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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 50, Written October 2012

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Chapter 50 - Reunions and blackmail

Over the next few weeks, Sarina established a new daily routine.

Only Ashley knew fully about the sexual affair between Sarina and Lord Pennington, and on occasion the elemental even participated in their sexual pastimes. Lu Chen knew his Mistress was mating with Lord Pennington, so he could help to prevent others from finding out, but he was placed under geas not to reveal the affair to anyone. He was sufficiently loyal to her that he would not question her activities anyway. The geas spell was mostly for Lord Pennington's peace of mind.

The thought that Sarina and Lord Pennington shared a bed every night didn't occur to the maid or cook at all, and a gentle mind control effort on Sarina's part ensured that neither of them would take such a suggestion seriously. The work schedules for the maid and the cook were altered so they would arrive each morning to prepare breakfast and serve it to his Lordship and Lady Sarina in the dining room, and neither servant saw either of their employers until that morning meal was served. Michelle would then begin her chores of making the beds and cleaning the bedrooms, and Sarina's spells ensured that Michelle would always perceive that Sarina's bed had been used normally, and needed fresh bedding just as often as Lord Pennington's did. While Lord Pennington and Lady Sarina were out of the mansion on their daily business, Michelle and the cook would attend to the errands and shopping, and do laundry, with a large part of their day left to their own leisure if their other duties were accomplished promptly. The maid and the cook would return to prepare and serve dinner, light the fires as needed in the evenings, and then would leave for the night. In the evenings and on weekends, Ashley and Lu Chen served Sarina and Lord Pennington, and the maid and cook had those two days off.

Lord Pennington began referring to Sarina as his 'daughter', both at home and in public, and if anyone questioned this, he pointed out that this was merely an acknowledgement that she was his heiress, and daughter in spirit, though she was of course actually his niece. He began taking both breakfast and dinner at home again, and would do his business affairs at his club, having lunch there.

Sarina rented a new magical workshop, somewhat larger than her last one, and on the edge of the city. This afforded her more privacy for new magical studies, though she said it was to ensure the safety of others if her magical experimentations went wrong. Her reputation quickly became strong enough that being in a more remote location was no difficulty. Customers were happy to come to her from all over the region.

The main public offering of her skills took the form of making finely detailed sculptures, of stone, metal or even shaped and sculpted wood. These sculptures could either be left in their natural state, or colored with a lifelike detail that was positively uncanny. Just inside the door of her shop she crafted a sculpture of herself, seated at the desk and reading a book. It was so lifelike that anyone new to her shop would often speak to it on entering, not realizing it was a sample of her craftwork. Returning patrons found it an excellent jest to bring friends in and trick them into talking to the statue of Sarina.

A less publicized skill that she offered was oneromancy - magic that had to do with dreams and prophecies. Customers would seek her to understand the meaning of dreams that they were experiencing, or to seek relief from nightmares. On occasion she would have a client that wanted to inflict a nightmare on a rival or a spurned lover. But she was very careful in the sort of clients she worked for with mind magic, as she did not want to get a bad reputation in this land.

When not working on a specific task for hire, she would spend much of each day studying the magical texts that she had collected, occasionally going over them with Lady Portia, and sharing with that canine mage those spells that would not offend the paladin's morals and ethics.

Sarina would study the darker texts with the assistance of Ashley. The elemental was quite adept at noting the traps and flaws in spells, intended to prevent a novice from successfully casting them.

Several months had passed since her return, and Sarina was working on a commission for one of the local churches - forming some granite blocks that they had provided into stone gargoyles. She paused in her work and realized with a start that she had a customer, though she hadn't noticed him arriving. Her first impression was that a gentleman in a plain black frock coat was standing by a bookcase, halfway between the door of the shop and Sarina. He had a face and a build that one could lose in a crowd of less than a dozen people, so ordinary and lacking in noteworthy characteristics was he. His clothing was equally unremarkable - what any fashionable gentleman might choose to wear, yet just sufficiently shopworn to not stand out as new garments, or to seem ostentatiously wealthy. And unlike most of her customers, he completely ignored her sculptures and the way the stone flowed in response to her mental commands as she worked on the gargoyle statue, and seemed intent on reading the titles of the books on her bookshelf.

