recovering expanse of Rubblefield, while the leftmost…
On the leftmost wall was a peculiar contraption, smaller but far more complex than the clock itself. Tubes of glass twined over and about each other; some seemed almost to be tied in knots, bending at impossible angles. Through those pipes flowed long wisps of… It wasn't smoke, exactly, for no smoke had ever been so unnatural a color. It took Jace long moments to recognized the aether of the Blind Eternities, for never had he seen so much as a puff of that stuff in the physical world. He couldn't begin to imagine what purpose the device might serve.
But that was it, the entirety of the office. A great deal of space, with little purpose except, perhaps, to show visitors that Paldor could afford to waste a great deal of space.
Paldor looked up from the desk, scowled briefly at the clock above his head, and then took several steps away from the desk. Today he wore what Jace would politely have called a robe, and more honestly thought of as a tent. It was wine-purple and made
Paldor look like a giant, bearded grape. 'Welcome to your first assignment, Beleren,' he said.
No response. It required a not-so-subtle 'Ahem!' from Paldor to draw his attention from the peculiar contraption on the wall.
'Ah, yes,' Jace said. 'Sorry.'
Paldor scowled, then shook his head. 'You've heard the name Ronia Hesset?'
'I've come across it. Who is she?'
'The head of a merchant family who used to have connections with the Orzhov and with whom the Consortium has had a great many dealings since the guilds went away. She's even dealt with Tezzeret himself, a time or two. She doesn't know our true nature-or the existence of other worlds at all, for that matter-but beyond that, she knows as much of the Infinite Consortium as any outsider.
'Of late, more than a few of our transactions with her House have come up short. For a time, Tezzeret and I were willing to let it go; most mercantile sects have one or two corrupt members, and she's done well enough by us in the past. But now she's claiming to have lost an entire payment, several thousand-weight of gold in value. Since this happened at roughly the same time one of her relatives paid off an outstanding debt to certain criminal interests… Well, you can see how this might arouse my suspicions.'
'Aroused?' Kallist muttered from behind. 'I'd say they were downright seduced.'
'Your job,' Paldor told Jace, 'should be simple enough for a man of your talents. We'd hoped to just have you meet with Hesset, read her that way, but she's refused any meetings for the next few days. 'Too busy,' she says. And frankly, Tezzeret's not willing to wait. You'll accompany Rhoka into Hesset's home. He gets you into her house; you then get into her mind. If she's truly innocent and ignorant of these thefts, you'll return to me, and I'll deal with it. If she's behind them, as I suspect at this point she must be, you tell Kallist and he makes an example of her.'
Jace frowned sharply. He'd known that working for the Consortium would require what he preferred to think of as 'extra-legal' activities. Hell, that was how he'd lived for years. But murder?
His gut churning, Jace opened his mouth to object, or perhaps simply to inform Paldor that this had all been a mistake, that service to Tezzeret wasn't for him after all.
The words wouldn't come. The fear of losing out on all the opportunities Tezzeret had promised-to say nothing of the far greater fear of what these people would do to him if he backed out now-formed a fist around his vocal cords that he could not shake. And so, feeling a new sickness in his gut that definitely wasn't fear, he nodded.
'Kallist's already studied the layout of Hesset manor,' Paldor told them. 'You shouldn't have much difficulty.'
Jace turned. 'And you've chosen Kallist in particular since you have a swordsman who happens to greatly resemble your only mind-reader-or a mind-reader who resembles your best swordsman,' he added with a sarcastic smirk at Kallist, 'and you might just be interested in seeing how well they work together on a simple assignment, so you know if you can take advantage of their resemblance down the road.'
Paldor grinned broadly. 'Now you're thinking like a member of the Consortium. Now get moving.' Paldor twisted in his seat and lifted an oddly shaped tube-and-funnel contraption from the wall. No magic, here, but a simple speaking device, designed with perfect acoustics to carry his voice to the room beneath. 'Captain,' he said, grinning at Jace and Kallist, 'please have a pair of Hesset Estate servant's uniforms made ready for Rhoka and Beleren…'
Jace didn't have to be a mind-reader to tell, from the sound of Kallist's groan, that he wasn't going to like the outfit.
And that was pretty much that. They gave Jace half an hour to change-into a horrible set of livery, with canary yellow leggings and deep red tunic-and to gather what supplies he felt he might need, admonished him to trust his partner when he asked if he could have some time to memorize the layout of the estate, and then they were on their way.
'I feel like a fruit salad,' Jace said to Kallist as they made their way out of the Rubblefield.
'Tell me about it. I'm afraid to look down at my feet, for fear of burning my eyes out of my skull.'
Silence for a time, as the pair made their way toward the Hesset property. Jace found at least some relief in the fact that much of the district was middle-class, so he and Kallist weren't even the most garish people on the streets.
'This operation,' Jace commented as they finally approached the outer wall of the estate, 'seems a bit half- assed. Wouldn't it have made more sense to wait for a more social opportunity to have me read Hesset's mind, rather than break into her house?'
'Probably,' Kallist admitted. 'Tezzeret's got a pouch of jade arriving in two days; surprise shipment, something that another cell just got hold of. Other people, outside the Consortium, have begun spreading rumors about our losses in dealing with Hesset's people. He really wants the matter settled-and blatantly so- before there's any risk of losing the jade to someone who decides those rumors mean we're vulnerable.'
'Got it.' Then, exercising a sudden suspicion, Jace added, 'I've never before met a planeswalker who preferred blades to spells.'
'You still haven't. I've worked with enough of your kind, Tezzeret included, to have a pretty good idea of what's really out there. But no, I wouldn't know a spell from a spittoon.'
And then they were there, and further conversation would have to wait.
The outer wall of the estate proved no trouble at all. Jace cast his sight out and beyond the wall, watching until neither guard nor dog nor drake was present. Once it was clear, Kallist tossed a rope-enchanted to grab hold without need of a hook-and they were up and over, Jace somewhat less gracefully.
'That's a handy trick,' Kallist whispered to him once they stood within the grounds. 'Maybe I should learn a spell or two.'
Jace's reply wasn't even a whisper; it sounded only within Kallist's mind. Perhaps you should.
Kallist started, gave Jace a look the mage couldn't begin to interpret, and led the way forward.
Traversing the grounds gave them no more trouble than had the wall. Between Kallist's trained senses and Jace's supernatural ones, they sensed the approach of any guard or beast, and took appropriate cover behind one of the estate's various hedges or trees. Still, a pair of great hounds, tugging their keeper along by the leather leash, nearly discovered them. The topiary behind which they crouched might block the eyes of the men, but not the noses of the dogs. Even as Kallist reached for his blades, cursing the inevitable racket, he noticed Jace muttering under his breath. And without the slightest pause, the hounds passed them by.
'What did…?'
When Jace answered, he spoke aloud once more. 'Most people think of illusions only as sight or sound. It's harder to do smells, but if you know what you're doing…'
Kallist grinned. 'You have got to teach me how to do that. But, uh… Try not to do that too often, all right? That mind-speaking-thing is weird.'
The front door proved but a momentary obstacle. Kallist fiddled with the lock as Jace kept watch, and while Kallist seemed to be doing more cursing than actual manipulating, the device did eventually pop open with a dull snap. Jace allowed his vision to go unfocused, examined the door and the entryway for magical alarms, but if any were indeed present, they were of a sort he couldn't recognize.
'Should it really be this easy?' Jace asked as they softly closed the door behind them.
The other shrugged. 'Well, I don't normally have someone with me who can see through walls or plug up dog
