Thankfully Alison left directions for them with the receptionist before she stormed off - they were supposed to find Cole in an academic complex near the fortress.
As they were making their way back to the fortress, Elira struck up a conversation:
"Why was Cass so... confrontational with Alison? I was under the impression that be usually respects figures of authority."
"He usually does." Calen nodded. "The problem starts when he doesn’t recognise the authority figure as capable enough."
"...which wouldn’t be a problem if you haven’t brought his father into the discussion." Isara pointed out.
"Not true, he questioned her competences before I’ve mentioned sir Vandrel."
"But if you haven’t done that he wouldn’t have been as antagonistic as he was, you know damn well how he reacts when you compare people to his father."
"His daddy issues aren’t my problem." He rolled his eyes. "Besides, it might be for the best - the earlier Cass resolves his conflict with Alison, the smoother our work together will be."
"You don’t know that, they could also blow up in the middle of the investigation and ruin everything."
Calen waved dismissively.
"Nah, they’ll be fine..."
Alison was keeping a quick pace, and Cassian was trudging just behind her, not letting the capitan get too far.
The awkward silence accompanying them was heavy, but not as much as it was when they left the Verdant Watch’s headquarters. Their tempers cooled down along the way, and at some point Alison finally asked a question:
"What’s your problem with me?"
Cassian didn’t respond at first - why should he explain himself to her after all? Who was she to give him orders and demand answers from him?
"Are you one of those guys who can’t stand a woman in a position of power?"
"It has nothing to do with you being a woman."
"But you do have a problem with me being in charge... why?"
"I believe that people in charge of armies should be... more experienced."
"So it’s about my age, so original..." Alison snorted. "The fact that Lady Sylara chose me for this posting herself should be more important than my experience, no? After all, she ruled this city for half a millennium, surely she’s experienced enough to make such a decision."
"Even most capable people can make mistakes."
The tension raised significantly, but before it could blow up Alison offered a deal:
"Listen, if you’re doubting my capabilities, this is the perfect chance to check them - let me interrogate the merchant, and if you’ll have any reservations about my methods you can bring it up to Lady Sylara."
"Fine." He nodded reluctantly. "How much longer until we reach the Pit?"
Suddenly she extended her hand to stop him.
Right in front of them, the street ended with a sheer cliff, the border between the Pit and the rest of Mountainfall.
"Keep close, and put this on." She handed him a dark brown coat with a hood, putting on a similar outfit herself.
Alison led them to a rickety wooden staircase sneaking its way down the cliff almost hundred metres down.
"Also... Try to avoid talking to people, especially if they approach you first." Alison put up her hood, and started the lengthy descent.
The Pit resembled the city above of course, as it was on e a part of it, but the similarities were only superficial.
Buildings lining the streets were built in the same way, but unlike their surface counterparts they were dirty and falling apart.
There were people milling about the district, but instead of yelling of merchants and bustling crowd, only small groups of hooded individuals communicating in hushed voices quickly walked from corner to corner, often disappearing into barely visible alleys.
Alison made a sign with her hand to follow her, and walked down a relatively well lit street.
After a few minutes of wandering through the dirty alleys, she stopped in front of a rotten door, and knocked five times, counting seconds before each hit.
A dark eyeball appeared in the peephole, scanning the guests for a few seconds - then they heard four loud clicks, and the door opened to reveal the dark interior.
Alison marched in without hesitation, and Cassian followed after taking a long breath.
Before his eyes could adjust to the darkness the doors slammed shut, and a single oil lamp illuminated the cramped space - it was filled with various suspicious items, the only free space in the room occupied by a table with a few chairs.
On one of them a thin figure sat with intertwined fingers - it was a middle aged man with a rather bushy gray beard and eyebrows, his eyes dark like coals were contrasting with his pale skin.
He was dressed in a very fine clothing considering his place of work - colorful silks and satin wrapped around him in a haphazard manner, reminding Cassian of the merchants from the east who visited Asharil a few times. His hands and ears were decorated in expensive rings and chains, and when he grinned one could see a golden tooth.
"Piff." Alison greeted coldly, taking off her hood.
"Miss officer, how nice to see you!" His smile as fake as half of his wares. "What can I do for you today? Do you need intel? Maybe you finally got tempted into buying merchandise? Or are you here looking for your partner?"
"Still is, sweetheart."
From the darkest corner of the room a tall young woman emerged, wearing a cloak identical to the one worn by Alison and Cassian.
Long bright blonde locks were spilling from under the hood, and despite her face being shrouded in shadow Cassian could see sharp gray eyes locked onto his companion accompanied by a soft smile.
"I assume you also have business with the scammer?" Maya asked.
"Hey, I take offence to that! My wares are of top quality!" Piff protested.
Alison ignored him and answered Maya.
"We do, but you were here first, you can finish up what you were doing."
"Thanks." The blonde guard turned to the merchant. "So are do we have a deal or not?"
"Hmmm... I want two times what you paid last time"
She grabbed a pouch from ger belt.
"Whatever they want is included in that price." She demanded.
"...fine, she never wants anything valuable anyway."
The leather sack flew through the room, landing right in Puff’s extended hand.
"I’ve heard their new base is near the southern cliff, rumours say they got in touch with Blightborn somehow and that’s where they got the stuff."
"They wouldn’t be able to leave the city, and it’s impossible for the wretches to come inside." Maya asserted.
"Miss I’m only telling you what I’ve heard, I can’t verify every scrap of information I come upon."
"I suppose it’ll have to suffice then."
"Pleasure doing business with ya." Piff lookes at his two new customers. "So what are you looking for?"
"Konrad, the guy who blew up the barrier, bought stuff from you - we want to know what." Alison stated.
The merchant pretended to be shocked.
"Oh my, officer you’re not asking me to break client confidentiality, are you?"
"Konrad is gone Piff, and so will be your shop of you don’t answer the damn question."
"She’s not joking, you know." Maya commented.
"By the sun, alright I’ll tell you." He threw his hands in the air in an exasperated gesture. "But to be honest I think you’ll be disappointed, he didn’t buy anything unusual for a mage-in-training."
"And those ’usual’ things are...?"
"Some eclipse roots, alcohol, crimson spread..."
"I know eclipse roots are a drug, but what on earth is crimson spread?" Alison questioned.
Piff opened his mouth to explain, but Cassian was quicker:
"It’s a potent aphrodisiac enchanced by magic, but if you’re resourceful enough you can use it as a cheaper replacement for some spellcasting ingredients."
"How the hell do you know that?" Alison raised an eyebrow.
"Cal liked to do experiments without his master’s knowledge, so he had to get creative with the components." He shrugged. "It wasn’t his best call though, the thing exploded right in our faces because he put too much magic into the circle... wait a minute."
Alison looked at Piff again.
"Did he say anything when he bought it? Something to indicate what he was using it for?"
"Umm... I think he mentioned something about a personal project? Some guy gave him an idea he just has to try out, or something like that."
Alison and Cassian looked at each other - this was precisely what they were looking for.
"Do you know the name of the guy who gave him the idea?"
"I don’t think he... No wait he did say it - it was something with a K... Klam? Kalm?" The merchant scratched his chin.
"Kalim, I know the guy." Maya said.
"That’s it! Now that I think about it he was connected to your case as well, wasn’t he?"
"Correct. Is that all you wanted?" She asked Alison.
"Yeah, let’s get out of here."
As the door closed behind them they could Maya turned to the pair and said:
"It seems like our jobs are related, how about we team up?"