She cast a simple cantrip at the guest and detected that he seemed cloaked in a minor illusion spell, to enhance his unremarkable appearance.

But the moment her spell touched him, he said simply, "Please respect my privacy. Do not try to see past the paltry spells that are upon me. It will gain you nothing, as I am merely a messenger for my employer, and he does not wish his servant or my actions to be associated with him publicly. You are the Lady Sarina Randall." He said that as a statement, and not a question. "You are reputed to be quite skillful in oneromancy. Just how powerful are you, in that art?"

"That depends on what you require," she replied. "I can see and enter the dreams of others, and help guide a dreamer to understanding their meanings. I can ease or eliminate nightmares. Those things are fairly easy for me."

"Or create nightmares, perhaps?" he asked.

"Where I deem it suitable, yes, I can create dreams and nightmares as well, and inflict them on others," Sarina replied cautiously. "Tell me what you require, and I will tell you honestly if I can or will do it, or if you are better off seeking a different mage for your task."

"Ah... To view or alter a nightmare or a dream, you would have to read the thoughts of the client, yes? Delving much deeper than surface thoughts, into memories they are hardly aware of themselves," he asked. "And you said you can inflict dreams or nightmares on others, which means you can alter what is in a person's mind. So, can you do it to a subject who is unaware of your actions, and not cooperating with you?"

Sarina gestured to the door of her shop, which closed and locked, and a second gesture pulled down the window shades and displayed the 'shop closed' sign painted on the outer surface of them.

"Such acts would come perilously close to violating the law, sir," she said. "I should refuse you if that is want you want of me."

The man nodded, and said, "Well, that all depends on whether or not you got caught, now doesn't it? If no one detects what you do, the law needn't come into this. There are times, you must realize, when the law itself prevents justice from being carried out? It may be a violation of the law to tamper with someone's mind without permission, and yet, what is needful isn't always so clearly defined as the law might wish. Despite your objections, you haven't yet asked me to leave. Will you hear my proposal, at least?"

"Proceed, but be warned that I am unlikely to accept a task that clearly violates the law," she replied.

"What my employer desires is for you to look into the mind of a certain individual, without being detected. Our organization had a... security issue recently. We know for a fact that this individual took some sensitive documents that are rightfully our property, and that he had no legal reason to make free with. We have already recovered the stolen documents from his possession, but we need to know if he actually read them, and recalls what was in them. If he did, we... need to have those memories erased," he said. "Or at least have different memories substituted for them. Can you do this? If not, we may have to resort to more... drastic measures... to ensure that he does not make use of or spread what he may have discovered, and we would rather not do something so blatant."

"The police have mages that specialize in mind magic, and the probing of suspected thieves and felons," Sarina said. "If you have proof that he was in possession of stolen documents, why did you not take that proof to the police, and let them handle it?"

"The stolen documents were of a... highly sensitive political nature. Going to the police would have made their existence known. The fewer people that know what secrets were in the documents, the better," he replied.

"If I did as you ask, then I would also have that knowledge that you are seeking to conceal. Wouldn't that be just as bad as your thief knowing them?" Sarina asked.

"But you are not of his political faction. As far as we can tell, you have shown no interest at all in political matters, and neither has your elderly uncle, Lord Pennington." He replied. "And more importantly, for all your power as a mage, you're merely a young woman. You can't vote, and politicians in general are quite unlikely to listen to you. The information would be useless to you, and not a serious threat to us, without the tangible documents to prove the knowledge is accurate. But in the wrong hands, or made public by someone that the people would believe, the information could be ruinous to certain individuals. The one who stole the documents is of a faction that would not hesitate to ruin others who oppose them. We are prepared to compensate you sufficiently to make it worth your while, and to buy your silence on the matter. This would be your fee, the value being in Pounds, but to be paid in silver ingots." He reached into a pocket and handed her a slip of paper.

