '<Something> Vogen', he paused. House Vogen? Arkash could only guess.
Again, the rathari looked over his shoulder, then produced his knife with a flick of his wrist. At once, he got to work and clamped all the pages related to house Vogen with his teeth, then cut at the base of the page toward the bind to saw them off. Each cut was hurried, but well-aimed. All the pages he gripped eventually came free, and he sheathed his knife to take the pages from his mouth. Quickly, he set them on the table, folded them in half with the use of his stump, then pocketed the information he sought.
Once the book was closed and in its rightful resting place, Arkash was on his way out of the library. His eye remained forward to avoid the attention of the posted librarian, but he could feel the human's gaze upon him regardless. "Find what you were looking for?" Called the haughty man with a tone of suspicion. Arkash's heart sank, but he bowed his cloaked head to the human all the same.
"Yeah, good readin-g," he added the proper pronunciation just a second too late. He had to get out of there, the longer he was among the humans of Outer Nivenhain, the more he ran the risk of being found out.
The human squinted with blatant distrust, then crossed his arms. "Do I know you?" He asked with budding suspicion. Arkash continued to the door in an effort to relayy he wasn't interested in small talk, but the man continued. "I've seen something related to men with tails recently..." he continued to wonder.
Arkash pressed his back into the library door and fiddled with the handle behind him while he watched the librarian form his one good eye. "Nope! Ev'ryone says that tho-ugh." Arkash damned himself in his head. Why couldn't he just speak common properly?! Finally, the door handle gave way, and he slipped into the cold. "Thanks for ya help! see ya!" He called and broke eye contact before the door closed.
He looked back once to see if anyone followed him out of the library, then adjusted his scarf and patted down his pocket to ensure that the notes were there, then began to run through the day-lit snowy streets of Outer Nivenhain.
Arkash slowed to a halt before the designated alley, then took a moment to catch his breath. "Arkash, what happened?" Asmodei called from the Alley as the thud of metal sabatons dawned on the rath. "Are you being chased?!"
Arkash looked over his shoulder to the darkened snowy streets, then shook his head while he caught his breath. The cold air bit his lungs, he could taste blood toward the back of his throat. "Recognized," he answered in vithmi. "Someone... recognized me, so I ran..."
Asmodei shook his head, then rested one of his gauntlet-wrapped hands on the rath's shoulder. "This is getting dangerous, Ark. As much as I'm all for killing nobles-" Arkash interrupted him with a push of his caw that saw the gauntlet ease from his shoulder. he didn't need Asmodei's advice or his warnings. He needed the information they'd gone there for. With a shake of his head, he produced the pages, then handed them to Asmodei.
The velsign stared for a moment, then exhaled with a visible deflation to his shoulders. Once he'd accepted the papers, he unfolded them and began to read. Meanwhile, Arkash laid back against the wall and sighed while he caught his breath. Asmodei appeared to completely absorb himself in the writing as his eyes traced line to line. Arkash only looked at him a glance before he furrowed his brow, then directed his gaze to the sky top open his lungs. "Everything alright?" he asked at last.
"No," Asmodei sighed. Arkash tilted his head. It was unlike the velsign to be so blunt with his answers; something must have truly bothered him. Arkash merely stared in anticipation for the velsign's answer and didn't interrupt his reading further. "I know a name that's mentioned here a lot, but I don't know from where..."
Arkash perked at the sliver of translation. "What name?"
"Malafor... Doesn't sound very Rien to me- Oh!" The giant winged man called, and Arkash sat up from the wall and brushed his clothes off.
"What? What is it?!" he called, in turn, borderline pleading Asmodei for the answer.
"'Sir Edward Vogen was given his status as celebrant for his diligence and loyalty to the nobility. It was because of his efforts in vanquishing the vile terrorist Malafor that...' I'm not even going to try and pronounce that name, '-was able to continue serving the rien people as the kind and gracious Count...' Blah blah blah... '-Sanguine eye...'" Asmodei read aloud, then looked up from his page to Arkash, who simply stared while he put the pieces together.
"What?"
"Arkash," Asmodei returned.
"What? What am I missing?"
"The sanguine eye."
"Yeah, so?"
"Sanguine means bloody," the giant explained.
The bloody eye? Arkash reeled and widened his own eye at the revelation. The insignia he'd been drawing at the scenes of his completed contracts, the bloodied eye, it was mentioned in the papers? "You mean..."
"The eye on each of your contracts, I think it's Malafor's calling card; some really bad dude that terrorized the country in my youth; before your time." Was that the old man that Arkash encountered in the caves? he thought back to what the old man had said. Something about people not being scared of him anymore? Arkash hadn't considered it much at the time, but maybe he was the terrorist in the story of Edward Vogen. But the text claimed Edward had killed Malafor. How could that be true? "You said you hadn't met this guy, right?"
"Right," Arkash lied. Arkash already knew what Asmodei was going to say, he was anything if not predictable.
"Then I'm ending this here. You don't need to get mixed up in that sort of bull, Ark," all the velsign's warnings went in through one ear hole and came out the other. "I mean it; these are dangerous people. You could very realistically die doing whatever this ratty man asks of you."
Arkash sighed convincingly. "Yeah, you're right. I guess it's time to throw in the towel."
Asmodei nodded once in affirmation. "Good. And because you're giving it up now, I don't think Fayeth needs to know."
Arkash smiled brightly at the false argent, then followed the man to the sewer grate deeper in the Alley, where he proceeded into the dank tunnels that led home. In the night, he would prepare for his journey.
Image source.
