And we went through such pains to get the cauldron in the first place. Now we shall have to fetch another, and hope we are as lucky with the constables a second time.
At least Aldo seems to know how drastic his error was. I doubt he will be so foolish again.
* * *
16 Septis
1. We have thirteen potential candidates for harvesting now.
I hope Father sends his order soon. I am anxious to begin. This ritual will work. I can feel it. And if it can be used in the war … the sheer number of cities that could be laid low by such a technique! Danfon, Opara, the entirety of western Selvan—to say nothing of Hedgemond. Weeks, mayhap even months of terror, and then the beleaguered citizens will welcome us as their rightful saviors.
If only I had a dark-damned cauldron.
* * *
18 Septis
1. Sky bless Aldo and his foolish, foolish face. I was right before. He knew just how grave was his error, and he has been working tirelessly to correct it. He went out exploring in the town and bought a great quantity of wrought iron. This he brought to Libet and Askila, and with enough of it to use for raw material, they were able to replace the bottom of the cauldron. They warned me that the material would eventually degrade over time, but we should have at least six months. That should give us plenty of time to conclude our business here in Lan Shui, and then to procure another cauldron for use somewhere else.
Aldo is still a fool, of course, but even great foolishness can be overcome by an earnest heart and enough dedication.
Now that we have a workable cauldron again, I am going to have the alchemists dig us a much deeper hole beneath it. I will not risk losing it again.
* * *
20 Septis
1. I have decided to start the harvest. Tonight. I am worried that the order will come, and that we will be woefully underprepared.
We can only hope that I am not too early, and that suspicion is not raised before we are ready.
I shall split my squadron into two groups, each of which can harvest two candidates each night. One alchemist with each group shall form the containers to keep the blood from spoiling.
It will take us a week and a half to collect what we need. I only hope the order comes soon after that.
* * *
22 Septis
1. I can hardly believe it. Word has come from the Lord. We are to begin the ritual. It seems I began the harvest at just the right time.
Father is lenient. He understands I may not have all of the necessary materials to begin the ritual immediately, and so he has merely asked us to begin as soon as we are ready—before the ides of Octis, if we can manage it.
The harvest goes well. I have laid my plans carefully. The Lord has placed great faith in me, and I will not fail him.
* * *
4 Octis
1. We do not quite have as much blood as I would like. There are many more candidates to be harvested. But I grow anxious to begin the ritual. Each night brings greater risk of discovery. Askila’s target nearly escaped her grasp last night, and that would have been a disaster.
Yet at the same time, I do not wish to start with insufficient blood, and cause the ritual to fail because we did not collect enough. It is a quandary.
Three more days. I shall give it three more days, and then I shall begin, no matter our supplies.
* * *
7 Octis
1. It is time. I would rather we had another dozen bodies’ worth of blood, but this shall have to do. We can continue to add to the cauldron after it is already boiling, after all. And I cannot risk any more delay. Of the candidates who remain, all are far more risky than the ones we have collected so far. Most of them have regular contact with the townsfolk, and it will not be long before their absence is noted.
At midday, we begin the burn.
2. The burn has begun. I started with a single stone. Caution is warranted in the beginning, I think. Certainly I do not want to repeat Aldo’s mistake.
The heat is considerable, even from a pace or two away. But the cauldron remains cold to the touch. I will give it more time.
3. It is nearly sundown. The cauldron has warmed slightly, but the blood is still cool, though we have been stirring it constantly.
I am adding another stone and then retiring for the evening. There will be no harvest tonight. Everyone deserves at least one day’s rest after the grueling pace of things recently.
* * *
8 Octis
1. I woke this morning to find the cauldron too hot to touch, and the blood bubbling. This is it. This must be it. I have sent agents into the town to see if there were any disturbances in the night. I feel certain there must have been.
The harvest will continue this evening. The only thing that can stop us now is a lack of sufficient blood. Therefore I will cast as much into the cauldron as I can manage.
2. Curse this town. There were no vampires in the night, but something else has happened. Our activities have at last begun to draw notice. The constable captain, that Yue, is asking about after some of the folk beyond the walls who have disappeared. From what my agents could discover, she does not know what exactly has happened. There