Sarina read the rather large number which had been printed, not hand-written, on it. She turned the paper over, and on the reverse was a street address, but no name. "A rather large sum of money, for such a task. This is where I find them, I take it? How am I to know which memories to look for? Or who precisely to use my skills on?"

"That information will be provided if you accept the job," the man said. "You will be provided with his name, his daily schedule, and a personal item of his that he used to have in his possession and on his person daily, until it was taken from his home when the documents themselves were recovered. You will also be shown certain symbols that would have been on the documents. If he read the documents, he would remember having seen those symbols, and it is very unlikely that he would have seen them anywhere else. If he did read the documents and remembers their contents, those memories must either be eliminated, or altered such that they no longer have the same meaning. If he has those memories, and you can see them, then even with your lack of political acumen, you should realize at once what damage they could do, and to whom, and should have some idea of what could be done to alter what he remembers so that the memories are harmless. If he does not recall them, then the less you know, the better."

"That's a rather well-heeled part of town, as I recall. Won't he be protected?" Sarina asked.

"Oh, he is, yes. But that is the other reason we came to you, in particular," he said with a sly grin. "His main defense is an amulet of terror. He always wears it, and that was why our other agents were unable to get at him directly. Anyone who attempts to affect his mind, even from a distance, is beset by paralyzing waves of fear. But that won't be a problem for you, will it? You see, we already tested you, and we know you're immune to fear spells."

"You seem to know a great deal about me," Sarina said, frowning. "I'm not sure I like that. Your offer is generous, but I don't need the money that badly. I think you should seek a different mage for your task. Good day." She offered him the slip of paper, and with a gesture caused the door to open and the shades to roll up again.

"Well, your payment need not be entirely in silver, then," he replied smoothly, without taking the paper from her or moving to leave. "We could come to a mutually beneficial agreement, instead. You see, we do know a great deal about you, Lady Sarina Randall. You are the sole surviving daughter of Lord Edward Randall, heiress the Randall estate, and thereby to the rank of baroness. You are the beloved niece of Lord Thomas Pennington, and have been designated as his heiress as well. He loves you like his own child, despite the fact that you slaughtered his only daughter, your own cousin, Amara Pennington. My my... One might wonder if you have the old fox under a spell..."

Sarina glared coldly at the man, and said, "If you know half as much as you claim, then you know perfectly well that my cousin Amara had become a vampire; had turned her own mother, my aunt, Lady Meghan Penninton, into a vampire; and was trying to do so to me, as well! I was able to save the soul of my aunt, as well as saving a Paladin who also sought to rid the city of the vampires, but I had to kill Amara in self defense. You can't blackmail me with that. It's all in the police records already, and was all over the newspapers. I did what I had to, and I was exonerated and forgiven! Feel free to check my uncle for magical tampering. The only thing influencing his opinion of me is his love for his kin. I haven't coerced him in any way with mind magic."

"No, no, you've been much too careful for that. We already checked that as well, since it was the first thing that occurred to us when checking your background. Your recent history has been an open book for us. Until we try to go back before your mother's funeral, that is," he said, smiling more confidently. "Prior to that unfortunate event, Miss Sarina Randall seems so much less interesting. No record of any remarkable intelligence, or skills with magic. She was just a quiet and unremarkable little country girl, who few people seem to recall with any detail. Then your mother died in a plague, you... almost died, your father changed greatly, and then here you were, suddenly made the ward of your uncle and aunt, while dear old dad runs off to China and gets killed by yet another plague! How... convenient. It looks almost like someone else stepped in and took over Sarina's life."

"And I could counter by saying my skill with magic blossomed with the onset of puberty, and that of course my father went nearly mad with grief when he lost mom and nearly lost me to that damned plague," Sarina spat back at him. "You can't prove a damned thing, but it's clear you intend to make my life quite difficult if I don't cooperate with you. Very well, I'll do your sneaky task. But then you'll leave me alone and pay me what you promised, in silver! Don't even dream of crossing me, sir. Or you and everyone in your entire damned organization will only live long enough to seriously regret making an enemy of me."